Lifestyle Mastery Boxed Set

by Scott Allan

  While innovative and creative ideas that completely change the world may be the rarity, most inventions or successful ventures are built on the ideas and concepts of others. In other words, you can build your business or brand from scratch, or you can create something from one of the thousands of existing platforms already out there.

  Apple co-founder Steve Jobs created the iPod out of a need that he saw in the marketplace. But he wasn’t the first to come up with the concept of “digital music.” Who did?

  The first official audio player was made by a company called Audio Highway and released in 1997. Other companies introduced several other audio devices, but they never got it right. Steve Jobs took what had failed and what others had failed to take advantage of and turned it into a great product that has since become the biggest selling music device in the world with over 300 million sold.

  Henry Ford was an American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company. But Ford didn’t create the automobile or the assembly line that would later become standard technology utilized around the world; he did, however, take advantage of the technology that already existed and created an automobile (the Model T) that sold for $825.00 and could be purchased by the average wage earner.

  Ford took what had already existed and revolutionized the automobile industry by giving everyone what they wanted: a car that the average middle-class family could afford. His assembly line became synonymous with the mass production of inexpensive goods that changed the way companies operated globally.

  Ray Kroc, who gave Big Macs to the world, purchased the rights to McDonald’s from the McDonald brothers who had already built it into a successful restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

  After selling eight mixers to the McDonald brothers at their store location, he looked at the potential of the operation and knew there was definite massive potential if the business were handled properly. The McDonald brothers were reluctant to go big with the franchise, so Kroc bought the brothers out and put his idea into full forward motion.

  Kroc implemented his plan and worked hard to bring his vision to reality: a chain of restaurants lined up and down the streets serving food to America. The McDonalds had the right idea; they just didn’t want to expand on it. Ray Kroc did. It has since grown to over 35,000 restaurants worldwide in 118 countries. Remember, Ray Kroc started out with an idea that turned into a vision; the vision spawned a dream, and when he started to build that vision, his dream was fully realized.

  Harland Sanders had a great fried chicken recipe and had the idea of selling it to restaurants. He drove across America for two years, pitching his recipe to restaurant owners. After getting over a thousand rejections, one restaurant owner finally said yes.

  Now, KFC is the world's second largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with 18,875 outlets in 118 countries and territories all using Colonel Sanders’s secret recipe he thought up. Whatever you think up, resolve that you will persist until your ideas manifest into action. Work each day toward your goals, and never give up.

  Just imagine what you can do if you pursue your ideas? What would happen if you put your vision into action? What would happen if you were to take some form of action every day toward your dreams? What would your idea be worth if you put it out there and did something with it?

  I want you to really think about this. Visualize the idea you have for something, whether it is a small business or applying a skill you have to sell to customers through such sites as Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr.

  With some hard work and personal innovation, you can create a totally new way of life for yourself. Perhaps leave your crummy nine to five and start working for yourself? Think about it while you work through your ideas. Imagine as if each idea you have is a “brick” in the creative funnel of your life. It is a piece of real estate with true value that, if applied the right way, could lead to the one thing in your life that you have always wanted.

  Take a look around at some of the systems you see and look for the potential to make them better. This can be a system in your company or school, it can be a product or invention, or you can meet an unfulfilled need by implementing your own ideas and creating the best solution possible. Always look for ways to improve on something, then look to see how you can make it your own.

  Fourteen Areas for

  Generating Good Ideas

  “Humility, I have learned, must never be confused with meekness. Humility is being open to the ideas of others.”

  — Simon Sinek

  Now, let’s take a look at the different ways you can get your “idea train” moving.

  By collecting your ideas and coming up with new ideas every day, your head will soon be spinning and you will feel that push to do something.

  Let’s get some ideas going. It doesn’t have to be a subject that you already know something about. Try coming up with ideas for topics that you know almost nothing about to get the mind muscles working.

  I really want you to just unleash yourself here. Don’t stop to think about how realistic it is or if your idea sounds foolish. Self-criticism is the one obstacle that prevents most people from accomplishing or following through with anything. They start to doubt themselves before they have given it a chance.

  Here are some subjects you can start with to brainstorm your ideas. Try to come up with at least ten ideas for each one. See if any of these resonate with you. Check out the links to the websites as well.

  Earning More Money

  Write down ten ideas you have for making more money. This can be anything from having a yard sale to becoming an affiliate advertiser. Now, take one of these ideas and brainstorm how you are going to earn more money. Will you set up a shop on eBay? Do you have any ideas for investing your money? There are thousands of ways you can increase your income. You don’t have to settle for your “fixed” salary.

