Is the lean methodology a good way to uncover a new business idea?

[DavidTT]

I've been looking into starting something that actually provides value but for some odd reason, my mind goes completely blank when thinking about starting a business or having a business idea. That being said, I've been thinking of doing a design sprint (AKA lean startup) in order to start a new online business. However, I'd like to have some input before I actually starting something new.

How it Actually Works
So basically for those who did not read Lean Start Up by Eric Rie, it goes along the line of focusing on the demand rather than the supply. In other words, instead of doing the traditional method (market research, raising capital, invest in capital expenditures, inventory etc) and hope that your business eventually reaches potential output and overall, focusing on supplying, you build according to the demand by building an MVP (minimum Viable Product), get it out in the market and re-iterate asap according to market demands.

My Idea
Build a website for an XYZ market=> drive traffic and get user engagement=> put surveys and try to get as much feedback as possible=> build a product or service accordingly.

So basically I'll try building a platform before getting an idea. I tried getting into creating a program/online course before and took tons of time/money to do so only to learn that it was very unpopular. As such, doing the opposite and go hunting for a need first and then building accordingly sounds a lot more promising (I hope lol). Any thoughts?

 

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[Late Bloomer]

Hi David, between MJ's books and the Lean Startup book and site, there are a lot of forum members who've used exactly this approach. Browse around with a focus on the Gold/Notable threads. You'll find plenty of discussions about exactly what people tried and how it turned out for them. You're in the right place for this conversation.

 

[DavidTT]

personally I was thinking to start some sort of lifestyle blog, drive tons of traffic and eventually steer according to what people want and offer something like a product/service or even affiliate marketing. I mean, you can go extremely board such as health, beauty, living, housing/renting/traveling etc and eventually narrow down to what is most in demand. The opportunities are endless!

Sounds like a plan or am I being a bit delusional?

 

[Late Bloomer]

personally I was thinking to start some sort of lifestyle blog, drive tons of traffic and eventually steer according to what people want and offer something like a product/service or even affiliate marketing. I mean, you can go extremely board such as health, beauty, living, housing/renting/traveling etc and eventually narrow down to what is most in demand. The opportunities are endless!

Sounds like a plan or am I being a bit delusional?

I think you should read through what others have done, then join in those discussions when you have a higher level of specific questions. That seems to me to be the most powerful use of this site. I haven't ever tried to monetize a blog myself, so that's all I can suggest!

 

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[Deleted50669]

personally I was thinking to start some sort of lifestyle blog, drive tons of traffic and eventually steer according to what people want and offer something like a product/service or even affiliate marketing. I mean, you can go extremely board such as health, beauty, living, housing/renting/traveling etc and eventually narrow down to what is most in demand. The opportunities are endless!

Sounds like a plan or am I being a bit delusional?

It takes a lot of psychological endurance to go the blog route. Thousands more pop up every day... and audience attention is hard to come by. I've ready stories of folks going over a year without 100 visitors a day (granted these people probably were clueless). Which topics are profitable varies from one month to the next, with the exception of evergreen topics - and everyone knows this - so evergreens is so saturated that it's trying to speak into a loudspeaker on a live battlefield. You need SEO, constant development of content, optimized marketing funnels, yada yada. It can be done, but uh, buckle up for a long journey to relevance.

 

[DavidTT]

It takes a lot of psychological endurance to go the blog route. Thousands more pop up every day... and audience attention is hard to come by. I've ready stories of folks going over a year without 100 visitors a day (granted these people probably were clueless). Which topics are profitable varies from one month to the next, with the exception of evergreen topics - and everyone knows this - so evergreens is so saturated that it's trying to speak into a loudspeaker on a live battlefield. You need SEO, constant development of content, optimized marketing funnels, yada yada. It can be done, but uh, buckle up for a long journey to relevance.

thank you for the feedback. I had this in mind since there are so many people trying to make it online and its much easier to do so today because of platforms like wordpress and shopify that makes building a website much easier.