Don't Make that mistakes

Product creation can be lucrative but you need to be able to avoid as many mistakes as possible. Even the largest companies make mistakes with product creation (Windows 8 anyone?) but they can usually better afford it that smaller product creators such as ourselves. Make sure you avoid these product creation mistakes:

1. No research

A common mistake made by inexperienced - or even experienced - product creators is ignoring the research.

It's far too easy to assume that just because you like the product, people will buy it. You can watch almost any episode of Dragons Den to see this in action. Seemingly the only person in the world who doesn't think something is a bad idea is the product creator themself - they think they've got a licence to print money and everyone else is just being awkward by not buying the product.

Research doesn't have to be extensive but you should at least check whether or not people are looking for a solution that your product will help solve.

2. Fills a need rather than a want

There are lots of things we need but that we aren't necessarily prepared to pay for.

Your best chance of success with product creation is to fill people's wants.

Apart from maybe an ultra games addict, I've yet to meet the person who needs the soon-to-be-released XBox but I know plenty of people who will likely be in the queue - or will have pre-ordered it - to be one of the first to get it on its release.

The same goes for games, DVDs and lots more.

Are they needed? No.

Do people want them? Yes.

Of course, most of us haven't got the kind of budget to whip up demand for products like that. But we can certainly target product areas where people have a higher chance of buying, so make sure that the product you create satisfies what people want to purchase.

3. Perfectionism

Striving for perfection is probably the downfall of more products that I care to mention.

No product will ever be perfect - not even yours!

So get over the idea of perfectionism and instead launch a product that is good quality but not necessarily totally perfect.

You can always offer updates to the product as you make them - these can either be free to existing buyers (maybe for a set amount of time) or chargeable.

Take a leaf from the book of software producers - there are always new versions coming out and they are just a way of life in that industry. But when you look around, you'll notice the same in almost every other industry. Even food, which has "new recipes" on a regular basis.