10 Sources Where Successful Business Ideas Come From

Using these 10 sources where successful business ideas come from doesn’t guarantee that you will be the next Steve Jobs, but occasionally they can help you strike gold when you least expect it.

Regardless of whether you are just starting your own small business or you are the owner of a multinational corporation, successful business ideas are always welcome. When thinking about successful business ideas, people always imagine Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, or Bill Gates. Unfortunately, the hard truth is that a vast majority of us doesn’t even begin to reach the height of genius those men possess and coming up with anything even remotely revolutionary as they did is pretty much impossible. Finding a business idea that will change the world can be – and often is – an unreachable goal. You need to think smaller. Sometimes, taking an existing product and just making it better is all it takes.

Reed Hastings did just that. He took an existing idea – DVD rentals – and moved it online. Thus, the Netflix was born. People running Blockbuster, who were in a far better position to exploit the Internet business model than Hastings failed to do so and look at them now. Apple didn’t really launch any new products, they just improved the existing ones, yet they never failed to capitalize on sources of business opportunities.

Often, you don’t even have to improve on the successful business idea, just adapt it to your local market. Sources of new ideas for entrepreneurs are all around us, you just have to keep your eyes open and be perceptive to them. Your neighborhood doesn’t have a Starbucks? There’s your opportunity. A nice gourmet coffee shop placed in the right location can make you a lot of money. How about a sandwich shop? Great business opportunities are all around us, we just need to recognize them and have the courage to act on them. Perhaps one of the Most Profitable Jewellery Business Ideas And Opportunities is all you need to create a successful business model in your community. It all comes down to identifying a problem and solving it, in a matter that allows you to earn some cash.

But before we take a look at 10 sources where successful business ideas come from, remember that idea isn’t your end goal. Developing an excellent business idea into a successful operation can be tricky and many people have failed at it. The process can be arduous and not everyone has the skill and commitment to see it through. A great business idea without the proper leg work, like thorough market research and established groundwork, can be as useless as having no ideas at all. Many educational systems around the world have even begun teaching their students the ins and outs of running a business, in order to increase their chances of success in the real world. British have a GCSE Business Studies that, among other things, demand their students to define sources of business ideas and write a paper on them, which seems like a very practical skill to have. According to them, good sources of business ideas are business experience, hobbies, and observation.

As far as methods of generating ideas go, there are plenty of them around. In order to narrow the field a bit, we reviewed two lists of sources of successful business ideas, one on the Practical Business Ideas and other on the Entrepreneur and choose the ones we felt were the most accessible. The most important thing is not to get discouraged. If your business idea you thought will change the world ends up in the dust, carry on. Cut your losses and move to the next one. And there is always a next one.

10. Family

Family members are usually the people who know you the best and are very supportive.

9. Friends

Friends can be a great resource to bounce an idea or two off of them and get an honest feedback.

8. Personal experiences

Recognizing a great business idea doesn’t have to involve outside inspiration. Quite often, it can be born out of your personal experience.

7. Brainstorming

Getting a team together and just hashing it out can give wonderful results.

6. Complaints Department

Complaints Department is a great source where business ideas come from. Listening to the people that actually use the product and found fault with it can be very inspiring and offer you a level of insight usually unavailable in your own company.

5. Travels

Sometimes you need a different perspective on things, and visiting foreign countries can provide that in abundance. different cultures can be great sources where successful business ideas come from.

4. Surveys

Surveys allow you to pick the brains of strangers without the hustle of talking to them and you can make it as big or as small as you want to.

3. Expos

Plenty of successful business ideas can be found on expos, the number three on our list of sources where successful business ideas come from. After all, that is what they are designed for.
Perhaps you’ll see a demonstration of a new technology that can do for your business what Internet did for DVD rentals.

2. Media

Media offers you access to people and ideas other ways you wouldn’t even know existed.

1. Competition

We conclude our list of 10 sources where successful business ideas come from with competition. Check out what is competition doing, see what is wrong with their approach, and improve it.