Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don't Waste Your Time and Money Paperback – February 1, 2016

I have read a number of quality books on the issues to be probed, the question to asked, and the considerations to be made before starting a new venture, written for astute business people with experience. As such, they all lacked one element: empathy with first-time, would-be entrepreneurs. This book fills that lack, and as such is an important contribution.
The author, Pat Flynn is not another founder of a “Unicorn”, a company worth over a billion dollars, who is sharing his insights on how to start another Tesla, Facebook, or PayPal. Rather he is a young, married, father of two, who lost his job in the down-turn, and became an entrepreneur. His book is down-to-earth, his examples are folksy and his insights sound. He provides a step-by-step guide to ascertaining if the business you are thinking of starting “will fly.” There are exercises for every step, and they will provide important insight into your new business idea.
You will need to invest some time and effort in this preliminary process, but it certainly beats losing money, losing face, and losing credibility; those inevitably follows from not checking if your idea has potential.
The first section is the first step you should take as you think about your new business. This section is titled: Mission Design, and poses the starting question everyone should ask – will starting this business allow me to be the person I wish to be? This smacks of the question a counsellor might ask, that many would answer – I need money right now, and I will have plenty of time to worry about the quality of life when I cruise the Mediterranean on my yacht.
“If you don’t have a passion for what you are doing, your energy will eventually fizzle out. It always does,” Flynn notes.
Entrepreneurs’ earnings will be closely related to how much they care about the people they are serving, and the services they offer. Will it accord you the lifestyle you want, the relationships you value, and self-fulfilment that is lasting? Remember, you haven’t invested one cent in this business so far, and if it just isn’t you, then you are well advised to keep looking for something that is. After all, “a successful entrepreneur is one who is both successful in business and in life,” Flynn asserts.
The next step is “Flight Planning.” Besides knowing where you want to go to, pilots have to determine the best way to get there safely, comfortably, and on time. “NASA has never launched a mission just because it sounded like a good idea, and neither should you,” Flynn writes. This section is your market research and the exercises Flynn recommends, can easily be adapted to any market you wish to serve.
This will take you some time, but the tools and the guidance are all in the book. There really is no hurry to get started right away, as futurist Joel Barker says: “Speed is only useful if you’re running in the right direction.”
As part of your Flight Planning, you will want to uncover important information about your ideas, that you have not even thought about. In this phase you need to assess the current conditions of the market you are aiming at, see who is already there, and what and who you are up against. You will also be able to identify the part of the market you are best able to service, and the best way to target the market. (Hint: how are the successful in this market targeting it? How are the less successful targeting it?)
If there are already others in the arena you wish to enter, you have an advantage over everyone else who is already there. You have a live laboratory of what is missing, which is critical because it suggests opportunities that exist.
Flynn provides guidance through a few targeted exercises to identify the dissatisfaction and struggles your target customers experience. This will enable you to enter the market and serve it better than the incumbents. Focusing on a small market is a much under-estimated advantage – there are riches in the niches.
You need to keep this image in mind (and make the translation to your product or service.) If you are a musician with a thousand true fans, they will purchase anything and everything you can produce. “…they’ll drive hundreds of miles to watch your next gig. They read every post, watch every video, and listen to every word of your podcast because it’s a part of their daily ritual. They are the ones who have truly fallen in love with what you have to offer the world, and will always be there to support you.”
After you have completed the Flight Plan, it is time to enter the Flight Simulator. Here you can amalgamate what you have discovered in your research, and begin the process of validating and trying your ideas on a small, safe, segment of the market you are targeting. This activity of validating alone will distinguish you from most entrepreneurs, who never take the trouble to go through this stage with real customers. With Flynn to guide you, you will attempt to make your initial sales to this small, safe, segment of the market. Real validation! Going big and loud with the wrong offer has caused harm, that many entrepreneurs never recover from.
If you haven’t taken any meaningful action towards your new venture because you don’t know where to start, or what process you need to follow, you are not alone. No one wants to let themselves or others down. But as John F. Kennedy once said, “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”
I like the light tone of this book, it is an easy read, neither preachy nor academic, and very practical. The exercises are easily accomplished, with less effort and more pleasure than you expect.

Readability Light +---- Serious
Insights High --+-- Low
Practical High +---- Low

Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

Pat Flynn seriously is the homie. No, for real this guy has gone to the future & came back to the books labs w/ some GOLD.

I love what this book represents & that's the way that Pat does business. Authentic, genuine, passionate, compassionate, giving, & with authority bc he's practicing what he preaches. Pat seriously, thank you for being you & sharing your gifts with the world & our entrepreneurial community. The world is absolutely a better place with you here giving to all of us.

Oh, and be sure to make the paper airplane when the exercise comes up. The little kid in you will thank me later. And if you're anything like me, it's a nice transition from the daily hustle of building a business... ;)

Cheers my friend!

~ Kyle, CEO (Chief Experiment Officer)
digitalconversionlabs.com

Lots of entrepreneurs get stuck in one way or another. Even the most season business owner commonly finds themselves stuck in a business they never meant to create. New startup ventures regularly find they are stuck looking for a product, service, or idea that will bring in customers and generate sales. There's no shortage of ideas for entrepreneurs, but it's tough to figure out which idea matches with a customer need and your own goals.

This book helps new entrepreneurs figure out what business they should start, and what pivot you should make if your existing business isn't what you want. As part of the launch team, I was given a free copy of Will It Fly for review. However, I found the information in this book so useful that I have since purchased five more copies to share with friends and colleagues.

If you're a new entrepreneur or someone that has found themselves running a business they don't love, this book will help you identify the right path forward.

Will It Fly by Pat Flynn is so much more than just a book, it's really a course for any entrepreneur -- or would-be entrepreneur -- with an idea for a business. As a creative entrepreneur myself, I am constantly getting new ideas for businesses to start. Before reading this book, I would get an idea, think it was great, and just go for it! That led to some success... and a string of left-behind businesses. (I won't call them failures because I did learn from each and every one of them.)

As a person with a mind that rarely shuts off, I feel SO incredibly lucky to have received this book just as I was starting yet another business. I've been a huge fan of Pat's through his podcast, Smart Passive Income, for a long time, so I knew he would be able to break things down for me in a clear and concise way, so I put my new business on hold while I read his book... Which is really more like a course -- with exercises in just about every chapter, and the free access to the companion course online with videos, worksheets, and more.

So here's the thing... not only did this book help me come to the conclusion that, yes, my new business WILL fly, but it also helped me come up with new and exciting ideas for how to really serve my customers best. What I learned in Chapter 7 (Germination) blew my mind! I feel like I can apply that one exercise to so many parts of my businesses, that it alone was worth the price of the book. I also know that I can return back to this book with any future ideas I have; go through the exercises again, and I might just save myself a lot of money, heartache, and most importantly, time!

So if you have a business idea, and *really* want to know if it will work, I definitely recommend this book (and signing up for the bonus course online.) And then DO THE WORK... Do all of the exercises (even if they feel uncomfortable or boring) and you will know, one way or another, if you should move forward. And if your idea is validated by this book, I encourage you to put your whole heart into it, because if you do, I believe you will "fly"!