Let’s get right into it. Today, I’m bringing you the periodic table.

Because these ideas have all the right elements.

• Content to Commerce - Copy the Epic Gardening model

• Self Experiments - An app to track your scientific endeavors

• Microweddings - Small wedding, big commitment

🧠 Biz Idea: Epic Gardening for X

Epic Gardening founder Kevin Espiritu

Epic Gardening is a $100 million business that started out as a blog about, you guessed it, gardening.

Kevin loved growing plants and his own food, so he started blogging about it, then started a YouTube channel (which is now huge) and slowly expanded it into a massive business.

You can hear the whole story here.

There’s a playbook ripe for the picking in this business. Find a hobby you enjoy that’s similar to gardening, start creating content, and then take the content-to-commerce route and build a business.

Here are a few folksy activities that could work:

• Beekeeping - Shockingly easy to get started.

• Breadmaking - Assuming you can keep a starter alive, our course.

• Backyard Chickens - Get one of these and become a chickentech influencer.

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🧠 Biz Idea: Self-Experimentation App

Tim Ferris brought self-experimentation to the mainstream over a decade ago. Now, tech like Levels, Eight Sleep, and the numerous wearables on the market make data collection easier than ever.

However, it’s not easy to centralize and analyze all this data while keeping up with different experiments and variables.

So someone should build an app that does just that:

• Pulls data from all your wearables/workout apps/nutrition trackers.

• Allows you to build experiments or suggests ones for you. Like trying gluten-free, waking up 2 hours earlier, a new workout regimen, a new supplement, etc.

• Monetize through memberships, but there’s also potential for affiliate deals for supplements, tech, or having bloodwork done.

🧠 Trend: Microweddings

Twitter tweet

Microweddings are becoming a Macro-opportunity. Greg lays out a few ideas in this thread, but the gist is:

• Content - Curate the best content about small weddings.

• Marketplace - Build a marketplace for venues or service providers.

• Service - Be a service provider yourself, specifically a Microwedding Planner.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

• Great thread on inversion-based thinking.

• This guy drove to the northernmost part of Alaska on a motorcycle. Worth clicking just for the pictures.

• Playbook for bootstrapped ecomm founders to test Meta ads for the first time.

Let me know you’re favorite idea from today. See you next week!

— Andrew ✌️

Ready for your weekly dose of business inspiration?

Of course you are! Before we dive in, I want to let you know I’m sending the next deep dive on Monday. This time around, I’m laying out a plan for the local newsletter idea from 2 weeks ago.

Without further ado, here are three ideas hotter than the heat wave baking the U.S. right now.

1. Sexy Standing Desks - Same function, better design

2. Investing Livestreams - A daily show for retail investors

3. Sports Betting Rehab - I know at least 3 guys who could use this right now

🧠 Biz Idea: Aesthetic Standing Desks

Gross

Have you ever noticed that every standing desk is just ugly?

They all look like they were designed by some corporate hivemind whose only exposure to design has been a cubicle farm.

This idea is simple. Can somebody please make a higher-end standing desk that looks like this? Or this?

• You can find the basic parts of a standing desk pretty cheap.

• To build your prototype, find a local craftsman (or teach yourself) to build a frame around the bones of a standing desk.

• Then, launch on Kickstarter to test interest.

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🧠 Biz Idea: Daily Livestream for Retail Investors

Twitter tweet

I saw this tweet several weeks ago. On the surface, it sounds like a great idea. Get business influencers together, make some content, and then make some money.

A few comments said Morning Brew and Workweek are doing this. Except they’re not, really. Barstool works because of the brand and the style, which I don’t think translates to business very well. Those companies are just building a digital-first traditional business media company.

However, one suggestion in the comments that I think would work is “The Pat McAfee Show for retail investors.”

Pat McFee is a former NFL player who retired, started a podcast, started live-streaming it on YouTube, and landed a massive deal with ESPN.

Wanna know where I see a lot of crossover in terms of audience, content style, and format? Retail traders. Just look at the traffic on any RoaringKitty stream.

• Find a big personality that is into day trading/options/degen finance/etc. Maybe that personality is you?

• Find some like-minded folks to jam with every day, and live stream it.

• Be consistent, grow the audience, then monetize.

I’m aware this idea is a bit thin, but I think the main takeaway is there is an opportunity for more entertainment-based and less information-based content for a new generation of people interested in finance and the market, and business in general.

🧠 Trend: Sports Betting Rehab

https://www.statista.com/chart/29332/gross-gaming-revenue-from-sports-betting-in-the-us/

Speaking of retail investors and degen finance, let’s talk about gambling.

Sports betting is a booming market that will only get bigger. It’s legal in 38 states, and that number will be 50 soon.

And predictably so, this is wreaking havoc on a lot of people’s (especially young men’s) finances.

There’s an opportunity to step in as the go-to solution for those struggling with a sports betting addiction:

• Make an app that helps fight sports betting addiction. Use this app for panic attacks as an example.

• Build a physical space, a “sports betting rehab”. Could also use this as detox space for other modern addictions like social media, smartphones, etc.

• Partner with the big sportsbooks and get them to fund something in this space. Further regulation will eventually come along, so this could be their way of getting out in front of the problem.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

• Greg Isenberg’s podcast is great. Here’s a list of his favorite ideas from recent episodes.

• Craig Clemons shared his secrets to creating ads that print $$$.

• Here’s a quick breakdown of the process, budget, and resources needed to launch a brand.

That’s all, folks. See you Monday for the local newsletter deep dive!

— Andrew ✌️

I’m back for another round of 3 Idea Thursday!

ICYMI, I dropped the first Deep Dive Monday issue earlier this week. I plan to do these 2x month, going deeper into the ideas you like most from the weekly email. So don’t forget to do the poll at the bottom.

This week, I got 2 ideas and 1 scary trend that are like your creepy cousin obsessed with card magic.

They’ll do the trick.

1. ZodiacGPT - A personalized AI astrologer.

2. Plastics Are Bad - And we’re all full of them.

3. Frustrating Home Services - Make it easier for homeowners.

🧠 Biz Idea: AI Astrologer

Horoscopes are BOOMIN. Astrology is projected to be a $22.8 billion market by 2031, and all types of businesses are sprouting up to tell you what the stars say about your love life.

But have you ever read a horoscope? It’s the most generic writing possible. Do you know what’s good at writing generic content? Our good ole friend, ChatGPT.

Here’s what I would start today if I wasn’t hyperfocused on delivering these ideas to your inbox every week. (Such as Aries, right?)

• Build a ChatGPT wrapper that delivers custom horoscopes.

• Include a basic personality questionnaire as part of the sign-up process so the AI can customize horoscopes for each person.

• Deliver horoscopes to customers inbox or via an app every day.

• Start making short-form video content about Zodiac topics to kickstart some organic growth.

