Issue #351
Everything Is A Product
Have you ever found that you get a little paralyzed in action because of the “bigness” of it all?
What you’re working on is big. Perhaps kinda undefined. And you’re not exactly sure what to do next to get the big win.
Sure you have. We all have. And if you’ve never felt that in your business endeavors, you’re lying. 😉
A big part of the problem comes from not really defining the product.
A lot of people hear that word “product” and they think it just means something you can buy. But, nope. That’s incomplete.
Your product is a thing which is output. It is the end goal.
Sure, your product is your product. But…
- Your marketing is a product.
- Each blog post you create is a product.
- This very email is product.
- Support is a product.
- Your brand is a product.
- That video is a product.
You get the idea (hopefully).
Everything is a product. The big stuff… and the small stuff.
The product needs to be a finite piece of output. And you absolutely need to be able to define and name it. It can’t be some vague idea or a feeling. It needs to be specific so you can shoot for it.
Your overall business has a product. It is an outcome that others want that is exchangeable. They pay for that outcome. Now, can you name your product?
If you cannot quickly and easily name your product, then fix that ASAP. It is like the magnetic north on a compass. Without it, the compass just spins and means nothing. And what’s what a lot of budding entrepreneurs are busy doing, too.
You can have more than one, too. In fact, here’s my 2 valuable final products for the Blog Marketing Academy:
- Training that provides clarity and solutions to the problems people are having with their Wordpress sites and their online business.
- Well-running and converting websites for clients
See, this isn’t rocket science. It just means… being able to specifically name what your output is.
The output of my business – the product(s) people pay for – is training and websites that work. They find that valuable and they pay for it.
So, what’s your’s?
And don’t forget…
Everything is a product.
When you sit down to write that email to your list, that email is a product. It is a piece of output. It is usually much easier to define something like that because it is a smaller target, but it is the same idea. This issue of THE EDGE is a product. I know exactly what “done” looks like. And I sit down and bang it out.
So, whether something small and finite or the “big picture”, you need to be able to name your product.
And BTW…
A product isn’t a product unless it is DELIVERED.
You’ve gotta put a stamp on that bad-boy and kick it out the door.
A product can get better over time.
You can iterate. It is the process of Kaizen.
Bugs, features, improvements.
So, name your product. Name your deliverable.
Then do the work to make it.
Then log it. In other words, document it. Turn it into a system you can repeat. A task. A template.
Then, repeat. Iterate. Make the system better. Make better products.
That’s how a business is built right there. A process of continuous improvement. But, it all begins with being able to name your product.