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disgruntled customer who had already received a refund.

The Possibilities List and the Decision-Making Matrix

As you learn more about your customers and what they want, you may find
yourself overwhelmed with ideas. What should you do when you have more
ideas than time to pursue them? Two things: First, make sure you’re capturing all
the ideas and writing them down, since you might want them later; second, find
a way to evaluate competing ideas. Creating a “possibilities list” helps you retain
ideas for when you have more time to implement them.

Most of the time, however, having an idea isn’t a problem for entrepreneurs.†
Once you begin to think of opportunities, you’ll probably end up with no
shortage of ideas written on napkins, scrawled in notebooks, and floating around
in your head. The problem is evaluating which projects are worth pursuing, and
then deciding between different ideas. Sometimes you may know intuitively
what the best move is. In those cases, you should proceed without hesitation.
Other times, though, you’ll feel conflicted. What should you do?

The decision-making matrix will help you evaluate a range of projects and
separate the winners from the “maybe laters.” Putting something off doesn’t
mean you’ll never do it, but prioritization will help you get started on what
makes the most impact. First of all, keep in mind the most basic questions of any
successful microbusiness:

• Does the project produce an obvious product or service?
• Do you know people who will want to buy it? (Or do you know where to

find them?)
• Do you have a way to get paid?

Those questions form a simple baseline evaluation. If you don’t have a clear
yes on one of them, go back to the drawing board. Let’s assume, however, that
you can answer yes to all of them but know you can’t pursue five big projects at