---
name: 1hbp-ikigai
description: Run a publishing-specific Ikigai discovery session to identify the strongest book topic, reader, positioning angle, and client-attraction path for a coach, consultant, or founder. Use when someone asks what their book should be about, wants to validate a publishing niche, needs a commercially useful book idea, or wants to connect expertise to a book-led offer.
version: 2.2.0
author: 1 Hour Book Publisher
license: MIT
homepage: https://1hourbookpublisher.com/offer/
metadata:
  visibility: public
  compatibility: [agent-skills, claude, claude-code, codex, hermes]
  hermes:
    tags: [publishing, positioning, niche, book, client-attraction, front-door-asset, 1hbp]
---

# 1HBP Ikigai

Use this skill to run a structured discovery session that helps someone find the most commercially useful intersection of:
- what they know
- what energizes them
- what the market actually wants
- what can become a book, free resource, and client-attraction system

This is **not** generic "find your passion" coaching.
The target outcome is a **specific book topic + positioning angle + ascension path**.

## Best use cases
- pre-call discovery before a publishing strategy call
- client onboarding before Week 1
- testing a new vertical or offer angle
- live content/demo showing the 1HBP thinking process

## Core rules
- Ask **one question at a time**. Wait for the answer. Drill into it. Summarize. Then move on.
- Keep the conversation concrete; push vague answers into specifics with follow-up questions.
- Treat the book as a **business asset**, not a vanity project.
- Do **live market research** before finalizing the recommendation.
- Be opinionated at the end; do not give five equal recommendations.
- The **Explorer path** is valid; do not force credentials/expert posturing.

## Research and claims guardrails

- Use live web or browser research only when the host agent provides those tools.
- Cite the source URL and access date for material market claims.
- Never invent search results, customer language, prices, demographics, proof, or revenue numbers.
- When live research is unavailable, say so and produce a provisional hypothesis plus a concrete validation plan instead of pretending the research happened.
- Treat pricing and revenue outputs as scenarios, not forecasts or guarantees. Show the assumptions behind them.
- Do not submit forms, contact prospects, create accounts, or publish anything without the user's explicit request.
- If SVG or image generation is unavailable, provide clean Mermaid or SVG source, or a precise text specification the user can render elsewhere.

## Session flow

### 1) What they KNOW
Goal: surface teachable experience and credible proof.

**Important:** This circle sets the foundation. Take it slow. Ask each sub-question individually, wait for the answer, and drill into specifics before asking the next one. Don't stack questions. The depth you get here determines the quality of everything downstream.

Cover these one at a time:
1. What people already ask them for help with
   - Drill: "Give me a specific example" / "What happened?"
2. Measurable results they have produced
   - Drill: "How much? How many? What changed?"
3. What they can talk about for an hour without any prep
4. What most people in their space get wrong

After all four are explored, **summarize what you heard** in 3-4 sentences before moving on. Name the core skill, the proof point, and the gap they see.

### 2) What they LOVE
Goal: find the energy source that can sustain content and client work.

Cover these one at a time:
1. What topics make them lose track of time
2. What frustrates or angers them about the industry
3. What their ideal YouTube/content lane would be
4. What part of their work feels like play, not labor

Then **summarize the overlap** with Circle 1. Name the through-line: what do they know AND love? That's the energy source for a sustainable book and business.

### 3) What the market NEEDS
Goal: validate real demand with real evidence.

This circle has two distinct phases. Do them in order.

#### Phase A: Niche Sharpening (3 Layers)

Walk them through three layers of specificity, one at a time. Don't let them stay vague — each layer should be more specific than the last.

**Layer 1 — The Market**
"Who broadly is this for?" (e.g., coaches, freelancers, small business owners, corporate employees)

**Layer 2 — The Niche**
"Who specifically within that market?" (e.g., first-time managers at mid-size companies, Shopify store owners doing $500K+, fitness coaches with online courses)

**Layer 3 — The Problem**
"What exact problem are you solving for them? Not 'help them grow' — what specific painful thing keeps them up at night?"

Then get them to state it in this format:
`A book about [topic] for [person] dealing with [problem] so they can [outcome]`

If it's too vague, push: "Can you get more specific about who exactly this is for or what exact problem you're solving?" Iterate until it's tight enough that their ideal reader would see it and think "this is exactly for me."

