All companies are born out of an idea, whether they are an original idea, or an improvement of an existing one. Sometimes inspiration can be spontaneous and occur anywhere, at any time, but often great ideas come from good old-fashioned brain storming. Employ these techniques to get the most out of your brainstorming sessions:
1. Stay away from distractions
The most important thing when you are brainstorming a new idea is to isolate yourself from any distraction. This will give your brain an ideal space and environment to come up with as many unique solutions as possible. In general, there should be no TV, no phones, no music, or anything else which could steal your focus away from a brainstorming session. Nevertheless, if your company often works in small teams, it is better to balance your time personal and collective session.
2. Solve existing problems
Businesses are all about tackling other people’s problems. But when you are facing an issue, it can be frustrating to find out an innovative idea. Thus, a great way to brainstorm new idea is to look at your own issues rather than the others’. Always ask yourself: Would I perform it better? Is there anything that I do to make the process more efficient, faster, and more affordable? If you can resolve all of the current issues in your business, consumers can benefit from these improvements just like a completely new model.
3. Look for new niches and trends
What will be the hot trends on the market in 2018 and the upcoming years? It is necessary to keep updated with the latest niches so that you can come up with innovative solutions to improve your business. However, this often requires a good knowledge of the industry, including competitors, customer behaviors, suppliers, and other important features.
Ask yourself, which type of gap would be created when this trend continues? And from that, which kinds of services or products can be developed? How can your business meet these needs? Consider the contemporary and future trend is always a good way to brainstorm need business ideas.
4. Change to other fields
Instead of only staying in the same niche for years, it is a good idea to think outside the box and do some research on related fields? By doing this, your brainstorming session will be speeded up since there are more options and possibilities to consider. However, make sure to know which skills and resources that your business is currently owning so that you can find the right model to adapt.
For example, if you are a musician, having a business in audio and electronics systems might be a good choice, while a doctor can find himself in the makeup or fashion field. With essential skills, it is easy to look at complementary fields and find out your business ideas.
5. Reduce expenses
You really do not need to reinvent the whole business model. Instead, making it more efficient, better, and cheaper can be a good business idea to improve your competitiveness. IKEA, for example, did not invent furniture, they just made it easier and faster to purchase and assemble. Similarly, Apple did not invent the smartphones, they just made it better and more luxurious. In general, everything could be improved in some ways as perfection isn’t attainable. All that you need to do is finding a service or product that you would provide it with the same or better quality at a more affordable price.
6. Survey other people
Since the main purpose of every business is to meet the needs and demands of their customers, another way to brainstorm business ideas is to find out and ask your target audience about their experience and feeling after using your product or service. By doing this, you can identify the current problems in the business model and come up with another solution to resolve them.
These are some of the most effective ways to brainstorm new business ideas. We hope that you find this article useful and apply these tips in the real life. Thank you for reading.