Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 02. Create Amazing Ideas for Your One-Person Business With Will Burns

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02. Create Amazing Ideas for Your One-Person Business With Will Burns · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Will Burns: And so now I'm like, oh my god. I have no pipeline. I have no revenue coming in. I have to start all over. And so there was a really testy, you know, 4 or 5 months there, where I was like, oh my god.
• 0:13
  How big a mistake is this? Is this gonna ruin this, or, can I recover? And ultimately, I did recover, but it was not easy. So the lesson learned there is diversify.
• 0:24
  Carly Ries: Bigger doesn't always mean better. Welcome to the 1 person business podcast where people who are flying solo in business come for specific tips and advice to find success as a company of 1. Here are your hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries.
• 0:44
  Carly Ries: Welcome to the 1 Person Business podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Carly Ries.
• 0:48
  Joe Rando: And I'm Joe Rando.
• 0:49
  Carly Ries: And we're interviewing another successful solopreneur today, Will Burns. Will is an advertising veteran of over 30 years, coming out of such creative hot shops as Whited and Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein and Partners, Arnold Worldwide, and MullenLowe. As business development director at Arnold Worldwide, Will pitched and won over a $1,000,000,000 in new billings for the agency and brokered a brand partnership between Paul McCartney and Fidelity. I don't know if we have time today, but I would love to hear that offline. It was at these agencies that his love for creativity and ideas was shaped and nurtured.
• 1:24
  It was also at these agencies where Will met the creative talent that now call themselves ideasicle experts on the ideasicle x platform, of which Will is currently founder and CEO. I can't wait to get into that. So, Will, welcome to the show.
• 1:37
  Will Burns: Hey. Thank you very much for having me.
• 1:39
  Carly Ries: Well, we're so excited to have you, because your business to me is just fascinating. And and not only are you a solopreneur yourself, but your business can also help solopreneurs. So can you walk us through your what your company does and the background that led you to want to be a one person business?
• 1:54
  Will Burns: Yes. So I'll start with the second half of that. As you mentioned in my bio, I've been in advertising for a long time, and it when you get more senior in the business, you start to think, you know, maybe I should start my own agency. And so you end up talking to I was an account guy, and I was talking to some creative people. I had several meetings with different aspiring entrepreneurial creative people because, typically, you you have an account guy and a creative start, and they not always, but, it's often a a good combination.
• 2:24
  And I would always ask the same question, and that is, what's gonna make this agency different? And in every situation, I got lame answers. You know? There was there was no real vision, other than something like, you know, we just wanna have a a place where people can work, and it's 9 to 5. And and and I'm like, clients aren't looking for that.
• 2:49
  That isn't a real differentiator from an agency standpoint. And so I never did start an agent you know, a traditional agency, not that the world needs one anyway. There are a million agencies out there. But when I was at Arnold in as a business development director and also innovation director, it was a very early, form of crowdsourcing that I created within the new business
• 3:15
  department, which was an intranet site that I called the innovation station, only because it rhymed. And, it was able to it was an intranet site that anyone at Arnold, and there were, like, 800 people worldwide at the time, I think.
• 3:31
  I could post a request for an idea because in new business, you need ideas and you need them now. You need them right away. You gotta pitch on Thursday, then it's an immovable object. So, I was able to post a request for an idea, and we would get, you know, a 150 people posting ideas on this Internet site. So it was it was a classic crowdsourcing thing, and we would get a lot of really bad ideas, but we would get, you know, 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 nuggets every single time that were just gold.
• 4:01
  And some were were pitch winning ideas. Wow. So it occurred to me at some point after a couple of years of of this that, you know, I've worked at some of the most creative agencies in the country. I know some of the most creative people in the country in the advertising world. What if I pointed this kind of technology towards them?
• 4:23
  I mean, there's no reason why they they all have to be from the same agency. There's no reason they have to be in the same state or or city. They can be anywhere. This is a virtual platform. What if what if I, found an off the shelf software platform and reverse engineered it to bring people together?
• 4:42
  And that's what I did, and that was very different. That, you know, that had not existed before. In fact, there, when I started this in 2010, I think we were the very first agency that actually got paid for ideas and not execution. We didn't do any execution of the ideas. We only came up with them.
