Every new year brings new trends and hype cycles.
For entrepreneurs like you and me, each new trend brings new opportunities.
Opportunities to invest. Opportunities to make content. Opportunities to start a business.
Spotting these opportunities before anyone else is the key to succeeding in 2024.
Think about it… How successful would you be if you knew about AI, blockchains, the iPhone and Facebook ads before everyone else?
You already know how important it is to spot opportunities early. Now, you just need the tools to actually find them.
In this article, I’ll share 5 proven tools and methods to identify the next big thing before anyone else.
1. Exploding Topics
Exploding Topics is one of my favorite places to find new trends.
I just spent an hour on Exploding Topics, and I discovered worlds I didn’t even know existed.
Russian manicures. Nootropics experts. Red light eye therapy. Dumpling bags.
When I woke up this morning, I had no idea what any of these were. Now, I know hundreds of thousands of people are searching for these topics every month.
What’s the big opportunity?
Within every trend, there is opportunity for entrepreneurs to take advantage of the increased demand.
Let’s take ‘walking pads’ for example.
A walking pad is a portable treadmill that many people put under their desk at work.
Demand for walking pads is through the roof… 450k searches every single month.
Armed with this data, there are countless opportunities to invest, make content, and start a business:
- Sell accessories: Sell the bells and whistles that go along with a walking pad. Anti-slip mats to protect the floor. Lubrication kits to reduce wear and tear. Space-saving storage solutions like wall mounts. LED lighting kits. Cleaning supplies.
- Walking pad content: Fitness influencers can take advantage of the trend by creating walking pad workout videos, including affiliate links in their content.
- Sell them to offices and hotels: Sell walking pads to offices (to increase employee satisfaction) and hotels (to add to rooms). Sell in bulk, provide custom branding and offer maintenance packages.
- Walking pad rental service: Start a service renting out walking pads for those wanting to try before buying, for short-term fitness goals, or with limited space.
Your mission: Take 5 minutes to scroll through Exploding Topics and find a topic that piques your interest. Brainstorm how you could use your new knowledge to start or grow your business.
2. YouTube
YouTube is a goldmine for finding new trends and opportunities… if you know how to use it.
The key is to find videos that have an extremely high view count in comparison to the creator’s subscriber number.
This is the number 1 indicator that a topic has high demand, but very little supply.
At WGMI, we used this exact strategy to spot the AI trend early and get millions of views on YouTube.
What’s the big opportunity?
If you can find a topic that has more demand than supply, it’s time to move quick.
This is your opportunity to learn, make content, and establish yourself as an expert on that topic.
For example, the TikTok Creativity Program is helping relatively small YouTubers go viral as we speak.
This method will require a bit of detective work, but is one of the biggest indicators that a trend is about to blow up.
Your mission: Watch a few videos of topics and niches you are interested in. In the suggested videos column, look out for new topics you’ve never heard about with high view counts. If the content creator has a low sub number, you might have just struck gold.
3. Discover mega trends
Our World in Data is a treasure trove of data that you can use to find trends and opportunities.
It’s astounding to me that resources like this exist… and most people don’t even know about it.
It is a collection of stats, data and research that has been made available to the public to help us tackle the world’s largest problems.
What’s the big opportunity?
For entrepreneurs, every ‘problem’ stinks of opportunity. Solve it, and the market will reward you handsomely.
Here’s a couple of quick business ideas using data from just 2 of the charts on Our World in Data.
Idea 1: Solve the decreasing performance of 15
- Chart: Average performance of 15-year-olds in Maths
- Data: The performance of 15-year-olds in Maths in the United States has been falling for years.
- Business idea: 1) Maths tutoring, or 2) an online platform that provides interactive courses on mathematics.
Idea 2: Online info and resources for immigrants
- Chart: “Migration Data Explorer: Where do people migrate from and to?”
- Data: The number of people moving to and from a specific country (and from what country).
- Business idea: A website offering information, support and resources for immigrants in a new country. If you see a growing trend of people from (for example) South Africa to the USA, you could provide info and resources to help South Africans settle into their new country.
Your mission: Use 'Our World in Data' to help you identify mega trends. Use it to develop your understanding of the problems the world is facing. Use it to find data you can use in your content. Use it to validate your business ideas.
4. Public domain
Every year, some copyrighted works enter the public domain. That means anyone can use them for their own projects.
Two years ago, Ryan Reynolds used this exact strategy to market his company Mint Mobile (which he later sold for $1.35 billion).
As the original Winnie-the-Pooh went into the public domain, Ryan made a story about Winnie-the-Screwed who turned to Mint Mobile after getting screwed by traditional mobile operators. It got over 3 million views.
This year, Steamboat Willie entered the public domain and a number of companies are taking advantage.
For example, a game developer is twisting the now-in-the-public-domain Steamboat Willie into a horror game.
What’s the big opportunity?
Every year, new works enter the public domain. You can find a long list of the works that went into the public domain in 2024 here.
Your mission: Keep an eye on what enters the public domain. Use the opportunity to market your own business like Ryan Reynolds. Or, use these works to create your own products like the game developer.
5. Discover sports trends
The sports industry, especially in the States, is gigantic. It generated $83 billion in 2023, and that number increases every single year.
Within the sports industry, there are dozens of micro trends that you can tap into.
The SFIA is a resource that aggregates research on current trends in the sports industry.
What’s the big opportunity?
SFIA reports will give you an understanding of where the demand is in the sports industry.
For example, you could use their report on the fastest growing sports in America to find opportunities.
To see how you can take advantage of a trend in sports, look no further than Thomas Shields.
When he saw Pickleball was blowing up, he started a newsletter called The Dink.
The Dink has over 150k subscribers, which he will use to promote his line of Pickleball products.
We launched our first ecom product two weeks ago.
— Thomas Shields (@readmynewslettr) December 18, 2023
On track for $250,000 annual rev with 0 paid advertising & no marketing strategy.
Testing organic. If we just mention the product in a couple pickleball blogs and our newsletter...what kind of response could we get?
Now what… pic.twitter.com/HJugtFvcs9
For every new trendy sport, there is huge opportunity for equipment manufacturers, coaches, content creators, tournament organizers, recreational centers, book authors and much, much more.
Your mission: If you want to grow or start a business in the sports industry, stay up to date with the latest trends by devouring SFIA reports.
You need a game plan to take advantage of the next big trend…
Over the last 2-3 years, we’ve helped thousands of aspiring internet entrepreneurs take advantage of the biggest online trends.
There’s one thing that separates those that make millions from online trends and those that let the opportunity slip between their fingers…
They have a proven game plan to:
- Spot trends early, and
- Capitalize as quickly as possible.
At the Great Equalizer event this month, we’ll show you exactly how we plan to dominate the next big thing in 2024.
Will you join us?
