So you've got no ideas

This is arguably one of the biggest hurdles to actually starting a business, an idea is key and without it you're not able to start your business.

So how do you come up with an idea? You can start by following the steps below.

Key things to remember when coming up with a business idea

• Business ideas do not need to be unique - Is there only one company selling cars? Is there only one shop in your city that sells clothes? The answers are no, all of these businesses are not unique, they are very similar but differentiate themselves in various ways. It's important to realise that your idea for your business does not need to unique! It can simply be a business that others have done but you can put your own take on it, make it slightly different or simply make it very similar but market it better!
• Start a business does not cost thousands - Many people hold back from starting their own business because they think it will cost a lot of money to start, when the reality is that most businesses can be started for a hundreds not thousands
• Pick an area you're interested in - You'll be spending a lot of time in your business, so make sure you pick a business in an area/market that you're actually interested in

Quick steps to coming up with good business ideas

If you're short of time, then check out the below 8 points which can help you come up with business ideas, if you've got more time then read the full article for a more in-depth breakdown of idea generation.

1. Brainstorm things you love - Get a piece of paper or bring up a blank notes app and make a list of all of the things you're interested in, from your favourite things to buy, services you use, hobbies you do and so on and put this in one column. Then next to this make a list of all the businesses that relate to this, for example if you love gardening then you may list things such as: Gardening products, gardening services, garden centres, plants, plant care, garden design etc. From this list you'll quickly find a wealth of potential ideas which you actually have an interest in.
2. Identifying a business idea - Once you've made a big list, circle the types of business ideas that interest you the most, then research which businesses are already out there offering this. See what they are doing well and what they aren't. Write down a list of potential ideas which you think are out there from this list and ones that you feel you could do well at.
3. Market research - You will want to research what similar businesses exist that are a long the lines you've come up with above, don't be worried if there are lots, as this means there is demand for it, if there are none or very few this can mean that there isn't enough demand. So don't get excited if you don't find other businesses doing what you do, this could mean there is very little demand for it or it could mean you've found a good new business opportunity, so to further investigate start asking people their opinions and always make sure you don't just ask family and friends as they may not answer truthfully in order to protect your feelings.
4. Expertise and knowledge - Make sure you have some knowledge or expertise in the idea you're doing or if you don't make sure you're prepared to spend a lot of time learning
5. Unique Selling Point (USP) - Think how you could give one of the above ideas a unique selling point, note this doesn't mean it the whole business has to be unique, in the example above, it could be as little as giving a free care guide with every plant you sell, crucially it's something that others aren't doing and that will make you stand out from the competition.
6. Feasibility of the idea - Once you've got a shortlist from the above, think about how feasible each of these ideas are. If you're just starting out then opening a garden centre for example may be a big step to do straight away, so think about how you could start this but on a smaller scale, for example selling plants online via social media and a website and then delivering locally.
7. Passion and interest - Make sure that you have an interest and preferably a passion for any idea you come up with. Businesses aren't easy and you'll have to devote a lot of time to it, so if it's something you'll lose interest in quickly it's likely it won't succeed.
8. Business plan - Once you've come up with an idea that you're happy with, it's time to create a business plan. This is a comprehensive document that runs through your business in terms of outlining its goals, market, financials, marketing strategy, projections and more.

Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Successful entrepreneurs often possess a unique set of traits and characteristics that contribute to their ability to identify and seize opportunities, however these characteristics are not ones you need to be born with, instead you can start to change your mindset to these ways to help increase your chances of idea creation and ultimately success.

The traits that can make entrepreneurs successful include passion, determination, and a strong desire for autonomy. They often also have a relentless drive to innovate and create value in the marketplace. Additionally, successful entrepreneurs often exhibit a high level of adaptability and flexibility, allowing them to navigate through uncertainties and adapt their strategies as needed. You will need to be able to take risks, step outside your comfort zones and embrace calculated risks to pursue your entrepreneurial visions.

These characteristic you can learn and include in your mindset and can help you to not only come up with ideas but also be successful in turning those ideas into flourishing businesses.

