Tag: new business ideas

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Where do you find the best business advice?

Sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Older dunes are reddish and larger, newer dunes are yellow-brown.
Sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Credit: Yathin S Krishnappa

A few months back I was advising an entrepreneur was eager to market his service to other small business people but his ideas to sell his Internet offering sucked. Rather than tell him so and risk hurting his feelings, I suggested that we would go speak to some prospects to find out what selling methods worked best with them.

A small business owner who had been running his deli business for a few years told the entrepreneur that the only marketing he would respond to would be direct contact. The entrepreneur needed to call him and let him know what he could do to help grow his business. Continue reading “Where do you find the best business advice?”

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The power of positive ideas

Rotten_tomatoesIn my posts I talk a lot about new ideas for start-ups, small business innovation and generally new business ideas that make things better.

Yet some people cook up ideas for their own wicked games. The process can be the same to come up with positive ideas as it is to generate negative ideas. Yet the intention is the difference between day and night.

Just think about the dirty rotten scoundrels who want to take your house, car, savings, and perhaps even your life.

Now, let me ask you this… have you thought about how certain people generate their big bad ideas? You may have but here are some negative ideas (yet seemingly positive) for those who can put a gun to your head: Continue reading “The power of positive ideas”

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Tales of horror from the zombie business survival guide

Source: Wikimedia commons
Source: Wikimedia commons

The other day I asked a supermarket employee the question, “Where can I get kebabs?” She didn’t say a word. She looked at me with glazed eyes without even acknowledging I was there. I repeated my question and this time she mumbled something – I didn’t recognise the language. It sounded like an ancient language from Transylvania. She walked away without a smile.

It suddenly hit me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Shivering in my shoes, I realised who I had encountered. A zombie service staff member had infiltrated this business and was operating under the guise of a customer service representative. Continue reading “Tales of horror from the zombie business survival guide”

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Is passion waiting to find you?

Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage route
Discovering one’s passion on the Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage route of 750 km

A friend who has been trying to find his passion went over to New Zealand and Australia for six months. He travelled in a camper van with his surf board and came back to South Africa with stories: travelling along scary roads up cliffs and in dense trees to surf spots, getting electrocuted leaning against a farmer’s cattle fence and even stumbling on a nudist beach by accident.

Yet after all his amazing adventures, seeing different lifestyles and meeting new people, he hadn’t found his hoped-for passion. You see, after years working in demanding corporate jobs and high-pressure sales promotions, he has taken time to figure out what he really wants to do. Continue reading “Is passion waiting to find you?”

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Find your low-cost start-up in your own backyard

sandwich
(Photo credit: roboppy)

With the economy as it is I’ve noticed that the newsstands have ordered more than the usual number of small business opportunity magazines. In some instances they have doubled their orders.

From the cover lines in these magazines, it’s clear that people who want to start a business of their own or who are looking for a ready-made biz-op are keen to find start-ups that are recession proof, allow the owner to work at home, run the business full or part-time and desire businesses that pay off big.

These biz-op  magazines cover ways to make money from pet stores, forex, DVD rental machines, fish and chip outlets, mobile food businesses and renewable energy opportunities.

The articles show people who have lost their jobs and have launched consulting businesses at home, stay-at-home moms who have made it big in on-line auctions and even a business person who is doing great in the sandwich chain business. Continue reading “Find your low-cost start-up in your own backyard”

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Do you want to come up with money-making ideas?

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you can generate your own ideas … and enough of them… you stand a strong chance of coming up with a potential money-making product or service. I say “potential” because an idea is worthless unless it is actioned and implemented.

Over many years, I have generated thousands of ideas. Ideas for start-ups, for people aspiring to start a sideline income venture to small businesses. I’ve seen ordinary people with no special business qualifications grow in a short time.

All with idea-generation techniques and methods that work.

Some say that the easy part is to generate ideas. The hardest part, much harder, is to develop and implement your great ideas.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that ideas are dime a dozen. And that they’re worthless unless implemented. But where I differ: there are proven ways to come up with better quality ideas (and in quantity) that can result in innovative products and services.

One more thing, it’s important. There’s a big misunderstanding about idea-generation … most people wait for ideas to come to them (and they may sadly wait years) rather than use proven idea-generation techniques to spur a torrent of great ideas.

If you’ve been reading www.ideaaccelerator.co.za, you know I rarely, if ever, sell my idea-generation services through my blog. Continue reading “Do you want to come up with money-making ideas?”

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Creativity sucks. Or does it?


English: Apple iPod mini grey.
Apple iPod (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world’s first mass-produced hardware MP3 player was created in 1997 by Saehan Information Systems, which sold its “MPMan” domestically in 1998. In mid-1998, the South Korean company licensed the players for North American distribution to Eiger Labs, which rebranded them as the Eiger MPMan F10 and F20. The flash-based players were available in 32 MB (about 6 songs) storage capacity.

