3 Steps to Narrowing Your Business Idea

I'm sure that you have multiple skills and talents that you can turn into a business, but the question is, how do you narrow it down to just one to start?

Here are 3 strategies I use whenever I'm considering several ideas:

1) Decide if this business is something you can see yourself doing for the next 7 years or more.

It takes a lot of effort to to get a new business off the ground, and the last thing you want to do is to go full steam ahead in the wrong direction.

Make sure that the business is one that you will truly enjoy working on for a long time. Just because you know how to do something, doesn't mean you want to do it.

Consider that it can take a year or longer to get your business fully established, and if you don't enjoy what you're doing, you'll likely give up when challenges come up along the way.

You want to be in this for the long haul, so take the time upfront to be honest with yourself about whether you are following this idea because it's something you truly want to go after or if it's more of a whim.

2) Is the business based on a skill or expertise you already have, or will you need to learn a new skill to make it happen?

The best businesses to start are the ones that you could do with your eyes close.

If you already have a trained expertise in an area or a naturally inherent talent doing something, that business should be at the top of your list. It's the easiest to start and more than likely, the one you would enjoy the most.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with improving on a talent or skill you already have, if it will help you serve your future clients even better.

The goal is for you to not have to start from scratch with the core expertise you'll need to operate the business.

3) Evaluate and rank the revenue potential for each idea.

This is where you actually take the time to get real about how much money the idea you're considering could make for you. Most importantly, you need to have a target for how much revenue you want to make.

You will want to take some time to do some research if this is not a business you're already familiar with. How big is the market for this idea? How many clients will you need to hit your target revenue? How long will it take to generate revenue?

Ask these questions of each idea you're considering and rank them by revenue potential and the time to reach it.

You're looking for your fastest path to cash, with the least amount of effort, that you will be happy to wake up to every day.

Take some time over the next few days to use these strategies to narrow down your list, and start getting into action!