Is That Business Right For You?.

One of the things I am always curious about when I meet a business owner is how they chose the business they are currently doing. Some of the responses I usually get are;

1. I was passionate about this and decided to make it a business.
2. I saw a market opportunity and jumped at it.
3. I wanted to make loads of money and someone told me this business would make me money!

Each of these responses has their advantages and disadvantages.

Passion: 

Doing something you are passionate about gives you the required fuel to stick to it for the long haul because you are most likely doing something you would do for free whether you get paid or not. The down side to starting a business based on passion alone is that it might not have a viable market opportunity and you might end up getting frustrated.

Market opportunity: 

when you start a business because you saw a market opportunity, you are most likely going to make money early especially if you ride the wave of the opportunity very well. The down side to starting a business only because of a market opportunity is that others are most likely going to jump on board also especially if the barrier of entry is low. And when supply becomes more than demand, the opportunity disappears and it becomes a buyers’ market. I have seen people get stuck with excess stock which they purchased to take advantage of a market opportunity that eventually disappeared.

Making Money: 

This is one of the most tempting reasons why I see people start certain businesses they don’t know much or even anything about. Someone comes to you and says; ‘I heard about so and so opportunity and you would make a lot of money from it’. The problem with this is that most people don’t do much research to verify if you would indeed make money and they excitedly jump on the business opportunity. It is possible that the opportunity would make you a lot of money, but it would also most likely take a lot of hard work and effort to begin to yield results. So imagine it is something you don’t really care about and you just went into for the money?  You would most likely be frustrated before you start seeing the money.

So how do you know which business is right for you? You have to find what is called your ‘business sweet spot’. This is the intersection between what you like doing, what you are good at doing and what others would pay you to do.

If you are interested in finding your business sweet spot or you are a start up business trying to clarify  if the business you are doing currently is right for you, then I would like to invite you to sign up for this free business training in Lagos in January. Register Now.

Don’t just jump to start a business in the New Year because someone said it is right for you, find your sweet spot.