Saehan was the originator and innovator of this breakthrough new product. But look what happened next. In 2001, Apple Computer unveiled the first generation iPod, with far more memory and a new business model. The company took a product already on the market and radically transformed it. The rest is history.

Researchers have found that imitating products and services can be even more valuable than inventing something new. A researcher who has delved into copycats found that almost 98% of the value generated by innovations is captured not by the innovators but by imitator.

Why’s this? Well, the original idea often faces a hard battle because of the investment it takes to educate potential customers about the benefits of the product or service. Then there’s selling and distribution which requires deep pockets. And without scale, which larger companies are usually much better equipped to handle, manufacturing costs keep the product at a high price making it accessible mainly to a high-end niche market. The costs of imitation are typically 60-75% the costs of innovation. MpMan F-10 (1997)

Pathfinders face the hardest road to market. This old saying pretty much sums it up: “You can always tell who the pioneers are because they have arrows in their back and are lying face down in the dirt.” Pioneers have arrows in their backs but fast followers often have the advantage. Half the pioneering startups entering new markets fail. Fast followers enter much later than the pioneers but achieve far greater sustainable success. Pioneers, who create new markets, generally end up with around 7% of the markets they create. Copycats secure the balance.

Continue reading “Creativity sucks. Or does it?”

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The dark side of disruptive technologies and innovation

Destruction Cover
Destruction (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Imagine a world in which there are no longer pimps and madams taking their middle cut of the business. Hard isn’t it? Well, some pundits believe these “jobs” will virtually disappear because of disruptive technologies and innovation. Craigslist and other online services, where workers can transact business direct with customers, will chop the middle person.

With the recession, job cuts and dynamically changing markets, many jobs have begun to go into decline or disappear. In the office, filing clerks, typists, telephonists and secretaries have been disappearing. So, too, have assemblers, metalworkers, toolmakers, sewing machinists and printers in the industrial and manufacturing sectors.

Over a long period disruptive technologies and innovation have all but wiped out microfilm professionals, photo lab technicians, photo-typositors, typesetters and stenographers.

Who’s next? Bookstore owners, bookbinders, meter readers, webmasters, flight booking agents, printers and print encyclopedia personnel?

Disruptive technologies and innovation can also lead to new jobs and careers. Some of the job titles predicted for the future may sound strange but think how weird web designer must have been for many in the 1990s. Green jobs may include a “cloud controller” (someone who helps clouds reflect solar radiation), “simplicity consultant” (a person who simplifies and streamlines processes, products and services in companies) and bioinformationist scientist (who combines genetic information with drug development and clinical techniques). Already bioformatician is a job description used in pharmaceutical companies. Continue reading “The dark side of disruptive technologies and innovation”

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How does a small business exploit disruptive innovation?

WikiWorld comic based on article about Disrupt...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve been hearing a lot about disruptive technologies lately … at conferences, from small business owners in the web hosting and web design business and companies seeking business advantage in green products.

We’ve all seen technologies such as microwave ovens, memory storage and the Internet change our world whether as consumers or in businesses.

What exactly are disruptive technologies and how does this term differ from disruptive innovation?

Disruptive technology refers to new technologies that provide better performance than existing technologies or replace them. A simple example is that of seven-single records that were replaced by CDs and then by MP3s.

Disruptive innovation is any innovation whether technological or a business model that leads to the creation of a new market. Another simple example: cars were a technological innovation initially but were expensive and a luxury. But the disruptive innovation came about through mass-production of low-cost vehicles, the Ford Model T being the first, which revolutionised personal transport.

Most businesses are focused on incremental improvements, making existing products better, rather than introducing breakthrough products and services. When these larger businesses introduce their improved products and services, they usually aim at selling to their demanding base of existing customers to keep them. Examples could be high performance cars, higher spec smartphones and photocopiers with fast speeds and print-like quality.

Continue reading “How does a small business exploit disruptive innovation?”

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What to do if Darth Vader rocks up at your brainstorming session

Star Wars - Darth Vader
Star Wars - Darth Vader (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How do you know when you have Darth Vader in your brainstorming session?

When everyone has clammed up, is afraid to speak up and scared that their ideas will be dissed.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” says Darth Vader, destroying the confidence of all timid souls and crushing your quieter participants.

“The force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet,” is bound to demotivate all but the strongest members of your team who may believe they have the “force” of innovation coursing through their veins.

Strong personalities can present a challenge to brainstormers. Especially when the strong personality dominates and puts other team members down. Continue reading “What to do if Darth Vader rocks up at your brainstorming session”