🎒 What you need

paper
pencil
one hour outside with a grown-up's permission

✋ Do this

Walk to the market, the church yard, the kombi stop or the borehole queue. Take your paper.
Listen. Every time somebody complains about something, write it down in their own words. Get ten complaints. 'The prices board is faded.' 'Nobody can read my sign.' 'My daughter's homework defeats me.'
Beside each complaint write WHO said it. A trader? A mother? A driver? A teacher?
Circle the three complaints you heard more than once. Repeat means many people, and many people means customers.
On a fresh page draw one big face — your customer. Write their name, what they sell or do, and the one thing that annoys them. Pin this face on your wall. This is who your shop will serve.
Show the face to a grown-up and say out loud: 'This is my customer.'

💡 Why it works

Businesses that fail usually start with 'what do I like making?' Businesses that live start with 'what is annoying people right here?' You cannot invent a complaint from your bedroom — you have to go where people are and let them tell you. Ten complaints on paper is real research, and you did it with no phone and no money.

🔥 Challenge

Find one complaint that costs somebody money every single week. Those are the best ones.

📖 New words

customerthe person who will pay you, not the person who likes you

problemthe annoying thing your customer would pay to make go away

👂

Complaint Catcher

Tap when you have finished this module.