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

biophase

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@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.
 
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biophase

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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
 

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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

Just some background to hammer down the point made. The gymshark founder had zero notoriety or following before gymshark. The worldwide brand came first, notority second, in this case...
 

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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.


Awesome post. I'm going through this process right now as I'm starting a pet product business with my friend. This is a great reminder for what to focus on when developing a product.

There are existing products on the market, but they have their fair share of complaints and negative reviews. That's one area of our focus as well as adding more features that benefit the user.


Regarding the bear spray, that stuff is no joke. My dad had an expired bottle and wanted to see if it sprayed as far as the label claimed. He took it to the top of the staircase in the backyard and sprayed it (I was watching from the bottom of the yard), and I saw a fine mist, invisible to him, carry some remnants back into his face. He was dying from pain for quite a while and I was dying of laughter. :rofl:


Anyway, I'm also an avid mountain biker and was thinking about how to carry and easily access bear spray while riding. If you wanted it on a backpack, you could have a plastic/metal rotary clip mounted on the lower side of the backpack.
You could then have a mating piece that holds the spray can with Velcro straps or whatever method you want. The two pieces could interlock by aligning them and then twisting the spray can clockwise to secure it in place with a little resistance. The spray can wouldn't detach on its own because your body movement while riding would never really create that sort of twisting force. It would be fast and easy to detach also.
Assuming it was on the right side of the backpack with the spray can upside down, you would reach back with your right hand , grab the can, and twist it by rotating your hand forward. The can would pop off and be oriented correctly in your hand so you could just lift your arm, aim, and spray.
There aren't many bears where I ride, but I could totally see myself using something like this if I rode in an area with bears.
 
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DeletedUser0287

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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

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.

There is success in even the most obscure stuff. Markets that we don’t even know exist.

Which is why I tell people to actually follow your passion. The true needs in world are filled for 1st world countries. Food, water, shelter, hygiene, heat, etc. With passion, there is no such thing as giving up or getting tired. That is what makes you win.

If you look at these success guys, they literally chose their passion. They are the spitting image (perfect customer archetype) if there was one. Can you imagine anyone else besides someone like Christian Guzman running Alphalete? Since we are on the topic of these fitness dudes, that I studied in the past.
 

biophase

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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.
 

JAJT

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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.
 
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Xeon

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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

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.

I first heard about them in early 2018, and when articles start raving and hyping this brand, I did some digging.

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).

After coming home from the expo, he put the product online, and bam. Just like that, overnight, it went nuts and viral, and the rest is history. No FB ads, no IG ads, no nothing.

Articles mentioned that he relied purely on social media fashion influencers, but that would have been AFTER Gymshark got some traction and went big. In 2012, these influencers stuff didn't exist and it was only after around 2015 when Instagram blew up.

Even brands with revolutionary products take time to get "recognition", unless it's a cure for balding.

What I always suspect about Gymshark, is that the young founder is just a face of the company.
I won't be surprised if his dad is the one that runs the show.

After all, for an edgy gym fitness brand, you need the founder to look muscular and youthful, so that their target market (young college frat bros and sorority chicks) would buy into it.

The thing is, all these "success stories" should be taken with a pinch of salt, enjoyable as bedtime reading stories to feel good.
Many of them just happened to be in the right place at the right time; if you try to replicate or "learn" from them, it won't work.

Here's an example:


Her method of making it big was during the botting days of Instagram, where she owned a network of large pages (millions of followers per IG page), which then shouted out her products to get it in front of millions of viewers. This method is very difficult to pull off nowadays due to changes in IG, so if you try to "replicate" her success, good luck.
 

Fox

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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.
 

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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.

Where’s that rep button :rofl: It’s true, the posters that dig into everyone’s story to poke holes in it would be so much better off spending that time and energy on their own enterprises.

I’ve had my business 5 years now, for the first 2.5 years I didn’t spend 1 cent on ads, Facebook and Instagram would convert just from posting to my following. The challenge for me wasn’t what copy to use to convert, it was how frequently I could post to convert, without being spammy to my followers. Then algorithms changed, anything looking like an ad was throttled, and now a majority of revenue comes from paid ads. I don’t control that, I can only adapt to it.
Maybe there’s a conspiracy about Gymshark and how it started and converted in the early days, maybe not. Either way it doesn’t matter to today’s climate. Produce, sell, grow, move forward... that’s all we can do.
 
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DeletedUser0287

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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.

It is a want that people justify as a need. Wants and needs both make money regardless.

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.

Failure/learning is necessary for success, but telling yourself that a company fails is still a success is called delusion. My company just failed and I a smiling...said no one ever.



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.

Man...you have been on this forum far longer than I have. People here specifically say "Don't follow your passion." Just search passion and you will majority thrash it.

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.

I first heard about them in early 2018, and when articles start raving and hyping this brand, I did some digging.

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).

After coming home from the expo, he put the product online, and bam. Just like that, overnight, it went nuts and viral, and the rest is history. No FB ads, no IG ads, no nothing.

