The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, 3rd Edition

Chapter 4

Understanding Your Potential Market

We don't want to push our ideas on to customers, we simply want to make what they want.

—Laura Ashley

This may be the most important chapter in the whole book. Why? Because everything else, from selecting the right business and marketing it to growing and even eventually selling it, hinges on having an accurate understanding of your market. Get this piece of the foundation wrong, and a lot more will go wrong—but get it right, and the world can be your oyster.

The Need for Market Research

You may be anxious to get started, but you cannot start, not just yet. What you need to do instead is sit back, do your research, and think. It may be that your idea is a winner, but then again, maybe it is not. The key is to analyze your idea and the market for it, and then make sure that you are not the only one who thinks you have a great business idea. A hunch simply will not do. You need hard facts.

Sure, there are businesses that start without going through this step, and yes, some may succeed—but if they do, it has more to do with luck than skill. One purpose of this book is to take luck out of the small business success equation as much as possible. Remember, great entrepreneurs endeavor to reduce their risk as much as possible. Is quitting your job and starting a business fun and exciting? You bet. But you simply cannot do that without having a fairly accurate idea about what your small business is going to be, who your customers will be, ...