13 May 2011

Five Ideas: Issue 1 *Kindle release soon*

What are you screaming out for? Creativity? No?
Spoilsport.

Business is. Governments are. Communities will. The digital economy revolution isn't even in full swing yet. Five Ideas: Issue 1 is about getting great ideas through observing simple things.

Fact or Fiction?
  • People think alot without knowing how to be think.
  • People know how to search but not how to research. 
  • First is good, good is better, first and good is best.
  • Open-ness is the way the world wants to work.
  • In the new economy, we all need to 'polish up' our creativity in order to survive. 

Issue 1 will present a simple and accessible method for getting ideas that anyone can use. To prove it to you we will explore the method together and then use it to find some ideas. You can take any of the ideas in this book and start a business or use them however you like.

The last section will help you analyse your ideas for business and discuss the many different qualities of ideas and how to recognise and use them.


Thinking about launching at $0.99
I'm aiming to have this one ready by the end of May. Five ideas:Issue 1 will be available on Kindle and from Amazon in print form to start with, I'm working on formatting for Smashwords at the moment too. A joy, to be sure.

This ended up at about 50 pages, I don't mind that - I cut alot out and put the things I wanted in. I'm not so worried about the length but I was worried that all 5 issues might take me the term of my natural life (plus a bit). I'm much happier that the result is clearer than it was and we can get the ideas in Issue 1 circulating while I revise 3 and 4.

What about Issue 2?
I need to have a think about 2 - I'm currently avoiding it and working on 3 and 4 :)

The book price is not set yet, I was thinking about $0.99 but some proof readers have suggested a bit more. Let me know what you think, I'm undecided. In any case, we can do some 'tests', there are 4 more to come. I like the idea of the Smashwords vouchers so you can offer free or discounted books from time to time.

So, at last I am finally happy with 99% of it. This is a long way from the re-writes! Let me know what you think.





Extracts....***~~~***


“We're still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution.” Scott Cook


We now have access to a huge range of information through websites, blogs, documents, e-books and other media at the click of a mouse button or, increasingly, a touch screen.  Do we actually need to ‘know’ anything anymore?  Is it the way of the new economy that the most effective entrepreneurs or the best professionals of the modern world will not be those with the most experience but those who have the best ‘searching’ skills?  This might be true and might even be good enough for basic survival but many futurists agree that the most important commodity in the new economy will be creativity.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Albert Einstein

Business, government and communities are screaming out for creativity.  By creativity I mean the ability and the competence to have original ideas, re-use existing ideas in new ways, having experience in taking good ideas and analysing them to find something useful.  I don’t think creativity is a skill that can be taught, nor can it be automated in a ‘system’.  I do however, think it is possible to help uncover and nurture the natural talent we all have for being creative.  It might also be a good time to look at educating our children in new ways – teaching them how to learn, research and adapt rather than filling them with facts that are out of date.

More Extracts from the ideas section  ***~~~***

I was just talking to myself about you.  I hate Bluetooth headsets.  This is a bit irrational because they are so useful and my feeling about them has more to do with human behaviour than the benefits they offer – I think you know what I mean.  I would like to help the world by suggesting firstly that people should take them off when not using them but also by suggesting that we opt for a device that fits in the ear and cannot be seen. 

  With the evolution of really good voice translation could we start using these devices for more than just listening? Would people use an earpiece that tells them the time or other information when they ask? The earpiece could reach out to the local network of your watch, phone and PC and go searching for the information you need and then tell you about it.

 I can just imagine the social gatherings of the future: I have my Greentooth™ earpiece in and it is whispering the details of people that pass within 5 metres, I ask for more information about Mrs Smith our hostess for the night, she turns to me and fixes me with a pitying stare and asks the strangest question….I reply “No madam, I’m not mad.  I was just talking to myself about you”.

***~~~***

Put it on my watch.  Who carries money these days anyway? The only places you require cash are in the few stores that hold out against the use of electronic funds transfer, some taxis and in places where adoption of the new economy method of payment hasn’t really started to any degree.  The use of electronic funds transfers is so widespread that one might predict that a cash-less society is just around the corner in some locations. 

So, this idea is in two parts – for those clever people who understand how electronic payments work – keep working on new ways for us to exchange credit.  I would suggest that the most successful method in the future will be the one that is taken up most rapidly forcing retailers to adopt or miss out on income.  For the rest of us – we should consider how this will change the way we relate to customers and each other in terms of transferring credit.  A business will need to think about providing access to these types of payment methods or risk losing revenue.


Extract from Ideas for Business ***~~~***


WHAT MAKES A GOOD IDEA?


This is a little bit like asking ‘what is a good colour?’ I like blue.  What makes a good idea depends on what you want it for.  Maybe the idea is no good for you today but maybe in a year it becomes useful, who knows (only you do).  To start to be able to analyse your ideas you need to follow Rules 1 and 2.  I’ll repeat them here for convenience:

  • Rule 1.  An idea in your head can only be used by you while you remember it, and

  • Rule 2.  An idea written down can only be used by someone who can understand it.
To know your definition of success is how you can make your initial assessment to decide if the idea is good enough to work with or not.  Try to write the success criteria down too.  
***~~~***



Thanks for reading. Feedback of any kind is always welcome.
Pete

Image attributions:
Cover Image of Five Hands: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
All other images designed by: Eight Triangles