Entrepreneurial Ideas: What to Do If You Can't Come Up With Your Own

With so much emphasis being placed on "breaking the mold" nowadays, entrepreneurs feel increasing pressure to generate original ideas. While thinking outside the box can result in fortunes, doing so is often a crap shoot. If you can't come up with an original entrepreneurial idea at the moment, it's best to fall back on time-tested moneymakers such as the following.

Traditional Franchising

At the end of the day, nearly anything can be franchised with positive results given the right business model. From moving companies like Two Men and a Truck to RadioShack knock-offs like Batteries Plus, there are franchise opportunities in literally every market sector. All you need is the capital and entrepreneurial spirit to get them rolling.

Real Estate Rentals

Despite recent setbacks, the real estate market is still an extremely sound investment. Eventually, the value of every home or property goes up. Pick a market that's on the rebound like newer homes in the  greater Salt Lake City area in Utah to dabble in. A rental property purchased today can pay serious dividends for decades to come. Vacation rentals in particular can be immensely profitable and come with fewer hassles.

Dig Up Hidden Value

When you think about it, the sheer amount of underutilized wealth that's thrown into landfills every year boggles the mind. The pre-owned retail market is always a great place to turn a profit if you're working with the right goods. The burgeoning electronics recycling business is creating millionaires around the country as we speak. Alternatively, you could run a classic eBay or Craigslist business flipping used gear like laptop or desktop PCs.

Make Use of Arbitrage

One easy way to make money is to take advantage of differences in tax rates between states. You don't have to run a truckload of cigarettes across state lines to leverage arbitrage. In fact, jurisdictional arbitrage is quite legal if you go about it in the proper fashion. For instance, there are parcel-forwarding businesses in Oregon that help residents of northern California to dodge sales taxes on Internet purchases.

Ride the Organic Wave

These days, consumers are more concerned than ever with the exact ingredients of their food. In many cases, they have legitimate cause for concern. Between pesticides, artificial preservatives and GMOs, our food is a lot less natural than it used to be. You can make a mint by starting up an organic farm or greenhouse and selling produce locally. To maximize profits, grow something with a fairly long shelf life like garlic.

Copy the Competition

When you can't come up with an original idea on the fly, the best thing to do is ape existing businesses in your area. It's likely that there are many thriving businesses nearby like mobile food carts, landscaping companies and window cleaning services that you can copy without a lot of startup capital. Study the local competition, steal their moves, tweak their formulas and profit.

No matter how mentally sharp you may be, you'll inevitably experience periods of time where you're suffering from entrepreneur's block. Instead of dwelling on a temporary lull in creativity, use the "downtime" to make money through traditional channels. Sooner or later, you'll come up with a new idea that no one else thought of.