It’s episode 155, and 3 years since I started this podcast. I've spoken to so many wonderful product creators and people who support product creators over the last three years, and I have learned so much from absolutely everyone that I spoke to. To celebrate I have put together a compilation of some of the best advice I have heard over the years.If you want to launch your own product or are just in need of a friendly boost this is the episode to listen to!

Listen in to hear top tips from:

• Stephanie Orr, (01:10)
• Meera Bhogal, (02:05)
• Iain Moore, BGreater Shoes (03:15)
• Laura Gillett, (05:29)
• Louise Almond, (06:56)
• Demi Pendakis, Find Your Glow Ltd (08:04)
• Cara Sayer, Snooze Shade (09:20)
• Claire Grant, OriOrso (11:45)
• Vic Wood, Greener Beauty (12:54)
• Marieke Syed, Snackzilla (14:01)
• Ciara Westhead, Pico UK (15:13)
• Trish ODwyer, Autism Threads (20:02)
• Raksha Patel, Reflect With Raksha (21:43)
• Charlotte Phillips, Rugsy Lugsy (23:14)
• Puvan Briah,  (24:29)
• Amanda Davey, Tilia Publishing (25:21)
• Georgina Robinson, Juniper Studio (25:54)
• Em Royston, Chasing Threads (28:25)
• Tas, Very Craft Tea (30:32)
• Janet Murray, (33:32)

USEFUL RESOURCES:

Listen to the episodes in full: 

Episode 102 Taking part in an accelerator to grow your business - with Stephanie Orr

Episode 101 How to create an integrated range of products & services - with Meera Bhogal

Episode 149 Selling a product people don't know they need - with Iain Moore - BGreater Shoes

Episode 130 Getting ready to launch your first product- with Laura Gillett

Episode 87 Getting ready to launch your first product - with Louise Almond

Episode 133 Leaving your career to start a new business - with Demi Pendakis - Find Your Glow Ltd

Episode 88 Why your product needs to be on Amazon - with Cara Sayer, Snooze Shade

Episode 136 How to create a children's fashion brand - with Claire Grant - OriOrso

Episode 138 Sourcing and selling sustainable products - with Vic Wood - Greener Beauty

Episode 112 Creating a food business and getting stocked in major supermarkets - with Marieke Syed - Snackzilla

Episode 125 Selling sustainable partywear - with Ciara Westhead - Pico UK

Episode 105 Creating products with a cause - with Trish ODwyer - Autism Threads

Episode 109 3D printing your own products to sell - with Raksha Patel, Reflect with Raksha

Episode 104 Creating a business you love - with Charlotte Phillips, Rugsy Lugsy

Episode 86 Pivoting your product based business - with Puvan Briah

Episode 11, Moving your products business online - with Amanda Davey, Tilia Publishing

Episode 110 Creating a Sustainable Business - Georgina Robinson - Juniper Studio

Episode 148 Selling to retailers using wholesale platforms - with Em Royston- Chasing Threads

Episode 124 The importance of knowing your numbers - with Tas - Very Craft Tea

Episode 84 Creating and selling planners - with Janet Murray

LET’S CONNECT

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Speaker: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.

Speaker: 00:00:05

This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling

Speaker: 00:00:07

products, or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

Speaker: 00:00:11

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert.

Speaker: 00:00:15

Every week I share friendly, practical advice, as well as inspirational

Speaker: 00:00:18

stories from small businesses.

Speaker: 00:00:20

Let's get started.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:23

Hello and welcome to a very special episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:26

Not only is this episode 155.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:28

It's actually almost three years to the, today, to the very first

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:32

episode of this podcast was launched, which is just incredible to me.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:36

I launched this podcast during a pandemic, which obviously wasn't the plan.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:40

And um, here we are three, three years later.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:43

I've spoken to so many wonderful product creators and people who support crop

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:47

product creators over the last three years, and I have learned so much from

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:50

absolutely everyone that I spoke to.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:52

One very popular episode I.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:54

Um, I think it was two years ago now.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:56

Wow.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:57

Was advice from product creators.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:59

So I ask everyone at the end of the episode their number one piece of advice

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:03

and yeah, this is a compilation of some of the advice that I've heard over

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:07

the years, so I really hope you enjoy.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:10

Up first is Stephanie Orr.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:12

And Stephanie has some great advice kick us off because her advice is

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:15

all about just getting started.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:17

Just start, just try it, put it out there.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:20

I mean, I probably should take that advice myself because I do have about

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:24

five new products sat here that I haven't put out in the world yet.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:28

Um, but I think that is the biggest thing is, you know, put it out there.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:32

It, it might not sell, but at least you'll know then, and you can develop

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:37

it in and you know change it and hone it until it's something that

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:41

does sell or it might sell amazingly.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:43

And, you know, you'll surprise yourself and give yourself that massive

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:47

boost of confidence to go again.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:50

Um, so yeah, I think it's, you know, just get started.

