Best small business opportunities remember that we’re creatures of habit
I blogged about this 10 days ago but something caught my eye this afternoon that caused me to revisit, even perseverate a bit on, the issue again.
There is a tendency for first-time entrepreneurs to go with the “it’s never been done before in the history of humankind” excitement & strategy when starting a small business. It’s understandable. After all, for a first-time startup, it’s all brand new and an extreme break from the workin’-for-the-man way of earning a living. And the sexy stories of a successful startup where the founders came up with this fantastic new idea out of thin air are the ones that make the mainstream press or find their way through the entrepreneurial grapevine & become lore.
But let’s restate what Norm Brodsky proclaimed:
According to Norm, the first criterion for starting a business is that the business concept needs to be well established.
“At least 100 years old,” says Norm. “You don’t want to spend a lot of money educating people about how to use your business. It’s to your advantage that people know that the business concept exists, how to use it, and where to find it.”
You hear that? Go start a brand new business, but make certain that the concept is at least 100 years old. That’s older than my Grandma Nellie who turns 98 this coming November. (and is still sharp as a scalpel & planning on making the 750 mile trip to my wedding this summer, 1/3 of it by car)
Wanna test this theory out? Does the business concept for Google go back prior to 1906? Hmm. People want good & relevant information as fast as they can get it. Yep, that existed in 1905.
Got any other examples that prove out Norm’s theory? Any that dispute it?
April 20th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Interesting Joel. This dovetails nicely with a message Rich posted in the forums to start a thread on the difference between innovation and invention. (I hope I posted the link right!)
[link=' target='']http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp?TID=253&PN=1[/link]
It refers to the founder of Patagonia arguing that innovation – improving on existing ideas for which there is already a market – is a sounder business strategy than tying to invent something revolutionary.
And yes we are definitely creatures of habit – we may get excited about “the greatest thing since sliced bread” or the new killer app, but usually when they succeed it’s because they’re just extensions of or improvements on the ways we live in our comfort zones.