"I don't know what product to sell" How You Choose A Product-Based Business

[biophase]

One question that I always get is "I don't know what product to sell." My answer now is always, that's not the right question. Thinking of the product first is backwards.

The question is, "who will benefit from my business?", "why do I want to start that business?" and "what business do I want to start?"

When you ask "who will benefit from my business", your answer should not be, "I would because I make money, then I get to buy stuff". The answer should be that your customer benefits. But is the customer truly benefiting? Think about this. Let's say you are selling a coffee mug. You put your brand name ABC on it. You want to sell it for $10, like everyone else's.

So now your customer can buy your $10 mug or a competitor's $10 mug. How do they benefit when they buy yours? Well if the competitor is ROGUE and your brand is ABC, we could say that their customer is benefiting because a ROGUE mug means something. It could signal that this customer is into Crossfit. Maybe he uses ROGUE equipment and likes the brand. However, if you just made up a brand name, then what does having a mug that says ABC mean to the customer. You don't build a brand by making up a name and a logo.

Let's compare your $10 ABC mug to another mug Super Happy Dragon Company, that is selling for $9. Now your customer is getting less benefit buying yours vs. the Super Happy Dragon Company. The Super Happy Dragon Company customer's benefit is that their customers will save $1 by purchasing their mug.

Now, let's say you improve the mug so that coffee stays warmer for longer in your special mug. Well this changes the whole "who will benefit from my business" question doesn't it. Now it's clear to you AND your customer that purchasing ABC mug will give them hotter coffee for longer. This is clearly a benefit.

On the other hand, instead of improving the mug, you go the branding route. You sell a regular coffee mug, but instead of ABC, you put a picture of Taylor Swift on it (just assume here that she's ok with it). Now it's clear again to you AND your customer that purchasing ABC mug let's our customer signal that he/she is a Taylor Swift fan. This is clearly a benefit.

When you ask "why do I want to start that business", your answer should not be, "to make money so that I can buy stuff". Maybe your answer is "to make money so that I can buy my mom a nice house", and while that is a noble reason, it's still not a real reason to start a business. Imagine if Nike's was, NIKE, buy our shoes so that I can buy my mom a mansion. Nobody would be NIKEs, because nobody cares about the CEO's mom's house.

Most people want freedom from a job, to be financial free, etc... These are all great internal reasons but you need an external reason. People won't buy from you because you want freedom. They buy from you when you solve an external problem. This is mainly the pain point question that MJ talks about.

I'll give you one of my super nichey pain points. When I'm riding my mountain bike deep in the mountains, I carry a firearm and bear spray. The problem is that neither of these can be deployed until I stop my bike and use both hands. So my "why do I want to start that business" answer is, because I need a way to easily access my bear spray with one hand and while riding.

As you can see, with that question answered, the answer to the next question "what business do I want to start?" is pretty simple. I want to start a business that makes easy access bear spray packs.

Ok, let's jump back to the "who will benefit from my business" question with regards to my easy access bear spray pack business now. They are thousands of biking backpacks out there. But none have a side opening or a method to hook bear spray to where you can reach around and grab it. Imagine the marketing, "With my new easy access bear spray pack, you can take your bear spray out in 2 seconds vs. 15". Isn't it pretty clear who benefits now? That could be the difference of life and death on the trail. Easy marketing right?

When you go through these steps, in the end it should be pretty clear how you are going to market your product. Using the example above, imagine the keywords you would use in a PPC campaign, imagine which influencers or youtuber you would pitch it to. It's pretty clear right? It markets itself. Can you already think of the videos that you can make on social? Content is easy when your product has a purpose.

The problem I see with most people trying to start a product business is that they never think, "how am I going to market this?" Amazon or Shopify is NOT an answer.

If you have read my bees thread you can see this process in action. To summarize it here, I'm trying to figure out a way to help increase the bee population. I haven't figure it out yet. But you will see that I'm going backwards. I haven't even thought about a product yet.

So let's run through the questions.

Who will benefit from my business?

In this case it is the bees that would benefit. Humans would indirectly benefit. Because I haven't figured it out yet on that thread, let's just assume that I decide that donating 50% proceeds to the USA beekeeping foundation(USABKF, I just made that up) is the best course of action.

