Business ideas

I have blogged before about business ideas, when saying that to most successful people, having original ideas is unnecessary. They build on concepts and rules of business, as opposed to ideas.

Here’s a couple of ways to get a good business ‘idea’

1. Go overseas, or even just interstate. I have no doubt that the rest of the world - no matter where you live - is packed full of great businesses just waiting to be replicated in your home country. It could be a certain type of restaurant chain, a new model for car rental, a certain kind of eco-tour.

2. Find a model and transplant it into a different field. The best example I can think of is, in the case of England, a chain of curry houses and in Australia, takeaway Chinese restaurants.

I was in England in 1999 and the amount of Indian restaurants over there is quite simply stunning. Every village we passed through had one. English people love their curry. But as far as I could tell, there were no curry chains - anywhere! The supermarkets were climbing all over it, devoting entire sections to the stuff. That’s changing now - I read an article just two days ago in the paper which mentioned an Indian celebrity investing in a chain of curry houses in England. My first thought - finally!

So now the attention turns to Australia, which has a similarly ubiquitous amount of Chinese restaurants. Every food court has at least one, and most have two. They’ve survived the test of time Australia-wide. So where’s the franchise? Sure, there’s a noodle-chain fad. But as for your regulation lemon-chicken, beef-and-black-bean-sauce kind of place, nothing. Nada. I have had my eyes peeled for one for literally more than a decade now. They still do not exist. A franchise chain could smash the market right open Australia wide, especially in food courts. Think about it - What McDonalds did it to burgers, and Subway to sandwiches, one smart businessman will do to Chinese.

3. Steal someone’s idea. Ok, that sounds a little dodgy. But if you see someone attempting a good idea but doing it poorly, I don’t think you should feel any moral qualms about moving in on their territory. (I’m planning on doing just that later this year, actually.) A danger in this is that people often take faddish ideas without researching viability - there’s a whole bunch of car-share companies around the world right now who are burning cash because the initial start up looked successful. 
Further to this, Brad at www.Ideas2Earn.com posts up a business idea every day. Some are definitely viable, although he doesn’t really explore this beyond an eBay or Google search.