Your Idea's Logline

Welcome to your very own on-line idea group. You are part of a community of creators who are all moving their ideas forward. Everyone has an idea but when you come to this site, you will find tools and tips and methods to do something about it.

Each post will offer an insight into the idea development process and end with a homework assignment. Your task is to go out there and do it! Then, report back. Share your homework and also share your process - what's working and what's not.

Before we get into this week's topic, some ground rules. If you are inspired by a member's ideas, only positive feedback please. And the other rule is about privacy. Some people love to share their ideas and some don't. Please find your own comfort level for the details you want to divulge about your idea. But again, please fully share your process - what's helping and what's holding you back - because that is often much more helpful than the specifics of any one idea. And of course, no stealing or poaching.

I am always amazed by the diversity and passion of people's ideas. And I notice, too, some common blocks.

At some point, everyone asks the question, "What now?" Whether you only have a thought or you've got your idea prototyped, how you handle this question - at any stage of the process - determines your idea's future.

Notice whether you respond to this moment with helplessness or curiosity. If it feels like a wall and not a game, there are steps you can take to dissolve it.

The first step is to be extremely clear about what your idea is. For example, Lynn writes that she wants to sell sprouts in Mexico. But what's the product or service? Does she want to start a sprout farm, be the middleman selling someone else's sprouts, or become the Julia Child of sprouts and write a cookbook. Depending on the passions and resources of the creator, a choice must be made, at least to begin with. Being specific about your idea always helps clarify next steps.

Therefore, in this first post, I ask you to write a logline for your idea.

(Everyone's ideas are at different levels so if you've already made a prototype or developed it further, try revisiting this step to see if you can discover a new way of thinking about your idea.)

Some of you may have heard of the word, logline. If not, it's how movie people sum up their films in one sentence. Here's a logline for one of the most successful films of the last decade... A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea. Can you guess the movie? The Titanic.

For example, this on-line idea group began as an idea. My goal is to create "an online group to help move its members' ideas forward". Pretty simple, right? It shouldn't be complicated. Elements to include are the product, the buyer, and the juice that brings the two together.

It may take pages and pages of journaling about your idea to come up with it. Another woman wrote that she wanted to make handmade soaps and offer women who can't work outside the home the opportunity to package them. Is she in the soap business? Or the franchise business?Is she marketing to spas or mothers?

Once you've written this, you must embody your logline. I recommend finding some privacy and speaking your logline as loudly as you can, editing it if necessary until it feels just right.

Record yourself speaking it. Let go of any self-consciousness. Remember, it's not about you and your vocal quality...it's about your idea.

This process of naming your idea out loud is a powerful one and will help carry your vision through the ether to all the invisible forces that support us in manifesting our dreams. Sing your idea into being. Record it, dance it, write it on the mirror in your bathroom. Gather it from your own essence and bring it forth so you can examine it. Read it like a rune. Revel in it.

In the next post, we will look at how to take this logline and flesh it out into an effective business plan or proposal.

Week 1 - Homework Assignment

1. Write your idea's logline and speak it out loud.

Some thoughts - call your own phone and leave it on the answering machine, go to the woods or beach and scream it out to mother nature. Vocalize it in an unexpected way. Have fun with it. Then, let us know how it affected you.

Normally there will only be one homework topic but since we're beginning, please also write down and share with the group one goal you would like to accomplish by the end of the 6 weeks. You may find that this gets edited over the next few weeks but carve out a starting goal for yourself.

Best,

Susie Arnett

Idea Coach