Look around you. Everything you see was once an idea. From the pictures on the wall to the program on TV to the furniture you’re sitting on—they all started in someone’s head as an idea.
How did the idea get from that person’s head to your chair? They followed a proven four-step process:
- They recognized that they had an idea and they took the time to capture it. When you’re an idea person you have a LOT of ideas. If you don’t capture them as they flit across your consciousness, you’re likely to lose them. That’s why it’s critical that you have a defined process for capturing and documenting your ideas.
- They organized their ideas. Remember the story of Edison having to try 10,000 times before he got the light bulb to work? He had to have 10,000 different ideas of how it might work. Imagine if he had not organized his ideas. He might have tried the same thing multiple times, wasting his time and not getting closer to his goal. Organization is key.
- They monetized their ideas. Someone purchased everything around you. That means that between the original idea and its appearing in your space, someone had to figure out how to manufacture and market that idea. Without this step the “idea person” would have no income…and you wouldn’t have the item. This is the lubricant to keep the idea machine working.
- They systematized the process. It may be a formalized process, or it may just be in their head. But they repeat the same steps in order to keep turning their ideas into “things” you purchase.
When you market information, you follow the same four-step process. The difference is in the types of ideas you have and the “manufacturing” process you use.
As an information marketer you are primarily interested in information as the product. Granted, it’s different types of information. But you don’t need to spend time sketching your ideas or having prototypes built (unless it’s software.) You’re dealing with ideas and information as the product.
When it comes to monetizing your ideas, it’s a relatively easy production process. The biggest decision is the type of packaging and delivery mode you’ll use. And when you sell a digital product online, it’s fast and inexpensive.
So what’s an idea worth? It depends on the idea and the way you market the resulting product. There is no limit to the potential value of an idea. That’s why you owe it to yourself to discover and adopt a systematic process for recognizing, organizing, and monetizing your ideas. Because you can never be sure which idea is the BIG idea.
