Which New Business Idea Should You Pick?

Selecting the right new business idea for you is important. You will be spending a lot of time and energy working on your new business, so making the right selection really does matter.

First, the new business idea you select should excite you. It should ignite your passion. A good place to start is with things you are already excited about and that you already know about.

Is there a hobby that you really enjoy?

Is there a particular topic of interest that you love reading and writing about?

Has anyone ever told you that you should make your hobby into a business?

Is there a dream job or career that you have always wanted?

Spend some time trying to identify what you really enjoy doing. That’s a great place to start. From here, there are several routes you can pursue. Of course, you can start a local business in your area of business. If that’s your interest, do some research. Read some books about starting businesses in those areas. Search the internet for information about your new business idea. I know a woman who really enjoyed spending time with her dogs. She started a dog walking and pet-sitting business. Her business grew and grew, and now she has several dog walkers working for her, and she makes a great income doing what she loves.

Do not dismiss an idea simply because you assume you could never make a living doing it. Identify your passion and then do some research. Keep an open mind.

Maybe your passion is not about anything you would do, but more about something you know. Maybe it is something you love reading and learning about. You are in luck. Being an “infopreneur” is one of the fastest growing new business ideas out there...and it’s quickly becoming one of the most lucrative!

What does it take to become an infopreneur? 1) Have a topic that you know well. 2) Create a website to share massive amounts of information about your favorite topic with the world. 3) Drive internet traffic to your website. 4) Monetize your site (more on this later). 5) Collect the money.

Doesn’t that sound easy? Of course, nothing is as easy as it sounds. There is work involved, but because you will be creating an internet business around a topic you love, it just won’t seem like work. That’s the key.

What if you don’t know anything about creating a website? What if you don’t even know what the word “monetize” means, let alone how to do it? Don’t worry. There are some spectacular, low cost tools that can help you. What you need is a system that can help you with the technical part of the task at hand, so you can focus on the part that only you can do – sharing your passion with the world (the “info” part of infopreneur).

Click here to learn about a very low cost tool to help you easily set up a money making website.

O.k., what if you really don’t think you are ready to take your passion to the world? Some people want to step into an established business and go from there. If that’s your new business idea – to build your business by building on an established business – there are several routes you can take.

You can buy someone else’s established business, purchase a franchise, or join a network marketing business. Buying someone else’s established business and purchasing a franchise are both viable options if you have some serious cash to get started or if you are willing and able to go into debt to get your business off the ground.

Let’s talk about franchises first. Franchising is a business practice that involves the licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business. It most cases, it grants you an exclusive or semi-exclusive right to sell a certain product. For example, if you buy a fast food franchise (I won’t name them, but you know who they are), you buy the right to use that company’s name, marketing materials, and methods of production. You get to learn that company’s trade secrets and the way that company does business, and you will have a product that the company approves and has been successful with before. The public will come to you for the product because they know exactly what to expect.

Doesn’t that sound great? Sure does.

The other side of the coin, however, is that you must comply with a lengthy list of guidelines and restrictions. This makes sense because you wanted to buy into “established success” so you need to do the same thing to get the same result. If you are a “do it your own way” kind of person, franchising will not work for you. If you don’t have any money to invest up-front, and/or if you can’t borrow the money to invest (and some franchises are very expensive), franchising is not for you.

But if you have some money to invest and you want to minimize (not eliminate, but minimize) your risk by tapping into an established product and marketing system, franchising might be for you.

You may not know this, but franchising is not just for fast food. There are franchises in just about every industry you can imagine, so you can actually follow your passion and tap into someone else’s established success. Not a bad new business idea, huh? There are tax preparation franchises, auto repair franchises, optometry franchises, house cleaning franchises, coffee franchis...the list goes on and on. Entrepreneur Magazine ranks franchise opportunities and provides some great information about franchising.

Click here to see Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of the top 500 franchise opportunities for 2008.

That’s right – 500 choices!

What about the option of buying an established business from someone else? That could also be a good choice. If that business is well established and successful, there is a built-in customer base that you can inherit. However, unlike franchises, there will be limited opportunities for training and the previous owner’s success will not automatically transfer to your success without some hard work and knowledge, on your part, about how to run a business.

Also, this option can be very expensive. The more successful the business, the more expensive it will be. Before you jump in with your hard earned cash you’ll need to see the books and take a very, very close look. Don’t even think about doing this without a good attorney with experience in business purchases. Many savvy business owners use a business broker to help them sell their business. Make sure you have some professionals on your side, too.

O.k., what if that all sounds just too expensive and too overwhelming for you, but you are not ready to break out completely on your own? You should seriously consider a business that uses network marketing as its primary marketing strategy. I have devoted an entire section of this site to network marketing – the tips and the tricks, what to watch for and what to avoid. Check that out to see if you can find a new business idea there that appeals to you.

Click here to learn more about a new business idea in network marketing.

No matter which new business idea you pick, make sure you are excited about it. There will be times when working your new business will be difficult and tiring. If you are not working in an area that excites you, selling a product that you really believe in, success will be elusive.

You deserve to enjoy what you do for a living. Some of us absolutely insist on it!

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