Why do I want to start that business?

Because I care about the environment, nature and animals.

What business do I want to start?

So here's the incredible part! Does the product matter? The purpose of my business is to donate 50% to the USABKF. So now I need to figure out a product. It should be high volume because my goal is to donate as much as possible. So now I pick something. (As I look around my desk) Sunglasses! Bee Sunglasses! Now I source high quality sunglasses just like everyone else trying to get into the sunglasses market. But guess what? I already know how I'm going to market it and I'm sure you do too.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

Its easy to find products. Here's my checklist:

1 - What's trending? Check Google trends, keywords and find who's running ads for it.
2 - Can I sell it on Instagram (my fave platform!)? Must be a hot item for women aged 18-35.
3 - Is there lifetime value? Consumable items are great for this.
4 - Can I ship it worldwide?

Start here then move on.

This is actually the exact opposite way that I work. I look for stuff that is hard to do. It weeds out a lot of potential competition.

I’m curious if your method creates a company that you can sell later? I mean if it’s trending then it usually means that sales will decline in the long term.

 

[JAJT]

This is a great video example of someone launching a new product and crushing it.

What a great video.

I LOVED his enthusiasm in finding the RIGHT product. He had every opportunity and excuse to stop early or run with mediocre products, but didn't.

Many people who have never started a product based company may not realize this, but sourcing can be a total pain and mental drain.

When you spend entire days/weeks/months banging your head against a wall to find ANY company that both has you what you want AND will work with you AND at a price you can live with AND in a quantity you can afford, it gets super frustrating and discouraging. You feel very shut out and discouraged. You feel like maybe there's a damn good reason why nobody is doing what you want to do already - that gap in the market you got all excited about in the beginning now turns against you and you feel like the market gap is the thing now actively working against you.

When you DO finally find a company that checks those boxes (assuming you kept going this far), you feel this immense hope, like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. The finish line is just up ahead!

Then you get the product, and... it's "good enough".

Maybe it's exactly like what everyone else has. Maybe it's lacking that special "something" you hoped for. Maybe they can do 70% of what you had hoped but not the last 30% that originally got you excited about the business in the first place.

This is where a lot of people stumble. They start thinking things like:

- Well, maybe I can make it up with marketing and branding
- Well, maybe I can sell this to start while I look to improve as I go
- Maybe nobody really cares about the special aspects that I cared about
- Maybe my differentiator will be that I cut out the middleman and am an online brand

The fact is, when you are starving of thirst in the hot desert and really want a glass of ice water, it's hard to turn away a cup of hot coffee at the starbucks you thought was an oasis. It's not what you wanted, at all, but it's "good enough" and hell - at least it has water IN IT, right?

This is where mediocre white label "me too" products come from.

It takes a lot of time, energy, and willpower to turn away the cup of coffee and keep pressing on until you find your glass of ice water.

 

[biophase]

How you and Bill come up with your ideas? are those everyday Problems, are you surfing some e-commerce sites or is it more spontaneous? How you guys get that feeling where to look?

Can i do this approach on Amazon? maybe i think wrong for just looking into online businesses, but i want it really badly so i can leave my current country any day! Hmm sounds a bit selfish

In my opinion it comes down to real life experiences. You can't find business ideas sitting on your couch. How would you ever know that bear spray biking would be an issue if you never mountain biked? We come up with ideas just by living life.

If you searched Amazon and saw a mountain biking bear spray backpack and thought, wow there's only one seller, I'm going to get into this niche, how would you compete? You'd have no idea how the product is used. Are you going to buy a mountain bike, some bear spray and go for rides to test it out?

When I look back at the business ideas I've had, that are now successful compaines. One came from frustration in trying to book a trip in 2013. Another came while staying at an Airbnb in Romania in 2015. Another came from fostering rescue dogs in 2014.

People say I wish I started this business years ago. But in reality, you wouldn't have because that idea wasn't even in your head at that point.

