Finding Alternative Ways to Make Money in the Age of Creativity part 3
This post is part of a series. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
Using a SWOT Analysis to Discover Creative Money Making Ideas
In my last post, I talked about a personal SWOT analysis. Completing a SWOT will help you discover new directions to take in your in life. It will help you to generate new and creative ideas for making money. If you have never completed one before, then you will be in for a treat!
In the normal SWOT analysis, there are four squares where you place the following headings: Strength, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Threats. Since I’ve been doing this for a few dozen years, I have tweaked the entire idea of a personal SWOT analysis and redesigned the form.
The reason I don’t use the traditional four square personal SWOT analysis form is because I want to make sure I use the right side of my brain and also the left side of my brain—at the same time. By utilizing the concept of a mind map and using lots of color, I have designed a form that works perfectly for me.
You can see the form I use here, on page 5. I have included information on the traditional personal SWOT analysis on pages 1 thru 4. Feel free to download this file.
The Importance of Creativity
I hate the word “entrepreneur.” And that’s not because I have such a hard time spelling the word. I hate the word because I am what you would call an old timer. I was raised in the small business world. Once I got older and actually took an interest in the businesses my family owned, I spent about 99% of my adult life there.
The one thing I’ve learned is this: you have business owners and you have creative innovators. During our current recession, the business owners are those who have lost profits, let employees go, and have either closed their businesses or have had to borrow money to stay afloat.
On the other hand, the creative innovators have actually done quite well with their profits. They have used their creativity and lived frugally, found non-financial ways to keep their employees motivated, and improved their customer service.
Having any type of business requires creativity. Without creativity, you are simply a business owner. It doesn’t matter if you have a product or service business or an online, or offline business. To be successful, you must have and use creativity.
Merging the Personal SWOT Analysis and Your Natural Creativity
The personal SWOT analysis encourages you to use your creativity. As you fill out the form, you will start out slow, then once your natural creativity automatically begins to flow, you will find yourself writing idea after idea after idea.
When you are done, you will realize what is important to you and what isn’t. You will see your interests more clearly and most importantly, you will discover what you were meant to do. This will help you to define the meaning and purpose of your life. It will also help you to understand what success means to you.
Once you have an idea of how to make money, you can investigate your idea to see if it will be profitable. If not, you will have to figure out how you can make it profitable. You may want to hire a guru to help you, you may not. The choice is yours, but at least you know where you want to go and what path you want to take to making money.
I will talk more about profitable ideas in my next post. I will also talk about what you can do if you have a cash flow problem.
