← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
675. "Should I start a new business or can I save what I already have?" | Coaching Session
00:37:57
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- [00:02]
A
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 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 bosses. And welcome back to another episode of the Product Boss podcast. I am your host, Jaclyn Snyder, and let's say your coach and all things product based business. And today I'm taking you behind the scenes of another coaching call. I love to do these once a week where I will coach my students or people in my community and we will dig deep into topics that are really important when it comes to the strategy of mo moving their business forward. And so I get the opportunity to coach these students. It's absolutely incredible. I love all of the different ways that they're building their businesses. And if you've been listening to the podcast, you can see that you can really make and sell anything and there's different paths for everybody. So today I'm coaching Kaylee. And Kaeli is The owner of Inspire 10 Rich, who sells story coins that are used by teachers and parents to inspire more creative thinking with their children. Now, Kaylee started her business back in 2021, but she's still feeling stuck in the baby stages as she is yet to grow past those occasional sal. And I see this so often for so many people in my community where they have a really fantastic idea, but they don't know how to get this thing started or to start to make income. So we're going to dig deeper into that in today's call. Now, she is considering pivoting into a completely different direction, but she's also wondering if there's anything she can do or save for her current business to keep going with it before she tries something new. And oh my goodness, I love this kind of Question. So if you've ever wondered if it's worth it to keep going with your product, or maybe it's time to pivot and try something new, then you're going to love this episode. All right. Alright, let's dive in. Oh my goodness. Friends, if you are anything like me, you probably spend more time running errands than running your business. Am I right? Like, everything needs something, we gotta run around. And I knew that this was like a major issue for me back in the day, which is why I decided to get help where I could. And I decided to let Instacart handle all of my grocery shopping. So I no longer had to worry about running all the errands and having to run out and get more almond milk for my lattes. Rather, I was like, you know what, we're just going and let Instacart handle that. So I want you to imagine skipping the store and getting back to designing packaging, orders, making, or maybe actually taking a break, even a nap. Remember those? Okay, so with Instacart, you can get groceries and essentials delivered in as fast as an hour. So you can focus on growing your business without sacrificing a meal. Plus, less stress and more focus. And here's a tip. I've actually used Instacart before to order gifts from my daughter's friend's birthday parties because I haven't had time to run out and get presents. And I've been able to get the packaging like the gift bag and the gift like hello Sephora delivered to my house while I was in the middle of coaching sessions so that I could have the present. Right. It's like having a personal assistant without having a personal assistant. So if you want to do what I do and get the help where you can, you can try it now if you head to the productboss.com instacart okay, so tell me a little bit about your business.
- [03:45]
B
So I started like a hands on game called Story Coins. It was something that my grandmother and I did as kids. She would ask me to tell stories. And so I had done like a summer camp one year and created these little coins for them. And then 2020, I found a company that makes buttons. So they're basically buttons without the back. And so the idea is that you pull one out and you start a story and you can work together collaboratively to share stories. So I've had them, you know, for four years now and I've used them with my students in class and they enjoy them and I've done Like markets here and there. I do have an online website and so I've sold a few things online. But I'm like, it's year four and it's starting to feel like around square peg in a round hole. Like I feel like it's a good idea, but I also am feeling like it's not translating or like people just aren't getting it or it's just not something that is needed on the market. And I can't. I have another idea of something that I'm working on. And so I'm kind of debating if I should just put this to bed and put my attention into the other interest that I have or if I should keep digging. Because I keep thinking about like that illustration of the guy in the mine that's like one ax throw away from reaching all the jewels. So I keep focusing. But I also teach full time and so I don't have a lot of income to throw into it either. And so like when I buy them, it's full price. It's not like a wholesale deal because I'm not buying that much. So like my profit margin is not great. Last year I had. Or maybe it was the year before, maybe 300 in the year. But then that goes right out the window with paying for website and convertkit and all that stuff too. So I feel like at this point I'm just like breaking even if I'm not putting money into it.
