One innovative idea can take you and your business where even the most detailed marketing plan cannot. Now before you think that the word "innovative" disqualifies you, let me say this: Whether you believe it or not, we are all innovators, possessing our own unique genius. The problem is, most of us do nothing about it. Maybe it's time you changed that.

Take coffee and doughnuts. Everyday ordinary, right? Not if your Starbucks or Krispy Kreme. They made the old, new again.

M.A.C., a cosmetics company out of Canada, snatched two huge markets out from under the industry giants collective noses by using RuPaul, an African- American drag queen as it's spokesmodel. Not exactly Cindy Crawford, but today you'd be hard pressed to find a Black woman without at least one M.A.C. product in her bathroom cabinet.

But let's examine this on an individual scale.

Yesterday I learned that a stay-at-home dad just invented a small plush pony that is strapped onto the knee for the purpose of pony rides. The product will sell on QVC and no doubt, make him a wealthy man. I thought, "Parents have given children pony rides for hundreds of years. Why hasn't someone come up with this before?"

The reason is, innovative ideas are more a matter of mindset than genius.. You must look at ordinary things in everyday life and, on purpose, find a way to reinvent them. That's what Ruta Fox did. She noticed that there was jewelry specifically for married and engaged women, but not singles. Her solution, the Ah Ring, produced $1 million in revenues within twelve months.

So, how can you apply this? The principles of "New Concepts" and "New Twists". Let me illustrate. .

When little girls only played with baby dolls, Ruth Handler introduced the new concept of grown up 3-D dolls. The birth of Barbie changed the toy industry forever.

Cindy Cashmen became a millionaire by taking an old concept (info-preneurship) and giving it an ingenious new twist. Under a pen name, she published a book entitled, "Everything Men Know About Women" and left every single one of its 128 pages blank! Couldn't you have done that?

Train yourself to everyday look for new concepts and new twists on old ones. View everything, whether it be a situation or a product, as a candidate for improvement. Look for the voids in markets waiting to be filled. You are an innovator. Inside of you are products, books, and ideas only you can bring to light.

So, in the words of Goethe, "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

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Lauryn Terrell is an entrepreneur, personal coach and freelance writer.
She offers free resource guides on entrepreneurship, inventing, real estate
investment and other business related topics. Contact her at
TheGuruGirl@aol.com
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