When starting a new business, it is always helpful to have a plan that will help guide the direction of your business. One of the tools that you can use to develop your plan is a mind map. More details about mind mapping can be found on this website.

• Project Management Tool: MindMeister acquires MindMaker
• Using Mind Mapping for Project Management

Below is a sample mind map that I have created as a way to get started with mind mapping.

click to view larger image

This is a very simple mind map that has three basic branches.

• Branding: ways that you can start “advertising” your business so that people will identify you with your product or service
• Website: develop a frontend that the public will see and a backend for administrators or members
• Revenue: define ways that you can either generate money or spend money for services or products that you business needs to acquire

As a new business owner, it is always helpful to also have a list of things to do that can help keep you on track. In part two of this series, I will cover the basic things that you can do to start your business (part 2: “A simple to do list for new business owners”).

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator)

Pimp Your Work

I love mind maps. They’re straightforward, practical, and easy to understand.  I love mindmapping tools as well, which is why I thought I’d take a look at MindMeister, an online mindmapping service.

With the use of this online mind mapping tool, collaborators need not be on the same room anymore. My favorite feature is that collaborators see each other’s modifications in real time.

Creating a new mind map is a point-and-click affair. The interface is user-friendly and clutter-free.  For collaborative work, each member must have a MindMeister account and must be invited by the one who initiated the mind map. Once everyone is viewing the same mind map, collaboration can begin. Each person has a designated color, which makes it easy to distinguish who made which changes.

If you need to continue working on a mind map even without an internet connection, Mindmeister offers an offline version. If mind mapping is your cup of coffee and you need to do it online, be sure to check out Mindmeister.

Registration is free for the first month, and during the trial period, all premium member features (except for the SSL) is activated.

MindMeister is compatible with most web browsers.

Screencapture by Celine Roque from Blue Rabbit Media

Dear Mindjet MindManager 7,

Yes, your name is a bit long, but I take pleasure in typing it, saying it, enjoying the sound of each syllable. The alliterative M’s echo what I say in my mind when I think of you, which is, of course, “mmm!”.

First, I have to be honest with you - you are not the first mind mapping program I tried. I was flirting with all sorts of freeware. After I’ve used most of the free alternatives around, I was frustrated. They were too difficult, took forever to load, or were web based. I didn’t need something web based - I needed something I could come home to, a face I’d expect to see when I turn on my work station. I couldn’t find that with my former flings.

Then I thought, “Mind mapping just isn’t for me”. I should’ve known that I was lying to myself.

Of course, that’s when my love story with you started.

Former Pimp Your Work blogger Tris Hussey kept talking about you. I forced myself to give you a try, since I knew that deep down, mind mapping represented my thought processes. I’ve always been a visual person. That’s the quickest way for me to learn and express.

So I said “Hello”, pressed that “Free Trial” button, and before I knew it, I completely bought into your charms. Literally. Roughly $99 worth of charms.

But it was completely worth it. (We did use company funds, but that’s not the point.)

Yes, I’ve had mind mapping tools before, but not one quite like you. What was it about you that captured me so?

Simplicity. One of my frustrations with my previous tools was that they made mind mapping complicated, when it’s supposed to be the simplest thing. A bunch of shapes with arrows and lines. You made mind mapping simple for one who was frustrated, for one who thought it wasn’t for her. For one who almost gave up.

User-friendly. It was very easy to figure you out. It seemed almost intuitive. I never had any doubts in my mind as to where the needed function was - everything you can do can be accessed wherever it needs to be accessed. It was like we’d made an instant connection and you immediately understood my thoughts.

Web-friendly. You are friendly with the web, but not too friendly. I could insert hyperlinks, notes, spreadsheets - and you were also interacting with my Microsoft Office friends.

Beautiful. Your interface is sleek, and soothing to my eyes. Your mind map templates are creative. You know which one is my favorite? The blue and orange one with your faint watermark in the background going “Mindjet Mindjet Mindjet”. Apart from the fact that blue and orange are our corporate colors, reading your name in the background reminds me of a lover’s name etched in a tree.

I do not know if you share these feelings, or if you already know that I think so fondly of you. But what I know is this - my love for you is so strong that I would share you with the world so that they will stand in your light in the way that I already have.

Faithfully yours (or at least until version 8 comes along),

Celine