Recently, I was asked by a friend, Ivana Taylor, for a quick tip on how to help get business ideas flowing. I thought about how I’m sometimes inspired by news I follow, TV shows I enjoy, etc., but rarely are any of those mediums a source for a great business idea – at least for me. Rather, I can trace just about every creative business idea I’ve been fortunate enough to come up with to a great conversation.
Let’s assume you agree that many great ideas can be sparked by a conversation. Then it should be pretty logical that to create more/better creative business ideas, you should have more conversations! And, if you’re not sure where to start, I have an easy solution: consider starting with your business customers/clients. The conversation doesn’t necessarily have to be about how you can help them, but rather, it can be a conversation that explores their business’ pain points.
Here are a few of my go-to questions that can often open up the floodgates:
- What’s going on with your business?
- What’s holding back your growth?
- What are your pain points?
Being a problem solver by default, I can’t help but want to help people solve their business challenges. Sometimes Dun & Bradstreet has a great resource I can point them to – such as when a business says it’s having trouble getting funded or getting into government contracts.
In the end, you might be closer than you realize to your next big business idea: if you’re looking for some creative inspiration to help reignite growth at your company, it might be as simple as picking up the phone and talking with your business customers about their pain points!
