What is Your Small Business Startup Idea?

Generally your small business startup idea (the beginnings of your business model) are not completely new or innovative, even if they do hit you like a lightening strike in the shower.

Rather, they tend to involve identifying a gap in the market, duplicating or extending an existing business idea or by creatively combining two concepts.

Spotting a gap in the market happens when you identify a group or 'market segment' of potential consumers that are not being adequately serviced by current offerings.

For example, a good friend of mine lives close to an upmarket tourist town. Her teenage son and his friends are at that age when most of them no longer think girls are quite so gross. Most of them don't have a drivers license yet, so if they want to 'hang out' they have to do it locally.

All of the local eateries are upmarket and cater to adult tastes, gourmet food, at least thirty different kinds of coffee and of course being in the center of a wine region, plenty of alcohol. So these kids, who incidentally have plenty of money to spend, have nowhere to go and spend it.

Her small business startup idea is to start an old fashioned 'milk bar' with booths that the boys can hide in (the cave thing - okay if you haven't lived with a teenage boy, you probably don't know what I mean - sorry), and a jukebox with good healthy but plain food on the menu. Has she identified a gap in the market?

Maybe, but a bit more research needs to be done before she signs the lease on this small business startup idea.

Her gut feeling is that there are a lot of 15 - 18 year olds that need a 'hang-out' and are willing pay for it. But she has one in her house! Have you ever had the experience of buying a car that you previously thought was not all that common on the roads, to find hundreds of them in the surrounding traffic the first time you take it out driving?

It is a perception thing; we filter.

We are constantly being bombarded by stimuli, but we really only pay attention to (i.e., perceive) the information that relates to whatever we are thinking about or doing at the time. What my friend needs to evaluate her start up concept is some objective data; data about the socio-demographics of the area, economic trends, and the current market conditions.

• How many kids in her target group live locally and how many kids will there be in five years?
• Are any of the 'junk food' chains likely to open a store in the area?
• How much disposable income do these kids really have?

Duplicating a Business Idea That Is Already Working For Someone Else

One form of this is where you take your work experience as a hairdresser, plumber, carpenter or graphic designer and use it to start your own small business. Most would be entrepreneurs in this situation skip developing a business model because for them it seems so obvious!

Not a good idea.

Developing a business model will be much easier for them, and will probably require less research but it still needs to be done. If nothing else investigate the state of the market.

• Who is the competition?
• What are their products or services?
• Are they similar or different to the ones you hope to provide?
• How big is the market now and is it likely to grow in the future?

Combining a Couple of Existing Ideas - Or Creating a Twist

Combining a couple of existing ideas can be very successful.

Just ask the guy that started Amazon.com. The number of ways existing industries can be combined with new or innovative technologies is virtually unlimited; the sky is the limit if you can find the (a) right combination. Bad news though, after you have finished patting yourself on the back for being such a clever little vegemite (Australian saying - can't help it) you still need to do the research!

Still not sure?

If you are having trouble finding a small business startup idea that appeals to you, I suggest that you check out my page of tips on generating business ideas.

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