Failure

Don’t rush into action
Great ideas fail because we put the idea first instead of the problem it solves
offer + customer = product
- If you don’t have a customer, you don’t have a product
- You can even pre-sell something that doesn’t exist (no product, or really the “product” is the promise of the product later), if you have a customer

3 questions to make a product you know will sell

Ask “How do I make a product I know will sell?” instead of “I made a product. How do I sell it?”
“Why do people buy?”
- how?
- what?
  - buy on value
    - money- “Give me $50, an d I^{'} ll g i v eyo u$ 75 next week”
    - pain- “Stop struggling with that task”
- when?
- how much?
- The 3 questions: What do they need? Want? Buy?

This led to Stunning: an automated dunning tool for businesses using Stripe.

This led to an ebook that helps designers learn CSS.

This led to a leads email service.

This led to an ebook on choosing the right paint colors.

This led to a litter box that cleans itself.

A demographic (women, Republicans) is not an audience
Rules for choosing an audience:
- Audience must hang out online together
  - They might even if you think they don’t
- Audience must buy on value
- Belong to your audience
  - can serve
    - peers (people who are what you are)
      - “Can you show me how to do that one thing you do?” If you can ever answer this question while working, you can serve your peers.
    - people who aspire to be what you are
      - more work because you have to bootstrap them into basic skills
    - people who hire what you are
      - products that replace your service
      - makes for an easier transition from serving clients to making products
      - can segue into client relationships (get leads)
“Expert” just means there is someone behind you and someone ahead of you. Not an absolute position.

Web developers (aspiring)

They are professional, but only after they’ve made the transition I’m trying to take them through (aspiring dev to working dev)
- They do spend a lot of money to make the transition though. Coding bootcamps are a huge moneymaker ($12-16k) and on-demand learn to code courses are popular and sometimes pricey.
After they’ve spent money on a bootcamp, they don’t have much left for anything else, even though the bootcamps often do a poor job helping them transition into careers.