- [05:43]
A
Do you believe in this enough? Like, maybe you don't have everything figured out yet, which we can work together on, but do you believe in the product as a teacher, as someone who grew up doing it? Because first we need to think about. And you're in the academy, so like we talk about your why. So let's first define whether that is going to hold you strong enough and do it.
- [06:04]
B
I think that's part of my. I feel like maybe I'm holding onto it because it's. It feels like a no. Like I've been contemplating leaving education this year. It's been a really, really rough year. And so I think part of me is like, that's not something I want to work on when I get at home because I'm so done with school. I'm totally burnt out.
- [06:24]
A
You're just burnt out? Yeah. Well, one, I want to tell you I see you and feel you and hear you and I'm sorry it's been so rough and you'll get through it. You've survived 100% of your worst days and you will continue to do so. Okay, let's just. I have some ideas for this other product. Do you want to talk about the other company at all?
- [06:42]
B
Yeah, I mean we can.
- [06:43]
A
Are you over it?
- [06:44]
B
I'm not 100% over it. It's just like little, they're just little coins that you pull out of a bag. So originally my mom was sewing the bags for me, which was super nice, but she also has a full time job. And so I was like, that's not sustainable. So we switched to just some nice like sturdy plastic bags that I found on Amazon and we had a little market in our small town that I put them in for like a 70, 30 split and they did well. But the things that sold the most were journals and like nice pension. And so then I tried to like bundle them together, but I don't know if I'm not communicating it well because my, my students, when they play with them, like they just get them out and just start playing. But I'm also, other than my own personal child, I don't have any kids that I can use as photo or video. So like I have my students playing with them, but I can't post that on social media. And so I don't know how to translate what they're doing in the classroom to what parents could do at home or if they would even want to. Because I also know as a, like, I don't want another thing that is just going to end up shoved in a corner or in the trash. So.
- [07:58]
A
Do you know the game Quirkle? I've got ideas. So I just want to show you this so you can get an idea. So it's this product, it comes in a bag and it just has all these squares, these black squares of these different shapes and different colors. This is not the, this is not exactly it, but this is just what I imagined for like the presentation of your product. So just a basic printed bag with a bunch of buttons in it or squares or blocks or something with images on it. So I think that there, I think that the problem is, is that I think you could pivot or. No, no, sorry, sorry. I think you could refine. You don't need to pivot. I think that there's ways that you can move this through in a more scalable way. But it's. I think that the messaging isn't clear. You're not targeting the right market and you haven't made it that it's scalable yet. Right. That's kind of your, the things that you're feeling are missing. So we need to first, highlight the clear benefits of it. Right. So who it. Who it benefits. It's great for kids because it helps them with imagination and think creatively. And who would want them? Parents and teachers. Right. People who raising kids that want to do that. You want to shift your brand to kind of this idea of like helping kids think more creatively while reducing screen time or something like that. If that's a. Because so many games now are kind of turning to digital because kids are. They like those hits of dopamine. So it might be ways for kids to still tell stories or to communicate through these. I think it's this creativity in a bag. But I think by you separating it into these different. The animals or the story jar or the. The coin. The writing game, like the fact that you're separating them out might be too specific. Versus what if they got a huge bag of all sorts of images and they pulled them at random and told a story at random. There's only one product instead of.
- [09:35]
B
Instead of doing like themes.
- [09:39]
A
Yeah, one product with a whole bunch of images in it and they pull it at random and it. And it tells a story. I don't know the game exactly, but just thinking about, like right now, it's too defined, right? Like, it's too defined and too much to explain. Like super spy story, coins, writing game. But if that and the animals and outer space and everything was in one and I just pulled random things out, then it's almost like to me it feels like Mad Libs. Or if there was a way to make it like Mad Libs with the images.
