The Executive Suite: How to Come Up With a Business Idea

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Wondering how to come up with a business idea? Well, business ideas are all around you. Some 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 coming up with a business idea will help you choose.

1) Examine your own skill set for business 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 is now making his living as an artist; he creates "chainsaw sculptures" out of wood. And the examples of professionals who have started their own agencies or consulting service businesses are legion.

To find a viable business idea, ask yourself, "What marketable skills and experience do I have? 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 watch the news regularly with the conscious intent of coming up with a business idea, 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, after same-sex marriages became legal in Canada entrepreneurs began selling tourist travel packages that include a marriage 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.

The key to coming up with business ideas for a new product or service is to identify a market need that's not being met. For example, back in 2004 a Harvard University psychology student named Mark Zuckerberg recognized a need for a campus-wide social-networking website that would allow students and staff to share personal profiles and other information. He went on to develop Facebook and became one of the youngest billionaires in the world.

The explosion of mobile devices has created a huge demand for mobile apps. In 2008 a pair of young entrepreneurs named Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had trouble hailing a cab in Paris. They decided that you should be able to tap a button on your mobile phone and get a ride, and as a result went on to found Uber.

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 target marketand brainstorm 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? Finding a niche market and exploiting it is one of the best paths to success in business.

4) Add value to an existing product.

The difference between raw wood and finished lumber is a good example of putting a product through an 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 you develop 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.

5) Investigate other markets.

Some business ideas aren't suited to local 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 blueberries are now being harvested and shipped. Finding out about other cultures and investigating other market opportunities is an excellent way to find business ideas.

6) Improve an existing product or service.

You know what they say about the person who builds a better mousetrap. That person could be you! A local entrepreneur has created an improved version of the hula hoop; it's bigger and heavier so hula-hoopers can control it more easily and do more tricks. How did she come up with this idea? She thought hula hooping would be a fun thing to do with her daughter, but found the commercially available product too flimsy.

There are very few products (or services) that can't be improved. Start generating business ideas by looking at the products and services you use and brainstorming ideas as to how they could be better.

7) Get on the bandwagon.

Sometimes markets surge for no apparent reason; masses of people suddenly "want" something, and the resulting demand can't be immediately met. For example, during the SARS epidemic, there was an insatiable demand for facial masks in several countries - and many entrepreneurs capitalized on the demand.

A "bandwagon effect" is also created by larger social trends. There is much more of a demand for home-care services for the elderly than is currently being supplied. And the trend for pets to be treated as family members continues, creating demand for all kinds of pet-related services that didn't exist decades ago.

Look at existing businesses and the products and services they offer and determine if there's a need for more of those products or services. If there is, develop business ideas to fit the market gap.

Tips for Coming Up With a Business Idea

Are you brimming with ideas for starting a business now?

Write your ideas down. Let them swirl around in your head and coalesce. And keep an open mind and continue to assess everything you read and hear from an entrepreneurial point of view.

You don't want to run with the first business idea you think of; you want to discover the idea that's best suited to your skills and desires. Dream, think, plan - and you'll be ready to transform that business idea into the business you've always wanted.