New Business Ideas

Coming up with good new business ideas can be tough at first, but did you know, it's because most people go about it the wrong way?  It's not a business idea that you should actually be looking for at all.

Don't Look for New Business Ideas - Look for a Need or Demand, and Try to Fill It.

It really is far simpler than it sounds - come up with a product or service that people want and you are on the right path to creating a successful business.  You don't have to come up with new or unique ideas.  There's nothing wrong with wanting to invent something new, but if you want to be an inventor - it's Mr Dyson you should be listening to, not me.

So How Do You Discover What People Need?

There are dozens of ways you can actually do this, but here's a few ideas to get you started.  I do recommend that you keep a small notebook, and write things down as you come up with ideas.  The trouble is, when you're thinking a lot, the most amazing business ideas in the world can easily be forgotten if you don't write them down.

Think about products or services you have needed recently, that were unavailable.  Here are some examples:  

Need:  Often, my customers needed plumbers - but they wouldn't come out at all if it was a small job, and they couldn't get there for days if it was an emergency.  Solution:  I started a new fast response plumbing business, which deals with small jobs too.

Need:  Duncan Bannatyne of Dragon's Den couldn't find a decent local nursery to send his kids to.  Solution:  He opened his own nursery.

Need:  Richard Branson was stranded at a foreign airport when his flight was cancelled.  There were no other flights to take him where he wanted to go.  Solution:  He had an idea and acted on it quickly.  He did a head count of the remaining stranded passengers, did some quick maths, chartered a plane and put a board up a the airport advertising Virgin flights.  He filled the plane, and a new business was born.

If you can't think of some products or services that you need - find out what others are looking for.  Here are some ideas:

1)  Use Wordtracker to find out what words or phrases people are searching for on the Internet.  The software will tell you how many searches there have been for thousands of search words and phrases.  It will also show you how many competing websites there are for each phrase.  I use the full yearly version, but you can get a limited free trial of Wordtracker by clicking this link. If you find the free version too limited, you don't have to sign up for a year, you can subscribe to the full version for just one day if you want to.

2)  There are Internet discussion forums for just about every topic under the sun.  Think of a subject you are interested in, or that you would enjoy learning about and browse a couple of the forums.  What questions are people asking?  What kind of information are they trying to find?  Is there a need that needs to be filled, or a problem to be solved?  Don't be afraid to ask questions to discover the answers that you need.  Many new business ideas are inspired by discussion forums.  If you can find the exact discussion forum you're looking for using Google - you can do a more specific search by putting quotation marks round the phrase.  eg.  "cruise discussion forum"  

3)  Wander around your local town.  These days everyone is so busy that they want things faster, easier or quicker.  Are these needs been met in your local area?  Examples:  Problem:  Many people in the area where I live are two parent families who both work full time.  They need products and services which save them time.  I know this, because I see several businesses catering to the needs of these families.  Tesco food delivery vans come and go all the time, as well as gardeners and cleaners.  What other new business ideas could you come up with that would fill the needs of these people?  What about a home laundry collection and delivery business?  Think about the types of people who live in your area?  Are there specific groups, such as the busy families above?  What needs might they have?  What new business might be useful to them, that is currently unavailable?

Can you improve on the offerings of businesses in your area to provide a superior product or service?

You don't always have to come up with a completely new business idea.  For example, there may be businesses in your area that offer limited services, slow delivery, or general poor customer service.  Could you start up a new business which offers your customers a better experience than existing services?  You probably won't have to look far to find these businesses that could be improved.  In fact, you're bound to have experienced poor service yourself and you can bet your family and friends have too - if you ask.  *Important note - make sure that the only way you could compete would NOT be by charging a lower price.

Example:   The average business:  You visit a busy sandwich shop at lunchtime every day.  Their offerings are mediocre and the staff are unpleasant, but it's the only sandwich shop in the area.  The lines outside the shop get long at lunchtimes because there's a lot of offices in the area and hundreds of people have their lunch break at the same time.  The owners don't bother to try to improve the service because there is no competition.

How would you compete:  There are lots of ways that you could compete against this type of business.  For a start, you could offer a better quality of products and more choice of products, as sandwiches begin to get boring after a while, and obviously you'd also train your staff to provide a more pleasant service.  But, this is only the beginning.  You could also add new services. 

The long lines are causing a major problem to customers.  You employ someone to take their order when they first join the line, and bring them their sandwiches when they are ready.  You could offer a seating area with magazines, for the customers to use whilst they wait.  Or you could add more products that the customers might want to buy whilst they are waiting.  Remember people like to save time.  You could sell magazine, newspapers, wine and beer, and even basic grocery items.

You could go even further and offer a delivery service to offices.  Distribute menus to them, and give them a call an hour or two before lunchtime, to remind them to place their order.  If you're doing this every day, your customers will soon get in the habit of ordering this way, and they'll appreciate the service.