Business Lesson Sample
Lesson 1
Topic: Ideal evaluation process.
Aim: How to evaluate an idea to see if it meets your financial obligation.
Steps to evaluating an idea:
(1.) Having an idea and writing it down:
Ideas not written are just mere dreams or wishes, anyone could have an idea, but only a few are disciplined enough to put it in writing and making plans on how to accomplish it. Successful people are those that write down their ideas and dreams to remind them of what to focus on in life. Surround yourself with people of like minds and passions. Make sure your plan includes solutions to your competitor's problems and weaknesses.
Ask yourself and targeted audience, why it might not work and tackle the obstacles instead of running from them. Ask yourself the challenging and negative questions:
What could go wrong?
What don't I know?
What don't I see?
Sam with an idea of being a fitness trainer encountered a lot of obstacles like people won't trust him because he is new and not certified, Sam had to enroll for an online course to get certified and solved the problem.
(2.) Researching and acquiring knowledge in the area of your passion and idea:
Ideas without accurate knowledge are doomed to failure because you can't thrive in a field you are ignorant.
If your product is aimed at resolving a particular problem the industry faces, make sure to have this issue mapped out – follow industry-specific authority sources of information, keep up with the latest trends in your sector, look at blogs run by key influencers of the industry and listen to the conversations happening in your niche. Do research on how much it will cost and only execute capital sufficient ideas. Talk to and study the experts in your field.
For example, Sam with an idea of being a fitness trainer without knowledge about training regimens, nutritional tips, supplements, but with the only passion for being fit can't be successful compared to Jerry with an idea of being a guitar play and knowledge about music.
Sam can't think of building his gym now because he can’t afford it but he can still execute his idea by using less capital intensive methods like making workout videos, writing articles on social media, helping and telling the people around you.
Sam needs to study other successful fitness trainers, talk to them and ask questions and learn from them to get the best out of his idea. Make plans around your capital, don't execute an idea you can't fund. Passion or idea with accurate knowledge increases the quality of your service and makes you look professional to people. You can't convince me about your product if you don't seem convinced yourself.
(3.) Get feedback:
Find individuals who know the market, the business model, the competitors, and predecessors—people who have been there, done that, and can help you understand what works and what doesn't in the real world. Also, talk to customers—people in your core target market—and find out what they think about your hypothesis. You'll learn lots more once you get a product to market, but this initial research will increase your chances of starting out on the right path.
Make any necessary changes to your business plan, product, and go-to-market strategy. Run some numbers to get a sense of how much capital you'll need to reach key milestones. Develop an implementation plan with your primary goals over the next few months, and determine whom you need on your team to execute that plan.
Revisit your business plan, update your product, team, marketing skills, implementation, and finance strategies. Gather resources you'll need to expand. If you intend to raise capital, this is a good time.
(4.) The value of your service to the community:
You need to know how your idea can add value to your community or environment.
How can your idea solve a problem around you?
How can your idea make someone's life easier and better?
How can your ideas meet the needs of the nearest person to you?
What motivates you, the ability to make money or to add values to your community?
Once you are tuned into looking for areas that can be improved upon, you will want to start writing down the problems that need solving. The process of making lists will keep you focused on finding areas of opportunity.
You will not be able to come up with problems if you are not looking in the right places. You need to be actively looking yourself, asking friends and colleagues, and considering products that can be improved.
An excellent way to get out and find problems in an industry is through networking. Go to events in the sector that you are interested in learning more about and talk to people there. Learn about their main points and what they wish could be improved. Networking will give you insight on what common problems people are having in a particular area.
You should now have plenty of problems listed, so the next step is to start going through and coming up with solutions to those problems. If you have one or more people whose opinions you respect, then it may be a good time to bring them into the room with you for this step. Collaboration often helps the brainstorming process. Don’t let the problems you can’t think of a solution to slow you down when you hit a wall with a particular challenge just move on to the next. Also, with any brainstorming session, there are no bad ideas just throw everything you think of out and filter out the good ones later.
(5.) How to convert your ideas into financial resources:
After writing your idea and acquiring knowledge in the area, you need to turn them into resources and plans like videos, articles, services, applications. Converting your idea into a simple graphic or visual product concept is critical for clear communication, but turning that into a simple 90 - second video is even more powerful.
