Will Your Idea Actually Bring You Clients? Here's How to Know Before You Invest
Most health and wellness professionals miss this step... and it leads them straight into the most saturated part of the market.
I was in the medieval village of Tourettes-sur-Loup the other day, not too far from Nice, France. I had a gorgeous shot set up to record a new YouTube video. I hit the record button, turned to walk to my spot, and heard a loud smash.
I spun around and gasped at the wreckage.
My tripod and the remains of my poor camera were lying on the ground, surrounded by the shattered pieces of my lens.
The shot was so beautiful, and I was so excited to capture it, that I ignored the fact that my tripod wasn’t stable. I skipped the setup check that would have told me it was risky.
Something similar happens when health and wellness professionals fall in love with a program idea. They’re so excited to get it launched that they skip the most important part of the process — the part that tells you whether the setup is solid, or if it’s too risky.
Why do they skip it?
It’s often because they already know it’s a problem a lot of people need help solving. And they see other coaches selling programs that address it. So they assume the demand is there.
But that’s not validation. That’s an assumption. And it’s one of the most expensive mistakes I see. It can lead you directly into the most saturated, hardest-to-differentiate part of the market you’re entering.
When you see competitors, it lets you know a category exists. But it doesn’t tell you whether there’s room for you or how to make yourself stand out within the category. Those are completely different questions.
And they’re the ones that actually determine whether your idea becomes a thriving business or a frustrating grind.
After working with over 1,000 health and wellness professionals, I developed a 7-point validation process I use with my clients before we build anything. This kind of research does something that’s missing from ordinary research…
It shows you exactly where the gaps are. The underserved parts of the market, the unaddressed frustrations, and the unique angles that can give you a meaningful point of differentiation.
That turns a crowded market that every other coach in your niche is trying to make work into an opportunity for you to become the obvious choice.
Here are the exact steps.
First, set up your research.
Before we get into the seven questions, let’s set this up so you can go through it in one pass and keep your answers organized. You’ll be drawing from the same four sources throughout this process, so it’s worth setting them up properly from the start.
Open a spreadsheet and create three columns:
Column 1: The question number it answers
Column 2: Where you found it (Reddit, YouTube, Amazon, Google)
Column 3: The exact words — copy and paste, don’t paraphrase
That third column matters more than people realize. The specific language people use to describe their problem is often the exact language that should appear in your marketing.
Now here’s where you’re going to search for answers. (I open a separate tab for each of them.)
Reddit — Type “[the problem] + Reddit” in your search bar. This pulls up conversations happening across multiple communities, and it’s where you’ll find the most unfiltered, emotional language about the problem.
YouTube — Search “[the problem] + how to.” Look for videos with a high volume of views and active comment sections.
Amazon — Search for books on the topic with 50 or more reviews — the more the better.
Google — Search “[the problem] + coach” and “[the problem] + program.” This surfaces competitors and tells you what the market looks like commercially.
Now here’s what you’re looking for.
1. Are there active, engaged communities?
The first thing you want to look for are active communities. Facebook groups, subreddits, and forums all signal ongoing demand. They also give you a real-time window into exactly what your potential clients are struggling with right now.
If you don’t find active communities where people post regularly and engage with each other, that’s a signal to pay attention to. It could mean there aren’t enough people looking for help with the problem.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Add the URLs of the communities. You’ll be going back to mine them for the rest of your answers.
2. Is the problem urgent enough that people will pay to solve it?
You already know your idea addresses a real problem. (If you’re not 100% sure about that, take a look at this article after you’ve finished reading this one).
But not every real problem drives people to pull out their credit cards. The ones that do are disruptive enough to a person’s quality of life that they’re motivated to get help with them.
First go to Reddit. Read how people describe their experience. Are they using emotional, urgent language — “I’ve tried everything,” “I’m at my wit’s end,” “I need help NOW”? That’s the signal you’re looking for.
If the tone is casual or future-focused — “someday I’d like to…” or “I’ve been thinking about trying…” — that’s not the energy of someone who’s ready to invest in a coaching program.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Any comment that describes the problem in emotional, urgent terms. These help validate your idea, and they’re great future marketing copy.
3. Is the market large enough?
Even an urgent problem needs enough people experiencing it to support a sustainable online business. A good rule of thumb is to aim for at least 500,000 potential clients. If you reach just 0.1% of them, that gives you 500 potential clients. If your market is only 10,000 people, you’d need to capture 5% to reach that number, which is extremely difficult.
Go to Google and search “[the problem] + statistics” and look for credible research or data. Then check the size of the Reddit communities and Facebook groups you found. Large active communities — tens of thousands of people across related groups — are a strong signal.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Any data on market size.
4. What are people dissatisfied with in the solutions they’ve already tried?
Most health and wellness professionals in a given space cluster around the same audience. Those clusters create gaps. And your competitors’ customers help you find them. They’re actually your most valuable research subjects because what they’re complaining about tells you exactly what nobody is delivering well.
Go to Amazon and read the 2, 3, and 4-star reviews on the books you found. Read the comments on the high-view YouTube videos. Go back to those Reddit communities and look specifically for threads where people discuss things they’ve already tried. You’re looking for the language of disappointment: “This was helpful but didn’t address my situation with…”, “I tried this and it worked for a while but then…”, “I wish someone would say more about…”
And don’t just use this to improve your program. Use it in your marketing, too. When you address what existing solutions get wrong, you’re overcoming objections before they arise.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Specific complaints about existing solutions, worded exactly as people expressed them.
