How Do I Validate a Digital Product Idea Before Creating It?

Please, for the love of God:

Validate the fucking idea before you spend three months creating it.

😂

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see therapists make when they decide they want to build passive income.

They get an idea.

They get excited.

They disappear into Canva.

They write 87 pages.

Record 14 videos.

Build a sales page.

Set up the checkout.

Launch it.

And then...

Three people buy it.

Now they're sitting there wondering:

"Why isn't my digital product selling?"

And sometimes the answer is complicated.

But sometimes?

We never established that enough people wanted the fucking thing in the first place.

That is why validation happens before creation.

What Does It Mean to Validate a Digital Product Idea?

Validation is essentially gathering enough evidence to justify investing your time, energy, and money into creating something.

Notice I said:

Enough evidence.

Not certainty.

You cannot know with 100% certainty that something will sell before you offer it.

If I could predict exactly what people would buy before they bought it, I would be writing this article from my yacht.

😂

But we can make a much more educated decision than:

"This seems like a good idea!"

Validation helps us answer questions like:

Do people actually have this problem?

Do enough people care about solving it?

Are they actively looking for solutions?

Does my audience respond to this topic?

Does this problem appear repeatedly?

And eventually:

Will somebody actually pay me to help solve it?

Validation Starts Before You Have an Idea

This is one reason my framework starts with:

Visibility → Idea → Business Plan.

A lot of people think validation happens like this:

Come up with idea.

Ask people if they like idea.

Create idea.

I actually want you collecting data before you've committed to the idea at all.

Because otherwise confirmation bias gets real fucking loud.

😂

Once you love an idea, suddenly every like looks like validation.

Every comment feels like proof.

Every vaguely related question becomes:

SEE?! THEY WANT MY COURSE.

Instead, build visibility around your broader expertise first.

Then watch what people naturally respond to.

Start With Your Existing Data

If you've already been creating content, you may have a giant pile of validation data sitting in front of you.

Go look at it.

What topics consistently get saved?

What gets shared?

What generates questions?

What gets clicks?

What content performs repeatedly?

What topics generate conversations?

What do people ask you to explain further?

Don't just look at your five highest-viewed posts.

We're trying to understand patterns of behavior.

Saves Can Tell You Something Different Than Likes

Let's say you create two posts.

Post A gets:

10,000 views.

800 likes.

40 saves.

Post B gets:

5,000 views.

400 likes.

350 saves.

Which one is more interesting?

Depends on what we're measuring.

Post A clearly got more attention.

But Post B had a much higher percentage of people saying:

"I need to come back to this."

That's useful information.

Maybe the topic is more actionable.

Maybe it solves a stronger problem.

Maybe people want to implement something from it.

Metrics mean different things.

Don't flatten all of them into:

This post did good.

Shares Can Be Strong Validation Data

Shares are another metric I pay close attention to.

When someone shares something, they're often saying:

"Other people need to know this too."

That's interesting when we're evaluating a potential problem.

Maybe the topic isn't just relevant to one person.

Maybe it's something they recognize in:

Colleagues.

Friends.

Their profession.

Their community.

If content around a specific problem repeatedly gets shared, write that shit down.

We're building evidence.

Questions Are Extremely Valuable

Repeated questions are one of my favorite sources of idea validation.

If you post about something and people repeatedly ask:

"But how do I actually do this?"

Hello.

😂

That's interesting.

You've identified a gap between:

Understanding the problem

and

knowing how to solve it.

That gap can potentially become an offer.

Pay attention to questions like:

How do I do this?

Where do I start?

Can you explain this more?

What would you do in this situation?

Do you have a resource for this?

Have you ever taught this?

Those are clues.

What If Nobody Is Asking Questions?

This does NOT mean you have no useful data.

Maybe your audience isn't particularly comment-heavy.

Look at:

Saves.

Shares.

Clicks.

Repeated content performance.

Watch time.

Real-life conversations.

What colleagues ask you.

What problems repeatedly show up in your professional work.

What people consistently struggle with.

Questions are one source of data.

They are not the only fucking source of data.

Your Real-Life Experience Counts as Validation Data

I think therapists sometimes get so focused on social media analytics that they forget they have an entire professional life.

