3 (Non-Sh*tty) Ways to Generate Business Ideas 💡

You need an idea.
And it's not easy to come up with one. Some people will tell you to follow your passion. Some will tell you that you should start a business that solves a problem you face.

The issue is that most of the time the problems you face don’t really excite you enough to serve as long-lasting businesses.

For example, I hate traffic, and a lot of people hate traffic, but I cringe at the idea of trying to start a business that eliminates traffic. It’s boring.

I hate stubbing my toe, and so does everyone else, but I’m not going to create an anti-toe-stubbing adhesive to put on my furniture. It doesn’t excite me. If it excites you though, feel free to steal that one.

In this post, I’m going to show you strategies that anyone can use to develop good business ideas that not only excite you, but also make you money.

The Five-Question Method
Take a product that you use frequently. It could be a canned drink, a foam roller, a phone, etc.

For the sake of explanation, let's go with a can of Coca-Cola and let's ask five questions about it.

Why does this drink have sugar?
Why is the can round?
What are there all these extra ingredients and why are they in here?
Why is the can aluminum?
Why do you have to open the can with a tab?
These questions were completely random but a few ideas stemmed from asking these questions:

A sugar free soda without a bunch of additives

A soda with a different shaped can

A combination of the two

The reason this method works well is because the result usually ends in an idea for a product that changes a way people are used to consuming a something. Can you imagine if Coca-Cola released their soda in a cubed-shaped can? People would buy it just because it's different.

Obviously, creating a new type of soda might not be exciting to you, but applying this method to any product you use will definitely get your gears turning.

Paid-to-Free
This one makes a lot of people scratch their heads.

"Why would I make a paid product free? How would I make money?"

The strategy involves taking a popular service and making it free to gain widespread adoption of your offering.

The method also does two things:

You gain credibility in a market by providing up-front value
Makes it very clear who your target audience is.
After gaining some initial validation and traction, you can start offering add-ons or a similar service which you can sell to those users.

The "What sucks?" Method
Take some time to do a little self-reflection and ask yourself some questions:

"What sucks?" Can I make it not suck?

"What do I not enjoy doing?" How could I make it more exciting?

"What products or services could be better?" How difficult would it be to improve them?

Sometimes it's a little easier to identify the pain points in your life and solve those problems.

I'd also suggest turning to those in your social circle as they probably experience similar pain points.

It’s also important to mention that the idea you come up with probably won’t sound perfect in your head.

It might not even be clear how it’ll make you money.

That’s okay. Push through that feeling.

Right now, you need to focus on doing something that excites you.

You can always pivot, try a new endeavor, or add another exciting project down the line.

Come up with an idea and just start.