How do we empathize with others?
We all have ideas, better or worse, many or few. Possible solutions to everyday problems that we see, feel, and sometimes suffer, constantly come to mind. But it is one thing to imagine a solution and quite another to transform it into a real solution that solves people's true needs.
empathize-idea-businessWhen defining an idea before turning it into a business project, we usually make two mistakes, on the one hand we focus on our interpretation of the problem and we forget to understand the real needs of others, and on the other, we start to undertake without having correctly validated if the solution we have thought solves a real problem for other people.
That gap between what we believe is the solution to a problem and what really solves a specific need of people can be closed if we make an effort to empathize with others, that is, put ourselves in their shoes and understand their true needs. And this can only be achieved by understanding what he sees, what he says, what he hears and what he feels, that is, his map of desire as we will see later.
Design Thinking to make your idea come true
It does not matter whether it is one or several ideas, the important thing is to have something to continue moving forward and delving into that idea that you want to find. The more you advance, the more likely you are to find your initial idea for the project you want to undertake.
Once you decide on one of them, we are going to follow a Design Thinking process to take that initial spark to become a prototype of a product or service that adds value to society (and which, incidentally, is a viable business and makes you win) money).
This Design Thinking process basically consists of a methodology to solve problems that puts the human being as the protagonist to discover what their real needs are.
Design Thinking process
With this method you will be able to define functional solutions to real problems, which once tested by users, your clients, you will know if it really solves their problem or not.
To get an idea that is functional, that is, that solves real problems for others and that people are willing to pay for it, you must meet these 3 characteristics:
1. Be a people-centered idea. To define and validate your idea before launching the first prototype of your product or service, you must start by empathizing with others, in order to understand their true needs. Therefore, your process should focus on the person, from deep empathy and understanding of their needs and motivations.
2. Be an optimistic idea, that is, you have to believe and internalize that it will really solve the problem or the need that you have proposed. Without emotion and confidence in the success of your idea, it will hardly be a reality or you will be able to convince others.
3. Know how to experiment and change quickly according to the reaction and interaction of those who use it. You will need humility above all, because it is the users and their opinions that will guide you in your improvement process.
Once we have seen the 3 main characteristics of your idea, we are now going to follow the 5 phases of the Design Thinking process to move from your initial idea to the final product or service that you want to achieve:
Phase 1: Empathize with the needs of others
The first thing is to identify your target audience, the market niche you want to target and try to define the main need of your ideal client. For this we are going to define an empathy map to better understand what that ideal client is like, observing and interviewing him.
We can follow this list to define and understand that client you are going to contact:
• What is their educational level and what do they work on
• What is their age, sex, marital status and where they live
• What are their needs, motivations, points of pain and fear
• What are your goals in life • What are your habits and routines
• What are your interests and hobbies
And with this information try to answer these questions to design your empathy map:
• What do you see? What does it say? What do you hear What do you feel?
• What are your interests, aspirations, challenges, and problems?
• How do you make your decisions?
Empathy Map
Then make a list of what you assume about your ideal clients:
• I think my clients need _______________
• That need can be solved with ______________
• My first clients are going to be ______________
• The first thing my clients want to achieve with my product or service en ___________
In case you can interview them, the best questions to understand your potential clients could be these:
• What do you do?
• Tell me what a normal day in your life is like
• How long does it take you to do __________ (problem you want to solve)?
• What is normally the worst time of your day?
• What product or service would you like to have and that does not yet exist?
• What task does it cost you more to do in your day to day?
• What could be done to improve your user experience with _____________?
Phase 2: Define your idea
Before deciding on what your project will be, think of many ideas, the more the better, and don't get obsessed with one of them, because it will probably end up changing and evolving. So do not limit yourself, let your creativity flow pointing everything without ruling out anything.
Deciding on a specific idea is going to represent giving up others, do it with reasonable and objective criteria, and before defining yourself by your final idea, you should ask yourself the following questions:
• Would people be interested in this idea?
