A good business idea will often be borne out of your experience. Have you observed people experiencing a problem or frustration, and do you have an idea that might eliminate or reduce that problem. The richer your experiences and the more observant you are, the more you are likely to come up with workable business ideas. Take an inventory of your experiences; of all the work you have done, paid or unpaid, and of all the games you have played, did you encounter problems looking for a solution?
Start with your resume and expand it as follows:
A� Add all your activities so you have a detailed resume. Don’t limit this to work. Include games, chores, and any other activity that engages you.
A� For each job or activity state what you accomplished. Remember this is not for an interview; it’s just for you so be honest.
A� State what you like most about the job or activity
A� State what irritated you or your coworkers most about the job or activity
A� If you interacted with customers write down their frequent complaints
A� For every irritation or problem that you list, think of and write down a way that you could eliminate or reduce it
A� State the primary purpose of the job or activity and ask yourself if there is a better way to achieve that purpose.
This exercise will get your creative juices flowing and may result in your winning new business idea.
Always allow your brain some down time. You will spend a lot of time thinking about and perfecting your idea for a business, but often the best ideas come to you when you are in a moment of rest or mental inactivity. When you are done working on a problem, the mind continues to work on it in the background, but you must give the mind space and time to do that work, which means taking a break from active mental work.
While I urge giving your mind rest time, if you wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea get up and write it down. When you are out and about always have a means of recording those ideas that run across your mind unbidden. Sometimes you get a great idea in an unlikely place, but after hours of other activities, and distractions you forget about it. Your note pad will keep these potential business ideas from slipping through the cracks.
If you are still not coming up with any ideas don’t give up; keep thinking about it, but most importantly, you must be actively living and observing. Try to broaden your experiences and become more observant. If you have work experience, but no formal training, take some business courses. If the reverse is true and you have business training but no work experience get to work. If you can’t get paid to work, do some volunteering. This is not to suggest that you wait until you complete a course or get a certain number of years in experience before you start your business, but while you work on your idea broadening your experience in these and other ways will be helpful.
A-S
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