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Lesson
By the end you will have a plan to talk with 3 real people this week, with questions that uncover facts and not compliments.
11 min read8 min activity
When you tell someone your idea, they hand you a compliment. When you ask about their life, they hand you the truth.
What you'll learn
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
The idea
If you ask your aunt “would you buy from me?”, she will say yes. She is not lying: she loves you. But a polite “yes” does not pay the rent. So do not ask about your idea. Ask about their life.
“Would you buy…?” asks them to guess. “What did you do the last time…?” asks them to remember. People remember what they did well and guess badly at what they would do. Ask about the last time it happened, what they did, what it cost them, and what was most annoying.
In a good conversation you speak very little. Do not interrupt, do not correct, and do not defend your idea. Write down their exact words: those are the ones you will later use in your messages, because that is how they describe their problem.
You will not “prove the market” with three chats. But you will find out whether you are on the right track, and sometimes a single conversation is enough to notice that your assumption was wrong. That, before you spend, is worth gold.
Do not look for a yes. Look for the story of what happened.
Compare
A question that sells · Does not help
“I am going to make custom cakes, really tasty and well priced. Would you buy one?”
You already told them what to answer. And you are asking them to guess the future. Almost anyone will say yes.
A question that learns · Helps
“Tell me about the last birthday you organized at home. How did you handle the cake? What was the hardest part?”
Illustrative example
Rosa is not selling yet. She believes the families in her neighborhood need custom birthday cakes. Instead of asking “would you buy from me?”, she talked with three neighbors and asked them to tell her about the last birthday they organized. Two bought the cake at the supermarket “because there was no time left.” One ordered it a week ahead and paid more. None of them mentioned flavor. All three mentioned being rushed.
Rosa did not walk away with three yeses. She walked away with something better: her customer's exact words and a corrected assumption.
Do it step by step
Ask permission and for little time: “I am learning how people handle this. Can I have 10 minutes? I am not going to sell you anything.”
Start with the last time it happened to them. Let them tell the whole story.
Ask what they did, what it cost them, and what was most annoying. If they say something interesting, ask “and why was that?”
Do not explain your idea. If they ask, say you are still learning and will gladly tell them later.
When you finish, thank them and immediately write down their exact words. Do not record names or personal details: “a neighbor with two kids” is enough.
Your turn
Five short answers and you leave with a plan for this week. Describe people by their situation, never by name. The plan is built only from what you type.
Your conversation plan
0 of 5
It is built only from what you type. Carry it on your phone or print it.
Your answers are saved only on this device. Nothing is sent to Leonix or to any AI.
This is your plan to go out and listen. It is not a survey and it is not a sales script.
Your plan is now ready as context for the AI conversations just below: to improve your questions, rehearse, and make sense of what you hear.
Prepare with my AIAsk your AI
An AI can improve your questions, help you rehearse, and help you organize your notes. What it cannot do is answer for your customers: whatever it makes up in a rehearsal is not evidence. Fill in what is missing, copy, and paste into whichever AI assistant you prefer.
