I often get asked by friends first starting out online how I seem to be able to come up with new ideas for markets to pursue or products to create.
I usually find that this question is being asked because the person doing the asking is “stumped” as to where to begin their online venture.
Generally, I find that what they are really asking is…
“What the heck am I going to be able to offer here? I don’t know anything worth sharing and I am certainly not an “expert” at anything! Where do I start?”
First off, you don’t have to be the expert ~ you just have to know a little bit more than the average person in your niche.
And…by leveraging Public Domain content, you’ll have an army of qualified experts at your disposal.
Again, you don’t have to be the expert, you just have to be the “publisher” – but that’s a subject for another day.
Right here, right now, what I want to do is help you break through this self-imposed “Where do I start?” barrier.
It all starts with choosing your topic – what are you going to “write” (produce content) about?
If you’re struggling to find your topic, Deb and I recommend that you perform the following simple, yet enlightening exercise.
Here’s what you do, in this exact order…
- Grab a fresh sheet of clean white paper (or a fresh legal pad which is what I personally prefer)…
- Grab your favorite pen (the one you love to write with)…
- Find a quite place to ponder for at least 30 minutes (even if it means having to wake up earlier so you have some time to yourself before the distractions of the day begin)…
- With your pen and paper in hand, create a simple list of “broad” topic ideas that interest you (it doesn’t have to be a perfect list, just a list).
That’s it ~ deceptively simple, huh?
Um, yeah…
It’s a little harder than it sounds, in fact if you’ve never done anything like this it can prove extremely challenging.
I’ve noticed that with most people the first time through, the 4 step list above usually gets expanded by quite a few extra, needless steps…
- grab a fresh sheet of clean white paper
- grab your favorite pen
- find a quite place to ponder
- oh, wait – I really have to go to the bathroom!
- what happened to that pen?
- I can’t write anything without coffee, I think I’ll go brew some right now…
- wow, I can’t believe I have to go to the bathroom again, must have drank too much coffee!
- I’ve never noticed how uncomfortable this chair is until now, I think I’ll go find another one…
- dang, where did that sheet of paper go?
- forget the chair, maybe if I pace around a little, I can get my thoughts flowing…
- did I just hear someone knocking at the door?
- maybe if I kick my shoes off…
- is the lighting in here a little dim or is it just me?
- oh forget it, I’ll do this tomorrow!
Does the expanded 14 step list above sound familiar?
If so, don’t worry about it, it happens to everyone to some degree.
It’s really not hard to generate a list of potential topic ideas and yet so many people seem to find this step incredibly difficult.
My mission here is to attempt to offer a little guidance.
First, let’s define these “topic ideas”…
What we’re looking for here is nothing complicated.
The objective is to perform a total brain dump - don’t worry so much about quality at this point, just quantity.
Examples of topics that may (or may not) interest you would be things like…
- needlepoint
- basketball
- gardening
- archery
- hunting
- cooking
- Abraham Lincoln
- dogs
Later on you can take a broad topic like dogs and break it down into it’s market segments (dog grooming, dog breeding, dog training, etc.) but for now a topic like “dogs” is enough to begin with.
At this point all we are doing is compiling a large list of topics that interest you so that you can begin sorting your ideas with the intentions of ultimately finding the topic that’s right for you.
Clear your thoughts and let your mind drift back over your life past, present, and future and just let thoughts float to the surface of your consciousness without obstacle or hindrance.
Simply ponder the answers to the following questions…
- What have I done in my life that gave me (gives me) great joy?
- Who do I know and what do they do that brings them joy?
- What kinds of things was I attracted to as a child?
- What makes my children smile?
- What kind of work have I done that I would gladly do again?
- What kinds of things have I broke that I would gladly fix again (and I’ve broken a lot!)?
- What do people ask my advice or opinions about?
- What kinds of things do my friends and family give me compliments on?
- What do I see myself doing in five years, ten years, twenty years?
- If I had zero obligations, zero responsibilities, and unlimited time, what would I spend all day doing?
- What kinds of things do I LOVE to talk about?
- What kinds of things do I LOVE to read about?
- What do I dream about while I’m sleeping?
Just spending some undisturbed, quality time pondering the answers to the above questions can spawn thousands of broad topic ideas.
We’re all capable of doing this - you, me, your crazy neighbor that keeps his garage so stuffed full of useless crap that he has to park his car in the driveway – we’re all full of ideas! It’s what makes us different from the animals – well that, opposable thumbs, and our ability to work a yo-yo!
