← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
642. "I think I chose the wrong product niche and now I don’t know what to sell- what do I do?" | Coaching Session with Jacqueline Snyder
00:47:41
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And it's been a little bit more consistent. But then in that moment, I was like, no, I don't want to keep exchanging my time and energy for money.
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Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hey, hey, Product Boss. It's Jaclyn Snyder. And welcome back to another episode of the Product Boss podcast. And we are diving into another awesome coaching session. Oh, my goodness, I love how much you all love these coaching sessions. I have been coaching. I mean, I'm probably at about a hundred coaching sessions this year alone. And every time I get on, people are like, oh my goodness, I love it. It feels like you're speaking to me. I had a very similar problem. But they're also saying, like, I still need to figure out what to do. So if you haven't heard about the Product Boss Academy yet, it is our brand new all inclusive membership for product bosses around the world. And I created it because I kept seeing along all of the steps, all of the phases in growing your business. I kept seeing where people were getting stuff and I was like, you know what? Everybody just needs, like an all inclusive place, a membership that you can learn at your own pace. You can be in community. We're going to have weekly coaching. It's just going to be the place and the thing. Okay, so thank you for allowing me to coach you all and to share the coaching sessions because it's really allowed for me to tap in and see exactly what everyone needs. And I think it's just going to be a game changer for the industry and for women everywhere as they're learning how to grow their own businesses and make their own money and build their Confidence and live these dreams that they imagine to live these dream lives. So today I'm chatting with Kate, who owns two businesses, Katie Rain Photography and Kate Amber. Now, Kate recently wanted to lean into her photography business because she's seeing more sales from that than in her jewelry business. But she's also so tired of trading her time for money. Right. As a photographer, she books a session, and that hour is what she gets paid for. It doesn't. She doesn't get to make money while she sleeps. In fact, I don't know if Kate's sleeping very much anyways with all the amazing things that she's doing. So that's why she decided to bring back her jewelry business. Kate Amber. She started it back in 2008. But as you'll hear Kate say, she originally started her jewelry business because she had over a decade of working work experience in that industry. But in reflecting on it, she's not really sure she aligns with that niche anymore. And while she knows she wants to sell products, she's at a point where she's unsure exactly of what the steps to take and what she wants to sell. And she's really hoping to gain some clarity. Right? She really wants to gain clarity around what am I even doing here? What do I make and how can I make money off of my products? Because she doesn't want to fully lean into photography. But you will hear me talk about her as a photographer because I did give her an idea that potentially she could do product photography. So if you're interested, we'll drop that link into the show notes, because I love when product bosses support product bosses. It's just amazing. Okay, so let's dig in to the coaching session now, and I'm going to help Kate figure out using my profitable product boss method. Okay. This is the method that we teach inside of the product boss academy. There's so much more. But right now, as you're seeing a lot of people, we're seeing, like, the sellable product. The part that I think a lot of people get stuck in is where we've been talking a lot about it inside coaching sessions. Okay. So you'll hear more about it. Let's dive in. So, all right, so it looks like you have the two businesses, right? You're a photographer and you have the jewelry company. And so your annual goal is 85,000. But is it combined between the two companies?
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Well, so, okay, so this call was, I feel like, okay, so I had kind of one of these moments where some shiz hit the fan where I So I have an extra, like, day job, and I had kind of a scare very recently where I may actually lose it or it could happen at any time. And so I was like, great, I'm going to go all in on. And I just was thinking the photography, because that's where I have been getting income, and it's been a little bit more consistent. But then in that moment, I was like, no, I don't want to keep exchanging my time and energy for money, because that's what it is.
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B
Right.
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A
It's the portraiture. I'm like, I love the people. I love the niche. Don't get me wrong. I love that side of that business, but I don't want to keep having to, like I said, exchange my time for money. And so earlier in the year, I. I had brought back an old business that I had started, like, 2008. It's gone through different iterations, as I've heard you talk about in your podcast. But I decided to try and bring it back, give it a slightly different look to it. And I was based on. So Kate's me. My daughter is Amber. So I was trying to kind of create something, a legacy, something that she could get into as well. So I was leaning towards doing this villains and spooky theme, but then at the same time, I don't feel fully aligned with it as well. So that. So I've been in this pause.
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B
Right.
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For the past few months where I'm not really pushing forward with. I'm not doing much of anything of either one of them, if that makes sense.
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B
Yeah, it's like that analysis paralysis or like, I don't know what to do, so I'm just gonna do nothing.
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I don't even know. Yeah. Like, I don't know if I should focus on one and not the other. Should I try and, like, combine it like it was. Yeah.
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B
Okay. Okay, cool. So right now, they're really not driving a lot of revenue, either one. Right? Neither one.
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A
I. Not. The jewelry hasn't brought in anything.
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B
Okay.
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And then the photography has brought in some. But because this past couple years, I have already been in this mode of, like, I'm tired of wasting my physical time putting so much time and energy into it, and you know what I mean? Yeah.
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Okay. If, God forbid, you lost your job, what would you need to supplement monthly?
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How much do I actually need to be making? I need to bring in, like, what.
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Would make you feel safe to kind of just, like, transition over?
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Transition over would be. I need to be. I would feel safe at 7,000.
