Kategori: Start Ups

Carving out a niche in the marketplace is crucial to survival. Here’s how to evaluate your chances of success.

Many people have great ideas, but their businesses flounder in the marketplace because there really isn’t an audience for their product og service. In this second installment of our 10-part series to help you launch a business, we’ll help you evaluate your big idea.

Of course, thorough research will help support expectations about a business’s success as well as uncover any potholes in your thinking.

Start now by asking yourself these questions:

• What problem does my product or service solve?
• Who will buy my product or service?
• Why will they buy it?
• Where will they buy it — specialty shops, department stores, online, smartphones?
• What do I need to charge to make a healthy profit and will people actually pay that?
• What products or services will mine be competing with?

Wal-Mart and Tiffany’s are both retailers, but they have very different niches: Wal-Mart caters to bargain-minded shoppers, while Tiffany’s appeals to upscale jewelry customers.

To find out if your business idea has a chance of succeeding in the marketplace and to help you create an effective marketing plan, you’ll need to do more than just answer the questions listed above. You’ll also need to conduct more formal market research.

It’s a good idea to meet with an advisor or a mentor, these sources can offer guidance and help you decide exactly what information you need to gather.

Generally, you’ll need to collect information on three crucial aspects of your business:

• industry information
• target market
• your competition

If you’re really serious about starting a business,  The Entrepreneur Magazine´s guide will help turn your vision into a reality.

Begin a soul-searching process to determine which business is right for you. You’ll definitely have an advantage with a business that’s a spin-off of your background or experience. You can also enjoy success in an area where you have strong interest yet lack experience, though you may need to qualify yourself through entrepreneurial training or professional certification programs.

Jot down the skills that already exist in your talent bank. What do you like to do with your time? What technical skills have you learned or developed? Do you have hobbies or interests that are marketable?

It might help to create a personal resume that lists your professional and personal experiences as well as your expertise. For each job you list, describe the duties you were responsible for and how successful you were at each. Be sure to include professional skills, educational background, hobbies and accomplishments that required expertise or special knowledge.

Don’t forget the personality factor. Are you outgoing and friendly or do you prefer to keep to yourself? Do you like working indoors or outdoors? Do you enjoy working with the general public or with a few close clients? Do you love working 24/7 on an exciting project, or do you enjoy your downtime as much as your work time? Every business has its own personality, and your own personality should be a complement to the one you finally choose.

As you probably know already am I very interesting and also train a lot of people who is potential entrepreneurs. And therefor I read a lot of magazines on that subject, and entrepreneur.com is one of the best. They are having an article in their latest issue for start ups about how to start a business in 10 days.

I would like to share it with my readers, I am sure a lot of you see that as an opportunity. But I find ten days some hectic and take it in ten weeks instead.

Starting up next monday, the 8. of august. Stay tune.