If you’re looking to start a new business, become a freelancer or simple make more money from your current business, then what you’re about to read is extremely important.
This concept could make or break your business. It could save you from years of frustration and the feeling that comes with people not wanting what you have to sell.
For most of us, it’s devastating to spend so many hours pouring our heart and soul into a project only to find out that when we show it to the world nobody wants it.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way.
By flipping the script and building a business backwards you can remove most of the risk and find out if people really want what you’ve got to sell BEFORE you build it.
Here’s the deal…
If you don’t have people to sell to you don’t have a business. So many of us (I’m definitely guilty of this) try to sit around and dream up a great business idea based on what we we like to do and what we assume people will want to pay us good money for. We run through the gauntlet every single time.
What should be our product?
What should we name the company?
What’s our business model?
How much money do we need to start out?
Let’s get a fancy website up right now!
Time to build the product!
This scenario is usually followed up by the sound of crickets chirping as you await the flood of people onto your website fighting their way through the crowd to give you a bushel of cash for your limited supply of whatever it is you’re selling.
The problem is, it never happens quite like we dream it up. And, most of the time it’s because we’re looking at the entire thing backwards. Investing time, energy and cash up front is a giant waste if you aren’t sure who wants to buy your product. The fact is that it’s really, really tough to create demand for a product unless your marketing budget is in the millions.
Lucky for us, there’s a simple solution.
Always, always, before you do anything else, find a market to sell to.
We’re looking for a big group of people with an over-the-top passion for something who are easy to reach.
The internet has made this insanely easy. Just jump over to clickbank and find an area that interests you on the left menu, then sort the products according to most popular. This shows you exactly what people are already buying, usually in mass quantities.
You can also go over to the amazon best sellers list and sort through to find what people are already buying.
Craigslist is another great option, especially if you’re looking to sell a local product.
Of course these aren’t the only places to look, you can find evidence of a hot market all over the internet. Check out the most popular blogs in your subject area and figure out if their selling something and how successful they are. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just have to give your customers what they want better than the next guy.
Some of you might be saying, “Why would I want to get into business where I have a bunch of competition?” And that’s a common thought that I’ve had a hundred times, but there’s really no need for it. The key is that you just have to be better (or just market it better) than everyone else out there.
Finding a market who is already dishing out cash for a product similar to yours is a gold mine that you can build your business around. No, your product shouldn’t to be a carbon copy of your competition, but you should find a way to help your market and satisfy their wants, needs and desires better than anything else out there.
I’ll leave you with that, soon we’ll go over the next step to launching a business that works. But, for now focus on finding that market with the size, passion and accessibility that will make it a million times easier to get your idea off the ground and actually start making some sales.
If you find another tool or approach that’s been amazingly helpful for your market research please spread the word in the comments below.
Sincerely,
Tommy
