How to Test Your Business Idea
A Flight Plan from Pat Flynn’s Will It Fly?
Before any flight, pilots meticulously complete a checklist to ensure all systems are in working order. If anything is amiss, they address it before takeoff, ensuring safety and saving time, money, and lives.
Similarly, doctors and surgeons use checklists to follow protocols during procedures. Should entrepreneurs adopt a similar approach? While they may not face life-or-death situations, a solid checklist could prevent significant grief, wasted money, and lost time.
Pat Flynn, millionaire entrepreneur and host of Smart Passive Income podcast, offers a five-step framework for entrepreneurs to validate their business ideas. Just as pilots prepare for a flight, entrepreneurs can take smart precautions to boost their chances of success.
Step 1: Mission Design – Chart Your Destination
Before building anything, ensure your idea aligns with your life’s goals. Flynn emphasizes that chasing profits without purpose can lead to misery. He shares the story of an entrepreneur earning $220,000 a month but feeling unfulfilled because his venture didn’t align with his values—a stark reminder that success without purpose feels hollow.
To clarify if an idea will truly satisfy you, Flynn suggests three exercises:
The Airport Test: Imagine it’s five years from now, and you’re grabbing coffee with a friend at an airport. They ask, “How’s life?” You reply, “Amazing, couldn’t be better,” and mean it. To visualize this, fold a sheet of paper into four quadrants, labeling each with a key area of your life (e.g., Family, Career, Health, Finances). In each quadrant, write what’s happening in five years to make life feel amazing—like a thriving family or financial freedom. This ensures your idea supports your ideal lifestyle.
The History Test: Reflect on three past experiences—jobs, roles, or hobbies. For each, list three things you loved and three you didn’t. Identify patterns to reveal what energizes you and what to avoid.
The Shark Bait Test: Picture pitching to Kevin O’Leary on Shark Tank. He asks, “Why you and not someone else?” Your unfair advantage—unique skills, experiences, or connections—sets you apart. Flynn illustrates with two people pitching chocolate-flavored wine: both have wine experience, but one has family ties to a chocolate factory, giving them an edge. If unsure of your advantage, ask ten friends or colleagues what makes you stand out.
These exercises act as a compass, ensuring your idea points toward a destination worth reaching. With your mission clarified, you’re ready to refine your idea.
Step 2: Development Lab – Sculpt Your Idea
Once your idea aligns with your goals, refine it into something clear and focused. Flynn warns against distractions like designing logos or choosing names too early. Instead, focus on what the idea does, who it serves, and how it’s unique—like carving a rough stone into a polished gem.
Here’s how to shape it:
Mind Map It: Use a mind map to organize thoughts and refine your idea’s potential. Start with a 10-15 minute brain dump: jot down every idea related to your concept without judgment. For example, if your idea is “Online Fitness Coaching,” you might list “busy professionals,” “quick workouts,” “motivation struggles,” or “video tutorials.” Then, create a mind map by writing your core idea in the center and drawing branches for categories like “target audience” (e.g., busy professionals, ages 30-50), “problems solved” (e.g., lack of time), and “features” (e.g., 15-minute home workouts). Add sub-branches for details, using colorful pens to keep it engaging. Finally, review and eliminate anything misaligned with your core idea.
One-Sentence Clarity: Write a page about your idea, condense it to a paragraph, then distill it into one sentence capturing its essence. Flynn’s example: Food Trucker is an online resource for aspiring food truck owners. It’s like crafting a tweet that defines your vision.
Get Feedback: Share your one-sentence idea with ten people. Listen to their thoughts, but prioritize feedback from those who respect you. Update your mind map with new insights.
This step sharpens your idea, preparing it for market testing.
Step 3: Flight Planning – Survey the Landscape
Understanding your market is like checking the weather before a flight. Flynn builds on Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans” theory, which posits that you don’t need millions of customers—just 1,000 dedicated fans paying $100 annually to generate $100,000. This approach grounds your business in sustainability.
Create a market map to explore three areas:
Places: Where does your audience hang out? Forums, blogs, YouTube, Amazon, or social platforms like Twitter or Instagram? Identify the most active spots.
