Free Idea Friday

Ideas are easy. Execution is hard. Every Friday I will share an idea that's been rolling around in my head that I have neither the time nor the where-with-all to execute. Remember, it's free, so take it for what it's worth. 

Nurturing dreams for profit

Yesterday Oprah announced four shows for her new network including the format of her upcoming prime-time talk show. That's four of her 168 weekly programming hours which leaves a lot of unscheduled airtime to fill.

Frankly, there's only so much Dr. Phil one can take so here's an idea for a show that might be appropriate for her network.

Oprah's Incubator
Basically, this builds on the Oprah brand of inspiring people and giving them hope, by helping women start their own businesses.

It's a reality show shot in a communal office/small business incubator in Chicago. Women with new business ideas apply to participate. The incubator provides the chosen entrepreneurs with office space, support staff, mentoring and a small amount of working capital to help them take their business from an idea to reality.

The first show is the selection process: women present their business idea to Oprah and other business leaders. The last show is the annual report where their businesses are launched (or potentially closed).

In between, we watch these women do the hard work of launching a business, their triumphs, their failures. Each week they meet with a business expert in a particular field – marketing, sales, design, finance, etc – and apply those learnings to their start-up. Along the way, we get a voyeuristic view of all the trials and tribulations of starting a business. It's a recipe for drama, intrigue, education and who knows, maybe even an office romance or two.

So, Oprah, if you're reading, now you only have 167 hours left to fill.