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B
So what I think I want you to do, and I know we're not necessarily coaching on the photography business, but I want you to think through because the photography, while it's time for money, is the fastest way for you to make money. So what that means is for right now, if this job goes away, you said you had the scare it would be something that you could just transfer into to do in the meantime while you were growing the product business. Because the product business is not like an overnight, you know, because you can call someone, you can call a past customer and you could say like, hey, let's get your boudoir shots or let's do your Christmas shots or let's get your, you know, whatever it is. And so that's more of like however you were getting those clients or clients that have come in the past, you can get them back in again and you can just kind of set a price and start to subsidize for part of that. Okay, so really quick way, because you're a photographer, because you're a photographer, you're in my programs and you understand product in a lot of ways. Another thing you could do is you could become a product photographer to start. So hey, guess what? You're in groups that there's entire people who need better pictures than the ones that they're taking.
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I've done that. That's how I got my start and career in photography was doing commercial product photography and fashion.
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Okay. So much needed in this community because we all think we're photographers. I remember all the time I spent trying to figure out a camera and my white light box and then back in the day when it was just Photoshop and I was trying to like erase the background and stuff like that. So there's companies that can do that. But there is also a need within the market, especially in our community that you could potentially position yourself to some people in the Ms. I'm giving you permission right here, the MSM standout society group, because the same group and you could say, hey, I'm starting to build my photography business. I can do product photos. You could do a few that are like test and for free to just get some sample of work. Or you can, you know, you can work out a deal with people because a lot of times they need a model or they need products on white and things like that, like hands so. Exactly. So you can think about some packages that you could put together to just like there's a group of people that are needing help and so to again, subsidize for the time being, whether you're doing boudoir or you're doing product photography or whatever, like you do have this special training and like you, you're an artist and you know how to do this and your eye is more advanced. I, I have my fine arts degree and I could not take photos that's medium. Okay. I wasn't trained in it. I've never learned it. And lighting definitely not my thing. So for you, I think that could be a good. Oh crap, this might be happening. Subsidize. Okay. So I wouldn't say that that has to be your long term business. We never know where our business is going to go. When we started the product boss, it was like let's make this a Friday thing where we just talk at each other and then turn into what it is. So who knows where it's going to go. But I think that that would be like a bandaid for now to, for a wound that we just need to make sure is taken care of.
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A
Yeah, I understand. Yeah, yeah.
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B
Okay. That probably wasn't the best analogy, but.
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A
You know, I understood what you're saying.
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B
Yes.
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It's kind of like, it's like a step up to get me to where I need to be. So that then.
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Yeah. To cover you. So just keep that in your back pocket. Start to think about it.
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Okay.
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Get inspired by it. And because you are a product boss, you've got background in it and you even have the education that I've taught and you understand like what people are doing, it could really be helpful. Okay, so we'll put your link in the show notes for that. So if people are listening to this on the podcast, welcome to your free advertising. Then we can dive into the jewelry business next. Okay, so you said you're not that aligned with it, but what do you want to do? Like do you want to create jewelry? Because at this point I guess you can create any business. It sounds like you defaulted to jewelry. But what do you want to do if you were to come up with a product business?
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A
You know, it's, it's, it's. I just feel like being like so multi passionate. Right. I'm just all the ideas, right. I mean one of them that I know that I've had for a very long time, I think once I started adulting was that I was always been very envious of like girls and teens shoes and how they've always had that like, I don't want to say Lisa Frank, but kind of feel to it. They're colorful and they have all these fabulous stuff to them. And I always felt that, why can't the women's adults, heels and stuff like that look like that, right? But I know nothing about shoes and how to put them together with jewelry. I defaulted because I have over a decade of work experience in that industry. And so that's probably. If I was to think of something, it would be something like that. Because my business, Kate and Amber, when it used to be bridal accessories, something that I really loved doing was the whole designing aspect of it and then creating it and then at one point outsourcing it, Right? Which I just. I loved that. And I haven't been doing that with my jewelry. It's more like I've been finding stuff on different manufacturers what they already have, and then I'm just basically reselling it.
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B
Yeah, okay. You're sourcing and you're curating, and it's. There's. There's three ways just to make a product, right? You can be a maker and make it so you could be there bedazzling and making all the things yourself. You could be working with a manufacturer, which is the way that, as a fashion designer, how I worked where it was like, I would conceive and design the product, and then I would take that design, I'd have to source the materials, and then I would find a contractor to manufacture for me. And then the third way is it's like white labeling or sourcing product. So you're sourcing it. You might be doing your own packaging, you're putting it under your own label, and it's still your brand, but you're sourcing. And then eventually, long term, whether you're buying kind of off the shelf what they have and repackaging, or eventually you start to get better and you kind of start to dive into design and sourcing. But those are like the three ways of you're not a reseller in the way that you're a retail shop and you're buying other people's products and reselling them. You're sourcing and white labeling, which is fine. And that's a fine, fine way to start for what you're making. So what I want to jump into, because what's interesting about this path you're on, and you might have heard this when I speak about it on the podcast, and you're in some of my programs, but there's these phases that we all go through, and we kind of go through them at different times, and we repeat our process. So it's ideate, it Right. Ideate it, make it, brand it, market it, sell it, delegate it, grow it. So what's interesting about you is you've been in business like you had the idea, you made it, you started trying to market it, you built a website. But we're kind of coming back to that idea phase because what it sounds like to me is that you're misaligned with the why. And to get you behind this product, to help you fall in love with this product business, which it's not easy. It's hard and it costs us a lot of money to make these things that I want you to make sure that it is aligned with why you wanted to start this business in the first place. Right. Bringing yourself the joy and satisfaction. Because when things get tough, you have to come back to your why. So thinking about the shoes and I've done shoe companies before. There's actually a really big manufacturing realm of shoes here in L. A which is interesting. But shoes are expensive to develop and they are. I've seen obviously we've seen great success. Like I feel like a lot of brands that kind of really dominate markets or shoe companies like Crocs or when Tom's came out or, or Rothy's, like if you can really nail. Or Javi, honest, if you can nail it with a shoe of the moment. You build these huge companies, but they're not self funded from their, their jobs. They're. There's probably like investors around and funding and all the things. Right. Because there's a lot of money or you're independently welcome.
