Validating your business idea with Pat Flynn

I once met an entrepreneur who spent $30,000 on Facebook ads and sold just one product.

A $45 dress.

He was so happy to get the sale that he took the client out to dinner to thank her and do some “market research.” The dinner cost him more than the clothes, so somehow he managed to lose more money.

As you may have guessed, he is no longer in business. And, sadly, I see this same scenario play out far too often. A person has an idea, they spend a lot of time and money. . . Then they flow.

Now is the time to avoid falling victim to the same mistake and start a successful business instead.

For this week’s episode Start your business I sat down with Pat Flynn, author of the podcast. Wall Street Journal best seller Will it fly? How to test your business idea so you don’t waste your time and money. As a mentor to entrepreneurs, Pat has helped millions think and improve their business ideas.

Here are some of our conversations.

Eliminate startup failure

While you don’t want to go into it all wrong and launch your business without a real plan, you also don’t want to get caught up in analysis paralysis.

If you’re hesitant to start, here are a couple of quick questions to help you gauge your direction so you can decide how far and how fast to jump.

1. What’s holding you back?

Sometimes we don’t even know what’s holding us back until we sit down and put it down on paper – often this exercise helps us assess the risk more accurately.

For example, you might be thinking, “What if it doesn’t work?” That’s a valid idea, but you want to think about the right concepts and how to mitigate bad situations. In this case, you can start as a side-in, as opposed to fully embracing entrepreneurship at first.

Or, you might be thinking, “This is going to cost a lot of money.” Another true thought. Maybe you can find an inexpensive way to test your concept, an opportunity to find investors, or even a grant you don’t have to pay.

The overall goal is to fully acknowledge your roadblocks so that you can decide how and where to move forward.

2. What is the next step?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you look at the big picture. So break it down into small steps.

What can you work on today? What can you do or learn that will bring you closer to your goal? However, be careful not to put information you don’t know into practice. As Jim Rohn said, “Knowledge not put to work is wasted.”

Instead, practice what Pat calls “just-in-time learning.” Just learn enough information to take that next step, then actually take that step. If you get just one percent better every day for a year, you’ll be thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.

That doesn’t mean it will take you a year to see results, but it reinforces why small steps can help you achieve big goals.

The advantage of developing your idea in public

You don’t have to build your business in secret by tweaking every last detail before the core of Pat’s message is released. You should refine the idea publicly by getting direct feedback from your audience. In short, your business idea needs to be recognized by the market, and this cannot happen if you are creating a niche.

Therefore, it is very important to identify and interact with your audience. Pat suggests using the three P’s: Place, People and Products.

Places

Where are your customers? While this can be a physical environment, it is more likely to be a social media platform or online community. Once you know where to hang out, it’s time to do some social listening. Learn as much as you can about your audience by listening to their questions, challenges, and needs.

Another benefit of being familiar with these places? When the time comes, you’ll know exactly where to advertise your services.

People

Who has spent time earning the trust of the people you want to serve? What can you learn from them and their methods? Obviously you don’t want to copy their every move, but success leaves clues so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel either.

Join their email list, sit on their webinars, follow them on social media. Become a successful student and use what you’ve learned in your own unique way.

Products

Find out where your competitors occupy the landscape. What is already being offered at this location? Where are the gaps? What do people like/hate about that offering? What is the price?

While this research is time-consuming, you will save a lot of time and frustration in the long run by better understanding the competitive landscape.

As a bonus, read customer reviews – good and bad – this will give you an idea of ​​what’s working for your competitor and where you can make improvements.

How do you know if you have a good business idea?

This is a complex question but Pat makes the answer simple.

If you know what your customers want and how to deliver it, you have a great business idea.

Here’s how to get there:

Listen and engage with your audience, then focus on where you can get traction. Again, this is an advantage of building in public. You may start to notice certain behaviors or talking points that get a lot of attention from your audience. That means you’re on to something and you need to keep going.

Start small, so you can build confidence in the idea and yourself as a business owner. Find one customer and one result and build from there. Think of your first customer as a petri dish, the first paper airplane. Sure, it can fly a little crooked. Take it, look at it, and decide what to do differently next time.

Ask for feedback and referrals. You know you’ve found product-market fit when your customers buy, use, and tell others about your product. But to get to that point, you have to constantly engage with your audience and ask tough questions.

So you don’t feel comfortable. If you’re not a little nervous, maybe you’re not pushing yourself hard enough!

What’s next?

These were a few key takeaways from my conversation with Pat. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear the full conversation and get more resources Start your business Podcast.

Want to keep learning? Subscribe to the podcast! New episodes come to you every Tuesday, and we’re laser-focused on practical, straightforward content that takes the mystery out of entrepreneurship.

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