How do you know if people will pay for what you know?
Run three tests. People already ask you for it for free. Somebody else is already paid to do it. You can say what changes for the client in one sentence. Pass all three and you have something to sell. Fail one and you know what to fix first.
Test one: they ask you for free
Go back through your messages for the last three months. Count the times somebody asked for your help with the same kind of problem: a friend’s CV, a colleague’s pricing, a neighbor’s back. Three or more and the demand is real. You’ve been giving the product away.
Test two: somebody else is paid for it
Search for the thing you do, plus the name of your city or plus “online”. If other people sell it, the market has already done your research. If nobody does, ask why before you assume you’ve found a gap. Sometimes the answer is that nobody pays.
Test three: you can name the change
Finish this sentence: after working with me, a client can ___. “Feel more confident” fails, because nobody can tell whether it happened. “Walk into a salary negotiation with a number and the words to ask for it” passes.
When a test fails
- Nobody asks: tell more people what you do, then run the count again in a month.
- Nobody else is paid: try selling one session to one stranger before building anything else.
- You can’t name the change: ask the last three people you helped what was different afterward, and use their words.
Twenty examples of the sentence from test three, across professions.
Describe what you do in one sentence →Checked 2026-10-11.