Dear Creative, Here’s How To Turn Your Ideas Into Action
I saw a tweet this morning of someone asking, “how are you all just starting companies?” It was funny but I can honestly understand. If you’re on social media, it seems every one of your friends is launching a business or a brand and some of you may feel left out. Are you one of the many who have lots of ideas but get anxious or overwhelmed when it comes to birthing these ideas? Or when it comes to executing? Do you get stressed out just thinking about how to turn your ideas into action?
I discovered Design Thinking in 2018 and it’s the thinking model I use. Design Thinking is essentially the human-centred, iterative and strategic process for coming up with creative and innovative solutions.
Here are 5 simple steps to help you turn your ideas into action:
1. Empathise
This is the first stage of the process where you “listen”. You’re attempting to learn about the audience, understand their experiences and motivations. In this stage you make observations, ask lots of questions to gain an understanding of your users/audience.
2. Define The Problem
Combine all that you’ve learned from the previous stage and use it to define your scope. With the data from the first stage, look for patterns and insights. Question your assumptions and define where your users’ problems exist.
3. Ideate
Collect a large quantity of possible (or not) creative, solution-driven ideas. Get as many ideas as possible. Think outside the box or if you’re part of a team you could organise a brainstorm session.
4. Prototype
At this stage, you’re fleshing out the ideas you came up with. Develop some of the ideas into tangible scaled-down versions of the product. A Minimum Viable Product, if you will. Create variations of the ideas. What you’re seeking to do is build a version of some of your ideas.
5. Test
Present prototypes for feedback. Collect from tests carried out with users for improvement. The goal here is to make the product better and that can only be achieved when you use the feedback gotten to iterate and redefine.
So here’s how you turn your ideas to action:
- Empathise
- Define the Problem
- Ideate
- Prototyping
- Testing
Bonus:
- Register for Free Weekly Workshops on Personal & Business Branding. Signup for Fireworkshop
- I help build brands and businesses tell their stories so they can get the attention they deserve. Send me an email (jesse@fireworks.com.ng), let’s work together.
- Sign up to be a member of the Campfire Community, a community of creatives and entrepreneurs.
- Listen to my weekly podcast, The Fireworks Podcast on Spotify or Apple, where I share stories and insights on entrepreneurship, the creator economy and branding.
- Sign up for FiredUP, a 5-week BootCamp for people looking to build their brands and businesses and want community, accountability and education.
- If you enjoyed reading this post, then share it with someone. Let’s all grow together.
