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What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Products?

Lesson 9 from: How to Make a Living Selling What You Make

Megan Auman

What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Products?

Lesson 9 from: How to Make a Living Selling What You Make

Megan Auman

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Lesson Info

9. What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Products?

Lessons

Class Trailer

Session 1

1

Class Introduction

19:47
2

Define Your Big Goals: What Gets You Out of Bed?

31:09
3

Finding YOUR Ideal Number

37:12
4

How Much Should You Pay Yourself an Hour?

32:03
5

Who is the Ideal Customer for Your Products?

30:33
6

What is Your Customer Willing to Pay?

38:34
7

Pricing Your Products for Profit

31:06
8

Where Does Your Brand Need Work?

51:31
9

What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Products?

40:07
10

What Makes You a Great Business Owner?

36:19
11

What Should Your Product Be Now?

43:38
12

Bonuses w/ Purchase

01:33
13

Bonus w/ Purchase: Your MAL # (ideal #) in Detail

05:50
14

Bonus with Purchase: Testing Customer Profiles using Facebook ads

16:27

Session 2

15

Live Check In

40:19
16

Shift Your Money Mindset

43:12
17

How To Finance Your Business

33:57
18

Are You Ready to Crowdfund?

52:51
19

Analyze Business Opportunities

35:12
20

Test the Market by Entering with a BANG

50:33
21

Plan Your First Big Sales Event

55:31
22

Market and Promote Your Event: How to Build Buzz

57:00
23

Make Your Event a Success

54:17
24

Analyze and Move Forward

33:18
25

Bonus with Purchase: Calculating ROI

20:10

Session 3

26

Evolve Your Product Line

59:42
27

Create a Production Strategy

52:12
28

Plan for Growth and Future Revenue Streams

35:47
29

Your Big Business Vision

41:23
30

Draft Your Daily and Monthly Action Plan

44:09
31

Keep the Momentum Going

19:48
32

Live Check-in - Finale

28:59
33

Bonus with Purchase: Adjusting your MAL # with employees and contractors

15:16
34

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Catherine Utschig

00:54
35

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Christine Herrin

01:35
36

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Holly Tanner Straus

01:17
37

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Joy Jenkins

01:03
38

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Leah Drapkin

01:08
39

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Lisa Jones

01:12
40

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Monica Jacquay

01:12
41

Free Bonus: Student Interviews - Richelle

01:13

Lesson Info

What Are The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Products?

Hello everyone so we are on lesson eh? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your products so our goal today is to identify the strength and weaknesses of your products you can choose the best markets for you right? We want markets that work with our product rather than fighting them because that's how we're going to grow faster so when the last lesson we completed a swat analysis of all of the elements of your brand and created action steps for improvement so we know what areas now might need a little work right but we're not gonna let that hold us back right? We're gonna keep working on our business and we move forward with those let's look at where we are in this boot camp we are in session one set the foundation for your sustainable business so we're laying that really great foundation and we are in less than eight what are the strengths and weaknesses of your product so the reality is that you can't enter every market at once right you do not have the resource is you do not hav...

