Remember we started a challenge last week dedicated to Write a Business Plan Month? Go back and read the first post if you missed it. To sum up, we will be writing a success plan for 2022. You can choose to write your personal development plan or a corporate business plan for your company. They both have the same principles and we will guide your through it.
Last week we also described our desired Point B one year from now. Now, let's make a plan on how to get there.
Today's post is about your product because it is the core of your business and career. When we say product, we mean product OR service. We will shortly get to the assignment section. But before that, there is one thing to keep in mind.
Do not focus your product section of the plan on the product itself! It doesn't make much sense? Well, let us explain.
Your focus should be on the customer and the pain you are solving. If you stick to some external descriptions of your product and define them now for the whole year, you will be limiting yourself with unnecessary boundaries. What you need to determine is what problem your product is solving for the customer. During the year, you may be able to test different things and improve your product if it solves the pain faster and better. You may even come up with a whole new idea that will boost your value on the market as well.
For a faster version of the assignment, just answer the questions any way you want. If you want to spend more time on it and write a comprehensive plan - we added resource links.
What is the problem your product solves, and for whom? If it’s your current product – do a review of the last year to see what performed best, who were the customers, what features were most important for them. If you are developing a new product or want to work on improving an existing one, here is a comprehensive guide.
What are your product’s main strengths compared to how else the client can solve the same problem? What are the product’s weaknesses, and how can you overcome them? These are S and W parts of a SWOT analysis. Read more about it here.
What is the price for the product (for freelancers, it’s your hourly rate)? How can you improve your product so that the clients are ready to pay more? They will always be ready if their problem gets solved faster and more efficiently. Here is more practical information on how to do it.
How do you produce the product? For physical products, this part is obvious, so let’s talk about services.
If you currently provide the service yourself, is there a way to delegate parts and produce more at the same time? Do some of your services take more time and effort than the others while bringing the same revenue? Then you need to find the service that earns to most income in the least time and then think about ways to perform more of it.