The Apprentice Beach Challenge Meets The Genius Symbols

I just had the painful experience of watching the current contestants on The Apprentice failing to come up with any really good or novel ideas for a beach product. As so often, I said, "God, I wish just ONE amongst them had a Genius Symbol set in their pocket!"

And so for fun, here is the Apprentice Beach Challenge - with the Genius Symbols.

I have my 23 Genius Symbols to hand, in this case it happens to be my favourite dichroic deck, and so I'm making the set up statement which directs the answers from the symbols:

"Dear symbols, give me some good ideas on beach products that are useful, helpful, inspiring, can sell well, are profitable, and make the whole thing easy and fun for me, while we're there!"

Alright so lets get started. The symbols are face down and I shall simply pick one at a time and see/hear/feel what my energy mind is giving me on the topic.

Time - A "sun timer" so you don't fall asleep and burn, or to let you know when you need to re-apply sun screen to yourself or your kids. A happy looking fun clock that is sand and waterproof and makes a pleasant chime. And which can be worn as a happy necklace on a string around the neck.

Space - A little harmonica type fence to define your space, lightweight, easy to carry, just sticks in the sand, can also be used to give younger children a space to stay inside of, gives a sense of safety, with many kids can be used to have them keep their stuff inside in a defined area. Stretches out a long way, nylon, neat.

Weather - Two competing visions here, one has a beach towel with a waterproof backing that can become a cloak for when the weather changes suddenly which can happen on more northern shores, the other a type of mosquito net made of material that keeps the sun out not altogether but to some degree so you can stay on the beach longer, still tan a bit but not burn.

Land - That made me laugh, its called a sand safe sand safe, and it's a cube that springs into shape from a very small package (like a photography cube) to put things inside that you don't want to get sandy, such as sandwiches, your underwear, fruit or whatever else needs to be protected from sand blowing about.

Plants - Fun sun hats for little kids that look like dayglow brightly colored flowers. Kids like them and it helps the parents quickly spot them on a crowded beach. Possibly matching lightweight dayglow slipover tops for sun protection/visibility.

Animal - Indestructible inflatables made of kevlar in the shape of sea mammals and sharks! More expensive but last and last, and can also be played with at home.

People - Getting changed on the beach is still an issue! I'm seeing a very silky, lightweight tent thing, full lenght, with a rubber band that will hold it at your neck or even on the top of your head while you have lots of room and privacy to change yourself and your children inside of it.

House - There is no reason at all why we can't have a large photography cube to become an easy, instant beach hut you can take anywhere. They can be colorful, individual, and don't just have to be square; the principle of the springy wires holding these shapes in place can be applied to all sorts of interesting shapes. Also small versions for the kids, they'd absolutely love it. Also great for keeping the dog out of the sun if it comes along on holiday.

Crystal - Crystal beach ware, really beautifully designed plastic drink and food cups that sparkle and add that wonderful sense of luxury, picknic, beach excitement. Lightweight, stackable cleverly in their own pack, all seethrough, and sparkly. I want one!

Artefact - A sun visor that it designed to let in less sun on the brow and the nose area so the face tans evenly/is better protected. Might be attached to a hat.

Light - A light reflective beach towel to help more even tanning. Weaving only some light reflective strands into deep, gorgeous coloured territowels should make them sparkle, really attractive plus give the ambient reflective light on the sides and even round the back when sitting up whilst still being soft, comfortable and useable to dry yourself with.

StarDust - That's the potential symbol, and where that's taking me is the potential of being on the beach and doing things there other than just lying on your back. Like an active beach bed that trims you whilst you're lying there, based on an exercise ball which constantly requires micro-movements to keep the balance, something that moves as you lie on it. An air filled thing, from the shoulders to the bum, to exercise gently whilst you're tanning. Cool!

Aspect - Adults like to play on the beach too. How about some sort of "personal development/creativity enhancing" game that's portable and you can play it with/in the sand? And invite other players to join in? Attractive, intriguing, fun. I want one!

Dance - an mp3 player built into a fashionable waterproof headband so you can dance in the water - and underwater too. Might attract dolphins lol ...

Friends - What better way to make friends on the beach at sunset than by having your very own portable artificial camp fire? Perfect for all those beaches where making fires is prohibited or no firewood is available, great for kids, solar powered so it can charge during the day - fun!

Spirit - The spirit of the beach is soaking up the sun. So how about a bag with solar panels for all your beach goodies which can generate energy for your mobile phone, ebook reader or notebook? It folds out all the way so it can soak in the maximum of sun while you're relaxing happily.

DragonWings - Let's take the bigger picture ... a clear plastic stand for your camera which protects it and has a small USB chip that triggers the camera to take pictures at pre-set intervals, so you don't have to worry about it, and you can be in the pictures too.

Gift - This is an interesting idea. Small, goodlooking rubbish bags for people who want to give something back to mother nature, and put their own rubbish in these bags, or even pick up other people's rubbish or general rubbish from the beach while they're there or before they go home. Could see that as being desirable in an educational/motivational way to greenies and their kids.

Fountain - A portable water fountain to take to the beach? A mini-fountain for washing your hands and splashing your face? A bottle to produce a fountain of water to splash over yourself? Definitely something to do with fresh water which is a precious and useful thing on the beach.

Alien - Some people on family holidays find it very difficult to relax completely on a beach and this spoils what could otherwise be the perfect holiday. I'm thinking an attractive, waterproof book on how to de-stress massively with lots of interesting exercises to engage the mind and produce stress relief. Also in CD version/audio book. Suitable for both adults and children!

Trade - On a budget, it is always better to buy everything you need for a day at the beach up front and elsewhere. A cooler backpack to hold drinks, snacks, wipes, towels, specially designed to keep extra purchases to a minimum might help and prove to be a good investment in the long run.

Magic - Beach jewellry! A great box full of waterproof, colorful, sparkling, floatable fashion jewellry. Can be worn in the water, looks really funky, little girls love it, little boys can use it for buried pirate treasure, great fun, very pretty and the kids will whine like crazy to make the parents buy it. Comes in a transparent pirate chest.

Angel - The Beach Angel rescue box with remedies for sunburn and dehydration, headaches,  low sugar levels, antiseptic wipes and other items you might need for beach accidents and incidents. Under NO circumstances take YOUR family to the beach without it!

So that was one person (who doesn't like going to the beach, at that) and half an hour. It wouldn't have taken that long but I had to type them all out.

The visions of the objects was instant at each time.

In a group of 8 people, you would now have 184 ideas.

Now we can pick the best ones, or generate further ones as we look at each other's ideas.

Indeed, at this point you need to know how to organise an overflow of ideas which we cannot all possibly turn into reality at this time.

Not a problem for the participants of The Apprentice; if it ever becomes one, I recommend The Genius Symbol course which teaches this, as it must.

Ideas are endless and easy if your energy mind is on board.

I wish more people knew that ...

Silvia Hartmann

Creator, The Genius Symbols

October 2010