Summary
The most powerful tool that you have for building major wealth is the strength of your ideas. Trading time for money can earn you cash in the short-term, but only a great idea can help you to generate ongoing rewards that work for you, instead of the other way around.
You might not think of yourself as creative, especially if you have never had much of an artistic bent. But I have found that creativity is a muscle that can be honed just like any other muscle, as long as you make a commitment to yourself to foster more of it.
Read on to learn more about how you can get in the habit of becoming your very own idea machine.
Transcript
Stocks are nice to have. Real estate has long treated me well and should be part of your Wealth Freedom plan. But when it comes down to the most important asset in building wealth, I agree with Victor Hugo, who said “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”
Ideas Are The Source Of Wealth
In a world of fierce competition, a sure way to stand out from the crush of competition is through your own proprietary ideas and creative thinking. You might have an idea for a great app or a bold e-book or a whole new social media platform. The beauty of pursuing your own ideas is that they can lead to truly large-scale wealth in a way that trading your time never can. You only have so much time in your day that you can sell. But there’s no shortage of how many times you can be compensated for an idea or how many people you can potentially reach.
Of course it isn’t as simple as just deciding to have a great idea. Frankly I believe that most people should forget about the idea of creating an app. There are an awful lot of moving parts involving technology that you may not be able to control if you don’t know what you are doing. But you don’t need to shoot the moon to have a good idea. What about starting an online business of your own? Even if it is not an entirely new concept, you may be able to start small and scale up as you learn along the way.
Don’t have an idea already? That’s okay. There are plenty of ways to get in the habit of generating good ideas that may help you start a business or take your business skills to the next level.
Execution is Crucial
I want to say to first off, don’t spend an excessive amount of time worrying about your ideas being stolen. I can‘t even remember how many times I’ve been told by a budding entrepreneur at a conference that he has a great idea he wants me to invest in, but he can’t tell me more because he’s worried about the concept being ripped off.
Trust me, execution is everything. It’s only when a great idea is implemented that you need to worry about copycats. You can cross that bridge when you come to it by making sure that you have taken legal and contractual action to protect your intellectual property. It is very seldom that anyone else will put the effort into poaching your idea based on an overheard pitch. Most of us have stronger tendencies toward skepticism of new ideas, which actually helps you to protect it from anyone else running with it. Big companies are usually investing in their own research, not casting about for ideas to take and legal battles to start.
Until the point that you are actually implementing it, you are far better off focusing on execution. A great idea itself isn’t as inherently valuable as your consistent and sustained demonstration that it can actually work in the real world.
If you want to really monetize your idea, you need to spend time considering how to make it a viable business entity or offering. That means keeping an eye on a potential reading audience when you have an idea for a book or a target demographic when you identify a type of online information business you would like to start. Spend time each and every day moving forward with your idea, beginning with a written summary and business plan that you can point to when hustling for investors or partners.
Part of that involves considering what makes your idea different or unique from the competition. You don’t have to necessarily come up with something that is completely unlike any other business that has ever been attempted. As it’s been said, there‘s nothing quite new under the sun. But you surely should explore a way to help capture what makes your idea a unique opportunity.
Become an Idea Generator
Brainstorm
So how can you increase your ability to generate new ideas? Help yourself out and increase your odds of success by vowing to become an idea generation machine. You should make it a priority each and every day to sit down and draft a list of actionable concepts that you can brainstorm. No idea should be considered too outlandish to be included here. By increasing the numbers of ideas you generate each day, you also increase your opportunities for one to catch fire. During this phase, don’t worry so much about making sure that each and every idea is a home run. Let yourself run wild even with some ideas that may be a stretch.
Take Note
You never know when inspiration may hit so get into the habit of carrying around an idea notebook wherever you are. I’ve found that those “dead times” of waiting around in life, whether for traffic or in the checkout line, aren’t nearly as annoying if you look at them as opportunities to be exploring and developing new ideas. I find I get a lot of ideas during my morning shower. Every moment is an opportunity to be working on your big breakthrough. You might try drafting some lists, like “businesses I would launch if money were no object” or “ridiculous products that you would never see in a store”. That said, I do like to focus on online businesses because they can be easily started with not much money and scaled to be significantly large enough to create a full-time or greater income. Sometimes, your new business can even be an extension of a current hobby or passion of yours.
Think Broadly
It’s important to be focused, but staying too narrowly fixated can negatively impact your creativity. You may consider building more time into your day to mentally explore and bolster your own creative capacity. I find that it helps to read some materials outside of my usual obsessions and areas of interest, like finance and real estate. So I may take some time to go to a local bookstore and peruse some periodicals in other areas that aren’t as familiar to me. It might be computers or current events or music. Just the habit of soaking up knowledge in different areas can help you to better create more innovative connections. In time this practice will help you to develop your own “idea muscle”, just as going to the gym on a regular basis helps you build arm and leg muscles. The key element here is curiosity.
Seek New Sources of Inspiration
The movie producer Brian Grazer has pointed to his creativity as the key to his success. Every few weeks for the past several decades, he has sought out an interesting figure to sit down and have a conversation with. There is no agenda t ask whatsoever. And the person is hardly ever someone in the movie industry. He has sat down with folks from all walks of life. Scientists, artists, politicians, athletes. They might not seemingly have much in common or a common reference point to be discussing. And yet he has pointed to this regular habit of exploring his curiosity with the creative breakthroughs that have led to blockbuster movies like “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind”. By continuing to seek out new and interesting people to talk to, he has stayed fresh and dynamic in an industry where creativity is absolutely essential.
You don’t need to boil the ocean, so to speak. You can often come up with something pretty interesting by combining existing ideas, or taking something old and making it new again. By staying in the habit of looking for new ideas and remaining open-minded to unexpected possibilities, you can mold yourself into a true idea machine.
You can also learn more by visiting my website: tonyneumeyer.com and registering to receive free trainings articles and more. Also subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Facebook. You can get your copy of The 7 Minute Millionaire and check out my other books at https://tonyneumeyer.com/books/.
