That’s what I proudly told my soon-to-be new client as I presented the winning concept.

The client was a regional car dealer who was looking for a fresh new angle to sell more cars. It would be a prestigious and highly profitable account to land, so the competition was fierce to win this business.

As our creative team entered the third day of brainstorming what had become a dismal list of sub-par auto sales concepts, I remembered an old technique I’d learned in my theatre imrov class back in college: Become the Object. So, I decided to be the car.

My co-workers laughed when I told them my idea.

They then proceeded to follow me outside where they utterly roared with delight as I got down on my hands and knees beside the curb and began making engine revs and horn sounds. As I attempted to totally immerse myself into the mindset of an automobile, I decided to lie down in the street and get the full “automobile experience.” That’s when I realized there was water in the gutter from an earlier rainstorm and my pants were now soaking wet!

As I got up to brush the gutter goo off my once-clean khakis, a thought occurred to me…

“Now that I’ve embarrassed myself trying to be the car, why don’t I just get out of the way and let the car tell its own story?” There was something to this germ of an idea, so I decided to run with it and work it out with the team.

Later that same afternoon, we developed an ad campaign under the theme “Auto Biographies” — where each car model told its own story as the commercial’s narrator. Needless to say, the idea was a hit with the client and we landed the business. And it was all because I decided to get out of my comfort zone, try a different approach and, yes, wet my pants!

Most every type of business requires fresh ideas from time to time.

And most anyone who’s been challenged to come up with those ideas probably has a similar story as the one above. But the reality is great ideas don’t always just automatically pop into you head, sometimes you need a little nudge to unclog a creative mental block. In my case I decided to ignore being laughed at and take an unconventional approach to jar my thinking. And it worked!

Here’s A FREE Reference Guide To Help You Next Time You’re Having A Mental Block

Realizing how helpful it would be to have a reference to go to whenever your brain seems to be stuck, I sat down and cataloged my most successful mental block-busting techniques into a comprehensive ebook entitled 21 Sure-Fire Idea Spark Plugs (#19 helped me land the car business). Each Idea Spark-Plug is written to take your thinking in a completely different direction, and help you open up your mind to fresh ideas and new approaches. If you’d like a FREE copy of this valuable reference guide, just click on the cover.

In the meantime, here are three of my favorite Idea Spark Plugs taken straight from the ebook.

Idea Spark Plug #14:

Look For An Alias

Ever wonder what the difference is between a Sun Roof and a Moon Roof? How about a Domestic Engineer vs. a House Cleaner? Or maybe a Couch vs. a Sofa? Answer: Not a darn thing!

Sometimes all it takes is a brand new shiny name to make an item appear to be better than it originally was. Marketers do it all the time when they want to freshen up or add new life to a sluggish brand, or de-emphasize product attributes that could be considered unappealing to the target. Remember when Honey Crisp cereal was called Sugar Crisp? Or when KFC was known as Kentucky Fried Chicken? Name changing is a common way to make your brain re-evaluate an item’s meaning or importance. Different words evoke different interpretations or emotions.

The next time you’re brainstorming ideas, pick out some of the key words then make a separate list. Try coming up with substitute words for each word on the list. This new list of words should jog your brain into re-evaluating your original thinking. It should also give you a different perspective and help you decide whether or not your first idea was your best idea.

Idea Spark Plug #15:

Color Outside The Lines

When you’re working on a rational project, using rational methods to try to rationally come up with a clever idea, this is the best time to start thinking irrationally! Some call it “Thinking outside the box”. Others call it “Coloring outside the lines.” I call it absolutely essential if you ever hope to create an original idea that has yet to see the light of day.

Getting successful results from using this technique is sometimes easier said than done. It’s hard to get out of the routine of looking at the world as rational and orderly. The sun always rises at dawn and sets at dusk. Two plus two always equals four. And if you drop a 10-pound dumbbell on your pinky toe it will ALWAYS hurt (trust me on this one!)

But when you take an irrational approach to concepting, you sometimes discover a better way of solving your problem. For instance, during World War I, the US military took an irrational approach and used Picasso’s Cubist style art to create more efficient camouflage patterns for tanks. It actually made the tanks blend in with the surrounding environment, making them much harder to spot by the enemy. Try using a similar irrational approach next time you need a rational solution.

Idea Spark Plug #21:

Don’t Overlook The Obvious

So this SCUBA diver is swimming along at 20 feet when he notices a guy at the same depth, but wearing no gear. The diver swims on down to 50 feet when he comes across the same guy. Amazed and confused, the diver pulls out his waterproof chalkboard and writes down “How are you able to stay down this deep without any diving equipment?” The guy quickly grabs the board and writes “Because I’m drowning you idiot!”

Sometimes we get so caught up in the details we often overlook the obvious. Like squinting and straining your eyes to read in a dim room when you could simply turn on a light. Or, after your kids have gotten out of their nightly bubble bath, blindly feeling around for toys in the bottom of the tub, instead of just opening up the drain. Often times going the obvious route can be much harder than you’d think. Ever overlooked an idea because it seemed so simple, surely it couldn’t work? Usually, you’re kicking yourself later when someone else has the same idea, then gets successful results.

