Trade Secrets to Help Build Something Wonderful in 2017

I imagine building product is like building anything else. Let’s take a recipe for lasagna. Sure there’s a basic set of instructions you should follow, but everyone probably does it a little differently. Everyone has their own method for layering the pasta, or what sauce to use.

When it comes to building products, the same thing is true. The only difference is there’s no cookbook. There’s no set number of steps you can take to get from start to successful business. The best thing you can do is the same thing I do when I try to cook: talk to the experts*.

*The expert in this case is my Italian mother. Thanks mom!

I was lucky enough to talk to some really smart people in Season One of my podcast, How I Built It. I would encourage you to listen as each episode is only 30 minutes long, but I did want to tell you about some of the common themes that kept coming up throughout the season.

Scratch Your Own Itch

Perhaps the most common theme was that my guests saw a need and decided to build something to fill that need. They scratched their own itch, but they were also their own users.

If you’d like to build something, start with something you need or think can be improved. Define it based on what’s important to you; that is the minimum viable product (MVP). Then launch it, and continuously improve.

[bctt tweet=”If you want to build something, start with scratching your own itch.” username=”jcasabona”]

Work Hard & Have Passion

Another common theme was that hard work is important. In more that one show it was mentioned that you see the success, but you don’t always see the blood and sacrifice behind the success. You see Olympic performance, but you don’t see relentless work that got the athletes to the world’s stage.

In order to work that hard on something, you need to have passion in the project. Scratching your own itch helps with that a lot, because you actually care about what you’re working on. That’s important!

[bctt tweet=”You need to have passion and work hard. Success won’t come without it.” username=”jcasabona”]

Invest in People & Treat them Well

The WordPress Community has played a huge roll in the success of my podcast. The guests, sponsors, and listeners have been generous with their time and their money. They’ve invested in me, just like I’ve invested in them.

My guests have talked about how their investments in people have paid off. Cory Miller, Justin Basa of Beaver Builder, and James Laws especially have talked about interpersonal connections and treating people with respect are part of their business plan.

[bctt tweet=”Invest in people! Personal connections are incredibly important.” username=”jcasabona”]

Just Do It!

The final lesson that can be learned from Season One of How I Built It is to just do it. If you want to build something, make the time and do it. I think the above lessons will help immensely.