In the “Go-Giver” (affiliate link) and several of the business gurus’ advice videos and self-help guides, one of the first pieces of advice you get is to provide more value than what you take in. At first glance, this means to avoid making money. After all, if you provide more than what a person pays for, you’re going to go bankrupt. However, what you’re really doing is providing people with what they need to achieve their goals or fulfill their needs in a better way. If you can do this genuinely and organically, you’ll find that you have a rabid fan base, who will help you succeed. To start, you need to defy or fire up the imagination.

Defy Imagination

The “Go-Giver” talks about defying the imagination. If someone walks into McDonald’s with $5, the person knows that he or she will be able to get a burger, fries and a coke. It will be filling and tasty enough, and it will be fast. IT may not be the best quality, but McDonald’s is consistent throughout the world. There’s no risk. However, a McDonald’s franchise that is able to provide a meal with hot fries, and a burger that looks like the one on the menu may find out that it’s customer base will grow because no one can imagine that McDonald’s will deliver good-looking food at the price.

Russell Nohelty defies imagination in his writers’ groups. He, along with the people in the groups, provides extraordinary value to the people in his groups and doesn’t expect anything in return. I know I’ve purchased a book from him and supported a Kickstarter because of the value I have received from his knowledge and support, and we’ve never met in person!

Fire Up the Imagination

Another way to get imagination to help you is by firing it up. If you can get people to dream about what your business is going to give them or what it’s going to do next, you’ve got a formula for success. At the biggest level, The Walt Disney Company fires up the imagination. Each story that the company tells allows people to imagine themselves someplace else. The parks provide surprise every time someone goes whether it’s with a new attraction or a new interaction.

Packs of baseball cards and McDonald’s Happy Meals from the 1990s and earlier work in a similar fashion on a much smaller scale. The person doesn’t know what’s inside, so he or she can imagine all of the possibilities. Maybe this pack has a chaser card. Maybe I’ll get the toy to complete my set. It’s this use of the imagination and the need to complete sets that keep people coming back for more. If you can figure out how to use your business to fire up people’s imaginations, you’ll get raving fans.

For More on Imagination and Creativity

Imagination is the foundation of creativity and innovation. When you can harness it for positive improvements in the world, you’re harnessing your own inner power to create. For more on improving creativity and how to fire up the imagination, follow this blog, join our Patreon, and check out our books: “Disneyland Is Creativity,” “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” and “Penguinate! Positive Creativity.”