The $100 Rule – A 7 day validation system!

I recommend putting together a simple website if you are into the business of content creation.

It can help you build an email list, build your portfolio and also acquire clients.

A website doesn’t need to be expensive and if you are looking for a reliable option, I would recommend using Hostinger for your hosting needs.

I host all of my websites of Hostinger because they are amazing in their support and services.

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Validating an offer!

“Too many people spend too much time doing things that don’t matter.” – Derek Sivers

A few years ago, I had an idea for a side hustle that I thought would take off.

It was a digital product – a course I called the “curation blueprint”.

I spent weeks brainstorming the perfect name.

I designed a sleek logo.

I even built a website from scratch on a domain that I bought at a real high price because I wanted an aged domain.

It felt like I was making real progress.

Finally, I launched the product.

The only real problem?

Nobody bought it. Zero customers.

After months of effort, I had created a beautiful, well-branded business that no one wanted.

That’s when I realized something critical: I had been focusing on the wrong things.

Instead of proving that people would actually pay for my idea, I had been busy “getting ready.”

That mistake cost me time, energy, and motivation.

That was when I happened to speak to one of these creators who shared a simple strategy that he was following to validate any product.

He called it the $100 rule!

It is a simple 7-day process to validate any side hustle before wasting time on unnecessary details.

I very recently used it to validate a challenge that I ran for my Podcasting audience.

And the results were simply amazing.

So let’s break the process down and understand how it works!

Why Most People Overcomplicate Side Hustles

Most people think starting a side hustle requires:

• A website
• A logo
• Social media branding
• A long business plan

But none of these things guarantee success.

The only thing that proves an idea is worth pursuing is people paying for it.

Until that happens, you don’t have a business—you have a project.

That’s where The $100 Rule comes in.

It forces you to test your idea in the real world before investing too much time or money.

Here’s how it works.

The $100 Rule: A 7-Day Validation System for validating an offer

The goal of this process is simple: Make $100 from real customers in 7 days.

If you can do that, you’ve validated your idea.

If you can’t, you know it needs tweaking or, you need a different approach.

Here’s the exact step-by-step process.

→ Day 1: Find a Problem That Needs Solving

People don’t buy ideas.

They buy solutions to their problems.

So before anything else, you need to find a problem that’s painful enough for people to pay to fix.

Where do you look?

• Reddit: Search for phrases like “I hate when…” or “How do I fix…”
• Facebook Groups: See what people frequently ask for help with.
• Twitter/X: Follow industry conversations and spot recurring complaints.
• LinkedIn: I have seen the best conversations happening on LinkedIn. Keep checking for pain points that people talk about.
• Online Forums & Product Reviews: Look for frustration points in your niche.

You’re not inventing a problem—you’re identifying an existing one.

Find a pain point that people already express frustration about, and you’ve found your opportunity.

Something very unexpected happened when I was searching for problems in the podcasting niche.

I stumbled upon an unexpected sources which I would recommend everyone to try out. It was “Threads”..

There were some very interesting conversations happening there. And it was there that I came across this pain point of people not getting that initial push to get started.

..which made me put together the challenge.

At this point, if you have it already figured out then you have saved a day for yourself so you can fast-track the process.

→ Day 2: Craft a Simple Offer

You don’t need a fancy pitch.

You just need a clear and simple offer that makes people say, “I need that.”

Use this formula:

👉 “I help [X] achieve [Y] without [Z].”

Some examples:

• “I help freelancers land high-paying clients without spending hours on job boards.”
• “I help busy parents prepare healthy meals in 15 minutes without complicated recipes.”
• “I help small businesses automate invoicing without using confusing software.”

Keep it clear. Keep it specific.

If people don’t immediately understand what you do, they won’t buy from you.

Now, if your question is where do I post this offer, if I don’t have a website, then the answer is very simple.

At this point, you are only going to promote it on your whatever social media platform you have built your presence on. So your offer is going to live there.

Also if you have an autoresponder service, you can put together a simple landing page with your offer.

But, it is also important that I mention this one thing here.

The very basic that I recommend before you get started is:

1. An autoresponder service – I recommend Convertkit and Birdsend, which suits your needs.
2. A one page website – You can put one together easily using Hostinger!

