Another way to start a viable business is to take one of your marketable skills or talents and try to find a way to get the public interested in your services.
For instance, let's say that cooking is your strong suit.
You read cooking magazines, are practically addicted to the Food Network and spend all of your spare time in the kitchen trying out new recipe ideas. Your friends are always excited about your dinner parties - but how can you make a viable business idea of your talent? Suppose your current job is as a real estate agent. As such, you often find yourself hosting broker's meetings, where you invite other real estate agents to one of the homes you are looking to sell so they can see the property for themselves and get the word out about it to their contacts. Food is usually served at these meetings and being disappointed with the offerings of local caterers, you start to get an idea...
You decide that what these meetings lack is having some higher quality food and something else... maybe some form of entertainment? You decide to incorporate these two ideas - what if you were to provide high quality, reasonably priced meals along with some soft music for these events? Bingo! You have an idea forming here.
Perhaps a pianist playing jazz at low volume would be just the thing for these meetings - an easily transported instrument, a touch of class for your meetings; it's perfect. You decide to figure out how to implement your new business idea; a caterer who also provides live music.
You have taken an existing business idea (catering) and improved on it (better food, lower cost and the added attraction of live entertainment). Is your new business idea a viable one? If there is a customer base out there to tap into, then the answer is almost certainly yes. You could be on to an idea which can become a viable new business venture for you.
Once you have a viable business idea, what do need to do next to make it happen? This book has all the answers you'll need about taking your new business idea from concept to reality. Most businesses need start-up (or seed) money - and you'll learn more about possible sources of financing to get your new business off the ground. You will also find out how to write a grant proposal which has a good chance of meeting approval.
It is certainly true that there is a lot of work which has to go into writing a successful grant proposal, but if you can secure that grant you need to start your business, all of the work will be worth it. You can get that funding you new business venture needs and you can make your city a better place to live by offering new products and services. Get the ball rolling and start that business you've always wanted to!