This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
How do you know if your business idea is going to work? If you've got an idea for a new business or side hustle, or means of making money, money making idea, what do you do? Do you just kind of proceed blindly? Do you do a bunch of research first? Is there a happy middle ground? Let's talk
about it in the context of a specific idea here. In this episode, we're going to help a listener validate their idea for a carpooling app for parents. Now, there are a range of ways to do this, but we're going to simplify. That's what it's all about here on Side Hustle School. Alice in Minneapolis, she's got this idea, wants to know, you know, is it worth it for me to proceed?
What are the risk factors and so on? And in a few action packed minutes, I'm going to do my best to get her a little bit further along the process, as well as help our listeners out there who are trying to figure out, okay, I've got a bunch of ideas. How do I know, you know, is this the idea that's worth pursuing? A variety of ways we could look at that question, but I want to give you something specific to go away with. So thank you for being out there. The whole point of the podcast
is to give you a point of inspiration and a practical tip. The detailed question from this listener and my answer is coming right up. Hi, I'm Alice from Minneapolis. I've been working on an idea for a mobile app that helps parents coordinate carpooling schedules. It's something I'd personally use, and a few friends have told me they love the concept. But what if it's not a
good idea beyond our small circle? How can I tell if there's enough demand or if it's going to cost way more to develop than I realize? Are there signs I should look for before I sink too much time and money into this? Alright, so yesterday we looked at this question from an entrepreneur or a small business owner who was thinking about opening a second location. And she was kind of like, you know, can my idea work twice, basically. So here we have a different concept. It's somebody who's
thinking of starting an app, but it's a little bit similar in that I'm, you know, I'm trying to predict the future, right? And this is a common issue that side hustlers, small business owners find themselves in. They're like, I've got this idea. If only I knew, you know, what the outcome would be, or if it's worth doing this idea versus something else. And you never know 100%, but there are some things you can do to validate before you get going. And so one of those things you want to
do is to gauge demand, at least come up with some answer to the question, is the problem I'm trying to solve big enough? So in this case, you know, is it a problem, enough of a problem, parents coordinating carpooling schedules? Well, it really depends on the area, right? It depends on the area, how people go to school or how parents take their kids to school or how the kids get to school. What are the cultural norms? What is public transportation like? A lot of questions you
could ask, but essentially what you want to know is, is the problem big enough? And you could imagine this for any particular small business idea. How do you figure that out? Well, you can talk to more people, you can go beyond your friend group, you can make a simple landing page, run a little survey, you know, you can spend a few hours and a couple hundred dollars and get some information, or you can spend a lot more. And of course, we're always encouraging our listeners towards simplicity and cost savings, but basically you want to figure out, is there enough interest for me to proceed? And then next, you want to consider development costs, especially for something like
developing a mobile app that can be expensive. It can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. It is possible to use some services that will kind of do it for you and you have like a private label version of an existing app for less money, but that comes with some problems as well. Basically, making an app if you are not a programmer is a big endeavor and can be costly. So you want to consider that, right? Is that the right thing for me to do right now? And so some signs you might be
ready to move forward with this idea or for anything else, you have received enthusiastic feedback from multiple sources, not just friends. You feel pretty confident in saying this is a problem for a lot of people. They are seeking a solution. And I think that I've got the solution. Not only is it a solution, but I think it's something people are willing to pay for very critical, not just, is it a good idea? If you ask people like, is it a good idea? That's not the
feedback you need. You need to know, will they pay for this idea? And then, you know, are you able to start with a MVP, like a minimum viable product that is affordable and scalable? If so, great. And just like we said yesterday about the second location, if not, be cautious. If not, save your
money or do something else. There's so many things you can do without spending any money at all that you need a really good reason to say yes to something that's going to cost a good bit. So that's my take on that. I just want to help our listeners. I want to make sure that you don't waste money. I guess that's a big part of this. Wasting money or wasting time. We want to do the
opposite here. We want to help you save money, save time so you can do more of what's important to you. That's what Seidel School is all about. So thank you for being part of it. We are kicking off this year with a bang and much more is to come. New episode every day, always free. Subscribe,
follow wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You are listening to Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