 

[biophase]

Bio I'm in a similar situation as yours, and I'm stuck after answering this questions... let me explain

Who will benefit from my business?
I want to help the homeless population in Chicago by donating proceeds to shelters focusing on personal hygiene needs, ultimately what I want is to offer a place where they can shower and change clothes but that's far along the line so let's stop at "donating proceeds"

Why do I want to start that business?

Because I care about helping people back on their feet, and it must be difficult to not feel helpless when your clothes suck and you are (and feel) so dirty people can't share a train car with you. Homeless women have to deal with periods, on top of that.

What business do I want to start?

I've decided on private labeling a line of hygiene products, that can be sold individually or in like a gift-basket like Bath and Body works stuff.

Here's where I'm stuck:

So then the product does matter, to some extent. Sunglasses aren't anything unique YET you skew the value because of your business proposition (It's like TOMS. Those slip-ons have been worn by the gauchos since colony times, but it's the buy one we give one that makes people drop $30+ in those things...then they also became trendy, not sure how I just saw them more and more).

Am I on the right train of thought here? Because I keep wondering what's the Entry difficulty on private labeling lotions/shampoo etc. when your value proposition is something like ours. If you indeed were to do something simple as sunglasses, would it really work?

I mean I've seen ads for bath bombs shaped like kitties that help pandas on Instagram, but I have no idea whether they are selling stuff or not.

@MJ DeMarco I'd love your feedback on this too, the ratemybusinessidea tool gives me like a C+ to A- depending on (because I don't know what to choose) how I rate Entry, Need, Size of market.

Ok, so your overall goal is to build a place where the homeless can come and shower and wash up. So you start a hygiene line of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and towels. You'd position it that a portion of proceeds is going to towards a fund that will purchase a building and renovate it for the homeless. Maybe you need $1M to do this. You'd probably need to sell $5M of product to get there. Maybe it will take 5 years to do it.

Launching a brand with this type of laser focus is pretty easy when it comes down to branding, marketing and vision. Just make sure your product is high quality and that your goal is communicated to the consumer.

I'd probably launch a shampoo and body wash company if I were doing this. The product actually is congruent with your goal.

 

[maverick]

Limiting mindset:
He's only successful because he has XXXX or because he uses XXXX.

Growth mindset:
I need to understand how to access an audience before launching a product.

 

[biophase]

What a great video.

I LOVED his enthusiasm in finding the RIGHT product. He had every opportunity and excuse to stop early or run with mediocre products, but didn't.

Many people who have never started a product based company may not realize this, but sourcing can be a total pain and mental drain.

When you spend entire days/weeks/months banging your head against a wall to find ANY company that both has you what you want AND will work with you AND at a price you can live with AND in a quantity you can afford, it gets super frustrating and discouraging. You feel very shut out and discouraged. You feel like maybe there's a damn good reason why nobody is doing what you want to do already - that gap in the market you got all excited about in the beginning now turns against you and you feel like the market gap is the thing now actively working against you.

When you DO finally find a company that checks those boxes (assuming you kept going this far), you feel this immense hope, like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. The finish line is just up ahead!

Then you get the product, and... it's "good enough".

Maybe it's exactly like what everyone else has. Maybe it's lacking that special "something" you hoped for. Maybe they can do 70% of what you had hoped but not the last 30% that originally got you excited about the business in the first place.

This is where a lot of people stumble. They start thinking things like:

- Well, maybe I can make it up with marketing and branding
- Well, maybe I can sell this to start while I look to improve as I go
- Maybe nobody really cares about the special aspects that I cared about
- Maybe my differentiator will be that I cut out the middleman and am an online brand

The fact is, when you are starving of thirst in the hot desert and really want a glass of ice water, it's hard to turn away a cup of hot coffee at the starbucks you thought was an oasis. It's not what you wanted, at all, but it's "good enough" and hell - at least it has water IN IT, right?

This is where mediocre white label "me too" products come from.

It takes a lot of time, energy, and willpower to turn away the cup of coffee and keep pressing on until you find your glass of ice water.

This is why I feel like many people still don't get it.

The bee example has been in my brain since early this year, so that's 5-6 months of brainstorming. The bear spray pack has been in my brain for 2 years. I've modified my packs and tested a few things. But honestly, it's like the 5th most important idea I have right now so I work on it when I'm bored with my current business.

