Before You Build
One of the biggest fears entrepreneurs have when they’re starting a new business is “what if no one buys it?” Basically… is this even an idea worth pursuing? In this guide, you’ll learn the tried-and-true method to guarantee sales of your product or service before you spend any time building it. You’ll get clear on the right problem to solve, build confidence in your direction, and gather real-world data to help you build bigger, from day one.
Big Ideas
Most entrepreneurs don’t struggle coming up with ideas—they struggle deciding which idea they should bring to life. You might be asking yourself questions like, “If I build it, will people buy it? If they buy it, will it make any money? And if I do make money, will I be able to keep making money?”
The best way to answer all of these questions is simple: you ask. But probably not in the way you’d think. All you need to have a successful business is to create a good or service that has value— something people pay you for. But before you start building something you think people want, (and shooting darts in the dark hoping they’ll buy) start by getting clear on the problem you want to solve.
Picking the Problem
Even before you decide on the specs of your product or what’s included in your service package, you need to get clear on exactly what problem you’re solving. The best way to do that is to get in front of people you already know and ask the question, “what are you struggling the most with when it comes to…”
- eating healthy
- working out
- marketing your business
- [insert your expertise or area of interest here].
You’re probably going to get answers like:
“I want to lose weight but I don’t have time to spend hours at the gym and track everything I eat.”
Which is how Megan, a registered dietitian, created my Dietitian– a proven method to help people lose weight without tracking everything they eat or, you guessed it, spending hours in the gym.
“I know I need to tell stories for my business but it takes so long to come up with a video idea, write a script, and I don’t even know if it will be interesting to watch.”
Which is how Patrice, a former Today Show producer, created My Story Pro–an AI bot that asks a few simple questions then writes a compelling video for you.
Start by identifying the problem you want to solve, in your ideal customers own words.
Market Research
If you’re not sure what problems people are struggling with inside your area of expertise or interest, the internet has your back. Search Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and other social media channels and groups.
For example, if you’re a relationship therapist, look for the most upvoted dating threads on Reddit like, “am I the asshole…my girlfriend…” If you’re a nutritionist, look for facebook groups like “feeding my picky toddler”.
The more views, comments, and engagement you see on posts, the more likely it is that it’s a problem a lot of people have which means a bigger business opportunity for you. People will tell you exactly what problems they need help solving, you just have to know where to listen.
Validating Your Idea
Okay, so you have a problem you want to solve. Now it’s time to get curious and start talking to real life people.
Set up coffee meetings with as many people as you can who could be ideal customers. Don’t worry about trying to sell them anything, the information they will give you is much more valuable than a sale right now. The key is not just to decide what problem you’re solving, but also learn how to talk about it in your ideal customer’s words.
If you have a social media following, do a series of polls or question boxes about the problem. Find out who’s struggling with it, what’s most frustrating to them about it, and what they’ve tried to solve it. Don’t try to solve the problem just yet, just listen.
Sample Questions
- What are you struggling the most with when it comes to… (your niche here)?
- What’s most frustrating about this to you?
- If you could wave a magic wand, what would your dream scenario look like?
The Curse of Knowledge
As an expert or enthusiast, remember that you have the curse of knowledge. A big mistake I see entrepreneurs make is jumping from the perceived problem to the actual problem.
For example, someone might tell you their biggest skin frustration is that they have dry, flaky skin. But as the expert you know they really have a damaged skin barrier. So you sell a product that repairs damaged skin barriers and feel frustrated that no one buys it.
But the consumer doesn’t know what a skin barrier is, how to know if it’s damaged, and how repairing it would affect their dry flaky skin. They just know their skin feels dry and it doesn’t sound like you can help.
Listen to the problems people tell you they have, not the problems you know they’re actually struggling with. It’s your responsibility as the expert or enthusiast to educate them on their knowledge gaps (like what a skin barrier is and how it affects dry skin). But you have to start by capturing their attention, and the best way to do that is to use their own words.
Talking to as many people as possible will help you notice patterns, words and phrases people repeat often, and help you reach more people when you talk about the problem. Make a list of all of the phrases they use to describe their problem. We’ll use these in a future lesson to help get people hyped about your product or service.
Action Items:
- Have a coffee date with at least five people who are struggling with the problem you want to solve. Ask them discovery questions and record the exact words, phrases, and stories they share in their answers.
- BONUS: If you have an online presence, ask your audience the same questions and record their responses.