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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Suits" data-source="post: 1206608" data-attributes="member: 4308">Changes in search engine algorithm is just one off the top of my head example of why being dependent on other people's platforms is a disadvantage.This is also a major issue, obviously, but to me the largest concern with AM is that it simply isn't your product and it isn't really your platform. This means that the long term pay-off your hard work is reduced because nothing you build is very scalable.Which leads us to...I agree that it is difficult, but I'm not confident that the average person couldn't do it. Although I'm hardly a proven success myself, I mentor a number of guys in their early 20's who are just starting out with building a business around a specific product category. In most cases, they aren't the actual product creator themselves and in some cases, they don't all strike me as more capable than average.What makes me believe that they have the potential for success is the simple fact that they are satisfying a need. As an example, one guy travels to south-east Asia a couple times a year and buys a couple suitcases worth of little trinkets that are small, but look valuable. These aren't things that any tourist would have any trouble finding on the streets of Bangkok, but there are not something you'd generally see outside of SEA.He then combines them with cheap ass (but durable) do-it-yourself jewelry kits and puts them in a random nice wood box (also cheap). His production costs per unit are about $3, but he has a few clients who can sell them for $35 in their retail locations.Right now he's working on selling them from a website. So far, it's not a huge success, but he's getting close to ironing out the kinks.The product isn't innovative at all, but it fills the need and took him less than a month to figure out how to put it all together as an attractive product. Of course it is easier, but there's also less pay off long-term. You don't developing assets that you own rights to.You are, as another member has pointed out, developing skills.There are a lot of young guys who are just figuring things out, developing skills and learning what they are capable of doing. If they have no business ideas to pursue, they can certainly do worse that get into AM. These skills, as you've stated, will definitely come in handy if they do launch a product at some point.The challenge I see, however, is that becoming an expert in a niche is a time-intensive process as is becoming skilled in AM. Theoretically a person can do both, but that might not be practical if you have less than 10 years to play with.Personally, becoming knowledgeable in a niche has been a full-time endeavor for me for many years and that pursuit was largely incompatible with doing something as demanding as building a AM skillset. Becoming an expert in a niche typically involves working a (boring or routine) day job for many years to understand what the needs and missing solutions are.You can always hire someone to do your marketing for you, but can you hire someone to invent a product from scratch for you?</blockquote>

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