People: Study how others serve your audience. What resonates? What falls flat? Check platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram for clues.
Products: What’s your audience already buying? Search Amazon for products in your niche (e.g., fly fishing gear) to identify what’s popular and how you can improve on it.
Next, use the Customer PLAN (Problems, Language, Anecdotes, Needs) to understand your audience deeply:
Problems: Ask about their challenges via surveys or conversations.
Language: Learn how they describe their goals or struggles to connect authentically.
Anecdotes: Find stories about your audience to empathize with their experiences.
Needs: Identify their core needs. For example, a small business owner struggling with social media might need a simple tool to schedule posts, inspiring an affordable app or service.
Flynn suggests organizing these insights in a spreadsheet tool like Excel for clarity. Refine your idea with another mind map and one-sentence description. This step ensures you’re entering a market with demand.
Step 4: Flight Simulator – Test Before Takeoff
Validation is critical before investing heavily. Flynn draws on Tim Ferriss’s “testing the mirrors” method, where Ferriss used Google AdWords to drive traffic to a sales page, with “Buy Now” clicks revealing demand despite an “out of stock” message. Similarly, Noah Kagan validated his Sumo Jerky subscription by pre-selling to office workers via social media, earning $1,000 in profit in 24 hours using a landing page and PayPal button. Amy Porterfield tested her online course by offering a free webinar to gauge interest, confirming demand before building her program. These low-risk tests prove an idea’s potential.
Flynn’s four-step validation formula:
Get in Front of an Audience: Use your following, targeted ads, guest posts, forums, or crowdfunding to reach people.
Hyper-Target: Present scenarios or questions to identify those who need your solution. Hand-raisers might click a link or join an email list.
Share Your Solution: Be transparent about validating an idea. Build trust, then pitch your solution to gauge reactions.
Ask for the Transaction: Request pre-orders or commitments via platforms like Gumroad, which lets creators sell digital products (e.g., eBooks, courses) with a simple “Buy Now” button. If someone doesn’t buy, follow up to learn why—their feedback is invaluable.
This step confirms your idea’s potential before significant investment.
Step 5: All Systems Go – Launch and Soar
With validation secured, it’s time to launch and sustain momentum. Flynn’s final advice offers a roadmap for staying grounded as you grow:
Celebrate Small Wins: Every milestone—your first sale, a glowing review, or a successful tweak—fuels motivation. Acknowledge these like checkpoints on a flight, whether by treating yourself to coffee or sharing with your team.
Build a Support Crew: Surround yourself with like-minded people via online communities (e.g., Reddit’s r/entrepreneur), local meetups, or a mastermind group. Their encouragement and wisdom act like a co-pilot, helping navigate challenges like cash flow issues or marketing flops.
Treat Customers Like Gold: Your customers are your business’s heart. Listen to their feedback, solve their problems, and make them feel valued through personalized emails or quick responses. Loyal customers become advocates, amplifying your reach. For example, Ankur Nagpal’s Teachable grew by prioritizing user feedback to refine features, building a loyal community of course creators.
Stay Anchored to Your Why: Revisit your purpose—whether it’s financial freedom, creative expression, or impact. Write it down and keep it visible, like a flight plan on your dashboard. This focus counters distractions or doubts.
Embrace the Journey: Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Find joy in learning, connecting with customers, and solving challenges. Flynn reminds us to savor the ride, as the view from cruising altitude—where your idea thrives—is worth the effort.
Final Thoughts
Flynn’s framework is a practical guide for entrepreneurs. In essence, it’s about:
Understanding your personal goals first.
Organizing your ideas and seeking feedback.
Researching your market and audience.
Validating your idea with small tests.
Staying on track by revisiting your “why” and building a strong network.
Many entrepreneurs put the cart before the horse, spending heavily on systems, storefronts, or inventory only to find no demand. Flynn’s approach saves time and money by prioritizing clarity, validation, and purpose. By following this “flight” plan, you can launch with more confidence and a better shot at soaring to success.
Below are a couple summary videos from YouTube describing the same details.