Prove your idea before building software!

Prove your idea before building software.

I really appreciated what happened to me maybe about four weeks ago.

And I was on a call with a business friend.

And He was like, you know, Tom if you're going to build software, make sure you prove it.

First, make sure it works, prove it manually do it without any automation.

And once you have done that, then you can go and build the software.

Unfortunately, this point was about six to eight weeks into building software that had not been proven.

As like, you know what, that probably would be good at? Probably.

Goodness, choking on my own laughter, goodness.

Because these are the things that you don't not, I didn't know, I didn't know you meant to prove everything beforehand, manually before going to suffer.

I'm like, hey, it's a great idea.

I'm going to build the software.

And, of course, how many software's have I for a grand total of zero.

And you might think that this is doomed to failure.

But I got one thing, I got one thing in my favor.

And while it was not proven in the marketplace, it was certainly proven on a system's basis to work.

And the material that those systems were based on was extracted from men who have proven business knowledge, they've written books.

So I have an interesting skill set.

It's the ability to extract the systems out of the books, reverse engineering, the books themselves, and the systems that they were based on, and then build them back into usable systems.

So ideally, I would have waited, in retrospect, with definitely said, Okay, let's prove this manually, build the funnel, run the traffic, get the customers to try it out, and prove it.

And then yes, when it is known and proven, then go to the software.

Unfortunately, that's not what has happened.

But in this little adventure, I've had a couple of little benefits.

So a couple of things have shown up, and I had an interesting call with a copywriter.

And He was like, Well, Tom, this isn't going to work.

And I'm like, what, why not, it's like, well, you're only providing the very beginning of the solution.

And this was getting into the idea that marketing, who you are selling to what problem you're solving, and how you provide that solution, also known as your offer, is the essential underpinnings for all of your ads for your sales and for your fulfillment gang.

But the people who know this, the people who know this, already have this dialed in, and those that do not will not appreciate what you are providing because they're going to want the actual finished product.

And in learning this, this was extremely valuable, because I saw where the software has to go.

And the ability to systematically create the avatar, the problem and the solutions, and the results.

And the offer is extremely valuable to the right person.

That right person probably already knows how to do this.

Hopefully, they do.

Hopefully, perhaps not, but probably they do know what to do.

But the next application, the systematic application of those into ads into email ads into social media ads into video ads into the retargeting ads, then into the sales funnel, the pages, the emails that go with those pages, the videos that get built into those pages, the checkout page, the thank you page, the offer itself, the opt-in the forms, like all of these components, that when people go to build something they tend not to think about they're somewhat oblivious to the amount of work that's actually required.

That when they even think of like, well, I'm going to build a funnel.

And even if they're like, Well, I can see the pages.

I've got the three pages, the four pages that I need, and I can see the copy In the video, but they haven't thought about the retargeting, and they haven't thought about the emails that link all of them together, or perhaps you're using a messenger or chatbot strategy, whatever that is, I mean, it doesn't really matter, but you've got to think about it.

And so the power of systems, even though the software wasn't proven, the systems are the systematic application of that marketing through to the finished products.

This is where the software's going.

And I'm having a great time.

I'm loving building the software, like it's fun.

It's really cool.

If you're into this sort of thing, and you're like, Man, I wanted to build some software.

My advice would be to follow the advice that I was given, actually, prove that it works beforehand, and then go to software.

But my software devs are kind of that they like working with me, because for whatever reason, the P is that most people that show up to build software have put precious little thought into it other than some kind of vague dream.

This was a bit shocking.

They were like, Tom, you appear to know what you're doing.

And I'm Hi, what are you telling me that most people don't? They're like, yeah, most people don't.

I'm like, oh, okay, that's probably not going to go so well.

So while I didn't hit the ideal of having proven it beforehand, and now I'm going after that, just in case, you're wondering, I'm like software still weeks, two months away.

Depending on how it goes, My guys are in Ukraine, and appears that we've got a little bit of delay.

On the possibility of deploying, there are some shenanigans going on over there.

I'm like, Mr. Putin, what are you doing? Dude? What are you doing? And it's really curious because I got another buddy who has Russian software devs.

And it's like, yeah, we now got a pain, Bitcoin.

And all of the stuff getting done, presumably through VPNs.

And I liked it.

I'm like, we're going to block all the technology to Russia.

I'm like, You guys have heard of VPNs.

Right.

I mean, there's a pretty simple workaround to avoid all of the geolocation stuff.

But anyway, I digress.

I digress.

But the software adventure is exciting.

Identifying a worthwhile problem is critical, ideally, proving it.

And then when you have proven it, take those systems and turn them into the software.

And the guys are really good at this, as the quality of the input that you bring.

If you bring solid proven systems that have been market-tested, and you give them to your software devs, then that shouldn't be a relatively simple procedure for them to convert it into the software.

If you show up with a vague, wishy-washy idea of some kind of dream, then this is likely to be extremely expensive, this is likely to never actually even get coded because you are going to find it so frustrating.

They are going to find it frustrating to change after change.

After changing the time to perfect what your software is going to do is way before you start building, even the high definition prototypes, you want to have that thing planned out and know that it works.

And then your software development will still be two to three times what you were quoted.

But it will actually get to market.

I'm excited for myself where experience I'm going to most likely run through the app sumo experience because the longer-term vision of the total solution is not there.

But there will be enough to go to app sumo and say, Hey, you guys like this, check it out.

And thank goodness for the app Sumo.

Not a long term business plan by any means.

But as a solution for early adopters to take a risk on software that it will be underdeveloped at the beginning, but they're going to buy at a price that later on will rapidly escalate as the value and the proof come online.

Then this is an extremely valuable solution.

The risk of course with AppSumo pay the software never goes anywhere that falls apart and probably what four out of five app sumo apps are going to fall but hey, that's part of the game.

Alright, that's all I got for you tonight.

Just want to share my experience with software Dev.

If you are thinking about this, then perhaps there are some salient lessons for you here and This is by no means to say do not proceed.

But be aware that the work that you put in before you show up to your software development will pay massive dividends.

Alright, that's all I got for you tonight if you want some help with systems, systems in your business, how to run them, how to design them, how to get your SOPs and your project management working together, then head over systemio.dev.

Thanks so much for tuning into today's episode.

Look forward to seeing you on the next one as we continue this journey into power systems to create results.

See you then.