I once did this exercise on a long road trip ~ just me and my trusty digital voice recorder. I ended up with a list of thousands of topics that interest me in varying degrees (I’m not sure why but something about driving solo really allows my creativity to flow).
Each of these topics actually represents what we often refer to as “markets”.
Life is intensely interesting, it abounds with an infinite number of possibilities for recreational, educational, and business related pursuits – it’s these things that form the human basis of what we know as “markets”.
There are billions of potential markets ~ don’t let anybody ever tell you any different.
Don’t be concerned at the moment with whether or not there’s money in a market, whether or not there’s enough people in a market, or even whether or not there’s any Public Domain material available to create a product for that market – we can get to all of that later. If you’re considering these things right now at this stage, it’s going to hinder your “flow” and stifle your ideas.
And don’t be concerned with how big or “broad” a topic idea is either – we can drill down into them later. Quite frankly, a topic idea like “dogs” is just as good a starting point as “dog grooming” at this point because you can always brainstorm more and divide the super-humongous “dog” market into it’s smaller laser targeted niche segments later.
For now, it’s all about the ideas and getting your “flow” on.
How can I expand my topic list even further?
Having some external help can be very useful in expanding your topic list.
Resources like Amazon.com (flip through the best sellers in any category), Magazines.com (look at the variety of titles available, the specific markets they cater to, and the headlines on the covers), Google Groups (look at the various groups of interest people divide themselves into, dig in see what they are talking about) are golden tools for uncovering topics.
Many times the ideas that can pop into your head by using these resources is outstanding – and you’ll uncover topics that you never would have thought of on your own (or even knew existed)!
Just taking a casual stroll around your local bookstore can be very inspiring as well.
My advice is to just browse around these resources and when something catches your fancy (and it inevitably will) – WRITE IT DOWN!
The topics you add to your list should only be topics that you have a personal interest in.
How do you know what to put on your list as a broad topic idea?
Trust your gut, you’ll know it when you see it…
- If you see a topic and it makes you smile, that’s a good one to write down…
- If you see a topic and it makes you remember with fondness a good book that you once read and you are tempted to go back and find that book again, that could be a good one to include on your list…
- If you see a topic and it reminds you of a past-time activity that you really enjoyed, that’s a good one to add to your list…
- If you see a topic that you know a lot about and realize that you would really enjoy teaching others about, that’s also a good one to add.
Then move on to finding more, keep digging, keep exploring…
The next thing you know, you’ll have a pretty big list of broad topic ideas to work with.
Here’s an example of what your huge topic list may end up actually looking like (yours will probably be considerably different because it will be based on your own interests)…
[pageview http://www.publicdomaintreasurehunter.com/Topic_Ideas_List.html "Logan and Debra's Giant List of Broad Topics" Here's a portion of a list we came with in our topic idea brainstorming. If you like one of these ideas - take it! Click title link above to open full screen.]
Your next goal will be to narrow this humungous list of topic ideas down to the 5 - 10 you are most interested in ~ the idea is to find the handful of topic ideas that intrigue you the most.
You can narrow your big list down to 5 – 10 based on nothing more than your own level of personal interest.
As you run through your list, pay attention to how your body and mind react when you get to a particular topic - keep the ones that excite or intrigue you the most (even if you actually know very little about some of them).
After narrowing down your list to the 5 – 10 most interesting topics, then you can begin brainstorming each of the remaining topics and splitting them into sub-topics that you can explore.
For instance, in relation to the topic of “dogs”…
- dog training
- dog grooming
- dog boarding
- dog health care
- dog excercise
- specific breeds
So, what you should have when you are through is a solid list of topics that personally interest you, that you could actually see yourself building a business around.
It’s these remaining topic ideas that you can then begin investigating to make a determination as to whether or not they represent an active, potentially profitable market (which really just boils down to verifying that other products concerning that topic are actually selling and that there is plenty of traffic out there using keywords related to that topic).
Make sense? Good!
Now get out there and build your topic list and then narrow it down to the topics you are the most passionate about.
My hope is that this will finally help you find a topic you can run with!
Your servant and lead wave machine,
About The Author:
 Logan Andrew is an online entrepreneur, information publisher, and author that has been using Public Domain material to create profitable products and businesses since 2001. He is also co-author of "The Public Domain Treasure Hunter's Survival Kit" available here. For more info Logan, click here. |
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