Ever looked at your business and thought “why isn’t this working?” or “what should I do?” and then jumped into a new tactic because you saw it on Instagram, YouTube, or in someone’s email?

In this first episode, I’m explaining why running an online business is basically a forever game of Guess Who. The goal isn’t random guessing. The goal is asking better questions that give you clues, reduce uncertainty, and help you choose your next move without spiralling.

I also share why decisions feel extra loaded when you are the product, and why “it didn’t work” is often meaningless if you never defined what you were trying to achieve in the first place.

To help you start, I give you a tiny test you can do today, so you can move from “what should I do?” to “what do I need to learn to decide?”

I also introduce The 2026 Experiment, where I’m turning my business into a full year of tests and sharing what I try, what I learn, and the debriefs as I go.

In this episode

✔ Why guessing is gambling, and questions are how you win

✔ How clues help you stop reacting emotionally and make clearer decisions

✔ Examples of clues: visibility, clicks without sales, patterns in buyer questions, pricing feedback

✔ Why you need a goal first, or the numbers mean nothing

Tiny test from the episode

1. Write down one decision you are stuck on
2. Write: “What do I need to learn to decide this?”
3. Pick one clue you can gather to answer it

Links

Connect on Instagram: @theunicornadvisory

Ask me anything this week on Voxer: @unicornsue

Join The 2026 Experiment (half price until Dec 31): https://theunicornadvisory.com/2026

Sue McLachlan: Welcome to the very first

Sue McLachlan: episode of Stop Guessing, Start

Sue McLachlan: Testing, a podcast audio series

Sue McLachlan: to help your online business

Sue McLachlan: become more profitable through

Sue McLachlan: better decisions.

Sue McLachlan: Learn how to collect clues from tiny tests so you can grow

Sue McLachlan: without relying on luck.

Sue McLachlan: I'm your host, Sue McLaughlin.

Sue McLachlan: Let's go.

Sue McLachlan: Have you ever looked at your

Sue McLachlan: business and thought, why isn't

Sue McLachlan: this working?

Sue McLachlan: Or been faced with a decision and going, what should I do?

Sue McLachlan: And then found yourself jumping

Sue McLachlan: into something new because you

Sue McLachlan: maybe saw it on an email, or a

Sue McLachlan: YouTube video or an Instagram

Sue McLachlan: post?

Sue McLachlan: Well, this episode is for you.

Sue McLachlan: Did you ever play Guess Who as a kid?

Sue McLachlan: You know that game where there's

Sue McLachlan: rows of faces and you flip them

Sue McLachlan: all over and your opponent has

Sue McLachlan: one of those faces, and you've

Sue McLachlan: got to ask them a series of

Sue McLachlan: questions to guess who it is

Sue McLachlan: that they are holding on that

Sue McLachlan: side.

Sue McLachlan: Who is the one face out of the sea of faces?

Sue McLachlan: And you can do it through a couple of different ways.

Sue McLachlan: You could just do a straight up guess like, hey, is it Jim?

Sue McLachlan: Is Jim the person that you are holding?

Sue McLachlan: But usually you don't because pretty much guessing is gambling

Sue McLachlan: and you don't learn anything.

Sue McLachlan: If you get the answer right away, it is just pure luck.

Sue McLachlan: The better way to win at guess who is asking a series of

Sue McLachlan: elimination questions like, um, does this person wear glasses?

Sue McLachlan: Um, does this person have blonde hair or black hair?

Sue McLachlan: And then you can eliminate, um, according to the answers.

Sue McLachlan: You're gathering information and you are getting clues.

Sue McLachlan: The whole idea is that the questions are the game and not

Sue McLachlan: the final answer.

Sue McLachlan: Obviously, the winner is the person who gets the guess right

Sue McLachlan: first, the person who does guess who it is.

Sue McLachlan: But what asking those questions do is it reduces uncertainty.

Sue McLachlan: It helps you make better

Sue McLachlan: guesses, and it narrows your

Sue McLachlan: options.

Sue McLachlan: And sometimes if you ask the right questions, it can narrow

Sue McLachlan: your options really quickly.

Sue McLachlan: And as I've been thinking about this as a question asking

Sue McLachlan: person, I'm often known as Miss Question because of my

Sue McLachlan: relentless question asking.

Sue McLachlan: I've kind of come to the

Sue McLachlan: conclusion that running an

Sue McLachlan: online business, whether it is

Sue McLachlan: selling courses, Membership

Sue McLachlan: coaching, you know, any kind of

Sue McLachlan: digital product.

Sue McLachlan: We're basically playing a

Sue McLachlan: forever game of guess who our

Sue McLachlan: business is, a guess Who board

Sue McLachlan: and the faces on our board are

Sue McLachlan: things like what you're selling,

Sue McLachlan: like what type of product, how

Sue McLachlan: you're selling it, is it always

Sue McLachlan: available, are you going to do

Sue McLachlan: launches?

