Thinking Creatively Thinking Creatively

What makes a good business idea? Good business ideas… Solve a problem Offer a better, cheaper way Simple & practicable Can be delivered quickly Have a clear focus Anticipate trends & exploit growing markets TrueCall – an end to nuisance calls?

Example - Glasses Direct  Entrepreneur: James Murray-Wells  Felt ripped-off by prices charged by high street opticians  Researched supply-chain  Simplified customer purchase & lowered price  Focused on glasses  Focused on e-commerce /about/story/

Two More Examples King of Shaves Entrepreneur: Will King  Will had sensitive skin & was fed up with razor burn during wet shaving  Girlfriend suggested using oil on skin during shaving – a new product was born! Green Thumb Entrepreneur: Stephen Waring  Meet someone at a wedding in the US who ran a lawn treatment service  Stephen was first into the market with the same idea in the UK – launched as a franchise

Good ideas need customers There is no point creating a product or service unless someone wants to buy it! Gap in the Market Market in the Gap? …but is there a

Good sources of business ideas Business experience – Good way of getting insights into what works + more realistic business plan – Less need for market research Personal experience – Day-to-day activities, interests & hobbies – Bad experiences or frustrations Observations – Watching closely what happens to customers (including in other markets) – Look for poor customer service

Remember that There are very few original business ideas. Well-worn ideas work too, with a fresh approach Good ideas rarely come in a flash - they take time to develop The idea doesn’t have to be yours – you can copy someone else so long as it is legal Good ideas rarely come from committees!

Creative thinking for business ideas Blue skies thinking Lateral thinking De Bonos Six Hats Mind-mapping

Blue Skies Thinking Kind of brainstorming No limits in what is suggested and no preconceptions about what the answer might be Encourages contributors to throw in as many ideas as possible Only when the flow of ideas has stopped is commercial potential considered

Lateral Thinking About reasoning that is not immediately obvious Ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic Sometimes called “thinking outside the box” Tries to come up with new and unexpected ideas

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Neutrality (white Hat) Considering purely what information is available, what are the facts? Quantitative data on a market (e.g. sales) would be considered with this hat on Feeling (red hat) Instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification). Many entrepreneurs rely on their instinctive or gut feel with their business idea Negative judgement (black hat) Logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers, seeking mismatch. The black hat encourages the entrepreneur to think about the things that might go wrong with an idea Positive Judgement (yellow hat) Logic applied to identifying benefits. This is the opposite of the black hat – what are all the positives or upsides from the idea. What is the best that might happen? Creative thinking (green hat) Statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes. This is the hat which encourages lateral thinking. Process control (Blue hat) Thinking about thinking. The blue hat encourages the entrepreneur to consider and evaluate the ideas coming from the other five hats!

Protecting a business idea

Why protect a business idea? Keep control of intellectual property Maintain “unique selling point” Maximise return on investment Reduce threat of competition

Patents Strict rules: process must be – New – Innovative – Capable of industrial application – Not be excluded (various categories) Key benefits – Right to take legal action – Protection for up to 20 years – Able to licence right to use patent

Trademarks Something that identifies a product – Symbol – Name – Logo Must be distinctive Protection last for 10 years

Copyright Important protection for many industries – e.g. media, design, publishing Protection is automatic for any original work Lasts for 70 years after authors death Can control how copyrighted work is exploited (e.g. licence, royalties) Widely used as a way of protecting creative work of all kinds

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