I have been to many business workshops and everyone says that for you to be successful you need to solve a problem. Which is true but I think now our thought process is how can I make money? Oh yes by solving a problem. Which problem can I make the most money from in the most convenient way? Then we get stuck.
Why can’t we think of something new?
We’re too busy looking at what others are doing
If others are doing something then it’s not new anymore. But here we are trying to get ideas from others. It only keeps us in a box where we can’t see possibilities but only what’s there already.
We are trying to solve problems that don’t mean anything to us
If it doesn’t mean anything to us, we will probably not even have the expertise and or the drive. We will probably only see the side everyone else sees because the idea isn’t really coming from within it is coming from “oh what problem can I solve?”
We are driven by the wrong thing
When we are driven by money or ambition or competition we see others who have what we want and the most natural thing for us to do is copy.
How do you get new business ideas?
For you to get new ideas you have to stop looking for them (not what you were hoping to hear hey). Focus on doing what you love and new ideas will come on their own. Even if what you love is not sustainable. That in itself is a problem that needs to be solved and you’ll see ideas coming as you tackle that. There are a lot of problems in health, education and entertainment which are not being solved because people aren’t doing what they love.
You are killing yourself and everyone else by not doing what you love
There are so many problems in our country because those who are supposed to be solving them are busy doing businesses others are already doing. We have problems because those who are trying to solve the problems do not really care about them. So nothing meaningful ever gets done. Stop trying to get a quick fix. That thing that you think will never take you anywhere will take you everywhere. If you love it enough and you give it your best shot.
You have an idea. You just don’t know how to access it
Ideas are there and they won’t ever end but we don’t see them because we start from the wrong place. You can’t think of something that is not already there because you keep looking outside but something new and exciting is in you wrapped up in the thing you love the most.
Share your experience
Have you pursued a business idea no one ever thought would work out and it actually did? Share your story and encourage others.
Share
Home
3 comments
In the future , that is all you will be able to do.There is going to be lots of leisure time as new technologies replace mundane tasks. Example is the commuter omnibus. The introduction of autonomous cars and ride sharing may quickly make them redundant as journeys will be planned on the phone and will b user specific.
Very good read.
It sounds so obvious and it probably is, that’s why it’s so hard! As humans we have this weakness that we reject the obvious because somehow success has to be complicated. It’s hard but it’s super simple. I hope you yourself Paidaishe are on your way to crazy new ides…
Hey Paida! Great piece. You have made my day. Thanks. And Tinashe you are spot on “we reject the obvious because somehow success has to be complicated”. Many of the greatest ideas are just offshoots of somebody somewhere playing with or on something they enjoyed. It is the “somewhere” part that bothers me – almost all ideas (as brought to life through products and services) are not from us – Africans. Yet it’s not all doom. We haven’t always been at the bottom of the heap. We can do it again.Thanks again Paida.