Freight Brokerage Business. The Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc.
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you’re really good at marketing concepts, but you don’t like to meet people or you’re really not that fond of kids or you don’t like to do public speaking or you don’t want to travel. Don’t overthink it.
tip
Don’t overlook publications in your search for business ideas. Books, newspapers, and magazines all contain a wealth of ideas. Your reading list should include business, lifestyle, and niche publications like pets or antique tractors. Read your local newspaper, as well as major newspapers from the large trend-setting cities like Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, many of which you can read online for free.
When you’re finished, ask yourself: “If there were three to five products or services that would make my personal life better, what would they be?” This is your personal life as a man, woman, father, husband, mother, wife, parent, grandparent—whatever your situation may be. Determine what products or services would make your life easier or happier, make you more productive or efficient, or simply give you more time.
Next, ask yourself the same question about your business life. Examine what you like and dislike about your work life as well as what traits people like and dislike about you.
Finally, ask yourself why you’re seeking to start a business in the first place. Then, when you’re done, look for a pattern (i.e., whether there’s a need for a business doing one of the things you like or are good at). To make the process a bit easier, we’ve provided a “Things About Me Worksheet” for you to complete, starting on page 22.
They Delivered
Here’s a business startup story that’s a great example of seeing a need and filling it. Entrepreneur magazine is located in Irvine, California, a planned community. Many years ago, there weren’t many fast-food restaurants in the business area. Most were across town, where the neighborhoods were. Two young men in Irvine found this lunch situation very frustrating. There were some affordable food courts located in strip centers, but the parking lots were really small and the wait was horrendous.
Figure 3.1. Things About Me Worksheet
One day, as they were lamenting their lunch problem, one of them said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some good food delivered?” The proverbial light bulb went on! Then they did what many people don’t do—they did something about their idea. Coincidentally, they purchased one of Entrepreneur Press’s Step-By-Step Startup Guides and started a restaurant delivery business.
To date, their business has served more than 15 million people! It’s neither a complicated business nor an original one. Their competition has gotten stiffer, and yet they’re doing phenomenally well. And it all began because they listened to their own frustrations and decided to do something about them. Little did they know that research cites the shrinking lunch hour as one of the biggest complaints by American workers. Some only get 30 minutes, making it nearly impossible to get out, get lunch, and get back on time. So while these young entrepreneurs initially thought they were responding to a personal need in their local area, they actually struck a universal chord.
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Your hobbies may lead you to business ideas. If gardening or antique toy collecting is what turns you on, take your passion and turn it into a real business. Sell your locally grown herbs or vegetables to restaurants or set up an online business selling your rare toy finds on eBay.
That is one way to get ideas—listening to your own (or your co-workers’, family’s, or neighbors’) frustrations. The opportunities are all there; you just need to search them out. If your brain is always set on idea mode, then many ideas may come from just looking around or reading. For instance, if you had read an article about the shrinking lunch hour, and if you were thinking entrepreneurially, you would say, “Wow, maybe there’s an opportunity there for me to do something. I should start researching it.”
Inspiring Moments
Inspiration can be anywhere. Here’s another classic startup story: Before the days of on-demand movies from cable providers and streaming video services, did you ever get charged a fee for returning a video late? Bet you didn’t do anything about it. Well, when Reed Hastings got a whopping $40 late charge, instead of getting mad, he got inspired. Hastings wondered “How come movie rentals don’t work like a health club, where, whether you use it a lot or a little, you get charged the same?” From this thought, Netflix.com was born. From its start in 1999, Netflix has grown into a big business with revenues topping $4.4 billion in 2013. And that was achieved despite some hardships for the company and a required re-invention.
Getting an idea can be as simple as keeping your eyes peeled for the latest hot businesses; they crop up all the time. Many local entrepreneurs made tons of money bringing the Starbucks coffeehouse concept to their hometowns and then expanding from there. Take Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee. The founders had what they describe as an “aha moment” in 1990, and two years later launched what is now the nation’s second-largest corporate-owned gourmet coffeehouse chain. Other coffee entrepreneurs have chosen to stay local.
“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.”
—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
And don’t overlook the tried and true. Hot businesses often go through cycles. Take gardening. For the last few years gardening products and supplies have been all the rage, but you wouldn’t consider gardening a 21st century business. The same goes for shoe cobblers and seamstress businesses—with people wanting shoes and clothes to last longer or fit just-so, these businesses are in demand, and supply is short.
In other words, you can take any idea and customize it to the times and your community. Add your own creativity to any concept. In fact, customizing a concept isn’t a choice; it’s a necessity if you want your business to be successful. You can’t just take an idea, plop it down and say, “OK, this is it.” Outside of a McDonald’s, Subway, or other major franchise concept, there are very few businesses that work with a one-size-fits-all approach.
Before you start a business, you have to examine the potential, what your product or service is, and whether the opportunity exists to make a good deal of money. It may be a “hit and run” product, where you’re going to get in, make a lot of money, and then get out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; fads have made some entrepreneurs incredibly wealthy. Remember the children’s bracelet fad brought on after Silly Bandz became popular? Silly Bandz and others like it are still around, but they’re not all the rage (or as financially successful) that they were the first