Today I’ll continue talking about the moment after I have what I consider to be a great idea. In that moment I ask the question “Why hasn’t this been done before?” One possible answer to that question is “Because no one cared enough to do it.” I’ll discuss how I handle that situation.
Most of my side projects start in this situation. I’ll identify a problem I have that I can solve fairly simply. For example, my Dharma Talks app that u created because listen to Mission Dharma’s Dharma Talks was difficult in a mobile web browser because it wouldn’t keep track of where I was in the talk between my morning and evening commutes. It is a simple app but no one cared enough to make it.
Another way of phrases that statement is that no one had a sufficient incentive to build that app. Which brings us to the fundamental problem when you are in this situation – you probably can’t make money off of your idea. I knew that going into making the Dharma Talks app because I volunteered to build it for a non-profit. But I’ve had other projects where I hadn’t realized the truth of this situation and put in time and energy with no direct monetary payback. I’m OK with that sometimes, but you may not be.