You have an entrepreneurial spirit, and you can’t wait to get your business started. But what if you don’t know exactly what that business will be? Sometimes it can be difficult to narrow down your ideas to a coherent and effective business plan. In her book Reinventing the Entrepreneur, Maryellen Tribby explains that the most successful business ventures will be those based on the “Three ‘P’s’: Passion, Purpose, and Profits.”
While profits are, of course, necessary to the survival of a company, you as an entrepreneur should not simply chase money. Note that before profits are even mentioned, Tribby stresses that you must find passion and purpose in the project. If you are passionate about an idea, you will be more willing to work hard to achieve your goals. If you are miserable doing something that you don’t care about, you will not be inspired to succeed. Furthermore, there must be a purpose in starting your company. This means that there is already a market for your company, and that a need of that market will be met by your product or service. Even if you are passionate about something, take a step back to objectively decide if others will want or need it, too.
To summarize, as you begin your journey as an entrepreneur, ensure that your concept meets all of the following criteria:
- You must be truly passionate about the idea behind your new business.
- There must already be a market for the product or service.
- Your idea must be sellable to that market in order to bring in sufficient revenues.
Adapted from: Tribby, Maryellen. Reinventing the Entrepreneur: Turning your Dream Business into a Reality. Hoboken, NJ: John WIley & Sons, 2013. 9-14. Print.
