How much is an idea worth to you?
When talking about the price of an idea, it is hard to imagine even paying for an idea through the eyes of regular people.
Fortunately, you are not the average person. Championing on your own creativity, you don’t have to purchase an idea. You can create your own ideas. I’ll show you how.
If you want to come up with your own ideas, you have to follow a four step process: (1)Research, (2)Cultivate, (3)Enlighten, (4)Elucidate.
1. Research
In this stage, you are gathering all the information you can on the problem, need, or desire. Reading books, talking to experts, watching videos, and performing experiments are all legitimate ways of doing research. It is important to not only utilize passive information gathering strategies but also active information gathering strategies. Once you have collected enough data, it is time to analyze the knowledge by reviewing it.
2. Cultivate
Next, is the cultivation period. Take as much time as you need to brainstorm and come up with as many ideas as you can. Don’t throw away any ideas by saying they are “stupid,” write ALL of them down. Play with different ideas, mix and match ideas, contrast ideas, anything that can create new insights. Go to the movies, attend a play, walk outside, you are looking for an overarching insight that provides a level of realization not seen in any of the others. Other activities include: daydreaming, traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing new things.
3. Enlighten
After you have found you overarching insight, it is time to put all of the pieces together. You will know when you have found “The Idea” when you and your friends think your idea can make a huge impact. Your idea should be sharpened and honed, it is the most valuable part of the process. A great idea can have a price of over a million dollars or be worth even billions if executed in a successful manner.
4. Elucidate
You have an idea, but you need to visually represent it to make a plan for it. Always make plans on how you can make your idea a reality. Include what things you would need like funding, equipment, employees, anything that would help turn your idea into a reality. Ideas are worth gold, but need to be accompanied by realistic plans that can generate money.
In the upcoming years, the price of an idea is going to rise. Not everyone can come up with good ideas that can either create new, unique companies or make established companies more successful. All successful people started with an idea, made plans on how to turn their idea into a reality, and then followed those plans.
