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Experts say with a little direction, many good ideas can be turned into money-making ventures. ADEMOLA ALAWIYE writes on how to make business ideas useful
Having a good idea is not enough to
think your prospective business will be successful. You need to come up
with a solid strategy to turn your idea into something that can make
money.
It is one thing to have an idea and
another to effectively act on it so as to positively impact your
business and society. Management consultants say to successfully turn an
idea into a business; one has to try certain measures to ascertain the
usefulness of such initiative. They note that the cost of implementing a
wrong idea in business is often expensive and may eventually lead to
the collapse of such venture. Below are some simple ways to turn an idea
into a business, according to experts:
Test the idea
The Managing Consultant, Linx Consult
Limited, Mrs. Bukola Adegoke, says an entrepreneur should always look
out for easy ways to test whatever idea he has before carrying it out on
a large scale. She states that you must find out really fast if an idea
would work. According to experts, if the idea is not feasible, the best
thing is to move on and find a new one. They advise that you don’t test
an idea with your friends. This is because you want to know whether
people will reach into their pockets and pull out cash in response to
your business initiative. This, experts say is the ultimate test.
Understand your target market
Your idea must take into cognisance your
market, experts say. This should be the first thing to know. It is
important you understand your market by knowing exactly where your
product fits, the difference which it has from other products, and
whether you can sell at the right price point in that category. Experts
say the ideal situation is to find a niche where everyone else has left
crumbs on the table and develop your idea.
Calculate production cost
To make an idea become reality often
requires certain cost, no matter how little this may be. As you shape
your idea, you must determine the cost of manufacturing your dream
product. You should be able to decide whether the product can be
manufactured at a price point where you can make profit. If you are
finding this tough to decide, you may contact contract manufacturers,
send over specs, find out if it can be made and the cost of making it.
Experts say to protect your idea, have manufacturers sign an
undertaking, or better still file a provisional patent.
Fix a competitive price
As you grow the idea into a product, you
must avoid overpricing this product. The Managing Director, Sotice
Investment Company Limited, Mr. Adedayo Toluwase, says if an
entrepreneur’s price is on the high side, he won’t be competitive enough
in the market. Experts say on the flip side, competing on price alone
is a losing battle you probably won’t win. They note that your profit
margin must allow you to compete day in and day out; if it won’t, move
on to another idea. Once you are not making money from the idea then it
is not worth continuing.
Gather feedback
You have to work hard to successfully
pull through in business, experts say. Once you have an idea and have
developed it into a product or service, you must make people know about
it and try to gather enough feedback. This can be achieved by stopping
at local retailers, going to regional trade shows and exhibiting your
product to people in a position to make decisions. When this is done,
you would have succeeded in pulling your idea forward instead of you
pushing it, experts observe. Smart people will tell you right away if
you have something market worthy or if you don’t.
Try the idea again
As stated earlier, before you go into
full production, you must test your idea. This can be done by setting up
a webpage that shows your product to a larger audience. You can also
take advantage of the social media to show the benefits of your product
and find ways to learn what people think.
Experts say the goal of this initiative
is to get a few genuine green lights that show you have something–or
enough red lights to show you don’t. And don’t worry about people
stealing your idea, experts says. Never operate based on fear. Eventual
success will be based on shelf space and customer service: getting
customers and retailers to love you.
Do another round of calculations before
you carry out the idea on a larger scale. The magic is in the ideas,
experts say. The means is in the numbers. Once you understand your
manufacturing costs you can put all the pieces together and decide if
you really want to take your shot or not.
Start small
We have discussed this principle many
times in our previous articles. You must learn to start small in
business as the risk associated with starting small is often minimal.
Sell one. Then sell two. Start small, learn about your product, see how
it looks at retail and determine changes you should make to packaging
and marketing, experts note. When you start small and stay close to your
customers, it’s a lot easier to make smart changes as you carry on in
the business.
Experts say with a small
idea it doesn’t take a lot of capital to start your business. Finding
the money to inaugurate your venture is not easy, so by starting small
you won’t end up with a garage full of unmarketable products. Start with
your local community before expanding to other regional markets.
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