Five Signs that your Business Idea needs a Reality Check
Business coaching only works as a two-way street where the clients trust in your advice and you believe in them and their business.
If you are about to start your company or you got stuck in your current business — see if you recognize the signs below.
1. “I want it — that means others want it”
If that is your market research — meaning you only thought about your own wishes and desires — then accept it, you will end up being your only customer. If you actually plan to have more than one — try to imagine what it’s like to be that person, what are their pains and desires. How does your offer satisfy them?
2. “Money is not my primary objective”
Let me stop you right there because if that is true you are not a business, you are a charity. There are plenty of ways to match “enjoying the process” with “I want to do good for society” and still be profitable. Earning money with your business is what should constantly give you the push to be better and develop.
3. Experts tell you “it’s great” but they don’t purchase it
Imagine you are a maker of tomato sauce. You test it with owners of three pizzerias. They are pizza makers — they use a lot of sauce. They all say your sauce is fantastic. BUT they don’t purchase it. If they truly like it, believe me, they would purchase at least one jar.
Same is true if you are a service provider.
4. You feel that big competitors are ganging up on you because your “product is brilliant”
Let’s put our tomato-sauce maker hat back on.
You offered it to wholesale — they didn’t buy it. You met with supermarket chains — they turned you down. You tried to attend a tomato sauce festival run by your largest competitor — they refused your entrance.
And you think to yourself “they all are just too afraid that I will disrupt their businesses”. Well… They do have a bit of experience in the industry. So you might want to ask yourself “Am I offering the right product to the right audience in the right way?”
5. You want to expand to foreign markets before your local one
Ok, you already ran out of money trying to “conquer” your local market. Obviously “people here cannot appreciate your brilliance”. So you decide to go to a foreign market.
In your head it works very simply: you call up a pizza maker in a foreign land, and they immediately say “Sure. We are going to buy a lot. We will pay on time. And we will recommend you to everyone”. But will this actually happen? Unlikely!
I help my clients to expand to new markets. If you are not standing strong in your local market, the amount of time, energy, investment and personal presence needed to get to your desired level of cooperation in the new one will drain more than just your savings.
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