Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2010. The air traffic controller strikes, the idea that the internet and new technologies are “only just getting started”, and McDonald’s as “the largest franchise in the world today” reflect that moment.
As we have shown more than once, business ideas can come from long, exhaustive research or from an absurd idea that appears out of nowhere and turns into a multimillion-dollar business.
So where can we find business ideas?
1. Analyze and examine your own skills and knowledge
Look at your previous jobs, what you have learned and the things you consider yourself very good at. Think about whether your career may have taught you what you need to set up your own business and run it better than your old boss did. Think about your passion, the work you love, the thing you would be willing to do even if nobody paid you for it.
Building a business around something we know a lot about is what makes a big difference against our future competitors.
2. Keep up with current events and be ready to spot a business opportunity
Following the news every day and paying attention to it can generate incredible business opportunities. To give just one example, abroad they noticed that several countries had legalized same-sex marriage and turned it into a great business opportunity by selling trips to one of those countries with the wedding included. Air traffic controller strikes have given rise to private flight businesses. The news can show us needs that a new business could meet.
3. Invent a new product or service
Even though we sometimes think everything has already been invented, we are surprised when a new invention appears and we see how simple the product is. Anyone could have thought of it, but only one person went for it and turned it into a very profitable business. That is the case of the 29-year-old who is getting rich selling tap water, which we covered recently, or of the companies that have built a lucrative business out of hiring out elaborate pranks. According to some figures, the internet and new technologies are only just getting started, and there is a wide market of products and services still to be covered.
4. Add extra value to an existing product or service
A simple example of a multimillion-dollar business came from what seemed a silly idea. Sweets already existed, but someone came up with the idea of putting a stick in one, creating the Chupa Chups and patenting the invention.
McDonald’s was already a very profitable business until Ray Kroc found a way to buy it from the McDonald brothers and turn it into the largest franchise in the world today.
A product that has already been invented and is on the market can sometimes be improved or given something new. That is also the case of car tuning, a hobby of a few that crossed the borders of many countries to become a pastime for millions of young people and, of course, a business worth billions every year.
5. Research other markets
Sometimes this is the best way to spot a good business idea: look at which products or services are already established in other countries but have not yet arrived in yours, and take the chance to be the first to import that idea.
Examples are revolving restaurants, or revolving houses that let you choose how much sun comes in, or bringing to your country businesses based on other cultures, whether in food, decoration or leisure and wellness.
I think this covers most of the ways to find business ideas. As I said at the start, everything around us is full of possible ideas and business opportunities. It’s a matter of discovering them.
Further reading
