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What Should Your Product Be Now?

Lesson 11 from: How to Make a Living Selling What You Make

Megan Auman

What Should Your Product Be Now?

Lesson 11 from: How to Make a Living Selling What You Make

Megan Auman

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Lesson Info

11. What Should Your Product Be Now?

Next Lesson: Bonuses w/ Purchase

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 Should Your Product Be Now?

Hello, everyone. So we are on lesson ten where should your products being now? Let's look at today's goal. We wouldn't look at all of the aspects of your business to determine the number one marketplace to sell your products in now, right? So in the last lesson, we identified your strengths and weaknesses as a business owner, and before that, we looked at the strengths and weaknesses of your product, and we also looked at the strength and weaknesses of your brand. So now we're gonna put all of those together and make sure that you guys are in the best market to really accelerate the growth of your products. So we are on actually our final lesson of session one, so we really want to make sure that we're getting this marketplace right so that we could move into session to start generating revenue quickly, right? Let's, figure out where your products need to be now. So the reality is that you can't enter every market at once, and you shouldn't try right that's a lead this to stress and fr...

ustration and burn out and doesn't maximize our growth. But when you choose the markets that are the best fit for your products and your personal strengths, you khun grow your business more quickly don't you guys just be stalled for years and years and years, right? Trying to get that momentum I think a lot of you are here because of that right? Some of you have been suffering with that so we want to get you in the right markets so that you can grow so what makes a market a good fit? First of all your ideal customers are buying their right they have to be there if they're not there it's not a good fit for you I think a lot of people waste time right trying to be a market for their customers aren't in it also has to support the prices that you need to charge to make a living selling what you make right it has to support your prices you never want to be the most expensive one in the market place that's really hard usually want to be the bottom of marketplace either but you definitely want to be those expensive one because you're never going to succeed it also has to be a good aesthetic fit for your brand right? I don't care if everything else seems right if the visuals air off if the style is off you're never going to make it work right we all make products we all exist in a visual business so if the aesthetic is off it's not gonna work just play to your products strengths right? For me a lot of the strength of my products are hard to communicate online so selling my products in person via stores much better fit for the strength of my products and then it works with your strengths as a business owner, right? So if you love connecting with people in person but not online trade shows are great option maybe you're the opposite it plays to your strengths plus and here's the last key it enables you to start generating revenue quickly I don't want you to identify a market but it's going to take you years to enter I want you to find a market that you can get in and test your products and quickly in some way shape or form and that might mean that if you decided that trade shows are a great option and you have the budget for that we want to fix that right? Because we want to get you in there quickly I don't want you to say I think trade shows on the way to grow my business, but I can't afford to do one for another five years because then it's not the way to grow your business right? So we have to figure that out as well it has to let you start generating revenue quickly. The other thing to keep in mind is that the market that you're starting out in that's your best fit right now may not be your dream market right? You may know where you want to go if it's not can generate revenue quickly for you you mean you just start somewhere else? And so what I actually want to do now is bring up tiffany web activity. Come on up here. So we're going to talk about exactly. I was just talking about you before that. I want you to tell us a little bit about yourself. Some people may recognize you because you've been in a number of audiences, but now we've got you on the other side. Yes, so tell us who you are, so I'm tiffy whips I'm a jewelry designer metal smith out of oakland here? Yeah, awesome. So what I wanted to bring you in to talk about specifically is your experience selling on, etc. But first, tell us a little bit of your background. How did you get started doing what you're doing? So my actual professional career was in restaurant management, and I moved to a very cold state, and I started making jewelry, and it was more of a hobby, and I also fly fish, and so I tied together sort of my two loves in, um ah line of feather earrings, and they actually took off pretty well for me. I wore some jewelry until the teak, and they started carrying my line, and I almost I don't I don't like to say this, because I don't think anybody's intently in business, but but I almost accidentally ended up starting a jewelry line and then had to figure out how to actually make that unattainable business. Yeah, I think that actually happened. Yeah, more than we think a lot of people sort of fall into accidentally might not be the word for the kind of fall into it, right? It starts to work and then they kind of go from