What Crater of Opportunity Has the Pandemic Made Which Needs Filling?

[Xavier X]

The way people live today is inevitably altered, leaving holes that weren't there before. Some of those holes are yet to be addressed.
So this isn't really about selling masks or toilet paper. More like - what services or products do you think would be great to have, as a result of the way things are today?

PS: I'm not fishing for ideas to start something, as I already have enough to worry about. Just an open discussion to highlight some potentials.

 

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[xShepherdx]

IMO we've moved even further into a creator-dominated economy, where anyone with a smartphone/laptop can create digital assets (courses, products, content) and sell them online.

Figuring out how to best serve this new influx of creators in seemingly every niche has dominated my mind lately, so that's where my focus currently is.

As the old quote goes "When everybody is digging for gold, it's good to be in the pick and shovel business.”

 

[Silverfox148]

The pandemic has exacerbated/caused a lot of increased mental health issues. I see the mental health industry growing by leaps and bounds.

Mental health is a tricky area in terms of how to measure outcomes, etc. However, it's going to be a big opportunity, already therapists, gurus, authors, etc. must be profiting big time from it.

 

[RussRussman18]

The pandemic has exacerbated/caused a lot of increased mental health issues. I see the mental health industry growing by leaps and bounds.

Mental health is a tricky area in terms of how to measure outcomes, etc. However, it's going to be a big opportunity, already therapists, gurus, authors, etc. must be profiting big time from it.

Most mental health issues were satisfactorily solved decades ago, but the patents on the most effective drugs, like Nardil, ran out their term and are not profitable, so no doc wants to prescribe them, and the actual effective therapy methods can be carried out without the supervision of a professional, so they aren't exactly a big profit center, either. All of the 'mEnTaL hEaLtH' services I have seen advertised recently are just schemes to suck money out of people who have enough problems as it is.

 

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[Silverfox148]

Most mental health issues were satisfactorily solved decades ago, but the patents on the most effective drugs, like Nardil, ran out their term and are not profitable, so no doc wants to prescribe them, and the actual effective therapy methods can be carried out without the supervision of a professional, so they aren't exactly a big profit center, either. All of the 'mEnTaL hEaLtH' services I have seen advertised recently are just schemes to suck money out of people who have enough problems as it is.

I didn't say they were ethical, most are in fact not.

The need however is very much there, which is what the OP is asking for. It may be possible to meet the need without drugs.

Mental health services approved by the status quo are going to rake in the money.

 

[Xavier X]

IMO we've moved even further into a creator-dominated economy, where anyone with a smartphone/laptop can create digital assets (courses, products, content) and sell them online.

Figuring out how to best serve this new influx of creators in seemingly every niche has dominated my mind lately, so that's where my focus currently is.

As the old quote goes "When everybody is digging for gold, it's good to be in the pick and shovel business.”

Maybe create a "How to Become a Creator" course, complete with a "Creator Starter Kit" bundle product? :

 

[AviatorS]

The way people live today is inevitably altered, leaving holes that weren't there before. Some of those holes are yet to be addressed.
So this isn't really about selling masks or toilet paper. More like - what services or products do you think would be great to have, as a result of the way things are today?

PS: I'm not fishing for ideas to start something, as I already have enough to worry about. Just an open discussion to highlight some potentials.

As far as services, there's definitely going to be a rise in mental health issues. I believe there is an upgoing trend in it pre-covid but the lockdowns have really catalyzed a rapid increase in this area.

Many opportunities in this region I think. Social anxieties, going back to the office after working from home for 2 years, etc., possibilities are endless here.

 

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[Itizn]

Hiring

 

[Xavier X]

Hiring

Haha, this is actually what prompted me to start this thread, but had a major brain freeze while posting it, and couldn't remember. Thanks for the reminder.

@ Topic
Very frequently, I see people reference the fact it has become really challenging to hire and retain service workers. Especially in the restaurant industry. I think hiring at this level really needs a new approach, geared toward the current low supply, high churn labor market.

Think of it like how pre-Uber, most people would've scuffed at the idea of essentially becoming a "cab driver." However, with the arrangement as it is, a larger chunk of people become open to it. While the middle-man pockets a nice platform fee.

