Business Validation While Working a 9-5?

Lee Kariuki

You don't need to know every intricate crevice of your business for you to be able to launch one!!! The biggest myth when venturing in to entrepreneurship is that you have to be the "captain" of the ship. The engineer of the idea and the driver and creator of momentum.

What I've come to realize from working as a process analyst and consultant in multiple industries is that the projects that gain traction are the ones that have the one key ingredient that the failures lack.

The Spirit Of Beta

Before we get in to The Spirit of Beta and what that means, raise your hand if you've ever experienced this!!! 

You get struck by a bolt of an idea!!! (How it happened doesn't really matter)
You get energized and fired up.
You jump on your computer/mobile phone and tell the world about it and how it will change the world.
Then you register a domain, and start building a website.
Maybe even register an LLC (Limited Liability Company) and it feels darn good to know that you're making progress.
Can't wait to finally quit your day job and start living the "boss" life.
Meanwhile time is passing.
Every time you make progress on the launch of this idea, you learn about a "new" thing you need that will give you the edge.
You second guess yourself.
You get in to consumption rather than creation.
Imposter syndrome/Dunning-Kruger effect and all the other shortcomings apply to you. 
There's always something missing.....
A new hack, a new font, a new book on copywriting, heck a new A.I. tool yet the most important aspect of this whole process has been skipped.

We built castles in the air with the hope that everything will pan out. Then on the day that we finally get to launch, the day that we truly need our prospects to pound the cash register in drones and with everything they've got..............

🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

Crickets!!!!

We then take this feedback and make it personal. We "label" ourselves as failures and that label triggers a downward spiral in our identity. It starts affecting you, your relationships, friends and even your workplace.

I'm not a psychiatrist nor am I a counsellor however I have been through this road a couple of times in my career. It's not fun and it's not your fault. You just don't or didn't have the right tools to deal with the responses you were receiving. if you're in this place feeling this exact same emotion STOP blaming yourself and start taking it as feedback. Blame only strips you off the necessary energy you badly need to get back to the drawing board.

So launching/validating your idea has a comparatively small piece to do with the idea and a bigger piece to do with the approach of how you launch the idea.

Plenty of times I have seen not so spectacular products/ideas earn blockbuster revenue and contrary I've also seen blockbuster products struggle to even get a first customer.

However it does have everything to do with:-

Beta phase in technology terms refers to the position where the skeleton key components of the software have been created and it's time to get some users to test out the phase before going in to production. You'll also hear this phenomenon as being referred to as "shipping" which means to get the idea/product out the door for the first phase of feedback.

In 1997 Amazon's 1st annual shareholder letter Bezo's referenced this approach to "Day 1" where learning and improving this the goal. Here are all the blind spots that you will encounter while launching your idea.

The answers to these questions can not be answered through a survey or by brainstorming. They have to come from the consumer who has some level of "skin in the outcome"
By "skin" I mean have taken a step by either paid for the trial/completed an exercise to get t hem closer to the outcome.

The problem is waste time seeking feedback/validation from people who are in no way qualified to provide the feedback(bankrupt in domain knowledge) or have no vested interest in the outcome you are solving for or in some instances are afraid to give you honest feedback for fear of losing the relationship you have with them. 

It's really simple yet mostly psychological. Rid yourself the need to control and become the conduit through which solutions are realized. In short, let go of the ego and chant/tattoo/sticky note this.....
"It's not about what you want to sell but rather all about what your prospects want to solve"

That is the mantra behind the spirit of Beta. The minute you let go of the need to be in charge, the more you will be open to critical feedback from your prospects. The framework used by many industries is collectively called "The Process of Continuous Improvement" and uses the acronym DMAIC.

Fantastic what does this look like for a parent working a 9-5 trying to start a business or grow their business? How does one implement it. Here are the 5 milestones mirroring the DMAIC framework.

You'll typically be doing this is 3 phases.

Yes it's a lot of information and the beauty is you don't even have to understand it all or even have it all mapped out. This is literally the big picture.

Bravo....so glad you asked or at least you're thinking about it. The ideal place to start is really the communication. Matching and mirroring the sentiments of your prospect. If they feel understood, they will believe that you must be the one with the ideal solution. (Had to underline this as this is the secret sauce to a successful launch)

Now you could try and figure out how to say/word the "right things" that will get them to see value OR you could get my Buyers Brain framework that I put together. 

Upon analyzing thousands of sales pages/offer pages and also seeing the ones that got me to buy, I realized there were only 5 Key things almost all buyers want to know before the transaction. Omit 1 or 2 of them and the conversion rate drops(the ration between people that saw the offer and people that bought the offer)

Mark you, this framework is not the "be all/end all" however if we're in beta and we quickly need to validate our offer and communication is the foundation of all decision making, then this is the golden key. 

If you'd like a copy, click the button below and I'll send it you way!!!
CIAO
Lee Kariuki