James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » The process of developing and making a new product is not always a happy one. Time and effort and more than a few arguments must all combine in a crucible of ideas for sometimes weeks and months until finally a product emerges from the smoke and debris and you look it up and down and say (suck air between teeth) 'ooh I'm not sure...'
Designing a new product is definitely one of the most creative parts of running a business. Myself and my business partner get to um and ah to our hearts content, research stuff on the old tinternet and fanatasize about how popular it's going to be and how we'll easily sell a couple thousand before Christmas. Ha.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Designing a product is not always easy but it is the easiest part of running a sucessful business. Without products you don't have a business right? Wrong. Without sales you don't have a business. That's right, it's harsh.
In the two and a half years since we first started I have learnt so much when it comes to the realities of business. Now we can't just make a new product, we have to know who it's for, how much down to the penny it's going to cost to produce, what we can produce 'in house' and what will have to be bought from someone else. All very boring but it quickly becomes interesting when you're still sat on 1000 pounds worth of stock from two years ago that you've yet to shift. tut tut.
So take my strong advice, remember to always think twice.
(Billie Jean. Micheal Jackson. 'Thriller' 1983)
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