How to Create Your Own Products (you don’t need to build a factory)

I have spoken a lot in my 101 Business African Business Ideas series about creating products for the African market. I thought it would be a good idea to do a blog post on exactly how to create a product on a limited budget (especially in light of my most recent video about an African talking doll toy company).

In this article I am going to give you the exact step by step process for outsourcing the production of your product idea from beginning to end. Outsourcing means, you don’t need to build a factory, but you can hire people who have a factory to build your product for you. You may have heard that a lot of products are made in places like China, because it is cheaper to produce over there.

There are actually two ways of creating a product.

#1. Private label – This is when you buy the rights to a product that already exists and put your brand logo and packaging on it and sell it. This is very popular on the internet and a lot of people make a lot of money doing this. Many even customize products after buying the private label rights. It is still much easier than designing, creating or inventing your own product.

#2. Originally designed products – This is when you are creating an entirely new product from scratch. You may have a patent or trademark on a product and you just need to mass produce it.

This article can be helpful for people doing either of these methods. This article covers the process of dealing with a manufacturer. In actuality, owning a factory can be much cheaper than hiring out (or outsourcing) the manufacturing work. However, if you have limited funds, and are interested in testing to see if people will actually buy your product, sometimes it is worth it to spend a few thousand dollars on outsourcing before investing millions of dollars on building a factory to produce something (even if you think it will make you billions of dollars).

So, for someone who wants to test an idea on a limited budget, or is not interested in the overhead of running an entire production factory, the following are the steps that would be used for outsourcing production:

Step 1. Research product regulations & Prepare product specification sheet

A production specification sheet is needed in order to get clear about what is needed to produce the product. If helps you to get clarity, but it will ultimately be critical to the effectiveness of your manufacturer/supplier. Even if you are private labeling it is still better to provide a spec sheet to the supplier, because it reduces the likelihood of error in production. The following should always be included in your spec sheet:

product safety standards
labeling requirements
shipping restrictions (eg. Chemicals, labeling, documents, etc.)
lab testing requirements
other regulations (eg. Packaging)

In order to create a spec sheets, you may have noticed that you will need to know a lot of important government safety and compliance regulations. This means you will need to do some research. Here are some places where you can find the information you may be looking for about your particular product:

government websites
lawyers and consultants
productip.com

Make sure you include in your spec sheet all data and files that describe the product’s design, functions and quality (eg. Dimensions, color codes, material samples, technical standards, design drawings, label files, etc.)

Step 2. Compare suppliers

Now that you know what you want, you need someone to make it. You do not want to settle for the first supplier that comes your way. You want to compare a few suppliers before making your choice. Some places to find suppliers are:

Alibaba.com
globalsources.com,
trade fairs (a good way to do it in person if you prefer that)

Some things you are looking out for in your comparisons are:

Cost : Compare quotes. Most companies have their phone numbers listed on their websites. Make an introductory call, get the email of a representative and find out what their best contact method is (some prefer skype or wechat, etc.) Then, submit your product specification files and standard requirements list. Follow up regularly until you receive your quotes.

Some suppliers will weed themselves out when they see they don’t meet your compliance needs. Others can be compared based on price, or your other preferences.

Other points of comparison include:

Product compliance: Do the products the company manufactures usually meet the standards you have outlined in your specs sheet?
Product scope: Does the company have the capability of manufacturing (or does it usually manufacture) products like yours?
Company Certifications: Does the company have any certifications or accreditations that make it more qualified to produce your products, or make it look more favorable.
Company Data: What does the company’s profile look like, eg. year of registration, amount of registered capital, etc.?

Also, before ordering a sample, you should do a factory audit. This may include you or a representative visiting the factory. For more details on a factory audit, there is a great article on qualitydigest.com.

To read the rest of the article visit my website nwudo.com

More about me:

Nwudo is about encouraging Africans to read, write and do business in their own languages. MISSION SUMMARY: I believe the world is big enough for everybody to enjoy it's abundance and we all have to learn to work together not taking away from each other, but complimenting each other, because when everybody feels empowered, everybody wins. I think some of the biggest problems we face in the world today comes from an imbalance of power. It is impossible for two people to see things eye-to-eye when they are not on level playing field. So, I think when everybody feels like they are living to their full potential, everybody is encouraged to help each other fairly. That is why I love the blockchain system that we are moving into. That is why I love the information age. These are some of the things I hope to encourage Africans to take advantage of.

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