How to Assess Your Business Opportunities

Building Your Forever Business – Step 12: Opportunity Knocks

In Step 11, we looked at how to start finding a niche for your business, side hustle or if you are just testing the waters of entrepreneurship. Whatever brings you here this step will help to narrow down possible niches that you have chosen by assessing each opportunity. In this step we’ll focus on honing on what your forever business could possibly be.

For those just joining us at this point, you can continue and learn about the how to assess opportunities before starting a business, but it’s worth starting at Step 1, My Current State, to give you better context. And its the starting point of this adventure.

Let’s get started. In our Happy Path Flight Plan illustration, we are touching on Opportunity Knocks, now in orange and bold below.

Introduction

“People will try to tell you that all of the great opportunities have been snapped up. In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in all directions, including yours.” – Ken Hakuta

There are many challenges to starting a business. There’s launching it, keeping it going and growing it. But before all that there is identify what type of business to start and in what niche. We covered how to define 2 niches on your own and the one that will be learnt following these steps in the previous step, Finding My Niche.

Once you have your two possible niches the next step is to start looking at the market potential to start your business in one of these markets. At the moment you have little information on these markets besides the initial research you have done in the previous step.

Opportunities

Those who have an entrepreneurial spirit see opportunities, where others see struggles & impossibilities. Most people aren’t looking or do not know how to turn a big enough problem into an opportunity. That’s the difference that makes all the difference in identifying opportunities.

Where there are a significant number of dissatisfied consumers, this is when an opportunity knocks or goes begging. An opportunity is an idea that is based on what consumers need or want and are willing to buy often enough at a high enough price to sustain a business.

As the person who has a purpose, a vision, a desired future, you need to open your mind to viewing problems differently. Turning them from struggles into potential opportunities. Without problems there would be no advances in technology. No progress.

To facilitate shifting your perception about problems use the ‘My Disciplined Attitude Journal’ as it has an opportunities question that trains your mind to consistently look for opportunities on a daily basis. The majority of these problems won’t be opportunities, but one will eventually come along that’s a golden nugget. This is a technique you can use if you are struggling with identifying a niche. Or you are after a second or third niche to compare to your first choice. You need to be thinking, is this problem big enough to be an opportunity worth exploring. If you want to explore an opportunity further, we use the Opportunity Canvas.

Opportunity Canvas

The Opportunity Canvas is used to help ascertain that your chosen niche or niches are viable in order to move to the next stage. Each one of your chosen niches is an opportunity. Let’s work out which niche is the golden nugget.

The opportunity canvas helps answer 4 key variables:

Will it be attractive to Clients in order to address their goal based on their needs and wants? Does it create or add value?
Will it work in the business environment?
Can it be executed in a defined window of opportunity?
Can it be implemented with the right team to make it durable?

The Opportunity Canvas tells the ‘story’ to gain an understanding of the one big opportunity by defining these 3 important questions:

What’s the Opportunity?
How Will We Approach it?
How Will We Know We are Succeeding?

Now we will work through how to complete an Opportunity Canvas and for this example we’ll use a hypothetical opportunity of providing high-end lost luggage/bag tracking tags.

What’s the opportunity?

Client Problems

The first question that needs to be answered is:

What problems do prospective Users and Clients have today?

Cannot easily locate or find lost bag/s
Want to be able to track their bag/s during their travels.

Business Problems

What are the challenges/problems that impact your business?

Impact on Cashflow
First Round of Investment (i.e. Bootstrapping; Angel Funding)
Bootstrapping in business means starting a business without external help or capital. Such start-ups fund the development of their company using their own money.

Angel Funding (seed investor or angel investor) is a high net worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs in exchange for ownership equity in the company.

Clients & Users

What types of Users and Clients have the client/ business problems?

Frequent Travelers such as digital nomads, extended holidays, high mileage travelers
Those who carry expensive items daily (people with personal items, film crew, photographers, sales reps, etc.)
Business Execs, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs

How will we approach it?

Solutions Today

How do users address their problems today?

List competitive products or work-around approaches your users have for meeting their needs.

Bag Tag
GMS Trackers no monthly fee
GPS Trackers with monthly fee
Travel Insurance

Solution ideas

List product, feature, or enhancement ideas that solve problems for your target audience. Which problems does your solution address?