Sue McLachlan: And if you're doing a launch,

Sue McLachlan: what type of launch strategy are

Sue McLachlan: you using?

Sue McLachlan: How you're getting in front of people, how you are growing your

Sue McLachlan: audience, what you are saying in your messaging, how you feel

Sue McLachlan: about what you're doing?

Sue McLachlan: Do you actually enjoy it and love it?

Sue McLachlan: And how do you feel about going

Sue McLachlan: through and doing some kind of

Sue McLachlan: launch?

Sue McLachlan: Is it something that lights you

Sue McLachlan: up and you get behind, or is it

Sue McLachlan: something that terrifies you and

Sue McLachlan: makes you feel really

Sue McLachlan: unconfident?

Sue McLachlan: Other faces on your forever guess who board are things like

Sue McLachlan: what you're charging, pricing, and also what your audience

Sue McLachlan: wants and how your audience is responding to what you're doing.

Sue McLachlan: Now, the thing is, is that there is never one correct answer.

Sue McLachlan: Everyone is always got a different guess who board, and

Sue McLachlan: it's going to be different for every type of business, every

Sue McLachlan: type of entrepreneur, different markets, different audiences.

Sue McLachlan: And what you need to do is keep

Sue McLachlan: flipping the faces down until

Sue McLachlan: you get to your answer, because

Sue McLachlan: the next best move is going to

Sue McLachlan: be based on all of those clues

Sue McLachlan: that you collect, and

Sue McLachlan: eliminating some of the

Sue McLachlan: incorrect answers.

Sue McLachlan: Because in this online business

Sue McLachlan: world, there are going to be

Sue McLachlan: hundreds, if not thousands of

Sue McLachlan: different combinations of the

Sue McLachlan: type of product that you're

Sue McLachlan: selling, how you are selling it,

Sue McLachlan: how to get it in front of

Sue McLachlan: people, what to charge, etc. it

Sue McLachlan: feels like there is a perpetual

Sue McLachlan: sea of decisions and sea of

Sue McLachlan: answers that you need to find,

Sue McLachlan: and these decisions can feel

Sue McLachlan: even harder when the business is

Sue McLachlan: basically you, you are the

Sue McLachlan: business.

Sue McLachlan: You are selling your

Sue McLachlan: information, your consulting,

Sue McLachlan: your coaching, your membership,

Sue McLachlan: product, things that you are

Sue McLachlan: teaching.

Sue McLachlan: And so these decisions that

Sue McLachlan: you're making can feel even more

Sue McLachlan: loaded.

Sue McLachlan: Because what happens if you get it wrong?

Sue McLachlan: Does that mean that you are a failure?

Sue McLachlan: Not that you, you know, made an incorrect decision.

Sue McLachlan: Often it can feel like you've done something wrong.

Sue McLachlan: Like you are not enough.

Sue McLachlan: And that loads every single decision that you're making up

Sue McLachlan: with a very, very deep sense of fear of getting it wrong.

Sue McLachlan: You want the right answer.

Sue McLachlan: Because especially online business, when you have so many

Sue McLachlan: different options, um, it can feel really daunting.

Sue McLachlan: And that's why it's really easy to go into that.

Sue McLachlan: Hey, I saw someone doing this cool thing in an email or on

Sue McLachlan: social media, and you see someone selling a different type

Sue McLachlan: of product or, um, a new strategy or a new tactic and you

Sue McLachlan: jump on it because, hey, someone else is doing it.

Sue McLachlan: And so that's where you get the certainty from seeing where

Sue McLachlan: someone else has done something.

Sue McLachlan: You're like, well, it worked for

Sue McLachlan: them, so maybe it should work

Sue McLachlan: for me.

Sue McLachlan: And what happens is, is you

Sue McLachlan: might try it, but you are not

Sue McLachlan: doing any kind of information

Sue McLachlan: gathering, or you may not be,

Sue McLachlan: um, about whether it works or

Sue McLachlan: not.

Sue McLachlan: Are you comparing it to

Sue McLachlan: anything, or are you just

Sue McLachlan: changing direction quickly

Sue McLachlan: because it feels like that

Sue McLachlan: changed direction?

Sue McLachlan: Someone else's proven blueprint feels safer than perhaps doing

Sue McLachlan: some things to try.

Sue McLachlan: You know, resurrecting or

Sue McLachlan: improving, um, or doing

Sue McLachlan: something different with a

Sue McLachlan: product or a launch that you've

Sue McLachlan: already created.

Sue McLachlan: You might start tweaking small things because it feels

Sue McLachlan: productive, but are they the things that are actually going

Sue McLachlan: to make any difference?

