How I Found And Solved A Problem I Cared About (Probably...)

[Edgar King]

Tl;DR

Just start helping people in a niche. And try to iterate to a productcracy (regardless of the means).

A productcracy is one in which people voluntarily talk about your product positively with others.

It all started on day 140 of my 150 execution challenge.

"I've wasted so much time... doing nothing!"

At least I felt that way, but it couldn't be further from the truth. You gain so much experience and skills in whatever you do.

I'd taken multiple swings of the bat at copywriting (really long time), web design, content writing and window cleaning. All of which I moved on from probably because I didn't really like doing it, didn't see a future in it, or just sucked at doing.

I opened Tiktok.

"I make 10,000 dollars with my drop shipping business. What are you doing??" Was one of the first posts that made me think.

"He's right. What am I doing wrong?" It was then I had an I'm done moment.

I scrolled Tiktok like a madman with one thought in my mind..."How??"

After scrolling I came across a gem of an account that simply reexplained what I knew for the 600th time..

"Solve problems with x"

She said it in such a specific way that my mind re-clicked and I knew what I had to do.

I looked out into into the world. Like, really listened. And paid attention to my body and feelings throughout the day.

I began writing in a daily problem journal anything I found annoying, time consuming or frustrating. Yes, even the silly ones like opening bread being hard.

After 2 days. I looked upon my list to find problems that were more stab wounds than paper cuts. Ones that I would be passionate about. And then, I found it.

A problem I was having myself.

But before I went to solve it I had to truly understand it. And before that, I had to know others had it too.

I had to find real and scalable problems.

I wanted to find patterns in problems. Preferably an urgent problem.

I took to forums to search the problem keyword after confirming it's keyword size on word tracker and voila.

Special sub Reddits. Youtube channel comments. I probably read over a thousand of these posts to find a pattern. I saw several strains of a problem in the niche but I was determined to pick the one I had a better chance at solving, related to, and really made people's gears turn.

After 2 weeks of in depth research. I found it. A much more refined problem than what I initially started with.

A series of at least 10 people all saying the same thing.

"I am at A but want to go to C, but B is so frustrating."

I believe getting crystal clear on the problem is very important. You don't want to spend so much time and effort creating something that misses the mark!

Problem Found.

Now the solution. I asked myself what the best business model to solve it would be, turns out it was an ebook so I worked with that. I immersed myself in the industry for more pain points, solutions available, thought and tested through concepts to solve the x problem for weeks on end (And probably longer, because looking back on my notes I was already aware of this problem like 5 months ago).

I just googled the niche keyword, went to a youtube video with it, and tried to help the people in the comment section however I could which made me more aware of their pains. I created an MVP of the concepts and shared it with the people in the niche. With one person saying it was "Gold", that served as validation. More so, some of the people I conveyed the book idea to in the niche expressed interest in the product. So with all that validation, I decided to dive in.

MVP. Pre selling.

I began trying to bake up a solution. I got everything I knew from my experiences and industry knowledge unto the pages in the hopes to refine it. I tested it, it failed at some points. Every day, I kept immersing myself in the industry (online) and retesting (in person) to refine the concepts. I was looking for more pain points and solutions in this niche. So I retested it and acted, assessed and adjusted until I felt the solution made "filled" the hole and gave a result. At the end of the creation, I cried.

After testing the solution again, it worked. In addition to solving problem x, I feel it solved problems s,t,u,w (potential paper cuts) as well that logically needed to be solved.

Solution Found.

But that wasn't where I thought it should end. I gave it to one of my ideal readers who struggled with problem w and possibly x. A few days passed and she came back to me with one of the best "testimonials" I've personally seen, explaining she loved it. Another person said it was "really good" and felt they should recommend it to a friend because they make mistakes the book addresses. In both cases, I did not ask for this feedback. Granted, I gave the book to them for free just to get some initial feedback, but I think the book has proven to have some worth due to this.

Testing done.

Now I'm making a website to host the solution on. The branding was made by using a nice looking ice cream brand's. The domain name is a spin from another domain name that is catchy and memorable. And I'll aim to test the website before going live. I then plan to jump on organic marketing to get this product into the hands of the market.