• 5:02
  And, there there's a whole interesting dynamic about how clients reacted to the ideas when they're paying for them versus when they're getting them as part of a a a general time of staff fee. But that was the beginning, and it worked pretty well. Again, I we were using an off the shelf software platform, in reverse engine engineering it to our purposes, but it wasn't great. It wasn't really designed for idea generation. So over the last couple of years, I started building I got an investor, and I started building a software platform, a SaaS, that was designed from the ground up to my spec to bring teams of 4 people together virtually to come up with ideas as a team.
• 5:50
  So it's not crowdsourcing where it's going out to the unvetted masses, and they're all competing against each other for the, quote, winning idea. You could call it expert sourcing where you've got 4 people who are literally all on the same team, all helping each other, posting ideas, riffing on each other's ideas, building on on each other's ideas right on the platform, and they can do it from anywhere, which they love. And so that that pretty much brings us to today. I hope that wasn't too long an answer.
• 6:20
  Carly Ries: No. Not at all. And I think of the one of the reasons why I was drawn to this and why I think it's so fascinating
• 6:25
  is because so much of my background is agency life. I was account services. I've seen the ins and outs in multiple agencies, and this is just such a good idea.
• 6:36
  But it sounds like quite the undertaking. So I'm curious how you were able to run a company like this for 10 years as a one person business.
• 6:45
  Will Burns: Yeah. Well, you know, I think when when you start a business on your own, you have to do an inventory of your assets. You know, you have to look at, what do I have that I could leverage and be able to function as a single person entity? And what I had more than anything else was contacts. I had contacts with incredibly brilliant people who love to come up with ideas.
• 7:12
  And the other thing I had as an asset was, a real fascination with, creativity and how creativity works. I've been studying it for decades. Just the science behind creativity and what makes us more creative. I could give you a whole bunch of tips if you're interested. But the the last thing is that I was very tech savvy.
• 7:32
  I I I really enjoyed leveraging cutting edge technology to be as efficient as possible. And so you put those three things together, and what you end up with is an idea like IdeaCycle, where it's all about access to that talent using cutting edge technology to bring them together virtually, infused with my own personal passion around creativity. So it it quickly became a dream job.
• 7:59
  Joe Rando: You know, I just have to jump in, Will. I love this concept of saying, you know, what's gonna make this agency different leading you to the path of this incredibly unique idea? I just think that's an amazing story and an amazing journey. I'm gonna give it a Boston wicked awesome. Wow.
• 8:18
  Will Burns: That's high praise. That is high praise.
• 8:20
  Carly Ries: Oh, boy. that's a real thing, I guess. It's not just for the show as people do say that.
• 8:27
  Will Burns: Oh, it's real. Okay.
• 8:28
  Carly Ries: I need to educate myself. And, Will, you were saying that you you have all these contacts. Is there a reason you never brought anybody on full time? Like, why did you decide to stay small?
• 8:39
  Will Burns: Because I didn't have to bring anybody on. You know? I mean, part of this is I didn't want it to be complex. I didn't wanna have to go out and, get this is going back now to 2,010 when I first started this thing. I didn't want the complexity of other owners.
• 8:55
  I didn't want the complexity of investors. I just wanted to go try this, and I had a client who was willing to to start working with me right out of the chute, and that was helpful. So maybe it was a fear of complexity, but it it wasn't like I I was driven to be alone and work alone. It was more I wanted this to cost the least amount possible in order to give it the the the most, chance of succeeding. And so, you know, it's been 10 years now, and I I still don't have an employee.
• 9:31
  That could change as this new platform grows and scales, and I I certainly hope it does. But, for right now, it's been 11 years and counting as a sole employee of this company.
• 9:44
  Carly Ries: That's amazing. And and speaking of growing, and as this new platform continues to do so, how do you position yourself in the market? Because you agencies aren't really your competitors anymore. It was born from your agency life. But how do you how do you position yourself in the market?
