1.2 The sun rise of your new business accessing market opportunity

The sun rise of your new business
Accessing market opportunity: the initial rim of the wheel

Exhibit

Market Opportunity is positioned at the top of the Business Eco-system Wheel for a reason. Every new venture starts with a single seed or kernel of an idea to do something in business that will result in money being exchanged. Since there is always some risk associated with starting a new business, you will have to take special care to plant the idea seeds of your new venture in a way that allows these seeds to some day bloom into a successful venture.

When to plant your market opportunity seeds

Without a doubt it’s challenging to know when to move forward and plant your new venture ideas in the “business garden” where you want to grow your career.

Entrepreneurs who are considering moving forward with a new venture idea can utilize the following questions and the “Stop and Go Signs for Accessing Market Opportunity Matrix.”

“stop and go signs for accessing market opportunity matrix”

"Is there a customer for this product or service? Is there someone who will buy the product or service you're considering selling? You can't effectively answer this question until you have personally spoken to the potential customer and ascertained that this person will buy your product. You need to know as much about this customer as the customer knows about himself: What are the demographics of this customer? What influences his buying behavior? What factors could lead to this customer changing his mind about buying the product or services? What will be the impact of a crisis during an emerging trend?

What will it cost to make a sale to this customer? If there is a common pitfall for entrepreneur, it's greatly underestimating the cost to acquire and repeatedly sell to a customer. The entrepreneurial marketer must account for every last expense it will take to make the sale. Commonly missed expenses include: staff time, travel and related expenses, overhead for office, payroll taxes, social security employer matching expenses (which occurs in the United States so your countries' equivalent,) unemployment payroll related expenses, marketing expenses, and the overall amount of time it takes to make a sale.

Is my timing right for this market opportunity? You will have a brief window of opportunity to launch your new venture or expansion of an existing enterprise. Misjudging your timing is often the difference between success and failure with assessing market opportunity. If you are too early, you have the right product or service but your market is not ready for it yet. If you are too late, giant competitors may have acquired a loyal following, blocking new entries to the market.