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the real stuff begins.
More often some of these ideas die a natural death simply because at times we are not daring enough to enter uncharted waters.
Nieman and Bennet (2002) describe an opportunity as a gap left in the market by those currently serving it.
It has to be stated that an idea is only an opportunity if it is durable and timely.
Some say that strike while the metal is still hot and this is centred mainly on the timing of the entry into a venture. A good idea is not necessarily a feasible and viable opportunity and put simply, it means that your dreams, no matter how beautiful, cannot just materialise.
According to the Theory of Creativity, brain-driven actions lead to creativity. The brain is a powerful weapon and contemporary research has shown that human beings only use 2 percent of this organ! Can you believe that? It actually gets more interesting; it has been established that 80 percent of the life problems are solved by creative thinking skills.
In getting to understand creativity it is inherent to be able to:
l Associate remote stimuli in the environment with elements in the mind and to combine them into new and unusual ideas. You should keep an open mind and see new perspectives
l Generate many ideas
l Generate a variety of really different ideas
l Develop ideas
l Generate infrequent and uncommon ideas and
l Hang in there when going against consensus and be persistent in the face of criticism.
Hirsch (1998) developed a four-phased plan from spotting and assessing the opportunity, developing the business plan, establishing the resources needed and providing them and finally running the company.
Spot and assess the opportunity
To identify an opportunity and analyse its potential you have to look at market needs, competitors and market potential and product life cycle.
It is important as the entrepreneur to test the business idea or concept with potential customers and asking if they would buy the product or service.
You have to do some research to find the market size and whether if it is growing, stable or stagnating, finding out about the competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities.
Draw up the business plan
The business plan is an important part of the entrepreneurial process.
A well-planned business will have more chance to succeed all the other aspects of the company being equal. It is crucial for the entrepreneur to know how to plan actions and lay out strategies for the business to be created or under expansion.
Establish the resources needed and provide them
The entrepreneur should use his planning ability and bargaining skills to get to know the best alternatives on the financing market for their business, that is, which will offer the best cost-benefit ratio.
Run the firm created.
Running the company can seem to be the easiest part of the entrepreneurial process, since the opportunity has been identified, the business plan developed and the source of funding provided.
But running a company is not as straightforward as it seems.
The entrepreneur must recognise his limitations, recruit a first-rate team to help manage the company, implementing actions to minimise problems and maximise profits. That is, the firm has to produce more, with the fewest resources possible, combining efficiency and efficacy.
I have received several requests on how a business plan is crafted and I will next week give you a simplified version of a business plan that can be fine-tuned to meet your needs.
As always, let’s make money!
[email protected] zw.