I have a few others bouncing in my head that I can't 100% grasp. These ideas all marinate and come up to the surface one day. And when they do, they usually crush it because of the brain power used to get to launch day, not because of the marketing put in after launch day. So in 2025 when my bear spray backpack brand crushes it, you all won't think it was because of I just copied some other backpack and made a slight change and launched it in 3 months.

 

[JAJT]

You guys poo-poo'ing on this guy because he's an influencer with a huge audience blow my mind.

Does having a huge audience help? Tremendously, yes.

Does that devalue the process he used, the product he made, the branding he created, or his chances of success with the product? Not at all.

It's like you guys haven't heard of sales before. Do you want to know what it takes to sell that candy? Picking up the phone, calling retailers and wholesalers and distributors and such, and sending them a few samples and/or just closing the deal on the spot. It works for almost every product under the sun.

Do you HONESTLY think that Joe Buyer in charge of millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of inventory per year is going to even CARE that the guy on the other end of the phone is "internet famous"? Almost certainly not. He's not going to get special treatment - he's going to be treated like every other customer in the company's existing vetting process. They may like to hear that he was able to sell a lot in a short period of time but as soon as that candy hits the store shelves none of that matters - it only matters if it moves. And it will only move if the branding is on point and the product lives up to customer expectations. If it moves, it stays in the lineup. If it doesn't, it's gone.

Someone on this very forum (cough @Scot cough) got their SUPER niche food product into a national chain as one of his first customers by picking up the phone and working out a deal. You think an incredible candy company couldn't do the same thing? Come on now.

Any edge you have obviously helps, but it isn't a requirement. Yeah, being rich, a celebrity, or having a billion fans is going to accelerate success. No kidding. But it isn't a requirement for success.

 

[JAJT]

I find it a common pattern in these forums that if someone is successful with a product. Everyone changes their narrative so they are “right.”

You need to look beyond success and failure and look at the process.

If you are solving a problem/gap/need/want... then whether you succeed or fail, the thought process can be seen as a success, even if the company ultimately fails.

Let's consider a house-foundation metaphor.

The foundation of your business are the things that won't change regardless of what kind of house you build on it. Put another way, they are the needs, wants, problems, and gaps that you are basing the business on.

The house is the form that your business takes that builds on that foundation. It's the website, marketing, branding, selling, customer service, etc... that all draw on the strength of your foundation (some of these may very well be part of the foundation as well, like if you are solving a problem of shitty customer service, for example)

A 'me too' business that doesn't solve a need or provide any real value has a shitty foundation. You can build an amazing house on a shitty foundation but it will eventually crumble.

A business that solves problems has a strong foundation, but that doesn't mean it will succeed. If this is your first time building a house, people may very well admire the foundation its built on but chances are they aren't going to want to live there.

The good news is that you can fix a shitty house built on a strong foundation. That's why on every business forum, in every business book, and every piece of advice from those who have succeed sounds like "solve a problem, find a need, fill a gap" and not "all you need is a killer website".

Which is why I tell people to actually follow your passion.

Nobody has ever said "don't follow your passion".
A more accurate statement is "the market doesn't care about your passion" (IE: they don't buy your emotions, interests, and love, they buy products that solve problems, fill gaps, etc).

If you can solve a problem regarding a topic you're passionate about - that's a golden goose and should be absolutely encouraged to lay as many eggs as possible. But if you can't find a need to solve within your passion - you should absolutely avoid it, no matter how much you love it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Sanj Modha]

Its easy to find products. Here's my checklist:

1 - What's trending? Check Google trends, keywords and find who's running ads for it.
2 - Can I sell it on Instagram (my fave platform!)? Must be a hot item for women aged 18-35.
3 - Is there lifetime value? Consumable items are great for this.
4 - Can I ship it worldwide?

Start here then move on.

 

[NMdad]

I would probably debilitate myself with that - aerosols might get in the user's eyes. Maybe same idea, but installed instead on the handlebars.

Or maybe deploy the bear spray with a Spider-Man style hand/wrist shooter.