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A
So you're saying like Kickstarter and all those guys, that kind of thing. Yeah.
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So. But the feeling that you're saying the thing that you like about that, that you wanted to make for adults can be accomplished in accessories. They could be wearable accessories, they can be home accessories, they can be, you know, there's lots of things can do. So you can still get the essence of what you want and bring it into another category as well.
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A
That's something I did think about not long ago was like dishes, right? Because I was looking, I had actually for my, for myself because my dishes are. I'm basically, I need to replace them because I'm down to like five, five plates, you know. And I was just looked up like, you know, fantasy or fairy tales and it just gave me like a couple options and I'm like that's, that's it. I was like, oh, that's unfortunate because I had thought about that was the home aspect of it. Because in my Photography business. I had even. I have a part where you can purchase some of my more personal projects, which is the Dancing Fairies photos that I created. And I have them available as limited editions, but then also smaller prints that you can get, like, I'm selling on Etsy. So I also. I do like the idea of bringing that home and not necessarily making it anyways, make it more of an everyday kind of bring back that imagination and that magic, right. Instead of feeling like, oh, well, I'm an adult. I can't continue to have those kind of fun things in life. So I don't know.
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B
So let's imagine for a second that you discovered this, like, hidden marketplace, right? You're, like, in Diagon Alley. You walk into the most awesome shop that would meet, like, your needs, wants, and desires, right? Or solve a problem for you. What product would you be most excited about seeing in this marketplace that you can't find that you're like, oh, my God, there's people like me that also want this, and I could really fill that need.
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A
I think it would. Oh, you know, that's. So I feel like it would be more on the home side because there are. There are a lot of jewelry designers out there that are already doing kind of Disney and all the different magical realms, right? And then I have seen. Well, when it comes to shoes, I've seen Hades, which is kind of more gothic footwear. And then there's like, another one that I like to follow is Shoe Bakery. And so what he does is he takes tennis shoes and turns them into, like, yummy sweet, which is really quite awesome, I think. And I'm seeing a lot more T shirts, so I'm seeing stuff kind of happening, but I feel like, yeah, that's. I feel like the home. The world of the home. The home products, I feel like, are not as plentiful, I guess.
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B
So you can go, even though we've seen people doing stuff right, it doesn't mean that there's not enough room in the market, so. True. You could present this in a couple different ways. And I remember pet paintings by Nicole. They were an artist, and they painted pet portraits really well and started with people sending them pictures of their pets. And then they would paint and illustrate the pet and put it on denim jackets or shoes. And it was all custom business. And they got up to nine, $10,000 when we were working together a month in revenue, and to the point that they were also able to hire other artists to learn how to do the penmanship or whatever it is to kind of Meet the demand. So if you really want to get into shoes, there are ways that you could still do accessories. There's another company that we work with. She has a vintage embroidery machine. She used to be in my Mastermind. So does this vintage embroidery machine. And she will customize jackets. And a lot of celebrities buy from her, like, these beautiful custom jackets. So she's not manufacturing the jackets, but she's embellishing and decorating with her own artistic creativity. So you can do a couple of things. Either if you really want to be in shoes and stuff like that, it could be something where people are sending in shoes to you to customize. You can create the same way that Crocs the market. So expensive. My kids have just gone into Crocs, those little. The things you decorate the Crocs with. DSW, which is a discount shoe store. It was like 24. I walked up with, like, this. This thing, and I was. They were like, hello Kitty. And I was like, nope. But there's people. Or another thing that I've seen is the Stanley. You know, the Stanley cups or the tumblers. People started doing the little silicone accessories that go on top of the straw. So they're not making the Stanley. They've created an entire market of accessories for the Stanley. So you can think of it in that way that if you want people to be able to accessorize their shirts, their shoes or whatever, you could think even into, like, enamel pins, heat transfers, things like that, that feel like people can create their own. But you don't have to manufacture the entire shoe. That's one example. Or if you want to lean into home products, which you can also do. If we think about trends that are happening in the world just in alignment with you. There was a time when all the celebrities had clothing lines. Then there was a time when all the celebrities had makeup companies. Now the celebrities are all getting into home. So even Kelly Clarkson has, like, Kelly Clarkson home. So there's a lot of, like, home. Where home furniture, home. Like Gwyneth Paltrow with Goop is doing collabs with CB2, right? So there's this, like, how is the celebrity. What does a celebrity home look like? And then people are like, I want. Because we're all obsessed with Instagram. So it's like. Or Reels or TikTok. Sorry. So, you know, people are envious of people's homes. And it's like, oh, I can have that from that celebrity if I buy their furniture, which also can be plates and dish towels and blah, blah, blah. So with me presenting those two ideas to you, what in your gut feels like it's in most alignment.
