The 10+ fastest products to build

When it's time to begin your digital marketing career, launching something quick and easy can minimize the risk and help your start. It diversifies your revenue streams and allows you to knock out that easy one so that you can get into the habit of shipping.

Well, it’s certainly not building a SaaS every week. There is room for creating other types of digital products. Quick ones. Most of these are info/curation-based products because we have to keep the scope very narrow and actually ship the product in a week. A SaaS would take at least a month, even if we built it with NoCode.

And yeah, I get it… SaaS is the end-all-be-all, right? We all prefer the idea of building a beautiful piece of software, so here's an unpopular opinion:

Not every product needs to be a SaaS. There are other options, and they exist for a reason.

Products with quick turnaround times

Here are some of them;

• Ebook/guides: They don't need to be overly long — I've read a few that are only 10 pages or so. We can call them "Playbooks", but whatever you call them, give people a succinct, actionable guide on how to do something that you've done successfully, or that you know a lot about.

• Podcasts: Podcasts can run the gambit and to start one, all you have to do is talk. Growing it might not be so easy, though. Monetize through ads, sponsors, premium content, promoting your other products, or selling episodes as bundles (if you're established).

• Swipe Files: This is essentially a collection of examples that can be used for inspiration. The collection could be marketing techniques, sales emails, good copy, you name it.

• Productized services: Even better (IMO) than providing services, is selling productized services. A productized service is just a service that is packaged and sold like a product, with explicit 'features' and a price tag. Making this work is all about systematization and processes so that you don't have to work as much as you would to provide a normal service.

• Courses: If you've got some expertise (and I'll go out on a limb to say that everyone does), then you could condense your knowledge into a course and put it up on Udemy, Coursera, Gumroad, etc.

• Webinar: This tends to require a following, but a webinar is a quick way to make a few bucks. You don't even need to be the expert — you can give a cut to guests for sharing their experience. That'll have the added impact of bringing their audience to you. Side note: If you don't have an audience but you do have expertise, you can be the guest.

• Masterminds: The beautiful thing about it is that since this is a group of peers, you'll get just as much out of it as the participants. All you need to do is get a group together, set the agenda, and moderate.

• Tutorials: People sell tutorials. With all the tutorials available on Youtube for free, I have a hard time believing that these are easy to monetize. But the fact remains that they are an option.

• MVP: And, of course, if you're ready to get right into a piece of software, you can (and probably should) really, really winnow down your features, and launch a very limited version of your product. An MVP is an excellent way to get validation and start getting users. And though it depends on the product, I've heard it said that an MVP should take no longer than 30 days to build.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting

The biggest tragedy for any founder isn't failure. It's becoming trapped inside a business that you don't actually like.

If you could build any type of business you want, why would you build one that makes you miserable?

Ideally you wouldn't, but it happens surprisingly often. I've interviewed 500 successful founders, and many of them can't wait to quit so they can start over and "do it right this time."

It doesn't have to be this way.

What do you want for your life?

We all want different things. Many of us want to be rich. Some want fame. Others want more time, creative freedom, or the ability to work from anywhere on any schedule. It's not hard to see how a business could provide these things.

But what about more exotic desires — can a business help with those?

What if you want to hang out with your favorite celebrities? Or travel and be guaranteed to meet new friends all over the world? Or regularly eat at all the best restaurants? Or have tons of people read your writing and ideas? Or befriend successful and inspiring people from a particular field? Or get fit and stay that way?

I know people whose businesses have enabled them to do all of these things. In fact, I'm a prime example — I literally have to talk to interesting people every week, because I started an interview-based podcast.

No matter what you want in life, starting a business is a powerful way to help you get it. But you have to know what you want first.

Getting to Know Yourself

The easiest way to figure out what you want your business to do for you is to start asking and answering questions about yourself.

This should be your first step as a founder. Before you come up with an idea, before you find a partner, before you do anything, take the time to examine who you are.

I've typed up a list of questions below. You don't need to use this exact list. It's just here to give you a rough idea of what I'm talking about:

• What kinds of things have I enjoyed working on in the past?

• What kinds of work have driven me insane in the past?

• What am I passionate about?

• When was the last time I was so excited I could barely contain myself?

• What about the last time I got really angry about something?

• Am I usually happier working alone or with other people?

• How much free time do I want to have in my life?

• What do I absolutely love telling other people about?

• What have I spent the most time in life learning about?

• What do I believe that most people don't?

• How much money do I want to make?

• What kinds of people would I like to meet and interact with?

• What am I particularly good at?

• What am I bad at?

• What kinds of praise and accolades have I gotten in the past?

• What is it that people say about me that makes me feel the best?

• When am I good at motivating myself, and when do I need others to hold me accountable?

• What do I never get bored of doing, even when it gets hard?

• What gives me energy?

• What stresses me out?

• What kinds of errors and mistakes have I tended to make in the past?

• What do I want to learn about or get better at?

• Who do I respect?

• Whose life am I jealous of?

• What do I wish I was forced to do on a regular basis?

• What kinds of people, if any, would I want working alongside me? Any specific individuals?

• What aspects of my life do I want to keep intact no matter what?

• In an ideal world, what kind of life would I want to live, and what kind of person would I be?

• What would I like to change about the world around me?

• What parts of running a business scare or worry me? What parts excite me?

Sure, it's a lot of questions. But any business you start might last for years or even a lifetime, so it's crazy not to spend an hour or two upfront thinking about the kind of person you've proven to be.

And be honest! Don't self-sabotage by lying to yourself about any of these questions. Later on when you're coming up with a business idea, you'll be much better equipped to evaluate whether it will make you happy (and tweak it accordingly) if you have accurate answers to these questions.

A Working Example

Courtland Allens explains that before he started Indie Hackers, he knew he wanted something…

• that he could create quickly (because he was running out of my savings),

• that was simple to explain to my friends and family members (because I'd be lonely if he couldn't talk about it),

• that would encourage me to meet fascinating people (because he was a big believer in surrounding yourself with your role models),

• and that wouldn't require too much coding (since his biggest weakness historically had been spending too much time coding).

Having a list like this made it easy for me to throw away some of the other ideas he was considering and focus on what seems to have been the right one. In fact, having this list helped me come up with the right idea in the first place. We often worry that constraints will limit our choices, but more often than not they simply serve as prompts to boost our creativity.

Your business can help you accomplish anything you want in life, so remember to aim high. But more importantly, just taking the time to aim at all can work wonders.