Every business starts with an idea. If you are ready to kickstart your new career but determined to establish a profitable company in the long run, you should really be analytical from right at the beginning and consider every aspect of your business plan well in advance. There are thousands of tempting online business types you could try these days and it's extremely rare to find one that's not competitive. Therefore the success depends on how you find the one that's most suitable for your personality and how you prepare for the work.
But how exactly does the process function? How do you come up with a useful online business idea in 2020? The answer lies in a few key steps, so let’s take a look at the best ways to craft a sustainable online business plan.
4 Tips to Design and Test Your Business Idea
It would be great if you woke up one day and came up with a clear idea of how to launch a lucrative business...we all know that kind of "miracle" hardly ever happens in life. Business ideas...of course, it's a step-by-step process that requires additional efforts. Unless you can create something really special, the general rule of thumb is to follow these four steps:
1. Think about your skills and expertise
The first thing you should ask yourself is: What am I good at? The point is to figure out your skills and expertise because that’s the simplest way to begin working at the highest level possible. For example, proficient authors can become dissertation writers.
This tip is critical because you’ll be facing a lot of competitors in every niche. In such circumstances, only the most skilled and educated individuals can expect to make a career breakthrough and win over enough clients.
2. Research your market
Let’s say you have decided to launch an assignment writing service. An assignment writing service is where you help students with tight schedules in obtaining their goals by providing written documents within a set timescale. If you are good at writing, it may seem like an incredibly suitable job for you at first, but have you researched the market already? That's the first thing you should do and if you haven't already, there are quite a few things you can think about:
- How many assignment writing services are already active online? There are quite a few. You need to think about what you can do to stand out from the crowd.
- Can I provide better or more affordable services to outperform competitors?
- Is there enough demand for such agencies? How do the competitors advertise?
- What do you need to establish a new company? Website costs (developers, web hosting), advertising, help staff, chatbots, etc? And how much will it cost? When will I be able to pay off the initial investment?
These factors are fundamental if you want your business idea to deliver as planned.
3. Think about funding
Do you have the funds needed to put your idea into practice? A report shows that most micro businesses cost around $3 thousand to start, while most home-based franchises cost up to $5 thousand.
Although it’s a relatively small amount, it can be too much for individuals in the early stages of their careers. And if your business idea is a costly one, you better be ready to think about funding and how to find resources for your next project.
4. Prepare a marketing plan
Your business idea should be ready for execution by now, so the only thing left is to prepare an appropriate marketing plan. This is where you need to pay special attention to the target audience and figure out the best communication platforms. The usual suspects include:
- The official company website
- Email newsletters
- Social media marketing
- Google and Facebook advertising
- On-site promotions
Marketing campaigns can eat up a large portion of your time, so we definitely suggest creating a calendar of activities in order to make it all work properly.
Business Ideas That Dominate 2020
As a new business starter, our goal is not only to explore how to develop a business idea but also to highlight a few interesting solutions that dominate 2020.
As we have already repeatedly emphasized on this site, this year is highly specific due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we would like to focus on the Internet and online career-building opportunities. Besides that, we will emphasize business ideas that do not require massive investments. Here are our top picks:
ESL teaching
The first pick is very simple as all it takes is to utilize your knowledge of English. You can teach people English as a second language (ESL) and earn more through one-on-one or individual classes. Launching a translation business is a great alternative if you speak other languages as well.
Virtual Assistance
Do you know that the average virtual assistant earns nearly $16 per hour? You can easily earn some $1.5 thousand a month if you only work part-time, but the fee is getting higher for the most successful virtual assistants.
eCommerce
The global eCommerce market has been growing steadily in the last few years and it is predicted to reach over $4,200 billion this year. The best thing about online retail is that almost anyone can design a website and start selling products or services. But of course, there's a huge downside. The e-commerce market is extremely competitive. Millions of web store owners thrive to advertise their business day-in, day-out, yet many struggle to beat established sellers on eBay and Amazon Marketplace.
Also Read: Everything You Need to Know to Start a Dropshipping Venture
Social media marketing
Do you know your way around social networks? We bet you do, so you might as well seize the opportunity to make the business of it. Every brand and company is running social media campaigns nowadays and you can easily turn your hobby into a lucrative business opportunity. The downside is, either spend time or spend money. Social media marketing can be a painfully time-consuming job and it can take months, or even years for your brand to be properly recognized. Unless you invest a good amount of money on paid advertisements and monitor the spends. Either way, you need to learn good techniques and keep monitoring the engagement rates.
Also Read: Pinterest For Affiliate Marketing – Your Hard Work Will Pay Off!
Content creation
Writing enthusiasts, graphics designers, and video production specialists can also consider content creation as one of the most in-demand occupations of 2020. The Internet is packed with websites looking for professional content creators, so you should give it a try if you feel that it suits your skills and experience. Again, this can take a long time before your brand starts to be recognized and have repeated visitors such as YouTube channel subscribers. If you are interested, sooner the better before everyone else joins in.
The Bottom Line
Building a profitable business is far from easy, but you can make it if you come up with a great idea. Of course, every idea requires additional testing and upgrades, so we decided to show you how to come up with a useful business idea in 2020.
Do you have any interesting business ideas to share with us? Can you make them work in your region? Feel free to share your business experiences with our readers – we would all love to see it and discuss it together!
Author Bio: John Peterson
John Peterson is a business analyst and a blogger. He is interested in numerous topics such as the blockchain, crowdfunding, business, and finance. Apart from writing, John enjoys traveling and long-distance running.
