The Yellow Pad: An Entrepreneur’s First and Best Tool
Just over a decade ago, Rod Jorgensen began teaching our 13-week NxLeveL for Entrepreneurs course by telling the business-owner attendees to carry a Yellow Pad wherever they went. He elaborated on the importance of capturing every idea onto paper. Writing down new ideas does several things:
- It clears your head and makes room for more ideas
- It captures a thought or idea that may very well become a starting or stepping stone to something great
- It sparks action into play
I carry one of those bible-size Franklin planners wherever I go. My personal motto behind my madness, “if it’s written, it gets done.” People tease me, and I laugh with them, but I sleep better at night because the things I need to remember and some of my new ideas are written down.
Scott Armstrong, GOT DIBBS?
So anyway, I haven’t had to think much about the Yellow Pad myself. But last week I attended a lecture on Entrepreneurs and Social Media delivered by Scott Armstrong, and the Yellow Pad resurfaced. Scott is one of these guys who reeks passion about innovation, entrepreneurship, economic development, and allegiance to northern Nevada. Scott is one of his team’s founders of Dibbs, an innovative mobile application that keeps me in touch with what’s happening in my community.
In Scott’s presentation, he bounced back and forth about the company, the new technology, social media, and his joys and pains of living his life as an entrepreneur. He is one of the most decent people I’ve ever listened to. His advice was as real as he was. Among the expert advice Scott shared was his strong recommendation to write things down and to carry a pad of paper everywhere you go! He told us Dibbs began as an idea, and this new technology is a fine example of what could have been lost had it not been scribbled down with on-going thoughts, ideas, and brain-storms. Scott went on to tell us about the huge white-board in his living room, and seeing the progression of daily thoughts was essential to move his ideas, and those of his team, forward.
Scott and his team have developed a technology that has more than 8,000 users in a short couple of months. Scott IS an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. Dibbs grows exponentially, and I believe that Scott, his amazing team of innovators and entrepreneurs, and Dibbs will become household names in the near future. And Scott will continue to carry his notepad with him.
Do you know of people who talk and complain that a new product hit the market, and that he/she thought of it first? Well, I’ve learned to ignore these people, because that’s all they do is talk – they don’t write it down, and they don’t follow up.
After you’ve written an idea down, ponder it and see if it goes anywhere. What have you got to lose? Nothing, but you will lose your ideas if you DON’T write them down! Take Rod and Scott’s advice – carry a Yellow Pad wherever you go, and write down your ideas – daily. This is truly a valuable step in becoming a successful entrepreneur.
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As a student, a notepad is essential to capturing the concepts of a classroom. As an employee at the Small Business Development Center, a notepad is required to keep my obligations in order. However, as a songwriter, a notebook is where thoughts turn into creations that I carry with me for the rest of my life. I’ve been writing music for years, and while I haven’t always been the most consistent with my notepad/journal/etc, I have used it enough to see how thoughts began, how songs were formed, and how I have grown as a person and a songwriter. Make note taking a habit – it will make you successful!
I have a big box of notebooks that I have used throughout the years filled with lists, plans and dreams. It’s fun to go through them every once in awhile and marvel at all the things that got done, the plans realized and dreams that have come true. Even though my new ipad makes me feel like I can conquer the world, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give up the feel of a good pen and/or pencil on those old fashioned notebooks…if only I could download that cool Dibbs app onto it. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to use both. Thanks KC for the great reminder to write it ALL down.