subject: How to look for a business opportunity [print this page] How to look for a business opportunity How to look for a business opportunity
Backgound
I have been in search of business opportunities for years. I have bought about 12 of them. I have spent thousands of pounds on them in my quest to find something that works for me. I am happy with one, unhappy with 11 and hundreds got filtered out before the 'serious consideration' stage.
Be careful
The purpose of this article is to offer some advice to newcomers in search of business opportunity. The first thing you need to understand is that promoting business opportunities is a major industry in itself and it has more than it's fair share of bogus operators and charlatans, so you need to be on your guard. You need to use an intelligent, common sense approach. Learn to read between the lines and ask the important questions, in order to avoid the pitfalls. Very often copy writers are employed to promote business opportunities and they are often not very scrupulous in their haste to sell products, so pay attention to what is not said as well as to what is said and particularly the way things are phrased.
Preparatory
Adjust your expectations to accept that you are unlikely to make a success of your first business opportunity, unless you are very careful and thorough in performing "due diligence". If it was easy, everyone would be doing it; and successfully.
Pre-purchase
Try to research the business opportunity and get some independent views about it, this can be difficult, but help is available (in the Resource box).
Choose something:
- that you enjoy doing
- that is not too complicated
- that does not have too large a learning curve for you before you can make it work for you
- that has a decent guarantee
- where you are able to contact the seller (test this if you have doubts)
- that is going to earn you an income in a reasonable time frame and offers the earnings potential that you need
Don't leave things until you sit down to try and implement what you have purchased, to realise that it is not for you.
Be suspicious of any efforts to pressurize you into buying in haste.
Do a search for any scam alerts or objective (not marketing) reviews on the internet (and read them, because sometimes they are not real scam alerts they are sensational headlines trying to get your attention to promote that product).
Do a search for competing business opportunities of the same type or nature of business.
Where you have a guarantee, don't order it until you are ready to take action. Once you receive it, act immediately by reading to grasp the scope and feasibility of the opportunity. If you can't understand it and see a clear way forward within the guarantee period, return it for a refund; it is probably either too time consuming or too complex. If you accept it then begin again, this time, implementing it as you go.
Post-purchase
You may need to change some habits and get down to some serious and focussed work. Practice a policy of ' planned neglect' of everything that might distracts you from putting in the necessary effort to your newly acquired business opportunity e.g. cut down on TV and reading irrelevant emails. Get into it before the novelty factor in your motivation expires.
When you do find the right opportunity, it is time to stop looking and start making things happen; i.e. shift your focus from searching to implementing. There is the "rolling stone" (or "permanent student") syndrome that just carries on rolling and never gathers any moss. Do you want to be an expert in the business opportunities industry (there are many of those) or a successful entrepreneur (not so common)?Before ordering something record a few objective and measurable expectations that you want from this product. This way, you will be better able to evaluate the value of what you have purchased and the progress you have made at a later date (e.g. when deciding whether to continue or return for a refund). Adjust your expectations to accept that you are unlikely to make a success of your first business opportunity, unless you are very careful and thorough in performing "due diligence". If it was easy, everyone would be doing it; and successfully.
