90-Day Sprint: How to Get Your Business Idea Ready to Launch in 2026 | #214

Download your free 90 Day Sprint Planner - https://secondactsuccess.co/90days

Are you ready to stop waiting for the "perfect time" and finally start building the business you’ve been dreaming about? With just 90 days left in the year, now is the moment to give yourself a focused sprint that sets you up for success in 2026.

In this episode of the Second Act Success Career Podcast, host Shannon Russell, business coach and author of Start Your Second Act, walks you through a 90-day action plan designed to help you clarify your business idea, validate it with market research, and lay the foundation so you’re ready to launch strong in the new year.

✨ Plus, grab Shannon’s free 90-Day Sprint Planner to track your progress and stay motivated. If you want personalized guidance, don’t miss her upcoming How to Start the Right Business Live Coaching Experience, where you’ll get clarity and confidence that your idea is the right one to pursue.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Why 90 days is the perfect amount of time to make progress on your business goals
• Step 1: How to clarify your business idea in the first 30 days
• Step 2: The importance of market research and how to do it without overwhelm
• Step 3: Simple steps to lay the foundation for your business before the new year
• Mindset shifts to move past perfectionism and start taking action now
• How to use the free 90-Day Sprint Planner to stay consistent and on track

SHOW NOTES:

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast

Season 1 - 90-Day Sprint: How to Get Your Business Idea Ready to Launch in 2026 | #214

Episode - #214

Host: Shannon Russell

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate) 

[00:00:00] What if I told you that in just 90 days you could be ready to launch the business you've been dreaming about? Welcome back to the second Act Success podcast. I am your host Shannon Russell, business coach for women and author of Start Your Second Act.

My mission is to help women like you quit the jobs that drain you and start building businesses that light you up. Today's episode, it's all about time, because as I'm recording this, there are 90 days left in the year. Yep, just 90 days. And that means you have a choice.

You can coast through to the holidays and wait for a fresh start in January or. You can use the next 90 days as your runway to get your business idea ready to take off in 2026.

let's talk about how to give yourself a 90 day sprint that sets you up for success.

First, why does 90 days work? I believe that 90 days is the sweet spot. It's long enough to make that [00:01:00] progress, but short enough to keep you focused and motivated.

I really believe that when you can break a bigger goal down into smaller, actionable steps, it's a lot easier to digest and actually start taking action. think about it. If you break down your big business goals into three months of small intentional action, you'll actually have that clarity, that confidence,

and that momentum, you need to start strong in the new year.

 that's why I really wanted to record this episode for you is to say, Hey, we've got this time, we have three months, 90 days. Let's see what we can accomplish together during that time. And I created something special for you to go along with this episode.

It's my free 90 day Sprint planner. You can grab it for free in the show notes or head over to second Act success.co/ninety days. What it is is really a simple tool to help you track your ideas, your progress, and your wins as you move towards launching your [00:02:00] business.

We're going to dive into the action steps that you can take in the next 90 days, and this free resource is really something you can print out. You can see how your progress is moving along towards your big goal.

Alright, now let's map out what you can actually do over these next 90 days. And I'll keep this really simple and actionable for you because I want you to be able to not get overwhelmed I want you to walk away from listening to this episode saying, wow, I can do this. This really seems like something I can accomplish in the pockets of my day. So let's get started.

Step one, clarify your business idea. This is what you'll do in the first 30 days, so days one through 30, you are going to clarify your business idea.

What do I mean by that? I mean that you want to make sure that this business idea is something that you actually are excited about. So ask yourself, what do I [00:03:00] want my business to be? Write as much as you can about that. This is your baby that you're building, and I want you to be excited about it and really confident in what you're creating.

Write down all of your ideas. Brain dump them. Don't filter them out.

This can be a really long list. It's just getting all of your business ideas down onto paper. Next, I want you to start validating. This is such an important step, and honestly, it's one that many women often skip because and I'll tell you why women are passionate. We are headstrong. So when we get an idea, oftentimes we just think it's the most wonderful idea in the world and we wanna run with it.

We just want to take this idea and bring it to life. I am raising my hand because I have been in this place with both of the businesses I've built where I've had an idea for something and I've leapt into it and I've realized, huh, maybe I should have done it a little differently.

This was probably because I didn't validate a [00:04:00] certain area of my business before I dove in. So what I'd like you to do is validate, meaning ask yourself, who wants what I'm offering? Who will this product or service serve?

Really start thinking about, is there an audience? Are there people out there who are going to pay me for what I can offer them? What you can do is start talking to a few people, doing your research and really refining your idea into something clear that is wanted and needed. I often say that your idea is really nothing until you have the data to back it up. Take the time to talk to people and do that research that will lead to your confidence so that you can say, yep, I absolutely have the best idea, and this is something that's really going to go over well, and I can't wait to share it with the world.

That's what you want, that excitement and that confidence to be able to move forward into our next step two.