Wanna take it to the next level? Two options:

1. Copy Pieter Levels AI therapist chatbot, and build a Zodiac/Astrology chatbot.

2. Build a marketplace in your app that sells crystals to slowly build out a spirituality eComm business on the backend of the AI content. Rocks are also BOOMIN.

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🧠 Trend: Forever Chemicals

Searches for Microplastics. Up and to the right.

I’m sure you’ve seen this story by now. There’s plastic in men’s testicles. If you ladies think you’re escaping a similarly plasticized fate, think again.

Basically, we’re all packed full of microplastics. When combined with forever chemicals, they’re likely wreaking havoc on our hormones and more. And people are starting to take notice.

Lot’s of opportunities to build a good business and maybe make people a little healthier in the process:

• Wirecutter for Plastic-Free Products - Simply find and review products that are non-toxic and plastic-free.

• Home Health Audits - Go into people's homes and identify all the health-damaging products, plus check for mold, poor air quality, etc.

• Build a Plastic-Free Brand - Pick a product: detergent, underwear, bed sheets. Become the go-to nontoxic brand.

We need a Proctor & Gamble of products that aren’t killing us. Are you gonna build it?

🧠 Biz Idea: Home Service Concierge

This one’s pretty simple.

Finding, scheduling, and paying for a home services provider (plumber, HVAC, etc.) can get tricky. Some are unreliable, some are just way too busy, and in some cases the demand just exceeds the supply.

That’s where you can step in.

• Act as a “home service concierge” for homeowners by sourcing, scheduling, and communicating with service providers.

• Sell it as a subscription service, with add-ons like general handyman or house cleaning to justify the monthly expense.

• Use resources like this to dominate local SEO.

🧠 BONUS Idea: Cool Cars

Twitter tweet

Interior vehicle design. Two words: shag carpet.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

• This thread has some good businesses you can start with less than $3000.

• Here’s a few under the radar, business-related Youtube channels.

• Definitely not business-related, but if you enjoy horror/thriller fiction, here’s a quick and entertaining book about a pack of bigfoots (bigfeet?) destroying a small town. I read it in one day this weekend.

That’s it for today.

Don’t forget to check out the deep dive from this week. Let me know what you think, and vote below if you think I should go deeper on one of today’s ideas.

— Andrew ✌️

Welcome to the first Brainstorms Deep Dive Monday!

I mentioned this idea in a Thursday issue a few weeks ago and got a lot of great feedback.

Today, we’re going a little deeper into the “why” behind this idea, crunching some numbers, and outlining an easy way to find your first customers.

Let’s dive in..

🧠 An Email Collecting Shopify App

Emails are worth their weight in gold. As someone with a newsletter, I know this better than most.

Emails carve an express lane straight into your customers’ inbox. There’s no risk of Facebook banning your account, TikTok throttling your reach, or Twitter (still have a hard time calling it X) suspending your account indefinitely.

In the marketing world, emails rule supreme. That’s why brands pay a premium to collect them.

Don’t believe me? Take those cheeky discount-spinner wheels, for example.

Spin the wheel, win a prize, and poof! Your email magically belongs to them.

One of these apps, Wheelify, is making an estimated $20,000/month in revenue. That’s a quarter million dollars a year, folks. 

Today, I’ve got an idea that’ll make this spinner look like a thing of the past.

This week, we’re exploring a Shopify App that allows brands to unlock customers' emails in a whole new way.

So what’s the big idea?

Here’s the pitch - for every $1 spent on building an email list, a brand will get ~$36 back on avg. (source) That means:

1. Dumb brands aren’t collecting customer emails at all

2. Average brands have a sign up form someone on their site, but don’t push it

3. Smart brands are using tools like Wheelify to collect emails

4. Genius brands are building custom tools to get more emails

I stumbled on a genius brand doing just that. A little company you may have heard of: Nike. Take a look.

They’ve started gating content that only members/subscribers can see, but they aren’t the only ones doing this. Here’s a screenshot from the Fabletics website.

Fabletics

One thing I know is that if the big brands are doing this now, everyone will be doing it very soon. 

The problem? I couldn’t find any Shopify apps that make it easy for stores to do this.

Shopify Apps by the Numbers:

On the surface, this might seem so niche that it’s not worth your time. But let’s see what it would take to get to $10K/month in revenue.

Pricing: I’d keep the pricing simple:

• Lite Verison: $10 for 1,000 emails collected

• Plus Verison: $15 for 5,000 emails Collected

• Premium Verison: $50 for 50,000 emails collected

Costs: Like most SaaS, Shopify Apps have little costs:

• App Build Costs: I’m not a developer, but I’d be shocked if it cost more than $5-10K to build this. (or free, if you’re a developer yourself). There are plenty of places to find good Shopify app developers.

• Shopify App Store: Shopify takes a 20% cut of all revenue on their platform

  • Dev program discounts allow you to make your first $1M without the Shopify Tax.

• Marketing: This is a big one, and we’ll explore it further below

You know me, I like simple math. At $10/month, we’d need 1,000 signed up. That’s just for our Lite Plan.

There are over 4M active Shopify stores - so your odds aren’t looking too shabby.

How to Execute

I’ll be the first to admit that creating a successful Shopify app isn’t easy. The app store is VERY crowded, so we’ll need to stand out to make this work.

Get your first 10 customers

Here’s the strategy: We’re going to find 10 perfect customers for our product and give it to them for free. In exchange, they’ll allow us to write case studies on them and shout us out on their socials.

Let’s find our customers:

1. Find Early Adopters: We’re going to use BuildWith to find 100-500 Shopify stores that already using email capture tools.

   • I searched for Wheelio and got 4,000 sites that are using that tool.

2. Stats to look for: We’re looking for customers who:

   • Have $500,000+ in rev.

   • Have medium-high traffic

   • Spend more than $5,000 on tech 

Next, we’ll send them an email, LinkedIn message, and Twitter message like this
--------
Subject: Feedback on how {their store name} collects email

Hey {first name},

I saw you’re building {site name}, I love {something personal about the site}.

I don’t know if you saw this, but there’s a new trend in Ecom around collecting customer emails—Nike and Fabeltics are popularizing it. They gate content unless a customer gives their email (see images attached). 

I’ve built a new tool that allows you to collect emails just like them! 

I’ll give it to you for free - all I ask is that you allow me to do a case study on you if it works. Just say yes, and I’ll send over more details.

Best,

PS Ecom owners see a 3,600% ROI on email marketing.

--------

You can run this email campaign to attract your first 10-15 customers, obtain case studies, and build momentum.

Then tweak the ending (stop offering it for free), and continue the email campaign to scale to your first 100-1,000 customers!

In summary, here’s why you should pursue this: 

1. Emails = $$$: Email marketing continues to be one of the most profitable channels. This is especially critical as brands become more data-conscious and seek to own their customer relationships more directly.

2. Low startup costs: Given the low estimated development cost ($5,000) and simple pricing model, the app can quickly become profitable and sustainably scale.

