Tag: small business ideas (Page 2 of 2)

5 Ways to Find an Idea for Your Own Small Business

February 11, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know how to find a small business idea?

I am also an expert contributor at the #1 women’s lifestyle website, SheKnows.com, read by more than 40 million women each month, and here is my first article for them (plus you can read it below): 5 Ways to Find an Idea for Your Own Business.

Do What You Like to Do (And Are Good At)

Everyone will tell you to follow your passion, but I like to add to that; it also has to be something you’re good at. For example, a lot of people love to sing, but if they are not good at it they won’t earn a living doing it. So find what you love to do and are good at, then determine if there is a way to make money doing it.

Listen To Those Compliments

Sometimes the best way to find out what you are good at is to listen to what people compliment you on. Maybe it is your sense of style, your cooking or your photography skills. If they like it, chances are other people will too.

Look At Your Own Needs

Another great way to find an idea for a business is to look at your own recent needs for a product or service. Were you unable to find what you wanted? Maybe others are looking for the same things you are. Where there is demand, there is opportunity.

See What People Are Searching For

Go to one of the question and answer websites like Quora, and type in “where can I find x.” The results are fascinating, everything from “where can I buy a stylish bike helmet?” to “where can I find someone to practice Spanish with?” You can even narrow it down to the city you live in, for example, “where can I find x in Seattle?” It’s a great way to get an idea of people’s current wants and needs and see if you can build a business around it.

Read Product and Business Reviews

An interesting way to find an idea for a business is to read reviews of products and services on sites like Amazon and Yelp to see customer complaints about the ways these businesses are lacking. Capitalizing on a popular product or service’s weaknesses presents an opportunity for you.

If you have the entrepreneurial spirit, chances are there is a small business idea right for you; you just have to find it.

On my blog I focus on giving advice to help market and promote your small business. However, over at SheKnows.com I will be writing about topics related to starting and running a small business or becoming an entrepreneur, so I hope you will follow me over there!

Also read: 54 Small Business Ideas for 2022

Be sure to download my best-selling How to Start a New Business Planner.

New Product Ideas: Ways to Find Inspiration for

April 16, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Looking for new product ideas? Everyone wants to come up with that next great product. So how do you find the innovator in you and either start or identify that next big trend? Try these tips to get inspired.

Find Inspiration in Commercial Establishments

I’m sure you have noticed the huge “chalkboard trend” the last few years, whether it is in home decor products or wedding products or graphic design, do you wonder how it got started? Think of the proliferation of Starbucks and other coffee shops and how they turned their everyday chalkboard menus into works of art. The same trend is now with subway or transit signs. You’ve looked at these signs for years, but suddenly they have become decor chic.

Was it Starbucks Menu Boards that Launched the Current Chalkboard Trend?

So go to the downtown core of your city and check out:

restaurants
retail shops
coffee shops
churches
museums
libraries
historical buildings

and really look at everything. From the art on the walls to signage to light fixtures to packaging – try to note interesting design details and how you can apply to the types of products you create.

Find Inspiration in other Eras

Another big product of the last few years has been the slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On“, a propaganda poster made by the British government in 1939 during the start of the Second World War. People love inspirational sayings and slogans, so when a British bookstore rediscovered this poster back in 2000, it launched a whole slew of products and reworkings of the slogan itself.

So go to a library or bookstore and pull out every pictorial book you can on every decade and really study the photos.
Ask to look in your parents or grand parents’ attics (or just look around their homes) to see memorabilia from their era.
Take a look at their old photo albums, even their wedding album.
Watch movies and television shows from other decades, but with an eye for detail. Don’t focus on the story, but instead look at the set design, the wardrobe, and see what can inspire you.

Find Inspiration in Currently Popular Products

A lot of inspiration can come from creating products as add-ons to currently top selling products. iPhone cases came about because of the popularity of the iPhone and now there are over 160,000 iPhone cases listed on Etsy alone.

All the different accessory products for the iPhone

Take a journey over to Amazon.com and see what the most popular products are in any category – from food to baby to beauty to jewelry to gadgets – and see if you can find inspiration for a complimentary product for one of these top sellers. You now have a huge market to sell to.

See What People are Asking

If you go to Google and in the search box type “Where Can I Find...” or “How Do I….” and other types of open ended questions, you will get ideas for product that people want, but might not exist.

The number one reason people develop a product is to solve a problem, so find out what problems people are searching to solve.

Sometimes all you have to do is stop and look around you to get inspiration. There are obviously many more ways to get inspired, these are just a few to get you started.

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

December 17, 2012 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

There are reasons why quirky products always sell.

Do you need some fresh inspiration when it come to creating new products? Do you also find that sometimes the right product is just quirky enough that it requires little marketing – that it will sell based solely on its own quirkiness?

I was at an online shop called Genuine Fred. They sell some unique items and are definitely the place to go when you need a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person. I went to a section on their site called “Top Sellers” because I was curious to see what people are buying these days. Here is what I found that may inspire your own unique product ideas.

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

Quirky Product #1

Their current top seller is actually a product I think is quirky but also practical, which doesn’t always happen. It is a Scratch off World Map Wall Poster. Every time you visit a country, you scratch it off the map the same way you do a scratch off lottery ticket. So now everywhere you’ve been is highlighted in red. Great gift for the world traveller, and anything that is a gift idea and quirky is always a big seller.

Quirky Product #2

Why Quirky Products Always Sell

Their next top seller is Hot Chocolate on a Stick. Since everything seems to be on a stick these days, I guess it makes sense. For $16 you get four cubes of Belgian Chocolate that you dunk into steaming milk. Not necessarily something I would buy for myself, but it could be one of those gifts you give a co-worker in a Christmas exchange. Definitely conversational.B

Why Do Quirky Products Sell?

The point I am trying to make is sometimes a product is so unique and unusual that people will buy it solely for that reason. It may not have a long product life cycle, especially when the novelty wears off, but it could make you a lot of money in a very short time. So are these ideas ingenious or just silly or both? Whatever they are, the lesson to be learned here is that quirky always sells and always get publicity. For example, I’m writing about it!

Be sure to visit my Shopify store to see my Products and Services for sale.

Be sure to also read New Ideas for Product Photography.