Friday, March 31, 2017

Where Can You Find Good Business Ideas?

Cases where people came up with a unique business idea all by themselves are extremely rare if they exist at all. If you think about it most businesses are working with services and products that existed before but are done better and more efficient now or they solve the same or a similar challenge for clients. You might object and say that airplanes, cell phones and computers were total novelties when they came around but actually they were furthering needs that humans had throughout history: Transportation, communication and calculation. The new ways of solving these challenges were just better.

Where Should I Look For Good Business Ideas?
First, you can hit the Internet and search for “good business ideas”. This is of course an obvious answer to a complicated question but nevertheless a good way to go about it.

Second, you can look for company statistics and try to find companies that are growing fast, are working in new ways, and are extremely good at marketing, sales or other core parts of any business.

Third, look up success stories and try to find out how those companies started and what was their initial advantage. Companies that are already huge are looked upon with aw but how did they really take off? Did they take off by themselves or did they get help from government regulations, monopolies or other “cheats”. If you can identify companies that took off in a way you identify as possible for you that is a great comfort.

Fourth, the simplest way to find a good business idea is to copy somebody else’s business and do it better.

Fifth, travel to foreign countries and look at the society there. What do they buy? How do they live? What is important for people there in terms of comfort and status? Can any of these observations be translated into business in your home country?

Sixth, find companies in your own market that are doing good or bad. What might be the reasons these companies are doing good or bad? Can you do it better?

How To Analyze The Business Idea?
When you have some good business ideas you need to analyze them to see if they fit you and your market.

What are the actual challenges faced by people and companies where you are located? Can you provide certain goods or services cheaper? Will some of the business ideas you have bring something entirely new to the market? Is there are craving for luxury goods? Are people actually willing to pay more for goods and services they already have because they are better or more comfortable? Can you produce something in your home country and be competitive on a foreign market due to quality or price?

How much do you have to spend to produce the new product or service? Do you need a business partner? How will you find a good business partner? Will it take forever to develop the product and cost more than you can possibly afford or get investors for? Are you willing to live like a Spartan for years while bootstrapping your company? Are you bringing something onto the market that will require enormous marketing to change the behavior and feelings amongst your presumptive customers? Some things that work well in one country can be a total disaster in another market as people might not have the spending power, knowledge or there is a lack of infrastructure. It is hard to sell sand in Sahara so to say.

Finally and often forgotten when looking at business ideas: How do you really earn money from this business? You are not creating a business for charity after all but should be able to make a living from it, pay employees and deliver profit to the owners. Starting a company is rather easy, develop the product or service harder, finding clients much harder and making profit from this complicated system of organization, product development, marketing and sales is by far the hardest part. Every single detail has to be in place and it has to be in place every day for a long time.

It is great fun to be in business and it is a great feeling to dream about success. Waking up on a Monday morning and spend your week trying to solve what appears to be unsolvable problems while at the same time being haunted by grumpy employees and customers is, on the other hand, something that can drain anybody.

But with the right spirit and a long-term perspective the dream of freedom, riches, recognition and a brilliant lifestyle make it totally worth going for. And that dream comes closer and closer for every Monday morning you go to work with a big smile and the confidence that you will make it because that’s just the way it is. 


Anders Östlund
Founder of Fryday, an international network of professionals

Did you enjoy this article? There are plenty of more useful articles on how to succeed in business at Fryday’s Business Blog.

You are also more than welcome to post your articles at Fryday’s Business Blog.


For blogging or other questions you can contact at info@fryday.net.

No comments:

Post a Comment