You want to build a business, but you have no idea what kind of business to build.
So you wait around for the perfect idea to smack you in the noggin.
You’ve had ideas, thats not the problem. The problem is none of those ideas seem significant enough to justify building a brand around.
It might make for one interesting youtube video, but you have no idea how you would monetize it and turn one video into a business.
If you’re like most people, you have tons and tons of seemingly insignificant ideas swimming around in your brain competing for your attention, and very few big ideas, if any at all.
But odds are, at least one of those “insignificant ideas” has even more potential than the perfect idea you’re waiting for.
I often say how, fundamentally, business is about solving problems. And it’s true, that’s what people pay for.
But I use that language pretty generally, and oftentimes people misinterpret that, thinking they need to solve an “Elon level problem” in order to enter the game.
But you don’t need to cure cancer to start a business. In fact, you don’t even need to “cure” anything. You just have to make the “problem” marginally easier to solve.
When I talk about “Problem and Solution,” those terms are relatively open for interpretation. So this article is a deep-dive breaking down exactly what qualifies as a problem and what the solutions might look like.
There are 4 categories of problems a good business can solve.
I’m convinced you have some “insignificant ideas” in all 4 buckets, and at least one has enough business potential for you to commit to.
So lets get into each of these buckets, starting first, with the most obvious one.
Disclaimer: I call these 4 buckets the 4 P’s of serving. This is a completely different framework than the “Marketing Mix” which is also 4 P’s (Product, Price, Placement, Promotion). The Marketing Mix is useful, but not the subject of this article.
The First P - Pain
The first of the four P’s is the most tangible, and it’s a good place to start since this type of problem is usually top priority for people to solve. These are the “painful problems.”
Pain comes in all kinds of flavors, and some are more painful or prevalent than others. There’s of course the obvious physical pain caused by injury or illness. This often manifests as chronic discomfort which contributes to the building pressure to relieve the pain.
And the pain relief solutions come in all shapes and forms as well. Think about products like painkillers (obvious one, it’s literally in the name) and ice packs. Those provide direct relief, but other solutions contribute to pain indirectly, like physical therapy or ergonomic chairs. They may not have the same instant relief as an ice pack or painkiller, but they contribute more to pain relief in the long-term.
But physical pain isn’t the only kind of pain people experience. There’s also emotional pain like grief, loneliness, anxiety, heartbreak, depression, etc. And again, the solutions come in different forms than just the obvious therapy sessions. Emotional pain relief products also include things like meditation apps, group counseling, self-help books, spiritual retreats, and guided experiences.
In modern society, emotional distress often comes as a result of financial pain. Whether it be credit card debt, a cash-flow crunch, or an unforeseen tank in your portfolio, finances are the biggest source of stress for American adults. Somewhere between 60-90% of Americans reported feeling some degree of financial anxiety, with over 30% feeling that anxiety 5 or more days per week.
Not only is that a huge problem, it’s also a huge market with many potential solutions including bookkeeping services, debt consolidation, budgeting software, and portfolio management, among many others.
The worst thing about financial pain is it often leads to emotional pain or relational pain. Most often this happens between spouses, but is also common among business partners, family members, roommates, friends and colleagues. This could take the form of basic miscommunication, a full on conflict, or somewhere in between.
Unlike the other types of pain, relational pain brings someone else into the picture. Generally, pain is an individual problem, but with relational pain the solution needs to be catered to both parties experiencing the conflict. So the best solutions here tend to be things like couples therapy, communication coaching, or mediation service.
Similarly, the dynamic is also different for solutions to social pain. Anyone experiencing embarrassment, exclusion, or loss of status is now feeling that social pain and the solutions need to cater to the individual as well as the audience. This is where things like PR, reputation management, and image consultants come in.
Finally, a type of pain I’m sure we’ve all experienced many times is frustration. Whether it’s a broken process or wasted time or an insufficient tool, you find yourself saying “it shouldn’t be this difficult.”
