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Focus on THE PROBLEM to prioratize ideas. BONUS: 3 Business Analysis

Idea threads

MrG

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
87%
Jan 19, 2015
30
26
Community, in a post from last week I presented you the idea of teaching business skills to engineers. After doing a few interviews I found that the market may have a bigger pain, earning more money. See idea #3 below.

This revelation (solving a problem is more important than coming up with an idea) brought me back to the drawing board.

Now, by focusing on the urgency/pain level I have narrowed down ideas much quickly. All of them keeping the CENTS commandments in check.

After CENTS analysis these are the final contenders. Which one do you perceive as most fastlane?

1. B2B 3D Printing Consulting

  • Credibility: HIGH - I've worked in the industry for 10 years, for the best material, software and equipment suppliers. I have a 360 holistic view on the market and what fits the need for each customer
  • Competition: LOW - most are focusing on solving sophisticated projects for million dollar type of deployments, not scalable and very narrow customer base
  • Customer: THOUSANDS - any engineering company owners and factory managers
  • Problem: the industrial 3D printing market has a lot of noise and tech, but only a handful of applications and material-hardware-software combinations solve actual business problems.
  • Offer:connecting the dots of the 3D printing industry and packaging them in simple deployments that improve a businesse's bottom line.
    • Starting point: 3D strategy sessions for 200€/h
    • Middle point: done with you 3D printing implementation roadmap for 2,500€
    • End-state: productized consulting of 3D printing knowledge based on the key findings of 100s of real customer strategy sessions and the content developed for implementation of 10s of 3D roadmaps (incl. community of engineers, weekly Q&As etc.) 1,500€ and 50€/month retainer.
  • Urgency/Pain: LOW - businesses are in need of productivity solutions but do not necessarily look into 3D printing for it, they think its too sophisticated and they are not ready for it. Some may feel like they are being left behind but for most its not critical to their current day to day. Yet, I can deliver a productized recipe for savings of 50-90% in lead time and cost for product development and 90% for manufacturing tools which most will be interested in. Now, it's also true that if a company is ALREADY looking for 3DP solutions their anxiety levels are through the roof because of an overwhelming array of options and non-existent independent advice, they must rely on the advice of the resellers selling the equipment.
  • Proof of Concept: this is a real market need, its my day job but its difficult to find the customers unless they are already in the equipment buying process.

2. MAKIGAMI for Freelancers
  • Credibility: LOW - I have not been a freelancer myself but my best friends are. Yet, I have applied the same principles in the world's most efficient facotries and to start new businesses within corporate companies.
  • Competition: LOW- most focus on getting them leads but not on fixing the basics of their mindset, strategy and business profitability.
  • Customer: THOUSANDS - any freelancer (graphic design, pshycologist, accountant, real state agent...)
  • Problem: freelancers quit their job and find themselves working more hours and no predictable funnel of qualified leads. Typically its all due to having little focus on a target customer, too broad service offering and no automated system to get leads.
  • Offer: I've been applying "makigami" (systemic process improvement from lean manufacturing) to look at simple businesses such as freelancers. Through it you can map the current state and the desire state and remove everything that does not add value to the end state. For the desired end state there is a critical path to be streamlined; typically it has to do with automating sales and marketing towards a clear user persona providing a very specific offering. This process brings clarity and laser focus to what matters in a business to get to the desire state in terms of business outcomes (number of leads, customer results) and personal outcomes (money, time, vocation)
    • Starting point: makigami workshops for 500€
    • Middle point: done with you makigami workshops and follow-up: niche selection, offer crafting, marketing funnel and sales training 2,500€
    • End-state: productized makigami and productized niche selection, offer crafting, marketing funnel and sales training (incl. community of freelancers, weekly Q&As etc.) 1,500€ and 50€/month retainer
  • Urgency/Pain: HIGH - freelancers feel like slaves of their own craft and want to get predictable revenue
  • Proof of Concept: VALIDATED - i've been helping 5 friends that are freelancers successfully and the value is clear to them

