How to come up with a business idea
For many would-be entrepreneurs, the first step is the greatest
hurdle: if you don't find coming up with new business ideas a
natural process, you'll need to train yourself to think laterally.
Coming up with ideas is the fun part of starting a business, though
- at this stage you aren't limited by money or time, so the
possibilities are endless. Want to run a zebra petting zoo?
Brilliant! Think there's a niche for chocolate cutlery? Wonderful!
Don't be realistic - that's for the next stage in idea development.
Until then, kick back and allow your imagination to run wild.
How to come up with an idea
- If you've already spent time building up skills and contacts in
a certain industry, it's natural to use expertise you've
already developed in your own business. You may have hated
working for a PR company - but why? Was it the job, or was it
something the company was doing? Could you do it differently?
- Attempt some crystal ball gazing. Ask yourself what the
world will look like this time next year. What about in five
years' time? Use industry media and read experts' blogs to
second-guess the future and try to develop ideas in line with
trends so you can develop a product or service and cash in when
they happen.
- Bounce ideas off friends. Create a collective with
a group of like-minded people to help you come up with ideas, then
share the profits when an idea makes money. Don't be too concerned
with giving ideas away at this stage - unless someone is passionate
about an idea, it's unlikely they'll follow it through.
- Ideas tend to occur in the least convenient places, so
keep a pen and paper with you all the time. It's also
worth noting that just before you fall asleep and just after you
wake up, your brain tends to be at its most creative - so make sure
you have something to write with on your bed-side table.
- Don't be afraid to look at other people's ideas
for inspiration. There's nothing wrong with copying someone else's
idea (unless, of course, it's protected by copyright law), as long
as your business does something to distinguish itself by building
and improving on that idea.
- Hundreds of good business ideas have come when their creators
have looked for a solution to an everyday problem. You
only need to look at the Lakeland Catalogue or online to see how
many of life's little problems can be solved fairly easily - and
ingeniously.
- Sometimes, the best way to get creative is to allow your
mind to wander. Use a technique such as mind-mapping or play
a word-association game with yourself to come up with ideas. One
technique people frequently use is to take two nouns and stick them
together. ScreenPhone? TreeTower? ChimneyTent? Could these be
viable business ideas?
- If you're having difficulties coming up with an idea,
take a break. Go for a walk, watch television or
browse the internet. The great thing about this stage of starting a
business is everything you do could provide you with inspiration -
so you're constantly working.
- While creativity and optimism are great at this stage, make
sure you know your limits. If you trained as an
accountant, developing an interest in arborology is good but you
won't be able to run a business as a tree surgeon after you've read
one book about it. Take into account your experience and
qualifications - and if you're really enthusiastic about your idea,
get some training.
- Come up with a goal for yourself and work
backwards from that. What do you want to achieve with your
business? Do you want to make money, or spend more time with
your children? What businesses will help you achieve that
goal fastest?
50 places to find inspiration
- Social media - people are forever complaining about life's
problems on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube...
- Read magazines
- Read newspapers
- Improve on other people's ideas
- Go for a long drive
- Read catalogues - Lakeland, Ikea, Matalan and Argos all have
the potential to be deeply inspiring
- Go to the supermarket and browse the shelves
- Read ideas blogs such as Springwise
- Listen to Radio 4 - it always has programmes about unusual
businesses or pursuits
- Go to the toilet!
- Speak to children
- Get your pens and paper out and draw a mind map
- Have a conversation with a stranger
- Go on an unusual journey or use a bus or train you wouldn't
usually use
- Visit a museum
- Read the user comments on a blog post or online newspaper
article
- Switch off your computer and just think
- Go to a demonstration
- Visit your local library
- The British Library Business
& IP Centre contains hundreds of case studies
- Watch television
- Get lost in Google - read blogs and look at pictures and follow
long, random link paths
- Get lost on Flickr
- Read comic books
- Read or watch sci-fi - did you know the inventor of the phone
card was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space
Odyssey?
- Visit another city on Google's
Street View - do they have anything we don't?
- Trigger memories by reading old letters and emails
- Create a discussion group on an internet forums
- Attend networking events
- Open a dictionary or thesaurus at a random page
- Visit tourist attractions in your own city
- Go to a trade show or exhibition
- Go to a seminar
- Take an evening course
- Set limits - try to come up with an idea which doesn't use
artificial products, create a carbon footprint or use orange dye.
You'll be surprised how creative it makes you
- Go to a flea market
- Go to a car boot sale
- Contact old friends and family you've lost touch with
- Combine weird ingredients - chilli chocolate may have seemed
strange two years ago, but it's popular now
- Go through old photographs
- Watch a play
- Visit a university's website or even take a walk around its
campus. What are the students there talking about?
- Learn a new skill
- Do some volunteer work - what would make a charity worker's
life easier?
- Wander around a city at night (safely, of course!)
- Go on holiday
- Collect something
- Perform a random search on Wikipedia
- Make a list of things you use every day and think about how you
could improve on them
- See what the kids are saying at urban dictionary
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