Find the Cracks – Fill The Gaps

July 13, 2010 in Business with 4 Comments

A friend of mine asked me the other day where he might find an idea to start a business.

I asked him, “What kind of business do you want to start?”

He responded and said that since he was so knowledgeable in his current career, and loved what he was doing, he could see himself starting a competing business.

And then the lizard showed up.

The excuses rolled in. His current employer had been around forever. It would be hard to persuade people to switch to a new startup. There is no way he could compete… Yada Yada Yada.

I suggested that before we allow the lizard to lay a smack down, we spend a little time looking for the cracks.

Is customer service slipping?

Are they ignoring customers?

What could be done better in sales and marketing?

Are they simply surviving in the middle-of-the-road? Can you go to the edge and pass?

Has their guard been dropped?

Maybe the business idea you’ve been looking for is right in front of you.

If you can find the cracks, and fill the gaps, you might just have a winner.

  • http://damionflynn.com Damion Flynn

    Finding the gaps is great – just make sure you are not doing anything that could be construed as unethical (stealing customer databases, etc). If you contact existing customers of a business utilizing inside knowledge you could run into a potential lawsuit from the competing business.

    That being said, businesses with niche markets are great (assuming the niche supports a high enough base to support operations) and it may be worth exploring specific niches in the business that may address a particular customer base that may not be as satisfied with the existing business(es) and are willing to pay a premium for that service.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    The gaps in my eyes are areas where you could do things better. Maybe faster. Maybe cheaper. But better.

    Looking for gaps in the armour.

    Unethical people will always lose in the long run. This post is based purely on business competition.

    If you're ready to go out on your own, and know you can do things better – by all means compete.

  • http://www.facebook.com/GeorgeManlangit George Manlangit

    I will have to agree with Damion on his 1st point.

    However, reading thru the lines, I think he is not yet convinced he could do it even though it's been something he has been doing in his career.

    The mindset has to change from working for an employer to a businessman (that could possibly hire an employee later on). Until that is set, he might end up as part of the statistics of new businesses that failed within the early years.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Hey George,

    Thanks for the comment. Damion is right when it comes to ethics. Again, unethical people have no business in business and will end up failing in the long run. That's the way I look at it. It'll never last forever.

    I think not being convinced is a lizard tactic. It's part of the resistance's arsenal.

    Mindset needs to be there, and the goals need to be set, but I believe that can be found and developed.