🫣 Squeaky Bum Time!
I’m shitting myself.
We’re validating Future Proof with a mailing list via Meta ads.
In 2 weeks, we’ll know whether we have a sustainable business.
Why?
Because it’s just math.
Future Proof costs £49/month. If we can get the advertising cost to £49 (after a 7-day free trial), we have a sustainable business model.
Month 2 onwards is gross profit.
If you’ve bought anything online, this is the classic e-commerce model.
However, communities are a hard sell to cold traffic.
They have no idea who I am. There’s no trust.
The world is on fire. Normal market conditions do not exist.
The odds are heavily stacked against us.
But here’s the thing.
Parental AI anxiety is such a huge pain point that parents may take a chance on the free trial for their neurodivergent kids.
We have world-class creative business instructors.
Having creative business and emotional resilience skills gives our neurodivergent/ multipotentialite kids a huge advantage!
I’m living it.
I have never experienced this level of anxiety before.
And I’m a fully paid lifelong member of the chronically overthinking anxiety club, haha.
Intellectually, I know I have no control over AI and what happens to Chloe’s future.
But as her father, I’m responsible for her.
I don’t know how to guide her.
This triggers me to the very core of my identity and self-worth.
Parental AI anxiety is not only about financial security but also about how our kids will cope mentally and emotionally in the face of high uncertainty.
I feel like I’m letting her down. That’s irrational because no one knows what the future holds.
But anxiety isn’t known for rationality.
A creative business academy to teach skills and emotional resilience not taught in school is a good idea.
A disproportionate number of successful creators and entrepreneurs are neurodivergent.
There are only two ways to validate a business idea.
Time or Money.
Time means building an organic audience around the problem.
This is what I did with multipotentiality.
It worked. But it was slow.
Money means paying Meta to send your idea to tens of thousands of parents.
Validating with money is scarier.
Investing time feels easier, but it’s an illusion. You have to factor in extended living costs.
Everyone’s hyping AI to get investment.
But I know enough technical people to take this seriously.
Time is worth more than money.
If the idea is going to fail, let it be quick.
I have a plan B.
There are only three potential outcomes to any creative business launch.
1) You smash it. Everyone loves it, and it generates word-of-mouth.
You help lots of people, and the business is financially successful.
2) It’s a spectacular failure. No one cares. Your idea was way off the mark.
3) It’s a zombie business.
Successful enough to provide hope, but flawed and doesn’t scale.
You spend all your time servicing existing customers with very little income.
You keep doubling down, hoping it will improve. It drains you, and you have no energy to make money elsewhere.
It’s great to have a purposeful business, but it needs to be profitable; otherwise, you will burn out badly.
I have been in this situation in two different industries, and never again.
I would rather fail spectacularly than get stuck in a zombie business again.
I get overwhelmed trying to do everything. I’m the classic bottleneck.
I know you think you can do everything…but you can’t!
So I’m working with Demi Aspey, an ex-Meta creative strategist who was the creative lead at Meta Rayban, Instagram for Business, Meta AI, and even did Zuckerberg’s socials.
She’s also neurodivergent. And a lovely human.
Obvs.
She also has a PhD in creative writing and runs an online writing studio for rebellious writers and storytellers.
I’m a member, and it’s awesome!
Her copy is rebelliously delicious, check it out here.
Future Proof is a very good idea, perhaps one of my best.
There’s genuine enthusiasm from parents, especially for neurodivergent kids who are let down by the system.
People instantly get it.
Our ND/ Multipotentialite kids will most likely chase creative projects and businesses anyway. Teach them the skills now.
However, unless there’s a sustainable source of leads, no business works.
The odds are against us.
But if we don’t try, I will be haunted by the “what ifs” forever.
It’s squeaky bum time, but I’m trying my best.
And that’s all we can ask of ourselves.