Buy vs Start your own

[ItsAJackal]

After reading unscripted , I’ve been keeping a running list of problems I’ve seen in my day to day life (using trello).

One thing I’m noticing is most of the problems I’m finding in my day to day life have already got some type of solution out there. Might be a service, or something to buy, etc.

How do you weigh running with an idea and starting your own thing, with just paying someone to fix your one problem and move on to something else?

 

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[Thoelt53]

The problem that you solve doesn't have to be your own. Every person on the planet has their own problems that also need solving. With that being said, often times any problem you have is not unique to yourself.

I think that when you find someone starts a business to "scratch their own itch," it's usually because a solution either didn't exist at all (rare), or that the existing solution(s) can be improved upon (much more likely). They find, during the process of scratching their itch, that there are thousands of people with the exact same problem.

Overly simplified example:

You've tried nearly every deodorant on the market and they all give you a nasty rash. Eventually you discover the culprit to be Ingredient X, and also find there are two deodorants out there that don't contain Ingredient X! How exciting!

Bummer! Turns out these two products suck. One smells like a morgue, and the other makes you sweat like Sidewalker trying to balance his checkbook.

So you desperately set out to develop a deodorant free of Ingredient X, that smells great and does its job of reducing perspiration. You can't continue to live this life of painful, itchy, sweaty pits!

While learning how to make a deodorant you find bunches of people on Reddit, Facebook, and various forums who all share your allergy to Ingredient X! You also find most of these people have tried the two deodorants without Ingredient X, only to be as disappointed as yourself.

And the rest is history.

Alternatively, you don't have to suffer an allergy to Ingredient X to offer a solution to those who do have the allergy.

Both realities boil down to:

• find a need/problem
• create a solution/add value (Ch. 35 in Unscripted )
• validate solution
• develop, market and sell solution

How do you weigh running with an idea and starting your own thing, with just paying someone to fix your one problem and move on to something else?

When you find a need and build the solution, you must validate it. If you find the market is eager to fork over its money to you in exchange for your solution, it would be wise to run with that idea.

• solution has been validated
• develop, market and sell solution
• don't quit and don't get distracted (shiny object syndrome)

 

[ItsAJackal]

You've tried nearly every deodorant on the market and they all give you a nasty rash. Eventually you discover the culprit to be Ingredient X, and also find there are two deodorants out there that don't contain Ingredient X! How exciting!

Bummer! Turns out these two products suck. One smells like a morgue, and the other makes you sweat like Sidewalker trying to balance his checkbook.

I think this is the part that I'm hung up on. In this same example, what if you saw there were 10 different deodorants that didn't include ingredient X? Would you purchase all 10 and try each one individually?

What if there were 20? At that point does that violate the "E" of CENTS because it seems to easy to enter?

What if it was a service you wanted to offer, and to "test" the existing solution would require you to hire multiple other companies?

 

[ned.ryerson]

This was my journey...

Provide a service that helps fix someone's business. With this capital you can then start your own business. Once you exit from your own business you can then have enough capital to then buy failing businesses and turn them around.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

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