We are all familiar with how industry utilizes byproducts. Leftovers from the creation of lumber become cardboard, paper, particle board and packaging. Landscapers grind tree trimmings into mulch. Even the warm water created from cooling a nuclear power plant in South Florida helps a colony of rare crocodiles flourish.
What about the byproducts from ideas? Many small entrepreneurs today don’t sell a physical product. More likely, the output is digital, which in its most basic form is an idea. Consider how you might use the “byproducts” from your creativity.
If you researched and wrote a book, can you utilize some of the research that did not fit within the book to create another book, an article, or even a simple blog post?
If you finished writing a song, but had some thoughts, lines of lyrics, or a musical passage such as a bridge or coda that did not fit within that tune, can it spawn another tune, a jingle, or something else?
If you finished an art piece, do you have leftover materials from which you can create another work?
If as an attorney, you completed extensive negotiations, drafting a contract for a client, can some of the clauses you created that didn’t find their way into the finished agreement be saved as models for future engagements?
What ideas do you have for using the leftovers from your business?