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Use This Technique to Find #10 Profitable Business Ideas in 15 Minutes Building a business weaved to your unique abilities virtually guarantees you're going to LOVE what you do

By Zubin Ajmera

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You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

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If you're looking to find a business idea, here's something liberating:

  • You don't have to quit your job and build the next Google or Flipkart
  • You don't have to hire 20 employees, register for a new company and rent out an office space
  • You don't have to keep wondering - "How am I going to raise funding, series A or B" "What type of investors should I target?"

You can start a side business while you're working at your job right from sitting on your computer. As I'm writing this, I'm opening emails in my inbox on another tab which shows me how many sales I made from my side business couple of weeks ago -

Welcome to the world of "You are your own boss", where you can start a second income stream with a little bit of work. But, it all starts with finding an idea.

Let me show you a proven technique (something I learnt and came up with myself) you can use today to generate business ideas in as little as 15 minutes.

I call it -- Your Unbeatable Superpowers (YUS) technique. With 20+ years of experience, you're naturally good at something unique to you, and which has potential to make money. They're your superpowers which nobody can beat and give you advantage over everyone else.

Here's how you find those unbeatable abilities - Start answering the 3 key elements of your life -

  • Knowledge you've acquired
  • Skills you've developed
  • Challenges/Problems you've solved or overcome

To make it simpler, pull out a piece of paper and a pen, follow the infographic I've created below and jot down all the ideas you can potentially come up with.

The YUS Technique Applied

All the examples in the infographic are successful businesses and people are making a living out of them. Here, let me show you some -

Name: Purna Duggirala

Idea: Become awesome in Excel (basics, dashboards, pivot tables, etc.)

Business: chandoo.org

Name: Prashant Sinha

Idea: Making caricatures

Business: prashantarts.com

Name: Ritika Tiwari

Idea: Content writing

Business: writefreelance.in

Name: Manish Chauhan

Idea: Personal finance (mutual funds, insurance, loans, etc.)

Business: jagoinvestor.com

Name: Kashyata Bhatia

Idea: Anchoring/Public speaking

Business: anchorkashyatabhatia.com

There are plenty of other examples, but this will give you a good sense on how even a "weird" sounding idea can actually turn into a real business. So again, answer those 3 key elements - knowledge, skills and challenges.

Maybe it is speaking confidently, social media marketing, dressing better, designing/editing in photoshop, giving relationship advice, web/app development, IT/Electronics engineering, decorating your house, playing a guitar, doing event management, you get the point.

The idea is to flesh out your brain and pouring it all down onto paper.

3 Quick Takeaways:

  1. Notice how this is tied to your own abilities

Everyone loves to write about "57 business ideas to start today", or "23 online business ideas". But how do we guarantee if it's the right business idea or the right fit for us?

For example: You'll see there are many digital marketing agencies offering services like SEO, SEM, PPC, web development, etc. and earning a fairly substantial income. But, I can never start one since I know I'm not good at those things.

Building a business weaved to your unique abilities virtually guarantees you're going to LOVE what you do.

2. Avoiding the "One Perfect Idea" syndrome

This technique doesn't let you get caught up in one idea, but lets you find multiple ideas. It lays down a process of generating business ideas.

This way you don't get stuck on the one perfect idea, over analyzing it again and again. Plus, you now have an idea machine you can run whenever you want.

3. Silencing your inner critic

This is important. As you jot down ideas, you're naturally going to wonder "What if I'm not an expert at this?" or "What if I don't have time?" This is normal. It happens. It's just human behavior.

The best entrepreneurs know to trust the process and taking things ONE step at a time. So right now, the only thing we need is to brainstorm a bunch of ideas, and we will tackle the rest later.

Your Action Step for Today:

Using the YUS technique above, come up with atleast 15-20 ideas. Don't get fancy. Grab a pen, paper, put aside your skeptical questions, churn your brain, and then share it with one person you know who might find this useful.

Zubin Ajmera

Founder of progressandwin.com

Zubin always believes one should have a second source of income apart from your day job. He started one himself and also the founder of progressandwin.com where he helps 9-6 working professionals and beginning bloggers start a side business.

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