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Do I need to create/manufacture a product?

cottonbuds

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Hey everyone! I have been researching businesses to start. From a long term perspective, I feel like I almost need to develop a product and manufacture/build (self or outsourced) it to be successful. Wanted to see what peoples thoughts were.

I know people make money by marketing/reselling things from alibaba, selling their services etc but I hardly see such businesses on shark tank or raising venture capital. I can understand that It is all about what you see yourself as. Thoughts?
 
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Luk391

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Well, that is one of the key principles from MJ's books. Control.

The aim is to build a business which grows without 'you' being the key secret sauce. Once you build the systems in place (code /employees etc.) and the business can continue growing - that is what investors want. Building a brand is also important. You wont have a brand selling other people's stuff.

However, we all need to start somewhere and developing a skill to sell a service is a great first step towards independence and away from the 'script' or the 'slowlane'.

Hope this helps.
 

jpanarra

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Its not about the product, its about the need and the fact that you can help people with solving a need.

It can be anything from a service to a product. As long you're giving the payoff for the need that the people are willing to put up their dollars for it.

With time and experience you'll start shifting your mindset on how to help people and identifying needs everwhere, it becomes harder to decide which need will be the most profitable as opposed to finding a 'product'
 

Niptuck MD

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if there is enough need for you to innovate a product from scratch and try to get it through a niche then yes you are on the right path

check out @Eskil thread about his product and his process; give you an idea of what to expect and what he entailed.
 
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Eskil

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From a long term perspective, I feel like I almost need to develop a product and manufacture/build (self or outsourced) it to be successful. Wanted to see what peoples thoughts were. I know people make money by marketing/reselling things from alibaba, selling their services etc but I hardly see such businesses on shark tank or raising venture capital.

I highlighted the most important words right there. Long term.
Flipping stuff on Amazon from Alibaba (or dropshipping through Shopify) can be good short term, to learn the ropes of sourcing, listing, learning about selling, build up some cash, etc. But as @Luk391 pointed out - for long term - you're gonna want much more CONTROL. And that means owning your own stuff.

That could mean;
1) coming up with a product / idea that you could own the intellectual patent for and license out for royalties (Easiest, but with less earnings potential than 2 and 3)
2) taking an existing product and differentiating it enough to stand on its own (Moderate difficulty, with moderate to high potential)
3) creating and developing a new product from scratch (Hard difficulty, but with moderate to massive potential)

For 2 and 3, you should be focused heavily on branding, and building a good productocracy (see MJ's book "Unscripted ")

Creating and developing a product can be done a couple of different ways;
- after initial design and prototyping, you can outsource the actual production/manufacturing to a contract manufacturer (see my progress thread as an example)
or
- take on your own production for even more control (see @AllenCrawley 's progress thread here as an example)
 

cottonbuds

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Its not about the product, its about the need and the fact that you can help people with solving a need.

It can be anything from a service to a product. As long you're giving the payoff for the need that the people are willing to put up their dollars for it.

With time and experience you'll start shifting your mindset on how to help people and identifying needs everwhere, it becomes harder to decide which need will be the most profitable as opposed to finding a 'product'

Thanks for reminding me about the need part. Its easy to get lost in the maze of finding a product etc.
 

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