#### Phase B: Live Market Research

Run live searches across:
- Amazon / books (saturation check — what already exists?)
- Reddit (demand validation — what are people actually asking for?)
- YouTube (competitive landscape — who's already talking about this?)
- X/Twitter (pain signals — what language do people use?)
- broad gap phrases ("no one talks about" / "biggest mistake" / "what I wish I knew")

Present findings in 4 clear buckets:
1. **What's already saturated** — what angles and books exist; what NOT to do
2. **What readers are actually saying** — real language, real frustrations, real questions
3. **The gap** — what's missing that no one is owning
4. **Why this is timely now** — trends, cultural shifts, market forces

If the topic is too saturated with no clear gap, say so directly and help them pivot to a more specific sub-niche before continuing.

### 4) Unfair advantage + monetization path
Goal: connect the topic to a sellable business engine.

Cover one at a time:
1. Their origin story / lived edge — why does this matter to them personally?
2. What they see that others miss
3. Network / assets / tools / access advantages
4. What the reader buys next after the book
5. The likely price range for each tier
6. Whether delivery can scale without turning into full-time manual service
7. What the dream client looks like

Then run a quick validation check:
- **Pain intensity:** How urgently does the reader need this? (1-10)
- **Purchasing power:** Can they afford what you're selling?
- **Ease of finding:** Where do they hang out? How hard to reach?
- **Market growth:** Is demand growing or shrinking?

If any answer is weak, flag it and suggest how to adjust.

## Final output format

End with one primary recommendation and at most 1-2 backup paths.

### Required outputs

Deliver all of these:

1. **Book Topic** — one clear, specific topic statement
2. **Positioning Angle** — how this is different from what already exists
3. **3 Working Title Ideas** — with a brief pro/con for each
4. **The Reader (ICP)** — age range, role, income level, psychology, primary fear, primary motivation
5. **Ascension Path** — a tiered business model anchored to the book:
   - Tier 1: Free resource (free)
   - Tier 2: Book (low-cost entry)
   - Tier 3: Course/group program (mid-ticket)
   - Tier 4: Coaching/done-with-you (high-ticket)
   - Tier 5: Premium/corporate (dream deal)
   Include clearly labeled pricing hypotheses for each tier and scenario-based annual revenue projections. State every assumption; do not present projections as guaranteed outcomes.
6. **AI Delivery Angle** — what AI handles (drafting, templates, triage, scaling) vs. what the human handles (strategy, relationships, quality, live delivery). This matters because 1HBP clients build AI-assisted businesses.
7. **Confidence Level** — X/10 with specific reasoning for the score and what risk prevents a higher score
8. **What to Validate Before Writing** — 3-5 concrete validation steps
9. **One Next Step (48 hours)** — a single, specific, actionable thing they can do in the next 48 hours to start

### Visual outputs

After the text outputs, generate two visuals:

#### A. Ikigai Intersection Diagram
Create an SVG showing four overlapping circles:
- Circle 1: What They KNOW (top-left)
- Circle 2: What They LOVE (top-right)
- Circle 3: What The Market NEEDS (bottom-left)
- Circle 4: What They Can MONETIZE (bottom-right)

Each circle should contain 2-3 bullet points from the session. The center intersection (where all four overlap) shows the **book topic**. Use warm, readable colors. Make it clean enough to screenshot and share.

#### B. Ascension Funnel Diagram
Create an SVG showing the tiered business model as a funnel or staircase:
- Each tier labeled with: product name, price, and one-line description
- Arrow flow showing how readers move up the tiers
- The book clearly positioned as the entry point

These visuals serve two purposes: they give the client something tangible to take away from the session, and they make the abstract ("your ikigai intersection") concrete and visual. A client who can see their business model as a diagram is more likely to act on it.

## 1HBP-specific lens

Always bias the session toward:
- authority (the book positions them as the expert)
- client attraction (the book attracts buyers, not just readers)
- clear ICP (specific enough that marketing writes itself)
- funnel fit (every tier connects to the next)
- AI-assisted delivery (what scales with AI, what stays human)

Keep asking yourself:
- What book would attract buyers, not just readers?
- What angle is differentiated enough to matter?
- What happens after the person reads the book?
- Where does AI do the hands work and where does the human stay essential?

## Completion checklist

Before finishing, confirm that you:

- [ ] asked one question at a time and summarized each discovery circle;
- [ ] separated verified market evidence from hypotheses;
- [ ] gave one primary recommendation rather than several equal answers;
- [ ] labeled pricing and revenue figures as assumption-based scenarios;
- [ ] delivered every required output or clearly explained which tool-dependent output could not be produced;
- [ ] ended with one concrete action the user can take within 48 hours.