Coming up with a great idea for a business is the one thing that many potential business owners struggle with and for good reason. Just think of how many businesses have been based on ideas that do not fulfill a demand in the market in they were envisioned to. Unfortunately, businesses that are created and started on ideas that haven’t been properly researched have often died premature deaths at great cost to the business owner.
So how do you come up with a great idea for your business that you know will work?
Well for starters it is wise to do a bit of research in terms of demand in your target market for your idea’s products or services before investing any time and money in your business.
Market research enables us to identify the potential threats while facilitating startgegic planning for spotting enriging trends and opportunities.
Passion over a certain idea is a start but may not fulfill the requirements for a successful business. For instance, your passion for the mating habits of the North Sea clam may not be a great business idea as it won’t fulfill a need in the marketplace even if you have the most brilliant books & other stuff to sell on the subject.
In other words, the idea you come up with needs to have a certain demand but too much may mean too much competition which will make it just as hard to make a success. So think niche market – in other words, come up with an idea that satisfies the demand for a specific market segment & don’t try and be everything for everyone.
You can not underestimate the importance of a solid business idea when you are starting in the world of enterprise. The core business concept is the building blocks upon which all else stands, and as such must be solid and carefully constructed. Sometimes incredible ideas just arrive, seemingly by accident; what many people don’t realize is that effective ideas can be manufactured by anybody who knows how.
One way to find an excellent business idea is simply to adapt one that is already out there. There are countless products out there that are selling relatively well and yet can still be improved upon in several ways. Taking this approach to the idea creation process has an inherent advantage in the fact that you already know there is a demand for this sort of product… it takes a large proportion of the guesswork out of starting your business.
By overcoming the weaknesses of an existing product (for example, by making it faster or smaller) you are not only coming up with a viable idea for your enterprise, but you are also guaranteeing it a competitive advantage. This is how people create business ideas that are not only coherent but also incredibly profitable.
A different, but equally effective approach to developing how to research business idea in 2022, is to start by researching problems faced by the everyday consumer. If you take a problem-oriented approach to craft your business idea, you not only increase your scope of creativity but also improve the chances that your idea will be saleable. This is because when customers buy a product or service from you, what they are buying is the perceived benefit of having that product or service. For example, when someone buys a haircut they are buying the feeling of being attractive; when someone buys an office computer, they are buying increased productivity.
If you begin the process by brainstorming problems, an interesting thing occurs – by solving any of these problems you will be providing a massive benefit. The problem with land telephones is that have to remain stationary… when this problem was solved with the invention of the cellular phone, a benefit was created simultaneously. Everyone knew that the cell phone would sell because the benefit of NOT having to remain stationary was so apparent. If you start by finding a problem you think you can solve, your business idea could emulate the success of the cellular phone.
Another approach to generating business ideas is to start by listing your areas of interest. Your hobbies are a great source of inspiration – if you take the problem-first approach discussed earlier, then you can identify situations that would make your area of interest more fun or easier. For example, if you are a keen swimmer, you may find chlorine in your eyes to be annoying… an excellent idea to pursue would be the development of a contact lens that protects the eyes from chlorine.
If you develop ideas that are closely linked to your interests, you are automatically meeting two of the requirements of a successful business concept. For starters, it is something that you are probably quite knowledgeable about. This means that you can make intuitive decisions with far less chance of being mistaken. Secondly, it will probably be something that you are passionate about. The passion of the entrepreneur is the number one factor that separates successful enterprises from failures.
The inspiration behind your business is the foundations upon which it is built and the fuel that will propel it to the forefront of your industry. Put on your creativity hat and generate some wealth-building business ideas today!
I came to realize that entrepreneurship has been there for so many years and that many people cannot define correctly who an entrepreneur is. This is because there is a disagreement on whether entrepreneurs are born or made. By the way, are entrepreneurs born or made? I’m afraid if we start this discussion we might not conclude.
Why is it that there is no universal agreement on whether entrepreneurs are born or made? First, entrepreneurs are born because there are some 6 successful entrepreneurs who experienced failure who have come up with new business ideas that are currently recognized as successful businesses but these people were never educated on how to become entrepreneurs. On the other hand, entrepreneurs are made because some successful entrepreneurs have studied entrepreneurship courses (diploma and degree programs) offered by colleges and universities.
Is it true that people have not succeeded in defining who a true entrepreneur is?
According to what I studied in high school under the subject of business, an entrepreneur is “a person who sets up successful businesses and business deals.” But this definition does not bring out a clear definition because not everyone who sets up a business and is running it successfully is an entrepreneur. There is more of who a true entrepreneur is other than setting up a business and running it successfully.