How to Turn Ideas into Business?

Mohammed Shafi

Everyone has ideas. They keep flushing into our minds at all times of the day, whether we are brushing our teeth or we are driving to work or even if we are sitting idle doing nothing. But, is it possible to convert all those ideas into a valid output and further into a profitable business?

Not really. Every idea needs a certain validation and an approach of practicality.  An idea is the seed of a successful business and without proper care and maintenance it will not bloom. Ideas require solid research of the target market, a good strategy and a sound business plan without which ideas can not go much further.

To turn ideas into business there are some basic things that everyone should be aware of:

1.   Settle on one business idea:

If we are mulling a number of ideas, the odds are that none of them will see the light of the day. Skimming through different ideas every day and figuring out whether they motivate you or whether they work won’t get you anywhere. And we will probably not be passionate about any of them. So, how do we fix it?

Take one idea that you think can move you forward, that you feel most passionate about and stay with it. Stay with one till you can't go any further, until you have given it your all, only then you will know whether or not that idea can be turned into a million dollar business.

2.   Validating the idea:

An idea is absolutely worthless if we keep it to ourselves and do not test it with actual customers. Through testing we could see the pros and cons of that idea but getting an idea or testing it with customers is not that easy. So how do you get to customers when you are at the idea stage and you don't want to spend a huge sum.

To solve this, a minimum viable product or a prototype must be made. A prototype can be an actual functioning product with the core features offered. And then if we are sharing it with the customers and looking for their response we can see or feel the future of the idea.

3.   Executing the idea:

There is no such thing as a million-dollar idea. Facebook was not a million-dollar idea until it was executed. By executing an idea, we can distinctly see any drawbacks and also, we can understand where we should give more importance. Feedback is the main aspect to be focused upon during this phase.

4.   Finding a large market:

After validating your idea and after execution, don't waste it on a market that would not gain you any penny, don't waste your time on an idea that does not cater to a large audience. Sure, you can start on a small level and expand later but you should ask yourselves beforehand, is that idea solving the needs of few hundreds? Is your idea scalable to the next hundred thousand? if not, you are not building a business.

We need to think big, think global and base our idea on a large audience and we will get a product with the potential to grow into a larger and a more successful business.

We should know which market will gain us more profit depending on the idea. We should look for the market which will be waiting for our product or the ideas needed to deliver that product. This is where your research will come most handy.

5.   Make it a must-have not a nice-to-have:

A lot of ideas are marketable and they can surely be turned into business but that won't end up building a profit out of it. These are the nice-to-have ideas. We must spend time getting to know from the market whether the idea is a nice-to-have idea or a must-have idea. Nice-to-have ideas are mostly in the novelty domain or are not compelling enough for customers. If you want to develop your ideas to successful profit then we must create and sustain a business, then go after must-have ideas

So decide what is important to you: the figment of our imagination that tells you your idea is a million dollar one or validating it to build something that can get you the actual million dollars. If we are looking around ourselves we can see a lot of people with lot of ideas but everyone can not convert them into business. Those who are following the above methods can only get the juice out of that fruit. Sometimes an idea may get to be a profitable business and sometimes it may not but, will always lead us to a better way in the future and help us learn from all the drawbacks that our ideas had and to work towards them.