- [10:07]
B
That's kind of the. The original purpose of the game was you would be in a group and you would pull something and be like, oh, I found a dog at the shelter today. And then the next person would pull out a coin and they have to add to the story. So you never know what the story is going to be. It's going to be different every you play because every person's going to pull something different and come up with a different idea based on what they see. But then I've watched my students take it and play word games. I had one group one year would like act out things. They would make up their own, almost like charades based on what coin they had. So they kind of took it and ran with it. And so I think, like you said, I think maybe I'm overthinking it. When the kids are going to take it and kind of play with it.
- [10:51]
A
On their own, you might be over teaching it or over controlling it. So it could be this bag of images, right? This bag of coins with all the images on it that 10 ways to play. 10 plus ways to play. You give them the inspiration and like a bunch of different versions of it. And then it could be like. And more like, let your kids explore. So last night my kids and I, we were playing Pictionary. So it could be pull. Pull one and play Pictionary. And they have to try and explain it with that. Or they have to pull three, three of them out. Make. Make a sentence that then they have to do Pictionary about, right? Like, you could take it complicated. You can get inspired by other games that exist without copyright infringement. But like, let's say Mad Libs and say, you know exactly what you said. Like, write a story. Because there also has to be a winning element. So there has to be this way of, like, there's the creative play, but then there's also the. Maybe there's games like, to win. Like, is there a hot potato version of this where it's like you keep adding the story, but then you. There's a timer in there and then the timer. So pull on familiar games that are familiar to the parent or the whoever where you don't need to reinvent the game, but you give them other uses for these images. And now it's like, huh. Because Quirkle, someone bought me and I still have it in my cupboard. I always forget how to play it, to be honest. And they're very smart people who bought it for us. And I'm like, they play chess. Like, they're very smart. I've kept it because it's in this bag and it's different than all the other games we have. It's on in boxes, but it's like something to pull out. Like, we play a lot of Rummy Cube in the house. My grandma, like, same thing. It's like a bunch of little. It's like colors and numbers and simple. So I think there's just ways that you can take another thing. Could be like a version of Rummy Cube where you, like pull the 14 images. And I don't know if there is a way to like, play the game where it's like, it has to tell a story. Like, you have to be able to complete a storyline on the. On the thing where it's like the giraffe took a cab to the grocery store. You know, like has to make sense. So you get really fun and creative of all the different ways to use these story coins, throw them all into a bag. And then now it's just like unlimited amount of games through your imagination. And all of a sudden parents are like, oh, that's cool. Like I've got unlimited games in this, in this one product and they don't have to understand all the different components of it and they know there's like lots of ways to use it.
- [12:59]
B
Yeah, I like, I like that a lot. I think I'm. I was over, over complicating it and I think combining them would be more beneficial and then I wouldn't feel. Because pricing is hard for me because I know like if I'm marketing to teachers, I don't want to over price it because I know what companies charge for things and they're. It's outrageous. I want to be fair with my pricing but also make a profit. So I think offering more makes me feel a bit more comfortable about charging more.
- [13:30]
A
There's also simpler ways to get this made where you don't have to make it and make every button. So if you come to the conclusion of this, you can get coins, even like chips, wooden chips or something like that, printed images on them. Again, if you're mass manufacturing or when I say mass manufacturing, but let's say you're like, I'm going to run a hundred of these games. I don't know how many chips are in there. But like it's the same concept of the buttons. It's just different than the weight. Your grandma made it kind of from home, right? This is her idea. She made it from home. There's ways to scale this up to make it feel more scalable. So if you think about story coins as more than a storytelling tool, it's just a creativity catalyst for all kinds of activities. Right. So more play possibilities. You could be drawing, problem solving, learning games, social and emotional development. Right. That will appeal to more buyers. And then it's easier to market, to be travel friendly and there's just, you know, and then you can position all these different things. So like, so they could be wood, kind of like those black ones that I showed you, the corkles. They could be wood discs that are big enough that they're not choking hazard with printed images on it.
