Day 3 Transcript
NOTE: Today’s transcript is followed by an AI prompt that can be used with your AI provider of choice. Just copy and paste it into ChatGPT or Perplexity and it will help you answer today’s questions for your specific side hustle… the way a human teaching assistant would help you in an Ivy League university. If you’re eager for more on today’s topic, I’ve included a Secret Dessert Course at the very end — a bonus section that isn’t directly covered in today’s video but has a lot of value practical, hands-on value. That dessert also comes with its own AI prompt.
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Part 1: Identify Competitors and Market Gaps
Welcome to Day 3 of starting your side hustle! We’re taking 28 Days-- 28 small steps-- to help you (and me) build a side hustle that’s meaningful, impactful, and profitable.
Today’s questions are designed to build on your Why and What– Days 1 and 2– so you can understand who’s doing what you’re doing or something similar. If Day 1 was the initial spark (your why) and Day 2 was gently blowing on it to create a small flame (your what), Day 3 is about figuring out who already lights up the world. Because you can learn from the light.
Here are today’s questions:
1. Who are your direct and indirect competitors and what do they do better than you?
2. What gaps in the market are they leaving wide open for you to fill?
The fastest way to lose any game is to think you’re the only one playing.
Competitive analysis isn’t about copying. Not really. It’s about understanding where you can stand out and serve your audience in ways others can’t or won’t.
These two questions matter because they help you hustle smarter; they keep you from going into business blind. They force you to know the playing field—who’s offering similar products or services (those are your direct competitors) and who’s solving similar problems differently or targeting different audiences (those are your indirect competitors).
Figuring out what those direct and indirect competitors do better than you—whether it’s some cool functionality they have, some interesting branding, better customer service, better distribution— whatever it is that makes them worth spending money on… gives you a blueprint for improving your hustle. Cuz here’s what no one tells you. They– your current competitors– don’t have the time you have– they’re heads down running their business– and that’s an advantage for you. You should be using your time to learn from their successes, to avoid their mistakes, to stand on their shoulders.
A good example here would be Melanie Perkins, the co-founder of Canva. She noticed that design software was expensive and intimidating—dominated by giants like Adobe. Instead of competing head-on, she focused on the gap: everyday people who wanted simple, beautiful design tools. Perkins pitched her idea over 100 times before getting funding, but her obsession with that underserved audience turned Canva into a $40B company. Lesson there: the biggest opportunities come from what your competitors ignore. The other lesson: 100 times!! Persistence– superskill number 4– and focus– superskill number 1! Because overlooked needs can turn a small idea into a category-defining business.
So why does this Day 3 exercise matter? Super simple answer. You don’t want to waste your time, energy, or resources on ideas that don’t stand a chance– that don’t stand on the shoulders of the hustlers already dominating the market. Once you understand what your competitors are doing and why they’re doing it– the way they’re doing it– you can figure out how to be different, how to be better. That was question 1.
Doing your homework now– while you’re eating your lunch– saves you from costly missteps later. Every moment spent on analysis is an investment in smarter execution.
Ok… Here – Let me put up the Competitor Matrix that I developed for my current hustle and I’ll explain it after we do the 28 day MBA section.
The second question—“What gaps in the market are they leaving wide open for you to fill?”—is where the real magic happens. Gaps represent unmet needs. That’s catnip. Maybe a competitor has a great product but terrible customer service. Maybe they cater to a broad audience but ignore a really cool niche. The point is that taking your time to think through these gaps lets you offer what’s missing. You can do mostly what they do… be Pepsi to their Coke… but you’re going to need something unique about your hustle that disrupts their BAU– their business as usual.
Keep telling yourself that the most successful side hustles aren’t just different from their competitors—they’re different in a way that matters to a specific group of people. That’s a theme we’ll keep covering over the next month. It’s why you should always be on the lookout for niches. You know how “Snitches get stitches.” My hustler version of that is “Riches from niches.” And then fight the urge to end it with the rhyming b word.
That’s strategy yo… which is just focus– superskill number 1– focused action—choose your battles and win where others are distracted.
That’s the hard fact of life behind why today’s questions are worth answering: You’ll get clarity on who else is hustling for attention in your market. That clarity will help you uncover what should make you different—the gaps that represent opportunities for differentiation. And those answers help you stop wasting time and effort. It forces prioritization and focus– two of the most important skills you can build.
Ok. Take a moment and try to answer the Day 3 questions for your hustle without AI and before you listen to the next section-- the 28-Day Ivy League MBA. I personally think it's useful to try to answer questions without AI first, but if you'd rather do that: The AI teaching assistant prompt will drop with today's case study... in a couple of hours. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out Lunch Break Millionaire Day Zero... or go over to superserious.com where I’m posting daily transcripts. The AI prompts are there too. That's it. Hustle smarter.
