Can't Even Sell Poop? Learn Product Thinking and Accept Your Unproductive Self
Setting aside the facts, if you can't even sell poop, don't you have any fault?
Recently, I've spent some time researching Shopify Apps, web applications, and H5 mini-programs—things far beyond my skill set.
Current Progress
The barrier to entry is higher than expected. With zero coding background and without relying on external help or SaaS, it's genuinely quite difficult.
- Shopify App is about 90% abandoned
- H5 mini-program is still in crash research mode
- Web application hasn't been studied in detail yet
(All of the above attempts were made with relatively clear functional requirements in mind.) Taking it slow.
The Harvest
Although I haven't actually launched a project yet, these past few months have brought me back to the excitement I felt in the early days of global selling when orders started coming in.
Gradually understanding product thinking: everything can be a product—and once productized, everything can make money.
So you may notice that my recent shares have a somewhat "mysterious" feel to them. In my previous post, I reviewed my shovel business through the lens of product thinking: US Tax Season? Mandatory ITIN? Do You Need an Overseas Entity for Global Selling? I Learned from a Service Provider's Self-Exposure.
In the post before that, I shared some product experts I follow, along with some of my own paid community product philosophy: After Secretly Learning from These 5 Global Indie Entrepreneurs, I Learned...
Looking back at my nearly 2 years of "slacking salted fish" entrepreneurship, I realize: Lack of product thinking is the biggest obstacle for every non-coder trying to make money—bar none.
In other words, much of the time when I was slacking and lying flat, it was actually forced upon me by my lack of product thinking.
Do You Lack Product Thinking?
If you've ever found yourself thinking:
"I have so many ideas in my head, but I don't know how to execute them! I don't know what to do! I don't know how to monetize them! I don't even know if this idea is reasonable!"
You probably lack product thinking.
Product Thinking Case Study: @小李有点饿
Let me recommend a seemingly unrelated blogger: @小李有点饿 on Douyin.
This is a highly niche food blogger I've been following for years, specializing in burger reviews. (Of course, as their career has developed, they now have many other types of content and businesses.)
As everyone knows, these days you can randomly pick someone off the street and they seem capable of doing food livestreams, food reviews, being a content creator, or being a vlogger.
But @小李有点饿 is a team with extreme product thinking. For example, they've created offline #BurgerFest events and #Top 10 Burgers of the Year lists. And the completion level of these products is quite high.
When a product has value, you will definitely receive corresponding value in return.
Chicken Soup Time
1. Learn to Accept Your Unproductive Self
I deeply understand that when many people start with global selling independent stores, or when trying other unfamiliar fields, they spend a long time just learning. This results in no tangible output, let alone monetization.
This time dimension can be as short as an afternoon or an hour. Sometimes I question myself:
"What's the point of spending an afternoon researching this stuff? What's the use of spending an hour writing an industry blog? What's the point of spending 30 minutes learning to reach out to 5 KOLs?"
Quite useful, actually. Learn to沉淀 yourself.
2. Learn to Launch a Crappy Version First
Many motivational bloggers have probably said this. I'm also someone who's easily interested in many things, wanting to try and learn everything. What's worse is that I have a "perfection" obsession with everything.
This easily leads to a problem: thinking a lot but doing nothing. Looking at many things, they all seem fun and full of opportunity, but once it's time to actually execute and launch, I get blocked and give up.
Shorten the learning time and first create a crappy version to give yourself immediate sense of achievement.
The Significance of Product Thinking for Global Selling Solopreneurs
Honestly, this mindset may not be that critical because most of us just need to "move" existing products from the market.
However, product thinking is definitely not just about how to polish a physical product. Instead, we need to think three-dimensionally: besides producing (or moving) the product, how should I reposition, repackage, and market this product to the appropriate audience?
Specifically, we often hear similar questions: Why can some people sell the same product well while others can't sell it at all, or even think there's nothing to sell?
Some people can sell poop, while others can't sell even if you give them gold.
(I'm just using an exaggerated example here, not PUA-ing you to scam people by selling poop.)
On the surface, people might say isn't this marketing ability? Nononono—for an owner, at the most fundamental level, it's product thinking that influences outcomes. Because at the product level, you never positioned "poop" as "gold."
The core of product thinking: It's not about how to build the product, but how to position, package, and market it to your target audience. The same product with different product thinking leads to vastly different results.
