How to Create A Business/Marketable Idea

As you begin your entrepreneurial journey, many questions and concerns will arise: How do I find financing? How do I write a business plan? To whom will I pitch my plan? However, no matter how much information and advice you can, and probably will, obtain about those questions, all of your questions and all of the available information and advice are based on the assumption that you have already created an idea, product, or concept.

What if you have not yet created an idea, product, or concept? Does this mean that you can never advance or achieve your entrepreneurial goals? Of course not! Although creating an idea, product, or concept can be one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome, it is not impossible and can be achieved rather painlessly.

The main problem with idea creation is that ideas are subjective. What one person considers a great idea, another may consider a terrible idea. Another problem with idea creation is that if the idea is forced, it will not be completely thought out, and therefore has the potential to become a “bad” idea.

Let me clarify something, you do not have to have an idea, product, or concept to become or continue to be an entrepreneur. Partnering with others is a large component of being an entrepreneur. Just know that unless you have a lot of money to invest or have specialized education or experience, your options will be limited. Due to this fact, many new entrepreneurs have to possess new, innovative, and creative ideas to make up for their lack of funds.

Some people are lucky enough to be born with creative ability. These people can create ideas and concepts with little or no difficulty. Knowing people who have this gift will benefit your situation. If you happen to know people with this ability, you should create a business relationship with them. They may be able to help you through any creative mental blocks that may occur now or in the future.

Back to the main point; how do you create an idea? First, you have to know what you are interested in and what type of education and experience you possess. Determining these factors will help you focus your thought process. For example, if you are interested in computers, but have no education or experience with computers outside of internet surfing or word processing, it will be difficult to create a marketable idea for computer software components. Know your limits and keep your thought process reasonable. In other words, do NOT let your imagination run wild. When you become good at creating ideas, then you can let your imagination do some work, but not at first.

Second, ideas are like dreams. Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of having a dream, waking up remembering the whole thing and then five minutes later not remembering any of it? In my experience, ideas follow the same pattern. An outside stimulus will trigger an idea and soon after having thought it up, I cannot remember any of it. The way to remedy this problem is to get a small notebook to write ideas in. Get one of the little notebooks that you see police carry in their shirt pocket. Whenever you have an idea, write it down! This way you can look at your notebook and later begin to develop your idea.

Third, ideas occur like magic. I know this sounds cheesy, but hear me out. Have you ever been sitting on your couch and a friend or family member asks, “What is the name of the actor in X movie?” You know the answer, but, for the life of you, you cannot remember the actor’s name. You eventually get frustrated and give up. Then, ten, twenty, or even thirty minutes later you are watching television, not thinking about anything and then “poof,” the actor’s name pops into your head. Ideas also follow this pattern. The truth is every person has had at least one good idea in his/her life. Sometimes, without noticing it, a stimulus awakens something in our subconscious and an idea pops into our head. When this happens (and it will happen because I guarantee it has happened to you before and you have not noticed) write it down in your notebook for further development.

Fourth, if by chance neither of the two phenomenon mentioned above occur or you are not patient enough to wait for them, more practical methods exist to stimulate idea creation. Going back to my first point, focus your thought into a field of interest. For example, if you are interested in cooking, maybe you have a problem with the way an oven can dry out a chicken when cooking. Now that you have identified a problem, brainstorm and think of as many solutions as possible. It does not matter how crazy the solution is, just think about them and write them down. After you have written down every possible solution, no matter how crazy, go through the list and find the solution that you feel you can best accomplish. Surprise! You have come up with an original idea. This does not mean that you should pitch this idea tomorrow. All this means is that you should develop your idea, mold your idea, and perfect your idea into something you think people would buy if in the market. Also, this way of thinking will get your creative juices flowing. You may find yourself traveling a different path from your original field of interest. If this occurs, follow the thought until completion. You may be surprised where it leads!

Remember, do not force your ideas, take a break if you need one, and BE PATIENT! Do not expect miracles the first time. Go through the process and everything should work out. Write down ideas when they hit or sit down, focus your thought, find a problem, think of a solution, and develop YOUR original idea.

Lastly, be proud of your creation. Ideas, like people, need nurturing and development. If you do thee things, idea creation will become second nature to you.

Pyramid Scheme vs. Multi-level Marketing

Many people automatically associate a negative connotation with buzz words like “multi-level marketing” and “downline.” These people assume that those words denote a “pyramid scheme” and that the opportunity attached to those words is a scam. However, this is simply not true. If you know what to look for and what to avoid, you will be able to detect a true “pyramid scheme” from a potential money making opportunity.