there. So you know, one of the things that we're talking about in this lesson is finding the market that's the right fit for your products now and for a lot of people now means kind of at the beginning, so for you that market I was at sea but it's not actually where you want to kind of end up correct, but I want to start by just talking about why that was such a good fit for your products to begin with and why it still is a good fit. You know, a lot of people here were determined that it's not, but it still is a viable option for some people. So why do you talk a little bit about why your products are so well suited? Taxi absolutely so at sea is definitely my bread and butter I started there because it was one of the only online marketplaces it was super easily acceptable this is back in two thousand ten uh and it was actually a different world back then it wasn't it wasn't quite as flooded, but it also wasn't as real as that riel online internet is there was there was a lot of differences seo wasn't really an issue recency was a big thing you were doing some kind of crazy things to get noticed and get sales, but you were saying you were like doing the realist because it was it was all about, you know who was listing now and everything was coming up that way and way does not work anymore don't try it now and then they came to their entire algorithm and I actually was in a place where I am going along and I'm chugging and I'm selling and life is good and they went, they switched everything and it took me a good two three months to get back to that place, so cia uh but he was a good fit and it is a good fit for me now, uh, because now, obviously we do the same thing and they're probably very different product and we have a different customer base and my customer, they're they're interested in the sustainable aspect they're interested in the handmade item, but what they're really interested in is this product that they know that they're gonna wear every day that they can grab and throw on and my price points while I'm still paying myself and I'm still making a decent income, my price point fits into etc my jewelry is delicate it's light way women can look at it and it can kind of know how it's gonna feel on them and so it's easier it's an easier grab and go item then maybe more of a statement piece that's more of a commitment that they need to look at and where and try right year audience knows kind of what that piece is going to look like on them without having to write feel like they have to try it on and you went through that period of of having to raise your prices some but it's like you were still in that marketplace on that c right even after you kind of do the prices price bump and I was terrified I know a lot of you are really, really terrified about about pricing structure I was terrified I didn't want to do it I I held on to my you know I'm like but I know they're going to buy this product of that amount and I will tell you that I raised my prices and actually once I did it once I can't miss doing I didn't send out a newsletter didn't say, hey, I just went in there and nobody batted an eyelash not only that I'm I am down I will say I'm down in sales this year, but I am way up in revenue, and that really took me out of that hamster wheel feeling of that's also, and I remember story early on when you were starting, where I think someone was buying your hoops right at the retail price and marking them, they remind them that you are returning on, marking them up and reselling them that right? And she says, she's, a bigger jewelry designer than I am on dh yeah, and was purchasing, yeah, using mine and charging double and even then you still have that resistance to raising your price. You really you know I can't do it, but I'm so glad to hear that you raise your price and it's still a big part of your business. So there's a lot more room, I think, for for price variation on etsy than people realize, absolutely, and the other thing is is I treat at the as a tool and a piece of my business? I don't have an etsy business, right? I'm not I'm not here in the game to sell on etsy s so so you know marketing obviously I market my etc I have a shopify market my shopify very differently, I always recommend everybody has. Their own website and home to go back to right and that was actually my next question for you right? Because even though he is a big part of your strategy it's not your only strategy I want you to talk about why that's so important you had some very specific experiences that led you to do that but then also maybe talk a little about your strategies for marking marketing the two differently yeah eso so let's see again they did they changed they changed their model which which actually went from a very considerable amount of money teo and after I'd quit my job teo teo very considerable lesson out of money on and I had to go in there and I had to learn how to really structure my business as a business properly and that meant you know, starting a new website and reaching out to those hotel accounts and you know making sure that I didn't put all these steaks and etc and a couple other things that happen to me that she shot me down he shot me down before I was going to come on the last creative lives and how but I didn't care because all of my length go to my website nobody's going etc by customers on its you're goingto see but you can shut you down in a moment so facebook can shut you down in a moment twitter you know and with these social media places uh where you're storing your information or you're relying heavily to connect with your customer in those rooms are not yours and your website and your email list are you own those and while your