- [18:45]
A
They're both really great, you know, ways to go, to be honest. And I feel like either one is going to be really quite a new adventure regardless of the direction that I go. So there's going to be a lot more research on my part. I like to go against the grain. I'm a rebel in that way. I don't like following people, so I probably am going to. If I had to choose one, it would go towards probably, like I was saying earlier, the dishes and arguably maybe the towels, just because I see on my feet, you know, on Instagram, TikTok, it's all those people that have all those things you're talking about, you know, And I love some of the ears that some people are making of themselves, but I'm like, I can't. I don't want to follow everybody and their mother.
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B
That's fine. And again, our content is so highly curated to whatever we're looking at. So my husband, if I open up his Instagram, like, go open your boyfriend's Instagram or whatever they're on, you'll be like, this is so different, like, than, you know, my husband's all like, people lifting weights and Broadway singers and food hacks, you know, And I'm like, I'm like, look at this nice living room and look at these product people. Okay, great. So. And obviously you can change it, but I'm just trying to help you through this ideation phase, because whether you were going to stay with jewelry, but you're telling me you're not aligned with it, or let's say you're going to stay with jewelry and you thought, okay, I'm making it, but I don't think I've hit the right sort of market or I don't have the sellable product. We would want to come back to this ideation phase of thinking, like, how do we get you to a sellable product that's also aligned with what you want to do? You're unique in the way that we kind of can do, do anything. Because you had a set of bridal accessory company, you didn't do it. You're like, okay, I know how to do this. I'm just going to bring it back. Feels a little bit misaligned with the, like, with what you want to do. And then looking at your photography, like you said, it's, it's fantasy. Like, you have a merman on it, right? Like, you know, you've Got like people dress like mermaids and witches and amazing fantastical characters. So that's. That fantasy land is aligned with you. So maybe the dark kind of ghoulish, the way that you've been going with the jewelry isn't as aligned. And like you said, you're seeing a lot of jewelry out there and it feels a little bit like a crowded market. So you're thinking, how do I stand out? So coming back to this, it's realigning with your why. And then the second step in this is really figuring out why for the customer, right? So now we know why you want to do it. Then we have to say, is this a match to the customer? Why would they buy your products? Why should you spend your cold hard cash on this product for people? We want to make sure that it's something that is sellable, that we do have a sellable product right before we get into the making, before we get into sourcing it or manufacturing it or making it. And this is when you need to do the work and you have this inside of the program. But like you need to do the work on the problem that you're solving and how your product can be the solution to that problem. Do you see where I'm having Kate start? So in the profitable Product Boss method, which I developed for the Product Boss Academy, it is, it consists of seven steps. Okay? So these seven steps are there to help you figure out your sellable product and then create a business that's able to grow and allows you to live a freedom centered life. So as you heard me walk Kate through, the first step is the ideation phase, which means coming up with your product idea now. Now, if you want your product idea to be successful, you really need to sit down and figure out the why behind why you started this business. And then what products do you really want to sell? Now, I don't want anyone to get confused here because when I say ideate it, some of you might be thinking, I already started my business, Jacqueline. Like, I don't need to come up with an idea. I already have a candle company, a jewelry company, a hat company, a mug company, whatever. It is true. But as you can see, as I've coached so many people, and this is the part that people get stuck. Like I said, in multistream machine, I could show you all the ways to sell. But if you don't have these parts also nailed down and you don't know the why, you don't have the sellable product, you don't have the brand built, this is actually a lot of the stuff that trips people up. And trust me, inside of the Product Boss Academy, we also teach you about marketing, right? How to use social, how to get more customers. We have templates upon templates of email, swipe, copy that you can use. And for selling, we're going to actually, we're building out templates that you can use for Shopify. We're going to show you how to build a converting Shopify site. I mean, there's so much. There's so much inside of here. But right now what I really want us to see is kind of what's tripping us up, right? You keep hearing me, you talk about it because there's going to be so much support in the membership. But the part that's tripping a lot of people up is the product. It's the. It's the figuring out the why, the connecting the puzzle pieces. And then once you do figure this out, this is when it gets so much easier to do all of your marketing. This is when it gets so much easier to sell. This is when you do, you start to sell and you need more help, right? That's when we delegate and then you grow. So my entire operating system for everything a product boss needs is all inside of the product Boss Academy. But what I'm digging into with Kate is that while we are able to partially identify her why it initially didn't feel strong enough. Because your why, my friends, has to be your anchor when things get tough in your business. Okay? Believe me, things will get tough. Things don't always go right. So if you're kind of like meh about your business or meh about your product, then when things get tough, you're just going to be like, I don't even know why I'm doing that. So we really want to anchor into that. So just like Kate, if you're someone who's struggling to come up with a product idea or to sell what you have already, like to sell the idea that you have, but you're feeling like, like maybe it's not aligning with you anymore or aligning with you at all or what you're passionate about, then I want you to really take some time to really dig into your why. Because that's one of the keys to successfully moving through an ideation phase. So now that I've helped Kate narrow in on some ideas, she is starting to feel more aligned and more passionate. You can just see her energy is really kicking up. So let's move to that next step. So then we move into the next phase, which is make it. And then it's like, okay, who can make it? Am I going to make it? Am I going to manufacture these myself? Am I going to go source these, these and then have them customize them for me? And then figuring out what you can do to start and what you eventually want to grow into, it doesn't all have to be done the first thing that you do. Like again, if we think back to shoe companies and I talk about Rothy's as an example, Rothy's came out with a pointy toed shoe that was made out of recycled water bottles. Now if you look at Rothy's, they have different shoe shapes, they've got high heels, they have handbags, but that's years later. So we want to find the product that you can enter market with that would have like the most it could. It's a, it's. You can afford to make it. Right? That's, that's the first part that you can afford to do it and that it meets a need so that when you come out with it, it's your, like your star, it's the, it's your Beyonce, it's your, you know, it's the thing that like leads the business because. And then the second part, which I teach is core collection versus hero product. So Rothy's came out with the hero shoe. It was one shoe versus, let's say you came out with a core collection and you were doing kitchen and dining, where then maybe we're not doing glassware yet, but maybe it's like a salad bowl or a salad plate. A plate. You know, we would think like, what if I need to sell somebody something, what could I sell them? What are you thinking about right now?
