A good business idea blends your skills and passions to address an unresolved problem.
There are a lot of good ideas out there, but you need to find one you’re passionate about and will be able to stick with. This is important because this passion will help you weather the tough times as you start your business. (Imagine hating coffee yet having to taste-test it all day long for your coffee shop.)
After you’ve looked inward, look outward. Study the world around you – your job, daily life, hobbies, etc. What problems do you encounter that aren’t currently being solved? For example, let’s say you can’t sell your products directly to your consumers in your local area, you have to go through a middleman store owner to vet your product and that’s a problem. So you can set up an online storefront to get direct traffic from online and vet your product.
Your idea may sound really well thought out, but don’t worry about having a perfect idea at this point in time.
You don’t need to have your entire business plan and all the variables figured out before you start researching and defining your idea. Also, it’s completely fine if you have doubts and concerns about your idea. Right now you’re just evaluating if your doubts can be overcome, or if the business idea should be downgraded from “good” to “not worth my time.”
Once you have your idea, make sure there’s a market for it. You know it’s solving a problem YOU have but are there other people who also have this problem?
Check your search results, blog posts or forum threads from people who are looking for solutions your business idea provides. Do they mention any products or services that you can improve upon?
Your business idea doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. It just needs to solve the problem better than your competitors. To figure out how you can do this, list the ways you’d improve on what they’re currently doing(AKA list your key differentiators).
Your business also needs to be profitable, of course, so spend some time thinking about how your idea will generate enough money to be sustainable.
Finally, it’s important to get feedback on your idea.
Hope this post helps you find a business idea that’s right for you.