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

[Julia.Ru]

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.

[Brutha]

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

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Brutha

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.

[davidchung]

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.

[Julia.Ru]

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...

[Brutha]

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).

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.

[vartann]

Originally Posted by Julia.Ru

what if I really don’t have any ideas that would inspire me?

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

[Julia.Ru]

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...

[Angela Leeds]

Originally Posted by Julia.Ru

Website owners, where did you get your ideas for your websites?
Thanks.

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.