Sue McLachlan: And honestly, it can feel

Sue McLachlan: sometimes like you're doing so

Sue McLachlan: much work.

Sue McLachlan: But when you don't know what part of that work is making a

Sue McLachlan: difference, the result is that you can start doubting yourself.

Sue McLachlan: You can think you are the

Sue McLachlan: problem, or there's some issue

Sue McLachlan: with what you're offering, what

Sue McLachlan: you're doing.

Sue McLachlan: Maybe it's the price, and then you can get stuck in that spiral

Sue McLachlan: of what should I do?

Sue McLachlan: Which is such a loaded question.

Sue McLachlan: And if you feel like something didn't work well, your emotional

Sue McLachlan: brain can then take over.

Sue McLachlan: But the thing is, is what does it didn't work even mean?

Sue McLachlan: Like if you're saying, well, it didn't work, it didn't go well,

Sue McLachlan: but you don't have a goal that you've actually defined, then

Sue McLachlan: that can be a problem.

Sue McLachlan: Maybe there's an expectation that you had, but you hadn't

Sue McLachlan: actually set that expectation.

Sue McLachlan: You hadn't worked towards that expectation.

Sue McLachlan: And sometimes it's about things

Sue McLachlan: not happening as fast as you

Sue McLachlan: hoped.

Sue McLachlan: But when you're not actually

Sue McLachlan: testing things out to see if it

Sue McLachlan: can meet a goal or worse, not

Sue McLachlan: even defining that goal in the

Sue McLachlan: first place.

Sue McLachlan: It can leave you kind of stuck in that place where you are

Sue McLachlan: desperately trying to find the thing that works, but not really

Sue McLachlan: knowing how to get there.

Sue McLachlan: But what if every decision didn't need to be such a loaded

Sue McLachlan: kind of pass fail test?

Sue McLachlan: What if you had a way that you could make business choices with

Sue McLachlan: a whole lot more confidence?

Sue McLachlan: And if there was no wrong way or

Sue McLachlan: failure, you looked at the

Sue McLachlan: things that you're doing in your

Sue McLachlan: business as an opportunity to

Sue McLachlan: collect clues or collect

Sue McLachlan: evidence.

Sue McLachlan: And that is what happens when

Sue McLachlan: you stop guessing and jumping on

Sue McLachlan: random strategies and you start

Sue McLachlan: testing.

Sue McLachlan: Now, that absolutely does not

Sue McLachlan: mean overwhelming numbers or

Sue McLachlan: daunting spreadsheets full of

Sue McLachlan: data.

Sue McLachlan: It just means gathering

Sue McLachlan: information to help you make

Sue McLachlan: better decisions.

Sue McLachlan: And that's why I wanted to

Sue McLachlan: create this podcast audio series

Sue McLachlan: and why I am making my entire

Sue McLachlan: business its own series of

Sue McLachlan: experiments, and sharing that

Sue McLachlan: inside the twenty twenty six

Sue McLachlan: experiment.

Sue McLachlan: Because despite being a business

Sue McLachlan: strategist, I have got into some

Sue McLachlan: bad habits and have not been as

Sue McLachlan: strategic as I usually am

Sue McLachlan: lately.

Sue McLachlan: I've done a whole lot more guessing and a whole lot letting

Sue McLachlan: my emotions be the thing that is running the show, and a lot less

Sue McLachlan: reliance on logic and the truth that data gives you.

Sue McLachlan: And as someone who is definitely more on the creative side of

Sue McLachlan: things and also has a little side hustle of ADHD and being a

Sue McLachlan: solopreneur, spending my time on complicated spreadsheets and

Sue McLachlan: analytics is definitely not the data and information that I'm

Sue McLachlan: going to be going for, because if I do that, if I go into this

Sue McLachlan: experimental year where I'm going to be testing out a heap

Sue McLachlan: of things in my business, I tell you what, it'll be really lucky

Sue McLachlan: if it lasts beyond that typical kind of three week window of the

Sue McLachlan: New Year's resolution.

Sue McLachlan: I have no doubt the first week

Sue McLachlan: or two will be rock solid, and

Sue McLachlan: I'll be collecting information

Sue McLachlan: everywhere.

Sue McLachlan: But if you want to make this something that you use in your

Sue McLachlan: business ongoing and long term, well, my opinion is that you've

Sue McLachlan: got to make it fun and you've got to make it easy.

Sue McLachlan: And that means choosing the

Sue McLachlan: right things to track, not

Sue McLachlan: collecting so much information

Sue McLachlan: and making complicated

Sue McLachlan: spreadsheets and spending, you

Sue McLachlan: know, the entire month setting

Sue McLachlan: stuff up like look where you can

Sue McLachlan: start small.

Sue McLachlan: Look at how you can use your limited time more effectively.

