A light bulb went off inside your head and you now have the greatest business idea ever.
What do you do now?
Go out and start your own business!
Is it really that easy? Yes, it is exactly that easy to get started. However, the rest of the story is not just a walk in the park. There will be lots of work. It will take time away from family and friends. Plus there is still that 9 to 5 job of yours. You know, the one that brings in the money to pay your bills?
So, let us take that idea and get started.
Logically, we should start with a plan on how to finance the adventure, right? No, not necessarily.
First we should go to Amazon and see if there are any books written on the subject or topic of your business idea already. How much are they selling for? Are they selling at all?
If you find books on Amazon which catch your eye, that brings forth another set of questions. Which one of the business advice gurus should you be following, or better still, which parts of which business books should you piece together for the best path to follow?
If you find yourself starting to get flustered at this early stage, just take a deep breath. Take out a piece of paper or open your favorite word processor, and make a list of everything you think has to be done to start your business, and write it down.
Start with research, then everything having to do with production. Now write down how you plan to advertise. Are you creating your own product, or are you outsourcing? Don’t worry about knowing everything right now, just get all your ideas and plans down on paper.
The order of things on your list is not important right now. You can put them in order after you discover all the different things you need to do. Keep this list open and/or handy because as you follow your business path, it will keep growing and changing.
Now that you have caught your breath, set your list aside, and let us get back to our research.
The idea to go to Amazon is a good one. Amazon can, and should, provide you with very good business intelligence.
Keep a good track of the words being used to find books about the product you or business you are considering. Write down the titles of the books you find, and how much they are selling for.
Amazon will also let you see inside some books. So, check out the table of contents for chapter headings and idea words related to your project.
Ok, next step. Head over to Google or your favorite search engine, and take that list of words you created. Are any of them actually being searched on? Are people actually paying to advertise for these words?
Take a look at some of their websites. If they are selling the same thing that you have thought of selling, can you come up with a unique selling position?
You might want to check out eBay as another good source to find out if your idea has potential. If there is a demand for it then believe me, someone will be bidding on it there. Obviously, if there are many listings, and few if any bids, then it might be time to re-think your idea.
For the most part, a decent showing of books on the topic of your business on Amazon, and a decent demand for your product or service on eBay (by number of bids), can give you a starting point for deciding whether or not your business idea has potential.
You can use this same method of research to look for potential business ideas, if you want to start a business but do not have any ideas for what business to start.
If you are not interested in performing even this minimal amount of research, you still can come up with a winning business idea.
There are other people who have done all this research for you. You simply have to find one of the many resources online where you can browse hundreds of business ideas, and choose one to start which really sparks your interest.
A-S
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