1. How can entrepreneurs research a new business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 2. How can ideas be generated? . 3. What is concept development? .
Lucy Foley was looking for ideas for a small enterprise that could generate some extra regular income. She was looking for something that she could do part-time, wouldn’t cost much money to get started and would also be fun. Lucy looked at her personal strengths and weaknesses and tried to come up with some ideas. She noticed that there were a lot of families with young children living in the area and that children’s birthday parties were very common. This got her wondering if parents would be interested in hiring her as a children’s party entertainer. Lucy liked the idea.
Lucy thought about the idea more carefully. As an entertainer she could attend the party for one hour, dressed up in funny make-up and clothes. She could entertain the children by doing activities like giant bubble making, balloon twisting, face painting and telling silly jokes and stories. ‘The main advantages,’ she thought, ‘are that it would not require any special or expensive equipment. Also, children are not too fussy and it’s easy to make them laugh at silly things.’ Children’s parties also tend to only last a few hours and could fi t in with her schoolwork.
I need to generate some extra regular income. But how?
