I recently wrote about the benefits of experimenting with your life.

I didn’t mean anything radical, like abandoning your family to live in a campervan or becoming a Buddhist monk.

I just meant small changes.

Little tests you carry out over the course of a few weeks.

Like getting up an hour earlier… taking a lunchtime walk, switching the times when you work on a project… delegating a task that always wears you down….

The aim is to recalibrate your life so that you are happier, more productive and wealthier.

Well, the exact same process can apply to setting up, and running, a home business.

The secret to success in any endeavour is to

TEST, TEST, TEST!

Find out what works best for you…

And what works best for your particular target audience.

Because the big mistake people make is to devotedly stick to a business blueprint that they’ve been given… with no deviation, and no testing!

For example, let’s say that you’ve bought a course, you’re following a series of YouTube videos, or you’re copying the strategy of an expert.

That’s a great way to accelerate your way into a side income.

No doubt about that!

But…

What you’ll find is that there’s no 100% guaranteed ‘one size fits all’ blueprint for success.

Yes, it worked for the people who created the blueprint – at the time that they created it.

But there will always be little things that don’t quite work for you right now.

That might be down to differences in your personality, mindset, life situation or financial goals.

It might be down to the customers you are targeting… who perhaps have different tastes, habits or attitudes.

And it might be that there have been shifts in online behaviour, changes to an algorithm, new rules, or alterations to how a platform works.

Things are constantly changing.

Even when you succeed with a product or service, you cannot expect it to continue working forever in the same way, without making any adjustments.

I’ll give you a famous example.

The $300 Million Button Test

In 2009, a major US retailer had a checkout page with two buttons on it:

Login / Register

This wasn’t unusual at that time in the history of eCommerce, and other shops used the same strategy.

But the company was worried that too many shoppers were abandoning their baskets right at the last hurdle.

So a ‘usability researcher’ named Jared Spool got called in to work out why. They observed real customers using the site and found something the designers hadn’t noticed.

New customers hated being forced to register before they’d seen a final price.

And returning customers couldn’t remember which of their several email addresses they’d used to sign up two years earlier.

Both groups were giving up, right at the final step.

So Spool’s team made one small change.

They removed the Register button and replaced it with a single option:

‘Continue as Guest’

This allowed people to keep flowing through to the price without being blocked by worries about passwords and registration.

Sales went up 45% and that single change added an estimated $300 million in extra revenue over the following year.

It goes to show the power of testing.

It doesn’t matter what product or service you have…

You might have an Etsy Shop, an Amazon FBA business, a Substack newsletter, a membership website, digital course or Video On Demand service…

Whatever it is, testing is an essential part of the process….

EVEN if you are following a proven blueprint and EVEN if you think you are already succeeding.

Here are some ideas for tests you can do:

The Free Report Test

Create a bunch of different reports that cover different angles. They could be short ‘micro-manuals’, cheat sheets or checklists.

Each one should cover a different topic, or target a different goal/problem that your audience might be experiencing.

Offer this report to your subscribers, or existing customers, for free.

If you don’t have an email list, you can use marketplaces like Etsy, Gumroad, and similar platforms used for ebooks, guides, templates and downloadable resources.

You can test:

• ebook
• PDF guides
• printables
• checklists
• templates
• workbooks

Examples:

“7 Instant Stress Relief Exercises”
“The One-Hour-a-Day AI eBook Publishing Plan”
“5 Digital Products You Can Create From Your Own Life Experience”
“The First Time Angler’s Checklist”

Run three or four of these at once if you can, rather than one at a time.

That way you’re comparing them under the same conditions, rather than against whatever else was happening in the world the week you tested the other one.

See which ones get the most downloads.

But also keep an eye on what happens afterwards…

Does anyone reply to say thanks, ask a follow-up question?

That’s often a stronger sign of a winning topic than the download number alone.