web developer khun maybe break a link, we're in charge of that no, I can't take that away from you, right? And you can go in every day and your email list and download that to your computer if you really want to know if you're going to be super safe right, you own those things I think that's really key and that's something that set you apart is you've always worked on building your customer base, you know, outside of sec that you have more of a way to reach them because it's a problem that's, right? It's really challenging to reach a lot of those existing customers is another's yet there's no link, you don't have their email, you know, address it's not appropriate to contact your customer base, and so they're not your customer there as his customer and that is is a revenue stream and is a tool to access their customer base. There is some benefits to that, right? Obviously they have a larger reach, they have a bigger marketing budget, you know they're they're reaching out where you might not be able to get into and so that's that's very beneficial but then you know, another thing so shopify strolling out, I'm sure you are still way I actually wanted to, like steal who immediately on my god bible pens that's going to change the game and shop if eyes in that game for yet yeah, and, you know, I don't know that's who ever will be in that game, I think, you know, maybe yeah, but you know, so how I've already approved for bio pins, I'm just waiting for the but wait now and every day, yeah, like because it's a game changer, you know? So having those different revenue streams, those different ways to reach your customer and to maintain your customer and having your customer coming back to your site, yeah is so valuable and I think that's a good example to because, you know, we're talking about like, what best fits your market? And I'm super excited about buyable pins, but I actually think that your product we'll kill it on bible dad's mind well, I'm not gonna lie because you have that kind of right that you go by haven't go really easy by online where's my people have to think about a little bit longer, so I wouldn't be surprised if buyable pins work much better for me. Around the holidays, when the husband is checking to see what the wife has penned. But I think you're going to see a really immediate response because that's such a good fit for your products, so we're gonna have to commit really signing, inviting. So how do you balance your time spent on etc? Because it is still kind of your bread and butter. It is such a big part of your revenue stream. How do you balance that with trying to grow those other aspects of your business that kind of take you more towards the direction? Maybe you want to be in in terms of your future revenue goals? Yeah, I don't over obsess about at sea. I mean, I think people can waste a lot of time checking stats playing and teams looking at the other people's products, getting distracted, going down a rabbit hole, you don't pay a ton of attention to it, and I actually have now gotten myself to a point where I only return conversations twice a day, so yeah, so I'm not in there. If it is a huge thing, I could see it on my phone. I have access if it's a huge thing, somebody like, wants to buy a major item and there. I'll talk to them right then, but I think, you know, minimizing that sort of getting caught up in the stats on getting caught up in the thing, so I check it check it a couple times a day, I'm in there and I'm adding new product, but now I've decided to start lumping, grouping and launching instead of that whole hamster wheel of adding all I made something or let's take a photo of it, let's, do this let's do that? And I used to do that for a long time, and sometimes, you know, maybe really excited about a necklace, and I wanted it that way, but I'm started actually launch products that way, I feel like I've built myself up to the point where I don't need, you know, I don't need the hundred product to add to it. I love that you're talking about the idea of, like, lumping, grouping and launching that's actually what we're going to dio in session, teo camp, so you're like they're going a little preview here kind of stuff that thatyou're doing kind of intuitively, and I would get to that, you know? You know, I know you went through terrorist standout biz workshop, so I'm guessing that kind of with your etc now you have sort of your kp eyes, your key performance indicators that you could kind of check in and like move on right exactly and so that makes it so yes so then what? What are you working on? A kind of the other errors of your business to move those forward so right now my focus is a little more on wholesale I feel like you know, my websites basically an extension of my etc I think and a little bit, you know, on the branding side getting the line sheet together in contacting boutiques I do think that piece you were talking about I think maybe a couple lessons so was extremely important focus on your kind of focus find something you're doing don't try to reach out all these different things what's going to make you get farther ahead first, right? Finish it right do something else and so for me the online thing is in place that's been in place right feels it feels actually easy now is not always what you get teo suite where this starts doing its own thing and it feels easy I'm sure that how yeah sale feels right you know I have the total opposite because for me wholesale is that super easy thing that's that just sort of works and for me it's been a really kind of uphill slog to build the online growth yeah so fascinating how we kind of have the same product category but very different business model that worked for