Would you still start an idea if you're not sure how big the need is?

[Fab89]

I had an idea yesterday of starting a cattery. I've looked in my local area and there are a few. Non of them look like they have good websites or offer interesting things like live webcam feed of their cats.

The problem is I would have to get a bit of land to run a cattery as I couldn't do it in my small house. I'm not sure how much money can be made from it and it seems a bit silly to jump in an get land without finding out if it's viable to do so. I'm not sure how I could even find that out.

From stuff I've watched and read they say to just pick an idea and go with it. But the idea seems like a lot of risk and I'm not sure how rewarding it really can be.

It's not fear that's holding be back, I'm just throwing ideas round for now but I do want to pick something. But is it better to pick stuff that you can see yourself making millions with in the future?

 

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[RazorCut]

Is it your passion? This is very much a lifestyle business rather than a fastlane and not something to jump into without weighing all the pro's and cons. And I only see con's myself.

Any business that involves animals means the animals must come first. Most of the time it means being tied down to caring for them which will impact on your free time and abilities to take holidays. It is also not particularly scalable (how many cattery chains do you know of?)

You will need a licence and also planning permission.

How to Start Up and Run a Cattery

Unless it is something you have a strong calling for and think there is no better way of spending your life I would move on.

 

[Matt Dassel]

To be honest, there is something I've adopted from Nassim Taleb, the author, which is...

To keep track of all your variables is a tough job. What a lot of us will tell ourselves is to focus on what we can control. For that, if there is a way to keep the downside low and upside high, no matter how hard thinking about this is, you should consider any business via this metric.

There is a lot of material on business strategy and logic like Demarco's Cents commandments. But as good strategists we should always compact those things in our minds to occupy the smallest space as possible. To allow being fearless and having a clear mind to new opportunities.

 

[NMdad]

What @RazorCut said.

What's the best-case scenario? You open a cattery in the most densely-populated (per cat-owning capita) city, and cater to wealthy customers. How many of these would there be demand for?

What if 10,000 cats showed up at your door? Could you serve them all?

Interesting idea, but I think it's best used as an exercise for deciding why or why not to pursue any business idea. Then you can use the same process when you have other ideas.