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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Will It Fly? summary
Pat Flynn
How to Test Your Next Business Idea so You Don't Waste Your Time and Money
17 mins
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Table of Contents
Will It Fly?
Summary of 8 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 8
Becoming a successful entrepreneur means creating a business that’s in line with your lifestyle goals.
What’s the first order of business for any young entrepreneur before starting her business? Is it getting funding? Or maybe printing business cards? Actually, the first step involves going much deeper; the entrepreneur needs to investigate how her idea will support her desired lifestyle.
Before turning any idea into a successful business, it’s essential that you make sure it’s aligned with your values and goals. After all, you’re going to put your time, energy and money into this project and the closer it comes to matching your personal goals and values, the more satisfied you’ll be.
So, if you’re a people person, make sure that’s reflected by your business’s social environment, and be sure to create a space that will let you nurture this aspect.
But how can you see to it that you’ll make decisions about your future business that will leave you satisfied? Well, you can simply try interviewing your future self.
Self-examination will help you decide what type of business best suits you – and it’s easy to do:
Grab a piece of paper and divide it into four sections. Then, identify the four most important parts of your life. Your categories might be, for example, Family, Career, Well-being and Money.
Next, assign each of these categories to a different quadrant on the paper. Once you’ve done that, imagine yourself five years down the road and write down all the things that come to mind.
For example, under the Money category, you might write, “in five years my mortgage is paid off, I’ve invested in property, have a steady income from rentals and my kids’ college funds are squared away.” If, during this process, you start to think that your idea won’t generate enough money to make this scenario realistic, set aside time right now to improve it. This way, you’ll avoid making this disappointing discovery in five years.
All this talk of the future might have you itching to get to work on your business. But first, you’ll need to identify a few more personal things to ensure your idea is right for you.
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What is Will It Fly? about?
Will It Fly (2016) is a guide to testing your business ideas and achieving the smoothest possible flight to success. These blinks will help you critically examine the validity of your ideas, research your market and get to know your future customers.
Best quote from Will It Fly?
If you can define the problem better than your target customer, they will automatically assume you have the solution. - Jay Abraham
—Pat Flynn
Who should read Will It Fly??
- Entrepreneurs who feel unsure about a business idea
- Business owners who want to expand their companies and attract new customers
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