Find What People Pay For

From Chapter 3: someone spends three months creating a course on a topic they're passionate about, launches it, and sells four copies. The problem is always the same — they started with what they wanted to build instead of what someone would pay for. Passion is not market validation. The market doesn't care what you're excited about. The market cares about its own problems.

The 3 validation signals

Research demand without spending a dollar

• Amazon reviews: read the 3- and 4-star reviews of the top books in your topic. They tell you exactly what the book was missing. That gap is your opportunity.
• Reddit: find the relevant subreddits, sort by top posts of all time, note the recurring questions.
• Google autocomplete: the suggestions are what people actually search for.
• Quora: questions with hundreds of thousands of views tell you how much interest exists.
• Competitor research: study 3–5 competitors' pricing, testimonials, and complaints. Where are the gaps?

Pain vs. aspiration

Pain problems ("I'm losing money on taxes," "my website isn't generating leads") sell fastest — the pain is present and urgent. Aspiration problems ("I want to learn photography") can sell, but need more convincing. If you're starting out, lean toward pain.

Talk to 10–15 potential customers

Not to sell — to learn. The book's five questions:

1. "What's the biggest challenge you're facing with [topic]?"
2. "What have you tried so far to solve it?"
3. "What didn't work about those solutions?"
4. "If you could instantly fix one thing about [topic], what would it be?"
5. "How much would it be worth to you to have that fixed?"

Listen more than you talk. Write down their exact words — that language becomes your marketing later. Don't pitch. Just listen.