Muse creation: it's really so easy?

[thinkdifferent]

Hi to all.
I read Tim's book and browsed through this forum.

There is a question which is still on my mind: what if someone can't come up with a good muse idea?

Maybe I'm the only idiot, but I think it's not so easy as it's written to have a good idea, create a profitable muse and leave your day job.

I'm almost 27,Italian, Bsc and Msc on computer engineering, so I'm able to program (mainly Java), former junior national chess champion, interested in fitness, nutrition, supplements and longevity.
Interested also on many other things like science,economics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, finance. I like reading a lot... basically I like learning in general.

But can't come up with a good business idea :(

It's just a wrong mental attitude?
Any help?
Someone else has been on my situation?

thanks for any kind of help

[momentum]

muse suggestion

"Mind fitness for chess players" :D

ebook or audio or ...

be creative :-)

[Stevea326]

Yea I'm sort of in the same boat as you. Trying to come up with a muse after looking into my own interests, magazines, friends, other materials, etc..

[networkmemetics]

It takes a lot more than 4 hours a week to get all the ducks in a row for the first time.

I have way more ideas than time!

[Sven]

In order to think different you must also think normal. If you have no good Ideas, you probably have no ideas at all.

Stop judging ideas immediately, write them all down. Then try the best. TRY and learn.

And do not fuss over good or bad. It is not about the idea, it is about the execution.

[Bootweasel]

Although I'm far, far, from my first successful muse, one of the things I've learnt is that there's no limit to your ability to generate ideas.

Creativity is a muscle. Once you start to excersice it daily you'll begin to see ideas everywhere.

I bought a book called 'Thinkertoys' which contains lots of different brainstorming techniques. It was a great way to get started.

[REOBULK]

My two cents? Don't try to "come up with a Muse idea". Instead, look around at what other people are doing, follow up on a few that you really like or ones that look like they are successful or interesting.
As a test, imitate the process of what they've done (don't straight rip it off, people don't really like that), what it takes to "make a muse", one of the ones that you've taken time to look into. How many pages do they have? How did they write their text? Is it content driven or a Sales page? Do they sell things or give them away? Do they have Adsense on the page? Can you contact them and ask them about what they do? Research it, follow the whole chain of events, and then test it, try it out. That shouldn't cost you the price of a night on the town.
Second, if you really like the results of that process, think you're getting the hang of it, then innovate on it - change it up a bit, play with it, move it around, make it better, make it yours. What did you discover? Is there anything different, better, was there a sub-niche that could blow the doors off and get some real energy flowing?
Finally, if that keeps you going, you'll now have enough information to either keep going with that muse you've been working on or something will have rung the bell upstairs and you're off to the muse track to create your own.
I'll caution against trying to create the "Super Muse" on your first go round, although I do think that a lot of people get stuck on believing that they have to create something no one has ever thought of before. I think you're much better off going for something fairly known, vanilla. Something that lots of people actually search for, use, and want, and then add some sprinkles.
Remember, what is the goal here?
Being stuck is fine but there is an Irish folk saying - "thinking about turning the field won't get it done".;)

[kbernock]

I agree with just writing down thoughts and idea's. Over time you will have a good amount on that sheet of paper. Some of the greatest muse creations are created by someone who never would of thought it was truly a good idea. Take that sheet of paper and look at your idea's and thoughts. I am a firm believer their is at least one good muse in everyone's idea's and thoughts.

Be confident and learn from your mistakes.


kbernock

[DrummerDave]

You know, I currently have about 3 muse ideas right now, any of which could be really good, successful ideas. Im sitting on them w/ the intention of bringing them about, one at a time, when Im not working full time plus my current muse that takes most of the rest of my free time. .. I know, I know, that's what automation and elimination is for.

For me it has simply been about finding what I love (for me that's motorcycles), and thinking about the problems with what is out there now, and what can be done to fix them, or make them better, or just come up with something that I dont like about the other guys product.
One of them is just something that popped into my head that nobody else does, and I think it could be neat.

Dont worry so much about it, but keep your eyes open. When you deal with some product, and think "that kindof sucks", or "that doesnt work very well", or "this product would be so much better if it only did _____", then there you go.

[Raquel]

Write some Blackberry or iPhone apps, bring in some residual income.

[Tetsuo73]

I think part of the problem is that sometimes we try too hard to create a muse out of fear of what it says about us if we don't. "Come on, what's wrong with me, I should be smarter than this. How come I can't come up with something?" When we stress over it because of what we think it means if we don't see immediate results, ironically the result is that we see nothing.

I found myself in this situation and when I realized the problem I was creating for myself, I decided to keep on looking but stop worrying. If the desire was there my brain would look for a solution on its own without me forcing it. I've seen over and over that if the human brain has a challenge it will naturally tend to look for a solution on its own. The Zeigarnik effect is a phenomenon that illustrates this.

Once I stopped worrying I allowed space for my creative juices to flow without "me" getting in the way. As I result I had 3 muses come to me while doing everyday stuff like watching a movie or taking a shower. Of those 3 I'm currently testing one. Then I'm sure I will test the next, then the next... and by then I'm sure more muses will be coming to me.