More accurate tracker that pinpoints exact location of bags/luggage
Smaller device that can be hidden and not easily found if bag/luggage stolen
Proximity detector feature that if bag leaves your side alarm goes off on your mobile phone
No monthly subscription cost but one annual affordable fee for client support
Partner with Travel Insurer as a cross sell.

Budget

Are there time/budget constraints?

$100,000 budget using bootstrapping financing
To fund market research survey
Develop minimum valuable product (MVP) as a tester

How will we know we are succeeding?

User Metrics

What specific user behaviors can you measure that will indicate they try, adopt, use, and place value in your solution?

Pre: Pilot survey on addressing problem: want a 4 or 5 out of 5 result on survey
Pre: Pilot test/experiments: representative sample size of items lost & % recovered
Post: Measuring success: out of the total Clients who had an incident what % recovered their items

Business Metrics

What business performance metrics will be affected by the success of this solution? These usually change as a consequence of users actually buying and using your solution.

Client Acquisition Costs (CAC)
Client Retention Rate (CRR)
Lifetime Value (LTV)

How will users adopt & use your solution?

If your target audience discover your solution, what will they do differently as a consequence? How will that benefit them?

Use solution for traveling.
Use solution everyday when out with handbag/bags.
Use solution for their children by putting tracker in their pocket/bag.
Save time if bag goes missing, piece of mind and potentially avoid being ‘out of pocket’.

Once you have completed the Opportunity Canvas you will need to review this opportunity to understand its feasibility, it will be good to discuss this with people you know who’ll be objective and give constructive feedback. You should have a collection of opportunity canvas’ that have sprung from your journaling. One or two will start to talk to you especially if its aligned to you purpose, core values and ultimate goal.

For the Opportunity Canvas’ that you would like to explore further this will lead us to the customer avatar.

Customer Persona Introduction

A customer is not just a person who uses your product, app, service, or software — they’re a unique individual who is looking for solutions to problems they have in their everyday lives. Or even looking for a solution that will enable them to achieve a meaningful goal.

A customer persona can also be called a Customer Avatar, Customer, Prospect Persona, Buyer Avatar, etc. They all mean the same thing.

A customer persona is an idealized representation of a specific customer based on their characteristics, interests, habits, and behaviors. It is a composite of everything about the person you want to work with. Your customer persona is a highly personalized sketch that explains precisely who your ideal client is. A customer’s persona includes everything from their age, gender, interests, social media profiles they tend to use frequently, and even their location when they’re shopping online.

Your understanding of who your ideal customer is will be the foundation for any marketing strategy you implement as well as how your team interacts with them. Identifying the right customer persona is an important process that every startup must go through before engaging with prospects.

Your client’s persona will be the driving force behind how you interact with them as a company and how much value you provide for them as a business partner. If you don’t take the time to develop your customer persona profile before working with prospects and new customers, you could end up working with people who aren’t aligned with your business values and goals as well as customers who don’t fit your target market profile.

While researching your target market, you may have stumbled on a segment of people that seem like they could be perfect clients for your business. These potential prospects may also be referred to as your target market, niche market, or customer avatar. Regardless of how you refer to them, the value of developing a detailed understanding of these individuals is greater than you think. In this step, we will explore what a client persona is and why it is so important when designing your marketing strategy.

Why is a Customer Persona so important?

A customer persona is a strategic tool that can help you understand your clients better. Using customer personas, you can learn about your ideal client’s likes and dislikes, their interests and problems they struggle with, and their lifestyle and budget. With a better understanding of your clients, you will be able to make better decisions when designing your marketing strategy and creating more personalized advertising. You will also be more likely to provide more value to your clients and have a more positive experience with your business. You can also use a client persona to evaluate the success of your marketing efforts. By tracking your clients’ behavior, you can better understand what content and strategies are driving results.

List of Benefits of having a Customer Persona

You begin to view your prospects as real people, not faceless demographic compilations.
You narrow down your target market, which allows you to target them much more effectively than trying to be all things to all people.
You narrow down their pain points, enabling you to address them much more specifically. And understand their desires, wants, needs.
You have a consistent perspective from which to build your brand and make important decisions.
Deliver and develop better products / services because you are able to anticipate your market’s needs, behaviors, and concerns.
Client avatars help laser-focus marketing efforts.

