Skip to main content

Need Inspiration?


Hello again, welcome back to Write Away, the blog for small business owners, freelancers and those looking to start their own business.

Today I want to talk about ideas and inspiration for starting a business, and where you might find it.

Whilst many people who want to work for themselves, have a business idea that is an extension of their hobby or very specific to their employment, a large number of would-be entrepreneurs love the idea of working for themselves but are not sure what they would do if they took the plunge.

As a writer, I carry a notebook with me everywhere, as I never know when inspiration might strike. If you’re looking for a business idea, this could be a useful tool for you too – when you visit other businesses, keep asking yourself if some aspect of the service or product could be improved and make a note of your thoughts.
Additionally, when you are looking for a specific product, and can’t find it, think about if there is a gap in the market, many a successful business have been started in this way in the past.
Don’t worry about what goes into your notebook – nobody’s going to read it but you, and two completely separate or random thoughts or notes could combine to provide real inspiration.

However, enough of my suggestions, if you would like to look at something a bit more tangible then the website Startups.co.uk has a whole section dedicated to business ideas, even having a top 10 businesses to start up in 2012.
There are a range of resources on offer here, all free, and it might only take one suggestion to crystallise an idea that you can work on and develop.

As usual, the link is below, if you’re looking for some inspiration I hope it delivers, but don’t forget, your great idea might be waiting to be discovered when you’re out and about tomorrow.

Until next time.

http://www.startups.co.uk/business-ideas
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Small Business Advice on a Beermat

Hello again. Today's post is about the co-author of a well known business start up guide called “The Beermat Entrepreneur”. Mike Southon is both an entrepreneur and business mentor and also writes regularly for the Mail on Sunday  and the Financial Times about small businesses and entrepreneurship. The Beermat Entrepreneur is a business self-help book aimed at people who have an idea for a business and need to know how to take it to the next stage and turn the idea into a viable business. Whilst the book is a recommended read for aspiring entrepreneurs, this post seeks to guide you to some useful resources on Mike Southon’s own website. If you so desire (and can afford to!) you can book Mike for a personal appearance from here, but there are a number of other free resources that may be of more interest. There are a number of free guides to download, some linked to the “Beermat” series but others, such as the useful “Sales pipeline simple spreadsheet”, that ...
6 comments
Read more

Small Business Answers?

Hi there, and welcome back to Write Away, the blog for small businesses, the self employed and those thinking of working themselves. Our latest post concerns another online resource that could prove to be a valuable resource for any small business owner or budding entrepreneur. The website is called “My Business”, as usual, the link is included below this post. The website is divided into eight useful sections: Finance & Money, People, Technology, Sales & Marketing, Operations, Import & Export, Future and Cash flow, each one having a number of sub sections that contain valuable insights and advice on that aspect of running a business. The Finance & Money section has some great advice on late payments and how to try and avoid this and further advice on taking small claims through the courts if you need to. The latest Sales & Marketing article contains advice on pitching for new business and the “Top 10 Features” listing deals with questions surrounding IR35 and con...
3 comments
Read more

An Online Freelance Community

Welcome back to Write Away. Our latest post is about a website that is aiming to create a massive online community for freelancers, writers and anyone running a home business. Ihubbub aims to replicate the “hubbub” heard when home workers get together and network. It wants users, who often work isolation, to feel part of a buzzing community of people who are in the same situation as them. It also wants to create a market place for businesses to use each other’s skills and grow together. First impressions are that it does this very well, the look and feel of the site are good, it is easy to navigate and there are a host of resources and information aimed at those working from home, whatever your business. There are three levels of membership, which allow you to pitch and interact with other users to different degrees, but the basic level is free enabling you to create a build a profile before starting to pitch for work or develop your online contacts and networks. You can register a...
1 comment
Read more