If home ownership is the most popular dream for billions of people across the globe, starting a business and becoming your own boss may be close on its heels.
Going from startup to success story is a notoriously difficult endeavor, but finding an industry where success is likely can be a great way for entrepreneurs to improve their odds. Identifying ideas, sectors and even locations that will provide opportunities for growth, stability and profitability is an essential task for prospective business owners.
Business location
Toronto, New York and San Francisco have historially been good for business. However, there are opportunities for those eager to dip their toes into entrepreneurship outside of these key cities. When trend analysts at Entrepreneur magazine, working in conjunction with analysts at Livability.com, examined a wide range of data — including unemployment rates, demographics, cost of living, commute time, etc. — they determined Boulder, CO, Austin, TX, Provo, UT, Charlottesville, VA, and Chapel Hill, NC, are the top five places to start a business.
Canada also has plenty of bustling business hubs. Business Insider ranked Canada the seventh best country in the world to start a business in 2017. Crowdspring.com, a company that puts designers in touch with the people who need them, has identified some of the best Canadian cities for startups, which include Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and Waterloo. Despite a population of around 113,000, Waterloo, a town in Ontario, is actually home to 1,100 recent ventures. That makes Waterloo the area with the highest startup density of any place in the world outside of Silicon Valley.
Business ideas
Determining if an idea has the potential to become a successful business requires an honest assessment from prospective business and colleagues they trust to offer an honest opinion. It also requires a good deal of research into industry trends and other data. Here are a few ways to get started on the process.
• Look at local issues. Find out which issues concern your local community. Is there a big push for more green energy? Are individuals looking for a particular product or industry, like a specialty food store? Reach out to those in the community to gauge interest.
• Identify a mission. Some businesses are inspired by personal missions. Entrepreneurs may want to solve a personal problem or have a life experience that inspires a business idea. While these ideas can be inspired, prospective business owners must still vet them to see if they would make viable businesses.
• Create a unique selling position. The financial information site The Balance says that prospective business owners are likely to uncover other businesses already offering similar products or services as they research the viability of their ideass. In such instances, you need to create a unique selling position to make your brand or business different. Personalization and curated products and services are popular among modern consumers, and this may be a way to set your business apart.