Part 2: 💼 Apply Porter’s Five Forces: Today's Ivy League MBA Skill
Day 3, Part 2 of Lunch Break Millionaire– where we turn whatever you're eating for lunch into an Ivy League MBA degree. It’s sandwich Wednesday– and I’d recommend eating Banh Mi-- a Vietnamese-French sandwich-- that really stands out above other sandwiches-- just like your hustle needs to. So today’s MBA lesson: competitive analysis with something called Porter’s Five Forces framework.
The fancy MBA term for what we’re talking about today: differentiation. Without it, your hustle risks blending into a crowded market as yet another generic Panera-type turkey sandwich. Ech! Not cool. Because your future customer needs a compelling reason– aside from price– to choose you. The fancy MBA-way of saying that is: you need a unique value proposition (UVP). One that sets you apart. One that builds loyalty from the poor folks suffering from that gap. Because that’s your hustle’s unique value proposition– your promise to your customer. You’re literally saying “here’s what you get from me – customer– that you can’t get anywhere else.
If you want more big MBA words, that’s at the heart of “strategic prioritization.” Because what is strategy in plain talk? It’s focus. Your focus. Your competitors– right this second– are heads down– underwater– maintaining their businesses (as is) rather than growing them (as something different or better). And that fact of life– that your competitors are distracted by their day jobs– gives you a path to win over their customers– by solving problems they’re too busy to fix.
Ok. Let’s get you some MBA skills. Let’s talk about Porter’s Five Forces.
Let’s break it down in plain English, not MBA-speak. Because this is one of those frameworks that sounds complicated, but once you get it, you’ll start seeing your entire industry with new eyes. Here’s the big idea: every business, every hustle, is playing on a field shaped by five forces. These forces decide if you’re in a gold rush or if you’re fighting for scraps. And if you don’t know what they are, you’re basically wandering into battle with a blindfold on.
So, what are the five forces? First, you’ve got rivalry—how many other hustlers are out there doing what you do? If there are a ton, and they’re all good, you’re going to have to work harder for every dollar. Then, there’s the threat of new entrants. How easy is it for someone else to jump in and copy what you’re doing? If it’s super easy, you’ll always be looking over your shoulder. Next, supplier power. This is about the folks you rely on for your raw materials, your software, your whatever. If there are only a few suppliers and they know you need them, they can jack up prices or make your life hell. Then there’s buyer power—the people buying your stuff. If they have a million options, they can demand lower prices or better service, and you’ll have to deliver or lose them. Last, substitutes. What else could your customer use instead of your thing? Sometimes the biggest threat isn’t another hustler, it’s a totally different way of solving the same problem.
Here’s why this matters for today’s questions. When you’re looking at your direct and indirect competitors, you’re actually mapping out rivalry: who’s already in the game, and what are they doing better than you? That’s the heart of competitive rivalry. When you’re thinking about the gaps in the market, you’re sniffing out places where the other four forces might be weak. Maybe there aren’t a lot of good substitutes, or maybe buyers don’t have as much power as they think. Maybe it’s hard for new entrants to break in, or maybe you’ve found a way to work with suppliers that gives you an edge.
Take a sec and sketch out your hustle’s industry using these five forces. Who are your biggest rivals? How crowded is the field? How easy would it be for someone new to jump in? Are your suppliers calling the shots, or do you have options? Are your buyers in control, or are they desperate for what you offer? And what could your customers use instead of your product or service? Be brutally honest. The more clearly you see these forces, the clearer your strategy gets.
Let’s make this real. Imagine you’re launching a new app for creators like I am. Your rivalry is all the other platforms—Patreon, Substack, TikTok, Instagram.
The threat of new entrants? Pretty high, because tech moves fast and anyone with some funding could try to build the next big thing. Supplier power? Maybe you’re relying on cloud services or payment processors—if there are only a couple good ones, they can squeeze you. Buyer power? If creators have a million places to go, they’ll demand more features for less money. Substitutes? Maybe your biggest threat isn’t another app, but creators deciding to just use email or Discord or something totally different. For a lot of hustles, your biggest competitor is the comfort of a warm bed that your customer doesn’t want to get out of.
Keep telling yourself, the goal isn’t just to survive in your market—it’s to find the spots where you can win. Porter’s Five Forces helps you see where the pressure is coming from, and where you might have a little breathing room. If you know which force is strongest, you can build your strategy around it. If rivalry is fierce, maybe you focus on a niche. “Riches from niches bitches.” If new entrants are a threat, maybe you double down on what makes you hard to copy. If buyers have all the power, maybe you find a way to make your offering sticky, so they don’t want to leave.
This is why today’s questions matter. When you ask who your competitors are and what they do better, you’re looking rivalry right in the face. When you hunt for market gaps, you’re looking for places where the other forces are weaker—where you can sneak in and build something that lasts.