3. Huge Market: With over 4 million active Shopify stores, there’s no shortage of potential customers.

That’s it for the first deep dive. Let me know what you think!

And if you want to build this business, reply to this email. I’d love to brainstorm some product ideas and growth hacks with you.

— Andrew ✌️

We’re back again for more business ideation/inspiration.

Two bits of news this week:

First, I’m sending the first deep dive on Monday. It’s about the Shopify app from a few weeks ago. So keep an eye on your inbox Monday afternoon.

Second, I’m switching up the format a bit. I’m extending beyond JUST business ideas. I want to bring you the most interesting stuff I can each week, and that’s not always a specific business idea. So it’s now gonna 3 ideas from one of these categories:

1. A specific Biz Idea

2. A Problem that needs to be solved

3. An Opportunity/Trend that is emerging

4. A Side Hustle to make some extra income

5. A Tactic to start/grow/operate a business

As always, I’m a man of the people, so if you hate it let me know. And I’ll go back to the traditional format of three weekly business ideas.

So, what’s on the agenda today? Just 3 ideas that are like an adult jumping into a kiddy pool.

They’re gonna make waves.

1. Dating Apps Stink - We need better ways to meet people online

2. Software Onboarding - Get new users set up correctly

3. Local Newsletters - Become a local media magnate

🧠 Problem: Dating Apps Suck

I don’t think this is news for anyone, but for most people, dating apps suck. Swiping culture, short-term thinking, pay-to-play, and loads of data like this and this, aren’t helping people find love. And the dating app companies don’t have much of a reason to do anything about it.

It’s a classic example of misaligned incentives.

Sure, lots of people use apps for hookups and casual dating, but most users are looking for a serious relationship. The problem is that creating relationships isn’t a revenue driver for the companies. They make money by keeping people on the app for as long as possible.

How do you solve this? Starting a dating app or service with a business model that incentivizes the company to create long-term relationships, not keep people on the app forever.

• Classic Matchmaking - Charge per date for traditional matchmaking services. Companies like Keeper are using AI to streamline this.

• Forced First Dates - Make users have a video call before they can get another match. This will encourage users to be more intentional with their choices on the app.

• Make $$ From Dates - Let users make dinner reservations or buy tickets to events on the app, and take a percentage so you make money from setting up dates.

• Play the Long Game - Start a bridal registry, wedding planning, or engagement ring business, and use the dating app as your top-of-funnel acquisition. Then you’re REALLY incentivized to facilitate long-term relationships.

• Play the REALLY Long Game - Start a baby-related business and create a dating app for people looking to start families.

Alright, those last two are a little wild.

But as more people meet online every day, and the current options all offer terrible user experiences, we need hustlers like you to get out there and start coming up with creative solutions.

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🧠 Biz Idea: Agency for Onboarding Calls

I heard this one on Greg Isenberg’s podcast.

Have you ever found a piece of software that seems really cool, everyone’s raving about it, you download it, get completely lost, and never use it again?

Yeah, me too. I was lost in Notion until a friend sat with me for an hour and gave me a hands-on walkthrough.

If these companies offered free onboarding calls that acted as a quick-start guide, confused customers would be much more likely to stick around.

Higher LTV = More $$$.

The opportunity here is to start an agency that offers this service and charges on a per-call basis. Use cold email to get your first clients and do the initial calls yourself to test the process.

After that, use something like Sagan Passport (featured in last week’s email) to find employees and scale fast.

In the episode, Greg said to contact him on Twitter/X if you’re interested in starting this, so go for it.

🧠 Side Hustle: Local Newsletter

Twitter tweet

It seems like everyone has a newsletter these days. 👀 

But even in this saturated market, I think local newsletters are still way underrated.

Now, I know this isn’t a novel idea. But every city in the U.S. with a population greater than ~40,000 could sustain a local newsletter that creates, at minimum, a solid side hustle income.

So, what do you write about? You could include things like:

• A local events calendar

• Business recommendations (like a better Yelp)

• Coverage of local news

Use short-form video talking about your town to grow the list, sell ads to local businesses, and become your town’s #1 independent journalist.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

1. Cody Schneider is my favorite new follow. He’s in personal brand turbo-growth mode and is a human water hose of interesting business ideas and growth tactics.

2. Here’s a 4 HOUR podcast about AGI and AI alignment that could be total BS because I don’t have the mental horsepower to understand all of it, but it’s still interesting.

3. I’m trying to become a better storyteller to make this newsletter more entertaining, and I just finished reading Storyworthy. If you want to tell better stories, start with this book.

Let me know what you think of the new format. And don’t forget to be on the lookout for the first deep dive on Monday!

— Andrew ✌️

Another week, another 3some of business ideas.

The house number curb painting idea from last week was a hit. I had a lot of parents email me asking for more ideas to introduce their kids to business.

Honestly, “entrepreneurship for kids and teens” could probably be it’s own weekly newsletter. But #3 below is another door-to-door idea that would make a great summer gig.

Now, let’s get into it. Today’s ideas are so good that you might as well call them centipedes.

They got legs.

1. Global Talent - A unique angle on the global talent game.

2. Quickbooks Apps - Lots of problems looking for solutions.

3. Door-to-Door Buys - Why sell when you can buy?

🧠 Idea #1: Global Talent Service

Twitter tweet

Hiring global talent is all the rage right now on Twitter (I mean X. I’m never getting used to that), thanks to people like Nick Huber and his company Somewhere. Or Sahil Bloom and a company he invested in, Landed.

Finding talented people overseas can be a big win for any business.

There are loads of companies you can use to find potential hires, but I’m intrigued by Sagan Passport. You pay ~$10,000 a year, and they will headhunt up to 6 hires for you. Or you can pay ~$30,000 for up to 30 hires.

The opportunity here isn’t starting a company to compete against those guys. The opportunity is to use Sagan as your “backend” to find great talent and offer a value-added service to your customers.

I think the trick here is to go niche. What does that look like?

• Use Sagan to hire bookkeepers. But you don't just start a bookkeeping company. You offer bookkeeping services to seven-figure HVAC companies.

• Use Sagan to hire video editors. But don’t just start a video editing company. You offer short-form video editing for eComm businesses in the health and fitness niche.

• Use Sagan to hire virtual assistants. But you don’t just start a VA company. You offer operations assistance to “Mommy Bloggers” and family-focused influencers.

The key is to pick a service, then pick an industry, and then pick a specific type of customer in that industry. If you go too broad and shallow, you won’t be able to justify the markup.

Niching down three levels allows you to focus on value-added services and expertise, incentivizing your customers to hire you instead of a direct employee.

The global talent trend continues to spread, so you won’t be able to take advantage of this model for much longer.

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🧠 Idea #2: Quickbooks Plugins

Here’s a useful framework for finding business ideas: look at app/plugin/extension marketplaces. If a customer base is very large and the number of plugins is very small…$$$.