us yeah yeah it's a hotel just reaching out and getting out there and doing you know my trade show's definitely in my future I think that's a worthwhile thing van tested any other tips that you want to give tio r audience here or words of encouragement I feel like you could give it nice you can do it wait we're actually talking about that exam you're like oh I remember being in those like stuff kind of like humps in my business right so hard I changed my name you time I you know I had panic up and down moments I am and so I'm a single woman with a thriving business living in the san francisco bay area right that's huge and so if I could do that from a restaurant background anybody in anybody's products could do that absolutely and it's super exciting place to be in it a lot of work yeah ah la la a a lot of time and you do you want to cry and you wanna pull hera and give up sometimes and throw in the towel and just so you totally could do it and rockets awesome awesome and I love to that you know for you you went through all of those changes in your brand the name and the pricing and you change so many things, but you always were focused on like, what is making me money and what is moving the business forward and I think that's a good lesson to it's just really focusing on let's bring in the money your business is a business yeah business you and how you're going to make money because at the end of the day it is about money and you're yeah, if you're bankrupt, you're not gonna go anywhere. You can't make these beautiful products for people that have and that's really your goal in life. So I make money doing well, you teo. So what were some key? Takeaway is that you guys got from that interview? Anything that really jumped out at you is a big aha moment. I have a website, as you saw already, but I never thought that some of these external sites could just shut you down at a moment's notice. Yeah, there's a lot of things that I'm thinking about now even prioritizing a little bit diff certainly you can own the content on the contacts, right? All of you? Oh, yeah that's a really big deal, it's just right, having that ability to reach out to your customers on your terms and not somebody else's and my other both that yeah is to get those contacts even right, right? How valuable it is to have them absolutely any other key takeaways there you're actually a good question. Yeah, so you guys were talking about the bible pens? Did you have to get, like, a proved to be? What is that whole process? Yes. So if you are on shopify there's actually a process where you can just go in and requested in your admin you can request buyable pins and they'll put you on the process to approve someone. If you're not on shopify, then you are not yet eligible for them. So it's right now, it's big retailers and then they partnered with shop ified to let anyone with shopify store do it. Yeah, makes me love shopify even more are awesome. Any other takeaways? I was just encouraged tio here a success story. Yeah, yeah, I think it's super great to see what happens because you've been in I mean, you've been in classes with her, right? Awesome. All right, so let's dive in to today's exercise, which is to really identify your number one target market. So the question is, how specific should you be when identifying that target market and this is a case where the more specific you khun b the better, so in the last lesson we kind of talked about the big picture of things maybe it's trade shows maybe it's doing some kind of workshop maybe it's reaching out to you know, stores or boutiques but now I want you guys to really start to get a little more specific which trade shows where could you do a workshop what you know art fairs not you go to which stores were going to target even you don't know the specific stores yet maybe you're going to say I'm going to target this type of store in this geographic area that's really where I want you guys to drill down because again and for thinking really brought if you're like well I'm gonna target every coffee shop in american to bye bye mugs right that's still big and overwhelming right? So if we can narrow that down that's going to make life a lot easier so again well we're thinking about those markets we wanna hit all of these questions are your ideal customers buying their does it support the prices you need to charge to make a living? Is that a good aesthetic fit for your brand doesn't play to your products strength does it and doesn't work with your strength as a business owner all right, so now what I want to dio is dive into some hot seats and really nailed down on that market actually start with michel because I think we sort of drifted into an area that we hadn't been talking about with you before, so come on up here and so this was I think, a good one because it may not have been what we expected to end up after the last time thing, but in the last lesson we were talking about that a lot of your strength kind of lend you to some art shows, right? But you weren't really sure about your products that right? Right. So what do you think about that? What are some things that you could do? What? What are some art shows that you think could be a really good and tell us who you are and what you make? Two we know what we're talking about. My name is michelle, and I'm at the red scorpio dot com and I make jewelry, but I specialize in custom photo jewelry with pictures of your loved ones. And so for you, the biggest challenge really has been just getting enough awareness of a product, right? And have you tried any art shows in the past or no, because you are not a custom, ok, yeah, so what do you think? Air there's some off the top of your head that