This post is the gathering of a number of ideas I’ve been collecting over the past few weeks. I’ve put them all here to begin getting your feedback.

A word on ideas, a business executive said:

If you need validation, look in the mirror. Business has no set rules. You’re only as good as what you’ve created next.

Think of yourself as a lumberjack in the Redwood Forest. If you’re focused only on knocking that tree down, you wont last in that career. If you focus on the process and enjoy the chopping, you will thrive.

In truth, you may or may not knock down the tree, but you have to enjoy the process. At the end of it all, you’ll be back where you started, hitting up a new tree.

I want to make a change to that statement. The only rule in business is keeping within a framework of that is pleasing to Allah.

–

Few weeks back I started a 3 x 10 idea generation discipline (three ideas for ten days). I did keep with the discipline but I had difficulty posting it on the due to traveling and not always having access to the internet.

The following are my ideas so far:

• Produce a documentary about NYPD cops that are Muslim. Tell their story of fitting in with the other cops. Dealing with their own diverse back grounds and Muslim identity and facing danger at times for the protection of innocent people.

• Produce an online video series that in an entertaining way address the issue of calendar holidays. For example, Valentines day: Its pagan roots, the legend of the Valentine card – a priest who married soldiers to women which was against the empires wishes and resulted in his death and a note to a woman who took care of him in his tortured state. Series would address the affect of these holidays on our culture and Islamic well being.

• Refocus Tufaan to address not so much the hurricane, but the overall human struggle and adjust the artistic approach of the movie to something more eye candy such as motion graphics.

• Produce an animated feature documentary about the last years of Malcolm X’s life as a Muslim (post hajj)

• Develop an online learning system for new Muslim converts where they can go from A – Z and be up to speed on what they need to know to be totally functional in their deen.

• Produce a movie guerrilla style for under $30,000 starring local youth.

• Produce a low to mid-budget ($50,000 – $500,00) motion graphics based movie covering the story of the Israel-Palistine conflict starting from 1900 – Present time. Story would cover the Fall of the Ottoman Empire, the establishment of Middle Eastern states,  Involvement of British and French in turning Muslims against each other, Establishment of Israel to the Palestine-Israel conflict.

• Produce a short video for online distribution based off of the letter of Umar ibn Abdil Azeez that was passed out in the Torch Bearer’s seminar.

• Develop a Qabeelah training module within Message Mastery. Think AlMaghrib’s teacher training system by sensei on steroids.

• Produce a “docu-lecture” – Every since I saw “Legend of the Furious Five” (extra DVD from Kung-Fu Panda) I got excited about producing a lecture DVD that’s designed to be on video. Imagine recording a Halaqa studio-cinematic style with short stories cutting in and out of the lecture visuals. Its almost like two paralel stories…sort of.

• Secure a partnership with a national or international client that specializes in educating people in the area of deen, language, self development or halaal financial mastery and launch an online learning system that is subscription based and membership focused.

• Produce a short film titled “Sunnah Smile” for the purposes of laying out a case study for Message Mastery students. A story about a little girl that gets bullied on her way to school. Bully always takes her lunch money. She tries to confront the big bully but ends up in the trash. She follows up with a new plan which leads to a flowery twist ending.

• Incorporate Leechon in Canada so that it can take advantage of the money that the Canadian government has laid out for film projects. The questions that come to mind are: (1) What are Canadian business tax-laws? (2) What are the different ownership structures? (3) What are the different type of banks that are available and what sort of fees and benefits do they offer? (4) What are the different types of government grants that are available and how does one go about getting them? (5) Where can I go to learn more about the business of film in Canada?

• Contract a professional graphic designer to produce a course focused on graphic design and its principles for Message Mastery.

• Produce a short film titled “License on Empty” about a young kid who gets a drivers license and goes partying everywhere. He runs out of gas and ends up having to by for gas, maintainance as well as insruance – learning about responsibilty.

• Produce a promotional “profile video” of each AlMaghrib instructor.

• Produce a movie that documents the journey going cross country with Tufaan screening it in every major city in North America.

• Start an education campaign with some organization meant to educate people on zakah and wealth building.

• Produce an adventure-horror-thriller – Story about three guys going mountain biking in the smoky mountains in North Carolina. One of the guys disappears, another guy gets hurt and their vehicles wont start, leaving them stranded in the mountains. They soon realize there is more to their predicament than meets the eye. Story of survival.

• Produce a TV Show titled “Brown-tourage – brown people doing funny stuff. A project that starts off with funny skits that start off online, which ultimately lead to a feature film.

• Scavenger-Hunt – Reality show race. Three teams, each with a camera. A race to the finish line and collection of items.

• Sci-Fi Film – The human race of one planet has declared war on the human race of another planet. They intercept communication from the “enemy” nation and use their computers to try to decipher the message. According to computer analysis, “This communication (Quranic ayat) couldn’t have been done by a human.”

• Short film – “License On Empty” – Young kid just gets his licenese, goes partying everywhere. Gas runs out and ends up stranded in the middle of nowhere. In the end learns a valuable lesson of self responsibility.

• Develop a few online seminars that can be sold for cheap

• Write a few e-books as a means of testing future markets

• Develop a profile video for each AlMaghrib instructor

• Make a movie about a road-trip distribution of another movie through major cities within North America.

• Produce a film with Bayyinah about the story of three people and their journey of learning to read Arabic in 16 hrs.
• Produce a film with AlMaghrib students which would fundamentally be a compilation of many short film put together as a feature.

• Make a video climbing the Pyramids of Giza sticking a poster sized sticker at the top saying “Belal Was Here {date}”

• Take a trip to Australia with multiple stops in Texas, Cali, Hawaii, Malaysia and finally Australia via first class. For every stop, record a time-lapse of a masjid in the local area.

• Produce a film An Inconvienent Truth style but instead of global warming as the problem being address, it can be the issue of people’s financial issues and the person addressing the issue can be sensei.

• Setup every major masjid in North America with screening equipment to layout the foudation for an independent distribution network for Leechon (projects, screen, speakers)