Don't Start That Business Until You Read This

Why do businesses fail?

Why are there many folks who failed to sustain a business they started only a few weeks ago?

Why didn’t that business idea yield expected results?

The answer is not far fetch.

It’s about the way it all began.

There is no way you can reap a corn when you sowed beans.
You can never proffer a right answer to a wrong question. It is either you get it from the beginning or you don’t get it at all!

Therefore if I may answer the question of ‘why do businesses fail?’ in a short sentence, it is….

How they started. Period.

If you don’t miss it at the beginning you are most unlikely to pack up. No matter what happens, as long as you are on the right road, all you will need is direction and energy.

You may run into a big pothole that would require you to stop and check the tires….

But you won’t have to make a U-turn.

This is what I mean:

You don’t have to start with some mark of sophistication and perfection in order to begin.

But there are some simple precautions you MUST take before setting off to make money if you don’t want to risk failure.

Therefore, the basic rule is: Do not start until you are ready.

How do you ensure that you are ready before you start?

Simple.

Provide answers to these all-important questions:

How much do you know in that area?

Dabbling into an area of business you know nothing about, hoping that you’ll be lucky will kill your business faster than it begins. Don’t attempt to generate an idea in an area you know nothing about.

o How long have you understudied the business?

o How much do you know about the core of the business?

o What do you know about those who have been into it?

o What do you know about how they started?

o Have you checked if the factors that made the business profitable a few years back are still in a starter’s favour?

o How many innovative ideas have you discovered in that area of business?

o What is the size of the existing market?

o What are the pros and cons of the business?

o What are the worst things that could happen if you fail?

Your ability to answer these questions is no option if you don’t want to risk failure.



Test your Startup ideas

A successful entrepreneur is the one who takes the time to develop a list of business ideas as a first step; and this is the right place to start your career as an entrepreneur.

Ask yourself these questions about EVERY startup business idea you intend to use:

Is the idea unique?

If your idea is not unique it lacks the potency that will make it sell. Your goal is to be successful. Therefore ensure that the idea delivers that to you.

Gold is not found on the surface neither is diamond found everywhere. You would need to do some extra work to ensure that your ideas are as unique as possible.

Every major business idea you find yourself generating will eventually be the talk of the town if it is unique.

People love to see new things.

When your idea delivers a product that satisfies their need in a unique way you will not only be successful,

You will also build a strong foundation of trust and credibility that will keep your customers and clients coming back for more.

The megabuck in business comes mainly from the frequent and consistent patronage you enjoy from your customers and clients. The uniqueness of your idea makes this easy for you to accomplish.

Is your Idea relevant?

What good will your idea do if it doesn’t contribute to developing a product that people are anxious to buy?

You are in business to sell ideas, products, and services. Therefore if you perceive that no one is interested in your ideas or the product your idea produces, send it off through the window.

An idea that was relevant yesterday might have become archaic or old fashioned today. Attempting to use it can only be compared to trying to invent the wheels when others are already flying.

There is only one thing that people are looking for. Which is SOLUTION. That is what makes an idea relevant.

The question here is: Will your idea solve a problem?

The good news is that virtually every field in life still has room for improvements, innovations, refinements and solutions.

And I can assure you that you will generate a handful of relevant ideas if you put in some extra energy.

If your ideas can give the much-needed solution that people are looking for, then you will succeed. Otherwise, label it ‘trash’ and send it to the waste bin.

This sounds harsh, isn’t it? …. But you know… failure can be more ruthless to you if you attempt to use an idea that is archaic or irrelevant.

You can confirm from any successful businessman who learnt from his own experience.



Is your idea Profitable?

I may not know you personally, but there one thing I can say about you.

You are out to make money. At least that is one reason you are reading this book.

Profitability is an important prerequisite that your idea must have. That is why this book is centered on generating and developing Profitable Business Ideas (PBI) for your home business.

With it, other things can fall in place as you run the business. You must carry out an elaborate survey of how much this idea is able to add to your business.

Evaluate how much the idea is worth.

Even your time is worth evaluating with respect to the idea.

Is it worth your energy?

Is it worth your outright dedication?

If a good idea is not immediately profitable, you can still figure out how to harness its power.

For instance, let’s consider an idea to give away freebies like newsletters, articles or books. You will agree with me that there is no way to benefit financially from an idea to give away freebies.

But you know what?