- [14:29]
B
The original ones that I made were, were wood. They were like craft wood that I tried to draw and that was a hot mess. And then I did the metal ones because I put them on magnets. So I had taken like a planner, just like a little A5 planner and I put little magnets in it so that Olivia can take them when we go to the restaurant and put them on the magnets so they don't go everywhere. But I don't know that the people playing with them. I like the way that the metal feels, but I don't know that that would necessarily be a buying point. That would be a very specific audience that would be looking for a very specific texture.
- [15:04]
A
And I want you to be careful with. If we think about games and stuff too. Like there's not a lot that comes in metal because you're dealing with kid products. Like you do need to do your research with the federal, is it the Federal Trade Commission and like there's certain laws about lead. Lead testing. There's just a lot of stuff, choking hazards. So I know it sounds more complicated but to scale a kid's product you really want to be very aware of the laws with kids products. So ChatGPT. So I dropped in the idea into ChatGPT and it's already giving me all these things like how to position this new product. Imaginarium Coins. Think complaint coins. The creativity challenge game, you know, the everything bag of fun, whatever. How many you could do games and play ideas. Story Sprint. Each player draws a button and adds a sentence to growing to a growing story. Quick draw, draw whatever is on your button in under 30 seconds. Word association. Say the first word that comes to mind when you see the image, act it out. Right? So there's all these different things. You can do a pocket sized game with unlimited possibilities. Parents, teachers, beach service, homeschoolers, game enthusiasts. And then it has like a whole bunch of social media stuff. Then I went to Alibaba and I looked up wood games. So these are all manufacturers of wood products for kids or products. Right? So you can find different companies on here. Like these are puzzles. You know, they make puzzles. But if they make puzzles, that means they know how to die cut. They can make the wood. They're the certification here which is eco friendly. So you could reach out to places like this and say hey, if you. Because look, they've done like it looks like Melissa and Doug stuff, right? So they have the ability to print on wood and to make images. So if you want to look into this, you could message people like this and start to ask like, hey, I want to make 30 coins or 50 coins with you know, 30 different images on it that come in a bag like this. And then they'll tell you what their minimums are. And if they could do it, you could work on samples and all the things so you could source in this way where you don't have to do any of the work and you could just import it and then it's already like up leveled. So there's a very simple way about going about the product and I think this could be an Amazon product for sure and then Amazon can fulfill for you. It's an invention that you're creating. Like, I see like so many ways that this thing can grow, can be sold wholesale, but it's just that right now the way that you're presenting it is not honed in enough. Like, the idea is still very much like grassroots. You're trying it, but it hasn't been figured out yet to the level of like scalable making sense. When we first started the call, Kaylee came to me and presented a different problem for a new company she was considering starting. But I wanted her to tell me a little bit more about her story. Coins, why? Because starting a new company is always going to be a heavier lift than just refining something you've already established. So for Kaylee, I can definitely see her products being scalable and successful, but she's still very much in that testing and trying phase of selling because she's not fully honed in yet on what's the best way to grow her business and scale her product. Now, because she's not fully honed in on that, we decided to discuss a few different versions or pathways that she can take when it comes to really highlighting the benefits of her product and why customers might need it. So I say this all the time, maybe you've heard it, but if you want to have scalable product, you need to be very clear on why your customers need the product, what problem does it solve for them? So the other way to look at this is what benefit does it give them that they won't find with other products or with other companies. So as I told Kaylee, once she figures out the best way to present her product, then it will definitely be a scalable business. Right? It's something that will grow and she'll see her sales go from occasional to consistent. So now let's dig deeper into Kaylee's next steps.
- [18:42]
B
So for my website, do I or would you suggest that I start fresh? Because the website I have right now is Inspire, Teach, Grow and I started that 8ish years ago. So it's like blog post and it was originally a blog that I added woocommerce too. And I feel like it's messy and confusing because like the URL doesn't match what I have.
