Have you ever asked yourself why some people seem to make money effortlessly while others, no matter how hard they try, keep hitting a wall? The truth is simpler than most think. The first principle of making money isn’t about skills, connections, or luck—it’s about demand.
Psychology tells us that human beings are naturally self-centered. We tend to see the world from our own perspective, not the buyer’s. A programmer builds an app because he thinks it’s cool. A writer writes about what she already knows. A freelancer charges based on what he needs to earn. None of that matters if no one needs what you’re offering.
Here’s the pattern: most people start with supply. They create a product, develop a skill, or set a price—then they go looking for customers. But the real sequence is the opposite. First, you find a clear unmet need. Then you design a solution around it.
I’ve seen this countless times. A friend of mine spent six months building an AI tool to automate note-taking. He loved the idea. Showed it to me, excited. I asked, "Did anyone ask for this?" He paused. Nobody had. The tool never took off, not because it was bad, but because the market didn’t care.
Why do we keep repeating this mistake? There’s a cognitive bias called the curse of knowledge—once you know something, it’s almost impossible to imagine not knowing it. You assume others see what you see. But the buyer operates from a completely different mental space. They don’t care about your effort, your passion, or your clever ideas. They care about one thing: does this solve my problem?
The best state in life, as I’ve said before, is when you align what you do with what others truly need. That’s the sweet spot. It’s not about chasing money; it’s about being the answer to someone’s real, tangible desire.
So next time you’re planning a business move, stop. Ask yourself: "Who specifically needs this, and how do I know?" If you can’t answer with a concrete example, you’re still trapped in your own head. The market doesn’t reward you for what you want to give. It rewards you for what the world wants to take.