e the time you do not have the energy just like we talked about in the last lesson you we talked about lisa not not being able to really grow two brands at once it's the same thing when you're trying to grow your business by really getting into multiple markets at once it's too much stress and not enough return so what we want to do in this and then the next lesson is really figure out which are the best fit markets for you right now based on the strength of your products and then your strengths and weaknesses is a business owner so in less than five you identified all the potential markets were conversations if you remember we talked to tara and tell ian that lesson that your products fit into so what were some of those what conversations and we see you in a couple of different ones that your products but into what were they they fit into tech they fit into fashion right? So you have a couple different conversations they working on who else? Hello warriors um memories on dh er gives guests right christine I think you're a couple of times remember memory like right, right right but also that idea of like, creative expression right steve a couple different markets on then with in those conversations we talked about you identified some of them the key markets or people actually buying your products so what happens when you try to sell in too many of those at once especially in the beginning you really end up spinning your wheels right? You're never getting traction anywhere because you're trying to do a little bit here and then you're going to need a little bit there and so you end up with these days that are really scattered like oh should I be reaching out to stores should I be putting stuff in my online shop should be working my product photography should be planning for a trade show should I be doing this craft show a lot right that's really overwhelming and what happens is you're never really getting into anyone market effectively because you're trying to tackle them all at once and while it's definitely good to have multiple revenue streams there are markets that are better suited for your product than others it's just the reality of the game your products are going to sell better somewhere then somewhere else and the same thing goes for your strengths and weaknesses is a business owner right? Some people like to talk to people and interact and some people would rather be at their computer right or in their studio so you know we're going to assess those as well but when you choose the markets based on the strengths and weaknesses of your products you can grow your business more quickly and when I give you this example that so in my business when I started out I was doing a couple of different things started I did retail craft shows for a little while just to kind of test things out but I also had set up an etsy store this is back in two thousand seven I set up an etsy shop and then my two thousand eight I had done some wholesale shows now my products are much better suited for selling in person. They're big, they're on unusual material. People want to see how they fit online is a harder sell. The strength of my product really lent itself to being something people can see in person. I personally don't wantto do retail craft shows every weekend, right? So I picked wholesale is my primary market, and I was able to grow my business very quickly. You within the first year, I was really making enough money to pay myself a decent living, right? If I had tried to grow my business on etsy just because that's what was there, I still wouldn't have a business. I have, like zero, but I would have nothing, right? I would have the occasional sale, I would probably working a day job not here talking to you guys, right? Because that would be not the right fit market for me. So we want to figure out what those best fit markets for ur and we're not gonna figure that out entirely today, but the best place to start is with our favorite swat analysis to look at your products and figure out what are the strength of your products? What are the weaknesses? And sometimes weaknesses we'll get back to this? Sometimes weaknesses aren't actually weaknesses we can spend them. We'll talk about that and they were the opportunities that they provide and then what are the threats what's one of the challenges that we see so when we're talking about strength and weaknesses of your product it can cover a couple of different things it can cover the design right it could cover just the general aesthetic maybe the materials maybe it's the production process maybe part of the problem is that it's super labor intensive or conversely maybe the problem is that it's really really easy to make it anybody can do it that could also be a product weakness and it might be the range in your product that we look at with strengths weaknesses so you might have ah product to chew that are great but there's really not enough arrange in there we want to look at that price could be either a strength or weakness we're both depending on how you're looking at it and then customer response how are people responding you know a couple of people have mentioned like I need to educate my customer better so if customer response is not quite the way you want we want to take that into account when we're looking for your markets tio so I want you guys to start out and we're gonna do some hot seats in a few minutes but first you could take a look in your notebooks and you guys were following along have your workbooks as well and I want you to start thinking about your products, strikes what makes your product's unique, right? We'll make some different from the other things that are out there on the market, what people like about your products, what do you consistently here from people as, oh, this is great or really appreciate that and really just what makes your product's great? What is it about them that super awesome? If you can't tell me one thing, we got a lot of work to dogo I want you guys to really start to think about that. What is it that makes your product's great? And once you thought about that when we want to turn around to the other side, what are your product weaknesses? Because those air important understand too, they can really help guide us towards the right markets. So what needs to be improved? Are there things that just really aren't up to par? More importantly, what makes your products blend in right? What makes your products the same as everybody? Else's? Because that can create a lot of challenges and what frustrates people about your products? What makes it a difficulty cell? So when we're talking about product weaknesses, we want to make sure they're actually weaknesses. And figure out what we need to do about them so we're doing this evaluation to figure out your best fit markets but we also sometimes are going to come to the conclusion that stuff needs to be improved in your product line right that's really the key to making a living selling what you make is having a strong product line that it's a lot of price points that people want to buy that's the secret and a lot of time so we're going to talk about product development in a whole other lesson for a lot of times that's the missing piece not having the right product line mix so if we're looking at your product weakness is what we want to figure out can we