• 10:02
  Will Burns: I position the company, well, the tagline is nothing is unthinkable. And that I love that because it's infused with attitude that, you know, nothing is unthinkable post whatever comes to your mind. The rest of the team will will build on that. But I really try to position the company as a, a new way to come up with better ideas, more ideas, more economically than ever before. And I'm positioning it to the advertising space right now, but there's really no reason why it's only for advertising other than I just happen to know that marketplace.
• 10:39
  It could easily be used in Hollywood. It could be used in, science, research, engineering. I could see political campaigns using this as a quick way to get ideas in response to something hap that happens on a campaign. But for right now, I'm I'm positioning it to the advertising world as a better way to come up with ideas than using the traditional freelance route of a couple people that come into the office for a week, and there isn't a lot of visibility into that. It's very expensive with their day rates.
• 11:13
  And with this, model, you get 4 people working on the problem, not just 2, and for a lot less money than you would have even paid the 2, were they to come into the office because it's so much fun. You know? All the the the experts love it because they can do it from anywhere. They can work on multiple projects at a time. It it kind of eliminates all the BS of the business and allows them to do what they love most, which is just come up with ideas.
• 11:41
  So, yeah, I think that's how I'm positioning it at least for now.
• 11:45
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Well and with your marketing background, how are you getting people to ideas at goal? What is your lead gen strategy at this point?
• 11:53
  Will Burns: It's a couple things. For starters, it's, well, doing podcasts like this is is always helpful, so thank you. But it's also just social media. I try to do a lot of content development and, I do that through the the website on our blog. I write about the platform quite a bit, but I write about creativity in general as well.
• 12:14
  I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and Twitter, Facebook, a little bit on Instagram. But then the other going back to, you know, what are your assets? I do happen to know a lot of people in advertising, and so it's not hard for me to get meetings where I can at least introduce the concept to, to someone at an agency, and then it hopefully escalates from there. So right now, it's it's pretty organic, honestly. And I'm not doing any paid, social media or advertising or, anything like that right now.
• 12:47
  Though that could, again, that could change next year.
• 12:50
  Carly Ries: Okay. So you have a pretty big network. It sounds like you're in contact with people all the time. But something that that a lot of people struggle with as they have their one person business is just feeling lonely and isolation. Do you have any advice for people going through that, and how to combat it?
• 13:10
  Will Burns: You know, I never really feel lonely because I'm so in my head, and and and my whole life revolves around coming up with ideas that I find that so enjoyable that I don't this sounds terrible, but but I I really don't miss, you know, a a big organization with a lot of people personally. So I guess my advice would be if what you're doing is and this is so cliche, but it's true. But if if what you're doing is in line with who you are, then that can take the place of, any any social needs. And there are other ways to do it too. You can go to, conventions.
• 13:55
  You can, meet up on social media. That can that can sort of take a lot of that that social mechanism, or at least relieve that a little bit. Go out with friends a lot. One one rule of thumb I have, and this is sort of like a almost a spiritual thing. But it's like if anybody and I should probably be careful who I tell this, but if anybody asked me to go to lunch or go out for a drink or whatever, I always say yes.
• 14:25
  Because you you have to believe that somehow the universe has conspired to get that person to call me, and there's some reason behind it. You may it may not be apparent when they we first call. Like, why on earth would I meet with this person for an hour and a half? But the fact that they reached out is enough for me that I need to go find out why they called.
• 14:47
  Carly Ries: Yeah. it's funny. Well, you said something, and I'm gonna, butcher it based off, like, compared to what you said, but you basically said would do something that aligns with your personality. And I feel like that should be a bumper sticker.
• 15:00
  I feel like that can make everybody's life so much easier. So it's 11 years. It's been a success, but what is something you wish you would have known ahead of time before starting this journey?
• 15:12
  Will Burns: Yeah. I made a a huge mistake, early on, and that was I got kind of addicted to a client. So it was the very same client I was referring to earlier who agreed to go with me when I first started ideasicle, the original version. And they gave us a lot of business. It was AMD, the chip maker in, Austin.
• 15:35
  I can't remember. But they're, they gave us a ton of business, like a couple of projects, a month, which was great. And I got so used to that, I took it for granted and did less marketing to to fill the pipeline, and it was, you know, more than paying the bills just as one client. And then the woman who hired IdeaCycle was let go, and then the whole thing, was gone. And so now I'm like, oh my god.