Sue McLachlan: Stop getting stuck in decision paralysis and evaluate the

Sue McLachlan: things that you decide to do to test and see how effective they

Sue McLachlan: were, and then potentially test and evaluate something else and

Sue McLachlan: compare those options, and then do the things that are making

Sue McLachlan: the biggest difference.

Sue McLachlan: So in twenty twenty six, I am going to be looking for clues in

Sue McLachlan: pretty much everything that I do, and I'm going to be sharing

Sue McLachlan: how you can use clues to make better, more confident decisions

Sue McLachlan: in your own business.

Sue McLachlan: Because clues are the things

Sue McLachlan: that you observe that help

Sue McLachlan: reduce uncertainty.

Sue McLachlan: Now I'm going to give you some examples of clues, but I'm going

Sue McLachlan: to go a lot deeper into specific types of clues during this

Sue McLachlan: podcast audio series.

Sue McLachlan: Um, but just as a really brief summary, things that can be

Sue McLachlan: clues are like looking at visibility, like how many people

Sue McLachlan: are actually seeing what it is that you are selling.

Sue McLachlan: Um, because often you can think that, you know, you've got to

Sue McLachlan: tweak things on the sales page or change your copy or change

Sue McLachlan: your pricing when maybe the problem is that you just don't

Sue McLachlan: have enough people seeing your offer in the first place.

Sue McLachlan: Now, what if you do have a lot of people seeing your offer, but

Sue McLachlan: not a lot of people are buying?

Sue McLachlan: People are clicking maybe on your emails or, um, you can see

Sue McLachlan: that traffic is coming through from social media, but that is

Sue McLachlan: not turning into buyers.

Sue McLachlan: That is a clue because something

Sue McLachlan: is off in between that

Sue McLachlan: interested enough to click

Sue McLachlan: through, and there's some kind

Sue McLachlan: of disconnect into why they are

Sue McLachlan: not buying.

Sue McLachlan: Now that, you know, sometimes I've had people come to me with,

Sue McLachlan: they take that as failure.

Sue McLachlan: Like, what am I doing wrong?

Sue McLachlan: Like, oh, and you can get really emotionally spiraled about it.

Sue McLachlan: But that is a clue to give you information to investigate

Sue McLachlan: because you actually know where to look rather than going.

Sue McLachlan: No one's buying because you are getting the data that you are

Sue McLachlan: getting clicks, you are getting people seeing it.

Sue McLachlan: They're just choosing not to buy.

Sue McLachlan: Now, what about the questions that you might be getting for

Sue McLachlan: from people from potential buyers like you might have a lot

Sue McLachlan: of people asking.

Sue McLachlan: Oh, I'm not sure if it's for me

Sue McLachlan: or I don't totally understand

Sue McLachlan: what this is, or other questions

Sue McLachlan: that keep coming up that you see

Sue McLachlan: a pattern.

Sue McLachlan: So when customers or potential clients are asking you

Sue McLachlan: questions, what you need to pay attention to is patterns, and

Sue McLachlan: not one person saying something.

Sue McLachlan: You might get one person saying,

Sue McLachlan: oh gosh, this is really

Sue McLachlan: expensive.

Sue McLachlan: And if you rush to make a decision on that one person's

Sue McLachlan: comment, then again, that can be a bit of a challenge.

Sue McLachlan: So what you're wanting to look

Sue McLachlan: for the clue is a pattern in

Sue McLachlan: people's comments.

Sue McLachlan: Now, in terms of pricing, I'm going to do an entire episode on

Sue McLachlan: pricing because I think that is one of the places where the

Sue McLachlan: emotional connection and your emotional connection, especially

Sue McLachlan: if you are someone who struggles to spend money on things

Sue McLachlan: yourself, it's very easy to put that view onto your customers

Sue McLachlan: and to to get tied up in, you know, in money issues that are

Sue McLachlan: your own issues.

Sue McLachlan: And if people's main response

Sue McLachlan: is, oh, I love this, but it's

Sue McLachlan: too expensive, it's really

Sue McLachlan: important to dive deeper into

Sue McLachlan: that and figure out what that

Sue McLachlan: actually means to look for the

Sue McLachlan: clues.

Sue McLachlan: Now, maybe it could be the

Sue McLachlan: price, maybe it is too

Sue McLachlan: expensive.

Sue McLachlan: But again, is that a common pattern?

Sue McLachlan: Is that the most common thing

Sue McLachlan: that you are hearing for from

Sue McLachlan: people?

Sue McLachlan: And if it is, is that because they don't understand the offer?

Sue McLachlan: Like do you need to ask more questions?

Sue McLachlan: Is it that the people who are

Sue McLachlan: seeing this, they are not the

Sue McLachlan: right audience, they're not the

Sue McLachlan: right, you know, stage of the

Sue McLachlan: the journey to actually need

Sue McLachlan: this?

