🧠 Local Data Reports Business

3. Why You Need to Make Your First $1 & Building a Content Business Without Relying on Social Media

What’s up my people! Welcome to 3 ideas on Sunday!

Before we dive into today’s idea, let’s connect on Twitter!

And if you have any ideas for this newsletter, check out our suggestion box!

1. Business idea of the Week: Local Data Reports

Do you know what the best types of products are? I’ll give you a hint.

You can’t touch them. But you can sell them over and over.

You got it! The best types of products are things you can create once and sell twice.

This includes products like software, data, courses, etc.

It takes a lot of time to create, but once it’s built, you can sell it to an unlimited number of customers.

And they’re extremely valuable if they provide a solution or insight to a customer that they don’t have. This is why US companies are spending over $10 billion per year to get data on their target customers.

So how can we create products like this?

The idea: Collect local data, package it into a report, and sell it to businesses that need the insights.

There’s a ton of different sets of data we can collect, but let’s take a look at some ideas.

Lawn Care: Knock on every door in a neighborhood and ask how much they're paying for their lawn care.

Pools: Find every house with a pool in your area and ask how much they paid for their pool and how much they pay for pool maintenance.

Roofs: Find every house in your area that had a roof replaced in the last 1-5 years and find out how much they paid and what materials they used.

Once you collect the data, you’ll package it into a market report that highlights the insights, trends, and forecasts. Potential buyers include:

1. Companies that provide these services in the area.

2. PE firms looking to buy these businesses in the area.

3. Large landlords or property management companies.

4. And many more.

Now let’s get one thing straight. I’m not saying collecting this data will be easy.

But it’s not impossible. And the data is extremely valuable to the right buyer.

This is a high-ticket offer, meaning you can charge a lot of $. Especially if you’re the only one with the data.

And since you only have to build the product once it can be an extremely high-margin product depending on how you collect the data.

Companies like CB Insights use this same business model (on a much larger scale). They collect data on the tech industry, package it in easy-to-digest reports, and sell it for big money to Fortune 500 companies. And they do $100+ million per year!

And that’s a wrap! Let me know what you think in the comments!

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2. Build a Content Business Without Relying on Social Media

The internet makes it possible to earn $1000’s every month from posting stuff online.

But figuring out how to turn your content into cash is easier said than done.

The Tilt is a twice-a-week newsletter that helps content creators with the business side of being a content creator.

They help you grow from a content creator to a content entrepreneur.

Learn how to develop ✍️ → grow 📈 → and monetize 🤑 audiences through newsletters, podcasts, courses, communities, and Web3/token projects.

Join 18k+ content entrepreneurs building and growing their content businesses.

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3. Why You Need to Make Your First $1

It seems like everywhere we look, another company is raising millions of dollars to "revolutionize” an industry.

But the reality is, 7.5 of every 10 venture-backed startups fail. There are a ton of reasons why this number is so high, but one reason is obvious: VC-backed businesses can only “go big”.

What does this mean? Venture capitalists aren’t looking for companies with “good” growth and “good” profits. VC’s want companies to grow 100X in 2 years.

They want their investment to multiply by outrageous amounts. And for good reason too. Since 75% of their investments are likely going to $0, they need the 25% of winners to make up for their losers.

So what does this mean for you? I’m writing all of this to say - most people shouldn’t try to start a business that “revolutionizes” an industry, or raise millions of funding to make happen.

You should start small.

Start with your idea. Figure out how to get your first 1-5 customers. And make your first $1.

It’s easy to get distracted with questions like “how will this scale” or “how will this make $1 million”. But these aren’t the questions you should be focusing on when you haven’t made a single dollar.

Here’s an example. The founders of DoorDash delivered every order themselves during the first few months of business.

Was this scaleable? Absolutely not.

But it got them their first $1 and proved there was a need for this service.

But here’s the best part of all. Once you make your $1, your mindset will shift. You’ll realize what’s really possible.

Need proof?