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Idea - Monetize people knowledge

Hi !

I was thinking in an idea to monetize the people knowledge...

It would be like a personal page where you offer the possibility that anyone can ask you a question (1 minute of audio message) after pay you a fee... And you should answer it in less than 24-48 hours

I think it could be similar to Superpeer but quickier and without vídeo answers and meet scheduling :)

What do you think ?

Thanks you for reading :)

  1. 2

    That's actually a cool idea.

    There is a German website which works like this: https://www.frag-einen-anwalt.de

    They have a bunch of independent lawyers and you can pay a fee to ask a question. A lawyer will then answer your question. You can ask follow-up questions for free if you do not fully understand what the lawyer said.

    Example question: https://www.frag-einen-anwalt.de/Software-Entwickler-Gewerbe--f13200.html (Use Google Translate if German is not your native language.)

    There's also https://ask.fm for asking personal questions to specific people.

    Trying to think of downsides: For certain people, it might make more sense to answer initial questions for free.

    • I've seen this with lawyers who will gladly answer your first few questions without compensation to build trust and sell more expensive services later.
    • People selling educational products will answer questions for free to turn them into blog posts later or to improve their courses with that feedback. @jimzarkadas is a perfect example of this.
    • Other people might just enjoy answering questions so much that they do not want to charge for it. Take Derek Sivers as an example: https://sive.rs/contact

    That said, I can totally see your idea working. There will probably be lots of people who will gladly give advice in exchange for money. Take Fiverr as an example.

    Maybe this can even be a way to monetize open-source by providing paid support.

    I'm rooting for you. 🎉

    1. 2

      Thank you very much for your answer ! :)
      I didn't know the german website but I'll totally take a look.

      I'm sure that it's a thing that doesn't is useful for everyone but just in case that you want to earn some extra money could be a nice...

      And thank you for expose the downsides ! Now I know that I must think in free questions :)

  2. 2

    What's the point of having the question in audio format ? What if I or the expert have an unintelligible accent ?. Written is better imo.
    I can see myself using it for something really obscure and hard to find online, like people's experiences with something.

    1. 1

      Totally agree with this! Written also means that you need to spend some time articulating your question. In the process, you will make it more precise.

  3. 2

    I can 100% see this being used. How are you thinking of marketing it?(I have some ideas :) )

    1. 1

      I didn't think on it yet haha

      But I guess that I would try to get in touch with some good profiles via LinkedIn or Twitter :)

  4. 2

    It's a good idea and you can try to build MVP to test it quickly.

    1. 1

      Yes ! I have to think if develope it as a web app, mobile app or try with no-code...

  5. 1

    This ideas exists in multiple forms.

    I've seen it referred to as MicroConsulting, with sites like Maven.co and Clarity.fm being two that come to mind. Avvo can be used to ask Lawyers questions.

    Here's an article covering other similar sites:
    https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/make-money-teaching/

    There's an IH working on a variation of this, via Search. Meaning, you can find an expert on baking apple pie (for example) via a contextual search -- searching for something like "how to bake apple pie" or "how to make the best apple pie".

    The general problem with developing a service/offering like this is a chicken and the egg issue. How do you recruit enough experts to provide the needed coverage for the questions?

  6. 1

    Sounds like https://www.justanswer.com ?

    I don’t know if either JustAnswer or superpeer are successful, but I always ask 2 questions:

    1. Are these successful businesses making money already? If no, the idea probably doesn’t work
    2. Can I do it better? (What’s my competitive advantage?)

    Last, this idea sounds like a marketplace and those are incredibly difficult to build. I would probably avoid marketplace businesses in general as an indie hacker.

  7. 1

    Def see how you can validate it. I would also say niche down to some personas to start with first so you're not targeting everyone as users, then expand as you gain more traction.

    1. 1

      Yes ! I have to think how validate the idea... I don't know if I can achieve that with no-code or I should develop a quick web app / flutter app prototype...

      Thank you for answer :)

      1. 1

        The key thing is to figure out what problem you're trying to solve. It seems like you start off with a solution in mind.

        Before building to validate, I would spend a bit more time finding out when people have questions, what do they usually do? Go to forum? Go to friends?

        Then why is a 1-min audio solution better than the current solution? And it is paid.

        This can be your flow.

  8. 1

    It seems a good idea to me, I would use it, both sides of the call could think better about the questions and answers. And this is more flexible to fit into a schedule.

    The downside I think are:

    1. A conversation could last too long (If a person gets to answer in 48h and 5 questions are made so, a conversation could last 10 days?),
    2. I guess this would lead to parallel conversations and this would be more difficult to the answerer handle those conversations. So, it could have a limit of parallel conversations.

    About the audio call, my guess is that it works but if the person answering is a famous person (of a technical field) I would like to have video call instead.

  9. 1

    Great idea, and I like your broader aspect of application. I see this currently being used with attorneys. But, it's sounds like this would broadly accept specialized persons! I agree with @aekiro though, it's better to allow for multiple reply formats.

    And to piggy back the idea, consider how many requests go to youtubers for this topic or that topic, but it goes into a backlog of video ideas but doesn't answer the question soon enough for the person with the query.

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