2. Personal Finance for Educated Millennials
  • Credibility: MEDIUM - I have walked the talk myself
  • Competition: HIGH - there are hundreds of blogs and fishy platforms promoting dubious financial advice.
  • Customer: MILLIONS - any millennial wondering how to get rid of debt, climb the corporate ladder or wondering how to get a mortgage before 40 lol
  • Problem: millennials lack financial planning and if its not addressed early they will find themselves stuck not able to buy a house, not able to build a family etc.
  • Offer: realistic approach towards financial independence for educated people; save more, earn more and eventually invest. Can open up towards side-hustle and entrepreneurship but the core is to have a financial plan based on your life's outlook. But definetly NOT start with INVESTING since that's how most internet gurus advice to start.
    • Starting point: 1on1 coaching for earning more through salary negotiation for 500€
    • Middle point: done with you financial planning (budgeting, saving, buy vs rent, lifestyle creep analysis, wealth allocation strategies..) 2,500€
    • End-state: productized financial planning with deep dives into different strategies for different situations (low, medium, high earners) and risk tolerances (employee vs entrepreneur)
  • Urgency/Pain: HIGH - every male 20-30 has some sort of financial goal in their 12-3 year plan but most have no clue how to get there ("a better job", "pay off debt", "get a mortgage") or will be disappointed once they know what it really takes to get there (20% downpayment plus 10% costs and 3 years of income proof before you get a mortgage)
  • Proof of Concept: VALIDATED - i've been helping 3 friends to build a realistic plan for their financial goals, and 2 of them payed me 100€ without me asking.

Which one would you pick?

#1 requires me to quit my job but its the one I have the most preparation, also it's the one that's the hardest to build content but the one that has more perceived worth. My main concern is that the prospects are rather difficult to find compared to 2 and 3, where the target customers are practically anyone in the world.

#2 is what I really enjoy doing as I connect directly to people and businesses and it comes like second nature to me to quickly connect their dots and craft winning strategies

#3 is a problem I'd love to solve and care about since my family did SO BAD in that department and I believe every 20-30yo must open their eyes early on in order to position themselves the best they can to have an OK chance at life. However, it's the one that's more "smoke selling".
 
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afrankmore

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
68%
Nov 5, 2020
105
71
38
Central California
Community, in a post from last week I presented you the idea of teaching business skills to engineers. After doing a few interviews I found that the market may have a bigger pain, earning more money. See idea #3 below.

This revelation (solving a problem is more important than coming up with an idea) brought me back to the drawing board.

Now, by focusing on the urgency/pain level I have narrowed down ideas much quickly. All of them keeping the CENTS commandments in check.

After CENTS analysis these are the final contenders. Which one do you perceive as most fastlane?

1. B2B 3D Printing Consulting

  • Credibility: HIGH - I've worked in the industry for 10 years, for the best material, software and equipment suppliers. I have a 360 holistic view on the market and what fits the need for each customer
  • Competition: LOW - most are focusing on solving sophisticated projects for million dollar type of deployments, not scalable and very narrow customer base
  • Customer: THOUSANDS - any engineering company owners and factory managers
  • Problem: the industrial 3D printing market has a lot of noise and tech, but only a handful of applications and material-hardware-software combinations solve actual business problems.
  • Offer:connecting the dots of the 3D printing industry and packaging them in simple deployments that improve a businesse's bottom line.
    • Starting point: 3D strategy sessions for 200€/h
    • Middle point: done with you 3D printing implementation roadmap for 2,500€
    • End-state: productized consulting of 3D printing knowledge based on the key findings of 100s of real customer strategy sessions and the content developed for implementation of 10s of 3D roadmaps (incl. community of engineers, weekly Q&As etc.) 1,500€ and 50€/month retainer.
  • Urgency/Pain: LOW - businesses are in need of productivity solutions but do not necessarily look into 3D printing for it, they think its too sophisticated and they are not ready for it. Some may feel like they are being left behind but for most its not critical to their current day to day. Yet, I can deliver a productized recipe for savings of 50-90% in lead time and cost for product development and 90% for manufacturing tools which most will be interested in. Now, it's also true that if a company is ALREADY looking for 3DP solutions their anxiety levels are through the roof because of an overwhelming array of options and non-existent independent advice, they must rely on the advice of the resellers selling the equipment.
  • Proof of Concept: this is a real market need, its my day job but its difficult to find the customers unless they are already in the equipment buying process.

