You know, I’d like to be in business for myself. I think that would be pretty cool… but…. I guess I am scared. That, plus I am not sure what kind of business I should start, you know? Actually, the two things are linked. My fear, and also, my not knowing what kind of business to start. How are they linked? Well, I know that a lot of the businesses that people start fail. Why do they fail? Well, many reasons, but I am sure that competition / not starting an original business is a big reason.
For instance, if you were planning to start a restaurant in a small shopping area that already has three restaurants, perhaps that is not such a good idea, if you see what I mean…. if however, you were going to start a dry cleaning business in a brand new suburb, where there were no other dry cleaning businesses in a 25 mile radius of your buisness place, then that might just be a good idea. If there were two other well established dry cleaning companies already in the vicinity, well, your success might be in doubt and I would have to advise you to consider the idea long and hard before trying it.
So therein lies my fear… I am not sure that the business I start will be original (not sure thats the right word, actually) enough to survive. Will it be able to survive competition? If its a business where barriers to entry are low, then am I in a good area, or are there other businesses out there just waiting on me to show them the opportunity so that they can come and take it away from me?
I guess I have always felt that the best plan is to come up with an original idea! Something you can patent, or at least, something that other people looking on at will think, “Hey, that business is doing okay, but its obvious that there is only room for one of those companies in the vicinity”, and having come to that conclusion, those other people looking on would just go on their own way and leave me doing my thing. The problem is, I have never been able to come up with such an exclusive idea. I don’t know why, I just haven’t been able to do so.
I know such ideas exist! I have heard of ideas like these before. The thing is, they are really like that! They are ideas that probably won’t work too well for companies that try to horn in on the established company in the business, so those ideas are probably of no use to me… As an example, I met this guy once that kills animals on contract for the government. Not just any animals… no sir. Not cows, or chickens or goats that people are going to eat. No, sah! He kills animals that are not indigenous to the country, animals that threaten the environment of the country they are invading.
Like in another Caribbean island, someone had smuggled a poisonous snake that had originated from South America into the country. The snake got too big for the fish tank the guy was keeping it in and so he let it go. It came to the attention of other people and they raised an alarm to the police and before you know it, that country’s government had flown this fellow in to kill the snake! Unfortunately, this guy wasn’t around when first they brought the mongoose to Jamaica, right? 
Still, he has worked in Jamaica, in fact, that is where I met him. He was on contract to UWI working with the project to save the endangered Jamaican iguanas. He was hired to kill the feral dogs and cats that roamed the Hellshire Hills, where the Iguana project was going on. The wild dogs and cats are the biggest threat to the iguanas. He made good money doing it too, you should have seen where he lived! Posh!
I just heard another weird (sp?) idea, totally original, mind you, though I am not at all sure it would work. I heard this idea on this movie I was watching (“The Last Word”). Here is the idea: The guy in the movie said he wanted to go buy a piece of land with a cliff on it. He would then turn it into a place where you could “kill” machinery. Yeah, you read right! A place where you could kill machinery.
As an example, let us say that you had a PC that just frustrated the ra$$ out of you. Lets assume it was a Mac, after all, PCs are too friendly for that, right?
So anyway, this PC got on your last nerve, right. Well, you could hop into your car and take this annoying PC over to the guy’s cliff and you could throw it off the cliff. He had a video camera at the bottom, filming the piece of machinery as it fell so that you could watch the whole thing live on a big, widescreen TV as it fell, and this would be taped, so that you could take the video with you and re-watch it at your leisure. Hell, you could bring friends along if you liked! There could be a bar there for you to have a drink with friends before or after the event. For a bit extra, he would rig the piece of machinery with an explosive device and blow it up as it hit the ground, giving a real, whoppingly loud and visually pleasing explosion!
Now like I said, I don’t know if such an idea would work, but yo! No one can say that this is not an original idea! Man! It is one of the most original ideas I have ever heard! Shit! Its crazy, even! Now why can’t I come up with an idea like that one, huh? I guess it is because even though I am called “Mad Bull”, I really am not all that much zany or crazy!
Bummer! 
Maybe you can help me! Suggest some original business ideas in the comments, nuh?
The word that you are looking for is unique value proposition. Uhg, I feel slimy for saying that. But, it’s true, the business concept needs to offer a unique product, service or value. There also needs to be a significant need/desire for the product, service or value and the market must be sustainable.
The machinery cliff, while certainly a novel idea, seems unlikely to survive. However, a restaurant, in a plaza with three others could very well be viable. This assumes that there are enough visitors to the plaza, that the prices are right, and that the food is unique enough and tastes good. A unique atmosphere has also proven to have a significant impact.
Observe the food courts in malls in the states. There are up to ten different restaurants surrounding a small seating area. Most, though not all, do fairly well despite high overhead.
But, the most important aspect in a business, that you haven’t mentioned, is passion. The founder must be very passionate about whatever they are embarking on because they will likely have to endure extended adversity and hardship with any startup. Trying to figure out some idea to get rich completely lacks the required passion.
Good points, Say Wah.
There’s good money in the dry cleaning business, and we need another Mexican restaurant.
I think the biggest thing, besides a solid business plan, is believing in what you sell.
MarkD60s last blog post..Small World
It has been age since I drop a comment pon you ra$$ rude yout…..so….
In addition to what has been said above, you should be interested in (get some sort of pleasure from if possible) whatever it is you may be considering getting into as a business.
Be careful…..it easy fe invest money and lose it in dese harsh economic climes!
I am looking at the possibility of the breeding of exotic tropical fish, something I have always enjoyed since boyhood days, as a business……haffi do suppem else in addition to medicine bredrin!
Hope all is well.
my apologies for not visiting lately man, for some reason my rss feed from yor blog wasnt updating, i almost thought you had retired lol
regarding the business yep find something you like and something that appeals to skills or interests that you have or want to acquire.
There is always a market for food. once you find the proper location. I can see you doing a sports bar
yeah sports/pool bar sounds like ur kinda jig and i’ve always heard that cayman is super boring so it sounds like yall cud use one more thats diff from the rest
u cud also be a dogwalker, sounds like u like it
Ditto !! SAy WAH !!
Well…you could open a coffee/pastry shop somewhere in town, around the business/office area. It’s a known fact that professionals love their coffee, need is more like it…You’ll be minting money soon.
Speaking of Restaurants…ever heard of HAKKA cuisine? It’s Indian style Chinese food…a blend of Indian spices & Chinese food, a culinary evolution from the many communist escaping Chinese people & their generations that have been residing in India for hundreds of years. Hearing a Chinese person speak an Indian language is also fascinating.
That’s my two cents!
MS CUTE PANTSs last blog post..House of Nemo
Mad Bull,
I’m going through the same thing. I’m also looking for something original and that requires little overhead. Stay hungry and creative. Once you come up with something, belief is the # 1 thing that you need to make it turn into something viable.
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