How to come up with content ideas

You haven’t run out of things to say — you say interesting things about your field all week. What you don’t have is a system that catches them, so the well looks empty at the exact moment memory is least available.

Last updated 12 August 2026

“I’ve run out of content ideas” is almost always a misdiagnosis. You have not run out of things to say — you say interesting things about your field all week, to clients, in DMs, in the car. What you do not have is a system that catches them, so by the time you sit down to film, the well looks empty because you are trying to fill it from memory at the exact moment memory is least available.

It is a capture problem wearing a creativity problem’s clothes. Here are nine places ideas actually come from, and the one rule that turns a vague notion into something filmable.

The rule: it isn’t an idea until it has a hook line

“Something about pricing” is a topic. Topics feel like progress and are useless at 6pm on filming day, because you still have to do the hard part standing in front of a camera.

That is an idea: a specific claim someone could disagree with, written down in the words you would say it in. Everything below is a way of generating those, and nothing enters your bank until it is written as one line.

1. The thing you repeat

Whatever you find yourself explaining to every third client is your single richest source, and you undervalue it precisely because you are sick of saying it. Your boredom with an explanation is a measure of how many times it was needed, which is the definition of a good subject.

2. The first five minutes of a sales call

Write down the questions people ask before they buy. Each is a video, and they map almost word for word onto how people search, which means they keep working long after they leave the feed.

3. Your inbox and DMs

Not a summary of them — the actual sentences. The phrasing your audience uses is worth more than any keyword tool, because a hook built from their words skips the translation step that makes most content feel like it is aimed at somebody else.

4. The comments on other people’s posts

The most underrated source on this list. Find an outlier post in your niche and read the comments properly. Look for three things: a question the video failed to answer, a disagreement in the replies, and anything phrased as “but what about…”. Each is a video with demonstrated demand and a proven audience sitting right there.

5. Things you changed your mind about

“I used to tell everyone to do X. I was wrong, and here is what changed.” These perform because they are rare — almost nobody publicly revises a position — and because they establish more credibility than any confident claim could.

6. Your own overperformers, rebuilt

Take a post that beat your own median and rebuild the structure with a new subject. Not a repost. Same shape, new content. If it also outperforms, you have found a format that works on your specific audience, which is worth more than any general advice. That test is the backbone of the content research method.

7. The beginner question you find boring

Every field has three questions experts are tired of and beginners are desperate for. Your fatigue is not evidence of saturation; it is evidence of demand. Answer them properly, at the level of someone who has answered them two hundred times.

8. Arguments inside your industry

Any question practitioners genuinely disagree on is a video, provided you actually take a side. Take a position you can defend, because these draw scrutiny along with the reach.

9. Formats borrowed from an unrelated niche

When you are structurally stuck rather than topically stuck, the fix is a format transplant: find a shape that is working in a category unrelated to yours and port it. Formats saturate at different speeds in different niches, so this is usually how you arrive early. Finding trending content covers spotting those shapes before they peak.

The bank

One list, one place, phone-accessible, and every entry written as a hook line. Add to it whenever an idea appears — and ideas appear during work, not during filming. Aim to be eight to twelve deep so filming day is a selection problem rather than a generation problem.

Two rules keep it healthy. Nothing enters as a topic. Nothing leaves except by being filmed or deliberately deleted — a bank you never prune becomes a graveyard you stop opening.

When you are genuinely stuck

Take the last idea that worked and change one variable. Same subject, different format — the talking-head becomes a demonstration, the list becomes a single argument, the explainer becomes a correction of the most common mistake. You will get three or four videos out of one idea, and they will not feel repetitive to an audience that mostly saw one of them.

Questions people actually ask

How do I come up with content ideas?

Take them from where they already occur: the explanation you repeat to every third client, the questions asked in the first five minutes of a sales call, your DMs and support inbox, the comments on outlier posts in your niche, things you have changed your mind about, and your own past posts that beat your median. Write each one as a hook line rather than a topic.

What do I do when I've run out of content ideas?

Usually you have not run out — you lack a capture system, so the well looks empty at the moment you sit down to film. Start a bank of written hook lines you add to during the working week. If you are genuinely stuck, take an idea that already worked and change one variable: same subject, different format.

How many content ideas should I have banked?

Eight to twelve written hook lines. At that depth, filming day becomes a selection problem instead of a generation problem, which is what stops the rushed video you make at 6pm because something has to go out.

Where do the best content ideas come from?

The comments on other people's outlier posts are the most underrated source: look for a question the video failed to answer, a disagreement in the replies, and anything phrased as 'but what about'. Each is a video with demonstrated demand and a proven audience already gathered.

What is the difference between a topic and a content idea?

A topic is 'something about pricing'. An idea is a specific claim written in the words you would say it in — 'your prices aren't too high, your proposal is too vague'. Topics feel like progress but leave the hard part until you are already in front of the camera.