thinking could work for I don't even know if anything I haven't even going down the, uh, sausalito sausalito art festival, okay and so some of them work some of your problems to apply to some of you might take a little bit more time on, so I think for you what the strategy is going to be it's figuring out how you can communicate the custom pieces right so that people come into your booth they know oh, I'm not gonna buy this picture of two random people, right? I gonna buy this custom? I think for you that means maybe some additional sign ege and something like that, but I think if you could find even just some weekend markets there may be a little bit of an off fit price point, but I actually think in terms of raising awareness and generating some revenue it could be a really good fit because right now you're not anywhere near your selling goals, right? And you're very much stuck on certain times of the year where you more so I think what you khun dio start to focus on finding you know, even if it's just one weekend a month or you know if you really want to dive in two weekends a month dive in, find some markets they might not all be the best fit, but I think it's a good way to start getting the word out about people and what you can actually dio is you can incentivize people to buy there instead of him going oh, I'll come back and I'll think about it later, right? So the price on your website you might be one fifty but if they placed the order at the show it's one twenty five ok right so that incentivizes them to do that and then in addition you can use that marketplace as an email captures maybe they're not quite ready to by now, but you're atleast doing it as a kind of a marketing and a list building tool. So I think one of the things that we think about when we think about list building and tiffany brought that up and it's so key is email marketing still super important? I know you know this because you've been in terrorist even marketing is so important because you own that listing you on the names and so we always think about listen building activities that we frequently think of that miss things you have to do online, right? Right, yes for you with your skill set and I think the beauty of your product in person you could treat art shows farmers markets whatever those kind of in person retail events are you could also treat them is list building right? So what can you do to go there? And even if people aren't buying a ton, can you get people on your list right? Because if you're spending a couple hundred dollars to do that and you can get a decent amount of names on there that's a pretty good return on your investment for less building right? So I think that could be a really strong strategy for you as well it's not just the revenue generation but the list building so then you can kind of really think about getting in touch with people when it makes sense and then the other nice thing for you is if you're building that email list then you can start to spread out some of those crazy rush times right? So you have a problem where everyone wants it for mother's day and christmas right? But if you could get the word out there more and create that audience than you could give people incentives for ordering earlier out right true yes so if I order you don't want the two weeks before mother's day you want them to think about it two months in advance, but if you have their email if you have their contact information you can help them do that and suddenly you're not a bother you're the helpful person saying don't forget about this holiday here's this great gift that's really thoughtful and really unique and they're going to love it so I think you can make all of that happened but starting to think about doing some more of these are chose yeah yeah I'm thinking what are your thoughts about her or anybody doing giveaways ahs incentive to senate for the newsletter so like maybe picking one person to win a twenty five dollar gift card or one of your lower item products so it's a great question so I think it giveaways can work really well under a couple of very specific circumstances. So the first one is that if you're running to give away all of the people should come to you so I don't like give away from someone else's site okay? Because it's their audiences there people you get nothing out of it give away the people of siam to your email list great I think even to give away that gets people to say follow you on instagram can be really good especially in the early building stages but what you want to make sure you have then is a strategy for converting those people so you know, I ran an instagram give away earlier in the year and I'm actually planning another one fairly soon and for me what I like to do is I want to space those giveaways out far enough in advance from major buying times right? Because I don't want to take away from the big buying opportunities so I want to do it I have a couple of really big sales events a year so I want to do it a few months out right? So that I built the audience and built the list and then I can channel them down the road into buying so that's the way that you want to do it. If you don't want to just give it to a giveaway, forgive away sake. You want to kind of have an end game in mind, so that could be an option for you as well. But I still think that kind of like the art markets and that surfing really fits your strength. I think in your case, monica, your audience, they like, give away that kind of a thing that's happening in that world. So for you and also a strategic partnership, give away could be a good option as well, so I'm not. I'm usually not blanket against giveaways, but I think they have to be used very