Building Products Solving Real Problems

I have a notebook of business ideas.

Whenever a business idea strikes me, I write it down in the book.

The plan was simple: I would turn each of these ideas one by one into reality.

Some of them would fail, and some would succeed.

Eventually, the successful ones would build up as money-generating machines.

My money machines.

Time for the grind!

I was working hard,

I wanted things to change overnight.

I wanted my money flywheel right now!

That’s the dream, right?

WRONG.

Nothing worked; all my ideas flopped.

…

I am not the type of person to give up easily.

So I sat down and re-examined all of my ideas.

A clear problem surfaced!

They were imaginary!

All the ideas were my imaginary solutions for imaginary problems.

They were flashy ideas I got from reading someone else’s Tweets.

They were trendy ideas I got from reading AI news.

They had no data to back up their demand.

They had no proven ways to reach potential customers.

My strategy needed to change!

I started doing research before I put any ideas in my notebook.

If the idea showed no clear signs of demand, it did not go into my notebook.

If the idea had no way to reach potential customers, it was out.

This time, it WORKED!

My notebook is now helping me build up my money machines!

It turns out, most successful ideas are boring—for example, simple online tools, review sites, and even productized services.

They are boring, but they solve real problems and bring in real revenue.

I learned the lessons the hard way, and I have turned my business idea notebook into our premium content.