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Spotting A New Business Opportunity
How You Can Sift Through All The Information To Find Your Ideal Business
© David Newton
6/29/08

One thing that is prevalent among business owners is their relentless taste for looking out to find new ways to earn a cash flow.

All the talk about doing this or that, reading new reports in the papers or magazines hinges quite often about what they "might be missing".

This isn’t new. The last time you had a business lunch with a friend, what was the topic likely to drift towards? I'll bet it was like this; "gee does that guy earn that much, what business is he in mate?" or did you see that item on TV last night, those two ladies were cashing in big chips with their new business, I wish I thought of their angle" ... After all, what are share tips about? Yes, new business opportunities.

Where to find your next HOT business opportunity

1. Join A Business Networking Group
Often it’s the interchange of conversation that can lead you to a great business opportunity. At meetings you often hear things like what council decisions have been made, you'll hear from speakers at meeting who will keep you informed, you'll mix with business leaders who have an idea of where things are headed. Without this input, you may only get half the picture if you were simply working from home alone.

2. Read The Business Classifieds
Quite logically, there are many business owners selling their businesses at any one time. Staring at the classifieds will give you an idea of what's going on, what's hot and what's in decline. You know, I see this myself. In one year there will be lots of ads for a certain type of business - then the next year, it will be hardly at all. As a back up, it’s sometimes good to see the jobs ads too, since you'll see matching trends with what's going on.

3. Read the business newspapers and magazines
Yes, you can gain a lot from reading the BRW and the Financial review, but there are other publications too.

• The Australian Business and Money Making Opportunities Magazine
• Small Business and Home Based Income Magazine
See these magazines here;
http://www.profitcentre.com/aaamediawebsite/aaamedianetworkmagazines.html 
• Saturday News Papers in other cities; The Age in Melbourne, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Courier Mail in Brisbane, The Advertiser in Adelaide, The West Australian etc

By buying the Saturday papers you'll get a chance to go through the ads in the business section and see what things are going on. Even when you are on a holiday, you should also grab whatever local paper is there and read it too.

4. Trade Shows
http://www.franchisingexpo.com.au/index.html 
Once a year in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne is the Small Business and Franchising Expo - these began around 1987 and have only become bigger. They have seminars and lots of information about starting a business, buying a business and investing in business ownership.

How to sift through the business ideas

Here We Get The Hard Part

What do you do with all those great ideas? They seem to shout back at you from the paper, from brochures you get at meetings and on business cards, from the ads in the paper and your head might be spinning from a talk you heard at your local business meeting.

It’s clearly not an easy task - or - is it?

Before you go into brain overload take a little time to think about what you like to do for a business.

• Keep an open mind
• Take stock of your own hobbies or passions these can be a good lead to what you'll do best at in the business world
• Don't let the money factor be an issue while you are searching for a business, stave off any thoughts about that as money will limit your choices in the looking phase
• Skills factor, your current skills are what they are, but starting or buying a business will obviously expand your skills
• Avoiding failure - maybe one of the biggest things that hold people back is a fear of failure, you can stop all mistakes, so don't fight it.
• Fear of success - likewise, fear of success is a bigger fear, as many people simply skip good ideas out of hand - don't let this be you!

Logic versus Emotion?

Gerry Harvey is a great retail business success. But why is he still in power? Unlike most listed companies that are run by faceless CEO's Gerry is doing what he loves. Rupert Murdoch is much the same too. If they had to pass every decision via a committee who knows what would happen to their businesses? The simple fact is they are "big small businesses". They have a healthy mix of both emotion and logic in their decisions, which is what you should also adopt for yourself. They also are doing what they feel most passionate about - another thing you need to be aware of too.

If you are working "just for the money", the business will not work for you.

Final Due Diligence

Okay, so now you have a great business idea, or proposal in front of you. What do you do with it?

If you are buying a business from an advert in the paper, you may wish to get it checked out via an accountant and a lawyer, but that's what everyone does right? It’s a standard practice; it’s like getting a rubber stamp from your teacher.

But is that all there is?

I don't think so.
Here's what I suggest you also do, or could do;

• Study that particular field of business; get a job in it for the short term if it’s at all possible. See if you like it still working for another business in the category.
• Take a short course in that business area, for example if you are buying a café, take a barista course and make coffees for yourself and friends.
• Read up about that business category business association websites see where the business is heading and grab a copy of the magazines within that category, this will be easy to find.
• See if you can find a business partner as a mentor who has worked or is working in that line of business. A mentor with history in that business area will be huge help for you and could save you months of learning very pedestrian stuff - "the stuff that others already know without even thinking about" - that's why you need a mentor.
• Buy books about that line of business. A quick trip to Boarders or Dymocks and a look at the business section should already be in your weekly habits. But more so if you are getting into a new venture.

Myths About Business Failure Rates

Fact is many businesses DO SUCCEED. We have been brainwashed into thinking that they are all going to fail in the first year is pure horse manure!

See my report on:
http://www.todaybiz.net  
The big problem with this business failure rate myth is that it’s a story generated by business consultants to keep them in a job.

Back in the early 1980's books told the story about business owners falling out of business at the rate of 80% (these 80% stories were all made up by the way). But a closer look at the business stats for several countries (Canada, USA UK and Australia) show the opposite is true. It’s more like 76% of businesses do succeed. Franchises can have even a lower rate of drop outs, in fact any business that is ran - like a real business will succeed. Its just a matter of application above all else.

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