Not every idea has the potential to develop into profitable business. We all too often confuse the words, “idea” and “business.” An idea is a thought process, a dream or a concept that is perceived in the conscious part of the brain as having some commercial worth.
Ideas on their own in the business world typically have no
value and even Richard Branson has publicly thanked all the people who have sent him good ideas.
Ideas are ten a penny and not every idea is reinventing the wheel. McDonalds and Burger King did not invent a hamburger they just found ways to make them faster and to sell more of them quicker than anyone before.
Many people have ideas, some brilliant and others just plain stupid, like the guy who had a micro trading store and thought that his business would in two years be big enough to give a large retailer [doing billions of turnover] a serious run for their money, after a 50 000 financial injection.
So what’s your idea? Is it a new cell phone, an application or a website? Every person dreams of the perfect business that will assail them with wealth, yachts and Lear jets. Sadly many will not see those dreams come true as we deal with two distinct personalities:
The salesman, he can sell anything. He sells the concept or the idea and gets you all going but there is no delivery. He is so busy selling that he has not considered all the iffy bits in his mind, like after sales service, delivery and all the other effort that is required of a successful business. A classic example is the Google phone which was sold on-line but when people needed after sale service, they had no-where to go.
Salespeople are a cog in a complex business environment and few salespeople make it on their own in business, despite the fact that having a sales personality is critical to being a well rounded business person.
The entrepreneur however, has a dream, a vision and passion, and with his idea in hand he creates a plan to achieve his goal which is getting his product out there, selling it and getting the money back into his bank where it will hopefully stay.
Every wave that knocks an entrepreneur down will see the true ‘die hard’ getting up again, this time with the proper tools in hand. He knows that every obstacle can be overcome and if he wants it badly enough he will be successful.
The true entrepreneur also knows he can achieve his goal with well planned, achievable steps within the concept of his overall vision. He will eventually stand in the waves and turn them to his advantage.
Many people with solid ideas, sold their houses, mortgaged everything they had, and believed with the determination of the biblical Job to make their idea a success.
The other half believes their idea is “THE ONE.” They are hoping some rich philanthropist will say: “I have waited my whole life, for this idea; here is a huge wad of money. Now I will spend more and turn this into a huge profit. Because I am nice I will give you more since you are the generator of this idea and from the kindness of my heart, I will let you earn more money because I have contributed nothing to its success.”
Would you do it? So why do you think someone else would?
A business needs to eventually drive a profit to sustain both you and the company since it was created as the vehicle to do business from the idea. A business is an entity that drives commercial transactions and it exists to generate income. The business has a market, a plan and a method to ensure that people who like the business will support it with their financial transactions.
These transactions result in generating turnover, if we are lucky “profit” and if you are seriously fortunate, wealth and some form of valuable asset.
If you wish to sell, trade or generate income from your idea, it requires presentation. The presentation highlights how it will perform as a business.
There are fundamental questions that must be asked with any idea:
How many people will buy into the idea?
What is the perceived transaction value and why would people pay for the idea?
How many ideas can be sold a day?
Can you formulate enough ideas a day, to meet this demand?
What will happen when other people see that your idea works?
Can this idea generate sufficient profit to run a business?
Finally, would you buy one of your own ideas and put down hard money for it?
Phase one of the entrepreneurial business journey is to make a list of ideas. From this list see which of the ideas could make a commercial business feasible. Evaluate the shortlisted ideas and identify which idea you would “buy into.” Once you have the one, commit all your resources to making a feasibility and business plan. The planning here saves millions in heartache, stress and wasted resources.
If your business plan can prove commercial success - consider the journey just begun. So look again at your list of potential ideas, write a couple of words for each in terms of what you think will sell.
Spend some time in sales environments and see what people are actually buying. Take specific shops and see how long the stock sits on the shelf before it moves. These steps are critical to the success of any business.
Gavin Tonks is a small business mentor and project specialist based in Johannesburg South Africa
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