Getting an idea is very exciting but like many people will tell you, knowledge is only power if it is applied. Same goes for your business idea. If you don't apply your business idea or develop your idea, nothing will come from it.

Typically we as humans get around 12,000 ideas a day. Unfortunately 99.9% of these daily ideas were the same as yesterday. It's the unique ideas that we remember and think about evolving.

Researching Your Idea:
If you have an invention, you may want to check to see if someone else has already invented it. Do a patent / trademark check in the US, or one in Canada. If so, there may be some restrictions that you'll have to follow. Improving on someone's invention is not unheard of! This is the foundation that 3M INNOVATION goes by. They take and invention and simply improve it, brilliant!

If you don't have an invention but a great idea. Do a search online to see what comes up. For instance if you have an idea about "School Accessories", search for school accessories and see what kind of products are being offered online. Better yet, try searching more locally. Try something like, "school accessories in Hamilton, Ontario". Just replace Hamilton, Ontario with your location. This will help you to find and locate any local companies that are directly competing with you.

Why research online?
The web has become a powerful "market researching" tool. Simply because you can typically find out: Your competition, their company policies, prices, process and market reach. It's like the old saying, "keep your friends close, keep your competition closer".

Picking Your Idea:
Once you've done your due-dilligence and researched online and offline, it's now time to "tweak your idea". What makes you so different? What sets your idea aside from everyone else? It doesn't necessarily have to be completely different, it could simply be some "package deal at an affordable price" or "free shipping with every order". Try to pick different marketing strategies that you want to take with your idea.

Please note: Picking your idea should never stop the development process. You want to constantly tweak, revise and improve your idea. Just like 3M INNOVATION does. They are never satisfied with the end result, that's why they keep pushing the envelope.

Now onto...