Exploring Boring Businesses: How They're Making Big Money

Unbelievable but true - one entrepreneur created a $20k/month business with a simple yet effective PDF generator. Get ready to learn about more boring businesses like this.

In our exploration of boring but money-making businesses, we'll be primarily focusing on digital ventures. These digital businesses offer distinct advantages over their traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts, making them easier to set up and sustain.

What makes a boring business?

Boring businesses are boring because they do not have the mission or vision to 'save the world'. Instead, they focus on providing a service that helps customers solve one specific problem. They usually have a clear revenue model, are easy to understand and don't require a lot of capital. They can be started by people with no experience who don't need any special qualifications or education.

What makes boring businesses successful?

Boring businesses are successful for several reasons. They have low competition - because, let's face it, how many people dream of starting a boring business? They focus their attention on solving one problem rather than many. Many boring businesses are built over a longer period, focussing on customer satisfaction over revenue growth to please investors.

Challenges of a boring business

Unfortunately, nothing in life is easy. Boring businesses are no exception. There are several challenges associated with making a boring business revenue-generating.

Marketing

One of the primary challenges of marketing a boring business idea is the difficulty in generating excitement and enthusiasm among potential customers.

Unlike trendy or innovative products, it can be hard to capture users' attention. The current AI boom is a great example. Stick AI on the end of anything you're working on. You'll get SEO traffic, tons of social media engagement, and, if it's fancy enough, investors!

However, several strategies can be employed to generate interest:

1. Storytelling: Powerful storytelling in your copywriting is instrumental in building rapport with your audience, making it easier to create meaningful connections. People are more likely to purchase when they connect with your product.
2. Unique Value Proposition: Identify and emphasise the specific value proposition of the boring business idea. What sets it apart from the competition? Highlighting its distinct advantages can attract customers looking for reliable and trustworthy options. An example of this might be ease of use/1-click functionality.
3. Creative Marketing Campaigns: Inject creativity into marketing campaigns to make them more engaging. Utilise humour, interactive elements, and emotional appeal to capture the attention of potential customers.

Motivation

Maintaining motivation and enthusiasm for a dull product can be challenging. Here are some techniques to reignite passion and creativity:

1. Goal Setting: Set achievable and measurable goals to keep focused and motivated. Celebrate milestones and successes to reward efforts and maintain morale.
2. Customer feedback: Keep in touch with your customers, building functionality to make their lives easier.

Low barriers to entry

In the world of boring businesses, the low barriers to entry allow competitors to replicate products and services quickly. To stay ahead of the competition, consider the following strategies:

1. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Create a strong USP that differentiates your business from competitors. Focus on what sets you apart and the value you bring to customers.
2. Building Brand Loyalty: Cultivate a loyal customer base by consistently delivering excellent customer service and maintaining a strong brand identity.
3. Creating a Product Ecosystem: Expand your offerings by developing a comprehensive ecosystem around your product or service. This can include complementary products, add-ons, or value-added services that enhance the overall customer experience.

Boring businesses

Craft My PDF

Jacky Tan is responsible for Craft My PDF. You can find him on Twitter - @imbktan, or his website Jacky Tan.

The product

• The no-code editor removes the dependency of needing a developer to create and convert HTML into a PDF. You can simply drag and drop elements to create your own PDF documents.
• They also have reusable templates to speed up your workflow.
• The extensive feature list includes supporting, fillable input fields, charts, dynamic values and integrations with services such as Zapier.

Traffic

• Craft My PDF gets approximately 15-40k monthly visits.
• This level of traffic could generate $400/month in ads.

Revenue

• Craft My PDF is making approximately, $20k per month, $240k annually

How complicated is it to build

• Moderate to high difficulty
• Creating an editor with drag and drop functionality will require a senior engineer ~2 weeks to build a working version.
• Note: Craft My PDF has taken several hundred hours to get to its current level of finesse.

2. Fix My Speakers

Joseph Maxim is responsible for Fix My Speakers. You can find him on Twitter - @josephmxm, or his website Joseph Maxim.

The product

• Fix My Speakers is as simple as it gets. Click a button plays a sound from your speakers.
• The sound vibrates the speakers at a specific frequency that ejects the water from the speakers. Pure genius.

Traffic

• Fix My Speakers gets approximately 3.75M monthly visits. That's a lot of page views!

Revenue

• Fix My Speakers is making approximately $5k per month, $60k annually.

How complicated is it to build

• Low difficulty
• You can build this product within the day. This is a great project to learn how to code.

3. Ns Lookup

Ruurtjan Pul is responsible for Ns Lookup. You can find him on Twitter - @Ruurtjan, or his website Ruurtjan Pul.

The product

• Allows you to find all DNS records for a domain name.
• You might use this if you're the domain owner and want to check if you've configured a domain property correctly.

Traffic

• Ns Lookup gets approximately ~1M monthly visits.

Revenue

• Ns Lookup is making approximately $2k per month, $24k annually from ads.

How complicated is it to build

• Low difficulty
• You can build a version of this product within a week, another great introduction to the programming project.
• Note: Ns Lookup has taken several hundred hours to get to its current level of finesse.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our exploration of boring businesses has revealed a valuable lesson: there are riches in the niches. Simple ideas that can be executed within a week have the potential to generate thousands of dollars per month. Craft My PDF, Fix My Speakers, and Ns Lookup are as great examples of such businesses that have achieved life-changing revenue without the need for grand visions of saving the world.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur seeking a profitable venture or simply needing inspiration, it's essential not to overlook the untapped potential within the world of seemingly boring businesses. These ventures offer lucrative opportunities and the chance to create a successful enterprise by providing practical solutions to real-world problems.