Many times a big idea can seem so obvious, we’re afraid to consider it as an option. Don’t fall into this trap! Never underestimate the simplicity of a good, solid idea and NEVER be afraid to at least investigate an obvious solution.

In Conclusion:

It’s often said “The obvious answer has been right in front of your nose all along.” But sometimes it takes a little spark to help you cut through the clutter and focus in on the solution. I hope the examples above will help you find your focus. And if you’d like have all 21 Idea Spark Plugs at your fingertips, please feel free to click on the link below to download the complete ebook with my compliments.

21 Sure-Fire Idea Spark Plugs FREE eBook

Here’s to you never losing your creative spark!

Ben Crain as spent more than 20 years running an award-winning marketing firm, handling a wide range of national clients including: Corona Extra, Anheuser-Busch, Campbell’s Soups and Hardee’s Restaurants. Recently Ben launched Hunu Marketing — a Digital Marketing and Consulting Service specializing in Video Production, Whiteboard Animation, Strategic Copywriting, State-of-the-Art Graphics, as well as Software Product Development and Sales.

For more information, or to contact Ben, please visit:
 https://hunumarketing.com/

To see samples of Ben’s work, please visit:
 https://www.bencrain.me

This is a guest post from Ben Crain, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.

When I was a young lad and found myself getting flustered over some trivial challenge that came my way, my Grandad always used to say, ‘Gary, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard’

I used to look at him as if he was a fool but he would just chuckle to himself and that would be the end of it. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about and at the time, I never asked him.

Fast forward a few years and I started to look for ways to make money online which would enable me to get out of the factory I was working in, a factory which had become my prison because with a young family and with a mortgage and endless bills to pay every month so I had no other option to stay in a job that I hated.

If you have ever investigated the ‘make money online’ market you will know only too well that after only a few hours of research, the only result is that you will be completely overwhelmed by what is on offer.

Affiliate marketing, blogging, Subscription websites, freelancing, the list goes on and on.

To make matters worse, some of the people who are offering advice on how to make money from any of the methods described above are at best somewhat ‘shady’ and at worst, nothing more than common criminals who prey on ordinary people who are desperate to make money. I soon fell into the ‘shiny object’ trap and started buying course after course which promised so much but delivered so little. That warm exciting feeling from reading a carefully crafted sales page was soon replaced with that sinking feeling that I had been duped yet again.

The agonising problem was though, I knew only too well that this process would keep on happening until I had the courage to ‘man up’ and do something about it instead of blaming everyone else but myself for the mess that I was in.

Enter my Grandad, Harry Cash (yes, that is his real name!)

I was telling him about how I was looking for ways to make money online and that I was thinking of starting a subscription website with a bit of blogging and freelance work on the side, as well as starting a business selling products on Amazon.

He just looked at me, and I could tell from his face that he was going to utter those immortal words.

‘Gary, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!’

‘Bloody hell Grandad, don’t start that again, and what are you talking about anyway, and I don’t even like custard!’ was my reply. He burst out laughing yet again and said he was wondering how long it would take me to ask him what he was talking about. He then went on to explain to me the meaning of ‘You can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!’ and it basically changed my life.

It really did!

He basically said that if you want to whistle, whistle! If you want to eat custard, eat custard! But don’t try to do them both at the same time.

At this point you are probably thinking, what a load of rubbish, especially when it comes to starting an online business. After all, look at successful marketers such as John Thornhill, they have many different streams of income which all bring in a healthy amount of money each month. The thing is though, the vast majority of these successful people started off with one business. They didn’t try to half-heartedly start several different businesses at the same time but instead, they concentrated on one until it became profitable and then, and only then, did they start look at other opportunities.

If you would like to learn more about the extraordinary results which can be achieved by working in this way, have a read of the ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller because he describes the process far better than me or my Grandad ever could.

Be careful who you take advice from.

When it comes to deciding which kind of business to start, you probably realise that you should only listen to people who actually know what they are talking about, not in theory, but who have actually successfully achieved the methods which they are teaching. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are people out there offering courses on how to make £10,000 per month who are not even making £100 per month themselves. You should also only listen to people who have actually been doing as they preach for the long term instead of just striking it lucky.

One of these people is John Thornhill.

It would be fair to say that he has forgotten more than most people know about starting an online business and if you would like to know more about what he considers to be one of the best business models out there, take a look at www.automatedsalesformula.info

Don’t get me wrong, in the business model which John teaches, you have to put the work in. Anyone who tries to tell you different is someone that you shouldn’t listen to, but if you do put the work in and follow the steps that John lays out for you, he will actually guarantee that this is a business that will work for you. It doesn’t really get much better than that, does it?

Here the link again, www.automatedsalesformula.info

Listen to what he tells you because it could literally change your life.

And don’t forget, you can’t whistle with a mouth full of custard!

This is a guest post from Gary Tomlinson, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.