This curiosity and continuous search for advice on the best business one can start stems from people’s practical nature.

If they choose right, they will be able to:

• Save time
• Reduce their risk
• Increase their possibility of success

But it also means:

• They don’t trust their own judgement
• They don’t know themselves well
• They don’t believe in the recognition of their own skills

The risky nature of entrepreneurship is illuminated right at the start when would-be entrepreneurs defer to external sources and authorities to give them a stamp of endorsement or assurance before they tentatively land on their choice.

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Instead of giving you the Top 10 business ideas of 2025 to consider, I urge you to look within in combination with looking outwards.

The Japanese concept of Ikigai is beautifully distilled in the Venn diagram below which was created by American entrepreneur Marc Winn.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept of discovering your purpose through exploring the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

This age-old philosophy offers a structured approach to identifying your purpose and leading a meaningful life. – Calm

Introspection:

• What do you love doing?
• What you are good at doing?
• What do you think you can be paid for?

Looking Out:

• What the world needs now?

For example, you love cooking and are good at cooking. There are companies looking for cooks / chefs currently. So that could be something you can consider doing.

Things to look out for:

1. Things to look out for:
   1. From what emotional state are you making the decision from?
   2. Fast forward 6 months in, can you see yourself still enjoying the activity?
   3. Expectations vs. Reality
   4. Try it out for real so that you know for real
   5. Know that there is no one perfect ideal business

From what emotional state are you making the decision from?

Is it out of fear or abundance? Very often, we make decisions from a place of scarcity, fear, fear of missing out etc.

For example, we may not really love an item but because it is on 70% sale, you decide to get it.

Fast forward 6 months in, can you see yourself still enjoying the activity?

The idea might be novel to you now and everyone is encouraging you to give it a shot. However, you cannot imagine yourself still doing it after 6 months.

It might be cause for rethinking.

6 months is an arbitrary choice to illustrate the point of spending time doing the activity.

Expectations vs. Reality

Are you over projecting your expectations of what it could be? Are you making your decision from a grounded, realistic starting point?

For example, you are good at making videos but you don’t particularly love learning new things about it to improve your video making skills. Despite market demand for a video editor, would you enjoy being one?

Try it out for real so that you know for real

It’s easy to imagine, project and forecast. Before you take yourself out of the game and not start, give yourself some time to experiment with the possible experience.

Taking the example of video editing, give yourself a 2 week period to edit as many videos as you can.

Give yourself a taste of what the experience will be like.

You’ll learn so much about how you feel about it by immersing yourself in it.

Know that there is no one perfect ideal business

The perfect business for you is what you deem to be perfect for you.

When things get too overwhelming, go back to the basics.

A business is a business when someone pays you for your product or service.

• Are you going to enjoy yourself while running the business?
• Are you able to make your desired amount of money with your skills?
• Are you able to sustainably work the required time to achieve that financial goal?
• Are you able to troubleshoot, make pivots, course correct to make the business a good one for you and your stakeholders?
• Do you know what is your definition of a good business?

If you prefer one-on-one coaching, I’ve transitioned from corporate jobs to startups to SMEs and lived to tell the tale. I’m here to listen and see how your entrepreneurship journey can be made more satisfying whilst still hitting the milestones you’ve set for yourself. Read more about how you can work with me here.

This post is part of a 3 post series about starting your own business. You can read them in the suggested sequence below. Thanks for reading.

Should I do that?

Crafting Your Own Success Roadmap for Business

What kind of business should you start?