Where’s the best place to do market research?

[CinnamonBun]

I’m a qualified careers coach with a decade of experience in Higher Education.
I’ve been wanting to set up my own business for some time now and am thinking about pitching it to parents, especially given the latest Milburn report. Thinking about offering:

• Career planning for teenagers
• University and apprenticeship decision support
• Graduate job search coaching
• LinkedIn and CV reviews
• Interview preparation
• Parent consultations

But I need to know whether parents would actually pay for this.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Shopclicks]

I can tell you there's plenty of Google search volume for 'careers coach' and plenty of businesses offering the service. It's probably a good idea to niche down on the school-leaver age group as most of the search results are aiming for a more mature age bracket.

You also need to look at the free services available and market yourself to the higher income parents.

I met someone last year who provides a private school recommendation service for higher income families. She's still in business a year later. There's money out there for all sorts of guidance.

This sort of guidance is something AI is creeping into. You'll need to be all over that.

Is this a service that needs to stay local or can you take on remote clients?

 

[StrategyDoctor]

Don’t quit the day job yet, but run this as a side hustle first so you protect your personal cash while you test market demand.

Use your existing access to parents (plus Facebook groups, school networks, etc.) to validate or dismiss ideas quickly rather than overthinking “market research”. You believe there is a demand, so test it.

You challenge is not necessarily demand in theory, it’s what value you bring in practice. Will parents pay, how much will they pay, and why will they pay?

Then you need to understand how many clients per week you’d need to make it viable.

Start small, test offers, pricing and messaging, and see what converts.

There are a few ways to structure and validate this, but it’s essentially a simple business plan and lead-gen exercise built around Know–Like–Trust.

Ask your self what’s the first paid offer you could test in the next 30 days?
Do it and see what happens

 

[Millicentdigit]

I’m a qualified careers coach with a decade of experience in Higher Education.
I’ve been wanting to set up my own business for some time now and am thinking about pitching it to parents, especially given the latest Milburn report. Thinking about offering:

• Career planning for teenagers
• University and apprenticeship decision support
• Graduate job search coaching
• LinkedIn and CV reviews
• Interview preparation
• Parent consultations

But I need to know whether parents would actually pay for this.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.

I think some parents would definitely pay for this, particularly those who feel out of touch with the current graduate job market, apprenticeships, or university admissions process.

The bigger challenge may be identifying exactly who the buyer is and what problem you're solving for them. Career planning, CV reviews, interview coaching and parent consultations all sound useful, but they may appeal to different audiences at different stages.

If I were in your position, I'd consider testing demand with a more focused offer first. For example, helping Year 11-13 students decide between university, apprenticeships and direct employment, or helping final-year students secure their first graduate role.

You already have a strong advantage in having 10 years of relevant experience. Before investing heavily in a business launch, it might be worth speaking to parents directly, running a few paid pilot sessions, and seeing which services generate the most interest and referrals.

It sounds like a logical extension of the work you're already doing, and I'd be interested to hear what feedback you get from parents.