The Validation.Run Vision

A world where people know that businesses ownership is the most effective way to grow wealth. And that starting is now easier than ever, thanks to technology.

The Way We Do Business Is Now Changing Exponentially

Like most things right now.

The rise of technology in particular seems inevitable. Its hard to imagine humans at any moment, putting down the more efficient tool.

The rise of technology is forcing innovation. It's super clear in our current work lives. People are at odds with their roles and the systems they operate within. Many legacy systems are struggling to keep pace.

The industrial revolution gave us infrastructure and productivity measures but also constraints. The age of information is bringing us connection, and with it, the opportunity for empathy.

In The Future, You’ll Either Be A Robot Or An Artist-Entrepreneur

Do you want to do, or do you want to create? Either is fine. Be clear about which one you want.

It’s in our nature to create. Evolution is baked into our nature. But there’s peace in simple doing. And it opens up the pursuit of mastery.

The bad side, you may get left behind. The good side, you could find a super unique job that fills you with joy and you'll be free to create as you see fit.

Entrepreneurship Is The Only Way To Make Significant Gains

You're not going to get rich doing a 9-to-5 desk job in the post-industrial work world. Even high earners like brokers and surgeons pay for it through personal and social costs. Those roads are still tough.

It's time to stop exchanging time for money in a salaried job. Instead, we entrepreneurs solve problems to make money. Problem solving depends on expertise, not time. It could take 5 min. to solve something but the work becomes valuable because it unblocks flow.

If you’re not wealthy and want to change your story, starting a business is the most efficient way to do so:

• At least you’ll be investing in yourself, to up-skill and learn

• The downside is that it still seems complicated to most people

• The good news is that we have better tools available to us now than ever before

They say you need money to make money. Well, it appears to snowball once you get started.

The wealth of the U.S. is 80% inherited

This means most rich people didn't work or build the assets to get there. They do a pretty good job of maintaining it though.

True freedom:

• being comfortable enough to make as much (or as little) money as you want

• to eat whatever you want, to travel wherever you want, and all whenever you want

How are the rest of us going to get there? By solving specific problems and charging for the solutions. Working for yourself is the best way to break out of the old system and take charge of your income.

Owning your own business is pound-for-pound the most efficient path to significant gains.

Learn the skills and develop the knowledge to get where you want in life. We each need to take matters into our own hands: no one is going to hand you your freedom. The best investment you can make is in yourself.

Business opportunities appear when gaps in the market are exposed. The bigger the gap, the bigger the innovation, the bigger the change, the bigger the payoff. Start by looking at the moments of frustration in your own life. If you think of a solution you could develop this into a business to help others with the same problem.

It only seems like an audacious task because until very recently it was.

Simple Technology Is All We Need

The internet has changed the game.

We can find information in an instant and communicate with people around the world. But most important: we can find the others! No matter what your particular brand of weird (❤️) is, you can find the others online who’ll join you.

Simple technology gets us insight into new opportunities, even before building anything.

Don't Waste Your Resources Finding Out The Hard Way That You Built A Thing Nobody Wanted

Get the right data to help you make a better decision on which projects to pursue. Get a head start with insight into your target market. Find out who are they, what messaging is resonating with them. Confirm if they perceive the problem like you do. Check your assumptions.

Learn where they’re at. Put yourself in their shoes. Work to understand how they’re dealing with the problem you’re wanting to solve for them. Start by listening.

The messaging is key. We’re all humans trying to connect.

Don’t Get Left Behind

Validation.Run is our service to test business ideas. We have resources to help you prepare for the business journey. Our clients have launched new products with awareness and pivoted to better versions. They've also gone back to the drawing board, avoiding becoming another statistic.

Use us to measure demand from real customers. Learn the best messaging that resonates with them. Put yourself in the best position to launch. Grow your wealth, grow yourself.

Are you ready to run with it?

Small Town Business Ideas: The Savvy Entrepreneur's Guide for 2023

In the quest for entrepreneurship, finding the perfect niche often leads one back home. Small town business ideas present unique opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs. Yet, to make them profitable, they need to be rooted in understanding and meeting community needs. This guide walks you through the steps to identify and launch a thriving local business.

Think About Your Community and What It Needs

Before scouting for business ideas, take a moment to reflect on your town's unique requirements. What services or products are locals traveling to other towns for? A good business idea often arises from meeting these localized demands. Listen to your community, attend local meetings, or simply chat with neighbors to gain insights.

