I’ve chosen the idea — here’s what I’ll be doing
Update: Day 1: Choose an Idea
Today I went through loads of notes that I’ve been making over the past few weeks in both Evernote, and more recently on magic white boards (great product btw) up on the walls. I then distilled this down to 9 different solid business ideas. These included things as different as a motorcycle dealership, more Airbnb properties (we have this one www.westfieldcottage.co.uk ), more business retreats ( Similar to www.coworkingretreat.co.uk ), and a host of different ideas in marketing.
Once I’d got this list, I applied the 9 different validation tests as per The 7 Day Startup process as follows:
1. Enjoyable daily tasks — Will I enjoy it
2. Founder Fit — Do I already have the skills
3. Scalable — Is the business model scalable
4. Ok without me — Could it run without me later
5. Saleable Asset — Could it be sold later
6. Large Market — Is there a large market for it
7. Pain or Pleasure Fix — Does it solve peoples pain or give them pleasure
8. Lead Generation — Do I know how and where to find customers
9. Can Launch Quickly — Can version 1.0 be built in a week
I also added my own extra criteria of the business being able to be run from anywhere in the world.
So of all the ideas there was only 1 that scored the maximum of 10, and 2 others closely behind that scored 9. So what’s the winning idea?
Drum roll please…
It’s marketing training for micro businesses (1 to 5 people in the biz), delivered online, on a monthly basis where each week/month will focus on a different area of marketing. It will be very different to anything I’ve seen out there as it will take the successful process I’ve used myself in different markets (so is already proven). Rather than have stacks of documentation, complex marketing plans, and hours of content to wade through, everything will be simple and checklist based. My aim is to make it easy for people to nail their marketing in just 10 minutes a day.
I’ll post another update in the morning about what happens on day 2 :)
Thanks
Richard
Handy links:
Day 1 — AM — The Journey Starts Here
7 Day Startup book — http://7daystartup.com/
An example of how I’ve used this process before — Can You Build a Business in 7 Days? From a Tent; Travelling Around Scotland
