An article by author and speaker Brian Tracy.
There have never been so many opportunities to start and build a successful business than there are today.
One Million Every Year
Ambitious individuals like you, with dreams and hopes, are starting new businesses today at a faster rate than ever before. Over one million new enterprises are being launched each year, and the rate is accelerating. The opportunities for finding or developing a new business idea are all around you, and with proper preparation, the possibilities for your success are enormous.
No Better Time Than Today
As many as 80 percent of all the products and services in common use today at home, in business and in organizations large and small, will be obsolete in five years. They'll be replaced by new and better products and services. The rapid development of new technology and the desire of people for new or better or cheaper products or services means that you can start your fortune easier today than at any other time in history.
Avoiding Failure, Assuring Success
However, we know that 80 to 90 percent of new businesses fail in the first three years due to a variety of factors. One of those factors is managerial incompetence. It is an inability to sell the product or an inability to control costs or both. Another major reason for failure is offering the wrong product at the wrong price to the wrong market at the wrong time, or a combination of these. In which case, even the best marketing efforts and cost controls won't help you.
Determine the Need
The first principle with regard to selecting any new product or service is to determine that it fills a genuine, existing need, that it solves a problem of some kind for the customer, or that it makes the life or work of the customer better in some way. You must be very clear about this.
Sell a Quality Product or Service
The second principle for success with a new product or service is that it must be of good quality at a fair price. And if it is in competition with other similar products or services, it must have what is called a unique selling proposition. It must have some beneficial feature or attraction that makes it different from and superior to its competitors.
Your Area of Uniqueness
We call this its area of uniqueness. And it is central to success in business. No product or service can succeed unless it is somehow unique and superior to any other product or service like it. There is seldom any real opportunity in what is called a "me too" product - one that is just the same as all the others. At the same time, the safest business strategy is to start off with an accepted product that you can improve. In other words, instead of trying to invent a whole new business or industry, start off with something that people are already doing, people are already buying and using, and find some way to improve it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, determine exactly what is different and special about your product or service that will cause people to buy it in competition with similar products or services. Build your entire sales and marketing around this unique selling proposition.
Second, investigate before you invest. Be prepared to look at a variety of different business opportunities until you find one that really excites you before you make a decision to get started.
