C13 - Storm Your Brain

Any product, service, organization, plan, process, technology, person, thing, idea or object can be improved. Anything can be improved. No exception. If you improve something or solve a problem, you will make money.

In the previous section, you came out with clues that you would love to develop into profitable business opportunities. In this section, you will covert the clues into a business concept and then draw a business plan.

The chapter Income Strategies gives you more than seventy strategies. Think how you can combine the results of Treasure Miner exercise and strategies. You will generate dozens of ideas. Many of the strategies may not apply to every idea. But, consider each strategy sincerely and thoughtfully.

Imagine every possibility and consider every alternative. Don't throw away even a small idea. Diamonds are always small.

Income Strategies
How to use the Income Strategies? Get a new note book and a few pens. No loose sheets or pencils with broken leads please. Ask yourself questions, based on each strategy, about whatever you want to do. Most questions will not apply to everything. But certainly some will. Write down every idea that pops up in your brilliant head. Do not evaluate anything now. Just note down every idea. For each question consider every possibility and every alternative. Think the unthinkable. Imagine the impossible. Write them down.

You must give careful attention to ideas that come to you without any thinking on your part. Experts in psychoanalysis believe in the existence of higher mental regions that are not easily accessible to most of us. Sometimes, when your mind stops its mechanical activity for some reason, you receive ideas that can change your life in a miraculous way.

Study every idea in detail. Discuss the ideas with knowledgeable people who have goodwill for you. If the idea is totally useless and unrealistic, then discard it. Pursue all ideas that have even the slightest possibility of success.

Success Stories
All serious users of the ideas in the book have come out with profitable business ideas that helped them make money. Here are a few success stories.

After going through the exercises, a poor chemistry graduate found out that he had pleasing social manners. His grandfather had a coffee estate that his father sold off years ago. So, he decided to work as a broker for coffee seeds. He earns Rs.14,000 a month.

A kiwi nurse had the hobby of learning new ways to solve numerical problems. She knew a Japanese system that helps you in basic mathematical operations. She created a franchise business and sold it to others. She made a lump sum of money and gets a regular income from royalty.

A housewife remembered that she had learnt to weave sweaters from her mother when she was a teenager. She perfected her skill and now earns Rs.3,000 a month from supplying designer sweaters that she weaves in the afternoons.

An American woman suffered a lot to get government assistance for the medical treatment of her aged parents. If she had knowledge and guidance, she could have got the assistance in two months instead of seven months. She prepared a report about getting financial assistance and sold it through email. She earned $6,000 in two months.

A pharmacy graduate did not have money to start a medical shop. He entered into an arrangement with medical shops and supplies medicines to the patients at their door steps. He takes a discount from medical shops and makes money.

A sixteen year old kiwi girl enjoyed travelling. She launched a website during her school vacation to help tourists save money on travel, tour, accommodation and other expenses. She earns $400 a month from advertisement.

A young man without education or money was working as a helper in a private company for Rs.1,000 a month. He thought of working on his own and providing helper service to the public. Now, he makes Rs.3,000 by helping people get anything they need, whether it is a plumber, bus ticket, cinema ticket or electrician.

A clerk in an Australian auctioneer's shop created an auction website and in a short period managed to pull thousands of visitors to his website. When a big international auction site wanted to enter Australia, they bought this site, along with many other similar websites, for $15,000.

A housewife visits upper middle class old people who have restricted movements and long for companionship, talks to them and plays indoor games with them. She makes Rs.4,000 a month for talking and playing in the afternoons when she does not have any household work.

An Australian freelancer who did not have any work built a website on affiliate programs. These programs are middlemen income opportunities. The owners of the affiliate programs agreed to pay him referral fees. Within six months he began to earn $3,000 a month.

A retired librarian knows thousands of stories for kids. Parents send their kids to his place everyday for an hour. He tells them stories from classics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Pancha Tantra and Jataka tales. Though he does not take any formal fees, most parents give him Rs.100 a month and he earns more than Rs.2,000 for telling stories. His daughter tells stories in English from western classics and epics to cosmopolitan kids in New Delhi. She earns more than Rs.4,000 from her home business.

A cinema production assistant knew how much time and money were spent on background settings. He read about stock photography, video and audio in a newspaper. He immediately bought the CD-ROMs through his overseas friend. He offered services to combine the stock items with filmed scenes using a computer. He made Rs. 25,000 a month six years ago.