The Greatest Business Ideas in the World.
Where to start and what to look at
Over the years, one question that people still ask me is: How do I start a “certain type of” business? Feel free to replace “certain types of” with any sector or technology that captures your interest so you can get a full picture.
The problem with such a question is the thought process. You see, the hardest thing for people to accept is that businesses are created to solve problems in people's lives. Technological groups (commonly known as sector or "industry") are simply ways to classify the specific enablers that have allowed for certain groups of problems to be solved for the benefit of society.
Let's take an example: Coca Cola.
As big as the brand is now, once upon a time, Coca-Cola was a startup company that was trying to solve the problem of stomach aches and diseases. It was invented by a pharmacist as a health tonic during the first industrial revolution in America.
During this time, Americans left in droves from the countryside to expand cities in search of employment opportunities. However, a lot of the comforts we now take for granted did not exist. One major enabler and comfort for the modern age, electricity, was not a mainstream product. This meant that all the food that could go bad did.
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The high cost of food at this time meant that most people opted to eat this half-bad food instead of throwing it away. The consequences of doing so were multiple health issues, spanning all sorts of stomach pains, diseases, etc.
All problems evolve over time.
As a health tonic, Coke was sold in pharmacies at first. However, an opportunity arose with the introduction of prohibition across the states. A lot of these health tonics (now carbonated soft drinks) were sold in bars instead, allowing people to still socialize and have some refreshments.
The duration of prohibition allowed this brand to be associated with “good times,” and the various owners of the Coca-Cola Company expanded the brand based on this association with every happy moment in people's lives, including a Coca-Cola.
Finding the right customers
A lot of people, books, and business information references tend to talk about markets and segmenting said markets into sub segments and niche markets. While this knowledge is all true, the complexity of language at times limits our ability to get moving on solving problems at different moments in people's lives.
That is how you find the right customers. Find the moments in people's lives that they would like to improve to get better experiences. The more moments there are that one particular solution (this includes its variations) can solve for, the more opportunities there are for the birth of the greatest business ideas in the world!
