Chapter 17: Producing Your Product
If you’re producing a physical product, the process is going to be extremely bespoke to your business and whatever your product actually is. That being said, there’s a couple things to keep in mind regardless of what your product might be, and some common hurdles to watch out for when it comes to scaling the production of a physical product.
Step 1: Do it yourself!
Especially in the beginning, if you’re making a physical product, it’s best to at least be able to make it yourself. Unless you’re planning on dropshipping or selling a particularly common item (for example, clothing or jewelry), any physical products you sell should be directly tied towards whatever your personal expertise is. The main reason is that you need to be able to build prototypes or samples, test things, get feedback, and iterate on your design. Jumping straight into scaling production for v1 of a product is a definite no-go. Being able to design and create the first versions of your product in your basement or garage means you can iterate quickly, and you’ll also have working prototypes you can use to set up scaled production (note: this idea generally holds true for software as well).