• 16:03
  I have no pipeline. I have no revenue coming in. I have to start all over. And so there was a really testy, you know, 4 or 5 months there, where I was like, oh my god. How big a mistake is this?
• 16:15
  Is this gonna ruin this?
• 16:18
  Can I recover? And, ultimately, I did recover, but it was not easy. So the lesson learned there is diversify. If if you're in a service business, no matter how big that first client is or any client, you know, at any stage, it doesn't have to be a first one, but just don't get too addicted to one client.
• 16:37
  Carly Ries: Gosh. That is such good advice. And I I don't think people listen do that enough. They they it's almost like
• 16:43
  Carly Ries: they don't they think they have a safety net with that one client. And, like, as you said, once that goes away, poof.
• 16:49
  Will Burns: Yeah. And it's sort of it's ego as well. It's like you you you're feeling so good about yourself that you got this big client, and and instead of worrying about losing it, you you start multiplying it. So I'd say I just need to get 3 or 4 more like this and and we'll we'll be good to go, and then all of a sudden it's gone. And you're like, oh my god. I took that way too much for granted.
• 17:10
  Carly Ries: Well, and I mean, especially coming from agency life where if you lose a client, it's not like you lose a client. Like, you don't really feel the brunt of it. The agency does. But you as a person, it's it's easy to not get extremely attached, but as a one person business, it's everything.
• 17:25
  Will Burns: Well, you know what? You bring up a really interesting point. I remember when I first started ideasicle, people would ask me, isn't that really stressful to have your own business? And I'd be like, yes. And in fact, it's more stressful than agency life, but it's stress that you can control.
• 17:43
  Carly Ries: Mhmm.
• 17:43
  Will Burns: And that's the difference. And to me, that's a very, I mean, stress isn't isn't always healthy. But if you're gonna have stress, have it be stress that is in your control because it'll motivate you. You know, stress becomes no longer, you know, getting painted into a corner and completely out of your control. Like with the agency life, it was, you know, the office politics.
• 18:05
  Or if you lose an account to your point earlier, you could get fired even if you're the best account guy in the history of the world just because the revenue isn't there. So those things are out of your control, and they cause a lot of stress and angst. However, if you're a one man band, company, if you're not making enough money, you can't be looking around and and and for somebody to blame. It's all on you. Yeah.
• 18:29
  But that is also the motivation. That is the source of motivation. That that fear and stress is what drives the entrepreneur and actually excites them to the point where they are are driven to go out and and make more and and be successful. Mhmm.
• 18:45
  Carly Ries: Absolutely. Yeah. And I like how you you take stress and you can turn it into a positive. So so speaking of positives, what is your favorite thing about running a one person business and least favorite thing?
• 18:56
  Will Burns: Oh, wow. I think my favorite thing is the the complete and utter autonomy. I love being able to craft the ideasicle X brand the way I want to and not have to answer to anyone. I want it to be my brand. And, eventually, I'm gonna have to let go a little bit if if things, go well, and and that's fine.
• 19:20
  But that just happens to be one of the things I love about, being a solopreneur, I think, is what you the way you put it. Yeah. I think let's see. My least favorite I I I you know, honestly, and this is gonna sound contradictory, but just not knowing, you you know, you can't really project at least in my business model right now, you can't really project revenue. It's all project work.
• 19:44
  And so, I don't like that because it it creates an unpleasant stress. But, again, doing a jujitsu move on that stress and and turning it into strength and turning it into motivation, It's an it doesn't make it likable, but it does make it, useful, I guess.
• 20:06
  Carly Ries: It helps you embrace the uncertainty.
• 20:09
  Will Burns: Yeah. I would go further and say it helps you attack uncertainty.
• 20:14
  Carly Ries: Oh, I love that.
• 20:14
  Will Burns: Like, you don't wanna embrace uncertainty because then it stays with you and it feels love. I'd rather attack uncertainty so that, you know, you slay it like a dragon and you build more and more certainty over time.
• 20:28
  Carly Ries: You just created another bumper sticker, FYI.
• 20:32
  Will Burns: I'm full of them.
