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Any framework for generating business ideas?

Idea threads

ric2020

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I was just checking the other posts in this forum about: how to find new business ideas. And i still feel stuck to find some. I know the best way is to look for problems other people have. But i would like to know if you have any framework or strategy how you found your unique business idea?
 
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Speed112

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Over here, over there.
Become a better listener. Empathize with the people around you, and listen for pain patterns.

This.

Empathy and critical thinking lead you to opportunities. A lot of times people are so engrossed in their own work and troubles that they fail to see them. Or they've had them for so long that they've resigned to the idea that they're unsolvable.

That's where a new perspective comes in and interrupts the pattern. Just gotta recognize what that is.

There's a guy called Dane Maxwell who gets a lot of slack for his big focus on mindset and the "softer" sides of business, but he has great insight on marketing and creating value. His words pushed me on this path and showed me how to find the pains and be of service. It landed me many consulting clients and potential business opportunities... ideas? Galore.

His method (not sure if he coined it, but he introduced me to the term), that I've used for many years and still do to this day, is called Idea Extraction, and it's very simple.

You engage in communication with a business owner or professional in pain (can be anyone, really) and you kindly listen. If you're genuinely interested in their troubles and are looking for ways to help them, with no self-interest, no desire to take advantage of anything, but just do your best to help... it's super easy.

The thing is, these people have likely been in this kind of pain for years. Maybe even decades. They've complained and complained, to their friends, their family, their partners. Everyone is tired of it. Had there been a qualified outlet for that pain it would have been resolved already. But they've not come across it yet...

That outlet is you.

When that person goes home to tell their partner about their day, and it starts with "Ugh... so I had to do X again" before they get interrupted with "I know, dear..." and they're stopped in their tracks. Pressure builds up. Pain turns into frustration. Frustration into desperation.

And over time those things get internalized and locked away behind the excuse that "this is normal." as with most slowlane things.

Your job is to gain their trust and become the confidant they've been missing for all those years. Give them the room to open up and let their frustrations cascade into a beautiful show of opportunity. And record it.

At the end of the conversation they'll be incredibly grateful for having you just listen to them.

If you come along and give them some hope of resolving those issues? Hoboi...

The ideas will not stop flowing. They'll tell their friends. They'll tell their colleagues. You'll get so many avenues of generating ideas in that niche you won't know what to do with them. All because you keep your mouth shut and give them a chance to be honest. WIth no judgement. No self-interest. Just a genuine desire to help.

I first did this when I was 16 (before I knew its name). I called American businesspeople with a Romanian phone number. Half of them didn't answer. Half of the remainder complained that I was costing them money for calling them abroad, and that I better make it quick. Out of those... in 5 minutes they knew whether I could help them or not, and half of them gave me a chance...

Those 5 minutes turned into 1-2 hours of Idea Extraction where at the end I had several pursuable business ideas and a lead for funding and referrals. Once I found a common pain among a bunch of people in the same niche, if I deemed it was scalable (CENTS) then it was something worth pursuing.

And I wasn't good at anything. I just knew I needed to listen and I genuinely wanted to help.

In fact, based on that experience, I realized I was horrible at selling through the phone (which is why I couldn't really turn any of those leads into something significant) so my first job out of education involved selling with a phone. The phone became my money-making device.

And today, 10 years later, when I need some extra cash and I don't know what to do... I just call a few prospects and offer them my help. It's way easier now.

So it's not a difficult process by any means, if you've got the right attitude.

But I stand by its results.

And if this isn't enough for you, I'm sure you'll find a plethora of ideas on the forum or online. It's just that you won't have been the person to come up with them ;)

May your lightbulb shine,
Speed
 

alexkuzmov

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I was just checking the other posts in this forum about: how to find new business ideas. And i still feel stuck to find some. I know the best way is to look for problems other people have. But i would like to know if you have any framework or strategy how you found your unique business idea?
Well, have you read the books?
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Your idea doesn’t have to be unique. You just have to execute well. Lots of businesses exist that do the same thing and make their owners millionaires.

How many e-commerce stores are there?
How many contractors?
Recruiting firms?
Apartment businesses?
Home builders?
Shipping and trucking businesses?
 
