Brainstorming is a fantastic approach to produce ideas, whether you're trying to come up with a great home business idea or you're seeking for fresh ideas to increase your income in your current firm. Although brainstorming is frequently done in groups in company, you may still apply these strategies as a solo entrepreneur to come up with ideas.
Not only can brainstorming help you come up with ideas you might not have otherwise thought of, but can also give you a better understanding of where your company is having trouble and where you should concentrate your efforts. Here are seven independent brainstorming approaches that might open your mind to fresh concepts and plans for your home business. To come up with ideas, you can employ one, several, or all of these methods. Also, there are guidelines for maximizing brainstorming success as well as useful resources.
Ask a Question First
Answering a question is a simple technique to come up with new ideas. If you're seeking to launch a home business, one thing to consider is which industry will best enable you to achieve your objectives.
For instance, you can ask, "What home business is flexible and portable enough for me to travel the world?" if you desire to do so. What is the one thing my consumers or clients desire the most? is a good question to ask if you're having trouble getting enough clients or customers. Or, "Where do my clients go to get assistance with what I provide?"
Employ a Mind Map
Many great minds, like Leonardo DaVinci, have utilized mind maps. Tony Buzan made them popular in the 20th century. It's perfect for those who benefit from visual aids. Although there are computer applications and apps for mind maps, all you really need is some paper and a pencil. When Tony Buzan first presented his mind map ideas, he advised using colored pencils.
The steps of mind mapping are as follows:
- Start off by placing a word, a question, or an image in the page's middle.
- From the middle, extend a line outside, and then include a word, query, or idea that is linked. These next-level concepts are entirely up to you.
- Draw a line or lines from those second-level notions, then add terms that pertain to the sub-topic.
- As long as you have ideas, keep drawing lines using relevant keywords.
Let's take the example of trying to come up with marketing concepts. You can use "Marketing" as your main topic. Next, you can announce spokespeople for "Community Building," "Media/PR," and "Advertising." You can have a "Facebook Group" from your "Creating Community" talk, and a connection to that might be "Weekly Facebook Live." You can have a "HARO Report" and "Build Monthly PR Plan" from your "Media/PR" spoke.
Word Map
A word map is a visual way to explore ideas such as your company name or tagline, similar to a mind map. Write down all the words that pertain to the objectives of your company or brand to begin. For instance, you might type "organic" and "gardening" if you wish to launch an organic gardening firm. Write down any comparable terms that spring to mind for each word. You may write "safe," "clean," and "vegetables" in our example.
Employ a SWOT analysis
Most likely, if you've completed your company strategy, you've conducted a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis is useful outside of your company strategy. It's also a fantastic way to generate ideas. Draw a line horizontally across the centre of the paper, then another line vertically along the middle to create a four-square grid. Put "Strengths" in the top left box and "Weaknesses" in the upper right box. Opportunities should go in the lower left box, and threats should go in the lower right. Write any related words, concepts, or ideas that spring to mind in the boxes.
Let's take the scenario where you're attempting to decide whether you want to start a blog. You can mention all the advantages of blogging as a company idea under "Strengths," as well as your own personal advantages, such as "It's inexpensive to start," "I'm an authority on the subject," etc. For "Weaknesses," such as "I'm not tech smart" and "It can take time to earn a good revenue from a blog," you want to follow the same procedure. You may post "There are various ways to produce cash from a blog" under "Opportunities," and "Lots of competition" under "Threats."
Consider Your Clients/Customers For A While
Making choices and doing analysis purely from the viewpoint of business owners is wrong. The best concepts are those that connect with and draw in consumers and customers, and the best method to accomplish this is by placing oneself in their shoes. Surveying your customers and clients can help with this, but you can also come up with suggestions for improving their experience by using your marketing, sales, purchasing, and customer support systems as a customer or client.
What, Who, Why, When, Where, and How
When you brainstorm, you are seeking for questions to ask but occasionally you don't know what questions to ask. Returning to the fundamentals of who, what, why, when, where, and how will help you come up with suggestions for how to make your company better. These questions can be simply listed, but if you prefer to visualize things, you can draw them in a starburst diagram that is akin to a mind map.
Starbursting involves beginning with your major idea in the middle and drawing lines out with your fundamental questions of who, what, why, when, where, and how at the conclusion of each point. Create additional questions pertaining to your main topic using each of these fundamental inquiries. Let's take the scenario where you wish to profit from affiliate marketing. "Affiliate Marketing" would go in the center. Questions like "How will affiliate products be promoted?" can be asked in the "How" spoke. You might inquire in the "Who" spoke, "Who is the perfect customer for my affiliate products?" With each spoke, ask more than one question. Put down as many inquiries as possible.
Once you have the right questions, you can generate answers that should lead to ideas, and help you focus your business to-dos.
If time and money were not constraints
Have you ever participated in the game where you had to say what you would do if you won the lottery? Your mind becomes accessible to all of your desires in this situation, unrestricted by the limitations of your present circumstances.
Similarly, when brainstorming. Too frequently, your mind will reject ideas if you don't believe you have the necessary resources. Hence, to stay open to all ideas, consider brainstorming what you would do if time and money were not constraints. What would you start if you could develop any company or pursue any idea?
Tools for Brainstorming
All you need for brainstorming is a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. As a result, you need the tools that will enable you to come up with the greatest ideas in a way that you can evaluate and use them afterwards because it is a creative undertaking. Here are some resources you could use:
Idea Journal: Having all of your ideas in one location makes it easy to look back on previous brainstorming sessions. Also, even after you've finished brainstorming, you can keep a notebook nearby so you can scribble down fresh ideas as they occur to you.
Colorful pens and pencils: If you're creative, using color is aesthetically pleasant and can be useful. It can also assist you in organizing and classifying your thoughts.
Apps for creating mind maps: You can use a variety of free and inexpensive mind map programs online on your computer or other device.
Whiteboard or large piece of paper: Although this is frequently utilized in group brainstorming sessions, it can also be useful when working alone. You can stay away from the limitations of writing in a limited location by using large writing surfaces.
Sticky notes: Sticky notes have the benefit of being portable and may be moved about on a bigger area.
Recorder: While you should write down the ideas you come up with during a brainstorming session, it occasionally helps to record them first. It's frequently simpler to come up with ideas verbally than in your brain. Of course, discussing your problem with others in a mastermind group or with a coach can help you clarify your thinking, generate solutions, and gain feedback.
Rules for Brainstorming
Generating a ton of ideas is the goal of brainstorming, which you may then sort through to determine which are ideal for your objectives. Sadly, filtering, judging, and evaluating thoughts is a natural habit of the brain. You probably won't record some ideas because you believe they are stupid or impossible. You cannot, however, do that. The guidelines to follow for effective brainstorming sessions are as follows:
Remove any bias: No matter how absurd or impossibly impossible an idea may appear, write it down. Will appearing on a major morning television program boost your reputation? If it occurs to you, jot it down. Too fantastical concepts should be included since they frequently inspire less fantastical concepts. Also, it never hurts to aim high. If appearing on a national morning TV show, for instance, seems implausible, one might consider local or national radio broadcasts instead.
No assessment: A brainstorm is nothing more than a mental dump of thoughts. Whatever it is, make a note of it. Making judgments about whether or how something should be done during a brainstorming session is not appropriate. Ideas are evaluated later.