When looking for a great entrepreneurial idea, it is crucial to zero in on an idea that fills a need in your target customers’ lives and how they approach their work and life. If you can find out this need and fulfill it with your product idea, you have found the perfect business idea for yourself.
Most entrepreneurs are coming up with ideas that involve an online business model. And why not? The pandemic has changed people’s approach toward shopping and how they meet their needs. Without any further ado, here are some great business ideas that will find you success and beyond if executed well.
How Do You Determine the Best Business Idea?
You’ll have to evaluate your business idea against real-world scenarios and market conditions to determine if it’s right and worth pursuing. Here are some tips to help you validate your business idea.
- Consider your interests and passions to identify a business idea that will align with your strengths.
- Determine if your business idea addresses a substantial gap, problem, or need.
- Identify a target market or group of people who are most likely to purchase your products or services. Learn about their wants, needs, preferences, motivations, spending habits, pain points, etc.
- Create a buyer persona who represents your target audience to guide your business decisions.
- Conduct market analysis to assess market factors such as economic conditions, customer buying patterns, and competition to determine whether there is demand for your products or services.
- Research your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses and determine how your business idea will differ from your competitors.
- Perform a SWOT analysis to assess your business idea’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This can help you identify your competitive advantage and potential challenges.
- Engage with your potential customers and get feedback on your idea’s basic model or prototype. This will help you determine whether your customers find it useful and how much they’re willing to pay for it.
- Run a minimum viable product (MVP) to test a simplified version of your product or service with a select group of customers. This will help you determine whether they find it valuable and whether it solves the intended problem.
- Perform a financial feasibility analysis to figure out the initial investment required, ongoing operational costs, and potential revenue you can generate. You can calculate your break-even point and expected return on investment.
- Write down your goals, assumptions, and hypotheses to assess market validity and determine if there is a need for your product in the target market.
- Research search volume to gauge market validity. You can search by researching the monthly search volume of terms related to your mission and products.
Top 7 Entrepreneurial Business Ideas in India
This list of business ideas will help you start your entrepreneurial journey on a high note. They will keep your upfront expenses low and need low investment, and can help you earn significant profits. Let’s get started.
1. Consulting
You can start a consulting business if you are passionate about topics like sales, marketing, social media or communication. Not just these, but you can also become a career counsellor or a property or civil law consultant if you have the required knowledge. You can counsel your clients on almost any topic they need enlightenment on. The only requirement here is you must understand the subject and hold a professional degree/certificate if required.
The global market size of the management consultant industry reached roughly 1 trillion US dollars in 2023 and is expected to grow further in the coming years. This demonstrates its business value as highly lucrative and with immense growth potential.
Initially, you can start a consulting firm on your own and later hire more consultants once your business takes off well.
2. Online Reseller or Dropshipping
If you are interested in selling clothes online or any other products, you can start an online reseller business or dropshipping. Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products online but don’t own inventory. When you receive an order, the retailer or wholesaler packs and ships the order on your behalf. You only handle the marketing and customer service for your business.
Dropshipping has become quite popular in recent years. Its global market was valued at 250 billion US dollars in 2023. It’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 25% between 2024 and 2033 and reach 2,328.31 billion US dollars by 2033. Dropshipping can increase your online store’s profitability by up to 50%. A dropshipping business generally has a profit margin of 15% to 20%.
You can sell products like a candle, home furnishing, healthcare, jewelry, and beauty products. You can start with a seller account on Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media channel. If you have a dropshipping store as well as social media accounts, you can generate 32% more revenue. Then you can launch your website gradually as you grow.
3. Teaching Online
The demand for online education is at an all-time high, and it has opened many opportunities for people wanting to start something of their own. You can choose any subject you are good at, regardless of location restrictions. Not just to school or college students, you can teach any foreign language, like French or German, to adults also.
4. Application Development
If you are tech-savvy and have experience in technology, consider starting a career in mobile app development. Smartphone apps are a booming sector, and almost everyone uses them. This has opened opportunities for many freelance app developers. Similarly, you can also think of creating and selling software – virtual reality software is popular, and in the years to come, there will also be demand for VR apps.
