How on earth humanity got as far as inventing the sat nav without going the whole nine yards and inventing a way to display the map info onto our windscreens is a mystery. Yes, yes, I know, it would be a distraction and cause accidents. But wait, would that be any more dangerous than the current method of moving your head and focusing on a screen off to one side for a few moments before returning your attention to the road? Besides, the windscreen-sat-nav idea could be semi-translucent and small and wouldn’t need to fill the whole screen. Any takers? You heard it here first, folks. Anyway. Money. You can do anything with enough money. You could fly a Winnie the Pooh shaped hot air balloon over the Grand Canyon and bungee jump from it to your heart’s content with enough money. And that’s exactly why everybody always wants more cold hard cash – because cash gives you options (try this budget calculator). Let’s look at how you could self-fund to get your big idea off the ground.
Save by the day
The problem with saving by the month is that we don’t know what’s coming over the next four weeks, which makes us keep a little back for the unexpected. When you’re saving to fund your entrepreneurial dream, there’s no time to waste time – the stimuli that came together to form in your mind the idea of your game-changing invention are the same stimuli available to absolutely anyone else out there who may also care to pay attention. Simply put, you have to act fast on your idea – use it or lose it. Try transferring the cost of a cup of coffee into a savings account each day. Doesn’t sound much, but getting into this habit over an entire year has the potential to total a significant chunk of the launch capital you require.
Buy some pens, some paper, and make a chart
I know what you’re thinking. There’s nothing more childish than making a chart with black and red pens and sticking it to your fridge with a few novelty magnets courtesy of your Aunt Mable’s annual terrible holiday gifts. Right? Wrong. People perform better when they feel a tangible connection to the task. This means that no amount of telling yourself how sensible an idea it is to keep track of your savings progress in the “notes” section of your phone, the lack of connection to the experience means it’s something you won’t keep up. A graph that plots daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly savings gives you an identity as a saver.
Lastly … tell someone about it
Studies carried out to discover superior methods of weight loss consistently reveal that dieting works better if we share goals with friends and family. There’s not only the public embarrassment that comes from failing to stick to our goals, but there’s an ego-boosting payoff when we get the brag about hitting our targets to the pleasant surprise and encouraging compliments from our nearest and dearest.
