Do you have a business idea and yet are unsure whether or not it will work? Would you like to be your own boss but you cannot come up with a business idea? Learn all you need to know about idea generation from taking an idea from first thought stage through to business start-up.

Is this for Me?

This programme is designed as a first step for those thinking of setting up a new business, but have not yet decided to take the plunge or they don't know how to take it further. The workshop will assist you with generating new ideas, to help the new owner/manager considering setting up a business to get over the hurdles that exist during the idea generation phase.

Aims of the Programme

This workshop not only shows you what ideas are good ideas but also introduces you to the concepts of thinking laterally, creating new ideas and will help you to develop your business ideas and point you in the right direction for starting up a new business.

Content Outline

1. The Entrepreneur
The characteristics and traits of the entrepreneur
Are you suited to like as an entrepreneur?
Employee V employer options
What running a business really means
Personal strengths and weaknesses
Defining business goals
2. Generating New Business Ideas (Covered in Two parts)
Come up with new ideas for business
Explore new business ideas
Look at trends and new business ideas "out there"
Expand on existing business ideas
Section 1: Selection of the Business Idea
What makes a winning idea? New idea or re-inventing the Wheel?
Where do business ideas come from?
What's the role of the entrepreneur - coming up with ideas or exploiting ideas?
Practical discussion in teams of case studies of winning business ideas and where they came from
Lateral thinking & thinking outside the box
Applied idea generation techniques
Morphological analysis
Random Association
Thinking Backwards
Section 2: Development of the Business Idea
From Product idea to product concept
Key issues for new product/service development
Is the idea feasible
Will my idea work?
Sources of information for market research
Establishing the need for a market
Competitive analysis
Product or service differentiation
Market research techniques
3. Practical Start-up Issues

In part three of the day, the trainer will introduce participants to the requirements and techniques of business planning as well as to some of the practicalities involved with getting set up. The trainer will distribute a copy of the QED Business Planning Workbook to each of the participants which will assist them in understanding business planning during the workshop and will help them to put a business plan together following the workshop completion. Specifically, this workshop will focus on the various components of the business plan and will be trained using the analogy of the business plan being like a jigsaw, where each piece is linked to another and without all pieces the picture is incomplete. The trainer will use the QED Business Plan in an interactive group-work manner.

Outcomes

This programme will help you to develop your business ideas and point you in the right direction for starting up a new business:

Think about being an Entrepreneur
Identify your new business ideas - Idea Generation Tools
Develop them into viable Business Plans
The Business Practicalities
Encourage the devlopment of business Ideas
Provide participants with techniques for business idea generation
Help participants in assessing project viability
Help participants in assessing their suitability for self employment
Look at trends and what is happening "out there"
Provide participants with an introduction and overall understanding of managing and running a small business and in doing a business plan

Brief background on Trainer

QED training team has worked in business for over a decade as consultants and trainers in the SME sector. In addition to setting up and running our own business, we have worked with hundreds of start up businesses, in particular micro-enterprises (less than 10 employees) and start-up businesses.

5th Floor, O'Connell Bridge House, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 Tel: 01 635 1144 Fax: 01 635 1811 Email: info@dceb.ie Company Registration: 230609
Dublin City Enterprise Board is funded by the Irish Government and part-financed by the European Union.