Arnold Schwartzenager once said in a TV interview that “there is so much opportunity in America that most Americans can’t see it” or words to this effect. Is there a reason that of all American citizens, first and second generation immigrants are by far and away the most likely to start a small business? They walk onto our shores and see nothing but opportunity to create their own future in their own terms.
Opportunity in the United States (and Canada, too, for that matter) is like the Force in the Star Wars movies -- it surrounds us, binds and gives us our power. But like anything else, we become satiated and saturated, oblivious to the opportunity that floods our daily existence. An Opportunity Search is the process seeing opportunity where it lurks, and it lurks all around us.
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Get a pad of paper and pencil or set a binder to note ideas and to paste articles and ads from magazines and newspapers that interest you or seem promising. Make sure to carry your file or notebook with you during your Opportunity Search, as you never know when an idea or observation will appear.Read
Books, magazines, out of town newspapers, your daily newspapers and other publications are your starting point in your Opportunity Search. I suggest a program of initial reading and research just to explore the possibilities, and there are many.
- Read the small business magazines to see what types of franchises, packaged businesses and multi-level marketing businesses are being offered and are finding success. This means both national magazines as well as your local business newspaper or magazine.
- Read the business opportunities column in your daily or Sunday newspaper want ads to see what businesses are being offered for sale.
- Look for articles on small businesses that others have started.
- Read the paid advertising to see what products or services businesses are promoted. This is a gold mine of ideas. Remember, you’re looking for a variation on an existing theme, for products and services with an existing customer base that you can tweak to create a competitive advantage.
- Read the daily or Sunday newspaper of another city, especially a city larger than yours, noting both the articles, the display advertising and the want ads.
The second half of this exercise is to look at your neighborhood, community, state or province and even nationwide for trends that suggest a business idea to you. Remember, though, the need of the customer is what you’re looking for. It is this need around which you will build your product or service.
Maybe there is a boom in new vacation homes in your community, and you could start a business taking care of a number of these properties. An article on the higher than average number of retired and elderly in your community may indicate a need for a transportation or errand service. Here are some business ideas stimulated by news items and display ads in this past week’s Sunday newspaper:
- Cleaning and preparing homes for sale
- Rental property cleaning and repair
- Researching and writing family histories
- Finding lost friends and relatives
- Designing and installing closet storage systems
- Home entertainment consultant
- Social Secretary
- Home tutor for grade through high school students
- Indoor gardening consultant
- Contract in-home adult day care
- Used toys / collectibles retail store
- Car detailing
- RV and trailer detailing & season preparation
- Mobile chipped windshield repair
- Hair removal for men
- Fishing guide
- Billiards instructor & coach
- Editor & proofreader
- Ghostwriter
Next, I went through the business opportunities section of the same edition of the paper, and came up with this list of businesses for sale:
- Video home surveillance systems sales & service
- Dry cleaning chain of nine stores with attached coin laundries
- Grocery Store
- Private post office box franchises
- Commercial newspaper delivery routes
- Restaurants (dozens of every type of cuisine, ranging from greasy spoons to five star)
- Espresso shops
- Cafes
- Mini-mart stores (existing)
- Mobile carpet cleaning business with equipment
- Air freshener franchises
- Car wash
- Art picture business
- Bed & breakfast inn
- Commercial cleaning franchises
- Health product sales (home based)
- Auto glass repair & replacement
- Auto paint chip repair service
- Auto shops
- Auto towing service
- Commercial Bakery -- retail & wholesale
- Ice cream store franchise
- Bathtub porcelain refinishing
- Beauty salon
- Bed & breakfast with rental cottages in vacation area
- British style pub
- Beverage catering
- Body shop
- Barter system broker
- Neighborhood taverns
- “Unique” fast food restaurant
- Deli with included bakery
- Musical instrument (new & used) retail franchise
- Carpet & drapery retail store
- Children’s resale shop
- Deli & catering
- Auto wrecking yard
- Wholesale sundries route
- Delivery service
- Upholstery repair & cleaning (home based)
- Convenience stores
- Corporate awards (home based)
- Delivery route for major international delivery service
- Distributorships (several, both wholesale and industrial)
- Employment screening
- Snowboard store
- Steel building dealers
- Service stations (chain & independent)
- Sportsbars
- Day care services
- Snack and beverage vending routes and businesses
- Video stores
- Welding shop
- Nursery -- large, ornamental trees
- Travel Agency
- Tool sharpening & grinding – mobile
This is just some of the businesses listed for sale on this week alone. Next, I went to a section called “Service Directory” in our newspaper. This section contains ads from businesses offering services to other businesses or consumers. This list contained the following categories of businesses:
- Accounting & Bookkeeping
- Alterations & Custom sewing
- Appliance repairs -- washers & dryers
- Automotive engine rebuilding
- Automotive detailing
- Autobody repair & painting
- Basement waterproofing
- Bathroom repairs (dry rot, etc.)
- Brick & masonry work
- Brush clearing and chipping
- Cabinets refinished and installed
- Camera repair
- Carpenters
- Carpet services -- cleaning and installation
- Ceiling repair and installation (blow-on)
- Ceramic tile installation and repair
- Child care services
- Chimney cleaning & repair
- Computer consulting, installation, instruction and repair (home & small business)
- Concrete and asphalt drives & sidewalk installation & repair
- Countertop repair & installation
- Demolition services (really)
- Drafting & building designers
- Drainage systems (basements & crawl spaces)
- Drywall & plastering
- Electricians
- Golf -- portable entertainment system
- Errands & chores
- Excavation
- Flooring & vinyl flooring repair and installation
- Fencing, decks & storage shed construction
- Framing services
- Garage additions & installing door openers
- Gutter cleaning and repair services
- Handy persons
- Hauling & clean-up services
- Health & Fitness -- massage
- Heating & air conditioning systems -- cleaning, repair and installation
- Housecleaning services
- Instructors & Tutors -- grades 1 through 5
- Instructors -- foreign languages
- Insulation & weatherproofing
- Janitorial services
- Landscaping & gardening
- Moving & delivery services
- Music lessons -- piano, guitar, etc.
- Painting & wallpapering
- Pest control
- Pet services -- animal trainers
- Plumbing
- Pressure cleaning
- Roof cleaning
- Rototilling & tractor work
- Secretarial & transcription services
- Stump removal
- Tree services
- Video editing and duplication services
- Window blinds and coverings
This is a partial list of business opportunities found in one addition of the Sunday paper in my home town. You should be starting to get the picture -- in our society we have literally thousands of business opportunities out there, more than we could possibly list.
See anything that gives you an idea? Something that you're qualified to do? Or give you an idea for something similar you can succeed with?
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