Explore: Generating Ideas
How to generate ideas for your business using 'brainstorming'
and 'mind maps'.
If you want to start a business but don't know how to come up
with an original and innovative idea, this guide will introduce you to some
brainstorming and idea-generating techniques that may help inspire you.
Brainstorming:
Brainstorming is always a good place to start. To get the most
out of a brainstorming exercise, it’s helpful if you work with a group of
people. Start by identifying the problem you need to solve. In this case, the
problem is the lack of a business idea.
Then, start the process off by writing the first business idea
that comes to your mind on a whiteboard or clearly-visible piece of paper. It
doesn’t matter if the idea is unoriginal or unattainable – by writing it down for
everyone to see, it can serve to influence and/or facilitate other ideas. Keep
listing ideas as people call them out. The activity can take anywhere from 15
minutes to an hour, or even longer. The idea here is to get you thinking and to
build on the ideas that have been expressed, aiming for quantity over quality.
It is also important to minimize discussion or criticism. This should be
approached as an ‘anything goes’ exercise, and no idea is too silly or
outlandish.
Ask ‘How?'
Think about a problem or situation that bothers you. How would
you fix it? These answers can be specific or vague – again, the process is
designed to get you thinking. Sit down with a piece of paper and start writing
out your questions. For example, you might find the process of waiting for taxi
particularly irritating. So your list of questions might look like this:
- How can I shorten my wait
time?
- How can taxi services be
cheaper?
- How can I use texts to call
taxis?
- How can I occupy my time
while I wait?
- How can I ease tension?
You should expect the list to evolve and diverge from the topic
you started with. If you carry the process on long enough, you should have an
interesting, varied list of questions, the answer to which could be your
business idea.