Stop asking if your idea is good
Welcome to the Dojo!
I recently listened to the audiobook “The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you.”
The book was written mostly for software and product founders, but one lesson applies directly to consultants and service business owners:
The way you ask questions can either reveal real demand or give you false confidence.
In this newsletter, I’ll break down the questions to ask, the questions to avoid, and how to validate your consulting or service business idea before you waste time building an offer nobody is ready to buy.
On the Mat
- Let’s Train: Are you asking: Do you think this is a good idea?
- Ask Feras: “What if people say they like my consulting idea, but nobody is willing to buy?”
- Sharpen the Blade: [Video] How to Know if Your Business Idea Will Work
Let's Train
Most new consultants, especially in the early stages, knowingly or unknowingly ask questions that protect them from the truth.
They ask:
- “Do you think this is a good idea?”
- “Would you pay for this?”
- “Does this sound valuable?”
- “Would companies need this?”
The problem is that most people are nice.
Your former colleagues, friends, family, and network contacts usually do not want to discourage you. So they say things like:
- “That sounds interesting.”
- “I can see companies needing that.”
- “You should definitely do it.”
- “Let me know when you launch.”
That feels like validation, but it is not.
It is encouragement. And encouragement is not the same as demand.
You may spend weeks tweaking your website, your LinkedIn profile, your logo, or your proposal template before you know whether the problem is painful enough for someone to pay to solve it.
And then when the market stays quiet, you think the problem is confidence, branding, or visibility.
Sometimes it is simpler than that: you asked weak questions.
A better approach is to ask about the buyer’s actual life, business, and past behavior.
Instead of asking:
“Would you hire someone to help with sales strategy?”
Ask:
- “When was the last time your team struggled to hit a sales target?”
- “What did you try?”
- “Who was involved?”
- “What did it cost you in time, missed revenue, or stress?”
- “Did you bring in outside help?”
- “If not, why not?”
That line of questioning gives you useful information, and it lets anyone answer the questions more objectively.
You are no longer asking them to predict a future decision. People are not great at that. You are asking them to describe what already happened.
Your job is to understand the pain deeply enough to design a service that is clear, valuable, and worth paying for.
So this week, do not ask five people whether your consulting idea is good.
Ask five people about the last time they dealt with the problem you want to solve.
Listen carefully. Take notes. Look for patterns.
Then decide if you are standing in front of a real business opportunity or just a polite crowd.
That difference matters: one pays invoices, the other gives you compliments.
Ask Feras Recap
🔥 The Challenge
“What if people say they like my consulting idea, but nobody is willing to buy?”
🛠️ What I Told Them
Then you do not have enough evidence yet. Interest is not the same as intent, and intent is not the same as commitment. Go back and ask about the real problem, what they have already tried, who owns the issue, what it costs them, and what would need to happen for them to take action. If you cannot find pain, urgency, or willingness to move forward, do not polish the offer.
Sharpen the Blade
If you’re struggling to validate and get your idea check out this In this week’s video, I break down how to validate a consulting or service business idea without falling for polite feedback, vague encouragement, or false confidence.
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