Dan Martell - Come Up With Better Business Idea

00:00:00.000 Hey there, Dan Martell here, serial entrepreneur,

00:00:01.840 investor, and creator of SaaS Academy.

00:00:03.240 In this episode, I'm gonna teach you how to come up with

00:00:06.280 business ideas to really flex your entrepreneurial muscle.

00:00:10.040 And be sure to stay to the end where I'm gonna tell you how

00:00:11.720 to get access to more links and content that I've created to

00:00:14.780 help you become the idea monster and the entrepreneurial

00:00:18.880 creator that I know you know you are.

00:00:30.000 So being an entrepreneur, especially if you've built

00:00:37.080 companies at scale, is both a gift and a curse.

00:00:40.580 And here's what I mean by that is, you know,

00:00:43.040 the definition of entrepreneurship is creating.

00:00:46.820 And becoming a creator means that you see opportunities

00:00:49.880 around you that other people might not see.

00:00:52.620 The challenge is most of those opportunities is things

00:00:56.100 or different areas that need improvement.

00:00:58.320 You know, areas of improvement, friction,

00:01:00.260 frustrations in people's lives.

00:01:02.260 So what's interesting is most people that don't create

00:01:06.020 businesses go around the world and they just kind of

00:01:07.920 interact with the world and they get their car cleaned

00:01:09.640 and they, you know, they get dressed in the morning

00:01:12.260 and they keep going through life and other entrepreneurs

00:01:15.740 like myself, we unfortunately have the, again,

00:01:18.900 privilege and frustration of seeing opportunity

00:01:21.920 all around us.

00:01:22.920 When I go in, for example, I go into, you know,

00:01:25.840 a store in the mall, every aspect.

00:01:28.780 My brain just goes into analyzing their merchandising,

00:01:32.040 analyzing the staff, how many staff they have on the floor,

00:01:33.840 what's that overhead cost,

00:01:35.440 I know what they're paying per month.

00:01:37.020 I analyze this, it's just because that's what I do

00:01:39.580 in my other businesses, so it's just my brain continuously

00:01:42.680 flexing that muscle has become this problem-seeking missile

00:01:46.920 and it can be frustrating for people that work with me,

00:01:49.560 my family members, because when people come to me,

00:01:52.500 I'm always like, have you ever thought of this?

00:01:54.160 and they're like, why can't you just appreciate the way it is?

00:01:56.760 And I'm like, I know, but I see this thing

00:01:59.000 and I just wanna make things better.

00:02:01.360 So, you know, if you're trying to build that muscle,

00:02:05.500 I'm excited for you because it is this thing

00:02:10.000 that once you create, it can bring incredible value

00:02:12.880 to your life and your business because you can create,

00:02:15.220 you know, resources and wealth and all this stuff,

00:02:18.080 but you also need to learn to turn it off, okay?

00:02:20.480 So I just wanna say that.

00:02:21.480 I'm gonna teach you how to develop the muscle,

00:02:23.260 but with great strength comes great responsibility

00:02:26.660 as Spider-Man would say.

00:02:28.340 Just know that it's both a blessing and a curse,

00:02:30.940 but let's get into it.

00:02:31.940 The first strategy is frustration list.

00:02:35.240 So I saw this video a while ago.

00:02:37.140 I can't find it for the life of me from Jack Canfield,

00:02:40.480 the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

00:02:43.180 I mean, that was a huge smashing success.

00:02:45.040 I've heard it's done over 250 million in revenue

00:02:47.660 as a book series, which is crazy.

00:02:49.780 It's in the top 0.1% of all books ever sold.

00:02:52.920 And in this video, he talks about developing your ideal muscle.

00:02:56.620 And his suggestion is to start to create a frustration list.

00:02:59.960 And the way he explains it, he does a very much,

00:03:03.880 he does a way better articulation of how to do this.

00:03:07.580 I can't even say it properly.

00:03:09.060 But his idea is that you want to keep a notepad

00:03:12.020 and you want to write down, or you can do it on your phone,

00:03:13.660 you want to write down things that frustrate you.

00:03:15.480 So most people find this weird.

00:03:16.640 They're like, well, nothing frustrates me.

00:03:17.740 It's like, I'm talking about, go around your house.

00:03:20.140 Think about items that are misplaced,

00:03:23.180 things that you have to do several times.

00:03:25.280 So maybe, you know, it can be as simple as, you know,

00:03:28.320 cleaning up your closet and you're frustrated

00:03:30.820 because you don't have a hook for whatever.