I've taken multiple swings of the bat before. Let's see where this one takes us

If you're still on the fence on starting your entrepreneurial journey and don't know how to go about it....

Just start helping people in a niche. And try to iterate to a productcracy (regardless of the means).

Apart from MJs books, here are some videos I think really hammer this concept home-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO8x6H5YA1E

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MipRmAY7rs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mRbDEtDoyA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPrLMchT5o&t=5s

Mindset threads (Care about others and get better at solving problems):

GOLD! - MINDSET - The "Astonishing Secrets" Thread

What’s up guys. Some of you may remember me from my thread in which I thanked zen******* for dropping wisdom bombs all over the world. If you haven’t checked that thread out, please take a look at it and get moving with learning copywriting so you can learn how to print your own money(legally)...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

GOLD! - MINDSET - Save Yourself Years Of Frustration; It Worked For Me!

Dear newly minted Fastlane member, Good News! With “just“ a focused attitude, relatively minor action (in terms of your life), little money, and without any formal qualifications whatsoever…. …(it’s true)…. …. you can set yourself on a verified road to financial freedom that will astound...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

GOLD! - Lex DeVille's: 15 Days to Freedom - Make Money Copywriting in 15 Days or Less

15 Days to Freedom Make money copywriting in 15 days or less. (Without writing a hundred Gary Halbert letters) Everything you think you know about the way they’ve taught you to think about the way things are supposed to work… …is a lie. Consider what this sentence actually means. Now think...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

I also have a thread on how to find problems to solve- IDEA - Finding A (Fastlane) Need Is This E A S Y

 

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[VincentP]

Great post! I think that most of us (myself included) need to focus more on solving problems. I quite like the story of the airport problem. Saving an hour or more of someone's time is definitely worth a lot of money. (especially if they're in a hurry or tired or something)

 

[Edgar King]

Great post! I think that most of us (myself included) need to focus more on solving problems.

Thanks! Definitely agree. I think if you can shift your full focus to just hammering down on a problem and the good solving it can bring to you and the people you help, that goes a long way.

We need to learn to switch our focus.

For me, I think that happened when I visualised my why. That's what motivates me to work most days, not necessarily money. And to get to that vision, I know it's about knocking the problem(s) out of the park. I think it's something we just need to be aware of, we need to be aware and redirect our focus to the things that matter in bringing an outcome.

Take Mr Beast for example. His obsessive focus is on making the best videos possible. Guess where that brought him? Or look at Spanx. Check out her story online and you'll see it all started with a problem that she had herself with her tights. Uber? Same thing!

When I really realised that all these *happy* companies come around by just solving a problem, I realised that focusing instead on that will return the highest ROI rather than chasing money (which is just a byproduct of solving a problem).

And more so. You need to be focused on solving it as well.

Problems are like buckets. You want to find a real problem that's a big bucket (because big buckets means big value potential). And you need the solution to be able to fill this bucket as much as possible. I believe this is what makes something more recommendable.

MJ's books are a prime example of this. It fills that bucket (to become future millionaires) so well, the excess value pours out in recommendations.

I quite like the story of the airport problem. Saving an hour or more of someone's time is definitely worth a lot of money. (especially if they're in a hurry or tired or something)

Very true. But only if they care about saving that time. If nobody had complained about it and didn't see a problem in it, they wouldn't see the value in a solution. I think that's why we should pay attention to groan language rather than our speculation of what the problem might be.

 

[VincentP]

We need to learn to switch our focus.

For me, I think that happened when I visualised my why. That's what motivates me to work most days, not necessarily money. And to get to that vision, I know it's about knocking the problem(s) out of the park

From all that you typed, I especially like this. I'm a vary visual person and I haven't tried visualizing me solving people's problems yet for some reason. It seems weird to me that people think that money is evil even though it's purpose is to transfer value, which means that money encourages people to provide value and help others. Of course, there are plenty of people that have became rich because they exploit people and do other crummy things, but I'm sure there are many many many more people that became wealthy because they helped a lot of people.

I used to love watching Mr. Beast. His videos are amazing, but I got bored after a while because for the most part it's just flexing money. (which isn't necessarily bad, just repetitive)

I just looked up Spanx and found some neat quotes from the founder:

“It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.”

“Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”

Good stuff.

Very true. But only if they care about saving that time. If nobody had complained about it and didn't see a problem in it, they wouldn't see the value in a solution. I think that's why we should pay attention to groan language rather than our speculation of what the problem might be.

Good point. Plenty of people (including me) waste plenty of time on TV, video games and other crap like pointless gossip.
I also like how his market research is just listening to groans. Brilliant.

 

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[Edgar King]

From all that you typed, I especially like this. I'm a vary visual person and I haven't tried visualizing me solving people's problems yet for some reason.

Ah, same! I created a problem solving method that incorporates visualisation and that helps a lot to solve the problem. It starts when I ask myself, "What can I offer that would make them happy?" While looking at the problem. I now have two potentials, where we are, and where we want to go. I think if you can imagine a world without the problem, it goes a long, long way to help you solve it.

I also like how his market research is just listening to groans. Brilliant.

As MJ puts it, it's the language of complaints. Wether offline or online (e.g. through forums), as long as someone complains about it, and wants it fixed, we as entrepreneurs can provide a solution for it.

 

[UnnamedBeast]

Actually, this sounds like pretty actionable advice for actually solving the problem you want to solve in an idea, really good post, thanks for the life lesson!

 

[Ytcho's]

Tl;DR

Just start helping people in a niche. And try to iterate to a productcracy (regardless of the means).

A productcracy is one in which people voluntarily talk about your product positively with others.

It all started on day 140 of my 150 execution challenge.

"I've wasted so much time... doing nothing!"

At least I felt that way, but it couldn't be further from the truth. You gain so much experience and skills in whatever you do.

I'd taken multiple swings of the bat at copywriting (really long time), web design, content writing and window cleaning. All of which I moved on from probably because I didn't really like doing it, didn't see a future in it, or just sucked at doing.

I opened Tiktok.

"I make 10,000 dollars with my drop shipping business. What are you doing??" Was one of the first posts that made me think.

"He's right. What am I doing wrong?" It was then I had an I'm done moment.

I scrolled Tiktok like a madman with one thought in my mind..."How??"

After scrolling I came across a gem of an account that simply reexplained what I knew for the 600th time..

"Solve problems with x"

She said it in such a specific way that my mind re-clicked and I knew what I had to do.

I looked out into into the world. Like, really listened. And paid attention to my body and feelings throughout the day.

I began writing in a daily problem journal anything I found annoying, time consuming or frustrating. Yes, even the silly ones like opening bread being hard.

After 2 days. I looked upon my list to find problems that were more stab wounds than paper cuts. Ones that I would be passionate about. And then, I found it.

A problem I was having myself.

But before I went to solve it I had to truly understand it. And before that, I had to know others had it too.

I had to find real and scalable problems.

I wanted to find patterns in problems. Preferably an urgent problem.

I took to forums to search the problem keyword after confirming it's keyword size on word tracker and voila.

Special sub Reddits. Youtube channel comments. I probably read over a thousand of these posts to find a pattern. I saw several strains of a problem in the niche but I was determined to pick the one I had a better chance at solving, related to, and really made people's gears turn.

After 2 weeks of in depth research. I found it. A much more refined problem than what I initially started with.

A series of at least 10 people all saying the same thing.

"I am at A but want to go to C, but B is so frustrating."

I believe getting crystal clear on the problem is very important. You don't want to spend so much time and effort creating something that misses the mark!

Problem Found.

Now the solution. I asked myself what the best business model to solve it would be, turns out it was an ebook so I worked with that. I immersed myself in the industry for more pain points, solutions available, thought and tested through concepts to solve the x problem for weeks on end (And probably longer, because looking back on my notes I was already aware of this problem like 5 months ago).

I just googled the niche keyword, went to a youtube video with it, and tried to help the people in the comment section however I could which made me more aware of their pains. I created an MVP of the concepts and shared it with the people in the niche. With one person saying it was "Gold", that served as validation. More so, some of the people I conveyed the book idea to in the niche expressed interest in the product. So with all that validation, I decided to dive in.

MVP. Pre selling.