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Parks

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I've had this in my notes for a long time and I find it to be a good framework when looking at problems. Got it from @lowtek 's thread found here;



"Clearly state the problem; the more precise and detailed the better.
Make a guess about what things you can control contribute to the problem
Formulate a plan for iteratively testing each of these possible root causes. Test most likely cause first, if possible.
If necessary, seek out information that tells you how to address each possible root cause.
Execute the plan.
Repeat until solved."
 

Speed112

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Over here, over there.
i don‘t understand your question even with a german/english dictionary

What he's trying to say is that... had you read the book, you'd know what a value skew is. TMF goes in pretty good depth about how to position yourself in the market to find problems and ideas, so you not being familiar with neither the process, nor the outcome, is strange.

If you read a translated version that would make sense as to why.

Still, you should probably go back and read about The Commandment of Need (and the ones that follow) and also, the framework in Unscripted from Ch31 onwards should give you all you need to know about what it takes for an idea to be good. Unscripted also goes into great detail specifically on the concept of "value skew".

Once you know what you're looking for, and your eyes are open to opportunity, ideas should come naturally. You just need to engage with the people in need.

The frameworks you're looking for aren't really about how to come up with an idea, but about how to put yourself in the place where ideas are found. But if you don't know what they look like, they'll just fly by you.

Hope this helps
 
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eliquid

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Besides what you can find in @MJ DeMarco books,

I would advise you to read this thread, which goes into picking the right direction for you, which ties into idea generation.

 
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There is no good translation for value skew into german it's a good question,

value skew --> Wertversatz

if you translate back

Wertversatz --> Misalignment

Perhaps someone can describe the term again in a different way for German readers.
 

Speed112

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Over here, over there.
Perhaps someone can describe the term again in a different way for German readers.
Well in short it's basically anything you can do that differentiates you from your competition in terms of value.

What do you do that is better than the rest?

Do you have easy to use UI? That's value skew.

A secret recipe passed down for generations that your grandma shared with you on her deathbed? Value skew.

Unique selling propositions or mechanisms or "big ideas" usually are flavors of a value skew variety.

Clear enough now?
 

classichouse

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Well in short it's basically anything you can do that differentiates you from your competition in terms of value.

What do you do that is better than the rest?

Do you have easy to use UI? That's value skew.

A secret recipe passed down for generations that your grandma shared with you on her deathbed? Value skew.

Unique selling propositions or mechanisms or "big ideas" usually are flavors of a value skew variety.

Clear enough now?

Thank you very much, if you read the book in context, the result will be this. But if you look for a translation there is no good result. I understand: "make a better offer than the competition?" (in quality/service or price, better in all three points).
 
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Marco Aurelio

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I'm currently reading a book about that topic.
It's called Generating Product Ideas by Artiom Dashinsky.
He is an entrepeneur who already founded several businesses, in that book he describes every step he takes to generate ideas and he shares his framework.
I think it's actually a good book and you can find some advices there.
 

ric2020

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What he's trying to say is that... had you read the book, you'd know what a value skew is. TMF goes in pretty good depth about how to position yourself in the market to find problems and ideas, so you not being familiar with neither the process, nor the outcome, is strange.

If you read a translated version that would make sense as to why.

Still, you should probably go back and read about The Commandment of Need (and the ones that follow) and also, the framework in Unscripted from Ch31 onwards should give you all you need to know about what it takes for an idea to be good. Unscripted also goes into great detail specifically on the concept of "value skew".

Once you know what you're looking for, and your eyes are open to opportunity, ideas should come naturally. You just need to engage with the people in need.

The frameworks you're looking for aren't really about how to come up with an idea, but about how to put yourself in the place where ideas are found. But if you don't know what they look like, they'll just fly by you.

Hope this helps
wow thank you for that very valuable information, i will check that out in Unscrippted!
 

ric2020

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I'm currently reading a book about that topic.
It's called Generating Product Ideas by Artiom Dashinsky.
He is an entrepeneur who already founded several businesses, in that book he describes every step he takes to generate ideas and he shares his framework.
I think it's actually a good book and you can find some advices there.
thanx a lot
 
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ric2020

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Well in short it's basically anything you can do that differentiates you from your competition in terms of value.

