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Hooray, you’ve had an idea and written it down on the fly! Now, you need to take that idea and start adding some meat to the bones. When you start fleshing it out, you’ll soon realise whether it’s worth pursuing further or not.
At the end of this article, you will find a template that you can follow to take you through the simple process of building upon your initial idea.
Step one
The idea exists in your head but you need to splurge it all out onto paper!
To do this....MINDMAP!
If you don't know what a Mind map is please check it out. This method of developing ideas concepts projects...any activity really..helps you get all that jumbled thought into one page and a bit of order.
The mind map just helps to organise your thoughts.
Splurge all you have out onto the mind map then keep it close by and fill in more over the weeks that follow.
You can start the mind map by identifying the problem that needs to be solved. Put that right in the middle.
Step two
Indicate who is involved in the problem. Who are the people that suffer or participate in the problem? Who has to do more work because the problem has not yet been solved?
If your problem was a play then who are the actors/actresses?
Get this down as branch on your mind map.
Step three
What is the significance of the problem? What is the impact? Does it use too much time, money, or resources? Is it bad for the environment? Does it cause distress?
Again get this down as another branch on your mind map.
Step four
How will the potential customer or user benefit from your idea? Yep you guessed it that is another branch.
Who would you sell it to? What is the persona of your ideal customer?
How would you go about finding those people? Are they easy to find and communicate with? Do you have experience dealing with these kinds of people? Do you know where they congregate online or in real life? What is their typical job role or industry? Do you speak their professional language?
More branches...
Step five
Another branch.
Scan the market. Is there someone else already solving this problem? How are they doing it and will you offer something different? Is the market competitive or empty?
Step six
How could you validate this idea as quickly and easily as possible? Do who know anybody who could qualify as your ideal customer persona? Could you start a social media account to have a discussion about the idea? Do you have any peers who might be well placed to discuss the idea? Simply find the method with the lowest amount of time input so that you can decide whether or not this idea is worth you pursuing.
Step seven
Now you have your complete Mindmap you need to get that into a one pager so that you can share it with everyone to help you refine that idea. Share it with family, friends, neighbours , random people in the street, your colleagues , your peers ... share it everywhere. This does not come naturally we know...but it is going to help you refine the idea and ditch it quickly if its a bad one, or star getting completely obsessed if it's a goodun!!
For now, you should download this template to get your mind map into a one pager!
