Have you been wondering how to come up with a business plan? Well, ideas are all around you. Some may come from careful consumer demands and market trends analysis, while others may come from what you can already do. If you’re looking to start a business but don’t know how to, or what service or product to sell, explore the ideas we will talk about in this article.
Determine Your Own Skills
Do you have a hobby or a talent that could be potentially profitable? For instance, imagine a former logger who spent his free time carving sculptures out of wood and gave it away to friends and families. Maybe, one day he realizes that people do like his creation, so he sets up a small shop to sell his sculptures. He, then, made a business out of his hobby, out of his passion. So, when you’re looking for an idea, as yourself, “What skill or passion do I have that can be marketed and liked by people enough for them to pay for it?”
Pay Attention to Current Events and Be Prepared For Opportunities
If you pay attention to the news often with the intention of coming up with a business plan, you will be surprised by how many opportunities your mind creates. Keeping up with current trends and events helps you determine industry news, fads and sometimes, new ideas that just have so many business possibilites.
For example, as music festivals like Coachella gained massive popularity thanks to social media, so many businesses cropped up catered to festival makeup, festival fashion, festival food, etc. So, always do your market research.
Develop a New Service or Product
The solution to coming up with a business idea for a new service or product is to determine a market demand that’s not being fulfilled. For example, in 2004, a psychology student from Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg, saw the need for a social networking site that was campus-wide and would let staff and students share profiles and other data. And as you know, he went on to create Facebook and became a billionaire.
Currently, mobile app development exploded due to the widespread use of mobile devices. When hailing a cab down in Paris got troublesome for two entrepreneurs in 2008, they came up with an app to call cabs with a simple tap on their smartphone and you know this app by the name of Uber. So, the base question to ask yourself is: What do people need and how can you give it to them?
Hop on the Bandwagon
Markets grow for no obvious reasons sometimes; people suddenly have a “want” for something and sometimes the demand can’t be met. For instance, during an epidemic like SARS, facial masks saw an intense demand in numerous countries that many entrepreneurs maximized on.
Social trends also lead to bandwagon effects. Today, with rapid digitalization, the healthcare industry, for example, requires new technology, new applications, and so on. Another example are the many new services related to pets that you see today, that didn’t even exist years ago.
Final Word
Jot all your ideas down; let them run around in your brain and mix. Keep your mind open and continue to evaluate everything you hear and read from a business point of view. Don’t just, however, run with the first idea, take your time, and discover what suits you and your desires and skills best. Evaluate thoroughly of that idea has business potential.
With Centurion Consulting, let your business ideas transform into reality.
