21. Too Many Ideas Is Just as Bad as No Ideas (How to Finally Choose One)

Do you have too many ideas… and still feel completely stuck?

In this episode of The Bold Biz Podcast, Jenny dives into one of the most frustrating and confusing phases of building a side business, having multiple ideas, all of them with potential, and not knowing which one to choose.

Because here’s the truth.
 Having too many ideas can feel just as paralyzing as having none.

Jenny shares her own journey of jumping from idea to idea, starting and stopping, chasing the “right” opportunity, and losing momentum along the way. She explains why waiting for certainty keeps you stuck, why there is no guaranteed “perfect idea,” and what actually happens when you finally commit to one direction.

💡 In this episode, we talk about:

• Why too many ideas create confusion and inaction
• The cycle of idea hopping and starting over
• Why you don’t need a guaranteed “perfect idea” to begin
• How action creates clarity, not the other way around
• What actually happens when you commit to one thing
• How to choose an idea based on energy, not just logic

If you’ve been stuck in the “which idea should I choose?” phase, this episode will help you move forward with confidence and finally take action.

⭐ LINKS & RESOURCES:

• Download Free Guide, The Idea Filter
 https://www.theboldbiz.com/idea

• Download Free Guide, Done Starting Over
 https://www.theboldbiz.com/doneoptin

• Join the FREE Bold Biz Collective (Skool Community)
 https://www.skool.com/the-bold-biz-collective-5477/about

