Find Problems To Solve And Make $3K Per Month In 2024

Every time Alston Godbolt tells someone “find a problem to solve,” the same question fires back in the comments: how do you actually find the problems? It is the most common roadblock between people who want to make money online and people who actually do. You know the concept. You just do not know where to start looking. This post walks through 10 specific methods Alston uses to surface monetizable problems, with real examples, real channel sizes, and real numbers pulled from keyword tools and YouTube search results.

You do not need a niche to get started. You do not need an audience. You do not need experience as an influencer. You need one problem that people are already searching for and a willingness to create content that answers it. Pick the method on this list that fits how your brain works, then go all in on that one.

What You’ll Walk Out With

10 concrete methods to uncover problems people are already paying to solve
How to use Amazon, YouTube, Etsy, and Udemy as free research tools
The alphabet trick that turns any seed keyword into dozens of low-competition niches
Real subscriber counts showing how tiny channels win with specific problems
How to turn your job, your hobbies, and your daily frustrations into online income
The right way to build content from the bottom up so you are not competing with giants
Multiple monetization routes for every niche covered in this post
Not sure which problem matches your skills? Use finder.platformproof.com to find your fit.

Method 1: Your Recent Purchases Are a Problem Map

Open your Amazon order history right now. Every single item in that list solved a problem, or you would not have bought it. That list is a map of real, confirmed problems that real people pay to solve.

Alston walked through his own recent orders on camera. He bought a rechargeable camera battery because he is creating more content and needed a fast swap when the first one dies. That battery is part of a Sony camera setup. Immediately there is a problem: people who want to create better videos with a Sony camera. He bought running shoes because his daughter started running track at 8 years old. Suddenly there is a niche about how to run faster, how to breathe when running, training for young athletes. Swim goggles. Soccer gear for his sons. A Rode Professional Studio Arm for podcasting and YouTube content creation.

Every one of those purchases is a doorway into content. The key insight Alston shares is to create content from the bottom up, not the top down. Most people make the mistake of trying to create broad “who, what, when, where, why, how” content first. That puts you in competition with massive channels from day one. Instead, start with the specific product. Create content about the Rode Professional Studio Arm specifically. Build a core following of people who own that exact product. Once you have that audience and those affiliate commissions, you can expand up into broader content creation topics.

This method works because purchases are already validated demand. Nobody bought that item on accident. They had a problem, searched for a solution, and spent money. Your job is to reverse engineer that purchase into content that reaches the next person who has the same problem but has not solved it yet.

Method 2: Your YouTube and TikTok Feeds Are Showing You Niches

The social media feeds that show up for you are not random. They reflect what people around you are interested in. What is appearing on your YouTube homepage and your TikTok For You page? Those are categories that already have engaged audiences.

Alston mentions scrolling through his own YouTube feed and seeing documentaries, lifestyle content, and different types of channels that had nothing to do with making money online. Each one of those is evidence of a community with questions that need answering. The point is not to copy those channels. The point is to notice what people are watching, ask what questions those viewers have, and decide whether you have anything useful to add.

TikTok works the same way. Look at what is getting views in your feed. Notice the comments. The comment section on any popular video in a niche is a free list of questions, objections, and follow-up problems that the original creator did not fully answer. Those unanswered questions are your content opportunities.

Method 3: The Alphabet Trick for Finding Niche Topics Fast

This one is simple and powerful. Go to YouTube search. Type a seed keyword. Then add a single letter of the alphabet after it and watch what autocomplete shows you.

Alston demonstrates with the word “checklist.” Type “checklist Q” and YouTube suggests “quinceañera checklist.” That is an entire event planning niche for 15-year-old birthday parties in Latin communities. It is evergreen because someone is always turning 16 and families are always planning this kind of party. There is gift content, vendor guides, decoration checklists, food planning, dress shopping, and dozens of other sub-topics connected to that one autocomplete suggestion.

Keep going. “Checklist P” gives you planner, productivity, piano, pilot, Premiere Pro. “Checklist E” gives you e-commerce. Every letter opens a different world. Now apply this same trick to other seed keywords: guide, planner, how to, tutorial, tips for. The number of niches you can surface in an hour of alphabet browsing is overwhelming. Pick one, research it, then go all in.

