1. KNOW YOUR ROLE
A good example of “play to your strengths” is military veterans who start a landscaping company. Veterans are used to hard physical work and the need for clear and concise leadership, both traits that are needed for the labor and management involved in landscaping.
Let me be clear, just because an idea you have for a product or company requires strengths that you may not have does not mean that you should abandon it. Admittedly, if you are not used to hard physical work and don’t have leadership experience, starting a landscaping company by yourself won’t make much sense.
This isn’t saying that you MUST have certain attributes to start a product or services company, just that if you want to succeed, someone on your team should. As an example, I have very little marketing experience and my partner Shelly does not have a lot of product design experience, but in Pretty Knotty we are able to balance each other with both.
2. KNOW YOUR LIMITS
I know several people who work an 18-hour day, 7 days a week for months on end. My old neighbor would regularly pull an all-nighter every week, without issues. I had a friend in college with a photographic memory. These traits are great, but they are anomalies.
Know your limits, because it is very easy to bite off more than you can chew. I certainly have! For me, if I don’t get at least 6 hours of sleep, I’m not going to function well the next day, let alone the week, if I keep that schedule up. It doesn’t matter how great your idea is if you’re too tired to work on it.
Hubris overtook me and I once tried to interview with a product development company, thinking I could do their job, only to realize that between the two partners they have 50 years of product development experience! I may be able to learn a lot on YouTube, but there’s no video or series of videos that will give me the knowledge of 50 years in business!
It’s not reasonable to assume you will become an expert in any skill overnight, or even in 6 months. If being an expert is essential to your idea, understand it will take some time and cannot be “hacked” by all-nighters and cram sessions.
Let’s say you have an idea for a new pair of jeans, and you’re a great seamstress. You’re not really knowledgeable about retail or manufacturing, and you’re not too enthusiastic about branding. You can either learn these things or you need to find partners to fill those positions; otherwise you’re just a seamstress with an idea, which brings us to…
3. FILL YOUR GAPS WITH PARTNERS, NOT MONEY
Beware of the trap of filling your personal skill gaps with money, not partners. A friend of mine wanted to make a social media website for sports, but knew very little about social media, a lot about sports, and a tiny bit about marketing. They hired out contractors for many of these things, which got the job done, but only worked as long as there was money flowing in.
Another important thing that a partner brings to the table is credibility. If you cannot convince one other person that your idea is valid, how are you going to convince an investor, let alone the market? I have been a contractor on projects that were cringe worthy, but as I was getting paid only to produce, it was none of my business to offer suggestions.
That being said, it’s fair to outsource specific paid tasks to others, such as creating a website, making a 3D rendering, and 3D printing a product, but make sure to ask for constructive feedback. I can think of several projects that I have nipped in the bud and saved thousands of dollars from going to waste, because I was given the chance to offer suggestions. In general, when you outsource a job to a paid contractor, it’s most likely unsustainable.
4. MAKE IT WORK
As eloquently stated by Tim Gunn of Project Runway and 3M Command Strips, you have to, “Make it work.” But what does that mean, besides having a functional product or service? You have to make the business model work. For a service such as landscaping, you have to offer what the market needs.
If you’re living in an area that’s mostly desert, your landscaping will not involve a lot of evergreen trees or Kentucky bluegrass. If your immediate market is mostly commercial in nature, there will be far fewer complicated floral arrangements or topiaries.
When I think of a good pair of jeans, comfort and fit are on the top of my list. Unless your brand name is JNCO, the market is not looking for a bad-fitting uncomfortable pair of jeans. However, as a devil’s advocate, stores such as Rugged Wearhouse have done well by selling factory rejects; bear in mind though, their prices, perception and therefore profits are much lower, so it’s not a great strategy to start out with.
5. BECOME OK WITH BEING WRONG
In my sophomore year of Industrial Design, one of my most vivid memories is the story of a doorknob. Our stolid and polished professor pointed to a door, specifically to the doorknob. He told us how this particular doorknob took a year to design to perfection. In a world of just-in-time and “need this yesterday,” a year seemed like an eternity, until I developed a product.
My wife echoes the sentiments of many seasoned inventors when she suggested to me that if my idea passed muster in the eyes of someone who wasn’t my fan, it was ready. It could be your neighbor, it could be your moody teenager, it could be your sister in law, there’s probably someone in your life who’s a naysayer. It will take a lot of work to make a naysayer approve, but when an ardent naysayer likes your idea, you’re well on the way.