Sonia Williams - Start Me Up!: Over 100 Great Business Ideas for the Budding Entrepreneur

For some people, new and innovative ideas simply flow from their creative being. For others, coming up with a business concept is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. It can be incredibly frustrating. Deep down you yearn to own and operate your own business and you know you would make a great businessperson. The only barrier to your entry into the business world is coming up with the seedthe idea. However, just because you havent had your own light-bulb moment that doesnt mean you shouldnt be in business. You may very well have all the necessary skills, experience, commitment and passion to successfully run your own company, and denying yourself that opportunity simply because you cant find the right starting point could end up being a lifelong regret. Start Me Up! is written especially for people who are searching for that starting point. I want you to exploit the ideas in this book; after all, sometimes all we need is a helping hand to get on the first rung of the ladder of success.

But before I introduce you to the contents of my book I would like to quickly introduce myself. I have worked as a qualified Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) in several large corporate enterprises as well as government-based organisations and small boutique accounting practices. Nominated for the prestigious Telstra Business Womens Awards in 2008 and 2009, I have also published three books, two of which are bestsellers in their category: Show Mummy the Money and Give it a Go: what have you got to lose? What makes me an expert in this field is the fact that I have been there and done it, both online and offline, and I have lived to tell the tale. I have personally established several businesses, from wedding photography to publishing to bookkeeping. I have continued to set up diverse businesses over the last ten years, and successfully grow these businesses, simply because I know how to seize a great business idea and act upon it. I have also made some of the fundamental mistakes that trip up many entrepreneurs along the road to riches, and I have discussed some of these in the course of this book, in the hope of preventing you from following in my footsteps!

Over time I have had many people ask me how I came up with the ideas for my various businesses. It isnt rocket science, but it does take an open mind and I soon realised that it was not something everyone could do. So I felt compelled to write this book, since there are so many people from all walks of life who could make very good businesspeople if they only had the inspirational seed to kick-start their journey. This is the purpose of Start Me Up!: to provide budding entrepreneurs with the platform to maximise their entrepreneurial skills and make the most of opportunities before them.

The key to sourcing new and exciting business ideas is to open your mind and live life considering every experience to be an opportunity. If you have a negative experience with a product or service, dont get upset. Instead, consider whether this is fate calling. Could you turn the situation around and develop a business opportunity from your experience? There have been many entrepreneurs over the years who have successfully turned a bad experience into a multi-million-dollar business opportunity.

The best part about living in a modern and ever-changing world is that nothings perfect. There are limitless opportunities for entrepreneurs to get out there and improve the world we live in.

I often hear self-limiting statements such as I couldnt possibly start a business; I am not an entrepreneur. One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is that there are no boundaries; there is no job description for entrepreneur. You dont have to conform to certain criteria to become one. There are no age restrictions and it certainly doesnt matter what colour, creed, race or religion you are. Anyone and everyone has the opportunity to become a successful entrepreneur as its more about visualisation and actualisation than anything else. When you can visualise what you want to achieve, you can start to see how you can make it happen.

This book is about providing you with the motivation and inspiration to see how you can make something happen. It doesnt matter if you have just left university, are looking for a career change, are a stay-at-home mum or have partially retired from the workforce. The information in this book is designed to help you switch on the light-bulb moment that lies dormant within you.

Over the course of this book I will explain:

And if that doesnt help you come up with an idea, I have done the hard work for you by detailing more than 100 fantastic business concepts!

Irrespective of the business opportunity you decide to capitalise on, the key to success is to pursue opportunities you are passionate about. But I dont mean passionate in terms of how much money you could potentially earn from the opportunity. Truly successful businesses are those founded by people who are passionate about what they dothe cause. Consider the example of the The Body Shop, an international success story founded by mother of three, Anita Roddick. Anita not only had the savvy to tap into the body beautiful market, she succeeded because she was unequivocally passionate and committed to social and environmental change. Success does not normally flow from ventures where the main objective is purely to make money. Seek out a market you desperately want to work in. Find a product or service that really interests you. To be successful in business you need to live and breathe the merits of your product or service.

Second, you also need to do your research. You can have the best idea at your fingertips, but without proper market research, a business plan and a crystal clear understanding of who represents your target market, you could very well turn a good idea into a great disaster. Information is power. With research you can better mould your idea and work out how to effectively launch it to generate maximise exposure. More importantly, proper research will help you to ensure your idea will be a moneyspinner.

I cannot stress this point enough; sadly too many excited entrepreneurs set up businesses in a fit of exhilaration and fail to do their homework. Dont become one of the statistics; take the time and effort to conduct research. It wont necessarily prevent you from making mistakes altogether but it will certainly limit their severity. In Chapter Four I set out exactly what research you need to do.

Finally, heres one more bit of advice from a seasoned entrepreneur: along your journey to becoming an entrepreneur you will experience many highs and lows. When enjoying the highs, take the time to smell the roses, and when you dive down into what can seem like the depths of despair, remember there is only one way from here and thats up. To claim that the journey of a small-business owner is easy is a mistake of massive proportions. Its not. However, the freedom to work when you want and how you want, to be in charge of your own financial future, is exhilarating to say the least. To balance the scales you have to expect to hit a few brick walls before you are able to finally smash through and experience success. The road does indeed get easier as you take more and more steps along itthis is the benefit of experience. But you will only gain that experience if you actually opt to take the path well worn by many successful entrepreneurs before you.