If you searched “how to brainstorm business ideas,” you’re in good company. Maybe you have a day job and a nagging feeling. Maybe you’ve been recently laid off. Or maybe things are fine, and you keep thinking there has to be something else. Your answer itself says something, but the question is just as telling.
The old story of entrepreneurship was the Titan of Industry. White dudes with big mustaches that had a big vision, took big risks, and built a big empire. The other old story was “necessity is the mother of invention.” People started businesses because a challenge was so common it needed a solution. I’m not sure either of those are the case anymore.
Most people asking today want something different. They want stability, autonomy, and freedom. The current 9-5 system doesn’t provide that. So, it’s easy to understand why your mind drifts. It’s easy to get pulled into hustle culture, the side gigs, the monetizing of every minute of your day. Developing a business around that feels like control.
Entrepreneurial support hasn’t caught up to this shift. Most programs still present information the traditional way. They ask you to write the business plan and learn the tactics. Once you have that, you pitch the investors. That process assumes you already know what you’re building and why. If you’ve attended one of these programs and it didn’t sit right, it probably wasn’t designed for you.
Before you brainstorm, slow down
A history lesson and critique on the current system isn’t why you’re here though. You want to brainstorm business ideas. I get it, but I’m going to delay you one more time and encourage you to soul search first.
Grab a piece of paper. Finish each of these sentences three times, and do your best to avoid editing yourself.
- I want a business idea because…
- I’m running from…
- I’m running toward…
Now look at what you wrote. Which answers came fast? Which ones took a moment? Is anything on the page really about your job, your paycheck, or someone else’s timeline?
None of those answers are wrong, but they are helpful information. A business idea can’t fix exhaustion, and it can’t fix a job you’ve outgrown. If that’s what’s underneath, better to know before you build something on top of it.
If you still want to brainstorm business ideas
You’ve probably heard the term market research by now, and it’s a good place to start. Market research is the umbrella for every brainstorming approach out there. It comes down to two things: research on yourself, which I call your Internal Inventory, and research on everyone else, which I call your External Inventory.
Before you organize anything, start with a brain dump. Grab a pack of sticky notes and a pen, set a timer for ten minutes, and write one thought per note. Don’t judge the ideas and don’t sort them yet. Here are some prompts to get you going:
- What annoyed you this week?
- What do you wish existed that doesn’t?
- What do you find yourself explaining to people more than once?
- What have you complained about more than once?
- What do you like to do, and how do you like to do it?
- What do the people around you complain about or ask for?
Once your notes are up on a wall or table, you can start to see what you have. Some will be about you and some will be about other people. That’s your first rough sort into internal and external.
Internal and External Market Research
Internal Inventory is research on yourself: your natural tendencies, what you like to do, and how you like to do it. Look back at your sticky notes and ask:
- Which of these annoys you for real, and which one just sounded like a good answer?
- Is there one you’ve complained about more than once? That’s usually the real one.
- What do you find yourself explaining to people more than once?
- Is there something you wish existed that doesn’t?
- Does this idea use the way you like to create, or does it fight it?
- Is this something you’re excited to build, or something you think you’re supposed to pick?
- Which of your ideas feels most like you, versus like a “business”?
External Inventory is research on everyone else. Once you know yourself, turn outward. Go back to the sticky notes about other people and run through those same bullet points.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Knowing the technical parts of business ownership is one thing. Developing the skills to listen to the market is another. You need both sides. Internal without external is a daydream. External without internal is an idea that fits the market but doesn’t fit you. That’s how people end up running a business they never wanted.
If you want to go further
If you want more on the internal and external inventory, start with this post on market research and personal inventory.
If you want to go even further, here are two resource collections to browse. The business growth resources and the small business tutorials are both a good place to keep going at your own pace.