I was watching an episode of The Profit (do you watch that show? OMG. Marcus Lemonis will change your liiiiiife.)

So, if you don’t already know, The Profit is a show where Marcus—a no-nonsense investor—goes into floundering businesses, gives his input, and then risks his own money to help them rebuild, rebrand, and become successful—in exchange for a cut of the profits, of course.

The show is super-intense and full of classic “reality TV breakdown” moments: sobbing business owners, inspiring speeches to motivate the team to do better, thunderous music, everything I love. Also: seriously solid business advice.

In one episode, Marcus visits a company that he has already invested in: an ice cream company. Apparently, they went ahead and created several new flavors without testing them with their market. $75,000 has already been spent to launch these flavors. But (dun dun dun…) the flavors are not selling very well. Uh oh. So much money: melting down the drain.

Marcus strongly urges the ice cream makers to get out to a local grocery store, test the new flavors with actual people, and record their observations.

They take his advice. After testing at the store, it’s obvious that two of the new flavors are awesome and very well-received. The others—not so much. They also get feedback on their packaging (people were confused about the flavors because the logo was taking over the whole package).

Armed with this new information, the ice cream makers now have an opportunity to really turn things around.

I loved this episode SO MUCH because the mistake that the ice cream makers made is one that I see ALL THE TIME. It’s a mistake I’ve certainly made myself, too. The big mistake? Forgetting to “test out” their new concepts before launching. Womp wompppp.

I know SO many creative business owners who get an idea (“Zing! GENIUS!”) and then get so excited about that idea that they rush to produce it, launch it, and bring it into the world. But then it flops and they wonder, “Whyyyy?”

Most flops can be avoided if you take the time to thoroughly test your idea before you officially launch it.

Or, to phrase that another way:

If you are not testing, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The good news is that testing your concept does not have to take forever and it’s definitely not hard or expensive. It’s pretty simple. A few examples:

– Not sure what to title your forthcoming book? Choose 3 names and run ‘em by a few of your ideal customers. See what they say.

– Not sure if your new website is a work of artistic genius—or a cluttered mess? Show the design to 20 people (people that you consider to be your “ideal clients” or “dream customers”) and ask for their thoughts. Is it easy to navigate? Does it work? Is it exciting? What, if anything, is missing?

– Not sure if your new workshop is going to sell out? Write a blog post on the same topic and see how your audience responds. Standing ovation? Or crickets? Or run a mini-version (like a free, one-hour online workshop) and see how it performs. Are people clamoring into the classroom? Or just, meh? Then produce the full-scale workshop (or not) depending on people’s response.

When I worked in for huge, household-name brands, these companies NEVER released a product into the marketplace before testing it thoroughly.

Even your favorite movies and TV shows are shown to test audiences before being finalized, too. Sometimes, if enough audience members are confused or pissed off, or if enough audience members wildly love a particular character, dramatic changes are made at the final moment—like completely changing the whole ending of a movie to suit the audience’s preferences. Bottom line…

Testing is not optional.

Do not skip it.

Take a huge piece of poster-board and write the phrase “Test everything! I love testing!” in giant letters surrounded by a dozen hearts and stars, if you need a visual reminder to do this.

Make testing part of your business routine. You will build a much more intimate understanding of what your audience actually wants—and you will avoid most of those disappointing “Whyyyy?” moments and financial flops. Test, test, test, to make your work the absolute best it can be. It’s not optional. It’s a must.