My favorite “quit your job” scene from the movies is in Jerry Maguire.
Jerry, a sports agent, has a crisis of conscience and decides that he needs to focus more on individual attention for his clients and less on the bottom line.
“Well, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm not gonna do what you all think I'm gonna do, which is just flip out!”
Jerry then packs his boxes, takes some goldfish, and talks one other employee into following him out.
Look, I get it.
We all have dreams of throwing off the shackles of a 9-5 job. By the way, where did the 9:00 in 9-5 come from? Is that Dolly Parton’s fault? Who has a job where you can walk in at 9am and leave at 5? If you have that job maybe you should keep it.
But don’t pull a Jerry Maguire and storm out of your job with no plan in place.
In fact, I swear people do this and cash in their 401k knowing they will crash and burn, because they are so desperate for a change.
If you have a burning business idea or even a side hustle that needs to grow, check out the Do’s and Don’ts of testing your business idea before launching full time.
Don’t ask friends or family
We all have that one person we know that loves to “tell it like it is”, like they’re a guest on Jerry Springer, but most of our family and friends will tell us what we want to hear.
Asking your Aunt Linda, who’s a payroll clerk near retirement, what she thinks of your idea for becoming a digital marketing consultant isn’t very helpful.
Yeah, she’s on Facebook a lot, but she’s not your target customer.
You might want to ask Aunt Linda to introduce you to the owner of the business though.
Do talk to potential customers (people you don’t know) and get honest feedback
This will be awkward because you will have to step way out of your comfort zone.
But guess what?
This whole thing will eventually be outside of your comfort zone, so this is a great way to tiptoe into it.
If you want to become a digital marketing consultant for service-based businesses, then talk to some affluent business owners you don’t know.
Remember, we’re not asking Aunt Linda directly, but she may be able to introduce us to some people, and so can your family and friends.
This will also work if it’s direct to the consumer.
If you want to start a residential cleaning business for affluent homeowners get some introductions and post on some Facebook groups.
You can even create a brief, 5 question survey and ask the tough questions you are scared to get answers for like pricing.
Don’t overthink it
Perfection is the enemy of progress.
Whatever you start out doing right now will almost certainly change by this time next year.
That’s normal.
Waiting to have the perfect website and getting everything trademarked is silly.
Nobody is going to steal your idea because they are too busy not implementing their own idea.
Do just start selling
Quit waiting on permission to start.
I get inquiries all of the time from people that are scared that someone in a black trench coat with a briefcase from the government will knock on their front door because they made an extra grand this month.
If it does happen you may be the first that I’ve heard of.
You are allowed to make up to $3,000 in a calendar year without any structure in place.
And I’m sure I can get in trouble for saying this, but even if you sneak up to $5k-$10k without all of your I’s dotted and T’s crossed, you will be just fine.
This means you can just start to test out your idea.
Give it away
Not to everyone and not for long, but at least a few people over the first few weeks, so you can test how well your idea works.
You can also charge just enough to cover the cost of the product or service, which also gives some skin in the game for the customer.
But most importantly, you can make the agreement that you will receive a fair testimonial after the transaction takes place.
This is a win-win all the way around.
As for Jerry Maguire, everything worked out in the end. Because it’s a movie.
And sure, you know a Jerry Maguire or two, but they are the exception and not the rule.
Give yourself a real chance and start testing your idea today!
