Want a Good Business Idea? Go With What You Know

"How do I come up with a good business idea?" I hear this question all the time. It's a great question, and I'm going to try and give you an answer that makes sense.

If you look at most of the great businesses or products of our day, you'll find that the idea champion almost always had a very close tie to the industry he or she entered into and ended up dominating. For instance, the guys at Skullcandy were snowboarders and skiers who loved listening to music. The founder of Lovesac used couches and chairs, and grew up when hacky sacks were popular. He thought it would be cool to make a giant hacky sack and sit on it like a chair, and the rest is history. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? They new A LOT about computers before they came up with their greatest ideas. 

The reality is, your best ideas will concern things that you already have a lot of background and experience in. Are you passionate about clothing? You might come up with a new and innovative retail sales model. Love cars? Like to skateboard? Do you have small children? Are you the world's biggest hockey fan? There are opportunities around every corner.

I have a lot of experience and passion for energy exploration and production. Naturally, almost all of my ideas revolve around the oil industry. I also have gained a special affinity for the salon and spa industry. Why? Because my wife is a cosmetologist, and I now know more about styling, coloring, skin care and spa services than I ever thought possible (or ever really wanted to).  So, I could compete in energy, and I could probably play a helpful supporting role in a salon and spa venture, but would it be wise to jump into an industry that I know nothing about? Probably not.

Although there are the occasional flukes, and sometimes people stumble into an amazing idea by total coincidence, I'd rather not wait for serendipity to drop the next big thing on my doorstep. So, go with what you know and as time goes by, you'll develop an eye for opportunities.

— Reed Page

    Executive Vice President

    USU Entrepreneurship Club

Entrepreneurial Experiences From Alan Hall

Klydi Heywood

After having a 1 - 4 track record with successful businesses, Alan Hall asked his wife if he could second mortgage the house to start Marketstar.

“Bless her heart, she let me do it,” Mr. Hall said, “And I worked my tail off to make this business successful because I had learned some of the things I’m going to tell you tonight.”

At the Entrepreneurship Speaker Series Lecture Wednesday Feb. 6, Mr. Hall gave seven points that have helped him in his entrepreneurial adventures. Three in particular stood out to me.

Know your customer

“You go sell your idea first, you come back and design it, you build it and then you deliver it,” he said. He explained that many entrepreneurs start with the design and end with selling. When a person pitches their business idea and they don’t know specifically who their customer is, it’s all down-hill because they don’t know where to market, they don’t know how to get it out and “they blow through lots of money trying to find the customer,” Mr. Hall added.

He explained to never base your business on the product in the first place, other than the idea.

Take care of your customers

“Once people get the sale, they do a lousy job of taking care of that customer,” Mr. Hall said. He named the following list the “Value Chain of What Customers Want When They Buy a Product”:

• Good product
• Good price
• Delivered on time
• Make sure it works
• Support
• A good buying experience

“If you’re going to start a business, shouldn’t you take care of your customers?” Mr. Hall asked. He stated that taking care of the customers is where a lot of entrepreneurs fail.

Hire the right employees

I especially liked this point because of the applicability it has to me at this time in college. If this is the kind of person Mr. Hall wants to hire, then this is the professional I want to become.

He told us his seven C’s of hiring:

Competent - Although this is important, Mr. Hall said he made some big mistakes in his career by only looking at this aspect.

Capable - They need to be capable of growth. “They can actually take the assignment they have and enhance it,” Mr. Hall said. “They can do it better and more efficiently.”

Compatible - Mr. Hall stated that he wasted a lot of time on interpersonal relationships when he didn’t get along with someone.

Committed - You need to hire someone who will come in, work through thick and thin, won’t bail and will make sure they are always getting their job done, Mr. Hall said.

Character - “I want people who are honest, who have integrity, work hard, keep commitments, do things that are right, and if they don’t, I get rid of them,” Mr. Hall said, adding that to be honorable is non-negotiable.

Culture - Mr. Hall’s specific culture has developed overtime. His culture is “love of God, love of self, love of family, love of work, love of community.”  He emphasized the importance of always supporting and upholding this culture. If his employees like the culture and can depend on it, then they will work hard in return.

Compensation - Mr. Hall advised that we always want to take care of our employees. We should always be looking at ways to reward, increase pay and increase growing opportunities for those who deserve it.

Mr. Hall’s lecture opened my mind to a lot of mistakes that can be avoided on the entrepreneurial journey. I hope we can all take a few notes and become the next generation of successful business professionals.

For the complete lecture, click here

Entrepreneurial Leadership: The New Management Paradigm

Here’s a common scenario: I first meet a fellow student and we start into the common exchange of background information — hometowns, majors, postgraduate plans, career goals, other interests. When I mention that I’m an active participant in the university’s entrepreneurship programs, I will often hear the same reply, “entrepreneurship sounds like fun, but I’m not really interested in starting my own business.”

I’m going to take a moment to clarify something very important. Although the term entrepreneur generally refers to an individual who starts companies or builds them from the ground up, entrepreneurial leadershiprefers to a skillset or a management style that makes use of entrepreneurial principles to grow or strengthen any company or organization, whether brand new or well established. I’d like to refer to a set of eight principles taught by our very own Director of Entrepreneurial Programs, Mike Glauser, as found on the educational website he helped create. 

