HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are some promising side/solo business ideas?

12 points by Thomasmack ↗ HN
Hi guys,

i am currently trying to generate ideas for a side business. However, I am having a hard time doing so. Since they say 'ideas are cheap, execution is everything' I would like to try my luck here for myself and other people who feel the same way.

Maybe you have some ideas/problems you don't want to tackle but want to see a solution for? Great! Maybe you'd like to share it with us :)

Thanks :)

26 comments

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JackOfCrows
I am a single person in a city where I don't know anyone because I just moved here. I need something that will set me up with someone to run me home from the medical clinic as I need minor surgery and can't drive myself home. They will not release me to an Uber or Lyft or anything. So I need someone to drive me, sit there, then drive me home.

The services that do this for old people think I'm insane. None of the car services will do it.

Go.

Thomasmack
Thanks for sharing! Gladly I never experienced that problem myself.
mromanuk
Interesting problem. There are therapeutic companion, mostly are for longer treatments. But I see how they can earn a few bucks with “easy” jobs like what your describe. Basically a therapeutic companion for shorter (or longer) periods, like Uber.
arthurcolle
Liability issues make this challenging, but definitely a great idea. in FL I was able to get discharged from a hospital and get an Uber, but maybe I just got lucky.
he11ow
Look for a doula. Birth-support aside, it's not too far off from what they do.
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runnerup
I have this exact same problem for an annual procedure that I travel cross-country to. I used to be able skirt the rules by claiming I had someone with me but then they changed the rules and now need that person to be with me when I check in. It’s a huge pain in the butt, I don’t know anyone in Cleveland and I hate to make family fly/drive and stay in a hotel overnight for a very minor procedure…which needs to be done at that specific hospital because they specialize in my specific condition.
emteycz
I don't understand this. Why would you need someone with you on check-in if you're an adult? Why would someone need to pick you up if it's just a minor procedure? Why don't you just pack up, sign the papers and go on your way? It's not like they can hold you there, right?
runnerup
It's a minor procedure but it involves sedative / light anesthesia. Basically I have to get my lower GI tract investigated for pre-cancer every year and they try to remove any faster growths. Nothings ever turned up malignant yet, but it's an annual check-up just in case. They give me some light sedative while they put hoses and tubes in my rectum. Perhaps I could forego the anesthesia, I haven't asked.

The "we can't let you drive yourself home" policy is always due to anesthesia/sedatives. If you're not receiving those then you can drive yourself.

bigthymer
Prostitute...even I'm not sure whether this is a joke answer
gcheong
Try posting on a FB BuyNothing group for your area if there is one. I've seen rides given for things like this and other things (like taking trip down to the South Bay to go to the only remaining Arby's).
BlameKaneda
I want to have fitted sheets that are easy to put on a mattress and will not snap back when I'm trying to put them on.

Fitted sheets are constructed the same, more or less, so something that breaks the mold and does the above would be a game-changer.

dazc
The answer is a loose-fitting sheet with a draw-string fastening.

Remember me when you make your first billion.

ipaddr
What you want to work on, what people want you to work on and what might make you money live on different islands.

Pick one and go for it.

What would you pay for? What do you want?

What do people want? I would want an automatic family tree builder based on dna. I wouldn't pay for it.

What will actually make you money? Spamming memes on twitter selling your new coin

stikfa
I attend university in a small US town about ~2-3 hours from city life.

There is no public transit around here, so one of your best bets to get to the city (and back to university) is to find students with a car that are driving in your direction. The going rate that a student will charge you to let you ride with them is about $30.

Students post offers for rides (and requests) in a convoluted way: through a Facebook ridesharing group. Facebook is a terrible platform for this. The posts are not displayed chronologically. And even if they were, they offer rides for different dates which are impossible to sort; you have to manually scroll through the page and hope for the best while you wade through endless expired or irrelevant posts.

Apparently there used to be an app that people used at one point, but the developers graduated from school and I guess it stopped being supported. Anyway, I'd definitely like a better way of finding rides.

llampx
Something like blablacar?
stikfa
I don't think you'll get uni students to use something like that. Really just a filterable calendar that can somehow scrape info from the fbook groups and give me contact information would be wonderful.

But I've heard scraping facebook isn't a good idea, so... here we are.

llampx
blablacar and mitfahrgelegenheit.de were built primarily for poor-ish people and students. And these are sites/apps which have a good UX for the purpose of finding and booking rides, or offering rides. So I can't agree that you can't get uni students to use something like that. Maybe in the US where seemingly everyone has a car or doesn't need a ride very frequently.

Suggestion: try going on blablacar and booking a ride from Berlin to Munich, or Paris to Lyon. I think you'll find it quite straightforward.

jamil7
While I agree ideas are cheap I think you're probably coming at this from the wrong angle. If you ask people what problems they have it's quite likely you won't actually find ideas people are willing to spend money on, or enough money to sustain a business. People will say they want all kinds of ideas and apps and services and then you give it to them and they realise they don't actually need/want it. Listen to people's problems but also always look for places people or businesses already spend money and work back from there.
warrenm
>Hamster Burial Kits & 998 Other Business Ideas

>Ideas are a dime a dozen. The money is in the execution.

>Need proof? For Seth Godin's Alternative MBA program, this week the nine of us came up with 111 business ideas each. But ideas are only valuable when someone (like you) makes something happen.

>What follows are our 999 business ideas, free for the taking.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090305122833/https://www.sixmo...