Entrepreneurial Tips for Your Own Business
This link has been created to offer helpful hints to entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting their own business or who already own businesses. Each quarter, this page will feature an entrepreneurial advice column written by Dr. Sandy Weinberg for Small Business Opportunities magazine.
Spring 1999
WHERE TO FIND GREAT IDEAS
Most successful new businesses start with a great idea: a new product, new solution, new method of marketing, or new method of distribution. But don't despair if you haven't had a "eureka!" inspiration yet -- there are great ideas to be found if you just know where to look. Here are four treasure maps that might help.
1. Travel to another culture. If you can't afford a trip to Europe or Asia, try a suburb, inner city, or farm community. The new culture, foreign or local, may provide a direct idea: In Holland, iced tea is usually made with sparkling rather than still water. In sushi bars in Kyoto there is a strong light device used to detect parasites in fish. Graffiti in downtown Philadelphia has inspired a new line of greeting cards. And even if your cross cultural experience does not lead to the discovery of a new product or service ida, looking at your own culture through the eyes of a traveler may inspire new marketing ideas: the kiosks of Stockholm may spark an idea for promoting your business concept!
2. Move across specializations. What tools and cements from a dentist's office could be useful to home hobbyist? How could the customer management techniques of a fast food restaurant help improve traffic flow in a bank? How could the filter system of a home aquarium help improve air quality for athasmatics? Moving a product or service from from realm to another can often create a great new idea!
3. Visit a historical museum. Does the butter mold of the last century inspire a new may to market jello or ice cream? Ever since Levi-Strauss' great 1980's success with button-fly jeans the value to looking backward to get new ideas has been clear. That out of fashion method of cooking may be next year's blackened tuna restaurant fad!
4. Watch the news. Concentrate on secondary effects: if you weren't the news maker, the primary effects are probably already cornered. But how will that new highway system impact on demand for new housing? If a series of jet crashes scare consumers, what new markets are opened by increased train travel? If the government approves deregulation of a new industry, see what gaps or opportunities that change creates.
These strategies ought to provide a starting point for generating ideas that can be evaluated according to the criteria of ethicality (and legality), market, interest, and profitability. The secret is to keep looking around you, to keep looking for and making new combinations, and to use these observations as the launching boards for your next multi-million dollar business.
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Dr. Sandy Weinberg is the Director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Entrepreneurship, located in Allentown, Pa., and the Entrepreneur in Residence at the College. He has combined an academic career in Biomedical Science and Information Systems with an entrepreneurial career in the biomedical and biotech industries.
Dr. Weinberg is available on line at weinberg@muhlberg.edu .