• Visit The Bold Biz Website
 https://www.theboldbiz.com/

Transcript

Main Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:01

If you've ever felt like it's too late to start, or that everyone online is younger, louder, or somehow more confident than you, then you're in the right place. I'm Jenny Labalius, a Swedish midlife graphic designer, mom of 12-year-old twins, and the creator of the BoldBiz Collective. This podcast is about building confidence, creating freedom, and growing an online business in a way that feels aligned, sustainable, and true to who you are, especially in midlife. This is the BoldBiz Podcast. Let's dive in. So today I want to talk about something that might sound like a good problem to have, but trust me, it's not. Having too many ideas. I currently have about 14 different business ideas in my notes app, and at this rate, I'll launch them all by 2047 or something when I'm about 70. Not really an ideal plan for a 52-year-old woman, right? So here's what nobody tells you. Too many ideas can feel just as paralyzing as having no ideas at all, maybe even worse. Because when you have no ideas, at least you know what the problem is. But when you have 5 or 10 or 15 ideas, you're stuck in this weird limbo of possibility. Every single one feels exciting, every single one has potential, and none of them feels like the one. This has been my struggle from the very beginning. As soon as I had my very first idea for creating income online, it didn't take me long to have a second idea, and then a third, and a fourth, and suddenly I was drowning in possibilities. Totally overwhelmed. These are just a few of the side hustles I've pursued over the years. I started an Etsy store for print-on-demand jewelry, then I started two separate Shopify stores, one where I tried selling accessories for yarn lovers, and then one for resellable digital products. But honestly, I wasn't truly passionate about any of these other side hustles. I was just chasing the money, and when I didn't see results in a few weeks, I usually just got discouraged and quit. Then I'd pick another idea, run with it for a few weeks or months, lose momentum, get discouraged, and convince myself I'd chosen the wrong one yet again. It felt like everyone else was so far ahead already, and like this wasn't the one for me, and like I'd never catch up. And here's what made it worse. I started this journey when I was 48, and I felt like I didn't have as much time as someone in their early 20s. So I wanted some kind of guarantee up front. I wanted to know that if I picked one idea and ran with it, it would work. It would be successful, it would be worth the time investment. But that guarantee doesn't exist. And waiting for it cost me years. So here's the thing. Every time you go online or scroll social media, you're bombarded with ideas for how to make money, how to create a side income, how to build passive revenue streams. And if you don't already have a clear idea of what you're good at or what you want to teach, or what your side business should be about, it's incredibly overwhelming. Even if you do know your skill, there are still multiple ways you could use it. You could teach it, you could sell templates, you could sell guides or PDFs, you could offer coaching, you could create a course, you could start a membership. So the confusion only compounds. And then there's the constant stream of overnight success stories. I launched my first offer and made 37,000 in one weekend, which, let's be honest, is incredibly rare. But it creates this expectation that success should happen fast. So when you don't see results in a few weeks or even a few months, you start thinking you picked the wrong idea. When really, you just haven't given it enough time. Seth Godin talks about this in the book called The Dip. He says most people quit right before they're about to break through. Not because the idea was wrong, but because they didn't stick with it long enough to see what's possible. And here's what I've learned after years of jumping from idea to idea. Probably all of them would have worked if I had just stuck with one for longer. It wasn't that I was picking the wrong ideas. It's that I wasn't giving any single idea enough time to gain traction. I was looking for instant validation instead of building something real. Even in midlife, you still need to give things time. You can't rush success, you can't force momentum. There's no shortcut to building trust with an audience or mastering a skill or creating something people actually want. And here's something really important. When you take action on one idea, even if it's not the perfect one, it leads you in the direction you need to go. It might lead you to another idea, or it might lead you deeper into that same idea, where you can explore it and transform it into something you never would have imagined six months ago. That's actually what happened with the Bull Biz. I started the Instagram account over two years ago. I knew it would be something about side business or online business, but I didn't really know what the focus would be. What would my niche be? It wasn't until the past couple of months, actually, that I found my real focus. Helping midlife women build side businesses without hustle, burnout, or perfectionism. And specifically helping them with the mindset piece that trips so many women up, including myself. Because here's what I've noticed. Most women I talk to don't struggle with the practical stuff. You can go on YouTube and learn how to set up an email list or create automations and all the other stuff. Even if you're a little bit tech-savvy, you can figure out most of those things. What trips women up is the mindset piece. The lack of confidence when you're trying something new, the questioning yourself, the messy middle, the not seeing results fast enough and wanting to give up. That's the missing piece. And that's what I want to give you. The support to push through those phases. Because if you keep going, you will find success. So how do you actually choose when you have multiple ideas pulling at you? First, understand this. The secret isn't finding the perfect idea. You're never going to have a guarantee beforehand that this is the perfect one for you, that it's guaranteed to work, or that it's guaranteed to make you money. What you can have is your own deep gut feeling. The feeling that this is something you're passionate about. Something you would wake up on a Sunday morning excited to work on and not dreading it. For me, I wake up thinking about the bold biz nights, weekends. I'm basically thinking about it 24-7, or at least most of my waking hours. And it's not something I wish I could turn off. It's this fire inside me that keeps me going. Even when I'm confused, even when nothing seems to be happening, and even when I'm questioning everything. That's the difference between doing something for money and doing something you actually feel called to do. Marie Forlio says, The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire, not things we fear. But I'd like to add to that. And then you actually stick with it long enough to see what's possible. So here's my practical advice for you. You can pursue several different ideas over your lifetime, but don't do them all at the same time. Please. Write them down. If you're still thinking about one of them six months from now, maybe that's the one to pursue next. But you'll find success so much faster if you focus all your energy on one thing. I know that's hard to hear if you're like me and you want to do everything. But it's the truth. Pick the one thing that gets you most excited to get up in the morning. The thing that, when you think about not doing it, actually makes you a little sad. And then commit to it for at least six months. Six solid months of effort before you even consider whether it's the right thing. Not a few weeks, not even a few months of scattered effort, six focused months where you show up consistently, even when it's hard, even when you're not seeing results yet. Because here's what happens. When you stop jumping from idea to idea, and you actually commit to one thing, you start building momentum, trust, credibility. You start getting better at it. You start seeing what works and what doesn't work. And that's when things really start to shift. So let me tell you what I'm really building with the bold biz, because I think it'll help you understand your own why. I don't just want to help women build side businesses. I mean, yes, that's part of it. But what I really want is to help women create lives of time and financial freedom. Because for my whole life, I never even knew that was a possibility for me. And then about three and a half years ago, I realized it was. And I've been obsessed with pursuing it ever since. I want a life where someone else isn't dictating my time or my deadlines. I want to be able to have time for my family, time to cook proper meals, time to take care of my health and go to the gym, time to spend with my parents, my friends, and my kids, of course. That is the root desire. Financial freedom that also allows time freedom. So when you're choosing your one idea, think about what you're really building. Not just a side business, but what that side business will give you, what it will make possible in your life. Here's what I want you to understand about being in midlife and having too many ideas. You're not starting too late. You're starting at exactly the right time. Because now you actually know yourself. You have life experience. You have many skills, you have clarity that you didn't have in your 20s. This is your second chapter. And in this chapter, you don't have to get it perfect. You just have to get it started. Picking the wrong idea and actually doing something with it will teach you more than spending six months overthinking which idea is the right one. Action creates clarity, not the other way around. So here's my challenge for you. Stop waiting for the perfect idea to reveal itself. Pick something that's close enough to what you're passionate about, something that excites you, something you'd be willing to work on even if nobody was watching. And if you're stuck trying to choose, if you need some guidance to get clarity, I've created something specifically for you. It's called the idea filter, and it's a free guide that will help you pick your one thing. It asks you the right questions to cut through the noise and figure out which idea you should actually pursue. You can grab it by going to my Instagram at the BoltBiz or just check the show notes below for the link. Because here's the truth: you don't need more ideas. You need the courage to commit to one, and then the support to stick with it long enough to see what's possible. That's what this second chapter is about. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If this episode resonated, I'd love for you to follow the podcast, share it with a friend who might need to hear this, or leave a review. It really helps more women find the show. And if you want to keep the conversation going, come find me on Instagram or join the Boldbiz Collective. All the links are in the show notes. Until next time, keep taking bold steps, even the small ones. Stay bold, ladies!