And the explosion of food trucks on our streets has its lineage with the chuck wagon of the Old West and with pushcarts, which served our pre-automobile urban brethren. We are seeing the same with distilled spirits such as bourbon, vodka, and even good old-fashioned moonshine. Yet entrepreneurs have embraced the risk of taking on the mega-brewers such as Miller and Budweiser not with mobile apps but yeast, hops, grains, and water and are making a huge impact. and therefore would hardly be considered cutting-edge technology. Beer has been brewed since the fifth millennium B.C. In Tampa, Fla., where I live and in many other cities, there has been an explosion of small craft brewers. Success with old school ideas and business models is plentiful. Let’s face it, there are tens of thousands of entrepreneurial opportunities that will satisfy one of those basic needs and are not dependent on an app to be successful. And remember this about technology-no matter how digital our world becomes, humans can only processes analog signals and still have to eat, drink, have a domicile, and personal relationships with family and friends. Once you identify the appropriate need in which to build a business, THEN determine how to utilize technology to make the customer experience superior. My suggestion is use one of the human needs of sustenance, acceptance, recreation, and domicile as your foundation and study the historical demand for a product or service that meets these needs. Unquestionably, technology is a huge influence on how we do business but at the core there must be a human need fulfilled for a business idea to be viable. And the only surefire way to make money is when customers buy your product or service, over and over again. But I also counsel well-meaning would-be entrepreneurs who are heading for disaster because they are clueless about the most basic requirement of a successful business – it must actually make money. Now, lest you think I am a stuck-in-the-past technology resistor, I am a mentor for a tech startup accelerator organization and I am witness to some really innovative ideas that are based around apps. This, I find, is the issue with today’s entrepreneurial dreamers, who first decide that technology is the answer, because it is “hot” and “buzz worthy” and then must now define or find a problem it will solve. That is it! Success becomes difficult if we reverse the premise by seeking problems for our answers. Creating a successful business starts with a simple premise: identify a need or problem and develop a profitable business around solving the problem or satisfying the need. An Answer Seeking a ProblemĮntrepreneurial success does not depend on technology, apps, or the latest hot trends. But sometimes instead of getting in line with the crowd, it’s best to take a different path and look to the past to see your future. Regardless of what happens with the fickle trends in the world of tech, entrepreneurial opportunities are still plentiful.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |