Product Habits - Taking action on advice

How To Turn Advice Into Action

I couldn't help but smile when I read the first line of this article: "A funny lie of adult life is pretending we'll act on the advice we collect." How often do you revisit bookmarks, re-read book highlights, or re-open old documents? Probably not a lot. I like Julian Shapiro's thoughts on how to take action on advice by using a strategy he calls "Starting Principles." This is one of the most honest and helpful things I read this past week.

The Four Nuances of Fulfilling Work

The pandemic created a shift in the way people think about work. I've had countless conversations with folks placing more value on professional freedom and fulfillment than ever before. This short and sweet podcast episode explores passion vs. purpose, internal vs. external validation, and ultimately finding work that will give you a realistic sense of fulfillment.

How To Kill Your Business

I'm a big fan of inverting problems and considering all of the ways something might not work. Arvid Kahl uses that approach to consider all of the ways a founder could make sure a business will fail. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I appreciate the truth in this read. Let this serve as a gentle reminder to validate your ideas, hold off on quitting your job prematurely, and document your business processes along the way. 

Feature Parity

You'd be hard-pressed to find an IT team that doesn't want to improve and optimize aging applications with a new technology stack. But feature parity isn't an easy road. If you're thinking about building a new system with the same features using an updated tech stack, read this first. It's a solid walkthrough of the process and what you should look out for when making the switch. 

The Best and Worst of Times To Build a New SaaS Product

It's never been easier to build a product, but it's also never been harder to reach customers. Your potential customers are inundated with solicitations and sales pitches from other builders—both direct competitors and those in totally unrelated spaces. This article summarizes the challenge well. The big takeaway: The problem won't be building your product; it'll be getting attention and finding the right market for it. 

The Most Helpful Marketing Framework

I've seen plenty of marketers spend too much time on the work around the most important work. If you want to create more focus, it's worth creating a GACC (goals, audience, creative/unique take, channels/distribution) brief. It'll provide you with a creative focus and orient you around the results you're looking to drive—whether you're working on a blog post or a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. Here is a simple process you can follow to create one.

Community Does Not Equal Marketing

No doubt about it: Having a strong community is a distinct competitive advantage. But simply having a community doesn't mean your marketing work is done for you. If you want to make your community a force multiplier for your business, building and focusing on a designated "go-to-community" strategy is important. This read will inspire you to create one. 

How To Ethically Boost Your Revenues

This is a simple but impactful case study about how to use mobile CTAs more effectively. As you walk through this, notice how significant but simple the proposed changes are. It shows that optimizing design and boosting revenue doesn't have to be expensive or even time-consuming. If you look at your product from your customer's point of view, you're likely to find at least a few small ways you can better capture their attention.