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There’s a big difference between creating a killer product… and creating something the market actually wants. If you dream of being a game-changing innovator like Steve Jobs or Henry Ford, here’s how to get started.

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41 Replies to “Feedback vs Being First”

    • Jeff this is great stuff! I find it exciting and fun to work with my “tribe” to see how to craft the best possible training and workshop for them. I tried this with a company and they led me to what they needed to discover AND it is fun to create a sense of ownership with those clients. Thanks!

  1. Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration! I agree that we don’t always have to recreate a wheel – sometimes it’s just about a new and better way to solve the specific problems of the people you are serving. And from my experience it is a great way to be successful in advance because you are having fun and experiencing personal growth with every step of your way and with what you are doing.

  2. Jeff you are great.
    Each Sunday I have a sort of one to one coaching with you.
    Thanks.
    I am very slow with learning and doing my baby steps and each Sunday I have a great push.
    You are authentic and you making it a great fun.

  3. Steve — innovation, applied innovation or explosion? This is a true dilemma for companies. When you think of the big disruptors they come from outside the market – Jobs is a great example for the music industry. Ford is one from the car industry. Watson is one from today – why Watson – he studies the existing and iterates — I would love to chat with you abaut the next mindblowing iteration of social marketing.
    If you are up for it check out Blippar, CNBC’s #9 Innovator of the decade and give me a reach out.

  4. I really appreciate your Sunday videos. Very relevant, entertaining and full of small insights that make me see things differently as an entrepreneur and founder of RakeAround Inc. Many thanks Jeff!

  5. Hi Jeff,
    So glad you but a reality spin on Henry and Steve. Yes they were incredible successful, created some great products. But they were still just people and they had many other peoples’ input to help them along the way. That means that there is hope for the rest of us. We can all be successful in our own fashion. We don’t have to have the next most fabulous new creation for the world. Although that would help. Now the guy who made the first wheel, that was a great idea. How many people reinvented the wheel to do so many other things. Great advice Jeff, inspirational.

  6. Good morning Jeff! Sunday morning church for entrepreneurs. Great message this morning, thank you! Gonna keep listening to my people….

  7. Thank you Jeff! Even in the hospitality industry, It is the little, professional services that have made a difference for us in the past.

    I appreciate the reminder as we branch out to be 100% me!!!

    Thank you again your Awesomeness!!!

  8. Hi Jeff,
    Great video and you have an amazing way to communicate things. Your 5-minute video is a must watch for me every week and thank you for constant inspiration. Keep up the great work.

  9. Danelle Denney

    Reply

    Good morning, Jeff!!

    I am using various iterations of online businesses to bring health to people with fibromyalgia. This is a huge, underserved market and my avatar is told that their best bet is to kearn to live with it. I have credibility because I am a pharmacist who has recovered from fibromyalgia. I know I have a moral obligation to get this information out to them.

    Even with “just” changing what is already done, I intend to change the view and understanding of fibromyalgia worldwide. People wlll get their lives back. This is what you’ve done for me.

  10. Jenny Payette

    Reply

    Innovators know how to solve problems for consumers and create value with their ingenuity. If they wait for perfection the window of opportunity might close. Better to create a rapid prototype and throw it out there, then continue to refine it when feedback flows back. It’s like a gigantic focus group that gives consumers a chance to experience the prototype.

  11. Hi Jeff, I’ve heard you talk about the disappointment of your first partnering venture, but is it possible that you’d never have gotten started without that partner? Just thinking back to that time of confusion and loneliness, how significant was it to have someone just to come along side and say, “LET’S do it!” Didn’t every “great” start with a collaborator of sorts? I’m feeling desperate for collaboration on my ideas/projects, but then wonder if there is something wrong with me for not being able to implement alone. Maybe the message for stuck people is just to find a partner. Wasn’t that what worked for you at that time?

    • Donna, I believe you have to implement on your own – otherwise, you are letting inertia set in and wrongly believe having a partner is going to solve all your problems. If anything, the exact opposite will happen. Be confident in your ideas and take action now. If you find a partner who complements you one day, great. But the only person you can count on right now is yourself. I urge you to move forward. Sure, you will make mistakes (we all do) – but that is what an entrepreneur does. We don’t count on other people to make things happen; we do that ourselves (with or without a partner.) One step at a time, but action always none the less. Hope this helps!

  12. Thanks Jeff – great message! What gets so many people stuck is thinking they have to come up with something completely new. I love your observation about Henry Ford!

  13. I Love It. I look for your videos on Sunday to motivate and inspire me to motivate and inspire my audience. Thanks for your generocity and consistency! Any great jedi tips on how to engage, motivate and invite audience feedback when we have a smaller audience than you? I’m going for consistency & putting it out there like you suggest! I’d love to get more input & direct info from my list 🙂

  14. Jeff, thanks.

    I love video. I get to enjoy at least four different messages. First, there’s the obvious message that’s in the the speaker’s words. Then, there’s the speaker’s tone of voice. Body language delivers its own powerful message. And, then, there is the set.

    Some people respond with, “The set? What set?” Well, if you’re using video, everything that can be seen and heard is part of the overall message. The funniest examples are the people who make videos promoting abundance and 7 figure paydays, and they shoot those videos in dingy pads with hand-me-down furniture. Their set says, “I can’t pay the rent.” Their words say, “Follow me to the land of unlimited wealth.”

    You, my friend, have an awesome set.