For example, Shopify has over 4 million stores and around 13,000 apps. Saturated.

On the other hand, Quickbooks (accounting and bookkeeping software) has almost 30 million users but only 750 apps. Opportunity.

So, what should you do with that information?

• Keyword Research - Find out what people are searching for, “Quickbooks app for X”, “Transfer X data to Quickbooks”. Go make it.

• Review Analysis - Dig through reviews for existing plugins and look for ones with lots of bad reviews. Lots of reviews mean lots of demand, and bad reviews mean the current options are subpar. Build a better one.

• Cross Platform - Look at other accounting software, like Xero, find the top apps, and copy them for Quickbooks.

🧠 Idea #3: Door-to-Door Purchasing

As I mentioned up top, I got a lot of requests for more kid/teen-friendly ideas. Here’s a good one.

You know what’s easier than making money doing door-to-door sales? Doing door-to-door BUYS.

Specifically, buying used electronics. Every family has a basket, box, or under the bed floorspace full of old electronics: phones, tablets, laptops, you name it.

1. Go door to door, tell them you're buying old electronics, and leave a brochure with a date and time on it.

2. You say you’ll come back on that day. You don’t want to wait awkwardly in their living room while they dig everything up.

3. You quote them a price based on a proprietary formula (just looking it up on eBay or Gazelle.com)

4. Give them cash, then go home and list them on eBay, Mercari, or Facebook Marketplace with a nice little markup.

Lots of business education going on here. Sales chops, eComm knowledge, and cash management skills.

If you want more of these, let me know. I’ll find some other ways you can turn your kids into future entrepreneurs.

🧠 BONUS Idea: Hotel Reviews

Twitter tweet

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hotel showers that are barely more than a gentle misting.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

1. If you’re looking for more inspiration to teach your kids about business/finance/entrepreneurship, this thread has LOADS of great recommendations.

2. I love David Perell’s podcast, How I Write. In this episode, he grilled Shaan Puri on how to become a better storyteller. If I had to sum it up, Shann’s advice is: every story needs an Intention, an Obstacle, and Stakes.

3. This thread has some wild stats on the “Disney World of youth baseball”.

That’s all she wrote. Well, it’s all I wrote.

Let me know what you enjoyed from today’s ideas. Or what you hated. All feedback is good feedback if you have enough irrational optimism.

— Andrew ✌️

Greetings, fellow Brainstormers. It’s time to feed that annoying part of your brain that’s always hungry for interesting businesses and cool opportunities.

Here are a few snacks so satisfying they’ll help you finally get over the disappointment of The Sopranos series finale. (Sorry for the dated reference, but I just rewatched it. Still frustrating.)

1. Stack Consultancy - Too many tools, too little bandwidth.

2. Trivia Night Management - Ask the questions, make the money.

3. Curb Number Painting - Some good old-fashioned door-knocking.

🧠 Idea #1: Stack Consultant

Twitter tweet

Alex Lieberman, co-founder of Morning Brew, tweeted out this spreadsheet with the software and services he uses to run his business.

It took off. Then he added Noah Kagan’s list. Now he’s adding more.

Don’t get me wrong, “founder stacks” are cool. It’s fun to see what interesting entrepreneurs are using. But most people aren’t founders. Most people are marketers, writers, accountants, designers, etc.

Here’s the opportunity:

1. Pick a niche and make a Founders Stack for X.

2. Reach out to a bunch of people in that niche to see what they use.

3. Build a database of stacks.

Easy. And there are lots of options for monetization here.

But the most interesting one for me isn’t affiliate deals, premium data, etc. You set yourself up as the “Stack Consultant for X”.

You charge a fee to advise your customers on what software/services they should be using, how to set them up, and how to incorporate them into their current workflows.

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🧠 Idea #2: Trivia Night-as-a-Service

Twitter tweet

This one sounds fun. Trivia nights are booming.

You can set yourself up as the go-to provider of fun trivia nights in your city.

1. Become a 3rd party provider of trivia nights for bars, pubs, and corporate events.

2. Hire local comedians, entertainers, or someone with a big personality to host the event.

3. You can even use AI to help come up with the content.

As you grow, you expand to other cities, invest in props and equipment to have themed nights, or hire more hosts to put on bigger events.

🧠 Idea #3: A Simple Summer Side Hustle

Do you have a kid, younger sibling, or niece/nephew? Or are you a young whipper snapper trying to make some cash this summer while you’re on break?

Here’s a fantastic summer hustle: Curb Number Painting.

1. Order some stencils and spray paint.

2. Find a neighborhood with lots of homes and curbs by the road. Somewhere like this is PERFECT.

3. Put on your sales hat, start knocking on doors, and charge $15-20.

Door-to-door sales can be the ultimate training ground for the young entrepreneur in your life. So help them put some money in their pocket while they stretch those business muscles.

🧠 BONUS Idea: Analog Audiobooks

Brilliant.

Revolutionary.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

1. The “Indian Warren Buffett” did a 2-hour podcast interview. Full of gems like “An idea is like an asshole. Everyone has one.” 👀 A stark reminder that finding good ideas is cool, but execution is ice cold.

2. I came across this awesome tool you can use to dig through loads of Reddit data. Search “I need” and get a list of potential business ideas.

3. Negotiation skills are a cheat code when applied well. Here’s a great thread covering high-level tactics, and this is my favorite book on the topic.

And that’s a wrap.

Last week’s poll was a tie between recipe websites and better supplements. So I used a super scientific, data-intensive method (I flipped a coin) to decide which one to write about. Supplements won.

I think I’ll publish long-form deep dives once or twice a month. I’ll use your feedback and poll responses to decide which one to write.

What do you guys think? I’ll keep you posted, but look out for the first one (the Shopify app from a few weeks ago) soon.

— Andrew ✌️

This is Brainstorms, your weekly dose of business inspiration, motivation, and hopefully not too much perspiration.

I got lots of congratulations and well wishes after last week’s announcement. So, thank you all!

You also gave some great feedback. A few standouts:

• A second weekly email that does a deep dive on one idea.

• Keep the 3 pack in the same industry or trend.

• Provide more actionable advice on starting and growing a business.

I’m gonna work on some of this in future issues. But for now, here are 3 ideas that probably won the spelling bee in 6th grade. They got potential.

1. Recipe Websites - Better recipe websites = better internet.

2. Cashback for Chargebacks - Fixing the fraud nightmare.

3. Supplements - Old ingredients, sexy packaging.

🧠 Idea #1: Better Recipe Websites

Recipe sites, very popular among Brainstorms readers

Last week's most clicked link was, by far, the tweet about Myles Sinder’s new website.

It sounds like you are all as tired of the melodramatic intros on recipe websites as I am. I knew you were my kind of people!

We need more websites like myles.cooking. So why not build them?

Here’s the playbook:

1. Make a list of every chef, cook, and food influencer you can find who creates content on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram.

