3 Tips to Unlock Good Business Ideas and Further Your

Small Firms Success

100%
One of the most valuable assets that any company can have is a deep well of
creative people generating worthwhile ideas from which to develop services,
products, and even new businesses.

Because every businessfrom the smallest mom-and-pop to the largest

multinationalbegins with a good idea, you might think that good ideas flow like
a mighty river in every business. Sadly, this is not at all the case. Ideas that hold the
potential for success and advancement are surprisingly sparsenot only in
business, but also in general.

Encouraging your employeesor yourselfto have the mindset to generate good

business ideas is much like raising crops. It takes directed effort to not only execute
on good ideas when they arise, but to also lay the groundwork to encourage good
ideas in the first place. Never fear: Following these three easy tips to fostering
creative thinking will remove the hesitation and fear that surrounds the topic.

1. Expose Yourself. Good ideas are seldom, if ever, created in a vacuum. Ideas
are birthed from our interactions with our world. Alfred Hitchcock was quoted as
saying, Ideas come from everything! Whether you call it encouragement,
influence, or inspiration, it is a must to expose yourself to the thoughts and
ideas of others. Only by observing your environment will you find the spark to
create the ideas that will change your environment.

Practice It: Finding the inspiration to have your next great idea can be as close as
the nearest book, MP3 player, or Internet connection. Whatever your area of
interest, you can find books and articles written on the matter, podcasts dedicated
to it, or videos covering various aspects of it. But do not stop there! Try attending

topic-based group meetings, going to exhibitions, and meeting new people at

conventions to get your idea machine cranking!

2. Fit Square Pegs into Round Holes. Stay on topic is a common phrase used
in project meetings where we often come together to share ideas and progress.
However, this can be some of the worst advice ever when you are searching for a
new idea. Instead, try searching for the solution to the matter in unrelated topics.
Very often we either find that our problem is not as unrelated as first believed or we
find inspiration from the slight distraction of intense problem solving.

Practice It: The next time you find yourself stone-walled and left wanting for that
elusive answer, try considering the exact opposite of your current train of thought. If
you are looking to add features to a product, take a moment to consider what can
be removed. Look for answers in the animal world to a mechanical problem, or try
taking a moment to consider form instead of function. A group of designers once
working on a phone design took a moment to consider removing the keypad instead
of making it better, and the iPhone was born!

3. Have 1,000 Dumb Ideas. By far the best way to encourage ideas is to get used to
having ideas. Having ideas requires practice in much the same way that a baseball
pitcher practices throwing the ball. The pitcher has to throw an enormous number of
balls to get a few perfect pitches and gain the muscle memory necessary to keep
pitching better. Similarly, in order to have great ideas, you will have to have bad
ideasand lots of them! This is productive and will give your creative mind the
muscle memory to generate more ideas faster and with a higher percentage of
success. So never fear having bad ideas!

Practice It: The most common barrier to bad ideas is fear of criticism. Practice your
bad ideas in private until you are ready to go public. Sit at your desk or in your car
and start blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. Write it down and dont
stop to dwell on it, but rather move on to the next bad idea. Eventually you will find
that good ideas are creeping into your list of bad ideas, and that this process
becomes increasingly less shameful!

Every year it becomes more and more important to foster the creative processes
that drive innovation in our world economy. Gone are the days when all you need is
one good idea. Taking the necessary steps to foster creative thinking in yourself
and your staff is a sound and worthwhile investment that every company or
entrepreneur must make.

Do you have an idea about our list of idea-generating tips worth sharing? Or do you
have your own ideas on the best way to get ideas flowing? Share them below and
let us all in on your secrets to keeping the ideas coming.