Is This A Good Time To Start A Business? (Part 3.0)

(In the first two posts, I covered the ideas that 1. a business is principally about creating a customer (not a job for yourself) and 2. the importance of starting with a small, defined group of prospects.)

The next decision is essentially the most important one that you will make in creating a business.

The operative question becomes, "where do I start in defining the best group of prospective customers for my new business?"

The answer is, YOU. You start with yourself.

Almost without exception, the successful businesses we have seen have one attribute - the founder(s) start a business that is adjacent to their life experiences. Adjacency takes lots of different forms:

- Founders leave large firms (accountants, lawyers, chefs, publishers) and start niche or boutique businesses.

- Founders leave careers and create businesses based on their lifelong hobbies or interests. The movie, Julie and Julia, tracks both Julie Powell and Julia Child's paths that began with their love of French cooking and led to successful publishing careers.

- Founders often pursue a technology or process change to create a business. The founders of Garmin did exactly that and created a benchmark company.

Choosing an adjacent category leverages your experiences and gives you a running head start on your business.