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...Besieged Business Owners By Tatiana Velitchkov © 2003 During those days when you're caught in a storm of business problems (and what business owner never gets those?), sometimes the best thing to do is to sit back and cook up a storm of your own. A brainstorm of ideas, that is. Brainstorming is good for creating solutions to just about any problem under the sun (and most times even beyond it). It's especially helpful for busy business owners who need to: - think up new ways to sell old products - develop new articles for a website / ezine - find new sources of revenue (or savings) within his existing operations - or simply plot out an action plan for what he should do next. The reason brainstorming works is that every problem or situation we face is different, bringing their own unique set of circumstances. We can't always rely on the solutions that worked yesterday, because many things would've changed by today. This is especially true in the dynamic world of Online Marketing. But business owners are often short on time and energy, and many of them have the idea that "brainstorming" requires a detailed plan and a budget -- -- and the GOOD NEWS is that they're WRONG. Because here now are the 7 Simple Steps to Effective Brainstorming, all of which can be done in less than 5 hours: 1) Review the things you already know. Creativity comes from knowing a little about everything, so you can come up with one original SOMETHING. This is why building your knowledge base is absolutely essential to being creative (and being an entrepreneur in general). "What knowledge base?!" you ask? These are the facts you normally keep up with during the course of running your business: - news on what's happening in your industry - insights into what's going on in your clients' lives - ideas about what your competitors are doing - information on new trends that are coming up - and a comprehensive knowledge about the service / value you have to offer, to your clients and to the world. Review THESE things that you already know, and mull over them just before you start. 2) Focus on one question. Our science teachers were right about one thing: Before you go looking for answers, first you have to "identify the problem." So what IS the most important problem you really have to solve NOW? Phrase it into a question that you can answer with a statement, and you'll be giving your mind something to focus on as you start looking for solutions. 3) Enlist the help of supportive and positive people. Although it IS possible to do brainstorming on your own, it helps A LOT if you can ask at least two other people to join you. They don't have to be experts in the same field as you, but they should at least be familiar with the work you do (BETTER if they've used your products/services, too!). Getting their input and ideas will add new perspective to the ones you might already have -- and when you put all those ideas together (theirs and yours), you'll be more likely to come up with fresh and original answers. 4) Conduct your brainstorming session in a neutral territory. Chances are, you've come to associate your regular work area with -- what else? -- work and STRESS, so it's never the best place to try and be creative. But a "neutral territory" doesn't have to be too far or too expensive, either. It could be the coffee shop down the block, a patch of grass in the nearest park, or even a bench in the mall. As long as you (and your brainstorming friends) can sit, talk, and write comfortably in that area, then it's neutral enough to spark your creativity. 5) Start off with "play." Start off with coffee, or sandwiches, or cookies... and just plain & simple TALK. Talk about cars, or clothes, or music, or movies. Talk about anything and everything as you sit back and savor that cappuccino, EXCEPT for the problem at hand. There's time enough for that later; what's important NOW is to completely relax yourself just before the actual brainstorming, because a stressed mind is useless when it comes to generating ideas. When you find yourself so relaxed that you almost couldn't remember what your problem was all about, THEN you know it's time for the next step... 6) Look at the problem, and come up with as MANY idea-solutions as you can! Your mind has been conditioned to "enjoy the moment," and this feeling should spill over even when you're now trying to come up with answers to your problem. Voice out your wackiest ideas, your craziest ideas, your don't-tell-this-to-anyone-else ideas. Accept everything, edit nothing. And put it all in writing! This might seem illogical at first, but our goal is to let your mind feel free to come up with ANYTHING, because sooner or later it's going to throw in SOMETHING worthwhile. After all, there is really NO SINGLE CORRECT ANSWER to your problem right now. So the best thing to do is to jot down ALL THE ANSWERS you can find, so you'll have more chances of finding the BEST one. 7) Clarify, Sort, Connect, and Decide. The brainstorming part is over. Now there is the calm after the storm, and the fresh sense of clarity and newness that comes with it. NOW is the time to look at the list of ideas you generated (and I hope it's a LONG list), to clearly state what each idea is all about, to connect the ideas that are related to each other, and to sort out which ideas are the BEST. What qualifies as the best solution? That will depend on your problem. But usually it's the one that you'll find to be "just right." Of course there's a final step to this process, which is to MAKE YOUR BEST IDEA WORK! This often takes more than a day, and requires all of the time & energy you can possibly invest. But then again, isn't any worthwhile solution worth it? The best result you can get out of a brainstorming session is to finally find the answer that will solve your current problem. But even if THAT doesn't happen right away, you'll come out of each session feeling a little more in control, a little less stressed, and much more empowered. Because you would have rediscovered an old truth about yourself: That YOU have the ability to change your destiny, and THAT is something no situation will ever take away. © Tatiana Velitchkov About the Author: Tatiana is the publisher of: http://www.TheFortunesEzine.com, the FortunesEzineWeekly at http://www.TakeYourFortune.com, and owner of the traffic-solution slam advertising site http://www.Guaranteed-Hits.com |