Hello, everyone, everywhere. Pastor Bob Thibodeau here. Welcome to another session of the Faith Based Business podcast. Praise God. We're so blessed you're joining us as we're studying a series. We started a series yesterday about the kingdompreneurs business blueprint and if you missed yesterday's episodes, the introductions that go back and catch up with it. Okay. Because today we're moving right along. Today I want to talk to you about the importance of testing new ideas before you go all in.
Okay. Matter of fact, let me go ahead and share the screen. We'll go ahead and get started in today's training. Praise God. Now, testing ideas before you go full on implementation can save you a lot of money. Okay. Every successful venture begins with an idea. It really does. But not every idea is destined for success, is it? At kingdompreneurs, as kingpreneurs, we are called to be wise stewards of the resources which God entrusts to us.
We have to test new ideas and concepts, ensure that we are investing not just our time and energy, but finances as well into something meaningful, something impactful, and that they're aligned with God's purposes. By testing, we can gl. We can gain clarity. We can avoid unnecessary risks and position ourselves to serve our audience more effectively. Basically, I mean, testing isn't about doubting your vision. I'm not going down that path at all. Okay. It's about validating your vision.
Even the most inspired ideas can fall short if they fail to meet the needs of those that they're intended to help. Amen. Testing allows us to sharpen our focus, refine our approach, and ensure that we are. We are truly walking in alignment with God's plan. Amen. So how can testing save you money from costly mistakes? Well, when we skip testing, you risk wasting time, money, resources on concepts that just don't resonate with our audience.
Testing will save us from these pitfalls by revealing potential flaws in the marketing plan or flaws in the product offer and. And give us an opportunity to correct them before they become costly mistakes. Lord knows I've been doing this in some form or fashion now for almost. Well, if you, if you just. If. If you count the radio programs and all that since 2008, 2009.
Okay. And I have learned lessons the hard way, and I don't know about you, but for me, this was a costly way to test before implementation. Just going all in and. And just believing God. Oh, yes, I'm on. And then have to come back later and redo things and. And redo them. And reef manufacture them and get them back out there again. So what kind of mistakes can testing help us to avoid?
Well, testing will make sure that the products and the services you are offering are relevant to your target market. For example, it could have been your dream for years to open a soccer training camp for use, right? You want to charge for the training. You want to provide all the necessary equipment for them to buy through you. You want to offer the leagues they join and pay for. And, you know, you found the competition too high. I mean, it's.
It's just hard to break into that in the area in which you're living. But then you hear about this community where soccer has never been introduced, and that means you could have the initial market all to yourself. You could literally have a monopoly on the entire thing for that entire area. Oh, man, that just sounds too good to pass up. Right? The market you decide you want to dominate could be soccer for Eskimos up in Alaska and even northern Canada. What do you think?
Yeah, it could be a great opportunity. But before you sign up for the soccer franchise, do you think it'd be a good idea to at least travel to the area and see if there's even an interest in playing soccer up there before you pack up your family and move up there and purchase everything and launch? Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Right? You may find that the market's not very hot to begin with. Excuse the pun. Right. Let's just say that inviting. How can I say this?
The market would not be an opera, an entrepreneur's paradise. Let's put it like that. Now, if that's your calling, okay, hey, that's between you and God. Amen. But for business, that may be a very cold market. Again, sorry for the pun, you know, but Bob loves puns. Amen. Praise God. But ideas that seem great in theory can sometimes just miss the mark completely. Testing will help you confirm that your idea aligns with your audience's needs and their desires as well.
Feedback from real users or customers will provide folks. It'll provide invaluable insight that can guide any necessary adjustments, ensuring your idea remains relevant. Now, instead of pursuing a direction that might fail, testing will allow you to identify any potential issues early on and pivot, saving time, effort, and heartache. You know, think back to the. The starting the soccer monopoly up in Alaska. If you test that market first, you'll.
You could avoid some potential pitfalls and heartaches and issues that'll save you a lot of time and grief. Right. Don't you Agree. You could find out from someone who did this before, let's say up in northern Canada, get in touch with them, maybe take a business trip, take them to lunch or dinner or something. Pick their, pick their brain, so to speak, and ask them the problems and if they succeeded and how did they do so, and how did the market react?
Because this could help you from making some mistakes as you start your little adventure up in the cold climate. Right? You may not be venturing forth into that type of business, I just use that as an example. But you can still find out answers to some other common mistakes, you know, such as overestimating the demand for your market.
You know, testing will reveal whether you know your, your idea truly resonates with your target market, or if adjustments need to be made and meeting their expectations. Or perhaps, you know, you're actually underestimating your competition. You know, testing will give you insight into the market saturation and this will help you refine your unique value proposition as well to stand out and, and highlight the differences between you and your competitors.
Now, one thing that you never want to do is ignore your market, ignoring your audience, your target market. Do not ignore their input. Neglecting that, neglecting to involve your audience or target market early on. That will almost always lead to misguided business decisions. Testing will invite their input. Testing will build trust because you're fostering that engagement and save you money in the long run. Amen. But that leaves us, well, how to test?
Well, you need to create a framework for testing to make sure that, that you are going to receive accurate information in order for you to make the important decisions that need to be made. Amen. To do this, your initial testing, you need to start small. Just begin by testing on a smaller scale through surveys, focus groups, or, or, you know, just minimal viable product offers, you know, something small, a checklist and things like that.
These methods offer low risk ways for you to gather critical data that you can then use to make your bigger decisions. Right? And make sure you have some sort of metrics in place. Metrics will, will help you to define your clear, measurable success standards for your testing process, not the product, but for the testing process.
You need to know that the metrics you're using is an accurate reflection on what you want to see and what you want to evaluate, such as engagement rates on your testing, feedback, quality, early sales figures, all of that. And then there is evaluations and then refinement to evaluate and refine all your intended process and your testing procedures. Okay, remember, this is how you save Yourself money. This is how you can help yourself and launching a great product.
Because testing isn't a one off thing. Testing is an ongoing process. So use the results to refine your data, refine your idea continuously throughout the production, throughout the implementation, all along the product line. Even after you launch, you still need to be testing in the market for new ideas and upgrades and all that because that'll ensure that you're always meeting the needs of your audience. And basically that's the bottom line, isn't it? Right. So testing isn't just a precaution.
Testing is an act of stewardship, a pathway to clarity. It helps us to confirm the relevance of our ideas, avoid the common mistakes and pitfalls, and to establish a framework for success. By testing we can position our us to make wise, informed decisions that honor God and serve others effectively. Amen. Praise God. Now in our next session we're going to be discussing knowing your audience, the importance of knowing who your audience really is. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
So man, it's been good today. A little long, but that's all right because here's an action step for you for next time. Right now you want to identify just one part, just one part of your test idea. Do it today while you're thinking about it, while you're watching this video. Do it today, whether through a quick survey or audience based email, something out with your idea to tell. I'm thinking about making this training on this. Tell me about it.
Would that, is that something you'd be interested in? Okay, just a small little sampling. Get this pilot test. Use the insights that you learn from it to redefine or refine, I should say refine your concept and then you can take a confident next step fall. Amen. Praise God. Leave your comments and thoughts down below in the show notes here so others can benefit from your ideas as well. That's what this whole thing is all about. Let's create that engagement.
Amen. Praise God. That's all time we have for today, until next time passed about reminding you to be blessed in all that you do.