95. There Are No Bad Ideas: How to Turn Excitement Into Business Growth
Have you ever had a great idea that excited you, only to have your brain start questioning everything? The truth is, this excitement is actually a sign of a great idea. We often doubt ourselves when it comes to pursuing new ideas, but what if there were no bad ideas? Instead of overthinking, we can embrace our excitement and use it as a tool to fuel business growth.
In this episode, I share why there truly are no bad ideas and how to trust your excitement to move you forward. I’ll walk you through how to harness that initial burst of energy and start to turn it into a clear plan for business growth. You’ll hear how changing your mindset from fear of failure to trust in your ideas will open doors to new opportunities and momentum in your business.
If you’ve been feeling stuck or unsure about your ideas, this episode will help you understand why trusting your intuition and taking action is the fastest way to learn and grow. You don’t need to be afraid of “bad ideas” or wasting time. Just keep experimenting, and you’ll get closer to the success you want.
If you're looking for the right environment to start your networking journey, look no further than my group, the Mom Entrepreneur’s Circle.
Sign up here for mutual support, advice sharing, and the tools you need for both you and your business to thrive.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
The importance of trusting your intuition when making business decisions.
Why taking action, not overthinking, is the key to growth.
How to move from fear of failure to excitement about your ideas.
The mindset shift that helps you stop second-guessing and start moving forward.
Why experimenting and learning are more valuable than trying to find the “perfect” idea.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
Click here for step-by-step instructions to leave a rating and review to let me know what you think, and don’t forget to share the podcast with others who you think would benefit!
Ready for clarity and a simple action plan to get your business started? Schedule a free 1-hour consultation with me here!
Episodes Related to Turning Excitement Into Business Growth:
Full Episode Transcript:
And honestly, that's a big part of my job as a coach, to help bring out those ideas that are already inside of you. Maybe the ones that you don't even know exist. To remind you that taking action and experimenting is the fastest way to learn.
And to reassure you that nothing you try is ever wasted. Even if something on the surface looks like a bad idea, it's just a great learning experience. You're always exactly where you need to be.
Welcome to How to Quit Your Job, the podcast for moms ready to ditch the nine-to-five and build a life and business they love. I’m your host, Jenna Rykiel. Let’s go.
Hi, Mom friends. This is episode 95 of the How to Quit Your Job podcast. And I am coming to you live with a fresh haircut. I just got back from the salon, and this is the first time that I've ever gone to a proper haircutting place. I've always gone to Great Clips and Floyd's, if you know what those are.
And I feel like such an adult. And I just wanted to share that. I cut off eight inches, and I'm going to donate it. And if you've never seen me before, then that probably means nothing to you, but just to say my hair is a lot shorter, and I'm feeling so light and fresh.
So I wanted to share that. I was feeling inspired to share that. But today, I want to talk about not just hair, but I want to talk about your beautiful brain and the wealth of great ideas it has. I've done a few podcast episodes on ideas, usually how to decide on a business idea, the one that's right for you. I know episode 72 and episode 35 both come to mind for that.
But today, I want to talk about something a little different. I want to talk about how our brains are actually incapable of coming up with a bad idea. Hot take, I know.
But I talk to too many moms who are so afraid that they'll do the wrong thing, that they'll choose the wrong idea, that they'll invest time in something that won't work. And that fear stops them from exploring and experimenting at all. So today, I want us to try on a new thought. What if there were no bad ideas? I'm going to tell you how this concept came to me. I'm going to give you some examples of why I think this is true. And I'll even address the arguments against it. And by the end, I think I'll convince you.
I'm sure you've had this experience where you suddenly feel really excited about an idea. It could be anything: a trip your family should take, a way to simplify your home life, or maybe even something bigger, like an exciting business idea. You feel excited. You can see how it might work. You start imagining the possibilities. And for a moment, it feels really good. And then your brain kicks in, and suddenly it starts telling you all the reasons why it won't work.
I truly believe that the moment of excitement is always a sign of a good idea. When we feel that spark in our body, even if it's just for a second, that's intuition speaking before the fear shows up. And I think we need to spend more time listening to that. This came up recently in a coaching session with a client who is still exploring different business ideas. She hasn't landed on one yet, so she's in the phase of experimenting and figuring out what lights her up. She had a list of things she could try, and she told me she was worried about whether the things on her list were a waste of time.
She was worried about if spending time and energy in any one place with any one person, doing any one thing was a bad idea. And I told her something that might sound a little naive. I told her, "Nothing is a waste of time." Because when we say something was a waste of time, what we're really saying is it was a failure. But I talk about this a lot on the podcast. There is no failure. There's only learning. If she invests time and energy exploring something and eventually chooses a different direction, that time still got her closer to the business she's aligned with.
