Tag Archives: ideas

“Me” Is Not Better Than Team

When you start to brainstorm on your idea, do you tend to seclude yourself from the outside that you start to lose motivation and gain exhaustion? You’ve reached the limit and are stuck where to go? That’s what happened to me recently.

I’ve stumbled upon a great idea and began working out on the layout of the plan, and the business model. What I immediately did afterwards was to start making a small illustration of what the product would look like. After putting in several hours onto this idea, I came to a complete stop. The reason being was because my mind felt blank with nothing else to add or what I could do to change it up a bit, I felt exhausted.

Having lunch with a few close friends of mine, I mentioned to them about this idea I had that could work out and describe to them what the whole concept was about. They loved it. To my surprise, they started to brainstorm as well.

They removed some features which I was okay with, and added other small things that could make it better. What was even better was they took the opportunity to take their time and come up with the design for the layouts and logo, which I’m fortunate to have great graphic designers as friends.

What I’m learning here is that, it’s good to share your ideas with everyone. Two or more minds is obviously better than one mind. When you have people that believe in your idea, you’re creating strong motivation amongst everyone who’s in on the conversation and the chances of executing it is even greater.

However, one of them asked if I was afraid someone might steal/copy my idea. Of course I responded to him with the simple no. He seemed a little bit shocked.

There may be innovators out there who are very sensitive with their ideas, but one of the most important things to not worry about is whether or not they will steal your idea. The reason being is because you’ve already captured it in your mind, and the purpose along side with the end results of where you want it to go will be different than that person who decided to copy what you were doing. In fact I would encourage them to copy it because I yet still have no clue how good the idea would work out in the market.

As I come to conclude this post, the point of this story is that we should invite more people to share their opinions, feedbacks and any other comments they have about our ideas. When you feel exhausted or frustrated, I think that’s the best time to open up opportunities and let others in on your idea. Not only will it re-create great motivation, but getting the work done is greater than you going at it alone.

Choosing the Right Idea

I’ve been coming up with so many business ideas lately and the problem that has arise to me is that it always comes to mind that the idea will not work. Similar to the first post, I’ve been keeping my mind open to all the options that are available in creating great ideas. But somehow this thing in the back of my mind somehow always comes up saying the idea probably won’t work.

I’ve been listening to great speakers talk about this issue and it’s very common. One of the speakers who I appreciate so much and would love to have the chance to meet is Jason Nazar. CEO and co-founder of Docstoc, he spoke about how we shouldn’t be worried if an idea will work or not. We actually instead should be worried if that idea exists within the market because if it doesn’t exist, then you won’t be able to sell it.

It doesn’t matter if the idea we have already exists or if it sounds stupid, we should take that idea and figure out how we can make it different and improve it to the public. And that’s what I think we have to put in focus, rather than fearing if our idea will work or not, we have to execute it. So how do we know if our idea will work?

There are several questions we must ask ourselves first in order to make that idea become a reality. Similar to a business plan with getting down to specifics, two questions that are important to ask are: Who are our audience? What is their problem?
Figuring how we can deliver it and create demand will come afterwards.

So how do you know your idea you came up with will work? Have you doubted yourself with that idea? One advice that has begun to get implanted into my head is that when we have an idea, lets execute it with the least amount of cost possible. That way you won’t risk a lot and you can start all over again with out the weight on your back from the previous idea.

It’s awesome coming up with many different ideas, but I think when we have the mindset of thinking if it will work or not should be forgotten. I always speak with my mentor about it and if you’re in that struggle of figuring which idea will work or not, I would suggest talking with a mentor to advise you which is best.

Coming with Ideas

Not everyone is creative in coming up with new ideas, especially when we’re thinking what business to start. I’ve struggled coming with new ideas but over time however, I have improved my ways on bringing in new ideas and yet I continue to expand myself even further for having a mind full of new creative ideas.

There are several ways I do that helps me come up with new ideas, and would like to help you out with the methods I use. These methods are the following:

Writing it Down: Doesn’t matter what time of day it is, I always tend to write down my ideas immediately. You can’t trust your mind to hold it throughout the day. Being at night or early morning, I recommend writing down any new idea you can think of, and looking back later on to see if you could add anything else to it.

Meditating: While being in a quiet room, I feel my mind is fully cleared and stressed-free. Being in this state, several ideas tend to pop out in an instant.

Jogging: I do this in the morning for 30 minutes to an hour. It clears the mind, helps stimulate the mind and doing this helps me come up with new ideas I have for a project or a business idea I want to look into.

Comfortable Setting: I enjoy being at a coffee shop. I concentrate better and and my focus on new ideas become on point. You could try sitting at the park or at a bookstore. Whichever you prefer, one of these settings I know will help you concentrate more on your ideas.

Reading: Perhaps this is the least of the bunch that happens, but while reading a business book and taking notes, my mind starts to randomly think of new ideas. I’m sure this may happen to you. I have been told reading a non-business book may also help you come with new ideas. Let me know if you’ve tried it.

Audio: And lastly which is one of my favorite ways to come up with new ideas, is by listening to an audio of either a seminar, lecture or podcast. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and right in the middle while they’re speaking I pop out Evernote and write the many ideas that come to mind. These ideas however while listening to an audio, they’re more motivating than the other methods I use.

I hope these six methods help you gain better ideas you can benefit from if you’re stuck not knowing what business or project to start. If you have any other methods you use and would like to share, feel free to comment below.