Market research your idea

Before you invest time and energy into selling something you need to check to see if there is a market for what you are planning to sell. Market research is where you gather as much as possible information about your target customers and their preference. You are going to see if what you are planning to sell will have the expected reception in the market from prospective buyers.

Test your business idea

Try to sell your products to friends and family or a small group of people in a very controlled environment. Testing the business idea on a small group of manageable people will help you get instant feedback and fix issues without generating a big social negative impact.

An example would be when we tried to sell automatic glowing toilet seats for kids. The claim was to help them potty train. The motivation was kids will like the glowing lights and go to the bathroom to relieve themselves. The motion sensors will light up the potty seat which will help kids guide in the dark. Furthermore, kids will not be afraid to go to the bathroom during the night. “No more wetting beds!” was the major marketing punch line.

After testing the item on the small set of household we realized that this product is more suited for older people and not kids. Little kids were trying to take the light off the potty seat. Anything that glows sparkles kids interest. Some liked to play with it after relieving themselves. Whereas elderly people found this helpful because they did not have to turn on the light and interrupt their sleep. If you are old and you hate going to the toilet only to turn on the light and completely lose your sleep, then this automatic glowing potty seat was for you. Not for the kids. Hence testing the product idea on a small set of people is very important.