2. MAKIGAMI for Freelancers
  • Credibility: LOW - I have not been a freelancer myself but my best friends are. Yet, I have applied the same principles in the world's most efficient facotries and to start new businesses within corporate companies.
  • Competition: LOW- most focus on getting them leads but not on fixing the basics of their mindset, strategy and business profitability.
  • Customer: THOUSANDS - any freelancer (graphic design, pshycologist, accountant, real state agent...)
  • Problem: freelancers quit their job and find themselves working more hours and no predictable funnel of qualified leads. Typically its all due to having little focus on a target customer, too broad service offering and no automated system to get leads.
  • Offer: I've been applying "makigami" (systemic process improvement from lean manufacturing) to look at simple businesses such as freelancers. Through it you can map the current state and the desire state and remove everything that does not add value to the end state. For the desired end state there is a critical path to be streamlined; typically it has to do with automating sales and marketing towards a clear user persona providing a very specific offering. This process brings clarity and laser focus to what matters in a business to get to the desire state in terms of business outcomes (number of leads, customer results) and personal outcomes (money, time, vocation)
    • Starting point: makigami workshops for 500€
    • Middle point: done with you makigami workshops and follow-up: niche selection, offer crafting, marketing funnel and sales training 2,500€
    • End-state: productized makigami and productized niche selection, offer crafting, marketing funnel and sales training (incl. community of freelancers, weekly Q&As etc.) 1,500€ and 50€/month retainer
  • Urgency/Pain: HIGH - freelancers feel like slaves of their own craft and want to get predictable revenue
  • Proof of Concept: VALIDATED - i've been helping 5 friends that are freelancers successfully and the value is clear to them

2. Personal Finance for Educated Millennials
  • Credibility: MEDIUM - I have walked the talk myself
  • Competition: HIGH - there are hundreds of blogs and fishy platforms promoting dubious financial advice.
  • Customer: MILLIONS - any millennial wondering how to get rid of debt, climb the corporate ladder or wondering how to get a mortgage before 40 lol
  • Problem: millennials lack financial planning and if its not addressed early they will find themselves stuck not able to buy a house, not able to build a family etc.
  • Offer: realistic approach towards financial independence for educated people; save more, earn more and eventually invest. Can open up towards side-hustle and entrepreneurship but the core is to have a financial plan based on your life's outlook. But definetly NOT start with INVESTING since that's how most internet gurus advice to start.
    • Starting point: 1on1 coaching for earning more through salary negotiation for 500€
    • Middle point: done with you financial planning (budgeting, saving, buy vs rent, lifestyle creep analysis, wealth allocation strategies..) 2,500€
    • End-state: productized financial planning with deep dives into different strategies for different situations (low, medium, high earners) and risk tolerances (employee vs entrepreneur)
  • Urgency/Pain: HIGH - every male 20-30 has some sort of financial goal in their 12-3 year plan but most have no clue how to get there ("a better job", "pay off debt", "get a mortgage") or will be disappointed once they know what it really takes to get there (20% downpayment plus 10% costs and 3 years of income proof before you get a mortgage)
  • Proof of Concept: VALIDATED - i've been helping 3 friends to build a realistic plan for their financial goals, and 2 of them payed me 100€ without me asking.

Which one would you pick?

#1 requires me to quit my job but its the one I have the most preparation, also it's the one that's the hardest to build content but the one that has more perceived worth. My main concern is that the prospects are rather difficult to find compared to 2 and 3, where the target customers are practically anyone in the world.

#2 is what I really enjoy doing as I connect directly to people and businesses and it comes like second nature to me to quickly connect their dots and craft winning strategies

#3 is a problem I'd love to solve and care about since my family did SO BAD in that department and I believe every 20-30yo must open their eyes early on in order to position themselves the best they can to have an OK chance at life. However, it's the one that's more "smoke selling".
I like your option 1 mostly because of your experience, however, I think #3 might be the right lane. It solving a problem and helping others. This is my suggestion and opinion based off your post.
 

LifeisSuffering

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
60%
Aug 14, 2020
117
70
I will say the one because your experience and the level of entry is high
The #3 i don't see how it fit in The CENTS commandments, if you can explain to me I think i will choose the 3
 

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