  Building Self-Confidence

  Write down ten ideas you have for improving your self-confidence. Try one of these ideas right now. Write this idea down on paper and keep it with you all day tomorrow. In what areas of your life do you lose confidence? Is it in your relationships? Is it a situation at work? Is it something about yourself? Identify the area of your life that needs a confidence boost, and then write down your ideas for targeting this one specific point.

  Losing Weight

  Write down five ideas you have for losing weight. Imagine if somebody asked you for advice on how they could lose weight. How could you lose five pounds in a month? What exercises would you recommend? Try to come up with at least twenty ideas and rank them in order of effectiveness. This is one of the big problems that millions of people struggle with. What if you could come up with a process or program to make losing weight fun and easy?

  Writing a Book

  Write down ten ideas you have for books you want to write. These can be books in your field of expertise or fiction titles that you’ve always longed to see written and published. Then, come up with ten ideas for marketing your book. Nowadays with today’s self-publishing revolution, creating your dream of writing a book is a real possibility. Thousands of people are launching their books daily. Will you be one of them?

  You can follow this simple process for getting your book written fast:

  Mind map your ideas

  Create an outline

  Write for one hour a day for thirty days.

  Ideas for Solving Current Problems

  What problems do you often come across? Imagine if you could get paid for solving other people’s problems? This is where websites, eBooks, and courses excel. Once you have figured out the strategies for delivering solutions to people’s problems, you can start to make money. They will pay you for a solution! Write down several problems that people have, and then brainstorm several ideas that could solve this problem.

  Time Management and Productivity

  Do you waste time every day on menial tasks and distractions? Is this costing you time and money? Write a list of five–seven ideas to impleme
nt that focuses on timesaving and how you can manage your time better. If you believe that time really is money, then saving time is worth every penny.

  I’ll give you an example. I took a typing course so I could type faster. By doubling my typing speed, I can get more material out faster and make more money with my writing. What ways can you save time? Less TV? Make a list of time savers you can do or time wasters you can stop doing.

  Health and Exercise

  What ideas can you come up with to start getting in great shape? What ideas do you have to improve muscle tone, cardio, or your flexibility? Write down your ideas on how to get into shape and drop them into your “exercise” folder. Do you want to lose weight, or start on a paleo diet?

  When it comes to your health and exercise, there are no limits to the ideas you can come up with. There is also a massive market for books, videos, and training manuals. This is something to consider if there is something you can offer people and try to start up a business by becoming an authority in a specific area.

  Education and Learning

  What ideas do you have about changing the way education is taught in our schools? The way people are learning is taking a major shift. Now, write down seven–ten ideas you would implement if you were given the mission to change the way education is being taught.

  What would you do? How would you want children to start learning real world skills? What ideas can you come up with that would speed up their learning so that they spend less time studying information they don’t need? What courses would you introduce?

  Passive Income

  Create ten ideas you have for coming up with passive income ideas. What could you do for YouTube vids, writing an eBook, or creating an online course? Go to your main folder and dump in your ideas for passive income generation. I have already discussed building passive income so refer back to the previous chapter if necessary.

  Personal Development and

  Character Building

  What would you like to improve about yourself? Come up with at least thirty ideas for how you could deepen your character and personality? What would you have to do to make your personality a dynamic fit for any situation? What obstacles are challenging you these days? One of the areas that I am always trying to target is my confidence. When my confidence increases, I feel more motivated and excited to try just about anything.

  Building Better Business

  In this book we discussed ways to set up your ideas for building your own business. Now, what ideas do you have for creating a business? Write out all your ideas and then come up with action steps for your ideas using the strategies we discussed in this book. Do you want to create a business online? Do you want to expand on the current business you have?

  Improving Relationships

  Our relationships are precious gemstones. It’s worth the time and effort to come up with at least fifty ideas on how you can build a relationship of better quality with your children, spouse, parents and relatives, and friends. What ideas can you map out right now that would add great value to these relationships?

  Home Improvement

  Can you come up with at least twenty ideas on how you could improve the look and feel of your home? What would you do to fix it up? What rooms would you repaint? Which areas need to be decluttered? Make a list of home improvement ideas. Then, set out to put just one idea into action. If you have to, map out any action steps necessary. Then, start to do the first task on your list.

  Job Escape (Leaving Your Nine–Five)

  Millions of people are unfulfilled in their work. They are looking for better ways to serve a higher purpose through doing work that matters. What if you could give that to them? Come up with ten ideas to create a plan for leaving a job you hate. Imagine that you are giving this as a presentation to people who have paid to hear you speak on this topic. What would you say?

  Spend twenty minutes a day brainstorming creative ideas for anything that interests you. Your ideas are priceless; think of each idea as a brick in the success story of your life. You should add at least ten new “bricks” every day.