You need to be able to be curious as well as willing to explore different perspectives and possibilities. Entrepreneurs with mindsets like this often will look to learn as much as they can about the market and industry you're thinking of going into. You should consider being actively seeking inspiration from everywhere, from your day to day activities to discussing these with friends. Having an entrepreneurial mindset can help you to identify potential gaps in the market, anticipate emerging trends, and generate innovative business ideas that can address unmet needs.

The power of perseverance and resilience cannot be understated in the entrepreneurial journey. Starting a business is often accompanied by challenges, setbacks, and moments of self-doubt. You'll need to understand that failures are inevitable but see these failures as valuable learning opportunities. You'll need to work hard, be resilient, adapt and bounce back from set backs.

Shifting your perspective: From "I have no ideas" to "I can find ideas"

Typically if you're thinking you have 'no ideas' then your brain will struggle to be creative and the switch to thinking 'I can come up with ideas' is harder, but this is the key to coming up with something that you can start to explore.

So it's time for you to shift your perspective and this can be done in three steps:

1. Recognise that ideas are abundant and all around you - By adopting a mindset that acknowledges the abundance of ideas in the world, you open yourself up to seeing opportunities in everyday situations, conversations, and challenges.

2. Embrace a 'problem-solving mindset' to identify potential business opportunities - Viewing obstacles and problems as opportunities rather than roadblocks allows you to approach them with a problem-solving mindset, leading to the discovery of innovative solutions and potential business ventures.

3. Overcome fear and self-doubt to unlock your creativity - By acknowledging and addressing your fears and self-doubt, you free yourself from the limitations that hinder your creativity. Embracing vulnerability and taking calculated risks empowers you to explore new ideas and push the boundaries of innovation.

Exploring Your Passions and Interests

By exploring your passions and business you may find opportunities that can lead to a more fulfilling and successful entrepreneurial journey.

• Reflecting on personal passions and interests: Taking time to think about things that make you happy and identify the activities and subjects that truly ignite your passion, this can help create a starting point for finding business ideas aligned with your interests.
• Identifying hobbies, skills, and areas of expertise: Recognising the areas in which you personally excel and possess valuable skills allows you to leverage your existing knowledge and expertise in your entrepreneurial pursuits.
• Considering what you enjoy and are knowledgeable about: Understanding what brings you joy and satisfaction, combined with your knowledge in those areas, sets the stage for creating a business that aligns with all the factors that can make you happy and successful.
• Brainstorming ways to monetise your passions: Engaging in creative brainstorming sessions enables you to explore various avenues to transform your passions into profitable business ventures, finding innovative ways to monetise (make money) from your unique interests.

Conducting market research and identifying gaps

Thorough market research can help you to not only come up with ideas but also to identify untapped opportunities and bridge gaps in the market that may exist.

• Identifying target audiences and market segments: By defining and understanding the specific groups of consumers that your product or service aims to serve, you can tailor your offerings to meet their unique needs and preferences.
• Analysing consumer needs, pain points, and trends: Deeply analysing and comprehending the needs, challenges, and trends within your target market allows you to develop products or services that effectively address consumer pain points and capitalise on emerging opportunities.
• Recognising unmet demands and market gaps: Through market research, you can identify gaps in the current market, uncovering areas where consumer demands are unfulfilled or where competitors have not yet capitalised, providing a valuable opportunity for innovation and differentiation.

Tip: Remember if you find that there is lots of other businesses doing what you plan, this doesn't mean that you can't enter this market too.

Leveraging Technology and Innovation

In today's fast-paced world, you can harness the power of technology and innovation to generate new business ideas and drive growth. Larger companies you may think will do this but often are slow at innovating and let other companies come and take market share. Remember how Blockbuster were the market leaders, dominating the video rental market and a little company called Netflix came along, Blockbuster came out and said they didn't think that digital streaming was the future and let Netflix grow, eventually dominating the market and Blockbuster shutting down.

• Keeping up with the latest industry trends and technologies: Staying informed about advancements and trends in your industry enables you to identify opportunities for innovation and potential business ideas.
• Staying informed through industry publications, blogs, and conferences: Engaging with industry-specific resources and attending conferences keeps you updated on the latest technological advancements and market insights.
• Following technology advancements and disruptive innovations: Tracking technological breakthroughs and disruptive innovations allows you to explore how these advancements can be applied to various industries, opening up possibilities for new business ideas.
• Analysing how emerging technologies can be applied to different industries: By examining emerging technologies, entrepreneurs can identify how these innovations can be leveraged to solve problems and create unique business opportunities.

