Which Business Should you Start?
Technically everything that people are willing to buy or acquire many times in a way that it’s profitable to those offering it can be a business.
What do people want to buy?
People buy or acquire things that they need, or would like to have.
Abraham Maslow proposed an interesting theory of hierarchy of needs in 1943. This theory shows a pyramid that gradually reveals what people’s greatest needs are.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
However, this theory omits some of our needs, especially in today’s world. Based on it we will build a larger Hierarchy of Needs.
First Need
These are the greatest needs of people. In this group are businesses such as:
Food and Related Products
- Selling all types of Food
- Grocery store
- Grocery Store
- Take Away
- Affordable Food Restaurant
- Meal Shack
Services
- Water supply
- Plumbing
Second Need
The security needs range from the simple need to feel secure inside a home to more elaborate forms of security like a steady job, a health insurance or life insurance.
Types of Business:
Body Safety
- Real Estate
- Construction Material (bricks, blocks, cement, windows …)
- Sale of Locks
- Access to Information (TV, Radio)
- Sale of Affordable Clothing and Shoes
- Night Taxi Services
Employment Security
- Recruitment companies
- Transportation Services
- Education
- College education
- Professional and Semi-Professional Training
- Training with Guaranteed Employment
Property and Resource Security
- Security services
- Sophisticated security systems
Morality and Family Safety
- Religious Services
Health Insurance
- Clinics
- Private Hospitals
- Pharmacies
- Sale of Hygiene Products, sun protection, etc.
Third Need
Types of Business:
Family
- Gifts Businesses
- Gift boxes and Gift Wrapping
- Sale of products normally offered as gifts
- Family restaurants
- Private schools
- Nurseries and Kindergartens
- Services for children or babies
- Water Parks
- Dating Sites and Dating Services
Friends and Social Groups
- Bars and some coffee shops
Fourth Need
In an increasingly digital society we have a strong need for communication and expression as well as for movement.
Types of Business:
Communicate and Express yourself
- Mobile Telephony
- Sale and Resale of Mobile Vouchers
- Internet, although it is being cannibalized by the cell phone that already comes with internet access
- Social networks
Transport
- Road, Air and Sea Transport
- Transport Business (selling cars, motorcycle, bicycle…)
- Taxi Service
Fifth Need
We have the need to be entertained, to be happy, to laugh, to have fun, to dance, and to spend time pleasantly rather than just being alive and breathing.
This need is different from the need for friendship and love because we can be happy by ourselves.
Types of Business:
- The Music Industry (God bless musicians)
- Music Teaching
- Sports
- The Cultural Industry in general (Literature, theater, cinema …)
- Show Business and Concerts
- Information about the world of celebrities
- Cable / satellite TV and entertainment channels
- Amusement parks
- Discotheques and Clubs
- In short, the Entertainment Industry
Sixth Need
(Self-Esteem, Family Approval, Community Recognition, Self-Realization)
When we have all the rest that comes after, we can finally start taking good care of ourselves.
Self-esteem Business
- Designer Clothing and Shoes
- Gyms
- Good health, prolonged life, rejuvenation, esthetics
- Luxury Products
- Perfumes
- Jewelery (Mainly feminine)
- Designer Watches
- Clothing Accessories
In the sixth need we can have all the products we saw earlier but more exquisite, if they are food, we would talk about more exotic foods, more exquisite houses or in prestigious neighborhoods, luxury restaurants, things we buy to satisfy our self-esteem and to show our social status to ourselves and to others.
Seventh Need
(Reach your Potential, Know yourself and the human condition)
Transcendental, not many businesses at this level.
- Philosophy and Oriental Philosophy
- Intellectualism
- Yoga
Conclusion
This Hierarchy of Needs can not only show what is a priority for people who are at different social levels or for different locations that have reached different levels of development but can also help you when it is time to sell your product. Instead of talking about abstract concepts, talk about what people really need, which is what is in the pyramid.
Examples:
- Sell a phone taking into account the need for people to communicate.
- Sell an organic yogurt taking into account the need for self-esteem, self-love that one has instead of simply appealing for their need for food.
- Sell a state-of-the-art security system not only as a need for security of the body but also as a need for self-esteem because it is much stronger, in the sense that people with money value more their self-esteem than anything else.
So these seven needs are a great tool to use in your marketing so that you can sell your products to people taking into account what people really want and need to acquire in their lives and for which reason.