7 Tips To Become More Creative And See Opportunities

Have you ever been in a country and had trouble finding a taxi? This happened to me many times in America, where I was stuck for hours miles from my hotel., And in the Philippines where it was not only hard to find a cab but when you found one they always tried to rip you off.

I had a story recently that the founders of Uber was in a similar situation while attending a conference in Paris a few years ago but decided to do something about it. They of course went on to found a company which now provides millions of people with a good transparent service, which we can use from our phone and pay for without cash.

According to Investopedia.com, Uber’s story began in Paris in 2008. Two friends, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, were attending the LeWeb, an annual tech conference the Economist describes as “where revolutionaries gather to plot the future". 

In 2007, both men had sold start-ups they co-founded for large sums. Kalanick sold Red Swoosh to Akamai Technologies for $19 million while Camp sold StumbleUpon to eBay for $75 million. 

Rumor has it that the concept for Uber was born one winter night during the conference when the pair was unable to get a cab. Initially, the idea was for a timeshare limo service that could be ordered via an app. After the conference, the entrepreneurs went their separate ways, but when Camp returned to San Francisco, he continued to be fixated on the idea and bought the domain name UberCab.com. 

In 2009, Camp was still CEO of StumbleUpon, but he began working on a prototype for UberCab as a side project. By summer of that year, Camp had persuaded Kalanick to join as UberCab’s ‘Chief Incubator’. The service was tested in New York in early 2010 using only three cars, and the official launch took place in San Francisco in May. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

Uber’s disruptive technology, explosive growth, and constant controversy make it one of the most fascinating companies to emerge over the past decade. The almost ten-year-old company soon grew to become the highest valued private startup company in the world. But with its rapid growth came many controversies that knocked down its valuation from a lofty $70 billion to $48 billion in its last funding round in Jan. 2018. On May 23, 2018, the company announced a new tender offer that would bump the company's value to $62 billion. Source: Investopedia.com

On my recent holiday I was able to use Uber and similar apps. The cars are clean, the vast majority of the drivers are polite and I no longer get ripped off when arriving at an airport.

 

Do you ever find yourself complaining about a service or situation?

Dr Joe vitality said that whenever you see a lot of people complaining about something there is always an opportunity there. I used to complain about not been able to find a taxi or getting ripped off, but I never saw the opportunity to do anything about it.

You may have seen the recent movie, The Greatest Showman, which was about BT Barnum. Barnum was not only a great showman, but it was someone that sort opportunities where other people only saw problems. In other words, he was a visionary.

Thousands of products and businesses have been started by people who wanted to solve a problem. I’m sure you have had ideas for products or services, but perhaps you were not able to follow them through. Sometimes our mind or that voice in our head tells us things like:

“That will never work”

“ someone else is probably doing it already”

Or,

“ it’s too difficult and you can’t do that”

 

Before you know it, you’ve talked yourself out of it and a few years later you find that someone else has “stolen” your idea!

By opening your mind to the opportunities around you, you too can become a visionary. You don’t have to form an Uber or a Google or Facebook. Remember that all of these companies were formed to solve a problem. In the case of Facebook the founders wanted to meet girls on campus. Do you remember what it was like using search engines before Google?

 

