After coming home from the gym last night, I managed to catch the last 5 minutes of the classic sitcom Cheers, an American television comedy series that ran for eleven seasons 1982 to 1993. The show is set in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to relax and socialize like one big happy family! Anyway, it got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could set up my own bar where I can socialize with just friends, family and co-workers? Many people share this dream and they go on to open successful bars, but for many others it doesn’t work out quite as well, leading to a loss of business and possible bankruptcy. Whether it’s a bar, a restaurant, a bookshop or a piece of software, here are a few ways to validating your idea in a fast, simple and inexpensive way before committing yourself.

1. The Insider’s Guide to
Validating Your idea
by Neil Patel
@neilp666
www.neilpatel.co

2. Whether it’s a bar, a restaurant, a
bookshop or a piece of software, here are
a few ways to validating your idea in a
fast, simple and inexpensive way before
committing yourself.

3. What are the alternatives to your service, who has already
solved this problem? If you live in London and want to go
out on Saturday night, there are hundreds of places to
choose from, from high end to cheap and cheerful.
If you’re the bar owner you can’t be all things to all people,
remember that you’re on a limited budget, so you need to
write down what your new bar should offer or not offer,
depending on who your potential customers are.
1. Who has done this before

4. 2. Who are your customers?
What are the characteristics of your desired customer, how
many of them are there, who will be the 1st through your
door? By ordering your potential customers by gender, age,
income etc. you can better focus on your target market.
If you know your best customers are likely to be females
between the ages of 25 to 45, live in London and earn a
monthly salary of £2,500, this can come in handy when it
comes to marketing.

5. 3. What tools do you need as a team?
This can be as simple as a creating a personal blog,
describing the business in detail, your location, menu or
catalogue, your unique selling points and be sure to include
a contact page, which encourages feedback.
Also make sure there is a signup form for people who are
interested in more information prior to launch. This is a very
good way to test the market and create a mailing list for
later on.

6. 4. What does the law say?
It’s very important to start your business off on
the right legal footing, think of things like health
and safety and employment law. Find out which
rules and regulations apply to your new
business. Print out the various laws and
highlight relevant parts.

7. 5. How will you test the concept quickly
Prototyping your product or service to as many people as possible is one of the
most important things you can do. On their own ideas are largely useless, but
developing a prototype enables you to get feedback from the potential
customers you identified in step 2.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. You could have a one page-marketing plan to list
the features and benefits of your product. If it’s a website or an app a basic
wire-frame will do, because let’s face it, nobody get it right the first time!
Change is vital to the success of most things.

8. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000
ways that won’t work”
— Thomas Edison.

9. Final Thoughts
By following these simple approaches to validating your idea, you
can find out who your customers are and what they need or want.
This reduces the guesswork so you will be more confident in making
key decisions in your business

10. @neilp666
www.neilpatel.co
Thanks for watching lets
connect