1. Live in the Boundary
2. Plan for Opportunities
3. Engage a Brain Trust
4. Build Powerful Teams
5. Work with Zealous Tenacity
6. Create More with Less
7. Give Distinguishing Service
8. Serve a Broader Purpose

These points are self-explanatory for the most part, however, you can learn more about each one by exploring the website.

So you plan to work for an international financial services provider? You’re interested in non-profit work? You have been given a leadership assignment in your religious congregation? You’re going to take over the family business when your parents retire? You plan to work in health care or public education administration? Regardless of the situation or chosen pursuit, these principles are applicable.

Take a moment and consider your own career goals. Would you benefit from gaining a more entrepreneurial mindset? The short answer is yes! And the long answer is definitely, yes!

Check out the many resources available through the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellenceand related programs.

— Reed Page
     Executive Vice President
     USU Entrepreneurship Club

Lessons From a Piano-Pounding Entrepreneur

Klydi Heywood

With fingers flying across the piano keys and breath-taking videography in the background, Jon Schmidt’s presentation and lecture on Wednesday Jan. 30 was a feast for the senses. Students filled the auditorium in the Ellen Eccles Conference Center 30 minutes before the show started. And when I stood up to take pictures 10 minutes into the presentation, I had to climb over students who were stuffed into the isles.

He began with his story. Schmidt started performing at benefit events and selling cassette tapes whenever he could. Although he was amazed by the fact that people actually wanted to buy his tapes, he said he acted the part. 

“Fake it ‘til you make it,” Schmidt said. “It really works.” As students laughed at this remark, he continued by stating that people’s perception is reality.

“Your image is what people perceive, and that’s what they believe,” he said. With his humility shining through, Schmidt attributed this factor to his early success.

Schmidt’s second entrepreneurial advice for success was to think of, create or do something that has never been done before. When Schmidt met cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, he wanted to create something different. With their first YouTube sensation “Love Story Meets Viva la Vida,” the innovation for creative, classical yet modern music was born.

Schmidt then played the song for the audience, and the goose bumps on my arms started to rise. In addition to being a very talented pianist, Schmidt was an entertainer. He would bob his head to the beat, sway his shoulders to the melody and even spin around and play upside down.

When asked what got him through the tough times of being an entrepreneurial musician, Schmidt gave credit to God and his gut. He stated that in order to feel good about what he does each day, he has to follow his passions.

I left the presentation with a song stuck in my head and a new determination to reach for my dreams. By being creative and “faking it ‘til I make it,” I think I can do just about anything.

Entrepreneurship: A Collaboration Station

I've been reflecting a lot lately on the importance of collaboration. This past weekend I got to spit-ball business ideas, from salon supply stores to oilfield trucking to photography equipment consulting, with old friends and new acquaintances. 

As the recent Opportunity Quest competition came to an end, I realized just how much many of the competitors (myself included) benefited from sitting down together to discuss our various new ventures, despite the fact that we were in direct competition with each other.

There is just so much to be gained from openly discussing your ideas with others. Even if they're not part of your team and may have little to no experience in your chosen industry, different perspectives can be invaluable. A single tidbit of information, that may otherwise be trivial and useless, may make all the difference as you work towards launching and growing a new venture. Our management professors teaching courses for the new entrepreneurship minor would agree when I say that an entrepreneur is an information center, voraciously gathering new information from all sources and relaying it to any and all that may benefit from it. 

So, if you've been kicking around an idea for a while, it's high time you start collaborating. And if you're worried that you don't have a community of creative, ambitious, entrepreneurial individuals with whom to collaborate, come visit the USU E-Club. It's what we do.

— Reed J. Page

Executive Vice President

USU Entrepreneurship Club 

The Road to Entrepreneurship: Don’t Go it Alone!

Many journeys and successes can be conquered alone. True entrepreneurial success, however, is not a one-person endeavor. There are days in the start-up cycle when cash runs short, equipment fails, customers back out, prices fluctuate adversely and endless obstacles are bound to arise.

On the other hand the finale of solo quests can be anti-climactic when the victor realizes there is no one with whom to share the joy.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I have already looked down the long and lonely road that I know leads to the success that so many of us seek. It is a road fraught with twists and turns, pitfalls, windfalls, devastating setbacks, and, on occasion, a sunny meadow of short-lived winning streaks that we all hope will last.

The entrepreneurial path is not for everyone, I know, to take those first steps into the unknown and then keep going. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but for the adventurers, the risk-takers, the visionaries, the game-changers, the innovators, the tinkerers. I’m not going to pretend we’re all fearless — that would be a lie.

To help innovators face their fears, we get a few people together who share our vision- who believe what we believe — and we take the journey together.

I’ve never really told anyone this, but I’d like to race yachts someday, full-sized and fully crewed sailboats. It can be safely said that competitive sailing requires teamwork and trust. A truly winning team works in harmony, communicates effectively, encourages one another, and shares in every victory and defeat. Everyone feels ownership and shares responsibility for both the successes and failures.

Every new venture is like a sailboat race: you’ll need a team. When they are discouraged, you re-instill their confidence. When you are discouraged, they support you. You all share in the victories and in the defeats.

For those of you who aspire to achieve this class of entrepreneurial success, get your team together and set sail. Failures will be easier to bear when the load is distributed, and victories will be sweeter when shared.

Do not go it alone.

 -Reed Page