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Chopping wood and building websites

One day I went to visit my old grandfather. When I got there, he asked me if I could help him chop down a tree in the backyard. 

I said “yes,” so he gave me his ax, and off I went to do the job. 

At the time, I was practicing Aikido for a little over one year. Part of that practice was to learn how to correctly hold and swing a sword, have the correct stance, and put maxim power into your cut!

What better time to show off my new skill than to chop down this tree? Sure, the ax was no katana, but the same principles would apply. 

I got into the correct stance, grabbed the ax as if it was a sword, and swung hard at the tree!

Thirty minutes later, my grandpa came to check on my progress, worried that it was taking so long. 

He found me standing next to the tree, struggling to remove the ax that was now stuck into the tree. I looked nothing like a martial artist.

He got close. With one hand, he removed the ax, swung at the tree, and with that single cut, the tree was down. As it should now be obvious, this was a very small tree. 

I was puzzled by this question for a long time: how did he do it so easily at 80+ years old, and why did I fail so miserably despite my confidence in the cutting technique I had just learned? Was Aikido a scam? 

The answer is pretty simple: he had been using an ax to chop down trees for 70 something years. He did not have to think about it; every fiber in his old body knew how to grab the ax, where to hit the tree at what angle, and with how much force. On the other hand, I held an ax for the first time and had zero practice experience. Looking back, I am happy I hit the tree and not my legs.

The same goes with hiring someone to build a website for you. Everyone can learn how to do it from a YouTube video, but it takes time and practice to see all the nuances and get it right from the first try. And what do you value more? Someone who is chopping for days at your site working “very hard?” Or someone who gets it done from the first swing?

You have a great idea? Make sure your audience thinks that too :)

Some time ago, when predictive text typing was a “thing” on mobile devices, I had this great idea of adding the exact same features on desktop computers too. Just type in the first few letters, and the computer will make suggestions to help you finish the word. You would type faster and make fewer mistakes. What a great product, right?

I have spent one year creating and polishing the product, building the website for it, and also spent some money to have magazines review the product. 

What was the net result of all this effort? 

It was exhilarating to build this thing and overcome the tech challenges, but in business terms, it was a disaster. I sold just about three copies of this software. 

There is a valuable lesson I learned from this: test your ideas first, before actually building the product and service.

The good news is, in today’s world, you can test your idea for free and with very short setup time. And this post, I will share some tools to get you started. 

Social media

Social media is the most accessible medium to use and the quickest to get feedback on. Write a post about your idea, and ask for comments. Do you get any engagement? Are there any enthusiastic fans? Does it make sense to start a group around this on Facebook? Before you know it, you have your cohort of fans that will support you in building the “real deal.” And you will also have some precious feedback about how to build your service to serve your audience best.

A free website

Before investing thousands of dollars for a pro website, test it out with a free service.

WordPress.com is a good tool to use. Start with their free plan. WordPress is the one I use the most for myself and my clients.

Wix is another platform that has a free plan. I haven’t used it myself, but I’ve seen it working. If what you need to test out requires you to show some sort of design and less text, then I would go with Wix because of their powerful design editor that is not available in WordPress.

WebFlow is new to the game. It has a free plan, and it is aimed more at designers who what to greate outstanding pages without having to write code. If you are a designer, you will love WebFlow over the other options. 

Some important tips to consider

Intellectual propery

If you do not want to test your idea because you are concerned, someone else might steal it consider these: maybe your idea is not different enough, and that makes it super easy for anyone else to replicate? In which case, you may be better off pursuing a more innovative idea. Also, even if someone “steals” your idea, they don’t have you on the team with your insight, thoughts, and experience. There is a long road from an idea to a mature project :). 

From testing to an actual service or product

Regardless of what platform you choose, think about how will you grow if the idea turns out to be viable? You need to be able to export the content you have created for your tests. And it could be images, articles, or the design itself. It is always a good idea to document what you are doing for two reasons: if it has not worked, you will be able to learn something from it. And if it does work, you will have built a library of resources to help you launch the mature website/product/service.