What if I really can't get inspired by any idea?
 

Hi all! Steve says that if you say you don’t know what business you want to start, then it’s just a lame excuse. But what if I really don’t have any ideas that would inspire me?
I used to think: ok, if the lack of ideas is just an excuse, I have to stop giving excuses and just start my own business. Last year I launched my website and put Google AdSense on it. The main ideas of my work seemed rather interesting, but not that much. As I couldn’t make up anything else, I just kept working on my website and promoting it. I had about 40-60 visitors a month and after a year I earned 69 cent))) At last all the work became really boring to me and I shut down the site. Then I launched a blog, but after a couple of months, I realized I wasn’t interested in working in that direction as well. Then another website and again, after some time, I realized it was a dead end for me.
Then, some days ago I stumbled upon one business idea – making multimedia photo albums. It had never occurred to me before (though I think it’s an old idea). I immediately started planning, then launched one of my multimedia albums I had done before on YouTube and registered as a freelancer on 3 websites. So, I really got inspired and I’m sure it’ll work and I like this kind of work. The only minus is that I’m a freelancer, but I’d like to be a website owner.

So, my question is the following: is that a lack of ideas really just an excuse?! I started everything immediately with multimedia albums, but I’m stuck with ideas about a website. Could it be that I really just can’t get inspired by any idea for a website?
Website owners, where did you get your ideas for your websites?
Thanks.

Not everybody has to enjoy making a website. There are a lot of other ways to make a living as well.

The thing about online marketing is that it, itself, is not a business. It is only a method of communication. It also happens to be the fastest, cheapest, and often the most effective way of reaching people. It also has the lowest start up cost of any business model. (Take $100 and the right knowledge, and you can literally create a business online that starts making money immediately)


In the old days, if you wanted to make money, be a good salesman, or advance higher in a company, people would always say work on your communication skills.

Well today, in the age of the internet, you must work on your online communication skills, which could also be called internet marketing. Learning to create an effective web presence is like learning a new language. You can't talk someone into buying your product unless you can actually speak in a way they understand.

Obviously, you can't sell things online unless you understand the how-to's. Sure, you can always by-pass the internet and try to make it in the "real world", but good luck trying to be self-employed in it. Most "real" businesses cost 10,000's to 1,000,000's of dollars to start up. Steve's website, as he has said many times, cost him less than $10 to start up.

Before you focus too much on the medium, perhaps you should work a little more on your message.

It's good to have knowledge of online marketing techniques, but what exactly is it you want to market? What kind of message do you want to spread to other people? How do you want to impact the world you live in, and the lives of others?

Where do you want to go with your life? What is it that you would do if you knew without a shadow of a doubt that you could not fail?

Your motivation does not lie in your medium, it lies in your message, your goals, your raison d'etre. Without a message, a medium has no purpose.

You can have the fastest, most tricked-out automobile in the world, but if you don't know where you want to go with it, all you'll be doing is going nowhere, really fast.

And who knows, once you have your message and your goals clearly defined, you may find that a donkey is sufficient for your purposes.

I want to create a website as I want a passive inocme and owning a website seems the most attractive form of it for me. Generally speaking, Steve is an example to me in this field (though I don't strive for such a large activity and influence so far).

Davidchung, I think you're right. However, pondering on my message, I'm coming to the only conclsion: I want Nothing for other people. Perhaps, I have to change my mind))) Or just define my message that has nothing to do with other people...:confused:

The is a bad example because he isn't a person who started a website to make passive income.
He's motivated by his message and therefore authentically creates value, he also had multiple years of experience with selling over the net before he started his blog.
Most people who succeeded online want more than just making passive income. Eban Pagan (Get Altitude, Wake Up Productive etc) said that those people who go online with the intent of making passive income mostly never do as the kind of person who succeeds through their own motivation usually isn't interested in the dream of passivity.

That said maybe SBI is the right thing for you. It helps you with clarifying a topic and also gives you a step by step process.

Julia It sounds like I have a similar mindset to you, but I might be a few steps in front of you, so might be able to give you some advice that is helpful.

I'm web designer, I too have created a couple of sites that I thought could work well with my skills and earn me a passive income.

Although, I too got bored and sick of them... I no longer see them as a failure, infact what doesn't work for me, gets me closer to what I really want. It helps me sift through what I want and what I don't want.

I have learnt so much from these sites I created. So what value info did I come away from these sites?

