I’m a huge fan of Dragons Den—the TV show where budding entrepreneurs line up to enter the ‘den’ to pitch their rudimentary ideas, or their fully-grown business, to a panel of successful business men and women, in a bid to secure a cash investment for their business, as well as the help of a highly connected dragon or two.
I’ve been watching the UK series for six or seven years now (we’re currently in series nine). What I’ve noticed recently is many of the business ideas being put forward hold no grounds with that particular person and their personal skills, aside from them simply liking the item the idea is centred around.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m completely for the scratch your itch sentiment; that is, working towards solving a problem you’re truly passionate about. It’s that passion that will get you through the highs and lows, and it’s that passion that will keep you working on your idea late into the night.
But that said, passion can only go so far if nobody is willing to pay for your product/service. You may be the most passionate person in the world; you may drip passion from head to toe, but that isn’t going to get your celebrity-branded oven glove store off the ground.
In a recent episode, an entrepreneur pitched the panel a small plastic pair of tweezers designed to safely remove mucus from a baby’s nose.
The dragons believed the product to be both unnecessary and possibly even dangerous, but this was quickly overshadowed by the revelation that the entrepreneur had already spent £200,000 ($310,500) on the device.
£200,000.
I can’t even begin to imagine how he spent that much money on what is, in-effect, some plastic tweezers. I can only assume the patent he clamed to have was engraved onto a pure gold tablet.
With the current business I’m working on I did my research from the outset. I spent a long time banging my head against the wall trying to come up with ideas: What sector should I go into? What monetization options should I prioritize?
This preparedness came about through my ongoing failures, time and time again, in the six months prior.
With most of those ideas I did the bare minimum research. All I did was check how many results the main search terms were getting on Google per month. I assumed with this information alone I’d be able to take on the world (and the massive competition — something else I overlooked) with my amazing ideas.
I still have a long way to go with my current business for it to start making a sustainable impact on my life. I’ve just entered month four and I’m happy to say the numbers (visitors, page views, and most importantly, income) are growing 50-75% month on month.
I honestly believe the reason why it is growing how it is is due to my original intense research. I knew at the offset that their was a market for the information I am currently producing, and I knew how much I could expect to earn from it (through advertising, affiliate sales and otherwise).
I used this research to predict the future, and I’m happy to say the next quarter is looking just as bright.
If I could sum up my research experiences in a paragraph it would be this: Do the hard work at the beginning. It’s important to put something out there, but in my opinion, it’s more important for you to be that little bit more confident about your idea first.
I recently read that the difference between a good blog post and a great blog post is 15 minutes.
Give your idea its 15 minutes. Run the tests again. You can never been 100% sure on anything, but it doesn’t hurt to give yourself a head start.
Don’t make your own £200,000 mistake. Give your idea its 15 minutes, and predict the future.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Benjamin, what is your project? What are you working on these days (other than this blog)? I am curious, as we have met some time ago (when you were a student in London, we met in a seminar, I am on your facebook too).
Anyways, good work mate.
I remember! Nice to hear from you Neeraj.
I’m working at creating a low-maintenance (almost passive) online business with the plan for it to be able to generate enough income per month for me to become location independent (and travel around a lot, rather than being stuck to one location for work).
It’s an information site at the moment, currently only generate income through advertising, but I am currently implementing comparison sales pages with the plan to be to start earning 2-10% commissions on items sold through the site. It’s currently taking a lot of work to do things right (and well), but as I said, the future’s looking bright :)
Ah good! Well, we should connect on Skype or something, if you have the time. I have been working on some passive income models too, have a lot to ask and discuss, if you’re up for it. Give me a shout :)
Definitely. I’ll send you a link or two!
This is great post, Benjamin. I agree that there are ideas out there that require a MOUNTAIN of research and familiarity with the market before launch, but I also like an idea I recently read about (http://the99percent.com/tips/6313/The-Beta-Principle-Skip-Perfection-Launch-Early) that encourages “just getting started”. Your post alludes to that, but I’m interested in your thoughts. My thinking is that, like most complex subjects, it depends. I suppose in the final analysis, doing “something” will almost always better than doing “nothing”.
Thanks for sharing!
-M
I’m totally up with the “just getting started” philosophy, and I couldn’t agree more with the points made in that article (I love that site).
I believe those us comfortable in this online world have, on the whole, a greater understanding of what will and won’t work both online or in the real world due to our tech-savy nature, and with it, our ability to do vast quantities of research in tiny time frames.
I could be wrong, but I believe this is why we (us tech-savy do-gooders) need to be reminded to actually put stuff out and refine along the way. We have so much research and data at our fingertips that we could forever read on a subject without ever producing anything, whereas those who are maybe of a less tech-aware nature (such as the ‘den’ entrepreneurs in the post), believe they have to work so much harder for the research that they either choose not to do so, or it doesn’t cross their mind altogether.
I’ll be honest, I was pretty much writing each word as it landed in my head just then, so I hope you can make some sense out of it. I look forward to hearing your take!
It makes absolute sense! And you’re right, I could never have turned my latest project around so quickly if I didn’t have some background information … = )
Sorry so short … I was up late “networking” last night, and I’m a little out of it.
Thanks for your input, Benjamin!
-M
No need to apologise at all, I’m glad you could make some sense out of that tangled mess of words! I’m looking forward to watching your new project grow. Local is the new black, in my opinion.