Looking for a Business Idea? Turn What Other People Complain About Into an Opportunity.
Launch of a business don’t always happen through calculated effort and brainstorming. Sometimes, the inspiration comes on its own, when you least expect it to happen.
Back in 2011, Scott Topiol, then a college student in Los Angeles City College’s nursing program, was finding the scrub shopping experience to be difficult. As he puts it, “I was having a hard time finding scrubs that weren’t just unisex and [didn’t] fit like a box. And it was frustrating going to stores that basically had a bunch of women’s stuff and maybe like one rack in the back of the store with a couple of men’s items.”
After a conversation where he vented his frustration, friend and fellow student, Alex Mayzels, suggested, “Instead of complaining, why don’t you start a store for men’s scrubs?”
Despite having no prior experience, Scott decided to go for it, resulting in the creation of Murse World, a scrubs superstore for men. Here's what he learned in the process.
Testing the concept
When Scott’s classmates heard the news, there were varied reactions. Some of the female students didn’t understand the point of such a store, but all the male nursing students found it to be really exciting.
His research showed then a lot of people didn’t even know men’s scrubs were out there — they thought everything was just unisex. So he realized that educating consumers would have to be a big part of his business plan.
Getting your business idea off the ground
Starting a business is not a venture for the fainthearted. Getting a company off the ground is sometimes complicated and often arduous, but never easy. It took immense effort on Scott’s part to execute the myriads of details that needed to be taken care of in order to launch.
Initially, some of the vendors were hesitant to let Scott and his friend Alex, who joined as his co-founder, open accounts with them, because their store would only be carrying a few select products from each vendor. This store would be focusing on a very small, select portion of their catalog, and vendors didn’t believe they’d see enough profit to make this a worthwhile collaboration.
Scott and Alex had to put in extra effort to convince nursing uniform manufacturers to provide them with their unisex and men’s scrubs. “That was probably our biggest challenge,” Scott reminisces, thinking back to those early days, “Just getting it off the ground, with a couple of vendors.”
Scott's advice for fellow entrepreneurs
Murse World, like any business, started off as a fledgling company. It took passion, perseverance, and plenty of hard work on Scott’s part to not only get it off the ground but turn it into a player in the medical scrubs industry. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “If you have an idea that sounds crazy, but your gut is telling you it’s a good idea, and you think there’s a need, then go for it! That’s what we did. Turn what other people are complaining about into an opportunity!”