Have an Idea, Now What? Part 2: Get a Plan

After determining whether a viable market exists for your product or service idea, you must put together a detailed plan to make your idea profitable (unless, of course, a viable market does not exist for your product). Many different forms of business plans exists, ranging anywhere from 50+ pages to just one. Personally, I recommend using a shorter and clearer business plan. Oftentimes all the aspects of the large business plans are very dependent on external forces and, consequently, loose their value after slight external shifts. There are a few main brief business models and I must say that frankly I don't know about them all. But, I did find an excellent article that provides some business model history and a variety of brief business models. I hope this is useful and I would highly recommend searching around on The Innovative Manager for some more innovation-related advice.

Keep Innovating!

You Have an Idea, Now What? Step 1: Determine the Demand

Previously I discussed the many channels by which ideas come, including many non-conventional and accidental channels. Although I have briefly hinted at the importance of acting on innovative ideas, I have failed to stress the importance of action.

Oftentimes, innovators and inventors are filled with immense aspirations that their newest idea will eventually become a large source of income. The challenge for many of these innovators and inventors is that starting a business and actually creating revenue is quite a daunting task. In fact, I used to believe that the chances of starting a successful business were nearly impossible; but through business plan research and a more in-depth study of business financials I have come to realize that starting a business is actually quite possible.
The first step in starting a business is to determine the existing and potential demand for your product. One of the best ways to determine the existing demand for your product is to talk to as many people as possible to see if they would purchase or use your product. BEWARE: friends and family members are not always the best sources to talk to about product potential because of their personal bias toward you. Online surveys with subtle questions about your products benefits or features are a wonderful way to determine the demand for your product or service.
It is also important to take into consideration the current conditions of the market you are potentially entering. Is their currently a monopoly? Is the market saturated? Will the market growing or shrinking? All of these factors are critical to predicted the success of a product or service.
Frankly, most innovative ideas will never be profitably marketed; that is why predicting the profitability of a product or service before officially starting a business venture can save you a lot of stress and grief.

Keep Innovating!

Little Innovations: The Lifeblood of World Change

Every few years a groundbreaking innovation is made. Every decade the a world-changing innovation is presented to the world. These monumental innovations are often thought of when the word innovation comes to mind. Throughout the majority of my posts I have discussed these cutting-edge innovations, but in this post I would like to focus on the little everyday innovations made by a variety of people throughout the world.
As a budding fly-fisherman in my early teenage years, I was oftentimes the last one to fully rig up my fly rod. I was always last because, frankly, I was, and still am, very slow at tying knots, putting on my waders, etc.. My sluggish speed caused me to dread rigging up my fly rod or retying my flies because it meant I had to spend a good twenty or thirty minutes sitting on the bank of the river while my fishing buddies caught fish all around me; so I devised a plan that would give me more fishing time and less tying time. Whenever I had to replace a fly rig (two flies and maybe a bead tied on two feet of line), I would stuff the fly rig, hooks and all, into the front of my fishing bag. After a few rig replacements I would have two or three full fly rigs sitting in my bag. Then, whenever I needed to use one of those fly rigs, all I would have to do is pull the pre-tied rig out of my bag and tie it onto my fly line.  It was my own fly rigging innovative idea. It allowed me to spend a lot more time fishing and a lot less time retying.
My little innovative fly rigging example is a very simple and small example of everyday innovation; and although my idea may have been used before, in my situation it was innovative. Everyday innovations can range from determining the most effective way to load your dishwasher or finding a quick way to fix your daughter's favorite doll. Although, these innovations may seem small, they are the roots of earth-shaking innovations.

For wonderful examples of little innovations go to this website and search for innovative solutions to common, and uncommon, problems.

How can you innovate today?

Coca-Cola Innovative Marketing

The "Share a Coke" marketing campaign was a huge marketing success for the Coca-Cola company. During the "Share a Coke" campaign, Coca-Cola produced specially labeled Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero bottles and cans that displayed the 250 most popular millennial and teenager names along with common casual titles used by these age groups. Coca-Cola recently expanded on the "Share a Coke campaign and created the "Share a Coke and a Song" campaign. In this new campaign, Coca-Cola produced bottles with lyrics from a variety of popular songs.

Both of these marketing campaigns are examples of modern innovations in marketing. Personalization is not a new marketing strategy, but Coca-Cola just put a new twist on it. Through this campaign Coca-Cola gained a great deal of emotional capital with their customers. When a person sees a product with their name attached to it a connection is created between the person and the product. This connection influences the customer to purchase the product and increases the sales of the company. I almost never drink Coke, but when I saw Coke bottles with my name I was very strongly tempted to purchase a Coke.
The "Share a Coke" marketing campaign is a wonderful example of renewed innovation in a very marketing saturated market. Keep innovating!