Understand the Area: Demographic and Psychographic Makeup

Successful small business ideas for small towns stem from an in-depth understanding of the community. Are the majority retirees? Young families? Knowing this will shape the type of businesses that will thrive. For instance, if your town has a lot of young parents, a daycare might be a high-demand service.

By the way: demographics are the numerical ways we classify a population (e.g. age, gender, income level). Psychographics are how we describe populations in terms of attitudes, beliefs and aspirations. A good rule of thumb here is that zip codes are themselves demographics, but psychographics transcend these boundaries. Don’t get too hung up on these, they’re just models to help us assess markets. If you had to pick one, psychographics tell us about what people care about and therefore get us closer to really helping our target audience (by solving meaningful problems for them with the products and services we offer).

Brainstorm Ideas That Resonate With You

Whether you're considering business ideas from home or storefront concepts, ensure the venture aligns with your passions. Jot down ideas and question, "what are some good business ideas for a small town?" Your personal investment in the idea will drive its success.

Retail and Beyond: Exploring All Avenues

Main Street retail might seem like the go-to, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. Delve into other areas such as ice cream shops, fast food spots, or even entertainment venues. Do you want to mainly serve tourists passing through or the local contingent? There will be pros and cons to either.

The best small town business ideas sometimes lie outside traditional concepts. Does your town even need another gathering spot? Or, can you offer a service to other businesses and go B2B (Business to Business).

Evaluate Ideas: Highest Impact plus Lowest Effort

The best businesses solve significant problems with minimal friction. List your ideas, then score them based on A) their potential to meet a local demand (impact), and B) the ease of execution (effort). If you have an idea on your list that scores high impact and low effort, you have a contender.

Validate Within Your Zip Code or County

Small business ideas that stick are often those that resonate locally. Before investing heavily, run a quick test campaign. It’s now straightforward getting data from real people to measure demand for a new business idea. You can be hyper targeted and only test within a certain zip code, county or region if you’d like. You’ll also learn about ideal positioning in the process, which will feed into your initial go-to-market strategy.

Access our Playbook to do it yourself, or schedule a call and we’ll handle the heavy lifting.

Our testing process will yield insights around the cost of acquiring new customers and competition from other brands. Which leads us to…

Calculate Costs and Delve Into Financing

Break down potential costs, and then scout for funding avenues, whether that's savings, small business loans, grants, or even venture capital. One popular question is, "What is a good business to start with $1000?" Whatever your budget, it's essential to have a clear financial roadmap. And if your budget is actually $1000: definitely grab our playbook to start testing on your own. There are many ways to measure free (or low cost) market validation.

Begin With a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Building an MVP is the next step in testing the waters. The main point is that we want to avoid investing heavily in something nobody wants. So we test at each step.

Offer a simplified version of your service or product, gather feedback, and refine. Keep going until you’ve clarified everything you need to feel almost certain this is the right thing to do.

Perhaps launch a pop-up shop or offer your service on a trial basis within your region to gauge interest.

Feedback is Key: Protecting Your Reputation

Word of mouth is the golden ticket in all marketing. And in tight-knit communities, the importance is amplified. Prioritize customer feedback. Remember, the most successful small businesses often have strong reputations anchored in trust and quality service.

Branching Out: Embrace the Digital World

Identified a business idea with potential beyond your town's borders? Go digital. Launching an online storefront or offering services online can expand your reach.

Conclusion: Commitment and Continuous Refinement

In the realm of business ideas 2023 and beyond, one constant remains: the need for dedication and agility. Whether you're exploring businesses to start from scratch or refining an existing one, the journey demands hard work and constant iteration. Embrace the challenge and turn your small town business dream into a reality.

Lean Market Research: How to Test A Business Idea

Test your business idea

Market research, or validation, is a crucial but often overlooked step in the process of starting a new business or project. It's much simpler than you'd think, especially with the help of modern digital marketing tools, which means there is no excuse for skipping this step.

You don't want to risk becoming another statistic. Plus, the clear benefit is that you'll start strong by learning about your target audience, which should be an ongoing thing for any business.

