Within the first few weeks of starting up my own business and joining The Studio, I had been advised by multiple people to read The Mum Test.

I had just graduated from 含羞草视频 with a novel idea which I was pretty confident would sell on the market as soon as I developed it. But how could I be sure of this? I became concerned that I had not carried out sufficient market research to see if people genuinely wanted or needed my product and would buy it if it was on the market. I had carried out valuable research and had come runner up in the RSA Student Design Awards so I knew that my product idea was good but how could I be reassured that consumers would genuinely want to buy my product if it came to market? I knew that finding the honest answer would be paramount to the continuation of my product development. Not doing this research could potentially prove to be very costly and time-consuming. After voicing these concerns to my mentor Claud Williams, he recommended that I take the time to read The Mum Test.

The Mum Test highlighted the importance of finding the truth of what people really think of your business, idea or product and avoiding asking people heavy-handed, biased questions which force people to say nice things about your business. In the book, multiple examples were given to show how conversation often goes between an entrepreneur and a customer or potential client. The entrepreneur asks biased, leading questions and the customer responds with a non-committal compliment. It was clear to me that I had been having these exact same conversations with family, friends and pretty much everyone I had talked to about my product. This was eye-opening for me and made me realised how a lot of the research and conversations that I conducted had included biased questioning. Moreover, I learned how I had been mentioning my product idea too soon in conversation and had been doing a lot of the talking myself, instead of letting them lead the conversation and sharing their opinions, experiences and giving valuable insights. This meaning that not much of great value was taken from these discussions.

Reading The Mum Test has had a big impact on my thinking, especially when preparing for meetings or scenarios where I am likely to meet new people who are interested in me and what I do. I plan to create a list of good questions which I aim to practice and bring into conversations where appropriate, in the hope that I will gain more useful and thought-provoking insights.

It has been made clear to me that being prepared for meetings is also very significant. As well as being prepared for the conversation or meeting itself, I have learned that note taking, both during and straight after the meeting is a must. For example, it is recommended to create a list of symbols which one can jot down next to meeting notes to help describe the feelings expressed during certain points of the meeting. This is likely to help when it comes to judging how the meeting really went afterwards. Something that I have found myself to be guilty of during conversations is going through the motions. The book has really helped me to change my whole thinking and approach towards meetings. I now feel that I will be able to prepare much better and be able to influence the conversation to direct it in a positive way.

I now face several challenges following through on the advice that I have learned from The Mum Test. The main challenge for me will be being able to think of appropriate good questions to ask clients or customers in the moment. This will be especially difficult if the conversation goes off topic and I have to try and bring it back on track. The Mum Test advises on how to deflect compliments and dig beneath opinions, ideas, requests and emotions in a tactical way in order to maintain a beneficial and insightful conversation. Another challenge for me will be trying to deflect bad data, especially if the clients aren’t making any positive advancements or commitments to further meetings. The book emphasised the significance of avoiding bad data, in the form of compliments, hypothetical maybes and seeking approval. It can be easy to go through the motions during a conversation, but with the advice learned from reading The Mum Test, I can now put into place the suggested strategies to overcome this common occurrence and direct the conversation in a way that will lead to commitment or advancement.