The Stump Grinding Formula

Why do some business stories instantly grab people while others get scrolled past?

We were on a content call this week trying to figure out why certain episodes massively outperform the rest. Not by a little. By a lot.

And a pattern jumped out.

The stories that hit hardest are almost never "I invented something brand new." They're "I took something you already knew existed and built a business on top of it."

I call it the stump grinding formula.

Here's what I mean. Everybody knows tree stumps need to be ground down. You've seen the guy in your neighborhood doing it. But almost nobody stops and thinks, wait... a real business could sit on top of that. So when someone shows you a stump grinding operation doing serious revenue, your brain goes, I KNEW about that. Why didn't I think of that?

That gap, between "I knew about that" and "I never thought of it as a business," is where the magic is.

The formula is simple: something people already know, done in an uncommon way.

Same reason the reselling stories crush. Flipping stuff on eBay. Selling on Amazon. Live selling. The platform already exists. The buyers already exist. Nobody has to imagine some brand new market into existence. They can picture themselves doing it by dinner time.

Compare that to "I built a SaaS for mid-market logistics compliance." Might be a great business! But nobody can see themselves in that story. There's nothing to grab onto.

So here's how I'd actually use this, two ways:

If you're making content: lean into the familiar. The businesses your audience can visualize are the ones they'll watch, share, and remember. Boring plus profitable beats novel plus confusing every single time.

If you're looking for a business to start: stop hunting for the idea nobody's ever had. Look at the stuff everybody already knows about... the services people already pay for, the platforms people already use... and ask where you could show up in an uncommon way. Lower risk, because the demand is already proven. Easier marketing, because the story explains itself.

The best opportunities aren't hiding. They're sitting in plain sight, disguised as things too obvious to count.

That's the whole game. Find the stump.

Stay in the fight, Kevin