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A
I'm thinking about how I know that I'm the person where I would rather design it and then manufacture, you know, have it manufactured out just because I know that I value my time.
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B
Right. And then do you see this being melamine plastic china? Like what do you see the product being?
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A
Oh goodness, durable. I haven't, I haven't thought that. I honestly I didn't think that far ahead because, because with how I am, I just, you know, write a list of all the different ideas that I have. Right. And originally I had thought was start with jewelry, then go into like other accessories, possibly into shoes. Right. Like that just made sense to me. And maybe that throughout I still continue doing and I just change from kind of the spooky theme and go back to the demographic that I'm currently working with in my photography and focus on them. And I very well can do that. And I can, whether I niche down even more and say like dictate with a specific, I don't want to say magical realm but for the lack of a better term because if I wanted to go like, I don't want to say necessarily easier. But again, what I know is obviously the jewelry side of it and I sometimes kind of lean back on that.
- [26:32]
B
So you, because you figured it out already, but you've said to me that you don't want to do accessories that you really like houseware.
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A
Is that what I said in that I did, huh? Well, because I wanted to go against. Oh, because I was thinking the accessories that you were talking about was like, like as examples was accessories for things that people may already own, like the Stanley cup or like the Crocs. Right, I was thinking about that.
- [26:53]
B
Well, let's. Let me give you some ideas. Okay, so, so you're not alone in this. Okay. So we're visionaries, we're creatives. Like we have so many ideas, it's really actually sometimes harder to nail down the one we want to do. And then like I said, well, do you want to do melamine? Do you want to do plastic? You're like, oh, I haven't even thought about that. Making plates is a harder thing to do, let's just put it that way. Because is shipping, right? Yes, we can sell six pieces or 12 pieces, but you know, to get somebody to buy into the plates, we probably want to establish a brand first. Shipping, development, all that stuff is going to be a little bit more costly. So you could think, you want to think through. And this is going to be where you now in the make it part of this because you've, you're coming up with the ideas. Next part for you is going to be the research on what it's going to take for product development, what it's going to take for production. Because what you're talking about, some of it is like a little bit different than just sourcing a pair of earrings that looks a certain way. It's like because it's a little bit more. So we have to think creatively about how we can take something that exists and then reposition it in the market and make it something different. So again, when you come up with the idea, I know we want to solve for everything. We want to solve for the entire house. We imagine our house looking completely whimsical, but most of us are self funded. Money is coming from our savings or from our full time jobs. So we have to think of like an entry point. So either a hero product, like an entry point product or, or a small collection of something that would solve. So.
- [28:15]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [28:17]
B
But do you see how we're solving for, like how you're excited about it?
- [28:21]
A
Right?
- [28:21]
B
Easily. And we're solving for, we're finding alignment through questions, like a series of asking you questions of like, you know, the things you're like, nope, I don't want to do that. Things that feel a little bit like obstacles or you have to jump through certain hoops and then there's stuff that you're like, oh, that's exciting. There's things like that that if you get creative in thinking through it now you go and you source with the inspiration. So this is kind of the real of you digging back into your why and then the biggest problem you can solve for customers and what you can afford to do. And then your step into the making it is then going and looking and sourcing and saying, do I have a partner for this? And then starting to do your research and say, okay, what are the minimums? Like what does the shipping look like? What's the cost?
- [29:02]
A
I never really thought about it in that way. Okay, cool.
