We must admit it — it’s not easy being green, eating Eco and becoming an entrepreneur. And we have not even mentioned being successful at it. Most of the most promising startups end within 5 years of their existence. While there are many reasons that businesses in general fail, including some that have nothing to do with an owner’s skills, it is also possible that many startups collapse simply because they did not get enough customers to buy or use the designed products or services. Harsh truth, but someone has to say it. Another cause could be the fact that most entrepreneurs and product developers out there start focusing on features and design, instead of firstly assessing if their service is needed or can be put to use in due course.

The good news is that there are a number of ways through which entrepreneurs out there can see if their business idea has a active customer market or not. Are you ready to put your business idea to test?

First step – Google / Yahoo / Bing it

Thomas Edison once said: “I never perfected an invention that I did not think in terms of the service it might give others. I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” Search for your idea on WWW, as it may just be that you are not the only one out there that had been struck by marketing lightning. Moreover, no great idea nowadays lacks competition. Our advise: investigate and take into account even the simplest keyword which describes your business that you can think of. It can give you valuable results.

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Before starting to invest time, money, energy into your project, see if in the targeted audience segment, your idea touches the right chord. The easiest way to test your business idea is by crowdsourcing. Of course, it would be more objective not to pour your business idea to your girlfriend, mum, dad and best childhood friend. What is more feasible and business orientated is to get the perspective of a large group that you already know is capable of giving you truthful and helpful advice.  Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, YouTube – all these are the best channels to use in order to wisely assess your business plan. And it just might work!

Ask the best questions

It is more than obvious that any god business relies on a cutting-edge marketing plan. But before stressing out on the 7 Ps, or 14 as I have recently heard, try considering going through some simple steps. Did you find a suitable answer for questions such as:

• Does my product address a market need?
• If it does, is it a niche or mass market?
• Who are my potential customers, and where can they be found?
• Am I the only one to discover this basic need?
• What makes my service or product special, unique, single?
• Will it still be a viable product or service in one year? Two years? Five years?

Sell it

Well, no, it’s not about giving it to others. Before tossing your head with the nerve-racking, code-spinning, and teeth grinding process, try to see if someone would actually pay for it. And just how much would they pay. With a prototype or a great sales presentation, go around to people or companies that fit the description of your key consumer. Of course it also depends on your natural sales skills, but when someone spots something that makes ones life easier or simple, the natural question would be: “How much?” Do people have this reaction when hearing about your product? No, then this means that it’s back to the drawing table.

You know what? Simply do it!

“Nothing is impossible” – now these are some smart words. But what one should remember is that  research, tables and endless excels will only describe part of the entire scheme. If the initial response is encouraging, if you have properly found that one USP that puts you ahead of the competition, it can mean that you’re on the right track. For most entrepreneurs, hard is not the research process. Actually implementing the idea and making it real is the killer part. Remember, while you are trying to research something and test it in your backyard, someone else is releasing it on the market. And that means you’ve lost the race: you are not the first one to break the ice!