cover image for Will It Fly?

Will It Fly?

Pat Flynn

8/10
A solid book about validating business ideas in the real world to see whether or not your idea is worth doing. Well written and fun to read and feels good and actionable

Intro

Redefine failure as not got it yet Experiment and measure outcomes to test assumption You're testing ideas not yourself

Serve people Don't rush into it

entrepreneurial life can be unhappy and unfulfilling, your idea should support your ideal lifestyle

Air port test

  • 5 years from now what would make you say you're life is absolutely amazing (should be achievable with your current trajectory / job / business idea)
  • 4 categories of your life that are most important (family, health, finances etc)
  • write the reality for each of the 4

History test

  • list jobs you've had, (list parts you enjoyed, favorite memory, the bad, grade)
  • what things seems to motivate you the most? How can you integrate this into a work vision?

Shark bait test

  • need to know what's special about you, usually it's your personal connection to the topic and your personal expertise

  • what makes you so special, if I could just pay someone else to do your idea. What is your unfair advantage?

  • types

    • knowing people
    • crazy work ethic
    • talent for telling amazing stories

  • email everyone and ask what people think your super powers and unique value propositions are / what makes you you

Folding your wings

  • we want to know your mission and have some constant reminders (section of you from earlier)
  • make a symbol (paper air plane)

Development lab

Before you print your business card

  • don't make website, social media, branding, business cards or worry about naming first. These are fun and easy but not foundational.

Germination

  • mind map (organize and collect thoughts), must be movable peices. Post it's or mindmister or software)
  • create mode or edit mode (former is creative, latter is logical)
  • to begin be in create, capture all and any thoughts, no bad ideas. Let it all out. Brain dump
  • then edited, hierarchy, organize, categorize
  • prune the tree (Remove completely irrelevant thoughts)

One sentence

  • idea as 1 page, 1 paragraph, 1 sentence in a row. Distillation.

Conversation and observation

  • write on Paper, then talk about it to Everyone
  • anyone can steal but typically people don't execute especially if they aren't a part of the group and don't care deeply and aren't a doer
  • helps refine
  • if there is no respect in their comment ignore them, respectful can be helpful
  • expect negative response
  • speak to 10 people over the next week challenge
  • tip for how to share, never share any opinions prior (don't do, wanna hear a cool idea, or I haven't refined but,)
  • don't take notes or record conversation, this changes the conversation
  • don't interrupt
  • quick follow up questions (why do you say that, why is that important to you, what else do you think is missing)
  • record after

Diagnostics

1000 true fans

  • you don't have to make something that changes the world, just a few people in a specific niche
  • niche is good

Market map

  • define the area you are in, who are the people, what products are already serving them
  • it's good if someone has your idea, someone already validated and now you can just fix their stuff
  • 3 P's people, places, products

Places

  • where you target audience resides online
  • top blogs (often have communities, easy to reach owner, trends)
  • blog: keyword for google helpful search
  • forum: keyword for google helpful search
  • social media, FB groups and LinkedIn (active and large)
  • sub scribe to news letters and look for patterns
  • don't offer the same thing (separate yourself)
  • influencers in space list
  • YouTube and iTunes/Spotify for videos and podcasts repsectivley
  • podcasts (top rated podcasts, people who are interviewed a bunch)

Products

  • top services, products, books, (what's being purchased)
  • offered is different than purchased
  • look at Amazon

Audience and customer PLAN

  • problems: find pain points, ideally 1 on 1 personal convos. What frustrates you about X, if you could wave a magic wand and change anything what would it be, are there any issues around this that are costing you money. What's something you do once and over again. Dig deeper (how come, etc). Survey (ask by Ryan something). Can find email them by compling list and personalize, what had you wished you'd known.
  • questions that audience are asking: forums, Google format ("how do I" cite: <url>), alternates (why is it, when can I, what are the, need help, help with). FAQ page, Google format (FAQ cite: <url>). Same format (I hate). Amazon reviews, read the 2 and 3 star reviews. Look for keywords, type in keyword (scroll down to searches related to part),
  • find real stories from real people, best IRL, tell me a story when blank
  • language:
  • anecdotes:
  • needs:

Pick 1 pain and 1 solution that work for you. From your brainstorm

Flight simulator

  • don't ask them if they would pay for it. Ask them TO pay for it. (What people say vs do are different)

Principles of validations

  • need people to actually step up and take action.
  • do ads, have a real website and then a click now to buy button with only an out of stock message and track clicks and grab their email for a buy when back in stock thing.
  • also helps with your motivation

Validation

  • get in front of an audience, ways to do (targeted advertising, private targeted adds specific ie dance specific site, dance specific email list, add can be anywhere on their site or social media post or something)
  • guest posting, article that you write for another website. (Requires relationship building with website owner)
  • post on forums, (spend a few weeks posting valuable info, before asking for anything)
  • groups on FB same idea as ^
  • become poster child for someone and their content
  • reach out to conferences and pitch yourself
  • crowd sourcing platform (good for testing and validating idea and getting it in front of real people) (issues with fees, campaign page construction, can grow bigger than you can control, not really validation)
  • hyper target, get a group of people to hand raise that they are your target audience and need the thing to take next steps.
  • share solution with hand raisers, 1 on 1 (in person, video call, phone call, private message, 1 on 1 emails) 1 to many (live stream with chat, live stream without chat, email broadcast, webpage with explainer video, webpage with text and image only)
  • Ask a question or 2 what do they do, get to know audience a bit. How long have you been doing blank,
  • qualify yourself, who you are and why they should listen to you. What you can do for them
  • be honest about what you're up to, upfront about gathering their honest feedback which you will hope to build and sell in the future if you get enough context.
  • share prototype, preliminary model (sketches, outlines, fake images) don't worry about quality
  • ask for the transaction, can follow up a day later or ask immediately.
  • (see the page with things) in later half of validation method for script on email for ask for transaction part
  • mechanism for collecting pre order, gum road site.
  • keep in contact with early adopters, bi weekly email updates. Or private FB page or discord (updates a bit more often)
  • minimum number of people 10% of prospect to pre pay. 50 total and 5 for sign up.
  • ask why as follow up to email for why they didn't do things.

All Systems Go

  • break things down
  • celebrate small wins
  • get support
  • treat customers like gold (don't treat people like numbers)
  • surprise people every once in a while
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