strategically and well, actually talk about them a little bit more when we get to the lesson on analyzing opportunities, because I would consider them an opportunity that you would want to analyze in the same way you would analyse the trade show, our art festival or any of those other things. Thank you so much all right who wants to jump on up here? Can I just say something about giveaway yeah I lesson that I learned with I did like a twelve days of christmas give away where it gave away one thing each daito build my list I got no sales from it I got thes people who just followed giveaways just to get giveaways it was a big bomb but I still have to follow through because I did all of them mark right and so and I would say you know me so you made a couple of mistakes so many so one it was too many days alright twelve too many right I'm talking about you did it in the middle of a high buying season I would never do a giveaway during the holidays because it doesn't incentivize people to buy use it earlier than that as a specific list building strategy and then I wouldn't do things like using a giveaway hashtag because there are people who just troll for that just looking for that what happened right and so you want to avoid all of those when I d would give away the on ly hashtag I would use is something that's strategic and specific to my business because then it's not people looking for that is people who are already familiar with my brand so awesome who else wants to come up here and talk about their best fit marketplace wanna go out? You come up here like we even talked to you in a while because you kind of been trying a lot of different things right now, right? You have been sort of dabbling and you're not quite getting traction and any of them right? Right? Okay, so let's talk about kind of where you are been working and then maybe look at some of your strength. What have you been trying right now? So we've actually been doing a lot of retail shows. There are a lot of like baby shower type shows that we've been doing in those air hugely successful because everybody that's walking in is either brand new mom or is about to be a mom, so reaching our target their and are you generating pretty good sales with that or not? Okay, perfect, we have been doing really really well our problem is not that there aren't enough of us all right, andi, we take advantage of each of those bite will bring like an ipad and have our whole male chimps set up people's inner right there I love that it's so right on dh then the other thing that we're doing right now is reaching out to wholesale wholesalers on dh I'm struggling kind of like in a little bit of a rut right there because there's only so many times I khun reposition what we do, what we have and give it a different spends that the content feels fresh and so that's kind of where I'm at right now and so I'm we're actually looking tio bring on sales reps okay for like the juvenile product industry and I'm like that's one of the things that I'm like struggling with so here's I think there's a couple things think about so you're doing the baby and kids shows and they work but there's not enough of them so why is it that you think those work so well for your product and what are you doing them personally is that you and your mom like your guys you guys remaining? My mom and I are manning the booth and the reason they work so well is because you have a live captive audience that is able to see exactly how our products work and soon as they see it they have the educational, you know, touch then they're like, oh my gosh, that makes perfect sense and everybody gets it but it's the people that just look at it and they're like gods a scarf like there are a million or so king scarves out there, there are million diaper pads out there, but they all functions so different, so once we have the opportunity to really explain it, people get it but if not kind of just falls on deaf ears right? And so I wonder if for you guys if sales reps are really the right way to go or if it's better for you personally to do a trade show because you haven't done a trade show yet right and here's one of those things right? So here's the thing you have to balance so sales reps it's less of an upfront costs because it's just the sample set they're going to be taking that percentage for ever right? So if you can fitted in your budget to do a trade show, you get to keep all of that wholesale income and you guys clearly have the strength to sell your product what you're already doing it we know it sells well you work well with that captive audience it's about finding the right fit trade shows but I think if you can find those that to me seems like it's really the option I know it's scary financially, but I think that's the option that really does play to your strengths and the strings of your product so and I'm probably just sounding like I'm coming up with excuses that you know the biggest one is the abc kids show and I went and walked it last september and I was just overwhelmed the pete the small mom and pop shops get lost in the clutter because it's literally a two three story it's huge huge and then you have, like, the big brands that are the ones that air, like, commanding all the space and their booths are just insane, and then you're like, we were to go, we would look like small, you know, potatoes like, just would not. So this is the perfect example of just because that's the obvious show in your category, it may not be the right show for you guys, so I think you want to go back and sort of do the research and figure out maybe who your best? What shows your best fits stores are actually shopping? One of the ways to do that is to try to figure