In order to prove you do in fact have a viable business idea, you need to know there is a group of people out there who want and need what it is you’re going to offer.
So, in order to make this super easy to follow (and even easier to actually do), let’s start by defining your avatar: the individual who is actually in the group of people who want and need what it is you’re going to offer.
Finding your perfect customer (your avatar)
What’s an avatar?
An avatar is a single person who embodies your perfect audience member and/or customer.
Let’s check out the step-by-step process you can follow right now to actually define them, which will lead us nicely to finding your perfect customer…
Defining your avatar in 3 steps
Step 1: Demographics
Ask yourself: Given my business idea, what type of person exists out there who might want and need the information I’m going to provide?
Start to take notes on who this person might be: a male or female; a mom or a dad; a Gen-yer or a Baby Boomer; someone who makes $100k+ / year or someone who is struggle to make ends meet…
This first step is to cover their demographics.
Step 2: Dive deep
Now that you have an idea of your avatar’s demographics, let’s really get to know them.
Ask yourself: What’s their biggest struggle? What keeps them lying in bed awake at night because they can’t stop thinking / stressing / obsessing over it? What are their dreams and aspirations?
It’s important to get to know your avatar on a deeper level, because this is the information that will truly help you create the type of content that will help them.
Step 3: Write it up!
Now that you know your avatar’s background and current situation (this is more or less their demographics), AND you have an intimate knowledge of their biggest struggles and their biggest dreams, it’s time to define them.
Take out a paper and write a description of who your avatar is
Here’s an example… my avatar for Kate’s Copy:
Once you have a *working definition* (yes, it is likely your definition WILL change and evolve as you start to create and grow your business – so don’t worry, this isn’t SET IN STONE!), it’s time to circle back to your perfect customer.
Good news: you just found them!
Now, it’s time to go out there and start engaging with your perfect customer or avatar. It’s through communicating with your avatar and getting to know them better that you’ll be able to close to loop on whether or not your business idea is a viable one.
Take your definition of your avatar and use that in order to go out and find them:
- In free online communities (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
- At in person meet ups (via MeetUp.com, or at conferences)
…and then ask them: “Would it be helpful for you if you had a guide on (insert something you might create to help solve the pain point you’ve just identified)?”
This is your first step to validating your business idea: speaking directly to your perfect customer (or avatar) and asking them if they want and need what it is you’re looking to create.
Your avatar’s job doesn’t end there
Yes, they’re integral in helping you validate your business idea, but they’re also integral in every step along your journey.
As an entrepreneur, there are going to be days when you feel as though the weight of the world is on your shoulders.
The pressure to come up with new ideas for your content every single day; to brainstorm your product and service ideas and what those include; to create an outline for a course or a book you’re going to write, and then decide whether or not you’ve included everything necessary…
Guess what? None of those decisions should be resting on your shoulders. These are decisions you should be consulting your avatar about. What is it that THEY want?
I promise you this: If you’re able to define your avatar, go out there and find them, provide them with valuable content on a consistent basis that helps them solve a pain point, and continue to care about what they care about, then coming up with product and service ideas and an outline for your next book is going to be a walk in the park.
Fire Nation Elite: An example
One example of this is the Elite Mastermind Tribe we created at EOFire: Fire Nation Elite.
When John and I were both first starting out on our own entrepreneurial journeys, we realized very quickly the importance of surrounding ourselves with like-minded people.
Taking your entrepreneurial leap and doing something “different” can sometimes make you feel like you’re on an island.
Who can you talk to about your ideas?
Who can you turn to for support and encouragement when you feel like giving up?
Because this is something that John and I both struggled with early on – but that we were both able to move past once we found mastermind groups to join of our own – we knew that others in our audience must be struggling with this, too.
So we asked our avatar, and then we listened.
What did we hear?
Our avatar had the exact same struggle.
He felt alone, like he didn’t know where to turn for support, and he knew he could get to where he wanted to go a lot faster if he had others to bounce ideas off from and share recommendations with.
That’s why we created Fire Nation Elite: because our avatar wanted and needed it. And every step of our creation relied on him – not us – to come up with. The structure, the cost, what it included, the number of people we’d let in… every one of these decisions were decisions we turned to our avatar for.
Okay, so you now not only have a business idea, but you’ve also proved it’s a viable one through defining your avatar and going out and talking to your perfect customer.
Next up? Let’s make sure our idea is targeted and focused by finding our niche.