The basics of market research

• Market research is traditionally about surveying people who are ideal candidates for a new offering. The problem is, focus groups are proven to be ineffective

• "No market need" is the #1 reason startups fail, accounting for 40% of false starts. Don't become another statistic.

• We have the validation.run methodology that uses digital marketing to derive a measure of demand from your target audience. it also identifies them further in the process. But it uses realtime action from real people actively searching for your solution or something similar. This might be the biggest different from traditional options.

• Testing your positioning statement is key. This is all about who you're targeting, what their problem is, what your solution is and how it's different from alternatives or competitors out there. When you nail this, you can start marketing your offering. But you need to confirm this, otherwise you'll never know who you're addressing and what the real issues are that you’re hoping to solve for.

• Knowing how audacious a task it is to build a new company, why not do everything you can to safeguard yourself. Take the measured approach, use a touch of the scientific method, use the tools we have at our disposal to their fullest potential and try your best to quantify your audience’s demand and their association to your offering.

Our methodology of lean market research

1. Clarify positioning statement

2. Keyword research: working to understand search intent

3. Ad campaign to test

   1. Curiosity (CTR)

   2. Specific messaging options (ad performance)

   3. Implied cost (avg. CPC)

4. Landing page to summarize offering

   1. Measure demand (CVR)

   2. Messages from leads (customer development)

5. Reporting to bring it all together

Access our Validation.Run Playbook: See step-by-step how we implement the Validation.Run methodology of lean market research to measure demand and identify the target audience for new business ideas.

Outcomes of effective market research

• The first question we're always looking to answer is "does anyone even give a damn?" then, assuming that's a "yes", the second question is "ok, who are these people and what's their situation?"

• Once you know this you can start to reach them with effective marketing

• Know the right verbiage to really connect with them. After all, you're going to build something for them.

• Figure out the best acquisition channels (pick one to focus on) to bring in new customers

• Continue testing, iterating, and scale from here.

Considering how simple and helpful it is to properly validate your business ideas, hopefully many more people will consider it as a good place to start. We're building the free resources so you can do it all yourself. And if you want us to do all the heavy lifting, take a look at our offering.

We hope you join us in giving appropriate time to testing before committing substantial resources to the wrong path.

How To Start A Business

Good news, you don't need to read a whole library of business books on how to start a business. But from our perspective as digital marketers, these are the bare essentials to get any business off to a great start.

A note on permission marketing: modern marketing has changed from generic ads to personalized messaging. The modern day consumer is savvy and has Google at their fingertips. You need to learn their real problems and build a solution to solve. Not the other way around: you don't want to be a solution in search of a problem.

Find your idea

Not just a good one, a great one. You need to find a business idea you will be willing to fight for.

The famous advice is to “scratch your own itch”: which means to start with a problem you personally struggle with and know well. You’ll have the advantage of already intimately knowing the context around the problem/solution paradigm. But that’s when the blinders should come off. Ask others who have this problem how they deal with it and what an ideal solution would look like.

Train the idea muscle. As with anything, you can train yourself to be good at having great ideas. It’s a numbers game. We need to get comfortable with generating ideas en masse, such that the subset of quality will consistently show up.

Validate with lean market research

This is our specialty. At the intersection of SEO (search engine optimization) and growth strategy, we’re using Google Ads as a proxy for the market to measure demand and identify the target audience.

We can run a test campaign for you, or you can download our playbook for free and do it yourself.

If you want the free version of this methodology, start with a social media account. Don’t worry so much about branding. Instead focus on the positioning statement. Testing via organic social will take much longer, maybe several months, before you start to see real traction. But it's free!

Ads simply accelerate the process of finding crucial insights about your target audience. In either case we’re working to learn A) if anyone is interested in our offering, B) who they are and what their deal is. Such that we can craft the offering for them, addressing their deeper concerns.

Try not to rely too heavily on any one platform, since they could change an algorithm or policy without notice. It's good business practice to develop assets you wholly control. We’re aware of the irony of relying on Google Ads, but we’re also working under the assumptions that many people use Google to find things, and since Ads are Google’s main source of revenue they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Be open to all testing for traction in all acquisition channels. The aim is to find You may see a level of interest in testing through one marketing channel (e.g. ads, organic social, events, etc),

Build an MVP to start iterating

This MVP stands for minimum viable product, an element of lean startup methodologies.