7 techniques to help you become more creative and see opportunities:
Open your mind and realise that problems are opportunities. There’s an old saying that where there’s muck there’s brass meaning that where there’s dirt or messy problems, there is money and opportunity.
Clear the clutter and noise from your mind. Sometimes we literally can’t see the wood from the trees because our minds are cluttered with so many things that we can’t see things that are right in front of us. Techniques to clear your mind include meditation and just being quiet with yourself. Meditation doesn’t need to be complex, but you will improve with practice. Try just sitting and breathing into your belly for a few minutes. Just take deep breath right down into your belly and watch your stomach move up and down. Just concentrate on the breathing and let other thoughts come and go. See if you can do that for two minutes. Then extend it for longer. You don’t have to think of anything or listen to meditation musical tapes.
Sit still for 30 minutes. I learned this from the great Brian Tracy. His technique involves going into a quiet room and sitting for 30 minutes with no music no phones, no coffee or food just you in a chair in a quiet room. You don’t need to think of anything but you need to be quiet and just alone with yourself. Nowadays we are hardly alone with ourselves for any length of time because we have so many distractions, especially our smart phones which are buzzing and pinging every minute. Try this technique and you’ll be amazed at how many ideas just pop into your head when you least expect it. You will also feel relaxed, refreshed and calmer.
Go for a walk. This is especially effective if you can walk around nature in a field or a park. Just walk and admire nature, the Sun or the sky. Health practitioner suggests that we should walk for at least 30 minutes a day so you can combine the techniques and kill two birds with one stone!
Keep a notebook or a journal and write down every idea you think about during the day. You might be surprised at how many ideas you’re already generating right now. When doing your own “brainstorming”, remember that you’re not judging the idea at this moment. Just write them down and return to them later. Serial entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Simon Woodroffe (who founded Yo! Sushi) carry notebooks and journals with them and make notes all the time. You can also make notes on your phone or laptop, but there’s something about physically writing an idea down that activates your brain. The late Jim Rohn used to be big on giving journals. He kept journals all of his life. I remember him saying to me, don’t trust your memory.
Act on your ideas immediately. It has long been known that acting on an idea immediately gives it far more chance of going from gestation to birth. Acting on your idea could mean something as simple as writing it down or putting in your diary to follow up later. Nowadays we can research things immediately on Google, so we have no excuse!
Finally, never underestimate the power of your own mind. You don’t have to be a genius to be wealthy or successful you just have to be focused.

I remember working in commission only salesforce in the 1980s where the top salesman, a guy called Doug, was earning 20 times the income of the bottom 20% - around £100,000 per annum, which was a lot of money back then. He didn’t seem to work any harder than anybody else. Doug was in his 50’s and put in a full day but never really looked stressed. However, he did not hang around at the coffee machine gossiping or chatting about the recession we were going through – he decided not to join it! He did have a PA, which separated him from the rest, but other than that he was a fairly ordinary guy. He came out on an appointment with me once and I thought I was going to say this really super salesman. Surprisingly, he was quiet, unassuming, normal and did more listening than talking.

The manager of our branch got him to give a talk on how he was so successful and earned so much commission when others were struggling.

When I heard he was given a talk I was really excited and thought I was really going to get some big secret and new ideas. When he gave the talk, I was a little disappointed as he didn’t really say very much that I didn’t already know.

However, there are two things that stuck out in my mind from his talk all those years ago. Firstly, he was a relentless prospector and marketer and was always sending out letters or making calls.

Secondly, when asked by my audience member what his secret to success was, he just pointed his finger to his head and said, “it’s all up there, in your mind”.

 

You only need one good idea, followed through with action and persistence to turn your fortunes around. There are thousands of stories of men and women of all ages from 10 year old YouTube millionaire kids to Colonel Sanders, who started KFC when he was 65 years old and unable to live on his pension – he approached thousands of companies before his idea took off.