5. Will people pay premium prices?
To make $10,000 a month, you can get there with 100 people paying $100, 10 people paying $1,000, or 4 people paying $2,500. The math on that last option is more sustainable. But only if your audience has both the means and the motivation to pay premium prices.
Go to Google and search “[the problem] + program” and “[the problem] + course.” Look at what others are charging. If similar programs are in the $500 to $2,000 range, that’s a promising sign. If everything you find is $20 ebooks and $50 apps, the audience has been trained to expect cheap solutions.
Then cross-reference the pricing with the reviews. Sometimes an audience is willing to pay premium prices, but nobody has built a program good enough to justify charging them yet. That’s an opening. If buyers are paying $500 for something that leaves the problem partially solved, there may be room for a $2,500 program that actually gets them all the way there.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Pricing you find across programs, plus any reviewer comments about whether the investment felt worth it.
6. Are there unique positioning opportunities you can own?
This is where all the research you’ve been doing pays off strategically. You’ve been collecting intelligence on what’s missing, who’s underserved, and where existing solutions are falling short. Now you use it to find the specific angle nobody has claimed.
Go to Google and search the top coaches and programs in your space. Look at what they’re all promising, who they’re targeting, and how they’re positioning themselves. When you see everyone saying the same things, you’ve identified the status quo. And that’s exactly what you need to move away from.
Then cross-reference that with everything in your spreadsheet. Where are the frustrated buyers whose specific situation nobody is speaking to? What complaint keeps coming up that no program is addressing? Which audience segment is being ignored while everyone chases the same demographic?
The overlap between strong demand and weak supply is your positioning opportunity. That’s the angle you can own.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Notes on how the top competitors are positioning themselves, and where the gaps are between what they’re promising and what the market actually needs.
7. Do you have a way to build trust before asking for the sale?
A validated offer with strong differentiation still won’t sell if people don’t trust you yet. Health and wellness buyers are skeptical. They’ve tried things before that didn’t work, and they’re protecting themselves from another disappointment. You need a clear path to earning their trust before asking them to invest.
There are two approaches I like.
The first is a high-ticket offer funnel. This is typically built around a webinar or masterclass that earns trust and leads people to book a call. This works best when you already have an established practice or proven online offer, you’re prepared to invest $5,000 to $7,000 in ads while optimizing, and you’re comfortable closing on calls. It can take 6 to 12 months to fully dial in, so runway matters.
The second is a Strategic Offer Sequence. With this approach, you start with something low-ticket that demonstrates your expertise and builds your list. Then you move people through higher-priced offers. This fits better if you’re newer or transitioning online, want to see revenue within 30 to 60 days, and have less than $5,000 to invest before seeing ROI.
Pick the one that matches where you are now. Without a clear trust-building pathway, tactics like posting, running challenges, or commenting in groups will keep you spinning your wheels.
What to add to your spreadsheet: Nothing new here. This step is about using everything you’ve collected to choose your direction.
What You’re Really Looking For
Most coaches do a quick scan, see that other coaches exist in their space, and call that validation. What they’ve actually done is confirm that a category exists and then walked directly into the most crowded corner of it, saying what everyone else is already saying.
Real validation tells you something different. It tells you where demand is strong and underserved. It shows you what people are paying for that still isn’t solving their problem completely. It reveals the specific audience segment, the specific angle, the specific insight that nobody has claimed yet.
That’s the foundation of positioning that lets you stand out in a crowded market instead of competing for the same clients as everyone else.
Run your idea through these seven checkpoints before you build anything. Make sure you’re documenting what people say is missing. What’s frustrating them about current solutions? What questions aren’t being answered? What audiences aren’t being spoken to?
That’s your goldmine.
Now I won’t pretend this research doesn’t take time. When it’s done thoroughly, it does.
But I’ve opened up some space on my calendar so I can do the research for you.
When you pick up a copy of The Trust-Based Marketing Method™, you’ll get the full details on the method, plus the opportunity to have me do all of this research for you. This includes everything in this article and more:
Comprehensive market research across all five channels
A competitive positioning analysis (including specific gaps you can fill)
A full differentiation strategy
5 complete trust-building offer pathways (including recommended prices to charge)
A 90-day launch plan
2 strategy calls with me
This, plus more, is part of The Launch With Confidence Formula™. It’s normally $497, but people who pick up the mini-book can get it for $397.
You can get your copy of the mini-book here.
And when you do, you’ll be guided on how to get The Launch With Confidence Formula™ for $100 off.
The Trust-Based Marketing Method™ walks you through how to validate your offer, find your differentiation, and choose the marketing approach that actually fits your situation. And it includes 3 bonuses:
The 7-Point Green Light Scorecard™. This goes into even more detail than what I covered in this article.
How to Win Clients in a Hard-to-Sell Coaching Niche. This helps you translate your expertise online (even ifi it’s a tough topic to market.
The Marketing Path Decision Guide. This shows you how to choose the right marketing path for your specific situation (so you stop copying strategies build for someone else).
The whole package is $17. Click here to find out more.
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