Okay. [00:05:00] Step two. Okay. After you have clarified your business idea, in the first 30 days of our 90 day sprint, it is time for step two, and this step means doing your market research.

This will take place during month two of our sprint, so days 31 through days 60. What I'd like you to do as far as market research goes is find out what's already working, what's already out there on the market. look at your potential competition, either in the online space or in your community where you're going to be offering your products or services.

Notice what's working and what's missing you.

Look at their websites, look at their pricing. Look at what their customers or clients are writing as testimonials or reviews.

Look at their social media. Look at what people are asking for. Look at what people are happy with or not so happy with by doing this market research, you will be able to get [00:06:00] so much more data on what you can offer.

If there's any holes in the market and. Or maybe how you can niche down and really offer something special to a unique part of the population, but you won't know truly how you can zero in on that until you do this research and it's so easy to do online now you can really get so much information through Google.

Next, I want you to ask your target audience what they're struggling with. Figure out who your target demographic is, and ask some people in that demographic. You can do this easily by going into different groups on social media and posing these questions. You can even post within your own social media.

Some polls or asking for a quick survey. You can have conversations with friends or family if they are in your potential target audience. Doesn't have to be formal, but you're going to ask, Hey, if I were to offer [00:07:00] this, would this be something that you or someone you know be interested in

through this type of research of actually having these conversations? You will learn if there's something else that maybe you could offer if, more than a few people start suggesting, Hey, I could really use X, Y, and Z from you, then that's something for you to consider. Can you offer that product or service?

This is the part of the research that can sometimes be uncomfortable because you might learn something about what you are considering offering and how that might differ to what the audience really wants. So I'd say go into it with an open mind. Be receptive and decide if you're willing to pivot or add on to your product suite.

At the end of the day, it really is amazing to have this research and be able to, again, move forward with that confidence that what you're choosing to offer is something that people will indeed pay you for.

One more thing I'd love to say is that if you're [00:08:00] starting to notice that there are other people who are offering similar things, whether it's online or in person, I want you to kind of look at that business owner and then think about what their background is and how they've come to operate that business, and then look at your past experience.

I love the idea, and I talk about it a lot on the podcast of. Your career story and really taking your past experience and using that to create a story or a narrative of why you're opening this business and why you're the perfect person to run this business and offer these services or products.

For example, when I launched my coaching business, I was able to say, wow, well, I already went from this one career into opening this really successful award-winning franchise business and saw this huge success. I actually had people asking me, Hey, can you help me make a career transition? I wanna start my own business.

Those [00:09:00] conversations, those requests that came truthfully out of the blue made me realize, whoa, there really is a need for someone who can help women start businesses. Because so often it just seems so overwhelming and scary that we just say, oh no, we can't do it.

And we just go back into our regular life. It helped me say, no, Shannon, there's something here. Why don't you see how you can move forward? And it led me to getting certified and starting with one client and two clients and building a program and writing a book and all of the things that have led me to where I am here having helped hundreds and hundreds of women.

I think it was because of that market research I did and because I was able to. We've in my past story of going from a career to a successful business and that showing that I can use that experience to help other women do the same. So. In thinking about that as an example, think about your past experience [00:10:00] and how you might be able to tie that into the story of why you are the perfect person to create this business, and it might be your past experience, your skills, your talents, or your life situation.

But however you can create that narrative, it's just another way for people to connect with you when they do learn about you. And that can be a great way to really find people that say, Ooh, I really wanna work with her. I relate to her story. Just something to keep in mind as you are doing your research and thinking about how you can move forward.

Alright. Step number three is laying the foundation. This is what you will do in month three of our 90 day sprint. Days 61 through day 90. Laying the foundation is really where you will start building your business. It's the fun part. First, I want you to start mapping out what you'll need to begin building this business.

This can be anything from registering your LLC with your state

or opening a business bank account. Think [00:11:00] about all of the little things that you'll need to actually get this business off the ground. For example, think about if you need a simple website or if you can just begin with a social media page that lists all your offerings. this is really about done is better than perfect, and how you want to kick things off.

In this 90 day sprint, we're really talking about taking that simple action. When it comes to launching the business, hitting publish on your social media or your website page and saying, Hey, world, I have this business that I am launching. You have to think about if you want to have it perfect.

Which it will never ever be. Let me just tell you, I tweak my website constantly. Or if you just wanna get it out there and know that, okay, I'm introducing myself to the world and then I can tweak things and add things , anytime after that. But you have to decide how you want to first present yourself to the world.

[00:12:00] That will dictate exactly how much you need to do before launching your business. Then you can add all of those things to your mapping it out list.

Next I want you to outline your first offer. What problem will you be solving and how will you be delivering it? You might have products, you might have services. Either way, list the first thing that you want to offer. If you have products, you might have a long list of products, so make that list, put out everything that you will have available to your clients or customers on day one

When you are listing out your offers, you can also write down how much you're going to charge for each service or each product, what your refund policy will be, and how your payments will be set up.

