Idea Generation
In the business world there are exceptional people who create a strong vision and develop planning and follow-through skills to ensure they become successful entrepreneurs.
In this lesson, we begin with developing a strong vision for your business through idea generation. By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
- Identify your passions and interests.
- Use various brainstorming techniques to generate ideas.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
Successful entrepreneurs share a unique experience; they have a way of thinking that embraces challenges, creativity, resilience, and adaptability in business. This is Entrepreneurial Mindset! It is important to understand the role of creativity in entrepreneurship. If you are unsure of how to pick a good fit for a small business, start by identifying your passions. In this exercise, we’ll explore personal interests and hobbies, connect these interests to overall passions that could link to potential business ideas, and better understand the importance of finding a niche market, that is finding a specific group of people to target your products/services toward.
Brain Mapping Exercise
Brain Mapping is an exercise that helps to visually organize information and connect ideas in a structured way. Especially when you have a lot of ideas, this activity can help you to narrow down a good place or places to start.
- Step 1: Grab a blank piece of paper and a pencil. You could also do this activity in a free platform like Canva or Marq that lets you create text boxes and move them around with organizational tools like arrows and lines to connect the boxes.
- Step 2: Write down four to five things/topics that interest you. You don’ have to stay focused on “good” business ideas! Any ideas of topics that interest you, personally. Example: Working out/fitness, coding & technology, sustainable living, looking good/putting together outfits, helping others
- Step 3: Draw connections between each idea and brainstorm ways that they could relate to one another. Don’t worry—not all will easily relate, but you will be surprised by the new ideas that emerge!
- Example:
- Fitness + technology: Could be a specific platform or tech tool that improves my work out experience
- Sustainable living + fashion + technology: Interested in climate change and how fashion impacts the environment. Wonder if I could make an app that helps people swap clothes? Like a clothes library?
- Helping others + technology: How can I figure out who needs help with what using technology? Could I create a volunteer work app that also gives points and is like a live video game? Like, mowing the neighbor’s yard is 15 points and points equal rewards of some sort?
- Step 4: Look for patterns and business opportunities. Review the connections you’ve drawn and identify patterns or themes that stand out. Ask yourself:
-
- Which topics naturally come together?
- Are there any unique connections?
- How could these ideas translate into a business?
- Is there one or two ideas that seem to connect to all the others?
-
- Step 5: Once you’ve focused on one of those passions and interests, see if you can maximize brainstorming new ideas between these connections.