100 free profitable business ideas...

[AndrewNC]

They say you can give a man to fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. But if you teach a man how to teach himself to fish...he can accomplish anything and become unstoppable in the process.

Think about it....

Anyhow, back on topic:

As I'm here sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of a horse field in North Carolina, I decided to pull out my laptop and do a mind-dump on how I go about coming up with business ideas. This post is meant for the beginner entrepreneurs (most likely the ones who clicked this link and expected a list to be handed to them).

STOP searching for a business idea and start searching for problems.

Despite MJ preaching something similar in his book, I still made this fatal mistake for the first few years on my journey. I was too busy looking for business ideas instead of problems.

The idea comes from the problem. So if you focus on the ideas, you're not going to find one.

When you look for the IDEA, you won't find it because the thing you should really train yourself to find are problems to solve. If you said "duh" to that statement, and have gotten results from it, stop reading, because this post is not for you.

The first thing I like to do when searching for a business idea is to think about what problems I have in my life.

I'm about to backpack through Southeast Asia for a few months. And if I learned anything from @GlobalWealth or @JasonR - those few months will turn into "I am never coming back to the United States ever again." As a result of that, I'll need something that I can carry around easily, fit my laptop, microphone, clothes, and american-made condoms in while I experience the culture over there.

I have a problem. And someone needs to solve it for me.

The first step to finding a business idea is to think of problems you have in your life that need to be solved.

What problems do you have in your life?

 

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[AndrewNC]

Part 2 - Get out of your house and talk to other people.

The people in this world are the ones with problems that need to be solved.

When you begin talking to a lot of people in one demographic (entrepreneurs, people who go to the gym, vegans, teachers, firefighters, etc.), you'll begin to notice common themes in problems they have.

When I create a new product, I look for common themes among a similar demographic.

When I was going through the police academy in a past lifetime, they handed us these half-assed flashlights that you couldn't see the back of your own hand with.

Everyone in my academy class complained of not being able to see in the dark with the lights they used.

Now, it's not just you with a problem, it's a lot of people.

It's a common problem, and that is more validation that there is potential there.

Get in the habit of recognizing problems for other people.

Whenever I hear someone complain, or wish something existed, my brain is trained to take notice of that, and I begin asking them more questions.

Most of the time, the problems I have in my life aren't the best problems to solve.

When I started out, I thought everyone was like me. They are not, just like not everyone is like you.

Join an online discussion forum for Vegans and see what problems they have.
Go to the gym and start talking to people.
Go to metope groups.
Join clubs and organizations where people hang out.
Take up Yoga as a hobby and see what problems people go through there.

When you find a group of people, chances are they all have similar problems that need to be solved. Get off your computer and talk to people.

Write down a list of 100 problems you see in the world, taking note of which ones a lot of people have, and pick your top 5 to do more research.

 

[AndrewNC]

Step 3 - What do people want?

During the police academy, we had to qualify at the shooting range.

One of the tests required us to draw our sidearm, pull out our flashlight and shoot a target (with accuracy) holding the gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other.

With only one hand to shoot with, accuracy went down.

If there was a way to install a flashlight on the gun, each and every one of us would have paid for that.

A business idea is born!

 

[AndrewNC]

What if your idea exists already?

I used to think if an idea existed, it was time to give up and move on to the next thing.

Wrong.

If the product is in the market, it means that it is selling and that there is a market for it (validation).

While most people will do a "me too" product and copy what is out there, that will only take you so far.

What can you do to make that product Unique and Better?

For the traveling backpack - I wanted one that fit in a carry on luggage, so any backpack that can guarantee that and markets with that as a main point....they would get my attention.

For the police flashlight, there is an attachment that can clip on to the front of the block, but it doesn't fit in the holsters that we used. A problem that I'm not sure exists already.

Is there a way to make it work?

How can you make your solution unique and better if it already exists?

 

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[AndrewNC]

Traffic First

I'm sure @Andy Black has a few posts on this already.

I used to start businesses, spent months building a website, getting everything ready...and then I had no clue how I was going to sell it.

Now, whenever I go to solve a problem, I have a "traffic first" approach in mind. Through YouTube and Google, you can create advertisements that target specific search terms.

If you create a new type of yoga pants, perhaps you know beforehand that you'll be reaching out to yoga studies and athletic stores to sell it there.

Where does your market hang out, and how can you reach them with your product?

 

[Jay Dial]

@AndrewNC Hey, thanks for the quality post!

Would you mind to elaborate on the traffic first approach a little more?

Or maybe even point me in a direction someone with no knowledge of how traffic works can start? Hopefully that doesn't come off too ignorant. Problem: I know nothing about traffic and how it works and through my searching, I'm consistently failing at finding a solid beginners point. Solution: I'm asking someone who may provide direction.

