My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Mimetic Desire Business Model
Building businesses around visible status displays that create peer pressure for neighbors to adopt the same service
How It Works
Humans have innate tendency to copy what they see others doing, especially visible home improvements. One adoption creates pressure for surrounding homes to follow suit.
Components
Choose highly visible home service category
Target dense neighborhoods with similar income levels
Create Instagram-worthy results that photograph well
Price as premium status symbol, not commodity
Focus geographic expansion street by street
When to Use
For visible home services, seasonal decorations, or status symbol installations where neighbors can see each other's choices
When Not to Use
For private services, B2B offerings, or products without social visibility component
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“Christmas lights installation creates visible peer pressure - once 3-4 houses on a block get professional lights, others feel compelled to match the standard”
Related Knowledge
Launch a seasonal porch decoration business
$500-1500 per job, 1300-2000 orders per year, $1-2M annual revenue with 40-50% net margins
Pivot existing contractor business to sport court installation
$50-60k revenue per job with 50% margins, competing against saturated pool market with new category
excuse-creativity-trap
Dubai Trend Forecasting
A method for predicting trends that will reach Western markets by observing what's popular in Dubai 1-3 years early
Viral-First Product Development
Designing products primarily based on their viral content potential rather than traditional market research
Start Retail, Scale Wholesale
Begin with higher-cost retail purchasing to prove demand quickly, then transition to wholesale pricing once model is val