Best ways to find Business Ideas

It’s easy for some people to come up with an idea but difficult for others. Generating a new idea is subjective to many things and circumstances, but it all generally depends on how an individual reacts. Human being often struggles to find motivation and inspiration, be it to formulate goals or objectives, or to be patient and persistent, or even just to find happiness.

An entrepreneur’s journey starts at the very stage of idea generation. A person is most likely to develop great ideas when they explore, experiment, make mistakes, find new uses, or build upon a platform that already exists. The environments that a person spends time in contributes to your ability to ideate. Having connections has also led to many creations –technology, trade, literature and organizations, just to name a few. In this article we are going to be looking at some of the most effective ways to come up with a business idea.

Explore your passion

Passion is the energy that keeps us going, that keeps us filled with meaning, and happiness, and excitement, and anticipation. Passion is a powerful force in accomplishing anything you set your mind to, and in experiencing work and life the fullest extent possible.

Take a look at your past experiences – jobs, internships, or any productive work experience, and analyze what you liked and did not liked in the role. Think and evaluate the industries and types of businesses that would allow you to do more of what you like.

For example, if you love working with people and have worked in a customer service job before, you could build a coaching or consulting business. Or if you have a passion for cooking, and you give time and effort in preparing exquisite cuisines – then maybe opening up a restaurant is a good idea. Make a list of things you are passionate about and would not mind doing for free. And then try to bend them into a line of business that you could set up.

Widen your perspective

If you want to find creative business ideas that are actually worth pursuing, you should change your perspective, your point of view on things and fear of failure. This will lead to you finding hidden features, unknown details and see what others do not usually look at.

Being able to draw on multiple experiences will make it a lot easier for you to connect the dots and come up with new and more creative business ideas. You can start from reading more books and articles, watch TED talks and other motivational speakers like Jordan Petersons, and talk with people from different backgrounds. These activities will give you a right state of mind to grow entrepreneurial ideas.

Also Read : Top 10 Education Business Ideas to Build an Empire

Analyze Trends

Look for the trending topics on the internet and social media sites like Reddit, YouTube, etc. Tapping on a trending topic, product or service will give you a direction. Based on these analyses you can build a valid and profiting business. For instance, merchandised clothes (also called ‘merch’) are a huge trend on social media for quite a while now.

People love expressing who they idealize, and putting it on their clothes is one way to do so. To become a trend spotter you should read, observe and read more. Pick any industry and spend couple of months reading about it. Do it until you are able to get the point where you can spot and predict upcoming trends yourself.

Research and find your inspiration

Internet is full of information and that is where you should look to gather insights about what products and services people love using, what problems they are experiencing doing their activities and what they complain about and so on. Look through the customer service sections, the most searched phrases on Google or Bling, browse through communities such as Reddit, Quora, Twitter, and other such apps. You can find your inspiration while researching about above mentioned themes.

“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity. The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.”
– Winston Churchill

Think about the future

Think of Elon Musk. He is a forward thinking innovator. Musk has tackled bigger problem that affect the future of humanity problems. He is the founder of PayPal, created electric cars and built rocket ships, designed a submarine car and also invented a tube-travelling capsule that will take you from San Francisco to L.A. (approx. 383 miles) in just thirty minutes.

You do not need to design spacecraft or Hyperloop capsules, but know that the world will experience other types of problems down the road. You should also focus on what people would need/want like fifteen years from now, just like Musk did. When you start identifying the problems people will have in the future and their respective solutions – people will pay for those solutions eventually.

Also Read : Best Business Ideas for Women

Brainstorm your ideas

Set aside time to brainstorm ideas, alone or with a group of people. Train your brain to come up with ideas – many ideas – and write them down every day. They don’t need to be business related ideas, but they need to be related to just one topic. This forces your brain to get really creative and concentrate your focus on one thing. Carry a notebook with you everywhere, an idea can come across your mind at any time. Even little things observed can spark large ideas.
You explore and experiment in different areas

Steve Johnson believes that you are more likely to develop great ideas when:

• You allow your idea to develop slowly, over time
• You are exploring and open to the idea of serendipitous connections
• You make mistakes
• You look for new uses for old inventions
• You build on platforms that have come before

Identify need for a good or service

There are times when you search for some specific app on your app store with full confidence that there must be some app that would match, only to find out that it doesn’t exist. It is in moments like this where you can find a chance to move in on a market. You could come in contact with an app developer and design or create your own app that could benefit people like you all over the world.

Take PayTM for example, they realized the need for convenience in any transaction and saw that using the medium of digital transactions the need could be met. Same is the case with Urban Clap, they saw people needed these services but would delay or avoid them due to the reason of travelling distances. So, getting services at your door step was the identification of the service and Urban Clap was able to fulfill it successfully.

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Observe, notice and mold

There is no shame in stealing others’ ideas, in fact most good ideas are built upon someone else’s idea. For instance, authors like J.K. Rowling used many references from geek mythology and Lord of the Rings while writing the premises of Harry Potter. There is no harm in building up a version of your idea on an already existing one. As Albert Einstein also once said, “Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” You need to observe and notice that hidden inspirations and creativities that lie around you. And when you have established that, you can add your own take to it. Mold it into something that it becomes better and people will credit you for your uniqueness rather than the unoriginality of it been already existent.

A failure doesn't mean you are unworthy, nor does it preclude success on the next try.
-Leonard Mlodinow

Experience more

It is a fact that the more you do and the more you experience, the more material and content you will have at your disposal to be able to create new ideas and stitch together seemingly disparate ideas. You should believe in the power of serendipity, as Bill Gates do too, and in order to come up with new ideas, you should frequently allot time to read books on a number of different subjects or genres in a short amount of time.

It is important to be curious and to look outside of your own business or industry in order to come up with new and unique ideas. Intelligence and knowledge are important, but it is even more important to have diverse interests. A simple thing you can do to make coming up with ideas is to simply do more. Because if you don’t, you are limited by the things that you know.

“Being right keeps you in place. Being wrong forces you to explore.”                   ― Steven Johnson

Also Read: Business Movies for Entrepreneurs

This is an extensive yet brief list on the various ways to find an idea for a business. There are so many different ways to come up with ideas, we have only mentioned a few. We hope you will be able to come up with your own ideas or as to improve on others’ ideas.