Good morning,
It’s Friday. You have 48 hours of uninterrupted building time.
Most people will scroll Twitter and “plan to start Monday.” You’re not most people.
Today: Three ideas simple enough to ship by Monday morning. No excuses.
IDEA #1: Notion Templates for Specific Niches
TLDR: Wedding planners, real estate agents, and personal trainers all need Notion templates. Sell them for $29-99 each.
The Problem
Notion is powerful but overwhelming. Generic templates exist (to-do lists, project trackers) but professionals need industry-specific workflows.
Examples:
Wedding planners: client tracker, vendor management, timeline builder, budget calculator
Real estate agents: property pipeline, client CRM, showing scheduler, commission tracker
Personal trainers: client workout plans, nutrition tracking, progress photos, payment tracking
They could build these themselves (takes 10-20 hours) or buy yours for $49 (takes 2 minutes).
The Numbers
35 million Notion users
10 million use it for professional work
Template marketplace growing 40% annually
Top sellers make $50k-200k/year
How To Build This Weekend
Saturday:
Pick one niche (wedding planners, real estate agents, etc.)
Research their workflow (YouTube “day in the life” videos, Reddit)
Build Notion template (databases, views, automations)
Test with 2-3 people in that niche (free in exchange for feedback)
Sunday:
Create landing page (Carrd or Framer, takes 2 hours)
Write copy explaining what it solves
Add Gumroad payment link ($29-99 one-time)
Film 2-minute demo video
Post in niche communities (wedding planning subreddits, real estate Facebook groups)
Monday: Wake up to sales notifications.
Why This Works
Low barrier: No code required, just Notion skills
Fast validation: Know in 48 hours if people will pay
Scalable: Build once, sell infinite copies
Niche focus: “Notion template for wedding planners” beats “Notion template”
Revenue Potential
$49 template
100 sales/month = $4,900/month
500 sales/month = $24,500/month (top sellers hit this)
Once you nail one niche, replicate for others (real estate, trainers, consultants).
IDEA #2: AI Thumbnail Generator for YouTubers
TLDR: YouTubers need thumbnails but hate design. Auto-generate them from video titles. Charge $29/month.
The Problem
YouTubers know thumbnails drive 50%+ of clicks. But:
Hiring designers costs $20-50 per thumbnail
Learning Photoshop takes months
Canva templates look generic
They make 4-10 videos per week (can’t afford $200+/week on thumbnails)
What they need: Type video title → get 5 thumbnail options → download → done.
The Numbers
50 million YouTube creators
5 million post weekly (need consistent thumbnails)
Current spend: $50-200/week on designers or $15/month on Canva
Willingness to pay: $29-49/month for AI automation
How To Build This Weekend
Tech stack (no-code/low-code):
Use DALL-E or Midjourney API for image generation
Overlay text automatically (use image manipulation libraries)
Simple web interface (Bubble, Webflow, or even Carrd + Typeform)
Stripe for payments
Saturday:
Set up DALL-E API access (OpenAI account)
Build simple prompt system: “Create YouTube thumbnail for (video title)”
Test with your own prompts (refine until thumbnails look good)
Add text overlay functionality (title on thumbnail)
Sunday:
Build landing page with examples
Add payment (Stripe or Gumroad)
Launch: $29/month for 50 thumbnails
Post in r/YouTubers and YouTube creator Discord servers
Give first 50 users lifetime deal ($99 one-time)
Monday: First paying customers.
Why This Works
Clear ROI: Save $200/week on designers = $29/month is cheap
AI does the work: You’re not manually creating thumbnails
High margins: API costs ~$0.05 per thumbnail, charge $29/month
Recurring revenue: Monthly subscriptions compound
Revenue Potential
$29/month subscription
100 subscribers = $2,900/month
500 subscribers = $14,500/month
1,000 subscribers = $29,000/month
After building core product, add features: A/B testing, analytics, thumbnail templates by niche.
