Choosing The Right Side-Business Idea
Getting started is often the toughest part; knowing you want to take action and make a change but unsure which to choose, when and how.
The beginning is all about creating forward motion (and avoid getting stuck).
Would-be solopreneurs often fall into the trap of believing we have to “get it right” before start trying.
You can’t get it right without trying first (plus thousands of hours of constant improvement).
Ideas are about testing things out and learning as we go.
The more mistakes we make, the quicker we’ll find our winning ideas.
(Notice idea is, plural!)
Idea paralysis
From my experience, a lot of would-be solopreneurs get themselves stuck in the idea phase, usually due to 1 or more of the following:
Trying to find the perfect idea.
Too many and don’t know which to choose.
Too scared to try and fail.
Scared of “selling”.
The idea didn’t make sense because it was based on logic only.
…or they just gave up too easily.
From the outside looking in, I believe the biggest hurdle is we over-complicate this process.
Coming up with and testing ideas is a creative process.
You are supposed to come up with extreme, whacky, “unrealistic” things and you are supposed to fail, often.
(I recall my mentor telling me I wasn’t failing enough. It changed my business forever.)
If you’ve having trouble tapping into your creative nature, here are some tips:
Do what you used to do for hours as a child
Take a long walk
Do any form of exercise that you love
Speak to a friend
Play video games, listen to music or even colour a mandala.
Having a simple framework or guide to cultivating ideas is useful in the creative process can speed up results. Let’s discover what that looks like.
Idea Crafting Process
An idea is a possibility and nothing more unless you commit to it.
So it doesn’t matter what it is, no matter how strange, grand or improbable it may be.
Take out all the fear, emotion and doubt by putting on your researcher hat and begin investigating into what solutions you can create to the millions of problems out there.
If you’ve having trouble finding or coming up with ideas, try these:
Actively look and listen out for people’s problems (friends, spouse, club members, social groups)
Research best-selling items on major marketplaces
Explore local social media groups and see what people in your community are discussing
What do you complain about or wish for on a daily basis?
Ask people directly
Here’s my basic process for crafting a profitable side-business idea:
Block out a morning for brainstorming and write up every possible idea
Choose what’s easiest or most fun (Freedom First)
Commit to testing for 7 days (Gamification)
Set success metrics (Goal-setting)
Identify who can help (Support)
Decide steps required to start
Allocate time across the 7 days to action and analysis
Decide whether to develop further or try another idea and repeat process.
Idea due diligence
The framework is intentionally light and avoids over-analysing anything too much.
Our objective is to discover something that is needed, that people are willing to pay for and that you are happy doing.
If you can tick those 3 items off at the end of the 7 days, you may choose to go to the next step and do some market research to verify if it’s worth pursuing.
Bonus tip: Once this process becomes second nature, you can do this for multiple ideas eg 3 in 1 month and compare which is best based on the previous criteria.
Action
If your aim is to start making some extra income quickly, go for what already works and just do it better or in your own style.
An alternative is fix something isn’t working and sell that instead.
Follow the steps and send me your ideas.
Wishing you the absolute very best,
Stefano