Not everyone has a fully fledged idea for a business, and that’s perfectly normal. Not every business out there was started from original idea on its own, and a lot of companies required two or more heads to even get to a functioning state for starting up! After all, originality often means taking another idea and tweaking it, and then tweaking it again and again until it resembles something completely different and new.

So, if you’re someone who has an idea for a product or service, and you’re aware there’s some interest in the market for what you’ve got in your head, it’s time to get out there and do a bit of research. A few conversations, a few influential people to stick around, and you’ll have the perfect idea for a business plan in no time. Here’s just a few places you might like to start.

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The People Around You

The people around you, whether they be friends and family, or work colleagues you know and trust, can be wonderful sources of advice and inspiration. If you thought you hadn’t yet built yourself a network, you’d be wrong! We all have potential business contacts around us, as long as we know where to look and when to speak up.

When you start to think to yourself about what kind of business you’d be great at running, and what kind of product you’d be able to innovate, it’s worth it to mention your plans in the works to these people. If you know people with backgrounds in marketing, or a friend of yours runs their own company, you can start to build up support for your idea. You could do it during your lunch hour, and get a creative discussion going, or you could do it over a glass of wine in the evening when you’re both workshopping your future – these are all great times for innovation!

A Few Networking Events Here and There

If you’ve already spoken to the people around you, and you need to take your plans a step further with the information they’ve given you, it’s time to start networking outside of your circle. Truth be told, the bigger your network, the more opportunities you’re going to have for success. And your close knit circle of close friends and work friends could only be the foundation for your business idea – now you need to put your feelers out.

So get yourself out there, and make sure you’re putting your best foot forward by targeting business conferences and events within the niche you’re thinking about moving into. Don’t worry, there’s a convention for every specialised field out there, and even some marijuana conventions exist in the modern day and age. You can be sure you’re going to find an expert in your sector, and you can get up close and personal with their ideas if you take the conversation straight to their face.

Your business ideas might need some refining, and here’s how you can do it!