It’s another question I get asked a lot. What’s a good business to start? As if there were good businesses to start. Whoops, I guess people do make lists, experts even, about types of businesses to start. Does anybody ever go back and check on them?
I’ve come up with occasional suggestions on this blog. And I’ve picked up on suggestions by others, including Guy Kawasaki and David Pogue, all of which you can access quickly enough here by clicking on the business ideas or startup ideas categories. Of course, some of those are less than enthusiastic. And please, don’t ask me the difference between the two categories. Nothing significant.
My favorite answer, however, is in this less-than-three-minute video on SBTV, called What Is A Good Business to Start? And in case you can’t view the video, here are some highlights:
- Look in the mirror. A good business to start is the one that matches who you are, what you know how to do, what you like to do and the resources you have.
- It’s not like there are good businesses or bad business. There are businesses that …
- You can do;
- You want to do; and
- Where somebody wants what you’re selling. Those things come together in what’s the good business for you.
Does the state of the economy matter?
I think that’s a misconception. Occasionally you’ll find business opportunities that arise as a result of events, but usually your business opportunity is so much a function of you and who you are. There again, whether it’s economy related or not, do people want what you have to sell? That’s crucial.
I recommend you click the link and watch the video. While you’re there, SBTV has quite a bit of good video available on many small-business topics. And it’s free on the Web. I’m biased because there are a couple of dozen segments with me in them, but still, I think it’s well done and very useful.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 3:31 pm and is filed under business ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.3 Responses to “Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall: What Startup?”
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February 1st, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Usually people think of a good business to start in terms of what’s hot in the market right now, then it fails due to lack of clients when the flames subside. But the right approach would be exactly like you said on this post: What one knows how to do, what one likes or loves to do, and the resources one has. Allow me to add that you must be convinced that the business is a good business to start, also you must have a burning desire to reach your goals once you start that good business of yours no matter what. Thanks for sharing. – Javier A. Garcia.
February 5th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
[...] 6, 2008 · No Comments Tim Berry has an interesting post on deciding what business to start. There is even a nice, short video (worth watching) on SBTV.com [...]
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
[...] I think it’s about what you want to do, what your market needs, who you are and so on, as in my mirror post a couple of weeks ago. But people keep asking what’s a good business to start. They keep [...]