How to Turn your Dream into a Business

*Contains Sponsored Content*

We’ve all been there where you have that sudden lightbulb moment with what seems like the most brilliant idea, and you sit there wondering why no one has thought of it before. You start planning your business in your mind, the amazing future you’re going to have with your new venture, and then you realise you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. Starting any new project can feel a little daunting, but when it’s something you have absolutely no idea about that knot in the pit of your stomach suddenly tightens and it’s easy to go from daunted to terrified very quickly. Hopefully these tips will help you to work out how you can follow your dream of turning your creative passion into a business.

Step 1: Plan Out your Idea

So you’ve had your lightbulb moment, it seems like an amazing idea and you feel like you’re ready to start your own business. One of the most important steps in your journey is also often one of the most underrated ones - people tend to have an idea and go straight for creating a product without thinking it through. Take the time to really plan how and why your idea would make a good business. I know you probably don’t want to rain on your own parade but you need to ask yourself the difficult questions that anyone who would want to invest in your company would ask you. Are you sure this is a product that other people would want to buy? What makes your product unique? Is there anything available at the moment that’s similar? If there is, what makes your product unique or better than your competitor? When you think of a good idea there’s a tendency to want to rush to realise your dreams, but taking your time could make all the difference in creating a successful business, and it’s always worth taking a little extra time to make sure you’ve done all your research. If you've always loved beauty then look at the qualifications you would need to do something in that field. Look at companies that are already doing similar things to your dream goal, like Dallas Med Spa, to get inspiration for your own plans.

Step 2: Tweak your Design

You’ve fleshed out your idea, you know who your competitors are and you’re convinced that you can offer a better product. Now you’ve done your research and asked the difficult questions, it’s time to think about the design of your product. Take your time to make small changes or completely redesign if necessary. It’s important that when you launch you make a good first impression on your customers. Think about building your website, what it’s going to look like and what photos you’re going to use. If you aren’t ready to take product photos yet, or you’re making them to order then look at a mock up service. These companies will put your design on anything, if it’s a graphic they can do a T-shirt mockup or put it on mugs. That will allow you to not only get an idea of what your product will look like when it’s completed, but it will also give you something to show your customers to encourage them to order from you.

Step 3: Think about Logistics

This is an important one. It’s quite common for people to make the mistake of focusing on the product or service and not thinking about the logistics of delivering it to their customers until they actually need to do it. Take your time to research different options - if you’re doing something like a T-shirt business then think about who will print your shirts, whether they’re delivered directly from the manufacturer or you buy them in bulk to your address to then ship out when ordered. The method you choose will greatly affect the price you pay and therefore the amount of profit you can make.

The most important tips you can take from this article are to not rush into anything and to do as much research as you possibly can. By taking the time to tweak your product and make sure that it’s absolutely perfect, you’ll put yourself in a much better position than someone who’s had a great idea, gotten a bit over-excited and rushed their product to market. By researching your product, your target market, their habits and interests you can get a good sense of how best to attract paying customers. By also taking time to research any competitors you may have, you can see what they’re doing wrong (or more importantly what they’re doing well) and take inspiration from them as well as improving on anything you feel they could be doing better in your own strategy.

Most importantly, take your time, do your research, have fun and good luck!