spin that we can't just ignore it or do we need to improve it so we're thinking about spinning you are they really weaknesses can they be turned into selling points so I work in steel and there are a lot of things about steel that could potentially be turned into weaknesses it can rust right? People don't normally wear it for jewelry they don't know a lot about it there's a lot of questions but instead I spent it to look at what are the strength of steel it's lightweight it's durable and holds a beautiful black color better than oxidized sterling would so make sure that when you're thinking weakness isn't really weakness or can we spend it then you also need to figure out if the weaknesses you've identified actually matter to the customer, right? So I gave I talked about eric recently lean startup, right? We talked about this importance of building something that people want to make and he talks about in the book how they were developing this virtual world that they had created and they didn't want their people toe move around awkwardly so they did this really quick solution where they created this teleport feature, right your character's teleported and they were like, well, it's such a easy lazy thing like wait no it's a weakness we'll fix it later and all the customers were like we love the teleport feature it's so fun like we love that about your products, right? So just because I may be a weakness, you doesn't necessarily mean it's a weakness to your customer we want to look at that as well and then do you need to improve upon your product weaknesses before heading into the marketplace? Sometimes things are just not quite there oh you'd be surprised what you can kind of bring into the marketplace with some uncertainty around it that's okay too we'll talk about that later I also want you to identify the threats your product might face, so what challenges do you need to overcome? Do you have to do some kind of education right education is a huge challenging piece, right as we know so that's something you have to think about where might you meet resistance to your product? You know our people going to give you a hard time about something it may be your price but if you're in the right marketplace it's probably not right it could be your material could be construction whatever that is and also how much impact will you see from external forces if your product is following a trend that could be good but it can also be short lived, right? So think about how much those external forces really impact your business and then I want you to identify the opportunities you see within your product. So where do you see the most potential for your products? Those are the things that you probably want to go towards first, right? Where would your products strength most likely shine what's going to highlight the strengths of your product while minimizing the weaknesses? And then what conversations air trends? Are your products poised to take advantage of that's? Not your product. We talked about this in the lesson was harry gentilly. Everything that you surround your product in my product might not necessarily be following trends but I'm using the white nail polish in my ads because I know that that fits in really well so might not be your product but if you could no, your product fits into really obvious conversations or trends that provides a huge opportunity for you. All right, let's, get ready for some hot seats. So, as you guys remember, we've got our handy swat analysis and you can find this in your workbook. You as well. So go ahead and bring somebody up and talk a little bit about your products. Who wants to go first by coming up here? All right. So before we play with our food chart is going to pull a couple things out, so tell us a little bit about I'm gonna reach in there, and yeah, so tell us a little bit about your products, you know, how are they made? What are they made from gives a little bit of loaded. Okay, so everything is made by hand, which means all these threads that you see, I have to be measured up individually. So that, of course, is a lot of work. And then I weave all of these or other people in my family. We have all of them. And then at the very end, so as you can see, everything is stitched by hand, everything, every single piece of french is twisted by hand, and then we finally wash it and set it so these air pretty labor intensive wait, let's plan a a couple other ones so you tend to have kind of all the same shape in length and just bury the materials or is there some other variation that happens in the scarves it's usually a variation in the material and sometimes we can do whiter but they're usually all the same level awesome all right, so let's go to our handy flip chart here so what do you think are some of the strength of your product? I think they're really, really unique, okay, usually in one way I always want to push people beyond that word. So what wear that unique in? They're one of a kind when it comes to leaving people don't usually a lot of variation and threads okay, because it makes the process difficult which we found a wonder why what we got into yarn but it also gives it a totally different look teo any scarf that's woman because it has all these variations all these little bubbles had come out it gives it texture okay see, you've got some detail, some variation and some texture happening. Yeah, um but the flip side of that I'm guessing is that because you're adding in all that variation make some more labor and tested right? Yes so one of the things that you need to figure out is how much value this element really adds to the customer right? Is that the strongest selling point to them or is there a different strong selling point to them? So what other strengths do we have? Um they grow softer as you wear them they're designed to last everything we do is to secure to make them we'll last longer from twisting the french so it won't frey to hem stitching so all hold together longer so when you say that they last longer what does that mean exactly in the life of the customer? So one of the things I wanted to get you guys to think about when we're thinking about strength is what does that mean exactly to the life of the customers so get softer the more you are right that's an obvious one who doesn't want their stuff to get after the war they were right but then the flipside is of that one is that you do sometimes also have to explain that to people and people don't wait right they want to be soft right away yeah, but so then when you say they last longer what does that truly mean? His penis is that ten years scarf a fifty year scarf of five minutes car well, this is a scarf so we hope you will pass down through the generations to your daughter so it's really so when you say it lasts longer you're talking about a multigenerational piece you're lu yeah okay so what's really interesting about this is that that is very different from what most people spend their money on in terms of their personal style so this puts you in a very different conversation the other thing I think that we can talk about is we kind of move into something like opportunity and so I would say that that a potential threat this is a strength but it's also a potential threat because most people aren't thinking I need a scarf that lasts till my dollar write a thing you usually