Solve A Problem. Preferably Yours - DailyBlogTips

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Solve A Problem. Preferably Yours Posted: 19 Dec 2012 04:16 AM PST Most people don’t start a business (be it a brick and mortar business, an online app or even a website/blog) because they can’t find the right idea to pursue. They think about it regularly (i.e., about starting something), but no spark of inspiration comes, at least not one that will motivate them enough to wrap up the sleeves and start working on it. One of the causes of this pattern is that people tend to associate businesses with money. When they think about starting a business, they start thinking about how they can make money. And while the money aspect is important, focusing on it right away might not be the best strategy. Why? Because no business exists solely to make money (except banks perhaps…). Businesses exist to solve problems. In other words, if you are looking for that next idea to pursue you should think about what problem you want to solve. Only after you figure that out you can start thinking about how you can actually make money while solving that problem. The question then becomes: whose problems should you solve? The problems of the eskimos’ kids on northern Alaska? The problems of the members of the UK Royal family? How about your start solving your own? As they say in business circles, how about you scratch your own itch? Simple as it sounds, this strategy created some of the largest fortunes on earth. Here’s an example: Back in 2005 Chad Hurley and Steven Chen shot many videos on a dinner party they attended in San Francisco, and they wanted to share those videos with friends over the Internet. They tried some of the solutions available, but none worked well, so they decided to create their own website where people would be able to easily upload and share videos. That website was called YouTube. Another one: In the early 1970s, a 20-something Steve Wozniak fell in love with computers. The problem was that only large mainframe computers were available at that time, so you needed to either rent computer time from corporations (which was very expensive) or use one at a university (which had time and other constraints). The solution? He decided to build his own personal computer so that he could use it at his home. His friend Steve Jobs figured that many other people would want to have a computer at their homes as well, and they decided to found Apple Computer to start selling those. Practically speaking, here are some exercises you can make to come up with that next idea: Think about businesses/websites/apps that you would love to use but that don’t exist yet. Think about services and products you already use but that make you mad because one aspect or another. Think about stuff you would like to do but are not able to because there’s no product/service for that in the market. Now go solve that problem! Original Post: Solve A Problem. Preferably Yours

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