The reason this works is that YouTube’s autocomplete reflects actual searches. These are not hypothetical topics. These are things real people are typing into the search bar right now. When the autocomplete completes your phrase, it is telling you that there is an audience waiting.

Method 4: Mine Your Day Job for Content Gold

Whatever you do for work, there are people who want to learn how to do it. Even if what you do feels boring or routine to you, it is a mystery to millions of people who encounter the same challenges and have no idea how to solve them.

Alston gives the example of an accountant. Millions of small business owners and self-employed people need help with taxes. Restaurant owners, bodega operators, freelancers, and sole proprietors all want to know if they are filing correctly. They want to understand first-in, first-out versus last-in, first-out inventory accounting. They want to know what they can deduct. An accountant who creates YouTube content explaining these concepts to non-accountants can build an audience that buys tax prep courses, downloads tax checklists, or hires them directly.

The AC repairman example is even more striking. Alston mentions a guy on TikTok who creates content about diagnosing and fixing air conditioner problems. He teaches people how to identify what is wrong with their unit so they can try a DIY fix. Some people can fix it after watching his videos. Others reach out to him directly for service. Others buy a guide or checklist he created for common AC problems. He can also earn affiliate income by linking to specific replacement parts on Amazon for each problem he covers. One skill, multiple income streams, all starting from content that solves problems he already knows how to solve.

The Excel example drives this home. Alston mentions a creator on TikTok who posts Excel tips, tricks, and shortcuts. That creator built a simple Excel course and is making six figures per year. Not from some complicated business model. From teaching something he already knew, to people who spend time in spreadsheets and want to get faster.

Method 5: Pay Attention to Problems That Happen During Your Day

Your daily life is full of problems that millions of other people have simultaneously. The trick is to notice them instead of just solving them and moving on.

Alston’s car needed an oil change. He goes to YouTube and searches “how to change oil in a Chevy Malibu.” The autocomplete immediately shows people searching by year: how to change oil in a 2019 Chevy Malibu, 2016, 2018, 2012. Real channel stats from that search:

One video: 42,000 views, creator has 1,570 subscribers
Another video: 23,000 views, creator has 35,000 subscribers
A third video: 958 views, creator has 11,000 subscribers

Look at the first number carefully. A person with fewer than 1,600 subscribers got 42,000 views on a single car repair video. That means this content found its audience through search, not through a following. That is exactly how problem-solving content is supposed to work. People type their problem into YouTube, the algorithm surfaces your answer, and you earn views from people who never heard of you before.

Once you have that audience, monetization follows naturally. You can link to the correct oil filter for that year’s Malibu on Amazon and earn affiliate commission when they buy it. You can create a quick reference guide that includes the right oil type, filter part number, and torque specs for each model year. You could affiliate with Advanced Auto Parts or similar DIY auto retailers. You build a whole channel around the Chevy Malibu, covering windshield wiper fluid, brake pads, muffler replacements, and other common maintenance tasks. One daily life problem becomes a content library that earns money for years.

Method 6: Seed Keywords Plus Keyword Research Tools

Seed keywords are short, broad phrases that open up entire content universes when you put them into a keyword research tool. Alston lists some of the ones he uses: who, what, when, where, why, how, checklist, planner, guide, start, build, glossary. He says there are probably 50 of them in total. Start with this shorter list and you will have more ideas than you can use.

The process is straightforward. Put a seed keyword into a keyword research tool and look at the matching terms. Alston demonstrates with a paid tool during the video, but free tools exist and the same logic applies. When he types in a set of seed keywords including “how long” and filters to include the words “smoke,” “cook,” or “bake,” he gets back 176,000 keywords that are searched a combined 6.2 million times per month. That is how big the cooking and food prep niche is.

The next move is filtering by keyword difficulty to find the low-competition keywords inside that massive pool. When you sort for keywords that are not competitive, specific queries rise to the top. One that came up in the video: “how long to bake chicken tenders at 350 degrees.” A very specific question about a very common kitchen task. Nobody who searches that has a big content creator in mind. They just want to know if the chicken is done.

Method 7: Go Deep on One Cooking or Baking Keyword and Watch What Happens

Alston takes the chicken tenders example all the way through. He searches YouTube for “baked chicken tenders at 375 degrees” and pulls up the real results. One video has 34,000 views and the channel only has 8,000 subscribers. Another video asking “how long do you bake chicken at 350 in the oven” has 1,400 views from a channel with only 327 subscribers.

