Ideas with Wheels: September 2015

Entry #3 - Three of a Kind

The Three of a kind exercise is useful to understand how even though businesses can have similiar offerings but vary in the way they approach their customers in interesting ways. The examples can be with any product, service or even experience but for my choice I selected how businesses sell bling. Bling all things that glitter and shine and reflect a trend on right now to bring that shine on to ordinary objects to make the extraordinary.

The three companies I found to feature include Love for Bling, Arizona Bead Company and Crystal Fetish all based in the USA.

Love For Bling
Products: Cases, Mirrors, Clothing, Wigs
Price: $14-80
Place: California, USA, Online shop via https://www.bigcartel.com/
Promotion: https://www.facebook.com/Love-For-Bling-525277914166751/timeline/,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSSOLlMNtUM

Arizona Bead Company
Products: Beads, Silver, Bone, Crystal, Books, Tools
Price: $.80 - $45
Place: Arizona, USA
Promotion: http://www.arizonabeadcompany.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=ABC, https://www.facebook.com/ArizonaBeadCompany

Crystal Fetish
Products: Customized, Personalized Bedazzled Baby, Car, Phone Accessories
Price: $50-2,000
Place: http://www.blingoutthefabulousinyou.com/contact-us.html
Promotion: https://www.youtube.com/user/CrystalFetish, https://twitter.com/CrystalFetish, https://www.facebook.com/CrsytalFetish

Back to Table of Contents

Entry #2 - Word Association

We often use word association games to identify to unpack all the meanings and relations we connect to a single word. For this entry, we are warming up our minds to exercise lateral thinking and prepare us for deeper contemplation.

I have chosen two words for this task which requires a minimum of 12 additional words to relate to my two selected words. I will then add for good measure some pictures as well that are associated with the two words I chose.

First Word - Film

Word Associations .

Theatre, Acting, Video, Clip, Festival, Glamour, Stars, Hollywood, Bollywood, Reel, Popcorn, Movies

Picture Associations


Source: http://www.marketsforgood.org/films-are-films/


Source: http://clipgid.com/film-camera-drawing.html

Second Word - Noir

Word Associations

Black, Night, Eve, Scary, Cool, Distant, Fear, Hip, Vibe, Dark, Sinister, Imagination, Mood

Picture Associations

Rain at Night

Source: http://photofocus.com/2013/10/31/film-noir-portraits/

Back to Table of Contents

Entry #1 - One Childhood Memory Tied to...(Agriculture, Culture, Health, Technology, Tourism or Social Entrepreneurship)

When I was a little girl my parents would take us on special family weekend outings. I really looked forward to these and they hold a special memory for me as those times went by too quickly. One of our most favourite places to visit was a farmer’s market and grocery called Delicious Orchards. A typical outing would consist of the drive, park, shop and eat -- snacking on our treats as soon as we got back to the car in the parking lot.

I can imagine today as if it were yesterday...As we pulled up to the market, I would get so excited seeing the big sign outside in anticipation of stepping out and running through the doors to the colors, smells and flavours that awaited. The colors of the fresh fruit and vegetables grown mostly locally. The smells of the fresh baked goods especially the pies filled with seasonal offerings and old staples like classic apples or my personal choice...coconut custard. I will have to make my own this weekend since I now crave that flavor.

Agriculture to me is being close to the earth. For memories of the farms of my New Jersey childhood..Delicious Orchards is the symbol for me of family moments, relaxing weekends and tasty treats locally grown and enjoyed.

Collage of Delicious Orchards and memories of farm to table

Back to Table of Contents

Idea Journal for ZSEM

Each year, I encourage my students to think about ideas they have for new businesses as part of the Entrepreneurship course at ZSEM and other places I teach. One of the most effective tools is the assignment called the Idea Journal. Although we have some class sessions on creativity techniques which are fast, fun and furious ways to generate ideas quickly, the idea journal demands that students combine both original thought with research so that they think longer and more deeply. I often feel so lucky when I am grading such assignments as I get to know how the students come to their ideas and its a fascinating process. A few years ago I switched to creating an in-class event so that students could share more of their ideas with their peers as a step in team formulation. When they had to include a 3d element to their ideas for business in the form of a prototype it really helped give a boost to pitching ideas and its now a required element.

This year's edition has a new twist which is that the 2015 Idea Journals will showcase 6 special thematic areas where we are encouraging students to develop their new business ideas. These include: Agriculture/Food; Culture/Design; Health; Technology; Tourism; and Social Entrepreneurship. This post will link to sample pages I am creating to show students how their online Idea Journal should look like. The first element is the Table of Contents. Here are all the elements that should be contained in their online blog. As I create my entries, I will hot link the pages so all you will have to do is click on a link and see the corresponding entries. This will be a work in progress over the next few days so check back as it unfolds and thanks for visiting.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ideas with Wheels

Wednesday, September 30, 2015