7 mistakes I've learned working for clients for 7 years
I was doing custom software development for 7 years. I started as a freelancer. I was coding website front-end, creating the design, and running marketing campaigns occasionally. Later, I founded a dev agency with 9 people in our team.
I decided to sum up and share 7 mistakes many of my clients were doing building their products 👇
#1 They don’t validate the idea 🤦♂️
❌ They have a project idea that they think is unique and it will make a fortune for them. They are afraid to share it with anybody.
✅ Talk to people. Share the project ideas with as many people as you can and ask for feedback.
#2 They skip a minimum viable product 🤦♂️
❌ They don’t think about some basic version where they can test their assumptions and onboard first customers.
✅ Start with a small product or feature. Build a product around it later on.
#3 They focus too much on details early on 🤦♂️
❌ They want to have a beautiful logo, a nice user interface, rocket speed website loading, pixel-perfect web design...
✅ Don’t waste time playing with the product and ship it as soon as possible.
#4 They don’t plan a budget for future development 🤦♂️
❌ They are paying to get a final product. But software development is not like making bread. Your product will never be final.
✅ Plan your product development. Iterate. Bring new features in cycles.
#5 They don’t have a business plan 🤦♂️
❌ They trust their gut and invest money into it without a business plan or cash flow.
✅ Create a simple business plan, calculate your expenses, and expected revenue.
#6 They don’t listen 🤦♂️
❌ They just ignore feedback and inputs from the outside of their bubble. They are living a dream, loving their own product.
✅ Listen to your customers, be open to feedback, and don’t be afraid to pivot.
#7 They expect to get rich immediately 🤦♂️
❌ They believe their idea is worth a million and forget about the execution.
✅ Be patient. Success doesn’t come overnight. Persistence is the key.
(Btw you can read my full article here)
How is your experience working for clients? Please, let me know 😉
oh this should be transferred into 7 pillars of Product Success
Mistake #1: Working for clients at all 😅
Build your own business and you dont have to work for others anymore
yeah 😅 mistake #0 !!!
I started working full-time on my projects this year 😎
💪🙂
I wish I could shout the first 3 on a rooftop to every entrepreneur. I'd say point 8 is to get 10 pre customers before you even begin building your product.
yes, that's great advice, thank you :)
I worked for an agency for a year, it was exactly like that haha. They all had like a fixed vision in their mind before they even started the project.
so true 🙏