00:03:32.780 So you write that down, hook for bath towel.

00:03:35.360 Or, you know, I have a hot tub and the towels

00:03:38.700 aren't next to the hot tub so I might get dressed,

00:03:40.960 come downstairs, have to go all the way.

00:03:42.200 I know, first world problems, I get it, champagne problems. 0.98

00:03:45.560 I'm not an idiot, like I get it.

00:03:47.000 But I'm just telling you little examples. 0.90

00:03:48.900 So what would be a good example is a towel hook 1.00

00:03:52.300 or a towel station next to the door

00:03:54.180 right in front of the hot tub, as an example.

00:03:56.400 But it could be like organizing your garage.

00:03:58.380 Maybe you're like, well, why are all the bikes

00:04:00.780 just all over the place?

00:04:01.680 Maybe they need to be hooks on the wall.

00:04:03.240 And then it's all these things you write down, okay?

00:04:06.380 And the idea is you want to start teaching yourself

00:04:09.880 to look for these frustration moments in your life.

00:04:12.760 Things that don't feel like they're as well,

00:04:16.700 you know, structured, you know,

00:04:18.360 maybe things are out, not organized.

00:04:20.080 Maybe your closet isn't organized

00:04:21.000 and you wanna buy an organizer.

00:04:22.940 If you think about every product that's sold

00:04:25.120 at your hardware store or software that's built online,

00:04:29.940 they were all built because somebody felt a frustration

00:04:32.780 or perceived a frustration in the market

00:04:34.240 and they wanted to build a better way.

00:04:36.480 You need to start building that list,

00:04:38.560 building that muscle,

00:04:39.520 looking for those opportunities in your daily life,

00:04:42.120 around your house, maybe in your office,

00:04:44.040 your workspace, in your commutes, on your weekends.

00:04:47.100 I want you to keep adding to your frustration list.

00:04:49.300 Don't edit yourself.

00:04:50.600 Don't slow down and like say, well, that's not a good idea.

00:04:53.700 Just write as much as you can and here's the kicker

00:04:56.100 is try to start tackling some of these.

00:04:58.200 Start fixing some of these frustrations

00:05:00.300 and look at it as like entrepreneurial training,

00:05:02.800 like Navy SEAL training for the entrepreneurial mind,

00:05:05.400 the building of the muscle.

00:05:06.900 Just make, take action to get some of those items off the list

00:05:11.200 and through that process, you never know,

00:05:14.000 you might build the next thing that ends up on the podcast,

00:05:16.600 how they built that, or whatever it is, by Guy Raz,

00:05:18.960 one of my favourite podcasts,

00:05:21.200 because you might be the next X, Y, and Z company

00:05:24.440 that builds the next thing that just takes off

00:05:26.140 into a billion dollar company.

00:05:27.320 So frustration list.

00:05:29.120 Number two, idea machine.

00:05:31.340 So I want you to become an idea machine.

00:05:33.580 I got this concept from my friend, James Altucher.

00:05:36.120 He's got an incredible podcast, he's a prolific writer,

00:05:40.120 and I heard him talk about this seven, eight years ago,

00:05:44.120 where he writes down every day 10 ideas for things.

00:05:49.580 It's just an idea list and that's why he says,

00:05:51.720 I become an idea machine.

00:05:52.780 He's taken it to the level where he shares his personal story

00:05:56.240 around depression and challenges in his life

00:05:59.140 that the idea machine, the idea list of,

00:06:01.820 I think he uses like a waiter's ordering pad.

00:06:04.940 Those 10 ideas for the day, for him,

00:06:08.100 almost helped as a mindset tool to kind of be creative

00:06:11.480 because he felt like being creative

00:06:13.560 and flexing that muscle actually helped him

00:06:15.020 reset his focus, reset his mindset.

00:06:17.500 So that's super cool, but I think just the idea

00:06:20.000 of writing down 10 things, 10 ideas for businesses,

00:06:23.560 and he says every day he themes it.

00:06:25.240 So it could be like 10 books I could write,

00:06:27.280 10 businesses I could start,

00:06:28.900 10 problems in the world that need to be solved.

00:06:30.820 It's just every day, I think he's been doing this for years,

00:06:34.680 he writes down 10 things to build that idea machine

00:06:39.320 to then use that, like I said earlier,

00:06:41.760 to see if there's opportunities around us

00:06:44.260 to build businesses.

00:06:45.700 So 100% credit to my buddy James Altershure.

00:06:47.700 Definitely check out his writing.

