There are three types of people we all know who say “I want to leave my job and work for myself.”
Does that sound like you at times? Have you tried to start a few businesses but struggled to get actual paying clients? Have you recently left your job to start a business?
Many of these people overvalue ideas and underrate execution. They generally fit into one of the following three categories:
- The Escapee: Often reminds you how much they hate their job and if it weren’t for the people they would never work here (….yet another 12 months goes by). They THINK they want to start a business when at their core the truth is they really just want to leave their job because they think it sucks.
- The Leap of Faith: James 2:14 -26 from the Good Book tells us “faith without works is dead.” This fallacy that Tommy leaves his work and suddenly has the freedom to succeed at business is not true. To be honest the benefit of having a job is that it forces you to be strategic with how you utilise your spare capacity outside of your 9–5 to maximise productivity and get stuff done.
- For those who have no strategic direction to govern their steps, it becomes a struggle to plan your time effectively and get the most out of your day. Thomas Carlyle quoted, “a man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.”
- The Dreamer: Unlike The Escapee and The Leap of Faith, the Dreamer is compelled by an idea they are passionate about. This could be a social cause they are determined to combat or a pain point they want to eliminate. The Dreamer can fall victim to day dreaming and not taking action to make their dreams a reality. However they could also seek advice on how they can execute on ideas.
If you haven’t already (Dreamer or not), it is 100% worth reading PART 1 and PART 2 of this series before diving into this piece. This article is the final piece of the puzzle for cost effective prototyping without learning a line of code (give me a shout if you enjoyed this series!).
But really, what value is there in creating prototypes? After all you have an idea you want to launch, why not just get on with it. Here is a quick run down on why:
- This is a cheap way to learn fast and fail fast if you have to
- You learn whether customers are willing to pay for it or not and you can decide whether it is a hobby you give away for free, a product you sell to generate income or a pivot into a new idea to test
- Your building with customers from the outset after all they are the ones you want to pay for your product or service once its launched
- You get a better idea of the minimal set of features to launch with and the future body of features you would like to develop
- Developing your prototype can 100% be done alongside holding down a job or selling services to achieve your Minimum Monthly Income (to cover expenses and living costs etc.)
So many people seem to be afraid of speaking to stranger’s (potential customers) about their idea and receiving a payment for the product.
DISCLAIMER: If this sounds like you, you gotta overcome your fear during this prototype phase or your dreams to start a business will forever remain a myth.
Let’s dive in.
By now if you have been following the series, you will have a well refined prototype which started off as sketches on paper, then progressed to a low fidelity digital wireframe and without writing a single line of code you’ve got a working prototype!
Now it is time to dive a little deeper and develop a high fidelity digital prototype. Essentially this means graphically designing the key workflows of your app or website. Ok, so you won’t write a line of code for this one but you may want to consider enlisting the help of a UX designer.
First turn to friends, family and your immediate network. Literally walk through your Linkedin contacts to find someone who can either design for free, design for relatively cheaply or introduce you to a designer. At this stage please don’t be afraid to share a one liner about your idea.
If you have exhausted all other options and you have no more options have no fear there are a few trusted sites you can turn too. Below are 5 sites to turn to for freelance support to help turn your wireframes into digital prototypes.
- Fiverr: Usually cheap, but read reviews to ensure the freelancer has a portfolio that impresses you
- Upwork: Very varied pricing, but once you post your brief you can filter through all the applicants who are eager to complete your job
- Design Crowd: You can set your budget and post your project similar to Upwork, and do your due diligence on whom you want to award your work to
- 99 Design: You can build up to 30 designs for your prototype (should be enough to capture the key flows of your MVP e.g. log in through to activity feeds)
- Pro Finder: This is relatively new and untested by me so far, but worth a try (from Linkedin, looks like there taking on the sites above for the freelancer market!)
So, say you have explored your network and found nothing. You have explored freelancers on the sites above and either found the quality poor or job too expensive. The final option is to totally bootstrap it and design it yourself!
The slides below share software you can use to both design your user layers (pages of your app or website) as well as add interactions to integrate the layers into workflows. What the heck does that mean? Essentially there is software to link the images you have created so it looks, feels and behaves almost like an actual app or website, i.e. click menu and it leads to a page with menu options.
In this article we will take a look at Invision App, Sketch App and Flinto. A word of warning, it will take time to learn how to design if your new to these tools, hence it might be more worthwhile seeking the aid of a designer if your time pressured.
DISCLAIMER: This is far from a finished app and does not have any servers, infrastructure, back-end code or hosting. It is simply a high quality test to give potential customers, investors or employees an opportunity to experience your product.
Other software worth checking out include Adobe Photoshop / Experience Design CC, Google Sheets, Canva and Pixate. These software can be used to both build designs and interactive prototypes but the slides above share the most commonly used tools from entrepreneurs and creatives I know.
If you missed out, click on the hyperlink to check out Part 1 and Part 2
ONE LAST THING….. If you really did enjoy this article and found that it shared practical advice, please do like, comment and share with others you feel can benefit (Thanks in advance!).
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