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Validating Your Business Idea

Lesson 4 from: FAST CLASS: How to Make Money

Ramit Sethi

Validating Your Business Idea

Lesson 4 from: FAST CLASS: How to Make Money

Ramit Sethi

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Lesson Info

4. Validating Your Business Idea

Next Lesson: Pitch Your Business

Lesson Info

Validating Your Business Idea

now. I said earlier that I was comfortable stereotyping because I was gonna test it. This is where we're actually going to test it. So we're going to test it by doing a couple of things. Remember, I talked about the ask without selling technique. When you go out and you find a bunch of mothers you see, like I tell me about your problems, etcetera, you're gonna find out if the things you think they care about are the things they actually care about. Now, when I launched in one K, I I thought that people wanted to earn money. Well, let me ask you, why do you guys think someone one would want to earn an extra $1000 a month on the side? What do you want to do with that money? My audience. My audience is about 65% men, 35 women. But let's you know, for the audience of Earn one K, let's assume it's 27 to 34 year old people. They tend to skew male, but there's a lot of women in there as well. So why? And they read my stuff, they read Tim Ferris's stuff, etcetera. Why would they want to earn $...

1000 a month greater, huh? Freedom? What does that mean? Just so they don't have to get stuck in a job that they don't want or you have to put up with jerks. You know, if they want to walk away, they could, you know, save score. You they can, because they know that they're They're solid. Very good. What else? Travel party, huh? Very good. Anybody else? I just gotta say they might have a particular financial goal. So whether that's investing or, you know, traveling. Yeah, that's pretty broad, though. Financial goal, I would say like 27 year olds don't usually have financial goals. They have, like, drinking, even the ones who read your stuff. Not even after a while, they dio um Okay, so So I was like, I know my audience so well, We don't even need to do this research bubble. But But we did it, and, uh, we discussed. I thought it was for sure. They want to take this thousands a month, go to Vegas, get a table live like a baller. And I'm like, I know because that's what I would do if I were like in these shoes, etcetera Wrong. I was so wrong. It waas exactly what you said, Don. It was freedom. And when I said, What does that mean? I got deeper. I rolled out thousands and thousands of survey responses. It was I want to have the ability to quit my job if I want not to actually quit it. But to have the ability to do that, that profoundly changed the way that I built my material right, Because, for example, let's say that you wanted to use it to pay off debt. Well, that's totally different. It's a totally different way of messaging it of the actual product. And this is what I'm talking about when I'm talking to everyone here. I think if your client wants if your clients of photographer and they want a website where they do nothing, then you're gonna talk about easy, how you're gonna handle everything. You'll send them a report so they feel in control. If they want them, that's gonna drive sales. It's a totally different type of messaging. It's a totally different product you're delivering. Does that make sense? So you can't just sit around in your head, apply that pay certainty technique technique could be like, Whoa, I did what we meet said no, don't be lazy. You have to go further and validated in the real world. Now, how do you validate this? One is to actually go out toe people in your target market. Just ask them questions right now. What questions you ask in all that stuff. I cover that. The second is to do a survey, and I do lots of surveys. People actually more than willing to do surveys. But most people surveys air horrible there, like 30 questions long, blah, blah, blah. So I actually did a survey tear down. So I have surveys that have made me a lot of money a lot of money on, and they've really helped me get into my client's heads. Forget the money part, actually. Help me deliver, like, massive value. Like the pitch I did that made a pitch I did on the Web designer that was based on research. Right? So if you go to this site, you'll get a survey tear down. We're actually show you how to someone. Actually, one of my students, she had this survey and I was like this surveys horrible. Get on the phone with me and I have an interview with her. And I showed her how to take that survey. Turn into something really good. And I put one of my own surveys which you guys could just rip off and use. So it would give me great pleasure to see this survey go around the Web because I know it works. I tested it myself on, like, over 100,000 people. The point here on step three is you have to actually go out and ask people their questions. We're gonna practice that right now. I'd like each of you you know your service. You know your product. I want you to pretend. Just give me a one sentence thing, meet you. You're gonna tell me like Justin, you're gonna meet. Pretend that you're on X Y Z age, gender person, and you want to buy a hat for your kid. Here are my questions for you. So I want you to ask me two or three questions and I want you rapid. I find out if you're an ideal client for us and to find out if your assumptions are correct, so you're gonna basically do a little interview with me. Simple, simple stuff. It doesn't have to be fancy. Let's take a couple questions. Tell me who the client is. Kathy, you look like you're ready to go. Go ahead. So the client is a 32 year old woman considering a career change. Perfect. That's exactly what I am. Okay, go ahead. I'm your woman. I'm named Catherine today. Uh, hey, so I understand you're going through a lot of changes. Um, and do you have any fear associated with these changes or and where do you feel that in your body? Is that how women talk to each other? I'm, like, wait with you know, you're right. You're right. You're asking your totally doing it perfectly. But, like, have you ever actually said out loud to someone? Do you have any fear in your body? Yeah, you have. And do they