Take a sec and map out your five forces for your hustle. Write them down. Say them out loud. If you get stuck, use the AI prompt in the post description later today. If you’re feeling bold, share your map in the comments or in a DM to me—let’s see where the pressure is, and where the opportunities might be hiding. And keep telling yourself: every hustler who makes it big starts by seeing the game for what it is. That’s how you hustle smarter.
Part 3: Conduct a Competitive Analysis: The 28-Day Case Study
This is Day 3, Part 3 of Lunch Break Millionaire. This is the segment where we #BuildinPublic– where I answer the daily questions from part 1– using the MBA skills we just learned in part 2– and showing my work here in part 3– sharing how I’m building my hustle from scratch-no filters, just the real journey. You don't need to actually like or subscribe. I'm not doing this for the clicks. But if you’re leveling up from other creators you follow or know, introduce us. I want to learn from them and help them level up, too. We all deserve better than just making rich people richer.
Ok. Let’s apply Day 3’s questions to my current side hustle. Question 1 was: Who are your direct and indirect competitors and what do they do better than you?
First thing I did:
I AI-chatbot’ed the hell out of content curation companies. I use Perplexity AI because it’s built for research. I mapped out both direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors were tools and platforms focused on content curation, such as Feedly, BuzzSumo, and UpContent. Indirect competitors were platforms creators rely on, like Patreon, Substack, and even the big guys– TikTok, Instagram, etc. Just wanted to understand who was solving similar problems and who was targeting similar audiences.
Step 2: Deep Dive SWOT Analysis.
Again with Perplexity. For each competitor, the prompt I wrote conducted a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)-- the results of which were:
- Strengths: Existing platforms had massive user bases and strong brand recognition.
- Weaknesses: They prioritized platform profits over creator needs—algos controlled everything.
- Opportunities: Creators wanted ownership of their audience and revenue but lacked tools to achieve it.
- Threats: Competitors could pivot toward creator empowerment if they saw the demand growing.
Perplexity was writing faster than I could read. Super cool.
Step 3: A beautiful prompt about market positioning for each of the competitors– essentially letting AI take the first shot at finding gaps. I tweaked the prompt a couple times but essentially got to 3 broad themes:
Theme 1: Creators vs. Platforms. Most of my potential competitors treat creators as renters on their platforms rather than owners. This insight became my north star—empowering creators to own their platform, their audience, and their profits.
Theme 2: Real-Time Personalization. None of the competitors in the space embedded curated experiences directly into users’ browsing journeys. They all centralized content into dashboards or newsletters but didn’t meet users where they already were. I’d fill that gap by integrating creators’ content into their audience’s digital destinations in real time.
Theme 3: Monetization Opportunities. Competitors focused on subscription fees or ad revenue models but didn’t offer direct monetization tools for creators to profit from their work independently. Our “virtual analyst” feature could change that dynamic entirely.
Step 4 was figuring out the obvious: our differentiation… which in three words is: Be the Algo!
The exercise forced me to answer the hardest question of all: What makes us different? The answer was clear—ownership and empowerment. While other platforms focused on keeping creators dependent on them (and their algos), we would give creators the tools to bypass traditional platforms entirely. Just use them as audience funnels. We’d help creators “be the algo,” giving them direct engagement with their audience without interference and without profit-sharing from middlemen.
We– the AI and me– analyzed 18 competitors across the content curation space:
1. Direct Competitors (e.g., Feedly, BuzzSumo) excel at aggregation and analytics but lack real-time personalization or creator-first monetization tools.
2. Indirect Competitors (e.g., Patreon, Substack) empower creators but still keep them tethered to shared platforms rather than offering true ownership.
3. Market Gaps we’re filling are:
- Real-time integration into browsing journeys (no one else does this).
- Creator-owned platforms that bypass algos entirely (a game-changer).
- Monetization tools that prioritize creators’ profits over platform profits.
Key Takeaways for me were….
1. Competitors Are My Teachers: While I still have time I should study them relentlessly— their strengths, their weaknesses and blind spots.
2. Gaps Are Gold Mines: Nothing makes me happier than finding unmet needs or underserved audiences; that’s catnip if you’re looking to stand out.
3. Differentiation Is Survival: Without a unique value proposition (UVP), my hustle risks blending into a crowded market.
For my current hustle, these insights led me to double-down on empowering creators with ownership—giving them tools to bypass algos and build independent businesses that thrive on authenticity and connection.
Prompt #1 - Competitive Analysis – Knowing the Players is Knowing the Game
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Prompt #1 - Competitive Analysis – Knowing the Players is Knowing the Game ○
Welcome to Day 3 of your 28-day Lunch Break Millionaire journey! Today, you’ll shift from inward focus (your “why” and “what”) to outward awareness-mapping the competitive landscape so you can spot opportunities, avoid landmines, and carve out your own space. You’ll be coached by Ivy League faculty whose research is foundational in competitive strategy and market differentiation:
- **Professor Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School:** Creator of the Five Forces framework and the world’s leading authority on competitive strategy.
