Business idea in one sentence: the 10-minute test.
Writing your business idea in one sentence is the first exercise in the book, and it takes ten minutes. Then you ask one question: if you were ill for three months, what happens to the money?
Why one sentence.
A paragraph lets you hide, but one sentence does not. It forces a choice, because you cannot describe three businesses at once. So write it the way you would say it to someone at a wedding who asked what you do.
Keep the sheet, because it is not homework. By the last chapter, that page holds a decision, a date and the three things that would change your mind. So tonight you write its first line.
The question under your business idea in one sentence.
Read the sentence back. So, if you were ill for three months, would the money stop? If it stops, you are planning to sell your own hours. That is allowed, since a later chapter is written for people who choose it on purpose.
If the money keeps arriving, other people do the work and customers buy from the company. In that case, write down who those people are and what you would pay them. Most readers cannot answer that part yet, but that is the correct result.
When the exercise goes wrong.
For example, if the sentence becomes a paragraph, choose the business that would make money first. If you cannot tell which kind it is, ask whether a capable stranger could learn the core work in six weeks. Also, do not tear up your plan at eleven at night. You are not ready to choose yet; you are ready to stop choosing by accident.
Write your business idea in one sentence.
Take one sheet of paper. Write the business in a single sentence, then answer the three-month question beneath it.
Also, keep the sheet. Every chapter of the book adds one more line to it.
From the book.
Now read it back and answer one question. If you were ill for three months, what happens to the money?
I Want to Start a Business but I Can't Quit My Job, chapter 1: Only one kind of self-employment pays
Questions about business idea in one sentence.
What if my business idea in one sentence turns into a paragraph?
That usually means you are describing several businesses. Pick the one that would make money first and list the others for later.
How do I know which kind of business it is?
Ask whether a capable stranger could do the core of the work after six weeks of training. If what sells is your judgement, face or relationships, it is the kind that sells your hours.
Is it bad if the money stops when I stop?
No. It is a real choice with a known price. The book only asks that you make it knowingly, not discover it in year three.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 1, “Only one kind of self-employment pays”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
