A business’s success can be measured by the money it’s making after costs. After failing with many projects of my own and failing to understand why, it finally clicked!
Okay, it wasn’t as fast as you read it. Let me give you some backstory...
I always thought I had to be unique in my ideas! That applied both when I was thinking about what my next project would be and when I was working to find solutions for my clients, for people I worked for.
I first realised that the technical solutions I needed for products were actually, literally there. Like, if there were a way to match many of the technical problems in the programming world to a wiki article, we could! Many software developers are working on problems that have already been solved. They just need their version of the solution.
Often, your problem has already been solved; it’s new to YOU only.
I used to think companies were evil for copying each other. I also thought they were run inefficiently and poorly because they kept copying other companies’ products, designs, and solutions.
I’m talking about mobile OS wars, home electronics, blow dryers. Well, sometimes even more granular things like a single feature: giant app makers like Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook all “stealing” Snapchat’s Stories, as I saw it!
They didn’t need to come up with a new feature just as big as the already proven Stories feature to stay in the competition. They could use a feature that was already working, that people already wanted! Exactly what they did!
In-app voice and video calling features were introduced into instant messaging apps. Some added them before others, but many eventually added both! Different launch dates don’t tell us why each company introduced them later. But responding to demand can be part of that decision. I tend to think it is!
I started to realise that these companies weren’t necessarily copying because they were incapable of coming up with something new. Some may have been! But using something people already wanted could be a deliberate choice.
That’s what clicked for me. I needed to be where people were already looking.
When I choose a product to build, I have to validate that there’s demand, that there are already people looking for a solution. And if I want to make money from it, I need to understand whether they’re ready to pay.
People looking for a solution doesn’t automatically mean they’ll pay for one. And even when they’re ready to pay, I still have to reach them and give them a reason to choose mine.
Imagine that people are all gathered in different groups based on their needs. And there are merchants around them selling stuff. Those people would be grouped around the merchants whose goods they need. And you also want to serve these people.
Now tell me whether it’d be easier for you to sell them what they’re already out in the market for, or to put your time and effort into creating goods without speaking to anybody, without knowing whether or not people need them.
I can still create something new. But being unique doesn’t answer whether anybody wants it.
If I build without understanding that, making the business work could require a MASSIVE megaphone, with me shouting my ass off, trying to turn enough heads and also convince enough of those people to buy so the business doesn’t fail.
A few potentially big problems here:
- The massive megaphone could be too expensive.
- You may not be a marketing expert who knows how to position yourself in the right spot to shout from.
- You may not be a marketing expert who knows what to shout to turn heads.
- You may not be a marketing expert who knows precisely what to say to convert those people into customers.
Do you see how many marketing-related points there are up there? You can use different words, but you’d still be talking about marketing!
Apple and Google have massive megaphones. So does the rest of the corporate world! And even they fail. A LOT.
What I should really be doing is:
- Understand what people already want and whether they’re willing to pay for it.
- Spend less energy trying to make every idea unique and more energy building something that meets that demand.
- Be where people are already looking, and give them a reason to choose my product.
Building iPhone apps and getting downloads, or building websites and making sales, is actually already part of this. But we don’t always see things that way!
Think about it this way: do you think people would be as comfortable downloading apps and subscribing to them, going on websites and typing in their credit card details to spend their hard-earned money, without the collective work that companies and individuals have put into this?
People are already used to buying online. Some of that work has been done for us. I still have to validate demand for what I’m offering and do the work to reach those people.
That’s the change in how I think about my next product. I don’t have to start with a unique idea. I have to start by understanding what people want.
When people are lined up to pay and ready to get their wallets out, be there to take your cut!
Be where people are already looking.