Tim's Next Book!

[jeffbrown9]

I don't know about the rest of you but it appears there is more detail or ideas needed around muse generation and implementation. Based on the following facts, I'd like to make a strong recommendation for Tim's next book!

1. Fact - there are many times more posts related to muses here than the other parts of the book
2. Fact - that many, many people appear to be having trouble coming up with product ideas
3. Fact- there are a multitude of websites such as www.whatdoIsell.com and other that are dedicated to assisting with muse creation, however after trying the one I mention, I'm not very impressed.

Recommendation for Tim's next book - take a much deeper dive into muse generation. Perhaps this can take several approaches such as market driven (what the market is asking for instead of just driven on what we know about or like) or need driven - as Tim discusses briefly in 4HWW. Tim is a master at looking at the problem and coming up with a systematic process to follow in order to overcome the issue and I think this has to be the biggest going.... just my 2 cents.

Jeff

[TimW]

Companies spend BILLIONS of dollars on market research to come up with products they THINK the consumer will want. Entire careers, fortunes and tragedies are made on such things. Car designs that are released this year began the design process 3, 4, 5+ years ago based on an IDEA that it MIGHT be popular.

I believe it's unrealistic to think that somone can put the process of "muse creation" down into a formula. If it were that easy, corporations wouldn't have to spend such vast sums of money trying to figure out what the market wants and will pay for.

Lots of people make money (some a lot of money) on eBay. Others do not. There are plenty of books on how to make money on eBay. If the process were that easy, why doesn't everyone who is selling there have the same level of success? The books tell everyone the same information, tout the same potential.

Could it be that some folks have a "nack" for discovering or thinking about products that people want?

I am curious as to how you think Ferriss can come up with a "process" of muse creation that will a) not be specific to a single industry/product or b) not be so generic as to be marginally useful, at best?

Don't get me wrong...I liked Ferriss' book a lot, and it got me thinking about different ways to improve my business. However, as Heinlein wrote in many of his books "TANSTAAFL" (Google it), and I fear many have looked at 4HWW as some sort of "get me out of the grind without having to do much work" book, which it isn't.

TimW
Phoenix

[jeffbrown9]

I agree that there isn't necessarily a "get of of jail free card" when it comes to muse creation, however there are many companies making product development far too complicated or even just skipping the obvious (look at the book's example of the home delivery grocery website that lost over $300M, because they didn't test the idea before investing in it). I work in product development to some degree in the medical field and I see this all too often. At least half the population is below average - but I think this group is way above average...

Tim attempts to simplify the muse creation process by asking us to look at our pasts, resumes, experiences, club affiliations, etc. and look deeply into their needs in order to come up with new product ideas - I think this is a great idea, but it is only one idea.

The folks at www.whatdoIsell.com tell us to go to ebay, pick a product category, and then a sub-category (read "niche" category), search that sub-category for only completed items and then sort the most expensive to the top in order to find what the marketplace is buying, and sorting the most probable high margin products to the top - again, not a bad idea, but just one idea to find what the market is buying.

The reason I do believe Tim might be able to come up with a process for muse creation - for example...Tim does a great job in simplifying the way to get free press for one's muse in one section of the book by "stop shouting and start listening" and then offering great websites to find press PR requests. This is a great shortcut to a process that is complex and time consuming, has an entire industry devoted to it (the PR world)- but Tim shows us the light..... I challenge Tim to help his readers to do the same for muse creation!!!

[webgal]

It's like developing a formula process for creative pursuits. There isn't a "formula" although there are guidelines. I think the whole idea is to pioneer a path of your own.

[TimW]

And there are some folks who just don't have it in them to be creative enough to do that, just like there are those of us who will never play Basketball as well as Michael Jordan, Steve Nash, etc.

Sure, I can learn the basics of the game, even get reasonably good at it, but I'll never be competitively capable outside of the most basic of leagues, regardless of how much "heart" one has.

I have friends who are able to see creative ways to capitalize on opportunities that can not. Part of that is the lack of "training" in some ways, but it's also a level of perception that I do not have. There's nothing inherently good or bad about that...just different abilities, like my ability to force the written language to submit to my will, there are others who will not be able to write or compose as well as I, regardless of their "heart".

What you (third-person) need to do is figure out what those strengths are, then determine how to capitalize on those strengths. Trying to capitalize on your weak areas will be a lesson in frustration and, perhaps, futility, until they become (IF they can become) strengths, too.

TimW
Phoenix