Adventure Capitalist

A perfect “Muse” business should be automatable, either through technology or outsourcing, it should have a clearly defined niche market and be relatively easy and cheap to market test and reach.
But given these, and other criteria, how do you come up with an idea that is actually feasible for YOU to implement and execute in a way so that you have a good chance of success?

I have worked out that there are at least four primary criteria that need to be fulfilled if you want a somewhat sustainable “Muse” that is not just based on temporary market arbitrage. The thing with market arbitrage is that there are always opportunities, but they quickly go away as markets adapt and competition realise the same opportunities and when the arbitrage opportunity is gone, your back to square zero, having to start all over again.

So what are my criteria?

Market and business model clearly defined
A clearly defined market and a clear business model is a must, of course. Who are you selling to? How are you getting paid? The problem a lot of Web 2.0 “businesses” have is that they don’t know who they are selling something to, and they’re not actually charging anything for the thing they’re trying to sell. That might be all fine and well if you have $5 million in VC funding. But if you want to start something for at most a few $1000 and your own sweat, you’ll need to be more specific and be able to make revenue from day 1.

Ability to execute
Are you looking at just random ideas? Or are you looking at ideas where you actually have specific knowledge and expertise that will help you execute on the idea? If you don’t have, or at least don’t have access through others to expertise, it’s quite likely you’ll find yourself out of depth and get run over by better equipped and prepared competitors. Chose a market where you actually have something to offer customers apart from just pure opportunism.

Passion
Despite all the talk of automation and outsourcing, if you want to make more than just a few hundred dollars here and there, you will probably need passion for your product or service, and passion for the market that you’re in. This is important both to be able to execute and sustain your effort, as well as for purposes of my next point..

Ability to create compelling Content
In this day and age of information overload and social media, traditional marketing, or even just relying on Google Ads is going to be way too expensive unless you have substantial funding to back you up.
The best way to draw traffic is by having compelling, unique content. By that I don’t mean advertising material or constant sales pitches, but knowledgeable and useful information relating to your market. Say if you want to sell gym equipment, maybe having a blog with workout- and nutritional advise would be a good idea.
By having good content people will naturally find your website through search engines, referrals and social media. If it’s good enough to keep them coming back, you will build trust and a dialogue with people. This all works out to higher traffic, better market insight, more trust and eventually more sales.

The Intersection spells Opportunity
In summary, if you find ideas that have a large enough intersection between a viable market, your passions and expertise, and finally something that people will want to read about and that you can write about, you might have an opportunity on your hands that is worth pursuing. If you’re missing any of these aspects, you will probably struggle to make anything more than coffee money.