In the last post, I talked about getting started with your online product and compared the process to creating a cupcake vs the whole cake.

Now we’ll look at how to decide which product to develop (because you have tons of ideas, right?)

To be successful, your product really only needs three things:

• Solve a problem

• People who want it

• A way to get paid

Before we get into the actual tools that you can use to develop your minimal viable product, it’s important to figure out who you’ve created this product for. So how do you figure that out?

Step 1: Identify The Problem  

• What areas do people generally ask you questions about?
• What pain-point can you solve for people?

Think in terms of problem and solution

Step 2: Who has this problem?

• Talk to people: Both online (in Facebook/LinkedIn and Google+ groups) and offline at networking events

• Pick up the phone and talk to key customers- it helps to have structured questions to start the conversation and to let them know how much of their time you will need.

• Survey your audience using a poll on Facebook, or using a survey tool like Survey Monkey or by creating a Google form.

• Use tools like Google Keyword Search to see how people are searching for problems that you are hoping to solve

STEP 2 is critical. It’s better to start with an interest list then creating a product that no one wants. And by surveying customers and talking to your audience you will get additional insights as to what problems your ideal customer is struggling with.

In the next post, we’ll start looking at easy low-cost ways to produce and deliver your online product.

Your turn:
Start investigating and figuring out who you would create your first online product for…Leave me a comment below and share the results of a survey you’ve done / or share a link to your survey!

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