There is a low probability of success with a singular business idea. By going “all-in” without confirming that people will pay for the product, entrepreneurs can spend a lot of time and money on an idea when they should be moving on.

That is why having a process to test new ideas is a superpower. It keeps momentum to find an idea that generates interest on a small scale before you fully commit time and money.

When testing ideas for a side hustle or online business that generate cash with a minimal time investment, there are 9 principles that every solopreneur would be well advised to embrace and review regularly. These principles will help you to persevere in finding an idea that works before committing significant time and money.

While established companies have familiarity and brand as a currency of trust among customers, a startup has to rely heavily on building trust through a strong value proposition that leaves the customer feeling understood and motivated to act. Therefore, value propositions are important for startups to win early sales.

The lean canvas enables rapid testing of business model assumptions to find problems worth solving and a repeatable business model or, at worst, to quickly determine if pursuing an idea is a waste of time and money. For this, assumptions on the canvas need to be in a testable format so that they can be validated or invalidated.

A social entrepreneur should be actively building and testing the assumptions in the business model from day one. Using a canvas to model the business makes the process easier and faster.

We as changemakers tend to focus on the social or environmental problem that we seek to address and not fully consider who is our donor, what problems are we are solving for them, and why will they donate money to our organizations. The lean canvas makes defining the how we create value for the donor explicit.