Entrepreneurship is back. The end of the summer holidays is usually an ideal time to start an entrepreneurial project, especially in the “new normal” situation in which we find ourselves. Now, how can we find a good business idea? Where do we start? As Thomas Edison said, “the value of an idea lies in its use”, so put the usefulness of your business at the starting point of your search, and from there, if you are convinced that your future is linked to self-employment , keep the following tips in mind.
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5 tips to find your business idea
1. Focus on what you know and like
If you start from a blank page, the first thing you should do is define the areas in which you are going to move so that your search is not like that of a needle in a haystack. For this, your professional experience will be decisive because nobody knows better than you:
- The vices of the sector in which you have worked.
- The improvements you’ve always thought could be incorporated.
- The shortcomings that you have found and can turn into opportunities.
Many times it is not necessary to have worked in a sector to know it by heart, especially if it has been your hobby for a long time. In fact, many people launch into the world of entrepreneurship with ideas based on their personal tastes and the things that make them enjoy: from pet care businesses to photography, gardening, etc. It is very possible that in these areas you can find a good business idea that is useful to other people and that also fulfills you.
2. Use your skills in other areas
That does not mean that you cannot undertake in new fields, far from it. What’s more, you should take advantage of your skills to apply them to your new business , even if it apparently has nothing to do with your previous training and professional work. Many of the new business opportunities, for example wearables , combine two and more different sectors, such as technology, healthcare and textiles, in the case of T-shirts that monitor the health of a patient. More recently, thanks to business-spot , we have seen the cases of companies that have known how to use their skills and ingenuity to reinvent themselves and maintain their activity during the toughest moments of the health crisis.
3. Take advantage of what works abroad
Travel is usually an ideal situation to find business ideas importable to your environment. In the United States, for example, dog walking businesses were launched several decades ago, and although we have seen that idea countless times in the movies, it has taken a long time for it to become popular in our cities. If you are not lucky enough to travel, don’t worry, technology is on your side: digitization is a powerful ally so you can explore other countries and latitudes in search of new business opportunities.
4. Improve and optimize what already exists
In many cases, the best option to develop a business is based on an idea that already exists and that only needs to be improved. How? Adding a differential value that allows you to have your own personality and gain a foothold in the market. This is achieved by improving the distribution, the price, the design, or by providing a differential customer service.
The business world has countless examples of companies that knew how to innovate and adapt, and others that, on the contrary, saw them lose their privileged position. In the first group is IBM, which in 2003 decided to sell its computer and hardware business to dedicate itself to the sale of technological and innovative services until today it becomes a leader in its sector. At the other extreme is Kodak, which lost its dominant position in the photography market because it failed to adapt to the digital sector in time.
5. Go out and talk to your clients
And finally, one of the most important aspects arrives: your clientele. You must go out and listen to the needs, tastes, complaints and opinions of the people who are going to consume your product or service, and thus check if your idea is based on a real need. Remember Edison’s words (“the value of an idea lies in its use”) and use all the tools that are available to you, both digital and face-to-face, to check the usefulness of your idea because it will be a good indicator to evaluate its future success.
How to start in 2020
When you have decided the sector in which you will start your entrepreneurial adventure, you only have to think about which channel you will use. Below we offer you three good options so that you can enter the world of self-employment:
e-Commerce .
It is one of the options with the greatest growth potential that requires a relatively small investment. One of the options that currently exist is dropshipping , a type of business that consists of selling goods and services to third parties in exchange for a commission, so that you save on the logistics, assistance and storage of the product. Other e-Commerce options are the commercialization and sale of organic products and local food “km0” .
Franchise .
It allows you to develop a business based on a brand and a formula that have already been proven. One of the franchise models that has experienced the greatest growth has been that of buying and selling second-hand items , thanks to the rise of the concept of a circular and sustainable economy. Among these franchises is Cash Converters .
Start from home .
With a good internet connection you can sell almost any service from your own home. Among the most widespread telework are private classes , web page creation , graphic design , social media management and even computer consulting.
If you are going to take advantage of the return from the holidays to start your idea, at business-spot we accompany you throughout the process, from the start-up, the financing and the business plan, to the consolidation as a business. We will wait for you!
