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The older I get, the more and more I wonder what Scrooge McDuck did for a living.
I don’t remember him going to the “office” not one time. 🤔
Clearly, Scrooge knew what he was doing, so if I needed a business idea, I’d copy his strategy.
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I’m a founder with a successful exit, currently serving as the executive chairman of a group of e-commerce brands. But I’m an award-winning performance marketer at my core, and spotting trends is my thing.
To stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce space, my team and I built internal tools and processes to spot trends faster than anyone else. We operate more like a data company than a traditional e-commerce brand. 🤓
How to find the best business ideas
Before I jump into the details, let me discuss the mindset required when looking for business ideas.
Once you’ve found the group, you only need to listen and observe. I guarantee they’ll be mad about something and tell you the solution they wish existed.
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Reddit is my favorite place for finding ideas because it provides authentic, unfiltered data that is not impacted by algorithms.
Now, here’s where the patience kicks in. Your new business idea won’t just sit on the homepage waiting for you. You may have to spend some time looking. That’s why choosing who you want to serve is so important. 📌
Of course, you could use AI deep-search tools, but there’s something valuable about hanging out in these communities yourself. I’m not anti-AI, but context matters a lot. Experiencing the “pain” firsthand gives you insight that AI can’t replicate. I don’t want AI to interpret that context for me.
Outside of manual research, here’s a fantastic tool that can help: gummysearch.com.
It has a free plan that lets you quickly find relevant communities. Gummy helps you uncover hot discussions, people asking for advice or resources, pain points, frustrations, and, most importantly, top content (more on that later).
How to validate business ideas
This is when the rubber meets the road. The moment you decide if your idea is worth your blood, sweat, and tears.
So, how do you validate a good idea? It depends. 😩
At this stage, you need to decide what you want.
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Do you want a billion-dollar lifestyle? Private jet, yacht, mansion, all that fun stuff? Or do you want something that’ll help pay rent or buy groceries?
There’s no wrong answer; you can do whatever you want, but knowing beforehand is important.
This matters because part of the validation process is figuring out your TAM (Total Addressable Market).
Your TAM is basically how many people might buy your solution. There’s a lot to unpack here, but let me give you a quick crash course.
Please don’t make the rookie mistake of thinking, “All I need is X percent to make Y dollars.” This is called the top-down approach, and it’s not the best way to see where you stand.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are a few tips to validate your ideas.
- First, you need to solve a real problem. A good way to think about this is being a painkiller, not a vitamin.
- Talk directly to your prospects. You want to hear their pain firsthand because that’s how you’ll know if they’ll spend money.
- Make sure the problem you’re solving has real urgency.
For example, now isn’t the time to launch a Blackberry accessory business. That ship has sailed. You want momentum pushing you forward, not something you have to force uphill. Trust me on this. 😇
Simply put, living life on your terms should always be the goal.
Your next steps
I mentioned it’s critical to use a tool like Gummysearch to see exactly what content your prospects engage with.
Start by going to Gummysearch and typing keywords related to your business idea. Look closely at popular discussions, trending posts, or common complaints. This helps you quickly identify topics your audience genuinely cares about.
The main thing to remember is to get clear on your goal first and let that guide everything else. 🎯
Always focus on solving a real problem. The deeper you dig into the problem and the people facing it, the more ideas will start coming to you.
By the way, 📩 Want more data-driven marketing insights and actionable business ideas like this? Sign up for my free newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts.
😇 Hope this helps. I’m rooting for you.