Not putting in the effort to do this properly could cost you dearly in time, money and most of all your business survival

How to develop a client persona?

The research you have already done for the opportunity canvas has provided a great start in developing your customer persona. Continue to research your target market. What are their age ranges? What are their occupations? What are their interests? What social media platforms do they use most? Once you have a better idea of the demographics of your clients, you can start applying your research to developing the client persona. Try to keep in mind that your client persona should be as realistic as possible, considering that not everyone shares the same interests and problems. At the same musing, your client persona should also be as idealized as possible, taking into account the potential goals and needs of your ideal customer. The goal here is to find the correct balance between how real your persona is while also maintaining an image of your ideal client that is aspirational.

Step 1. Understand your target market.

We don’t create imaginary avatars; we rely on solid data. The reality is that your business thrives by catering to a specific audience. While it may be easy to adjust your business to meet their needs, it’s not as simple to change your audience to fit your business. Therefore, it’s crucial to let go of any preconceived notions and truly listen to who your ideal clients are as individuals.

Here is a run-down of some of the information you need to gather:

Demographics (quantifiable characteristics):

Age range
Gender %
Location
Industries
Job titles
Income
Education
Marital status
Children

Psychographics (opinions, lifestyle, and values):

What are their biggest challenges?
What are the defining characteristics of their personality?
What’s stopping them from solving their problem?
Where do they get their trusted information?
What worries and fears keep them up at night?
What would their ‘perfect solution’ look like?
What do they value most in life? (social status, health, personal growth, family, etc)
What do they enjoy doing in their spare time (hobbies and activities)?
What do they secretly want more than anything else?

You require this information because you aim to resolve the issues faced by your customers. It is crucial for your business to continuously strive towards enhancing the lives of your ideal clients through your offer / offerings. By making their lives better, your business will ultimately achieve greater success in its target market.

Discovering your audience (even if you haven’t identified one yet) is an essential aspect of any business. One simple method to understand your ideal customer is by reaching out to individuals you have previously enjoyed working with. Take the initiative and give them a call, requesting a moment for an informal chat or perhaps suggest meeting up over coffee.

If you operate in a service-based industry, chances are you’re already implementing this strategy. However, what if your business structure doesn’t allow for such interactions or if you haven’t yet established a customer base to engage with? Luckily, with the advent of the internet, there are alternative ways to gain insights into the discussions within your target market’s sphere. Through conducting thorough research on potential customers and their preferences, you can effectively become a silent observer in their conversations.

To effectively market your product or service, it is essential to pay attention to the language used by your target market when describing their problem and potential solutions. By incorporating their own language into your marketing copy, you can better resonate with them. For instance, if they commonly refer to your product as a ‘Widget’, but they prefer to call it a ‘Thingy’, you can adjust your keywords and sales copy accordingly to connect with them more naturally.

Step 2: Dig deep into their pain.

Now, I want to make it clear that I’m not being harsh just for the sake of it. The reason why you are in business is because your product or service addresses a specific problem. Without this problem, there would be no motivation for anyone to make a purchase.

Here’s a quick example to illustrate how to effectively solve the problem of selling gym memberships. Let’s say you’re facing the common challenge of potential customers claiming that they don’t go to the gym because it’s too expensive or they don’t have enough time. However, this reasoning might not be entirely true, as people often find a way to allocate resources for what truly matters to them. Perhaps the underlying issue lies in their lack of motivation due to feeling embarrassed about their body. It’s also possible that they’ve attempted going to the gym before and didn’t see results, leading them to give up.

To truly understand your audience and address their pain points, it is crucial to dig deep into their psychographics. When considering each pain point, always ask yourself: “What does this really mean for them?” By doing so, you can uncover meaningful insights and tailor your solutions accordingly.

Step 3: Create your Persona

After completing the necessary groundwork, it’s time to bring your ideal customer to life and ensure that your marketing efforts hit the mark.

Here’s how to do it:

One

Immerse yourself in the persona of your avatar first by visualizing their day to day life, struggles, work, recreational activities, their buying habits, their thought processes when making decisions, anything that’s going to define them.

Two

Give them a name. This not only helps solidify their individuality in your mind, but also allows you to distinguish them when creating additional customer personas as your business expands. Have you ever wondered what is bothering your target audience? How do they react when faced with the problem you have presented to them? Take a moment to envision the thoughts and emotions running through their minds as they tackle this issue. This is the treasure trove from which you can derive valuable insights for your future marketing copy.

