Get Started on that New Idea

Intellectual property experts will tell you that “ideas are free flowing. Only the expression can be protected.” It is awesome to have an idea but wasting time on the idea is outright killing of that idea little by little. You don’t have an idea and just key turning it around your head for months running into years. Find a way of expressing it so that the idea can work for you. Everything in today’s digitalized world started off as an idea that gained expression.

Here are some effective ways you can get started on the new idea.

Get Clear on WHY You Want to Start

Why do you want to start working on the idea? Do you think it is innovative and will solve a lot of problems? Will it be financially viable in the long run? The answers to these questions will give impetus to that idea of yours. You should know what is prompting you to start work on the idea. Though what the expressions of many ideas have become can be farfetched from what they started as. For instance, Facebook started as a social media network for people within the Harvard community. However, more than 15 years later, it is the biggest social media platform with about 2 billion active users.

Organize Your Ideas with a MIND MAP

A mind map is a diagram that you can utilize to visually organize information. It works in a hierarchical format and shows relationships among pieces in a whole. You can organize your ideas and the projection for it with this tool. The idea will have a root and it will grow from there to other things through the application of other tools. All these will be on the mind map.

Simplify and Clarify

Make the idea very simple so that when you are sharing it with intelligent minds, it will be easy to understand. Ensure that the idea is broken down into a step by step process that is easily comprehensible. When asked by those who can help expand the idea or give it expression, simplify it to ensure that it is clear. Even the expression must not be technical; it must be easily understood by many. If the idea is still technical, go back to the drawing board and see how you can clarify it.

Refine Your Idea with Feedback

Listen to opinions and comments on your ideas. It is still crude when it emerges from your mind; you need it to be refined by the feedback of experts, consultants or simply friends who can relate and understand the scope of the idea. As you get feedback, use it to better your idea. This is the reason why you don’t want to share your idea with just anybody; you want it to be processed only by the right minds who can comprehend it.

Define Your Target Market

When your idea is fully given expression, you need to know your target market. Your target market is those who will patronize you for your product or service. For instance, if your idea is an international way to transfer money faster than any other available means, those who engage in international financial transactions, marketers, sellers, bankers, etc, will be your target customer. Thus, you must be able to pinpoint your market and plan towards launching into it.

Survey Your Target Market

You should know the scope of your target market and the players therein. Take a survey of that market and see how you can carve a niche for yourself in the market. Ask questions from the players in the market. What would they like to be better? What challenges are left unsolved? What projections do they have for the market? These questions will help you bring the expression of your idea as a solution to the inherent problems in the market.

Analyze the Competitive Landscape

Conduct your research on how competitive the market is. Know any potential competitors and have a plan on how to overcome the competition. This is the place of conducting your market survey and knowing how your product or service can solve the market problems. You should analyze the market with the help of market consultants who can suggest solutions on how to capture the market.

WHO Are You Competing With Indirectly?

As much as there are direct competitors, there are indirect competitors. Indirect competitors are those not selling the same products as you but what they sell can satisfy the same need your products or services promise to satisfy. Know the indirect competitors and see how you can hijack the market from them.

Test Your Prototype

You cannot afford to disappoint with the prototype of the expression of the idea. Test it several times and in extreme situations to see if it can hold strong. It is your chance at carving a niche in the market. Your prototype is what investors and buyers will see; thus, have it well designed and take note of any flaw before you exhibit it to the public.

Define Your Revenue Model

How will you make money? This is a very important question. If you get investors, this is the question they would be most interested in hearing about. There must be a way you are generating money with the idea. In fact, the question must have been answered when the idea was still forming.

Create Your Go-to-Market Plan

This is the action plan that states how a business will reach target audience and achieve competitive advantage. Plan how best you can get the customers you want. You can look for things the customers will be interested in and use it as a tool to have them try your solution. Achieving competitive advantage cannot be divorced from being able to reach and attract your target customers.

In conclusion, everything starts with an idea but it becomes fully expressed when a lot of factors are taken into consideration. You should ensure that you are solving a problem and a viable revenue model is available for it.

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