This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Where do money making ideas come from? Money making ideas come from the idea fairy, of course. Okay, not really. In this episode, you'll learn four easy ways to generate valuable ideas. Welcome to Sodasil School.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is our weekly special classroom feature. Let's talk today about finding those ideas. We're gonna go on an idea treasure hunt. Get your idea butterfly net ready.
This is like Pokemon Go, but for ideas. And it's a lot simpler. You don't have to go walking around in a park staring at your phone. Okay, so if you are following along in real time, that's great because each weekly classroom episode will have an assignment. I want you to work hard, but I don't want you to work too quickly because everything we do will build as we go along.
And if you're listening later, that's okay. You can just go back to back. My goal is for everything we do here to meet you where you are. So I also understand that some listeners are more advanced. If that's you, awesome.
You may find some of the later classroom episodes more helpful as we dive more specifically into marketing. But for today, let's start with this important question. Where do those money making ideas come from? Consider a few of the stories we have featured just last month. Remember every single day for three years in a row, I was telling a different story.
So there are hundreds of examples. I'm just gonna highlight a very small selection. Episode 1066. I mentioned this one the other day. It's one of my favorites.
Electrical engineer rides demand to dog collar empire. Episode 1070. Friends turn gift boxes into prosperous project. Episode 1080. Musicians tune up classical concerts for families.
And 1087, software engineer scavenges for profits. Now more often than not, these kinds of projects come about because someone noticed something and then decided to explore it. Now also note, in these examples I gave you four of them, two of them are products and two are services. We'll look at the differences more next week. So just in brief, the dog collars, that is a product.
The gift boxes, that is a product. Both of them are physical products people purchase and then receive in the mail or they purchase at a retail store, whatever it is. The other two, classical concerts for families and scavenger hunts, those two are services. So just hold that thought for now and know that there's a distinction. None of these ideas had total proof of concept or validation in the beginning.
This is important. Mark Cuban didn't say, "Hey, here's $100,000, go have fun." Again, each of these people noticed something and then decided to explore it. Now by looking around every day throughout your daily life, you too can spot opportunities. This is a very, very valuable skill to develop. This skill can serve you well throughout life, no matter what you end up doing next.
Now you won't be able to take action on every idea you spot, but that's okay. Again, it's about developing a skill. So four principle ways to identify money-making ideas. Number one, observation. Paying attention to the world around you, perhaps noticing something that could be improved.
This could be either the classical concerts for families or those extraordinary dog collars. In each case, the person noticed that something can be improved or done better. Number two, problem solving. Making lists of problems and brainstorming solutions in the form of products and services. Now this might specifically apply to those dog collars because in that story, the software engineer was fed up with all the existing dog collars on the market and she felt that there had to be a better way so she set out to make it herself.
Number three, asking questions. Looking for the reasons stated or subtle for why people spend money and then deciphering what else they might buy. This one could apply to that example of gift boxes. It was two friends who were really into giving gifts and they put a lot of thought into gift giving, but then always kind of fell short when it came to the packaging. And they thought for other people like us who'd like to spend money on gifts, would they spend money on nice packaging?
Especially if we could make that process easy for them. And then number four, experimentation, which is simply just trying out whatever comes to mind. In a lot of these projects, the costs are low, both the startup costs in terms of financials as well as the time commitment. If you can find out in a relatively quick period of time, whether your idea is going to work or not, why don't you just try it? Rather than waiting for a validation or going through a lot of extensive research, why not just try it?
And perhaps the software engineer who scavenges for profits, the software engineer, not the electrical engineer, the scavenger hunt project fits into that category. Is it going to work? Is he going to be able to create a money making business from it? Well, in the end, the answer was yes. But I don't know if he'd be able to figure it out without trying.
All right, four ways, four approaches, observation, problem solving, asking questions and experimentation. Now in a moment, I'm going to tell you some ideas I heard from people after last week's episode, and I'll give you your next assignment. Before I continue, I need to bring you a message from our sponsor. There are usually just two of these per episode, one right at the beginning, and typically one part way through. These sponsors allow all of this to be completely free.
So here's a message on their behalf and then your next assignment. [Music]
All right, so last week, I asked you to identify two ideas. I also said that these ideas don't have to be good. You don't necessarily need to be committed to them, but you do have to have a revenue model for them. In other words, whenever you think of an idea, a side hustle idea, money making idea, you also need to answer the question, how will it actually make money?
Now I got some examples from our community. I've also been asking around a lot on social media, and here is some of what I heard. Okay, I'll give you three examples. Example number one, a blog to help engaged couples with Southern weddings. All right, a blog to help engage couples with Southern weddings.
This is specific, it includes the medium, it includes the target market, and the revenue model is affiliate income and advertising. Example number two, handmade bracelets that contain different clues for a scavenger hunt. I guess scavenger hunts are kind of a thing these days. The revenue model here is an actual physical product, those handmade bracelets. It's in the arts and crafts subcategory, or we could say it's also in the events subcategory, because it's a tool that allows people to have a shared experience.
And then a third example, I like this one, a service to Skype with your dog when you aren't at home. A service to Skype with your dog when you aren't at home. So revenue model here is a monthly membership. People are gonna pay a monthly membership fee for a stranger, who I guess won't be a stranger to the dog for very long, to call in by Skype. I guess it's Skype video, I'm not sure on that part.
But call in one way or another and have a conversation, or at least talk to your dog while you aren't at home. If this were three years ago, I would be like, that's ridiculous. But now after putting together so many of these episodes, I'm like, well, you know what? Stranger things have happened. So for your ideas, for your two ideas, or however many ideas you had, however many you have now, is there a clear way to make money?
Remember, this is a prerequisite. Like I don't have many things where I'm like, you have to do this. But when it comes to this, if you have a side hustle idea without a clear way to make money, discard the idea. Let it go, or if you're really attached to it, spend some time on that question before you move forward. Make sure there is a clear way to make money.
Okay, so each classroom feature will include an assignment. And here is today's assignment. Again, it's pretty simple. Let's bring it back to you. How can you pay attention and ask questions?
I gave you a number of examples. I gave you some examples from our archives. I gave you some examples from other listeners. What can you observe today in your work, your errands, your running around, your internet surfing, anything else you do online? If you already have an idea, if you already have an idea that you actually want to work on, explore that idea a bit more.
Ask yourself if you know exactly who it's for and what need your idea is serving. Now this can be tricky sometimes because sometimes the need, the greatest need is under the surface. For example, the Skype your dog service isn't really about dogs. It's not like every dog out there is like, you know, raising its hand or let's say it's paw, raising its paw and saying like, I really want this service. This is about dog owners and making them feel better, making them feel less guilty about leaving their dog while they go to work.
The bracelet scavenger hunt is about a shared family experience. Maybe not everyone in the family would be thrilled about it, but they would do it for mom or for dad or whoever bought them. So you really want to identify what is that need. Maybe it's right out in front of you or maybe as I said, it's a bit under the surface. How can you pay attention and ask questions and how does that then lead to ideas?
I want you this time to make a list of three to five possibilities. All right, so just like last week, it doesn't mean you're going to do all of them. You might not do any of them. I know you're busy, but do begin to develop this process of active brainstorming because as I said, it can serve you for a long time, no matter what you end up doing next. So that's it for today.
You can read notes for this and every classroom episode this year at sidehustleschool.com/classroom. This has been episode 1108, 1108. Hope you'll join me again tomorrow. We've got a story, a detailed case study coming up and then a number of questions from listeners throughout the rest of the week. Thanks for listening.
You're a rock star. My name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
