Product Stage Overview
Welcome to the Product Stage of the Fizzle Small Business roadmap. This is an exciting and essential stage because you’re going to create something to sell.
When we use the word “product,” what we actually mean is a source of revenue or revenue channel. For many of you, that will mean a digital product of some kind, like an online course or e-book. For others it might mean a physical product. For others, it might not mean product at all; instead you might earn revenue by providing services, through speaking, by selling advertising, or some other method. We use product and revenue channel interchangeably here at Fizzle.
As you plan and build your first revenue channel, keep in mind the bigger picture: you’re trying to prove your business hypothesis — that a problem exists for a group of people and you can solve it in a way they’re willing to pay for.
When to build your product
When you actually build your audience is up to you. Some people build an audience before building a product. Others start with a product first.
At this point, you should have already started the Audience Stage, and you should at least have a plan for how you’ll find your initial customers.
We recommend that you actually work on building both audience and product at the same time. Your potential customers should inform your product development. Their feedback is gold. The biggest risk you face as an entrepreneur is building something nobody wants. The best way to make sure you build something people want is to have conversations with those people. An audience of people interested in your chosen topic or problem is your best business-building resource.
After you finish building your revenue channel, you’ll make an offer to your potential customers to see if they buy. There’s a very good chance you’ll have to iterate on your business idea several times before you’ll earn enough profits to survive. This is completely normal.
As we said before, as you build your initial audience and your first product, don’t aim for perfect, aim for done. Your main goal is testing the hypothesis. The sooner you do that, the better, so you can avoid spending extra time and effort on the wrong direction.
In the next step, we’ll introduce several potential ways you could earn revenue, and you’ll chose one primary method. Click the button below to continue.