To assess startup ideas for yourself you need to weigh up the following factors.
• Your hobbies
• Your skills
• Your situation
• Your finances
• Your contacts
Firstly looking at your hobbies is vital when it comes to deciding a startup idea. You simply have to do something you enjoy otherwise 6mounths – 1years down the line you will begin to loose motivation and the moment you loose motivation that’s it! Your business will fail.
Obviously matching your skills to your hobbies is also vital, are you good with words? Or your hands? If your hobby was say gardening (like me) Being good with words may allow you to do online tutorial videos on YouTube, whilst being good with your hands may allow you to become a self employed gardner. It is vital to play to your strengths here, don’t try to adapt at the time, you only get one chance at a first impression.
I know everyone uses this scenario but I am going to use it anyway, If you’re a ‘single mum’ it obviously limits your options for your startup idea because not only are your hours reduced but also horribly split up, hopefully you like the internet because this is where your heading, the internet is ideal for single mums as you can stop and start very easily to match it up with your working hours.
Finances can make or break your business, the more money you have the easier it will be to make your business a success but it wont guarantee success. If you have a budget there are many startup ideas suitable but remember all business need revenue. A business that probably needs the least is if you are selling a service. For instance if you are a local Gardner (like me) all you needs if your equipment, a vehicle, and some flyers. Don’t be fooled that starting an internet business requires small investment. Unless you know how to build a website and can do all of your own SEO it can become very expensive indeed especially if you use UK or US companies.
Everyone Knows the saying ‘it’s not what you know it’s who you know’. This is so true. At the end of the day if you want to go into for example the chocolate industry and your mother or farther work in the same industry they will automatically know the best factory with the lowest MOQ etc. It’s not impossible to break into an industry you have no contacts in but I generally would recommend playing to your strengths in terms of contacts at least for your first business venture.
Overall I would recommend at least four of the factors I have mentioned being in your favour for your startup idea. For example your first business venture should include one of your hobbies; you have the skills to execute it and the finances and contacts to make it possible.