Great Ideas, the Foundation of Successful Businesses

Successful businesses are built on solid ideas

In my close to four years of studying top world successful businesses to finding out what made them successful, a factor I have continued to identify that form the base for their success is the quality of the ideas behind their formation.

This is where the line is drawn between those businesses that would succeed and those that would go out of business no sooner than they started. Every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur has a business idea they believe would be successful. So, they set about as true entrepreneur that they are putting in all the resources they could muster, including taking loans and investing their life savings.

They hoped they would smile eventually when their product or service hits the market. But sad to say, this hope soon turns into disappointment for many when their "great" product or service is rejected by customers. No matter how they try using the best marketing tactics and strategies, the product or service could at most only sell one or two and that"s all. People just aren"t willing to part with their money for it, even if you put a gun in their head - it wasn"t a great idea after all! And what a price to pay for such knowledge!

Now am sure you are itching to ask me how you could know if your business idea would be successful or not before committing your resources to it. I will tell you. Here are some food for thought to help you consider your business ideas to know if they will make it or not.

Is the idea novel?

If it is a novel or new idea, that"s simply excellent. The chance of the business succeeding is high if it"s offering a new product or service than is presently available in the market. However, this new product or service should not be difficult to obtain, use or apply.

If you are not offering a new product or service, then it means there are already businesses in that market. So how do you hope to compete against them? Is your product or service distinct from the rest? If yes, what makes it different? What innovation or additional value are you providing?

The more your business is looking like the market leaders, the less chance it will succeed. This is because you will be competing directly against the market leaders. You will be trying to knock them off the position in the consumers" minds they have been occupying for long. Even if you combine the muscles of Sylvester Stallone and Anold Schwarzenegger, you may not be able to achieve this. Worse for you, they could just decide to squeeze you out of business because they have enormous resources in their disposal.

Am not trying to scare you, but take my advice: if your business is not novel, make sure you avoid competing directly with the market leaders, don"t look like them. Differentiate yourself and find a niche to operate.

What is the size of your market?

How large is the population of those who you are targeting to buy from you? Are they large enough to sustain the business? How often will they use your product or service and what drives or compel them to buy? Is this strong and also sustainable?

Can you produce cheaply?

This is also an important factor to consider to know if your business will be successful or not. As a start-up, it will be good for you to sell at a lower price than the competition without compromising value of course. But you will not be able to do this if you cannot maintain a low cost of production. Therefore, if this idea does not enable you produce at low cost, your chance of attaining success in the business may be slim.

You see, pricing is very crucial to business success, especially when you are dealing in consumables. People are more willing to try out a product if the price does not tear their pocket. And it"s when they have tried your product that they can become customers.

Innocent Ibhaluobe (Success Coach)