Every going concern today started as an idea. Most ideas are generated in unconventional ways. This means, there is no straitjacket way of creating your business idea as a startup. However, for these ideas to materialise, you are expected to go through different steps and such should not be missed.
Unemployment rate in Nigeria stands at 33 per cent, under-employment at 22.8 per cent, and youth unemployment 42.5 per cent, according to Proshare.
The United Nations released a data recently that in Nigeria’s over 200 million population, youths constitute over 60 per cent. This shows that young people between the ages of 25 and 40 will be more active in the coming years. And the ones who would stay active are those who have started creating the businesses now or those active in the technology space.
Even the Bible says, the way a man thinks in his heart, so is he; meaning that the mind is the base of every form of creativity. Every great idea is the outcome of a processed work of art in the mind.
“Thoughts are the powerful creative force behind every invention and innovation. Imagination is, simply, images that propel our action. Impossibility does not exist, but in our imagination. What was not possible decades ago are now possible,” says communication analyst, Jide Johnson, who wrote that a person should never allow the mind to limit their possibility to rise.
The sky is wide enough. Your mind is the runway to your flight. The key to your rising is your mind.
Your thinking must include more variables, more questions and even more ideas before you start the process of filtering.
“If you want to create something revolutionary, something people love, you have to think like an artist,” says Gimmy Chu, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nanoleaf.
Moriarty, Mitchell and Wells, in 2009, described illumination in the stage of generating business idea as embracing that unexpected moment, when idea comes, often when your mind is relaxed and you are doing something else.
Many scholars believe that ideas are also best generated when the mind is not in a too serious mood.
“Creativity comes out of recreation,” they say.
Communication strategist, Akan Emmanuel, explained how a person could create a business idea and launch it into a successful one. According to him, the space for idea generation in business has moved from the predictable ways of innovation and creation to the uncommon space.
“Yes, we are in unconventional times. The paradigm is aggressively shifting. So, yes, there are ways that are not conventional in thinking, and these ways are working,” he says.
The digital communication strategist believes that implementing a business idea involves only five steps.
“The first step in creating a business is to get the idea. Do a feasibility study to see if there is a market for it. Put the idea through the Business Canvass Model test. Create a business plan or pitch deck. Implement the business,” he stated.
One of the advantages of having a good business idea is that it brings you both passive and active incomes. Passive incomes are those generated when you are not actively engaging in a one-on-one transaction with your clients. They include merchandise, sale of books, training or tutorials, etc. Active incomes are monies made when you engage clients in open transactions – when you do the job of a client or you sell products to customers.