• 20:32
  Carly Ries: Good. So when we were talking offline, you mentioned that your wife actually came up with the name ideasicle. How do you separate work your work life and your personal life as a one person business?
• 20:46
  Will Burns: Yeah. It's purely mental because, when I work at home and my wife works and and she's not at home, so that makes it a little easier. I have a son who's living at home now, and he works from home one day a week. I have another son who's in high school. So he's, you know, at school most of the day.
• 21:07
  So during the day, just physically, you know, I really enjoy working from home. I can my office could be in the basement. It could be in the living room. It could be in the family room. It could be out in the back patio.
• 21:19
  And and I really enjoy that that the whole house is my office. I think that the, you know, the other thing that's just inherent in being a a solo entrepreneur is that you're never really not working or and and that doesn't necessarily mean you're on your laptop cranking on something Mhmm. But you're always thinking about it. And and in fact, you know, creativity happens when it damn well pleases. You know, it's not something that you can force.
• 21:50
  And so when you're as obsessed as a solopreneur is in their business, in in in that category, you can't help but interact with things in the real world that trigger ideas in the wealth of knowledge that you have in your head. And so ideas are constantly happening when you least expect them, and that's great. You know, there's no that's not a problem. That's a a huge opportunity. But to your point about separating work, and home life, there there there is some separation physically, but for me, it's all the same.
• 22:25
  Like, even you know, having dinner, a family dinner, you know, somebody my son might say something and I'd be like, oh my god. That could be really cool for ideasicle x. What if we and then all of a sudden, we're all talking about my job. You know? So it's it's I I don't really necessarily feel like it's healthy or not healthy. it's all blended together. It's big mush. It's all in a Cuisinart.
• 22:49
  Carly Ries: well, I'm so glad you had the differentiator between separating it, but also making a point that it doesn't mean you have to be on your computer. And I think that that's what some people think is they think they need to be online 247, but I personally have actually gotten my biggest ideas come when I'm not online and when I'm taking my dog for a walk. So I'm so glad you said that because it is hard to separate them, but that doesn't mean you're head down with your laptop 24/7.
• 23:19
  Will Burns: Yes. And quick creative tip. There was a study done that proved that when people are walking and you could be walking outside, inside, on a treadmill, it doesn't matter. Just the act of walking, you increase your creativity by 40%.
• 23:33
  Carly Ries: Wow. That yeah. I mean, I believe it just from Yeah. No. It's true.
• 23:37
  My own experience.
• 23:39
  Will Burns: When I first saw that study a few years ago, I started walking every single day, and I've probably missed 4 days in in in all that time.
• 23:46
  Carly Ries: That's great. Yeah. And, Joe, I know you're great at getting out for runs. it's just something you have to bake into your day.
• 23:53
  So since you work from home and your sons are at home and your wife's home and you kinda move around the house, how do you stay focused? What is your advice for people that may not have that discipline, to to tune all of that out if more people are at home?
• 24:08
  Will Burns: Yeah. I I guess what I would suggest is to think of work, as a series of bursts. So don't think about working all day. That's overwhelming, and it's kinda hard to get your head around. Think about working in concentrated bursts, and you can even schedule them.
• 24:28
  But sometimes I'll do that. I'll I'll it'll be something like I I've got some legal stuff I gotta do, and I don't wanna do it. I keep putting it off. I'll put it in my calendar between 10 and 11:30. This is going to be the legal burst, and I'm just gonna I'm gonna do it.
• 24:42
  I'm not gonna do it until it actually starts. But once it starts, I'm going to find a place and I'm gonna crank on it and I'm gonna get it done. And then what what that does is sort of compartmentalizes your day and things you need to get done. And if you think about them in a in a burst, it feels energetic. It feels like, okay.
• 25:04
  I'm gonna get get psyched up for this, but I don't have to do it right now. I'm gonna do it starting at that time, and then I'm gonna go nuts until it's done. I think that that might be helpful because you can also tune you can't half do stuff. You know what I mean? Like, if you have a lot of distractions, and and you think of your workday as a full day, then you're probably also communicates to yourself that this is the time to do this.