Action always teaches us something. Inaction teaches us nothing. Here's where it gets really important and interesting. When we start worrying that something might be a bad idea or a waste of time, we almost create that result for ourselves. Let's say you're considering going to a networking event, but you start thinking, what if I don't meet anyone helpful? Or what if I don't get any clients? What if it's awkward? Suddenly you're comparing it to everything else you could be doing with your time. I could use that time folding laundry or catching up on work or putting the kids to bed. And now your brain is spinning.
And when your brain is spinning, you feel distracted, maybe anxious, maybe doubtful. So you go to the event, but you're not really present. You're quieter than usual. You don't introduce yourself to many people. You might even leave early. And then the result is, well, that was a waste of time. But it wasn't the event itself. It was the thought that it might be a waste of time that led you to being distracted and quieter than usual at the event.
Now, let's flip it. You hear about the networking event and you think, "Oh, that sounds fun." You feel excited. And later when your brain tries to second guess it or the event actually is approaching, you lose that excitement. But you remind yourself, "I was excited about this when I signed up. Jenna said there are no bad ideas." And so you go. But this time your thought is, "This is a good idea. This is the best way for me to be spending my time."
I want you to actually feel that in your body. This is a good idea. I know we're talking about hypotheticals, but I want you to think about how it feels to think something is a good idea versus a bad idea. So you think, "This is a good idea." And from that thought, you feel open, curious, maybe a little bit energized. And from that energy, you go to the event and you introduce yourself to more people. You ask questions, you stay after to talk, and suddenly the event was worth your time. You met more people, you got more out of it, you were curious, you learned more.
But the event itself was the same. It's a different thought leading up to the event which creates a different result. I actually experienced this exact thing myself. So there's a mom's business networking group that meets once a month in Denver. And one month I went and I was feeling really overwhelmed that morning. I had a lot to do and was wondering if I should even go to the event, if it was the best use of my time.
And when I got there, I was in such a weird, negative energy. There was a speaker talking about marketing and I judged everything the speaker said. I didn't stay to talk to anyone. I rushed out, and I just thought to myself, this was such a waste of time.
And honestly, that mood followed me home. I was so irritated and bummed that the event was a waste of time that I mean, and this wasn't directly related to me thinking about the event, but I accidentally backed my car into the garage door. Long story, but it was super overwhelming, and really the whole day became a downward spiral. Then we fast forward to the next month.
Same event, but I showed up in a completely different energy. I raised my hand during the discussion. I stayed after to chat with people and meet people. I was calm and present. I was listening, and, you know, I was chatting with people afterwards, and actually the leaders of the group, who I hadn't really known or met personally, they came up to me and asked me to present at a future meeting.
And this is such an amazing opportunity because everybody in that group is my ideal client. They're all moms who are starting businesses. And so this speaking opportunity is such an amazing opportunity, and that never would have happened the first time I went to this event. It just wouldn't have happened. So it's the same event, different outcome. I left that event knowing, wow, that was such a good use of my time. I got a speaking engagement out of it with all of my ideal clients.
So after talking to that client that I mentioned earlier, I really started seeing this pattern everywhere and how often it shows up. I spoke with a mom last week in the Mom Entrepreneur Circle who had been trying to plan an event for months for her business. She would get excited about an idea, she'd pick a topic, pick a date, and then she would second guess herself and change everything. And this happened over and over again. So nothing ever happened. The events didn't happen. And I told her, "What if we just assumed every idea was a good idea?"
And we talked about that for a little bit, but if we assume that, then we stop debating whether something is a good idea, and instead we actually just execute. And yes, sometimes we discover that what we thought was a great idea turns into a great learning experience, but that's still valuable. It's far better than trying to figure everything out in your head before taking action.
And I've actually been living this lesson myself recently. I'm planning a retreat for my clients, a summer camp vibe in the Rocky Mountains now that we're out here in Colorado. It's something fun and lighthearted, but also focused on business growth and strategy and moving everybody forward. And when the idea first came to me, I was sick to my stomach with excitement. It was actually something I have never experienced before, being so overwhelmed with excitement that I felt sick.
I couldn't stop thinking about this event. I immediately found the perfect venue and immediately started taking action and was just on a roll. And then a week passed and life got busy. And when I came back to working on the flyer and putting together the details, suddenly my brain started questioning everything.
Would moms actually want this? Is summer too busy? Is this even a good idea? The excitement had faded. And actually, then when I started thinking about the event, I felt a little sick to my stomach in a not excited way, but actually in like an anxious, stressed way. But thankfully, the original excitement had been so strong that I could remember it clearly.
