When Christopher Columbus landed in America he declared himself the first to ever set foot in this new land.
The truth is the first people to discover America came here hundreds if not thousands of years before him. If you do a search on Google you’ll find articles stating everyone from the Vikings to the Chinese set foot on our great continent before Mr. Columbus ever hit the new world. But I don’t remember ever learning about them in any of my history classes.
When talking to students I often find that they think they need to come up with an original idea to start their own business. But just like Christopher Columbus, you can come along much later and still reap the rewards.
I know what you’re thinking, “Ethan, that was hundreds of years ago. What does discovering a country have to do with starting an online business in 2014?”
Well, there are several business examples where being first meant little to those who pioneered it.
For example would you have liked to have invented the iPad 10 years before Apple did? Of course!
The iPad was a major success. Selling over 1 million units in only 28 days; at 500 bucks a pop that’s a ton of dough. Its first month sales smashed any record ever set by the iPhone’s first month sales.
What many people seem to forget is that Bill Gates first introduced the tablet PC 10 years earlier in 2000. And not to say Bill Gates isn’t successful in his own right, but it was clearly a failure for him.
Speaking of Bill Gates you would think he made all of his money off an original idea too. The fact is his graphic user interface was first created by Xerox. It wasn’t until Bill Gates came along that Windows changed the way we use computers forever.
These are perfect examples of the second mouse getting the cheese. So I don’t understand why people continue to look for original ideas before starting their own online business.
A better approach is to find something that interests you and improve upon it. Or do what I teach my students to do; start a business in a proven sector and then offer products and services superior to the competition.
Was Wealth Authority the first business to ever sell products on how to start a business or make money online? Of course not. I simply spotted an opportunity to enter this market and create my own unique approach.
When I started Wealth Authority I realized that people were sick of buying complicated manuals and software programs about making money online.
People wanted to start their own business, but they didn’t know how or where to start. I wanted to create a business that overcame those obstacles.
It has always been my aim to show you how to get the most profits out of online businesses. It’s this distinction that has helped me succeed in a very crowded marketplace.
So what’s a unique twist you can add to an existing niche?
This is how you should approach starting any new business. Simply look around at what’s already out there and think of your twist.
The next time a commercial comes on while you are watching television resist the urge to change the channel. Instead watch the commercials!
During each one imagine starting up a business to sell that same exact product/service being advertised. Think about what you would do differently to make your business stand out from competitors. Obviously there are going to be categories of products/services being advertised that you are not interested in starting up a business in. The point of this exercise is to get your innovation, imagination, and creativity flowing.
Practice makes perfect! You should practice as often as possible. You will train your brain to look at things in a very different way. This will also help you to spot the opportunities you do wish to pursue.
It’s a great skill to have when you are running your own business. All successful businesses have applied this way of thinking, looking at and evaluating. It’s how successful business owners like myself stand out from our competitors. We look at opportunities a little bit different than others and we see how to improve it.
So STOP reading this and get to work! Use your creativity and innovation to create a new spin on things.
If you already have a business use this technique to develop a new product/service or to spot a new opportunity you can profit from.
Good Luck!
Ethan Warrick