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:54

Just get, get it out there somehow some way, whether it's your own

Stephanie Orr: 00:01:58

website or Etsy or pop-up shops, or just put it out there and see.

Stephanie Orr: 00:02:04

Try it.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:05

Uh, my next piece of advice comes from Meera Bhogal.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:08

I really enjoyed listening to this piece of advice because I,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:11

like probably a lot of us, um, do suffer from imposter syndrome from

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:15

time to time thinking, why me?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:16

Am I good enough?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:17

And, um, I think looking at what other people are doing and thinking, oh,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:21

either I can't do that or why would anyone be interested in what I'm doing?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:26

Is something that can trip a lot of us up.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:27

So, um, do listen to this advice from Meera and take it to heart as well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:32

Because it's a great, great thing to remember.

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:34

I think, um, my top piece of advice is don't be put off by people

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:39

saying, but that's already been done.

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:42

Yeah, it doesn't matter because you are going to do it

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:44

differently to somebody else.

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:45

So don't, don't, don't go looking out into, to your competitors or get

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:51

overwhelmed by all the people maybe doing the same thing, because just

Meera Bhogal: 00:02:55

focus on your own uniqueness and your own creativity and put that into

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:00

your product, and that will make your product different to somebody else's.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:03

So don't be put off by however many people are doing things in the marketplace.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:07

There will always be somebody who will be interested in what you are doing.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:10

As long as that product is, is a piece of you, um, it will work.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:15

So my next piece of advice comes from Iain Moore . When Iain's episode first came

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:19

out, a few of you actually contacted me to say this advice really resonated with you.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:23

Um, it resonated with me too actually.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:26

Some of you may know that something I say quite often is that, um,

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:29

done is better than perfect.

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:30

I really do believe that, and I think Ian's advice is really good

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:34

for anyone who sometimes can suffer a little bit with procrastination and,

Meera Bhogal: 00:03:39

um, putting off, making decisions.

Iain Moore: 00:03:41

So I've been trying to actually give this some thought, and

Iain Moore: 00:03:44

I don't know if I could say that, you know, I'm definitely not far enough

Iain Moore: 00:03:48

down the line to be saying this is what other people should be doing, but

Iain Moore: 00:03:52

I can definitely say what has worked well for me and I would say, If you're

Iain Moore: 00:03:57

trying to make a decision, you're never going to be a hundred percent sure.

Iain Moore: 00:04:01

So for me, I was trying to get to, am I about 75% sure this is the right decision,

Iain Moore: 00:04:07

and if it is, that's my threshold, and then I go, fine, let's go with it.

Iain Moore: 00:04:11

Because otherwise you can just drag things out for so long trying to

Iain Moore: 00:04:16

find the perfect, you know, answers what, you know, the perfect shoe

Iain Moore: 00:04:20

design or, or whatever it might be.

Iain Moore: 00:04:23

Whereas actually I'm like, no.

Iain Moore: 00:04:24

Is it 75% there?

Iain Moore: 00:04:26

Yes.

Iain Moore: 00:04:27

Good.

Iain Moore: 00:04:27

That's good enough for me.

Iain Moore: 00:04:29

And then I'll start doing whatever it is and if it doesn't work, and it just means

Iain Moore: 00:04:33

you've learnt faster and you know, so, you know, when, I'll give you an example.

Iain Moore: 00:04:39

When we first launched, because everyone has to be mindful of, of the environments

Iain Moore: 00:04:43

and stuff, we, we wrapped our shoes to post them out in, um, paper with sort

Iain Moore: 00:04:49

of nice, um, eco paper tape on top.

Iain Moore: 00:04:53

And it was like, yep, this is the way I'm going.

Iain Moore: 00:04:56

You know, 75%, I'm sure that this is the right option.

Iain Moore: 00:04:59

And we started.

Iain Moore: 00:05:01

And within a couple of weeks I was like, Nope, it doesn't work.

