getFreshMinds.com | Ideas so fresh--they should be slapped!

Even in a recession, it's not just about having the lowest price.

America - and much of the world - is in the midst of a recession.  Customers are only interested in purchasing items at the lowest price and the only way to thrive now is to slash prices to rock bottom. Right?

I don't agree.  Granted, people have less money to spend than every before. But I don't think that the fact we're in a recession means price cuts are mandatory.

Yes, customers always want to pay the lowest price (or not pay at all) for generic products or services. However, this has been around for a while - it's not just a result of the financial crisis.

In my opinion, the price of a product or service only becomes a major issue when creativity is lacking.

The key to justifying a higher price is to provide something that is of more value.

Customers are always open to paying more for a product or service that is more than a bare bones approach.

Take Apple for example. Apple can charge a premium price because they don't just sell computers and music players, they sell a beautiful-looking machine that is easy for people to use and that has a huge "cool" factor.

But is being cool enough to sustain Apple in a time of financial crisis?

I'll let you decide.  Keep in mind that Apple is one of the very few stores that didn't have a "we're-so-desperate-that-we're-practically-giving-stuff-away" sale after the holidays last year. And that people snatch up the new iPhones whenever they arrive.  And the fact that the blogosphere is drooling over the mere possibility of an Apple Tablet computer.

The same goes for nearly any product or service. There's a difference in buying a cup of coffee versus buying a cup of coffee made from organically-grown beans that are grown by a farmer's collective in South America that uses their profits to lift their community out of poverty. The coffee could have the exact same taste - but people will pay more for the second cup.

Or take the infamous Michael Graves toilet bowl brush, "an understated, well-designed work of translucent matte plastic and white bristle bristle" that Daniel Pink wrote about in A Whole New Mind.  A toilet brush functions exactly the same whether it's a $20 brush created by a designer or a $3 brush you buy at Ikea.  Functionality isn't what makes people spend 6x the price of the regular toilet bowl brush - they're paying for the look.

If you can make your generic product or service special - by making it beautiful, or making it so easy to use my 90-year old grandmother could install it, or by showcasing the incredible story of how it came to be, or even by just having such a great customer service line that your customers know they can always depend on you - it won't be necessary to have the lowest price.

The key is to find innovative ways to make sure your customers feel like they are getting value for the extra money they're spending.  And that takes creativity.

My solution for moving without a car!

Right now, I'm over in Europe in a somewhat unique situation where I'm moving apartments every couple weeks.  Last week, I had to make my first move - all the way across the city of Biel with several suitcases and boxes.

Friends helped with my kitchen stuff and my bed, but since I ended up moving my clothes the next day, I was on my own for the suitcases.

So, here was my challenge:

I had to get two big suitcases and a couple smaller boxes from one apartment to the other.  I didn't have a car or a bus pass (and since my German is spotty, I don't even know how to find the right bus!)  I could have walked - but the apartments were at least 20 minutes apart by foot and it's exhausting to drag suitcases so far while carrying other bags. I know, because I've done it before.

So I had a brilliant idea.  I'd drag a suitcase with one arm and take my bike with the other.  Except when I tried it, that actually turned out to be a BAD idea... resulting in a major spill of my make-up bag on a major road and an old lady yelling in me in French.  Whoops!

So, I put my Masters in Creativity to  use and came up with this -->

Yup, that is me hauling my suitcase along like a trailer behind my Brompton (fold-up) bike.

And all it took was my bike, a rolling suitcase and the chain and lock I already had.

And my parents wondered if I'd ever use my degree..! ;-)

Just to prove that it actually works, a friend took a video of me biking happily along, enjoying the freedom of not having to haul my suitcase along like normal not-so-creative (or desperate) people:

 Just thought I'd share the fun in case any of you are ever in the same situation! :-)

When was the last time you failed?

I just came across the above image online and it made me think: Why don't our failures define us?

There's a tendency in our culture to only talk about our successes and the things we do right.

So when we do something wrong, or something doesn't work the way we planned, it's a whole lot easier to just sweep it under the rug and never talk about it again. We all want to be winners--and that's why we try to forget our failures and say that they do not define us.

But what if they do? What if our failures are one of the most important parts of who we are?

The fact is, if you pride yourself only on being a winner, you'll never embrace failure - and that means you'll never take a risk. And if you have no tolerance for risk, you'll never venture off the well-beaten path that everyone else takes. Which (of course) means you'll never have any amazing, improbably successes either!

Failure isn't something to be ashamed of. When we fail, it means we tried to do something that was too hard. It means we stretched our bodies and minds beyond their original dimensions.

We should actually be proud of our failures... especially as innovators.

The fact is, only boring, incremental innovation can happen without risk. And those who innovate in the smallest possible increments are swallowed alive by the people who throw their heart and soul into something that could fail miserably.

All new ideas that take the world by storm are risky. All paradigm-changing innovations happened because someone decided to face failure.

So, when was the last time you failed? And how are you risking failure right now? Can you answer those questions?