  For a great book on how to unleash your ideas, you can check out this book Become an Idea Machine: Because Ideas Are the Currency of the 21st Century by Claudia Azul Altucher.

  Remember this simple process when you are working on your ideas:

  Mind map your ideas

  Identify the actions you can take

  Take immediate action

  Putting Your Ideas to the Test

  “New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!”

  — Arthur C. Clarke

  Wouldn’t it be great if we could get feedback on our ideas before we invested any time and money that could later turn out to be wasted? Would you like to know beforehand if your ideas are actually worth the effort?

  Do others think your ideas are interesting? Test it. Tell them what you are planning and thinking about.

  Here are three strategies I use to test my ideas first.

  Ask Yourself: “Would I buy this service or product?”

  You can test your idea by asking yourself if this is something you’d throw money down on. I test this idea with just about anything I create. If I write a book, before I do, I ask myself “Would I read this?” If it’s a course or learning platform I am creating, I want to know “Would I sign up for this?” and if the answer is yes, come up with at least five solid reasons why.

  This is a great way to really test it and, to be honest I think it’s one of the best ways. When it comes to testing your idea and whether or not it would work, you are your most important customer. I wouldn’t throw my money away on junk because I’m actually a very fussy shopper, and before I buy into a course, or even sign up for someone’s website or blog, I ask “Is this what I want?”

  If I look at my own “stuff” and there is strong hesitation or I can’t find a good reason to like it, chances are I’ll have a tough sell expecting others to like it, not to mention spending money on it.

  Let’s take an example. You have an idea to create an online course. Test your idea by asking yourself:

  “Would I buy this? If yes, why? If no, why not?

  Would I recommend this this course to my friends?

  If I had to describe this course, how would I explain it?

  Do I get fired up when I talk about it?

  Maybe not all of your ideas have to be this in depth but, if it’s something that you are thinking of investing money in, you want to run it through a test drive first. It’s like buying a new car: always take it for that initial test run.

  Ask on Social Media

  Nowadays it’s easier than ever to put your ideas to the ultimate test. Ask the people you engage with on Facebook, Twitter, Google or your own emailing list if you have one. They will tell you the truth. I will use this as a second step if my idea passes my personal self-assessment.

  Invite them to give you feedback or add their own thoughts to your ideas. Chances are, if your idea is a salable one, they will become just as excited as you are about it and add more depth to it by providing you with ideas of their own.

  This is a great way to gain feedback and to investigate the ‘worthiness’ of what you are putting together. Be prepared for some critical feedback as well. Not everyone is going to as excited about the idea as you are. But that’s okay, get used to receiving constructive criticism and you’ll learn from it.

  By telling others about your ideas and dreams, you could stimulate a conversation or a partnership leading to the development of a new revolutionary product or something that has never yet been tried. There is no telling what could happen once a group of people become interested in something you propose. Before you know it, your idea has expanded into an image, the image becomes a plan, the plan becomes a detailed map, and that map becomes a plan of action.

  Even if they think your idea is outrageous, that could be a
compliment in disguise. Ideas are like dreams—they are not meant to exist in a one-dimensional world; they are multi-dimensional with unlimited possibilities.

  Take a Survey

  After you have interviewed yourself and asked your friends around you and on social media, you might still want to do some digging. Try doing a survey using a site like survey monkey. You can sign up free for the basic package that includes 10 questions and one hundred responses. There are paid upgrades too but if I’m just doing a simple survey the basic is enough.

  You can also use surveygizmo or launchrock for testing the viability of new products by gauging the interest of your audience based on the number of clicks and people who sign up.

  Just Do It and Don’t Worry About It

  The last option is I just go for it. Do what drives your passion and the hell with everything else. I’ll be honest here: my own interests drive most of my ideas, and if it gets me fired up I want to share that with everyone I know.

  Just because you test an idea doesn’t mean it’s foolproof; some of the best creations are built on passion alone. In the end, it all comes down to what you feel strongly about doing; then you can do it the best you know how to and build anything you want from an idea driven by your energy.

  Killing Your Doubt

  Even if I like my ideas and I think it could be the next best thing to the Internet, doubt can cloud your judgment.

  Do you know of anyone else who has had a similar idea? Can you build from their existing platform? Write down the first action step you are going to take right now to put this idea into motion.

  Are there any reasons you think your idea is impossible? Make a list of these reasons. Now, challenge these reasons. Is it impossible because of lack of finances?

  If so, how could you raise more money? Is it impossible because you lack the skills or know-how to put it into action? If so, who do you know that could help you? Is there any part of this that you could outsource to somebody else? Make a list of resources. You could hire someone through Fiverr or Upwork. You might know of a friend who is willing to help you put it into action.