A few weeks ago I had breakfast with an old friend and asked him about a friend of his who had for many years searched for the “perfect business”. I was curious whether this business person had found the “perfect” business. My friend said that his friend had been successful at a small manufacturing business for several years until he went to live elsewhere and left the business to be run by a manager. Trouble happened with the manager and eventually the business had to close down. His friend is now trying to restart the business.
But the problem is that in the intervening time, which is about two years, the gap in the market has been closed by similar small manufacturers. Now it is going to be difficult to compete against these new competitors. It’s the old story where when a retailer stocks one brand of a product, they usually don’t want to sell another two different brands which essentially provides the same product performance. You see this all the time in supermarket chains where they have cut back brands to only stocking the brand leader, maybe number two brand and their own house brand.
Some believe an online business is the perfect thing. The Internet has provided opportunities for small business owners and start-up founders to run businesses at lower cost and with a potential larger market than, for example, a retailer on main street, which really can only cater for their local area. The Internet is good for marketing your business and even operations. You can automate many of your processes online including purchases, payment and fulfilment. Yet because the Internet is home to so many online businesses, it is challenging to make potential customers aware of your product or services. You can do it but it requires extraordinary skill in knowing how to attract potential customers and close them online.
My friend suggested that one business that is near-perfect is a seed export business. A botanist was looking for a way to make an income outside of the city because he had decided to leave the city and go live in the countryside. He came up with the idea to export succulent seeds. He was fortunate because he had a contact in a large country overseas who he knew well. This contact sells the seeds in the foreign country. The seeds themselves are of high value but only need to be shipped in small packages which makes them ideal for an export business. This online export business is doing well and without going into it into much detail is close to a “perfect business”.
A new book will soon be available that will show you how to come up with new business ideas, turn them into viable products or services and market as well as sell. It’s called “Breakthrough Ideas”. It doesn’t promise to provide you with a recipe for the “perfect business”. But it will show you the best methods possible for taking your promising idea and turning it into a viable income-generating venture. Whether your product or service will succeed is really up to you but this book gives you a fighting chance. If you want to put your name on the priority notification list, then shoot me an email.
