How To Get An Idea For a Small Business?

In the previous sections on the skills and attributes needed to be a successful small business owner you will have considered whether you could make a go of being your own boss. You may now have decided to give it a shot! However, you may have the skills and the necessary motivation but not the idea!

Here are some tips on how you can hit upon an idea which can be the basis for your business.

Turn Your Job into Your Business

One of the advantages of being an employee is the skills and insider knowledge you can pick up. Your job may be such that you could quit and use your knowledge to set up on your own. You will have to be careful and ensure you don’t blatantly steal clients but generally this is a good way of coming up with a business idea.

Turn Your Hobby into Your Business

Do you have a hobby which could easily be turned into a business? If you have a hobby, take some time and brainstorm on how you could turn it into a viable business. Could you produce a product to help people practice their hobby? Could you provide an advice service to help people take up the hobby? Could you become a retailer for items connected with your hobby?

Turning your hobby into your business is an easier route than starting from scratch – you already have the desire and knowledge.

Look For a Gap and Fill It

Set yourself the goal that for 2 weeks you will constantly be on the look out for possible business opportunities in every type of sector or industry, even if you have no knowledge of it. Everywhere you go keep you mind and eyes open to all the possibilities. Did you suddenly have a need or desire which could not be fulfilled? Did you overhear people talking about a problem which with some thought you could solve? Did you spot a business which is closing down but you know you could make it work?

If you don’t set your mind the task of hunting out these opportunities they will be harder to find. Get in the right frame of mind and the answer will come.

Research the Possibilities

As well as opportunity spotting while walking around, read newspapers, trade journals, and magazines and constantly ask yourself, “Can I turn this into a business?”

If you have a rough idea of the sector you want to be in, attend trade shows and exhibitions and see if you can get inspiration to further develop your idea.

Copy Success

Very few businesses are original. Most are variations on a theme. Study successful businesses and ask yourself, “How can I use that idea?” Without copying the total concept or breaching copyright think how you can turn the existing business into one of your own. Look at the explosion in coffee shops. They all offer the same product and yet are distinctively different.

When visiting other towns, or even other countries, you may see a business which is not present in your area. Could you take that idea and establish a similar business locally?

Are You a Budding Inventor?

Creative people often come up with ideas for products or new ways of producing things. Do you have an idea for a product or a different way of producing a something which is unique? Could you translate that into a viable business? Take some time to think this through and how you could achieve it.

There are a number of ways for you to come up with a possible idea. Be like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland who said, “Sometimes I think of 6 impossible things before breakfast.” Wow! One of those ideas must be a possible business opportunity!

However, if you hit upon a potentially viable idea make sure it’s an area you could be passionate about. Passion and desire for your idea will help you make it a reality. A half-hearted interest will get you nowhere.

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Steps to Setting Up a Successful Small Business

Introduction

So You Want To Run a Business?

Are You Up To It?

Skills For Success

Got an Idea?

Is There Anyone Out There?

Your Legal Status

Choosing a Bank and Opening an Account

Getting The Right Premises and Equipment