If it's a system or product you’re thinking about selling, start with spreadsheets and no-code automation. If it's a service, do it all manually, yourself. The goal here isn't to take over the world, it's to learn from your audience.

You want to stay in the trenches of customer support and success for as long as you can. Go talk to your (prospective) customer and listen. Ask short, open ended questions and let them do all the talking.

Take insights from your audience and fold that into product development. Craft the solution over many revisions to suit your audience’s needs.

Don't quit your day job

One of the main differences between a small business and a large one is that the owner decided to stop pushing for growth.

To start a small business, you run through this process and once you hit your goal you can coast. To start a large business, don’t stop until you hit Mars.

We don't all need to be the next Bezos or Musk. $1,000 extra per month makes a huge difference to most people. There are many examples of people working on lean businesses that do just this. And most of these founders, side hustlers and indie hackers are still holding down a normal 9-to-5 job.

Incorporate and make it official

Think about what you really want in life and start with that end in mind. Is it more freedom in some capacity, a creative outlet, early retirement, investing, travel, funding a hobby, quitting your job? Use the five-fold why technique.

It’s probably not a shiny new business card that’ll bring you fulfillment. Plus, you’ll need a good reason to burn the midnight oil and work weekends.

But once you're making enough extra cash to consistently cover your household overhead and goals, then you can go all-in on this new business idea and wrap up other income generating activities. Only after you accomplish all of the above would we recommend going through the next steps of incorporation.

Remember the world of business is rapidly changing. Despite the complexity this brings, we also now have many new tools to help out. The internet, software and lean startup methodologies are accelerating the iterative learning process. So start with a problem you're already familiar with. Validate using lean market research to measure demand and identify the target audience. Start small with an MVP and iterate to greatness. Don't quit your day job, these projects are more flexible than ever before. Then finally, and only if you really want, make it official and go big.

The Importance Of Positioning When Testing New Business Ideas

The importance of positioning cannot be overstated. For startups, running businesses or ideas. The positioning statement is that snippet of internally defined text that addresses who your target audience is, their need, your solution and its main benefit, any competition or alternatives, and how you differ from them.

The formula

The best formula for generating a positioning statement comes from Arielle Jackson. I recall when a client once shared the above link with me and once I saw the breakdown, I knew it was the one. It has everything you need. I immediately started sharing the link out to all my other clients and marketing friends.

For (target customer) who (statement of need or opportunity), (Product name) is a (product category) that (statement of key benefit). Unlike (competing alternative) (Product name) (statement of primary differentiation).

For testing purposes and relevance

The main thing we’re trying to learn in testing business ideas is if the new concept is relevant. The first question we’re asking ourselves is “does anyone even give a damn?” Assuming that’s a “yes”, then the follow-up question would be, “OK, who are these people and how urgent is this for them?” You know good positioning when you see it. Or maybe you don’t even notice because it’s so seamless. But it’s that moment when the right messaging hit the right person at the right time and they responded with the right actions. It’s a measure of relevance.

Help from keyword research

Google search is a revelation. Never before have we had such power in our hands. The power of information. And we’ve adapted very quickly to its utility.

A lot can be gleaned from how we use search as a tool. For instance, have you ever notices when you’re trying to find something with Google, it can take a few tries to get it right? You need to find the right keywords to submit as a query to the all knowing machine. Google becoming a verb illustrates the universal appeal.

One of the main reasons we use Google Ads in our testing is because of this kind of search intent. People come to Google for answers. It’s different to when you’re scrolling on social media, likely just killing time or chilling out.

Between what people are typing into Google and what we’re offering through ads is this study of relevance. When we show the right messaging to the right people and they engage with our ads by clicking on them, then we know we’re on the right track to actually connect with them.

The sheet method of iterating on different options

It’s not easy developing a sound positioning statement. There are all the variables in the formula, plus you need to make them fit in a way that makes sense. One simple way I’ve developed to iterate through all the options is by mapping it all out in a spreadsheet.

I jot down the formula as the top row and lock that in place. Then I write the different options I’m considering in the columns for each variable of the formula. This works well since you have the chronology of each variable in the formula.

What often happens when I work through this process with clients is that they blaze through most of the variables but then get stuck on a specific one. It’s important to go with your gut when thinking through these, otherwise you’ll go down the rabbit hole on any particular item.

Test your positioning to validate

The beauty is that once you have a contender for your positioning statement, the next step is testing it. You can also test the variables. And this is the whole point of validation.

