They come unbidden in the small hours of the morning, at the gym, even in the shower – good ideas. They are the bread and butter of small business, but many people only know how to apply their best ideas to their clients’ projects. Investing in their own good ideas is something that many small businesses simply don’t do.
In the world of big business, developing good ideas can be a very large investment. Companies spend billions of dollars developing new products and technologies, implementing innovative services and freshening up tired business practices.
For small business, however, focusing on clients and money-making projects usually seems more important than the unpaid work that goes into researching and developing ideas. It’s easier and more immediately sensible to concentrate on the solidity of paid work over the vague possibilities of innovation.
Even if a small business makes the time to focus on ideas development, income may not be generated immediate, and riches are not inevitable. Ideas are often the victims of bad planning, poor research and a lack of investment, both in terms of time and money. Small businesses also need to be prepared to take risks for an idea. If not it will languish, and in the absence of courage and commitment a great idea is essentially worth nothing.
Creating the Idea
Time is the essence of good idea creation. Making a space in a busy schedule for daydreaming may seem a silly idea, but necessary for ideas generation. Find a quiet space and an uninterrupted few hours to indulge in some brainstorming. This could involve:
- Writing down business objectives, going over some goals, and seeing where those thoughts lead
- Identifying problems or issues in the business, internally or for clients and customers
- Playing around with possible solutions.
The key to good brainstorming is to write everything down, preferably on large pieces of paper that can be displayed and worked over. Also, there’s no need for editing or limits. Let the ideas play with one another, and write down everything. Bad ideas can be eliminated later.
Developing the Idea
If a good idea has already made its presence known, what’s needed to get it to the next level? Firstly, questions need to be asked.
- How much time and money needs to be invested in developing this idea?
- Is this really an original idea, or a reinvention of the wheel?
- How is this idea going to work in real life, and how much research is needed?
- Is there an inexpensive or less troublesome way to test-run the idea?
- What is the Intellectual Property (IP) situation? Who owns copyright?
- What is the market? How will this innovation be sold, to whom, and for how much?
Sometimes, good ideas need time to develop, like fine wine. If the idea needs more work, leave it somewhere safe and allow it to mature. In ideas development, patience truly is a virtue.
Success or Failure?
The true future of a good idea can only be known once it s unleashed on the public. After that, success could be immediate, or take years. Failure is always an option.
Sometimes they very best ideas fail in the marketplace, for many reasons. Even the most wonderful innovations fail because it’s not yet the right time, or not truly a money earner, or just not positioned correctly in the marketplace. Regardless, it’s important to maintain a distance from the emotions of watching a good idea fail or triumph. An idea that fails isn’t necessarily bad, it just economically unviable right now. It’s not personal. It’s business. In other words – back to the drawing board.
Monica Davidson - I've been writing since I was a teenager and was first published in my local paper when I was sixteen years old. I have since written more ...
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