Ensayo

7 sourcews of business ideas
Business ideas are all around you. Some business ideas come from a careful analysis of market trends and consumer needs; others come from serendipity. If you are interested in starting a business, but don't know what product or service you might sell, exploring these ways of getting business ideas flowing will help you choose.
1) Examine your own skill set forbusiness ideas.
Do you have a talent or proven track record that could become the basis of a profitable business?
The other day I spoke to a man who had spent years managing cleaning services at a hospital. Today he runs his own successful domestic and business cleaning service. An ex-logger I know is now making his living as an artist; he creates "chainsaw sculptures" out of wood. And the examples ofprofessionals who have started their own agencies or consulting service businesses are legion.
To find a viable business idea, ask yourself, "What have I done? What can I do? Will people be willing to pay for my products or services?"
2) Keep up with current events and be ready to take advantage of business opportunities.
If you read or watch the news regularly with the conscious intent of findingbusiness ideas, you'll be amazed at how many business opportunities your brain generates. Keeping up with current events will help you identify market trends, new fads, industry news - and sometimes just new ideas that have business possibilities.
For instance, same-sex marriages are now legal in Canada. There are now also entrepreneurs who are selling tourist travel packages that include amarriage ceremony to same-sex couples from other countries. Would you have identified that business opportunity when you heard that the Canadian marriage laws had changed?
3) Invent a new product or service.
Think back 30 years ago. Was there a huge demand for anti-virus software, Internet Service Providers, or desktop computers? No! The key to coming up with business ideas for a new product or serviceis to identify a market need that's not being met. The clamor for ever-increasing security, for instance, has led to an explosion of new security products and services, ranging from iris-recognition machines through home security services.
Look around and ask yourself, "How could this situation be improved?" Ask people about additional services that they'd like to see. Focus on a particular targetmarket and brainstorm business ideas for services that that group would be interested in. For example, there are millions of aging gardeners across North America. What products or services could you create that would enable them to garden longer and more easily?
4) Add value to an existing product.
The difference between raw wood and finished lumber is a good example of putting a product throughan additional process which increases its value, but additional processes are not the only way value can be added. You might also add services, or combine the product with other products. For instance, a local farm which sells produce also offers a vegetable delivery service; for a fee, consumers can have a box of fresh vegetables delivered to their door each week.
What business ideas can youdevelop along these lines? Focus on what products you might buy and what you might do to them or with them to create a profitable business.
Really. Once you develop an entrepreneurial frame of mind, you'll see that finding business ideas is just as easy as finding leaves on trees. Here are more ways you can generate business ideas:
5) Investigate other markets.
Some business ideas aren't suited tolocal consumption - but appeal greatly to a foreign market. My own little town is surrounded by acres of wild blueberries. For years the bushes produced berries that mainly fed bears and birds; B.C. has a thriving blueberry industry that doesn't leave room for a wild blueberry market. But one entrepreneur realized that there is a high demand for products such as these in Japan - and those same wild...