Simple Innovative Ideas

Throughout history, some of the most innovative technologies came from very simple ideas from supposedly simple people. Take the internet for example; currently, the internet is so vast and complex that no single person could ever view the entire internet in their lifetime. They simply do not have enough time. In fact, three-hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! At that rate, nobody could ever watch all the videos on YouTube, and that's just YouTube; there are hundreds of millions more websites on the internet. If you would like to see more crazy YouTube stats, go to this website.

Surprisingly, the internet started out with a very simple idea. In 1962, J. C. R. Licklider first presented the idea of a global network of computers, describing the idea as a galactic network of computers. Such a simple idea, yet that idea led to the one of the greatest enabling tools of all time. 

Although an innovative idea may be simple, the process of creating and pursuing an idea is often quite complex. The daunting complexity and amount of work needed to make an innovation a reality are the main roadblocks to innovation. Innovation includes an idea and then acting on that idea to make it a reality. Let us, the innovators of the world, not allow fear to stop further innovation in our world; even if our original idea may seem surprisingly simple.

Free Market's Key Role in Innovation

Free markets are essential in accelerating innovation. Free markets oftentimes cause companies in similar markets to compete with each other. This fierce competition provides an incentive for businesses to innovate with the intent to hopefully steal a portion of their competitor's market share. 

As each business continues to innovate and find new ways to improve their product or service, the average quality of that product or service increases. Thus causing improvements in efficiency, durability, performance, and many other aspects of products and services. The overall average increase in business quality leads to a higher standard of living among the people and a more efficient society.

Businesses that maintain a monopoly rarely innovate or improve their product or service, because they do not need to compete with other businesses for customers. A wonderful example of a lack of innovation is Comcast. Comcast may continue to innovate their products and services, but they feel no need to improve their customer service. In fact, Comcast is known throughout the United States for its less than exceptional customer service. If the world is to continue to innovate at its currently astounding rate, markets must remain free. 

Innovation and Industrialization

Throughout time, humans have continually changed the landscape of earth. In the beginning, humans lived in a way that minimally impacted the environment. People migrated with animal herds and sought out shelter in naturally occurring caverns and overhangs. This all changed when humans began to domesticate animals and plants, demonstrating human's ability to innovate and improve their surroundings. As people continued to innovate, societies and written languages were created; people began to communicate and trade with others living in distant lands through innovative transportation technology.
The new innovations in technology and communication allowed large numbers of people to engage in business. People would specialize in trades and then sell their service or product for capital; they would then use their capital to buy other services and products. With numerous people focusing on just one trade, the entire human population was able to innovate and grow at remarkable rates. Huge advances in science and medicine were made, consequently improving the living standards of many people.
The industrial revolution was a time period in which many innovations in agriculture, transportation, and the textile industry were made. Steam engines were created and mass production became a more common practice. Huge population centers began to pop up in large transportation hubs and the human landscape quickly became more urbanized.
Despite the negative consequences of the industrial revolution, it opened the door to further development in many Western countries. Electrical power and gasoline engines soon became commonplace. Eventually, the internet was created and human productivity increased dramatically, therefore further advancing innovation.
Basically, the story of the human world is the story of innovation. All improvements and advances in society came from someone with innovative thinking and the drive to make that innovative idea a reality. Let us all continue to innovate and, in doing so, write human history.

What Would the World Be Without Innovation

Throughout time, the world has continually changed. Not only have humans adapted to the changing environment, they have altered the environment for their benefit. These alterations took place due to human's ability to innovate. According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language the definition of innovate is: "To change or alter by introducing something new". The 1828 dictionary may be outdated, but I believe it provides the most useful definition in the context of this article.
Due to innovation, humans have been able to create an environment suited to their wants and needs. A wonderful example of innovation is the wheel and axle used for transportation. The oldest known wheel has been dated back to about 3500 B.C. and is believed to be a potter's wheel. Creating a wheel to form pottery was an innovation in and of itself. Another person then had an idea to use a wheel and axle for transportation; this idea was acted upon and eventually produced a world changing innovation. Click here to learn more about world changing innovations. With carts containing wheels and axles, people were able to transport goods and information across land faster than ever before. The wheel and axle were further innovated to eventually produce horse drawn carriages and gasoline powered cars. Imagine how different the world would be without the innovative minds that created and altered the wheel and axle.
Without innovation, civilization would stagnate and every one would be stuck in an endless state of sameness. Innovation is what drives improvement in civilizations. Without innovation, there would be no government, there would be no written or verbal language, there would be no permanent settlements. Innovations is what changes the world and provides us with many of the comforts we enjoy.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of innovation is that each of us can play a part in it. Each of us has our own innovative ideas. Not all ideas will produce huge changes in the world around us, but each little change gradually adds up to large shifts in the human landscape and lifestyle. That is why it is important for each and everyone of us to share and spread our innovative ideas for the purpose of improving the world around us.