A Case For Your Average Idea

Why? 

Because the world runs on average, boring ol’ ideas too. Perhaps more importantly, too many of us are running in the opposite direction of success. Here’s why: Anyone hoping to ride on the idea train to success I guarantee will inevitably be searching for the multi-million dollar one, i.e., the idea that has a carry-on overflowing with money. You know, like Google. Or maybe a phone with ten SIM cards, or a car that runs on milk. Okay, maybe not those last two. In any case, when they stumble on that idea which isn’t mind-blowing, or is only just about different from something that already exists, they throw it away. So basically the streets are littered with these average ideas, and that cannot stand.

 

So what are you saying?

You can find success with both the good and average ideas. The former is the one everyone's looking for because usually such ideas are so good they just need to get them noticed and boom: money is flowing through the door. The second one is the one I'm making a case for. Average ideas are useful too, you just need to put a lot more effort into implementing them excellently.

Take MKBHD, YouTube tech reviewer who has at one point been called the best tech reviewer on the planet. He’s not the only tech reviewer on YouTube - there are hundreds, possibly thousands. So what makes him so special? I’m glad you asked. You only need to see one of his review videos and you'd know why. The amount of quality that oozes out of them is almost ridiculous. Backgrounds, music, device placement, audio quality, everything that appears in his videos are carefully planned and executed. He recently disclosed he had even started using storyboards (Graphic representations of how a video will unfold, shot by shot). Mind you this is not some corporation; this is a man, and he just completed university.

iPhone cameras are another prominent example. Vlad Savov, of technology website the verge, noted that as he was covering a conference he needed to take a picture of an item on display. He took out his android phone (Android phone named here) and started composing the picture, when someone walked right next to him, held up an iPhone, tapped the screen, and walked away. He hadn’t even finished composing his picture yet. It's the same story with iOS (Apple’s smart-phone and tablet software), just tap and applications launch. Apple then doubles the price of their devices with huge smirks on their faces. From avatar, the movie; to Dubai, who have absolutely got down tourism; to that mechanic who washes your car for you when he's done; I could give a whole host of other examples but, I've forgotten them. Alas, you see where I'm going with this?

Okay, Okay...what next?

Essentially, my case for average ideas is this: You can still make something great out of them, if you put a lot of effort into nailing their execution. Simple as that. The next time you get that average idea, put more time and effort into figuring out how you will implement that idea, ideally down to every last detail. Over-think it. Who knows? You could pull an iPhone and get ahead of those with the supposedly great ideas (ahem, Amazon’s Fire Phone). Needless to say, you should cherish those boring ol’ ideas, and stop littering our streets.