237 - How to Quickly Brainstorm and Validate Business Ideas with Noah Kagan.compressed

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THE SIDE HUSTLE SHOW with Nick Loper

Episode 237

Business Idea Brainstorming and Validation (w/ Noah Kagan) http://www.sidehustlenation.com/237 Noah Kagan is Chief Sumo and founder of Sumo.com and AppSumo.com. You can find out more about Noah at OkDork.com, where he shares his personal and business experiences to help other entrepreneurs grow their businesses. His new podcast is called Noah Kagan Presents.

Brainstorming Business Ideas – the Noah Kagan Way A lot of people get stuck in the idea generation phase and delay getting started with a side hustle. Or worse, never get started as they can’t settle on an idea they like. Noah has some tactics and methods he’s used before to break this rut and help him find some business ideas, try any of the following for yourself: Go work for free – If you’re struggling to generate ideas or get your business off the ground offer to work for someone for free. Noah has a friend who makes videos for restaurants and this is exactly what he did to get started. He offered to make videos for free so he could gain experience and exposure for this work. Six months later he was so busy he started charging when the same clients come back for more work. Write down everything that sucks – Anything you’re thinking of complaining about something or want to see it improved, write it down. Noah said, “If you don’t have 10 by the end of the day, you probably didn’t leave your house.” For example, Noah hates packing for trips. Therefore, a business idea would be to start a service helping people pack. And actually a friend of mine actually built an online business around that exact problem. Then you can expand into helping them plan their travel, activities where they’re going, and so on. Don’t get put off thinking about what market exists, “Care about the problem not the market,” Noah added. Sell something you own – As covered by Scott Voelker in episode 226 of The Side Hustle Show, we all have items hanging around our homes we can turn into cash selling online or in a garage sale. If you really can’t part with anything, sell something for someone else. You might find a passion for selling that turns into a business, or find a market for certain items. The important thing is getting started, “Just start with something, anything, today to get you that momentum and motivation,” Noah said. Play to your strengths – Noah says that sticking to topics you’re interested in, hobbies, and things you enjoy is a much better recipe for a successful business. Try writing down all the things you’ve done in the last six months that you’ve enjoyed. Don’t be put off by competitive industries either.

Noah used Mexican restaurants as an example. Think how many restaurants are in your city. And there’s probably more than one that’s profitable. If there’s someone else doing it, there’s opportunity for you too. If you’re struggling to think of things you are good at then text a friend. Most friends are willing to be honest and probably notice things about you that you’re not seeing. Therapy – Therapists are trained to listen and give you some insight and feedback about yourself. Noah isn’t suggesting you go book a session just to ask for business ideas, but if you already see a therapist it’s a question you can ask. Opportunistic Business Ideas A lot of business ideas are born from taking an opportunity as and when it arises. You can’t be afraid of failure either, “I’ve never actually met someone who has made money or grown successful businesses that hasn’t had things that didn’t work out,” Noah said. Noah shared some examples of how he turned opportunity into business ideas: Drink making – Noah called a local bar and asked what their quietest day in the week was. He then put together an event on EventBrite charging $20 per head for a group of people to learn how to make drinks at that bar. It was win-win. The bar was busy on a quiet night, his group learned how to make drinks, and he made some cash. Sumo Gum – Another example was a brand he was going to call Sumo Gum. Noah loves gum but can’t find a good caffeinated coffee flavor gum anywhere, so he decided to make his own. He paid someone $100, they bought a gum making machine and the ingredients and made the gum. After some feedback she refined the recipe and Noah was happy with the end product. It’s not something he chose to pursue, although he said he’s happy to share the recipe if anyone else wants to pick up this idea and move forward with it. Free Calls - On his blog, OkDork, Noah noticed that an article he published about voiceover IP calls was making a lot of money and saw an opportunity to expand on this content. So, he started up a separate site called FreeCallsTo.com where he wrote about the topic of free calls and the site started making around $300 per month. Praying Isn't a Market Strategy Noah doesn’t care much for the strategy of starting a blog and praying that your content will be found in Google by customers that aren’t yet known to you.

When he launches a product, he gets out there and helps people directly. Uses their feedback to see what is and isn’t working, and invests more time into what’s working. Go Practice Rejection Noah says it’s important to be able to take rejection. He has a coffee challenge he uses to help people with this. He tells people to go and ask for 10% off next time they buy a coffee, and unless it’s your lucky day you’re going to get rejected. But it’s not life threatening; there’s no harm done and nothing wrong with having an idea rejected. On a larger scale, go start that site or project you’ve been thinking about and commit six months to focusing on it. If you commit fully and put in the hard work, Noah says you should start seeing results within six months. When doing this, Noah splits his time into 4 days creating content and 1 day marketing. He says most people who fail do so because they use the “prayer” strategy of hoping their content will be noticed. “Commit to doing something today,” Noah said. “Don’t look back in 10 years and wish you’d started the business you always thought of.” Noah’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation: “Write down your most important priorities for tomorrow tonight, and then wake up and do them.” More Info:  

http://okdork.com/ http://www.sidehustlenation.com/237

Until next time! -Nick