What do you do that is better than the rest?

Do you have easy to use UI? That's value skew.

A secret recipe passed down for generations that your grandma shared with you on her deathbed? Value skew.

Unique selling propositions or mechanisms or "big ideas" usually are flavors of a value skew variety.

Clear enough now?
yes thx a lot
 

MJ DeMarco

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Well, have you read the books?
yes i did

Your answers seem to imply you read TMF , but not Unscripted . IMO, Unscripted is a much better book.

what do you mean by value skew?

Value skew is explained in Unscripted , quite thoroughly, and if you asked me, those two or three chapters is worth 100X the cost of the book -- and it is the only "framework" for business ideas that you need. Good luck.
 

ric2020

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Your answers seem to imply you read TMF, but not Unscripted . IMO, Unscripted is a much better book.



Value skew is explained in Unscripted , quite thoroughly, and if you asked me, those two or three chapters is worth 100X the cost of the book -- and it is the only "framework" for business ideas that you need. Good luck.
thank you so much i will buy it and read it, just because i am curious in what chapters i will find the idea generation topic and value screw in unscripted ?
 
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Ing

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Well in short it's basically anything you can do that differentiates you from your competition in terms of value.

What do you do that is better than the rest?

Do you have easy to use UI? That's value skew.

A secret recipe passed down for generations that your grandma shared with you on her deathbed? Value skew.

Unique selling propositions or mechanisms or "big ideas" usually are flavors of a value skew variety.

Clear enough now?
Thank you! I have read the books and I allways had problems with the term „value skew“.
 

kestas

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Become a better listener. Empathize with the people around you, and listen for pain patterns.
Two months ago, I was doing some Carpentry at one of the clients home near London, he's very friendly and knowledgeable guy, and we was discussing about some future transport , and only by listening I have heard and realised that he's just told me about Uber style service Idea which I think will be available after 6-10 years. So now it's being patented by me. And yes, listening is one of the things. Another is : in the morning, when your mind is quiet , or when you meditate and your brain is in Theta. Just have pen and paper to write that down straight away. And make action , at least something....
 

ric2020

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Two months ago, I was doing some Carpentry at one of the clients home near London, he's very friendly and knowledgeable guy, and we was discussing about some future transport , and only by listening I have heard and realised that he's just told me about Uber style service Idea which I think will be available after 6-10 years. So now it's being patented by me. And yes, listening is one of the things. Another is : in the morning, when your mind is quiet , or when you meditate and your brain is in Theta. Just have pen and paper to write that down straight away. And make action , at least something....
very good input thanx a lot
 
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Csquared

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In addition to Unscripted , I also read Derek Siver‘s book Anything You Want. It’s a really quick read and in it, he distills the idea generation ‘process’ pretty well when it comes to providing value. From his book:

“If you want to be useful, you can always start now, with only 1 percent of what you have in your grand vision. It’ll be a humble prototype version of your grand vision, but you’ll be in the game. You’ll be ahead of the rest, because you actually started, while others are waiting for the finish line to magically appear at the starting line.
For example, let’s say you have a vision of making an international chain of enlightened modern schools. You picture it as a huge, world-changing organization, with hundreds of employees, dozens of offices, and expensive technology. But instead of waiting for that, you start by teaching somebody something this week. Find someone who will pay to learn something, meet her anywhere, and begin. It will be nothing but you, a student, and a notebook, but you’ll be in business, and you can grow it from there.
If you want to make a movie recommendation service, start by telling friends to call you for movie recommendations. When you find a movie your friends like, they buy you a drink. Keep track of what you recommended and how your friends liked it, and improve from there.
Want to start a new airline? Next time you’re at the airport when a flight is canceled, tell everyone at the gate that you’ll lease a small plane to fly to their destination if they will split the costs. (This is how Richard Branson started Virgin Atlantic Airways.)
Starting small puts 100 percent of your energy into actually solving real problems for real people. It gives you a stronger foundation to grow from. It eliminates the friction of big infrastructure and gets right to the point. And it will let you change your plan in an instant, as you’re working closely with those first customers telling you what they really need”

Excerpt From
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
Derek Sivers
 

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