SQUEEZE AND QUENCH

Squeeze the creative juices and quench the thirst for a successful new venture

Perhaps, this is my second blog entry for my entrepreneurial class. It is about creativity and the business idea. I consider this chapter very interesting and it had nonetheless inculcated upon me several learning ideologies that I firmly believe will be very handy as I step forward to the business industry.

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Everything big comes from small beginnings. That is indeed a hundred percent fact. No questions asked. No objections available. A great business venture would never come into the commercial surface unless a primary ingenious idea about the service or product has been extracted out of the creative juices of the entrepreneur. These business ideas sometimes just pop out of the mind of an individual, but in most cases, these are products of daily experiences and observations about the market. Possible sources can come from consumers, existing products and services, distribution channels, government, and of course, through research and development. Ideas can also be internally or externally generated through various techniques such as focus groups, brainstorming and problem inventory analysis. Creative juices will surely be squeezed out through brainstorming, which is perhaps the most well-known and widely-used method. It is a method whereby small groups of people are allowed to work in an open non-structured environment. Other means of creative problem solving includes reverse brainstorming, brainwriting, Gordon method, checklist method, free-association and the big-dream approach. It is only after the ideas and concepts about the new venture are established, the doors of planning and developing process shall open up. Of course, the potential business ideas should be screened and evaluated first before the entrepreneur thoroughly proceeds with the succeeding stage of founding the business. Product planning and development process should be done with much dedication and scrutiny to assure the success of the new venture.

After learning the different techniques to arrive at a possible business idea through the book and other supplements like the articles by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne entitled, Knowing a Business Idea When You See One, I was very much enlightened. I learned that there are certain tools to help wash out the uncertainty of a possible venture and these includes the Buyer Utility Map, the Price Corridor of the Mass and the Business Model Guide. Also, there are several business models that are currently available on the web. Basic categories of business models include brokerage, advertising, infomediary, merchant, manufacturer, affiliate, community, subscription, and utility.

I came to realize that business opportunities are never that hard to find as long as you are really determined to look for it. And even if you do not intentionally search for it, in one way or another, these business ideas might bump you with no formal warning. Another insight that I had was the fact that during the idea generation, quantity is prioritized over quantity. Thus, no matter what idea you have in mind, no matter how vague it is or no matter how crazy others might think about it, you must be open and speak it out. Brainstorming is never about the preciseness of your thoughts right on that very moment. Who knows that there could be a possible successful and winning business concept lying beneath and hiding in those crazy thoughts you have. Perhaps, these thoughts or ideas are just waiting to be discovered, dug out and polished through screening and evaluation. Indeed, there might be gold mines concealing themselves underneath the bushes.

In line with the lessons we have in our entrepreneurial class, we have came across with another means of coming up with a unique business venture which is actually new to my ears. It is called the Blue Ocean Strategy, a new approach which promotes the creation of a new market (Blue Ocean) rather than competing in an existing industry. I certainly agree that this strategy is such an intelligent and innovative move. Well I suppose that implementing or practicing this strategy is never tied up with the ideology that you have to invent something that is totally different from existing products or services. Hence, it is possible to be innovative by putting up something or changing something about the product so as to give it its own identity and exceptionality. There are various ways to come up with innovations.

After incorporating the knowledge provided by the book with our everyday experiences, I, along with my fellow group mates was able to come up with our own business ideas. Actually, we were assisted by our Entrepreneurship Professor, Mr. Ramon Duremdes Jr. as we go along with our task. We had gone through the process of brainstorming where we had listed the irritants and desires of students from all levels of education. After coming up with a volume of ideas, we eventually screen and evaluated them and had produced a concrete path of business we want to pursue. Since we got very much acquainted with the power of technology and internet, we decided to have a business related to it. With every aspect of our idea generation and concept formation, the learning that we have through the chapter was superbly utilized.

At the end of the day, I had a grasp of truth that ideas are everywhere. There might come in different packages and settings. They might come easily or through tedious scratching of the surface. But they are just there waiting to be discovered and mined. Waiting to be found and rejoiced. So let us just squeeze the creative juices within our minds and quench our thirst for a successful business venture!