What You Learn From Bird Brained Ideas

Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, Best-Selling Author, Change Agent and Sometime Cowboy

Passion is not a substitute for planning. Passion blinds you. And it can teach valuable lessons in business and in life.

Early in my career (but not so early I shouldn’t have known better), I thought pheasant farming was the most fabulous idea ever. After all, I love everything about pheasants. I love to watch them; to see them run & fly free. I love to hunt them and most of all, I love to eat them! When I took people with me, they loved it too. And when I served guests those beautiful birds soaked in my special marinade of buttermilk and hot sauce, they devoured them with delight.

I had never invested more money in anything in my life, but it was a no-brainer to me.  And that’s literally what it was:  all passion, no brains – the pheasants and me.

My passion fueled my desire and my business plan.  I reached out to a bunch of friends and sold them on the idea.  Many of us invested everything we had.  We moved quickly to capitalize on the market and never questioned, researched or were even aware of the lack of competition.  We became consumed with the idea.  We saw money everywhere.  We were pioneers. Our plan: to set up giant outdoor pens on the prairies where the pheasants could fly and run free. It would be a thing of beauty. We’d process the pheasants or sell them live to hunting operations. It was perfect. We found a farm and a recently bankrupt (should have been our first hint) slaughtering facility. Soon hundreds of pheasants were living and flying free within our giant netted pens on the South Dakota prairie.  Our passion grew as we watched them. In our minds we were going to sell fresh and smoked pheasants to chefs, restaurants and stores worldwide. Visions of gift baskets with smoked pheasants shipped nationwide danced in our heads.

And then, it happened. One prairie thunderstorm and thousands of pheasants huddled together, looked toward the sky, opened their mouths and drowned. We ended up losing everything.

What happens when you hit rock bottom like that? When you’re done crying there’s nothing left to do but look at the wreckage and honestly confront what you’ve done. I let dreams of money and passion me away.

I say it again–passion is not a substitute for planning.

It’s fine to aspire to corner the market on something – own it top to bottom – but do your research. Find out if there is a market. Pay attention. Find out what the customer is saying (because you know they are always right!).

Give your business practices “The Mirror Test” and thoughtfully-yet-aggressively evaluate, deconstruct, and then reconstruct your business idea. Let passion push you straight ahead into a plan. Take enthusiasm for your dream, evaluate, put legs on it, and allow it to walk you into your future business; one that’s breathing strong and fogging the mirror every day.