Gavin Tonks
WHAT is the right business idea for you, you may be asking yourself. Or you may have an idea that you think will be hugely successful, but will it really become a reality?
The important thing about business ideas is that you do not have to “re-invent the wheel” to make your idea a success. For instance, McDonald’s and Burger King did not re-invent a hamburger; they just found ways to make them faster and sell them quicker.
So what’s your idea? A new shopping experience, an app, a website, an innovative product?
Many people dream of the perfect business that will bring overwhelming wealth but, sadly, many will not see those dreams come true.
The reason for many ideas not finding its place as success stories is that we deal with two “business personalities” – the “salesman” and the “engineer”.
The salesman can sell anything. They can sells ice in winter – to anyone! But then there is no or very little delivery. They are so busy selling that they do not consider all the iffy bits. A classic example was Google Phone, which was sold online but when people needed help with problems, there was nowhere to go.
Salespeople are a cog in the complex environment that is a business, and few salespeople make it on their own in business. This is despite the fact that having a sales personality is critical to being a well rounded business person.
Engineers are the opposite of salespeople. They battle to sell the great value that they have created or what they can potentially offer. They are great at developing the best possible solutions, but they tend to overdesign their product or service to the point that they may have a perfect solution, but no customers buying it.
Successful entrepreneurs are good at combining these two personalities.
The entrepreneur who has a dream, a vision and passion will succeed when combining the personality of the salesperson with the personality of the engineer.
With the idea in hand, a successful entrepreneur will create a plan to achieve his or her business goals.
Every wave that knocks down an entrepreneur will see the true die-hard getting up again and coming back, this time with the proper tools.
True entrepreneurs know that every obstacle can be overcome if they want it badly enough. True entrepreneurs also know they can achieve their goals with well-planned, achievable, bite-sized steps within the concept of his or her overall vision. They will eventually stand there in the waves of disappointments and turn them to their advantage.
So look again at your list of potential ideas, write a couple of words for each in terms of what you think will sell. Spend some time in selling environments and see what people are buying. Take specific shops and see how long the stock sits on shelves before it moves. Then ask what it will take you to deliver and how you will be able to do this.
These steps are critical to the success of a business and not the success or exuberance of the idea alone. In this way, you can turn your idea into a reality.