This helps smoothen and speeden up the entire process.

→ Day 3: Set Up a Payment Link

Most people believe they need a website to start selling.

That’s false.

All you need is a way to accept payments.

Options like:

• Gumroad (great for digital products)
• Stripe (simple online payment processing)
• PayPal (trusted worldwide)
• Stan store
• Topmate

There are numerous options available these days which can help you accept payments. Pick one that you find comfortable and start off with it.

This step forces you to think like a real business because real businesses get paid.

→ Day 4: Reach Out to Potential Customers

Here’s where most people hesitate.

They spend weeks waiting for customers to magically appear.

But in reality, business happens through conversations.

Your goal today: Find 10-20 people who need your solution and reach out.

Where?

• Post in Facebook groups, LinkedIn post, X, Threads etc. where your target audience hangs out. And post as much as possible.
• Reply to tweets or comments from people with the problem you solve. Be very strategic in your comments. Do it in such a way that you can attract people to your profiles, offers, landing pages.
• Send a direct message (DM) to potential customers.

Your message can be simple:

“Hey [Name], I saw your post about [problem]. I’ve helped others solve this. Would you like to know more about how it is done? I can send you the details!”

This isn’t about spamming. it’s about offering genuine help to people who actually need it.

→ Days 5-7: Close 3 Paying Customers

Your goal by the end of Day 7?

Make at least $100.

That’s it.

If three people pay you, you have a real business.

If no one pays, don’t quit—iterate.

• Adjust your offer.
• Refine your messaging.
• Test a slightly different audience.

The key is to adapt based on real-world feedback.

Pro-Tip:

I made a slight change to this entire process when I launched the challenge.

I setup my autoresponder to capture email addresses.

Then I created a simple challenge and offered it for FREE to my audience on Threads.

Since it was a FREE offer, I got a lot of people signing up for it.

I then offered them an upgrade to their challenge with an accountability system, a group coaching call and a community.

The best part – I was able to capture about 500 email addresses and it became easy for me to pitch my offer to these people.

You can also add this simple tweak to your system.

The only caveat – your plan need to be stretched out for 14 days instead of 7.

What You DON’T Need to Start

Most people delay launching because they believe they need:

1. A perfect logo
2. A fully built website
3. A massive social media following

But these things don’t generate revenue.

Customers do.

They are the ones who will generate revenue for you.

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Hoffman

Real businesses don’t wait for perfection.

They launch, learn, and improve along the way.

The Reality of Starting a Side Hustle

I wasted months perfecting an idea that no one wanted.

The moment I stopped guessing and started selling, everything changed.

Within four days of following The $100 Rule, I landed my first paying customer.

Within three weeks, I had made $400 – without a website, without a logo, and without spending a dime on ads.

(In fact, I had all of those but I didn’t use any of it in this system)

The key was simple: Find a problem, offer a solution, and start selling.

Most people get stuck in thinking mode—but action is what leads to success.

So, would you try this method?

Hit reply and tell me – what’s stopping you from validating your idea today?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Recommended Newsletters

Here are few newsletters that I would recommend that you sign up to if you are interested in learning the art of running a side-hustle:

• Write, Build, Scale – https://sparklp.co/p/40cf6480e8
• Why we buy – https://sparklp.co/p/6d27bbcf8b
• The Book Bub – https://sparklp.co/p/3bcef5f1d4
• The Stacked Marketer – https://sparklp.co/p/5c2039bc2c

Sign up to these and follow them. You will get a lot of information and content for your blog posts, podcasts and even social media posts.

I will share more such ideas in my future newsletters.

I put in about 18 hours every month to create this newsletter, starting from researching to writing and editing it.

So, If you enjoyed reading this Newsletter, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could recommend it to others. You can send them to https://theloudspeakeronline.com to subscribe to it for FREE!

What am I reading?

I absolutely love books and I read a lot.

In fact, I don’t just read a lot, but I also take notes on every book that I read.

I have pages and pages on information in my Notion Second Brain, so that I can find them and use them when ever I need.

I have added some of the newest books that I have been reading, to the Amazon store, so you might want to check it out.

Want to know more about the books I read. You can check it out here!

That’s it for this week!

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