The Ad Test

Create 5–10 different advertising headline angles and run them in:

• an email newsletter (if you have one)
• on your website
• on Facebook (Meta)

Example tests:

• Angle A: “How to Build a £500-a-Month Retirement Side Income Without Social Media”
• Angle B: “The 7-Day Guide to Turning Your Life Experience Into a Paid Newsletter”
• Angle C: “AI Publishing for Over-60s: The Simple Beginner’s Guide”

You don’t need a big budget. Even £5–£10 a day spread across a handful of angles on Meta will show you which one gets the most clicks.

Just give each one a few days to run before you judge it, since a single day can be thrown off by anything.

Then measure click-through rate and downloads.

The Invitation Test

Create a short landing page for an idea before the product exists.

The idea is that subscribers are merely showing their interest and joining the list so they can find out more, get early access, or a special discount.

If a decent chunk of your visitors sign up, you’ve likely got a winner.

The Social Media Test

Post short teaser ideas on Facebook, LinkedIn, Substack Notes, X, or relevant communities.

But don’t ask bland questions like: “Would anyone be interested in this?”

Ask specific ones like: “Which of these would you most want as a step-by-step guide?”

Then list 4 options, for example:

• How to build a productive morning routine
• How to stop procrastinating on the things that actually matter
• How to use a five-minute journal to reset a bad day
• How to stay focused without relying on willpower

Look for the one that gets longer comments, objections, questions, and personal stories.

Try posting the same question on two or three different platforms too, since the audience on LinkedIn will often answer quite differently to the one on Facebook or X.

The Workshop Test

Before creating a full ebook/course/report, run a small workshop, presentation or webinar.

For example: “Find Your First Profitable Newsletter Niche in 60 Minutes” Or “Create Your First Sellable PDF Using AI”

See how many people sign up, and what comments they leave.

Afterwards, ask attendees what they’d have paid for a more in-depth training.

The Survey Test

Tools like SurveyMonkey make surveys easy to set up, and you can also just embed a simple poll directly inside an email if your provider allows it.

The trick is to ask narrower, forced-choice questions rather than open ones. For example:

• “Which of these three headlines makes you want to click?”
• “Which of these two problems is bothering you more right now?”
• “Would you pay £15 to solve this, yes or no?”

Keep it to three or four questions at most. The shorter it is, the more people will actually finish it.

The ‘Resource Request’ Test

Offer to create a free resource in a specific niche and ask people to reply with one word.

Example: “Reply RETIREMENT if you’d like my checklist on turning your experience into a small online income.”

Or: “Reply PDF if you’d like a simple guide to creating your first digital download.”

Count how many replies each version gets, and you’ll quickly see which niche or angle has the most pull.

The Format Test

Some audiences like to read. Some like to watch videos. Some might prefer to listen to audiobooks or podcasts. And some want a short list they can scan on their phone during a coffee break.

You won’t know which yours prefers until you give them a mix and watch what they engage with.

So try different formats for presenting your information and monitor the results and feedback.

The Price Test

Run the same offer at two prices or trial a new price for a month and compare it against the old one.

Make sure you also watch refunds.

A lower price that brings in more buyers but more refund requests might mean the offer isn’t quite matched to what you promised.

A higher price that barely dents conversion means you left money on the table.

The Bonus Test

You can also test bonuses – those free extras you offer when somebody buys a product.

Try running the same core offer with two different free gifts attached, one to each half of your list, or one after the other over a couple of weeks. For example:

• A done-for-you template pack, versus a private Facebook group
• A quick-start cheat sheet, versus a 20-minute video walkthrough
• A single large bonus mini course, versus three smaller ones bundled together

The important thing is to never rest on your laurels.

Keep Testing for as Long as You’re In Business

Running a home business is really a process of constant tests.

Try something… see how it works… then make adjustments.

When you crack it, don’t stop there – try something new again!

It’s when you progress from a fixed blueprint and start to follow your own unique path that the magic happens!