The founder of Liquid Paper, Bette Graham, came up with an idea while watching painters decorate Christmas Windows at the bank where she was a secretary. She came up with a way to correct typing errors but had to work five years while sending her product from home. She mixed up different colour paints with a kitchen blender until she was able to come up with a suitable product which essentially was correction fluid. After being fired by her boss because of the mistake she couldn’t correct, she started out full-time and grew her business into a large company.
People ask how long is it going to take to get my new business idea off the ground. If it is a relatively simple product such as a sauce based on an old family recipe, then it might take a couple of months. If it is something new like Liquid Paper, something that has not been available before on the market, then it may take several years.
This is not to put you off taking your new idea and developing it. Not at all. But it’s a lot more honest than what so-called business experts out there will lead you to believe. There is an old rule of thumb that says things take three times as long as you would originally have thought and cost twice as much. But this is an old saying, really. Instead of six months it could take you six years.
Do you have the passion, drive and ambition to stay with your new business idea, develop it and see it through to fruition over many months or years? When you first start out, you are fired up and full of enthusiasm. But how long and how far will this inner energy take you?
Even if you had unlimited resources including money and people to help you, starting something from scratch is still going to take a lot of time. In developing a new business idea, you will inevitably need to go through definite steps such as idea generation, idea selection, prototyping, developing your product or service, preparing business plans, distribution and marketing and selling.
But most people who start something of their own on the side have limited resources. They have to find out low-cost, easy ways to develop their idea into a material product or service. The business adviser gurus will tell you that they have quick and easy methods to help you develop your business idea but unfortunately they are no short cuts.
If you think you have the time to come up with a promising business idea or develop one that you’ve yearned to bring into the world for years, then you may want to take a look at “Breakthrough Ideas”. My book doesn’t have any quick and easy methods for turning a business idea into a viable product or service, nor does it have shortcuts. But it will show you a clear pathway on how to go about turning your business idea into a real product or service that may well serve you for the rest of your days and beyond.