out if stores that are really on your high target list are on social media because they're on social media a lot of times they're posting when they're going to shows, right? So you can see, ok, maybe there at this show, start talking to people just because you make a baby and kids product doesn't mean that you can't get another show there's in his higher baby and kids category at the new york if there and it's much more small booth friendly, you know, it's not I've not been to any secrets, but I can picture what it probably looks like, yeah. And it's a much more even though new york it is a big show because it's divided into these smaller section that's a much more intimate show so that could very realistically be an option for you guys even though it's not technically the whole show isn't focused on your product category tonight that's better right? So that's better because it helps you stand out so I would say just because that one show wasn't a good fit, I still think shows could be a really good option for you if you find the right one, so I think that really is probably the best fit market for you, but then I do also wonder too, because of the kind of demonstrably city of your product. Where else can you employ video? Right? I think you guys are sort of doing it, but you're maybe not doing it enough and I wonder if there's some kind of live video if there's more opportunity to put video on your instagram but I think there's something about doing live videos or people come in and chat like what if it's like weekly mom chat with monica, right? I think that like that fits your skill set as well you're good at demonstrating the product, you're talking about it, you're clearly comfortable on camera you've been enough creative life things now where you know the drill, you camera so what if you could also explore options like that where you could try to create the energy and the environment of those baby and kids shows that you're doing in an online atmosphere? And I think that's something else to think about as well or, you know, teaming up, as you said with those other other areas, whether it's, lactation specialist, whoever that gets you into small groups where you can also demonstrate the product so that's another, I think good fit for you as well, and maybe even better than the video is if you can actually team up with people to go into small groups and say, you know, let me show you how this works, maybe it's new moms groups, whatever it is and again, it's sort of you want to keep it more like friendly and helpful and not so sales pitch e so that's kind of that balance that you needed, right? But any I think anything you can do to get in with those groups is really kind of the best fit market for you. Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. No, I think that that answers it perfect. Yeah, alright, tio, do we want to do one more really quick? Does anyone else have a kind of any questions about their market? We we haven't wait talk to kristina all jumbled up here because I think we also sort of started to talk about some interesting ideas for you in the last lesson yeah I was thinking a lot about the word shot all right so tell us who you are what you d'oh I'm christine I do a lot of paper stuff so I'm looking to start a paper paper crafts are you know, scrapbooking materials kind of small billions awesome yeah so tell us a little about kind of what you think are those best fit markets you started talking about this workshop idea right? Yeah about that a little bit so and not in the beginning we were talking about how my products my scrapbooking products could be different because they're designing right wait actually look like they use a lot of lettering yeah I'm on it and I was thinking instead of marketing to scrap booker's whatever I marketed to you know, people who already like design stuff so maybe designers and get them scrapbooking instead of the other way around just because I feel like the scrapbooking the marketplaces to saturated right and I think there's a lot of people who would never even think to try scrapbooking because they expect a certain aesthetic and they would never think to find something like this which is clearly very different than what's on the market you're exactly right maybe I can make my own like little space and so are you thinking then that maybe you'll partner with people who have spaces to you workshop so what do you think he's thinking of this local um co working space here in summer school called makeshift yes, I'm really yeah yeah they're so cool and people who work out of there are I think, the kinds of people who would appreciate this kind of scrapbooking I mean they wanted to live I said scrapbooking but you know, explained it better yeah, that is actually a really interesting point for you, you know what can you call it like what can you actually call the workshop really hits your target audience? Yeah, and then I think the other thing that you have to decide in terms of best fit market is what are you trying to accomplish by doing these workshops? So are you trying tio generate revenue from the workshop itself or would you rather have the workshop b I would probably never do free because previous people won't show up right now, but you might do it really inexpensively so that you're not trying to generate revenue from that and then the question becomes, what do you want to sell and how soon to that audience right? So is that email captured to try to sell them later or is there something that you're trying to sell them by the end of it? So those air think I'm not grateful that now your things that you absolutely have to think about going forward because that could really kind of decide