Well doing these sites, brought me closer to my real passion.
I can put up a site together the way I want, because of my drive a determination.
I cannot work on sites that I am not passionate about.
I've learnt a lot about social networking and internet marketing.
Google ranking and SEO.
Don't start something up in an over-saturated market.
Doing these sites, made me realise what I am passionate about (or at least closer to what I think my passion is).

I now know I need to work on something that involves:
design
a community that helps each-other grow
a fun creative friendly environment
something where I can help other people to grow and other people want to contribute to help people grow
creative activities are done on the site for fun
something that looks aesthetically pleasing
I want a business where there is no real authority, the people I work with all want to create something great and love to work on it and help it grow.
My work colleagues will have fun and be goofy like me :)
I can't just sell a product, it has to go deeper than that.
I can't do affiliate marketing as it doesn't align with who I am and is far less people orientated. I would be just creating a product and then just getting money...that doesn't interest me.
I can't do something cheesy.

So if I was you I would look at what you don't like about these sites, I would assume it because you couldn't imagine yourself spending 24/7 on the content or product. The trick is to find out what you could work on 24/7. So now you obviously know a few things you already don't like working on, so break that down and say to yourself, why is that?

Julia start looking at what other entrepreneurs are doing and get inspired.
Look at Mixergy – Online Business Tips from Successful Entrepreneurs and Internet Business Blog - Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

Start looking at what worked for entrepreneurs and what didn't.

Hi Julia... I believe it's all about passion -- because that is what motivates you to work on your website hour after hour until it's the success you always dreamed it would be.

I used SBI to create my first website and that was the single best advantage I ever gave myself in online business. It gave me direction all the way, but most of all, it helped me choose my website niche and actually think hard about it before I put in all that effort to making it a success.

First I chose lucid dreaming because its an amazing skill and I'm lucky enough to have nailed it myself over the years. I also knew it had huge appeal for other people. As an introvert I feel very passionate about my "inner worlds" and the topic of lucid dreaming just did it for me.

Then I chose natural vision improvement because, again, this is a relatively unknown area and after having success with it myself I felt compelled to spread the word. I know how frustrated people get by having to wear glasses and the fact that I had found a realistic solution gave me so much motivation.

Thirdly - just last week, in fact - I decided to make a website on Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) as I have two myself and they bring me so much happiness I can't even convey. After researching this niche with SBI I found it had suitably high demand and so began the website building process again. I love every minute because I am passionate about my topics and with the expertise of SBI behind me I know I cannot fail.

If I were to sum it up - choose a topic that you always end up talking to people about. Something you love to chat about, something that really gets you excited. Then go do the keyword research and that will ensure you're onto a profitable subject. Unless you live under a rock there is absolutely nothing stopping you from finding the perfect niche! Just spend a few days mulling it over, sleep on it, and your next winning idea will soon pop into your head. :)

Off topic but have you ever tried these brand of pinhole readers?
Pinhole Glasses - Designer Styles by ClearVision Hawaii
They claim that regular pinhole glasses are good for outdoor uses because of the fact that you lose 35% light which reduces it's functionality and is counter-productive.

do like the post-war Japanese... "borrow" ideas... and make them better :)

Thanks for the comments again.
Vartann, interesting method, perhaps, I should try it.
Rebecca, I liked this practical solution - to choose a topic I always end up talking to people about. I've realized I've been talking about movies much recently, and all the other topics are always trivial. No wonder I don't have any ideas for a business...

Julia- There is a popular SBI website on classic horror movies, The BEST Horror Movies, For the Discerning Horror Freak... - which shows the concept works. How about something like that? One caveat - it can't be simply movie reviews as you'd be competing with Rotten Tomatoes, Empire, IMBD... Instead it would be your own "take" on your chosen genre - so you'd have to get creative. See how this horror site has listed top villains, monsters, and heroes? It feels like we're entering their own little world, and they're actually adding something to the horror movie experience. Interesting idea - and if you are truly passionate about movies then it will be a lot of fun to create.

I agree with ClearVision Hawaii on this - don't bother with smooth pinhole lenses. It is just a point of vanity. Besides, I dont recommend wearing pinholes outside as you have little peripheral vision. Pinholes are not a replacement for prescription sunglasses. They are a vision training aid. And you only need to wear them for 15 mins per day to see a difference, according to anecdotal evidence and my own experience. (If you are nearsighted you can wear them watching TV and get an easy workout). See my article on pinholes to understand more: Pinhole Glasses: Improve Your Vision with Pinhole Eye Glasses If you want to discuss this more, feel free to start a new thread.

