Continuation of the examples from Day 50 to 52

Example 1: Culture Farm for families and people interested in culture

Tatiana and her girlfriend venture out to chat with families and individuals in the surrounding area who they consider their target group. They explain the concept of their “Culture Farm” and invite them to drop by next weekend.

This leads to a conversation about Tatiana’s idea, and she learns a lot about her target clients’ interests. Finally, Tatiana asks if they would like to buy one or more “vouchers,” which would save them 25%. Now they’ve measured how attractive their idea is. If people decide to buy and pull out their wallets, that’s an excellent sign.

Now Tatiana discloses the secret, thanks the people very much, and apologizes for not being able to sell the vouchers yet because she is still in the planning stage. She wants to make sure that she has something to offer that her customers really like, so she tested whether the offer already fits. Tatiana wants to spare them, the customers, a bad experience, and the risk of a project that was built with heart and soul but failed. She thanks the customer once again for the valuable conversation and asks if she could have their email address to inform them when the “Culture Farm” actually opens. As a small thank-you and compensation, she gives a discount voucher worth $10 for the first visit.

If you talk to people in a friendly manner and honestly explain why you had to lead them on, you’ll meet with goodwill and support in 99% of cases. Dealing with the remaining 1% who are annoyed is just part of doing business. Don’t take it personally. You can never please everybody. But that’s exactly why you’ve moved out of your comfort zone a few times in recent weeks. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you have to do something, and that means taking risks and being creative to achieve your goal. The important thing is that you end up being open and honest, not hurting anyone, and treating others with respect.

Yoga studio in the industrial park

As agreed, Marie now stands in the company’s foyer in the morning, at lunchtime, and at the end of work with her beautiful retractable banner, a folding table, the contracts, and a few small goodies (e.g., sweets). She looks friendly and tries to interact with the employees. Marie explains her concept, answers, and asks questions about employees’ interests and ends by asking if they want to register.

Here too, she reveals the secret the moment the contact person grabs the clipboard to fill out the contract. As in the previous example, she explains the background to this test and how important it is for her to build something that truly meets the interviewer’s needs.

This will result in further conversation, and Marie will ask if she can just write down name and email in the contract to notify them as soon as the yoga studio opens. As a small thank you, the contact person will receive a voucher for three free yoga classes. In this way, Marie is already building up her first customer base.

Sale of wool and knitting patterns for children on the Internet

Through the Google Ads campaign, potential customers are immediately directed to the website, and Stefanie can immediately see if and how many people really want to buy her offer. Here, Stefanie has two options:

1. The website can be designed to only count when a customer clicks on the “Buy Now” button. The customer doesn’t enter the payment process but sees a friendly explanation of why the offer isn’t yet available. Again, it’s possible to collect email addresses to inform about the real website’s launch if the customer agrees.
2. She can actually complete the purchase, pack and ship the goods “by hand” as long as she has easy access to the goods (e.g., simply go to a specialist shop, buy the wool, and print the knitting pattern in the copy shop in the correct format). Of course, this process isn’t yet sustainable because to make money, she has to buy larger quantities or have the goods shipped directly from another retailer (so-called “drop shipping”). The advantage of this approach is that she can win her first (satisfied) customers. Through interaction with the customers and by manually going through the processes, she learns a lot about her business to automate and streamline it later.