😂

What problems do you repeatedly see?

What do colleagues struggle with?

What do people ask you for help with?

What systems have you created because something was unnecessarily difficult?

What have you explained 900 times?

What do people come to YOU for specifically?

Maybe you've spent years hearing:

"How do you do that?"

That matters.

Write it down.

Look for the Same Problem in Multiple Places

This is where validation gets stronger.

Let's say:

You notice the same question repeatedly in your professional work.

Then you post about it.

The post gets a high number of saves.

You post about it again.

High saves again.

Someone shares it.

Another person asks you to explain it further.

Someone asks if you have a resource.

Now I'm interested.

Not because any single data point proves demand.

But because multiple signals are pointing in the same direction.

That's what we're looking for.

One Viral Post Is Not Validation

I know.

I keep ruining everything.

😂

You post something.

It gets one million views.

Your first instinct:

I NEED TO MAKE A PRODUCT ABOUT THIS.

Maybe.

But slow down.

Why did it go viral?

Was the topic useful?

Controversial?

Funny?

Relatable?

Did the right people see it?

Did they save it?

Did they follow you?

Did they click anything?

Did they ask questions?

Did related content continue performing?

A viral post is a data point.

It is not automatically proof that people are willing to pay for a solution.

Likes Are Not Purchases

This one hurts.

😂

People liking something does not mean they'll buy something.

People commenting:

"OMG NEED THIS!!!"

doesn't mean they'll buy it either.

People saying:

"I would totally buy this!"

still doesn't mean they'll buy it.

There is a gigantic psychological difference between:

That sounds cool

and

Please enter your credit card information.

That's why we eventually need stronger validation than engagement.

Search Behavior Can Give You Additional Information

You can also look at whether people are actively seeking information about the problem.

What questions are people searching?

What language are they using?

What comes up when you search the topic?

Are there articles?

Videos?

Reddit discussions?

Resources?

Existing products?

You are trying to understand whether this is a problem people are actively thinking about.

And please do not panic if other products already exist.

Competition is not inherently bad.

Competition Can Actually Be Validation

Therapists sometimes think:

"Someone already made something about this, so I can't."

No.

If people are already spending money solving the problem, that may actually tell us something extremely useful:

There is a market.

The goal isn't necessarily to invent a problem nobody else on Earth has ever discovered.

You need to understand:

Who you're helping.

What they need.

What your expertise brings.

How your approach is different or particularly useful.

Existing demand can be a good fucking thing.

Look at Whether the Problem Has Buying Motivation

This is where we move beyond:

Do people care about this?

and ask:

Do people care enough to pay to solve it?

Those are not the same question.

Generally, buying motivation becomes stronger when a problem is connected to something meaningful.

Maybe solving it:

Saves substantial time.

Makes money.

Prevents losing money.

Reduces professional risk.

Improves competence.

Removes a major frustration.

Creates a deeply desired outcome.

Helps someone accomplish something they have struggled to do alone.

The stronger the consequence of leaving the problem unsolved, the more interesting the potential offer becomes.

Talk About the Problem Before You Create the Solution

This is one of the easiest ways to test an idea.

Start creating more content around the problem.

Not:

"Would you buy my course about X?"

Talk about the actual problem.

Teach around it.

Explain it.

Challenge misconceptions.

Talk about common mistakes.

Show people what they don't understand yet.

Then watch.

Does engagement continue?

Do people save it?

Share it?

Ask questions?

Click?

Follow?

Does the topic have legs?

If you can barely get anyone to care about the problem for free, I would want to understand why before spending months building a paid solution.

You Can Ask Your Audience, But Be Careful

Audience research can absolutely be useful.

Polls.

Questions.

Surveys.

Conversations.

But please understand:

What people say they will buy and what people actually buy are different datasets.

Ask questions about their problems, not only your idea.

Instead of:

"Would you buy a training about documentation?"

You might want to understand:

What part of documentation takes the most time?

What are they most worried about?

What have they tried?

What do they find confusing?

What would make documentation easier?

You're learning about the problem.

That information can help you create a much better solution.

Don't Let Your Audience Design the Entire Product

This is the other extreme.

You collect feedback from 47 people.

