The Fastest Way to Go From "Idea" to "Product"
If you're an entrepreneur you know all about the "idea".
You could be out for a walk or driving in your car or even sitting in front of your computer when suddenly the "idea" comes.
That perfect idea for a great new product that you know your customers are going to love.
The question is what to do with this great idea? How do you go from great idea to finished product to cashing checks? Too many times we let the weeks go by with very little progress on our new product and eventually we come to the realization that no one can buy an idea, they can only purchase finished goods.
In my years as both a corporate employee and solo entrepreneur, I have led dozens - probably hundreds - of products from the idea stage to the completed stage.
I have found that the best technique to use is visualization.
Now I know you've heard all about visualization from athletes and other people who say you must visualize your work before you can complete it.
You must see yourself as a success and feel yourself as a success.
But that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about something much more practical.
I'm talking about visualizing your final product.
Picturing in your head exactly what the customer is going to see when he or she opens the package.
Let me give you an example.
Suppose you have a great idea for a new information product.
You have 25 great tips for copywriters that you think will become an excellent home study course.
The first step is to think of these 25 tips and try to picture exactly what format they will take when the customer finally sees them.
Is this an idea that you would like to turn into a $1,995.
00 kit? The giant box of stuff? Or do you see this more as a special report or in the book the chill sell for $19.
97? Or is it something in between? As you think about the content that you have, and the content that you will need to create, you will eventually start to see in your mind the pile of materials that you'll be able to sell.
You can begin to picture how the customer will want to use these materials, and that information would lead you to decide on a final format.
Here is the cool part: Once you know what the final product is going to look like it becomes like a template in your head with a blank slots that you need to fill.
For example, you might decide that your 25 great tips should be in the format of four audio CDs, along with a spiral bound workbook, a three ring binder holding the transcripts to the CDs, and a bonus Quickstart video DVD.
With this template in mind you can start to make a checklist for yourself.
In this case you would need four scripts - one for each audio CD, plus another script for the Quickstart video DVD.
The script for each CD could then be further broken down into exactly which tips you will cover on each one.
Suddenly the overwhelming project becomes much more manageable, and you can begin knocking out one or two topics a day until the first script is complete.
This simple act of visualizing what the final product will look like, and creating checklists for its completion, will instantly turn your overwhelming project into a series of manageable steps that you will be able to complete faster than you ever thought possible.
You could be out for a walk or driving in your car or even sitting in front of your computer when suddenly the "idea" comes.
That perfect idea for a great new product that you know your customers are going to love.
The question is what to do with this great idea? How do you go from great idea to finished product to cashing checks? Too many times we let the weeks go by with very little progress on our new product and eventually we come to the realization that no one can buy an idea, they can only purchase finished goods.
In my years as both a corporate employee and solo entrepreneur, I have led dozens - probably hundreds - of products from the idea stage to the completed stage.
I have found that the best technique to use is visualization.
Now I know you've heard all about visualization from athletes and other people who say you must visualize your work before you can complete it.
You must see yourself as a success and feel yourself as a success.
But that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about something much more practical.
I'm talking about visualizing your final product.
Picturing in your head exactly what the customer is going to see when he or she opens the package.
Let me give you an example.
Suppose you have a great idea for a new information product.
You have 25 great tips for copywriters that you think will become an excellent home study course.
The first step is to think of these 25 tips and try to picture exactly what format they will take when the customer finally sees them.
Is this an idea that you would like to turn into a $1,995.
00 kit? The giant box of stuff? Or do you see this more as a special report or in the book the chill sell for $19.
97? Or is it something in between? As you think about the content that you have, and the content that you will need to create, you will eventually start to see in your mind the pile of materials that you'll be able to sell.
You can begin to picture how the customer will want to use these materials, and that information would lead you to decide on a final format.
Here is the cool part: Once you know what the final product is going to look like it becomes like a template in your head with a blank slots that you need to fill.
For example, you might decide that your 25 great tips should be in the format of four audio CDs, along with a spiral bound workbook, a three ring binder holding the transcripts to the CDs, and a bonus Quickstart video DVD.
With this template in mind you can start to make a checklist for yourself.
In this case you would need four scripts - one for each audio CD, plus another script for the Quickstart video DVD.
The script for each CD could then be further broken down into exactly which tips you will cover on each one.
Suddenly the overwhelming project becomes much more manageable, and you can begin knocking out one or two topics a day until the first script is complete.
This simple act of visualizing what the final product will look like, and creating checklists for its completion, will instantly turn your overwhelming project into a series of manageable steps that you will be able to complete faster than you ever thought possible.
