You finish work. There are messages to answer, something at home needs attention, and the business idea is still sitting in your notes.
At some point, it becomes tempting to think: if I could give this my full attention, I would finally know whether it could work.
More time might help. But a resignation letter cannot answer whether a customer has the problem you think they have. It cannot tell you what delivering the service would cost. Those questions need evidence, and you can start collecting it before making a major change to your working life.
If you are caring for children, studying, or between jobs, the constraint may be different. The same question is useful: what can I learn within the time I actually have?
Give the week a question
“Work on the business” is a difficult task to finish. It can expand into choosing a name, watching videos, comparing website platforms and adjusting a logo.
“Find out how small offices currently arrange cleaning” has a clearer purpose.
Imagine you are considering an office-cleaning service. You think small firms struggle to find reliable cleaners. Before researching equipment or recruiting a team, examine that assumption. Who arranges the cleaning now? What happened the last time the cleaner cancelled? Did the office change suppliers, pay extra, or simply tolerate it?
That is a research task you can schedule. Opening a cleaning company is much larger.
A possible six-hour research week
This is an example of a week focused on customer demand, rather than a fixed timetable for the whole business case.
| Time | Work |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | Write the assumption and decide what evidence would challenge it. |
| 1 hour | Identify relevant people and arrange conversations. |
| 90 minutes | Hold two focused conversations and record what happened. |
| 2 hours | Follow up on gaps, examine alternatives and organise the evidence. |
| 1 hour | Review what changed and choose the next question. |
The conversations depend on other people's availability. Some weeks will involve more arranging and fewer interviews. That is a reason to plan realistically, rather than treat every unfinished task as a failure of discipline.
Keep something you can examine next week
A useful research session leaves an output. It might be a page of interview notes, a supplier quotation with a date, or a cost assumption marked “still unconfirmed.”
Keep the difference between what you heard and what you concluded. “The office changed cleaners twice” is an observation. “They will choose my service” is an interpretation that still needs work.
If every week leaves only a stronger feeling, you may be spending time with the idea without learning much about it.
Build the business case for your actual capacity
Your available time also affects the proposed business. A service that needs you on call during your current working hours may require paid operational support. That cost belongs in the model. A product brand may need customer-service cover during the day, even if its owner can work only in the evening.
Do not make yourself a full-time, unpaid employee in the spreadsheet if that person will not exist in real life.
Keeping a salary does not make an idea commercially sound. Leaving one does not prove commitment. Treat your employment decision as a separate question, informed by the business evidence and your personal circumstances.
For now, choose one assumption you could investigate this week. Put the conversation or research session in the calendar. Decide what you want to know when it ends.
You do not have to leave your job to start taking your idea seriously. In the DECISION Bootcamp, you work through the research and numbers for your own idea, with private written feedback as you build your business case. If you have savings set aside and a decision to make, this gives your weekly research a clear direction.