 

[biophase]

Thank you for taking the time to create such an insightful post. This will go over a lot of people’s heads because of the simplicity yet difficulty of getting past the ego to see the gold in between the lines.

One thing that I've definitely learned in the past year is that ego is what is holding alot of people back. Ryan Holiday's book Ego is the Enemy is great. Reading that combined with my ayahuasca experience has made me very aware of my decisions and how many are ego based. Once you can get rid of ego (or at least minimize it), alot of things become very easy for you.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

I don't think that guy is a good example. He already has a base of 398,000 Youtube subscribers (and God knows how much more on Twitter/FB/Instagram). This is basically a case of Kylie Jenner or Gary V using existing fame to sell any product, and it will sell, because people buy it for the "Kylie/Maxx Chewning/Gary V" brand; they want to be associated with them through the products.

$500,000 / $19.90 per pack = ~25,000 people bought his candy, not difficult considering his existing fame.

If he is an unknown lawn mower who decides to do the same thing, it would have taken him far longer (assuming it even took off) to make $500,000 in 30 mins (and again, this could be just a marketing gimmick to further boost social proof and create FOMO).

Also, looking at his other company (the apparel one), it's just generic clothes, and it still sells, because his fans love him and buy it to support him, while getting clothes at the same time.

What I like about the video is how, despite hitting road blocks, he spent 1.5 years just for sourcing alone lol

Btw, one (disgusting) trend I noticed nowadays is 'wokewashing' / 'greenwashing' and it seems to work well as a business model (until the world wakes up and tires of it).
Basically, find a cause (save the world, save the cows, save the sand, save the rocks, save greta thunberg etc...), then sell products related to the cause. You tell your customers you'll donate 20% of the profits to that related charity, and those folks will buy it lol.

He could have sold anything using his platform, but he still took 1.5 years to find the right product. That's the difference. That is why it is a good example.

And yes he has 400k youtube subscribers. That took work to do. So I don't know how you discount that. Just because you don't have the audience and he does, should mean something. Maybe for all the people looking to get into ecommerce, they should be building an audience today instead of trying to figure out what product to sell. That's why many questions asking for advice say, "If you were to start over today, what would you do?" That's because the person asking the question knows that you have assets already (knowledge, reach, SEO, brand recognition, fame, etc...) and they don't.

I also don't like the "donate 10% of profits" model because I think it is flawed and can be gamed. That's why in the bee thread I'm trying to figure out a more impactful way to do it. I want a way that can be measured and not manipulated.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

Creating Businesses That Print Money With Billy Murphy - Eventual Millionaire

The four-step process you need to go through BEFORE you even think of starting a business. What you should never do in your marketing. How to start successfully even if you're the last competitor in super saturated market. Why you don't need funnels and Facebook ads. Do this and everyone will...

eventualmillionaire.com

That’s funny that you linked this article. At first I thought you were linking to something Jaime wrote but then I see it’s an article by @snowbank.

I had in depth conversations with Billy the past week while he was in AZ. We talked a lot about what business to start as we are both looking to do something new. In the end we kept circling back every idea to the WHY.

 

[biophase]

This is a great video example of someone launching a new product and crushing it.

View: https://youtu.be/LvDYgSWT8F0

 

[TonyStark]

Thanks, @biophase; so much value in this post.

I feel like a lot of people (in this thread) are missing the forest for the trees; they’re focused on a quick sale instead of a long term business.

You gave me (us) insight into the mind of a business titan in this forum, so thank you for that.

**I wish we still had rep** Haha

 

[NMdad]

This is a great distillation. Deceptively simple.

Like, if you can answer those 3 questions clearly, the path forward reveals itself. Then you don't need to keep chasing me-too ideas. And you'll build a moat around your business from me-too clones.

Also, for bear-spray deployment: what about bike-helmet bear spray with a trigger on your bike handlebars? That way, the aim takes care of itself--cuz you'll damn sure be looking straight at that bear--and you can shoot the bear spray without taking your hands off the bike or even stopping the bike.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JAJT]

Speaking of product ideas and adding value - check out this video of a design expert offering design improvement ideas to kitchen devices:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w08XDXjJhsQ


This is what improving a product in your niche MAY look like.

