Let’s think about it for a moment. You might be fed up with your work situation, tired of driving through traffic every day, needing extra money, or just wanting to explore a new hobby. There are many reasons why you would want to start a business. Initially, you didn’t know where or how to start. All you knew was that you wanted to be a business owner. That’s when you started to consider whether entrepreneurship is right for you or not.
In one of our first posts, we laid out a plan to help you with coming up with a list of new business ideas. That’s done. Now, you have a cast of business ideas that need to be filtered by their potential for viability. The last thing you want to do is spend thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars and months’ worth of time building something that virtually nobody is willing to pay for essentially rendering it a dud.
You don’t want that.
Instead, you want to know if the idea that you and your mate wrote on the back of a napkin at your local bar can really take off. Believe it or not, many businesses fail to launch because the process of going from zero to one feels overwhelming. There’s this excitement in the “Aha!” moment that feels amazing. It’s the feeling that everyone is going to run over and buy, buy, buy. We’re going to make that process shorter by doing these things:
Search for Existing Solutions
The first line of order is to go online and search for products or services that are similar to what you are offering. Save yourself the time and energy of committing to an idea without seeing if there is anything in the market. There are three categories that all ideas will fall under.
- High Demand Existing Solution
- Low Demand Existing Solution
- No Existing Solution
High Demand Existing Solution
High Demand Existing Solution. When you find an existing product or service that’s on the market, look at how well it’s selling. If it’s in-demand and performing well, then you know that your idea isn’t necessarily unique, but it’s a winner. You’ll be headfirst with other competitors. This means that you’ll have to find ways to differentiate your offering.
Low Demand Existing Solution
The next category hosts low-demand existing solutions. These could be unique products that don’t have a market fit (resolvable) or there is a lack of market demand (unresolvable). You can penetrate the market if there isn’t a market fit by rebranding, relaunching, reworking the buyer personas, changing the pricing or placement, refreshing the product, or changing the message. However, lack of market demand is VERY tough to overcome. Determine if your offer is salvageable. Can you make any changes that will make a material difference? Or, is the idea a dud.
No Existing Solution
Here’s something else that you might notice when you do your search: there aren’t any other products or services in the market. Ah! An interesting situation to be in. No competitors, but no data to pull from. You’ll have a first-mover advantage, which can be pretty exciting. This is my space to OWN. If your idea made it to this point, it’s time to move to the next step.
Get Feedback
Holding onto your idea without getting real, tangible feedback from others suffocates its growth. Input and constructive feedback nourish the ideas and allow new branches to extend from the trunk. Maybe you’ve tried this step before and were shut down. People poked holes and told you why it wouldn’t work. Eventually, you don’t want to share your ideas in fear that other people will tear it down, and you’ll lose your motivation. However, there’s a better way to get the feedback that you need in order to really validate your idea.
Set Expectations
Ask someone how they would “improve” your business idea. This will set expectations and offer an invitation to work collaboratively with you. The wording is very important. Instead of pointing out deficiencies in the idea, they will shift their mentality to problem-solving mode.
Specify Request
When you are asking someone for their feedback, specify which elements of the idea you want to improve. Try to steer clear of vague asks, such as, “What do you think about this idea.” It doesn’t help you get their attention nor work on solutions for valuable input. Here are a couple of examples that will elicit better responses.
- If you were to see this blanket folded on the shelf of Target, how would you improve the packaging design to make it more appealing?
- As you scroll through the beta site, what do you feel about the user experience?
Provide Context
Don’t just jump into spewing your idea at someone. Give context to what you are trying to accomplish and why it matters to you. By doing this, it will bring the participant further into your thought process. Also, it’ll help them strengthen your idea.
Don’t Undermine
It’s not a silly idea. It’s not unimportant. It’s nothing to undermine. This is an idea that deserves attention and respect. When you approach the idea in this way, your helper will likely treat it similarly. Believe in your idea and convey how special it is.
Uncommon Contributors
What do we usually do when we are seeking feedback? We ask our friends. But think about it. Our friends typically share a similar opinion and stance that we do. What’s the point of asking someone that thinks the same way? How can the idea really improve? Gain insight and perspective from a different lens. How about asking your 4 year old niece; what about your grandparent; talk to your barber; or your Uber driver. There are so many different feedback options that can take your idea to the next level.
Putting it Together
“Hi Grandpa Joe! I have a really special business idea that will change the way people walk their dogs. My neighbor told me that she really struggled with the strength of her German Shepherd and is concerned that she’ll need to shelter it. That alone made her really sad, but she doesn’t know what else she can do at this point. So, I wanted to ask you personally for two reasons. First, I value your input. And second, I remember you sharing a similar experience that you had with your dog last month. If you were to see the packaging of this new dog-walking system at Target, what would you do to improve it, so that it catches your eye?
Creating a Minimum Viable Product
There aren’t any existing solutions. Your business idea has support. Now, it’s time to develop a business model canvas and a minimum viable product. Don’t take forever writing out a business plan. And, don’t worry about having the perfect product. Use the resources that you have at your disposal to create the “dog-walking system” with enough features to be usable by early customers. These customers can provide feedback for future iterations of the product.
Ask For Business
It’s easier to build a business around demand, rather than to build demand around a business. Keep that in mind. You have gone through the essential tasks to get your idea ready for market. Start selling your product to people that might be interested in person or online through a crowdsourcing crowdfunding campaign.