Know your field

Whatever your area of expertise, you will need to know more.  When you are planning a new business venture create a network around you of people who know your field inside out. Pick their brains; your contacts will always be able to tell you something new. Often entrepreneurs have branched out on their own after working within a particular business segment for several years.  It is essential to know your audience and potential customers.
Love your field
If it’s music then work in music, if its cosmetics then work in cosmetics.
Remember you have to love the industry you are creating your business around, as an entrepreneur your field will become your world.
Be realistic and smart
Being an entrepreneur is not a unique occupation and whatever you are doing has been done before.  You need to concentrate on doing it better.  Look at the “EAT’’ sandwich shops.  Nothing unique there, there is a plethora of places to purchase sandwiches and a coffee on the market. 

However, the entrepreneurs behind the EAT brand found a way to deliver sandwiches to the world in a better light. They used better ingredients and smarter combinations to trump what was already out there in the market.  So sometimes doing something better can be the way forward. You do not have to always invent something new.
Top tip – don’t flog a dead horse.  If there are 50 cosmetic enterprises in your locality, you may need to think again. Entering a saturated market will not make you money.
3 guidelines to choosing the right industry
• If it’s antiques, technological solutions, toothpaste, as an entrepreneur conducting business in your chosen field has to be a vocation.
• You can choose the wrong business:  you have to love the field you are in.  Choose it for the right reasons and you will win.
• Don’t mix up your love of the service/product with the harsh realities of business.  Remember you are out to make a profit and that has to be the ultimate aim of an entrepreneur.