You can use this idea to create amazing sales of your other
Products e.g. selling Office chairs, magic products, video games… Name it!

You will initiate a viral marketing system that will send hundreds or even thousands rushing to patronize you within a short period of time.

People want to patronize experts. They reason that if you have so much useful knowledge to share about your line of business, then whatever product you sell is good.

However, when you have established some degree of trust and you have credibility for your products or services, you can make big bucks from your info products.

In case you don’t know…Informative products are the best-selling products on the Internet today.

This principle will work for both online and offline businesses.

The bottom line is finding out the profitability of your idea. How fast will it pay back the time, energy and money you have invested?

Can the resources available to you adequately sustain the idea till when you begin to experience sales?

If not, you may get stuck in the process and that will spell real loss for you.

Answering the question of profitability will help you to rate your ideas and know what to do with them.

Your profitable start up ideas should be able to increase revenue or reduce cost.

Remember: Before you climb up the ladder of success, make sure it is leaning against the right wall.


Does your Idea depict quality?

Your prospective customers will see your idea as of high quality only if they perceive it as original.

Even if your idea generates a great deal of traffic to your site or selling point, and your product does not meet the expected quality, your customers will leave in disappointment without buying…. And you know what?

They will never come back.

One more thing…. customers quickly labels you as a ‘copy cat’ if they don’t see quality in your product.

Even if you have copied your idea from somewhere, make sure that you spice it up with your style, peculiarity and aura. That makes it original.

When your idea depicts your peculiarity in colour, cultural background, geographical location, uniqueness of brand and so on, it is perceived as of high quality.

Remember: It is always about your customers not you.

If you study and learn to generate ideas as described in the next chapter, you will be able to ensure quality for your startup business Ideas.



Two things you can do with Profitable business ideas

Generating profitable business ideas is fast becoming a lucrative business.

The reason is not farfetched….

Everyone wants to stay ahead of competition.

These are two ways you can make money from Killer ideas:

o Develop your ideas into a profitable business.

If you haven’t got your own stream of income;

If you haven’t started making money while you sleep,

Then this is the best thing to do with your ideas.

Set off to make money by carving out a brand to sell to your chosen target market.

Believe me, there is no limit to how much you can make if your ideas are realistic, logical, unique, original and of course profitable.

In order to succeed in setting up a highly profitable business, not only should you generate the ideas.

You must learn to develop them into compelling business strategies and plans. We will discuss more on this in Chapter four.

o Market it

This is another business in itself. If you are exceptionally creative, you can make this your sole business.

Do you know that bigger companies, corporations and governments are willing to pay millions for just one killer idea?

Recently, I went through a site that sells domain names. The cheapest name available for sale was 1000 dollars. Imagine that!

1000 dollars just to buy a name. Whatever your killer idea or ideas are. They are valuable to somebody.

Price them appropriately and sell them.

In the mid 80’s, one young Nigerian living in the US stumbled on a publication containing America’s 20 most pressing problems in the oil industry. One of which was how to determine accurately the amount of crude oil at underground levels.

He went to work on that problem and came up with an idea that solved the problem.

He sold it to the American government.

And guess what? He was not only rewarded in millions of dollars; he instantly became an American citizen. 25 of his closest relatives were also granted American citizenship for life.

The name of this man is Philip Emeagwali and his killer idea is the ‘supercomputer’. This also laid the foundation for the advent of the Internet.

Your idea may not be as magnificent as his but you will be surprised how much people are willing to pay to have it.

Let us take the Internet for instance. The Internet is the place to be! It is growing unabatedly and many Internet businesses are booming because they are listening to the experts who are helping them to improve their marketing efforts on the Internet.
The Internet is not going to be affected by any type of economic condition. In good times as well as in bad times, consumers are going to continue to use the Internet to do business because it is a most cost effective and convenient way for both consumers and businesses alike.
The marketing companies are willing to pay millions of dollars for a great Internet business idea; Governments and industries as well are more than willing and ready to reward anyone who can come up with an innovative Internet business idea. Use your imaginations as much as you can.
Do your research, and allow yourself to think without any boundaries or limits. It is what many persons are doing and it is paying off for them.
They are coming up with Internet business ideas that are starting to revolutionize many industries such as the financial and retail industries, corporations, and even some Governments including the United States. Sears and Wall Mart are using Internet business ideas to successfully increase their sales. IBM, Google and Microsoft are doing the same, and even Disney is not left out.