Inspirational Eavesdropping
Ever been sitting at your desk at work and overheard a co-worker talking about a project and it sparked an idea for a completely unrelated problem you were working on?
How about standing in line at your local Starbucks waiting to place your order and hearing another patron on their phone talking about a vacation they’re planning and getting an idea for a short story you could write?
Perhaps you were watching an episode of Shark Tank on television, and while one of the guests is pitching their cool new product, you suddenly get inspiration for an even cooler project that is sure to have Mark Cuban, Lori Grenier, and Robert Herjavec and battling over who gets the deal with you.
If you’ve said yes to any of the instances above (or any number of other possible situations similar to the ones above), you’ve benefited from inspirational eavesdropping.
I’m not accusing you of anything sleazy or sneaky. (Personally, I believe if someone is speaking loudly enough on their phone in public for others to hear that they must want to share their life with the world.) But it’s actually very rare that one overhears the perfect idea that can simply be plucked out of the air and put into action. More likely, something random that you overheard shook loose a piece of information in your brain which fell perfectly into place and completed a creative circuit. That signal was then sent to your brain and inspired your Eureka! moment.
There is value in keeping your radar up at all times and having your mental receivers tuned-in to your surroundings. You never know what you might hear, and what ideas it might spark.
What if you could get invited to sit in a front row seat for conversations that are focused on sharing ideas in public? A sort of “innovation arena” where brainstorming gladiators did their best to out think each other and not just spark ideas — but to set minds ablaze with potential and possibilities.
A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Nick Loper for his podcast Side Hustle Nation. During the second half of the interview, we asked his audience if they needed any creative ideas for their side businesses and did on-demand brainstorming live, unrehearsed, and on-camera.
It was exciting for me, because that’s what I love to do most in the world.
The audience enjoyed it because the ideas were real, applicable, and rooted in reality. They could take the concepts and immediately apply them in their business. Even if I wasn’t bouncing around ideas specific to each individual in the audience, those whose businesses were not featured could still take the general concepts they heard and use them to spark ideas to solve their particular challenges.
The live session captured on video was a very different experience for most people, and it made me want to explore opportunities to do more live, public, idea “jam sessions” in front of an online audience.
Here is your chance to eavesdrop on a live brainstorm this Thursday!
When my friend Hilary Corna said she needed to hire me for a private brainstorm project to help generate ideas for the re-launch of her book One White Face, I asked her if she’d be willing to dare herself to do the session live and online — she accepted.
And YOU are invited to eavesdrop on our LIVE brainstorm session and overhear ideas for book promotion, author marketing, audience building, pre-sales, community engagement, and many more ideas that I’ll be bouncing around specifically for Hilary, but that you’ll be able to take and adapt to your own individual and specific marketing challenges.
All you need to participate is a free profile on Blab.im (login using your Twitter or Facebook account …those are free too!) Once we start, you’ll have full access to our brainstorm audio and video. You’ll be able to contribute ideas, comments, kibitz, and ask questions from the live chat box. If you’re feeling especially brave (and creative), perhaps you’d even like to jump into an open chair on stage and share an idea or two in front of the audience.
Click the link, subscribe to the event, and I’ll see you Thursday!
And if you’d like to schedule a brainstorm (or BlabStorm) of your own and have ideas generated on a topic of your choosing, you’ll find details here: https://www.dontheideaguy.com/brainstorming/