00:06:48.900 It's prolific and amazing.

00:06:50.340 He's got a very unique style.

00:06:53.180 I appreciate it, it's raw, it's real.

00:06:55.300 And the idea machine of writing down

00:06:56.940 those 10 ideas per day,

00:06:58.240 that's his go get yourself a waiter's note

00:07:00.940 and move that forward.

00:07:02.420 Number three, gratefully driven.

00:07:04.440 So like I said at the beginning,

00:07:06.120 the gift and the curse is that some people,

00:07:11.600 If all you're doing is looking for problems

00:07:13.140 to solve in the world,

00:07:13.980 just think that you don't appreciate what you have, okay?

00:07:16.280 So this is an idea I made up

00:07:18.500 because I had to explain to my friends

00:07:20.700 that the way I look at it is I'm ridiculously driven.

00:07:24.080 If you know me, I'm just very driven, like intense,

00:07:28.780 and I'm okay with that.

00:07:30.280 And in the same sentence, I'm ridiculously grateful

00:07:33.660 for everything I have in this world,

00:07:35.760 and I don't take it for granted for one second.

00:07:38.220 And I call it gratefully driven

00:07:40.360 Because if you want to build your idea of muscle,

00:07:43.060 there's a part of your brain that won't want to do this

00:07:45.540 because it feels like you're not grateful

00:07:47.280 or you don't appreciate things,

00:07:48.580 and it has nothing to do with that.

00:07:50.460 So here's the thing is you want to be grateful

00:07:52.420 in the same sentence.

00:07:53.480 I want to be grateful for everything I have

00:07:55.600 and the people in my life and my health and all that stuff.

00:07:58.280 Grateful.

00:07:59.240 You can be grateful.

00:08:00.840 And then in the second breath,

00:08:02.540 you want to be driven towards what's possible.

00:08:05.680 The future that you could create.

00:08:07.780 Grateful for what you have

00:08:08.780 and everything that's ever been brought into your life.

00:08:10.720 The good and the bad, honestly.

00:08:11.720 I'm grateful for everything.

00:08:13.300 And then driven towards the possibility for your life.

00:08:16.820 If you can have those two thoughts,

00:08:18.800 because they are not the same, they're separate things.

00:08:22.260 They're two truths that can be true at the same time.

00:08:25.500 That is how we release the mental scripts

00:08:30.460 that could actually be holding you back

00:08:31.660 from coming up with ideas

00:08:32.700 and building the better version of yourself

00:08:34.820 because there's a conflict, okay?

00:08:37.340 So I want you to be gratefully driven.

00:08:39.480 I want you to think about that,

00:08:40.960 that it is okay to look for problems to fix

00:08:43.280 and things that are wrong and broken in the world

00:08:45.140 as opportunities and still appreciate everything you have

00:08:49.840 because you woke up today in a warm bed

00:08:51.700 and you had a cold glass of water that was clean

00:08:53.680 and you have a bathroom that works and all those things.

00:08:55.800 I get that, but we wanna be driven towards

00:08:58.400 what you know is possible for your future.

00:09:01.200 So quick recap, the three things that you need to develop

00:09:04.820 to become an idea machine to develop

00:09:07.280 your entrepreneur muscle, one, create a frustration list

00:09:10.020 and tackle it, number two, become an idea machine

00:09:12.760 by writing 10 things down per day,

00:09:14.820 and number three, you have to be gratefully driven.

00:09:18.680 As I mentioned at the beginning of this episode,

00:09:20.300 I wanna share with you a bunch of other videos.

00:09:22.620 If you're on the journey of coming up with an idea

00:09:24.960 to grow your business, below I have listed

00:09:27.380 a few other videos that I've created in the past

00:09:30.460 to help you bring that vision and dream forward

00:09:33.440 and create it in your life so that you can be a more creative,

00:09:36.880 a more problem-solving, focused, opportunity-seeking individual.

00:09:41.680 And if you think there's somebody in your life that this

00:09:43.180 video could serve, feel free to share it with them directly.

00:09:45.860 Smash that like button.

00:09:47.380 Subscribe to my channel.

00:09:49.080 I appreciate you being here and as per usual,

00:09:51.020 I want to challenge you to live a bigger life and a bigger

00:09:53.600 business and I'll see you next Monday.

00:09:56.460 Boom! 0.99

00:09:58.300 I'm on fire.

00:09:58.900 Appreciate you, bro.

Dan Martell - May 04, 2020

Come Up With Better Business Idea

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