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Student Examples

Lesson 13 from: Create a Product Plan & Grow Your Standout Business

Tara McMullin

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Lesson Info

13. Student Examples

Lesson Info

Student Examples

We're gonna work on these value statements with you guys, right here, so we can get some more really great examples for the people watching at home. Sound good? Anybody, like, ready to go right now? I'll jump in. All right, Greg. So, I've got, stop looking for more customers one person at a time, build a great course, reach more people. Okay. So, the job to be done is reaching more people. Yep. The key value about income is? It's stop looking for more customers one person at at time. So, in terms of saving time? Yep. Okay. Build a great course, reach more people. All right. I feel like I feel like we're missing a little bit of a story here. Get me to build a great course because I feel like that's the piece that's actually kinda disjointed. Yeah. So, the other value propositions were simplicity, and then quality. Okay. How does building a course help me reach more people? Scaling. So, instead of talking to people one person at a time, I can now scale and a...

dvertise that to multiple people at the same time. Okay. I think another thing that I think we need to play with is there is a disconnection for me between selling to more people and delivering your content to more people and so, I wanna play with that a little bit. What do you think is more important to your customers? Selling to more people or delivering their content to more people? The customers I'm working with right now it's probably delivering content. Okay. Yeah. And sales is sort of like the next step, right? Yeah, we'll come from that. But, just like for you guys, at the beginning, I was saying we're gonna be thinking about actually how to rebuild your businesses around this core offer. I think when you jump to sales, sometimes, even though making money is such a huge key valuable outcome for your customers, when you jump to the sales piece, they get nervous about, well, what is that actually gonna look like? How could I sell more if I can't even replicate myself? Yep. I think, let's use a different key valuable outcome. Okay. Let's use simplifying. That was one of the other ones you had, right? Yep. All right, and the change of circumstances is going to be, instead of teaching one at a time, you're teaching to many. To many. So, instead of building a great course, yeah, that's the piece, I think, that I want to be the story. Okay. The course is the tool. Right. Right? So, let's tell the story about, instead of reaching one person at a time, your ideas are reaching stadiums full of people. This is gonna need some wordsmithing, by the way, folks, but instead of reaching one person at a time, you can speak to a crowd. You can deliver your ideas, you can help, you can change a crowd's full of lives. Right. The words are not coming today. I might stick with stadium, but I know where you're going. I know where you're going. And, we'll give you a simple framework. Yeah. For taking your expertise and building a great course. Yeah, I think simplification, you can also tell people about how you save time. Like, saving time is the piece around, you could figure this out by yourself, but it's not going to be as effective and it's gonna take you a ton of time. But to me, that seems secondary and I would lead with the simplification piece. Okay, I'll keep working on that. Yeah, keep working on that. Anyone else wanna have a go at this? Actually, I wanna have just about everybody take a go at this. I feel like I have pieces of three. All right. None of them are complete. (laughing) Let's let it rip. Okay, so, the first one I have is grow and scale your business with ease, and then, I want it to lead into something about not hating Mondays. So, it was like, face Mondays with, and I wasn't sure if I was gonna try and come up with some kind of alliteration or what people I work with tend to do is avoid their space or avoid things because they're stressed out. So, they go back to feeling good about Mondays or something. So, that's kinda like half an idea. What's the opposite of stressed out? Relaxed, calm. Okay, I wonder if the change of circumstances could be something like go from stressed out business owner to calm CEO? I realize that's two Cs, but it's not actually alliterative, but we'll get there. Go from stressed out business owner to calm CEO. Ease is the key valuable outcome there? That would be the play on, I guess, simplicity. Yeah. Yeah. I think let's actually stick with simplicity because I think simplicity plays better with what you actually do. Okay. When we're talking about ease, it becomes kind of amorphous, but if we talk about utilizing simple systems for growth and scale. And, as you were describing it earlier, that's how she was describing it was making sense of all the stuff that's out there. Right. Yeah. Okay. And then, too, you can say something like, when you have simple systems you can make more money, here's how. You could save more time, here's how. And you can lead the business that you want to lead. Because I think that's the other thing that I'm not loving is growing and scaling your business, yes, it's what people want, but ultimately what people want is the business that's grown and scaled, right? Like, they want that business that they dream of. So, I would actually invite you to kinda go there. Okay. What does that business look like and describe that and it might just be, like, the business of your dreams. I'll play with that one a little bit more. Yeah. How about another example? Okay, you want to maximize your time with your child. The family enrichment library gives you access to-- This is not pretty, but, it gives you access to a resource that help you to save time and get the peace of mind that you need to connect. Yeah. How about-- I think that's really close. Maximize the time you spend with your kids. You said it's the family enrichment library? Yep. Okay. Maximize the time you spend with your kids. The family enrichment library gives you the resources