passed down right? So you're almost having teo invent a category here right? Which is a really big challenge but I also think there's some opportunity because I heard you mention that you're thinking about some other types of products you know one of those wass baby please write so to me this is a product that has a huge opportunity because this heirloom piece is really key and this is a market that people spend hot money in right yes that this is a huge market and part of the reason it's a huge market especially online is because this is the audience who was spending their time online right and by online I mean on their phones let's cereal right there on the phone they're not on a computer but they are really engaged in all of the social media platforms especially things like instagram so one of the things that I think is really key for youto think about is those other categories that you're looking at do you really want to wait for the success of that? If something like this can be the easier sell? So what other besides, babe? I was there anything else you guys were thinking about shows? Okay, bags, a bunch of different types of bags once that it just very simple, something better, more sailor bags. Okay, so I think for you, you know, to me, this one seems like the obvious opportunity. Yeah, but I think moving forward it's worth starting to generate the ideas and during the prototypes for a lot of other options, because it may be that the story you're telling and the market you're fitting in, too, the scarf may not be the best first solution. The baby blanket, the bag even you know you can kind of still fit in that same lifestyle, but maybe pick some products that people are willing to spend a little bit more on and where that long lasting heirloom quality, which I agree is really huge selling point for you. You want the categories that people are looking for that m and fashion typically not right, so you may have too much of an uphill battle just with the scarves alone, gotham. Perfect all right, who else wants to go? We'll let you jump down I think that gives you a lot. We're talking about best fit markets in a minute but right now we're just gonna talk about your products who wants to go next here? I like the people who jump first so awesome alright, let's, sit down here so you also have you know, we've been talking a lot about your custom photo pieces, but you actually have a lot of other products in addition to those right, I do take a look at it while you're playing those out. Take a look at these as well oh, vanna white come up here for our online audience so tell us a little about what you've got happening here and with the pieces that you're pulling out too it's a similar style of bracelets but this is not custom, obviously although you can request certain tiles if if you want to and there's no extra charge. Okay, there's your charge, huh? I have to make it anyway, so I don't charge. All right, you know what I mean? It takes longer, but uh it would take longer that it takes longer to to make something than to sell something in my shop you know, saying no, you want my tio you're trying way of letting you raise your prices it doesn't take longer to make it it just takes longer for the customer to receive it that's that's the point I'm trying to make okay if this is a thank you more time it doesn't take much anymore in fact it actually freeze me up because if someone tells me I want this with these beads it makes it a little easier right fair enough yeah so that's that then these I made for a craft show because I just wanted something that was easy to make quick to make and I could sell it a lower price point so really the for you you kind of have the same style it's just whether it's the custom photo or the imagery that you've designed right alright awesome and you have the necklaces bracelets is this a different this is a different that's a different style of custom bracelet perfect okay so what's talk about the strengths and weaknesses of your products so what do you think of some of the strength of the custom order the honor or we can talk a little bit about both the custom bracelet the strength is that it's very personal and meaningful thes I think are bold and kind of showcase your personality okay so one of the things just to keep in mind is that on the non custom piece is the golden showcase personality is definitely a strength but it could be a potential weakness on the custom pieces, right? Because while you want that personal meaningful gift you're also asking them to make a style choice right? Yeah so for you you know one of the things that I think making sure that people can see how versatile the style of the myth of those custom pieces so that they don't feel like oh I love this idea but it is the person I'm getting it for actually unaware it right so that's a potential challenge I think right yes is like the idea is great gift abel is the style the person and I think you have a small audience of people who automatically gravitate towards the style but it may not be enough to sustain the business right so that's a potential threat what else we have strengths weaknesses what else you thinking a weakness for the personal the custom piece is that it takes a little more effort it's not something that you're just goingto right but you can't you can't get it last minute right know which you know makes it a great gift right so kind of give the strength but it also gives it a weakness right so people have to prepare yeah well not only do they have to prepare but they actually have to send me photographs so it's not like they can just say I'd like this I know it's going to take longer they have to do a little bit of work it's a little bit about for and this have to send you photographs how streamline is this process this is actually something that I want to talk about with you is the actual process of ordering the custom piece so when something does your website how did they get it can we order one or do they have to talk to you they have they have to talk to me okay so at the price point that you're at some people may not want to talk to you right right so one of the things that you could d'oh to take this weakness it's not too a strength at least two maybe an opportunity is streamline this process right okay so there might be one that arm or custom but if they want the one on the cord say they're really simple one or you know the more simple options they should be able to buy that upload their photos we'll buy it and then upload their photos and be done right okay and then you send it in x amount of time they don't necessarily have to speak to me before they send the photo because they could just send me the photo and then I'm like it's really high touch like eye contact them and I let them know this photo works gray or are you know whatever but there are some people who may not want high touch right right? So you're probably missing out on a part of your audience who wants to just order and move on? And if the photo doesn't work, you can come back to them and say ok, hey, this one doesn't quite work but that kind of order and be done right that's a lot of people if you already have a process that you can't get last minute involves a significant amount of effort getting the effort done is better and this is another case where we want to test with your