This also illustrates another point: when you have an idea you will almost always think why it is NOT a good idea in the first place. For a lot of people it is but one step from doubting to dismissing. Then in turn, they interpret that as an inability to come up with good ideas. No, it is an inability to take action and learn from results instead of imagined scenarios. So try out and test. Then you will be a better judge instead of a just being, well, a judge.

[saveTheWorld]

Hey thinkDifferent -

I've found that a great way to come up with ideas is to make a "Wouldn't It Be Awesome If" List. Here's mine:

Wouldn't It Be Awesome If:

-I could live on campus instead of having to live with my parents
-I never had to pay for gasoline again
-I could take classes that I enjoy instead of classes that I'm required to take
-It was easier to buy exotic instruments online
-etc.

The goal is to come up with awesome solutions to your life's problems. Each bullet on the list is a potentially SWEET muse idea, appealing to one of the niche markets you are a part of. Once you try one or two, you'll start to realize which ideas are more feasible, and which ones will be annoying to build muses for. Then you'll be good to go. The key is to generate any ideas, then sift through and find the good ones.

[saveTheWorld]

Oh, and remember KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Successful muses are usually the ones that are the most simple, even obvious. They're the ones where you think, wow, I busted my brain to find a muse and this was my answer? It's too easy! I struggled waayy too hard for the answer to be this easy!

[mark_barrett]

look at all your interests and look for things that could be improved and fix those problems... everyone great invention solves peoples problems


hey guys on a side note im brand new to the forum and i cant figure out how to create my own thread, its really frustrating..... can anyone help me please? because im so eager to start on my muse idea but i need help and i want to start a thread.... if anyone can help it would be much appreciated thanks

[SoftwareGeek]

Boy do I identify with where you're at.

Instead of focusing on coming up with good muse ideas, try focusing on coming up with a lot of BAD muse ideas. The theory is that if you come up with a bunch of bad ideas, one is eventually going to be halfway decent. As others have mentioned, it's all about getting in the habit of coming up with ideas. If you don't practice, it's not something you'll be good at.

Exercises I've used to come up with ideas:
- List all of the things that annoy me about the world. Then go through the list, and try and think of solutions.
- Research/brainstorm a bunch of niches - what solutions could each of those niches need?
- Brainstorm a list of new technologies - how could each of these technologies be applied in interesting/useful ways? How could these technologies be applied to niches I've brainstormed?
- What existing products do I like? How could they be made better?

I'm a programmer like you - don't limit yourself to just software. Your software engineering skills are still applicable to creating an information product or even a physical product.

[FrozenCanuck]

Guys - here is some perspective from a guy who read this book 2 years ago and is WELL down the path to freedom of time.

- At first I had only a few ideas and wasn't sure any were "good"

- I settled on my best idea that I really wanted to implement. It was an audio program and it's selling today, sells OK but I need to focus more on advertising and conversion testing.

- It seems every month I'd come up with a new idea that I could easily get passionate about (but focus is key ... must execute. can't get drowned out by too many ideas in the pipeline at once).

- I've written down a LOT of ideas. I now am literally drowning in ideas but I'm only focusing on about 3 of them at a time (with full time outsourced help from 2.5 employees as of now)

- JUST DO THIS STUFF ... the ideas WILL come to you in time. Just get your head around the concept, start doing something, and then your own unconscious processing will bring ideas to you.

[Gongchime]

Hallucinatory mushrooms make you think in a new way but that doesn't mean it's going to be profitable. Another poster said don't put the cart before the horse. Either learn to sell, (it doesn't matter what) or hire someone who does.

Some people walk into a department store, see that all the sporting goods and outdoor men's clothing are on a end of summer clearance sale, ask to speak to the manager and offer to buy the whole lot at less than half the wholesale price and are able to turn around and sell enough of it on ebay or elsewhere to make a profit.

The managers go for it because they're not going to be able to sell all of it anyway, it's taking up shelf space and they're just trying to recooperate some of thier losses while avoiding paying someone to hall it off or keep it in storage. If the manager can do that in a one shot deal instead of stretching that over weeks sitting in his store, he's gonna do it cause then he can get the new inventory in the he WILL be able to sell now at a retail price and get kudos from his boss.

In the art of this kind of deal, it doesn't matter what the product is, if you can find a desperate supplier, which is actually your requirement for a supplier, then you can buy below wholesale and sell below wolesale undercutting everyone while still making a profit. Next week it might be ladies panties. For these kinds of buyers/sellers, the product is almost irrelevant. But you've got to be in places where you can constantly be on the lookout for these kinds of deals and ONLY these kinds of deals.

But only if you've got the bankroll and are fairly sure you know where and how to sell and that there is a high likelihood that you can and will sell it.

[obiwankenobi]

Hey try to read "laterak thinking" by De Bono teach you to think differently and tap into your creativity

enjoy!

[obiwankenobi]

mmm sorry for mispelling , it was "lateral thinking"

cheers