I want to tell you about one of the businesses because it illustrates the point that you can take something you love doing and are good at and turn it into an innovative business that solves a real problem in the market.  Brandon Bruder (left) and John Warner (right) are expert bowhunters and lifelong friends who can tell you about the "gut-wrenching pain of losing an animal you've been hunting." You see, not recovering a wounded animal is a common scenario that plays out more than a half million times every year in the U.S.  Recognizing the "pain," Bruder and Warner invented a patent-pending tracking solution that enables bowhunters to successfully track their wounded game in any type of weather using their normal setup. Now those of you, like me, who are not hunters, are probably picturing the standard bow and arrow you saw in the movies about the old west.  Wrong! Bows and arrows today have advanced significantly and are pretty costly.  So when you lose your game, you also lose a valuable arrow.

 

Their company, Bowhunting Science, has developed important strategic alliances with the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) and Bowhunting World Magazine that will help them market to other bowhunters.  They also have financial and resource support from the entire town of Yankton, SD, which is the home of the NFAA and would like to be at the center of a new hunting industry cluster. As a result of all this support, Bruder and Warner are preparing to launch their first product in January 2010, with several more products in the pipeline.

 

You don't have to look far to find a viable business concept.  It may just be that something you're really good at solves a problem for someone else.  And if there are enough of those other people, you've got a business!