- **Professor Rita McGrath, Columbia Business School:** Expert in finding market gaps and creating “white space” for new ventures.
- **Professor Sunil Gupta, Harvard Business School:** Specialist in digital competition and strategic positioning.
**What Today’s Coaching Will Help You With:**
You’ll identify your direct and indirect competitors, analyze what they do better than you, and uncover the market gaps they’re leaving wide open-so you can stand out, not just fit in.
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### Step 1: Reflection Questions
Please answer these questions in a few sentences each:
1. **Who are your direct and indirect competitors, and what do they do better than you?**
- Direct competitors solve the same problem for the same audience.
- Indirect competitors solve a similar problem for a different audience, or solve your audience’s problem in a different way.
2. **What gaps in the market are your competitors leaving wide open for you to fill?**
- Where are customers underserved, frustrated, or ignored?
- What unique value, feature, or experience could you offer that they don’t?
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### Step 2: MBA Skill – Porter’s Five Forces Framework
Today’s MBA lesson is Porter’s Five Forces-a tool for mapping the competitive landscape and understanding where power lies. The five forces are:
- **Competitive Rivalry:** How fierce is the competition?
- **Threat of New Entrants:** How easy is it for others to copy you?
- **Supplier Power:** Who controls the resources you need?
- **Buyer Power:** How much leverage do your customers have?
- **Threat of Substitutes:** What else could customers use instead of your solution?
Sketch out your industry using these five forces. Where is the pressure strongest? Where is it weakest? This will help you spot opportunities to differentiate and defend your position.
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### Step 3: Case Study – Competitive Matrix
After you reply, I will use the writings of Professors Porter, McGrath, and Gupta to:
- Help you map out a competitive matrix
- Guide you in identifying the most valuable gaps and how to position your hustle to fill them.
- Offer actionable advice for crafting a unique value proposition that stands out in your market.
- Share a real-world example of how a founder used competitive analysis to find their edge.
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**How to use this prompt:**
- Respond with your answers to the reflection questions and, if possible, a list of your top competitors.
- Your Ivy League coaching panel will help you build your competitive matrix, analyze the market, and suggest next steps for differentiation.
- Remember: The goal isn’t to copy the competition-it’s to learn from them, then outmaneuver them by serving customers in ways others can’t or won’t.
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Ready? Share your answers and competitor list below. Let’s hustle smarter, one lunch break at a time!
Secret Dessert Course
You don’t need to read your competitors’ minds. Not when you can mine their online customer reviews. And it’s way easier than you think. The AI prompt below helps you dig into what real people are saying (the good, the bad, and the ugly) about your competitors so you can get a front-row seat to what’s actually working and what’s driving their customers nuts.
Call it snooping if you want… and it’s definitely something they themselves should be doing– for themselves and for their competitors. It’s just smart research made easy that shows you exactly where the gaps are in the market and what your potential customers are still craving– their unmet needs.
Maybe everyone’s raving about a feature you hadn’t considered, or maybe there’s a recurring complaint you can swoop in and fix. Either way, review mining takes the guesswork out of building your hustle and helps you create something people genuinely want– without wasting months on trial and error.
If you want to outsmart the shoulders you’re standing on… start with their reviews.
Just copy and paste this prompt into your favorite AI assistant to enjoy Day 3’s dessert course.
Prompt #2 - Mining Competitor Customer Reviews
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Prompt #2 - Mining Competitor Customer Reviews ○
Today’s exercise is about making sure you never build your business in a vacuum. You’ll get a real-world competitor list for your business idea and see what actual customers are saying about those competitors-using reviews from independent sources, not just the competitors’ own sites.
**Step 1: Tell Me About Your Business**
Please provide:
1. Your business idea in 1–2 sentences (what you do and for whom).
2. Your target customer (describe them as specifically as you can: age, location, needs, etc.).
3. Your business’s main product or service.
4. (Optional) Your business name or any direct competitors you already know.
**Step 2: Competitor & Review Mining**
Once you reply, I’ll:
- Identify your top direct and indirect real-world competitors.
- For each competitor, provide a summary of real, documented customer reviews from independent sources (like Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, Reddit, or third-party review sites-not the competitor’s own website).
- Highlight patterns: what customers love, what frustrates them, and where gaps or opportunities exist.
**Step 3: Actionable Insights**
You’ll get:
- A table of your main competitors and their strengths/weaknesses as seen by real customers.
- Key takeaways on how you can differentiate or improve your own offering based on authentic customer feedback.
Please respond with your business information above. After you do, I’ll deliver your tailored competitor list and customer review mining so you can build smarter, avoid common pitfalls, and spot opportunities others miss.