Brainstorming Small Business Ideas

Written by

For some people, the idea is the first step toward starting a small business. It’s easy for them. In fact, the idea itself is probably what motivated them to start their own business. Others are not so lucky. The passion of an idea isn’t pushing you to pursue business. You want your own business because you love entrepreneurship, you want to work for yourself, you want unlimited growth and earning potential, you want to be in charge, or any number of other reasons. Unfortunately, your idea is lacking.

Don’t Trample Yourself in Pursuit of Money and Success

Don’t pick an idea quickly and rashly just because you want to get started. Yes, the sooner you start, the faster you’ll get there, but if you pick the wrong idea, there won’t be any there to get to. With the wrong idea, many things could go wrong like:

  • A lack of passion for your idea may result in lackluster effort on your part and therefore poor results
  • You could pick an over-saturated market you aren’t equipped to handle
  • You might not be fully prepared for what you’re taking on
  • Rushing on your idea means you might rush the whole process
  • A bad idea could frustrate you into giving up

I’m not saying you should spend hours and hours brainstorming ideas. You should manage your time efficiently on every part of your business. Being efficient is a strong and very useful quality to have as a business owner. However, your entire business is built on that initial idea. Choose it wisely.

What is Your Passion?

Some people tell you to turn your passion into a business. Others say not to mix business and pleasure. If you can get paid to do something you love, that’s a no brainer. Is it something you would do anyway even if you didn’t get paid for it?

Consider all your hobbies, things you enjoy doing, etc. Make a list of what you like to do. Don’t worry about the ideas being good enough. The purpose of brainstorming is to get your ideas down on paper.

What are You Good at?

Continue building on that list of ideas. Next, look at what you’re good at. You will probably notice that a lot of the things you are passionate about are things you’re good at. It only makes sense that you enjoy things you excel at. Write down any new ideas.

What Could You See Yourself Doing?

There may be industries, hobbies, books, or other things you have showed interest in but have never pursued to the point where you would know if it was something you were good at or passionate about. For example, maybe you’ve always found photography fascinating but never pursued it. You find it interesting even though you have no idea if you’re any good at it. Write those down, too.

The Tried and True

There are lots of existing business models that succeed time and time again. Nothing new, just ideas that succeed because the demand will always be there. You don’t need to come up with something new and innovative for it to work. Even seemingly ‘stale’ ideas could become a passion for you. It all depends on how you develop them. Write down those that interest you most and don’t overlook the potential.

Problems

Have you ever noticed problems that people have, either in your community or everywhere? People get frustrated with problems all the time. In fact, many of those people would pay you if you promised to fix it for them. If you see a need, fill it. These are often great ideas because they have built-in demand and no competition.

Take on a Critical Eye

Once you have an extensive list of ideas, interests, hobbies, and solutions to common problems, look at it critically. Cross out anything that you know you will never use. Narrow down your choices to as few ideas as possible.

Next, consider the business practicality of each. In other words, which ones could actually be turned into a business? Think carefully and spend some time on each one. You’d be surprised at what you can think of. Do some research online to see what businesses may already exist concerning your ideas.

Combinations

Don’t be afraid to mix and match. Some ideas could be combined. For example, you could turn a common business idea like a boutique into something more by selling unique items that pertain to your other hobbies and interests. Solve a problem with one of your hobbies. This step is a creative process. Don’t be afraid to sound silly. Your silly idea could be a crazy success.

Eventually, you will come up with an idea or ideas you love. Try them out. See what’s already available. Conduct surveys to test the market. Who would be interested in your product or service? Continue developing your idea until you’ve turned it into a gem that you can develop into a successful business.

Samantha writes for Teen Money Central about many money making and small business ideas.

Why Every Small Business Needs A Business Process Documentation Template

Written by

In order to ensure that employees at an organization are all on the same track it is important for the business owner to streamline processes within the company regardless of the budget or scale of the enterprise. For the business to truly be successful and flourish the owner must be prepared to make this streamlining a priority.

Using templates simplifies & standardizes

It is crucial that every employee be offered equal stakeholder rights which would come about through standardizing and documenting processes. Many organizations have chosen a business process documentation template that will simplify work and help teach these important processes to the employees.

A business process document is meant to establish a set of rules that must be followed in order to fulfill the many responsibilities of the organization. The document provides a comprehensive overview of all the processes that must be adhered to. With this strategy, confusion is eliminated and a certain level of standardization is achieved. After these processes are standardized strategies are sought on how to improve them.

Sourcing templates

This is the point at which a process improvement template will greatly benefit the organization. Senior managers typically are the ones to handle the process improvement template. Due to their position in the high ranks of the organization they understand best how the company operates and what changes would likely increase profits.

You can find plenty of MS Word templates freely on the Microsoft website. These may form the basis of process flow/rules documentation. You should however customize these for your own context. Each company is different, with varying team set ups, meaning your processes have to be custom fit for your circumstances.

Main benefits

A great advantage to using templates for processes include standardization ease of updating time saving and flexibility. This way it is a lot easier for the organization’s top decision makers to regularly review set processes and also to make frequently make changes in the business process documentation template. Doing so would eradicate stagnancy and improve processes.

You also make it easier for new joiners in your firm to get to grips with operational procedures & processes. If a process can be easily defined and documented then it is more likely to be used by the staff. This is especially the case if team members are allowed contribute to the process document itself. Ultimately thought the team managers take the final editing & approval role with all documentation to ensure the operations are in keeping with higher level company goals.

The template’s function is extremely important to small businesses who rely on their every client engagement and deal. For example, in Sales departments making an effort with the templates will allow a small organization’s sales team to offer an equal standard of service to each client and to increase their leads. This is especially beneficial when experienced staff can document those techniques that work in the field and therefore be applied by junior team members.

Remember: You don’t need to document every single process and operation in you firm. Focus on the ones that are most critical to the smooth running of the business (e.g. product quality control) and to bringing in profits (e.g. sales process steps).