Timothy Ferriss, author of 4 Hour Work Week, has an interview up with Stephen Kay, inventor. While they don't necessarily reflect the same market or methodology of 'making it' that we may be targeting here there is one especially good point that cannot be repeated enough.

"Spend very little time or money on a project before you get feedback from manufacturers."

This is basically the same idea as getting your project done and out in the market as soon as possible. Make adjustments as you go along and as the market demands, you won't get it exactly right all the time and spending time making something 'perfect' in your mind may be really spent moving a product away from what the market really needs. Or maybe there won't be any demand at all and then you're just wasting time that could have been spent making a different product.

Take as little time as is necessary to produce a quality product and get it out there. Maybe you won't have a flawless system in place for production or fulfillment or your sales copy will suck, but get it out there and get feedback.

"You’re not selling your prototype or patent. You are selling the benefits of your idea."

This goes back to writing sales copy - list benefits, not features. I'm still struggling with this one - probably because of my software engineering background, but it bears repeating. What benefits will the end user get out of purchasing your product? Why yours instead of someone elses?

Stephen Kay has an interesting approach to generating recurring income and it's something that I may try in the future.

Read the whole interview here.

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