And I realized something important. The idea itself didn't change. Only my thoughts about the idea changed. If I hadn't remembered that initial excitement, I probably would have quietly filed this away into the maybe someday category. And how many great ideas die there?
And this happened again recently with something totally unrelated to business, rock climbing. A client told me she had started bouldering and loved it. She said when she was on the rock, the rest of the world disappears. And that really stuck with me because lately I've been trying to find a form of exercise that works with some of my current health restrictions.
I'm working with a health coach and there are a few things that I need to get in order, a few numbers, health-wise. Running and Peloton are off the table. Pilates I tried, and it isn't recommended right now. Yoga's fine, but it doesn't give me that same mental reset that running and the Peloton did. So one day I thought, maybe I should try rock climbing. And I was so excited about it.
My husband and I worked out a schedule where I'd have two hours to go for it one Sunday morning, but then Sunday morning came and suddenly my brain was like, you've never done this before. You're going alone. You'll look silly. You don't know what you're doing. It was incredibly intimidating. But since I've been creating notes for this episode and I've been having these conversations with my clients, I remembered those conversations and I thought to myself, "If I was excited about this idea yesterday, it means it's a good idea." And so I went.
And honestly, it was a little awkward. The guy at the front desk gave me shoes and basically said, "Go for it," and I had no idea what I was doing. But I did it anyway, and it turned out to be such a good idea. I had fun. I listened to music and a podcast while I was climbing. Yes, there were eight-year-olds next to me scaling the wall like spiders while I struggled on the beginner routes, but I left feeling really good. My arms were sore for days and my mind felt completely clear. It's like I have found something that was my own that I could spend time doing and feel really good about.
If this is showing up in my life on a regular basis, I know there are ideas that you are getting excited about and then almost immediately poo-pooing on. I want you to take note when you feel excited, and even when that excitement fades, I want you to take a closer look at the original excitement that you felt, and I want you to listen to it.
So let's take a quick second and talk about bad ideas. If you're someone who tends to take action quickly and it sometimes doesn't work out, even if you take action slowly and it doesn't work out, it doesn't mean you have bad ideas. It actually means one of two things. Either it's a great learning experience, which is always beneficial, or it might just mean the execution of the idea needs adjusting.
Your brain is incredible. Every mom I talk to has such a beautiful brain. I just spoke with a mom yesterday who had so many ideas for her business and her life, and I was so inspired by her and her brain. I know you don't need better ideas. You don't need someone to give you ideas. You just need to unlock the ones already inside of you and trust yourself enough to try them. And honestly, that's a big part of my job as a coach, to help bring out those ideas that are already inside of you, maybe the ones that you don't even know exist. To remind you that taking action and experimenting is the fastest way to learn.
And to reassure you that nothing you try is ever wasted. Even if something on the surface looks like a bad idea, it's just a great learning experience. You're always exactly where you need to be. And very often, you're right on the edge of a breakthrough.
There are three ways that I support moms on this journey. The first is free resources. This podcast, worksheets, workbooks, free trainings that I host throughout the year. I want you to dig into those resources. They are there for you to experiment and test and learn. They are there to ignite those great ideas in you. None of them are ever a waste of time because they will absolutely get you thinking differently and moving forward.
The second is my Mom Entrepreneur Circle. It's a free group coaching space where moms come together every other week to get support, inspiration, and real-time coaching.
And the third, and my favorite, of course, is one-on-one coaching, where I work with moms very closely to get you the time and energy you need to dream and build, and then we create the plan and go do it.
So if you're sitting on an idea right now, something that excited you once, but that your brain has started questioning, know that there are plenty of options for support out there for you to act on that great idea. All it takes is just believing that it's a great idea because you once felt excited about it. And then dig into all the things that are out there, all the resources, all the support that can help you to build momentum.
And if you aren't sure what to do or what's the best next step, you aren't sure which is the best good idea, just keep listening to this podcast. Subscribe, follow the podcast, download the resources, attend a free training, join the Free Mom Entrepreneur Circle as a way to dip your toe into support and build up opportunities to build momentum for yourself.
I want you to remember this. Your ideas are too good not to act on. And there are no bad ideas, only ideas that lead you to the next one.
Okay, moms, I hope I've convinced you. You have a beautiful brain with great ideas. Let's act on them. Have a great rest of the week, and I will see you next time.
Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. If you want to learn more about how I can help you stop making excuses and start making moves, head on over to www.jenna.coach. I’ll see you next week.
Enjoy the Show?
Don’t miss an episode, follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or RSS.