Category: Business Ideas

WhatIThinkAbout.com: 1. Since the point of a business is to trade things, we should start by thinking about what other people need. This is easily done by just thinking about the things you think “sucks”. Do you wish you can get from point A to point B without having to drive? Do you wish that it was easier to clean your bathroom? Are the current solutions for these problems really horrible in your opinion? There are just tons of things throughout the day that you wish were better. Make a long list of all of these things.
2. Go down your list of things. Is there anything in there that you are particularly interested in? For example, let’s say one of the things on your list if that you think people need to be hugged more and you happen to like hugging people. This would be a perfect business opportunity to consider because you understand why people want to be hugged and you already know how to solve that problem (by hugging them). Circle all of these opportunities that you are interested in and have some expertise in (or would like to spend the time and acquire that expertise).
3. Who are your potential clients? Well, if we go back to the hugging example, it’s potentially everyone. Of course, people are probably not going to buy hugs for themselves, but someone can definiately buy it for someone else, kind of like a birthday card or a singing telegram. “Buy a Hug For a Friend”. “Buy a Hug For Your Sweetie on Valentine’s Day” (like if you’re far away or something). This step determines how big your market is and ultimately, how much money you can make.
4. How hard is it to get into the business? This is important to know because it determines how hard it is to get started, and more importantly, how hard it would be for other people to copy you should you become successful. The hugging business seems relatively low barrier of entry to me, since anyone can just make a website or list an internet ad (pretty easy to do). However, if you eventually establish a brand, like “Mom’s Hugs” or something, then that would become a barrier to overcome for your competitors.
How To Come Up With Good Business Ideas [WhatIThinkAbout.com]

BusinessWeek: How can people distinguish between a great idea and a good idea? You make a list of all the things that have to work in order for the idea to be successful. That means focusing on the process rather than the product. For instance, distribution: Where is the product sold to the consumer, and are there middlemen? Who’s selling it for you? What’s the pricing model? Where do you get the raw materials? What’s your marketing strategy, and how will it scale?
Then you give yourself an honest appraisal of whether it’s going to work, recognizing that not one of the people whose help your success depends on cares about your idea unless it helps them make money. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to think they have a brilliant idea and can’t figure out why other people don’t agree.
Vetting Your Idea [BusinessWeek]

CNNMoney: Three pairs of women’s shoes. A box of record albums. Stereo equipment. A stovetop. A quill and ink bottle. A wicker basket. An acoustic guitar. A dehumidifier.
As I write, all those things and more are being offered for free on my local Freecycle Network. By the time you read this, they’ll be taken. As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
With more than 4,000 Freecycle networks operating in 75 countries, and with more than 3.5 million members signed up to give things away and take them, that’s lot of trash or treasure, all of it kept out of landfills.
The Freecycle Network is an amazing Internet phenomenon. In four years, it’s become one of the most effective environmental groups around. It’s also an example of how social networking – the connections between people made on such Web sites as MySpace and Facebook – can be used to address social and environmental problems.
The amazing Freecycle story [CNNMoney]

Blogtrepreneur: Everyone on the net is searching for that big idea, that one thought or brainwave that will transform their internet lives into being small and unknown to being an A-list celebrity (or bloglebrity) and mega-rich (having sold your site to Google of course).
But it’s easier said than done. With the multitude of blogs and websites out there, each and every niche is becoming saturated and full to the brim with the same clones of the original. First it was the pixel sites which tried to claw on the back of Alex Tew, then Digg clones and now Youtube clones – no-one these days seems to be taking the time to create that one big site that will dominate all.
Having just broken up for the summer holidays (or vacation for the Americans out there), I felt that I needed to get that one massive idea that would springboard me from being an average Joe blogger. These are the methods I used in attempting such a feat:
1. What have you achieved so far?
2. Stick to your comfort zone.
3. Research, research, research.
4. Plan to the final detail.
How You Can Find That One Big Idea [Blogtrepreneur]

Telegraph: Young British entrepreneurs are launching a new website to house spare business ideas that can be developed by anyone that finds them interesting. James Murray Wells, the twenty four-year-old multi-millionaire founder of www.glassesdirect.co.uk, and Oli Barrett, founder of new ideas company Connected Capital, are behind the venture. It will be launched this week and is called IdeaVolcano.com
More than 100 entrepreneurs and business advisers have already signed up to the site during its testing phase. Mr Murray Wells said all the entrepreneurs he encountered had more ideas than they could handle and the site would allow them to realise their potential. “There’s a lot of people with good ideas and lots of people that are looking for good ideas,” he said. “That’s what we are hoping to do with Idea Volcano, putting these people together.”
Website will help entrepreneurs to develop business ideas [Telegraph]