Developing a good business idea is not that difficult. Everyone knows situations in which something might not work again, such as ordering a service.
Just being annoyed about it is the wrong way. Rather, there is room here for new and good business ideas. How many business deals have probably arisen from someone being dissatisfied with a service and simply wanting to do it better? Take a good look at what doesn’t work. As soon as you focus your perception on it, you will notice how many chances we have every day – it’s all a question of how we look at things. After all, anyone can complain!
It’s not just the ideas that make your step into self-employment successful. In fact, these make up only five percent of the success! Rather, it is the implementation and the processes that make a company successful in the long term. As always, the first step is important – only this will get the ball rolling. Probably today’s business ideas are not the business model of the next five years.
I learned from successful people who passed on their know-how within the organization and familiarized me with a certain philosophy of success. I was an entrepreneur with no financial risk, my only risk was the time I spent – the best starting point to gain experience.
I realized that people need reliable advice on what could and couldn’t be good investments. These include financial products that are not designed to maximize commissions, but create value and are sustainable.
This motivated me to found concept4future and turn my back on structured sales. I subsequently acquired stakes in other companies and helped build them up. I realized how many people need courage and support in this area. Above all, it was the part-time self-employed who couldn’t afford or didn’t want a consultant for several thousand Euros. Nevertheless, these people are looking for change and take all the risks associated with a company. They are people with good business ideas.
I have developed a checklist for you on how to develop and test good business ideas as quickly as possible. From my point of view, the success of a part-time self-employment also depends on your ability to make important mistakes without losing necessary resources. This not only includes money, but also time and know-how.
Choose a business in the three growth and development areas of the next decades
It makes sense to start in the following growth areas or long-term trends. The advantage is that customers proactively look for solutions here. The market is not yet saturated and therefore continues to develop. In the western world, this is a factor that should not be underestimated, since in our affluent society with largely saturated markets, the added value must be extremely high.
Here are the three big trends and markets of the next decades:
Health & Fitness
Relationship & Dating
Money & Business
Developing another app like Tinder not only costs a lot of money, the market is already occupied. A much smaller market like Speed Dating for French immigrants in Berlin, on the other hand, is not interesting for Tinder. In a city like Berlin, there are an estimated 1,000 French people a month who come to Berlin for the first time. These 1,000 people could never finance a company like Tinder. Even if each of the 1,000 people buys a product for 100 €, Tinder and his thousands of employees cannot make a living from it. Even with a turnover of one million euros a year, the corks will not pop there. Therefore, these small niches are not occupied by professional companies and you do not have to fear any competition from them. This is very important because a company like Tinder has both money and manpower. You can develop your business model undiscovered in these small niches, soak up money and know-how, establish successful processes and slowly enlarge your niche.
Form a Braintrust/Masterminds – The Power of Leading Minds
The power of the leading minds is one of the most important points. I have different people in my Mastermind group, but most of all it’s Michael and Paul. We have been a team for years and know each other from school. Why is it important to have the group of leading minds?
Feedback is a good starting point for working on one’s own self
In difficult phases they help with important motivation. Essential for brainstorming: Together you’re more creative and can spin around better. In case of financial bottlenecks they will stand by you and help you out.
When choosing the Braintrust you have to make sure that it is people who believe 100% in you and support you unconditionally. Also the group should not be out of tune with each other. This would be comparable to an engine that starts stuttering.
Get inspiration and travel to broaden your perspective
There is a saying that what works in America will work for us at some point. I would not limit it to the USA alone. Other states also produce innovations and think very progressively. For example, Sweden or Norway. From 2025 there will be a ban on the sale of internal combustion engines. This will force industry to produce products and develop good business ideas. If you have the opportunity, get going. Travel and never stop! It is important that you don’t walk on trampled tourist paths where you can always see the same thing.
A popular method is to import good business ideas. The best known importers of business ideas are the Samwer brothers. They created their first big startup Alando. Alando was a copycat (clone) of Ebay. Ebay was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar and floated in 1998 with a valuation of $1.8 billion. The business model behind Ebay was tempting. You organize a business without being a trader and you collect fees for it. No stock, no risks, no order – a classic platform business model. In 1999 the Samwer brothers decided to import the business model to Germany. Only 100 days after its foundation on 15 June. In 1999, the Samwer brothers sold the company to Ebay with 15 employees, 50,000 users and 250,000 completed auctions. The sales proceeds in shares at that time corresponded to approx. 90 million DM.
This was the starting shot for a number of other copycats, which were successively built up. The best known startup of the Samwer brothers, which is not a copycat, is Zalando. Because also the Samwer brothers developed themselves further and established successful companies such as Rocket Internet, Hello Fresh and other startups in the German market. All these well-known companies started with a thought or an idea.