2. Reach out to them, offering to build a no-frills, ad-free website based on their cooking and recipes.

3. Use the website to upsell their services or premium content.

If you’re really savvy, you can just copy Myles straight up and build a custom AI trained on the influencer’s content.

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🧠 Idea #2: Chargeback Monitoring

Twitter tweet

Chargebacks. The bane of the internet entrepreneur.

What’s a chargeback? It's when a payment provider issues a refund to a customer after a transaction. It’s typically the result of a fraudulent charge (not always). This might sound uncommon, but it’s not.

If you have even a couple of disputes/chargebacks on your account, your payment provider will see you as ‘high-risk’. Then Stripe, Paypal, or whoever can lock you out, freeze your funds, and seize your firstborn child (not really, but it can feel like that sometimes).

There are a few products that already solve this problem. But they can be expensive, difficult to use, and only resolve chargebacks after the fact. Not prevent them.

The opportunity for the software folks among us is in pre-monitoring and PREVENTING the chargebacks. Gather enough data around these 3 things:

1. Suspicious Transactions - Nobody’s buying 50 identical hoodies in one go. Unless it’s a scam.

2. Location/IP Address - Nobody’s shipping their order to the U.S. from an IP address in India. Unless it’s a scam.

3. Disposable Emails - Nobody’s using slkdjf645sd48@gmail to place their order. Unless it’s a scam.

Then, feed all that into an AI black box that monitors your Stripe or Paypal account 24/7. Voila! You have a chargeback prevention robot.

🧠 Idea #3: Upgrading Old Supplements

Boring name, boring packaging.

I’ve enjoyed following along in real-time as Dan McCormick has built Create Wellness. He’s growing a modern supplement brand in public and has shared his journey since day one.

Dan did something pretty clever.

• He chose an old-school, not-so-sexy supplement popular among a niche (meatheads) - Creatine.

• He changed the product from a flavorless white powder to a yummy gummy.

• Rebranded it with a catchy name and slick packaging, then marketed it towards a more mainstream audience.

I think this is a smart strategy that can be replicated for lots of supplements. Here are 3 great examples:

1. Fiber - I can guarantee you’re not getting enough fiber. Getting more in your diet can lower cholesterol and blood sugar, and improve your “number 2’s.”

2. Magnesium - Most of us are deficient in magnesium. It does a ton of great things in the body. I take it to sleep like a baby.

3. Ashwagandha - Hard to pronounce? Sure. But highly effective for reducing cortisol, or the “stress hormone”.

Pick one. Come up with a sexy name/brand, update to some eye-catching packaging, and copy Dan’s path. (He’s posting stuff like that all the time.)

🧠 BONUS Idea: “Southern Hibachi”

Twitter tweet

I mean, they’re not wrong. Why not go all in on it? I’ve gone ahead and asked DALL-E for a Waffle House/Hibachi mashup:

Bad news for the AI-doomers: if OpenAI was actually close to AGI, this picture would have 2 people fist-fighting in the background and someone smoking a cigarette at their table.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

1. OpenAI’s new release swept the internet. Hence, the many AI references today. If you’re technically inclined, you should probably stop reading this email and just build something with their tools.

2. Dupe.com is awesome. Go to the URL of some expensive furniture that you love, paste the Dupe URL in front of it in the address bar, BOOM. It builds a list of cheap alternatives, aka “dupes”.

3. Here’s an interesting thread on eComm categories to avoid and ones to enter from someone who’s spent millions on Meta ads at their agency.

That’s all for today.

I got a great suggestion to open the poll up and let all of you decide which of the 3 ideas I should go deeper on. I’m working on one for the Shopify app from last week, and it’s gonna look something like this:

1. Reasoning behind the idea, including data, trends, and revenue potential.

2. How to start, test, and validate the product/service.

3. An action plan to get your first paying customer and then your second, third, and so on.

So, let me know if there’s anything from today you’d love to learn more about!

— Andrew ✌️

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

As some of you may recall, a few weeks back Keevin announced he was looking to sell Brainstorms.

Well, he sold it to me. Your new Brainstormer-in-Chief, Andrew Haag.

To prove my bona fides, here’s a small sample of my past entrepreneurial endeavors:

• I started a company called Bloom Dudes to help men buy flowers for the women in their lives. Unsurprisingly, this went nowhere.

• I built an agency (generous use of the word as it was just me subbing the work to a white-label WordPress design firm) that made websites for schools and local governments.

• Last but certainly not least, my most proud business achievement was making a WHOLE 100 BUCKS training Pokemon on my Gameboy for other kids when I was in 4th grade.

Outside of that, I’ve spent my career in the SMB world getting sweaty and operating businesses.

These days, I run Biz Dev for an EdTech company. But my free time is spent deep in the bowels of the internet, learning about interesting businesses, finding weird trends, and discovering up-and-coming opportunities.

I love it. Not just because I’m looking for my next business idea, side hustle, or spectacular failure (RIP Bloom Dudes). But because it’s thrilling to learn what’s possible.

People like us aren’t just seeking the perfect idea for our next company. We love this stuff because fuels our existing projects, fires up our own idea machines, or just gives us a good laugh at what the entrepreneurial spirit can bring into the world.

With that said, today I’m gonna tell you about 3 ideas so hot they make Sriracha taste like a snow cone:

• Slack for Communities: A good old-fashioned clone job.

• Clever Shopify App: The next evolution in “spin the wheel for discount widgets.” And..

• Pressure Washing: Spray the ground, collect the $$.

🧠 1: Community-Focused Slack Clone

Twitter tweet

Slack is the go-to for lots of paid/free communities since so many of us are already there for work. However, the pricing leaves much to be desired once a community starts to scale.

The current alternatives all have their own issues:

• Discord - Tons of great features, but the UI can be intimidating to the non-gamer crowd.

• Skool - A bit too simple. And developing a reputation as the go-to option for sketchy gurus with a course to sell.

• Facebook Groups - Probably the lowest barrier to daily use (everyone’s on Facebook), but hard to keep organized.

Why not clone the Slack UI and price it to be friendly for community-based businesses?

If you can overcome the usage hurdle (there’s a reason so many groups use Slack and Facebook; people are already there every day), this could be a big opportunity.

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🧠 2: Genius Shopify App

Fabletics

Today’s magic number: $36.

That’s the ROI of every dollar spent on email marketing. Getting into your customer’s inbox is a MASSIVE unlock. Especially if you’re a consumer brand.

And if you’re a brilliant brand, like Fabletics, you’re getting creative in how you do that. Like gating products for members/subscribers/email hander overer’s only.

Genius.

Here’s the opportunity: after a quick search, I couldn’t find a Shopify app that makes this process easy for brands to do. So go build one. With over 4M active Shopify stores, it shouldn’t be too hard to quickly scale this to $10k+/month.

If this sounds interesting to you, stay tuned. I juuuust might be working on a longer piece on how you can build, sell, and grow this thing to $1M.