- [19:15]
A
If you're going to, if you're going to go this route. If you're going to work on it, if you're going to upgrade it, if you're going to do everything, then I would say yes. If you're not sure you're going to test and try it, you could test the same thing. Like there are people even within the community that do do wood product. So you could message. I forgot the name of the company right now. Her name's Stephanie but she, she actually bought this business from someone else in multi stream machine. But it's like a wood puzzle company and they cut, it's all lightweight wood and they like cut, they cut it all at home. See I'm not telling you to do any of this stuff because you've got a lot going on and so I don't want you to be like having to cut puzzles and cut pieces and stuff like that. Right. Like we want to make this a very kind of easy product to just put out there in the world. So if you decided to do it, I think what I would tell you to do is and being in the academy we're going to walk you through it's going to get loaded in there. How to build a website, especially one that converts. But before you even do that, if you have proof of concept. So you come up with this new idea. Same way that I told you about the photo thing. You test with a, with a small handful of people. You make a certain amount of them even if it costs you more. But you're just doing it to start and you test it, you get feedback, you get quotes. You could have a landing page and not sell direct to consumer and sell it online on Amazon potentially like that could be your next jump and wholesale if you wanted. You don't have to. I don't know a lot of parents that buy games directly from websites.
- [20:35]
B
Yeah. And I think right now the website is just another thing on my plate. Like I'll try to write blog posts but that's hit or miss. It doesn't get that much traffic like the blog post or to get traffic. But even as a teacher now I'm usually going to ChatGPT. I'm not searching blog posts for ideas or for things like that. And like all of the materials that we use in the classroom, 90% of the time they come from manufacturers who make things for the classroom specifically like Lakeshore and those types of places.
- [21:10]
A
Totally. So I've coached some students before that have inventive products kind of like osmo. And so having a, having a online shop like osmo because it's, there's technology and there's more to it makes sense to have like a whole built out website. But for your product I think it could be distribution channels. So one Amazon is where a lot of parents shop and teachers also register. Right. Like I know at the beginning of the school year. So I think if you figured out this product you had proof of concept and people would want to do it and you're like, okay, I'm gonna go all in. I think you could make, you could crush it on Amazon. Then you would give teachers like affiliate codes for it. They would register for it. You know when parents are buying stuff, par would learn about it. You could work with influencers, influencers could pitch it and run people to Amazon to buy it. So you may not need to have a website for a very long time or you just have a landing page with a often that's like opt in for more game ideas just to grow an email list. But I just want to simplify it for you because you can do a lot of things but you've got a lot of ideas and you're in a big transition phase in your life so and you're feeling burnt out because of all life's just life thing. So I want to give you tools on both ends. One, you've, you've invested and have a bit of proof of concept but it could definitely be finesse. There's more investment probably in the front end with the coins. You can completely switch it and test a new business idea which is the photos. You can try both or you can kind of really lean into like now that maybe every inspired the coins, maybe you're like okay, let me give it one more go. Let me you know, go six months at trying to figure this out or like this year and then if it doesn't work I could bring the other idea and like that's kind of an up to you answer.
- [22:44]
B
Yeah like a six month deadline of this is kind of the last. Change these little things and see what happens.