Tip: Follow some of the leaders of your market or who run businesses in markets like yours on social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok, they will often give out incredible insightful information that can really help you.

Embracing digital platforms and e-commerce

The digital landscape offers entrepreneurs a range of opportunities to explore and capitalise on when generating business ideas, it's never been easier or quicker to open a business online, business bank accounts such as Tide offer you the ability to open not only a limited company in the UK but also a business bank account in minutes, plus with Tide referral codes you can get £50 when you do open one.

• Understanding the benefits and opportunities of online businesses: These include the ability to reach a global audience easily, scaling fast, having low barriers to entry and more means in todays age it has never been easier to start a business on a digital platform.
• Utilising social media platforms for market research and promotion: Social media platforms provide a wealth of data and insights that entrepreneurs like yourself can utilise for market research, audience analysis, and targeted promotion, helping not only when your business is started but also during the idea generation stages.
• Exploring e-commerce options and platforms to start and scale your business: E-commerce platforms and online marketplaces offer entrepreneurs the means to start, test, and scale their business ideas with relative ease and cost-efficiency.

Collaboration and Networking

Building connections and collaborating with others can be a valuable source of inspiration and idea generation for entrepreneurs.

• Joining local business organisations, meetups, and networking events: Engaging with local business organisations and attending meetups and networking events exposes entrepreneurs to like-minded individuals, fostering discussions that can spark new ideas and opportunities.
• Building connections with like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs: Cultivating relationships with individuals who share similar passions and entrepreneurial aspirations creates a support system for exchanging ideas, feedback, and potential collaborations.
• Leveraging the power of collaboration and partnerships: Collaborating with other entrepreneurs or businesses allows for you to pool together resources, expertise, and networks, helping to create innovative business ideas that may not have been possible on your own.

Tip: There will be lots of entrepreneurial meetups, events and more in your local area, have a search online, ask business owners and go to local government/business hubs and you'll find lots of helpful information relating to networking.

You'll also be able to get help from the following places:

• Government business support
• Princes Trust - helps businesses across the UK

Seeking mentorship and guidance

Seeking the guidance of experienced mentors can provide invaluable insights and guidance for entrepreneurs.

• Identifying potential mentors within your industry or niche: Identifying individuals who have achieved success in your industry or niche allows you to seek their mentorship and tap into their expertise.
• Approaching mentors and establishing mutually beneficial relationships: Reaching out to potential mentors and building meaningful relationships based on trust and mutual respect can provide entrepreneurs with guidance, advice, and support throughout their entrepreneurial journey.
• Leveraging their expertise and experience to refine your business ideas: Mentors can offer a fresh perspective, provide constructive feedback, and help refine business ideas, enhancing the chances of success.

Tip: Don't be afraid of reaching out, whether this is in person or via social networking or email, remember the worst thing that can happen is you either don't get a reply or you get one saying they can't help.

Important note: There are lots of claimed 'business gurus' online who will charge for mentorship, please we very wary about these, as often these people simply only make money by selling help or courses.

Brainstorming and idea generation

Engaging in structured brainstorming techniques can unlock creativity and generate innovative business ideas, whether it's simply jotting ideas down on a notepad to a more in-depth brainstorming session, they can really help you.

• Employing traditional brainstorming techniques: Applying classic brainstorming methods, such as freewriting, mind mapping, and random word association, encourages the generation of diverse ideas and stimulates creative thinking.
• Using mind maps and visual brainstorming tools: Visualising ideas through mind maps and other visual brainstorming tools enhances idea generation by capturing connections, exploring different branches, and stimulating new associations.
• Encouraging diverse perspectives and input from others: Seeking input from team members, colleagues, or individuals from different backgrounds and disciplines introduces fresh perspectives, expands the range of ideas, and fosters collaborative ideation.

