Find 100 business ideas in 15 minutes

By April 15, 2020

In this post, I will share a tool that you can use to uncover topics and industries that are exploding in popularity during COVID-19. You can use this information to: 

  1. Pivot your product so it starts selling again
  2. Start a brand new business 
  3. Create a new service to fill an obvious need in your market 

The COVID-19 lockdown has shut down many industries. But it has opened up dozens of new opportunities. We used this tool last month to identify areas of new growth in the market. Then we adjusted our product positioning. And as a result, March 2020 was our best month of sales ever! 

How can you use it? And what is the tool? 

Step #1: Discover topics that are exploding right now

Exploding Topics is the tool. And it’s free! 

It searches the internet, search queues and more to find topics that are quickly rising in popularity. Then gives you a simple to use interface to find them. 

Example: This morning I used it to find these 6 hot markets:

  1. Delivery Services (instacart, doordash, delivery)
  2. Baking (bakers yeast & bread recipe & bread maker) 
  3. Fitness Training (high-intensity interval training, tracksuit, whole 30, resistance bands) 
  4. Cycling (Cycling shorts, Peloton, Zwift) 
  5. Yard Work (robotic lawnmower, lowers, plants) 
  6. Face masks

Spend 30 minutes using this tool and make a list of 6 or more topics that catch your eye. 

Step #2: Brainstorm 2-3 ideas around each market 

Now you have a short list of topics that you know people are very interested in, brainstorm product ideas for each market.

Ask these 5 questions to get your ideas going: 

  1. What is an online course I could create?
  2. What is a service I could provide? 
  3. What resources could I create? 
  4. What app could I make? 
  5. What coaching service could I provide? 

Let’s look at a few examples: 

Example #1. Delivery Services 

  • Create a $29 online course that teaches COVID at risk people how to use delivery services to handle every part of their normal life so they never have to leave the house.
  • Create a $500 paper month service where I pick the groceries and run errands for older and at-risk people.
  • Create a $19 ebook that’s 40 pages and outlines how to use delivery services, Facebook Marketplace and conning your friends and families into helping you if you are at risk
  • Create a $0.99 app that is a directory of all the available delivery services in your area 
  • Create a $199 per month coaching service that allows older people to call you for ideas on how to use modern technology to get their necessities without leaving their house and putting themselves at risk 

Example #2: Baking

  • Create a $99 online course that teaches bored millennials how to bake 
  • Create a $39 ebook that shows people how to bake sourdough bread and what supplies to buy 
  • Create a $500 coaching service that does 1:1 classes via Zoom and walks you through creating your own bread
  • Create a $5 app that gives you recipes, gear guides and allows you to talk to others about their secret bread recipes
  • Create a $99 per month service that sends you 4-5 loves of homemade bread per month along with a recipe card in case you want to try to make it yourself 

Step #3: Pick the idea that meets 3 criteria

Now that you’ve brainstormed a long list of potential products and services you could offer, you need to figure out which one to pursue.

Here is an easy filter to run them all through: 

  1. Which one of these ideas is the most exciting to me?
  2. Which of these could I legit help people with? 
  3. Which of these could I make good money on? 

The one that passes the test is your winner.

Step #4: How to use your best idea to grow your business

Now you know you have an exploding topic and a great product idea, you need to do one of two things:

Choice #1: Existing business owners: Add this product idea into your primary offering and tell your entire customer base and audience about it. 

Example: This is what we did last month. We added in a mastermind component and 1:1 kickoff call to our primary offer. That resulted in our biggest month in company history. 

Choice #2: New business owners: Validate the idea. Pre-sell the product or service to 1 person. Once you’ve done that put together a simple marketing plan to get it out to the masses.

Note: My mom did this with hand made face masks. Made 1. Posted a picture on Facebook. Asked if anyone wanted one. Sold 125 in 1 day! Who is going to rally all the bored moms and grandmas out there and start selling 500 masks per day? 

If you want my team and I to personally help you find an exploding topic and use it to help your business thrive during Covid, we run a 1:1 coaching program that does exactly that. We’d love to talk to you and work with you.

Book a strategy call with us here