MY FIRST MILLION · EXTRACTED
3 Killer Businesses Hidden in Plain Sight
6 business ideas that are boring on the surface, obvious in retrospect, and generating serious revenue right now.
Preview · 3 of 6 tactics
"The best business ideas look stupid to almost everyone. That's not a bug. That's the feature. If everyone thought it was smart, someone would have already built it."
Sam and Shaan do one of their signature brainstorm sessions — walking through specific business opportunities they see hiding in plain sight. These aren't moonshots. They're boring, specific, and actionable opportunities in established markets with clear customer demand and no obvious dominant player.
Opportunity #1: The Niche Job Board
General job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed) are full of noise. Specialized job boards for specific niches have lower traffic but 10x the conversion rate for both employers and candidates. Examples that make real money: job boards for remote DevOps engineers, boards for cannabis industry professionals, boards for food service managers, boards for licensed tradespeople. The model: employers pay $200-500 per posting. A board with 500 active postings per month is $100K-250K/month in revenue. Shaan built one of these years ago and sold it. Sam has invested in two. The formula works.
THE PLAY
Find a profession with 50,000+ practitioners that has no dedicated job board. Validate demand by posting in communities where those professionals gather. Charge employers from day one. Start at $199/post and raise as traffic grows.
Opportunity #2: The Newsletter + Directory Combo
The pattern: newsletter for a specific professional audience + directory that members pay to be listed in. The newsletter builds the audience. The directory monetizes both sides — readers find vendors, vendors pay to be found. Examples: a newsletter for restaurant owners with a directory of suppliers. A newsletter for independent financial advisors with a directory of tools and service providers. The newsletter costs nothing to subscribe; the directory listing costs $50-500/year. With 10,000 newsletter subscribers, you can have 500 directory listings. That's $25K-250K/year in passive directory revenue on top of sponsorship.
THE PLAY
Find a professional audience underserved by existing newsletters. Start the newsletter first, build to 5,000 subscribers, then launch the directory. Price directory listings at $99-299/year. Offer the first 100 listings free to seed it.
Opportunity #3: Licensing an Existing Local Business Model
Sam's observation: some local business models work consistently across geographies but no one has figured out how to license them. Example: a specific type of mobile dog grooming setup with a proven booking system and supply chain. The local owner makes $200K/year. Ten licensees paying $500/month = $60K/year passively. The licensees get the system, the branding, the supplier relationships, and the booking software. The original operator gets a royalty for something they've already built. This model works for any repeatable local service business with proven unit economics.
THE PLAY
Find a local business in your area with proven, repeatable unit economics. Ask the owner if they've ever thought about licensing the model. Offer to build the licensing framework in exchange for a revenue share. You don't need to operate it — you need to package it.
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