When I find myself in these situations I always hear my dad’s voice, passing on a piece of advice from his own father: “Always use the right tool for the job.” If there’s a better tool for the task at hand, that usually relieves some of the frustration. Sometimes there isn’t a better tool, and my mind wanders through the design process of the perfect new tool for the job. Every one of those moments has the potential to birth a new business.
A quick note on morality: obviously there are moral implications involved when you capitalize on someone else’s pain or discomfort. It’s been done countless times and will likely continue for a long time. The aim is not to encourage you to capitalize on the pain of others. The goal is to help you identify solutions that already exist in your life. If you were able to solve your pain, you can help pass on the solution to others with the same pain. You aren’t taking advantage of their pain to make the sale, you’re making a sale because you’re helping relieve the pain. I felt obligated to make this explicitly clear due to the inclusion of painkillers in this section.
Pain relief is the most fundamental type of problem humans can help each other solve. Its top priority because it creates discomfort and stress that reduces the overall quality of life for that person. If you can help relieve that pain, you’re in business.
But what if you could take it one step further? What if you could prevent the pain from happening before it even shows up?
The Second P - Prevention
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” —Ben Franklin
Relieving pain is excellent, but most people would agree it would be ideal to not have experienced the pain at all. That’s where the second P comes in. These are the “preventable problems.”
Prevention is key not only with pain-related problems, but with any recurring, looming, or fear-inducing problems. People are really affected by FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). If you can relieve the problem before it arises, you can give them significant piece of mind, and they’ll value that more than you realize.
Preventing a problem is as good or better than solving one. And just like with pain, the problem-solution combinations can take many forms. In the context of pain, there are health related prevention solutions like regular checkups and health insurance, as well as things like gym memberships, diet cookbooks, and air purifiers. But physical pain isn’t the only thing worth preventing.
As mentioned in the previous section, finances are the biggest source of stress for people today so there is lots of FUD in this space too. There are plenty of products that aim to prevent financial problems, like home or life insurance, warrantees, and estate planning. People care about their money and they’ll pay a lot to protect it.
There are a lot of FUD reduction opportunities in the safety and security worlds as well. In the physical world these show up as things like seatbelts, helmets, and smoke detectors. In the digital realm we have antivirus software, cloud backups, VPNs, and 2 factor authentication apps. More and more of our lives are spent online, and again, people want to protect their digital property.
And of course one of the biggest areas of prevention is the operational and legal side, which ties in directly to the social and reputational pain mentioned in the last section. This is where things like contracts, NDAs, and background checks come into play as well as compliance policies and audits, quality control efforts, and cybersecurity services.
Pain and prevention are very closely related and often the solutions are two sides of the same coin. One solves the problem after it already exists, and one solves it before it becomes an issue.
The third P is a different approach entirely.
The Third P - Pleasure
The third P is probably where most of your slept-on high-potential ideas live. These are the “pleasure problems.”
Most of the time, people don’t even consider the ideas in this category as viable businesses. And there are some far-fetched concepts here, but more often than not, what stops people from pursuing these ideas is that they are personal passions, hobbies or interests.
Most people assume that no one cares about their interests, especially if the people around them don’t share their same passion for the topic. This often results in a “who cares, what’s the point” attitude, and a lot of these ideas are left on the table.
Because the pleasure ideas hardly ever seem like solutions to a problem.
But really, the businesses in the pleasure category are just solving the problem of the lack of that thing. And before you get all up in arms about “pleasure businesses,” that’s not what I’m talking about. (Although an examination of the world’s oldest profession is honestly a decent illustration of this point).
What I’m really talking about is types of pleasure like experiences, aesthetics, status, social belonging, convenience, and yes, sensory stimuli (taste, scent, touch, sound). Things like specialty coffees, perfumes, and massages, which leads right into experiential pleasure.
This caters to desires more-so than fears or pain. The desire for travel, adventure, or entertainment. Solutions here include travel packages, concert tickets, and theme parks. Movies, books, and podcasts also fit in this category as entertainment solutions. Really any type of captivating content can leverage experiential pleasure.
