How to know if you have a hero or a zero

Tracy and I chat about how to know if you have a hero or a zero before you put a lot of cash into making a product to determine if it will sell or not.  Tracy gives a ton of ideas on how you can use FB groups, testing similar products on Amazon or Ebay, how to use peers, and even church groups to pre-test your idea before you invest in your idea. We cover the pros and cons of patents and if they are necessary, and how to handle criticism. Knowing if you have a hero or a zero can be the difference between success and failure from the first day of business.  Learning about how the public views your product can be some of the MOST valuable information you can ever gather before going into production.  Sometimes you get amazing feedback that actually helps you make your product better than you imagined.

Tracy Hazzard, Inc. Columnist & CEO of Hazz Design has co-designed and developed 250+ products generating almost $2 Billion in revenue for her retail clients. Tracy has had products in all major e-commerce and mass-market retailers; office superstores; electronics boutiques; and wholesale clubs, including the best-selling mesh office chair at Costco. For over 27 years, she has worked with design-leading brands like Martha Stewart Living and Herman Miller and is an expert in product, furniture, color and materials.

Tracy develops products from around the world and travels to Asia frequently to inspect, certify and work with her clients’ factory suppliers. Along with her partner, Tom Hazzard, she holds over 37 utility and design patents with an unprecedented 86% commercialization rate. Their intentional invention process has been the key to keeping her clients knock-off proof and is the foundation for her new invite-only collaborative community built to rev up original retail product sales with the right things in the right order with the right resources.

Besides being featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Wired, CNN Money, and as an Innovation Columnist for Inc., Tracy is also a contributor to ThriveGlobal. Tracy co-hosts the top-ranked podcasts: Product Launch Hazzards, Feed Your Brand, WTFFF?! 3D Printing: the 3D Start Point for disruptive technology; and The New Trust Economy, exploring creator value distribution with Blockchain technology.

Written by Sarah Shaw