Criteria for Choosing a Business Idea
The business idea is probably the hardest, yet most critical aspects of your business. Maybe you already have a general idea. If so, great! If not, we can work on that too! We’re going to walk through a few steps to try to see where your skills match with a need where you could create a viable business.
What is the need?
It is important that you find a need to solve through your business. A good way to approach this is to be in the mindset of helping your customer, not just selling them something. If you believe that you created a product/service that will actually help them, you will be doing both them and you a huge favor. They will be more willing to come back to you or refer others. You will not be the bad person by selling them something useless and ripping them off. Plus, it is always better to be helping someone when possible.
Think about any time when you or someone you know have run into a problem. What are some ways to solve it? Or maybe you noticed someone needed help doing a task. There are many aspects of life that could be fixed. Pay attention to your surroundings and see what you can find. It would be even better to take it a step further and do some research. Ask your friends or local businesses what they are having trouble with. You never know when you may have an idea.
What are your skills?
You may be lucky enough to have a very obvious skill. Maybe you went to school for programming, accounting or another very technical subject. These types of skills lend themselves very well to the creation of a business. This is because you have something that you were received training in, and therefore already have it validated as a skill. Feel free to pursue this! However, also don’t feel boxed in. You may have other skills that can be combined to create an even more unique set.
What if you can’t identify a skill that is as obvious as that? Don’t worry, you are good at something. It’s just a matter of finding out what that specific thing is. Look back at all of the jobs you’ve had. They hired you for a reason. Why/ Did you have good communication skills? Are you good at analyzing details? Try to pull out your top five skills. They can even be small skills.
How can you use your skills to serve a need?
Now is the fun part! You’ve identified a need and listed out your top five skills. Look at your skills and see if there is a way that you can use them to solve your need. (You don’t need to use them all, but it’s good to have options.) Maybe you identified a lack of training in a certain content area and you have great communication skills. Great! Put creating informational content on the list of potential options. Try to brainstorm as many options as you can.
What do you want to do?
Now you have a list of a few potential business ideas. Hopefully, one or two stuck out to you as particularly exciting. Now is the time to see if they are something you want to do. Think about how you would work in your chosen business. Does it sound like something you’d enjoy? Great! Go ahead and pursue it. If not, try to think of something else. It might take a while. But don’t give up. You’ll come up with something, and it’ll be great! Feel free to brainstorm ideas in the comments below!
