How to learn how to generate business ideas?

Did you know that many of the things we use every day were invented to eliminate the annoying factor?

Melitta Benz hated coffee grounds and once just used a blotter from her son's notebook, and later patented her ingenious invention and founded with her husband a company to produce filters with a start-up capital of 73 pfennig. Today Melitta Group is an international concern with offices in many countries of the world.

One of the members of the bepartner community shared with us his stories about startup creation.

Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Vakulko, while reading to his child fairy tales, thought about a handy mobile application with audio stories in Ukrainian. Not finding anything similar on the Internet in the Ukrna segment, Vasyl immediately took action, two days later the team of partners co-founders of the business project was gathered. In six months, the campaign to raise money to create the application has collected 113 thousand hryvnia, more than 520 fairy tales were recorded and this is just the beginning!

How to learn how to generate business ideas?

There are people for whom it is easy to come up with business ideas, for others it is almost impossible. However, this is not an inborn ability, but a skill that is worth training for a lifetime. Recent research in neurobiology suggests that the brain is plastic, it has an amazing ability to intertwine connections, creating new ones. The more different experiences we have, the more changes we experience, the more new connections. In other words, the more we practice, the more we will generate great business ideas!

Steve Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas comes from, has spent years studying this topic.

He thinks you have a better chance to develop great ideas if:

• You are researching and experimenting in different fields;
• You make mistakes;
• You are looking for new applications for old inventions;
• You are using experiences and developments that already exist (you do not need to invent a bike, but you can improve it).

Where do you get your inspiration, and in what direction to go, so that the business idea is worthwhile?

1. business ideas that solve problems

When you are doing your daily business, at home or at work, try to understand what is annoying to you. Vasiliy was annoyed that both hands were involved in applying soap to the washcloth, so the idea of creating a washcloth with soap inside was born.

The easiest and most obvious way to come up with business ideas is to solve your problems (like, for example, Joy Mangano, who came up with a self-pressing mop, disappointed in the usual ones).

The second easiest way is to solve the problems that others have. These do not have to be big solutions, but ones that will make life easier or easier for many people. I, for example, hate noise and talk on public transport, so headphones with noise reduction are the best choice for me.

All you have to do is to learn how to identify problems. Once you understand that each of your discontent is actually an idea, you will start generating them!

2. Think about the things that can become problems.

Solving the problems you have now is not the only way to come up with new ideas. Why not think about solving the problems that will only exist?

In this sense, no one stands out like Ilon Mask. His Solar City and Tesla Motors businesses are smirking skeptically at many, but a shortage of fossil fuels will be a problem in the near future, and Ilon is already taking steps to fix it. He is a pioneer, try to catch up!

Save people's money

Another great way to come up with ideas is to think about how to save people money. I buy "economical" bulbs, energy efficient home appliances. I am also very fond of classical paper books, however, more and more often the choice falls on electronic books. Think about how your product can save people money.

4. Make people's lives easier.

Cartoon with delayed cooking, smart vacuum cleaner, coffee machine with timer - all this is designed to make life easier. Here it is important to remember that these are all old inventions, they just have an additional and very convenient function. Can you come up with something - a product, a service or a job that can be adapted to make your life easier?

5. Think of things that will make the performance of your favorite tasks less unpleasant.

I hate to take and transmit meter readings to the utility calculation system. Are there any geniuses among those who read this article who can come up with a device that will do it instead of me?)

The more you do, you think, the more material you will have in order to create new ideas. Bill Gates, in order to generate new ideas, takes the time to read books on different topics.

Don't be afraid to use other people's ideas

There is no shame in it. In fact, most good ideas are built on someone else's idea. Vasily Vakulko told how the idea to make stickers embroidery for cars was born. Someone told him that smm-agency is like a sticker for a car, it looks beautiful, but does not add speed. The phrase remained in my head and turned into a business idea!

As Albert Einstein said: "Creativity is the ability to hide your sources".