Where did your business idea come from?

[ray_223]

From the previous thread:
Finding a niche market/unique idea

Where did your business idea come from?

1. Was it while you were doing something else and noticed an opportunity?

or

2. Was it while you were sitting in your office/lounge room thinking of good business ideas?


I'm expecting most people to say 1, and if so, what was it you were doing and how did the link between that and your idea come about?

(My ideas came to me while I was volunteering my time for a non profit and realised how difficult it was to get a product - so I now produce and sell that product all over Australia.)

[FionaFell]

My business evolved out of a 6 month long assignment at uni for my "Entrepreneurship" class.

I am very glad that
1. I took that class instead of one of the other fuzzier subjects, and
2. That the assignment forced me to sit down and think of stuff I was good at and look for areas where I could exploit my 'inner geek' for profit.

I am very interested to see where everyone else got their ideas.....

[FinSpec]

My idea came from a few things, but mainly:

1. I was doing the same thing for someone else
2. I thought that even if I just did what I was doing, but doing it for myself it would be better
3. I thought that I could do it better
4. I was not happy with how my old company was doing it from an ethical point of view, so set about trying to change the world one client at a time
5. At the time, the barriers to entry for the market were quite low.

I have always loved what I do, so doing it professionally and building from there was as very simple thing to get my head around.

FS

[Jenna]

Definitely a 1. for me. Noticed a need for a product at my work over a few years but never considered making it myself until recently.

I'd thought of a few ideas in a similar way, and decided to go with this one because it's something that fell into the 'necessity' category for some people instead of 'luxury'.

[King]

My caricature business came from my SMS business - a tangentical service that was going to be offered that did not add up $ wise and then the web side, set up as a temporary holding order method started to work, so i kept it.

The software side when the Aust distributor approached me to sell their titles online.

[exstatic]

My brain is always buzzing with fresh ideas these days.

I reckon I come up with a good 5 or so NEW ideas a week.. the hard part is trying to work out which ones I start on.

I did a mind map on a whiteboard with a partner of mine on some of the ideas we wanted to work on over the next few months and it looked like a shooting range at the paintball feild..

None the less, the ideas are always flowing.. my original few ideas just stemmed from experience or interest in those particular industries.. seeing what other businesses are doing and knowing I could do it better.

[BookkeepiingPro]

Well my bookkeeping business idea came from my previous experience...seeing the gap in the market and looking to fill it with something just a little different.

Ahh but my NEXT business idea (yet to be launched and still in the top secret squirrel mode) well that came for a recent hard rubbish collection hahaha... god bless those councils

[perthphotobooths]

My business idea came as I was researching my wedding- I noticed that these booths were really popular overseas and seeing as Australia as always behind the times, I figured it wouldn't be long until the craze hits us! Also, there was only one other company in Perth that did it so thought I'd better start before everyone else jumps in lol.

[BrightBiz]

Mine came from following something I'd always wanted to do, and taking the opportunity of being a stay at home mum and not having other work commitments to give myself the opportunity to do it.

I'd always wanted to do web design and had already done marketing before children so it made sense to learn as much as I could about the web and online marketing environment and merge my experience and passions.

The thing that pushed me into business though was my husband, he's a hairdresser and he would speak to his clients about what they were up to, many are business owners who are struggling with the online concept so he'd say "Oh my wife knows about that." In the end I had to get an ABN I had no choice!

Because I'm already at home, running my own business means I am able to help small businesses locally which is actually my passion, and be here for my kids, and the great part is that I didn't have to worry about leaving employment to do it and I couldn't be happier and my clients are happy too so everyone wins all round

[belonna]

My original idea came while in hospital. Was fed up with how things were and put my mind to changing the way my life was going. After a few days I came up with a plan of sorts and went to work on it. It didn't succeed though thankfully I didn't lose much money. Currently I'm rehashing it in a manner of speaking though it's quite different now than the original idea that dawned on me three years ago. So my current idea came from my failed first attempt and this time I know so much more than I did then which has proven a real bonus. It's slow going however with one child and one about to be born! Fun fun.