Starting a business most times comes with mixed feelings. One minute you’re pumped and excited about your new venture, the next minute you’re getting jittery and confused, not knowing what to do next. Trust me, it’s not just you, it happens to the best of us with the best of ideas.
It said that there are practical and simple ways to stay confident and set yourself up for success as a starter. It all starts with having a great business idea, which would most likely sell itself. Do such ideas only “fall from the clouds” to a selected few? Or there are proven methods to carve a good business idea as a start-up? These and more we’ll talk about here on out.
Table of Contents
What’s The Rave about Shopify Businesses?
A Flaw in Ecommerce Businesses
Almost every corner you turn on the internet today is filled with offers from various platforms each trying to sell you their offer. At times, the information gets a bit overwhelming such that even basic tasks become so tedious. In the end, business owners end up spending time and resources on things they even shouldn’t be worried about in the first place.
Take for example, in a bid to set up an online shoe store, you start with trying to open a website. Then a simple internet search takes you into several offers detailing web hosting, domain purchase, WordPress installation, plugin usage, CRM software, etc. The offer keeps pouring in such as in the end, you would have ended up spending on features you probably didn’t need for an online shoe store.
Situations like that end up wasting the time and resources of new online business owners. Oftentimes this gets them frustrated even before starting on the real deal. This basic problem of having to go through the rigors of setting up is what Shopify eliminates. You can just go straight from having a good business idea to implementing it.
Why Start Your Ecommerce Business With Shopify
Probably you’re still reading this and asking, what is Shopify? Here’s a quick answer. Shopify is an eCommerce platform that anyone can use to set up their online store to sell their products or services. Their services allow online business owners to focus on meeting their local demand without much worry about the technical details of setting up an online shop.
The beauty of Shopify is that there is no business idea you can’t flesh out into an online reality using any of the preset templates. Do you want to start your own clothing line, venture into dropshipping, runs a thrift store, teach an online course, establish an art store, or even offer freelance services? What is your business idea? You name it! Shopify is your one-stop shop to get started immediately.
4 Tips to Come Up With a Good Business Idea
Already, there are thousands of thriving online businesses ventured into virtually everything anyone can think of. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start your own business because several other folks are into it already. People are doing it is enough proof that the business works. What you need to do is go to the drawing board and prepare yourself for a quality launch.
The multi-million dollar question for many remains, how do I know if my idea is solid enough to thrive as a business? Truth is, there’s usually no direct answer to this. It all depends on the peculiarities of the business.
As you’d expect, there is a sort of starter checklist that any newbie business needs to check before launching. Want to know if your business idea for a Shopify store is solid? Here’s a list of candid advice I’d give to anyone looking to come up with great business ideas to sell on Shopify.
1. Look Within First
A very good place to start when trying to venture into something new is to carry out a self-examination. Ask yourself these questions:
- What comes to your mind first?
- Are you really good at it?
- Is that what you are most interested in?
- Are you naturally good at it?
- Who has told you that you’re good at it?
Those are a few questions that might start bringing ideas to your mind.
Let me bring this home. Examples of where you can find business ideas include daily challenges you are facing, talents and passion, skills you’ve picked up and practised over time, what other people are complaining about, among many other cases.
2. Take Note of How It Affects Others
If you were able to figure out something you are good with, it doesn’t end there. What you have is probably still merely an inclination. What you want to do next is build on the inclinations you have. You can do this by looking beyond yourself and think of how your idea would affect others.
This bit is where you would really come up with an actual business idea. A good business idea is one, which solves an existing problem in real life. That’s the reason they would be willing to pay for it. Then, you need to be able to pinpoint who your ideal customer is. The question is who are those you’re solving their problems?
To figure this out, here are some valid questions to ask; what do you seek to achieve with the idea? Does this improve the lives of people in any way? How different is your idea from what the audience is used to? What are your business core values?
Again, let’s take for example you want to start a shoe line for men. You’ve always noticed how the shoe’s inner area is always tight on your leg despite it being your feet length. The problem has been identified and you can start a business around solving this problem.
3. Talk to Your Potential Customers
What to Ask When Talking With Potential Customers
Talking to potential customers might seem like a bit of an over-do to most startups but it never is. In coming up with a rock-solid business idea that would most likely thrive, you need to block all loopholes. No one to better poke one than the person you’re trying to solve their problem. That’s because they hold the key to your success – they have your money.
Here are the questions you want to ask:
- How are your potential customers handling the said problem currently?
- If there is competition in the market already, you need to know what is their approach to the problem?
- And what are the customers complaining about what they currently offer?
Why Talk to Potential Customers?