That second number is worth sitting with. A channel with 327 subscribers got 1,400 views on a single video. Most of those subscribers probably came from that exact video. Someone typed a question, found the answer, liked what they saw, and subscribed. The channel did not build an audience first and then create content. The content found the audience through search.

You do not have to be a trained chef to create cooking content. You have to be willing to research the answer, test it if possible, and present the result clearly. The research might mean watching a few existing videos, checking food safety guidelines for internal temperatures, and writing down the exact steps. That is legitimate content creation, not deception. You are compiling accurate information and presenting it in a way that is useful to the person searching.

Monetization in this niche includes affiliate links for kitchen tools and air fryers, participation in the YouTube Partner Program once you hit the threshold, the TikTok Creativity Fund, or similar monetization programs on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. If you commit to the niche long enough to become genuinely knowledgeable, a cooking course becomes a realistic product down the road.

Not sure which niche fits you?

Answer a few questions and get matched to your best starting point at finder.platformproof.com.

Method 8: Reverse Engineer Udemy to Find Course-Worthy Niches

Udemy is an online course marketplace. Every course on Udemy represents a problem that someone built an entire curriculum around. That makes it one of the most useful research tools available for finding proven, monetizable topics.

The research process is simple. Browse Udemy categories or search for a broad topic. When you find a course that exists, you know three things: the problem is real, people pay to solve it, and a course format is an acceptable answer. Now your job is to create content that leads people toward their own course purchase, whether it is yours eventually or something you promote as an affiliate.

Alston uses tango dance as an example. There are tango courses on Udemy. That means there is a community of people who want to learn tango, who will spend money to learn tango, and who are searching for answers to specific tango questions. You could create YouTube content about what beginners do wrong in tango, the different styles of tango, how to find a practice partner, how to warm up properly before a session. Each piece of content pulls tango learners toward you. Once they trust you, some will buy a course you create or a course you recommend as an affiliate.

This method works for any skill-based category on Udemy: software, design, music, cooking, language learning, fitness, financial literacy, and dozens more. Every course is proof that someone already built demand for that knowledge. Your work is to create content that gets in front of that existing demand.

Method 9: Use Etsy Autocomplete as a Free Niche Research Tool

Etsy is a marketplace, not a content platform. But its search autocomplete is one of the fastest ways to find what people are actively shopping for, which is another way of saying: problems people are paying to solve.

Alston runs through the alphabet on Etsy during the video. Type the letter G and the autocomplete shows: gifts for her, holiday gifts, Christmas gifts, Valentine’s Day gifts, birthday gifts, wedding gifts, groomsmen gifts. That last group is the wedding industry. One letter revealed an entire market with vendors, planners, custom products, decoration guides, venue comparisons, photography tips, and dozens of content opportunities.

Letter J shows: journal, jewelry, jujitsu, jewelry box, jacket. Each of those is a niche with its own audience, its own buying habits, and its own set of unanswered questions. Letter L shows luggage tags and living room decor. Vintage items, Pokémon collectibles, novelty gifts, and more come up as you keep going.

The point is not to sell on Etsy. The point is to use Etsy’s search data to understand what people want to buy. Then create content that solves problems in those categories and monetize through affiliate links, ad revenue, or your own digital products.

Method 10: Your Interests, Your Kids’ Activities, and Your Hobbies

Alston’s daughter started running track at 8 years old. His sons play soccer. He bought swim goggles. These are not just purchases; they are windows into communities with millions of members who share the same interests and the same questions.

If your kid plays soccer, you already know what new soccer parents ask. What cleats for a first-season player? What size ball for a 7-year-old? How do you teach a child to kick with their non-dominant foot? How do you handle a coach who gives your kid limited playing time? These are real questions being typed into search engines by parents who have no idea where to look. If you document what you are learning as you go through the same experience, you are already creating content that those parents need.

The same applies to adult hobbies. If you play guitar on weekends, there are beginners searching for the same chord progressions you struggled with a year ago. If you are into vintage video games, there are collectors who want to know how to spot fakes, how to store cartridges, which titles are appreciating in value. If you follow Pokémon, an entire community of players and collectors is asking questions you already know the answers to.

