Read Time: 6 Minutes
Hello All!
Since I was young, I have wanted to build a company which is a direct reflection of who I am and leave an imprint on the world that changes the way humans operate. I have held large amounts of motivation and desire to build a team that successfully works together in solving some of the world’s biggest problems.
I, like so many others, have held this American dream throughout my life knowing that one day it needed to be fulfilled. The only problem was, I didn’t know where to begin. Eventually, after much reflection into who I was as a person and what other successful CEOs did to get where they are, I have created some tips which will hopefully aid you in finalizing the THINKING process and beginning the DOING process.
Here’s how I came to the conclusion of where you should develop your expertise and how you can use your “Creative Genius” to set straight your path.
Realizing Your Problem to Solve
The first step in being able to establish your entrepreneurial journey is to be able to find your motivations. Why do you want to begin a business? How will you operate within this business? What special problem will your business solve?
All are very valid questions, but the main one to consider is what special problem will your business solve? Most of the time, we want to become entrepreneurs and be able to “be our own boss” and “make an impact” but we don’t have a valid answer to some of the world’s biggest problems.
I realize that this isn’t an easy philosophy to automatically adopt and then be able to solve, but once this is realized, the world reveals itself as a puzzle. You start asking yourself…
How could I make this better?
I guarantee that there have been certain moments throughout your life where you have said, “I wish this was…” or “This would be so much better if…”. These are as Sara Blakely puts it, “gifts from the universe”.
She goes on to explain that each one of these ideas should be written down and not one should be lost. The more that we recognize these ideas and materialize them in writing, the more we begin to think in this problem solving way.
Eventually over time, you will have created a list of a large amount of ideas which have come to you. This is where you can have full range to really hone down on which ones are worth your time and which you could be the most passionate about.
How will you know that you have picked the right one?
It is easy to glance upon your ideas and forever think about the possibilities of the good and the bad occurring, but to be honest, you won’t know. If you try to predict the future you will be stuck in the thinking mode instead of the doing mode. What I can recommend however is looking at which lights a fire within you the most.
Which idea do you look at and say, “Wow I would really like to have this in my own life”. Chances are, if you want it in your life, there are others out there who would want it in theirs.
All things considered, there is one final aspect that you need to consider which is more on the personal side than that of the customer. It originates within feeling fulfilled in your work and what you are producing, and its known as your “Creative Genius”.
Operating Within Your Creative Genius
Twitch co-founder Justin Kan is an internet entrepreneur who has made millions of dollars off of his streaming service which he and his partners sold for over 1 billion dollars. He gives entrepreneurial advice and has been one of my greatest sources of entrepreneurial information over the past couple of months.
You can find his videos on YouTube here.
One of the more passionate topics that he discusses is feeling fulfilled in what you are producing in life. He warns of doing things that make you dread going to work every day and tells people that it is as important to realize what you enjoy as it is to create a successful business.
The best tip of his in my opinion which I have adopted and added to my own life is something he calls operating within your “Creative Genius”.
Your creative genius isn’t necessarily what you excel in, but rather, what you are most passionate about. It is the very thing that allows you to express free range creativity in your work and enables you to develop as a person.
The first step in realizing your creative genius is looking at the things that you enjoy researching and doing in your own life. Look at the sectors in business which involves that interest and make sure to hone in on that area.
This will be the sector that you should focus on most when considering where to begin when starting your business, as this is where you will feel most fulfilled. Realizing this will set you on a path which opens your mind to the knowledge that must be acquired to figure out which problems can be solved within that sector.
For example, if you are interested in building computers then your sector of business would be technology. Learn everything that you can within this area and opportunity will begin to arise as you will notice more solutions to the industry.
Once you have found your sector which interests you the most, you can then move on to the next step which is doing internal reflection on your strengths and weaknesses and how you can leverage those traits.
Leveraging your Advantages and Disadvantages in Business
As important as it is to realize your strengths, it is also important to realize your weaknesses. When thinking of a potential business idea, you must weigh how do-able an idea actually is for your current situation.
Let’s go back to our technology sector example. If I enjoy building computers and want to find a way to revolutionize the industry, I better begin learning all that I can about how computers work and how they are produced. Moreover, I need to weigh to costs as well as marketing associated to this type of product.
Looking at what you are good at will allow you to really double down on the things that you do well and learn more about the things that you don’t.
You might be a really good marketer for example, but know nothing about the tech industry. This would obviously be a huge hole in your business plan as you wouldn’t have the knowledge to be able to further your idea.
Because of this you can move forward two different ways.
- Hire your weaknesses
If you don’t have the knowledge to be able to operate a successful part of your business then you’ll want to find people in your life that do. Look throughout your network and find the experts who carry these activities out successfully on a recurring basis. - Pick up the books
Most of the time if you don’t have the money to hire your weaknesses then you’ll need to learn more about that industry through good ol’ sweat equity. If you enjoy the sector enough through your creative genius selection, then this step should be easier than it sounds.
What developing a business idea really comes down to is looking at your immediate resources. The more resources you have, the more likely you will be able to create the foundations of a successful business.
Use these resources in deciding what a good industry would be for you to delve into. It makes sense that if your really good friend makes computer software, then maybe you can reach out to him or her to help develop that product.
Hopefully this helps give some guidelines to develop a path towards reaching your entrepreneurial idea. Remember, when considering your product think about…
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- What am I most passionate about?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
If you can successfully answer these questions then you will be that much closer to reaching your business solution to achieve your American dream!
If you have any input about this topic don’t hesitate to reach out as I enjoy being able to talk with you the reader! Also if you learned something today a share to a friend is much appreciated!
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Andrew Martinez, owner and writer of Minerva Money
Instagram: @andrew.martinez__
Twitter: @andrewmartine_z
YouTube: @andrewmartinez