3 Important Questions
- What is this product trying to do? Am I trying to change the world, or is this just something to pay the bills?
- Is this product new, or an iteration of a pervious product?
- What determines the success or failure? At what point am I done; at what point do I give up.
Most people will ask themselves at least one of these questions at the start of a new venture. But it is important that we ask all three. A combination of these answers can reveal a lot about your business model.
You might have one approach if you are “trying to change the world” and your product is new; however, if your product is just an iterative idea, things should change. New products often take longer to make a serious impact. You cannot expect a new product to catch on overnight, so your failure point should change as well.
Define your product, design your product, deliver.
Be creative.
Seth Godin brings up a great point on patience and points out that often the people who stick it out are the ones who succeed.
…the strategy still takes forever. The strategy is the hard part, not the tactics.
Seth Godin
“often the people who stick it out are the ones who succeed.”
This is tricky. To determine when to quit or be patience and stick it out. Are you being patient or just stubborn? I know I’m stubborn but I try not to over do it.
@Hjortur Smarason
It’s true, sometimes stubbornness can be mistaken for “sticking it out”. I think the difference comes in your story. To test this, instead of trying to sell your story (product, website, business model, etc.) through the product; try selling it to a friend or a random person on the street.
If you can’t get your story across to them and convince them that what you are doing is a good idea in less than 30 seconds, then your story needs work.
If you are trying to sell a bad story, you’re being stubborn.