By Evan Vitale
Whether you are starting a new business; wanting to expand your current offerings or perhaps do some brainstorming with a business colleague, everyone wants to try to come up with the next great business idea.
The problem, however, is having enough brain cells needed to generate new business ideas. How can you come up with an idea for a new business or to help expand your current business?
Here are some thoughts into how you can formulate some ideas that will help you create the next light bulb; telephone or wheel (well, maybe).
– Creating a business that fills a personal need is a good idea. What are people searching for when it comes to solving a problem or finding a solution? Do they want to save time? Earn more money? Cut costs and save money?
– What are your current needs? What kinds of products and services are you looking for to help you personally and professionally?
– Study business trends. While you won’t want to steal someone else’s idea, studying new trends can help you generate new ideas.
– Attend trade shows. A business friend of mine always comes back from a trade show with new solutions and ideas for a new business or with something new he can offer his customers and prospects.
– Search the Internet. Start looking for new ideas or, perhaps, there’s an idea that never got off the ground or it failed because of poor planning. Could you take that idea and perfect it?
– Look at other businesses. What are they doing right and what could they do better? Could you do something better?
– Be a specialist. Instead of trying to offer a suite of products and services to your clients, you might become more in demand by being a specialist in one thing. For example, some Internet service providers offer Internet service; hosting; e-mail; website design; search engine optimization; social media services and on and on.
Could you take one of those services and become a specialist in it?
Write down your ideas; your passions and your dreams. Review and update your list. What would you like to do? Can that be an idea for a profitable business?
Talk to friends and business colleagues. You don’t need to share your idea with them (they might shoot you down), but have regular visits; drink coffee; get energized; motivated and keep those idea juices flowing!