Working on Money-Making Ideas

There’s a big difference between fantasizing about making money and actually doing it. You’ve probably heard vague advice like “solve problems” or “just start.” While that sounds inspiring, it’s not enough. What you need is a practical, grounded look at how people—regular people, not just tech founders or social media influencers—turn small, simple ideas into income. The truth is, almost every success story has the same pattern: someone notices a gap, builds a basic solution, tests it in the real world, gets early traction, then reinvests that traction into something scalable.

Take, for instance, Danny Postma, a solo entrepreneur who built multiple simple online tools, like ProfilePicture.AI and LandingFolio. His starting point wasn’t some elaborate business plan—it was observation. He noticed that people often struggled to create great-looking landing pages or professional profile pictures. So, instead of hiring a team or spending months building custom software, he used no-code tools and existing AI models to create simple, usable products. He tested quickly, launched rough versions fast, and improved only when he saw demand. That first tool might’ve only made $50 or $100 per day, but he kept stacking ideas. One tool became two, then five. Within months, he was making tens of thousands in monthly recurring revenue—solo.

A completely different example is Steph Smith, who made thousands selling an ebook called Doing Content Right. This wasn't a traditional book deal or viral TikTok launch. She worked in tech, knew how content worked, and realized that many people were blogging without strategy. So she wrote a comprehensive guide explaining exactly how she grew audiences and ranked articles in Google. She self-published, shared insights on Twitter and indie hacker forums, and charged real money for it—$50, not $5. She didn’t wait for permission or hope for Amazon sales. She went direct to her audience and treated the book like a product. That’s a money-making idea done right: identify a niche, share value with clarity, and monetize it directly.

Then there’s Rosie Sherry, who turned her deep involvement in the software testing community into a business. She didn’t invent anything new. She simply leaned into what she already knew—what testers cared about, what they struggled with, what they wanted to learn. Instead of launching a product right away, she built a community. That community grew into paid memberships, sponsored events, and curated job boards. She went from participating in a niche online world to owning part of it. This approach—turning a network into a monetizable platform—is one of the most effective long-term wealth plays, and it often starts with zero upfront capital.

Let’s go even more practical. Suppose you work as a personal trainer. You’ve already noticed that most clients struggle with meal planning and sticking to routines between sessions. Instead of just offering one-on-one training, you could create a PDF meal plan and habit tracker tailored to your niche—busy professionals, postpartum moms, strength athletes. You price it at $29 and market it through Instagram DMs, local gyms, or your current clients. Even if you sell just 10 per week, that’s over $1,000 a month from one digital asset. And as it works, you can record a video course, launch a newsletter, or create a subscription for ongoing access. Many six-figure fitness coaches started this way—by productizing what they already knew, selling before scaling.

Another angle: say you’re a software engineer who keeps building side tools. You might think, “It’s just a script I use to convert Markdown to Notion,” but someone else might be desperate for it. So you package the script, write a guide, and put it up on Gumroad for $19. If it helps 500 developers, you just made $9,500. Then you improve the script and add premium features for $49. You reach out to influencers on Twitter who might want to try it and ask for feedback. You get featured in a few newsletters. Now it’s making $1,000/month, completely passively. This is not theoretical. This is how many tiny developer tools quietly become full-blown micro-SaaS businesses.

Even with no tech experience, you can get practical. One woman on Etsy realized that couples constantly searched for affordable wedding invitation templates they could print themselves. She used Canva to design a few, uploaded them, and started selling them for $10–$20 each. They weren’t custom or fancy—just clean, well-designed templates. Within a year, that Etsy shop was earning thousands per month. No code, no employees, just a clear offer and a marketplace with demand. This kind of simple, replicable product—with a clear use case and real buyers—is the definition of a practical money-making idea.

Or consider someone with a YouTube channel who notices that commenters always ask how they edit their videos. They turn that curiosity into a mini-course: how to go from raw footage to polished video using free software. They sell it for $49, mention it in their next few videos, and within a few weeks they’ve generated more than they earn from ads. Not because they went viral, but because they sold a real solution to a very specific group of people who already trusted them.

All of these examples have something in common: they didn’t start with investors, apps, or perfect plans. They started with people. With paying attention. With asking, “What do people actually need here?” Then they built only what was necessary to prove it. They charged money early. They listened to feedback. They kept going. They didn’t build billion-dollar companies overnight, but they built something much rarer—personal income engines that could scale without constant effort.

And yes, you can absolutely do this too. Whether you're a writer, a software engineer, a service provider, a hobbyist, a designer, or a freelancer, you have experiences and insights that solve real problems for real people. The only question is whether you’re willing to translate what you know into something someone else will pay for—and to do it in the scrappy, experimental, iterative way that works in the real world.

So stop waiting for your “big idea.” Pick a small one, make it useful, and ask someone to pay for it. That’s where all serious money-making starts. Not with perfection. But with motion.