All of those little logistics will be helpful too. But again, you can start and launch your business with one product, one offer, but you want to start thinking and really detailing those first offers and making sure that you know the problem that [00:13:00] they will solve and how you will deliver that to people who will purchase it.

Another great way to really start making traction and launching this business is practice talking about your business with confidence, you can start having conversations with friends or family or colleagues up until this point, you have most likely been building this business behind the scenes, and this is the part as we get to the end of the 90 day sprint where you're really thinking about your next steps of what's going to happen in January, what's going to happen when you actually.

Put this business out into the world. You want to be able to talk about your business with confidence and have that clear, almost elevator pitch of what it is that you offer. think about if you're sitting at your child's soccer game or you're in line at the grocery store, or in line for school pickup, and you're making small talk and someone says, oh, so what do you do?

Instantly. Instead of saying what you have done in the past, or maybe what your nine to five [00:14:00] job is, ideally you want to train your brain to start talking about your business. Hey, I actually just launched X, Y, Z company. Or actually, I'm just about to launch X, Y, Z business,

and I'm really excited about it. you want to write this elevator pitch about your business and why it's wonderful and why you're so excited about it. Have it written, practice it, and be able to say it when someone asks about what you're up to.

That is what you can start practicing and that will just be a bonus when it comes to preparing your business for a launch.

And trust me, it's always a little bit of an awkward conversation to have, especially the first few times, but it is something that you need to get used to doing as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, no one will promote your business like you will. And it's getting confident about why you're offering the best products or services and exactly who you're offering them to.

Make sure that you can direct people easily to your website, to your social media pages. [00:15:00] Ideally you want to have an easy way to share your business with the person you're talking to. You can have business cards of course, or quite a few of my clients actually have QR codes on their phone, so they have almost a mockup business card on their phone with a QR code.

And when they're talking to someone about that, they can just pull that up and the person can just link to it or take a photo of it. or. You can even text it to that person if it's a friend. But it's a nice, easy way to have it at the ready in your phone so that you can easily take that conversation to the next level by saying, Hey, let me share this with you.

If you know anybody who might be interested, feel free to pass it along. These are the easy ways for you to feel confident about all the work you've done in the past to get your business to this point, and then be excited about sharing it with the world. That's what it's really about. My friend, if you do these three steps that we've talked about and you do them consistently over the next 90 days, [00:16:00] you will be amazed at how ready you will feel by January. I promise you. I want to pause and remind you again, this is not about perfection. This is about progress. Too many women, women I've coached, women I'm friends with, , even myself at some points, feel like we cannot start something new until we are ready.

We feel like everything has to be perfect. But let me tell you, that is what stalls progress. And oftentimes, if we wait until that perfect time, when we feel ready, that is when we shut down, we go back to our normal lives and we forget that dream. We forget our goal because you'll never feel 1000% ready.

Never. This is why I wanted to talk about a 90 day sprint because I feel like this is the time of year where we are busy with everything. we're busy with school, we're busy with the holidays.

We think about everyone but ourselves, and that stress and overwhelm just [00:17:00] starts eating us up. And I can tell you from someone who is in it with you, I have sports on the calendar. My sons are in plays. I have my own business trips coming up soon. The calendar is full when I look at my shared Google Family calendar.

But I know that I have to take the time over the next 90 days for myself to achieve my business goals. And so I want you to do the same thing. Forget the busy calendar, forget what you have planned, and start focusing on these little small action steps you can take over the next 90 days. We've broken it down into three months of small action steps that you can find time to do in the pockets of your day.

Your business will never be perfect. But action is what builds that clarity. Taking those small steps over the next 90 days will add up.

Remember, you do not have to do this alone. Grab that free 90 day Sprint planner I told you about. It's in the show [00:18:00] notes, or head over to secondactsuccess.co/90days. This is your guide to staying consistent through the end of the year,

and if you want personalized support, I have my upcoming How to Start the Right Business Live Coaching Experience happening soon. It's October 21st, October 28th and November 4th. And we'll meet in a small group for three times over those three weeks.

I'll help you validate your business idea and make sure you're on the right track before you invest time, money, and energy into building it. You'll leave this experience with clarity and confidence that your idea is the right one for you. And of course, you can work with me one-on-one or join my second ACT accelerator program if you're ready for deeper support. All the details are on my website@secondactsuccess.co, and you can find them in the show notes below as well.

So my friend, here's your challenge. Just one more time. Don't wait for January 1st. Give yourself [00:19:00] this 90 day sprint and step into 2026 with a plan and an idea that you're confident in this is the momentum you need to bring your business to life. Trust me, you've got this and I'll be here cheering you on every step of the way.

Until next time, keep producing your best life. I am your business coach Shannon Russell, and I'll see you on the next episode of the Second Act Success Podcast.

 https://secondactsuccess.co/214