How do you brainstorm?

[User62861]

Lately I get some thoughts that I should start some business. Not sure if it's going to be tomorrow, in a month or 3 years.

I currently do brand design (graphic design), but my goal is to build something that will make me money even when I sleep.

My question is...How do you brainstorm to get a business idea?

 

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[Longinus]

You don't. You grow that "idea muscle" in your head by trying to understand where opportunities lay and problems you can solve and how you can monetize them. Since I started doing this, I find business ideas basically every day. I list all of them, even if they seem stupid. Eventually you will find an interesting business idea.

 

[ProcessPro]

The key to brainstorming is to be non judgmental. Turn off your inner critic and aim for quantity over quality at first. Set a time frame and just put out as many ideas as you can. If you need some help to pump your intuition/get the creative juices flowing, ask what I call 'opposite questions' and see how you can then make the opposite work. i.e. think of things in reverse, and you may find new ways of approaching things you would not have thought if you looked at it in the regular manner.

e.g. Let's say you're thinking of teaching. The regular mode of operation is that there is a teacher, and a student, and the teacher imparts knowledge to the student. What are some 'opposite questions' we can ask?

1) What if the teachers did not teach the students?
2) What if the students were the ones teaching?
3) What if there was no teaching?

etc. After that initial stage, we can then think of ways these things might be practical and THEN evaluate it to see if it provides more value than the status quo.

1) What if the teachers did not teach the students?-Perhaps a self education/learn at your own pace approach?
2) What if the students were the ones teaching?-According to research, attempting to teach material that one is learning is a superb way to learn, so if there was a way to integrate this, this would be highly effective for learning.
3) What if there was no teaching?-What if the learning happened so naturally that it didn't feel like conventional teaching? How might we accomplish that?

etc.

So to summarize: 1) Quantity of ideas with the inner critic off (criticism comes later; use opposite questions). 2) Evaluate ideas for value. 3) Run down your fastlane checklist and see if it's a viable fastlane idea (scalable? entry? etc.).

 

[User62861]

You don't. You grow that "idea muscle" in your head by trying to understand where opportunities lay and problems you can solve and how you can monetize them. Since I started doing this, I find business ideas basically every day. I list all of them, even if they seem stupid. Eventually you will find an interesting business idea.

What exactly do you mean by “idea muscle”?

Yeah, looking for a problem to solve is maybe a better approach.

The key to brainstorming is to be non judgmental. Turn off your inner critic and aim for quantity over quality at first. Set a time frame and just put out as many ideas as you can. If you need some help to pump your intuition/get the creative juices flowing, ask what I call 'opposite questions' and see how you can then make the opposite work. i.e. think of things in reverse, and you may find new ways of approaching things you would not have thought if you looked at it in the regular manner.

e.g. Let's say you're thinking of teaching. The regular mode of operation is that there is a teacher, and a student, and the teacher imparts knowledge to the student. What are some 'opposite questions' we can ask?

1) What if the teachers did not teach the students?
2) What if the students were the ones teaching?
3) What if there was no teaching?

etc. After that initial stage, we can then think of ways these things might be practical and THEN evaluate it to see if it provides more value than the status quo.

1) What if the teachers did not teach the students?-Perhaps a self education/learn at your own pace approach?
2) What if the students were the ones teaching?-According to research, attempting to teach material that one is learning is a superb way to learn, so if there was a way to integrate this, this would be highly effective for learning.
3) What if there was no teaching?-What if the learning happened so naturally that it didn't feel like conventional teaching? How might we accomplish that?

etc.

So to summarize: 1) Quantity of ideas with the inner critic off (criticism comes later; use opposite questions). 2) Evaluate ideas for value. 3) Run down your fastlane checklist and see if it's a viable fastlane idea (scalable? entry? etc.).

Thanks for the very interesting reply! Opposite questions is a new one for me.

 

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[ProcessPro]

Additionally, you may want to check out page 266 of Unscripted where MJ provides 13 ways to find fastlane ideas. Here are 3: Listen to people's language, Look out for inconveniences, look for things that can be simplified/made easier. Perhaps that section of the book will help you with this stage you're at. Good luck!