Six Questions To Determine If Your New Idea Is A Real Business

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Can You Sustain A Competitive Advantage?
Great ideas attract competitors and substitutes. Having a real business means being able to survive the fight. Being the first to market may work to your advantage in the short term, but sustaining that advantage could require additional steps. The question beneath the question here is simply: What is your competitive advantage? If it's technology, can you patent it? (Check the United States Patent and Trademark Office database first.) If it's a commodity item, can you brand it? (Think Kleenex.) This question also requires identifying potential weaknesses and finding ways to shore them up--say, through outsourcing and partnerships. Great business ideas require great execution; wasting resources just to be mediocre is small-business suicide.

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