3 Ways To Know If Your Business Idea Will Work

There are a lot of people these days who advocate for the idea of doing what you love; of taking your passions and strengths to come up with a business idea and turning it into a successful business.

As a coach for people who are dissatisfied with their jobs and looking for clarity on what it is that they really want to do, I myself tend to be one of these advocates.

However, I know that looking at your strengths and passions is simply a starting point to generating business ideas. Once you have a business idea, it’s important to know whether or not they will actually work in the real world.

Having passion for your business idea is great, and will most likely be super important to the success of your business. However, it’s not enough to ensure success in itself.

Before I started the business that I have now, I had lots of different business ideas floating around in my head – all ideas that were based off of things I was passionate about.

I started a few of these businesses (like making and selling hula hoops, or selling online speed-reading guides), and they never took off.

Not even close.

Now, looking back on it, I realize that I jumped into these businesses without having any idea if they would actually work. I simply randomly selected one of the many ideas floating around in my head, and crossed my fingers.

So if you’re at the point where you have several ideas for what kind of business you want to start, and you’re not sure which of them will actually work… read on!

Will my business idea work?

Below, I am outlining 3 ways to know whether or not your business idea is likely to work before you put the time and energy into creating it, or testing it out.

1. Is it obvious?

For some ideas, it will be fairly obvious whether or not the business idea will work by doing some basic research.

For example, say you want to open an Internet Cafe in downtown San Francisco. Look into how many people are using their Smartphone’s in the city, or how many people go without Internet access.

Another thing to explore here is whether or not there are other people doing something similar to what you want to do, and how successful they are at it.

For example, say you want to become a relationship coach for people who are desiring to find their soul mate. You probably already know (or can find out easily online) that there are plenty of people out there who are running this type of business successfully. Therefore, it’s likely a viable business idea.

**Note: If you know there are other people doing what you want to do successfully, this is a great sign! From that point on, it is a matter of figuring out what makes you unique, or how you can add more value, among other people offering something similar.

2. Talk to people

Sometimes, another brain is all you need to set your idea straight!

Talk to everyone and anyone you can about your idea, and gain feedback through these conversations.

If people you don’t even know tell you your idea is great, that’s the best feedback you can get! So talk to people at the grocery store, at networking events, and anywhere else you might fancy.

Talking with friends/family/acquaintances and asking them for their feedback is also really helpful here.Sitting down with them and specifically asking for their honest feedback is important, as it might happen that the people in your life want to support you by saying they support your idea (even if they don’t think it will work!).

The example of opening an Internet Cafe here is a great one. With the rise of individualized laptops, Smartphones, and an abundance of coffee shops providingwi-fi, chances are your friends and family would give your head a good shake around this idea!

On the flip side, it’s important to not let your amazing idea be shot down by friends and family who are sceptical, jealous, or let their own lack of belief in themselves be projected on to you. So use your intuition here, and don’t rely on this method alone!

3. See what people are searching for online

There’s a few different ways that you can find out what people are already searching for online:

• Start typing something into the search bar in Google Chrome, and see what common searches pop up below.
• Use the Google Adwords Keyword Planner. This is a free tool created by Google to help people out with Google Ads. However, it’s also super useful for anyone interested in what people are searching for online.
• Find out what kind of books people are searching for on Amazon. Learn how to do this here.

If searches related to your idea are coming up frequently, then chances are, your idea is likely to work!

Final Thoughts

Now, be warned: it can be easy to get stuck in this phase of business creation, throwing around different ideas and wondering which of them is “the ONE”.

Don’t let this get in the way of actually starting a business!

Go through the steps outlined in this article, and give yourself a deadline to make a decision on the perfect business idea and get started with your business!

Because this world needs what you have to offer!