- [22:52]
A
So did you catch what her next steps are going to be? So not only does she need to focus on honing in, but then she needs to get proof of concept for her product. So when you're in that testing and trying phase, which Kaylee very much still is, you want to make sure that you have a viable product, meaning it's something that people want and are going to buy. So to determine this you need to have proof of concept. In Kaylee's case, since she's deciding between starting a brand New photo business or continuing on with her story. Story coins. We set a timeline for her to really lean into refining this business, this product and getting proof of concept before she pivots to building something totally new. Trust me, there's so many times I'm like, it would just be easier and better if I could just start something new. But what we got to do is we got to dig in and put our full focus onto what we want to grow. And when we know that we've tried everything, then we can pivot if the business really isn't working. So now let's discuss the next missing piece, which is figuring out who her ideal customer is. Hey, friends. Okay, so I don't know if you're anything like me, but sometimes it feels like my self care routine is slipping through the cracks. Because when I'm juggling and wearing all the hats in my business and doing all the things, I mean, the last thing I have to do is like really fulfill that self care routine that my daughter's talking about. She's like, mom, so listen. So when it comes to running a successful business, you can't really pour from an empty cup. And a lot of times that self care is like one of the first things to get yourself recalibrated. So that's why I want you to meet Glossy. Now, Glossy is my favorite daily beauty supplement designed to transform your skin and gut health from the inside out. And I'm actually an investor in this business because I so believe in this idea of science backed ingredients for digestion and skin hydration. And Glossy makes it really easy to look and feel your best without that whole 10 step routine in the mirror. The thing I don't actually have time for, all I have to do is simply mix a stick into my water and I'm good to go. So if you want to try this, because I so believe in this business, I think it's amazing. It's done so many wonders for my skin and my gut, which are two things that I need help with. And you want to simplify your wellness and your beauty. All you have to do is click in the show notes and you can use the code Jacqueline Snider. So it's my full name. Use the code Jacqueline Snider. And I'm hooking you up with 15% off your order. So cheers to glowing skin and a thriving business. 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 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 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 www.ayear of content.com. so what are your thoughts around all of this?
- [26:31]
B
I mean, I definitely feel re inspired and I would like to give it one more shot before I totally. Because I feel like I'm a little emotionally attached just because I've put so much into it and I don't want to just give up on it. Yeah. So I think maybe giving it six months and like if by, you know, July 1st, I'm still feeling the same way, it's still just not getting the traction that I'm wanting, then we can switch gears.
- [27:02]
A
Okay. So I love this because I, I don't want you to throw something out if it's. Doesn't need to be. I think this, this could be. There's potential here. Okay. So. But if we're gonna lean into the coins, the story coins go through the academy with a new perspective. Okay. I'm gonna treat this kind of new and I'm gonna go through ideate it. And I really want you to research the market and validate the demand and your ideal customer avatar, with this new way of approaching it, you're going to want to research similar products that are out there. Like, I brought up Quirkle. I was like, hey, this thing is wood in the bag. Paint it so you're. You can look to Montessori, you can look other storytelling games, all the things and like kind of we talked about what if these were just a bag of coins, how many games can they play? And you can use AI to help you with that as well. Another thing that a friend of mine, she was on Shark Tank, has a eight figure business selling product for kids. She, well actually his parents for playrooms. She got into a lot of Facebook groups with her ideal customer avatar in it and she listened to what they were saying. So she paid a lot of attention to what they were saying. And she didn't sell directly to them, but she kind of see did. Or she's like, hey, you know, coming up with this idea. Does anyone want to be a test person for this? Like, try it out. So the more test people you can have test it and give you feedback, the better. It's just going to be proof of concept. Before you spend a ton of money on something that you don't really have to spend on right now. You're also going to define the concept of the product. How many coins or wooden tokens, how many of those, what kind of symbols is it? Objects, emotions, characters, animals. Like, like leave all the Christmas stuff and all the holiday stuff out and just make it straight, you know, Usable. Yeah, more I was using Tamba.
- [28:36]
B
I mean from what I can tell in their terms, as long as it's not like paper. Because I have made things for like teachers, pay teachers. And I kind of stopped because one that was a, it was a big workload to create digital things for teachers. But also everybody can go on Canva and just pull up a web like a, a quick worksheet and in their terms and conditions, you can't use it for things that are easily replicated like a worksheet. So I kind of stepped away from that a couple years ago.
