Here’s a great story about the founding of Under Armour, a multi-billion-dollar athletic apparel company. CEO Kevin Plank was a football player in college who wished there had been a better alternative to wearing a cotton t-shirt under his pads. So he bought some fabric at a shop about a mile from his college campus, then took that fabric to a local tailor and asked him to make as many tight t-shirts out of the fabric as he could. As Plank puts it,

“It was really that easy. I think sometimes entrepreneurs can get caught up with theorizing, hypothesizing, business planning – at some point, put the freaking pen down and go do something. Go find out if you can make your product. Once you make it, stop projecting what’s going to happen, and go find out whether your product can sell. Find out whether someone is willing to take hard-earned cash out of their pocket and exchange it for your product.”

I’ve heard from dozens of people over the years who want to become private counselors. Many of them are caught up in the details like, “What should my logo be? How should my website look? Who should design my business cards? Which accounting software should I use?” But those questions ignore the much more important one—are people willing to pay you for advice? If not, you don’t need a website, logo, software, etc. And all the time and money you spent making those things would have been better served improving your counseling game and earning the trust of a few families who will work with you.

I’m all for good planning. But whether you’re starting a business, running a PTA, or founding a high school club, remember that your most important job is to be good enough that customers or members are willing to exchange time and/or money in exchange for working with you. Everything else is secondary.

So the most important question to ask is, “Will someone want this?” And the most important thing to do is spend your time, energy and money to earn a “Yes.”