When one man’s curiosity met his love for healthy living, a simple idea turned into a profitable meal-planning subscription service.
Challenge
Rimi had always been mindful about what he ate, but like many busy professionals, he often found himself scrambling for healthy lunches during the workweek. As an SEO specialist in Los Angeles, his days were packed — and his meal choices were often whatever he could grab in a hurry.
Scrolling through Instagram one night, he noticed the growing popularity of “meal prep” content — people spending a few hours on Sunday preparing their meals for the week. The idea resonated with him. He wondered: if so many people were trying to eat healthier and stay organized, why wasn’t there a simple subscription that made meal planning easier?
Action
Being data-driven by nature, Rimi started with research. Using Google’s free Keyword Planner, he discovered that searches for “meal prep for weight loss” were skyrocketing — yet few websites were offering high-quality resources. Seeing an opportunity, he decided to create one himself.
He launched Sunday Meal Prepper, a subscription-based site offering weekly meal plans, recipes, and prep guides. His girlfriend helped develop the recipes while Rimi handled the website, teaching himself WordPress, HTML, and JavaScript along the way to save money and learn new skills.
To attract customers, he offered a free starter kit and set up an email series that tailored content based on user interests — whether they were into paleo, vegetarian, or high-protein meals. Each week, subscribers received a new digital meal plan automatically through email or their member account.
At first, his blog posts didn’t gain traction — until he realized he was targeting the wrong keywords. After refocusing on what people were actually searching for, his traffic exploded. Rimi’s site began ranking for competitive terms, and thousands of visitors started discovering his brand organically.
Result
Within months, Sunday Meal Prepper was bringing in around $1,000 per month in recurring revenue — and growing steadily. Rimi celebrated his first $5 sale with a donut and coffee, joking that it wiped out his profit, but it marked the beginning of something real.
As his audience grew, so did his confidence. Without spending on ads, he attracted more than 11,000 visitors a month, converted a portion into paying subscribers, and built a loyal base of health-conscious followers who looked forward to their weekly plans.
Lesson
Rimi’s story shows the power of combining curiosity with data. Instead of guessing what people wanted, he researched it — and built his business around real demand. By starting small, learning along the way, and staying consistent, he turned his own problem into a source of income and impact.
Sometimes the smartest business ideas aren’t about invention — they’re about insight. When you notice what people are searching for and find a way to help, opportunity tends to follow.
Inspired by a true story originally featured on Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau. This rewritten version is independently produced and fully original.