Combining Ideas to Start a Business

Many visitors to Broke Professionals have the entrepreneurial spirit.  I see it in your emails or your comments on the site.  Some of our recent guest posts have been written about ideas to start a business and/or the qualities of a successful entrepreneur.

Some people are more detail oriented and others are more “idea people.”  I have always been more of an idea person (read- dreamer), so I thought I would talk about a method I often use for generating ideas: it is simple and will often allow your mind to think of idea you might not otherwise think of.  The basic mental exercise involves combining ideas to start a business.

I am specifically talking about combining personal or professional interests in this post, although many highly respected entrepreneurs have also talked about utilizing knowledge and ideas from other fields/industries and applying them in a novel way to their own profession or field.  The more diversification present in your types of hobbies/interests you have, the better chance you may have of coming up with a truly innovative and/or successful business or income stream.

Combining Ideas to Start a Business – Overview

Sometimes combining two disparate interests can lead to a creative new idea (or at least a successful business plan through the combination).  Scott Turow and John Grisham perhaps did not invent the legal thriller, but they used their love of law and writing to obtain great success in that (at the time) newer sub-genre of literature.  Perhaps more impressively, Alexander Graham Bell combined his love of music with his knowledge of the science of sound.

Many bloggers combine a love of technology or computers with their hobby to create their blogs.  This site combines my love of writing with my love of personal finance.

If you have an interest in business then it is easy to combine that interest with a hobby or passion to perhaps start an entrepreneurial venture.

As a lawyer, I seldom see other lawyers properly utilizing blogs or social media to further their practices.  As a profession us lawyers are always about 20 years behind the curve, partially because we are a conservative group, in general.  Many lawyers only started implementing group email systems five years ago, and this is particularly true of the smaller firms.  I often wonder if I could start a side business setting up blogs for fellow lawyers.  Although I do not know any code I am sure I would seem like a web design guru to most of the lawyers I know.  If I did pursue that avenue, it would be an example of combining interests in an entrepreneurial venture.  I would be combining my legal contacts with my passion for blogging to perhaps create a side business (side hustle).  This is just a personal example, but the possibilities are endless when you consider actively combing ideas to start a business/entrepreneurial venture.

Now sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to get to an original idea.  Many interests naturally flow together in neat ways.   To be sure a beat writer for the Phillies likely combines in their job his or her love of sports with a talent/interest in writing; that is just part and parcel of the job.

What you perhaps need to look for is combining interests that at first may not appear to go together well, or that are more disparate.   For example, Dr. Warren, who created the infamous in-flight “black box” combined several interests/passions into his invention.  He was a chemist but also had an interest in sound devices.  His father had died in an airplane crash when he was just a boy.  When he combined these skills and interests/etc., together he created a great idea that nobody else had thought of to that point.  When it works, combining disparate interests into an innovative creation  is like a form of mental alchemy–where magic can occur.

Combing Ideas to Start a Business – Conclusion

Here is my exercise for the entrepreneurial minded of our readers.  Think of your top two skills/knowledge areas, and your top two passions/hobbies, and then take a few minutes as you lay in bed at the end of the night to try and think of how you can combine them together in interesting or novel ways.  Perhaps you can come up with a truly original idea.  Who knows, you might just come up with the next great company or invention idea.  Whatever you do, don’t post whatever brilliant stuff you come up with here…..not until you have a patent, anyway.

Has anyone else ever consciously tried to think of ideas using this method?  Anyone think I am off base with the suggestion to combine interests or ideas to start a business idea?

Staff

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