• 25:32
  But it also communicates to yourself that this is the time to do this. And you can go find a spot, and that could be part of it. You know, find an enjoy enjoyable spot to do the legal crap that you don't wanna do. But, yeah, that I guess that's what I would suggest is to think of the day in bursts.
• 25:51
  Joe Rando: I think they call that time boxing where you take a certain amount of time, put it on your calendar, and say I'm working on this. And it's you know, believed to be a very effective way of being more productive and and more focused and keeping you off of, Facebook or whatever.
• 26:07
  Will Burns: Oh, that's a good point.
• 26:08
  Joe Rando: Yeah. Drug of choice.
• 26:11
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Guilty. Well, how do you so that that sounds like an efficient process for getting your stuff done and staying focused. How do you manage your business processes?
• 26:23
  Do you have tools that you use? How how do you go about that?
• 26:27
  Will Burns: Yeah. I mean, I try to either outsource or or use tools that I'm able to to, use myself. So, like, for example, for accounting, I have an accountant that I trust and I I love. And but I use QuickBooks for all of the the billing, and I'm able to do that myself. I like to do as much as of the the actual work as I possibly can, myself and and and not have to pay, to do it.
• 26:57
  And and this has just been ingrained in me for the last 10 years since I started, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I didn't wanna get investment money, I didn't wanna it complicated. I wanted to do as much as I possibly could myself. And so, for me, I try to keep the business as simple as possible. So, and and that help that reduces processes. So we're we don't do any execution of the ideas.
• 27:20
  We only come up with the ideas themselves. That means, the the the most sophisticated tool I need to manifest my product is Keynote or PowerPoint. You know, because I gotta bring to life the ideas that we come up with in a way that is convincing and compelling for a a customer. So I try I, you know, I I just try to keep it as simple as possible.
• 27:44
  Carly Ries: You seem to have such a clear vision for what you want your company to accomplish, and I feel like that's something that a lot of people feel out there. They get pulled in various directions and can't really streamline, what they wanna do. Do you find what what are some other mistakes you think some solarpreneurs do, when they first get started?
• 28:04
  Will Burns: Yeah. Maybe, maybe maybe listen too much, to to other people who don't have a vested interest in in the business. I I I think it's really important if you're a one person business to trust your instincts. Mhmm. That you know way more than you would ever give yourself credit for.
• 28:30
  And as soon as you can kind of pass through that phase of of second guessing yourself constantly and always, I'm not saying not to go out and get advice. Get advice for sure and and and bounce things around. But in the end, trust your your gut. Like, you know, you care more and you know more about your business than anyone on earth. And as a result of that, you are the most qualified to make important decisions.
• 29:00
  And so don't don't, you know, don't look for validation on what you know inside is right. It'll take a lot a lot of time. It'll dumb down the ideas, and it it's just I don't think is necessary. Just trust your instincts.
• 29:17
  Carly Ries: Would you say that was your biggest moment as a one person business, or was there something else?
• 29:25
  Will Burns: I think the the the moment was a little bit more granular for me in that, as I mentioned, when I started ideasicle, it was a closed system. Meaning, I had, I was using some software, but the the customers didn't know how I did what I did, really. They just knew that it was a a bunch of very creative people that I was tapping into. They worked in teams of 4, and I would manage that whole process. It was totally invisible to the to the client.
• 29:55
  And I would come back with really, you know, nice ideas that are nicely presented and all that kind of stuff. So the the epiphany for me though was when I was, you know, thinking about building the software platform for me to make my process better, it hit me that, oh my god. If I did this, that means anybody could use this platform and tap into these people. And then all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, this is how I'm gonna scale this. Rather than trying to build this as a proprietary agency where you come to us and we come up with ideas, present them, and then we go away, it can become a way for anybody, in the world to subscribe and then have access to the same people or their own people or whomever to come up with ideas in teams of 4 like our our model prescribes, and and do it, you know, efficiently and and effectively.
• 30:49
  So to me, that was the the biggest moment is when I realized, oh, I'm building something more than just for me. It could be for everybody.
• 30:57
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Absolutely. So speaking of moments, you said your What was your first I've got this moment?
