How to Find Profitable Problems to Solve

one of the biggest blockers people seem to face in online business is that they don't know which problems are even worth solving...

they understand that biz is at it's core just selling solutions to problems, but they have no idea how to apply this idea because they don't have much experience.

the truth is that they almost certainly have already fixed problems worth productizing, it's damn near impossible to live into adulthood without doing so.

therefore the key here is to focus on what problems that you have already solved.

this is because:

• you understand the pain (you felt it)
• you know the solution works (you did it)
• you have proof (your results)
• you can explain it authentically (it's your story)

the alternative is that you solve problems that you think exist from the outside looking in - taking a gamble without understanding the market and run the risk of building something nobody wants.

this is why the best solutions almost always come from people deep inside of a certain community. they have been living it for a while, interacting with others facing the same problem(s) & understand the pain/desires on an expert-level.

your task right now is to make a list of all of the problems you've solved in your life.

step 1: what have you achieved?

it doesn't have to be big, think about times you:

• made money doing something specific
• saved significant time with a system you built
• talked to someone about a problem, then overcame it
• interacted with an online community about achieving something
• built something from scratch that worked
• overcame a major obstacle others struggle with
• got results people around you still can't get

write down literally anything that comes to your mind, for example:

• "signed 3 clients to my YT growth agency"
• "got shredded with a new diet framework I invented"
• "built an AI automation that saved 10 hours/week of manual work"
• "gigured out how to drive traffic to your product from a social media platform ppl said was dead"
• "went from 0 to 5,000 email subscribers with paid traffic"
• "created a cold DM system that gets high reply rates on cold outreach"

step 2: which problems did you overcome to achieve it?

for each achievement, ask:

• what blocked me initially?
• what did I struggle with for months?
• what breakthrough changed everything?
• what do others still struggle with that I figured out?

example:

• achievement: signed my first client
• initial blocker: didn't know where to find clients
• breakthrough: niched down into a super specific niche and became the best at getting results in it
• others are still struggling with: being too broad & not specialized enough

step 3: identify if the problems connect to money/time/status

people ultimately only care about 4 things:

• making money
• saving money
• saving time
• status/attraction

for each problem on your list, ask:

• does solving this help someone make money?
• does solving this save significant time?
• does solving this improve status/relationships?
• is it just "nice to have"?

delete anything that doesn't trace back to the money, time, or status desires.

step 4: the hidden problem check

look at your filtered list. for each problem, ask: "is this what people think their problem is? (surface problem) or is this the REAL problem underneath? (root problem)"

example:

• surface: "i need more clients"
• root: "i don't know how to position myself as authority so that ideal clients come to me"

for each problem on your list, write both:

1. The surface version (what they think it is)
2. The root version (what it actually is)

You'll often sell the surface problem, but solve the root problem.

by the end of these 4 steps, you should have a list of 3-5 problems that you actually experienced & solved that others in your field still struggle with. You should also have confirmed that they trace back to money/time/status.

if you still have no ideas that means you genuinely haven’t solved a single problem worth productizing in your life. in this case ou must do one of the following:

1. get involved in some online communities with shared problems that you’re genuinely facing. consume a ton of content and learn how to solve the problem. after solving it refer back to this article and turn the solution into a product.
2. don’t bother finding your own product - search affiliate networks for products that are already solving worthwhile problems, do a deep dive on the problem & start selling the affiliate offer. still, it'll be way better to deeply understand the problem like you've already overcome it.

Before you choose to productize the solution of the problems you've chosen, answer these quick self-checks honestly:

check 2: is this problem painful enough that people will pay to fix it.

"mildly annoying" problems don't create buyers. "i'd lose a kidney for this" problems create buyers.

check 3: can you clearly articulate the transformation from problem -> solution

try this exercise right now: the [PROBLEM] was costing me [PAIN]. i discovered [SOLUTION], and now [OUTCOME].

example:

"the feast/famine client cycle was costing me sleep and financial stability. I discovered how to position myself as authority via. EP's system, and now I book 2-3 months out at 3x my old rates."

do this for your top problems right now.

if you can't explain it simply in one sentence, you don't understand it well enough yet.

most people skip this product research and jump straight into "building", and then we wonder why half of X solves problems that nobody has.

the problem isn't your product. the issue is that you're solving problems that:

• you haven't personally experienced
• don't connect to core desires
• aren't painful enough to pay for

by starting with YOUR problems, you're giving yourself an unfair advantage.

you have:

• authenticity (you lived it)
• proof (your results)
• understanding (you know the pain)
• a head start (you already solved it)

this is your unfair advantage.