Struggling with Ideas

[Rhydian Edwards]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jobless]

For some good advice, take a look again in the Unscripted book. In there are several methods on finding ideas.

Or, list a few pain points you have found, and your attempts at solutions, so we may analyze your thought process.

 

[Edgar King]

I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them.

That might be true for the current you, but in the journey to solve it, you may find you can solve anything you put your mind to.

I'd recommend you start writing in a problem diary. Just anything you find annoying, time consuming, or frustrating. Listen to the world around you. Give it about a week.

You'll see some problems are more stab wounds than paper cuts. Then choose one of these stab wound problems.

Then go find other people that have this stab wound problem and work from there?

 

[Antifragile]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don't understand this. You read both books, 5 years later you post here "I've done little to nothing because I struggle to find ideas"? What happened after the Uni?

You still think that it's about lacking ideas that holds people back from entrepreneurship? I can't walk but 5 minutes without seeing an idea and then another, and another.

Food for thought:

1. Why not start by re-reading the books? It seems you didn't get much out of them.
2. How much time have you spent on the forum trying to find answers to your own question? Why not increase it from "zero" to something a little more respectable?
3. What do you do now to make a living? What skills do you have that are marketable?

I am not impressed with lazy posts like this. No effort little "hi, hello,.... tell me the 38 steps to success and I might just try something, hope I win a lotto" posts are not way to get people behind you. If you keep going like this, what will you post in 2027? "Oh hi, I read the books 10 years ago, got some ideas but how do I execute? What are the exact steps?"

Here is an idea. Who can you help today? How can you help more people tomorrow? How can you get paid for that help?

Edit: the post came out more negative than I meant it to be. The point I was trying to relay is simple: start with anything, small is fine. Just start because ideas are just about the easiest part of this journey and you'll be back with a million better questions along the way. But you must get started to get there.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

RE-read the concept “value skew” - there are billions of ideas locked up in that concept.

 

[Anon101637]

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

Find something hard not a lot of people can do. The harder it is the more chance of success

 

[NeoDialectic]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MJ's books and this forum are a wealth of knowledge that should get you on the right path. Here are just a sample few.

You can check out my thread on a simple framework for generating ideas for products. If you are still really having a tough time, maybe it's time to stop being boring, but that is likely not your issue.

Based on your post it just sounds like you likely have to regear your mindset. You can check out @fastlane_dad recent post on getting your mind thinking in the roght direction. You may also need a little bit of @Andy Black classic of JUST START. If all else fails, check out the motivational bootcamp as a last resort. Remember, entrepreneurship and doing Isn't just a good tip away. Its a mindset and lifestyle.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

What works for me isn't looking for ideas but looking for people to help:

• Who have you helped?

 

[Kevin88660]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I do have a personal pain point that hopefully could be someone else’s business idea.

Right now I am paying for bloomberg news access and seeking alpha subscription for investment related news. I saw some useful articles on Reuters that is behind a pay wall also. I hope that someone can create a bundling offer for unlimited access for all investment related articles instead of having the readers to pay one by one.

 

[Rhydian Edwards]

Hi guys, thanks for all the advice and responses . Here are some of the actions I am going to take TODAY in order to get started.
1. I am going to go back and have a look at unscripted again, and re aquaint myself with the way the book suggests coming up with ideas and the mindset needed for the entrepreneur.
2. I am going to stop with the I can't do it mindset and start working on something which I would have before not wanted to do because I wouldn't want to put myself out there/ thought I wasn't good enough to do it (will probably end up being a programming project of some kind)
3. I am going to, right now, commit to posting progress here on what I am working on.

Why not start by re-reading the books? It seems you didn't get much out of them.

I agree. I listened to them while driving to and from Uni (My uni course took me forever and technically I am still not done) and so I think got the big ideas out of them but not the small nuances that are clearly important in order to put them into practice.

hi, hello,.... tell me the 38 steps to success and I might just try something, hope I win a lotto"

I thought this was a tad unfair. I absolutely see your point, however I did not come here asking what "38 steps" should I take in order to achieve success. I understand that this takes work and that one has to take action in order to achieve the success and fulfillment in ones life that one desires. I came here for advice more, I suppose, to find how people get over that mental block of "Oh there's a good idea. Oh wait, there's no way I could possibly do that". That was more the point of this post than "tell me the 38 steps to success".

What do you do now to make a living? What skills do you have that are marketable?

I currently work for the National Health Service as a Medical Laboratory Assistant. I am there on expression of interest but have just been extended for an additional 4 months.
In terms of marketable skills, it is something which I am working on as I see this as an area where I am lacking, so I guess I can add

4. Start developing a marketable skill.

Thanks again all for the responses.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[K1 Lambo]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You read that book 5 years ago and you haven't taken any action? Dude what are you waiting for?