- [29:04]
A
So AI could even create your images for you now. So if you uploaded the kind of imagery you wanted. I have a student in one of our programs that was creating stained glass and she was actually having AI create the imagery and then she was remaking it in stained glass. So if, let's say you found simple shapes or something like that that you wanted to use, you could be like, hey, learn this kind of graphic now make me a picture of a boy, of a girl, you know, a boy with black ha and brown eyes. A girl with, you know, like you can tell it what you want. There's also other, like, I'm pretty off the top of my head right now, but there's other websites that have, there's free images that you can use. I don't know about the Graphics, but there's free images and then there's paid versions where you can download graphics that you have commercial use of. People do that for prints, like for fabric prints and all that. So there's lots of options for you there. But right now you're just going to kind of piece through this. So you're going to figure out the game, the concept of it, and then you're going to approach suppliers and again, all of this is in the academy, like how to message them, what to ask them, all of that. And then you're going to source suppliers. You're going to see like, well, what would this actually cost? Could it get this done? Could I get it printed? Like, could it come in? Like, what would it be like? And you're going to kind of go through those steps to see where you're at. And then if you want to in the meantime, test stuff with the New Jersey company you can. Or if it's a wood company, like you might find someone else who does like wood instead. Again though, I want you to look into the Federal Trade Commission, like rules around kids process products because you're going to have to be like ages three up or five and up, you know, and then really get into like the ideal customer and the, and the branding and the messaging. So that's really like all the modules in the very beginning of the academy, or ideate it, make it and brand it. That's literally the three parts we're talking about right now. If you can prove concept, come up with the brand and you're like, yes, this is a go, then you can get into, you know, making it, prototyping it, testing it in initial launch and then getting it onto more sales channels. But those are the first few steps I want you to do to kind, kind of revalidate the product and feel like you've got some meat behind it and that you're still into it.
- [30:53]
B
Better foundation than kind of what I had. I mean, how specific should my avatar get as teacher and parent? To me I feel like I'm speaking to two different people because I, I don't want to over teacher fi things for parents.
- [31:07]
A
I'd probably speak to the parent because it's a game. And if we think about a lot of games that are sold, they're really sold to the parents and then teachers want them in the classroom. So unless you're really going to be like a teaching game, which again like I remember like my kids teachers wanted Rummy Cube and they wanted these games that we already play at home. So I feel like I would position it towards parents and make it, set it alight with parents. But then, so I do have students in the programs that are, they make products like this and then they do get hooked up with different homeschool grant companies. And so homeschoolers have a certain amount of money they can spend. So her product is on these different websites that they can spend the money and buy her from her product. So I think long term you can go that route. But first we just want preference, proof of concept that kids and families want to use this product and they tell people about it. And from a finance perspective, you can do Kickstarter, you can do Indiegogo. Right? Like you can, you can, when you do these kind of like funding websites, more people. It's also marketing, right? So people talk about it, but there's a whole bit of marketing if you want to do that. But also knowing that you're a woman, there are grants and small business loans and things like that that you can take out as well as a woman that can also help fund it if you do need more funding for it. But this really plays back into, you know, the concept like what we really teach here at the Product boss, which is when you need the solid foundation, kind of like you said, you pieced it all together, you've just been doing it. It's really not doing anything that you want it to do. It's just kind of there and not really turning a profit. And I'd love for you to make way more than $300, $300 a week. $300, let's do that. Right? Like it's gonna take a little bit, but I think you absolutely can. And the other side here, and this is, I know you're not a multi stream machine yet, but. And when you're ready for it, that's why I created the Academy, because it's like I want you. You can see all these steps to go through and to get this viable sellable product. And then when you have the viable sellable product, the next part is understanding that you can grow a business off of being known for something. Right? You don't need to have an entire product line. You don't need to have like you had all these different game versions of. It does not have to be that complicated. It gets too complicated for the customer, it gets too complicated for you. So how do we lean in and have scalable sellable products? Some people might be able to do one like you and some people might have a core product with like some supporting products around it, but it's not all the things for everybody and all the different variations.
- [33:17]
B
I think the idea of combining them into just one bag is like, I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but it makes me feel a lot better about. It's a lot less stressful to think about. And like you said, I think it'll make it a lot easier for people to understand it.
