How to take a business idea forward?

While many people have great business ideas, a small percentage of those actually follow through on them.

You just came up with a great new business idea – so now what?

If you are intent on getting your idea off the ground, this article is for you! 

While coming up with great ideas isn’t easy, putting those ideas into action is much more difficult. In order to turn your dreams about the next best service or product into a tangible, valuable reality, you need to take the right steps.

Here are some steps you should take to refine and validate your idea before the big launch.

Talk It Out With Trusted Allies

If you have a business idea that you think has real potential, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with trusted associates for their help in refining and perfecting your vision, especially if they’re within your target market as a potential customers for your business idea.

Getting honest feedback, while sometimes painful, is an essential first step in turning your business dream into a reality.

Research The Market

Your product or service won’t get off the ground if there isn’t a viable market for it. Conducting a full market analysis will help you define your audience and size up your competition. It’s crucial to see how competitors are marketing their offerings, read reviews to gauge how satisfied customers are, and how your product is different (and better) from their offering. 

To build a solid foundation for your business, you must also define your target audience. Once you know and understand your potential customers, you can focus and target your marketing efforts on reaching and attracting them. 

Write a Business Plan

To start a business, you need a business plan. A business plan typically includes the executive summary, company description, products and services, market analysis, competitive analysis, organization and management description, marketing plan, sales strategy, request for funding, and financial projections. Turning an idea into reality requires hours of research, testing, planning, and strategy, not to mention patience and persistence. 

Analyze the Competitive Landscape

One of the most common mistakes of starting a new business is failing to analyze the competition properly. So make sure you have a clear understanding of who you are competing with and have a good picture of all the similar products and services existing in the market. By understanding your competitors more, you should be in a better position to create growth strategies that will work.

Find Your Unique Value Proposition

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what differentiates you from the competition. It’s likely that there are competing companies that offer similar products or services, or at least seem similar to the target audience that you share. However, consider all the details so you can find what you offer that nobody else does. It could be superior customer service, a feature of the product, or a certain level of support during non-traditional hours. It’s important that you’re able to articulate to your potential customer base about your UVP so you can convince them to purchase from you over other businesses.

Test your Prototype 

Prototyping is an essential early step in business planning. It allows you to test out whether or not your vision is feasible.

The prototyping phase is all about taking your business vision and making it real to test out whether or not real consumers will bite. Develop a first, basic version of your product or service. This is your MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Then, consider getting feedback from your customer or client base to make sure you’re on the right path with your business.

Take Action on Your Plan

While many people have great business ideas, a small percentage of those actually follow through on them. 

Once you have a strong idea of all of the steps outlined above, you’ll be ready to launch your business. Now is the time to build your company culture, and make it one with a can-do attitude, team collaboration, and empowered people with a constant focus on the customer. Also, your culture must be not afraid to pivot and adapt your plan as things change.

Own the Right Skills for Forming a Business

There are several skills and attributes you may find helpful to possess and develop to form a successful business, including:

• Perseverance
• Organization
• Commitment
• Negotiation
• Sales
• Communication
• Time management
• Problem-solving
• Attention to detail

Conclusion

If you have been struggling to figure out how to move from the ideation stage to the product development stage, you must check out the i2MF program. This program is for aspiring entrepreneurs who have already taken the first step of entrepreneurship – the thinking up of an idea – and are now looking to turn it into a sellable product. It will help you know your target market, target customers, and competitors better, and thus build your business model.