I’ll just start out by saying that I’m an idea junkie.

There is nothing that gets me fired up more than a good idea. I live for that moment of insight, when all the complexities of a problem come together in a beautiful understanding.

But, of course, not all ideas are good ideas.

This is the story of a bad idea; a product I invented that was never going to work.

I ultimately failed, but it was a successful failure in that I actually learned something. And by sharing it with all of you, maybe someone else will be able to avoid some of the same mistakes.

I present to you the Iron-on Secret Pocket that was never meant to be:

Evolution of an idea:

The original idea for the project came to me during a brainstorming session. I had wanted to create a physical product for a long time, so I constantly trying to come up with ideas.

The requirements were simple.

It needed to be something that I could prototype myself and something that I could produce without spending a whole lot of money. In other words, it needed to be simple.

When the idea for an iron-on secret pocket came to me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It seemed so obvious! The perfect simple idea, hiding in plain sight. My mind raced with the possibilities.

In hindsight, there are a ton of products that serve the same function, like money belts and clothes with hidden pockets as part of the design. But at the time I didn’t care.

I was in love with the idea of creating a physical product and I hit the ground running.

I opened up a notebook and started sketching designs.

Prototyping:

My first order of business was to create a prototype. 

The only problem was, and it was a big problem, I didn’t know how to sew or work with fabrics. Luckily, my fiancé did and happened to have a basic sewing machine.

She wasn’t an expert but she taught me enough of the basics to get started.

I realize now that when facing a large, complex, or challenging project, it’s better to just dive in head-first, start taking action, and figure it out along the way.

Otherwise, the sheer size of it all can overwhelm your mind and make it impossible to get anything done. I’ve approached every project since the pocket in the same way.

So I got to work and started testing some of my designs. But I kept running into the same problem: the pocket was easy to tear off after it was attached. It was major flaw in the design.

I went through 10 iterations before I figured it out. The answer came to me while brushing my teeth one night before bed and it lit my mind on fire.

I grabbed my notebook and started sketching. An hour later the entire design was worked out in its entirety. The answer was simple enough. The iron-on adhesive would be applied to a flap of fabric, with the pocket hanging freely from the middle.

The time wasting activities of a Wantrepreneur:

I may have jumped right in to the project but after the design was finished I made a lot of rookie mistakes. I didn’t know what I was doing and I ended up wasting a lot of time.

I realize now that I should have focused on validating interest in the product. Was it even something people actually wanted to buy?

I just assumed it was. I was in love with my idea after all.

So I spent a lot of time on the logo and the Facebook page. I met with a patent attorney to learn more about protecting the idea. I talked and talked with my friends and family.

I tried to find manufacturers, too. I met with a friend of a friend who owns a large clothing company. He had a beautiful manufacturing facility with state of the art machinery. He was a real pro.

But when he tried to let me down gently, to tell me that it probably wouldn’t work, I chose not to hear it. Everyone thought it was such a good idea!

But that’s the thing, a great idea that no one actually wants to buy isn’t actually a great idea.

I realize that all of my early efforts were an attempt boost my ego. It was easier to talk about it, than to actually launch and possibly fail.

I wasted a lot of time. Understanding this was the most valuable lesson I learned by far.

Getting Ready for Launch:

After struggling to find a manufacturer for several months, I eventually decided to just make a few myself and start selling.

Obviously, this is what I should have done in the first place. They were easy enough to make. It’s embarrassing to think that I was ready to spend thousands of dollars on a manufacturing run.

So I sewed together about 100 pockets, put up a quick ecommerce website on Shopify (using a free template) and I launched. The whole process took me two days. It’s crazy to think about. After wasting months, it only took 2 days to launch.

And of course it launched to crickets. 

My next rookie mistake was what I like to call the Field of Dreams dilemma: “If you build it, they will come.” That is definitely not how it works.

So I started marketing. First up were Facebook ads, though, I had very little idea of what I was doing. My ads were getting clicks and generating a few sales, but the low price point made it impossible to make a profit, despite the ridiculous profit margin.

I needed to get creative. And while the pocket ultimately failed, I did have a few successes along the way, and I learned a lot about thinking outside of the box.

Creative Marketing:

My biggest win was getting mentioned on a podcast I loved.

The idea for the pocket was partly inspired by a story I heard from best-selling author of Sex at Dawn and host of the Tangentially Speaking podcast, Dr. Chris Ryan.

So I posted the story of how I came up with it, along with the website URL, on the Tangentially Speaking subReddit. I didn’t expect much, maybe a sale or two.

But the following week, while listening to the latest episode in my car, Chris mentioned me and started talking about the pocket! I couldn’t believe it. He had seen my post and was kind enough to share it live on his show.

And it was generating sales! I was ecstatic and it gave me hope. Maybe I could finally make it work! But the success was short lived. The sales ended as abruptly as they began.

I grinded for a few more weeks, but eventually realized that it just wasn’t going to work.

I shut it all down.

Conclusion:

Over the 6-month period that I worked on this project, I ended up wasting a lot of time, but I didn’t actually lose any money. I do I wish it could have worked out differently, though.

If I was a better marketer maybe it would have. But I did learn a lot from the failure.

And I think that’s what really matters in the end.

I haven’t tried to launch another physical product yet, but I have been far more successful in my more recent endeavors.

I know that startup and entrepreneurship culture fetishizes the importance of failure. I also know that failure sucks. But failure is always an opportunity to learn and grow as person.

And as long you don’t let it tear you down, and you don’t make the same mistakes twice, it’s better to have tried and failed, than to never have tried at all.

P.S. If anyone actually wants to buy one of these, I still have a bunch left. Just shoot me an email at [email protected]!