Sue McLachlan: Um, what you got to do again is

Sue McLachlan: look for patterns and don't jump

Sue McLachlan: to conclusions.

Sue McLachlan: I'm going to be diving so much more into this, into these

Sue McLachlan: specific types of clues, um, and the types of questions that you

Sue McLachlan: can be asking in these episodes.

Sue McLachlan: But just something to remember for now.

Sue McLachlan: The point is not to collect

Sue McLachlan: every single clue and every

Sue McLachlan: single answer.

Sue McLachlan: The point is to collect enough information to answer your next

Sue McLachlan: question, and that comes back to knowing what it is that you are

Sue McLachlan: trying to achieve.

Sue McLachlan: Because if you don't know what

Sue McLachlan: you're trying to achieve, it may

Sue McLachlan: be difficult to ask the right

Sue McLachlan: next question.

Sue McLachlan: Maybe you don't know what you're actually trying to find out.

Sue McLachlan: And that's why one of the things that I so strongly believe in

Sue McLachlan: and I always encourage my clients to do, and when I am

Sue McLachlan: working with a coaching client, I'll always try and work from

Sue McLachlan: the end result backwards.

Sue McLachlan: And again, I'm going to do an

Sue McLachlan: entire episode about evaluating

Sue McLachlan: your goals and what it is that

Sue McLachlan: you are trying to achieve, and

Sue McLachlan: then working backwards from that

Sue McLachlan: so that this information

Sue McLachlan: gathering can, um, be more

Sue McLachlan: useful and give you the

Sue McLachlan: information to make better

Sue McLachlan: decisions, because then you're

Sue McLachlan: going to spend your limited

Sue McLachlan: amount of time because no doubt,

Sue McLachlan: you want to be creative and have

Sue McLachlan: fun and work with clients, not

Sue McLachlan: spend time stuck in

Sue McLachlan: spreadsheets.

Sue McLachlan: You can spend that time evaluating the clues that can

Sue McLachlan: help you decide what to do next.

Sue McLachlan: And also something to remember

Sue McLachlan: is when you're looking for this

Sue McLachlan: information.

Sue McLachlan: When you're looking for clues, it can help take you out of that

Sue McLachlan: emotional thinking and it brings you back into logical brain.

Sue McLachlan: And when you are focusing on

Sue McLachlan: testing things, rather than

Sue McLachlan: trying to get it right, or

Sue McLachlan: trying to pick between two

Sue McLachlan: things going, which thing should

Sue McLachlan: I do?

Sue McLachlan: Or you're trying to find the perfect strategy.

Sue McLachlan: Focusing on testing gives you

Sue McLachlan: that win of, okay, I've got the

Sue McLachlan: information that I need to make

Sue McLachlan: a decision.

Sue McLachlan: I don't need to defer the decision to someone else.

Sue McLachlan: I don't need to ask five people

Sue McLachlan: what I should do, because it's

Sue McLachlan: giving you confidence in your

Sue McLachlan: own business and in the

Sue McLachlan: information that you are

Sue McLachlan: collecting.

Sue McLachlan: And the more information that you collect, the more clues and

Sue McLachlan: evidence that you collect, the better decisions that you're

Sue McLachlan: going to be able to make, and the less time that you are going

Sue McLachlan: to spend making those decisions, which gives you more time to be

Sue McLachlan: focusing on the things that a make the biggest difference.

Sue McLachlan: And B, um, light you up the

Sue McLachlan: most, because sometimes the data

Sue McLachlan: side of things is not one of

Sue McLachlan: those things where you're like,

Sue McLachlan: oh man, this is so exciting and

Sue McLachlan: so important.

Sue McLachlan: I probably get a little bit

Sue McLachlan: nerdy about that, but you may

Sue McLachlan: not be, um, you know, quite as

Sue McLachlan: excited and inspired by

Sue McLachlan: collecting information.

Sue McLachlan: So I would very strongly

Sue McLachlan: suggest, if you haven't already,

Sue McLachlan: hopefully you have clicked on

Sue McLachlan: that little subscribe to this

Sue McLachlan: podcast.

Sue McLachlan: But if you haven't, please do subscribe to stop guessing.

Sue McLachlan: Start testing, because I am going to be sharing a load of

Sue McLachlan: information over the next few weeks and months to help you

Sue McLachlan: discover things like how to work backwards from a goal so that

Sue McLachlan: these numbers that you are collecting mean something, so

Sue McLachlan: you know where to even focus.

Sue McLachlan: Like what numbers to collect.

Sue McLachlan: Also, crucially, how to define

Sue McLachlan: what good is or what it worked

Sue McLachlan: or didn't work is without

Sue McLachlan: pulling random benchmarks from

Sue McLachlan: the internet, from other

Sue McLachlan: people's businesses, etc.

