Mark: Most business advice tells you to find a problem and solve it. But what if the first problem you need to solve has nothing to do with the customer, and everything to do with you? What if your brilliant idea is a trap waiting to ruin your life? Michelle: Whoa, that's a dark way to start! But I'm intrigued. A business idea as a life-ruining trap? That sounds like a horror movie for entrepreneurs. Usually, we think of a great idea as a winning lottery ticket. Mark: Exactly. And that's the central, counter-intuitive question at the heart of Pat Flynn's fantastic book, Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money. Michelle: Ah, Pat Flynn. And he’s the perfect person to write this. He's not some ivory-tower academic; he was an architect who got laid off during the 2008 recession and had to build his own thing from scratch. He famously calls himself the 'crash test dummy of online business.' Mark: He really is. He tests everything on himself and then reports back, wins and losses included. And this book is his framework for avoiding the biggest loss of all: building a successful business that makes you miserable. Michelle: I think we all know someone like that. Or we're afraid of becoming that person. Mark: Flynn starts with a cautionary tale that perfectly illustrates this. It's about a guy named James who emailed him, and the subject line of the email was, "I make $20,000 per month and I’m not happy." Michelle: Oh, man. That’s the dream, right? Twenty grand a month in recurring revenue. That’s the goal post for so many people starting out. But he was miserable. That's kind of heartbreaking.

Mark: It is. And James’s story is the foundation for the first part of the book, which Flynn calls "Mission Design." James had achieved the financial goal, but he’d never stopped to ask what kind of life he wanted. The business was running him, not the other way around. He built a golden cage. Michelle: Okay, so how do you avoid building your own golden cage? What's the alternative? Mark: Flynn proposes a thought experiment he calls "The Airport Test." It's brilliantly simple. He asks you to imagine yourself five years from now. You're at an airport, and you bump into an old, trusted friend you haven't seen in years. They ask you how you've been, and you get to say, with complete honesty, "My life is amazing." Michelle: That’s a nice thought. Mark: Here's where it gets practical. The exercise forces you to define what "amazing" actually means. You have to write down, in detail, what your life looks like across four key quadrants. For Flynn, it was his work, his health, his family, and his finances. What does an amazing family life look like in five years? What does amazing health feel like? You paint a vivid, concrete picture of your ideal future. Michelle: I love the sound of this, but it feels a little... 'woo-woo' for a business book. Is this just daydreaming, or is there a practical point to it? I can almost hear the hard-nosed business types scoffing. Mark: That's the perfect question, because it gets to the core of why this is so radical. The Airport Test isn't just a vision board. It's a filter. Once you have that crystal-clear picture of the life you want, you hold your business idea up against it. And you ask a brutal question: "Will this business idea help me get to that amazing life, or will it actively prevent it?" Michelle: Ah, I see. So if my ideal life involves traveling six months a year, but my business idea is a brick-and-mortar bakery that requires me to be there at 4 a.m. every day... Mark: You have a problem. And Flynn's advice is revolutionary. He says if there's a mismatch, you don't change your life plan. You change your business idea. The business must serve the life, not the other way around. Michelle: That really reframes the whole entrepreneurial journey. It’s not just about market fit; it’s about life fit. It explains why the book is so popular with people looking to build what some call "lifestyle businesses," but it's a lesson that I think even venture-backed founders could learn from. Mark: Absolutely. He tells a personal story about how, as his own business grew, he started getting all these amazing opportunities—speaking gigs, partnerships, investment offers. But he had already done his Airport Test, and his vision for his family life was non-negotiable. So he used that vision as a tool to say "no" to things that, on paper, looked like incredible career moves but would have taken him away from his family. Michelle: Having a framework for saying "no" is a superpower. It’s so easy to get caught up in chasing every opportunity and lose sight of why you started in the first place. Mark: That's the point. Your business idea has to pass the Airport Test first. If it doesn't fly with your life, it doesn't matter if it can fly in the market.

