2. Niche / Problem (this is most
important)
Most businesses fix or help problems that
other businesses have not found a niche
in.
Go through the week with a notepad and
write down all the problem areas that you
find including the thoughts of “It would be
nice if their was a product or service for…”
No need to re-invent the wheel, there are
tons of wheels out in the world that still
need improvements.
3. Answer to the problem / Solution
Find a logical and meaningful answer to
the problem.
Make a niche market out of it, jump outside
the box.
Problems are hard to solve, if it was easy
everyone would be doing it.
Make the solution realistic, put yourself in
others shoes and be sure it would be
feasible for others.
Make meaning – Have;
goals, missions, value, stategy
4. Who would benefit / Market
KNOW who your market is!
KNOW who your market is not!
Explain target market and who would want
to use your solution to the unmet need
problem.
Why would they benefit, be realistic.
5. What type of business model? (llc, sole
proprietor, partnership, huh – what?)
Are you selling a good or a product? Are you
giving items away and not making a profit off
the items? (you can still ear an income).
Think of what bad could happen if the
business/solution/niche goes south. This will
help gain knowledge of what model and
protection is best fit.
Also think of how large the business might be-
Global? Small city?
Documentation, Risk, Management , and
Taxes are the four main differences in each
6. Business Plan
(failure to plan, is planning to fail)
What is your niche/solution again? Write it
down, main focus.
How much money will it take? Estimate high
and use real data.
How can this niche/solution be made?
Outsource? Employees? Only you? Once
again find data and use it.
How much effort do you want to put forth?
Work long hours for months for little to no pay
(yes this is real) to get things started? Or pitch
the idea and sell it?
7. Competition (similar types of products or services
you will be butting heads with)
For any part of your service or product
research to see who might be doing it
already or close to it.
More data you have on your competition
the better, know them inside and out.
SWOT –
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, an
d Threats. You need to know SWOT on
your business and others. Get to know
SWOT very well.
List at least 3 competitors, you have
8. Make a demo!
You will need to make some type of demo
for you good or service.
Main reasons for a demo – Will it work and
how much will it take to do a full
scale, does the idea really work after you
demo.
Demo can open more opportunities, write
down what worked and did not work well.
9. Finances (Money talk- If it don’t make dollars, it
don’t make sense)
Can you pay out of pocket for your
solution? Will it take other finances?
Look up other financial routes such
as, loans, grants, investors.
Does it make sense to you? Does it make
enough money to cover expense and pay
you back for all the hard work?
How can you redesign your model to help
with finances?
10. HELP!!! (there is help…use it!)
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Service Corp of Retired Executives
(SCORE)
Mentoring resources
Business incubators
Advisory boards and partners
If you don’t know what these are Google
them, tons of information about these
different types of help sources.
USE THEM!!!
