Discovering Your Inner Innovator
Written By:
Connor Grant
Knowing that you want to be a business owner and formulating a successful business idea are two very different things.
Look to solve a problem that bugs you.
Human beings are highly aware creatures -- something that makes it easy for us to see the small inconveniences in our everyday lives. Fortunately for entrepreneurs, people also strive for increased comfort in their lives. To be an entrepreneur, look for the inconveniences that confront you throughout your day. If the current solution just isn’t satisfactory, you have an opportunity.
Think evolution, not revolution.
We can’t all be the first to market. With more than 540,000 new businesses started each month, it’s unrealistic to think that we are ever the first person with an idea. Because we cannot always create a revolutionary solution or business, we can look toward the evolution of current solutions. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to make it spin faster. Look at what the big players are doing in order to figure out what they are missing. Find a niche that you feel prepared to exploit and make it happen. You’ll be surprised at how many opportunities the “big guys” leave on the table.
Apply your skills to something new.
We’ve all heard of Beats by Dre, the headphone and speaker company that prolific rapper/entrepreneur, Dr. Dre, started in 2008. Although he was already backed by a massive career in the music industry, Dr. Dre did not have much experience in the tech world -- he just knew what music should sound like. He applied his skills as a musician to pinpoint the exact sound quality that he wanted in his headphones. The headphones were then mass-produced, brilliantly marketed, and ultimately purchased by Apple for more than $3 billion. Dr. Dre did not invent the headphone, nor did he even create a headphone with superior music quality than produced previously; he used his skills as a music connoisseur. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective in an established industry.
If you can make something cheaper, do it.
9 out of 10 entrepreneurs will tell you that there is no shame in creating a business designed to make something cheaper. There are plenty of markets that are crowded and full of innovation, but a price reduction for a similar quality product/service can often be all you need. A great example of this technique is Warby Parker, the New York based eyeglass company that flipped the script on designer prescription glasses. The founders of Warby Parker found ways of saving that cut the price to consumers from around $300 to just $99. Bottom line, don’t be greedy. Be savvy.
