Ways To Come Up With The Million-Dollar Idea

By Yhordan Serpentini | January 7, 2022

Starting a business is tough work, and the roadmap to success is even tougher. Having to worry about hiring employees, pitching to investors, maintaining positive cash flow, engaging with the media, etc., can be very intimidating for potential entrepreneurs; however, there are smaller issues commonly glossed over that can act as a roadblock for said entrepreneurs, such as coming up with an idea to build your business off of. If you are currently encountering this challenge, here are some useful pointers to help nudge you into coming up with your perfect business idea.

1. Stop Trying To Be Original

This might sound a little counterintuitive, but you must stop trying to think of an original business pitch. Face the facts, almost every successful company has built their business off someone else’s idea. For example, Apple and Samsung are some of the largest global phone companies, with Apple recently reaching a quarterly revenue record of $86.4 billion, and Samsung reaching a yearly revenue of ₩236.81 trillion—which is approximately $197.14 Billion.

Both of these phone companies revolve their business around technologies that have been present for decades—phones and computers. These types of businesses don’t rely on originality, but rather on improvement, which is why they managed to become so popular and successful.

2. Search For A Problem: Convenience is Key

As mentioned in the last tip, focus your attention more on a solvable problem. Remember that people, especially consumers, love the convenience(s) of a product. Take a look at Uber as an example. Uber was first founded in March 2009, and it didn’t take long before it became the world’s largest ride-sharing company.

What did Uber offer that made it so popular? It was an improvement from Taxis, or more specifically, the convenience of having a ride available for you in just a few minutes at reasonable pricing. No longer did you need to call a Taxi company, wait for long durations, or be charged by stop-and-go traffic. Instead, Uber drivers near your area will pick you up and charge you based on the distance of your destination. With improvements like these, it’s unsurprising that the company managed to expand to 80 countries, and over 10,000 cities worldwide, in just the span of 13 years.

3. Use Your Skills

When wanting to create the perfect business idea, people tend to stray from familiar territory. Though this is normal in the industry, you must also know when you’re straying too far. Don’t become an entrepreneur for an idea you know nothing about. Successful founders like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn’t start a technology company because it was a ‘good’ idea—they did it because it was not only in their fields of interest but also in their fields of expertise.

Likewise, try to narrow your search down to your skillset. What are you REALLY good at? What are you passionate about? Don’t be blunt and give a mediocre answer like “I’m not good at anything” or “I don’t know”; everyone is good at, as well as passionate about, something. If you truly don’t know, take some time to meditate. The last thing you want to do is dedicate years of hard work and money to a company that is not in your range of skill or interest.

4. Stop Comparing: Take Opinions Lightly

Similar to how therapists might discourage you to compare your body or lifestyle with others that seem ‘better’, you must also stop comparing your business idea or plan with other successful companies. If you think an idea of yours is good enough to build a business around it, don’t immediately discourage yourself from doing so because you compared it with the ‘better’ idea of another company.

If you’re having doubt due to the criticism of those you’ve asked, look for inspiration through other popular owners, CEOs, founders, authors, etc., from which their million-dollar idea, or even billion-dollar idea, was considered ‘stupid’ when first pitched. For example, Stan Lee’s famous superhero, Spider-Man, was rejected for being based on not only a spider—a species that is almost universally hated—but also a teenager, which was very deviant-like compared to other popular heroes during that period.

Had Lee listened to his publisher’s opinion about this Spider-Man, the same Spider-Man that broke multiple box office records and cumulated a total of over $5 billion dollars across eight stand-alone films, as well as stand-alone merchandise, Marvel would not be anywhere near as successful.

However, Lee isn’t the only one. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter is the second most read book in the world—closely following the Bible. Her story’s first draft was rejected a total of 12 times before Bloomsbury Publishing—a small, independent, British publishing company—agreed to publish the novel.

What do these different experiences tell you? Take the opinions of others LIGHTLY. Know the difference between feedback and criticism. Don’t let others try to make you question the brilliance or stupidity of your million-dollar idea. If it sucks, there’s only one way to find out; if it rocks, there’s still only one way to find out. Although you’ve likely heard the phrase countless times, I’ll say it once more: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

Sources:

Rosenstock, J. (2021, October 28). Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results. Apple Newsroom. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/
Samsung Electronics Announces Fourth Quarter and FY 2020 Results. Samsung Global Newsroom. (2021, January 28). Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fy-2020-results
Uber Technologies Incorporated. (n.d.). Uber Cities – Rides Around The World | Uber. Uber.com. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.uber.com/global/en/cities/

Ways To Come Up With The Million-Dollar Idea