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Today we are going to help you come up with your business Idea! The product or service that you will bring to the world!
Most people think you need some BIG crazy, change-the-world idea to have a successful business. This couldn't be further from the truth! All you need is something that you are passionate about and believe others would want to buy. That's it! It doesn't have to be (and is probably best that it's not) completely revolutionary. In fact, you can probably come up with MANY great business ideas in less than an hour! The hardest part will be to just pick one! :)
In this article, we’re going to share 6 different ways to come up with your big idea. You only need one, but we gave you six, so you're welcome. 🙂
#1 - The First Way To Come Up With Your Idea Is To Follow Your Gut!
Sooo many people have ideas. Great ideas. They just haven't done anything with them. They haven't sold their product or brought it to life. So if you already have a big idea, don't overanalyze this. Go with the product you already want to sell.
It's so easy to get stuck getting caught up in feeling like you need to have everything perfect analysis paralysis and think, "Oh, I need to do all this product research and ask all of my friends and family all about it." They then spend months or even years just thinking about their idea, never doing anything with it and before they know it, they're burnt out before they've even begun. Don't do this.
If you're going to start a large startup and raise millions of dollars and come up with a 200-page business plan, then yes, you're going to need to do more product research ahead of time.
But we prefer to pick a product or service and start selling it right away. The feedback you get from this practice is some of the best product research you can do.
Most products you want to sell are already out there, so decide on what you want to sell, test it out, and adapt as you go.
Just keep in mind that there's a fine line between squirrel moments where you start selling your product and think, "Oh this is hard. I should try something else." Usually, that's a squirrel moment. You're just afraid of doing the hard work. Every business is challenging. Every business has its obstacles.
The goal is to take action quickly so you can start to learn the difference between squirrel moments and intentional, intelligent pivots that grow your business over time.
So go with your gut! If you have an idea, write it down and get to work!
#2 - List Your Passions and Experience
Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side write everything you’re good at or have experience with. On the other side, write down everything you are interested in or passionate about. What are your strengths? What have you studied? What jobs have you had? What sports have you played? What are your hobbies or talents? What are you into? What knowledge and experience do you have? If you could spend your time doing anything, what would it be? Then see where there is crossover on your list.
One of the keys to being successful in your business is to remove as much friction as possible when selling your product. If you're already familiar with something and you're passionate about it, it goes without saying, that you're going to be a lot more motivated to dive into it and create a successful business out of it.
You will then want to research what different people or businesses are selling in the areas you are interested in. Ask yourself, what are they selling? What ideas do you get as you search for products and businesses similar to what you are interested in? Do a google search, and check out YouTube videos, podcasts, and blogs. We live in the most incredible time. Great information is just at our fingertips, so take advantage of it!
What are you naturally into and how can you take that passion and put it into your business??
#3 Study and Master a Skill or Topic
Another idea is to pick a skill that you want to develop and then create a business out of it. Or you become an expert in a topic and build your business all around that. Let me explain.
You could learn online marketing skills that are highly valuable such as running paid ads, writing copy, making youtube videos, growing an Instagram following for someone, managing social media accounts, etc. There are so many skills needed for online marketing that you could become an expert in relatively quickly and then start a business with.
As you learn new skills, you can reach out to other businesses and ask, "Hey, can I try this skill out with your company?" You could even offer to work for them for a couple of weeks and as you provide them with great results, you can then set up a working paid relationship with them. These clients will also become great testimonials that you can then share to get more clients and within a month or two, you could be up and running with your own agency.
If you don't want to start your own agency, you could take those skills and apply them to your own business.
This is a good strategy if you're not totally sure what business you wanna start, but you want to start developing marketable skills that will be valuable in your own business.
Another thing you can do is to become an expert in a certain field or topic.
I recently read a book by a guy named James Clear called Atomic Habits. Many of you have probably heard of it, or read it, but he started blogging about habits twice a week. Then he wrote a book and now his whole career is built on teaching people about habits.
We're all familiar with Brene Brown. She spends her whole career talking about vulnerability and researching vulnerability. She became an expert in that area and has had a great impact on the world.
You've got Russell Brunson, he's the funnel guy, John Lee Dumas, podcasting. There are so many skills and topics that you can become an expert in and then share with the world.
#4 Improve an Existing Product
Another idea is to take a tool, service, or product that you like and make it better.
When I met Justin, he was selling satellite tv service door to door. He didn't necessarily change the product, he just wanted to sell it better and this is how we started our first business together selling something Justin was already familiar with.
I mean, let's talk about cookies. One of the most basic things ever.
Companies like Crumbl have taken the simple dessert, made it extra delicious and deliverable, and they are killing it.
Trey, who's a partner in our review automation software company Fiveoak mentioned that there are some improvements he'd like to make to Slack. I don't know if you guys know this, but Slack recently sold for a whopping 27.7 billion dollars to Salesforce.
So if Trey thinks there could be some improvements made to Slack...cha-ching!
The cool thing is you don't have to create a company that's worth 27.7 billion dollars. You just have to get enough people to buy your product to support your lifestyle and dreams while taking great care of your customers. It's a win-win!
I mean the whole reason we started Millionaire University was because we saw a problem and decided to do something about it. We are improving upon the current education system that is out there.
So once again, think of a product, a service, something that you use, or a tool. Anything that you feel could be improved upon, and that could be your big idea!
#5 Online Research
This is where you think to yourself, "Okay. I don't know what I want to do. I'm not sure where to start. I'm not totally sure what I'm interested in." If this is you, then hop on the computer and start googling businesses or products that you think might be interesting or lucrative.
When we had our 2nd business pretty streamlined, Justin had some free time on his hands. He thought his dream was to retire and become a surfer, but after a little while of that, he was bored out of his mind and wanted to learn about online marketing. So one magical day, he learned about this thing called a podcast and started listening to them. A bunch of them. I cannot tell you how excited he was. He would come out of the office just blown away and say "Tara there are people online, telling you exactly what they're doing in their businesses. Are you kidding me?" He listened to podcast, after podcast, after podcast, and got so many ideas. He was obsessed.
It's that simple. Just Google..."Google, what are some different business ideas out there?" Now be careful. You might come across some interesting people trying to sell you a get-rich-quick thing or something like that. There's a lot of great information out there but there is also some bad information as we all know.
But if you just listen to what different people are doing in their business and write 20 to 50 of these, you will have more ideas than you will know what to do with.
Last but not least…
#6 Talk to People You Know
Another great way to come up with your idea is to ask those you already know, all about their current or past business experience. Most business owners are excited to share their tips and tricks and are complimented that you even asked them. They love to see other entrepreneurs succeed.
The only mistake we see people make here way too often is that they take their super cool idea and share it with their friends and family. I mean, who wouldn't? We have found that those who know the least about a business, sometimes have the strongest opinion, so don't get all flustered if your friends or family don't get you or are just bored by hearing about your super awesome business. It's totally normal. Surround yourself with those who have been where you want to go and who will also help you get to where you want to be.
Other people can be a great resource!
So let's go ahead and do a quick recap, shall we?
#1 - Go With Your Gut!
#2 - Write down your strengths and passions and pick one!
#3 - Become an expert at a skill or topic
#4 - Improve a Tool or Product or Service
#5 - Ask Google!
#6 - Pick the brain of other successful people who have businesses that you are interested in.
Remember you don’t need a big crazy new original idea! Think about what topics you are passionate about. Think about some problems that need to be solved. Do some research on what others are doing to help you get some ideas and start taking action! As you move forward you will continue to develop your vision and get more clarity about what it is that you need to do!
Do you already have your BIG idea but aren’t sure what to do next..?
In our next blog, we’ll discuss how to get your big idea out to the world!
So bring your business idea and let’s get going!
- Tara and Justin
p.s. If you're not sure what business to start and need some more ideas, click here for our FREE Business Training Course. It includes over 300 businesses you can start today!