- [29:07]
B
All right. So now we just jumped into the second step, right? This is the second phase in the profitable product boss method. It's the make it phase, meaning once you have the idea for your product, then you need to figure out how you're going to make it. And I was just coaching someone today, it's not going to be aired on the podcast, but I was just coaching a husband and wife couple who have a product that they make. They hand embroider, they physically make the product. It's a lot of custom stuff. And as they were telling me their goals, their company's at a hundred, I think they're at about 150,000, maybe a hundred thousand. They're at about a hundred thousand in revenue. They're at the stuck point too, because now it's like we would like to keep growing, but we actually can't keep keep up with the making it. So again, if you're just starting out, you need to know how you're going to make it. So Kate coming back to this idea and thinking about a new product to make, she has to figure out how to make it. But maybe you're someone whose business is growing and now you're at this point of it's been working the way you've been doing it, but it can't keep working that way if you want to scale and grow. So you do have to come back to these phases. These, we go through this all the time. My masterminders making million $2 million in their businesses. We are constantly cycling through these phases and the profitable product loss method because things continue to shift and change and so does our business business. Alrighty. So now what we have to do is Kate needs to go in and do a little bit more research on the ideas that she likes before deciding on what she wants to make. Right. We didn't quite figure that out. It's a lot of research that we're not going to figure out right here in this call. But she, when she knows what product she wants to make, she can figure out how she's going to make the product and the things that she needs to consider. So like I told Kate, you first have to find a product you can enter the market with, then you have to make sure that you can afford to make that product. And finally the product needs to meet the need of your customer so that when you do release that product, you make sales and the product leads you to having a full blown business. And I also am going to teach you all how to test and try and sometimes even before having to make the product, how you can start to validate the product before it ever comes out. So that way you're not all the way into cash or if you've got a new idea, we can validate the product. And that's all inside of the academy. So as we discussed with Kate, Kate has several entry point options depending on what idea she decides to go with. And once she narrows it down, then she'll be able to decide if she should hand make it, source it or manufacture it. Similarly, if you're working on choosing a product or you're already selling a product but it's not affordable, it doesn't have very good margins, or if you're like my other clients that they need a scale and they're looking for an alternative way to manufacture their products, this is when you want to come back to it and then you can think, is there a way to get my costs down right? Can I make a bigger profit? Can I scale this? Does it all have to be done by me? So we've gone through the idea phase, we've gone through the makeup phase, and now we're going to go to the next step in my method. And I talk about this because these are all the things that I see so many people getting stuck at in the very, very Beginning, hey, friends, are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content? Yes, consistent content. Because, you know, consistency is key. Well, let me tell you, you are not alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But as you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. I see. I keep saying content, and that's the dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers, but they don't know what to say, or they are so busy they can't find the time, or they really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries, because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is your shortcut to creating consistent content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to ww content.com so after you've come up with the idea and you've figured out if you could make it or how to make it, the next part is developing a brand. The brand is the feeling you want people to have when they are thinking about your company. But, you know, and then, and then the thing is, is like your ultimate customer that understands your brand wants their entire house to look like this or their entire room to look like this. Then we have the variations, and we talk about this when we're figuring out our ideal customer is the variations. We have like the ideal, ideal customer. And then we have someone that, like, my daughter's like, I really like the bed. She doesn't like the rest of it, but she really likes the bed. So she will still be a version of a customer to this brand, just maybe not buying into the whole thing. So when you can imagine what your brand is going to look like if someone's house was full of it all, then what we do is we start to hone in. So that's really the next step in these, like, in this framework is really understanding what your brand is so people can recognize it, people can talk about it, and they can Buy, they can buy into it. And so again for you, it's thinking through, if we were to have a brand and we were to come out with something, what would that be? Thinking through products that you could source. And you're probably going to be inspired by when you start to actually do the looking around, inspired into something that you could enter into.
- [34:10]
A
So at one point I had thought about that even through the photography end of it was because I love the more kind of ornate picture frames. You know, again, because that kind of brings back to me for me anyways, that whole more glamorous feel, a little more old school, a little bit more, more romantic, I guess on that side. But I had thought about that was having like my own, I don't want to say line, but in a sense, picture frames, because it's not that far off of the photography side of the business or my photography business.
- [34:38]
B
I mean, there's someone in my mastermind right now that had a $700,000 a year picture frame business. So it's not just, there's definitely, you know, it was custom, but there's definitely ways to go about it. So like again, if it's, you know, you find some plates you like and you're like, I want blue, but then I want to do red and something, you know, like, you can still be inspired by it or like, so it's going to be your curation and your fantasy and getting really creative in the type of product that you bring. And I think I want you to sit in this, those first three pillars. I want you to sit in the ideation, I want you to sit in the making part, make it, and I want you to send the brand it. And this is where I want you to sit. And it's going to take a little bit of time for you to come back to these ideas and ideate through it so that you can come up with. Because your question in this, in this whole thing was I'm worried I may have chosen a niche I don't want to be in. I'm worried I've boxed myself into too much. So you wanted to get clarity on your direction. And so this is, I know it's not a hundred percent clarity because we're still in that ideation mode, but it's just showing you all the ways you can think about this in a different way. So have you memorized this yet? Are you a good student? How have you been listening in class? Okay. Have you figured out what the third step is? Well, yeah, it's branded, right? It's branding, of course. So once you figured out your sellable product and you've determined how you're going to make it, and again, this could be if you're just starting out or you've been in business and