Testing Bedrok

I think for most things in life, you usually know what you need to do. Do the research, write the paper, test the idea, change the habit, etc… While the execution of those things might be complicated, the knowledge of the next step is a simple one. Just execute. But for some reason this can be hard, and we switch our attention to something with fake importance.

I’ve realized this over and over again in my life. And it’s hit me again like a ton of bricks.

It’s very important to de-risk a business idea. It comes down to asking very simply: How do you know you can deliver value to your customer?

You list your underlying assumptions about how your value proposition creates that value. Then you rank those hypotheses from riskiest to least risky. Then you start testing.

But getting out of the bubble to start testing with customers is strangely difficult — at least for myself.

Looking back

It’s been about 6 months and I find myself back at square one:

The hypothesis is to test if freelancers can join jobs on a first come first serve basis, and provide a high quality product in a day. But something happened in my brain almost half a year ago when I was asking questions about how I would acquire these freelancers, and how I would find these clients. Important questions, mind you!

But along the way, I lost sight of those questions and started to ask questions of second and third importance. Ones like: “How do I build a platform?” Or, “How do I make sure I don’t commit tax evasion when I hire a bunch of freelancers to work on a project?” These are also important questions! But just not the most important ones.

I think it comes down to the fact that finding people to test your ideas is hard. Obviously I don’t know how to find clients myself very well, or I wouldn’t be making Bedrok! But here I am having to answer essentially the same type of question. One of generating leads.

Well thankfully, I’ve come full circle. In a very roundabout way, I now have freelance designers to test with, and two clients who will (probably) buy from me and we can get this baby underway.

What I’m realizing for myself is that maintaining focus is something you don’t just say one time to yourself. You come back to it regularly. “What am I trying to do again? Oh yeah, test this specific hypothesis…”

I swear, one of the most important skills we can develop is to have the unwavering ability to execute on what we know is most important. And you almost always know what’s important.