Idea generation in entrepreneurship is deemed the most difficult task for budding entrepreneurs yet it is the most interesting phenomenon of all.
Key Points
- Idea generation is the first step that lays the foundation of any business venture. Here, your concentration counts the most.
- Don’t go to various areas but keep your attention on one particular problem and devise a workable solution.
- Generate your opinions on the basis of the resources in hand and implementation ease.
- Always take suggestions from both the pros in the business town and your clientele. This will help you to expand your plan on a practical basis.
What is Idea Generation?
Idea generation is defined as the process through which abstract thoughts are crafted into full-fledged opinions and on the basis of those opinions, individuals then construct concrete ventures. Apparently, idea generation doesn’t seem hard because too many ideas come naturally. However, collecting the stream of thoughts and mending them into one single opinion is the real task.
Also Read: “Top 10 Fascinating Traits of INTP Entrepreneurs”
When entrepreneurs start their journey, they are always double-minded about the paths they need to adopt. Some of the entrepreneurs do have a fixed agenda in mind but that becomes distorted when they practically start their journey. They get influenced by the trends prevailing in the market and hence the parent idea gets lost somewhere.
Idea generation is very significant because it helps an entrepreneur to curate the most exceptional ideas. Besides, working on a fixed idea also allows an individual to understand the stages which come forward in the allocation of opinions.
Ideas are the basic framework of any entrepreneurial venture. A venture only becomes successful when the ideas behind them are exceptionally strong and represent a certain ideology of the creator. The budding entrepreneurs find it hard to come up with ideas because of the stiff competition going on in the market. However, this is not as hard as you believe it to be if the perception is understood clearly.
Top 10 Tips for Generating Cool & Workable Ideas
It is not hard at all to come up with ideas that can work in the long run. Let’s unwrap the magical world of entrepreneurship before you by revealing these interesting tips.
- Think of a unique area
- Focus on a daily routine issue
- Generate your idea on the basis of your resources
- Look at the pros and cons of the idea
- Take suggestions where necessary
- Share your idea in the market
- Look at the reaction from the clientele
- Make the necessary amendments
- Expand your idea
- Plan the growth and look for further ideas
Think of a unique area
An idea is the foundation of any specific entrepreneurial venture. It is what adds charm to the otherwise dull business project. If the idea is unique, the business automatically becomes a success. However, what you need to understand is that the area in which the idea would lead counts the most. You have to select a specific industry first and then move forward toward the accomplishment of the venture.
A number of individuals focus on the specificity of a venture. What they miss is the area in which the venture would be established. Selecting a unique and fixed area is very important for idea generation. If you are double-minded about the ideas constituting your venture, you are indirectly indicating your concerns toward the area you have selected. That’s damaging to the progress of a business that is just going to shine in the business domain.
Keep your focus on a single area. Look at all the pros and cons of selecting that particular area. Consider the factors of development as well as your available resources and then finalize a particular area. Once you finalize a certain area and you have complete faith to start your venture according to that industry, then come up with a specific part of that niche. Look at the problems which are existing in the field.
Focus on one particular issue and think about all the possible solutions which can be offered to the people with the help of a venture. This way you can easily assemble the chain of your thoughts in a unifying pattern and can come to one single solution.
Focus on a daily routine issue
When we study the lives of individuals, we come up with two major observations. First is that there are some problems which need immediate solutions, while the others are the ones which are there but often neglected by the people as a minor concern.
Your focus should be on the major issues. Those who are unconsciously adopted by individuals have started looking for solutions because they have accepted that particular part as it is.
Your focus should be there. Keep yourself focussed on it and brainstorm a lot at this stage. The multiple strategy method is the most significant method you can employ to come up with a potential solution.
Your solution should be something of worth. When you select multiple strategies, it becomes easier for you to analyze each and every approach which can lead you on the way to success. You can adopt a mixed approach and can combine major precepts of all your strategies to compose one single idea which offers an intelligent solution.
Look at the resources in hand
Our forefathers used to say that one should spend as one earns. Going out of the way or adopting an extra lavish attitude is disastrous. Especially in business, you have to be very careful about even the slightest of your approach. That happens when you have to come up with a final workable business idea. At that time coming up with an idea that can correspond to your resources can be the ideal thing for you.
Wondering why? Because it will help your venture to fall exactly according to the allocated budget for it. You didn’t need to go through an extra effort just because your idea became too “expensive” for implantation because this will hinder the projected growth too.
One reason behind the ultimate success of many leading entrepreneurs is this attitude. They are the ones who always go according to their available resources and plan each step carefully in the light of the funds available. This one reason explains why their ideas are a commercial success 9 out of 10 times.
Look at the pros and cons of your final idea
Consider yourself in a market. Whenever you are out there to purchase something for yourself, the first thing you do is to look at all the positive and negative factors associated with the item. An idea is exactly like an item selling in the market that has to pass the difficult test of pros and cons.
