When it comes to choosing a business, you may find yourself stuck listening to the negative voice in your head. That voice telling you all the reasons your idea is not going to work.  If your heart tells you one thing but your head says another, try this creativity exercise.

Let’s Get Creative!

Ideation is the weird name for a useful process of forming and relating ideas.   Your experience, values and skills are all fodder for new ideas.  If you have been considering starting your own business but can’t decide on which one, try this creativity exercise.

Take one of the business ideas you have identified or a challenge you are concerned about and:

Redefine the Issue

How are you currently defining the situation? The way you currently define the things will limit the insights you are able to come up with.  When you redefine your idea, you will create different definitions and consequently different solutions.

Follow these steps:

Step One

Start with an opportunity/problem statement that addresses a concern you have about your proposed business.

For example, if you are concerned about the viability of your current business idea, you might ask:

How can we…. attract customers able to pay high prices for our (proposed) products?

Step Two

Write this creative challenge down on paper or, if you are working in a group, on a flip chart.

Step Three

Pick three of the most interesting words in the sentence and generate creative alternatives (8 to 10) for each word choice. Think of choosing words that represent a simple question: who, when, where and/or how.

How can we…. attract customers able to pay high prices for our products?

My Process

I am a business coach providing guidance and mentoring to emerging entrepreneurs.  An ongoing challenge in my business is my ideal customers do not have (or believe they do not have) the resources they need to begin the coaching process.  Resources like time, money or the available mental capacity to work with a coach on a regular basis.  Given this issue, here is how I might complete this ideation step.

Step Four

Re-define the opportunity by randomly combining words from each of the three categories to create an entirely new opportunity statement:

• How could we… find more entrepreneurs able to pay fees for advice?
• How could we… meet with moms for our coaching?
• How could we… invite retirees to our workshops?

Now You

Go ahead and take an open-minded, creative look at your possible business concepts and see what new ideas occur to you for a unique product or service to meet the needs of your target market and separate you from the competition.

Don’t Rush this Exercise

• Allow time for reflection and incubation
• Creativity requires time
• Encourage results, inputs or ideas of any kind
• Remember: Everything is out there; it has all to do with managing one’s attention.

I know these instructions are a bit overwhelming.  That is where the services of a coach come in. If you are struggling, don’t despair, call me and I will talk you through it!  Or, if you are shy, buy the book.  Either way, don’t give up. I am here to help.

Photo by iandooley on Unsplash