Before you begin to develop and market your product to the world, you must adequately know your market.

Starting up a company is a time-consuming endeavor. Many entrepreneurs rush into the development phase of their product or service prematurely. They themselves believe that their product or service is brilliant idea. But, then when they get to the market, they realize that this seemingly “brilliant” idea was not what the consumers wanted. Unfortunately, this happens more often then you would believe.

By following this guide, you can potentially avoid this fate.

Did you know, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, six in ten businesses shut down within the first four years of operation? Do you know what those four in ten surviving businesses did that separated them from the rest?

It’s true. The average four-year survival rate for a startup is 38 percent. You along with other budding entrepreneurs must be frustrated by this fact.

You may be thinking that there might be no point to start your company. After all, starting up a business is a major time commitment. You sacrifice your capital, time and jobs just for your seemingly “brilliant” idea.

What if I could tell you the secret that prevents you from failure? Today I am going to rip the cover off this mysterious key to success and tell you exactly how to make your company fool proof before you even begin development of your product of service.

Once you have this key in hand, you will finally realize that you are in the exact situation and place where you wanted to be all along. You will feel like nothing can stop you from gaining that six-figure salary. Your friends and family will look at you with envy and question your quick rise to success.

It’s time to avoid the hastiness that most entrepreneurs possess

Notice I said “hastiness.” I’m not being at all sarcastic.

Many entrepreneurs rush through the startup process, avoid a key step and, then, expect to achieve success. Well, it’s not that easy. If it were, there would be a lot more entrepreneurs in the world. The best entrepreneurs are the ones that possess an inner drive to succeed, an openness to change, an acceptance of constructive criticism and rejection and, most of all, take the time to listen to others.

In fact, the all-powerful key to success is one simple question.

Have I done my research?

And how you answer that is what separates success and failure.

Your Brilliant Idea!

You were sitting on your sofa watching a movie. All of a sudden you look to your right and feel as though a light bulb just went off above your head. You rush to your desk, take out a pen and paper and jot down exactly what you were thinking. You jump up with joy. Your face lights up. You finally got your brilliant idea. The idea that will give you untold riches and help you attain all your dreams.

Now, you have two options.

You can either conduct market research on the industry that your idea is in, or you can choose to go right ahead and start up your company that will sell your product to the world.

Being a smart entrepreneur, you choose to go right ahead, jump the bullet, quit your job and start a company. You know that your idea is brilliant, thus the world will, too!

Wrong.

Here’s what could have happened had you continued to go down that path.

It’s three months later. You have a website built and have already begun marketing your product. Your employees wait for orders.

Months pass by. Little business flows in. You notice that there are over a hundred hits each day on your website but no purchases. Your seemingly brilliant idea has turned out to fail. All those months invested into this company have gone to waste. Your hard-earned paychecks wasted away on what was thought to be a profitable future investment. Your family is in financial turmoil. Before, you kept telling them that this was all for the future. Now, all you can do is apologize.

Do you really want to be put in such a situation?

The reality is that many entrepreneurs do end up in a similar scenario. They invest all their capital, time and effort into a project that they consider to be phenomenal but the consumers don’t. They rush into a project that, to them, may seem revolutionary, but, to the world, seems to be just another “thing” in a sea of useless junk.

How can you avoid this fate?

The answer depends on what I like to refer to as “discovering market opportunity.”

The Other Path

You may think that a lot of people can use your product or service; you need to find out, with as much certainty as possible, if there is a group of people who really needs your product.

You want to be sure, with as much conviction as possible, that there are enough people who really would like, and need, to use your product. Consumers must have enthusiasm for your product or service and must be willing to pay for it, even before you go design, manufacture, and market your product.

Going into your startup without discovering your market opportunity is like learning to first ride a bicycle without training wheels. Without the support of the wheels, which in this case is your market research, your startup will eventually fail. With the training wheels, you ensure the stability and success of your bike ride and, thus, your startup.

Most entrepreneurs get very excited about their idea, talk to few people to make sure they are also excited, and then spend several months creating, making, and polishing the product.   But, by the time they begin to sell it, the product misses the mark.

No matter what anyone says, we all have different tastes. We all have different ideas of what is necessary and important to our lives. Assuming that your audience will have the same views as you will only lead to let downs in the future.

So, before you start your business, do some research! Whether it is taking a survey, using Google products or using websites like 10KWizard, market research is one of the most important steps in the startup process. Here’s my 3-Step Method to Market Research using Google (Step 1).