Samuel Sanders - Your Next Big Idea: Improve Your Creativity and Problem-Solving

Copyright 2020 by Samuel Sanders

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

The information in this book was correct at the time of publication, but the Author does not assume any liability for loss or damage caused by errors or omissions. There are my memories included in this book, from my perspective, and I have tried to represent events as faithfully as possible. I have made every effort to contact all copyright holders. Other sample scenarios in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental. This book does not replace the advice of a medical professional. Consult your physician before making any changes to your diet or regular health plan.

Principal Editor: Ameesha Green

Editor: Ashley Strosnider

Proofreader: Janina Lawrence

Book and Cover Designer: David Miles

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020906676

ISBN 978-1-7349130-0-2 (full-color version)

ISBN 978-1-7349130-2-6 (grayscale version)

ISBN 978-1-7349130-1-9 (e-book)

First edition

Published in Washington, District of Columbia

Printed in the United States

www.yournextbigideabook.com

Contents

Your Big Idea Journey Map

Start

• Im ready to go... Go to 2

Ask Questions and Identify Problems, Needs, and Wants

• I have completed asking questions, discovering, and have identified a problem, need, or want... Go to 3

Find and Erase Stigmas (Use Stigma-Finding and Erasing Strategies)

• I still dont have a good enough understanding of my problem, need, or want to find and erase stigmas... Go to 2
• I have found and erased stigmas and I am ready for brainstorming and mind mapping... Go to 4

Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

• I have brainstormed and I need to go back to the drawing board based on my results... Go to 2
• I need to go back and relook at finding and identifying my stigmas... Go to 3
• I have brainstormed and I am ready to move forward to a solution... Go to 5

Combine and Select Solutions

• I need to go back and brainstorm further to get the best solutions... Go to 4
• I have my solution!... Go to 6

Three-Part Feasibility Check

• After completing my feasibility check, I realize this is not feasible... Go to 2
• After completing my feasibility check, I realize I need to re-evaluate my stigmas... Go to 3
• After completing my feasibility check, I need to re-evaluate my idea... Go to 4
• After completing my feasibility check, I need to relook at the solution I selected... Go to 5
• My idea passes the feasibility check... Go to 7

Share

• After talking to people, I need to go back to the drawing board... Go to 2
• After talking to people, I need to re-evaluate my stigmas... Go to 3
• After talking to people, I need to go back to my brainstorming stage... Go to 4
• After talking to people, I need to relook at my feasibility check... Go to 6
• I am ready to go!... Go to 8

Your Next Big Idea! Its time to move forward.

Introduction

T hink of someone innovative, creative, elite at problem-solving, and excellent at ideation (that is, the ability to come up with ideas without tons of effort). You probably know people like this, but if not, then imagine someone. Do you ever wonder how people can get so good at those four skills? Have you ever told yourself Im just not creative or innovativeand thats just how it is? Or maybe you think youre not good at coming up with ideas or solving problems in unique ways. Even if you think youre good at coming up with ideas, being creative, solving problems, and being innovative, perhaps you want to take your skills from good or great to elite.

Everything starts with an idea. Whether its life-changing decisions or money-making products or processesall successful decisions and companies begin with someones idea. Ive made it my business to study where these successful ideas come from and how to generate more of them. In my work life and my time as an entrepreneur, and in my personal life as a curious person, Ive consistently found that the more ideas I consider, the better, and the same goes for most people. Some of the worlds best ideas came from people who had previously come up with idea after idea after idea. A multitude and variety of ideas help me make critical decisions about where to focus my energy. Since I started practicing, I have consistently been able to come up with more than 100 ideas a week. This process of idea generation, which I will share with you in this book, has helped me move forward in my career. I hope it does the same for you.

I have founded multiple companies in my career, and these tactics for generating more ideas have been especially helpful in my professional life. At its peak, one company I co-founded, Wundershirt, sold athletic training clothing to Olympic athletes prepping for the 2016 Olympics. The same ideas well work through in this book helped me identify a problem that professional athletes facedclothing does not help to improve athletic performanceand come up with an idea I thought could solve itclothing using responsive nanofabric textiles to help athletes with performance. From there, I used many of the tactics detailed in this book to identify the resources I had and the ones Id need to make the idea a reality. During my startup growth process, I was part of multiple incubators and watched founders from all over the world come up with ideas and solutions to problems, and I continued to learn from them the whole time.

Founding my own companies was exciting, but so was working with and learning from others. I was part of one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies, where I worked on their research and development team, developing new offerings. At this fast-growing company, I saw how ideas came to be and how problems were handled by a successful small business team. I also worked in business development for a Fortune Future 50 and Fortune 500 company. There, I saw how a large corporation approaches creativity, problem-solving, ideation, and innovation.