There are just three types of idea:

• A borrowed or adapted idea
• A genuinely new idea (invention)
• An idea based on what you know

Bear this in mind as you have to carry on your usual daily routine. The source of inspiration will either come from;

The world around you – What do you do each day, think about each thing you do, could you improve or simplify anything, does anything annoy or bore you, could you make it better or is there a need that could be provided for. Think “what if…” or “wouldn’t it be good if…”. For example, wouldn’t it be good if your washing hung itself out, your wardrobe tells you the weather report or you could get your favourite crêpes delivered to the office for breakfast. What do you use? What buinesses do you deal with? What do you read and watch? What places and websites do you visit? Could you do any of these better? Or at least could you do it differently?

You – You are unique. You have a set of skills, talents and experiences unlike anyone else. Could you put any of these to good use. It’s likely you can do something other people can’t. This doesn’t just have to be work based skills. Do you have hobbies. If not, what have you always wanted to do? Learn something which you will enjoy doing with the intent of developing this into a business. Admittadly this may take a little longer but there’s no time to start like the present.

Follow the steps show here to analyise your abilities and peronal properties then to develop these into a few possible business ideas:

List your skills

• What do you love to do?
• What do you do well?
• What would you like to do?
• Do you have any talents, hobbies, skills, passions & experience?

Create a Personal SWOT Analysis

Make a SWOT analysis about you, list:

Strengths
What do you enjoy doing most – (skills/experience/hobbies, knowledge, personal traits)

Weaknesses
What do I least like doing – (ie. no business skills, not good at numbers, lacking in knowledge)

Opportunities
What’s around the corner – (what external factors may help you, what can you learn from others, where do you fit the bill)

Threats
What could cause you problems – (how will external factors affect your business or venture)

Learn to Recognise Trends
A few of these could be:

• The growth of the Internet
• Environmental
• Working from home
• Demographic Changes
• Credit Crunch
• The Grey Pound
• The Pink Pound
• Ethical Trading
• Social Enterprise

Observe Trends and Markets to Find Opportunities

• New or growing specialist areas (niche markets)
• A market with some resurgence in demand
• Products that hold their value
• The local supplier
• Meeting a need for which there is only occasional demand.

What are the Problems and What are the Needs?

Ever noticed something which could be done better. Could you do it better?

What’s the solution? Is there an opportunity?

• Is there a better idea?
• What is the idea?
• Can it be developed?
• What are the operational needs?
• What are the Technical requirements?

Is there a Market?

• Will they buy it from me?
• Why won’t they buy from me?
• Who do they buy from and why?
• What do they really want?

Evaluate it!

• What sort of business could you create?
• A full-time or part-time operation?
• A business to fit your lifestyle?
• A service-based business or product-based business?
• A ready made business (existing or franchise)?

Tips

• Be clear about your business idea
• Be honest about your skills
• Research what support is available
• Research your customers, competitors and suppliers
• The “Market”… Know where you fit
• Parato principle – aka the %80/%20 rule
• Develop a business plan
• Always start with all the cash you need
• Prepare and plan for contingencies
• Take all the professional advice you can get
• Create an action plan/lists
• Network, network, network

What is a Semantic Profile?

Semantics is one of the three main branches of semiotics. Specifically dealing with meaning and how it is communicated through signs and symbols. As search robots index written content the symbols of interest here are words.

Previously search results index rankings and relevance were returned in direct response to the sites domain name, page titles and meta tags (words hidden from the user). Then, as technology improved, the robots could index greater amounts of content and algorithms were created to calculate such things as keyword density and PageRank.

However computers don’t think like people. Unless of course they are taught to.

So the next big step was allowing search robots understand what they were indexing. To give each word substance. By teaching the search engines what words signify, by giving them context and by building a framework of related words and words with similar meaning the machines begin to think more human.

Google have been using techniques like Latent Semantic Indexing for some years now, there’s a good article here on SEO Book.

Then to summerise, what does this mean? A useful analogy would be to imagine sitting in a waiting room, opposite you is a woman chatting on her mobile phone. The woman is having an intriguing conversation with a friend (whom you cannot hear). Now assume she never mentions herself the topic of conversation (her keywords) however from what she does say, the related phrases and words she uses you can piece together her story as whole. You should be able to do the same with a well written, search engine optimised web site.

My recommendation then remains the same. The best thing you can possibly do is create quality content which is relevant to your subject matter, informative and useful. If you sell sheds include details about construction materials, types, uses, placement and any additional related information. Be helpful, many people initially looking into getting a shed will be searching for questions like “most secure types of shed”. Find out the most frequently asked questions in your field and answer them, you’ll increase traffic and maybe sales too.

Here is a good tool for finding related words: Go Rank

Do Not!

Use “black hat” SEO methods. Any benefits gained in the short run will inevitably turn to disadvantage as the robots get smarter.

37
The average age of social network users, according to analysis by Pingdom. As you might expect, that differs by network: Bebo’s average is 28, MySpace 31, Facebook 38, Twitter 39 and Linkedin 44.

35 – 44
The most active age group in social networking, again via Pingdom. The supposed social networking generation of 18-24 year olds only accounts for nine percent of usage.

$12.7 Billion
Estimated value of the mobile location-based services market by 2014, according to Juniper Research. Although usage will be the highest in the Far East, the majority of revenues will come from Western Europe.

Source .net magazine, May 2010.

Although we are a business our intention is to create a place that is also a resource. A place for thinking and for finding practical information to help you start and run a successful business.

We’re just putting the finishing touches together and gathering feedback. If you have any suggestions or would like to see something adding to our site let us know.