or make or break your business in terms of your revenue model right is it you know, just getting them excited that they're hooked on your products that they come back and buy and buy and buy again and get them on your email issue really starting to think about that or do you want them to walk out with kit or something where they pay more for the cost of the class but that gets them? The kids start with right there's a lot of different options and you may have to try out a few different things so I think the other piece for you is maybe that sitting down and figuring out a few other spaces as well so you know, you could do the thing and makeshift for sure but you know what are some other spaces in the bay area? And then maybe you start to think about can I travel a little? I know you said that your ideal customer we did that ideal customer profile and she lives in l a you know, like I'm thinking, you know, poquito teo workshops in their space that I think that could be right that could be really good for you starting to think about then you know, plus them you know, paid trip to l a you know, go teo workshop right now that I think starts to get really fun but it can also be really great kind of revenue generation piece for you and then I think the other thing that you could do with these workshops were talking about playing with your strength is that you are really good on social media so like what's the hashtag what's the documentation so that the excitement of the workshops carry over onto social media so people they want to take the workshop but be also then might just buy your product without the workshop. So I think there's a lot of really good examples I know there's someone great branding workshops that have a huge following on on instagram because people see that kind of buzz happening and then they want to get on to something that's the other good pieces if you could take the workshop piece and then tie it with your social media savvy that's a great way to accelerate growth. Yeah, and I've also been thinking of maybe trying I don't know get sponsorships or partner with these companies that print photos like they make photo keepsakes right like they would you know, the print postcards for you they're for like aren't right uprising type of company? Yeah, I think that's a really good point too, because I think for you another market that's going to come in to play on the line is licensing I mean you're so your designs are so obviously built for it eh? So that's something that you consider as another revenue stream but I love the workshops as a really great way to kind of get in there and get this done quickly yeah, and the good news is that as we move into session too we're gonna talk about planning ahead of your first bake sales event and I think in your case your first sales event well actually a workshop so I think that's gonna be perfect thank you smear plan perfect you know thank you all right, so hopefully I can see how it kind of talked this out and we took what we did in the last lesson with these broad strokes and now we're starting to really narrow it down to kind of what it is you the right market for you to dive into first so this is actually our last lesson in session one but don't worry we have two more awesome sessions to come and plenty of more lessons so in our next session we're going to start generating revenue quickly we're going make money who's excited, but I think the money right? So we're going to do this first off we're gonna find money to invest in your business so if you have an opportunity that requires a little bit of cash maybe that's hitting a trade show, maybe that's just getting enough product printed to do that first workshop you're doing the arts festival, getting the catalogue printed, whatever it is, we're gonna talk about some as painless as possible ways to find some money for your business and we're also talk about kickstarter, which is gonna be super fun and they're gonna analyze opportunities, whether that's a giveaway or a trade show, we're going to learn howto look at these potential opportunities for your business and decide if it's a good fit for your money and then finally we're going to over course of several lessons learned howto enter the market with a bang. So I love that tiffany talked about this idea of, you know, I'm not dripping products and right, I'm doing this like bundle and launch strategy and that's what we want to do is, well, we want to make the maximum impact when we dive into that best fit market. So in the next lesson we will shift your money mindset to truly unleash your revenue potential. We're going get rid of any money roadblock that are holding your business back, but first let's look at today's homework, so I want you to identify the number one target market for your product and get specific you know, if it's a trade show find the one that you think is gonna be the best fit. If it's targeting stores, you'll pick a location, pick a type of store, whatever it is, get specific, and I want you to spend some time getting to know your target market. Look at what's happening online. Look at social media, you know, ifit's, maybe a local store, go in scope, some stores out. Don't bring your product, just goto, observe, right, but I want to get to know your potential market, and then I want you to go into our private facebook group, and I want to share your number one target market, because what you might be able to do is pair up with some people who are also looking to that and see how you guys can work together. So share that market, do that homework, and I will see you guys 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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