• 31:06
  Will Burns: I think when I landed my first investor, someone who and and this is for the the current platform. I got an investor to help me out to pay the developing costs. And, you know, the the success of that pitch and having that investor, believe in me and believe in the the product, was a very, very satisfying feeling because, you know, I I believe in this idea. I was trusting my instincts, trusting my guts. But, at the same time, here we have somebody with money who now also believes in it with me.
• 31:46
  And to me, that was, that was when I got this moment for sure.
• 31:49
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Very validating. So just to circle back with the the previous question, you're talking about trust your gut, not always listening to other people. But when you do listen to other people, what was the best piece of advice you received that helped you on your solo journey?
• 32:06
  Will Burns: I think I would go back to when I was in high school, and it was my dad's advice because I I was I was into a lot of things. I was in the marching band. Yes. I was in a marching band. Okay.
• 32:22
  I was playing golf. I was playing soccer. I was hockey play I I I was into music and writing songs, and I was just doing all kinds of stuff, which was cool. But he pulled me aside one day and he said, Will, what if what if you focused on one thing? Because you you're really good at a lot of things, but what if you focused on one thing this summer and try to get great at it?
• 32:47
  And I was like, that's a cool idea. And I was working at a golf course at the time, so I was like, alright. I'm gonna focus on golf. For the next 3 months, I'm gonna play every day or every day that I can. And I got to be really, really good at golf, and that lesson taught me the power of focusing, and and you can see it in the manifestation of this idea.
• 33:09
  I did not want to junk this up. I didn't want it to become all kinds of different things. I wanted it to be one thing and one thing only and then do that incredibly well. And that's what idea is, I think.
• 33:24
  Carly Ries: Well, well, your dad sounds like a a wise man, and it sounds like he sent you on quite the trajectory. Excuse me.
• 33:31
  Will Burns: Yeah. It's one of the things you remember. Right?
• 33:33
  Carly Ries: Oh, yeah. So bizarre too. So while we're getting down to some of the last few questions that I have for you, But what you what would you say your favorite resources for people who are starting, a one person business?
• 33:49
  Will Burns: I think at least from my perspective, it's your contacts is is is the most important resource. And whether those contacts are, people that you trust that may be able to provide a service that can help you stay alone, if that makes sense, that that you can outsource things to, or maybe their contacts that might be able to provide leads for you for for sales, who I I guess my point is that the the people who know you the best are going to represent you the best in in the marketplace. So, I would, you know, try to figure out who those people are and then figure out how you can leverage them because one of the things I've discovered is that people really, really want to help. You know? When they see somebody who's doing something cool, all they wanna do is be a part of it.
• 34:47
  And and that and you can leverage that and assume that in people, and there'll be some people that won't, that won't be helpful and and don't have a good attitude about it. But a great majority of people I find, and I'm the same way. I love to help people, you know, that that call me if they're looking for a job or they have a kid who's looking for a job or they have a new business and they want some marketing help. I do that all the time, and I I enjoy it. And I think it's good for your karma anyway.
• 35:13
  But but, yeah, focus on your the people that you know the best and how you can, somehow leverage those people to your benefit and your business's benefit.
• 35:24
  Carly Ries: Can I just say I love that answer? I mean, so often people think the resources they should buy on are books or podcast or courses or whatever. And I I think people neglect to think that their community is a great resource. So, I appreciate you taking that approach. So we're gonna get into some fun questions so that we can get to know you a little bit more, but also things that might help other people if they're in a rut while they're getting some work done.
• 35:50
  So what is your favorite movie that always puts you in a good mood?
• 35:55
  Will Burns: That's an easy one. Miracle, the hockey movie. I I actually saw the 1980 Olympic team play. That was only 14 or something. They played Romania and killed them.
• 36:09
  But, so my claim to it's almost like seeing the Beatles, you know, live in concert. But you saw the 1980 Olympic USA Olympic team, in action. But that movie, I just love it because it's got a sort of a rocky vibe to it. In that, it's you know, there's no way that this team is gonna win. But that speech by Herb Brooks, that, you know, you play this team 10 times, you're gonna lose 9, but not tonight.
• 36:38
  I love that. That just gets you fired up.
