Phil Rosen's Blog

Phil Rosen's Blog

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
This is the easiest way to generate endless ideas for content creation

This is the easiest way to generate endless ideas for content creation

Start solving your own problems in public and you'll attract an audience that's on the exact same journey.

Phil Rosen's avatar
Phil Rosen
Jun 04, 2023

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
This is the easiest way to generate endless ideas for content creation
Share

Truly good ideas are rare, but the best way to get to them is through volume. 

Figuring out what headline, tweet, or thumbnail goes viral is largely a trial-and-error game. It’s also hard to replicate even if you’ve done it before. 

That’s why you shouldn’t aim to produce the next viral anything — it’s the wrong target. 

The easiest way to generate ideas for writers or content creators is to simply solve your own problems, and share how you did it. 

This article is an example of that. When I first started this blog five years ago, I struggled to come up with ideas. The content you’re reading on this page is the answer to how I overcame that struggle, and how I plan to move forward with future articles. 

Solve your own problems in public. People are starving for solutions that they can replicate, especially from an individual who communicates candidly and in plain language.

Think about a problem you’re stuck on currently, or that you used to be stuck on. How you solved the puzzle becomes your source for ideas, and also an endless magnet for a target audience that not only relates to you, but that's likely on the exact same journey.

You are the avatar for your audience

If you can’t figure something out, odds are other people struggle with the same thing. 

Take writer’s block. It’s the most classic literary snag of all time. Everyone wants to know how to beat it. 

Since I’ve found a way to do this that works for me, it makes for a perfect topic.

Think of yourself as your ideal target audience. You want to write about or produce relatable ideas, and the best way to do that is by sharing your perspective in your own voice. 

The solution to your problem is something you would have sought out before you produced that content, and now your content is a way of paying it forward to others in search of the same solution.


Subscribe to Phil Rosen's Blog

Essays at the intersection of work, business, and culture from the desk of an award-winning journalist building a financial media startup.

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
This is the easiest way to generate endless ideas for content creation
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
The Best Life Advice You Haven't Heard: 27 lessons in 27 years
Practical, non-obvious lessons from reading a thousand books, traveling the world, and never having all the answers.
Aug 14, 2023 • 
Phil Rosen
3

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
The Best Life Advice You Haven't Heard: 27 lessons in 27 years
Why Gen Z feels so trapped by this economy
Young people did everything right but they can't afford anything and AI is taking jobs.
Jun 16 • 
Phil Rosen
10

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
Why Gen Z feels so trapped by this economy
7
The only book sold at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting
A dispatch from Omaha and Warren Buffett's updated reading list.
May 2 • 
Phil Rosen
4

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
The only book sold at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting

Ready for more?

© 2025 Phil Rosen
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.