🧠 3: Pressure Washing At Scale

Twitter tweet

Ohhh, pressure washing. Most people’s experiences with high-velocity water hoses start and end with those oh-so-satisfying time-lapse videos.

But did you know that the businesses drenching us with premium entertainment are also soaking in premium margins?

Granted, this one is pretty sweaty. And most of the spraying is done overnight.

But if you’re good at getting leads and finding reliable subcontractors, this can be a pretty slick side gig.

SIDENOTE: I did lead gen for local service businesses for years, including helping a friend scale a cleaning business to $20k/month. If this idea wets your whistle, let me know, and I can do a deep dive into the different ways to leverage the lead gen+subcontractor business model.

🧠 BONUS: Million Dollar Food Truck

Twitter tweet

More like a billion-dollar food truck.

Let’s be honest. This is my best idea today.

📖 Brainfood

Here’s a 3-pack of useful/interesting/entertaining content I’ve come across this week:

1. Scott Galloway was recently on the My First Million Podcast. Here’s the thing about ole Prof G. Half of what he says, I hate. The other half, I love. I think that’s a sign he’s worth listening to. Which you can do here.

2. Rainmaker raised $6.3m to, well, make it rain. They’re a cloud-seeding company founded by a dude named Augustus. Augustus has a mullet. I love everything about those last 3 sentences.

3. Myles Snider is a chef who launched a recipe site that is just… his recipes. No ads, no popups, and no stories about how the writer visited their aunt in Georgia one summer and fell in love with a local only to realize they weren’t meant for each other but how parted ways reminds them of this apple pie recipe. That was probably just copied off a pie crust package. We need more Myles Sniders recipe sites in the world.

That’s it for this week.

Now that I’m steering the Brainstorms ship, I’d love to get your feedback on what you want to see every week.

• Do you like the 3 idea format? Or do you prefer deep dives on just 1 idea?

• Maybe fewer specific ideas and instead cover more trends, problems to be solved, or general opportunities?

• What about industries? More tech? Service businesses? SMB/sweaty stuff? Franchises? Underwater arts & crafts?

I’m here to give the people what they want, so reply to this email and let me know!

— Andrew ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Mixpanel for Customer Unit Economics

Twitter tweet

Don’t be intimidated by the buzz-wordy title. The idea is not only genius, it’s pretty straightforward.

Often we hear about CAC (customer acquisition cost) being the MOST important thing. But what about the total cost of the customer after the sale?

These are things like computing costs, customer service costs, etc…

Someone should create a tool that tracks all the costs associated with a specific customer.

This would be a superpower for early-stage startups.

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🧠 2: Surrogacy as a Service

Twitter tweet

The goal is to turn something that’s currently seen as uncommon or weird, into a mainstream behavior.

Uber made taking rides from strangers normal. Airbnd made staying in a stranger’s house normal.

Someone will do this with surrogacy.

🧠 3: Hanging Christmas Lights

Twitter tweet

This is a killer thread that got me thinking…

Simple businesses are like a classic grilled cheese sandwich: Are they fancy? No. But they're easy to create and surprisingly good.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: AI Agents for Taxes

Twitter tweet

Tax season has officially ended.

I promise you more than a few people felt the pains of wading through endless forms and getting their documents in order.

In the next year, we’re going to see loads of “AI agents for {industry}” businesses make big bucks.

Taxes feel like a great place to start.

A quick word from our sponsor:

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🧠 2: Credit Card Points SaaS

Twitter tweet

A website called Mo Points charges $500/hour to give you actionable advice on how to spend credit card points.

People love it.

Take their ‘system’ and turn it into a SaaS tool.

🧠 3: Dump Trailer Rentals

Twitter tweet

Business isn’t complicated, but people make it complicated.

It’s okay to play the game on easy mode.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: YC for Creators

Twitter tweet

This is a cool idea, but I’ll take it a step further.

Someone should create the YC for creators.

Creators are like less capital-intensive startups:

• Growth is their primary objective early on

• Connections to other creators drastically increase the odds of making it

• Mentorship 10Xs progress

The cash-for-equity model won’t work - most of these businesses won’t become $100M+ empires.

But, you could set up a rev share model so there’s upside for both parties.

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🧠 2: Mint 2.0

Twitter tweet

If you haven’t heard, Mint officially shut down a few weeks ago.

There are now millions of customers looking for a solution to fill the gap - from what I’ve read, there aren’t a lot of good options.

Mint Shutting Down + Consumer Facing AI = $$$

Timing is one of the most critical pieces in startup success. If you’ve ever wanted to build a consumer finance app, the time is now.

🧠 3: Luxury Porta Potties

Twitter tweet

Had you told me that at the age of 30, I’d want to throw away my tech job to start a porta-potty business, I’d have called you crazy…

But here we are.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week! But first…

🚨 I’m selling Brainstorms 🚨

The time has come for me to focus my attention on other projects.

But don’t worry - I’m going to take the time to find the right buyer… it’s my baby after all.

If I can’t find the right buyer, then you’ll be stuck with me a little longer.

Are you interested? Respond to this email and I’ll send you more details.

PS I’ll do a sweetheart deal if the person is a good fit 😉

🧠 1: Skool Analytics Platform

Source

Two of my favorite research tools are (or… were):

• GummySearch: A tool that helps users research audiences on Reddit. It can help users find pain points, solutions, content ideas, and sales leads.

• Subreddit Stats: A tool that highlights trends and growth of Subreddits. Unfortunately, when Reddit jacked up the price of API access, a lot of the site features turned off.

Skool is the new kid on the block, and it’s growing FAST.

The same two tools could be built for Skool and crush it.

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🧠 2: arXiv Weekly Digest

Twitter tweet

If you’re like me (and 99% of the population), you have no idea what arXiv is.

If you do… well, congrats you’re a nerd. *proceeds to dish out a wedgie* 

But in all seriousness, arXiv is one of the largest collections of academic articles ranging from physics, computer science, finance, and more - and it’s all free.

The problem? The site is clunky, and it’s time-consuming to read through 20-50-page research papers to find the golden nuggets.

Using AI, you could build a solution that reads each article, finds the important points, and curates them into a weekly newsletter based on the reader’s preferences.

🧠 3: Inflatable Nightclubs

Twitter tweet

Is this a good idea? 🤷‍♂️

But I do know this:

1. This has HUGH social media potential

2. There are a lot of upsell opportunities

3. You can buy an inflatable nightclub for ~$1,000 and rent it out for $250 - $400. Not a bad side gig.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Personal CRM 🤝 AI

Twitter tweet

There are 3 (shitty) businesses EVERY entrepreneur has started:

1. Todo list app

2. Dropshipping

3. Personal CRMs

These ideas might still be terrible, but it’s worth taking a second look now that AI has entered the picture.

Having an AI search my network for hyper-specific criteria and give me matches would be a game-changer.

The closest competitor is Affinity - but it’s expensive.

