How Do I Determine If The Market/Need is Large Enough?

[Brandon B]

Hello! This is my first substantive post (question), aside from the introduction post I made earlier. It's great to be with you all. I realize I'm amongst some real movers and shakers in this forum, and for that, I'm thankful.

Let me pick your brains for a bit if you don't mind, about "glass ceilings" in markets.

Right now, I'm actively on the hunt for a need in "the marketplace." I realize this is what needs to be done, first and foremost, or you have no business. I guess I'm struggling with determining where to go looking for the need. My main concern is that I'll find a need, but it will be in a market that isn't large enough to be a real fast lane opportunity.

For example, I'm a licensed pilot. Let's suppose I go browsing forums/groups where pilots hang out and uncover a need that isn't being adequately met. How do I determine if this idea is worth the time/effort to pursue? After all, when I'm giving my road a destination, as laid out in Chapter 37 of MFL, it has a price. I want to make sure the time spent on the solution for the problem isn't wasted on a market that is too small.

How do you determine if the market is too small? Or am I thinking too far ahead in the process?

BTW I used aviation/pilots as my example market above. That's really irrelevant to the discussion. I'm not asking if pilots are worth/not worth pursuing. I'm just seeing what criteria you all look at before entering a market. It could be guitar players (which I am), or synchronized swimmers for all I care (which I am NOT).

Thanks for any help!
(Don't roast me too bad if there is an obvious sticky post about this that I'm missing ).

 

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[dario]

Try to pre-sell your product / service and see how many people are interested.
THEN you decide if your idea is good

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Or am I thinking too far ahead in the process?

This. Once you take action and can dominate one market, the opportunity/clarity on what to do next becomes apparent. Similar to how most companies start with one product and expand from there.

 

[Brandon B]

Thank you both for the replies. That gives me some ideas to chew on.

 

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[Ravens_Shadow]

Just find a need that you can solve and charge accordingly. Your first business doesn't always have to be the home run that gets you to $100 million. Just get experience under your belt providing value to people and you'll be well on your way in no time.

 

[Brandon B]

Just find a need that you can solve and charge accordingly. Your first business doesn't always have to be the home run that gets you to $100 million. Just get experience under your belt providing value to people and you'll be well on your way in no time.

Thanks man. This is what I needed to hear. I was putting so much concern on being locked into a business that may prevent me from arriving at my destination, with no way out.

 

[sparechange]

Try to pre-sell your product / service and see how many people are interested.
THEN you decide if your idea is good

This is the easiest way,

Try throwing like 5 bucks on fb ads & printing out door flyers/advertisements and put them around the neighborhood, you can also coldcall people in the telephone book starting with your own city and pitching the prduct/service.

Make a landing page with a free trial/sample or buy now option and lead it to a SOLDOUT option after you capture their email/phonenumber or whatever.

Personally it has worked for me, so yeh. Good luck, although remember one little tidbit from mjs books. While people can express interest it can possibly mean NOTHING at all at the same time.... sure they can say oh we love the product we would love to try it, getting them to actually open their wallet and hand over cash is a different story.........

Even if you don't get them to hand over money right away at the very least you do in fact have potential warm leads.

 

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[Brandon B]

This is the easiest way,

Try throwing like 5 bucks on fb ads & printing out door flyers/advertisements and put them around the neighborhood, you can also coldcall people in the telephone book starting with your own city and pitching the prduct/service.

Make a landing page with a free trial/sample or buy now option and lead it to a SOLDOUT option after you capture their email/phonenumber or whatever.

Personally it has worked for me, so yeh. Good luck, although remember one little tidbit from mjs books. While people can express interest it can possibly mean NOTHING at all at the same time.... sure they can say oh we love the product we would love to try it, getting them to actually open their wallet and hand over cash is a different story.........

Even if you don't get them to hand over money right away at the very least you do in fact have potential warm leads.

