GenY Enterpreneur: Creativity

Don’t try to make the most outlandish, new age, revolutionary, earth shattering product or service you can think of when coming up with your business ideas. Remember that oldies can be goodies. All too often I come across young entrepreneurs trying to make an ergonomic bicycle that will fold into a briefcase and charge your cell phone while you ride. My question is, would a regular bike company be just as, if not more, successful? Why do us entrepreneurs feel the need to push the bounds of the basic market?

If the town you are living in does not have an Italian food restaurant, and you notice that. Open up an italian food restaurant and supply the demand for italian food, cha-ching! entrepreneur’s minds act quite differently, we would try to open a irish/italian fusion bar that caters to a new age modern hipster crowd. What?? Since we are always visualizing our ideas in motion we tend to get carried away and try to Wow everyone, including ourselves. This defeats the Porpoise (Dolphin) as my friend Jose would say.

We need to deflect that creativity away from the theme of the business and into running a successful and profitable business. For instance if you spend so much time and money designing this Irish/Italian fusion restaurant you may overlook the main point. It needs to appeal to the market and it needs to make money. If you make it too fancy or imaginative people may not get it, or might not find it appealing. But a simple italian restaurant, run correctly, is something future family generations could inheret.

Remember, just because it sounds boring and it has been done before does not mean that it is not a profitable business idea. After all if these types of businesses are still around they must serve a need in society. The world still needs barber shops, pizza parlors, bakers, insurance co.’s, consultants, etc. These will continue to be around forever making you money for many years to come. So move the creativity away for the product and into the organization of the business.