Thanks for your thoughts. Yeah for sure Rob, trying to please everyone is suicide. And you know, it amazed me how passionate some people were about their ideas and how hard they would work at trying to “sell” them to me. The whole experience can be quite overbearing at times. I tell ya, it’s not for the fainthearted

Brad, one of the things that fascinated me about the whole process was the organising of thoughts and ideas. I found one of the real benefits of market research is simply having a range of people to bounce your ideas off. But you really do have to know what to do with all those ideas. Every now and then I would marry one person’s idea with another person’s totally unrelated idea and it would lead to one of those lightbulb moments. Lots of mind food.

And hey, I’m with you – let’s go at! Bring it on!!

Cheers/Danielle

Have a good one man!

Brad

No worries – I shouldn’t have used ‘Actually’… There are so many different meanings to the word that it makes it sound like I’m disagreeing with you, when I meant the opposite. Hope that clears things up and I look forward to reading more articles from you both…

Rob

Maybe there was a misunderstanding, but I actually agree with your definition of failure.

That’s why I believe that in order to perform quality market research, you must be a better organizer of thoughts and ideas, rather than a killer researcher.

Who cares if your market research process is seamless and clean? In the end, all that matters is that the info is collected and implemented effectively.

Nice post Danielle – This sums up a lot of the points raised in the marketing research subject I took up.

Lesson to be learned… Take advice, but it’s not neccessary to make EVERYONE happy.

bizMAVERICK…
Brad Williamson

Gee, I’m not sure about “genius” though – I think that’s stretching it a tad!! But I appreciate the thought behind it. The whole booby trap thing was exactly how it felt. Not to mention “mine field”. You know, it’s no wonder that so many military terms became part of business lingo, because they’re so akin in so many ways. Not sure if “booby trap” can be classifed as a military term though

Cheers/Dani

Love the booby trap and countermove…genius stuff lady!!

Kudos on the good stuff in here!!

Kam

You are write about paper. I personally enjoy writing my notes by hand… and i just bought a new laptop… hahaha. I plan to keep all the draft and ideas and date them in case of a lawsuit someday or just to see my thoughts at a given time on a given issue. I keep a blog for partly that reason.

Enjoying!

Luc

And the trusty notebook…priceless. Nothing beats paper. A piece of paper and a pencil – that’s all you need. (Or perhaps a pen… I just have a personal obsession with pencils ) Keep ALL your drafts and ALL your notes. You’ll be surprised at how useful they will be further down the track. Every now and then look back over them and they’ll trigger a revelation or two. Besides, they are also markers for how far you’ve come.

Enjoy!

I am trying to solve an existing problem but i can still see how your words of caution make sense in my given scenario.

I am finding it quite interesting lately to be honest. I am mapping out pricing and process the past few days with my trusty notebook, as in a paper notebook, and just forming a solid idea to present. I am finding it interesting and to be honest i can’t wait to start marketing the idea, testing and re-testing, making additions and more. Talk soon Dani!

Luc

I think it depends on whether you’re trying to solve an existing problem for a given customer base, or if you’re trying to create something new that people don’t yet know they want.

If it’s the latter then “design by Committee” can be lethal. To a large extent you really need to let your vision and gut guide you. And this can be REALLY difficult in the face of strong opposition.

On the other hand, if you’ve detected a problem that your existing (or future) customers have, then that’s really about tuning in and listening very carefully. To some extent this is “design by Committee”, but it’s still your vision and that needs to guide you.

I’m VERY keen to hear about your progress with your idea. I love this stuff. And for sure, you can count on growing. For me, although frustration was a constant companion, I found the whole experience fascinating and exhilarating. I hope you do too.

Have fun & bye for now, Dani

I like your contrast on the “Design by Committee” point-of-view. I think that if you choose this way of doing things it needs to be heavily moderated and take things with a grain of salt that customers report. You can lose focus of your audience by listening to a hand full of naysayers. This is something i am definitely taking to heart as i build my idea into a business.

I’ll keep you posted as i get closer to launching my service. Naturally there will be some growing to do. Talk soon

Lucas