Is your business idea any good? Here’s how to test your business idea. Small Business 101 Ep. 4
You’re excited about diving into entrepreneurship. You have an idea about which type of business you’d like to start. Still, you’re unsure if it’s the most profitable business idea.
In this episode of The Online Business Clinic, you’ll discover the simple 5 step process to quickly test your business idea to validate if it’s profitable before you start.
This method is the exact method I’ve used to launch my small business, and it’s the method I teach my students inside of the Legacy Leader Academy.
Choose ONE New Product Idea
You and I are probably a lot alike. We have big ideas and hearts that want to serve others profoundly and transform lives. And we want to do IT ALL right now.
That’s all well and good. You’ll gain much more momentum and have more fun if you permit yourself to select one new product idea that you can get behind for this first season of your business.
When I first started, I wanted to be all things to all people. I served 1-1 clients, writing my book, creating a digital system, and launching an online community.
All while also trying to be the best wife, friend, sister, mother, daughter. It was all just too much.
I was overworked, exhausted, and short-tempered, making hardly any money or progress with my projects.
The thing that turned it all around was permitting myself to shelve a few ideas. Not say no, but to say no right now so that I could focus on the ONE THING.
Since doing so, my life, business, and bank account have never been better.
*Jeff Walker has promoted that same ONE thing for over a decade and has built a multi-million dollar online education business that’s making a significant impact
*Performing artists like Adele or Taylor Swift will produce and perform the same album for a season
*Comedian Kevin Hart will pour two years of his life into creating his next comedy special before starting another one
Choose ONE New Product Idea to test before moving on to the next.
Define The Transformational Result That Will Be Achieved At The End of The Experience
This digital age is a glorious one. Anything and everything you want to know is at our fingertips.
When it comes to business, as consumers, we don’t just want to buy a product or service to have an experience of exchanging money for materials. We want to have a background. One that changes us, ideally for the better.
This experience could be a physical, mental/emotional transformation.
And this experience could be one that you, the seller, clearly define for your buyer (this is ideal). It could also be about providing space to define the transformation for themselves.
For example, I recently built a new house for my family and me to call home. Before this decision, I had been a lifelong renter. I was delighted with paying someone else to let me borrow their space.
Doing so gave me a sense of freedom. After all, I was only tied into one spot for 12-18 months at a time.
It wasn’t until I spoke to Kate, a friend, about homeownership that I began to understand how it could bring more freedom, both physically and financially, to my family.
Up to this point, I always thought homeownership was financially out of reach, never mind building a brand new home from scratch.
But because I had this idea that owning a home would help me get close to achieving my goal of financial freedom, I pursued it.
I called up my realtor friend, and we went to look at a community I thought might be a good fit. The first home I saw was the winner.
Why? For many reasons, but mainly because the sales team made space to define my version of a transformational experience.
Now there are other times where I want to have a physical or tangible transformation.
Converting a prospect into a buyer is less about the WHAT and MORE about the WHY.
My husband, Jovan, is in a season of skilling up, sharpening his sales skills, and is currently a Solar Panel Expert.
As a new homeowner, he tried to sell me on going solar.
Of course of the typical objections popped up.
“I already have an energy source that’s working.”
“Solar panels are ugly.”
Then he hit me with the transformation, the WHY.
- Molly add some detail here
Where do I sign?!
Define The Transformational Result That Will Be Achieved At The End of The Experience.
Align Your Offer With Your Target Market
Survey Prospects Who Want The Result Your Product/Service Will Achieve.
Call people up, email them, host a focus group, ask questions on public social forums. Connect with the people you think will be interested in using your product or service and make sure that your idea aligns with what they want.
And make sure it’s not just friends and family that your survey. Get your idea in front of as many people as possible, at least 100.
I first decided to pivot into online profit by launching my online education business after working inside the social media community of 300+ spiritual women seeking to create more abundance in their lives.
A challenge to earn $10k in 30days was given to them, but with no real strategy.
The women were frustrated. Posting commenting like “I want to do this, but I don’t know how?”
I did. I knew how. I was doing it for my private clients.
Their pain and frustration sparked the idea for my new product launch.
I got clear on my one offer.
I defined the transformational result.
I surveyed prospective buyers by asking them to jump on a short phone call. I asked them more specific questions about what they wanted and were willing to achieve.
After receiving feedback from a couple of dozen people, I decided to move forward with the idea, but only after aligning my offer with my target market.
Put Together A 1-PAGE SALES LETTER
It’s essential to prove that your idea is profitable before building it. Even with today’s modern technology, tools have made it easier than ever to build an automated marketing sales funnel. I highly encourage you to stick to the KISS METHOD before you venture down that route.
Keep it super simple. Make it easy for your prospects to understand what you’re offering, how it’ll help them, and most importantly, how they can buy your product or service.
You get techy with it later after you’ve made some money.
Once I got clear on my offer, surveyed my target market, I went to a free and easy-to-use tool called Canva.com to create a simple 1-page sales letter.
1-page sales letter included:
My one offer.
My clearly defined transformational statement.
A short story to support the offer.
I made sure to add a call to action, telling them what step to take next.
And in this case, it was to go to paypal.com to register for the live training program.
Please keep it simple. A 1-page sales letter is enough to get started to help you prove that your business idea is profitable.