customers so you think oh it's high touch it's giving them personal customer service and they're thinking, why can't I just couldn't do this right right exactly why can't I just do this thing really fast and get it done? And now I have to think about it okay, so think for you that's an opportunity to streamline the process and then you can still have so we're going to say streamline our process here so you can still have the option for people to reach out to you you know you want a different option you want this more custom piece reach out but let's make it easy for people right let's make it a little bit easier because I do think that's going to be a big opportunity for you okay, what else do you see in strengths and weaknesses um for our knees and threats? They're also heirloom quality okay and I think for you that one is is an automatic strength because you're in the jewelry category, right? You're in jewelry and urine memories. Those two things right there we like heirloom called but this is a case where price point needs to communicate that right. And this is also a case where there may be an opportunity toe up level some of the supporting elements you will you pull out the one that's on just the black cord? Oh, really simple one right? So we have something like this, but if I'm buying an heirloom quality piece what theywant that on a silver chain you can get it on this. Okay, perfect. Here we go. Right? I think that's really key and that hits you in a different market, a different prices what's the price point if you get a silver chain as opposed to that sure, thiss is fifty dollars with the cord, I think forget am I going to go off? Yeah. Okay, so the difference going cord and silver is way more than ten dollars, some customer, right? Yeah, so we're talking about if that what it is, I think we're bringing it up to ninety anyway, so that night, I mean the silver courtis one fifty one, eighty one is higher, right? So that may be a case or if you're really trying to push this heirloom quality then you might want to focus a little bit more on bringing some of those more high end materials in there, okay, at least as an option. Okay? And this is again a perfect example of don't change everything, do those other options and test it for your customer. Ok, these are potential opportunities, but you really don't know and get it out there in front of people, any other opportunities, threats that we see? Um, no, I don't know. Okay, yeah, I think for you, if you're going to play with this idea of airline quality that's really the key, but I really do think our other opportunity is to streamline the ordering process, to make it a little bit easier for people to figure out it's a streamlined as you want it to be. I mean, if you just sent me the photos and they work that fine, too, but maybe I'm not communicating that well. And how do you how do they order it initially? Do they order it, or did they have to email you? They order it on my in my shop and then they'll have to email me about yeah, I think the more streamlined the better, even though that feel streamline to you like I want to do it all in one system order files go. Okay, okay. A little mock like maybe like somehow a picture with the necklace looks like and you can see when you put the photo and it's going to kind of look like like a dry literally like a dragon drop in the you have a programmer right now you know, down the road future but I think rightly even given the option upload files is a good place to start to kind of to move it along a little bit faster and where they buying for me right now in your tea shop or in you're on your website, betsy or just reaching out to me personally okay, I think we want to kind of shift that too. Yeah, just opened a shop if I so I can hook it up with interest cooled off. All right, thanks will no, not a problem. All right, leo let's look at some ceramics and I keep I was ready to tell us who you are and where we could find you. I don't know about my new leah and my businesses it's called solana and you can find me right now and so on on dot wordpress dot com but it's really in the beginning stages of the site I can't I have to touch yeah great health about your product so that's actually a lid to a little jar I just rub hard guys um and basically I just really make a lot of different functional ceramic virus mugs plates jars today says picture pictures that looked like that so all across the board kitchen wares and housewares and where you currently selling um currently really just like, personal connection felling so I'm really just getting started tow perfect are so our great so we're definitely gonna look at your strengths and weaknesses that we can kind of figure out where maybe the best of it is for you. So what are some of the strength of your pieces? I would say that texture and I feel like they kind of like want to touch them when you see that right? So that's definitely a drawing point and does that happen a lot in the mugs? Teo yeah, yeah there's usually something toe touch your textures and things like that and that's okay? And I intend to be drawn to nature and earthy elements for inspiration, right? So I think that could be a strength it's kind of a cohesive guy line, but that could also be a weakness if you're not into right I mean very specific. So right? So you're hitting a certain type of person what about the materials are is it what kind of clay's it, how durable is it all my work is fired too content so it's all high fired clay tell me that the person who doesn't know anything about syria right one that means to me is a customer it's all fired att least two times in the kilns and it fired up tio I think it's two thousand eight hundred degrees so it's very very true my grab it on the ground will break it was really one of you can have it on the ground but I could put it in my dishwasher and I can't get in the faster it's dishwasher micro microwave stay food safe yes so yeah really like those are the things that you actually want to know all right like what can I do with it can I put my hot tea and and can I write like definitely cool so what are some potential weaknesses? Um I think that they can break okay really easily right I mean, which is a little bit of weakness of all ceramics but potentially a weakness if we're talking about shipping right something I've been thinking about a lot as I have contemplated an etsy shop and things like the right line up right? So there's there's issue that they're breakable in shipping and then because they way more there's also hides the higher shipping costs brightly we've also got the cost of shipping what else do we think? Um I would also like teo get I tend to make a lot of mugs I feel like I've gotten stuck in that kind ooh many months yes, but can you really ever have too many of you? I mean, you really can't but at the same time what happens when you have all of one type of product is that you have all of one price point right? Exactly we're not hitting a broad enough rain what else? Um I know it's hard being your entire product so what do you think the opportunities are first and foremost is obviously to do some other stuff in the line right? Definitely new product types and what are a couple that you think right at the top of your head make sense to come to expand into uh well, I've been toying with the idea of like