I always chose to Never be an Early Adopter.

An early adopter is someone who chooses to buy or promote something that is new in the market. These people will sometimes do it out of love for a brand (users that love Apple iPhones will queue for days to to be one of the first people to own the latest model). Others may do it because they believe in the new technology and want to be part of "a dream", or a "technology shift"- examples are people that have purchased a fully electic vehicle (EV) when they first came out.

Personally, I have seen enough product releases in my 30 years of business to know that there are always "bugs" in the new product or technology.

As such, whenever an overseas supplier of mine released a new product into the market, I would hold off releasing it into my market (Australia and NZ), until distributors in other countries had sold it for at least 6 months. After that, I would find out if any bugs were found, what issues they discovered etc. If the products were OK, then I would release them into my market. I had no interest in releasing and marketing any product that would cause future headaches for either our customers or my company. I had no interest in risking my company's reputation, on a product with possible issues, that would affect my relationship with my customers. I wanted to be sure to minimise future problems and issues, and as a result, protect both my business, and personal, integrity and reputation.

Your integrity and reputation as a person, as a friend, as a spouse, as a parent, and as a business owner should never be compromised - not if you want a successful and profitable life. Your reputation is paramount and your word should be your bond. If you make a promise, you must do your very best to keep that promise.

If you are like me, and you have made purchases of goods or services, and when the purchase finally arrives, you realise that it is a disappointment, and not what was expected. Then the whole purchase experience - including the dealer/supplier, the product, the manufacturer etc, become tainted in your mind. As a result, you may choose to never purchase that brand again, or never purchase from that dealer/distributor again, etc.

Remember the above example if you don't want to fall into that same predicament in your business.

Be sure to protect the reputation and integrity of your business, and of your own personal name. If that means delaying profits for 3-6 months, then so be it.