 

[Bing]

Mental health drugs (not counseling) seems to be a game for those who have no integrity. When a mental illness is defined by unelected legislature (homosexuality was a mental illness until 1973), who's to say when those "medical diagnosis" will be overturned? There's no science there, just votes in a back-room, so approach only if you have no morals.

---

Hiring: F*ck yes. If you could find me someone qualified for the job I want them for I would HAPPILY pay you 10% their annual starting salary. There's the rub: I need a rockstar SaaS sales guy and a super-nerdy SaaS dev. Do you know them? If I hire them would they stick around for 12 months?

My wife is a nurse. She has been a travel nurse (HUGE OPERTUNITY COMING) on-and-off for the past 5 years. While travelling, sometimes she has made $5,000 a WEEK, while the contracting company makes (I swear this is not a joke) $6,650 that same week for hiring her. Yup, she gets 40% of the billing rate. Yup, tons of bullshit. Hence why I said tons of opportunity. (Note here: if anyone SERIOUSLY is looking at this and thinking "I want to execute", DM me; I have a lot more details here.)

I heard that after the pandemic unemployment dropped, but hiring requests didn't. According to No Agenda this was due to people starting their own business. Hooray! More Fastlaners, right? Or perhaps it's more Slowlaners thinking the Fastlane is "easy" (which might mean an influx of employees when businesses fail).

Hiring is an industry I'm looking into myself. Scale is the problem, but as Amazon proved it can be solved with a team. I really like what @Andy Black said here, but tweaked a bit for "the right person" and "the right position".

 

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[Xavier X]

As far as services, there's definitely going to be a rise in mental health issues. I believe there is an upgoing trend in it pre-covid but the lockdowns have really catalyzed a rapid increase in this area.

Many opportunities in this region I think. Social anxieties, going back to the office after working from home for 2 years, etc., possibilities are endless here.

In a thread @MJ DeMarco posted last year when he was ill, he said a nurse came to his house to hook him up to an IV. This cost less than a hospital visit to get the same thing done.

So perhaps, platform access to a pool of on-demand counselors and therapists in this fashion could be an opportunity. Professionals who can visit you at home to offer some counseling, without breaking the bank too hard.

 

[msufan]

Very frequently, I see people reference the fact it has become really challenging to hire and retain service workers. Especially in the restaurant industry. I think hiring at this level really needs a new approach, geared toward the current low supply, high churn labor market.

These jobs are also headed toward automation.

 

[Eholic]

These jobs are also headed toward automation.

I agree on this one, automation these days is vital and most sought after.

 

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[peddletothemetal]

^ Don't worry, I'm the most automation-centric automation engineer there is. Automation isn't going to put any meaningful amount of people out of a job. It's a complete fiction.

Remember people are now getting paid to be masturbation aids on OnlyFans. PewDiePie is worth several tens of millions from videoing his playing of computer games. People just get upgraded to funner, easier, lazier, more lucrative jobs.

 

[Eholic]

^ Don't worry, I'm the most automation-centric automation engineer there is. Automation isn't going to put any meaningful amount of people out of a job. It's a complete fiction.

Remember people are now getting paid to be masturbation aids on OnlyFans. PewDiePie is worth several tens of millions from videoing his playing of computer games. People just get upgraded to funner, easier, lazier, more lucrative jobs.

Very well put, thank you!

 

[Xavier X]

^ Don't worry, I'm the most automation-centric automation engineer there is. Automation isn't going to put any meaningful amount of people out of a job. It's a complete fiction.

Remember people are now getting paid to be masturbation aids on OnlyFans. PewDiePie is worth several tens of millions from videoing his playing of computer games. People just get upgraded to funner, easier, lazier, more lucrative jobs.

A business card with "Masturbation Aid" should be interesting

 

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[heavy_industry]

Most mental health issues were satisfactorily solved decades ago

I don't have hard data on this, but my guess is that psychological issues have increased exponentially in the last 20 years.

 

[Eholic]

I don't have hard data on this, but my guess is that psychological issues have increased exponentially in the last 20 years.

Yes, even more so during the pandemic and the war in Ukraine which in turn caused inflation in many countries around the world if not all.