• 36:40
  Carly Ries: You know, the only other person I have heard say that that's one of their top 3 is my husband, and he is obsessed with that movie. He's a big hockey guy, so I'll let you exchange contact information after the show.
• 36:54
  Joe Rando: I haven't seen it in years, but I'm going back to it.
• 36:57
  Carly Ries: So good.
• 36:57
  Will Burns: It's worth seeing repeatedly, not in the same night.
• 37:02
  Carly Ries: Or the same night. Whatever floats your boat.
• 37:04
  Will Burns: Okay. Maybe.
• 37:05
  Carly Ries: What is your favorite song to pump you up?
• 37:08
  Will Burns: Well, my favorite song of all time is Hey Jude by The Beatles. I happen to be a big Beatle nut, because I had a lot of older brothers and sisters. They really weren't part of my generation, but my older brothers and sisters were always playing them. So I was singing Hey Jude on my rocking horse. There are pictures of it, which is sort of embarrassing but fun.
• 37:26
  But to really get pumped up is probably ACDC Back in Black. If you you crank that up in a car, if you're on your way to something important, that will get the blood moving.
• 37:36
  Carly Ries: Well, how do you define success?
• 37:39
  Will Burns: Wow. That's a big one. How do you define success? Well, let me start by how I don't define it. There's some and and this sort of frustrates me because I think I think our culture has gotten a little poisoned with this notion of becoming a billionaire.
• 37:58
  You know? I mean, literally, those words that, oh, I've got this idea. It's gonna make me a billionaire. Like, shut up.
• 38:06
  How about you have an idea that you can bring to life and be proud of? And if it happens to make you a $1,000,000,000, great. I mean, I have this argument with my son all the time. I hope he doesn't listen to this. But he has a great idea for a platform, but he tends to focus too much on the money.
• 38:23
  It's like, you know, if you keep focusing on the money, then the the concept itself will die because you're focusing on all your energy in the wrong place and you're gonna be disappointed all the time. Focus on the concept. And, you know, if it's a great concept and if you nurture it and you love it, then it will eventually make money, but don't focus on the money.
• 38:46
  Carly Ries: Mhmm. Well, wasn't there a CEO a few years ago, and I can't remember the company, but he paid himself 70,000 and, like, all of his employees or something and because they found that that was the happiness threshold. Do you know what I'm talking about?
• 39:00
  Will Burns: Oh, that rings a bell. Yeah.
• 39:01
  Joe Rando: I heard he's still at it. They just had another article about him, and
• 39:05
  everything's going well for the company. So the whole concept is working.
• 39:09
  Carly Ries: Yeah. It's just I'll include that in the show notes, so just a link to it if people are curious. But it is it's I agree, Will. I my my hopefully, he won't listen to this either, but my little brother is is in his early twenties, and he thinks the same way. And I'm just like, you have to get to the root of what would make you happy, and the money will follow.
• 39:27
  Joe Rando: You know, I gotta say too, it's a it's a waste of time because Morgan Stanley, I think, just came out and said that Elon Musk is gonna be the 1st trillionaire, so, you know, give it up.
• 39:37
  Will Burns: You know? So now you're a chump if you wanna be a billionaire. Exactly. Yeah.
• 39:41
  Carly Ries: Pocket Change.
• 39:44
  Well, Will, it has been so great chatting with you today. we're on to the last question, which is just where can people find you if you they wanna learn more about you and IdeaSicle?
• 39:54
  Will Burns: Yeah. Thank you. This has been a lot of fun. You can find all kinds of information about IdeaSicle x at www.ideasiclex, and that's ideasiclex.com. And that is, just like a popsicle, but it's an idea sickle.
• 40:13
  So that's how it's spelled. And, you can follow me on Twitter at will o burns.
• 40:19
  Carly Ries: And all of that information will be in our show notes if you wanna check it out. There you have it. Thank you everybody for tuning in today. It means the world to us. If you like what you hear and want to continue to hear from fellow solopreneurs as well as experts giving actionable advice to help you build a successful one person business, be sure to subscribe.
• 40:37
  See you next time.
• 40:38
  Carly Ries: You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversation at community.lifestarr.com
• 41:01
  That's community.lifestar.com