Phase 1 of 2
The six questions.
Write everything. Filter nothing.
Read each question and write every answer that comes to mind. Don't stop to evaluate whether something is a good idea. You're building a raw list of your skills, knowledge, and experience. The evaluation comes in Phase 2.
What have you been paid to do in the last five years?
List every job, role, or project you have been paid for. Not just your main job. Include freelance, side work, one-off projects, anything. Write the specific skill or function, not just the job title.
Example: managed a sales team of 12, built email campaigns for a software company, wrote grant proposals, renovated bathrooms, coached youth soccer...
What do people ask you for help with?
Think about the last 12 months. What have friends, colleagues, or acquaintances asked you to help them with, formally or casually? These are things you know that others don't.
Example: reviewing resumes, advice on buying a car, setting up home networks, explaining contracts, making purchasing decisions...
What problems have you solved that took you a long time to figure out?
What did you struggle with and eventually solve: in your career, health, finances, relationships, or anything else? Things that were hard for you to learn are often hard for others. Your hard-won knowledge has real value.
Example: learned how to negotiate a salary, figured out how to get clients as a freelancer, paid off debt in 18 months, rebuilt my health after burnout...
What do you know that most people around you don't?
Industry knowledge, technical skills, process knowledge. Be specific. Not "I know a lot about marketing" but "I know how to run ads for local service businesses" or "I understand how insurance underwriting works."
Example: know how to source products from overseas, understand how to structure a partnership agreement, know how local government procurement works...
What results have you produced for employers, clients, or organizations?
Not your responsibilities. Your results. What actually changed because of your work? Revenue increased, costs reduced, time saved, systems built. These are the outcomes a business can sell.
Example: increased department revenue by $400K, cut customer support tickets by 40%, built a hiring system that cut time-to-hire from 8 weeks to 3...
What could you do consistently for three months without burning out?
Not a passion question. A sustainability question. The best first businesses are built on skills you can apply repeatedly. What kind of work energizes you rather than draining you? Be honest, not what sounds impressive.
Example: I could spend three months helping small businesses set up their bookkeeping. I wouldn't love every minute but I wouldn't dread it either...
Phase 2 of 2
Narrow it down.
Pick your best candidate.
Read back everything you wrote in Phase 1. Look for anything that appears across multiple answers: skills or problems that show up more than once are your strongest candidates. Pick the one that feels most realistic to start and fill in the three questions below.
Your Best Candidate
What is the specific skill or knowledge you would build a business around?
One thing. As specific as possible. Not "marketing": "setting up email sequences for e-commerce brands" or "bookkeeping for freelancers in their first year."
The Customer
Who specifically would pay for this?
Describe the person in one sentence. Job, life stage, or situation. The more specific, the better. "Small business owners" is too vague. "Plumbers in their first two years who are doing their own books" is specific.
The Outcome
What specific result does this person get from working with you?
Not what you do: what changes for them. "Their tax filing takes two hours instead of two weeks and they always know what their business earned" is an outcome. "I do their bookkeeping" is a service description.