Positioning statements evolve over time

Don’t get married to any particular stance laid out in your positioning statement. It should be thought of as a working document (another bonus of the sheet method). As you refine your targeting and messaging, you’ll refine your overall positioning. Expect this to happen.

Especially in terms of segmentation

Your positioning will also expand to address segmentation in your target audience. This too is natural and essential. Segmentation is key in marketing. While we recommend trying to remain focussed in terms of an overall niche, you will likely still end up subdividing your positioning to address segmentation within your audience. These will be subtle tweaks to better address the needs of sub-targets.

Wrap up

I'm not kidding when I say I've spent the bulk of my time for a campaign or new client working on positioning. In a way, it's the whole focus of marketing. During our testing methodology we do our best to make use of the available tools (ad platforms, keyword research, competitor research) to make an educated guess on what it could be. It's up to the people, the target audience and real prospective customers to tell us if it's working. They do this with their actions and how much they engage with a test campaign. Luckily we learn quickly what's working and lean into that. Positioning evolves with ongoing input from your customers. After all, the thing we're creating should be done in concert with its intended recipients.

Validation.Run’s positioning statement

For savvy entrepreneurs who need to test their next business idea, Validation.Run offers lean market research to measure demand and identify the target audience. Instead of doing it yourself, wasting time on the wrong idea or risking becoming a statistic, Validation.Run gets you the right insights to help you decide how best to proceed.

How to Find a Good Business Idea

Solve your own problems

Look to your own problems with life, tasks, work, etc. Observe your own patters of behavior when it comes to tackling these issues in your life. If you can solve your own problems, you can package it to sell to other people like you.   

Work within your subject matter expertise

If you go through with starting a new project, you’re going to have to become the expert. A head start will be handy.

Ask your friends and family for biased feedback

Unless they are subject matter experts and/or the target audience, filter their input.

Ask the target audience for unbiased feedback

Identify and locate your ideal customer, in the real world, and online. Ask them open-ended questions about the problem/solution paradigm. Your aim is to get to the core of the problem, as they experience it.

After you speak to 50 people, who fit your ideal customer profile, your perspective on the matter will inevitably change. This will take a moment, but by the time you're through, you should understand the problem in a far more nuanced way, having aggregated the experiences and perceptions of your target audience. 

You'll gain the necessary perspective to either put this one aside or begin the epic journey of building a solution.

Stress test the idea to learn if its good or not

Validate. Set up a hypothesis and try to break it. If it survives under duress, you’ll know you’re onto something.

---

Photo by Bruno Scramgnon from Pexels.

The #1 Reason Startups Fail

It’s something I have witnessed first hand through my consulting experience, anecdotally by being in the startup ecosystem, and backed up with data from CB Insights (Crunch Base). It makes sense that this the biggest issue because it’s also the most overlooked part of starting a company. Don’t get me wrong, many nail it. But the problem is that the majority of would-be founders are oblivious to the real need for market validation. Testing is the answer.

Most startups fail due to “no market need”. Meaning not enough people are interested in your idea to begin with. See the full breakdown below.

It looks like a paradox at first: the audacity required to start a new company, paired with the humility to check your assumptions along the way. Most people just push their vision forward, without consulting anyone except maybe friends and family. Who although are well-meaning with their encouragement, are probably not subject matter experts in whatever realm their friend is looking to dive headfirst into. 

The reality is that you must build your new vision in concert with those who you hope to support - your audience. In business, we’re in the service of our customers. You need to, and should, make a healthy profit. But you won’t even get off to a good start unless you craft your offering to match your intended audience.

Feedback is the way we iterate to greatness. There’s a whole realm of Customer Development, which I equate to the Retention stage of the Pirate Metrics sales funnel. This retention stage might be the most important part of the customer journey because it’s where the dialogue between visionary and consumer takes place. Only together will they both make progress toward a truly viable solution. Win-win is the only way.

Through testing, we're able to validate our assumptions. It’s what one should do at the onset of any new business and during the initial phase of finding product-market fit. Realistically, during this early stage, you need to be spending 50% of your time on distribution efforts (listening to your customer) and 50% on product development (applying their feedback). Only once you find product-market fit can you relax this ratio to focus more on product development. But don’t ever completely cut off the conversation with your customers.