5. Freelance Content Writing
If you are a wordsmith, you can start a freelance content writing or copywriting venture. You can write blogs, articles, web content, or press releases – plenty of companies are willing to hire these services. You can increase your business value by upgrading your knowledge and skills by learning about SEO and content marketing.
The only investment you need is a laptop and an internet connection, and you can start working from your comfort zone. But you must establish a great network and gain referrals from your current clients. You can also build a network on LinkedIn for this.
6. Digital Marketing
The internet has become one of the best places to sell products. However, since most organizations leverage it for their business, there is cut-throat competition online. Thus, there is an increasing need for digital marketing. While not all companies can afford a team of digital marketers, they look for freelancers who can do it for them. It is an ideal business for you if you know SEO, pay-per-click marketing, content marketing, and social media management.
The digital media market in India was valued at over 654 billion Indian rupees in 2023, estimated to reach 955 billion Indian rupees by 2026. If you plan to start a digital marketing business, you will be positioned for strong growth in the coming years.
7. Owning a Food Truck
Food trucks have become highly popular, especially after COVID-19, where people now like other options besides eating indoors in a restaurant or café. You can think of starting a food truck. It comes in all shapes and sizes, and you can serve a wide range of cuisines per your specialty.
How to Start Your Own Entrepreneurial Business?
Starting an entrepreneurial business involves several key steps, including the following.
- Find a Profitable Business Idea: Before starting a business, you’ll have to find an idea that sets you apart from your competitors. You can consider what you love doing and what problems you’re passionate about solving.
- Conduct Market Research: Once you have identified the business idea, determine if there’s an opportunity to turn that idea into a successful business. You can do so by gathering information about existing businesses in your industry and potential customers. This information will come in handy to find a competitive advantage.
- Develop and Validate your Product: Transform your business idea into a tangible product or service and ensure there is a demand for your products or services.
- Write a Business Plan: Create a business plan or roadmap for structuring, running, and growing your new business. Then, use it to convince people that investing in and working with you is a smart choice. A business plan template can detail your business’s core ideas and components, from your mission statement to your operations and marketing plan. Remember to include an executive summary for a high-level overview of your business.
- Secure Funding & Plan Your Finances: The next step is to secure funding for your business. Determine how much money you’ll need to start and run your business. You’ll need to raise or borrow capital if you don’t have that amount on hand. Make sure you understand the cost of starting a business, including materials, supplies, production, distribution, promotion, hiring employees, storage space, office rent, and more.
- Finalise Your Business Details: Choose a business structure or model, select a business name that reflects your brand’s identity, register your business, and open a business bank account. You’ll also need to establish a location, whether it’s an online store or a physical store. The location of your business will have an impact on your legal requirements, revenue, and taxes. Before you can finally start your business, make sure you apply for and obtain the necessary licenses and permits to make it legally compliant.
- Create a Website: Every business (even if you’re starting a brick-and-mortar store) requires a website to showcase its products, attract global customers, and generate more sales. For eCommerce businesses, a website is non-negotiable for spreading brand awareness, bringing in potential customers, and driving more conversions.
- Develop a Marketing Plan & Strategy: Create a comprehensive marketing plan to spread brand awareness, promote your products, build a dedicated social media fan following, and attract and retain customers.
- Start & Manage Your Business: Create a launch checklist for the opening day and make sure you’re ready with all marketing activities for this day. You should also have a plan for customer support and focus on getting your first sales. You can build our network and surround yourself with experienced and knowledgeable mentors to better understand your market. Take advantage of opportunities like attending networking events. You can even create a dedicated community online.
Conclusion
The ideas discussed above are easier to implement. But you must ensure that you focus on your niche skills and that your pricing is not very high compared to your competitors. That also doesn’t mean that you keep your prices so low that your profits are almost nil. That said, test ideas, learn from them, optimize your business, and grow!