you need to get peace of mind about your next parenting steps fast. Not perfect, but I think that way you're kinda naming, here's the tool I'm giving you, here's what it's gonna do for you, and also, fast. (laughing) Also, fast. Jennifer? I'm gonna give it a shot. Let's see where it goes. Career consulting helps you overcome the anxiety and obstacles inherent in writing about your work for grants and show proposals, so you can get the grants and opportunities that allow you to finally get the recognition you deserve. Yeah, I would lead with, you know how on commercials I lead with, stop wasting time on Google? I would lead with, your art deserves the recognition you crave. Get your art the recognition you crave. You as an artist deserve-- I would lead with that. Okay. And then, 'cuz that's the job to be done, right? And then, I would follow that up with how you do that. Okay. Yeah, that's where I was stuck was like, what's the lead in. Yeah, and how-- I think there's actually too much how in it. Well, 'cuz the other thing, too, is it's still sort of, like, nailing down what the product is a little bit, is about this. Yeah, so you're trying to tell me about the tool, right? Yeah. None of those-- Let's go back Is about it, yeah. So, that's why it's sort of hard for me with this. Yeah, none of these are about-- I don't even say software in this one, right? There's nothing about software. What you're selling is not software, what you're selling is not a small business social network, what you're selling is not actually writing and talking about your work with ease. It's recognition. It's recognition. So, I would focus everything around that and really tighten it up around just that thing. Okay, so, if I'm doing that, so, you know, I'm trying to get you the recognition, then I'm pulling in the value things? What am I pulling in next, then? Am I doing the simplify? Yes. So, that's where it's like, in a hassle-free-- Yeah, so you could say, I'm gonna simplify the grant proposal process for you, I'm going to reduce the amount of time you spend. So, we're gonna simplify, reduce the amount of time you spend on grants, simplify your writing process, reduce the time you spend on grants, and remove the hassle. And increase the efficacy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so you can get more grants submitted and accepted. Yeah, play around with that. Okay. I think you're there. You're getting there. You're getting there. Remember, every time you start feeling a need to describe the product itself, it's an ax, it has a wooden handle, it's sharp on one end, it's got kinda like a wedgie thing that you-- Think s'mores. Think s'mores, not wooden handles and wedgie things. Okay. I'm sure that has a technical name. So, think red carpet, not typewriter. Yes, think red carpet, not typewriter. That's good. You've just change lives out on the internet right now. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah, but I'm s'more. S'more, s'more, s'more, s'more, s'more. (laughing) What have you got? Okay, I have, well, this is actually what's on my website, so I'm not sure if this is right, but it says, restore your digestion through the power of food, simplified, customized, tailored, one one one support to heal your digestion, so you finally feel radiant again. Yeah, so tailored, one on one support, that's the ax handle, right? So, let's take that out. Okay. Tailored or personalized, that's not necessarily bad. Customized, yeah, I just put that in. That's not really a value. I think it is kind of the core of what I do because I very much customize my program. Okay, so that's the differentiator. What's the benefit of that differentiator? To kinda go back to where we started things. If what you do is different and more effective because you're customizing things for you client, what's the benefit of that? So, they feel restored, you know, radiant, they feel good again. Yeah, so actually, I think there's-- and I actually already said it. The benefit is it's more effective, right? If I'm customizing this thing for you. Oh, I see what you're saying. It's more effective and it's more effective at helping you get those results. So, that's good. Okay, so, more radiant. What were the other things that you said? You know, I mean, I don't really feel radiant is actually the word I would want to use. I would say restored, you know? Like, it's more subtle, more grounded, more just feeling like they're-- I really wouldn't know the exact word I would wanna use. Okay, so let's set that aside for now, let's focus on those key valuable outcomes. What were they, again? Let's see here. So, that was simplified one on one support. I guess I had customized. To heal your digestion. Okay, so, the key valuable outcomes was that list of things, remember? So, it's things like simplified, would be one. Right. Saving time would be another. Reducing hassle, reducing anxiety. So, what you could say is your program is designed to simplify the process of changing the way you eat, so you can feel better at the end of every single day. Yeah, but it's really about digestion, you know? It's called gut restoration, so it's really about digestion. So, would you still say it that way, then? I probably would. Okay. Because you're the one who cares about guy restoration and all your customer cares about is feeling better at the end of every day. Yeah, okay. Does that make sense? It makes sense, but it's I know, it's scary, right? It's very simple. It's very scary. So, this is a problem people really, really have. Like I said, we're idea people. We really care about our process, we care about our ideas, we care about the things that we've gone to school for decades for, right? And so, what you're saying to me is it's about the gut, it's about the gut, it's about the gut, and what I'm saying is it's about the way your customer feels. Yes, I get that, yeah. Yeah. And so, I'm not saying you can't work the gut into your value statement. Absolutely, you can, but what I want you to know is that it's actually the least important part of the whole thing. Okay. Because if you say to your customer, I'm gonna give you a simple way to feel better at the end of every