I began trying to bake up a solution. I got everything I knew from my experiences and industry knowledge unto the pages in the hopes to refine it. I tested it, it failed at some points. Every day, I kept immersing myself in the industry (online) and retesting (in person) to refine the concepts. I was looking for more pain points and solutions in this niche. So I retested it and acted, assessed and adjusted until I felt the solution made "filled" the hole and gave a result. At the end of the creation, I cried.

After testing the solution again, it worked. In addition to solving problem x, I feel it solved problems s,t,u,w (potential paper cuts) as well that logically needed to be solved.

Solution Found.

But that wasn't where I thought it should end. I gave it to one of my ideal readers who struggled with problem w and possibly x. A few days passed and she came back to me with one of the best "testimonials" I've personally seen, explaining she loved it. Another person said it was "really good" and felt they should recommend it to a friend because they make mistakes the book addresses. In both cases, I did not ask for this feedback. Granted, I gave the book to them for free just to get some initial feedback, but I think the book has proven to have some worth due to this.

Testing done.

Now I'm making a website to host the solution on. The branding was made by using a nice looking ice cream brand's. The domain name is a spin from another domain name that is catchy and memorable. And I'll aim to test the website before going live. I then plan to jump on organic marketing to get this product into the hands of the market.

I've taken multiple swings of the bat before. Let's see where this one takes us

If you're still on the fence on starting your entrepreneurial journey and don't know how to go about it....

Just start helping people in a niche. And try to iterate to a productcracy (regardless of the means).

Apart from MJs books, here are some videos I think really hammer this concept home-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO8x6H5YA1E

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MipRmAY7rs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mRbDEtDoyA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPrLMchT5o&t=5s

Mindset threads (Care about others and get better at solving problems):

GOLD! - MINDSET - The "Astonishing Secrets" Thread

What’s up guys. Some of you may remember me from my thread in which I thanked zen******* for dropping wisdom bombs all over the world. If you haven’t checked that thread out, please take a look at it and get moving with learning copywriting so you can learn how to print your own money(legally)...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

GOLD! - MINDSET - Save Yourself Years Of Frustration; It Worked For Me!

Dear newly minted Fastlane member, Good News! With “just“ a focused attitude, relatively minor action (in terms of your life), little money, and without any formal qualifications whatsoever…. …(it’s true)…. …. you can set yourself on a verified road to financial freedom that will astound...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

GOLD! - Lex DeVille's: 15 Days to Freedom - Make Money Copywriting in 15 Days or Less

15 Days to Freedom Make money copywriting in 15 days or less. (Without writing a hundred Gary Halbert letters) Everything you think you know about the way they’ve taught you to think about the way things are supposed to work… …is a lie. Consider what this sentence actually means. Now think...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

I also have a thread on how to find problems to solve- IDEA - Finding A (Fastlane) Need Is This E A S Y

My brother @Edgar King ! I'm following your journey in the other topic I start and I think your persistence is amazing, it's good to follow someone like that at the beginning of the journey!

I'm a few steps behind, overcoming some beliefs of getting in touch with people, but I still hope I can come back here and write something that will also help you.

I really liked the suggestions for videos and topics, both here on the forum and on youtube, keep it up!

I wish you every success!

 

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[Edgar King]

My brother @Edgar King ! I'm following your journey in the other topic I start and I think your persistence is amazing, it's good to follow someone like that at the beginning of the journey!

Thanks man! We can always do better haha

I'm a few steps behind, overcoming some beliefs of getting in touch with people, but I still hope I can come back here and write something that will also help you.

If there's one thing I've learned/and trying to learn, "If you can visualise it, it's possible".

I really liked the suggestions for videos and topics, both here on the forum and on youtube, keep it up!

I wish you every success!

Looking forward to the value you'll bring to the world!

 

[Tattman]

Epic post. I keep reading and re-reading it, and the videos push the message home.
Many thanks!

 

[Edgar King]

Epic post. I keep reading and re-reading it, and the videos push the message home.
Many thanks!

Thank you! Just an update that with this, I made 2 sales upon launch from 250 visits at a positive margin. Not much and it may not lead anywhere but at least people are willing to pay for the perceived value. My current focus is on making the perceived value match the real value.

 

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[Edgar King]

Another video that hammers home the concepts here -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9qAj0XdsH4


I especially loved the part of the "Golden purpose" he talked about.