 

[msufan]

^ Don't worry, I'm the most automation-centric automation engineer there is. Automation isn't going to put any meaningful amount of people out of a job. It's a complete fiction.

Remember people are now getting paid to be masturbation aids on OnlyFans. PewDiePie is worth several tens of millions from videoing his playing of computer games. People just get upgraded to funner, easier, lazier, more lucrative jobs.

I agree that jobs will merely shift to new things. Most people were involved in agriculture back in the day, now it's a tiny minority of people who work those jobs, yet work still abounds. But we will see a massive shift away from truck drivers, cashiers, toll collectors, and so on.

 

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[Xavier X]

These jobs are also headed toward automation.

They are, but it doesn't negate the short to mid-term need

 

[Dangerous Donna]

Mental health drugs (not counseling) seems to be a game for those who have no integrity. When a mental illness is defined by unelected legislature (homosexuality was a mental illness until 1973), who's to say when those "medical diagnosis" will be overturned? There's no science there, just votes in a back-room, so approach only if you have no morals.

---

Hiring: F*ck yes. If you could find me someone qualified for the job I want them for I would HAPPILY pay you 10% their annual starting salary. There's the rub: I need a rockstar SaaS sales guy and a super-nerdy SaaS dev. Do you know them? If I hire them would they stick around for 12 months?

My wife is a nurse. She has been a travel nurse (HUGE OPERTUNITY COMING) on-and-off for the past 5 years. While travelling, sometimes she has made $5,000 a WEEK, while the contracting company makes (I swear this is not a joke) $6,650 that same week for hiring her. Yup, she gets 40% of the billing rate. Yup, tons of bullshit. Hence why I said tons of opportunity. (Note here: if anyone SERIOUSLY is looking at this and thinking "I want to execute", DM me; I have a lot more details here.)

I heard that after the pandemic unemployment dropped, but hiring requests didn't. According to No Agenda this was due to people starting their own business. Hooray! More Fastlaners, right? Or perhaps it's more Slowlaners thinking the Fastlane is "easy" (which might mean an influx of employees when businesses fail).

Hiring is an industry I'm looking into myself. Scale is the problem, but as Amazon proved it can be solved with a team. I really like what @Andy Black said here, but tweaked a bit for "the right person" and "the right position".

I agree there is an opp to discover in the staffing business

 

[Move the chains]

The way people live today is inevitably altered, leaving holes that weren't there before. Some of those holes are yet to be addressed.
So this isn't really about selling masks or toilet paper. More like - what services or products do you think would be great to have, as a result of the way things are today?

PS: I'm not fishing for ideas to start something, as I already have enough to worry about. Just an open discussion to highlight some potentials.

With more employees working from home/remotely, what new services are required from either a business or personal perspective? Given how quickly everything had to change, I'm sure there's lots of room for improvement in operations and logistics. Perhaps something in consultancy or products based on remote working health/audits.

Perhaps also training in remote leadership too. After all, managers can micromanage as easily remotely. Time to evolve leadership and management approaches perhaps?

Socialize skills and social opportunities might be another area. For the most part, humans do better with human interaction and they no longer get that in the office. Is there an opportunity here for local meet ups specifically for remote workers around fun activities or health/fitness?

 

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[UlmerHere]

During the pandemic anything online had the advantage obviously, but it's hard to say if that's gonna stay the same now that people have more options again. The general public is growing relatively tired and experiencing digital fatigue, so at least for a while people will probably feel like taking a step back.

 

[Dangerous Donna]

During the pandemic anything online had the advantage obviously, but it's hard to say if that's gonna stay the same now that people have more options again. The general public is growing relatively tired and experiencing digital fatigue, so at least for a while people will probably feel like taking a step back.

Yes, I operate an exclusive personal training facility and clients that I have not seen for 10 - 15 years are returning. They are 25 - 50 lbs overweight from remote work. Some are fearful of attending a large health club.

 

[Dangerous Donna]

Yes, I operate an exclusive personal training facility and clients that I have not seen for 10 - 15 years are returning. They are 25 - 50 lbs overweight from remote work. Some are fearful of attending a large health club.

2021 was double profit

 

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