This was published 6 years ago
Turning your idea into a small-business opportunity
Sponsored by American Express
Mentoring can mean a lot for small business success.Credit: iStock
Turning an idea into a robust business that generates revenue over the years, decades and even generations takes a certain amount of nous and advice from mentors and experienced marketers. Plus, the cash to make things happen is a major necessity.
According to the Economy of Shopping Small: Back your Backyard report by American Express, a quarter of small business owners currently act as a business coach or mentor but only 14 percent have one.
It’s time for that number to increase, because as Tim Reid, a noted speaker at The Idea Exchange seminars held across Australia for American Express customers, says, “It’s those who you know well that are the best people to talk to first.”
Once you’ve considered and taken into account the advice of friends and family whose opinions you trust, and sourced financing perhaps via investors or a grant, the easiest way to test whether your idea has legs is simply to start selling it.
Reid says it can be as straightforward as “Selling something at a market – in the broadest sense of the word. It could be at an actual market such as a local community or a farmers’ market, or online such as on eBay or Gumtree.”
One incredible example Reid gives of how testing an idea can pay off big time is the mortgage broker in Canada with the whacky idea of selling a bag of fresh air from the Canadian Rockies on eBay. The audacious Canadian has now graduated to selling cans of what he calls Vitality Air to Chinese customers.
Taking an idea to market – even at a basic level – can require funding for items like packaging, an eye-catching logo or professional photography to make it look good. A dollar injection from a bank or personal loan is an option, as is entering the American Express® Shop Small Business Grant that awards $50,000 to the winner’s bank account to spend on their business anyway they like.
Even with cash flow, it can be hard to know whether to trust your gut instinct that an idea is a goer or go crunch a few more numbers. Again, mentors can help with this.
Reid says, “I'm very much a gut-instinct person, I very much come at things from a heart or gut feeling, it just feels right. But again, it's good to surround yourself with people whose opinion you respect, who can give you the perspective that you don't have.
When asked how to turn an idea into a reliable and long-running money-making machine, Reid’s reply is a very direct: “You start charging for it, obviously!” The Canadian canned-air guy, after his toe-dipping on eBay, now charges $32 a can for his Banff Air. Or even a gasp-inducing $10,000 for a limited-edition can with three diamond studs.
But more seriously, Reid says, “I think when we have ideas – depending on what those ideas are – there'll be the obvious ways of making money from them. And there will also be this other way. Sometimes it can be very subtle and other times it'll hit you over the head.”
His own business illustrates how an unexpected new way of making money can come from an original idea. Although his marketing podcast The Small Business Big Marketing Show is Australia’s number one marketing podcast, “the greatest money-earner for me has been keynote speaking and MC’ing – which I never, ever imagined was going to be the case.”
Even though every business would be nothing without its initial idea, the better an idea, the more it can take over your life and make everything a bit crazy. Mentors can help with this too.
Reid says, “If there's someone in your life that has great work-life balance, then call on them for that aspect of your growth. Is there another person who is just a numbers genius who can help you with that side? Look out for those people and reach out to them.”
And where do you find a good mentor?
“It's OK to tap people on the shoulder and ask,” says Reid. “A mentor could be catching up for a quick coffee, or an ongoing relationship, or a weekly phone meeting. They're really important because being a business owner, being an entrepreneur, can be very lonely. You can get caught up in your own thinking and ways, so having perspectives of others is really important.”
Tim Reid’s final words of advice to entrepreneurs are to know when to ease off, when to take the foot off the pedal. Because, after all the hard work, you’ve deserved it.
He says that when he started out, “I wish I'd known – and I wish I'd had someone in my life to just say – ‘Back off and slow down a little bit, look out and smell the roses.’ As small-business owners we're very poor at celebrating the wins – the big wins and the small wins. We should acknowledge that, ‘Hey, we're doing a pretty good job here’."