Why every media buyer should launch their own product
I think all media buyers should launch their own product at some stage. I know a lot of good media buyers, but they've never experienced the business side of it. They're great at running campaigns, setting them up, even scaling and optimizing them for other brands — but they've never launched their own product.
Running campaigns isn't the same as understanding the business
Every media buyer should at least try, one time, to launch their own product. E-com product, digital product, doesn't really matter — but go from A to Z, do the full flow. Understand the business side of what you're doing. See what the customer sees and how they feel about their ad spend.
The disconnect between media buyers and client P&L
I find there's a bit of a disconnect sometimes. The media buyer looks at the numbers, but they never look at the client's P&L and how important that is when making decisions — so they could better understand their clients.
Try it once or twice — win or lose, you gain the experience
In my opinion, any media buyer worth anything should at least try it once or twice to launch their own product. And if it hits, amazing. If it doesn't, at least you got the experience to understand what the client is feeling.