In his famous book ‘Think and grow rich’ Napoleon Hill stated, “An idea is the starting point of all accomplishment but when it is not acted on or worked it dies and nothing else”. In this article, we discuss on the difference between business idea and business opportunity. Second, we discuss how to develop business ideas into business opportunity. Our aim is to help you become an ‘achiever’ rather than a simple ‘dreamer’.
Business idea VS Business opportunity:
What is a business idea? Business idea simply refers to any though that you may come up with as a result of scanning/observing the environment with the possibility of developing it into a business opportunity. However, aspects such as creativity and innovation are required to come up with the noble or necessary business idea from the environment.
What is a business opportunity? Let me first start by telling you that business opportunity is developed from a business idea. In other words, without a business idea no business opportunity. Therefore, a business opportunity can be defined as an identified situation or chance that can be turned into a profitable business. Or, it is an identified gap between human needs, the available goods and services that is, goods and services not in society or in the market place. Some examples of business opportunities may include; packing groundnuts or packing food for travelers, etc. remember all this depends on the identified a business gap.
Developing business idea into business opportunity:
It is vital for you to bear in mind that a business idea does not become a business opportunity until it looks as if it has the potential of becoming a profitable business. To be certain you need to test your idea at least through three (3) aspects such as
- Marketing – can your product/service meet the customer need? Or can it compete sustainably in the market? Etc.
- Production- Are all factors to produce the intended products/services available and most importantly cheap. Are they accessible? What about the quantity and quality?
- Financing- Can you find the required amount of money to fund your business? Here the list is not exhaustive but we make sure that probably it gives you an insight about what it takes a business idea to turn into a business opportunity.
Conclusion
From the discussion above, it is worth to say that having a business idea is not suffice for one to conclude it can generate into a profitable business before testing it through the three aspects (marketing, production and financing) or simply before developing a practical business plan.