All Businesses start with an idea!, How do you find the right one??

All businesses start with an idea. Ideas are two a penny, millions of people have millions of them every day…somebody should do such and such…I saw this here or there….what’s needed around here is X……I could do Y much cheaper than X etc. etc.

The vast majority of these ideas die a death in the recesses of gray matter around the world. For some people these ideas fester and grow and sometimes they just won’t go away. For others the idea finally moseys off after growing tired of hanging around or worse somebody else grabs a hold and runs off with it.

But what about you? What brings you here?  Have you got an idea that you are struggling to find validation for? Or are you 110% confident that you have a winner and are itching to get going?

Obviously we cannot tell you whether your idea is good or bad, in fact this is in many ways is irrelevant. An amazing entrepreneur with a mediocre idea will still probably outperform an individual with an incredible idea but who lacks conviction, drive and the ability to make things happen.

What we can tell you is this; you need to think about the end game from the start. What hypothetically would you be doing this for? What is your motivation? Is this a lifestyle business? do you want to make the world a better place? Or do you simply want to get filthy rich? It is important to be aware of your motivation as this will help to dictate your course of action.

If your motivation is to quit your lousy job, spend more time at home with the kids, or make the world a better place then our advice is above all to do something that you are interested in or preferably passionate about. Starting a business is tough often really tough but at least if you are interested in the product or general area it won’t seem quite so bad on those quiet days when you are wondering what the hell you have gotten yourself into. The very very lucky get to make money from what they love doing this is the ultimate goal.

So you want to get rich! Not unreasonable, in fact why not? What else are you going to be doing?. The only advice that we can give here (without an in-depth study of your business plan) is this – Play in a field where there is money to be made – sounds obvious doesn’t it?. Yet you would be amazed at the amount of people who expect to get rich selling herbal T bags or similar. Business is so much easier when you are swimming with the current, think being an estate agent over the past 10 years or opening a mobile phone shop around 1994…easy..nice!. So which businesses are moving with the current now? Green energy? Liquidation agencies? Cloud computing? Find one and dive in.

Ed.

1. Some people just don’t want to…great no issue, being an entrepreneur is not the be all and end all. The majority of people who work for themselves work extremely long hours just to get by. Many many others try and fail. Unless you are an extremely unbalanced individual most of us know that the ultimate goal is to lead a happy and fulfilled life during our short allotted time on planet earth. What is a happy and fulfilled life is for each and every one of us to define for ourselves. It is ones of life’s great gifts that we get to set our own standards and goals the fact that many people choose badly and end up miserable is outside the remit of this article. The fact remains that your family, peers, colleagues and every dog on the street may be telling you that fulfilment lies in money/ fast cars/ high profile promotions etc. You are free to decide that for you its flip flops a surf board and enough cash to get by. Screw them it is your life…if you can achieve true happiness for the majority of your life you my friend are the real winner in this silly little game.

2. The Fear Factor…. Given that you are reading an article like this you probably are not surfing at the moment, so you think that you want a crack of the entrepreneurial whip. Ok then. The Fear Factor holds more people back from starting their own business than probably anything else. The old ‘what if’ deamons have caused millions of would be entrepreneurs to turn back and walk away from the scary dark edge with its lurking dangers and uncertain hidden treasures. For its sheer ability to slay ideas and dreams the fear factor remains the number one reason that people do not give it a go.

3. People are lazy…..Sad but true may people would kind of like to be successful but will never make the effort to actually make it happen. It is so much easier to talk about doing stuff and to wait ‘till the time is right’ than to actually go for it. If you are in this category please take the following advice. Admit it to yourself!!. By giving up the game you will take the pressure off yourself, focus on something else that you enjoy and get on with your life. This may seem harsh but it is a case of being cruel to be kind. There is a window of opportunity in everyone’s life to start their own business, this is not age specific but for every Colonel Saunders who founded KFC in his sixties there are hundreds of people who put themselves financially and physically at risk at a time in their life when they should be looking to retirement. There are exceptions to every rule but being successful involves being smart and realistic.

Important note: beware the disgruntled would be entrepreneur, this is a dangerous breed that will be full of stories about how they nearly invested in this or that that would have made them a fortune. They nearly patented some form of widget that would have been a runner etc. Avoid at all costs, they will have nothing positive to say about your plans but will be able to tell you how they tried ‘something like that’ and it didn’t work out. They will hate to see you succeed, you don’t want to be around this kind of energy.

4. People lack personal confidence and therefore (they think) the ability to run a business. A lack of personal confidence will kill the entrepreneurial spirit in those afflicted by it. It undoubtedly has other negative implications on their life but again these falls outside the purpose of this book. Entering the battleground of business with little or no personal confidence or self belief is as stupid as it gets. Sort it out…life is too short.

As the list of marketing options grows to include social networking, email marketing and whisper campaigns, small- and medium-size businesses must have a solid marketing strategy.

But the truth is that more than half of new businesses don’t bother. A recent survey found that 58.9 per cent of small-business owners don’t prepare an annual marketing strategy or attempt to identify the benefit and cost of marketing. This could be why the failure rate of small businesses is so high in the first year.

The director of Marketing News, Mary Brennan is not surprised by the research.

“A lot of businesses don’t put much thought into a marketing plan and as a result, it’s often done ad hoc,” she says.

