![\"business](\"http:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/business-idea.jpg\")
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This is an article Mike Cooch wrote for Entrepreneur.com.
\nI\u2019m just like most other entrepreneurs I know \u2013 I have at least three new business ideas before I get out of bed in the morning. And the ideas just keep coming throughout the day.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, after years of trial and error as an entrepreneur, I\u2019ve learned to evaluate my new ideas carefully to determine if they are actually an opportunity, instead of just an idea.<\/p>\n
Even more importantly, I\u2019ve learned to evaluate if it\u2019s a good opportunity for me and the lifestyle I want to create for myself.
\nI do that evaluation by asking twelve questions that I\u2019ve found are critical to determining if a business is right for me. If I have more than a few \u2018No\u2019 responses, I can immediately cross the idea off of my list and forget about it. If it\u2019s all \u2018Yes\u2019 responses, I know I have an idea with real potential.
\nHere\u2019s the list of questions, with some of my thoughts explaining why each is important to me:<\/p>\n
Will this business support the lifestyle I want (income, ability to travel, flexible work time, etc.)? I work to live, not live to work. I also love to travel and have flexibility in terms of when I get my work done. That immediately disqualifies many businesses.
\nIs there proven demand for the product I am going to sell? Creating demand is hard, slow and expensive. I\u2019d rather capture my share of already existing demand.<\/p>\n
Is there a clear value proposition that will make my product unique in the marketplace? Business is no fun if I don\u2019t have some sort of competitive edge.<\/p>\n
Is there a very clear way to market and sell my product or service through existing channels? Leveraging existing sales channels is the fastest and easiest way I\u2019ve found to get a business off the ground profitably.<\/p>\n
Can I leverage online marketing and social media to grow this business? These are two of the most powerful business-building forces of our time; I want to be sure to take advantage of them.<\/p>\n
Will this business have gross margins of at least 50% and\/or net margins of at least 20%? At the end of the day, a business has to make money.<\/p>\n
Can this business become a sellable asset? The big win often comes from being able to sell and exit your business when you are ready, but not all businesses are easy to sell.<\/p>\n
Can I automate the majority of the operations of the business? I try to take advantage of as much automation as possible to reduce the overhead of operating a business.<\/p>\n
Can I easily find someone to successfully run the business for me? Eventually, I\u2019ll likely want someone to run the business for me. Is this a business that can easily be handed over to someone else, or does it require my specific knowledge and talents?<\/p>\n
Is this a business that I\u2019ll find fun and interesting to run today? Yes, life insurance is very profitable, but it\u2019s not fun. Profit is not enough; I want to be in businesses that I actually enjoy.<\/p>\n
Is this a business that other people will find fun and interesting? I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s much more enjoyable to be in a business that other people think are fun and interesting.<\/p>\n
Is this something I\u2019ll still be willing to run seven years from now? The reality is that most businesses don\u2019t grow as quickly or as profitable as I\u2019d like.<\/p>\n
If I am still running this seven years from now, will I still find it enjoyable?<\/p>\n
Use these twelve questions to evaluate your business ideas. You should be able to answer \u2018Yes\u2019 to the far majority of the questions.<\/p>\n
If not, drop the idea and be thankful that you didn\u2019t invest your time and energy into something that ultimately wouldn\u2019t fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams.<\/p>\n
Now, go build something!
\nJesse<\/p>\n
Thinking of starting a business? Already have one, but haven\u2019t created the lifestyle you\u2019re looking for? Download our free guide to creating a business that gives you the freedom to decide where, when and who you work with:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is an article Mike Cooch wrote for Entrepreneur.com. I\u2019m just like most other entrepreneurs I know \u2013 I have at least three new business ideas before I get out of bed in the morning. And the ideas just keep coming throughout the day. Thankfully, after years of trial and error as an entrepreneur, I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[4,5],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedigitalsquad.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}