Rebecca, funny enough, but movie reviews bore me to death and I don’t know why I’m talking mostly about movies and would hate to devote a website to all this. Probably, it’s the range of the stories that fascinates me or maybe that’s the emotions that movies give to me – that’s why I keep talking about various movies. I think I need to extract that one thing that gets me interested in movies. Anyway, I’ll definitely use your advice about listening to what I’m talking about most of the time as a guideline to my calling. I suppose I should get myself interested in something so much that I’ll start to talk about it often… )))

You're obviously curious about creating and owning websites and trying to make them profitable, so go interview some successful website owners and ask them how they did it. Just email or call them and ask for an interview, you can offer them a link back to their website. Put up mp3s of interviews and charge for transcripts, or ask people to sign up for your list to gain access to your interviews, then when you get more people visiting your website ask them what they most want to know about creating profitable websites, take the top 5-10 questions/areas of concern and create an information product, probably through a combination of more in-depth interviews and research. Presto, you've got a website that draws visitors in (with your free interviews) and an information product that solves their greatest concerns to sell to them.

For me... interests about which I'm naturally passionate and have been for years... subjects about which I have naturally developed expertise because of that passionate interest. There's no substitute for sharing what you love, and loving sharing it.

For those sites I've picked more "strategically" based on internet marketing guidance or other reasons... never made a penny and dismantled them all.

Everyone loves movies... There are ones we love and ones we hate; the ones we love have connected emotionally with us in some way, or made us think differently about the world, or ignited our own inner passion. I think this is only natural, as movies are creative works and designed to entertain and inspire us. So the demand is there, the question is whether the market is already saturated. You could go down this road with the concept of "movies that will change your life" - so you'd feel suitably passionate about every movie you write about.

Anyway, movies aside. Take a look at niches in psychology, as these can be very popular and fascinating to write about (if you're anything like me that is!) Do you know anything about: body language / reading people, how to improve your memory, human instinct, unexplained mysteries, hypnosis / guided meditation... These were on my original list before I chose lucid dreaming. Just throwing some more ideas out there. ;)

Julia.Ru... perhaps these questions help:


- What would you do for free?
- What makes you excited?
- What makes you lose track of time?
- What would you do if you couldn't fail?
- If money didn't exist and you could only pick one thing to do for the rest of your life, what would you do?

Here are some helpful links:

Erin Pavlina: How to Find and Ignite Your Passion
How To Find and Ignite Your Passion

Steve Pavlina: How to Discover Your Life Purpose in 20 Min:
How to Discover Your Life Purpose in About 20 Minutes

Gary Vaynerchuk on doing what you love (15:27):
YouTube - Web 2.0 Expo NY: Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library), Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape

Thank you, guys, for your thoughtful replies, for really trying to help me.
Rebecca, it's strange, but though I like movies, I'm not interested in dedicatin a website to them at all... I'm also addicted to psychology, I read books on it and even had an idea of making a website where people could resolve their iterpersonal conflicts online using the principles of Eric Burne's transactional analysis, but again all this didn't inspire me enough and I already know that I won't go too far with persistence alone, but without any interest.
As for psychology itself, I like it, but I wouldn't like to devote too miuch time to it as very often it looks like drowning in one own's thoughts.
(By the way, I've noticed one more thing I like talking about - I'm into horoscopes, but only those written by Linda Goodman.)

Thanks, Davidchung, for your idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem attractive to me, but that's just me...

So far, I think I'll use your idea, Vartann. Now I'm searching for the most popular and interesting websites and I'll try to make my own, but better.

Maybe, it'll have to do with cheering up people, as I like to do it and I often try to cheer up myself as well , because I'm very pessimistic inside. I also think having an upbeat mood is one of the most important things in life and 99% of people are unhappy. All in all, I'd like my business to be meaningful enough for my whole life, so I don't know yet how cheering up people will fit in and in what form in will be, but I think I'll work in this direction.

So, thank you guys - at least I don't feel stuck now and your replies have made me think.))

i agree with Henri,, u need to find your purpose and passion first and then do something you absolutely love and the money will follow the path you have taken, but you have to be prepared for a waiting period, to pay your dues.

I agree, This are good questions for finding passion.

