Challenge or threat?

Did you have a go at the product challenge yesterday? It’s a 10 minute exercise to see if you can uncover a profitable service to offer as a product (my bet: you can).

I’ve thrown this at people in person, and the reaction is mixed.

• Some people love being challenged in this way and give it a go.
• Some people try hesitantly, half expecting they won’t uncover anything useful.
• Some people just wave it off instantly and say “nah, no chance – I couldn’t do that”.

I serendipitously saw the phrase “Challenge or Threat” in another article today and connected it to this – that last point above makes me think that group of people possibly sees the challenge as some sort of threat.

• Perhaps a threat to the security of what they have: lots of projects and clients; varied work; no two jobs ever the same.
• Or perhaps a fear that by creating a product, their work will become just that product forever.
• Or the threat to their time, believing they couldn’t possibly squeeze yet another thing into their days, especially one that looks so massively different to everything else they offer.

If nothing else, I believe having a lack of time is a perfect signal that building a product (or several) might be due.

Certainly not for everyone, but if you’ve been on the starting blocks with building a more consistent set of offerings… now might be your time.

Give yesterday’s challenge another go, or try the free 10-day bootcamp.