I appreciate the advice, thank you!

 

[Ravens_Shadow]

Thanks man. This is what I needed to hear. I was putting so much concern on being locked into a business that may/may not help me arrive at my destination.

Failure is a requirement for future success. I used to have this "odd" paralyzing fear that I wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably each night in my bed if I became an entrepreneur due to hustling, working non-stop, waking up at 4am, sleeping in my office and whatever other weird bullshit I told myself. Yes, not being able to sleep in my bed each night was a very serious fear of mine as it signified losing control of my life. None of this stuff came true and I was able to still get to sleep in my own bed, at a reasonable time (most nights) and get a good nights rest. My point here is that my analysis paralysis/irrational fears prevented me from arriving at my destination for years. It was when I just let go of those fears and worked at my own pace towards my goals (*ignoring hustle culture as it's toxic*) that I eventually found the right path after working through numerous businesses.

Getting early wins/failures is a very important part of the journey and those outcomes will propel you towards your home run business in the future. Once you do get to what could be the home run business, stick with it when the going gets tough. At the point when most people quit is the point where you have to keep going and I can almost guarantee you with 99% certainty that you'll find the success you're looking for.

 

[Kevin88660]

Hello! This is my first substantive post (question), aside from the introduction post I made earlier. It's great to be with you all. I realize I'm amongst some real movers and shakers in this forum, and for that, I'm thankful.

Let me pick your brains for a bit if you don't mind, about "glass ceilings" in markets.

Right now, I'm actively on the hunt for a need in "the marketplace." I realize this is what needs to be done, first and foremost, or you have no business. I guess I'm struggling with determining where to go looking for the need. My main concern is that I'll find a need, but it will be in a market that isn't large enough to be a real fast lane opportunity.

For example, I'm a licensed pilot. Let's suppose I go browsing forums/groups where pilots hang out and uncover a need that isn't being adequately met. How do I determine if this idea is worth the time/effort to pursue? After all, when I'm giving my road a destination, as laid out in Chapter 37 of MFL, it has a price. I want to make sure the time spent on the solution for the problem isn't wasted on a market that is too small.

How do you determine if the market is too small? Or am I thinking too far ahead in the process?

BTW I used aviation/pilots as my example market above. That's really irrelevant to the discussion. I'm not asking if pilots are worth/not worth pursuing. I'm just seeing what criteria you all look at before entering a market. It could be guitar players (which I am), or synchronized swimmers for all I care (which I am NOT).

Thanks for any help!
(Don't roast me too bad if there is an obvious sticky post about this that I'm missing ).

I think it is a legitimate concern that the market might be small. The advantages are obvious. You have industry experience and connection.

There is no perfect idea to launch and there are plenty of possible and promising ideas. I think the real solutions is to explore for more options and pick the best idea to launch.

 

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[Brandon B]

Failure is a requirement for future success. I used to have this "odd" paralyzing fear that I wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably each night in my bed if I became an entrepreneur due to hustling, working non-stop, waking up at 4am, sleeping in my office and whatever other weird bullshit I told myself. Yes, not being able to sleep in my bed each night was a very serious fear of mine as it signified losing control of my life. None of this stuff came true and I was able to still get to sleep in my own bed, at a reasonable time (most nights) and get a good nights rest. My point here is that my analysis paralysis/irrational fears prevented me from arriving at my destination for years. It was when I just let go of those fears and worked at my own pace towards my goals (*ignoring hustle culture as it's toxic*) that I eventually found the right path after working through numerous businesses.

Getting early wins/failures is a very important part of the journey and those outcomes will propel you towards your home run business in the future. Once you do get to what could be the home run business, stick with it when the going gets tough. At the point when most people quit is the point where you have to keep going and I can almost guarantee you with 99% certainty that you'll find the success you're looking for.

I can certainly relate. I have those "odd" fears as well. The fear of success if a very real thing, and needs to be dealt with.