Do You Love Your Product?

I was reading Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt this past weekend and it made me realize two key things entrepreneurs need in today's world.

The first, as his title suggests, is a platform. It's not enough to plan, build, iterate, and test, you must also get the word out. An entrepreneur can't just rely on a social media person to be the voice of the company and brand; he or she must be their own primary salesperson and fan. Michael doesn't use a ghost writer for his blogging and social media since he believes it's obvious when you do so and not authentic.

The other thing every entrepreneur needs? A great product they love and use. Michael illustrates this with Apple and the cult they built. Part of what made Apple such a success was that Steve Jobs, who was their best spokesperson, built something he was proud to use and promote, which was obvious every time he took the stage.

Michael spends the first part of the book explaining how important it is to have a product that wows your customers. If you don't at least meet their expectations, no amount of marketing or brand building will do you any good.

So do you love your own product? Is it something you use and built for yourself and/or that you can't wait to use since you need it? If you can't say yes to the above, you're going to have a hard time selling this to others, whether internally to staff or externally to customers.

YourMBR is my second attempt at entrepreneurship. The first was offering a service to the publishing industry that I felt was needed but that I had a hard time convincing others to try...and that I didn't really enjoy working on. YourMBR represents not only the way I've learned and prefer to learn, but also a natural synergy between two of my passions: learning via business books and teaching/mentoring others. There is no comparison between the two startups or how I present them to others.

Just another reason to only build a business you love.

Can you think of a time something practically sold itself due to your passion for it?