“Ideas are the beginning point of every fortune”.
As submitted by Napoleon Hill, this assertion will drive an unimaginable inspiration to your mind as an emerging business owner.
Though not all ideas are perfect from the start. Some will take consistent review and tweaks to become a viable business.
Ideas create pictures for your business structure.
Thus, wrong ideas, no matter how great, can drag good business proposals into the mud.
Yes! because ideas are oxygen to your well-drafted business proposal before it blossoms into a successful venture.
This post set out to explore how to find a business idea that is right for your business.
But first,
What are business ideas?
Simply put, business ideas are those concepts formed on a primary purpose of financial gain which is usually based on a product or service that can be offered for money.
Ideas are like soil where business germinates. Because they form landmarks in the process of business set up. Once ideas are conceived, other parts of the business come to being.
Ideas are an integral part of business which are tied to their creators who must have identified the business values and prospects in a bid to set pace for a favorable competition in the market space.
Benefits of Having Ideas Before Starting a Business
Conceiving a business idea comes up with myriads of benefits especially, when the creator delivers a viable concept. This goes beyond fetching your business a huge turnover, but also links your business to a vibrant network.
Therefore, do consider the following benefits that are derivable from the ideas you have before starting up your business.
a. Creating a Revenue Stream
A well-conceived business idea tends to build a steady cash in-flow in the business. This is because every business is anchored on a working idea as it’s seen as a bedrock for a successful venture.
b. Realizing Active Cum Passive Income
A well-conceived business idea creates a brook of income for you as a business owner either you’re working or sleeping.
Your active income is paid when you deliver the value proposition to your clients. While the profit that flows in when you’re relaxing, catching fun with your family, or travelling is passive. This can be sales of merchandise, online created courses, or books and other vendible materials.
c. Building a Network
Core activities in idea building for a business are underpinned to two major purposes; determining the competitors and collaborators.
Identifying the competitors initiates a sense of creating a unique idea among the spectrum of existing ideas. This will secure a marketable space for your business in the market.
Also, finding the collaborators such as relevant associations, media outlets, and industry organisations among others, is a way to build a reliable stand for your business. This network will serve as a guidance and monitoring verve for your business activities.
d. Expansion and Brand Building
A single idea can spring into a successful brand and this will ultimately cause expansion of the business venture. For instance; a business idea could be initially to repair cell phones. The regular needs of accessories by the clients can initiate the sales of phone parts, and this can eventually transform the business to even the sales of computer and other parts technological devices.
On the above premise, a successful brand is formed and the level of the business expansion is noticeable. Meanwhile, all these are born out of a viable business idea.
How to Source For Business Ideas?
People need inspiration at times to swing into action on certain issues. Now, get inspired through any of this following for your business ideas:
i. Study successful entrepreneurs
It’s usually good if you set your foot on the path of successful ones. Read stories of the business tycoons and make them your models, believing they never attain the top without facing challenges.
ii. Look for a gap
Every business exists to bridge certain gaps around the tripod of the economic, social, and ecological system of a nation. Check where there is a space to fill, different ideas will visit your mind.
iii. Build on ideas
Businesses of different scales and sizes are thriving in the market, while some are facing out already. You can base your interest on a particular idea that isn’t appropriately executed by their owners and build a new one.
iv. Form knowledge through the quest of people
You can form ideas by doing deliberate research on what people need. The Internet and social media can be a good source of information here. Some people identify problems they encounter in using certain products or bidding for a particular service on different platforms, but less they think of solutions. As a business inclined person, you can develop ideas from their grievances to proffer solutions.
5 Steps to Finding an Impactful Business Idea
To come up with a working business idea, you need to factor in some realities one after the other. Here are the steps for you:
1. Get Inspired
Here, you derive your inspiration from any of the highlighted sources above. But mind you, you must identify the realm of that inspiration. Is it your comfort zone or your biggest frustration?
Check whether it is what you love doing. The things that give you excitement, satisfaction and fulfilment when you do them are in the realm of your comfort zone. It’ll be wise of you if it fetches you money. Develop ideas around it and monetize your passion.
On the other hand, the greatest business ideas are formed to solve problems. Proffering a solution to your biggest frustration can transform into a business idea. Tons of ideas are secreted within this realm.
Got it? …Yes! You have secured the first step in your business idea formation. Let’s see the next one.
2. Review the Concept
Either your initial idea is a product of what you like doing or a solution to what you hate, don’t convert it into business immediately.
Of course, you need to measure the viability of the concept beforehand.
You can do this by aligning it to the result of your study about the successful business moggles. Ask questions; which idea works for them? How does it work? What doesn’t work?
Answers to the above questions will help you review your idea before putting them into use.
3. Invest on your Concept
Here, bring your idea into life by investing the necessary resources that make it yield. In this stage, you may record several attempts before you will eventually get it right. That is why you need to spend reasonable time in the review stage. Just ensure you have zero fear for risk taking.
Do know that the money and time you invest on your business idea give it your desired shape. Therefore, be diligent in making needed sacrifice. But make sure you don’t leave your business ideas helpless. That takes us to the last step you need.
4. Monitor your concept
There must be a sense of follow-up in your business ideas. This will tap your consciousness when there’s a need to form a new brand as a result of expansion in your business idea.
Business Ideas and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The SDGs are set to address the most pressing challenges in the global community within the stipulated time. It is important to tailor your business ideas to any of these goals as there are opportunities for business ventures to access global support when they participate in this journey.
Meanwhile, the SDGs alongside the 169 sub-goals can add flesh to business ideas. This is evident in the statement by Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, that;
“The private sector is an indispensable partner for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Businesses can contribute as part of their core business. We, therefore, call on companies around the world to measure the impact of their actions, set ambitious targets and communicate their progress transparently.”
Measure your Business Idea: Does it work?
Inspiration to derive viable business ideas may not be the obstacle most times, the ability of the concept to work for what it’s created for takes the leading role.
Therefore, before your final conclusion, measure your business ideas through certain questions and work on the feedback derived in the process.
Now, establish interface between your business ideas and questions like;
- Does it solve a problem?
- Will people pay for it?
- What’s your price point?
- Is there a sizable niche market for it?
- Are you passionate enough about it?
- Have you tested your idea?
- Are you open to advice?
- How will you market your business?
- Are you being realistic about your goals?
Conclusion.
To form a viable business idea, conducting a market survey to determine the competition level and professional collaborators is the key.
Any business aiming at success must utilise research as a weapon to determine which ideas work and which one do not. The outcome of such a finding will inform the right ideas that are good for your business.
And when you get the ideas fleshed up with a process, you can tap into the values provided by the Enugu SME Agency to step up your business.
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