Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profitable Business Idea

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

ACCELERATOR: 7 FIELD REPORTS ON FINDING A PROFITABLE BUSINESS IDEA 2

1.Julie overcomes fear of losing potential customers and targets the right audience

2. See how Michael stopped worrying and found his first profitable idea

3. Colleen learns how to turn her vague idea into a “crunchy” one

4. Chris finds the REAL pain points and desires of his audience

5. Matej discovers an audience that’s willing & able to pay for his advice

6. Brittany learns how to identify compelling business ideas

7. Chris learns how to hone in on a profitable target market

We know that finding your first profitable idea can be tough. In fact, most people who try to start an online business never get past the idea stage.

In the Zero to Launch Private community, we have seen countless questions like this:

How do I find a good target audience?Are my burning desires and pains specific enough?Which of my ideas should I go with?

To help you find the answers to those questions, we’ve put together 7 exclusive field reports from the Accelerator program where we help students improve their ideas and move forward with building their online businesses.

We encourage you to carefully study the field reports below and think about how you can apply the lessons from them to your own online business idea. If you apply just ONE insight from each of the field reports, you can turn a good idea into a great one.

-Growthlab Accelerator Team

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

ACCELERATOR: 7 FIELD REPORTS ON FINDING A PROFITABLE BUSINESS IDEA 3

1. Julie overcomes fear of losing potential customers and targets the right audience

At first, audiences like “career women,” “female professionals,” and “businesswomen” sound good. But is that really how people introduce themselves? Probably not.

Instead, they might say they’re a lawyer, an accountant, etc. By getting specific, your audience will be relieved to know you’re writing specifically for them.

Notice how Julie says she was “afraid to lose e-mail subscribers”. This is a common concern. We all have a tendency to avoid getting specific. In reality, your target audience will thank you for it.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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2. See how Michael stopped worrying and found his first profitable idea

This is an important point. Your first few ideas will likely fail -- and that’s okay! In the early stages, you’re optimizing for learning, not revenue.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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3. Colleen learns how to turn her vague idea into a “crunchy” one

You can use the exercise Primoz suggested to Colleen to make your own idea much more crisp. Look at your own business idea and see if each part of the idea is in plain english.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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4. Chris finds the REAL pain points and desires of his audience

Chris’s ideas already look very good, but they can be improved. Before moving onto Primoz’s advice, let’s do another exercise: How would you improve these ideas? Write down three improvements per idea, then read Primoz’s post below.

These exercises will accelerate your skills in developing crisp, well-positioned ideas.

Notice the specific phrases Chris uses. When writing down your own ideas, use the exact words your audience uses in their interviews with you. When you speak the language of your audience, you instantly grab their attention.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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5. Matej discovers an audience that’s willing & able to pay for his advice

See how Matej specifically targets an audience that buys online courses? When you target an audience with a track record of investing in themselves, there is a high chance they are able and willing to buy your product, too -- IF you show them you can solve their biggest pains

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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6. Brittany learns how to identify compelling business ideas

Compare Brittany’s old idea to her new one.

Which one is more compelling? Why?

Let’s look at the language:

OLD: “career-driven,” “meaningful jobs”

NEW: “get promoted,” “excellent performance reviews,” special assignments no one else gets”

Primoz suggests she can still make the idea crisper, but notice how with just a little bit of digging, you can make your ideas 10x more compelling.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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7. Chris learns how to hone in on a profitable target market

The qualifiers Primoz suggests are a great place to start. I want to highlight the biggest takeaway:

“You don’t have to use ALL of these, just the FEW that make sense to your audience.”

Today, our customer research is sophisticated, but we still start with the basics: pains and desires. Getting these right is 100x more valuable than building the perfect customer avatar. You’ll attract the right people to your website and save hours of work down the line.

Accelerator: 7 Field Reports on Finding a Profit-able Business Idea

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P.S. Would you like to work on your business idea together with a business coach? If yes, check out Accelerator — our 1-on-1 coaching program. It’s the single fastest way to stop making mistakes and start growing your business. Here’s what a few of our students said about Accelerator:

Click here to learn more about Accelerator.