 

[Andy Black]

Traffic First

I'm sure @Andy Black has a few posts on this already.

I used to start businesses, spent months building a website, getting everything ready...and then I had no clue how I was going to sell it.

Now, whenever I go to solve a problem, I have a "traffic first" approach in mind. Through YouTube and Google, you can create advertisements that target specific search terms.

If you create a new type of yoga pants, perhaps you know beforehand that you'll be reaching out to yoga studies and athletic stores to sell it there.

Where does your market hang out, and how can you reach them with your product?

Indeed I do!

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/launch-learn.52526
• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-need-for-speed.58742
• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-get-profitable-or-fail-fast-with-adwords.59147

 

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[Jay Dial]

@Andy Black Thank you!

 

[AndrewNC]

@andrewsNC Hey, thanks for the quality post!

Would you mind to elaborate on the traffic first approach a little more?

Or maybe even point me in a direction someone with no knowledge of how traffic works can start? Hopefully that doesn't come off too ignorant. Problem: I know nothing about traffic and how it works and through my searching, I'm consistently failing at finding a solid beginners point. Solution: I'm asking someone who may provide direction.

I'd read through Andy's posts (he linked some here and others) to get started.

The main thing with the "traffic first" approach comes from having an idea where your audience can be reached. I like youtube because when a person searches for "how do I train my dog to stop jumping on me", if I had a dog training product, I would create an ad "do you need help having your dog stop jumping on you".

This way, you know you can reach the type of people likely to buy your product.

Or if you sell dog collars....you don't have the search results like youtube or google on Facebook, but you have demographics. So if you target people who own dogs, you can be certain that you can reach people who would be interested in your product.

Also, those platforms offer tools to show you how many people you can target with ads to make sure you're targeting a big market.

 

[Jay Dial]

Thank you! @AndrewNC

I'm starting with the links Andy posted, Looks like you guys provided a great start for direction!

 

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[Bigguns50]

(most likely the ones who clicked this link and expected a list to be handed to them)

Actually....I clicked because you wrote it. Good work.

 

[Tim0thy_D]

Thanks for the top quality posts. Really helped changed my concepts of possible ventures.

 

[Randomized]

What can you do to make that product Unique and Better?

I live by this while doing anything..... Amen

 

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[Jake]

I'm about to backpack through Southeast Asia for a few months...... I'll need something that I can carry around easily...... fit american-made condoms in while I experience the culture over there.

I think this bag will be too large to bring on the plane as a carryon.



BKK meet?

 

[Solrac]

This is Gold for a lot of people. Definitely for me when I first started out.

 

[AndrewNC]

I think this bag will be too large to bring on the plane as a carryon.



BKK meet?

Lmao. Exporting business opportunity there?

You'll be in Bangkok in the first part of the year? I'll hit you up when I finalize plans.

 

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[BlakeIC]

Lmao. Exporting business opportunity there?

You'll be in Bangkok in the first part of the year? I'll hit you up when I finalize plans.

How did you go about planning for backpacking trip? Or is it yet to be planned? Do you have a goal in mind for your trip? vague example: learn more about life

edit: I am 18 and it is something I want to do while i am younger, from what i have read depending on how conservatively you spend you could could do a 3 month trip on $20k

 

[Jake]

You'll be in Bangkok in the first part of the year? I'll hit you up when I finalize plans.

I'll be here.

After Jan 3rd anyways. I may be out of town for new years.

BKK 2016...it's the new Scottsdale

 

[AndrewNC]

How did you go about planning for backpacking trip? Or is it yet to be planned? Do you have a goal in mind for your trip? vague example: learn more about life

edit: I am 18 and it is something I want to do while i am younger, from what i have read depending on how conservatively you spend you could could do a 3 month trip on $20k

In that part of the world, I hear total monthly living expenses are below $1,000.

My method for planning - ask my friends who have done it already what they brought and buy a one way ticket to wherever.

 

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[BlakeIC]

In that part of the world, I hear total monthly living expenses are below $1,000.

My method for planning - ask my friends who have done it already what they brought and buy a one way ticket to wherever.

hmm mustve been a 12 month, cant recall

 

[TooSlow]

Seems like a good approach to getting started. I get pretty focused on finding "an idea", then when I come up with something and see it's already being done, that's the end of it for me.

Regarding Thailand, I lived there working for $1000/mo and broke even after a year (not including flights there and back). This included renting a house, travelling around the country, eating out most meals, and enjoying the various nightlife regularly. It's definitely cheaper outside of Bangkok and touristy areas. More recently, I spent about $5000 for 1 month in Thailand and Cambodia, including all flights. That was staying in more expensive places and getting around the country (and to/from Phnom Penh) by plane, and doing more toursity things in Cambodia since it was my first time.

One thing I'd recommend doing is getting some cheap custom tailored clothes. Feel free to ask me more