The thing about talking to potential customers is that it would give you a well-rounded perspective on whatever ideas you’re nursing. There are cases where the business owner might even be targeting the wrong problems. With proper customer study, you would get to know where, what, and how exactly to address the problems in the market.
In talking to potential customers, you want to make sure you talk to a good number of them. That would help give you a more wholesome perspective on your ideas. In selecting people to talk to, try to be diverse as you can. One tool you can use to advantage in this regard is social media. Social media platforms are a good place to see people’s frustration on virtually any matter. Surely, your business idea isn’t an exception.
Going back to our previous example of the shoemaking or distribution business. Let’s say you talk to ten new guys. Three of them complain of the same problem you have observed, that’s a good go signal. However, let’s say seven of those guys also complain of sole height for most shoes. Of course, it would be a better idea to venture into shoes with modified shoe soles for men.
4. Talk about Money
A common delusion many newbies in the business space make is that they don’t do their math well. Business is a game of numbers, where profit is the main goal. If you don’t put it all into context, even before you start, chances are that you won’t meet your business goals. Your ideas are mere strategies if paying customers are not in the picture.
Just as you did to validate your ideas with the potential customers, you must also figure out how much they are willing for your product or service. You can then pitch ideas on improving the product or service and deduce if they would still patronize with changes in prices. You can use the information you gather here, alongside the cost of production, and competitive pricing to then set a price range for your offers.
For the final case study, having concluded a higher price for shoes with modified sole heights. You pitch this to your potential customers, and only one of them would pay more to get the modification, it simply means the idea isn’t easy to monetize. On the other hand, say the three guys who also complained of shoe fitting are willing and ready to pay higher for shoes that readily fit. You obviously see the shift in orientation. In the end, it all comes down to maths.
Great Business Ideas to Sell Profitably on Shopify
Online business has grown over the last decade. The jobs we never used to pay attention to, are now taking the market by storm. VAs, Freelancing, Blogging, and some other online business opportunities were barely thriving just a few years back.
Bearing in mind that changes always happen, I won’t be pinpointing exact business ideas you should go into. However, I’ll show you how you can scout for great business ideas to sell profitably on Shopify. To help you, however, I’ll try as much to relate the pro tips with relatable examples of skills, which currently sell well.
1. Opt Business Ideas that Appeal to a Specific Market
Irrespective of how brilliant a business idea off the top of your head might seem, it’s most likely won’t stand where even a less glamorous idea born out of in-depth market research stands. So, one way to make your business idea great is to validate through thorough market research and audience study.
After such a study, what you would most likely come out with is a niche product. Such as you have a focus on solving the problem of a particular group of people. Remember, market research is not done in a vacuum, it’s done in the confines of a group of people. Your audience demographic indicates your product niche. An example of this is a cloth store that caters specifically to dog accessories or a product designed especially for remote workers.
2. Get a Unique Selling Point
Selling profitably online has a lot to do with emotional triggers for your customers. They should be able to resonate with your products or services on a personal level. One of the ways to resonate well with strangers who would eventually become paying customers is to use a unique selling point that appeals to them.
This is the business model many niche products, thrift store goods, and handmade goods use in attracting their customers. If you get your hands on products, which make the customer feel like it’s only in their possession, you can build a brand around on Shopify.
3. Skill Up and Monetize
If your forte is rendering services, then all you need to make money online is to use Shopify to create a brand that helps you sell your services. If you don’t already have skills, which can be easily monetized, you can invest your time and money into learning one and then get to work.
Some examples of businesses that use this model including software developers and freelancers. Most of these guys work on a contract basis, and they build online portfolios for their work so they can be easily assessed and hired. Shopify would come in handy for building such an online presence and portfolio.
4. Build and Sell Your Brand
Regardless of your business idea, if you’re going to sell profitably on Shopify, the only way to do so is to build an online presence. While some businesses might not readily consider themselves a brand, having a unique face to identify your work is very much needed.
Starting your brand online is easy with Shopify, the work part is building it. In building a brand, you are basically getting people to trust you. They can easily recommend you when they need your product or service. Some solid business ideas, which work with this model include social media influencing, blogging, and affiliate marketing. The beauty of these business models is that you can use them to promote your other businesses.
Conclusion
Starting a business is not as tedious or requiring as it used to be, especially with the advent of the internet. Hence, the emergence of more and more online businesses seeking to meet their local demands. All you need to succeed is a platform like Shopify that makes your journey smoother. You can also get help from Shopify Experts to get your online business started in no time.
If you’re confident with your business idea, then it’s time to build a store. Need a hand, contact HappyPoints and let’s start building your Shopify store now!