Hobbies make strong niches because you are already motivated to stay in them. When content creation starts to feel like work, the underlying interest keeps you going. That consistency compounds over months and years into an audience that trusts you specifically because you are genuinely part of the community.

The “This Works Worldwide” Reality Check

One question Alston gets constantly in the comments: does this work if I live in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Malaysia? His answer is direct. It does not matter where you live. The internet has no border checks for content. People watching a tutorial about how to change oil in a Chevy Malibu do not care what country the person making it lives in. They care whether the information is accurate and useful.

Alston points to Stephen Hawking as the extreme version of this argument. Hawking was not conventionally presentable. He communicated through a speech synthesizer. None of that stopped him from becoming one of the most recognized communicators in the world, because he solved a problem people cared about: making complex physics understandable. His audience did not follow him because of how he looked or where he was from. They followed him because he could solve a problem they had.

You do not need to be an expert. You need to be willing to do the research. The work is researching topics, testing claims, creating content, and posting consistently. If you are not willing to put in that research time, that is a personal decision. But the opportunity is the same for everyone regardless of location, appearance, or accent.

How to Actually Monetize Once You Have Found a Problem

Every method above produces content ideas. The monetization comes after you build a small but targeted audience around a specific problem. Here are the routes that Alston covers in the video:

Affiliate marketing: Link to the exact products, tools, or parts your audience needs. Amazon Associates covers most consumer categories. Niche retailers like Advanced Auto Parts or specific software platforms often have their own affiliate programs with higher commissions.
Platform ad revenue: YouTube Partner Program, TikTok Creativity Fund, Pinterest Creator Rewards, Facebook and Instagram monetization. Each platform has its own threshold and payout structure, but all of them pay based on views.
Digital products: Checklists, planners, guides, and templates. The AC repairman example is a good model. Create a guide or checklist that summarizes what your audience needs in one place. Sell it for a low price and let volume do the work.
Courses: Once you have been in a niche long enough to have genuine depth, a course becomes viable. The Excel creator on TikTok built a six-figure business from this. You create content first to build trust, then offer the course to the audience that already knows your work.
Direct service: The AC repairman may get direct job inquiries from people who watched his content and realized they need a professional. If your niche is adjacent to a service you provide, content creation doubles as marketing.

A Step-by-Step Starting Plan

Open your Amazon order history and write down 5 purchases. For each one, write one question someone might ask before buying that item or after getting it.
Pick the seed keyword most relevant to one of those purchases. Go to YouTube and run the alphabet trick: type your keyword plus each letter from A to Z and note which autocomplete results show actual search volume.
Search that exact keyword on YouTube and look at the top results. Check the view counts and subscriber counts. If you see videos with thousands of views from channels with fewer than 5,000 subscribers, the niche is winnable.
Pick one specific problem from your research. Create one piece of content that fully answers that problem. One video, one blog post, one TikTok. Ship it before you optimize it.
Set up one monetization method before your second piece of content. An Amazon affiliate account takes about 10 minutes. You will start building the habit of including affiliate links from the beginning rather than retrofitting them later.
Create 10 pieces of content in that same niche before deciding whether to expand or pivot. Most niches take time to show results. Ten pieces gives you enough data to see patterns in what the audience responds to.

Honest Drawbacks

None of these methods are shortcuts. The research is real work. Alston is direct about this: if you are not willing to spend hours researching a topic, you are not willing to do what it takes to succeed online. That is not a judgment; it is just the actual requirement.

The cooking niche example requires that you either already know how long to bake chicken tenders at 350 degrees or you look it up, verify it with a second source, and present it accurately. The car repair example requires that you either know how to change oil in a Chevy Malibu or you learn before you teach. Cutting corners here means your audience gets wrong information, they stop trusting you, and the channel dies.

The other honest thing: most niches take months to show meaningful results. A channel about a specific car model, a specific cooking technique, or a specific software tool is not going to blow up in week one. The advantage of these low-competition, problem-specific niches is that your content compounds over time. A video you post today can get views two years from now because the problem is still being searched. But you have to post enough content and wait long enough for that to happen.

