- Karlitza Molina Santiago
The Formula to Finding A Business Concept
Updated: Aug 30, 2022
Your Ultimate Guide for Finding a Business Idea
Conceptualizing a business is one of the longest processes I've gone through. In here I compile what helped me go through this process.
This is an exciting time for you!!! You know that you want a business, you are going for it but you are unsure of what concept base your business on. This is your lucky day because I will save you all the pain and sleepless nights I went through with steps you should follow and that will leave you with at least a clear business idea you should explore in a business plan.
This process have four steps. I am basing my blog on my own personal experience and I am not an expert whatsoever but I do want to help as much people as I can. Hope you like my read.
Step 1: Everything Starts With A List
Step 3: It's All About the Skillset
1. Everything Starts With A List
Someone needs to break this up to you but, when thinking about forming a business don't go for the first idea that pops to your head.
Reality is that the first idea that pops into your head is based on emotion and excitement rather than logic. Businesses need to make sense in a lot aspects and should consider economic, social and (in some cases) even political situation.
So my first recommendation is simple, create a list of all the ideas you can base a business on,. The more you write, the better. This is intended to make you go out of your comfort zone and get your creative juices going. Sometimes ideas take time, so reflect on the list at least three days and keep adding concepts to it.
After the three days are over, sit down and cross/delete ideas you don't like or enjoy to do. The last thing you want is to create and be stock in a business you are not passionate about. Highlight the business ideas that you know you like even if you are not an expert on them.
2. Be Realistic
Unless you have a big bank of cash that you can count on, you have to set boundaries. If you do have a big bank of cash to rely on, guess what ? you still need to read this part.
What do I mean by being realistic? Of course we all want to open a fancy business with gold tiles and a pool in the middle, however this is not realistic for an owner that doesn't have capital in hand. So your second task is to make a list (I know, me and the lists) of the requirements or criteria that your business should have. In my case it was very straightforward. My first criteria was low upfront capital, the lowest possible.
In other cases requirements you can consider are things like no physical assets or no online presence. It's up to you and what you can count on. Let's say you want to open a restaurant, but after you think about it you realize you don't want to open a business that has a lot of competition and you would rather open a business that offers something new. This is the kind of criteria you can think and note. Another example, let's say that you like to bake and one of your ideas is a cookie company that takes orders through social media. Later you realize that you don't want a business with a distribution channel because you don't own a car or a medium for distribution and you would rather have a business where the customer comes to you. Note it down in your list!
3. It's All About Skillset
Congrats on making and tailoring your list! Now it's time to make it about you.
Let's categorize your list into potential leads. For this, you need to think about your skillsets. What knowledge or skills do you have that could work for any of the ideas? In my case, I thought about things you don't think firsthand. For example, good organization skills, creative, an eye for coordinating colors, styling and others.
After going through this process I felt, honestly, worst than when I started. You know why? Because all my skillsets weren't consider valuable (or so I thought at that point). I was embarrassed in thinking that I was good at organizing and displaying shoes in my closet or at styling tables and decorating my house. At that point, these were things I really enjoyed to do in my free time, but little do I know that this was leading me to the next layer of step 3....
TRANSFORMING SKILLSETS INTO MONEY
This was a revelation to me. Thinking about a skill and thinking about how to make money from that skill are different things. This new perspective open my mind to consider businesses I wouldn't think before. For example, is no brainer that I could own a boutique and sell trendy clothing but in reality there is a lot of competition and businesses like that require upfront capital. And as I talked before, this didn't meet my criteria or business requirements at the moment. When I switch my perspective I started to consider businesses were I could use my creativity and my good eye for color coordination.
4. Listen To Feedback
The hardest part of this process is to listen to an opinion you don't want but that you NEED.
It's time to select your top ideas and talk about them with a friend, family member or someone of trust. Why trust? Because you need a harsh opinion to understand if your idea makes sense in the mind of someone that is not you. This was the step that literally eliminated a lot of my options because when I tried to talked it over I realized it was confusing or not attractive to people. But this is GOOD news! This step will leave you with at least two good business options you should start to explore in a business plan. Yes, this means (the boring stuff) target market, location, demographics, potential customers, behavior of potential customers and others!
You Got This! Thanks for reading.