He uses the products normally, then simulates and consider common frustrations, and then talks about how he might go about improving the products.

 

[biophase]

Gymshark guy is better example of success.

Eating candy isn’t a need, it is a want. 99.9% of things are wants.

But then again, you can always make the argument of: “Does the world need another candy brand?”

I find it a common pattern in these forums that if someone is successful with a product. Everyone changes their narrative so they are “right.”

Successful candy product comes up: “Yeah man, this totally fills a needs. I eat candy when I travel. Kids love candy”

Failure candy product gets posted to this forum: “I told you guys, does the world really need a candy product? There are so many. No wonder why it Failed. Candy provides no value.”

In this day an age, the asking yourself if there is a need is a total waste of time.

Isn't that the definition of a need? If it is a success, then people "needed" or wanted it, it could be something that they didn't know that they needed, like an Ipad.

Candy obviously fills a need, else why do people buy it. Why don't I just get gas and leave, why do I wander the aisles looking for skittles or tic tacs? There's a need there.

However, what you are failing to understand is that if you make a shitty tasting candy and it doesn't sell, it is because YOUR candy provided no value, not because candy itself is of no value.

I don't wander the gas station aisle looking for shitty candy, I may try something new and if it sucks I would never buy it again. So if the gas station doesn't reorder it, it's because of the brand of candy, not because of candy itself. Then that particular candy eventually fails.

 

[Fox]

Nope, Gymshark's origin story is mysterious and unclear. The story may well be written and decided after he got success to make it more inspiring and relatable.

He goes into a lot of detail on his channel about how he got started.

In 2012, this 19 year old kid used to sell supplements, then quit due to poor margins / low profits.
Then, out of nowhere, he suddenly decided to sell clothing, working out of his parent's basement. Yes, always basements, always garages. The stuff of Silicon Valley lol

The guy had no game plan, no technical wear-engineering background, no nothing.
Goes on to develop a fitted tracksuit and brought that to BodyPower Expo, a fitness con.
If I remember correctly, he did this himself and didn't hire any technical clothing designer to do it (correct me if I'm wrong).

You grab a sowing machine and you learn how to make clothes. We just to do this in University with surf bags.

Your post has so many limiting beliefs and false assumptions. Work on that mindset.

 

[Cyberdeth]

One question that I always get is "I don't know what product to sell." My answer now is always, that's not the right question. Thinking of the product first is backwards.

The question is, "who will benefit from my business?", "why do I want to start that business?" and "what business do I want to start?"

When you ask "who will benefit from my business", your answer should not be, "I would because I make money, then I get to buy stuff". The answer should be that your customer benefits. But is the customer truly benefiting? Think about this. Let's say you are selling a coffee mug. You put your brand name ABC on it. You want to sell it for $10, like everyone else's.

So now your customer can buy your $10 mug or a competitor's $10 mug. How do they benefit when they buy yours? Well if the competitor is ROGUE and your brand is ABC, we could say that their customer is benefiting because a ROGUE mug means something. It could signal that this customer is into Crossfit. Maybe he uses ROGUE equipment and likes the brand. However, if you just made up a brand name, then what does having a mug that says ABC mean to the customer. You don't build a brand by making up a name and a logo.

Let's compare your $10 ABC mug to another mug Super Happy Dragon Company, that is selling for $9. Now your customer is getting less benefit buying yours vs. the Super Happy Dragon Company. The Super Happy Dragon Company customer's benefit is that their customers will save $1 by purchasing their mug.

Now, let's say you improve the mug so that coffee stays warmer for longer in your special mug. Well this changes the whole "who will benefit from my business" question doesn't it. Now it's clear to you AND your customer that purchasing ABC mug will give them hotter coffee for longer. This is clearly a benefit.

On the other hand, instead of improving the mug, you go the branding route. You sell a regular coffee mug, but instead of ABC, you put a picture of Taylor Swift on it (just assume here that she's ok with it). Now it's clear again to you AND your customer that purchasing ABC mug let's our customer signal that he/she is a Taylor Swift fan. This is clearly a benefit.