Thaks for the links, Henry J. I’ve already read Steve’s article you mentioned and as for Erin’s (I’ve never read her articles before), I really liked the part about contribution (what makes you feel like you’ve contributed). As for your questions, I think I’d answer them this way:

- What would you do for free?
Can’t say for sure. Probably, any work (only not too harmful for my health) if it lasts not longer than 4 hours a day ))

- What makes you excited?
That’s the problem. I seemed to have many interests when at school and at the university, but nothing excites me these days. If anything excited me, I would make plans immediately and started working on them. But now I seem to have only away-from motivation (I hate working for someone all day long) for starting my own business.

- What makes you lose track of time?
I can’t recall any cases when some activity made me lose track of time. Maybe, I don’t remember something, but now I can’t say I’ve ever experienced it yet.

- What would you do if you couldn't fail?
I think I could do practically anything as I have strong faith in myself, because I remember many cases when I had zero experience and knowledge in something and had to do it, somehow, someway, trying to do my best to excel.

- If money didn't exist and you could only pick one thing to do for the rest of your life, what would you do?
In general, money never interested me much, I just want to have enough for a living. If I had more interest in money, at least I’d have some motivation to work, and now I don’t need all the money I earn (I started giving parts of my salary to my parents), so I have no sense at all why I work))
But coming back to the question)), I wouldn’t like to pick just one thing to do for the rest of my life, because isn’t it too limiting? The same goes for finding one’s life purpose: isn’t it too limiting as well? For example, if my life’s purpose is to cheer up people? Even if someone’s life purpose is to grow and help others grow, is that all? I’m not speaking about the variety of mediums, but right about the variety of purposes or probably the category of purpose/mission/message itself: isn’t it just too small for one’s life?

However, philosophizing apart, I think finding at least one purpose would be a nice)) thing to me as I seem to have been depressed since 18 (especially at 20-23). I always knew what I wanted in life until I was 20, but approximately since that time I’ve withdrawn from almost everything and everybody and have lost my ideal plans. One of my life purposes seems to be about cheering up people, but I have to figure it out…

I think you’re right, 3afash and PerDev, finding my purpose should come first. But though I haven’t found it yet, recently some more concrete ideas have occurred to me. I’ve searched for the most popular websites and found one called Peegly. It’s in Russian, but I suppose the idea may have come from abroad. On this site people can share their joy or sorrow or confess in something or to someone. This idea resonates with me and I want to do the same, but better)), following Vartann’s advice. First of all, I don’t this site to be a place mainly to whine on and I would also like to be it for a large auditorium (due to the topics or organization of this site, its visitors are girls of 18-35 with higher education)) (it stated on the site itself).

So, at least now I have something to start from again, and probably during working on this idea, my purpose (or purposes) will become clearer)).

Julia,

Try keeping it simpler. On these forums the concept of a life purpose is commonplace. Granted some people appear to have one but out you may find that searching for perfect answers holds you back.

My advice would simply be to keep doing things that are a slow and steady improvement. In other words it doesn't have to be a life changing, earth shattering moment, just keep moving forward doing things that are a small improvement on your current situation.

I'm probably in a minority here for thinking a life purpose doesn't exist and that passions change over time- sometimes rapidly.

It's funny I just clicked to what my life passion was a few months ago and it was always there...I just ignored it...or because it never worked in my favour I gave-up on the idea. It's now so obvious but at the time, i was sure there was no life passion for me.

My passion is being an entrepreneur and coming up with innovative ideas online. The problem was my ideas never seemed to come into fruition and so I just gave up on my entrepreneurial endeavours...thinking it's obviously not right for me. But the challenge of entrepreneur is not to give-up and keep ploughing ahead. Now that I realised this insight I am absolutely loving learning about business and entrepnurial endeavours. It gets me really excited.

But everyones right you have to find your passion..I am entrepunerial but I have learnt from that I still have to build business related to other passions of mine. Otherwise I wont motivated to stick to the idea. So my area of interest are design, homewares, interior design, furniture etc

Affiliate marketing for example will never suit me, because you usually sell products that you're not really passionate about, affiliate marketing is ugly (visually) and seems over saturated. These things don't align with my design background and how I like things aesthetically pleasing and unique.

But escapeplan has a point...we are always changing and so too are our passions.

Ellie, I have to disagree with you cannot sell products through affiliate marketing that you're passionate about. I am doing exactly this. In fact, I use the products myself and my whole family does. It all comes down to finding something you're passionate about and finding a company that has an affiliate program.

As to finding your passion. It is usually hiding in plain sight and once you find it, you go "but I knew that already". At least that was the case for me :)