In a world emphasizing online collaboration and social activity, the “wisdom of crowds” and “crowdsourcing” are sometimes overused phrases. In some quarters they’ve come in for criticism. And who hasn’t heard that old phrase that suggests groupthink for designing a product isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be: “A camel is a horse created by a committee.”

However, when it comes to throwing out creative ideas, more heads really are better than one. Why? You simply get more ideas than one person can come up with. Other people will contribute ideas I guarantee you’d never have thought of on your own.

Plus, you don’t get the pejorative committee effect of others changing the ideas. Ideas in their raw form, as envisioned by one person, can be powerful.

An example of this I’d like to share with you is a compilation of reader tips for (1) growing your business or (2) saving money.

Over at Small Business Trends we regularly do roundups of reader comments — i.e., tips that we’ve invited readers write in with.

I’m blown away by how creative — and smart — these tips can be. No one changes the tips — we just collect them. And others can then peruse them and decide whether to use the tips … or not. No committees. Just pure unadulterated creative tips contributed by the community of small business people.

And, oh by the way, even the act of sharing these tips is a reflection of the wisdom of others. I never thought of sharing the tips here, but was encouraged to do so by James Gross, who saw value to readers here at the OPEN Forum. Thank YOU James!

Please feel free to download the compilation of dozens of tips from small business owners and entrepreneurs, and use it as you wish. It’s a PDF: Collection of Outrageously Creative Money Saving and Business Growth Tips.