Never fall in love with a product to a point that you don’t realize when it’s time to cut your losses.
This pertains to ideas, concepts and services as well.
We should never fall in love with a product so much that you become delusional about its success.
No matter how much we might love a product we have created, we ultimately have to listen to the marketplace.
Many of us make the mistake of falling in love with a product/idea and it clouds our judgement and decision making.
We later find out there is no demand for our product in the marketplace, yet we keep pushing the product at our own expense.
Of course it’s only natural that we are going to love the thing that we have worked so hard on.
But our product can’t be our obsession to the point that it leads to our own detriment.
Becoming somewhat detached from our product is advantageous so that we can be honest about the elements that don’t work.
You gotta know when to fold ’em
This famous know when to fold ’emKnow when to fold 'em is a popular saying based on a Kenny Rogers song and poker slang. 'You have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em'. It means knowing the difference between when you have a good hand to play and folding your hand when you don't. More saying is based on playing poker, instructing us on how to win with the cards we are dealt.
It tells us to play our hand when we are dealt good cards, and to fold when we have a bad hand.
Similarly, we have to cut our losses when a product is not working.
It doesn’t matter how much time, energy, and money we put into it.
If there is no demand for our product, then we should revise, pivot or scrap it altogether.
After making that difficult decision, we can discard the attributes that didn’t work and build upon the elements that do.
Along my entrepreneurial journey I’ve created numerous products, and some of the ones that I liked the most were the least successful.
Over time I had to learn to develop products based on research.
To find the elements that exist in the market and are popular, and use my creativity to improve upon what already exists.
The best products are usually iterations of those that already exist.
Sometimes we can create something that is awesome but the timing isn’t right.
Through trial and error we will be able to create an idea/product/service that is in harmony with consumer demands.
