Will It Fly?: How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money

by Pat Flynn

Hey Jim, thanks again for taking the time to chat with me the other day about my idea, it was extremely helpful. As I mentioned before, I’m reaching out to several people to gauge interest and a lot of people shared the same feedback that you did, which is exciting! I really want to build this, but I need to know for sure this is something people like you would be interested in before moving forward. In my experience, a lot of people say they would use or buy something, but only because they’re being nice and don’t want to hurt someone’s

feelings. In order for me to know for sure, I need 10 people to pre-order before I move forward with this. If I don’t get 10, then I’ll simply cancel the pre-order and no one will be charged anything. Because you were so interested, I’d love to have you become one of the first users. You won’t be charged until the product is released, and you’ll be one of the first to get access to it. Plus, I’d love for you to be involved in the process of building it, too, just so I can make sure it does what you need it to do. I’m thinking of selling this in the future for $100 or so, but the pre-order price is currently $50. If you’d like to be a part of this special group, all you have to do is click on the link below, which will bring you to a page and initiate a checkout process: [link to pre-order page] Thanks again, Jim, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Another way you can keep people excited is to create a private Facebook group to hold your customers and have them get to know each other, too. This makes it a little easier for you to facilitate discussions, get feedback, and share progress with photos and video updates. You begin to build an environment and culture where raving fans are born, but bear in mind you have to keep people up to date a little more often in a social media environment than you do with email. What should my minimum be? How many people should I have order before it’s a yes? Does everyone you follow up with need to pay you money in order to green-light your project? No. Most people will not, even if your solution is perfectly suited for them. Some may not be too keen on paying upfront for something or have the funds to spare at the moment, while others would like to wait until more people are on board with it later in the process. According to the Diffusion of Innovations theory by Everett Rogers, a professor of communication who published a book in 1962 of the same name, there’s a specific progression of adoption of new innovations by users based on a number of factors, including time. The first users (the innovators and early adopters) make up a small percentage of the overall user-base, followed by a surge of new users coming in the early majority and late majority phase, and then the laggards coming in at the end of the cycle. This adoption curve, seen below, works in our favor and completely pa...

Subject: Hey Jim, did I do something wrong?

Hey Jim, I didn’t hear from you after my email to you last week, so I wanted to send you one more. It will only take a second to respond to. You had previously expressed interest in my product idea but then didn’t end up pre-ordering, and I’m emailing to learn why. If you could hit reply and answer this question I’d greatly appreciate it as I’m doing all I can to make sure I create something great for you and others like yourself. Thanks, and I hope to hear from you soon!

“The secret of flight is this—you have to do it immediately, before your body realizes it is defying the laws.” —Michael Cunningham

5. Break it down and appreciate the small wins along the way.

4. Get support.

3. Treat your customers like gold.

2. Remember why.

1. Enjoy the ride.

Lift off. So where do you go from here?

Well, my website and podcast at SmartPassiveIncome.com were created to help budding entrepreneurs like you! That’s where I share how to build your business from the ground up through the experiments that I run in my own businesses—both old and new. All of the information on the website is free, so if you’d like to check it out, visit SmartPassiveIncome.com/LiftOff so I know you’re coming from this book. I look forward to serving you there! Cheers, and here’s to you and your success! If you’d like to let me know what you thought of this book, shoot a message to me on Twitter at @PatFlynn and make sure to use the hashtag #WillItFly. Thanks again!

Let Go: My Unexpected Path from Panic to Profits and Purpose by Pat Flynn Let Go is Pat Flynn’s touching memoir about overcoming adversity through a commitment to pursuing your own path. When a job layoff in a bad economy forced Pat to reconsider his career as an architect, he found an unexpected path forward. Along the way, Pat managed to not only achieve financial success, but more importantly discovered what matters most: passion and purpose. In Let Go, Pat reveals the inside story of his transformation into one of today’s most beloved thought leaders in the areas of Internet business, online marketing, and lifestyle entrepreneurialism. He shares the challenges and feelings he faced as he pieced together what has become a thriving online enterprise. If you share Pat’s impulse to pursue your own path, then you’ll enjoy reading Let Go. After all, we all must confront the same risky idea if we are to unlock our true potential: letting go. You can get free access to the audio version of Let Go in the bonus section of the Will It Fly? Companion Course, or get access to the text version at the link below: WillItFlyBook.com.com/letgo