As business owners, we spend a lot of time brainstorming and analyzing, but not always getting into action and turning our ideas into something real. Throughout my career, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve worked with other business owners who say, “I’m just not a details person.” They’re incredible visionaries and creative ideators, but they get overwhelmed by the details, so it can be a bit of a challenge for them to put the ideas into practice.

If this is tripping you up, too, don’t worry! I’ve helped a ton of business owners create momentum around their ideas and intangible musings to create efficient, sustainable, on-brand programs, services, and offers.

So, that’s what we’re going to talk about today! Going from the brainstorming/planning phase and putting your ideas into action! And if you want a helpful step-by-step system so you can do it yourself as you’re reading through this post, check out my Ideas to Action Project Planning Bundle to help you organize your ideas, align them with your brand strategy, and make them actionable! Let’s dig in.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Oftentimes, I find that if someone isn’t a details person, they’re constantly coming up with new ideas, yet have a hard time discerning where to start. With all of the possibilities swirling in their head, there could be a lot of really compelling projects and possibilities, but no clear way to organize everything into actionable steps. If that’s you, there are a few tricks I’ve learned that can help!

This step has sub-steps, but they’re all in service of brainstorming and will help you identify solid, actionable ideas so you can get out of idea overwhelm and progress paralysis.

Brain Dump

The first-first step is to get all of your ideas out of your head and onto paper. Write down absolutely everything without editing yourself. Also, don’t worry about getting repetitive. Use one idea to springboard to the next. We’ll look for patterns later on. When you’re brainstorming this way, the key is to think about what you want to do, not how it’ll happen. The how will come in a bit.

Categorize

Now that you have all your ideas down on paper, it’s time to start organizing them into buckets. Start by looking at your business goals for the upcoming period (month, quarter, year, etc). Then, organize your ideas based on the business goal they support. Look at anything that comes up multiple times — that could be an indication that this idea has sticking power (or can be placed on the back burner for later).

Once you have your ideas grouped by goal, write notes about which audience segment(s) each idea is geared toward. (If you need a refresher on audience segments, read Audience Strategy: The Most Important Part of Brand Strategy to help you dig deep into your ideal audience segments.)

Prioritize your ideas based on the ones that align with both your target audience and your business goals. Pick 2-3 ideas and save the rest for another time.

Related Reading: The First Step to Defining Your Brand Strategy

Step 2: Identify

This is the step where you decide which idea you want to turn into action! Now that you have your top 2-3 ideas that you love and that align with your goals and target audience, it’s time to make some decisions. Ask yourself…

• Which ones are the most actionable for you? 
• What would be the most rewarding in terms of both personal satisfaction and target audience transformation?
• Are there ones you’re stuck on? 
• Is this an “I love it, but it isn’t the right time” idea or are you not feeling it anymore?
• What’s holding you back from taking action on these ideas?
• Do you need support to execute these ideas?
• By when do you want to have taken action on this idea?

With these answers in mind, identify your quick win — the idea you can get started on and complete quickly and/or most efficiently with the support you currently have.

Related Reading: 7 Project Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Step 3: Get Into Motion

By now, you’ve settled on your one idea you’ll put into action. It’s the idea that A) you can efficiently execute with the resources available to you, B) aligns with your business goals, C) furthers your why or mission statement to help your audience, and D) is exciting to you.

So, it’s time for the doing! This is where idea becomes action. Think about the next step you can take to get the ball rolling and turn your idea into a full-fledged thing! Write down 1 – 2 steps and start planning for them. Keep in mind, your next step doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) a big step! Just think about the next tiny step you can take to get the momentum going. 

Consider the tactical, practical steps you’ll take to begin putting the pieces together in a meaningful way.

• Do you need to pull in a team member? What will they be doing?
• Will outside contractors be needed? What’s their role?
• Is there anything you can delegate? Delete?
• Do you need to block time on the calendar to think through the project details?
• What does success look like?
• What is the timeline for this project?
• What’s the budget?

Thinking through these initial steps for project planning will help you get an even bigger idea of the resources you’ll need to move forward and make this a reality. And use the Project Planning Checklist (download it for free here!) to organize your thoughts at this stage!

Related Reading: Project Timelines: 5 Must-Have Elements to Include

Of course, this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of project planning. Doing this pre-planning step will help you narrow down your ideas so you can turn them into actionable plans and, eventually, sustainable programs, services, offerings, and products that your clients love.