“Businesses need to realise that marketing isn’t an expense but a legitimate business-building activity.”

But a lot of small businesses don’t know how to develop a marketing strategy.

“Often they will try a marketing technique based on their own ideas or what may seem like a bargain only to realise it only reached a small percentage of their target market, by which time their budget is blown,” she says.

The classic first step for Irish businesses is something like a leaflet drop or taking an ad out in the local paper. Often this course of action is taken in the absence of any other ideas!

A marketing plan should look at how a business will promote itself to its target audience, usually over a 12-month period.
Brennan says a marketing plan should include a detailed budget and examine the best ways to promote the business.

“You want [it] to take in analysis of your competitors and to have specific goals,” she says.

“It also needs to break down how much you’ve set aside for marketing, how you’re going to spend it, look at who your target audience is and how you tackle internal and external communications.”

A marketing plan for a small business might be only a few pages long but larger businesses often require a more-detailed plan.

The plan needs to be revisited monthly – or, at the very least, quarterly, Brennan says.

Business owners can write their own plan or if they have no experience in Marketing should contact an expert, even having a chat with one or two marketing companies will give you new ideas and an insight into how professionals appraoch marketing. You may not end up hiring anyone but I guarantee you will pick up some valuable tips along the way.

“We found that companies are either too busy to stop and write a marketing strategy or simply don’t place enough value on having a plan in place,” according to Brennan.

Like other key aspects of developping a successful business your marketing activity must be relevant and effective. If marketing is an area of weakness for you find a solution / person to manage it. You may have the best product or service in the world but unless the right people (your target market) know about it you are dead in the water. Do not ignore marketing your business and if your efforts to date have not been succesful it means one of two things …your idea sucks or you are no good at marketing…so which is it?

Boom time is over and we are slap bang in the middle of hopefully the worst recession we will ever see.

So is it time for aspiring entrepreneurs to hunker down and wait for the sun to come back out before starting a business?

Not at all.

Recession does indicate a contracting economy but it doesn’t mean that businesses across the board are shrinking and dying. Many businesses and industries buck the trend by growing through the downturn.

You can increase your chances of running one of these businesses by starting a business in an industry that tends to remain resilient, or even prospers, in economic downturns.

So which types of business are good to start in a recession?

Start a business selling essential goods or services

Most businesses are discretionary, meaning that their products and services are non-essential.

Essential items tend to be bought in roughly the same quantities whatever the economic weather. Businesses dealing in food or shelter, two of life’s most fundamental needs, tend to be resilient in an economic dowturns.

There are stark exceptions, however.

Restaurants are enormously susceptible in a recession as the difference in cost compared to eating at home is huge, so meals out are often the first thing to go when people have less money in their pocket.

And the mortgage market can seize up in tough times, like at present, where there’s a squeeze on credit. However, people always need somewhere to live so the lettings market, by contrast tends to remain stable.

Other examples of businesses bracketed in the essential category are law firms, funeral parlours, healthcare businesses, law firms, schools and home maintenance businesses.

Start a business selling guilty pleasures

And yet, somewhat paradoxically, people often increase their spending on non-essentials too, on indulgencies.

For example, Cadbury’s announced a 28% jump in profits in July, and analysts suggest it was, to an extent, because of the recession rather than despite it. In gloomier times people often turn to comfort eating and buy chocolate, ice cream and other treats to make themselves feel better.

People do tend to be more price aware, however, so the emphasis is on affordable luxury. So they’re more likely to plump for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk than Hotel Chocolat truffles.

Start a business selling budget goods

Starting a business selling budget ranges are, unsurprisingly, more prosperous in lean times.

‘Everything for a pound’ shops tend to do well. And with the credit crunch making bank loans hard to come by, pawn shops and cheque cashing shops are enjoying a spike in custom.

In contrast to restaurants, retailers selling budget food ranges are very successful.

Start a business selling goods and services used by the over-50s

They’ve got equity in their property, and they’ve got savings so their earnings rise with interest rates: over 50s have more to spend than younger age groups and they’re also more resilient in a recession.

Buy a franchise

An established franchise will invariably stand a better chance of thriving than a start-up. Many franchise brands have come through previous recessions unscathed so you can be confident they’ll have the means and savvy to do it again.

When the economy contracts some businesses inevitably go under. With their time-honed, streamlined processes and systems, franchises are usually leaner and fitter than their rivals and much less likely to fall by the wayside.

“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”
Warren Buffett

Welcome to the Startups blog

This Blog covers all and any aspects of business and entrepreneurship. The idea behind this blog and startups in general is to try and bridge the gap between the vast quantities of general information out there i.e. government pamphlets, county enterprise websites etc. and the reality of starting a business. This blog is written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and as we are busy running our own businesses we would appreciate participation and content from anyone with an interest in this area.

Entrepreneurship and business success are fascinating areas, the challenge is like cracking a combination lock to a safe with riches within. Some make cracking the code look painfully easy others struggle for years without success. Managing the vagaries of timing, opportunity, ability, passion and luck seem to come naturally to some and prove impossible to manage for others.

Maybe some are born lucky maybe the harder they worked the luckier they got? Throughout this blog we will fluctuate between the philosophy of entrepreneurship and more nuts and bolts practical advice.

Thanks for visiting ….Now lets get started…………..

Ed.