When you ask "why do I want to start that business", your answer should not be, "to make money so that I can buy stuff". Maybe your answer is "to make money so that I can buy my mom a nice house", and while that is a noble reason, it's still not a real reason to start a business. Imagine if Nike's was, NIKE, buy our shoes so that I can buy my mom a mansion. Nobody would be NIKEs, because nobody cares about the CEO's mom's house.

Most people want freedom from a job, to be financial free, etc... These are all great internal reasons but you need an external reason. People won't buy from you because you want freedom. They buy from you when you solve an external problem. This is mainly the pain point question that MJ talks about.

I'll give you one of my super nichey pain points. When I'm riding my mountain bike deep in the mountains, I carry a firearm and bear spray. The problem is that neither of these can be deployed until I stop my bike and use both hands. So my "why do I want to start that business" answer is, because I need a way to easily access my bear spray with one hand and while riding.

As you can see, with that question answered, the answer to the next question "what business do I want to start?" is pretty simple. I want to start a business that makes easy access bear spray packs.

Ok, let's jump back to the "who will benefit from my business" question with regards to my easy access bear spray pack business now. They are thousands of biking backpacks out there. But none have a side opening or a method to hook bear spray to where you can reach around and grab it. Imagine the marketing, "With my new easy access bear spray pack, you can take your bear spray out in 2 seconds vs. 15". Isn't it pretty clear who benefits now? That could be the difference of life and death on the trail. Easy marketing right?

When you go through these steps, in the end it should be pretty clear how you are going to market your product. Using the example above, imagine the keywords you would use in a PPC campaign, imagine which influencers or youtuber you would pitch it to. It's pretty clear right? It markets itself. Can you already think of the videos that you can make on social? Content is easy when your product has a purpose.

The problem I see with most people trying to start a product business is that they never think, "how am I going to market this?" Amazon or Shopify is NOT an answer.

If you have read my bees thread you can see this process in action. To summarize it here, I'm trying to figure out a way to help increase the bee population. I haven't figure it out yet. But you will see that I'm going backwards. I haven't even thought about a product yet.

So let's run through the questions.

Who will benefit from my business?

In this case it is the bees that would benefit. Humans would indirectly benefit. Because I haven't figured it out yet on that thread, let's just assume that I decide that donating 50% proceeds to the USA beekeeping foundation(USABKF, I just made that up) is the best course of action.

Why do I want to start that business?

Because I care about the environment, nature and animals.

What business do I want to start?

So here's the incredible part! Does the product matter? The purpose of my business is to donate 50% to the USABKF. So now I need to figure out a product. It should be high volume because my goal is to donate as much as possible. So now I pick something. (As I look around my desk) Sunglasses! Bee Sunglasses! Now I source high quality sunglasses just like everyone else trying to get into the sunglasses market. But guess what? I already know how I'm going to market it and I'm sure you do too.

I absolutely love your answer @biophase. I would also maybe add that the book by simon sinek "start with why" is an excellent reference on why you should start with the "Why" question. Simon Sinek - Start with why

 

[biophase]

I watched this guy waayyy back when I was deep into fitness. His skew is like 90% marketing, 10% remarkability. Better to max product remarkability than being forced to compensate with marketing in my opinion of course.

Once you stop the marketing on a product like this, it dies. These packaged goods are all the same: shampoo, food, shaving cream. It is the packaging that sells which falls under marketing bit.

It took him a year and a half to find a candy that he liked. If you watched the video, he didn't just pick any candy. He wanted something specific from the beginning. He knew what reaction and type of taste he wanted.

He sold out $120k of inventory in under an hour. So that's probably what, $500k in sales in 30 minutes?

I don't agree with you that it dies when he stops marketing it. Did you watch the whole video? His goal is to get it into convenience stores and gas stations.

 

[biophase]

Maybe I understood incorrectly.
Who is the customer of the bee sunglasses? How does it benefit the customer?
(Bees and the foundation benefits, but that´s like saying mom benefits from it by getting a house)

So...I have a question.
Assume you see a lot of job listings for "UX design".
So now you already found a need!
Having the skills for the job listing directly solves these B2B needs.
Could be a logical course of action to build the skills, get a job, and later offer those services like an agency does, and then scale with a human resource system?

