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.

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

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Karina is VP of Operations and HR at 24/7 Teach.

A version of this was originally posted on Business Common Sense blog.

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