On the Road to Creativity

I’d like to start this entry out by apologizing for not adhering to my stated goal of producing at least one post a week (as mentioned in Focus!). Unfortunately there was a family emergency that consumed my time and thoughts. Have no fear, I’m back now and will do my best to adhere to my goal in the future.

So a few postings ago I mentioned that I had put a question up in the Startup Nation forum concerning creativity. I’m very pleased with all the responses that were provided and intend on digging a little deeper on a few of them, such as asking why more often, and trying to think of business solutions to solving problems. Some of the suggestions I have already been following, such as keeping an idea journal.

And actually, over the last two weeks I’ve been doing a better job of asking why and trying to think of business solutions to solve needs. For instance, I went clothes shopping with my lovely wife the other day. She said she needed a pair of pants and a shirt. Sweet!!! I thought to myself, “In and out at Kohls in under 20 minutes (she tries her clothes on) and I have a super happy wife.” A little over two hours later we leave the store with the only pair of jeans that fits her and two shirts. I think she tried on around 50% of the jean designs that were in the store.

Now I don’t know how many of you have been clothes shopping for a girl lately, but the selection is not good at all. That is, unless you want to dress as a very mature adult or you want to look like a complete skank. Also, girls have apparently turned into GIANTS! Let me give you an idea of what ‘average length’ in female jeans means. I’m 6’3” and wear jeans that are 34” long. Well, Skye kept complaining about how long all the pants were and I, being my normal dashing self, started making fun of her for being short. Being none too pleased with my sarcastic remarks she instructed me to hold the pants up to myself and see exactly how long they were. I obliged her and held the pants up (remember, these are ‘average length’ jeans). Now picture this, a 6’3” guy holding a pair of female ‘average length’ jeans up to where his jeans come (an inch or so below the belly button) and the jeans go from the waste, down the legs, over the shoes, and about three or four inches of jean on the floor.

I just started laughing. I’m assuming the jeans were marked incorrectly or were some sort of defect. Even if that’s the case there ended up being only one pair of jeans in the store that ended up fitting my wife correctly. Either the pants were too long, too short, too tight, too low riding, made with ugly designs, made to look worn out before bought, or made with crappy material (stretch pants are ‘in’ for some reason). We discovered that there are virtually NO pants designed for girls that have small waists and … how do I say it… a nice posterior.

Here’s where the creativity I’m striving to get comes into play. Originally we kept searching for the ‘right’ pair of jeans, the whole time getting madder and madder. Then I said to myself, “Why not think of a business solution to this problem?” So I did. Now granted I’ve been told I have a bad idea or I need to work on the name or marketing, but the point is, I thought of a business solution to a problem.

I thought of a line of pants designed for girls that don’t want all the bad characteristics in jeans that I mentioned above. What they do want is a pair of jeans, made from denim, without ugly designs, that aren’t cut too low, that will fit a girl that has a small waist and a nice posterior and is of truly average height (which is around 5’4” according to Skye). This super pair of jeans will be called Trunks, Jeans for Girls that have a lot of Junk in Their Trunk.

So I’ll admit, half the girls out there would get offended by the name and not buy the jeans. Part of the female population wouldn’t be interested in the pants because they don’t meet the description of the girls the jeans are designed for. But the part of the female population that would try the jeans on would love them and buy multiple pairs.

Tah-dah! I took a problem and found a business solution for it. I’m so proud.
Alrighty folks. I think I’m finished for the night. Don’t be surprised if I put another post up in the next couple of days.