SIX TESTED AND PROVEN WAYS TO GENERATE PROFITABLE BUSINESS IDEAS ANYTIME/ANYWHERE

All businesses are created first by ideas. Then once you're in business you need ideas for marketing, advertising, solving problems, product development etc. The difference between success or failure in business could be just one idea. That's all! Below are several ways to generate profitable business ideas. All businesses need profitable business ideas to stay ahead of competition and survive.
These are a few extra tips that will help improve these idea generation strategies.

1. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS (YOUR AUDIENCE)
It may sound funny, but the first thing you need to know to move your business forward or to start a fresh business is to know your customers.
Who is your audience; if you don't know your audience then how are you going to give them what they want.
What set of people are the people interested in or in need of your products or services, have they been getting the same services or products from another source, how and how much are they getting it for, are they the type of customers that will be interested in quality or in quantity. How can I satisfy them better and cheaper than they have been getting.

2. ASKING QUESTIONS
I used the word question direct because I don't want to use any bogus English word to describe what I want to say. They call it survey, but I'm calling it question here so that you will understand what I’m saying.
You have your business running, thank God, but hey... customers aren't coming and its like you are losing out after spending so much on advertisement. What you need now is to inject new ideas into your biz for it to pick up, or maybe you are about to start another biz or trying to branch out. the best way to get this fresh business ideas to inject back into your business is to ask your customers or potential customers questions. You will be surprised at what new ideas and/or information you will gather through that

3. FRATERNIZING
Communicating regularly with other business people can generate many ideas. There are many resources online and offline to meet new business people like seminars, chat rooms, discussion boards, trade shows etc. Sharing your knowledge, asking questions, and taking in new information will stimulate your mind. Your brain will begin to put all this information together to create profitable business ideas. But you must be very careful not to get carried away by/or with the wrong crowd, e.g. you are selling pounded yam and fraternizing with people selling pawpaw, sorry you will only be getting information on pawpaw alone, but the info you are receiving may not be able to have any positive impact on your business.

4. READ! READ!! READ!!!
It has been said over and over again different kind of people that "readers eventually become leaders" If you are an introvert or you are not much of a communicator, try reading. Reading can also stimulate your mind. Read business books, magazines, e-books, web sites, journals, e-zines, newspapers etc. There are lots of business columns in most dailies, I don't want to mention any name here but check around, they are not hidden. I have bags and sacks full of Your newspaper articles dating back to ten years ago, they look brown and dirty but I just can't let go of them, they are every precious to me. Your brain works perfectly like a computer, it will start to generate profitable business ideas by absorbing and rearranging this information on a regular basis.

5. LISTEN! LISTEN!! LISTEN!!!
A good business person is a potential leader; a leader is not only a reader, but also a good listener. Some people are so full of themselves that they believe they know more than everybody, so they dont read or listen to other people. Some people want to read but they have time consuming jobs to hold on to. Don't have a lot of time to read? You could listen to business audio books, seminars and courses. Listen to them in the car, while you are doing house work, working in the yard, or exercising. Technology has made life so easy now to the extent that even the cheapest phone uses memory card. Download seminars, audio books etc to your phone and listen to it anywhere and everywhere.Also, tune in business related radio stations. This will help you save time and generate profitable business ideas at the same time.

6. MEDITATION
Mentioning meditation, I'm not talking about you sitting on a mat with your legs crossed on a mountain. I'm talking about creating time out of no time to be alone with your-self, by your-self. You cannot brainstorm in a noisy environment. The place of meditation cannot be overemphasized when it comes to profitable business ideas generating. Take short breaks to brainstorm about the information you absorbed. Wake up in the night to think for few minutes before going back to bed. Keep a notepad and pen handy to record your ideas so you don't forget them, and this notepad must follow you everywhere you go, because after some time, fresh ideas will just start popping up in your mind one after the other.