4 Things To Do Once You Have THE IDEA
We all get our ‘coffee-table’ ideas while we are sitting with a bunch of our friends. But rarely do we take it seriously. Or, even after taking up the idea and thinking about it, most of us fail the execution part.
What should you do after realizing your idea has true potential? How to get started? Where to get funds? I had the chance to discuss the solutions to these questions with Ghazal Alagh, co-founder of the beauty brand Mamaearth and one of the judges on the reality show Shark Tank.
Ghazal, along with her husband and co-founder Varun, shared their journey of building Mamaearth. We discussed their struggles from the conception of Mamaearth as an idea to making it India’s most trusted brand in health and wellness
Here’s my takeaway from the discussion:
Whether you are a freshly graduated or an experienced 35-year-old professional, the excitement and fear of starting something afresh is a rush that no adventure sport can provide you. Here are the few things that you should keep in mind right after you have gotten your ‘Eureka’ moment-
1. TALK IT OUT
When your business ideas have potential, you shouldn’t keep them to yourself! Share it with friends who see the potential in you. It would be a cherry on top of the person advising you as your target customer.
Ask them the straightforward questions:
- Do you think this will work?
- Would you buy/pay for the product/services?
- Do you think I can get enough funding?
You might not get the feedback you expect, which might be a blessing in disguise. Honest feedback, good or bad, will help you and motivate you to work harder and smarter.
2. DO YOUR RESEARCH
The next important thing to do is research. You need to find your competition and look for ways to stay ahead of them. Research plays a crucial role in executing all these tasks. This is how every business figures out what works and what doesn’t in the market. You want to learn from mistakes others made and get an edge.
There are times when the result of the market research might not be in your favor and force you to rethink your original idea. In any case, research is the most critical step which must not be ignored.
3. DRAFT A BUSINESS PLAN
Developing a business plan is a crucial step in launching a new business. Business plans help you straighten out your business’s fundamentals and core components before you plan the big launch.
While charting out a plan, you need to understand that the investors need to know and understand your story, underlying goals, both financial and operational, and if you have a plan for the business.
4. BUILD A PROTOTYPE
Prototype, in simple words, is a reality check, and it allows you to see if your idea is feasible or not.
It can help you understand what to expect when your actual business is out there. Like market research, it gives you all the cautions beforehand to prepare for the real deal. Create a blog, discuss your products and, ask for reviews, build a following. The goal of creating a prototype is to know whether or not people will invest in your product/services. It’s all about bringing your business vision to reality to see if it will resonate with real consumers.
Having the zeal for what you’re doing is vastly different from loving your idea. If implementing your idea makes you miserable every day, you won’t love it for long. Now that you have a great idea, you just need to put together a group of fun people to work with and execute.
Listen to this brilliant episode here.
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