If you have decided to start a business but are not yet sure what business to start, there are some key things to consider. One of the biggest things to take a look at is whether or not people will buy into the business. It doesn’t matter if you plan on offering a service or if you will be selling products. If it is something that people cannot buy into or believe in enough to take part in, you will not have a successful business. These are the types of things you need to consider when starting a business. However, how do you know that people will buy into your idea? There is no sure-fire way to determine this but there is a way to create an educated guess.
Survey Friends and Family
If your friends and family fall into the target market for your product or service, it would be smart to ask them what they think about it. Would it be something they would buy? Why and why not? By asking these questions, you can get into the minds of people that you ideally would target for your good or product. This can be tricky, however, since your friends and family may sugarcoat the answer so they can avoid hurting your feelings. You would need to ask them for 100% honest feedback about the product or service idea. However, it is never a bad idea to take a look outside of your circle for some feedback.
Survey Strangers
Many of the larger companies take time to ask people in their target market about potential products and services before investing a lot of time and money into it. If the big companies take the time to make sure their idea is a good one, then it would be smart for everyone else to do it as well. It can actually be a lot easier than it seems as well. You do not need to hound people in the stores to try your product or give you feedback. In this technology driven age, it is very easy to post a question in a forum or even in a Facebook group and solicit free feedback. Many people love to give their opinions on these kinds of things so it will not be difficult to have them answer a question or two. Their feedback will be raw and unfiltered which means that you can trust that it is honest.
Don’t Get Discouraged
If the feedback you get is not as positive as you were hoping, then do not get quickly discouraged. If this happens, use it as a learning experience. Just because you think something is a great idea does not mean that everyone else will think the same thing. Using this process to ensure you are creating a business idea that is successful will help you more in the long run than if you were to start a business that no one is interested in. Take a note from Catherine Hooper who has created a business for people who like to plan for disaster and the unexpected by selling things such as solar powered batteries and other preparedness gear. The ideas are out there, you just need to find them and execute them.