Michelle: Okay, so you've filtered your idea through your life goals. It fits. The bakery idea is out, the online course idea is in. Now what? You still have to find out if anyone will actually buy it. That's where the real fear kicks in, right? The fear of putting yourself out there and hearing crickets. Mark: That is the exact fear this next part of the book is designed to conquer. Flynn calls it the "Flight Simulator." It's where you stop thinking and start testing. And the stories here are just incredible. My favorite is about a guy named Joey Korenman, a motion graphics expert. Michelle: Okay, set the scene for me. What was his situation? Mark: Joey was an expert in his field and wanted to create an in-depth online course teaching animation. But this course was going to be a massive undertaking—three months of his life to create it. He was terrified of spending all that time and money only to launch it and have no one buy it. A classic entrepreneur's nightmare. Michelle: I know that feeling. So what did he do? Mark: He followed Flynn's validation method. First, he got in front of an audience. He was already creating free motion graphics tutorials on YouTube. He wasn't a huge star, but he had a small, dedicated following. That was his starting point. Michelle: So he had a little bit of a head start. Mark: A little, but what he did next is what matters. He hyper-targeted. At the end of his free videos, he put up a simple call to action: "If you want to learn more about animation, sign up for my email list." This meant he wasn't just talking to random viewers; he was building a list of people who had explicitly raised their hand and said, "Yes, I want to learn this from you." Michelle: Smart. He's filtering for intent. So he has this small, targeted email list. What was the next step? Mark: This is the brilliant part. He didn't just send a salesy email. He sent a deeply honest and vulnerable one. He told his own story of struggling with animation for years. He shared his frustrations and his breakthroughs. Then, he announced he was hosting a free live webinar to share some of his best techniques. Michelle: So he's building trust and providing value upfront. He’s not just asking for a sale. Mark: Exactly. And during the webinar, he delivered. For 30 minutes, he just taught, giving away amazing, actionable advice. Only at the end did he pivot to the sale. He said, "I'm creating a six-week animation bootcamp to go deep on this. I'm looking for 20 early adopters to join me. It's not built yet, but if you join now, you'll get it for a huge discount—$250." Michelle: Wow, asking for money for something that doesn't even exist yet. That takes guts. I can just imagine the self-doubt he must have felt. Mark: Oh, he was terrified. He quotes himself in the book thinking, "What a stupid idea... no way people will buy it... you're greedy." But he pushed through that fear. And the result? He sold out all 20 spots in ten minutes. He made $5,000. He was so stunned, he opened up another 20 spots, and they sold out in less than a minute. Michelle: That's incredible! Ten thousand dollars for a product he hadn't even built. That's not just validation; that's rocket fuel for motivation. Mark: It's the ultimate validation. It's not people saying they'll buy it. It's people actually buying it. Their actions, not their words. And with that money and that confidence, he went and built an amazing course. His first students became his biggest advocates, leaving glowing testimonials. The next time he launched, he charged $600 per student and sold 75 spots. School of Motion is now a massive, thriving business. Michelle: That story is so powerful because it lays out the exact emotional and tactical roadmap. The fear is real, but the process works. And it seems to challenge a common criticism of these kinds of books—that they're all theory. This is pure, actionable strategy. Mark: It is. And there are other great examples, like Bryan Harris who validated a course idea in a small Facebook group, or Noah Kagan who challenged himself to start a profitable beef jerky subscription business in just 24 hours. The methods change, but the principle is the same: test small, test with real transactions, and let your customers' actions guide you.

Michelle: It’s fascinating. When you put it all together, the book's philosophy seems to be twofold. First, protect your life from your business with the Airport Test. Second, protect your business from wishful thinking by testing it on a small scale. Mark: That's a perfect summary. You're de-risking your life, and you're de-risking your business. And the deeper insight here is that validation isn't just a simple 'yes' or 'no' question. It's a process of learning. Michelle: What do you mean by that? Mark: Even if Joey Korenman had tried to pre-sell his course and no one bought it, that wouldn't have been a failure. It would have been a massive success. Michelle: How is making zero dollars a success? Mark: Because he would have learned, for the small cost of a webinar, that his idea wasn't right. He would have saved himself three months of grueling work and thousands of dollars in development costs. A 'no' from the market, when it comes early, is one of the most valuable pieces of data an entrepreneur can get. It's about replacing the fear of failure with the power of information. Michelle: That's a huge mental shift. A failed test isn't a failed entrepreneur; it's a successful experiment that points you in a new, better direction. Mark: Precisely. So the takeaway for our listeners is simple. Before you go all-in on your next big idea, before you print business cards or build a website, ask two fundamental questions. First: "Will this business support the life I truly want to live in five years?" Michelle: That’s the Airport Test. Mark: And second: "Will someone, a real person, give me money for this right now, before it's even finished?" Michelle: The Joey Korenman test. Mark: If you can get a 'yes' to both of those, you're not just flying; you're flying in the right direction. Michelle: I love that. And we're curious to hear from you all. Have you ever been trapped by a 'successful' project that made you miserable? Or have you ever successfully validated an idea before going all in? We'd love to hear your stories. Let us know on our social channels. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.