Before You Jump at that Business Idea…

During the course of your career or life’s work, you will need more than a handful of business ideas in order to get meaningful results that will move you to the next level.
Such business ideas are the energy currency of your career. They decide both its profitability and sustainability.

While it is true that ideas form the breeding ground for success in your career, not every single idea has such potential. 

A business idea may appeal readily to your senses but it may not be a good idea for you to bring into your career.

My task this morning is not to teach you the strategies for generating business ideas. That will probably be a subject for another day. My job this morning is to show you how to determine if a particular idea is useful for your career.

How do you know which business idea would make a difference in your career?

There are 4 parameters to use.

Before ever you jump at any business idea, to integrate it in the practice of your career, you need to measure it against 4 different parameters. If the idea is not consistent with these 4 parameters, then it is advisable not to waste your time and resources trying to execute it.

Pay keen attention here because this is the reason many are not getting long term results in their career / business. 

Parameter # 1: Your Passion

That’s the first thing to measure the idea against. Is it consistent with what you love doing? Engaging your mind with a business idea that doesn’t find a suitable seating with your passion is an exercise in futility. 

Parameter # 2: Your Brand

Your brand is what you represent in the mind of your customers or how you want your clients to view you. Every business idea you choose to incorporate in your career should be a natural extension of your brand – your personality and legacy.

It’s important before you think of executing an idea that you ask the question; Is this idea consistent with how I want to be perceived by my audience.

Parameter # 3: Your Skill Set

If there is no way the idea cross paths with the set of skills or the expertise you have, it is a clear indication that you would struggle so much to execute the idea. This is not to say that you must have all the skills necessary for the idea but at least, on a scale of 1 to 10, a value of 5 and above is a good score.

Parameter # 4: Your Customer’s Needs

This one is a most critical factor. There’s basically no point for executing any idea when it does not reflect the needs / wants of your very audience. The people you are serving are the ones that will decide if this or that idea will bring you results.

The worst mistake you will make in your career is to create a product or service that runs in parallel lines with your customer’s needs / wants. Hence, every business idea MUST be tested against this very parameter.

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Now let’s try and distil it down so you can see how the 4 parameters come together. Truth is, a good business idea for your career should overlap with the four. 

Let’s quickly consider some scenarios:

Passion + Brand: If the idea is one you are passionate about and is congruent with your brand but your customers do not have need of it, the tendency is that the idea will not sell.

Passion + Needs: If you are passionate about the idea and it’s consistent with your customer’s needs but not with your brand and skill set, the implication is that your audience are not likely to patronize you because they do not perceive you as an authority or as one who has the expertise for what you are doing.

Needs + Brand: When the idea agrees with your customer’s needs and brand but disagrees with your passion and skill set, definitely you will not do a very good job of executing the idea and you will not enjoy long term success running with the idea.

So what?

The next time you want to jump at any idea, slow down first and take some time to measure it against the aforementioned parameters. It will save you a whole lot of stress and loss.