Someone could build this in a weekend all off the back of ChatGPT.

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🧠 2: DTC Zyn

Twitter tweet

I’m young enough to know what Zyns are, but old enough not to get it - 30 is a weird age.

For those of you who aren’t hip like me, Zyn is a brand of nicotine pouch that has Gen Z’ers in a chokehold.

If you’re down to play in the ‘vice’ business space - this is a winner.

• High repeat purchase rate (it’s literally an addictive substance)

• Cheap to ship/warehouse

• Capitalizing on a massive trend

🧠 3: Community Lead Gen Agency

Twitter tweet

Marketing within communities like Reddit and Facebook got me 1,000s of subscribers to Brainstorms.

Why don’t marketing agencies offer this service? It’s a bit ‘gray hat’ against most community’s guidelines.

But, if done correctly (and subtly), it works really, really well.

A stupid simple opportunity is to build a Community Marketing Agency and rake in cash.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Viral Video 🤝 News Outlets

Twitter tweet

Every day, a new video goes viral on some social platform.

News outlets want to share that content with their audiences.

How does that happen?

News outlets have teams of people manually reaching out to creators to get licensing rights to videos.

Huge pain in the ass.

There are a couple of ways someone could tackle this problem:

• Unsexy way: Start an agency that acquires the right to sell licenses on behalf of the creators. You manage all the back and forth with news outlets and take a cut of the profits.

• Sexy way: Create a self-serve marketplace connecting creators and news outlets. Creators upload their videos and news outlets can purchase the rights all via the platform.

A credit card too good not to talk about…

Robinhood is launching a new CC and it’s taking over the internet:

1. 3% back on all purchases is INSANE

2. 3% IRA match (that’s as much as you’d get at a FT job)

3. No annual fees

To top it off - it looks so slick 🔥

🧠 2: Costco for X

Twitter tweet

Supplements are all the rage. Everyone (and I mean everyone) I know has at least 3 daily supplements in their routine.

The business behind supplements is pretty insane:

• High profit margins

• High customer repeat purchase/LTV

• Very cheap to warehouse and ship

The challenge? It’s very competitive and highly saturated.

With the Costco model, you could offer most supplements at a fraction of the price (50% off or more).

This would create insane value for customers. A deal so good that you could break through the noise and get customers FAST.

🧠 3: Vacant Land Photos

Do I believe everything in this video? No.

Do I think this is a unique side hustle? Absolutely.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Roast My _______

Twitter tweet

Olly roasts landing pages… well he used to roast landing pages.

For $350, Olly made a ~10min video telling you all the reasons your landing page sucked and how to make it better.

Quick math tells me he made $300K+ doing this 😮‍💨 Not too shabby

The lazy entrepreneur will see this unfulfilled demand and copy the service - and it just might work. But, I bet there are already 10+ clones floating around.

But, this concept can be applied to several other niches:

• Roast my AirBnB listing

• Roast my Esty page

• Roast my SaaS onboarding

• Roast my resume

• Roast my newsletter

• …..

A quick word from our sponsor:

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Before you take a demo you should pre-screen the product. Just how companies like Wednesday.fm have created the pre-screen platform for job interviews.

Haggle has created a platform to let you request 5-10 minute personalized demo videos. You can skip sales demos. Get the information you need. 100% free and anonymous for buyers.  

Then if you are interested either say yes to a demo, request more information or decline the request.  

🧠 2: PayPal Lead Gen

Twitter tweet

This is either genius or incredibly annoying… I’m leaning toward genius.

A few ideas:

• Create a service that scrapes potential leads’ PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo info

• Scrape leads yourself and sell the list

• Create an agency that specializes in cold outreach via payment platforms

Keep in mind, once the novelty of this wears off, it won’t be effective.

🧠 3: SMB Google Reviews

Story time.

I visit my local urgent care (primary doctors are for chumps) a couple times a year.

After I leave, I get the same text message:

The result? 4.5K reviews on Google - that’s a lot of lunch.

Spinning up an agency that manages those messages is genius.

You charge the business per review. You don’t get reviews? Then it’s free.

10 businesses * 25 reviews/month/business * $20/review = $5,000/month

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Delphi 🤝 Dating

Twitter tweet

I’m a spoken-for man, but the modern-day hell of online dating isn’t a distant memory.

Here are some truths:

• Everyone HATES using dating apps and complains about how superficial they are… but they work.

• Online dating is a HUGE - 350M people use dating apps/sites

• People will pay big bucks to find love - Hinge did almost $400M in revenue in 2023

Here’s the billion-dollar idea:

Create Delphi for dating.

Delphi is an AI product that creates a digital copy of you.

Using social media profiles, text messages, emails, internet search history, and other interests, you could leverage AI and create the perfect matchmaker.

Is this some Black Mirror shit? Yes. Do I think this is inevitable? Also yes.

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🧠 2: Automated Product Requests

Twitter tweet

Max just gave you the blueprint to an amazing side hustle.

Here’s what I’d do:

• Enhance this data using GummySearch, Quora, and Facebook Groups.

• Cold email these product requests to startups that just raised seed rounds. Here’s how to get that list.

  • They have money

  • They’re likely still trying to find product market fit

• Offer to keep sending them these updates for $50/month

PS In the comment section he gives away the exact automation he’s using to pull this off

🧠 3: Mobile Coffee Carts

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There’s money everywhere. You just need to get after it.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend dozens of hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Inbox Agent

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I pay $1,000/month for an EA who just manages my team’s inbox. She’s awesome, but it’s expensive.

Here’s why someone needs to pursue this:

• You could build this in a weekend

• Huge TAM

• I’d 100% pay for it

Oh, and here’s a video showing you exactly how to build it👇

A quick word from our sponsor:

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🧠 2: Storyworth for Kids

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When I graduated college, my mother gave me 3 large boxes of keepsakes that she collected over my childhood.

I go through those boxes every year - it’s my favorite ritual.

Storyworth (check them out) validated that this idea should exist.

But, they focus on the aging parent’s story.

Create a service that tells the coming-of-age story.

🧠 3: Mobile Coat Checks

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I focused on the wrong things in college.

That’s all for this week. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you think!

— Keevin ✌️

Every week, I spend hours searching for the best business ideas.

Here are my favorites this week!

🧠 1: Tax Harvesting 🤝 Profits

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This is actually genius. But the stock market is confusing…

Imagine you have a collection of stamps (stocks in an EFT). Every year, some stamps might become less popular (lose value) while others become more popular (gain value).

When you sell a stamp for a gain, you pay taxes on it.

When you sell a stamp for a loss, you can ‘tax harvest’. This offsets the taxes on stamps you sell for a gain, or your total taxable income.

Here’s how this idea works:

Stamp A = currently unpopular (but you bought it when it was popular)

Now, imagine there's a robot that tells you the perfect time to sell Stamp A so that the sale price + tax harvesting is greater than the current market price of Stamp A.