we have to come back to this, you have a new product idea, you don't want to do what you're doing. You're growing so fast, you need to figure out how you're going to manufacture it, or maybe you're adding on something new. Then we need to go back to the branding, right? That is the thing that starts to really solidify our company. That's the thing that really, people start to. We're more memorable to our customers. So, as I told Kate, you really need to understand your brand and then correctly portray it in your business and your products, because this is how people are going to recognize you, right? There's not going to recognize you. They're going to talk about you. They're going to know what you sell. And when people are talking about your products and refer your products to other people, your business is going to grow. Grow. It's going to grow. So your brand is that feeling you want people to have when they think about your business. So if you're scratching your head thinking, I have no idea what people feel when they think of my brand, you're not alone. But it is something that I want you to dig deeper into and work on, and it's something that we cover inside of the academy. So Kate is starting to gather ideas as to how she wants her branding to come across. And this will become more like, clearer and clearer and clearer for her as she continues to do her research and reflect on what products she really wants to offer. I love this analogy. My friend Bunny said it that imagine like a car window and it's all frozen up, right? It's. It's dead of winter and it's frozen. You get in the car and you turn on the defroster on your car and you start to see, like, the little bit of clarity at the very bottom of the. The dashboard, right? The. The windshield. Oh, my friends, words are sometimes they. They evade me. So the bottom of the. The windshield, and then the longer that the. The defroster is on, the clearer and clearer it gets. Starts to kind of melt the ice and you get to see through. This is what you want to continue to do in your business. When things get foggy, when things get, you know, where you can't see clearly, you just have to slowly allow yourself to let it reveal. And that's what you're doing. That's why you're listening to this podcast. That's why you join programs, that's why you love to learn about business. So now let's see how Kate's feeling and if she received that clarity on her next step. So I think you have a lot of different directions you can go. But I think what I want to do is realign you with your why because this is your hard earned cash you're spending. So your why, what makes you excited, why a customer would want, need, want desire or a problem that would solve. Right. So those are the, in the ideation phase, then there's, okay, I'm going to go see if I can make this product, if I can get this product. What are my options out there that will help you come back to the idea phase of like, okay, I'm going to look, all right, let me realign. Look, realign. All right, let me figure out the product. And then you get into, great, now I've kind of got this idea. Now I have to build the brand. What's my unique value proposition? How would people speak about me? All those things. And then when you establish that, that's when you then think, I need to market this and I need to sell it. And then that's, you've got, you kind of know how to do this, you're in my programs. But then it would be you're going to just have that sellable product. And that's the biggest gap that I see for so many people is they don't have the sellable products because they're kind of all over the place with all of their ideas.
- [38:48]
A
Yes. No, I actually loved your idea of the inspired by kind of curation, you know what I mean? And whether or not I sell all of it, but I can even just for instance, just show like a room and then have whatever hero product right to be actually front and center for that.
- [39:06]
B
So this is another thing. So I've got, I've got a new membership coming out.
- [39:13]
A
Shut the front door.
- [39:14]
B
Because there's all these things that I want to solve for and like help. And I've been doing all these one on ones and there's like, I see these repeated patterns for people where it's like the same, everyone's in a different place, but we're all in the same spot. So whether you're just starting out, whether you've been doing this, whether you've been doing it for years, like we have to go back through these phases and so, and it's going to be a membership where it's going to have curriculum in it and it's going to be based on all these different things. So like ID it, make it, brand it, all the stuff. Plus there's going to be weekly calls, there's going to be templates and tools that you get to use and like download and like plug into your business. It's going to be so good. Right. I want it to be like the place. One of the things I want to teach in there is about even the ideation of this idea and using social media to test and try like using social to test an idea and see if people are resonating with it. Now I know it's like hard to get that engine going, but you can curate ideas on social without ever having to do it. So another thing that you eventually can try is testing and trying by you just curating and sourcing images that your ideal customer would like. Let's say it's home and we start to post those and then you're seeing like what are they resonating with? And then hey, by the way, here's my solution to your problem. And that's the product you come up with.
- [40:22]
A
Oh yes.
- [40:25]
B
So I'm also going to show exactly that. So it's walking you through keyword automations so that, let's say, so people will say like message me the word, you know, Apple and I'll send you my list of where to get it. And so and we do that on our Instagram where It's like message me636 and we'll send you the link for the podcast. So we're gonna, we're gonna also show you how to do that because that also helps kick up your engagement on social and then pulls them onto your email list and then walks them through a process. So that way like you're not just sending the link to random dms, but rather you can create an entire automation. It's not hard, it's, we'll walk you through like every single step kind of things. So it's just, it's, it's really like this is the minutia, this is the stuff like to dig into. And you always hear me say like everyone has a different path to profit. We all have a different way we're going to run our business. But pillar wise like the phases we go through are all the same. It just depends on how we want to apply it to our companies.
- [41:15]
A
Right. And what's working too is yeah, like I'm seeing so many companies And I started doing this myself was like, you know, comment emoji, comment, whatever, and you know, I'll give you whatever information. And so I noticed that that has been more of the current trend in regards to social media and like you said, getting that engagement up and all that jazz.
- [41:35]
B
Well, yeah, but I mean, I do think it's like the keywords and automation so that you can. So whatever way you want to do this, whether you're going to do the initial, like test and try, I'm going to come up with these ideas, I'm going to source, I'm going to test it on social, I'm going to kick in these automations and see if I can one, start to grow the account and then to get people to engage with my content so I can get this feedback. And then see, before you go and spend your cold hard cash on making the product, it's like, let's test and see, right? There could be an alternative way of you being a product boss without you being a product boss to start. And then as you develop the following and you develop the ideas, you're like, oh, okay, now I'm going to, I'm going to actually start selling my own thing to serve this part of the market.
- [42:15]
A
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
- [42:16]
B
Love it.