And the best pleasure solutions have some overlap. For instance a live music show provides sensory and experiential pleasure. It also provides a sense of social belonging, connection and fun. This is much more intangible than a pain or prevention, but still has plenty of solutions like event planning, group experiences, clubs and classes.
As much as some people love to be a part of a bigger group, others love to stand out, and that’s where luxury products and status symbols come in. These products provide a sense of recognition to the customer and oftentimes boast a luxury experience. In the words of Coco Chanel, “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury” which is why so many status products also provide aesthetic pleasure.
But aesthetic pleasure isn’t limited to watches and handbags. It also manifests most obviously as fine art, beauty and design. Architecture, fashion and interior design services all cater to the aesthetic pleasure.
The point is that even the products that aren’t an absolute necessity can grow into successful businesses, as long as they can be framed as the solution to some kind of problem. You just have to think a little deeper about what a problem actually is.
The Fourth P - Problem
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
—Theodore Levitt
The fourth P is for “problematic problems.”
Yes, I know, all problems are problematic, that’s what makes them problems. This one is really like a catch-all for all the problems that don’t fit into the first three.
Things like functional problems, when something is broken or no longer working. Problems like this can be solved by repair services, bug fixes, or replacement services.
Efficiency problems also fall into this category. When an operation takes too long, needs streamlining, or requires ongoing oversight, solutions like automation tools and project management software can improve the situation.
You can also consider products that solve access problems or create connections, like marketplaces, recruiters, logistics companies, and matchmaking services. Or decision making problems that can be solved by advisors, curators, personal stylists, or even a listicle review site.
And let’s not forget about the informational problems and solutions, most commonly addressed by digital products like guides, courses, and how-to content. Check out my previous article on how to sell digital products without becoming the “bUy mY cOuRsE” guy.
But like I said, all problems are problematic, and everything I’ve covered in this essay, whether it’s a pain prevention or pleasure, is also a problem. We’ve just categorized 4 types of problems: pain-problems, preventable-problems, pleasure-problems, and problematic-problems.
Everything is a problem. This is good news.
The point of this article is not to convince you to go manufacture a designer handbag. It’s simply to illustrate that you don’t have to solve some huge problem in order to justify building a business.
The point is to show you that everything is a problem. Problems can take on many, many forms, and the solutions to each problem can take on even more forms. Everything you pay for solves a problem in one of these 4 capacities, or a combination of multiple. Break the walls of the box that confines the definition of “problem” in your head.
When you get creative about what is considered a problem, you begin to see that possibilities are endless. And not only that, but you start to have more ideas that you’re confident in. Plus you’ll realize ideas you’ve dismissed in the past actually have more potential than you initially thought.
This article is meant to be more than just a list of problems and solutions. It’s meant to stimulate your thoughts and get your mind churning on the problems you’ve solved for yourself and could solve for others.
Picking a Direction
Hopefully now, your mind is racing with potential ideas. Grab one and follow it all the way from problem to solution. Ask yourself:
Validate the problem - Is this a real problem that real people are dealing with? If it fits in one of the 4Ps, its a real problem. Next step is to find the people with the problem.
Research your people - How prevalent is the problem? How do the people with the problem talk about it? Where do these people spend time online? Youtube? Reddit? Facebook? Old forums?
Research your problem - How long has the problem existed? Has anyone tried to solve it before? Were they successful? How would your solution work differently?
Commit - If the problem is prevalent, and there is demand for a solution, commit to this direction. Start getting clear about the problem. Why it’s a problem. Why people should care about solving that problem. How people should go about solving the problem. How YOU can help them solve the problem.
For more guidance on this check out my recent essay on brand canon.
Stop waiting for the perfect idea.
Odds are you’ve already had plenty of them.
All that’s left is to validate, research, and commit.
Use step number four to begin formulating a manifesto as to why your problem is worth solving. I encourage you to write this whether you intend to publish it or not.
If you do publish it, drop it in the comments. I want to read your stuff.
Looking forward to supporting and connecting with you
Thanks for reading. Subscribe for more.
Talk soon,
Tim