This allows you to swap Stamp A for an identical Stamp A, and have the transaction be a financial gain.

😮‍💨 My head hurts… on to the next idea, yeah?

A quick word from our sponsor:

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🧠 2: AI Podcast Summarizer

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Too many good podcasts, too little time. A few of my favorites:

1. All In

2. The Freedom Formula

3. 2 Bears, 1 Cave

4. My First Million

5. Bad Friends

🧠 3: Solar Panel Cleaning

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Simple ideas are beautiful ideas. Here’s the gist:

• Dust, debris, and bird shit reduce solar panel efficiency by 25 to 50% (this figure is debated online)

• It’s recommended to clean solar panels 2-4 times per year

How to test this:

• Use Google Earth to find neighborhoods with a lot of solar panels (Or buy/find a leads list of homes with solar panels)

• Send out flyers, cold call, run targeted ads, etc…

• Charge $199 for one-time clean, $599 for all-year cleaning (4x per year)

That’s all for this week.

— Keevin ✌️

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Haggle!

I think we can all agree, buying software sucks.  I wrote about the pains of buying software a few years ago, and someone built the solution I needed.

The solution is called Haggle. They offer a free service where you tell them your software needs and they get you personalized proposals from the best software companies.

Best part is they remove the needless sales demos and pushy sales reps.

🚨Announcement 🚨 

I’m soft-launching the first draft of How to Find Business Ideas That Don’t Suck. It’s a 15-page guide showing all the tools and frameworks I use to find and validate business ideas. You can support me by snagging it for $47 😉 

Chill Out & Cash In: Launching Your Own Cold Plunge Empire

I’m a fitness fanatic. Scratch that - I’m a fitness freak.

CrossFit? Done it. Powerlifting? Lifted it. Bodybuilding? Built it. Personal training? Trained it.

Through this fitness journey, I've realized two undeniable truths: 

1. No one loves muscles on a dude like other dudes love muscles on a dude

2. Fitness fads come and go, but when a trend hits, it’s impossible to ignore.

Right now, we’re witnessing one of the biggest fitness trends I’ve ever seen.

Today, I’m giving away a business idea that:

1. Capitalizes on this trend

2. Can be launched by anyone, anywhere 

3. Requires less than a couple thousand to kick off

Lace-up your sneakers, chug your pre-workout, and let’s take a plunge into this venture.

Cold Plunges: The trend that’s taking the fitness world by storm

The concept is simple, throw yourself into ice cold water for 1-10min. Why? For benefits like burning fat, decreasing inflammation, reducing stress, the list goes on. It’s kind like the ice-bucket challenge, but a lifestyle. 

Cold plunging isn’t anything new - ask professional athletes. They’ve been taking cold baths for years. 

But, influencers like Andrew Huberman and Joe Rogan have made cold plunging hotter than ever. Suddenly, every tech bro wants to train like a professional athlete… coding all day is tough on the joints, OKAY?!? 

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this chart from Google Trends: 

We’ve hit peak cold plunge craze. So what’s the issue? 

Cold plunges aren’t accessible to the masses. Here’s why:

1. Cost + Space: A typical cold plunge is going to cost you between $1,000 - $5,000 and most are the size of a bathtub.

2. Maintenance: Cleaning, recycling water, and controlling water temperature make owning a cold plunge a hassle.

3. Limited Use: Remember that gym membership card collecting dust? Or those running shoes that only saw daylight once? Yeah, cold plunges risk the same fate.

What’s the solution? 

A cold plunge club. Pay a small fee to have access to a facility with cold plunges you can use whenever you want.

This is the same model as a gym membership but with less equipment, less space, and more shriveled-up nuts. 

The Numbers Behind Cold Plunge Club:

If you’re still not convinced, that’s okay. Let me explain the idea with everyone’s favorite subject… ✨math✨ 

Costs:

• 2-4 Cold Plunges = $2,000 - $4,000 (One Time)

  • A plunge lasts for 3min on avg. you don’t need many to fulfill demand

  • Broker a deal with a cold plunge company. Get free cold plunges and promote their product to all your members

• Facility Cost = $500 - $1,000 (Monthly) 

  • Run your operations outside or in parks to cut on facility costs

• Miscellaneous = $500 (Monthly)

Membership Revenue: 

• Membership: $30/month  

• One-Time Use: $10/session

With only ~300 members, you're looking at a cool $10K a month. Pretty n-ice, right? (see what I did there 👀)

But the possibilities don’t end there:

• Mobile Cold Plunge: For a premium, you bring the cold plunge to them.

• Franchise the Model: You just have to nail this once and you can franchise it across cities everywhere.

  • Inspiration: Neel Parekh did this with his home cleaning business

• Create a Course: Not into franchising? Package the business blueprint and sell it for $5,000 online. Because knowledge is profit… I mean power. 

  • Inspiration: Johnny Robinson did this with his widow-cleaning business

How to Execute

The beauty of this business is that you can test demand before buying any equipment.

Step 1: Test Demand

• Google Ads: Spend $500 on Google ads and see if anything hits. If you can acquire a customer for less than 1 month's membership fee, you’ve got a winner. 

• Partner with Local Brands: See if gyms, yoga studios, dietitians, etc… will promote your service to their members. They’ve got the people; you’ve got the plunge. 

• Hang Flyers: Oldschool - I know, but it’ll work. Target areas near gyms, parks, and other places where active people spend time.

• Partner with Local Influencers: Every city has micro-influencers and they are looking for content. Offer them free membership in exchange for trying your products.

  • You can always buy one cold plunge to shoot content in and return it if it’s a flop. Work the system baby. 

Step 2: You’re In Business

• Get Free Plunges: I mentioned this above, but it’s worth saying twice. Broker a deal with a cold plunge company. Get free cold plunges and promote their product to all your members.

• Pick a Park: Where I live, public parks are bumpin’. Set up your cold plunges and offer parkgoers 50% off a plunge if they do it on the spot. Just don’t forget the towels.

• Start a Challenge: People love fitness challenges. Create a leaderboard or offer incentives for people who maintain the highest streak.

• Blow up Social: This has social media written all over it. The amount of content you can create around this business is wild. You’re doing it wrong if this isn’t your #1 acquisition channel. 

In summary, here’s why you should pursue this: 

• Capitalizing on a Hot Trend with Cool Returns: Leverage the booming popularity of cold plunges, endorsed by fitness influencers and athletes, to tap into a growing market with a unique, low-cost membership model.

• Affordable Startup with Expansive Potential: Start with minimal investment (around $2,000 - $4,000) and explore lucrative expansions like mobile services, franchising opportunities, and selling business blueprints.

• Strategic and Low-Risk Execution: You can test this business idea with almost no capital through Google Ads and partnerships with local brands and influencers, then scale with innovative strategies like park setups and social media challenges.

That’s all for this week - now go make some cold, hard cash!

— Keevin ✌️