Sue McLachlan: because at the end of the day,

Sue McLachlan: all that matters is what is good

Sue McLachlan: or what works, what that means

Sue McLachlan: for you.

Sue McLachlan: I'll also look at what specifically to test for

Sue McLachlan: different stages of business.

Sue McLachlan: No matter where you're at,

Sue McLachlan: whether you're very new to

Sue McLachlan: business, whether you're doing a

Sue McLachlan: pivot and you're changing offers

Sue McLachlan: and you're looking at

Sue McLachlan: restructuring things, um, you

Sue McLachlan: know, whether you are, um,

Sue McLachlan: you've created products and now

Sue McLachlan: you're moving into launching

Sue McLachlan: them.

Sue McLachlan: And, and that's the, the stuck

Sue McLachlan: point where you're like, oh,

Sue McLachlan: which type of launch should I

Sue McLachlan: do?

Sue McLachlan: Evergreen.

Sue McLachlan: You know, live launching.

Sue McLachlan: What type of live launching?

Sue McLachlan: How do I get an audience?

Sue McLachlan: You know, all those questions

Sue McLachlan: that you can keep you stuck or

Sue McLachlan: even, um, what to test for

Sue McLachlan: different life stages of your

Sue McLachlan: product because you'll be

Sue McLachlan: wanting to test very different

Sue McLachlan: things when your product is

Sue McLachlan: brand new, when you're first

Sue McLachlan: launching it, as opposed to,

Sue McLachlan: say, when it's been out for a

Sue McLachlan: year and you are relaunching it,

Sue McLachlan: or you're making slight changes,

Sue McLachlan: the clues and information that

Sue McLachlan: you're looking for are going to

Sue McLachlan: be very different depending on,

Sue McLachlan: um, how old this product is and

Sue McLachlan: how you've launched it before

Sue McLachlan: and what information that you

Sue McLachlan: already have.

Sue McLachlan: Um, I'll also be sharing how you

Sue McLachlan: can test one thing at a time to

Sue McLachlan: get the most helpful

Sue McLachlan: information, because when you

Sue McLachlan: try and test five things at

Sue McLachlan: once, you don't know which of

Sue McLachlan: those five things makes a

Sue McLachlan: difference.

Sue McLachlan: Also, how to quickly.

Sue McLachlan: Debrief and review all these

Sue McLachlan: tiny tests that you take so that

Sue McLachlan: you actually know what to

Sue McLachlan: repeat, what to tweak, uh, what

Sue McLachlan: to stop doing, what to increase

Sue McLachlan: doing.

Sue McLachlan: um, you know, how to actually make changes where you actually

Sue McLachlan: gather all the data in one place and review a bigger project

Sue McLachlan: rather than just a tiny test, as well as little debriefs on tiny

Sue McLachlan: tests as well.

Sue McLachlan: That is what you can expect in this podcast series.

Sue McLachlan: Stop guessing and start testing.

Sue McLachlan: And I just want to leave you

Sue McLachlan: something for the end of episode

Sue McLachlan: one.

Sue McLachlan: I've got a tiny test for you.

Sue McLachlan: If you've been stuck on any kind of decision in your business,

Sue McLachlan: like, uh, what should I do for twenty twenty six?

Sue McLachlan: Do I want to launch or, you

Sue McLachlan: know, do I want to do an

Sue McLachlan: evergreen funnel?

Sue McLachlan: Do I want to do a new product?

Sue McLachlan: Like whatever it is, pick one of those decisions, something that

Sue McLachlan: you're a bit stuck on right now and write it down.

Sue McLachlan: You know, maybe it's should I spend more time on Facebook or

Sue McLachlan: start a TikTok channel?

Sue McLachlan: You know, do I want to create a course or a membership?

Sue McLachlan: Or should I increase the price of my coaching program?

Sue McLachlan: Whatever that decision is, write it down.

Sue McLachlan: Then underneath that question,

Sue McLachlan: write down what do I need to

Sue McLachlan: learn in order to make this

Sue McLachlan: decision?

Sue McLachlan: So, for example, if you were trying to decide if you should

Sue McLachlan: spend more of your time on Facebook or you should start a

Sue McLachlan: TikTok channel, um, firstly, you could be, you know, what do you

Sue McLachlan: need to decide?

Sue McLachlan: It could be, um, where is your audience?

Sue McLachlan: Um, it could be.

Sue McLachlan: Do you already have an audience?

Sue McLachlan: And how is that audience reacting to what you are doing?

Sue McLachlan: It could be, what do I need to

Sue McLachlan: learn to decide if that's

Sue McLachlan: worthwhile?

Sue McLachlan: Is is the effort to make videos for TikTok worth it to me?

