Sunday, November 7, 2010

How to bring Frankenstein's creature to life and then profit from it

Mary Shelley's infamous protagonist Victor Frankenstein knew it from the moment his creature saw the world: Victor's principal venture was going to bring an ROI that even the most optimistic business plan could not predict. Whatever happened there? Victor invested his college years into developing a clear goal, and, before too long, his vision materialized.

Now, I hope that those of you who've read the book realize that I'm joking. NVSBS would not wish the outcome of Frankenstein's actions for anybody. But a part of the story's moral still holds true: With enough persistence and the right idea generation mechanism, one can reach any ambition, including bringing the dead back to life - I'm not even mentioning generating simple everyday sales. Later in the article, I've posted a video that showcases how entrepreneurs would employ Frankenstein's creature in a more desirable way. The video is an excellent example of innovative thought that allowed the German company that made it distribute an extraordinary advertisement by word-of-mouth. I strongly suspect that the reason behind this project's success at going viral rather quickly lies in five concise concepts behind idea generation.

1. Ask questions. Tom Szaky, the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, has said in a presentation I attended earlier this year that the whole idea behind his upcycling business started with the question: "What is garbage?" Often, inquiring beyond the matter of fact leads to either greater understanding of the world or to discovering plentiful pathways for innovation, like it did for Tom Szaky. If you make electronics, ask your neighbors about how their lives could be more convenient, and your research and development will see genius coming through. If you are a freelance writer, ask questions when reading the New York Times and your opinion pieces will flourish, and so on.
2. Welcome the unusual. The "unusual" is unusual because people have not recognized its value. What that means is that everything obscure holds abundant wealth for the person who sees its value first and then shows it to the rest. Early adopters also get to indulge in the benefits of welcoming the unusual before the crowd follows. Maybe it's risky, but also it's the only path to successful idea generation: everything that's no longer unusual already holds too many entrepreneurs to support any new business.
3. Embrace the obstacle. Life's troubles are the entrepreneur's biggest assets. Once you think of a way to overcome a hurdle and make life easier for everybody else, you will be able to harvest lots of advantages from your findings. Apple does this by eliminating bulky hardware. Blackberry does this by putting your e-mail account into your pocket. MS Outlook does this by combining the functionalities of multiple professional software packs under one roof. You get the picture.
4. Link unconnected areas. Being an expert in more than one area or just thinking about several topics on a daily basis can bring your idea generating abilities a mile closer to those of celebrated polymaths like Michelangelo and da Vinci, whose expertise ranged from engineering and anatomy to writing and sculpture. With that said, broad interests can put a small business owner at significant advantage because of the immense innovation possibilities that reaching into multiple fields keeps. If your firm is a computer repair store, and you minored in art in college, one day you might as well come up with the idea of gold-plating your customers' MacBooks as an extra service.
5. Use the resources on hand. Maybe neither you nor I hold millions in the bank vault, and getting capital in this economy might not be the easiest task either. However, you do have plenty of other assets that are already free. Not to limit you down, but here are some examples: public domain art, the local library, tap water, your congressman's ears, the ocean, the sky, your friends and family, and, importantly, your knowledge and experience.

Now let's look at the real Frankenstein's creature and why innovative thought is not nearly as scary as Mary Shelley dared to depict it.


Let us know in the comments what you thought about the video and how soon you could tell the monster's identity. And, finally, don't forget to subscribe; it's good for you.

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