    • LOL… here’s the SETTING: it’s Friday afternoon and I need to get a video done to release on Sunday. We’ve got all kinds of construction going on at our house – workers and noise everywhere. It’s windy outside so I can’t walk out in the woods and use an outdoor shot. The only place I can find with relative quiet and calm is the kitchen… so I take 3 mins to set up my camera and then start shooting – and that was my set. 🙂

  15. At a certain point, water turns to steam, a literal transformation. I created a product that required a certain amount of time, not huge, just 45 minutes to an hour to use, couple or 3 times a week., uninterrupted. This created phenomenal results in the world of education (algebra). 2-3 grade level improvements on exams, doubled classroom performance, and kids loved it (87% approval rating). It was used over 2.5 million times in prominent districts in NYC, Chicago, FL, and TX public schools. $6.5M in sales.

    Problem was teachers began asking for shorter/mini versions of the product, a version that would only take 5 or 10 minutes. They also wanted to rearrange the order of the lessons basically taking it apart to fit their own style. This cut the “energy” out of the system. You don’t get the same results. The water doesn’t turn to steam if you keep turning off the burner, and coming back later and turning it on again. And what’s worse, our sales team buckled under the pressure. they couldn’t sell what was working.

    This was back in 2004 before social media really took off. CEO wasn’t willing to move to a direct to consumer model either.

  16. Christina Grenga

    Reply

    What if you have a difficult time getting feedback? Not everyone has a huge audience to obtain feedback from.

  17. Hi Jeff,
    I am not in the business of online marketing but I am an entrepreneur and right now conside you a mentor. I find your Sunday messages very worthwhile and inspirational. Who knows perhaps the future holds an online business for me. “Ski Fridays” one of my favorite videos, as I have long had a “Surf Friday” that has been gathering dust of late…so you’re helping me get back on track with feeding my soul.

    Thanks for making time to consistently share your great energy.

  18. Thanks for your message in this video Jeff. It is so timely because I’m about to teach a marketing class to start-up entrepreneurs this week. It’s totally based on the premise that you have to find out what people need because so often we don’t innovate like Henry Ford or Steve Jobs… so what’s being cooked up inside our own brains – may have little or nothing to do with what people are actually looking for. I am writing while your next video has started (How to Completely Screw Up Your Product Creation) and appreciating that message as well. Having a product morph around your clients’ feedback is the only way to create something that people need and will want to buy. Feedback means you know it has real value – even while you are changing your initial concepts.
    I always enjoy your perspective. Thanks again for this.

  19. Wonderful video Jeff! Seth Godin has a great quote about innovation that is consistent with your message today:
    “Innovation is often the act of taking something that worked over there and using it over here.”

    This is what Henry Ford did – he took the idea of a moving assembly line being used in the meat processing industry and applied it to the automotive industry (with fantastic results!)
    I’m looking forward to your new Podcast.

  20. Hi Jeff,

    love the blog and totally agree with reaching out to your tribe.

    We run an outreach programme called Voice of the Client (VOTC) which not only tells us what people want but also gives us ideas for “Steve Jobs or Henry Ford” innovations.

    The key is how you ask the question and not really the questions that you ask.

  21. Steven Thrasher

    Reply

    Unfortunately for history, Ford’s quote was cut off a bit too quickly.
    What Henry Ford went on to point out was that if you listen closely to your customer they’ll tell you what they want within their own framework: eg. within “a faster horse” is the attribute “faster,” and Ford’s insight was that a car was a better way to go faster than a horse. 🙂
    By the way, my information product’s target audiences are innovators and inventors — I call ’em “Game Changers.” So, I find the written introduction to this video as affirmation from ‘the universe.’ Thank you!

  22. Hi Jeff, all I have to say is THANKYOU!! I have been following you for a long time now and I absolutely LOVE YOU and LOVE ALL that you do for your online tribe. Your a great inspiration, you give amazing advice, REAL advice that really works. When I see your videos my first feeling is of segurity and I just want to jump into the screen and hug you!

    Hope to meet you one day in person and hopefully you have a moment to share.
    I’m already following in Instagram!

    With much respect, appreciation & infinite gratitude,
    PAOLA.ESCOBAR
    (Bogota-Colombia, South America)

  23. Jeff,
    Great thought-provoking content and perfect timing. Thanks for sharing!

  24. Great advice about people afraid to take first step. Describes me to a tee. I had to learn to get out of my comfort zone. Not easy, but it is the only way to get going. Thanks Jeff.

  25. Thanks Jeff, I so look forward to your talks each week that come via my Email inbox.
    I”ll probably never do a big product launch, but I’m taking advantage of your teachings and learning so much as I go and gradually building up a regular audience with blogging on Facebook with one topic and where I also include a link over to another topic which is my poetry blog. The poetry I started in Dec 2016 with 5 readers and is now being read by approximately 90 – 125 a week. There is a further blog I am doing initial preparation for which I shall then link to both blogs – taking advantage of your initial advice that what I am selling is my name first and foremost and product comes 2nd. So just letting you know that your teachings work for all levels of audience and greatly appreciated. Thank you.

  26. I believe that every business intends to generate more welfare for people. So why not communicate with them and receive some insights of value? Excellent concept. Thanks for the video, Jeff! Namastê

  27. Hi Jeff,

    As always, simple and to the point.

    Why would anyone want to devote a lot of time to something people aren’t interested in. It has never been easier to find out what people need. Ask questions, find a BIG problem, and provide the solution.

    Looking forward to following you on Instagram, and your upcoming podcast.

    Thanks!

  28. I want to testify to your presence on camera, Jeff.
    Few people discover the performance key that you stumbled upon so naturally.
    When you trust and know yourself, you easily reveal yourself.
    Even if you are an introvert.
    And when you love and respect your audience – they will love and respect you.
    “Listen to what the market tells us.”
    My background in hosting national television qualifies me to say that you are the real deal, Jeff. The Jimmy Stewart of Online Marketing!

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