day based on what you eat. Yeah. They don't care how it works, they just care that it works. Yeah. I like it. Yeah? Okay. More s'mores, less ax handles. Yes. More red carpet, less typewriter. Yes, yes, yes. This is really, really tricky and that was a great place to kinda leave off on because I know that when you guys are thinking about these core offers, and when you're thinking about your highest contribution, you are thinking about things you've gone to school for years, you're thinking about work that has taken you thousands of client hours to perfect, you're talking about things that you go to bed thinking about and wake up thinking about. These things are incredibly important to you, but the trick of product innovation, of product development, and then, of course, of sales and marketing down the line, is focusing on what's important to your customer and then, building the right tool for that. That's when you do get to use the decades of experience and education and thousands of client hours, is when you're building that tool, but it's not the tool that's important, it's not the ax that's important, it's the campfire and the s'mores. That's what's important and so, when you talk about that value statement, I want you to focus on s'mores and campfires and snuggling up with your Pendleton blanket. I want you to focus on that piece and then, ask what is the best tool I can build to fulfill that promise? And, yeah, for you, that's gonna be gut restoration. Absolutely, that's your tool, but it's not the thing your customer cares about and so, what you can actually do then is simplify your product development process by removing anything from that program, from the work that you do that doesn't just directly help people get more campfire and more s'mores, okay? I'm sure that's something that Greg works on with his clients, as well, because the temptation with an online course, for instance, is to take all of your knowledge and shove it into a course and that it creates huge, horrible problems. And so, the key is actually editing out what is the learning outcome I want people to achieve at the end of this class and anything that is not directly related to that learning outcome, I need to cut out of my program. And so, you can actually create something that's more valuable, that takes people less time to do, that has less hassles in it. Do these things sound familiar? If you actually edit that stuff out it makes your life so much easier. So, as you think about adapting your product, as you think about really doing the process of fine product development and making it better and better and better over time and more and more effective to get to those key valuable outcomes, to make those stories a reality, we're actually talking about, maybe, taking things out of our products. Potentially, not always, but potentially, which is really exciting because it takes your business from being something that's completely focused on you just finding a vessel for all of the information and ideas and creativity that you have in the world and instead, you're creating a vessel for your customers to experience real growth and change and that's how you go about building a business that allows you to make your highest contribution, right? And so, while this stuff is gonna be like, wow, Tara, we did not talk about how many modules I need to have in my online course or how many sessions I need to put in that service package. It's like, I know, because the only way you can answer those questions is to build a value statement, it's to understand the jobs that need to be done, it's to come up with those key valuable outcomes, it's to tell your customers a story about how you're gonna change their circumstances, and then, you need to get really objective and say, what's the easiest, most simple way I can fulfill these promises? That's your product. It might be three modules, it might be one coaching session, it might be an app that you build, it might be a piece of jewelry that you designed, it could be any of those things, but that has to be a tool that makes this reality, that helps people actually achieve that value statement. That's how product development works, right? I said, the code is easy, building the product is easy, this is the hard stuff, and so, it's worth spending time and mental energy on it. Now, once you've spent all of this time and mental energy on this, you are going to wonder if this is actually going to work, right? It seems like a lifetime ago now, but I said something about what you're really building here is a hypothesis. You're creating a statement that you have to set out to prove. Is this going to work? This is what I think is going to work. Is this the right thing? Is what I'm building built to achieve this goal? Is what I'm building actually gonna help people achieve these goals? Is what I'm building gonna take my business to where I really want it to go? And so, the next piece of this product planning puzzle is figuring out how to experiment forward into the future so that each time you sell your product, each time you deliver your service, each time someone downloads your app, you're learning something new and using that to take your business step by step by step into the direction you want it to go.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Product Plan -- Implementation Month

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Product Plan -- Workbook

Ratings and Reviews

Lindsey Warriner
 

Every time I thought the class had reached a point that I knew "enough" about, Tara dropped yet another game-changer that I'd never even considered. Great experience, great speaker, great class.

Alaia Williams
 

Once again, Tara has been extremely helpful in getting me to think through where I'm taking my business next. I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead!

Ate Myt
 

Although the course targets people who have already started a business, I found it very helpful for me as I start my own business. I particularly appreciate the step-by-step guide to developing a 3-pillar business model. Very practical. i highly recommend it.

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