Six questions to consider before starting a business

The start-up period is the day when those who work overtime frequently before they launch "successful" products, or days when you feel like you're in frustration and depression, after which the product really "fails." Before you think "I should think idea into products," you should ask yourself and then answer, so as to save your time and money.

1, I have time?

Before we talk about the content, the possibilities, the marketing, and so on, we have to make sure of the premise:

In the beginning I did not really think about it until after I resigned, when I had a lot of time left, and when I was working for myself, I had time to think about what I should do before the product was designed Going to what problems, and then to arrange things in order of time and priority to solve these problems.

If you do not resign, things at work can distract you. Of course, you can get a product out of two days a weekend, but if you think it's the way to make a product, you're wrong and the product needs to be fully thought out and planned, which takes a lot of time:

If you spend less than 5 hours per week on your product, you're not too serious. I am sure that most people who treat their products earnestly take more than 5 hours a week to devote themselves to as a touchstone of enthusiasm with the amount of "spare time."

● Why do I not want to spend more time? Or, what is hindering me to invest in this product?

● Home, work, TV shows, workouts? Things need to be prioritized.

● business before the more important thing not done?

Time should be spent on the cutting edge. If the product needs to attract a customer base, or your professional skills need to be improved, do not rush to design. This is a priority issue.

2, I have the professional skills needed for entrepreneurship?

Well, if you have time to go to school, are you ready to be an expert?

Imagine, would you like to learn to play from someone who does not know anything about the guitar? Apparently not. But I'm not saying that you have to be Vitas in order to sing the treble, but you have to prove that you are familiar with the product-related industry so that products are designed to have an advantage over their competitors.

Taking Hacking The High Life as an example, I wrote out information on each trip, newly discovered and posted videos on the website in line with the website's purpose of "improving the quality of life" and starting a business concept of "familiarity with the content." People recognize these real things, I succeeded in proving myself: relatively ordinary people, the content on the site made me enough to be called "experts."

The success of the site for granted. So you have to think about when you have ideas, what is the difference between you and others, where is your advantage, why do people choose you?

3, I will use their own products?

Even you are not willing to use, others are even more reluctant to use their own experience to create a product reputation it.

4, the product will have a customer base?

What is the success of a product? For example, how many blogs do you want to achieve this blog success? But this does not directly explain the problem, as I understand, many sites have a large number of subscribers, but they can not subscribers Converted into real revenue.

If you do something that you think is amazing, but sales have not risen, then you have to reflect on these so-called "improvement" really be regarded as improved? How they can be combined with profit?

It does not really improve, you have to understand customer needs, feedback on existing products, and then is to improve and add functionality. I've sent countless customer surveys to try to figure out what my blog's subscribers like or even their favorite typesetting, and based on that information figure out what I should do to make them work for me.

Is my hobby above this?

Every product I participate in is designed to be something that I like, and if you're just trying to make money without any passion for the product itself, then you're going to be slow. Not only customers can see this, but do not want to buy, you will feel the product design process is a torment.

Products to survive, you have to deal with customers, to seek ways to improve. For example, if you are designing a product on how to cook vegetables, you are more likely to be happy to exchange experiences with customers if you like the kitchen and eat vegetables.

About interest: you have to ask yourself the following questions:

● Is the idea of ​​the product relevant to what I usually study for free? If so, you will not regret it after you develop it. I think this is a good standard of judging if a creative is worth converting to a product.

● Why do you want to turn ideas into products? Just for money? The ideal blood in your body?

● Am I progressing? When Location Rebel was just online, I drew four blueprints for the new functionality of the site. No matter what you do, you have to compete in the forefront of the industry, know more than anyone else. Can you feel you are making progress? You have not retreated and must make continuous progress to adapt to the development of the world.

6, where is better than competitors?

Identify and assess your potential competitors, and Tencent, you need to understand the situation - the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your opponent.

Buy a copy of their product, use it professionally and judge, and find out strategies that make them successful - at least in some sense. This is not to make you copy, but to let you find ways to improve.

Do not think of anything to start, open market competition is too intense, do not be discouraged, competition means that this market has potential. If the product you are looking for can not find a competitor, either you find a gold mine or you are in the wrong direction.

Several questions about competition:

● How do I prove or disprove an idea? For example, Chris Guillebeau decisively killed his "travel experience promotion" website, but my website is in good condition. It also provides some tips to save money. How does he see the weakness of his website? This requires observation and summary.

What are the most powerful competitors in their product sales page which outstanding design? Know ourselves, know yourself, competitors can make even your recognized design, it is worth learning from.

● Should I talk to potential competitors? I always wanted to design a golf website. After doing some market research, I found there are already some similar websites in the market. I went to visit a webmaster, we drank a few glasses. After the discussion, I found myself encountering more difficulties than I imagined if my original ideas were put into practice - so I just "wanted to" design a golf website.

I raised a lot of questions, I hope you as an entrepreneur can answer one by one.

English Original: FIVE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE CREATING YOUR FIRST PRODUCT