1. What's your 'thing'?
KEY POINTS
- Don’t forget the thing that made you get interested in to entrepreneurship in the first place
- Value your “thing” more than your product or service.
- Your product may fail, so get back to your “thing” and see what else you can produce.
DEFINING YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Have you ever had a thought 'that’s so easy why didn’t I think of that?' This is where entrepreneurship begins, with just one simple idea because someone saw how things could be done more easily. Isn’t it obvious when someone shows us how? But the difficult part is coming up with the idea in the first place.
Let’s take Coca Cola for an example… in the late 1800’s a chemist by the name of Dr Pemberton invented a liquid drink with cola flavouring. It was meant to be a tonic for people with a sluggish appetite. He showed the product to an associate who simply “carbonated” the drink and the rest is history.
So when you sit and think and ideas come in and out of your head, write them down… it doesn’t matter how silly the idea may seem… it may just be the next big thing.
TASK 1: BRAINSTORMING
- Gather as many ideas as possible no matter how crazy they seem.
- Write down your thoughts and ideas as soon as they come up.
- Sift through the ideas for the good ones.
- Once you have exhausted your ideas, begin to consider the practicality of your ideas.
TASK 2: DETERMINING CUSTOMER DEMAND
Now cross check your ideas with the following requirements:
- Your product or service must have DESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES
- Your product of service must be UNIQUE
- Your product or service must deliver customer VALUE: why would someone want to buy it?
TASK 3: YOUR STATEMENT
Describe your idea in one short sentence and post it on the discussion board.