Want to Make Money? Use This Formula
Ugh. Well that sounds like an sales pitch, doesn’t it? Don’t worry. This isn’t a sales pitch.
TL;DR: When it comes to making money, there are really only three things you need to do; identify a problem, solve it, and sell the solution to the problem. It sounds simple enough, but of course, the execution is where things can get tricky.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it can be earned by identifying a problem and offering a solution to that problem. This is the basic premise of entrepreneurship.
Find a problem that people are willing to pay to have solved, and then sell them the solution. It’s not always easy, but it can be extremely rewarding both financially and personally.
The three parts of the money-making formula
As I indicated above there are three main parts to this formula. They are:
- Identify a problem
- Find a solution
- Sell it to your audience (customers)
So let’s take them one by one
Identify a problem
If you’re looking to identify a problem that your customer may need a solution for, there are a few avenues you can explore.
1) Asking your customers directly is always a good place to start – they may have issues that they’re already aware of but haven’t had the chance to voice yet.
But if you’re just starting out, that’s kind of a catch-22 isn’t it? How do you poll your customers if you don’t have any yet? Kind of tricky, but not impossible.
You can create some content that you think your target audience will like, and promote it for free on some key sites. Then poll visitors or analyze what content they consume more.
In essence you create the content and try to bring your customer to you. Not impossible, but there is another way.
2) Meet your customer where they are and see what problems they are trying to solve. Here are 5 sites for doing that and the corresponding method for doing it in no particular order. For these examples I’ll pretend you’re niche is – um – making mosaic art (I just chose that at random).
- Google – start typing a question related to your niche. “Mosaics how to…”. See what google predicts as the next words. or “Mosaics, what kind of…”. Or “mosaics, where to…” How it fills in the next words tell you what people have been searching for in the past. Use those words to tell you what problems people might be having.
- Pinterest – do the same thing as you did for Google Search. In addition, look to see what extra words are across the top of the search results. They are good for narrowing the search or getting ideas you may not have thought of. Same goes for the “shop Similar” list that shows up within the search results.
- YouTube – Same things as with Google Search and Pinterest. Watching a couple high-ranking videos and/or looking at the video description and comments can also yield ideas
- Reddit – Same thing again. If there is a topic that keeps getting covered it is because people want to read it. Why not taylor your content accordingly. One caveat: there are some discussions on Reddit that are freakin’ crazy. It’s like the Wild West. Just stay away from those parts. There’s plenty of good content too.
- Quora – This is where people go to find answers to questions – literally. Do the same kind of search strategy as above and see which ones are getting the most traction. I guess if I have a cautionary note about Quora it would be to recognize when some one asks a question just so they can answer it themselves to get exposure. Kind of cheesy in my opinion and not necessarily an indicator of what people are really searching for. You’ll know it when you see it. (see example below)
- StackExchange – Similar but not the same as Quora. You have to register for any topic within StackExchange before posting a question or answer. Promotion of brands – yours or others – is not permitted. It is monitored by real humans and there is a low tolerence for BS. As a result it is a great resource for information and to see what questions people are REALLY asking.
There are ways to dive deeper into each method above to get more ideas and more detailed insight into your potential customer, but that’s beyond the scope of this article. I’ll cover that another time.
- If someone writes a question like, “How can I lose weight using a supplement that has a five star rating from the Council for Awesomeness, and is used but such celebrities as…”. Yeah You know that’s basically just an ad. People don’t ask questions like that.
3) Search for questions you think they need answers to. If you find someone who is selling a product to help them, it’s a good chance that you can build a similar product around solving the same problem.
It’s also pretty likely that the same person will be selling related products. Figure out what problem those are solving and use that as inspiration for your own.
Let me be clear that I am not advocating copying another person’s work. You can solve the problem in a different way, or you can look at their solution and figure out how to make it better. Maybe you can explain things better. Maybe you know of better tools than they suggest.
Or perhaps you can tailor their solution to a specific niche that they don’t address. If they are selling a product on how to promote affiliate products for pets, maybe you can take the same concepts and change them for selling golf products.
Keep in mind that not all problems will be obvious, but if you take the time to explore different options, you should be able to find something that your customers need help with.
Find a solution
That’s the second part of this formula. Create a product that solves the problem. That sounds simple, right?
But what if you don’t know how to solve the problem. No problem. See above.
I mean it. All those places you searched for the problem also have proposed answers. Read and consume all that you need to until you feel like you can present a solution.
If you don’t think you’re expert enough on the subject, that’s fine. Actually it’s better than fine. People who think they know it all generally don’t. It’s called the Dunning Kruger Effect. People with the worst performance on a subject tend to wildly overestimate their performance. while those with the best performances tend to underestimate their ability.
The funniest example of this – which may or may not be true – is about a guy who knew that you could use lemon juice to make and invisible ink. Knowing that, he pulled off the “perfect” crime of robbing a bank by coating himself in lemon juice. That way he would be invisible to the security cameras. He was quite sure of that. He was quite wrong.
But that’s not you.
I hope.
But here’s the thing. You do not NEED to be an expert. In fact, experts in any given field tend to be so far removed from beginners that they are less able as a rule to present their knowledge in a way that makes it easy to learn.
My Dad – a brilliant electrical engineer – tried to explain what a molecule was when I asked as a pretty young child. 2nd grade I think. The answer was profoundly confusing. I remember he got into sub-atomic particles, their electrical charges and atomic numbers. He understood it thoroughly, but U was just a curious kid that heard the word molecule at school.
Someone just starting out looking for some knowledge only cares if you can impart that knowledge to them. All you need to know is the answer to their immediate problem. All you have to be is one step ahead of them on the learning curve.
But can’t they find the answer online too?
Yes they can. And some will. But most don’t feel like taking the time to research it the way you do. They just want the answer. And they will pay you to provide it to them.
You can learn to make your own puff pastry for fancy meals and desserts. I know. I did it. I was a pastry cook many years ago. I can still do it. But I don’t. it is so much easier to buy it pre made.
Same goes for information. They don’t want to sift through all those sites and videos if they can just pay you to do if for them and serve it up in a neat little package.
Sell it
Well now we get down to it. Selling it is the trick isn’t it?
There are websites and books and workshops and courses and all sorts of other resources that focus just on this part of the formula.
Many tricks and tip, tactics and tools. But in the end it amounts to this:
- Identify your audience (prospective customers)
- Have the solution to their problem
- Show them how life will be better once they have your solution
- Make the buying process as easy as possible
- Deliver a little bit more than you promise
That’s really it. all those parts are important. But I think the biggest issue – aside from actually doing what you’re thinking about – is getting them to know you exist.
That means marketing your product, your brand and yourself. That can be difficult for anyone, but especially those of us that avoid the spotlight. But it can be done. There are other articles on this site that address that. And it’s too much to go into here.
But guess what? Those places where you’ve done the research up to this point can also serve as exposure for you. Maybe not YouTube if you’re camera shy – but there are ways around that too.
I happen to think that Pinterest is a good non-threatening place to get your feet wet with promoting your products. It’s for all practacle purposes a giant advertising platform where you can place your ads for free. Not literally, but the content you put on there leads to your site so it’s the same difference. And you can also choose to pay for ad placement on Pinterest as well. But hold off on that until you know it will be worth it.
Final Thoughts
The title of this article is Money Making Formula Number 1. It is called number 1 for a reason. There is more than one formula for making money with an online business. They are not necessarily in competition either.
The formulas are tools. You can – and should – combine them to get the outcome you are trying for. For example you may have noticed this one didn’t include selecting a niche. That’s part of a different formula.