How I Came up With 100 Business Ideas
Every time I want to start a new business I get attached to it. I get this feeling that if it doesn’t work I’m going to fail, and I’ll never have my own business. That’s why I decided that I want to make a list of 100 business ideas. I was able finish it in 3 days.
Here’s how I did it:
WRITING IDEAS DOWN
The first 45 ideas were easy to come up with because I already had them. I built the habit of writing ideas down: every time I come up with an idea, I write it down. What tends to happen is I have ideas come from nowhere, and, because I don’t write them down, I forget about them. However, since starting this habit, my list is always growing. Every time I read the list I am surprised at the ideas I had come up with but already forgotten! Another way I get ideas is discovering solutions to problems. I found that these solutions tend to be great opportunities for business ideas.
Every time you have an idea come to you, write it down immediately. I know that if you say “I’ll write it down later”, chances are you won’t.
The first 45 business ideas were easy, but I still had 55 more ideas to go.
PRODUCT AND SERVICES I PAY FOR
I thought about all the product and services I pay for, but am not satisfied with. I wrote them down. Building a product/service you personally use is the best way to start a business because you know exactly how it can be improved.
MARKETS I’M FAMILIAR WITH
I can’t build products for markets I’m not familiar with. For example, I can’t build products for doctors, because I don’t know anything about what problems they need to be solved Therefore, I had to identify the things that I’m familiar with. I started with my interests and hobbies. I used books, magazines, people I follow on Twitter, pages I like on Facebook, and friends who share these interests. I then listed overlapping markets like people in their 20s, people who like biking, etc. Then I thought about what problems these markets are having and how I could create a product or service to help.
ONLINE RESOURCES
There are some great resources where you can find ideas ready to use:
1- http://www.reddit.com/r/SomebodyMakeThis/
2- http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas
I spent time to find ideas I liked. Remember: even ideas that seem too silly to work may inspire better ones.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
I think a great way to find ideas is to listen to your market. I went to websites where my target market asks questions, like Quora and Reddit, and saw what they talked about and which problems they want to be solved. I looked especially for the questions that had a lot of up-votes and views.
WHERE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING TO HIRE
I spent some time on Craigslist (my city and other cities) to see what people are already paying money for, and then I tried to come up with ideas that can help them improve what they are looking for.
Finally, I ended up with a list of 107 ideas. Now, when I try to validate my next business, I will think about it as learning experience as opposed to a failing mind set.