Ok so here they are. Ready?
1. Digging Where The X is
I go to a lot of these “entrepreneur meetup” kind of events where people with all kinds of businesses and business ideas go to chat and be around “like minded people”. And at them I hear about all kinds of ideas for new products and new businesses that these passionate people are trying to share with the world…
Many of which are just horrible.
I’ll be listening to a guy talk about his business idea and having this internal dialogue…
“Yep… ok… I can tell that you’re really passionate about this designer air freshener… But you realize NO ONE wants this right?”
“Oh no I get that it’s really creative… I can see you’ve put a lot of thought into the combination of scents… But you get that NO ONE else cares … right?”
It’s a problem and the problem comes from the mistaken idea that business is about YOU. It’s not.
Forget your interests. Forget your hobbies. Forget the creative little ideas that would solve your problems.
Having a successful business is about solving OTHER PEOPLE’S problems… not your own.
You find a group of people with a clear, stated problem, and the already existing desire and the means to solve it… and you can build a business. (In that sentence there’s a checklist for niche research in case you missed it… In fact that might be the best sentence I’ve ever written… justsayin’)
If it so happens that you are already a part of that group, then that’s a bonus. It shouldn’t be a prerequisite.
You dig where the X is. That’s all you do.
You go to where there is money already being made, and you start there. The more money is being made there the better, and the less other diggers there are the better… but that’s what you do.
You put up camp there, and you keep digging until you uncover your gold. Which brings me nicely to…
