Where do good business ideas come from?

by Startacus Admin

Joseph Benn, author of 'Brilliant Business Ideas' shares his thoughts on where good business ideas come from (and gives a few tips on how you can find them)

“I’d would love to have my own business I just need an idea.”

If you have ever uttered these words, then this post is for you.  Its a dream which so many of us harbour, but so few of actually achieve and its no wonder, creating, growing and maintaining a business is surly one of the most difficult things to do in life.  The whole process starts with an idea... and often that idea can be the most difficult thing to come by.

Im going to tell you where good business ideas can come from and show you one creative thinking technique that will enable you to start generating them within ten minutes.

First realise your business idea does not have to be earth shatteringly new! This is one of the barriers many people face – they feel that their idea has to be something never seen before. The truth is, as we all know, there is nothing new under the sun and that applies to business as well. So don’t strive to come up with an idea that is completely original. Of course if you do get such an idea that’s excellent but you don’t have to.

Where do good business ideas come from?

I find this topic fascinating because it sounds like it should be easy to answer. But Ive asked it at well over a hundred workshops and not one attendee has given me an answer that is helpful.

When I work with people to help them develop their business ideas I tell them there are four main sources of ideas. The strength of these four sources is that they ensure any ideas you come up with focus entirely on you as an individual. This means youre more attached to the ideas you generate than you otherwise might be and when the going gets tough (as it will) you will be more motivated to carry on.

The first source is hobbies –these are the things you do on a regular casual basis

The second is passions – these are the things that you get out of bed for, the things you live for. For some people passions and hobbies are the same thing that’s absolutely fine.

The third is Frustration/Anger – from rude drivers to bad manners we all know what flicks our switches

The final one is Necessity – the things we need to survive on this planet.

Now that we know what those sources are how do we use them to generate business ideas?

Continued on page 2.

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Published on: 20th September 2012