You Can Start a Business Without a Product

You think I’m kidding, right? How can you have a business without a product?

There are quite a few ways to start a business without having a physical product.

• • • • • Provide a service
        • Create a digital product
        • Sell other people’s products
        • Make money with online advertising
        • Form a joint venture with someone who has a product

I’ve talked about the third way before. It’s known as affiliate marketing and I discussed it when I wrote about not needing a lot of money to start your own business. I also explained that it helps you minimize your risk.

There’s something else you can do to increase your chances of business success, whether or not you decide to pursue an affiliate marketing strategy. Before you choose any product or service to sell, find a target market that you want to serve and find out from the people there what they actually want to buy.

Find out what price they’re willing to pay. Find out how they want the product delivered to them. Find out as much as possible about what they want, then find the product that meets their needs.

For example, suppose you’re thinking about helping people organize their garages better so they have room to put all their stuff AND their cars inside. Find out if their biggest problem is what to do with sports and recreational gear, lawn and outdoor gardening equipment, kids’ toys, out of season clothing, family memorabilia, or something else.

Find out if they prefer to use built-in shelving solutions, portable containers, or off-site storage. You might think you know how they should solve their problem, but if you’re wrong, they won’t buy what you’re selling. Get it? You’ll save lot of energy by listening to what your potential customers and clients have to say.

There goes your “I can’t start a business because I have nothing to sell” excuse.

I practice what I preach and I’d love to have your input so I can help you start and run a successful business.

Please check out the resources at the Business Startup Success Club. Then come back here and tell me what else I can do for you.

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