Are there things that you hate to do? I hate to mow the lawn. Yet each week as I trudge out to mow with my push mower, I look around at the other lawns in the neighborhood and notice that even though we all have mulching mowers, their lawns are always leaving clumps of grass and mine is not. That got me to wondering why my lawn looked different than theirs. So I begin to watch them as they mowed. I noticed that as they mowed, they were cutting in a circular clockwise fashion mowing towards the center of their yard. When I did this, I got the same results. When I mowed the way I normally mowed (circular counterclockwise mowing towards the center of the yard) I didn’t get clumps. If you look at a typical lawn mower, it blows grass out the right side as you’re pushing it, however when you mow with a mulching mower, the shoot is closed off and the grass is re-circulated under the mower to get chopped up in a finer fashion. While it does this, it also tries to expel the grass towards the left side of the mower deck. Each time you circle the lawn counterclockwise, the cut grass is moved towards the grass that is to be cut on the next round; i.e. no clumps. Now each time that I see my neighbors mowing, I want to yell, “other way…other way.”
Ok, I admit, this may be a stupid example, but let’s think about this a bit. What if I had various opportunities to pick up mower parts at reasonable prices. Instead of ‘just’ reselling them on eBay, I could also advertise a mowing tips newsletter that people could sign up for. I could spread the word about how to get rid of clumpy grass. I could become a specialist in this field and provide tips on how to help with various lawn problems (patchy grass, types of grass that work best in the shade vs. the sun, etc.). I can take something that I dislike doing each week (and will still like doing each week) and make a business out of the ideas associated with it (and make enough money to pay someone else to mow my yard for me).
Let’s take another example of something I hate. I hate all of the “eBay Get Rich Schemes” that are out there. There are probably thousands of ‘supposed experts’ all wanting to take your $49.95 to tell you something that isn’t worth $2. So what did I do? I was so fed up with the trash that I immersed myself for several months researching every aspect of what the few successful people out there were doing to make a difference in their business. I created this website and a series of newsletters that people can subscribe to that will provide real information about how to start a business and make it work. I want to make the information available to the masses. You’re probably thinking, “Well that’s stupid. Why doesn’t he just provide small bits here and there so people will buy his book to get the real info and make a few bucks?” Hummmm…. Good question…. hadn’t thought of that one….Actually, I did think about it. A lot! You can’t become a specialist just by doing the same bad job that everyone else is doing. You have to do more, and you have to do it in a way that attracts people to you for your information. There are lots of ways that a business such as mine can make money while providing free information as thorough as this site does. More on that later.
Bottom line, if you really want to be successful, you may not just be able to consider things that you like to do. As you research the ideas in detail, you may find that there just isn’t a market for that type of product or information. That’s when you really have to dig in and think outside of the box. Don’t limit yourself on any aspect of where you might take your business.