- [42:17]
A
No, I love that. I love that. Freaking love it. Because I'm obsessed with your podcast. I love your podcast.
- [42:22]
B
Oh, thank you. But yeah, I'm glad we could like go through this whole ideation. I mean, this is what I did for so many years in the, my consulting company with like helping people start businesses because it's really. It takes work to dig into the why. But once you do that and you're excited about it, then it's like, okay, now we dig into the how.
- [42:37]
A
Because for me it's like I have, I feel like I have different levels of why. It's not that different than you where it's just kind of like I want to have my own money.
- [42:45]
B
You know what I mean?
- [42:46]
A
I want to be able to take care of things. And then the other one is just kind of like again. And it's always been my thing is like, I don't, I don't feel that just because I'm an adult that I have to be in a specific box. I still want to love all the things. Magic, all the things, whatever, you know what I mean? So those are there to me, I've always been. So that's why I was excited and knew that this call was going to be more about ideation and coming up with different ways, different ideas just for me to kind of look into and figure out and do the research. Yeah. And see what lights me up.
- [43:15]
B
Yeah. Great. And do you feel like we accomplished that?
- [43:18]
A
I feel like it, yes.
- [43:20]
B
Good. You're excited.
- [43:22]
A
Yes.
- [43:22]
B
You're lit up.
- [43:23]
A
I am. I know. It was one of those things where I very recently was like, I love this fantasy kind of niche. Like, I feel like that's my niche. And it was just a matter of. But what is the product, you know? Yeah.
- [43:36]
B
And. And so it's going to take. So I think your supplement is the photography. I know it's time for time. It doesn't have to be always, but that's the supplement.
- [43:44]
A
I love the mindset for that. That and I appreciate you putting me in that direction because it's been sometimes difficult for me to get through it.
- [43:51]
B
Yeah, totally. And then you're in this ideation, playful mode of test and try playing, enjoying it. And in that, you will find your way to what comes next. It just may not all happen in this hour together. So if people want to follow you, see where you're at and where you're going and buy from you, where could they do that? And if they want to contact you.
- [44:11]
A
For photography, also for the photography is Katie Rainbow and Instagram is katieraine Photography and that's spelled K A T Y R A Y N as in Nancy E. And then the. The new product line is just going to be. It's Kate and Amber, and that's kind of kate amber.com, the website, and then the Kate and Amber on Instagram.
- [44:32]
B
Amazing. And go tell Kate that you love these ideas and tell her like, you can't wait for her product to come out. So good. Love it. Love it. Thank you.
- [44:40]
A
Thank you.
- [44:41]
B
Such an honor. Kate is so amazing. I loved working with her. Like, you can just see she's just such an incredible human. And I was really glad that we could kind of dig into what her questions were. Right. Get her some of that direction on her next steps on finding the sellable product that aligns with her. And the main theme here is that for Kate to do this, she needs to find a product that's going to sell. She needs to first start with ideating it, right. Really thinking about what is it going to be, what's the market fit, then figuring out how she wants to make it and then building the brand around it. So then when, when that's solidified, then she knows she'll be kind of figuring out how to do the marketing of it. Right. How to get customers to know you exist, how to connect with them, how to connect with them often because the marketing is what leads to selling. And then we're going to dive into selling. And I'm so excited because as I was talking to her about it, we could really help support her and building her Shopify site and showing her templates and ways to convert it. Just all the things that we're going to do inside of the Academy. So I'm so glad she was so excited about it because she was one of the first people to find out. Live the call. So if this episode resonated with you and you're wanting to start selling a product, maybe you just have an idea or you've been selling and you're not getting the results that you want, or you've been doing this and you're making some good money, but you really want to build a solid business. As, as Julie Ross says, who I love so much. So shout out to Julie Ross and A Gentle Feast, which is her company, she says she feels like she's building a castle on IKEA furniture. And then I think it's like more of a sand castle on IKEA furniture and there's a bunch of screws missing. It's really scary to build this beautiful business that you're building if you don't know what you're doing, if you don't have the foundation, if you feel like you're flying by the seat of your pants. And that's why instead of the Product Boss Academy, I really wanted to make sure that you were fully supported in every level of business right all the way through and that you could continuously come back and cycle through. Plus the template vault is amazing. Plus there's going to be weekly coaching calls and we have masterclasses. I mean, there's a masterclass in there from someone from TikTok. Literally, like we had a connection with TikTok and they came in and they spoke to our students and that's all inside too, so really cool. So if you've been thinking about joining the Academy and you want to join at the founding members price, I'm sorry, if you're listening in the future and this has disappeared, but the Academy's still there. But for my friends that are listening in real time, head over to the Product Boss Academy com and then you can join and you can get at the lowest rate that it will ever be and then you will lock that rate in. You'll lock it in for life. So that means like you can stay in at that rate as long as you stay in. So I'm really excited to see those of you that are joining. I am. I'm thrilled with everybody that has. It's just. It's just. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited. It's kind of like going to Disneyland every day when I log in. I love it. I love it so much. Okay, so I cannot wait to see what Kate comes up with and how she builds her brand. And remember, if Kate's able to do this and juggle it and figure it all out, I mean, she's been doing this business for years now. Right. And so we can see that there's iterations of business and different eras of business. If she can do this and keep going, so can you, my friend. So can you. All right, I'll catch you in the next coaching episode.