I'm a reasonably competent programmer - not a rockstar, but I can build stuff that works - and I've been doing hobby programming projects for over a dozen years. Typically my hobby projects are somehow game-related, because I'm a PC gamer at heart. But as most of you know it's pretty hard to actually finish a playable game, especially when you're not good at designing graphics. To add insult to injury, all the game ideas I come up with are megalomanic.
I've been wanting to do a micro-ISV project for quite some time. Typically my ideas are game concepts, but frankly I'd like to work on something doable and realistic for a change. I want to do an interesting, profitable software product in my free time (I have a day job). This isn't with an unrealistic aspiration of it making me rich, I just want to make a bit of cash on the side by doing what I do best. I'm not really doing it to learn new technologies, and not really doing it for easy money either.
Therefore I'm not looking for consulting or freelance projects, I'm specifically looking for a project idea that I design, execute and market myself. I see lots of interesting ISV products in existence in all sorts of markets, but somehow I fail to produce any sensible ideas myself. The rare times that I've actually come up with something (or had a friend suggest something), it turns out the product's market is basically already over saturated with cheap, quality software.
So my question is not just "who here has any ideas" but more like "how do you GET good ideas". All I come up with is game concepts, and frankly I feel like it's time for something more "serious".
Focus on your customers, not on your competitors. That's one of the beautiful things that becomes possible when you're charging for your product instead of merely competing to become the biggest service provider capable of attracting the largest advertisers.