- [33:34]
A
And that's so much a part of one, establishing the brand and then the marketing and messaging we can over complicate, we get too insular and two, in our heads and two, in the stuff that we're already doing. And I think one of the other biggest gaps that I see so many of our students have is that they just don't research the market enough, you know, and I think maybe that's probably one of my superpowers is I kind of pick up a lot of information from a lot of places and I can kind of zone it in for you. So I'm glad we were able to do this one on one. That probably is probably one of my superpowers. But either way I think knowing the market really helps you then say, well, where's the gap? How can I improve? But also we don't want to develop and produce and put our hard earned money and time into something that we've not validated. So I want you to validate those this. So I'm wondering if you're seeing where Kaylee needs to go next. So what I feel she needs to do is dig back in to that ideated phase of her business, which is one of the concepts I teach inside of the Product Boss academy. Now this phase consists of doing market research on her product and similar products like hers and then really nailing down her ideal customer avatar based on the refinements we previously discussed her making. So my friend, if you're not super clear on these two things, then you're going to struggle to build your product based business because you're trying to grow it all on a cracked foundation. So up until this point, Kaylee has not fully nailed down or honed in on the ideate it part and concept of her business. Which is why I've encouraged her to really dig back into and go back to the foundation of her business. So if you're thinking to yourself this makes a lot of sense and maybe you're not sure exactly who your ideal customer is either or you haven't done a lot of that market research, then you too need to go back and spend More time on the ideated phase. I don't want you to underestimate how important it is the success of your product. This is legitimately why over the last year I've created two new programs that hone in on this. Because as much as I can teach you all the strategy to sell and to sell and to sell, there are these core concepts that you absolutely need to nail. And when you do, you'll see everything will start to work better. Okay, now let's wrap this up. That's why I said like people will make it and then jump to selling it, but they've skipped everything in between. And then it doesn't sell and it's like, why is this thing not selling? And it's like, because you skipped it all. So yeah, a lot of that establishing of the foundation, I know it sounds foundational, but it's not. It's just all part of building a product business, you know? Okay, so if people want to support you, follow you on Instagram, shop from you and see how this business evolves. How can they do that?
- [35:56]
B
Instagram is inspired to enrich and I mean that's on YouTube and Instagram. I post videos. The website is inspiredteachgrow.com you know, you can sign up for my email list there. I do have an email list and I do try to like send out things at least once a month, like ideas. So yeah, Instagram, you'll find lots of fun, uncool things. Like we, we went to the college Football hall of Fame today on a field trip and I posted all of my lovely AI images that they created to put me into the hall of Fame, you know, so that's great. And I post a lot of stuff like from my classroom and a lot of like writing prompt and ideas. So if anyone has any needs or wants for things with their personal kids of helping them with school.
- [36:44]
A
Awesome. Oh my goodness. I loved coaching Kayleigh and I get so excited in this ideated phase and really thinking through like, okay, let's look at the product, let's look at the problem, let's look at the customer. So I can't wait to see what she does with these refinements and when she takes action and digs deep. So the main theme here is that if she wants to keep going with her story coins, she needs to hone in and refine her product idea to make it simpler, gather proof of concept and really nail her market research and her ideal customer avatar. If Kaylee can implement what we discussed, I have no doubt that she'll be able to save this business and start seeing consistent sales. I think it's a really good idea and if you do too, go let her know. So remember, if this episode resonated with you, my friends, you're not alone. But perhaps you could have been in business for years or you could just be starting. Perhaps this is the time that you need to go back into the foundations of your business business and get super clear on them and shout out to all my product boss academy members because you all are nailing it in there. Understanding that ideated phase before or when you come up with new ideas, right? You're kind of coming back to that and you're going over and over and over. So I love this. I'm excited for her, I'm excited for you. And remember, if Kaylee can do this, so can you. All right, my friends, I'll see you in the next episode.