Yesterday I promised to reveal where I’ve found the best business ideas come from – the insight that took me from zero ideas to too many ideas practically overnight.
Here it is:
The most valuable business ideas come from problems you’ve already solved for yourself.
That’s it.
- No complicated market analysis.
- No breakthrough insight about emerging trends.
- No fancy AI research prompts.
Just look at the problems you’ve actually, personally solved, and build solutions (or teach others) to solve them too.
I know this sounds almost embarrassingly simple. But the power of this approach is precisely in its simplicity.
Let me show you what I mean with a real example from my own business.
Years ago, I was desperately trying to learn copywriting.
I bought books, took courses, watched videos – the works.
But I was still struggling to write copy that I’d be confident would make sales (or at least as many sales I wanted to make for a new client).
Then I came across advice that many top copywriters shared: copy out winning sales letters by hand to internalize their structure and rhythm.
This advice wasn’t sexy or new. It was boring, tedious work.
And honestly, I kept procrastinating on doing it.
This was my actual problem: I knew what I should be doing (handwriting sales letters), but couldn’t get myself to follow through consistently.
And I realized I wasn’t alone. When I mentioned this struggle to other business owners (who were interested in copywriting too) in a forum called the Dynamite Circle, they admitted the same struggle with procrastination.
They’d heard the handwriting advice too, but never followed through because it seemed too tedious or they’d start but quickly abandon it.
That’s when I had my "aha" moment:
What if I created a structured program that forced accountability for this process? What if I solved my own procrastination problem by creating a group challenge?
That became CopyHour version 1.0 – a simple email course where I sent subscribers (and myself) proven sales letters to copy by hand each day, with some context and guidance to keep us all accountable.
The first time I offered it, 20 people paid me $20 each to essentially join me in solving our shared procrastination problem.
That’s obviously not much money, but it validated the idea.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
As I consistently practiced the handwriting technique alongside my customers, I began to actually solve the bigger problem – learning to write effective sales copy that actually made sales.
In other words, my own skills improved dramatically.
This allowed me to evolve CopyHour from just solving a procrastination problem to solving the much bigger problem of "how to write sales letters that actually make money."
I added copywriting training and a "method" and was able to raise the price to match the size of the problem I was now solving.
Today, the course CopyHour has generated millions in revenue and helped thousands of copywriters improve their skills.
There was nothing revolutionary about it.
I didn’t invent hand-copying sales letters.
I just created a solution to problems I was experiencing – first procrastination, then actual copywriting skill development.
This is the fundamental mistake I used to make when searching for business ideas:
I looked for sexy, flashy, new concepts that no one had ever thought of before.
But in reality, people willing to whip out their credit card and BUY… don’t want "innovation". They want solutions that ACTUALLY work and solve their ACTUAL problems.
Buyers have already tried the perfect, idealized approaches they found on Google or now via AI.
Those don’t really work because they’re most often not based on real life experience.
When buyers are ready to stop messing around and solve their problem (aka buy something)… they want to know what REALLY works – even if it’s not sexy or perfect.
They want to know what you ACTUALLY did (or are doing) to solve your problem.
Here’s how I think about it:
When I’m trying to write about "the best way" to do something I haven’t actually done for myself, I have to research endlessly.
I have to figure out all the steps, consider all the options, anticipate all the questions.
It’s exhausting, frankly, and I’m never confident that I’ve got it right.
Buyers buy the most from confident sellers.
When you write about something you’ve actually done – a problem you’ve actually solved – you can just document your process.
You’re sharing from experience rather than complicated theory.
That’s why people will pay for your solution, even when free information exists.
They’re not paying for information; they’re paying for your proven path through that information.
Now, there’s an important distinction I need to make:
Not all solved problems make good businesses or super profitable businesses.
CopyHour would have never sustained as only an "accountability to the handwriting exercise" product.
The key is solving the right kind of problems.
Some problems you’ve solved might create amazing business opportunities, while others won’t gain much traction no matter how well you sell them with copy.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk about exactly what makes a problem valuable as a business foundation – including what I’ll call the "midnight problem test" that will help you identify which of your solved problems have the most potential.
This is how you find business ideas that are valuable, that you’re uniquely qualified to teach, and that you’ll be passionate about working on.
Trust me, they’ve been right in front of you the whole time.
Talk tomorrow!
— Derek
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