answer you? Yeah. OK, then. Your client is, like, a little more usually based. Fine. I'm going with it. I'm gonna ride this train. Okay. So I'm gonna answer. Usually they talk like So why are you here today? Okay. So why are you here today? So let's Let's start there. OK, let's Let's build some report. All right? All right. So I'm here because blah, blah, blah. So where you here? I'm here because, you know, like, I just feel like I worked so hard and like, I'm not getting recognized at work, and I just don't feel appreciated. And I really kind of want to figure out like some kind of life change. OK? And as far as the change goes, air, you're talking specifically about your job or how is the rest of your life outside of your job? It's okay. I mean, my husband is pretty supportive of me, you know, sometimes he doesn't really understand what I'm trying to do and why I'm sometimes seem to be unhappy, but I just really want to find something that makes me more fulfilled, you know, with work. And I feel like the rest of my life will sort itself out. And what are those things that make you feel most alive? That's a good question. Um, you know, like when I'm with my husband when we don't have any worries, or also when I'm at work and I feel like I'm actualizing my potential like I've done an amazing job with my excel analysis and my Boston team. Recognize me? And how does that feel in your body when you I feel like alive, like tingles. I just feel like really good. And is there a specific part of your body where my back, your back and low back or upper back, I guess. Lower. Because where you going with this? Let's speed it up. Okay. Sorry. Um then basically, I just work on, like, work with clients on cultivating where they feel the best. Then that felt sense and then bringing that out and growing that great connection. I really like these questions. They were logical. We sped through them, but they were very logical friendly. I didn't feel like you were like being intrusive, even though you were asking about, like, my body. But I felt like they. But I didn't understand where you were going with this. So I would have made it a little bit clearer somewhere early. But I mean, also, here's the thing. You have a lot of experience doing this, but you were clearly going towards a goal. But you were guiding me, right? We all felt that However, when you're asking without selling, you are You have no goal. It'll because you have no idea what the hell your client wants at that same conference with 254 women, another young woman came up to the mike and she was like, She goes, she was she This was amazing. She goes, remain. I have a question for you. Uh, she said some. She was trying to pitch me, like, in front of everyone else on the mic. She's like, Have you ever felt like you weren't living up to your full potential and what she was doing? What? She was trying to use this exercise. And I said, I guess and she goes, you know, have you ever thought that I just cut her off? I was like, Listen, I understand what you're trying to do, but by trying to guide me at this stage, he asked without selling stage, it actually comes office super sleep. Okay, so this is when you go out and you start asking questions. People can detect it very carefully very quickly that you're just asking fake questions with an agenda to sell them on something Here. Your questions are like super different. I'm not coming down. And you did a great job. You're more experienced. But what? The questions you wanna be asking here. Like really, like all ask questions. Like, How do you think about money? How does it make you feel? Like what is like, What are some things you think you should do? But you haven't done yet? Why not? If you could do anything with your money, what would you do if you could do anything with website? What would you do? Notice? I'm not being like if you could do anything with your website, including improved conversion rates, what would you do wrong? We're not trying to be sleazy and like, sketch people out by taking them down this path. I'm literally curious what I want to know. What words does the client use? What are their hopes? Fears and dreams. In fact, I'd ask him What are you What are the things that make you really nervous? Because in my market for guys, we don't talk about fear. Guys don't fear things, right? They don't. They don't ever set. You never heard two dudes it? Yeah. I'm really fearing this. I feel fear in my body. No, we don't talk like well, say nervous or will say I don't know. I'm just like it's just on my mind. We just won't talk about it all. You have to understand your market. I respect what your market is. But here were asking questions at a really high level, and you can't ask someone, you know, 50 questions online. You might be able to ask him five, add some value to them and follow up. Later in a conversation, you could probably go back and forth adding value, saying, You know, that's so interesting. You say that like, for example, it's Let's pretend that I happen to know someone who lost a lot of weight after having two kids. Section weighs £20 less than her pre pregnancy weight, and she has been trying to help other mothers lose a lot of weight. So she's going through this research phase right now, so she's discovered a lot of insights on you know, you could go to him and say, Oh, it's so interesting that you mentioned energy because I've been talking to a lot of other women and they've mentioned that energy is one of the big things that they want more up. Is that something that, like, Do you feel the same way or is it different for you? Notice? Notice the tone. Notice how I'm asking these questions. I'm not leading anywhere. I'm just genuinely curious. We're gonna go to the web in the second, see the reactions. But the whole point of this is not to guide someone along. We're not at that point yet were asking broadly. And then later, once we narrow it down even more specifically, then we're gonna guide people.

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3 Negotiation Scripts
5 Negotiation Case Studies
5 Resumes That Win
Freelance Email Proposals
Freelance Income Roadmap
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Ramit Sethi Interview
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