The idea of starting a business might sound daunting but it’s not. It does takes a lot of hard
work and grit to propel your business to reach a level of profitability but it’s not impossible.
It all starts with that one idea. If you want to start a business but, you don’t know where
to start, watch this video till the end. 1. Identify and Solve a problem
The best way of coming up with a business idea is to look at the problems around you and find
out what you can do about them. You don’t need big solutions for a start, smaller solutions are
equally good. When you look around you and notice what you use every day, you realize that they are
solving a particular problem. For example, a hot water bottle. It helps you keep warm during those
cold days. That’s just a smaller solution to help you deal with cold environments. The hot water
bottle is movable and efficient. It only requires you to boil some water, pour the hot water into
the bottle, close it, and keep it in your bed or sofa, so you can find warm sheets. The bottle
is covered with cloth fabric that guarantees safe contact between your body and the bottle.
I bet you are wondering why we would waste your time talking about a water bottle.
But there’s a catch here, see such a solution is simple, effective,
affordable, and solves an actual problem. The solution doesn’t have to be big
it could be as small and as simple as a hot water bottle.
Look around your environment and note the things you complain about or other people complain about.
Find innovative solutions for them and that’s how you’ll find your business idea.
Edward Penkala, the person who invented the hot water bottle must have identified this problem,
and created the innovative solution that made him really good money.
2. Adapting to the Changing Needs In this time and age, one has to adapt to changes
quickly, not be left behind. Technology and Social media have caused a lot of lifestyle changes that
have affected each one of us one way or another. Some needs are constant, for example, physical
needs like water, food, shelter. Emotional needs sometimes change and other times they can be
constant. The solutions that changes are services and products that fulfill these emotional,
psychological, and physical needs. Other needs that you can fulfill are our contemporary needs.
For example, phones used to have SD card slots to cater to storage for your files, photos, etc.
You will still find SD cards sold but they are not as popular as they were before. The cloud storage
has changed the game because people needed more space to store their memories. They can now store
their videos on various cloud storage available on their devices. Furthermore, they get to view their
videos on any device, anywhere. There are google cloud storage, apple, Microsoft, Dropbox, and
many more companies that have adapted to people’s needs. What can you create that is innovative and
adapts to the everchanging needs? Or can you find an already existing product and improve on it?
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3. Experience When you have more experience in a field of
interest, you find that you understand it better when you know which places need improvement.
That’s why successful people read far and wide. Millionaires and billionaires are
always knowledgeable on numerous topics that help them innovate new products.
Curiosity is very good when it comes to business. Don’t be limited to things that you know.
Coming up with good ideas means trying out new adventures, travel, and seeing the world
from another angle. Always look outside your area of expertise for new motivation
and integration to come up with new ideas. For example, if you are working in a marketing firm,
you get to experience a culture of employment. You meet clients, negotiate, make presentations,
and so on. After a while, with the experience you’ve gained, you can feel ready to venture out
on your own because you know how the business works. You can handle clients and negotiation,
you can focus on one niche of the business and be exclusive to a client.
It’s the experience that helps you come out and redesign your product or service.
4. Solve Something that May Become a Problem Identifying and solving a problem is a great
way to find a business idea and it is not the only way. Why not find a solution to
a problem that you know will happen? A lot is evolving and changing in the world right now.
I understand it is very futuristic but this can be a great business idea. One person that is in this
business is Elon Musk. His passion is very unique. He has a sense of the future in his projects like
Tesla Motors or Solar City. He understands that soon, fossil fuels will be a problem and he has
the means and expertise to fix that. He’s taking steps to find solutions before something happens.
The advantage is that he has time to innovate and he has the market share. Sometimes you might think
there is no market for a product but you can create your market if you think this way. Speak
to people about what you see happening in the future. There will be people that share the same
beliefs and as time goes by the popularity of your idea grows. Turn these people to be your market
and your business idea is solid. Numerous problems are predicted in the future. For example, Climate
change and changes in weather patterns could be a niche one can choose. There are diseases
like Ebola and COVID, and some that can recur in the future and others that can be preventable.
5. Exploiting Emotions It’s believed that we make decisions
based on our emotions. When we are angry, happy, envious, greedy, gluttonous, lustful, jealous, you
get to purchase certain services or products at that time. You can exploit that. Think about it!
How many businesses exist today that have somehow exploited or appealed to people’s emotions?
If you look in your room or bathroom, how many things do you have that have exploited some of
your emotions? Do you want to grow hair quicker? Well yeah, there are numerous products in the
market for that. Your hair will grow whether you shave it or apply oils on it. But this specific
hair growth product will make it grow faster and there is a market for that. Lightening products,
slimming teas, also have a huge market that’s created by social media ideas of beauty.
