Fail.

It is simply the best way to learn. Not just on the point you failed on, but for your thought process going forward. It doesn't necessarily make you take less risks rather it makes you evaluate their potential outcomes better. It also makes you more knowledgeable with all aspects of a business. You quickly realize which areas you will need professional assistance with to get the best outcome.

Start small. Fail #9

One of the most expensive failures we had was developing a large scale manufacturing operation before we had any large sales orders. Companies are extremely eager to help you scale up so it is rarely a problem. Scaling back however, is much more expensive and difficult. The failed venture ​would have been wildly profitable to this day had we bought a single machine and made them ourselves in the basement. We also would have saved storage costs.

Storage needs. Fail #10

Storage needs can be easy to overlook. Out of sight out of mind. These things can't be overlooked. We once had a product that was selling only a few units per week yet had 32-pallets of inventory in a contracted warehouse. Also be clear on how your space is calculated. Our product nested (stacked in each other) compactly yet we were being charged for the dimensions of one item x the number of units rather than the space we were actually using which was about a tenth!​

Consumer ready. Fail#22

Having your product packaged as if it was on the shelf of the biggest retailer is important even for online sales. It provides consumer confidence in the product but also saves you expensive repackaging down the line. We made this mistake by using a plain box for mail order only and had to unbox over 9,000 units and repackage them after stores wouldn't buy them with that packaging. It significantly cut our profit on the remaining inventory to almost zero.

SEO SEO SEO. Fail #15

You can have the best widget in the world. You can have the only widget that solves a certain problem. If your product isn't at the intersection where the person is looking, at the time they are looking, your product won't sell. Having a website or even being on Amazon is not enough. Your product has to be where it needs to be. Factoring in a CAC (Customer acquisition cost) to each unit is critical and knowing how much competition you will have in that keyword space is important because if your keyword is "soccer" than your product will end up on page 82.

Professionalism. Fail #12

The professionalism of the logo, packaging, website, content, and even the product photos makes all the difference. We had a product on Amazon for a year with marginal sales. After hiring a contractor for professional product photos and videos, we saw a huge increase in sales with no other changes. The increase was so dramatic that we have never wasted time in having them done for other products since.

Profit margins. Fail #7

Profit margins are such a complex topic and there is so much that many people don't know. If you can't have your product made for at least 20% of what people will pay for it, you are going to have a difficult time. This mistake can really hurt when you finally snag that retailer you've been after and realize you don't have the margins to sell to them profitably. Retailers want 50% off, distributors want a 15%-30% cut, and if you are using a fulfillment service, there will be storage fees, pick-and-pack fees, shipping fees, and handling fees.