How to turn a startup into a successful business – part 2(a) THE IDEA/SEED, THINK OF AN IDEA START A BUSINESS

For every journey, there is always a starting point. An idea is the starting point of any business endeavor/journey. Ideas spark off questions, create problems, solve problems and later set things in motion.

An idea is the mental imagination that sparkles in your brain about something, it is the realization of an opportunity often missed, yet has been so obvious. An idea is to an entrepreneur what a spark plug is to a car engine, it sparks the flame to burn the fuel for the engine to start operating and the car can start moving from one point to another. Ideas ignite fire inside the entrepreneur leading to the development of new ventures and innovations.

Big trees emanate from so tiny seeds, but the seeds need special treatment and certain conditions, you first plant the seed in a nursery bed, once they have grown under special treatment with constant watering and weeding and fertilizing you then transplant and introduce them to the harsh conditions to grow on their own. If these seeds are not given the right conditions during the initial stages, they either rot or the young plant withers away. For any business venture to start there has to be an idea planted at the start and the idea should be given the right conditions to grow.

Any business idea needs special care especially in its initial stages, care for an idea means having a solid business on how the whole idea is going to be executed; you can approach some firms to help you create a solid business plan. (www.theyoungtreps.com). The plan may be big but you should be able to break it down into small bits achievable in a specific time frame that is daily, weekly, monthly and yearly targets/goals. All the small targets and goals should be directed towards attained towards the bigger vision and goal.

An idea is the seed of the business and that’s why the initial capital invested is called seed capital/seed fund, you get the idea and plant it, it doesn’t matter the size of the seed/idea, what matters is what emanates from the seed/idea, the seed/idea may be dull and unattractive but the fruits are always bright. Most businesses emanated from small ideas but with great vision and implementation they grew to yield big and numerous fruits.

An idea is always about what you think (your imagination), what you read, what you see and observe and any information available, what problems and crises available. Ideas are always at the intersection of problems and opportunities as well said by former American president  J.F Kennedy – “when written in Chinese the word crisis constitutes two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” It is always during harsh times that great entrepreneurial projects emerge because, during this time they get out of the comfort zone then start creating new ideas to solve problems at hand. Sometimes these ideas sound crazy or look vague to the layman but for any idea never lose focus. Most innovators and great entrepreneurs were once laughed at and branded dumb because of their ideas which later became great. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, John D Rockefeller the list is endless but these are innovators with even less academic approval but went ahead to create the greatest ventures ever.

Ideas can be created through innovation that is seeing something that others are not observing, it may not really be new but it can be an alteration in the current way of doing things. When Steve Jobs was starting Apple computers, the idea was to create computers that can be used at home and schools and can be used by everyone as opposed to the companies that were already making computers like IBM. This single idea changed and revolutionized an entire computing industry.

Innovation is a blend of creativity and seizing an opportunity, grabbing it and putting into action.

An idea = problems + opportunity. No idea, no problem and no money.

                                    Ahabwe Collins is ,

                                  Sales executive at SUNSINE technologies

                                   Entrepreneur and business enthusiast.

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