Business opportunities are everywhere.
Ambitious individuals are starting new
businesses today at a faster rate than ever before. New
enterprises are being launched each year, and the rate is accelerating.
The opportunities for finding or developing new business ideas are all
around you, and with proper preparation, the possibilities for your
success are enormous.
As many as 80 percent of all the products and services in common use
today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be
obsolete in five years. They'll be replaced by new and better products
and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of
people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you
can start your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.
However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the
first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is
managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an
inability to control costs or both. Another major reason for failure is
offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the
wrong time, or a combination of these. In which case, even the best
marketing efforts and cost controls won't help you.
The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service
is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a
problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work
of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.
The second principle for success with a new product or service is that
it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition
with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a
unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or
attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.
This area of uniqueness is central to success in
business. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique
and superior to any other product or service like it.
There is seldom
any real opportunity in what is called a "me too" product -
one that is just the same as all the others. At the same time, the
safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that
you can improve.
In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new
business or industry, start off with something that people are already
doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve
it.
Determine exactly what is
different and special about your product or service that will cause
people to buy it in competition with similar products or services. Build
your entire sales and marketing around this unique selling proposition.
Investigate before you invest.
Be prepared to look at a variety of different business opportunities
until you find one that really excites you before you make a decision to
get started.
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