How do you narrow down your business ideas? I’m currently struggling with too many wants/ideas to do with my business. Plus I have a lot of (well intentioned) people constantly giving me ideas of “you need to do *blank*”. I know I need to start start small then expand if it fits, but crow brain is getting in the way.
Thank you,
-B
Great question B… and I love this question because it’s so specific to creatives like us.
There are no shortage of creative ideas that would be really fun. You collect these kinds of shiny objects, and other people give them to you all the time. Ideas are plentiful – so plentiful that you get derailed by the sheer number of them. But the fact that cat sweaters would be a really fun and unique business (and that the website and socials would be SO CUTE) doesn’t make it a great business idea.
It can’t just be a cool/fun/creative thought. Your business idea has to check other boxes too if it’s going to be worth the effort. And the number one most important box to check – and the one that narrows the field immediately – is this:
Is there a market for it?
I know, not very creative. But it’s key. Hear me out.
As a creative person, you want to be able to spend your days doing fun stuff as much as possible. You want your stress level to remain as low as possible. You want the money to take care of itself as much as possible. And that means, you better pick something that will actually sell. You’ve got to be selling stuff in order to have money coming in, and you’ve got to have money coming in to sustain a business that survives. You won’t get anywhere without it, no matter how worthy or fun the product is – just as a family can only be in a good place if there’s money coming in to enable everyone to survive with low stress and have a little fun.
It’s got to be something that’ll sell. But how do you predict which idea is going to sell? You look at WHO the heck is going to buy it. The real measure of whether it’s going to work – and whether you’re still going to be doing that same thing a year later, and hopefully doing it in a slightly bigger and cooler craft room – is whether there are a crowd of people outside that room who love to buy what it is you’re having so much fun creating.
Hard truth: it’s not about WHAT your business idea is. It’s about WHO your audience for that fun idea is.
So put your wish list of fun things you could make aside for a moment, because that’s not what matters in your business. You said it yourself, B – you have no shortage of fun ideas. So start making notes about WHO, not what. Who do you want to be writing to in your emails? Whose problems and aspirations do you want to be writing about? Whose lives do you care about? They come first.
And don’t be cheating and saying, “Well, I want to make cat sweaters, so my people are cat owners.” Nope. Forget about stuff you want to make. Who do you care about? Whose lives do you want to improve or enhance with your business? Whose problems do you want to solve? What type of person do you deeply care about? Whose needs and nerdery could you be obsessed with? Who are your people?
When you’ve answered that question, you’ll find the list of what product to create develops in a whole new way. But don’t get hung up on The Perfect Answer. It won’t be perfect; it’s going to grow and change. (In fact, it should grow and change as your audience, the market, and you yourself change and mature.) You’re not putting a ring on the finger of this business idea; you’re going on a first date. You just have to pick WHO you want to go on that first date with. Do that first. What you’ll do together on the date comes later, ok?