One Problem Solved: Could This Be the Start of Something Bigger?
What if the secret to starting a business wasn’t coming up with a brilliant idea, but finding one problem worth solving?
When people think about starting an online business, they often imagine all the things they’ll need.
A great business idea. A website. A product. A logo. A marketing strategy.
And perhaps a considerable amount of money to get everything off the ground.
It’s hardly surprising that so many people never get started!
But what if we’re looking at the whole thing backwards?
Start With a Problem, Not a Business
Think about some of the businesses and services you use regularly.
At some point, somebody recognised a problem, a frustration or something that could be done better.
And they created a solution.
It might have been something as simple as helping busy people save time, making a complicated task easier or teaching somebody a useful skill.
The important part wasn’t necessarily having a revolutionary idea.
It was understanding a problem that somebody wanted solved.
And that gives us an interesting question to consider:
What problem could you help somebody solve?
Perhaps there’s something people regularly ask your advice about.
Maybe you’ve developed useful knowledge through your career, hobbies or personal experiences.
Or perhaps you’ve encountered a frustration and thought, “Surely there must be a better way!”
Any of these could be a starting point.
Not necessarily a business just yet, but something worth exploring.
Test Before You Build
Here’s where the approach becomes particularly interesting.
Instead of spending months building a product or website and hoping customers appear, why not investigate whether people actually want your proposed solution first?
You could start by talking to potential customers, understanding their needs and testing a simple offer.
Their responses might confirm you’re onto something.
Or they might reveal that your idea needs a little adjustment.
Either way, you’ve learned something valuable before investing heavily in building a business.
It’s a principle called One Problem Solved (OPS).
Find one specific problem, identify the people experiencing it, develop a possible solution and test whether there’s genuine demand.
Simple in principle, although putting it into practice still takes some thought and effort.
Could You Do It in Four Weeks?
This approach is at the heart of the One Problem Solved Challenge, a four-week programme from Launch You.
It’s designed to help you move from exploring possible business ideas to developing an initial offer and testing it with real people.
The Challenge takes you through four stages:
- Week 1: Explore potential opportunities and identify your niche.
- Week 2: Understand the people you’d like to help.
- Week 3: Develop and price your first offer.
- Week 4: Take that offer to market and gather feedback.
It’s designed around approximately 20 minutes a day, with study guides and access to AI-assisted tools to help you along the way.
And here’s something particularly interesting.
The four-week OPS Challenge is currently offered free to keep.
Joining includes a seven-day trial of LaunchPad, the AI-supported platform behind the programme. You can continue with LaunchPad, or you can cancel but the Challenge materials remain yours even if you decide not to continue with the subscription.
There’s no guarantee that your idea will produce sales or become a successful business in four weeks. But you could finish with a much clearer understanding of what you want to offer, who it might help and how to test its potential.
One Small Beginning
As we look towards 2027, it’s tempting to imagine all the big changes we’d like to make.
But perhaps meaningful change doesn’t always begin with a big decision.
Sometimes it begins with a question.
Who could I help, and what problem could I solve for them?
You never know where exploring that question might lead.
Enjoy your day,
Dylan