Find Your X

You have 10 methods for finding problems. The next step is choosing which problem to go after. If you are not sure which niche fits your background, your interests, and the kind of content you can realistically create, use finder.platformproof.com to get matched to your starting point. It takes a few minutes and gives you a direction rather than a list of options you have to sort through on your own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be an expert in the problem I am solving?

No. Alston is specific about this. You need to be willing to do the research. That might mean watching existing videos, reading articles, or testing something yourself before you explain it. The standard is accuracy and usefulness, not credentials. The Excel TikTok creator did not have a certification. The car repair channel had fewer than 1,600 subscribers and still got 42,000 views. Research your topic thoroughly, present it clearly, and update it when you learn something new.

Does this work if I live outside the United States?

Yes. Alston addresses this directly in the video. He gets this question from people in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and other countries. The internet does not care where you live. Viewers care whether your content solves their problem. Platform monetization programs like YouTube Partner Program pay based on ad revenue in the region where your viewers are, so content aimed at US or UK audiences can earn US or UK ad rates regardless of where you are located.

How do I know if a problem is too competitive to bother with?

Look at the actual search results on YouTube for your exact target keyword. If you see videos with thousands or tens of thousands of views from channels with fewer than 10,000 subscribers, the problem is specific enough to be winnable. If every top result is from a channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, go one level more specific. Instead of “how to bake chicken,” try “how long to bake chicken tenders at 375 degrees.” Specificity is how you find the gaps.

What is the fastest way to start making money from problem-solving content?

Affiliate marketing is the fastest path because you do not need to create a product. Sign up for Amazon Associates, pick the most relevant product for your niche, and include that link in every piece of content from day one. The Chevy Malibu channel can link to the exact oil filter for each model year. The cooking channel can link to an air fryer or a meat thermometer. You earn a commission on purchases made through your link, and the setup takes less than an hour.

Can I build a business from just one problem, or do I need multiple niches?

One specific problem is enough to start. Alston’s point throughout the video is to find one problem and go all in. The AC repairman built multiple income streams from a single niche: service calls, guides, affiliate links for parts. The Excel creator built a six-figure course from one skill. Start narrow and build depth before you go wide. Spreading across multiple niches too early usually means none of them get the consistent content volume needed to grow.

What are seed keywords and which ones should I start with?

Seed keywords are short words that you combine with a topic to find longer, specific search phrases. Examples from the video: who, what, when, where, why, how, checklist, planner, guide, start, build, glossary. Take any one of these and add a topic you know something about. “Checklist” plus “first apartment” gives you an entire moving and home setup niche. “How to” plus your job title opens up whatever your profession covers. Start with five seed keywords and one topic you know. Run them through YouTube autocomplete and a free keyword tool and you will have more ideas than you can use.

How much time does it take before content starts earning money?

Affiliate income can start before you hit any platform monetization threshold. If even one viewer clicks your link and buys a product in the first 30 days, you have earned something. Platform ad revenue through YouTube Partner Program requires 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, which typically takes months for a new channel. The more specific your niche and the higher the search volume for your target keywords, the faster that growth happens. Problem-solving content in low-competition niches often grows faster than general content because search traffic does not require an existing audience.

What if the problem I want to cover already has a lot of content on it?

Go more specific. If “how to make French toast” is saturated, try “how to make French toast with brioche in an air fryer.” The cooking niche example in the video shows 176,000 keywords searched 6.2 million times per month, but the low-difficulty keywords inside that pool are specific temperature and time questions that bigger channels have not bothered with. Any oversaturated broad topic has an undersaturated specific sub-topic inside it. Use the keyword alphabet trick and keyword difficulty filters to find those specific sub-topics before you commit to a direction.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “Find Problems To Solve And Make $3K Per Month In 2024,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/Ser9C8M_gfA
YouTube search: “How to change oil in Chevy Malibu” – view and subscriber counts cited from live search results shown in video
YouTube search: “Baked chicken tenders at 375 degrees” – view and subscriber counts cited from live search results shown in video
Keyword research tool shown in video: matching terms for cooking-related seed keywords, 176,000 keywords, 6.2 million monthly searches
Udemy, udemy.com – referenced as a marketplace for reverse-engineering course demand
Etsy, etsy.com – referenced as a marketplace for autocomplete-based niche research

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.