Conceiving Creative Business Ideas

It's amazing how often one hears the old saying: "There's nothing new under the sun." It's doubly amazing how many people nod in agreement. The expression diminishes the innovation, the innovative and the innovator. And it's dead wrong. Don't let it stall you.

There's a lot new under the sun. New ideas hit the market every day. There's unlimited potential for new products, new ways of selling and new ways to serve customers. After all, brewing and serving coffee had been around for centuries until Starbucks revolutionized the business. Babies were dropping baby bottles for generations until a mother invented the two-handled bottle. Auctions are as old as commerce, but eBay has built a huge business putting auctions online. (Oh, did Alexander Graham Bell also invent the Web?) And there must be a millionaire out there who put little wheels on suitcases. Each of these simple ideas was the foundation for an innovative business. Here is a grab bag of idea starters, where you can look for routes to find opportunities for your own small business.

• Look in the mirror. What do you do well? That skill could be the basis for a big-money business.
• Look within your family. Is there a family business you can take over? Or can you go to work for the family business, learn everything, and start your own?
• Look in your present company. Can you start a business doing something that your company isn't? Is there a market your company should be serving, but isn't?
• Look at any ideas your company rejects or dismisses, or tries to do and fails. These are often small-business opportunities.
• Read magazines on franchises. Buy a franchise, or start a company in an industry that is growing rapidly, such as workout salons for women over 30. There are numerous good franchise opportunities.
• Provide ethnic products and services. Look at growing ethnic populations and sell what they want the way they want it. For example, what products do folks buy in the Dominican Republic that they can't get in the U.S.? Learn Spanish and sell to Spanish-speaking customers.
• Health-care services of all kinds are needed and growing as people age.
• Watch the skills-oriented television channels, such as those that feature home repair, gardening and decorating. These shows represent trends and popular ideas. Is there a business organizing customers' garages? Is there a business providing flower-and-shrub-garden planting maps over the Internet? Is there a business managing the personal administrative affairs of busy people, where both spouses work, or travel extensively, or own multiple homes, or any combination of lifestyles that make organization a must?
• Buy the company for which you work. Strategies to buy your company are called leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and management buyouts (MBOs). Accountants, trust lawyers, corporate-loan officers, business brokers and the classified ads are sources of leads on companies for sale. Buy one.
• Look at a business you like. Can you run one like it but better? The business you noticed on a recent trip: Is there a similar one where you live, and is there a need?
• Follow through on one of your old ideas, one you've been telling people about for years. Dig up your school project that outlined a new business idea. If you think you know a better way to give a customer what he or she wants or needs, you're probably correct. Brush off comments or "advice" such as "That's been done before" or "That's already been tried." Those thoughts are idea killers. Ignore them. The following are people who care about new things, ways and ideas (in order of importance): customers, business owners, employees, suppliers, investors, taxpayers and members of your community. Ask the folks at the patent office if there's nothing new under the sun. The "nothing new" notion is patently absurd. There's a lot new under the sun. Your idea could be a small business. Go for it. It may provide your moment in the sun.