TLDR:
- As Mark Cuban says, if you have a great idea that can generate a lot of money, you won’t sell that idea. You will use it for yourself. This principle applies even if you’re receiving ideas for free: if it’s really a good avenue to make money, then why haven’t they acted on it?
- If they did act on it, they wouldn’t have even bothered to tell you. That’s just making more competition for them, and as Cuban says, they call such people stupid.
- Instead, what you should do is find your gift and share it with the world like Picasso says. An idea you clearly have a natural talent for should be the starting point of your idea, not starting dropshipping because the guy with several hundred karma told you to.
Shooting yourself in the foot before even realizing it
Suppose you want ideas to make money (we all do), but nothing is clicking in your mind.
This may lead you to ask for ideas on certain entrepreneurial subreddits, such as r/entrepreneur, and odds are you’ll get a plethora of ideas from active users aside from the shitposts that may follow.
But asking in the first place is a bad idea.
You still shouldn't do it even if it’s not subreddits but people you know in real life.
Mark Cuban puts it aptly when talking about people on social media telling you how they’re going to make you money: when you have a great idea that can make lots of money, you won’t sell that idea, you’ll use it for yourself.
The principle applies in this case even if you’re not paying for the idea.
Most of the time, the ideas you will get are from people who have never even acted on it themselves, they probably just reached into their representative heuristic molded by the videos of people talking about how they got rich recorded in a rented-out Lamborghini and an Airbnb for the 3 story mansion backdrop to give substance and come across as credible.
If they had acted on it, they wouldn’t ever told you, because as Cuban says, that’s just creating competition for them. It’s like KFC revealing the 11 Herbs and Spices secret recipe to the general public: it won’t be finger-lickin’ good for their profits anymore.
That’s why asking people for ideas to make money is a bad idea.
Instead, what you should be doing is finding your gift and sharing it with the world as Piccaso would say.
Take note of what you find yourself spending most of your time and energy on, and the avenues where an innate aptitude is clearly present, waiting for you to put the reps in to transcend to the next level.
Rather than chasing after the leftovers of a successful idea and being a part of the ripple effect of copycats or an idea you have no idea about and are only doing it because some guy with several hundred karma on Reddit suggested it and his comment got the most upvotes, that should be your starting point: an idea you clearly have a talent for.