Page 123 - The Business Idea Factory: A World-Class System for Creating Successful Business Ideas

Engage other people to give you ideas

Last year, I launched a contest for the cover design of my book Magic of Impromptu Speaking and
during the first round received 104 designs from 23 contestants. I showed the top 5 designs to my
wife and together we agreed that one of the concepts was significantly stronger than the others. Olena
pointed at this design and said, “This cover is great, but it would become stronger with a different
background color and slightly changed fonts.” I thought that what Olena said made sense and
r equested a desig ner to send me sever al ver sio ns o f the same co ver, ho wever with chang es that my
wife suggested. One of the covers the designer sent in response became the cover with which the book
got published. Many readers sent me emails saying that the cover of Magic of Impromptu Speaking is
one of the best book covers they have ever seen. Do the readers care that 25 people in total were
engaged in developing an idea for the book cover design? No, the only thing they care about is that
the cover looks compelling.

Yo u sig nificantly limit yo ur cr eative po tential if yo u think that all g o o d ideas sho uld be g ener ated,
modified and improved only by your own brain. Talk about your problem with other people and use
their thoughts, hints and suggestions extensively.

If I didn’t engage 24 other people in creating an idea for the Magic of Impromptu Speaking book
cover, I would not have such a successful design. It’s OK that not all of the excellent thoughts popped
up in your head, what matters is the end result. Engage as many people in thinking about your tasks as
you need and they will increase the quality of your business ideas.