How do you manage the pressure of needing to come up with a profitable idea?
I don't mean to rant but I'm sure there are some here in the same position as me who could use similar advice.
I feel I've never been as technically capable as I am right now but I'm so stressed out from the constant turmoil at my day job and being forced to shoulder financial responsibilities I did not anticipate at home, that I feel absolutely paralyzed coming up with ideas of profitable projects.
To compound this, I feel immense pressure that anything I work on in the few hours I have spare should absolutely make enough money to support me and my dependents, and it should do so really, really rapidly. I cannot afford a failure as I live in a country with no social safety net. Endless experiments, tests, mvps and pivots are luxuries I simply cannot indulge in.
Now before this turns into a proper Eminem song, my question is how do you deal with the pressures of life and still think creatively to come up with truely viable businesses and execute on the effectively?
You don't need to be creative. You need to study.
Think about topics you like to work on and you are good at. Look at all the products in the market that are profitable and you can replicate. Then go to every review website (g2, capterra, getapp...) and read all the negatives review. Do a better version of that product, using feedback, and you have a profitable business.
Thanks, this is good advice. I'll certainly go look at some reviews.
That's really good advise!
Your situation basically changes the constraints of what makes a "good" idea for you. So you'll only be looking for ideas which have 1) low development time/cost, 2) high ability to validate in advance whether people will pay, 3) a paid product or service, 4) a quick sales cycle, and 5) customers you have relatively easy access to.
This eliminates pretty much anything speculative, experimental, or "new". Instead, you're going to be looking to solve a known problem slightly better for some niche customer who you have easy access to and who is going to be happy to pay for the thing you're making.
It also eliminates anything which needs to reach scale before it starts to pay you. This includes marketplaces, networks, anything with advertising, anything freemium, and anything with a low price point.
While this sort of elimination won't help you immediately have a good idea, it does at least help you avoid wasting time on projects which won't solve your problem, and will help you recognize a "good" idea (for you) when you stumble across it.
Although they aren't exactly software, two of the most reliable categories which tick all the above boxes are productized services (i.e. similar to freelancing, but you only ever offer the exact same thing to every customer, which lets you start to build tech and team to remove your own time from the equation) and information products. There are probably also software opportunities, but they're certainly not easy to spot.
Also, I'd just like to offer personal note about the overall mindset. While I think it's extremely helpful to know what you need in a project (since it lets you find the good ones), you're going to be in a tough spot if you hold the view that it must work 100% of the time no matter what or you're fucked. That basically stops you from doing anything. If I was in your shoes (which I have been in the past), I would try to say something more like, "I only have X hours per week to invest, so I need to pick ideas which are as reliable as possible, but then I'll spend those hours happily and not beat myself up if it still takes several months/attempts until I get something which is starting to work."
Thanks, this is really helpful. The tip on mindset is also something I'll try and keep in mind.
Yes, you're not alone in this. Feeling under pressure (esp. financial pressure) definitely does stifle creativity.
I'm in a similar situation, and haven't come up with a good way forward either.
If you can, let go of the idea that the first business idea you execute on absolutely has to be a great success. That's too much pressure. Instead, aim to make something small that'll give you a bit of a return, and a lot of experience. You'll learn a lot more from one small project successfully delivered than aiming for the "big success" immediately. See project number one as a stepping stone to something bigger.
I know that's easier said than done when you're under financial pressure, but aiming smaller for your first few projects really increases your chance of getting anything started let alone finished.
You must relieve yourself of the pressure by realizing that creating a business is a very, very hard undertaking. Even highly successful entrepreneurs can't even create a second successful business, and even huge tech companies with deep pockets and access to their billions of users can't create new products that easily.
Be ambitious, but to live better every day be also kind to yourself.