7 Places to Find Your Next Start Up Idea

If you’re a budding entrepreneur who is just waiting for the right start up idea, here are seven ways to discover the right local small business idea for you.

For many, owning a business is just as representative of the American Dream as owning a home. 99.7 percent of all businesses in the United States are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees (Small Business Administration), and they employ about 48 percent of the working populace. More than 540k new businesses are started every month (Forbes.com) in the U.S.

It’s a startup nation that won’t slow down anytime soon. In fact, as Millennials begin to dominate the workforce, a whole new generation of tech savvy entrepreneurs promises that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.  If you’re a Millennial, you may be ready to launch a startup right now. If you’re in an older generation, not to worry. The average age most entrepreneurs launch their first business is around 40 years old, and Millennials aren’t quite there yet.

7 Places Your Next Great Start Up Idea Could Be Hiding

Whether you need a start up idea or you are looking for confirmation that the time is right to pull the trigger on a startup idea, you can find inspiration in these places:

1. Disruption inspiration

Disruption occurs in nearly every industry and the companies that are emerging are themselves creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs. For instance, Uber disrupted the personal public transportation industry by enabling just about anyone with a car to become a transportation entrepreneur. From that inspiration, other transportation companies emerged to provide delivery services for people from the restaurants of their choice. Still other transportation entrepreneurs emerged as grocery delivery services, and so on.

2. What’s coming next

Consumer and business trends often provide hints about where future gaps between supply and demand will exist.

3. Training and education

As technology continually advances and industry disruption occurs, some people have a hard time keeping up. Training and education service provider entrepreneurs can fill that gap.

4. Under-served segments

Even in mature markets you may find under-served market segments. Honing your start up idea so that it appeals to a niche group within the marketplace (provided the niche is large enough to sustain your business) can help you attract segments of the target audience that are not currently responding or are not being well-served.

5. Discarded or previously failed ideas

Mis-timing a product or business model launch is one of the most common causes of startup failure, as is poor marketing, inadequate funding or having the wrong team in place. If you can correct for the problems that prevented a business idea from succeeding or take up an idea that someone else discarded (for reasons that can be overcome) then you may have the makings of a great start up idea.

6. Your own pain points

For every time you have said the words, “I wish there was a solution for…” you may have discovered a good start up idea. Chances are if you needed a product or service but it didn’t exist (or didn’t exist in your area) then someone else does, too.

7. Social media

Local social media groups and discussions often point to unfilled gaps in the local market place. Tap into networking groups, neighborhood pages and other social media communities to float ideas, ask questions and gauge potential interest in a local startup.

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Not sure whether the life of a startup business owner is for you? Entrepeneur.com lists seven traits that set successful entrepreneurs apart. We’ve also included the infographic below:

• Tenacity – how serious are you?
• Passion – will you enjoy the work and do you believe in its merit?
• Tolerance for uncertainty – can you launch and keep going even if you don’t have all the answers? Do you have some reserves to draw on if it takes longer than you thought it would to get off the ground?
• A clear and achievable vision – can you map out the points in between where you are now and where you want to be?
• A belief in themselves – if you don’t believe in yourself, your ideas and your ability to run a business, not one else will either
• Flexibility – do you have the ability to make course corrections or pivot if the way things play out don’t go completely according to plan?
• Risk taking to defy conventional wisdom – the rule breakers are the ones who change the world, and if you’re not going to change the world, why bother?

Entrepreneur.com – 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs Infographic