This is an interview with Larry Keltto, founder of The Solopreneur Life. He discusses the nitty-gritty behind the development of the “Idea to Market In 10 Weeks” Mastermind Group, which was introduced today (Wednesday, September 1) at TheSolopreneurLife.com.

Learn more and enroll at the MASTERMIND PAGE, which has everything you need to know to become a member of “Idea to Market.”

Question: Why did you choose to build mastermind groups that focus on marketing?
Answer: I am in touch with solopreneurs all day, every day and almost all of them have a need for market research. They’re pretty solid with the marketing, but when I ask about their research I get long pauses and blank stares.

And that’s totally understandable. Research is very hard to do. It’s expensive. Solopreneurs don’t discuss it online because they haven’t done it. They don’t understand it and don’t know what it is or why it’s important.

I’ve written that not conducting proper market research is the No. 1 small-business marketing mistake. When people learn about market research, they totally get why it’s so critical.

Question: Why a 10-week mastermind session?
Answer: I believe that bringing a product or service to market requires roughly 10 steps, thus the 10 weeks. But the reality is that mastermind groups like “Idea to Market” continue on their own for months and even years after the official length of the group has ended. I set up a separate discussion forum for each group, and I never take the forums down, because the conversations continue and the friendships last. No doubt, a big part of the value of “Idea to Market” is the relationships that are formed.

Question: But aren’t there lots of DIY marketing products out there that are less expensive than this?
Answer: Most of the DIY marketing products that I see focus on the last step of the marketing process, which is executing your marketing plan. And with the DIY products, the box or the zip file that you receive doesn’t come with a terrific team of people who are focused on you and committed to supporting you.

Question: So how do you get to the last step, executing your marketing plan?
Answer: That’s what “Idea to Market” is all about. “Idea to Market” focuses on the market research and the product development, which are really hard to do when you’re bootstrapping it.

Most solopreneurs don’t do market research because:

1) It’s too expensive.

2) It takes too much time.

3) They don’t know how to do it.

When you don’t have a budget for market research, you have to be really creative, innovative, and knowledgeable to obtain the information you need. That’s tough to do when you’re a solo.

Question: What do the mastermind group members do for each other?
Answer: The “Idea to Market” masterminds give soloists a multi-purpose team of remarkable people who are available 24/7 (if there are internationals in the group), or at least 20/7. Your cohorts help with USPs, SWOTs, crafting of customer-research questions, perhaps brand testing and development, product testing, message testing, qualitative and quantitative research. There’s more to it, but you get the idea.

And in the masterminds, your benefits aren’t limited to what you gain from the research that’s done on your product or service. You’re also learning from the other nine products or services that are being incubated.

Question: How much would you have to pay to hire nine people for 10 weeks to conduct market research?
Answer: I can’t even imagine what that would cost.

Question: What’s your role in the process?
Answer: It’s not the coach role and it’s not the teacher role. The focus in the masterminds is not on me; the focus is on the members’ products and the process they use to get to market. What I do is create a framework/roadmap/guide/list of what you need to do to bring a product to market. It’s then up to the individual group members to take that framework and use it as they wish.

Question: But the members in the masterminds aren’t marketing experts. Isn’t that a big flaw?
Answer: A mastermind group is a great solution, but it’s not a perfect solution. A solopreneur might get better results if she hired a large marketing organization to conduct her research. The cost would be prohibitive, and the truth is that the people in the mastermind groups are just as wise as the consultants. The mastermind members certainly are more knowledgeable about solo-business marketing and operations than the consultants, who might have MBAs and know theory but don’t understand the day-to-day realities of running a solo business.

The only thing the mastermind members lack is knowledge about the market-research processes. Once they’re armed with that info, they soar.

Question: What about the cost. Isn’t it kind of steep?
Answer: Yes, at first glance I definitely think it is. And I think someone who’s just passing by will think it’s expensive. But when you take the time to evaluate its value, I think it’s priced way too low. And it’s interesting to note that everyone who advised me on price and all the formulas I look at said I should charge at least $300 more than what I ended up pricing it at. But knowing solopreneurs as well as I do, I just didn’t think that something in the $900 range was realistic.

I didn’t want to overprice it, and I didn’t want to cheat myself either. Having said that, I’ll probably end up making $5 an hour on “Idea to Market”! But I don’t care. Pricing it at a point where people can actually be members is what I wanted to do.

Question: So you’re leaving money on the table?
Answer: We’ll never know.

Question: You had a non-themed mastermind group in development. Why did you roll out this one instead?
Answer: The non-themed mastermind group is something I really want to do. For one thing, the target market for a general mastermind is much larger than the “Idea to Market” mastermind. The release of “Idea to Market” is kind of scary, because the target market is small and the 10 weeks is intense. But I believe strongly in the worth of “Idea to Market,” so I went with it. We’ll see if solopreneurs respond.

Plus, I wasn’t ready to release a general group. I don’t want to do just another general mastermind group. I want to refine it more, focus it more, make it stand out in people’s minds. I have ideas, but I’m not there yet with the general groups. Maybe my task is to walk the talk and bring a general mastermind idea to the market in 10 weeks.

Welcome back. Are you ready to begin your life's work, ready to change the world? Then click here.

Related Posts:

• Master Marketing As You Bring Your Great Idea to Life!
• What Would You Do With a Golden Goose?
• Solopreneurs, Avoid the No. 1 Small-Business Marketing Mistake
• Solopreneurs, What’s Your Superpower?
• 6 Marketing Lessons Solopreneurs Can Learn From a Plumber