Use your network. Don’t be shy or worried about tipping off potential competitors. Show confidence that you are the one to make this idea succeed. (If you can’t convince yourself, don’t bother trying to fool others.) People like entrepreneurs and you’ll be surprised how many people will help with constructive feedback, derivative ideas, and leads to potential partners, employees, customers, and investors. Make a note of who expresses interest in investing, but do not take money at this stage, however tempting it might be. It will commit you to the startup before you are ready. Sam with an idea of being a fitness trainer needs to offer these resources to people that will pay and not just look good for himself.
Jerry with an idea of being a guitar player needs to provide these resources to people that will pay for the service. Before jumping in, make sure you’ve done your due diligence. Ask yourself: Is there enough demand for the product or service in your market? Can you afford the startup costs? How will you stand out from competitors? No matter what business idea you decide to pursue, it’s smart to write a business plan that details your goals and how you plan to achieve them. A business plan forces you to examine the validity of your business idea, giving you a better shot at success.
(6.) Creating a thriving financial environment for your idea:
You need to offer your services in an environment that will promote your idea and create the necessary environment to thrive. Sam with an idea of being a fitness trainer can't get the best if he doesn't provide an environment for posting his videos, plans, nutritional tips on social media where he can contact people. Jerry with an idea of being a guitar player can't get the best, if he doesn't create the right environment for playing at concerts, in auditoriums and consistent practicing of his craft.
(7.) Determine your audience:
The audience you want to target will determine your advertisement and awareness strategy. Even if your idea is great, it might not correspond to the needs of the market. That’s why you should define your target audience people who will be buying and using your product. Once you define this particular group, it’s time to listen and observe.
Determine your target customer(s) and talk to them. This requires you to put yourself out there and expose your idea to people you don’t know. The risk of disclosure is far outweighed by the insights you will get from the people who will pay for your product.
Sam with an Idea of being a fitness trainer that wants to target young students and middle-age people, needs to target the different social media platforms available to create awareness.
(8.) Get your timing and location right:
Timing is everything in life, if you do the right business at the wrong time, you will get a bad result. You’ll need to create a landing page for your business using an easy to use platform. Next, you can promote the landing page on social media or through Google advertising. This is an excellent way to gauge interest since you can easily track how many people are interacting with your landing page. You need to know what is trending, so you have to be technologically oriented. You can also have a form on your landing page where people can enter their email addresses to be notified when the product becomes available. This is valuable information, because not only will you get a pulse on how many people are interested. For example Sam with an idea of being a fitness trainer can't be shooting calisthenics videos in the winter, that is wrong timing for the right idea and good plan. Calisthenics is a good idea for an aspiring fitness trainer but better in summer when people are willing to try it due to the good weather. Sam must also focus on creating fitness applications or workout regimen application because we are in an era where everyone technologically oriented. Sam with a financial deadline of two weeks to pay a debt can't rely on his workout videos to meet his financial deadline in two weeks. It is a good plan and idea but the wrong timing for his current financial obligations. Jerry with an idea of being a guitar player can't depend on his guitar playing skills to buy his wife a car in the next two weeks.
Jerry can’t meet up to the music industry expectation if he keeps playing on the street, we are in an age of social media and technology. He won’t be able to pay his house rents and would soon become a talented homeless musician if he doesn't put timing, location, and trend into consideration. Both are good ideas and plans but just wrong timing.
For you to be successful, the execution time of your idea must meet your current financial obligation and purpose, targeted audience of your idea. The location for displaying your thoughts is dependent on the type of targeted audience, how soon you want to meet your financial obligation and the level of success you want for your business. Sam with the idea of being a fitness trainer needs to choose a good location for his workout videos (good gyms, quality videos, and background). People prefer safe and attractive places to a dull place which could decrease or discourage your targeted audience. Jerry with the idea of being a guitar player needs to showcase his skills in the right location like playing in a concert, presentations instead of just playing the guitar for his friends, family or on the street. He needs to play in the right locations to meet his desired financial goal and targeted audience.
(9.) Prioritize your ideas:
You need to prioritize your ideas to meet your current financial goals. There are ideas for small financial goals, and there are plans for the long term and bigger financial goals. Jerry with an idea of being a guitar player can't expect to pay school fees of 5 kids with guitar playing on the street. You may have a shortlist of solutions to common problems that you want to solve. Now it’s time to find out which business ideas will work in the real world. The key to narrowing down your list to just one idea is by testing out the market in a risk-free way. You want to find out if people would buy the product or service before you spend the money to start your business.
Remember, all ideas are good but need to be written, valued, prioritize, converted into financial resources with the right knowledge and executed correctly to make it successful.
Trust in your passion, even if everyone can't see it.
Make plans around it.
Executing the right plan at the right place, right time with an accurate knowledge is what a successful idea becomes.