Start here
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I am thinking about starting a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am not selling yet: I am exploring the idea before I spend money. I am going to talk with 3 people who could become my customers. I will not sell them anything: I want to understand their situation before I spend money. This is my plan: My customer, as I understand them today: [who you serve] What I want to learn: [what you want to learn] Who I will talk to: [who you will talk to] Where and how I will find them: [where and how you find them] My questions: [your questions] What would change my mind: [what would change your mind] Act as a patient business mentor and use plain language. Guide with stewardship, service, integrity, excellence, responsibility, and wisdom. Profit is necessary: it should help the business survive, pay people, reinvest, serve better, and leave something sustainable. Do not advise domination, manipulation, inflated promises, or growth for its own sake. Do not quote religion or preach. 1. Review my questions one by one. Flag the ones that suggest the answer, the ones that are really a disguised sales pitch, and the ones that ask about the future (“would you buy…?”) instead of something that already happened. 2. Suggest a better version of each one, short and in everyday language, that asks about facts: the last time it happened, what they did, what it cost them. 3. Tell me which important question I am missing to learn what I want to learn. 4. Remind me how to listen: do not interrupt, do not defend my idea, and write down their exact words. Do not invent what these people will answer. Only they know.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
More conversations to continue
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I am thinking about starting a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am not selling yet: I am exploring the idea before I spend money. I am going to talk with 3 people who could become my customers. I will not sell them anything: I want to understand their situation before I spend money. THIS IS ONLY A REHEARSAL. I want to practice how to ask before I talk with real people. This is my plan: My customer, as I understand them today: [who you serve] What I want to learn: [what you want to learn] Who I will talk to: [who you will talk to] Where and how I will find them: [where and how you find them] My questions: [your questions] What would change my mind: [what would change your mind] Play an ordinary person who could be my customer and has never heard of my idea. Rehearsal rules: 1. I ask the questions, one at a time. You answer briefly, the way busy people answer, and sometimes with doubts or by changing the subject. 2. Do not make it easy for me: if my question is confusing or sounds like a pitch, react the way a real person would. 3. When I type “finish”, step out of the role and tell me which questions worked, which sounded like selling, and how to improve them. Important: your answers in this rehearsal are made up. They are not evidence about my customers and I will not use them to decide anything. Remind me of that when we finish.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
Your conversation, ready to copy
version 1
I am thinking about starting a small business in [city]: [your idea or business]. I am not selling yet: I am exploring the idea before I spend money. I have now talked with real people. This was my plan: My customer, as I understand them today: [who you serve] What I want to learn: [what you want to learn] Who I will talk to: [who you will talk to] Where and how I will find them: [where and how you find them] My questions: [your questions] What would change my mind: [what would change your mind] These are my notes on what they said, without names or personal details: (paste your notes here) Act as a patient business mentor and use plain language. Guide with stewardship, service, integrity, excellence, responsibility, and wisdom. Profit is necessary: it should help the business survive, pay people, reinvest, serve better, and leave something sustainable. Do not advise domination, manipulation, inflated promises, or growth for its own sake. Do not quote religion or preach. 1. Separate what people SAID from what I INTERPRETED. If it is not clear, ask me. 2. Point out the exact words or phrases that repeat: those are the ones I should use in my messages. 3. Compare what I heard with what I said would change my mind. 4. Tell me whether what I heard supports, contradicts, or says nothing about my idea, and what I should ask the next people before I spend. Three conversations are a signal, not proof. Do not draw conclusions about “the market” and do not add anything that is not in my notes.
There are still blanks in brackets. You can fill them in here or directly in your assistant.
Before you paste: remove your customers' personal details. Afterwards: check what matters with real people.
Before you paste anything into an AI, remove real people's details. Do not paste your customers':
AI helps. You verify. Rehearsing with an AI does not count as talking to a customer: evidence only comes from real people.
Common mistake
The mistake
Explaining your idea first and asking afterwards.
Do this instead
Ask about their experience first. If you want to share your idea, do it at the end, once you have learned what you needed.
The mistake
Talking only with family and friends who love you.
Do this instead
Find at least one person who has no reason to be nice to you.
The mistake
Taking “what a great idea” as evidence.
Do this instead
Evidence is what they already did: what they paid, the time they lost, what they tried.
Key words
Checklist
Verify
Everything you build in the Learning Center is an assumption until you compare it with what real people say and do. Rehearsing with an AI does not count as talking to a customer.
AI helps. You verify.
In short
Ask, don't pitch: compliments are not evidence.
Ask about what already happened. The past is a fact; the future is an opinion.
Listen, write down their exact words, and decide in advance what would change your mind.
Wrap-up
Almost there
This progress lives only on this device.
Just your sheet: your result, your checklist, and your main AI conversation. You can also save it as a PDF from the print window.
What comes next
Next lesson
Know your competition
How to compare, honestly, the alternatives your customer already uses today and find your space.