Once you have curated an idea, be a critic of that. Consider all the things which make this idea exceptional and a reason for possible future success. At the same time, don’t devoid yourself of the negative things which might be present in your venture and will act as a potential source for damage.
Once you are sure that your idea can take up the blow of the market due to its effectiveness and convenient implementation. Start turning it into reality.
Take suggestions
Human beings are social animals. They cannot survive alone in any field of life. They have to always rely upon someone else for almost everything. That’s very common in the business world. If you are having a problem estimating the efficacy of your selected or composed idea, take it to the outside world.
Let it through detailed scrutiny which can help you to find your weak points. After a complete observation by the experts, take suggestions from the pros in the field. Whatever they say, in the beginning, adopt it quickly without raising any objections.
The magical fact behind this is that the pros of the business world have seen it all happening. They are the ones who know the rise and fall happening in the business world which is one reason why their suggestions are reliable. Besides, they are also the ones who understand the business industry and the significance of ideas when it comes to depicting the business niches.
Share your idea in the market
All your experiments are directed to one field. You have to invent for the sake of the market which is why the market is highly significant for your success. When an idea is composed in the business world, the real opinion about its efficiency can only be provided by the market. Your clientele understands the significance of a venture better. Share your idea in the market. Find its usability directly by the clients.
Your clients will tell you the significance of your idea. This is the way of the giants. Whenever something unique becomes a part of the business domain, it is instantly shared in the business world. Then the reviews coming from the market decide their success. This is why it is important to share your agendas out there to find out the significance from the perspective of the consumers.
Look at the clientele’s reaction
Once an idea has been introduced in the market. The second most important thing is to find out the reaction. You have to find how your idea has been taken up by the clients. What is their take regarding your venture? Once you find a positive response, it is an indication to go forward with that agenda.
Many entrepreneurs rely on market surveys which are available everywhere. These kinds of surveys help you to find out the validity of your opinion and understand the perception of those to whom you want to offer your product or service. Pilot testing is a very old way of finding the efficacy of a product or a new service in the market which helps you to come up with the most significant and remarkable ventures in the end.
You would find it shocking but the fact is that many of the leading entrepreneurs believe that the efforts of clients in terms of adapting to a new idea helped them to come up with some of the most exceptional ventures of the time.
Make the necessary amendments
There is a purpose behind introducing a particular idea in the market. You have to see the reaction of the clientele. If you find that going in a negative direction or the enthusiasm of your clients is less than expected, then it’s time to make the necessary changes. These changes are made in light of the views and opinions you have received from the clients. You can never expect to make changes on your own. You are required to add some exceptional strategies as per the requirements plus you can also rely upon the opinions which your clients share.
The popular review system which is introduced these days is another name for carrying out the amendments with people’s help. Here you are supposed to bring the change by working on the agendas which are declared wrong by the clients and have to improve them for future use.
Expand your idea
First, you create an idea and then you curate it. By curation, one means that in the entrepreneurial world, you have to expand your opinions on a continuous basis. You cannot expect to stay in the market with one constant agenda. You have been too diverse.
This diversity comes from the expansion of your idea. The most important thing about an idea generation is that you have to look out for the ways through which you can expand it further. You can expand your idea by working on different perspectives of it and then adding colors and solutions to various sides of one single opinion.
The best part about curating an idea is that your idea becomes more realistic in terms of approach. You get to find a hundred different reasons to make it more sustainable and useful for the market which announces its success. If an idea stands for the rest of time without getting impacted by the harsh criticism, accept that it’s ready for bringing success at your door.
Plan growth of the venture
You have to plan the growth of your venture too. This growth is possible if and only if you are diligent to mingle several opinions and come up with a plan which can stand in the time of trials. A venture grows on the basis of the unique ideas which are attached to it. This is what makes success absolute. You have to grow your venture step by step. First, if your parent’s idea is a success, sort out ways through which you can further obtain benefit from it.
For this purpose, you have to think of the vacant spaces which you have neglected in the first phase of your idea generation. Come up while concentrating on these spaces and fill them by using your problem-solving abilities. Once you have devised strategies, you can then grow your venture by an amalgamation of new and old ideas altogether.
Conclusion
Idea generation is an important part of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs have to understand the significance possessed by ideas that rule the world. It is not difficult to come up with a fine, workable, and expandable idea, only if there is an ordered arrangement when it comes to observing and solving the problems. Focus is the key to solving and coming up with ideas that are long-lasting while being a commercial success.
The author is an M.Phil scholar conducting her thesis in Literature. As a sucker for literature, she swoons over Greek and South Asian fiction while reviewing books in her spare time. Her love for writing has made her expand her subject matter and now she pens her opinions frequently on business, finance, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, history, and literature. For a special connection with entrepreneurship, she opens up the details occasionally about it.