Pyramid Scheme

Overview
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business that involves the exchange of money, usually in the form of a sign-up fee, and usually has no product or service. Most importantly, pyramid schemes are ILLEGAL! The only people that are able to make money on a pyramid scheme are the people at the top of the pyramid.



Source: http://www.sec.gov/answers/pyramid.htm


The above picture proves that pyramid schemes are unsustainable. As stated above, because these businesses offer no product or service, no possible way exists for the people at the bottom of the pyramid to make any money. The only way to make money in a pyramid scheme is to sign-up new members for a fee. However, as the above picture shows, this becomes impossible when the scheme reaches a certain level. The end result is that people can spend upwards of several thousand dollars to enroll in one of these scams and will end up losing everything.

Common Elements
As the United State Securities and Exchange Commission states, “[t]he hallmark of these schemes is the promise of sky-high returns in a short period of time for doing nothing other than handing over your money and getting others to do the same. The fraudsters behind a pyramid scheme may go to great lengths to make the program look like a legitimate multi-level marketing program. But despite their claims to have legitimate products or services to sell, these fraudsters simply use money coming in from new recruits to pay off early stage investors.”

Some other identifying characteristics to look for are:
• Vague descriptions about the company from which your questions can only be answered by signing up and paying the fee
• No product or service being offered or a product that sells at a highly inflated price
• A majority or all of the possible income to be made comes from the sign-up fee from new enrollees.
• Repeated assurances that the company is completely legal.

If any of these characteristics are present, you will want to completely avoid the company and warn others from participating in this advanced form of fraud.

Multi-level Marketing

Overview
Multi-level marketing companies follow a similar concept to a pyramid scheme, which is a reason for most of the confusion, except that two significant differences exist. One difference is that members at any level of a multi-level marketing model can make income through the company’s products and/or services without signing up any new members. The second difference is that multi-level marketing companies are LEGAL!

You may be asking, “if all the confusion, why then do these companies initiate this business model?” The main reason for this type of model is to reduce the cost of advertising. We can all agree that effective advertising in this day and age can cost a bundle. Many new companies do not have this much capital in the beginning. Therefore, one solution is to reward the company’s members for “spreading the word.” Instead of the company spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on advertising, the company gives the members an incentive, usually in the form of money, for signing up new members to sell/use the company’s product and/or service.

Unlike a pyramid scheme, any member on any level can make money without ever having to sign-up a new member. However, like a pyramid scheme, once the company reaches a certain population level, it becomes impossible for any new people to sign-up. Therefore, the people at the bottom cannot make bonuses for sign-ups, but they will still be able to make money based on the company’s product and/or services.

Examples
The following is a list of companies that conduct business under a multi-level marketing business model. You may have heard of a few of these:
• Avon Products
• Tupperware
• Mary Kay Cosmetics
• Herbalife
• World Financial Group

Common Elements
Common elements of a multi-level business model are different from a pyramid scheme:
• Little or no enrollment fee
• The company completely explains itself, its products, and its services BEFORE you sign-up
• A member’s main source of income will come from selling or offering the company’s products and/or services
• A member can make money at ANY level of the model WITHOUT signing up new members

These elements assure that the member will have a fair chance to make money from the company. However, as is true with any venture, your income depends on your ability to sell products or offer services. Any company that promises you money for doing nothing is not being honest with you.

If you follow these guidelines, you should be able to tell the difference between the two types of companies. Some pyramid schemes are very cleverly hidden. If you should encounter a company like this during your entrepreneurial journey, and you discover that you cannot make a conclusive decision as to whether or not the company is a pyramid scheme, it is best to error on the side of caution and avoid the situation.

If you discover a multi-level marketing company that you may want to sign-up for, always do a cost/benefit analysis. Weigh all possible costs associated with signing up against all the potential benefits. If the benefits outweigh the costs, you may want to sign-up and try to make some money from the company. The same is true vice versa. In the end, the decision is up to you.

After reading this article, it is my intention that at the very least you should now be able to differentiate between an illegal pyramid scam that will take your money and a legal multi-level marketing company that offers a legitimate opportunity to make money. By knowing and recognizing the difference between the two, you should no longer worry when you here buzzwords like “multi-level marketing” and “downline.” Also, you should be able to take a closer look at multi-level marketing companies and possibly expand your entrepreneurial horizons.