Before the financial plan is written and a business owner is ready to apply for commercial loans, he must have a fully developed vision ready to be turned into a physical, working organization. While many are hopeful to start their own companies for a variety of reasons, sources say the inspiration required before work can be done is present in countless future entrepreneurs.
Experts insist hard work pays off
The Guardian reflects on several successful businesses, new and old, that required incredible amounts of inspiration to keep executives pushing forward in their ventures. The creator of Dyson vacuums, James Dyson, worked for 15 years to perfect his invention, which the news source notes took over 5,000 failed models to finally complete. His fortitude paid off, however, when a year-and-a-half of sales showed that they were the most popular vacuum brand in the United Kingdom.
Dyson said balancing time to think and time to work is key for new business owners – this, he believed, makes all the difference between an attempt to own a business and achieving the reality of true entrepreneurial success. For people who have a hard time motivating themselves, LinkedIn Europe CEO Ariel Eckstein claims that professional partnerships are readily available with today's online network systems. Whether an entrepreneur is looking for someone to run part of her startup company or simply for another professional in the field to offer support, he says platforms like LinkedIn put business owners at a major advantage.
"That gives you a sense of how entrepreneurs can leverage the power of the network," Eckstein told The Guardian.
While the source cites success stories, entrepreneurs have a responsibility to come up with the ideas their companies will be based on – so what is a hopeful business owner to do when void of concepts?
Business by nature
Entrepreneur suggests nature is an excellent place to start when brainstorming ideas for businesses, and highlights three points to look into – especially when attempting to create a groundbreaking product.
One way nature can inspire new business ideas is through the biological functions of living organisms. The source says biomedical engineer Anthony Brennan's creation of material mimicking bacteria-resistant shark skin became a commercial hit when a group of four collaborating entrepreneurs reached out to him in 2007. The product, which was intended to prevent the growth of algae on maritime vessels, received positive feedback and investor interest almost immediately as the startup market saw potential for extreme profits in the medical industry. Although the source claims the company is still in negotiations for development within the medical instrument production field, it has been a hit among people hoping to keep their homes and businesses clean by adhering the "skin" to shared surfaces and devices.
The human body and natural elements like water and wind are also inspirations to new business owners, according to Entrepreneur. Lloyd Watts, founder of Audience, created a machine that recognizes individual human voices after realizing computers did not have that capability, even at the turn of the 21st century, the source reports. His work, which became one of many advances in the last several years that have brought the limits of human ability and computer function closer together, was sold to cell phone businesses at the suggestion of his company's current CEO Peter Santos and in 2012 made $144 million.
Use of natural elements is a great advantage in the current "go green" market, and Entrepreneur suggests if new business owners can capitalize on related issues, they can find success.