Many enterprises or undertakings usually start with an idea and this is the same for any business endeavor or company. An idea can be defined as a thought, image, conception, opinion, impression, view, notion, or plan of action that a person either conceives in their mind due to awareness and mental understanding or gets from someone else or place resulting in an activity.
Considering this, business ideas are concepts, notions, and thoughts related to establishing and building an entity that ultimately results in financial gain. This can either be focused on providing a service or selling a product. An idea is at the base of the business pyramid, meaning that every endeavor will always start with one. You may see this article here for more.
It is worth noting that it is not only new entities or startups that need ideas. Innovation is the driving force behind all companies. Open innovation platforms are at the service of individuals, start-ups, and SMEs to access external competencies so they can develop their products and services. Existing ones also may need concepts and plans to market the business, scale up or open a new section or part of the business. All these may include the development of a new product, improving on currently existing services, etc.
How to Know a Good Business Idea
Businesses fail a lot of the time because people do not go through the motions and steps of making sure their ideas are strong and market-ready. The article here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/307451 talks about ways through which good ideas can be arrived at. You may wish to check it out. Good concepts have characteristics, some of which include being unique, innovative, solving a specific problem, geared towards a demography and profitability.
Some of these features are explained below.
Uniqueness
A business idea should have a unique selling point (USP). It is what will make it stand out from others and competitors that offer the same kind of product or service. This can be achieved via the quality of the service or product, pricing, customer service, method or mode of production or unique ingredients.
A good illustration is a bakery. There exists several bakeries that sell pastries, cakes, and bread. The question is what will make yours stand out? Why will people buy yours instead of the others?
Innovativeness
This may not be used to describe all business ideas as innovation basically means creating something new. Something that did not exist or pioneering a concept. This can apply to both a new business and an already existing one. An innovative concept might stem from a previous one. A case in point is telephones.
The first time the phone was invented, it was a new innovation, and no one up till that time ever used a phone. Fast forward down the years, there was the creation of the mobile phone. This stemmed from the fact that there was a telephone but it changed the way people used it totally.
Solving a Specific Problem
An idea should identify and solve a specific problem either in a locality or region. The business owner must be able to say what the problem is and the solution that is being provided the target market by the product or service that they offer.
Scalability
This is when there is room for an enterprise to grow from a small one into a larger one. A scalable concept will allow you to expand your business and handle increased demands, thereby doubling your revenue and profits while keeping inputs and cost to the minimum. This is necessary to put into consideration when choosing an idea.
Profitability
A business idea importantly must be profitable. This is the reason why it exists in the first place. Profitability is when it can generate revenue to cover its cost over a period of time and have some left over revenue. This is why it is advisable to do a financial projection as it will help you see how the enterprise will perform in its first few years and when there can be a break-even, meaning when revenue and costs become equal. From here, it is easy to see how revenue will surpass costs and bring profitability. If the concept does not seem to reach this point in 3 -4 years, it will be a good sign to change it. This article helps explains all these further
Market Availability
A business needs a market to thrive. The market may already exist which is great or the idea might bring about the market which is what innovative concepts usually do.
The above are universal laws that apply to any business idea in any location. This is not any different in Alabama; a southeastern state in the United States that has an abundance of human and natural resources. A state whose industrial sector include aerospace, healthcare, education, automobile, manufacturing, financial services.
If you are a resident or newcomer to the state of Alabama, whether you are a beginner or you have started an enterprise already or struggling with it, you can get trainings and unique business ideas of Alabama from consultants who have vast experience in helping businesses in their ideation and development.
They can help you fine tune your ideas, generate new ones and if you’ve started already, train you on how to do things differently to achieve better results. No matter how good an idea is, its execution is of paramount importance. Without the right execution, carried out at the right time, a good idea can fail.