7 Tips To Become More Creative And See Opportunities
Have you ever been in a country and had trouble finding a taxi? This happened to me many times in America, where I was stuck for hours miles from my hotel., And in the Philippines where it was not only hard to find a cab but when you found one they always tried to rip you off.
I had a story recently that the founders of Uber was in a similar situation while attending a conference in Paris a few years ago but decided to do something about it. They of course went on to found a company which now provides millions of people with a good transparent service, which we can use from our phone and pay for without cash.
According to Investopedia.com, Uber&rsquo;s story began in Paris in 2008. Two friends, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, were attending the LeWeb, an annual tech conference the&nbsp;Economist&nbsp;describes as &ldquo;where revolutionaries gather to plot the future".&nbsp;
In 2007, both men had sold start-ups they co-founded for large sums. Kalanick sold Red Swoosh to Akamai Technologies for $19 million while Camp sold StumbleUpon to eBay for $75 million.&nbsp;
Rumor&nbsp;has it that&nbsp;the concept for Uber was born one winter night during the conference when the pair was unable to get a cab. Initially, the idea was for a timeshare limo service that could be ordered via an app. After the conference, the entrepreneurs went their separate ways, but when Camp returned to San Francisco, he continued to be fixated on the idea and bought the domain name UberCab.com.&nbsp;
In 2009, Camp was still&nbsp;CEO of StumbleUpon, but he began working on a prototype for UberCab as a side project. By summer of that year, Camp had persuaded Kalanick to join as UberCab&rsquo;s &lsquo;Chief Incubator&rsquo;. The service was tested in New York in early 2010 using only three cars, and the official launch took place in San Francisco in May.&nbsp;
The rest, as they say, is history.
&nbsp;
Uber&rsquo;s disruptive technology, explosive growth, and constant controversy make it one of&nbsp;the most fascinating companies to emerge over the past decade. The almost ten-year-old company soon grew&nbsp;to become the highest valued private startup company in the world.&nbsp;But with its rapid growth came many controversies that knocked down its valuation from a lofty $70 billion to $48 billion in its last funding round in Jan. 2018. On May 23, 2018, the company announced a new tender offer that would&nbsp;bump the company's value to $62 billion. Source: Investopedia.com
On my recent holiday I was able to use Uber and similar apps. The cars are clean, the vast majority of the drivers are polite and I no longer get ripped off when arriving at an airport.
&nbsp;
Do you ever find yourself complaining about a service or situation?
Dr Joe vitality said that whenever you see a lot of people complaining about something there is always an opportunity there. I used to complain about not been able to find a taxi or getting ripped off, but I never saw the opportunity to do anything about it.
You may have seen the recent movie, The Greatest Showman, which was about BT Barnum. Barnum was not only a great showman, but it was someone that sort opportunities where other people only saw problems. In other words, he was a visionary.
Thousands of products and businesses have been started by people who wanted to solve a problem. I&rsquo;m sure you have had ideas for products or services, but perhaps you were not able to follow them through. Sometimes our mind or that voice in our head tells us things like:
<blockquote>
&ldquo;That will never work&rdquo;
&ldquo; someone else is probably doing it already&rdquo;
</blockquote>
Or,
<blockquote>
&ldquo; it&rsquo;s too difficult and you can&rsquo;t do that&rdquo;
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
Before you know it, you&rsquo;ve talked yourself out of it and a few years later you find that someone else has &ldquo;stolen&rdquo; your idea!
By opening your mind to the opportunities around you, you too can become a visionary. You don&rsquo;t have to form an Uber or a Google or Facebook. Remember that all of these companies were formed to solve a problem. In the case of Facebook the founders wanted to meet girls on campus. Do you remember what it was like using search engines before Google?
&nbsp;
7 techniques to help you become more creative and see opportunities:
<ol>
<li>Open your mind and realise that problems are opportunities. There&rsquo;s an old saying that where there&rsquo;s muck there&rsquo;s brass meaning that where there&rsquo;s dirt or messy problems, there is money and opportunity.</li>
</ol>
<ol start="2">
<li>Clear the clutter and noise from your mind. Sometimes we literally can&rsquo;t see the wood from the trees because our minds are cluttered with so many things that we can&rsquo;t see things that are right in front of us. Techniques to clear your mind include meditation and just being quiet with yourself. Meditation doesn&rsquo;t need to be complex, but you will improve with practice. Try just sitting and breathing into your belly for a few minutes. Just take deep breath right down into your belly and watch your stomach move up and down. Just concentrate on the breathing and let other thoughts come and go. See if you can do that for two minutes. Then extend it for longer. You don&rsquo;t have to think of anything or listen to meditation musical tapes.</li>
</ol>
<ol start="3">
<li>Sit still for 30 minutes. I learned this from the great Brian Tracy. His technique involves going into a quiet room and sitting for 30 minutes with no music no phones, no coffee or food just you in a chair in a quiet room. You don&rsquo;t need to think of anything but you need to be quiet and just alone with yourself. Nowadays we are hardly alone with ourselves for any length of time because we have so many distractions, especially our smart phones which are buzzing and pinging every minute. Try this technique and you&rsquo;ll be amazed at how many ideas just pop into your head when you least expect it. You will also feel relaxed, refreshed and calmer.</li>
</ol>
<ol start="4">
<li>Go for a walk. This is especially effective if you can walk around nature in a field or a park. Just walk and admire nature, the Sun or the sky. Health practitioner suggests that we should walk for at least 30 minutes a day so you can combine the techniques and kill two birds with one stone!</li>
</ol>
<ol start="5">
<li>Keep a notebook or a journal and write down every idea you think about during the day. You might be surprised at how many ideas you&rsquo;re already generating right now. When doing your own &ldquo;brainstorming&rdquo;, remember that you&rsquo;re not judging the idea at this moment. Just write them down and return to them later. Serial entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Simon Woodroffe (who founded Yo! Sushi) carry notebooks and journals with them and make notes all the time. You can also make notes on your phone or laptop, but there&rsquo;s something about physically writing an idea down that activates your brain. The late Jim Rohn used to be big on giving journals. He kept journals all of his life. I remember him saying to me, don&rsquo;t trust your memory.</li>
</ol>
<ol start="6">
<li>Act on your ideas immediately. It has long been known that acting on an idea immediately gives it far more chance of going from gestation to birth. Acting on your idea could mean something as simple as writing it down or putting in your diary to follow up later. Nowadays we can research things immediately on Google, so we have no excuse!</li>
</ol>
<ol start="7">
<li>Finally, never underestimate the power of your own mind. You don&rsquo;t have to be a genius to be wealthy or successful you just have to be focused.</li>
</ol>
I remember working in commission only salesforce in the 1980s where the top salesman, a guy called Doug, was earning 20 times the income of the bottom 20% - around &pound;100,000 per annum, which was a lot of money back then. He didn&rsquo;t seem to work any harder than anybody else. Doug was in his 50&rsquo;s and put in a full day but never really looked stressed. However, he did not hang around at the coffee machine gossiping or chatting about the recession we were going through &ndash; he decided not to join it! He did have a PA, which separated him from the rest, but other than that he was a fairly ordinary guy. He came out on an appointment with me once and I thought I was going to say this really super salesman. Surprisingly, he was quiet, unassuming, normal and did more listening than talking.
The manager of our branch got him to give a talk on how he was so successful and earned so much commission when others were struggling.
When I heard he was given a talk I was really excited and thought I was really going to get some big secret and new ideas. When he gave the talk, I was a little disappointed as he didn&rsquo;t really say very much that I didn&rsquo;t already know.
However, there are two things that stuck out in my mind from his talk all those years ago. Firstly, he was a relentless prospector and marketer and was always sending out letters or making calls.
Secondly, when asked by my audience member what his secret to success was, he just pointed his finger to his head and said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s all up there, in your mind&rdquo;.
&nbsp;
You only need one good idea, followed through with action and persistence to turn your fortunes around. There are thousands of stories of men and women of all ages from 10 year old YouTube millionaire kids to Colonel Sanders, who started KFC when he was 65 years old and unable to live on his pension &ndash; he approached thousands of companies before his idea took off.

