Pat Flynn
My first full day of being laid off was absolutely a waste. I didn’t even leave the house or change out of my pajamas. Not because I was sad or depressed, but because I sat in front of my computer all day thinking of my next money making idea.
The problem with me is that when I start generating hundreds of ideas in my head, I don’t organize my thoughts. In general, things that are organized are successful. For me to have successful and organized ideas, I must find a way to organize the generation of those ideas in my head, before they are even thought through. I found that the best way to do this is to draw a mind map
What’s a Mind Map?
According to wikipedia:
A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.
The perfect tool for generating business ideas. There is actually a program called FreeMind that helps you with mind mapping on the computer, but I’d rather do this on paper.
How Mind Maps Work
The best part about a mind map is that as you’re generating ideas, the mind map expands them for you automatically. Plus, it’s like documenting what’s going on in your brain so you see the progression and flow of your thoughts.
I’m thinking about writing and selling another E-Book. The success I had with my first E-Book leads me to believe it has the absolute best profit-margin for any product that I could sell. 100% of the sale goes directly to me. Sweet. There’s actually a great article from Darren on Problogger about Mind Mapping for Ebooks, which is where I first learned about the power of this tool.
So here is my actual Mind Map I created today. Disclaimer: When drawing up a Mind Map, you shouldn’t edit while doing it or leave any ideas out. That “dumb” idea could actually be your most profitable, so just spill your mind.
I’ve highlighted the central ideas for you, and you can see how the ideas expand from there. Looking at my Mind Map, I can see I have some potential ideas here. I could write about how to draft on AutoCad and include tips and tricks with instructions on how to work faster. I could write an E-Book about how to negotiate a salary or what to do when you get laid off. The possibilities are endless with this list. You can easily create your own, and see what your Mind Map tells you.
Now of course, I’ll be doing more research on the specific topics in my Mind Map, to see which ones have the most potential. I’ll go over this in a later post, but for now, just know that there is a lot of potential in each and every one of us. Just think about what you do during your day. What are you good at? Or on the other hand, what do you wish you had to make your day easier?
You Don’t Have to Be an Expert
You might look at your ideas and just shrug because you start thinking, “how will anyone pay me for this kind of stuff? I’m not even an expert!” My answer is, people will pay you. If you offer something people want, even though you’re not an expert, they will buy it.
It just may be an E-book that organizes information that’s already known or out there. I’d pay for something if it made my life easier, definitely. Don’t get yourself down, and in my next post, I’ll talk about how to do research to see which of your ideas has the most potential.
