How to Generate Business Ideas Through the Brainstorming Technique

It is hard to generate promising business ideas, especially if you are alone and do not know where to start. But through brainstorming, you can come up with good ideas to begin a great business. Brainstorming is just a way of making a group of people think about something simultaneously, usually to solve a problem or come up with good ideas.

If you are stuck and cannot generate good business ideas alone, you can engage your colleagues to support you. Remember that the combined brainpower of a group of people, coming together to deliberate on a particular problem, can spark off ideas and solutions better than you working alone. I would, therefore, like to share with you some of the tips on how you can use brainstorming to generate good business ideas.

Tips on Generating Ideas Through Brainstorming

Brainstorming

A great business idea is a fundamental part of starting a business. Your success depends significantly on the quality and profitability of the concept behind it. It is, therefore, essential to look for a business idea where the product or service has a repeat buy.

You can focus on getting a product or service where you get customers from whom you make a profit for a long time. For instance, one of our customers owns a business dealing with awards. Every time he gets an order, he passes it over to us to make the custom awards. He is a regular client who brings us business every month.

Secondly, be confident that the concept will lead to products/services with a high-profit margin when generating a business idea. Having a high-profit margin is essential when you are growing a business.

Let us now look at how to generate business ideas through the brainstorming technique.

#1 –  Scan the Environment

Problem Identification 

First, scan the environment for problems that need to be solved and the needs of the people. Since you are the one spearheading the entire exercise and the primary beneficiary, you should be able to present the problem to the group.

When you are generating business ideas, it is essential to know that problem identification enables you to focus on how to find solutions to that problem. The answers you come up with lead to good business ideas.

#2 – Identification of People to Support You

Secondly, recognise people that will be part of the brainstorming group. It is up to you and the people you surround yourself with to figure out how to identify these people. After the identification process, you invite them to participate in the exercise. You can engage your friends, say on Facebook, to participate in brainstorming. You can also carry out online surveys.

#3 – Actual generation of ideas

Brainstorming Business Ideas

Get as many thoughts as the group can generate. The more ideas you create, the better for you. You should not block any views. Respect all opinions, whether good or bad, wise or foolish.

All members should be free to come up with as many funny ideas or silly views as possible. Remember that all opinions are good because we select good ones from bad ones. Besides, the word “GOOD” makes meaning because there is also “BAD”.

#4 – Respect all Opinions from the People in the Group

By respect, I mean you have to regard them as valuable to avoid criticising them or evaluating them. It can spoil the whole process, and people become uncomfortable airing out freely what they have in their minds. During the brainstorming phase, all ideas are equally valid. It’s, therefore, a good practice to keep appreciating every member of the team that generates an idea.

#5 – Do Not Repeat Opinions Already Mentioned

When I say this, I do not mean that you stop someone if he mentions an idea previously said. It will sound like you are too restrictive. And that does not bring out the expected results. What you have to do when someone repeats an opinion is to use it to jump to other new ideas. You use it as the basis to get more views.

#6 – Clarity Is Vital in Generating Business Ideas

Brainstorming Viable Business Ideas

Ideas should not be complicated and detailed. People should not tell winding stories that end up making people confused and lose time. Members have to get appropriate guidance to precisely and concisely bring out their ideas.

7. Avoid Being Judgmental

Statements like “That will not work.” or “We tried that before, and it never worked” should be avoided. When you do that, it will impact negatively on shy people or those who are not familiar with the idea of letting their ideas flow and expressing them freely. You will be spoiling the whole process.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to remind you that consider applying this brainstorming technique if you find it difficult to generate business ideas. It can do wonders for you. Do not suffer alone when you are many resourceful people surrounding you and when you can even get them over the internet. I wish you good luck!