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I’ve recently identified a common starting point for many of my best ideas.
They all started with me pondering “I wonder what would happen if …?”
Some of my best wonderings include….
- I wonder what would happen if I put spoons in glass jars and made them into necklaces?
The answer: They sell really well for spoonies.
- I wonder what would happen if I make some membership cards and stickers for my free Facebook group?
The answer: People loved them.
- I wonder what would happen if I just started offering totally free, pitch free one hour calls?
The answer: Lots of people will sign up and you’ll get to chat to loads of awesome people.
- I wonder what would happen if we served cider at our wedding instead of wine (because we don’t like wine)?
The answer: People happily drank the cider.
- I wonder what would happen if we created a paid co-working thing?
The answer: People will sign up, get loads done and rave about it.
- I wonder what would happen if I break all the ‘rules’ and send sporadic, long emails to my list with tons of CTAs?
The answer: People love them.
Perhaps it’s my rebellious side, and perhaps it’s just wanting to experiment in a relatively low-risk way, but giving myself the permission to ‘wonder what happen if…’ has really helped me to think outside the box in a sea of same-ness. And more importantly, do business (and life!) my way, in a way that feels really fun to me.
One more important bit of information about the “I wonder what would happen if …?” game…
Give yourself permission to wonder.
You do not have to do any/all of the things you wonder!
It’s just a way to get you to think outside the box.
Some current wonderings of mine (many of which will not happen for obvious reasons):
- I wonder what would happen if I removed all my freebie opt-in forms and just gave them the things for free? (I’d have generic signup forms still if people wanted my newsletter)
- I wonder what would happen if I scrapped my nurture/welcome sequence and just pitched new subscribers in the first email for a low priced thing?
- I wonder what would happen if I made ConvertKit Club free? (V. unlikely I’d do this – but you see how I’m letting my mind roam?)
Update: This wondering inspired me to lower my membership price by 71%!
- I wonder what would happen if I had a pitch-free 30 min session booking link on my site that anyone could use about anything?
- I wonder what would happen if I stopped doing 1:1 work?
- I wonder what would happen if I only did 1:1 work?
- I wonder what would happen if I doubled/halved my rates?
- I wonder what would happen if I only hired non-business coaches/took non-business courses for a year?
If you’re not sure where to start with your wonderings… here are a couple of questions to get you going:
What do you hate about your industry and what would the complete opposite look like?
What would you like to invite more of into your life (time, connection, money, and how could you do that?
What would be the most fun thing you could imagine doing in your business?
What have been some of the best things you’ve done in your business/life so far and what common theme is there between them?
What would you love to see someone else do (and report back with their results)?
So, what can you wonder about? Which of those wonderings might you actually like to try?
I’d love for you to let me know in the comments! You never know, your idle wondering could turn into your next big idea!