Money Tips by Charles Kelly, author of Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness.  Charles spent over 25 years in financial services working for banks, Insurance companies and as a qualified Independent Financial Adviser running his practice, before setting up his speaking, consultancy and property business.  Money Tips will help you save, make and accumulate more money whether you are a business owner, entrepreneur, employee or still searching for your vocation.   For more tips and information visit Mondeytipsdaily.com. The Information given in this podcast is for your entertainment and should not be construed as financial advice. As always, take independent financial advice before making any investment decisions.

Money Tips by Charles Kelly, author of Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness.&nbsp; Charles spent over 25 years in financial services working for banks, Insurance companies and as a qualified Independent Financial Adviser running his practice, before setting up his speaking, consultancy and property business.&nbsp; Money Tips will help you save, make and accumulate more money whether you are a business owner, entrepreneur, employee or still searching for your vocation. &nbsp; For more tips and information visit Mondeytipsdaily.com. The Information given in this podcast is for your entertainment and should not be construed as financial advice. As always, take independent financial advice before making any investment decisions.

Money Tips Podcast

Welcome to Money Tips by Charles Kelly, author of Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness. 

Charles spent over 25 years in financial services working for banks, Insurance companies and as a qualified Independent Financial Adviser running his practice, before setting up his speaking, consultancy and property business. 

Money Tips will help you save, make and accumulate more money whether you are a business owner, entrepreneur, employee or still searching for your vocation.  

For more tips and information visit Mondeytipsdaily.com. The Information given in this podcast is for your entertainment and should not be construed as financial advice. As always, take independent financial advice before making any investment decisions.

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