How To Test Your Business Ideas, For Free

For us empire-building queens, it isn’t that we are at a loss for ideas that plague us the most, it’s that once we have one idea, another hundred or so bombard us. This would be great if they came one at a time, leaving us to focus on one before moving to the next, but when so many hit at once we quickly become overwhelmed. Our minds begin to spiral out of control, throwing questions at us such as:

Will this work? Will people want it? Will they buy it? Can I do this? How can I do it? Who am I to do this? Oh my god, people might hate it? My family? What if they see it and think I’m making a fool of myself? Oh I can’t do it!

Sound familiar? Me too. Way too familiar. For over 20 years I had my ideas, my dreams, and every time I would question them and talk myself out of them. Every once in a while I would even launch something and then completely pull back, disappear from the face of my online world and hide myself away again, be a good, responsible girl, get a good job, keep my head down. The problem was, those ideas, they never let up, they’d come back to me on repeat and then multiply again or worse I’d come across someone who had made a success of the exact same idea I’d had years ago and regret would hit me like a tonne of bricks. I’d swear I’d never let another idea be passed on to someone else because I let fear get the better of me. It did, several more times until a new, bigger, stronger fear took over and I realised that whilst I couldn’t banish fear, I could make it work in my favor. How?

Anyway, in this fit of despair, I was writing in my journal (and crying), I wrote:

” I’m a failure, I have failed to give my children the life I wanted for them. I have raised them to believe that they should follow their dreams and anything is possible but I can’t even try to achieve my own. When I die that is going to be my legacy, my children will see me as just a “dreamer”, their mum, who they loved but she didn’t half talk shit, all talk, no action! Oh and thanks for the funeral bill because you left us without a pot to piss in”

Morbid, I know but what can I say, I have some dramatic PMT. When I finished writing this line my mood suddenly changed (could also be a hormone thing but nevertheless), I became really angry with myself, like really fucking angry! I wrote:

“Sort your shit out. I’m not having it anymore, I am NOT going to let that be my legacy. I’m going after every dream, every idea I had or ever have, I don’t care if I look a fool sometimes, I don’t care if 99 ideas out of a hundred turn out to be total crap, I’m going to do every last one of them and find the one that works. I’m going to live my life the way I want, I’m going to be the ruler of my life, I am the Grizzer Queen (fyi: my surname is Grzesiowski but we are nicknamed The Grizzers), I’m going to build a fucking empire and leave an epic legacy for my children if it’s the last thing I do.”

Not only did I become really good at kicking my own ass, but I also learned that my biggest fear is leaving my children that shitty legacy because I never tried, I never committed, I never took action. I was too afraid to go after what I know in my bones, deep in my soul, is meant for me.

With that being said, my number one, top of the list, ONLY real way to test your ideas, is to just frickin do them.

If your ideas can give you the life you want, if they light you up or even scare the shit out of you, then forget other peoples opinions, forget bull shit surveys, people mostly tell you what they think is the right thing to say anyway, forget facts and figures, the only thing you need to do is, figure out how YOU want to do it. Create YOUR plan of action and just do it.

If it fails you can simply delete it and move on to the next idea or if you know in your gut this is the right idea, firstly, why are you searching How to test your idea? Stop wasting time, procrastinating, trying to dot all the i’s and cross the t’s, just get it out there.

Where were we? 

Still here?

Okay, I know, sometimes, for our own peace of mind or if you really aren’t sure whether you should do something, we need a strategy to help us gain clarity and move forward so here you go:

The first step to testing your idea is to ask yourself, if successful, will this provide the lifestyle I want?

If you want to work from home or whilst traveling the world, having a business product or service that requires you to have your own premises or limits where you work from is not going to suit you.

If you want to choose your own hours, having a business product or service that requires you to work 9 to 5 is not going to work for you either, so what lifestyle do you desire? Can this idea give that to you? 

Once, you have decided that this idea could provide you with the life you dream of, it’s time to do some research.

Think about who you want to work with, who would be your ideal client. Your business idea will provide what for who?

Now, head on over to Google and type in your business idea keyword/phrase and your ideal client. You may need to try a few different keywords.

Check out the results of the first page, do they offer similar services or products to your idea? How is your idea different? Are these your competitors?

Look at them further, research them on social media. What platforms do they use? Where do they seem to be more successful? How many followers do they have?  What is their interaction like?

Now, look at the groups they are in and go check them out. Look at the people commenting and liking their page and profile, are they your ideal client? What groups are they in? These groups are where you will get feedback for your idea, so spend some time joining the groups your ideal clients are in and get interacting with them. Not all the groups will be a fit for you but in the right group, you will stand out.

Once you’ve done your research it’s time to test your idea. At the very least you’ve introduced yourself in your chosen groups and you have provided others with some helpful feedback. Now it’s time to ask your questions. Great feedback questions are what is the one thing you wish you had known before [your business idea keyword/phrase]? And what is your biggest challenge related to [your business idea keyword/phrase]? Don’t just ask this question and thank you very much, respond to the comments you get, and try digging a little deeper. When carrying out this type of research it often helps to get in the frame of mind to actually disprove the idea. Your time and money is precious, you can’t afford to waste it creating something your people don’t want.

But remember, even if it turns out your people do want it, if it doesn’t fit the life you want or you don’t feel aligned with it, then you should scrap it before you even ask them.

The other point to remember is that the more you interact with those commenting, the more likely you are to get real feedback. Many times you will find people in groups just want to be supportive. They will tell you “yes, that’s a great idea” without actually giving you any real feedback. Ask them why they think it’s a good idea? How would it, could it help them? What would they expect to receive from it? What would they be willing to pay?

Looking at the feedback you received from the group, does your business idea do what they imagine it to do? Is it what they need? If what they need differs from your initial idea, would the changes you need to make still give you the lifestyle you desire? If the answer to these questions is yes, then your idea has potential, it’s time to develop your plan and get your business started. If the answer is no, then it’s time to rethink that idea or put it behind you and move onto the next.

Need help getting your Idea out of your head and creating your plan of action?

Then join me in the Fempreneurz Launch Hub and take the Plan with Passion challenge.