Through the years of business coaching I often meet an aspiring entrepreneur that thinks he has a multi-million peso business idea.

An idea that could change the world. The next Jollibee in food industry or the next Google in the Internet.

Right after sharing his ideas, he normally ends asking me questions like…

“do you think this business will work?”

“do you think this product will sell?”

“do you think people will love this?”

They’re basically would like ME to validate their business ideas.

Though asking someone with years of experience in entrepreneurship is a smart thing, but the ONLY, I repeat…the ONLY group of people that can truly validate your products, services, or business idea is your target market.

Simply stated, if you have an unproven product or service, the fastest and cheapest way to test its viability is by selling it as soon as possible.

Don’t wait to perfect the product before you release it.

You can always improve it later as you start selling and getting feedback from your customers.

Selling an inferior product will give you immediate feedback from your target market such as:

• How much they’re willing to pay for it.
• What’s the thing they like or dislike in your business?
• How easy or hard to sell it.
• What’s the right medium to sell it? Is it online, telephone, face to face selling, etc.

So if you’re still contemplating with your business idea, here’s my advice…

“STOP DREAMING AND START WORKING!”

You won’t get rich by merely talking about how great your business idea is but by taking it to the market and let the world see it.

Just yesterday I got a business question from a mom in our Eskapology Fan Page.

She’s pregnant, saved some money for her delivery, and thinking if it’s ok to use that savings for the new venture.

Instead of replying to her privately I decided to make a blog post so you can learn how to think like a “Part-time Entrepreneur”.

You’ll learn…

• How to start a business with minimal risk.
• The BIGGEST thing that’s holding back a lot of aspiring Entrepreneurs.
• How to be creative in starting a business.

and a lot more.

I pasted here just a portion of this mompreneurs’s email so we can get to the point:

Hi sir,… Plan ko po kasing i-reopen itong business ko na ito na ol (online) shop. Dati kasi lakas ng kita ko dito kasi di ako nag iinventory nakikigamit lang ako ng pics ng supplier ko. Natunton ko po yung main supplier ng supplier ko at nalaman nya na di na ako sa kanya kumukuha kaya pinadelete lahat ng pictures nya, takot po akong maglabas ng malaki kasi kelangan po sa ganitong business (RTW) eh maraming choices, siguro mga 40k … para magmumukhang kaaya aya ulit.

Nung una wala po akong ganung amount kasi fresh grad palang ako nun (2012) kaya close ko nalang.

Ngayon po na kasal na ako, may pera ho akong pang start ulit at may ganung amount na ako na mailalabas kaso sir manganganak naman ho ako at takot akong galawin yun kasi naka-allot yung perang yun para sa panganganak. nakakatakot at baka di ko kaagad mabawi yun, kulangin kame ni hubby sa budget.

Although may matitira pa naman kahit ilabas ko yung pera na yun takot na di mag ROI agad bago manganak at hiya sa byenan ko yung nagpipigil sa akin. Please help me sir kung anong magandang gawin…

Now here’s my response to our mompreneur and what we can learn from her situation.

First, this mom did a good job when she tested her business ideas when she was still a student.

She did open an online retail business without investing money on inventory. This is just a proof that you can, if you’ll be just creative, open a business without capital.

By testing her idea first, she discovered a profitable business without really risking anything.

She now has a proven and profitable business model.

The problem is, she didn’t save money to have her own inventory so she can expand it. That’s why she decided to close instead after some issues with her supplier.

Another thing we can learn from her situation is this…

…this is BIG.

If you’ll re-read her email she uses the word “takot” three times. She has fear which is fear of failing and losing her money.

Question to you is…do you think successful entrepreneurs are fearless or walang takot?

The answer is BIG NO.

They have fears too like everyone else but the BIGGEST difference is they control their fear instead of fear controlling them.

Having said that, I’m not advising our mompreneur to invest in her business the money she saved for her delivery.

Why?

I’m a firm believer that we should put our family first. I’m a family-first-entrepreneur and I think you should be too.

What I can advise to our confused mompreneur is for her to approach other suppliers and ask them if she can take photos of their inventories and publish it online.

What’s the chance of her getting a supplier to say yes to this deal?

I think it’s high.

Simply because, our mompreneur will actually help them sell their products.

It’s a win-win situation for both.

To summarize this post in one sentence.

Manage your fears, be creative, and test your business idea first.