One wants videos.

One hates videos.

One wants a workbook.

One wants live calls.

One wants a community.

One wants the entire thing to cost $17.

One would pay $500.

Congratulations.

You have created chaos.

😂

Your audience provides data.

YOU make the strategic decision.

You know your expertise.

You know what you're willing to deliver.

You know what model you want to build.

We use audience information to inform the idea, not outsource every fucking decision.

The Strongest Validation Is Purchasing Behavior

Eventually, we need to find out whether people will actually pay.

This is why I love the Minimum Viable Offer.

Instead of creating the enormous version of your idea, create the smallest version that solves a meaningful piece of the problem.

Maybe your big idea is a massive course.

Could you test:

One workshop?

One recorded training?

One small resource?

One template?

One session?

Sell the small thing.

Now we have significantly better data.

Your First Offer Is an Experiment

I want you to think about your first version differently.

You are not launching:

YOUR DEFINITIVE MASTERPIECE THAT MUST SUCCEED OR YOUR CAREER IS OVER.

😂

You're running an experiment.

Hypothesis:

People experiencing X problem will pay Y dollars for Z solution.

Then we test.

Did they buy?

How many?

Who bought?

Where did they come from?

What messaging got them interested?

What objections appeared?

What questions did they have?

What did they want afterward?

THAT information is fucking valuable.

What If the Small Offer Sells?

Beautiful.

Now you have purchasing data.

Maybe you sell a 60-minute training and people love it.

Then they start asking:

Okay, but how do I implement this?

Interesting.

Maybe there's a larger offer.

Maybe a workbook.

Maybe another training.

Maybe a full program.

Now the next thing you're creating is based on customers telling you what they need next.

That is significantly stronger than guessing.

What If It Doesn't Sell?

Also data.

Do not immediately throw the entire idea into the garbage.

We need to figure out what failed.

Was there enough visibility?

Was the audience right?

Did people understand the problem?

Was the solution clear?

Did the price make sense?

Did the sales page convert?

Did people click but not buy?

Did nobody even click?

Those tell us different things.

If nobody visits the sales page, we probably have a visibility or marketing problem.

If lots of people visit but nobody purchases, we may have an offer, positioning, trust, pricing, or conversion problem.

Diagnose before you create something new.

Validation Does Not End When You Launch

This is another misconception.

Validation isn't a box you check.

Your data continues getting stronger.

First you have:

Content data.

Then audience behavior.

Then clicks.

Then purchasing behavior.

Then customer feedback.

Then repeat purchases.

Each stage tells you something new.

And the more information you collect, the less your decisions need to depend on guessing.

You Are Looking for Enough Evidence, Not Perfect Certainty

At some point, you have to create something.

You could collect data forever.

Eventually I will personally come confiscate your analytics dashboard.

😂

There is no magic number of saves.

No exact number of people who need to ask.

No perfect validation score that guarantees success.

You're looking for convergence.

Multiple signals suggesting:

This problem exists.

It appears repeatedly.

People care about solving it.

Your expertise is relevant.

The solution makes sense.

You actually want to create it.

Then?

Test the fucking thing.

So, How Do You Validate a Digital Product Idea?

Build visibility before committing to an idea.

Pay attention to what people repeatedly respond to.

Look at saves.

Shares.

Questions.

Clicks.

Content patterns.

Real-life professional conversations.

Existing solutions.

Search behavior.

Buying motivation.

Then talk about the problem more and see whether the signals continue.

Once you have enough evidence?

Create the smallest useful paid solution you can.

Because the ultimate validation isn't:

"People seem interested."

It's:

"People paid me money to solve this problem."

And once you have THAT data?

You can build with a hell of a lot more confidence.

Visibility → Idea → Business Plan.

Data first.

Create second.

Always.

Ready to Validate Your Idea Before You Spend Months Creating It?

This is exactly what I teach.

I help therapists build diversified income through visibility, choosing ideas based on actual data, validating offers before overbuilding them, and creating the business strategy that turns those offers into revenue.

I've created resources for therapists at different stages of that process, whether you're still figuring out what the hell you should create or you've already built something and need to figure out why it isn't selling.

Check out all of my resources for therapists who want to diversify their income here!