Sue McLachlan: Like, have a think about what it

Sue McLachlan: is that you would need in order

Sue McLachlan: to feel confident with answering

Sue McLachlan: that question.

Sue McLachlan: If it was, should I create a course or start a membership?

Sue McLachlan: Then you're you know, what do you need to learn is, well, what

Sue McLachlan: do your customers want?

Sue McLachlan: What um, what do you want?

Sue McLachlan: Like, what do you want to do in your business?

Sue McLachlan: It might be a case of learning and discovering.

Sue McLachlan: What is the best way to, um, to

Sue McLachlan: give people, um, information,

Sue McLachlan: like is it a course or is it a

Sue McLachlan: membership?

Sue McLachlan: So think about what you need to

Sue McLachlan: learn to decide whether, um, the

Sue McLachlan: thing that you want to do would

Sue McLachlan: be better as a course or a

Sue McLachlan: membership.

Sue McLachlan: Um, and the thing that you might

Sue McLachlan: need to learn to decide whether

Sue McLachlan: increasing the price of your

Sue McLachlan: coaching program is something

Sue McLachlan: that you should do, then will

Sue McLachlan: people pay the new price might

Sue McLachlan: be the thing that you need to

Sue McLachlan: learn.

Sue McLachlan: So start off with what is the decision that you're stuck on?

Sue McLachlan: Write that down.

Sue McLachlan: Then write that question underneath.

Sue McLachlan: What do I need to learn to decide this?

Sue McLachlan: And then the last thing in this

Sue McLachlan: little three part tiny test is

Sue McLachlan: pick a clue that would answer

Sue McLachlan: the question that you've written

Sue McLachlan: down.

Sue McLachlan: So is your audience on Facebook or TikTok?

Sue McLachlan: You might do, um, some research

Sue McLachlan: into how many other channels

Sue McLachlan: there are, how many creators

Sue McLachlan: there are.

Sue McLachlan: You know, how many Facebook groups there are already on

Sue McLachlan: TikTok or Facebook?

Sue McLachlan: Are you seeing a gap, um, on TikTok?

Sue McLachlan: Are you seeing that there are a lot of people already that can

Sue McLachlan: also be, um, a helpful clue?

Sue McLachlan: Um, you know, is it a search of

Sue McLachlan: keywords and content volume on

Sue McLachlan: those different channels, like

Sue McLachlan: how much content comes up and

Sue McLachlan: what sort of reaction is it

Sue McLachlan: getting?

Sue McLachlan: So think about a clue that would help you answer that question.

Sue McLachlan: Um, you know, something else to consider because it's not always

Sue McLachlan: straight up numbers and data.

Sue McLachlan: Um, especially if your your question is, you know, what do I

Sue McLachlan: need to learn?

Sue McLachlan: Is, is the effort to make videos going to be worth it?

Sue McLachlan: Um, you could do a little test.

Sue McLachlan: You know, the clue that you might look for is how do you

Sue McLachlan: feel after making a daily video?

Sue McLachlan: Or how do you feel after making, say, seven videos like what is

Sue McLachlan: something that you can do, like a little test to decide if it's

Sue McLachlan: going to be worth it.

Sue McLachlan: Um, as a preliminary.

Sue McLachlan: So you don't need to decide the entire thing.

Sue McLachlan: You could test something out and then look at how you feel after

Sue McLachlan: actually doing it.

Sue McLachlan: Um, if it was an issue about

Sue McLachlan: price, um, then, you know,

Sue McLachlan: looking at is it your issue that

Sue McLachlan: is pricing, are you seeing a

Sue McLachlan: constant, um, pattern of

Sue McLachlan: customer comments?

Sue McLachlan: And if it is that you're wanting to put the price up, are you

Sue McLachlan: seeing people saying, you know, a pattern of people saying, oh

Sue McLachlan: man, this is such a great deal?

Sue McLachlan: Are you seeing that there's

Sue McLachlan: absolutely no objections that

Sue McLachlan: people are just paying straight

Sue McLachlan: away?

Sue McLachlan: Are you being constantly told,

Sue McLachlan: oh man, your prices are too

Sue McLachlan: cheap?

Sue McLachlan: Um, is it that you need to, um, have a clue, um, from getting

Sue McLachlan: someone to actually review your content and to review your

Sue McLachlan: messaging, maybe your sales page, maybe the clue is doing

Sue McLachlan: some journaling about what you need to do to feel comfortable.

Sue McLachlan: There are so many clues you don't need to get all of them.

Sue McLachlan: And what I would suggest is just pick one clue for now.

Sue McLachlan: And then once you get the answer

Sue McLachlan: to that, maybe pick another clue

Sue McLachlan: if you feel that you need a

Sue McLachlan: little bit more information, but

Sue McLachlan: make sure that it's all being

Sue McLachlan: tracked back to that decision

Sue McLachlan: that you are trying to make, and

Sue McLachlan: that you also link it to, well,

Sue McLachlan: what do I need to learn to make

Sue McLachlan: this decision?

