How I tested the Solo Accelerator before building any of it, and how to test your next offer the same way
Before the Solo Accelerator existed, I wrote down the minimum number of interested people I needed to decide whether to build it: fifty.
If fifty people subscribed to hear about it, I would build it; if not, I wouldn't. It went way past fifty. I was ready to build! The number was there, the excitement was there, and I already had half the program in my head anyway, no brainer.
Well, I didn't. Fifty subscribers told me people were curious, but not if they would be paying for it. Subscribing costs nothing, so the next number was 6 to 8 people who would pay for it, the amount I would need to make this viable.
So I started writing to them, one by one. I asked if they wanted to talk; many didn’t, but a good bunch of them did. I found out who was really interested, what they were stuck on, and what they'd actually want from something like this. Basically, I validated my assumptions by talking to actual potential clients. By the end of it, I had the minimum number of people I needed who wanted to join.
I built it.
Most solo offers get built the other way round. At first there's an idea, and it feels good, so you start building: the program, the sales page, the slides. Then you launch it. EXCITIIIIIING!!!!
But then… crickets. A few likes, one or two maybes, weeks go by, and you didn’t sell anything. Maybe I need a better sales process? Cheaper prices! Oh maybe Ads!! And you keep fixing all this, without even questioning if what you built is what people want.
A minimum number of interested people before you build anything avoids you building the wrong thing, because it makes an informed decision before your excitement makes it for you. Without a set number, every result looks "promising" until it isn’t.
With a number to test, you know: either you're over it, or you're not. And if you're over it, you still go and talk to the people because a subscriber and a buyer have different purchasing intentions.
Decide what yes looks like before you assume it and build the whole thing.
It's the same order I encourage everyone I work with to do. That’s why the Solo Accelerator often starts with a research and validation sprint, to make sure you are on the right track to build a business that pays the bills.
So here's today’s question:
Think of the next thing you want to build: the course, the program, the new offer. What number would tell you it’s worth building? And where would that number come from?
Send me your reply; I read every one, and I’ll write back.
If you want help with that and want to make sure you build the right thing, let’s talk with a free 45-minute call: go.ricardobrito.me.