Yeah I was aware of Gymshark very very early. It was weird, they just exploded.

@biophase the gym is a byproduct of his other successes.

If you have no money, you are forced to do a me-too product. Hence, guy started with supplement dropshipping. Obviously, it produced little cash because it was a me too product easily seen by its low margin attribute. Which is why I state again, that you need money to make money, especially in ecommerce. Just like what @JAJT said, a me too has a poor foundation aka zero point in even building a me too (home with poor foundation).

Articles mentioned that he relied purely on social media fashion influencers, but that would have been AFTER Gymshark got some traction and went big. In 2012, these influencers stuff didn't exist and it was only after around 2015 when Instagram blew up.

Even brands with revolutionary products take time to get "recognition", unless it's a cure for balding.

What I always suspect about Gymshark, is that the young founder is just a face of the company.
I won't be surprised if his dad is the one that runs the show.


After all, for an edgy gym fitness brand, you need the founder to look muscular and youthful, so that their target market (young college frat bros and sorority chicks) would buy into it.

Yeah absolutely vital that the founder be the poster child of the ideal customer. Although, I actually believe he is the true owner. I have never seen a success in this space where the owner was not passionate/target demographic for the customer.

Gymshark's value for the initial tracksuit was the fit. At the time everything fit poorly for athletic physiques. Since ready to wear (RTW) is mostly made for everyone, but no one at the same time. V-taper vs. rectangle shaped body. In order to create this higher value he needed knowledge and more money than a me too business.

I am doing technical sewn products as well.

The thing is, all these "success stories" should be taken with a pinch of salt, enjoyable as bedtime reading stories to feel good.
Many of them just happened to be in the right place at the right time; if you try to replicate or "learn" from them, it won't work.

Here's an example:


Her method of making it big was during the botting days of Instagram, where she owned a network of large pages (millions of followers per IG page), which then shouted out her products to get it in front of millions of viewers. This method is very difficult to pull off nowadays due to changes in IG, so if you try to "replicate" her success, good luck.

Yeah the Foundr magazine was selling an ecommerce course leveraging her success. They didn't really advertise the fact that she had a very large audience initially when marketing this course. They make crazy metrics like, I got 1,000 orders in one day on LAUNCH to sell the program. Every person taking course, most likely doesn't have an audience and think they can also get those same metrics. When they launch and don't get the same metric they get depressed. A total mismatch of expectations. Which is why I though Chewning example is awful for newbies. Prepare for depression people and lots of money lost. As long as you understand they got those metrics because of an initial audience.


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



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

This is what I'm doing although significantly more advanced.

edit: first thing he says is that he“loves” to make things. #followyourpassion

edit2: “It never felt like work because we were always creating what we loved”

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

Bruh...his post is GOLD
 
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Xeon

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Which is why I state again, that you need money to make money, especially in ecommerce.

I believe it's possible to make money in ecommerce when starting with very little money.
However, it's going to be an extremely, extremely SLOW grind (e.g: profits $1k this year, then $2.5k next year, then $4k next next year....). Definitely not the "sudden-viral-sudden-explosion" that Gymshark and some other brands have lol

Unless you're Gretta Van Riel and Ivory Ella (this latter one also has their own IG network spanning multi-millions of followers when they first started, which they push products to, around 2015).
And again, to build these vast networks of followers, requires a lot of money in itself.

Also, there's a lot of these companies that boast that they spend no money in advertising.

What they didn't tell you is they spent hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in other marketing activities, such as organising public events and influencer endorsements to create awareness and sales. One example? Black Milk Clothing lol *cough cough*

Personally, I'm more interested in true rags-to-riches success stories, like you know, that walmart cashier who started a business which went on to be worth 8 figures, or the office clerk who got fired from his job only to start his own 7 figure warehouse company.
 

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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.

This is one of the most helpful posts I've ever read. Thanks for sharing these simple concepts!
 
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BellaPippin

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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.

Ahhhh I hadn't thought of making a fund/buying a building myself! I had only thought of renting space. Brilliant! lol

And yes that is the idea, I think I might add some body lotion for utility or upsell purposes but yes Shampoo/Conditioner and Body Wash are a must.
 

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@ biophase,
I really thought, the bear spray story was a joke as an example. I didn’t really think it could be true. But just I remembered 30 years ago, we came along a house with some dogs, when riding.
I don’t know, what bear spray is, but we had CS gas.. I fixed a bottle at each side of each leg and modified it, that once triggered, all gass slowly came out until the bottles were empty.
when approaching the dogs, I triggered ad rode on. It allways worked. The needed a long time to learn.
Maybe that helps.
 

biophase

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

View: https://youtu.be/LvDYgSWT8F0


So my friend sent me some of these for Christmas and I must say that they are damn good candy. I gave some to my friends and they want to buy more. They will have to wait until his next batch is in.

So since I've made that post in Oct, this guy has probably sold over $250,000 in candy in the past 2 months.
 
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