Is this the kind of need-first thought-process you are encouraging?

The customer for the bee sunglasses would be people who are concerned about bees and the environment.

The customer is getting a good pair of sunglasses AND helping a cause that they support, vs. getting just a good pair of sunglasses.

Yes, if you have a skill that is in need, the goal would be to eventually start your own business. First as a self-employed and maybe later as a business owner employing others that have the same skill.

 

[biophase]

Bio, what are your thoughts around building a company after the first product is flying?

To use your example, you have the bear spray backpack, it's selling well.

What next? You want to expand your brand...

Do you look to differentiate every additional product you launch to the same degree?

Or, do you 'piggyback' off the established brand? Releasing products your existing customers would be interested in that are 5% better than the competition, rather than the quantum leap 25-100% that your first product had?

p.s. great post @JAJT

I think the bear spray backpack would establish my company. Then you can make other products that help you carry bear spray, or other outdoor products that the same demographic would use. I don't think the second product has to be that innovative (it would be great if it was). Eventually you could make a regular backpack, but your brand was established using a breakthrough product.

For example Under Armor now makes all types of clothing, shoes, hats, etc... but they made their mark on the dryfit shirt when they started.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

@biophase what do you think about first starting a brand that just has a website/blog with social media accounts about a certain topic and building up traffic to the website via the blog to like 50,000 page views a month and then start selling products, even if they are kinda "me too" products?

I think this is a great way to do it. Grow your audience and they will be dying to sell them a product.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

Tbh, what "Need" does his sour stripes candies fulfill...

Well, I guess getting an identity from eating candies fulfills a sort of need (similar to Supreme and other brands that are 99.9% based on pure branding).

I buy sour gummies from time to time at gas station. I have a few goto candies that I always get during a roadtrip. The need is that somebody wants to eat candy at the time that they purchase it.

I don't know about you, but I find videos like that inspiring. Just curious what you think about Gymshark? Can he only build a $7M gym and office because of he's internet famous?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lb0mOfsT1E

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Why do I suddenly want to google if “bear spray” actually exists.. huh.

ETA: This is actually a thing!!! Lmfao.. they sell it at Walmart. #yourewelcome

 

[Danny Sullivan]

From Michael Masterson's book Ready, Fire, Aim:

1. Find out what products are currently hot in the market.
2. Determine if your product idea fits that trend.
3. If it does, you're set go. If it doesn't, follow steps 4 and 5
4. Come up with me-too versions of several hot products.
5. Improve them in some by adding features or benefits the original lacks.

This is a good starting point to sort through possible product ideas if you got no idea in what direction you want to head (i recently found two products in the climbing/bouldering niche doing this).
If you found a product, you sure want to ask yourself:
Who will benefit from this, if i'd start such a business?
Would I even want to start such a business? What's the long term prospect?
Or the general Why > How > What question.
Why would I want to start such a business?
How would I do it? How would I provide (more) benefits for the customers?
What would I sell? (which might or might not be answered by the product search done beforehand)

If these steps and the final result sound congruent to you, it might prove as sufficient sign to go down that route.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Sanj Modha]

This is actually the exact opposite way that I work. I look for stuff that is hard to do. It weeds out a lot of potential competition.

I’m curious if your method creates a company that you can sell later? I mean if it’s trending then it usually means that sales will decline in the long term.

I don't do dropshipping now but I did to start with.

I have a branded store in a particular niche so I look for specific items and I don't look for hard stuff to sell - there's no reason to reinvent the wheel.

See what's selling and if you have a brand then - its not hard to replicate it at all.

 

[Suzanne Bazemore]

Also, for bear-spray deployment: what about bike-helmet bear spray with a trigger on your bike handlebars? That way, the aim takes care of itself--cuz you'll damn sure be looking straight at that bear--and you can shoot the bear spray without taking your hands off the bike or even stopping the bike.

I would probably debilitate myself with that - aerosols might get in the user's eyes. Maybe same idea, but installed instead on the handlebars.