The biggest mistake new entrepreneurs make is to put a lot of effort into creating a product or service before knowing whether people will pay for it. Creating a beta version or a minimum viable product (the smallest version of the product that’s actually useful to your customers) is a great way to “ooch” forward without leaping into the unknown, but there’s an even easier way:

Test by writing.

Test by asking your readers what they’re struggling with.

If, for example, you help new dads adjust to fatherhood, ask them:

“What are you struggling with in your new life as a father?”

If you help employees find job satisfaction, ask your readers:

“What’s your biggest obstacle to feeling satisfied with your job?”

As a side note, never ask anything like, “What product or service should I offer next?” Your readers don’t know, and it’s not their job to tell you. Ask them what they’re struggling with, then it’s your job to figure out how to help them.

Use a simple survey creator like Google Forms and you’ll get more responses than a blog post or an email.

Test by blogging.

Once you have some ideas of how you can help, test by blogging.

Before you create a new product or offer a new service, write a blog post about the topic.

If your audience isn’t interested enough to share or comment on a blog post, they won’t be interested enough to pay money for it.

And when you do find an idea your audience is interested in, you can go back to that initial survey and copy and paste your readers’ words onto your sales page. What better way to show them you’re solving a problem they care about than to express it in their own words?

When you test by writing, you can test a dozen product ideas in the time it would otherwise take you to test one. You’ll figure out how to help your audience much more quickly – and you’ll find a profitable offering much more quickly, too!