Testing and Validating Your Ideas

Testing and validating your ideas is a critical step in the entrepreneurial journey to ensure that your concepts resonate with the target market and have the potential for success. Ultimately, if you idea doesn't then it may not be worth exploring more as simply put, without demand, your business won't succeed.

Building a minimum viable product

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) allows you to validate your business idea with real users and gather feedback to inform further iterations and improvements. The core idea is to spend a little to develop a basic model of your business to test and see the reaction from customers and if you make sales. If you don't then you haven't sunk too much money into the business idea.

• Defining the core features and functionalities of your product or service: Clearly defining the essential elements and functionalities of your product or service helps you prioritise and focus on what is necessary for the initial version of your MVP.
• Developing a prototype or simplified version to test in the market: Creating a prototype or simplified version of your product or service enables you to gather valuable user feedback and insights through real-world testing and interaction.
• Collecting feedback and data to iterate and improve your offering: Actively collecting feedback from users and analysing relevant data helps you identify areas for improvement, refine your offering, and enhance its market fit.

Remember that starting a business doesn't always mean you need a lot of capital, check out businesses to start with £1000.

Examples of business MVPs

Cake shop - Lets say you want to open a cake shop, now traditionally you may look to find a premises, get into a 1-3 year rental agreement, pay to make the shop look great, make a large product selection and then open. This is all good if the business works, but if it doesn't you'll not only have spent a lot of money but you'll also be tied into the rental contract still. A MVP of this would be to start selling your cakes to friends and family, then getting a stall at markets and so on. Slowly working out if the customers firstly love your cakes, secondly if there is a demand for them at the price that makes you a profit and also to find out the areas your customers visit regularly.

All of this can help you to be a better position to know if the business may succeed but also if it appears it won't then you won't have spent thousands. This is often how food stalls and food trucks go from this to opening a fixed location and it helps to minimise the risks.

Ecommerce shop - Let's say you have an idea for a shop online that will sell a certain product, instead of paying thousands of pounds to create a unique ecommerce site, why not use software like Shopify to create one for under £100 and test the market.

Conducting market validation experiments

Conducting market validation experiments allows you to gather valuable insights and data to validate the demand and viability of your business idea.

• Creating surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gather customer feedback: Engaging with potential customers through surveys, interviews, or focus groups helps you understand their needs, preferences, and pain points, providing valuable insights for refining your business idea.
• Running small-scale tests and pilots to assess market demand: Testing your product or service in a limited and controlled environment allows you to assess market demand, measure customer interest, and validate the viability of your business idea.
• Analysing data and insights to make informed business decisions: This can help empower you to make informed decisions regarding product development, market positioning, and overall business strategy.

Ready to get started?

If you think you've got an idea and are ready to go to the next step, then consider opening a business account and limited company, remember when you open a limited company you will then need to complete certain documents each year. There are many options available to do this including directly through Companies House or via a company like Tide* which give you £50 cashback plus pay the £12 fee that companies house charge on your behalf.

Conclusion

In conclusion, generating a business idea when you initially have no ideas may seem daunting, but by following these key strategies and approaches, you can unlock a world of possibilities. First, by cultivating an open mindset, embracing the problem-solving mentality, and recognising that ideas are abundant and all around you, you can tap into the wealth of opportunities waiting to be discovered. Additionally, leveraging technology and innovation, embracing digital platforms and e-commerce, and staying informed about industry trends and advancements will position you at the forefront of business innovation.

Furthermore, collaboration and networking can provide you with invaluable support, inspiration, and potential partnerships, while seeking mentorship and guidance from experienced individuals can offer invaluable insights and help refine your ideas. Moreover, conducting market research, identifying gaps, and validating your ideas through testing, feedback, and market experiments will enable you to fine-tune your concepts, ensure market demand, and increase the chances of success.

Remember, the journey of entrepreneurship starts with a single idea, and with the right mindset, knowledge, and strategies, you can transform that idea into a thriving business. Embrace your passions, leverage the power of technology, connect with others, and continuously iterate and refine your ideas based on market insights. With determination, resilience, and a willingness to explore, you can embark on an exciting entrepreneurial adventure and turn your initial lack of ideas into a wealth of opportunities.