How to spot a profitable business opportunity in 2024

Article updated: 2 August 2024

3 min read

Introduction

New business opportunities can be found everywhere. But not all of them are created equal.

It might be the right opportunity for someone, but not for you, or the right opportunity for you at the wrong time. This might be a new business idea, growing revenue with a new product or service, or expanding into a new market with an existing product or service.

When you are a small business owner, founder or entrepreneur, then every dollar and every day counts, and you’ll want to get it right the first time, without the trial and error and costly mistakes.

To avoid unhappy outcomes, do your homework and be discerning with your choices.  The potential consequences of getting this wrong are many and varied, but the most common consequence is the business owner and their team makes a commitment to a new idea, but ends up working too hard for too little return, and with very few choices to turn it around. 

The opportunity sweet spot exists in the intersection between these three… (1) the right opportunity, (2) at the right time, (3) for you. When you miss this bullseye, it rarely works out the way you want.

When you get it right however, no-one else in the market place can match or copy what you have to offer, and you’ll have everything you need to keep driving profitable revenue growth.

The opportunity sweet spot could help you say goodbye forever to pricing pressures, discounting and poor profitability. It is more likely to deliver stronger cash flow, require lower capital expenditure, attract higher margin revenue streams, and bring in investors and funding partners.

To minimise the risks, you’ll need a tried and proven process.

The right opportunity

Finding the right opportunity boils down to two potential scenarios – identifying a group of people, who have a situation they don’t want, or finding a group of people who want something that they don’t have.

Once you have defined this group, you’ll need to understand if their situation is being effectively addressed by other businesses, and how well. Is there a frustration that people commonly experience when searching for a solution? Is this group of people willing and able to pay for a solution that you might deliver, at the price you will want?

If the answers to your questions are looking promising at this stage, then it’s worth moving onto the second piece in the opportunity sweet spot puzzle.

The right opportunity - at the right time

At first glance an opportunity might look like it is ripe for you to take action, but external pressures on this customer group might be trending in the wrong direction.

External pressures and subtle shifts are occurring in the macro environment all the time, but not all movements impact everyone all at once or in the same way. When a market shock like the COVID-19 pandemic happened very suddenly, some sectors and individuals where impacted negatively and very deeply, while others found fortune and opportunity in the right direction. These different scenarios changed the buying behaviour of people in every corner of the global market.

Global inflationary pressures, house pricing and other movements are currently impacting select corners of the market. Technological advances, geopolitical tensions, industry regulation, competitor activities, social norms and environmental issues might also add to the complexity, and change the expectations of your potential or existing customer group. Even if it’s business as usual for you, this warrants a regular review.

Strong opportunities are backed by three market forces coming together at the same time. You will need to examine how your target audience is fairing in the mix.

An example of the intersection of multiple market trends

• Economic trend - High inflationary pressures, high interest rates and high economic uncertainty
• Social trend - People increasingly expect to control their interaction with solution providers (On-demand; Personalised, Like; Share) and make purchases anytime, anywhere (Mobile)
• Technology trend – Increasingly widespread availability of business wide software, purpose made for micro and small businesses that want to offer omnichannel service delivery to their customers

The right opportunity at the right time - for you

The one thing that will set you up for success, is finding an opportunity whose time is right - in a market niche that fits your unique set of skills, experience and access to resources. Naturally, the timing also needs to be right for you and your business.

This is where a deep dive into the competitive horizon can hold you in good stead. When you understand the strengths in your unique approach, and avoid attempting to compete head on with rival solutions, you can leverage that superiority and present an offer to your customer group that simply isn’t available elsewhere. The caveat here of course is that the difference must be meaningful and valuable to your customer group, when compared to the alternatives.

The consequence of not doing so, is to find yourself left behind, caught short, or simply struggling in a frustrating scenario with no clear path forward. The happy news is, there is no rocket science involved, but it does require your time, attention and commitment to schedule a formal review of market insights, so you can refine your strategy, and invest wisely.

What kind of businesses can use these strategies? 

Any business owner, founder or entrepreneur who is looking for new opportunities can use this process to increase their chances of success. Even if your idea turns out to be the wrong one for you or for now, the new insights might prove valuable in uncovering a stronger opportunity. At the very least, you will save yourself enormous frustration when you don’t invest in a less than ideal scenario.

About Leanne Knowles

Leanne Knowles is a former professional skydiver turned Business Growth Strategist, who started two successful businesses in the adventure sport industry at 24 years old and sold them both ten years later.  She has been founding CEO of a successful MedTech startup  and served on three Not-for-profit boards over 13 years.

Leanne founded Headswitch as a marketing consultancy in January 2000, and now helps business owners in services and creative businesses to grow revenue and systemise their business using smart, simple strategies, the latest tech tools, and productive business relationships.

Leanne does this by sharing her decades of experience, hard work and research.  The information and strategies are delivered primarily through online business training, private coaching programs, and a growing business community dedicated to business success.  These strategies have been responsible for helping Leanne to grow and scale her own business, without the stress and overwhelm.