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Entrepreneurship is something many people dream of, but only few bring to
fruition. Why is owning your own company so hard to achieve? The difficulty
in this journey, for most people, lies in identifying the starting place and
answering the question, What can I do to become a successful entrepreneur?
The process involves discovering a gap in the current marketplace and then
exploiting that gap to your own advantage, which can seem like an
overwhelming challenge. The key to finding the gap is to break the process
down and think about it logically.
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The path to self-employment, owning and managing your own business, can
come about quite fortuitously or it can happen by design. For example, a new
mother builds a makeshift baby-carrier that frees her hands, keeps baby
comfortable, and converts to a seat for grocery carts. When she goes out
with it, she is asked so many times where she bought it that she decides she
should go into the business of producing them. This mother has hit upon a
market opportunity quite accidentally; for many entrepreneurs like her,
their ideas came about as a result of hobbies or an out of the blue
inspiration. But these revelations are few and far between and they require
a lot of patience; waiting and hoping an idea will surface. So, for the rest
of us, we need to force the issue and figure out where and how to look for
business opportunities.
The most common source of new venture opportunity arises from past work
experience. Studies have shown that about 45% of venture ideas are formed
while working in the same industry. Some good questions to ask yourself when
searching for business opportunities are:
- Could I do my current job on my own instead of as an employee?
- How
could this product or service be made better?
- A customer has asked about a
certain product or service extension, is this something I can provide?
- Is
there a business opportunity that my company has rejected that I could
pursue independently?
When searching for an entrepreneurial venture it is important to
recognize that the discovery is not a result of random actions, it is a
structured process that is based on solid observations about how to do
something better or different.
- New product or service: This is the type of new venture strategy that
most people think of first, but it also involves the most innovation,
creativity and time.
- Parallel Competition: Do what others are doing; only, do it better.
- Buy a Franchise: No ingenuity required, but it is important to
thoroughly research the franchiser, purchase price, and obligations
including royalties.
- Geographic Transfer: Look for successful businesses in other cities or
countries and bring the product or service to your own region before the
original company expands.
- Exploit a Supply Shortage: Is there something that is hard for you,
your customers, your friends, etc to get? If so, figure out how to supply it
profitably.
- Buy a Business: This strategy requires systematic searching for the
right opportunity: confirm that there is adequate cash flow and that the
price reflects the cost of asset acquisition and a reasonable premium for
profitability and goodwill.
Regardless of the method used to uncover an exciting new venture
opportunity, the real work has just begun. You now have the task of
evaluating your idea and yourself to make sure that the prerequisites for
success are there. With a good idea and good leadership, your
entrepreneurial dream can come true. Start the process now, and begin
observing the many ways you can serve the market directly.
About The Author:
David Gass is President of Business Credit Services, Inc. His company
publishes a weekly e-newsletter on Small Business Consulting at their web
site
http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com You can sign up for their
free newsletter by visiting
http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com
April 2006
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