Sue McLachlan: What do I need to know?

Sue McLachlan: Because once you think about

Sue McLachlan: things from a what do I need to

Sue McLachlan: know to make this decision, it's

Sue McLachlan: a whole lot less of that just

Sue McLachlan: doing stuff on gut feel or vibes

Sue McLachlan: or just jumping into it because

Sue McLachlan: you are giving yourself the

Sue McLachlan: tools to help you make better

Sue McLachlan: decisions.

Sue McLachlan: And the more you do it, the

Sue McLachlan: quicker and easier that's going

Sue McLachlan: to be.

Sue McLachlan: Maybe you won't need to be

Sue McLachlan: writing things down on a piece

Sue McLachlan: of paper.

Sue McLachlan: You'll be able to sort of go

Sue McLachlan: through that little mental model

Sue McLachlan: in your head pretty quickly, but

Sue McLachlan: I would love to know how you go

Sue McLachlan: with that little tiny test for

Sue McLachlan: today.

Sue McLachlan: And remember as well.

Sue McLachlan: Like each tiny test is not going to give you the answer.

Sue McLachlan: It's not going to solve all of

Sue McLachlan: your business problems overnight

Sue McLachlan: or suddenly turn everything

Sue McLachlan: around.

Sue McLachlan: It's a little bit more like you

Sue McLachlan: are building a wall of

Sue McLachlan: confidence, and each time you do

Sue McLachlan: a tiny test and get a little bit

Sue McLachlan: more information, you gather

Sue McLachlan: clues.

Sue McLachlan: You gather evidence.

Sue McLachlan: You're putting one brick in that wall of confidence.

Sue McLachlan: So the more tests you do gives

Sue McLachlan: you more information so that you

Sue McLachlan: can make better, more confident

Sue McLachlan: business decisions.

Sue McLachlan: Please do connect with me on

Sue McLachlan: Instagram at the Unicorn

Sue McLachlan: Advisory.

Sue McLachlan: Or if you are on Voxer, send me a voxer and let me know how you

Sue McLachlan: went with that tiny test.

Sue McLachlan: I am at unicorn Sue on Voxer now.

Sue McLachlan: If you are listening to this and thinking you know what?

Sue McLachlan: This sounds pretty cool.

Sue McLachlan: I actually really like this concept.

Sue McLachlan: I'm done just guessing and throwing spaghetti against the

Sue McLachlan: wall in my business.

Sue McLachlan: I want to start testing and I'm probably going to enjoy testing.

Sue McLachlan: Well, you may enjoy the twenty twenty six experiment, which is

Sue McLachlan: where I am taking this whole testing experimental mindset

Sue McLachlan: into real life for a full year of business experiments.

Sue McLachlan: Basically, my business is going to become a laboratory for the

Sue McLachlan: year, and I'm opening it up for you to see everything.

Sue McLachlan: You will get to see what I try and why.

Sue McLachlan: What clues that I am paying attention to, how I use the

Sue McLachlan: information that I learn.

Sue McLachlan: So how do I figure out what to change next?

Sue McLachlan: What to do next, what to even test in the first place?

Sue McLachlan: And you get to experience that

Sue McLachlan: all as it is happening in the

Sue McLachlan: moment.

Sue McLachlan: Plus, every single experiment

Sue McLachlan: that I do will come with a full

Sue McLachlan: debrief where I'm going to recap

Sue McLachlan: everything and you can keep

Sue McLachlan: that.

Sue McLachlan: You can use those debriefs and my insights and use that as

Sue McLachlan: clues and inspiration for your own tests and experiments.

Sue McLachlan: You can learn more at

Sue McLachlan: theunicornadvisory.com/2026 and

Sue McLachlan: Little Heads Up if you join

Sue McLachlan: before January 1st, 2026 You can

Sue McLachlan: take advantage of early access

Sue McLachlan: and get a very, very sweet

Sue McLachlan: discount.

Sue McLachlan: Um, discounts are always awesome.

Sue McLachlan: Cost of living.

Sue McLachlan: You know it's a thing.

Sue McLachlan: So if you join before the first of January, you will get that

Sue McLachlan: early access discount, but you are welcome to join at any time

Sue McLachlan: throughout the year.

Sue McLachlan: If you are listening to this

Sue McLachlan: after the first of January, I

Sue McLachlan: hope you have enjoyed the

Sue McLachlan: episode.

Sue McLachlan: Listen out for more coming soon and please do subscribe.

Sue McLachlan: I would really, really

Sue McLachlan: appreciate it and let me know

Sue McLachlan: the result of your very first

Sue McLachlan: tiny test.