• Do I think this idea could positively impact the lives of others?
• Can my skills offer solutions to people's common problems?
Remember that the best entrepreneurship ideas usually meet these 3 characteristics:
1. They are simple: they solve a specific problem for a specific type of customer.
2. They have a clear benefit: even if it is a single product or service as the main source of income.
3. They focus on a broad market, with at least several million potential clients or users.
Therefore, considering all of the above, if you are already stuck with an idea, ask yourself if that project really suits you and convinces you.
And yet, if your idea does not go out of your mind and does not stop growing in options and possibilities, you may have discovered a possible extraordinary business.
Phase 3: Validate your idea
Once you have selected and defined your idea, you will have to research and learn even more about it to understand if it really is achievable and can work as a project and business.
To validate your idea:
1. Find and study as much as you can about this topic, books, blogs and publications.
2. Sign up for all events where you can interact with entrepreneurs like you who are developing similar ideas or projects. There you can meet who can advise and guide you.
3. Research financing options, costs, and legal options.
4. Analyze the market you are going to face and study your possible competition.
And above all, take away the fear that someone is going to steal your idea, because an idea simply does not help, behind it you must have a background, an emotion and a knowledge. The best thing you can do is share it and tell it to others, without fear, so that they give you their opinion, a fresh and neutral point of view of someone who is not blinded by the passion of having created something of their own. That feedback from others is the most important part of this trial-error process.
This would be the basic plan to validate your idea:
1. Study your market and the competition you are going to face. We will see this in more detail in the next chapter.
2. Create your story, a typical speech that you can repeat over and over again about your idea. Well structured and trained so that you do not hesitate or ramble when someone asks you what it is about.
3. Look for cases of failures related to initiatives similar to your idea. It is the best way to understand where they failed and what you don't have to do.
4. Attend events related to your theme, only there you will coincide with the best ones, those that can inspire you and that you can emulate.
5. Find some of those who would be potential real clients who would be willing to use your product or service, get to know them and Interact with them and find out their reaction to these three key questions:
• Do they understand firsthand what your idea is about?
• Does it really solve a problem for you?
• would they be willing to pay for it?
Phase 4: Your first prototype
Moving from theory to practice is always a challenge and a necessity. Without something tangible and experienceable, users cannot get a real idea of what we are offering them.
Just as an image is worth more than a thousand words, a prototype is worth more than a thousand meetings explaining an idea.
There are 3 levels in this phase:
1. Initial inspiration about what could be
2. Evolving into what really should be
3. Finally validating what will finally be
A prototype is a fantastic tool to help you fail fast and learn fast, because the sooner you detect the faults the cheaper it will be to correct them to try again. The prototypes are built to learn, resolve doubts about their use and rectify if necessary.
There are many types of prototypes and surely some of them adapt to what you need to present and explain your idea. It can be an explanatory video, a landing page, a storyborad, a blog or a simple PowerPoint presentation or similar, all of them are equally valid and usually inexpensive digital options to design.
Phase 5: Test and repeat the process
Once you already have one or more prototypes of your idea, it's time to test them with real users. And testing them will help you improve them and learn more from those users. Let them use, test, and review them. And most importantly, listen to what they say and don't get obsessed with your idea.
Conclusion
It is very possible that you have a good idea and that you have friends who could join that project. It all consists of organizing it and unleashing the brainstorming you need to define the business model that is connected to what you like, what you are good at, what society needs and what you would be willing to pay for.
The Design Thinking process will help you solve problems of any kind, experimenting and exploring people-centered options, so it is necessary to combine creativity and rationality to satisfy your needs.
To do this, you will start empathizing with the needs of others until you identify their problem, then you will think how they think and you will design your solution with them. Finally do not forget to take into account your emotions.
Now is your turn. Dream big and think big, empathize with the needs of others and validate your business idea.
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