Feeling frustrated and stuck when it comes to thinking of business ideas? Do you feel like everyone else thinks of these great ideas and all the ones you think of are lame and generic? Well here are 9 mistakes you could be possibly making. Solve these problems and you should be on your way to business idea greatness.
1. You Didn’t Kill Your Idea Quick Enough.
Great entrepreneurs know how to kill their ideas quickly, so they can move on to the next one. They find holes in the idea that make it not possible, or they find that there is other competition out there and the market is too saturated already. Taking a business idea too far and using too many resources to validate and execute on it is the death of many entrepreneurs, a part of the reason why new startup failure rates are so high.
A key question to ask to avoid this mistake is:
“Why hasn’t anyone else thought of and executed upon this idea”?
These days it is almost inevitable that someone hasn’t thought of the idea you thought of before.
2. You Aren’t Using Creativity/ Business Idea Exercises
Creativity exercises and business idea exercises can be very helpful when thinking of business ideas for multiple reasons. Firstly, it gives you a structure to organize your thoughts and concentrate on things you would not be able to think of otherwise.
They can also create a new perspective for you that will allow you to think of new business ideas. This is because you can see certain problems and information differently.
Want to get started with some exercises, check out these:
The Ultimate Guide to Successful Business Ideas
3. Not Incorporating Relevant/ Upcoming Trends In The Market
If you don’t plan where your business will be in ten years, and start doing that now, you will be beat out by new technological advances and innovations in your industry. By building new industry trends and innovations into your business idea by possibly changing the value you bring or your business model, you can become relevant for years and face less competitive threat.
Learn how to find market trends and business ideas related to the trends.
4. Forget To Include Valuable Characteristics In The Business Idea Process
Did you think about scalability, sustainability, and market/ demand fit? These are all very important to consider to build into your business idea process. For example, by making sure your business idea is sustainable, you will not have to worry about running out or exhausting the key resources you need to execute.
5. Being Afraid To Ask Friends/ Strangers About Their Problems They Want Solved
In the end, a business solves people’s problems, so if you start by talking to people to understand their problems in the business idea phase, your idea will be a more viable business idea. A lot of people think of a business idea that doesn’t actually solve problems or help people, it just sounds or looks cool. To avoid that, they just need to get out and talk to some people.
6. You Forget To Write Out Your Passions/ Strengths To Incorporate Into Your Idea
If you don’t incorporate your passions and strengths into the business idea you are going to think of, then your business won’t last very long when it is launched. The reason being is because there are many ups and downs an an entrepreneur, and people will put down what you are doing sometimes. If you don’t love what you do, then you won’t last very long.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Learn how to use your strengths and skills to come up with business ideas.
7. You Have Thought Of Less Than 100 Business Ideas
If you have thought of less than 100 business idea, chances are, you have a much better idea waiting to be discovered that you have not found yet. It could be better than the ones you have now, so don’t run off and execute until you have thought of at least 100 ideas. As you think of more and more, the ideas will only get better.
8. You Don’t Keep Track Of Your Ideas/ Write Down And Record All Of Them
These goes exactly with the last point. How will you make sure you keep track of your 100 business ideas? So many people lose out on starting the next big hit because they forgot about the idea, didn’t write it down, or wrote it down in a book that got lost or torn up. It is important to keep track of your business ideas. You never know when you will use them or give them to someone else interested.
9. You Are Not Creating/ Having New Experience In Your Life To Expand Your Perspective.
This one could be the biggest mistake that people can make!
New perspectives on life = new business ideas.
It does not have to be a life-changing event that creates new perspectives. Taking new routes to work, talking to new people, and experiencing small new things on the weekend can all be things that will help you have new experiences. Maybe you see something you never saw before by taking a different route to work. This could help create a new perspective for something, and you may see a problem that you can solve with your skills thanks to this new perspective.
Now you that you know the nine mistakes that people make when thinking of business ideas, don’t do it yourself! Although it can be a lot to remember, when you think of a new business idea, run it by this checklist so you can make sure your idea is strong.