Speaking about problems, there is always a solution for every problem. In many cases there is even more than one solution for each problem. People will tell you, find blogging ideas by reading other blogs, find business ideas on social media sites, or take a 15 minutes walk to get inspiration for your coming project.
I must say that all these are good and working techniques, and I personally followed these ideas for a long time when I first started my online business, but sometimes it just doesn’t work, and I find myself out of inspiration!
I was thinking about this while working on solving a problem on one of my sites yesterday, when an idea popped up in my mind. I finally know it.
Now, I know the best source of inspiration.
The best source of inspiration
Finally, I’ve discovered the best source of inspiration, or let me say the real source of inspiration, the ideas that can make you money!
When I look back to the past two years, I find that all my sellable ideas were actually those ideas that solve a problem. However, it shouldn’t always be about money, giving is always a good thing.
So, let me share with you some examples.
My design Project
The whole thing started as a reaction, I didn’t find someone to design my site, so I had to do it myself. One thing lead to another, I started a design business based on Thesis Theme framework, which became one of my main sources of income.
The whole thing started as a reaction, I was just solving a personal problem. It turned out that starting a web design business based on a theme framework is not a bad idea!
I never thought I would solve the same problem for many other people who became my clients. It’s great to solve problems and be making money at the same time!
Author hReview plugin
I was having a hard time implementing Google’s rich snippets for author reviews and ratings to FamousBloggers.net, probably because the blog is highly customized and it requires a lot of sensitivity while working on it.
After doing some nice work on the blog, I got a few emails from my friends and blog readers asking me if I could share the code!
My answer was a simple No!
I can’t share the code because it won’t work for anyone, it was so messy and hard coded into the blog theme, so no chance to share it. Then, I thought probably it’s a good idea to code it as a plugin and share it with everyone!
That was my first plugin ever listed at WordPress.org plugins directory!
You can download it here: Author hReview (please rate it if you like it)
Fake Traffic Blaster plugin
There is also an interesting fake traffic story behind the Fake Traffic Blaster plugin that Mo and I released recently.
This plugin saved my blog, and now it’s protected from any fake traffic that could hurt its performance.
You can download the The Fake Traffic Blaster plugin from WordPress.org (please, rate it if you like it)
Generate Box plugin
From one problem to another… while I was building the Fake Traffic Blaster site, I decided to use the Generate Child Theme from StudioPress, a really clean looking theme and it has all that I need.
There was one problem though, the Generate Box is created by a widget, which you don’t have control over. I wanted to display the Generate Box on the front page of the site, but that wasn’t possible.
I searched the StudioPress support forum looking for a solution, but there weren’t any!
So, I decided to play a little with the code and I ended up creating the Generate Box plugin.This is another cool plugin that gives you control over where you want to display the Generate Box, and you can even change and switch between its 4 color schemes with one click.
This plugins is not released yet! (If you want, I can send you a copy, just drop me an email)
Update: Generate Box Plugin has been released at wordpress.org (please, rate it if you like it)
P.S. It works only with Genesis Framework and/or Generate Theme.
Making Money Opportunity
You see, in every creation, there was a problem. This problem has been solved!
If you are lucky enough and have actually faced a few problems, then you’ve found a great opportunity to make money selling the solution!
Or, you can just be kind and share it with others.
[box type=”info”]The problem is not a problem, look at it in a different way. It could be your best money making opportunity ever, just try to solve it![/box]
I never thought of creating a background image plugin for Christmas, or another social sharing buttons plugin, I mean who cares about this anymore? Who is going to pay you money for that?
Now, it’s your turn!
As you see, problems inspire us. It’s a great source of inspiration of course if we can solve the problem. Have you ever been inspired by a problem?
So, what was your problem?
Image © igor – Fotolia.com