wall hangings and things like that like wind chimes, water writings also I've been really wanting to make spoons recently so that's just something but um again just in my head I've got playing with designs and stuff I have one for you have some colanders teo because craftsy people tend teo admire and appreciate the work but I've seen some I have a friend and he makes a bold as a little look in it and it holds your ball of yarn while you admit they have a good place to hold your treasured yarns but it looks pretty on your table kind of yes that that not only is well yeah I think the thing that you want to kind of figure out too is this is a good case to start with who might already be buying and expand on what they have rights if they're buying mugs, what else do they want right so bowl and then play it you know? So you start to kind of think about all those things that spoon kind of makes sense so when you get into other completely other things like a wall hanging or wind chime that's a very different thing product probably a separate line but it's a separate product category so it starts to maybe create a new marketing push and so I would say before you get into a whole other products category, make sure that you're really selling within that one for me since I think that's probably the better way to go unless you really I see a clear and distinct opportunity we're like wind chimes air wall hanging but if you're already kind of headed instruction is probably where I would go first okay, so what are the threats that you might see? Um well, I know I've done some research again on etsy indifferent online marketplace is a lot of the, uh like the competition it's there's a lot of s o that's definitely a threat, so I think in your case it's right it's really like how do you differentiate how'd I really stand out right and this may be a case where a lot of that competition are making their making months are they making a spoon not as much definitely months are definitely okay yeah right right so getting yourself into some of those other product categories for competition isn't making as much as definitely a good direction and I try to always do like detailing and things like that on my pieces it's also stand out a bit but still it's still very saturated market and one of the other things that you can think about too is an opportunity is that where can you put them in a market that's less saturated right so we're gonna we're gonna come back to this idea of a second but there it might be that differentiating just means going somewhere different right so there's a lot of people on etsy trying to sell one ofthe mugs there are less people trying to sell entire custom dinner sweets or taking wedding registry pieces for handmade right there's a there's a huge opportunity they're even doing custom work for coffee shops or restaurants or things like that so if you're dealing with this really saturated market may be time to start thinking about some other things okay so just actually we're going to talk about just the second you go ahead and sit down thank you so now that we've looked at the strength and weaknesses of your product it's time to look at how those translate into market opportunities and that's going to be your second exercise so based on your products, strengths and weaknesses, what are some of the best student markets for your products? Looking back at what we did in less than five what we're looking at those conversations so well, what do you think? What are some of your best suit and markets? You've been looking a lot of sc, but it doesn't sound like that's your best bet market. So what do you think? Probably some local boutiques okay, or something like that from the higher end are kind of unique, daughter's things like that off the rights of swords, they're selling kitchenware, maybe even some local coffee shops that are also selling mugs and that's. Something that we often forget about this place is like coffee shops are always looking to add other merchandise into their store, because that helps bring their average dollars up. So things like that, I think, are a great place to start looking are you also talked about were so where do you think the reaching out to photographers might be a good idea? Because that takes the whole customer having to submit a photograph or choose a photograph, you know, right off the table taken just see a sample and off, yeah, so it may be something where you partner with a photographer that part of their package get some apiece of yours as well as everything else that they're already getting right yeah yeah that seems like a great opportunity onda also I think for you at the end of the day selling online through your own shop is still going to be a marketplace that's an option for you because you're selling something that is personal and customizable and if you could do it in a way that really streamlined the process that we're gonna work really well for you who else is price we talked about so what do you think? What are some markets seem like the best fit for you and now we're talking about shifting your product lying not even sure anymore you go because it's not girls just in general it's more moms it's more wealthier moms who want to be fashionable but they wanna have kids they're they're thinking of harming kids so well and I also wonder if in your case to know who's going to buy a really really expensive baby blanket grandma right right so that's I think the other target for you you know if that person has money and in your case because there's such a tactile quality and because there's so much happening I think there's got to be some in store in person selling that happens with your product because that's going to highlight the strengths so much more than just selling online well awesome! All right, so now that we've looked at the strength in weeks weaknesses of your product in the next lesson, we're going to take a look at your strength and weaknesses as a business owner, because then we combine those two that really helps us fine your best fit marketplace. But before we go let's look at today's homework. So I want you guys to complete a swat analysis for your products, and we've got this beautiful swat analysis right in your workbooks. You can go ahead and do that, and then I want you guys to start getting comfortable with talking about what makes your product great. So share a picture of your product on instagram and use the version of the caption my product is greater, this product is great because and then tag it with our hashtag make himself so we can find you. And then finally I want you to take the list of markets you identified in lesson five and you did that in your workbook. I want you to rank them in order of best to worst fit based on your products, strengths or weaknesses, and if there's any of that, you know you want to cross right off, go ahead and do that as well, so that's your homework and I'll see you in the next lesson.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Class Workbook
Private Facebook Group Invite
MAL in Detail - Numbers Template
Editable Bootcamp Workbook in Pages Format
Editable Bootcamp Workbook in Doc Format
Cost Plus Pricing Elements Bonus Video
How to Talk About Your Products Bonus Video
Trade Show Traffic Flow Bonus Video
Visual Branding Basics Bonus Video
MAL in Detail - Excel Template

