How to Get Your Product Done

Here’s a comment that popped up on the blog this week, and it is one that I hear all the time, so I just had to address it as this week’s QnA. It’s the old, “I’ve been working on a product for years but I’m still not done” dilemma.

Q: I’ve wanted to make a series of educational videos for a couple of years and have been seriously working on my first video for 6 months! My problem is that I’m too much of a perfectionist when it comes to making a product. That perfectionism is totally holding me back.

Answer:
Allow me to be blunt. (“As if” I have any other mode of communication…)

The reason why you don’t have your product done is because you are selfishly protecting yourself from the criticism of others.

(Maybe you’re worried about being called a “salesman”, by someone on the Internet that you’ll never, ever meet in person?)

Just understand that while you are protecting yourself, you are hurting the people who need your help the most.

You are hurting the men and women who need your information and guidance more than you need their money.

Every day that you hold back on finishing your e-book or DVDs, is another day of pain for your readers.

Every time that you decide not to send an email out because you don’t want to be “thought of as a pushy salesperson”, you are FAILING the very people you’ve devoted your life to helping.

Every day that your prospects are out there buying some other product that doesn’t work, they are suffering from MORE and MORE frustration and pain. And it’s not only hurting them, but it’s hurting the ones they love.

How do I know this is true?

Because of Weight Watchers, and how they failed my mom.

Let’s go back to 1979. I’m sitting in an “ugly green boat” that was my Mom’s car. We lived on the outskirts of the city, and we were driving home from town one morning and I was in the front seat…

(Back in the 70’s, kids could ride anywhere, and I doubt that thing even had seat belts. Fortunately, it was probably indestructible).

And even though it was a bright sunny day, I could tell that my Mom was upset. So I turned to her from my over-sized seat in that giant car, and said, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

She looked down at me, and though she wasn’t crying, even as a little boy at 4-years old, I could tell she was upset, and she said, “Oh well, the scale didn’t change at Weight Watchers today.”

Weight Watchers failed her…and everyone else who had a solution that my Mom didn’t know about failed her too.

And because no one has solved my Mom’s problems, she was sad, and it ruined the day for a 4-year old boy.

In fact, that one day, that one memory, is one of the main reasons that 20 years later I went on to build a fitness business that helps men and women all over the world, because I don’t want anyone to feel as helpless as my Mom – and I – did that day.

Do you get the point?

You don’t have to sell “weight loss to women” to understand this example.

You could sell advice on rebounding from a divorce, or protecting someone’s financial assets, or helping someone get a date, or career advice for the newly unemployed.

It doesn’t matter what you sell.

But what DOES matter is that you have potential clients out there who NEED your help more than you need their money.

Every day that your product sits half-finished on the hard-drive of your computer, you are crushing the souls of 4-year old boys and girls everywhere.

Every day that you don’t get your “credit repair system” into the hands of good folks who are in debt, they are arguing at their kitchen table while their poor little children stand at the top of the stairs and listen.

You are scarring those kids for life.

How does it feel to know that your potential clients are going to bed with tears in their eyes tonight?

(By the way, if you don’t like today’s email, blame Weight Watchers, not me.)

Listen, this is not about making money. This is not even about YOU.

This is about the people that you COULD be helping, but aren’t, because you just don’t want someone to send you an email saying that you’re a “jerk” because you’re trying to sell something.

But you MUST get over that. Stop thinking about the 1 or 2 negative emails you’ll get, and focus on the thousands of people that you’ll help, and the hundreds of success stories you’ll receive every year, if not every month.

Because if you can help people who were as frustrated as my mom was that day, then you are nothing short of an angel.

You are bringing extreme value to the world by solving other people’s problems. And you will be rewarded with the income you deserve, but ONLY when you finally GET IT DONE.

The more people you help, the more you will make.

The more you MAKE, the more you can HELP.

Are you getting this?

So no matter what you do – whether you write info products on protecting your family during emergencies, or helping people with fat loss, or helping folks get out of debt, or whatever…

Please realize that you MUST get your product DONE so it can HELP someone.

And don’t tell me that your market is too crowded. That’s bull. There is still plenty of opportunity for you if you are a value creator. There will always be opportunity and rewards for you if you can solve someone’s problem.

But first, you have to GET IT DONE.

If that doesn’t motivate you to bolt the doors, turn off the phone, and avoid the internet for a few hours to finish your product, then frankly nothing I can ever say will help you.

So just remember…

Every day that you don’t have it done…someone hurts.

Think about that,

Craig Ballantyne

“I have no significant competitors but myself.” – Dan Kennedy