What is and is not a business opportunity?

There’s a lot of misunderstanding around what opportunities really are.

An opportunity is any human need that is insufficiently addresse or “unmet” for a group of people.

Needs are unmet for a few reasons:

There are inefficiencies in how a particular need is currently addressed.
There are no ways currently to address the need.
Changes occur in the world that mean new or different people have the need.
Technology advances allow for a need to addressed differently or for the first time.

Some people have some needs that simply can’t be addressed by products or services. It goes without saying, these do not make good business opportunties. Not for want of trying!

Many businesses fail because they try to solve problems that are currently unsolvable. For some needs, a particular environment might need to exist before the need can be met sufficiently that a market exists.

Let’s look at some examples. But first a quick quiz!