Go out in the real world and get some experience. You would not believe how many businesses have been started because the entrepreneur saw a void in his/her company and decided to do X.

One of the wealthiest dudes in my town started by flipping Porsches and exporting them back in the 1980s(back then the regulations weren't as strict) when he was 20-22, then he joined a startup at 26 and now he's the chairman/owner of a very big private equity company. He was an intrapreneur but today he's a norwegian billionaire entrepreneur. But you see, he would never start his next company if he didn't have the experience from his startup, right? That's a big thing to know because when people say that they don't have any ideas it's because they haven't tried anything most of the time. How can you have any experience when all you do is watch Netflix on a Friday night(not saying it's you but generally speaking) and go hangover the next Saturday like most people?

You need to think about the money. Most people just buy things without really thinking about the "WHY" that drove them to buy a certain product/service. Why do you think Starbucks is the most known coffee franchise in the world? What makes them standout to your average cafeteria? Is it the price? Is it the staff? Is it the ambiance of the store? Is it because the girls are hot(just kidding).

Another thing you can do is find industries you're interested in and look at the big ballers. Read their reviews and see what they're doing good and bad.

Let's say you want to open an exotic car dealership. What can make you standout from your average next door "car dealer"? Well, I can already think of a couple of things that will make you standout immediately:

1. Have a very specific ambiance with beautiful Italian music playing in the background. If you're gonna sell Italian exotics, you might put up fancy walls showcasing the beautiful Italian toscany and the french riviera in a nice lit room with all the cars beside each other. That is what MJ would call value skew where the customer will go: "Wow, this is a very different buying experience!".
2. Instead of having your average "looking" old, fat receptionist at the entrance; What if you put a smoking hot, blonde 10/10 Ukrainian instead? BOOM, another value skew. Beauty is a currency and it's gonna attract more customers into your store.
3. Instead of only having a boring coffee/water machine like every other car dealer while you're sitting on a barstool, waiting for the salesman, what if you put a nice fridge that spreads below the main table the room with all the drink choices from Pepsi, Cola, Tonic, Fanta, etc.? BOOM, another one baby.
4. What about after you purchase the car? You can organize driving events. In Europe you'll call it Gran Turismo events where your customers can drive their cars with you and build some connections over 14 days. BOOM, that's another one.

 

[Rhydian Edwards]

Okay, so yesterday I said I would start a project and said it would more than likely be a programming project of some kind. Well, I started re-reading Millionaire Fastlane and an idea struck me for a mobile app.
I have a friend who runs a job business (you know the kind where it ends up being a job not a fastlane enterprise) which is his own taxi firm. On Sunday we were going for a couple of drinks and he kept getting phone calls about doing a job. So while I was reading about MJs story yesterday I thought, what if there was an application which allowed you to see if a particular Cab was working, and from that app you could book the cab for a specific time and let them know where you were. The fair would then be charged through the app. The market is growing somewhat. I live in the UK and outside of London the number of Cabs is down 1% since '05 but the private hire vehicles market has increased by 50% since '05. I saw the pain point of getting called when not working wasn't just for my friend though as we were trying to get a cab, and half the people who we called weren't working either. So the pain point is being called when your not working and the other pain point is trying to find a cab that is working.
I'm aware the taxi business is in competition with uber, but this company wouldn't be, we would be serving a different market. In the UK small towns don't have Uber. My town doesn't, and there are plenty of small towns like mine in the UK.
Just something to think about. any feedback for this idea would be great. Now, I've got some work to do on my programming project.

EDIT: I think the way to monetize would be through charging a monthly subscription per vehicle for the cab companies (say $5 per vehicle)

 

[Antifragile]

How can you test this idea without spending a fortune on developing the actual app only to learn no one wants to use it?

Note, I am not saying it won't work. I am saying: can you test it? Are you prepared to be wrong? What other ideas do you have that have opportunity to create value to others and income to you sooner?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Rhydian Edwards]

How can you test this idea without spending a fortune on developing the actual app only to learn no one wants to use it?

Note, I am not saying it won't work. I am saying: can you test it? Are you prepared to be wrong? What other ideas do you have that have opportunity to create value to others and income to you sooner?

Not sure at the moment, definitely something to think about. I'll get back to you on that one. Thanks again for all your help.

In other news, in order to work on this project I have started using the Google Android Developer Kotlin Course. Now while I am known for not finishing courses, I am approaching this slightly differently. I am going to learn the basics, then start working on the project itself, using documentation and google to find out how to do things. This means I can take action more quickly than slogging through a course only to forget what I have learned when I come to develop the application.

