So, you have a clever and perhaps even original idea for a business. Congratulations! Without an idea of what you want to build your business around, there’s nowhere to start, so deciding what product or service you want to sell and put forth to market is nearly half the battle. Well, not quite, but hey, at least you’ve gotten things started, right? Indeed, from young millennials to seasoned investors, all sorts of people from all backgrounds and walks of life are looking for new business ideas and ways to bring innovative products and services to the masses, all in the name of brilliant free-market capitalism.
Having An Idea Is A Start, But Not A Final Product
However, with that being said, even the best ideas aren’t guaranteed a successful business venture. An idea that sounds promising and successful initially instills one with hope, especially given how quickly startup ideas trend on social media networks and the like. Really, the question it comes down to is this: How do you know that your business idea will actually work and be successful? And even if you’re quite confident that you have a fantastic business idea, nearly half of would-be entrepreneurs haven’t gotten their business past the idea phase because they’re not sure where to begin.
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Below, we’re going to go over some important considerations before you full-on launch your idea. Let’s take a look.
What’s The Demand Like?
Even the greatest business ideas can and will flop if the target market is too saturated. Here’s a useful tool to check out: The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a nifty tool called SizeUp that lets you map out where potential customers, competitors, and suppliers are located. With this tool, you can also pinpoint areas where there is high demand and little competition – in other words, a targeting goldmine.
For example, if you’re set out on opening a local medspa, you can use SizeUp to find out how many similar spas exist in a given zip code. You can also find out the total household expenditures on personal care services in a given area, and compare those figures with nearby regions. Another online resource to consider leveraging is the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Builder Tool, which offers demographic insights in order to help you choose the right locale for your business.
Spend Some (Or A Lot) Of Time Doing Research
So long as you’re not burning yourself out too much, the more research you do about the viability of your business, the better. To get an idea of whether your business has staying power and isn’t simply capitalizing on a trend that’s slated to fizzle out in the near future (in terms of establishing a company for the long-term, the near future could include as much as five or more years, so keep that in mind!), you should get to reading.
Here are some more online resources that can help guide your research. First, check out the free Small Business Snapshots offered by SBDCNet, or the National Information Clearinghouse serving the U.S. Small Business Administration. This useful informational resource covers popular niches from things like artisan breads all the way to management consulting, looking at the current industry conditions, the demographics of a given customer case, and general industry trends and projections.
If these free materials aren’t enough information to help guide your decision(s) as to the viability of your prospective business, there are many market research firms and trade associations that sell detailed reports on niches. This can be rather valuable in assessing market conditions before you begin launching your company. They are rather pricey, so keep that in mind.
Get To Know Your Future Customers
Developing a business prototype can also be rather pricey, so don’t go too far too fast without doing your homework on what your customers want and making sure there is not already an easy solution for the problem you’re attempting to address. Begin by simply asking potential customers if your idea sounds appealing. Try doing in-person surveys of your target audience in a setting where you can find a bunch of them together. Otherwise, contact people online and present them with a free survey on a site like SurveyMonkey. This way, you’re getting real feedback about your ideas before you’ve invested too much money or time into them.
Work Diligently And Don’t Quit Your Dayjob
If you quit your part-time job in high school or college because you were convinced that your grunge band would make it big, then you probably know the importance of maintaining a consistent income, even if it’s from a job that you don’t necessarily like or enjoy. It’s very easy to fantasize about the success of your small business idea, but are your thoughts and feelings going to pay the rent? Unless you still live with your parents, no.
Keep on working and doing what you were doing before you started to develop your business idea. Depending on how hard you work and the viability of your idea, this might evolve into a period of your life where you’re working two full-time jobs. While that kind of time-consuming lifestyle isn’t ideal, that’s a big part of the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication that it takes to make it as an entrepreneur.
Network, Network, Network
It’s such a cliche when it comes to the professional job scene, but it’s important. If you’re branching out in the same industry, your first customers are likely to be your current professional contacts, so it’s a wise idea to build and tap those relationships now before you really launch your company. If you’re venturing into a new area, doing customer research can be a bit trickier, but consider interviewing other small business owners in the field, or perhaps the bankers and lawyers that serve them. You might be going outside your comfort zone to make these connections and establish communication with people who don’t know you and people you’ve never met before, but that’s part of the entrepreneurial experience. You will need to challenge yourself to do things that you’re just not comfortable with.
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