IDEA #3: Local SEO Service for Dentists/Lawyers
TLDR: Get dentists/lawyers to page 1 of Google for “(city) dentist.” Charge $2k/month. They’ll never leave.
The Problem
Local businesses (dentists, lawyers, chiropractors) get 80%+ of customers from Google search. “Dentist near me” or “Austin dentist” = massive search volume.
But most local businesses:
Have terrible websites
Don’t show up on Google Maps
No reviews or wrong business info
Zero local SEO optimization
They know they need this. They just don’t know how to do it themselves.
The Numbers
200,000 dentists in US
1.3 million lawyers in US
Average spend on marketing: $5k-20k/month
Local SEO results: 30-50% increase in calls/customers
Retention: 24+ months average (once rankings improve, they don’t leave)
How To Build This Weekend
Not building software. Building a service.
Saturday:
Learn local SEO basics (Google Business Profile optimization, citations, reviews)
Find 5 dentists/lawyers in your city with bad Google rankings
Audit their current setup (screenshot their Google Business Profile, website, reviews)
Create proposal: “Here’s what’s broken, here’s how I’ll fix it, $2k/month”
Sunday:
Cold email or call those 5 businesses
Offer free audit + first month $500 (prove value first)
Once they say yes: optimize Google Business Profile, build citations, set up review requests
Show results in 30 days, convert to $2k/month ongoing
Monday: You have your first client at $500-2k/month.
Why This Works
Productized service: Same process for every client
High willingness to pay: Local businesses know Google = customers
Proof-based: Show results in 30 days, they stay for 2+ years
Referrals: Happy dentist tells other dentists
Revenue Potential
$2,000/month per client
5 clients = $10k/month
10 clients = $20k/month
20 clients = $40k/month
Scale: Once you have process down, hire VA to execute. You just do sales and client management.
Your weekly haul of tools, links, and discoveries worth stealing.
Five more worth bookmarking, not just skimming.
A brutally practical guide to staying “default alive” as a tiny founder
https://www.defmacro.org/2014/10/03/default-alive-or-default-dead.html
(Defmacro)What selling a very small SaaS actually looks like (numbers included)
https://tinyacquisitions.com/blog
(Tiny Acquisitions)Why most early traction is fake — and what real traction looks like
https://longform.asmartbear.com/traction-is-not-customers/
(Jason Cohen)A founder diary that quietly explains why slow growth compounds
https://www.curiousfounder.com
(Curious Founder)The economics of niche software nobody brags about on social
https://www.softwareideas.io/blog
(Software Ideas)
Weekend Builder Mindset
The best MVPs take 48 hours, not 48 weeks.
Don’t overthink it:
Notion templates: 10 hours to build, infinite copies sold
AI thumbnails: 12 hours to ship, recurring revenue day 1
Local SEO: 8 hours to land first client at $2k/month
What kills weekend builds:
“I need to validate first” (just ship it and see)
“It’s not perfect yet” (perfect is the enemy of shipped)
“I’ll start Monday” (no you won’t)
Ship something by Monday. Anything. Even if it sucks, you learned more in 48 hours than 6 months of planning.
💭 Final Thought
The best opportunities solve access problems, not innovation problems.
Low-income students need SAT prep (it exists, they just can't afford it).
People need mental health tracking (therapy exists, but it's reactive).
Teams need API monitoring (tools exist, but they're too technical).
You're not inventing new categories. You're making existing solutions accessible.
Access > innovation.
Final Thought
You don’t need venture capital to start. You don’t need a technical co-founder. You don’t need 6 months of runway.
You need this weekend.
Notion templates = $4,900/month possible
AI thumbnails = $14,500/month possible
Local SEO = $20k/month possible
All three are buildable in 48 hours. Stop planning. Start shipping.
The best time to start was Monday. The second best time is right now.
That’s it for today. Building this weekend? Reply and tell me what you’re shipping. I want to feature weekend builds in next Friday’s edition.
P.S. Next week: Saturday deep dives start. First topic: "Audience Is Not Demand."