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Chris J Gallant advised on 15 Nov 2011
"International Consultant in the IT field, specializing in the development of concepts into real businesses."
Here's my personal two cents worth, follow your passion. Building a business is tough, do not let anyone tell you otherwise. You will need a strong commitment, many sleepless nights, persistence, backbone, patience and loss of friends, family and possibly more. Sounds horrible? However, if you do something you are passionate of, something that you love, all of the above will be trivial and you will enjoy the journey to success to its fullest. Hope this helps.
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First step I would suggest is to do a self assessment to gain an understanding of what are your strengths. What are the skills which you think can be valuable. Once you know what skills you have, then narrow down on the industry where you can use these skills. As you said that you have a good 12 years of experience in the food industry, you would know how a restaurant operates, what issues it faces and how to overcome those. 12 years in the industry should have given you enough contacts to source all the resources that you would need to start a small eating joint.
I would suggest starting a business where you can use this exprience. Start small and grow gradually.
I would suggest starting a business where you can use this exprience. Start small and grow gradually.
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Determining whether a business can be profitable is always an important step, but coming up with a new concept for a business is a different skill all together . That kind of creativity takes time to develop, and is easiest to apply to areas that you know well.
Many believe that people are either born creative or not, but it's actually a skill you can develop like any other. I'd suggest starting your own "workout regimen", forcing yourself to develop a new idea everyday. You'll find it difficult at first, and you will probably come up with a great number of bad ideas. Through continually revisiting and judging your own work, you'll be rewarded with the ability to come up with great ideas that can make your business unique.
Good luck!
Many believe that people are either born creative or not, but it's actually a skill you can develop like any other. I'd suggest starting your own "workout regimen", forcing yourself to develop a new idea everyday. You'll find it difficult at first, and you will probably come up with a great number of bad ideas. Through continually revisiting and judging your own work, you'll be rewarded with the ability to come up with great ideas that can make your business unique.
Good luck!
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Carter Hoerr advised on 17 Nov 2011
Experienced Business Manager; National Expert, Online Meal Ordering
I agree with the other suggestions, "follow your passion," and "do a self-assessment." Those are very important. I would add: take some time and try to imagine yourself a year or two from now. What kind of work are you doing? Are you working from home, or are you running a retail operation, or are you working in an office? Are you selling things, or are you serving clients in some way? Are you working with your hands, or making phone calls all day? If you don't have a specific passion, at least try to imagine what kinds of things you'd like to be doing in your business/work. That could help steer you in the right direction. Good luck!
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Use the following questions as a guide: 1) who are you? 2) what do you know? 3) who do you know? 1) answers what your passions are. If you're not interested in the work, you won't get very far, or at least will not be happy in the end. Simply, do what you love. 2) answers what is possible in your realm of possibilities. Let's say you want to open a hotel, but you've never worked in a hotel or have no training in hotel management. You'll probably lose to the guys who eat and breathe hotel. 3) answers how to build the business. You'll unlikely succeed in any sizable venture on your own. So, who are the folks that you can tap as resources? Once you have generated some ideas based on these, think about whether there is a specific problem you want to solve. If there is no pain point of potential customers you are addressing, then you might find yourself just another commodity competing on price against a saturated market. A losing proposition.
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I completely agree with Chris. The decision based on your passion has the energy to drive you towards success and no other suggestion from outside has the kind of power it offer to you.