Side Business Launchpad

This workbook turns the course into a ninety-day launch you can actually run on nights and weekends. Each section maps to one course module and ends with concrete artifacts: a scored idea, a validation plan, a packaged offer, and a customer-getting motion. Work through the exercises in order, and use the templates to keep your ideas, experiments, money, and weekly cadence in one place.

Generate a long list of grounded ideas and rank them with a weighted matrix so you bet your limited hours on the strongest one.

Before you pick an idea, write down the box it must fit inside. Be honest about hours, cash, and your employment situation. These constraints are not limitations to resent; they are the design spec for a side business that survives.

Set a ninety-minute timer and mine ideas from all three sources without filtering. Quantity first; you are aiming for at least twenty raw ideas. Use the Idea Bank template to capture them.

Pick your top five ideas and score each from one to five on every criterion, then multiply by the listed weight and total. Maximum score is seventy-five. Above fifty-five is a strong candidate; below forty, drop it. Record the numbers in the Idea Bank template.

Run cheap experiments that produce real demand signals, ending with the strongest signal of all: a stranger paying you before the product exists.

Schedule at least eight conversations using The Mom Test rules: talk about their life not your idea, ask about the past not the future, and let them talk eighty percent of the time. Log each one in the Validation Tracker.

Draft every element of your one-page demand test before you build it in Carrd or a similar tool. Fill each field with the actual copy you will publish, then set your pass threshold in advance so you cannot move the goalposts.

Plan a pre-sale that takes real money before the product exists. Be transparent that it is a founding-member offer, set a go or no-go number, and promise a full refund if you fail to deliver by the stated date.

Design the smallest offer that delivers a real result, price it for profit, and package it so a stranger can buy with confidence.

Cut your offer to the smallest deliverable that still solves the core problem for one specific use case. For every feature you list, apply the scoping question and decide keep or cut. Set a hard ship date and scope backward from it.

Move from fear-based pricing to value-based pricing. Research competitor prices first to set an anchor, quantify the value of the outcome you create, then choose a price that makes a few sales a month meaningful. Use the Money template to model it.

Turn your capability into a named, scoped, ready-to-buy offer. Fill every field, then reread it as the buyer and close any question that arises. If a stranger cannot buy it from this page without talking to you, keep tightening it.

Land your first ten paying customers through low-cost channels, set up clean money and legal basics, and build a weekly rhythm that protects your day job.

The first ten customers come one at a time through personal effort, not funnels. Build a list of fifty people or businesses that match your customer profile and plan a daily, personalized outreach motion. Track every conversation in the Validation Tracker.

Complete each field as you finish that step. The goal is a clean line between business and personal money plus a plan for taxes you will owe. Confirm tax specifics with a professional for your location.

Design a repeatable weekly rhythm you can hold for months. Block execution and deep-work time on your calendar, batch similar tasks, and protect the boundary with your day job. Track effort and results in the Weekly Cadence template.