Surveying the public to find a problem or need

[Baker]

I've been brainstorming ideas on how to find a problem I can potentially solve in my country (Australia).
What are your guys thoughts on offering an incentive (money, etc) for members of the public to fill out a simple survey? The survey would look something like this. (Rough draft).

Write down five problems or frustrations that you face in your everyday life.
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:

Its simple but I was thinking if I go to a busy public place or go door knocking and offer $5 to fill out a survey like this it might give me some idea of some needs that could be solved in my area. After all the only way to find needs are to ask right?

 

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[Traveling Morgue]

People fill out surveys for free all the time.... what says people wouldn't fill out your survey for free also?

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Nah don't offer money, what people really want is love.

Simply approach someone on the street, flare your arms out as an invitation for a hug,
keep eye contact and your chin up, and ask in a clear and loud voice,

"What's your F*ckin' problem?"

​

You will get reactions, promised!

 

[Guest3722A]

I've been brainstorming ideas on how to find a problem I can potentially solve in my country (Australia).
What are your guys thoughts on offering an incentive (money, etc) for members of the public to fill out a simple survey? The survey would look something like this. (Rough draft).

Write down five problems or frustrations that you face in your everyday life.
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:

Its simple but I was thinking if I go to a busy public place or go door knocking and offer $5 to fill out a survey like this it might give me some idea of some needs that could be solved in my area. After all the only way to find needs are to ask right?

This is an interesting approach and what I like about it is you're not afraid to just jump in there and start asking people questions. In reading some of your posts it appears you don't have much money to start with though so I'm not sure exactly if paying people would be your best first attempt at discovering needs in your area.

The internet would have a very wide reach for you and sites like facebook and even craigslist could possibly help you out somewhat without pay but I'm not really sure.

In MJ's book he goes over several ways how to find needs and also narrows down certain types of markets to consider. Might not be a bad idea to check it out. (It would get you up to speed here quickly)

How I found a pretty successful business that I ran for many years was I used to have to drive a fairly long distance to use a very popular service that wasn't in my area. This place was on the west side of a metro area that had a population of millions. Hundreds of people used this place weekly. So, all I did was basically build the same idea on the east side and it worked out well.

So maybe going for a long ride to see what's out there and not on your side of town might possibly help you out too.

Also, many people here who sell products have several ways they find them for cheap and sell them online for profit in places like Amazon and many do quite well with this. If selling products is an interest what helped me out was listening to a podcast that Vigilante put out a while ago called "mind your business". I think it's within the first five episodes where he explains exactly how to get started.

The search function here at the forum will help you find a link to it and will also uncover several discussions on this same question you have.

If you have further questions please feel free to ask but definitely use the search function first if it's something you think has been asked here before.


Now get out there and show us what you're made of

 

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