How to Turn Problems Into Cash

why I walk
Image by tauntingpanda via Flickr

You may have heard that New York has gotten a lot of snow this year.

Heck, we’ve had more snow this season than Winnipeg, Canada (and there’s more coming).

It’s getting hard to find places to put all of it.

If you have to go out, or if you have a car, you’ll have to face huge piles of dirty snow, and trying to figure out exactly which vaguely car-shaped lump is yours.

A big problem

Yesterday, I went out to run some errands and saw a woman starting to shovel her car out.  I came back over an hour later, and she was still working on it (now with someone helping her).

Some of the more enterprising among us have turned this problem into an opportunity.  I passed another car with a little flag-like sign stuck on the roof.  It said, “If you want to free your car, call 212———.”  Bet that guy is cleaning up (sorry, couldn’t resist).

What can you fix?

When  you’re thinking about a new product or service, look around.  See what other people are complaining about.  Or struggling with.  What frustrates them?  Is there a way to profit from those frustrations?

Someone decided to use a big snowstorm to make money.  I saw people asking for website critiques over and over – and making the same mistakes repeatedly.  So, I created a website review ebook.  I also offer a personal website review service.

Have you done this?  What services do you offer based on common problems?