 

[MB2]

Okay, so yesterday I said I would start a project and said it would more than likely be a programming project of some kind. Well, I started re-reading Millionaire Fastlane and an idea struck me for a mobile app.
I have a friend who runs a job business (you know the kind where it ends up being a job not a fastlane enterprise) which is his own taxi firm. On Sunday we were going for a couple of drinks and he kept getting phone calls about doing a job. So while I was reading about MJs story yesterday I thought, what if there was an application which allowed you to see if a particular Cab was working, and from that app you could book the cab for a specific time and let them know where you were. The fair would then be charged through the app. The market is growing somewhat. I live in the UK and outside of London the number of Cabs is down 1% since '05 but the private hire vehicles market has increased by 50% since '05. I saw the pain point of getting called when not working wasn't just for my friend though as we were trying to get a cab, and half the people who we called weren't working either. So the pain point is being called when your not working and the other pain point is trying to find a cab that is working.
I'm aware the taxi business is in competition with uber, but this company wouldn't be, we would be serving a different market. In the UK small towns don't have Uber. My town doesn't, and there are plenty of small towns like mine in the UK.
Just something to think about. any feedback for this idea would be great. Now, I've got some work to do on my programming project.

EDIT: I think the way to monetize would be through charging a monthly subscription per vehicle for the cab companies (say $5 per vehicle)

Get in front of your targeted prospects ASAP.

First help. Then do the programming.

 

[SSTrey]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I believe most of us at some point feel like we have no ideas.
However, ...

MJs books explains very well about the HOW TO of getting ideas. Read it carefully and take notes as you go along. View the books as textbooks and NOT just light reading (as you would a fictional book).

Once you start with 1 idea, your mind starts opening up, then another suddenly appears, then another. Write them ALL down to review later as you go along.
I store my ideas on my Onedrive folder (So I can access them anywhere from any device (ideas come to me at the most arb of times. Oftentimes when I'm chilling over a few drinks with friends or family. I guess it's because our minds are relaxed and free during these times with no clouds among our thoughts.
Attached, I have shared screenshots of just some of the ideas I have had since 2018 (over 33). I've had much more, it's just that I am well into executing one of them right now so I haven't added each and every single idea I have had over the years (you become better at knowing & choosing once you start).

Keep listening to people all around you, a LOT of ideas come from other people. Most/all of these people don't want to solve the problems they have, but they do want a solution. So let them give you ideasIsn't that fun

Ultimately, execution, persistence and perserverance is most important from then on. That's what I see a lot of here on the forum.

Keep at it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Rhydian Edwards]

Okay, so I pitched my idea to my mate and he didn't like it too much. Not sure, I'm gonna talk to him again about it, just because I couldn't put my finger on exactly what he didn't like about it/why he thought it wouldn't work. At the same time I am re-reading UNSCRIPTED , though need to buck my ideas up about working on developing a high value skill that can turn me profit/solve problems for others a little sooner. Generally, what do people recommend as skills that one should learn? Obviously sales is important, but that needs a product. Programming would be another but these days it seems programmers are a dime a dozen. Perhaps building expertise in a particular field (AI/machine learning would be an area of interest for me, and maybe crypto, though I have my doubts).
Any suggestions would be great. Currently also going through Alex Hormozis offer course and I have his 100 million dollar offers book which I'll read post Unscripted .

 

[Chet Shen]

This post really changed and enhance my perception towards Fastlane. I've been a bit event oriented and despises it but I think that it's natural to have it since I'm a human after all. And yes this post is not about me but I really saw wisdom into this post and learned a few things about the process and how strenuous/fun it can be to embark in this journey. I want to thank the advisors and the person who started this thread @Rhydian Edwards for expanding my viewpoint in entrepreneurship. Thank you and good luck on your journey!

 

[loop101]

Hi,

I read the millionaire fastlane and unscripted a while ago (about 5 years when I started Uni) and they completely changed the way I thought about money and what I wanted to get out of life. I haven't started a business because I struggle to find ideas.

How do you guys find ideas which you think will work or think you can do? I understand looking for pain points but often am completely unsure of how I would solve them. Is this just a case of having a I can do it attitude and going after it with everything you've got or is it more than that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Look at what problems people are already paying money to solve, and find a way to offer your own solution. Go on Fiverr and see what tasks people are paying others to do for them. Find out what courses people are taking to learn something new, look at job postings, look at self-help and how-to best-sellers. Anyone with a problem and money is a potential market. Look at MJ's books to see how to make compelling offers.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Chet Shen]

Look at MJ's books to see how to make compelling offers.

Value skews right?