People that promote lighter skin tones, tanned skin, and well-manicured bodies are selling you a
product that is taking advantage of your emotions. Just think about it! Exploiting people’s emotions
can be a manipulative approach to business but if you can find a product that you can help improve
people’s emotions why not try it? 6. Making Life Easier
Many products and services are designed to make your life easier.
Coming from an age where you would wash your clothes by hand to having a washing machine.
Purchasing a vacuum cleaner or a robot cleaner. These are all inventions that have changed over
time. For example, using an older idea to come up with a new and better innovation. A robot vacuum
cleaner is a new technology that cleans the house when instructed. The robot charges itself at its
charging station. It wakes up when you schedule it so that it can start vacuuming the house.
With special features, it knows all corners of your house and moves from one room to another
cleaning. When it’s done it empties its dirt in a container and goes back to its charging station
until the next time it’s scheduled to vacuum. This new idea has made your life easier because
you don't have to be home when it’s working. You only empty the trash. From this example,
your business can come from advancing an old idea. After-all, we all want products
that make our lives easy. 7. Saving People’s Money
I’m sure everyone is always looking for a way to save money, however little. This is one business
idea you can develop to save people’s money. Affordability is a huge market sell point. When
a product is energy efficient it means it’s saving your electric bills and that’s saving you money
and it attracts a market. When gas is cheaper at one petrol station, that’s where people will go.
Products or services that are of multiple-use and at the same time are saving people’s money
are also great business ideas. For example, a solar lamp in Rural communities in Africa.
The lamp is charged by the sun during the day, the same lamp can also be a radio and have a charging
port for your phone. These are things that are helpful and saving your customers money. Instead
of buying a lamp and radio, you have two in one. The lamp can be charged by both electricity and
solar meaning you are saving on electricity bills. 8. Turn your Passion into a Business.
Most people enjoy partaking in numerous activities and spend most of their free
time doing things they love. You can now think about how to turn your passion into a business.
Usually, when you are free, you occupy yourself in different activities If you enjoy writing,
painting, researching, gardening, taking photos, traveling amongst other activities,
turn them into a business. First of all, you already enjoy your hobby and making money out of
something you enjoy is fulfilling. It wouldn’t feel like a job. If you are good at gardening,
start making videos teaching others about how to manage nurseries, use of organic manure,
watering, transplanting, and so forth. Start a blog or a YouTube channel. Grow your audience.
Set up a how-to video and sell it online. Work with companies by promoting their products
be it a rake, a fertilizer, a planter. Start your consultancy and work on other people’s gardens.
You’ll find that you’ll be refining your skills and knowledge in your passion as you make money.
Note that, if you turn your hobby into your passion full time, think about the business
aspects of it. Your hobby will change as you have to meet customers’ demands
and your business goals. It might end up not being as delightful as it used to be.
9. Turning Tasks Desirable Find out something that you or your friends don’t
like doing. There are those tasks that you don’t have time for and wish they could be manageable.
That’s where the business idea is. Thanks to the internet, many tasks can be performed by a tap on
your phone. That’s where you find home curtains controlled by remotes, efficient deliveries of
parcels and food, or promptly paying your bills via an app on your phone. There are apps on your
phone helping you track your daily steps, organize your run, record your kilo meters,
calculate calories lost for the day, and giving you a trophy reward when you beat
your previous record. What do you hate doing? It could be your answer to your next business.
10. Hierarchy of Needs Do you remember Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs? It’s a psychological theory composed of five hierarchical levels of human needs.
Starting from the bottom we have Psychological Needs, Safety Needs, Love and Belonging, Esteem,
and Self Actualization. If you are keen you’ll realize most products and services
fulfil each of these needs. For example, on psychological needs, they include water, food,
sleep, breathing. Companies have created products that ensure people have proper sleep.
They have innovated with good pillows, spring and foam mattresses that are good for the back
and provide good sleep. All to meet this need. Another example is water. Research
says that we need to be drinking about 2 liters of water a day. For many people,
this isn’t easy. Companies have then come up with flavored water to fulfil this need.
Furthermore, there is plumbing in our homes to meet the same water needs. A lot can still be
done. Improve on the already existing technologies and innovate to best cater to a particular need.
These are some ideas on helping you find a business idea.
I hope that one or two ideas mentioned above will help you kickstart your business journey.
Thank you for watching. And make sure you subscribe for more content.