Three

Now it’s time to complete the MY IDEAL CUSTOMER PERSONA workbook. The diagram below illustrates the first page, there are a total of 4 pages to complete. This workbook follows the same approach used for completing the My Current State workbook that was covered in Step 1 – My Current State.

To complete this workbook work through each item on the left-hand column and answer the right-hand space with a response but in the shoes of your ideal customer. Before starting focus putting yourself in their world, use your research, experiences, and engagement with this particular niche. Work though this worksheet using the first thought that comes to mind, don’t get stuck on one, let it flow. You will have time to review your responses once completed and fine tune the persona.

The persona of the customer you create should ideally be suited to your business’ purpose, core values, and goals that working towards solving a problem that you have identified and can solve for your customers. Once you have completed this workbook, take a break and come back to it to review and tweak with fresh eyes.

To truly understand what’s bothering your target audience, consider their reactions to the problem you’ve presented them with. Imagine the thoughts and emotions they experience as they grapple with this issue. This invaluable insight into their mindset will be instrumental in crafting effective marketing copy for your future marketing campaigns.

You will be taking into account their demographics and persona from the personas you create when tailoring your messaging. Keep picturing your character facing the problem daily/weekly that your business can solve. Imagine how they respond and adapt to become a loyal customer.

Four

By completing the MY IDEAL CUSTOMER PERSONA workbook, you will gain valuable insights into how your persona’s personality and traits influence their decision-making process. This understanding will prove invaluable as you tailor your marketing strategies to effectively engage with this specific target audience.

Five

5. Keep this summary handy by printing and placing it near your workspace for quick and easy reference.

Who are your target market, niche market, and customer avatar?

While you are the one who will bring their persona to life, you will also have several key personas in your client acquisition and engagement:

Your target market: The person (or people) you are trying to target with your marketing. Your target market is the most important persona in all of your client acquisition and engagement. It will be the one who you work with to find the best solutions for their specific problems.

Your niche market: The person (or people) who are within the target market, but also have their own unique interests and problems. Narrowing down your niche market will allow you to focus on your best customers and provide more value for less cost.

Your customer persona: The idealized version of your ideal customer. Your customer avatar will help you stay true to the marketing strategies you implement as well as provide your team with a better understanding of who they are working with.

Developing the right persona for your business

With the right client persona in place, you will be able to reach your ideal client in the right way, at the right time, and with the right amount of value. If you have the wrong client persona, you could miss out on a great deal of business or end up working with people who don’t have a problem your business can help solve. To avoid falling into the trap of developing a client persona that is too real, you will want to make sure you are keeping your personas as idealized as possible while still taking into account the needs and goals of your target market. For example, if you are developing a client persona for a toy company, you may want to put a 6-year-old boy at the center of the persona. While this would be a great client for a toy company, it may not be the best customer for your marketing strategy. The parents of the child are the decision makers, not the child. The child is the user of the product, but the parents are the product owners who’ll be making the purchasing decision. So, differentiate between the product owner and the users of your product, the person focuses on the product owners.

Remember Focus On The Problem, Not The Solution!

The starting point for any product or service is identifying the problem first, NOT the solution. Why? Because based on the ‘buyers mindset’ they are looking to satisfy a need or want related to either wanting to feel good or wanting to feel better, or both.

So, their need or want MUST first be understood otherwise you will build something nobody needs or wants. Prospects don’t care about your solution but their goals. Understand their problems or obstacles that get in the way of their goals, and then you identify the right solution to build to make the problem go away, then you will be understood. Having more passion for your solution than your prospect’s problem, is a problem!

In Step 11, Finding My Niche, we discussed using research together with your purpose to identify potential opportunities towards testing possible niches that may be suited to you. In this step we have covered the Opportunity Canvas and Customer Persona / Avatar. Step 13 we shall move through the Lean Startup Canvas, Value Proposition and Minimum Valuable Product (MVP) these make up the Viable Product/Service.

If you are new here then I’d suggest starting with identifying your Current State covered in Step 1. For those who have been following their adventure along the happy path let’s move onto Step 13: Lean Startup Canvas.

Step 11: Finding My Niche

Step 13: Lean Startup Canvas