Ratings and Reviews

user a03f28
 

Love the shorter and longer format to this class. It keeps me interested and I don't have to schedule a whole day at once, during the free play. Well worth the money if you pay for the class too. Megan is amazing! She really knows business, marketing and has strategies which apply to all kinds of businesses. The work book is 150 pages long and breaks everything down into small bits and teaches you to really think about all aspects of your business. Where you were, are now and best of all where you want to be and how to get there. Highly recommend any of her classes. Thank you so much Megan and Creative Live for bringing us such wonderful content!

user-e2bf69
 

This course was totally awesome!!! I cannot express enough how fantastic Megan Auman is, what a great teacher she is, and am so thankful she offered it for FREE!!! Wow!!! It was exactly where I was at, stuck and frustrated. Exactly what I needed to begin to get my business off the ground. I am currently implementing all I have learned from her. Rebranding my self, rebuilding my website, new product shots, model shots, list building, etc., etc. I am still connected with the Facebook group, and that is awesome we have that connection to continue helping each other out and using each other as a sounding board. I plan on purchasing the course as soon as I can. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this course to anyone who is struggling to get their business off the ground and going!!!

user-3f5a23
 

Thank you Megan for this opportunity. I really liked the first classes. You indicated interesting directions to think about. Even though life verifies the rest it is still worth to become smarter. Great Work! Best regards from Poland. Ewa

Student Work

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