Iain Moore: 00:05:04

Uh, just because of the amount of time, even though it was, you know,

Iain Moore: 00:05:08

I mean it was, this taken me sort of, you know, 40 seconds I think to

Iain Moore: 00:05:11

wrap up, uh, just a box by itself.

Iain Moore: 00:05:13

But even still, when you're posting so many, it didn't work.

Iain Moore: 00:05:17

But rather than spending ages and everything getting

Iain Moore: 00:05:19

delayed, I made the decision.

Iain Moore: 00:05:21

I started going down that path and I just learned faster that

Iain Moore: 00:05:25

it did, does or doesn't work.

Iain Moore: 00:05:27

And yeah, that, that's something which has really helped.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:29

Next we are hearing from Laura Gillett from Stomperz Shoes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:33

It probably won't surprise you to know that I absolutely loved Laura's

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:36

piece of advice because it is all about the importance of research,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:40

um, which is something that I feel really, really strongly about.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:43

But, um, rather than me tell you that again, I'd love you now

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:45

to hear what Laura has to say.

Laura Gillet: 00:05:48

So I thought really hard about this question actually,

Laura Gillet: 00:05:51

and I kept changing my mind.

Laura Gillet: 00:05:52

But I think my number one piece of advice would be to spend your time before you

Laura Gillet: 00:05:57

spend your money on really doing your research into your market market, sorry,

Laura Gillet: 00:06:04

your customer, um, making sure that there is definitely an opportunity out there.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:10

I obviously knew the product well because I was the target market.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:15

I was the parent who couldn't find shoes, and I knew exactly what a parent

Laura Gillet: 00:06:19

needed, but I had to still do a lot of research into what was available.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:24

How many other parents out there were having that problem before I decided to.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:30

Any of my own money to the project.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:33

Um, because the last thing that you want to do is get very excited that you found

Laura Gillet: 00:06:38

this niche, you found a gap, chucked lots of money in and then realize that actually

Laura Gillet: 00:06:41

there isn't anything out there or there is something out there that you've missed.

Laura Gillet: 00:06:44

So I definitely think that spending your time before your money is a

Laura Gillet: 00:06:48

really, really important point.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:52

So we've just heard Laura talk about the

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:53

importance of doing your research.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:56

The next piece of advice follows on from this really nicely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:59

It's from Louise Almond, and Louise is talking about how it's

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:02

really important to be willing to adapt your idea based on what you

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:05

actually find out in your research.

Louise Almond: 00:07:09

I think just have a, have a really good plan.

Louise Almond: 00:07:11

Like understand your customer, understand what it is you are trying to achieve.

Louise Almond: 00:07:15

Because it can be very, you can get a bit design fixated, I think.

Louise Almond: 00:07:18

And I've seen a lot of people do it.

Louise Almond: 00:07:21

Students do it.

Louise Almond: 00:07:21

But you know, you have this great idea and you just, you are bit blinkered and

Louise Almond: 00:07:26

actually knowing how it's going to work.

Louise Almond: 00:07:29

Is there growth in it?

Louise Almond: 00:07:30

Can it, can the idea be adjusted?

Louise Almond: 00:07:32

Um, can you add pieces to it?

Louise Almond: 00:07:36

So, yeah, I think for me it was just, I had to really make sure I understood

Louise Almond: 00:07:41

what it was that I was trying to achieve.

Louise Almond: 00:07:43

I had an idea, but if I'm going make it a business, what, what

Louise Almond: 00:07:47

do I really need to know and how, what would make it successful?

Louise Almond: 00:07:50

So it's kind of almost forgetting your idea in a way.

Louise Almond: 00:07:54

Um, so to know that you are actually willing to change your

Louise Almond: 00:07:57

ideas to suit what is needed.

Louise Almond: 00:08:00

Um, so avoid design fix.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:04

Next up, we are going to hear from Demi

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:06

Pendakis, from Find Your Glow.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:08

Demi spoke about the importance of being authentic and how authenticity

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:12

can really help a brand, but he also had a bonus second piece of advice because

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:16

you know it is hard to choose just one.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:18

So listen in to hear the two pieces of advice that Demi really wants you to hear.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:24

Oh, just one.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:25

Um, uh, authentic.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:27

I'll let, I'll let you have more than one If you need to.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:29

Auth authenticity, just be true to, to, I would say be true

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:34

to what it is you're trying to create.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:36

Don't veer from that.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:38

Have it all written down.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:40

Every decision you make, just make sure that it's authentic and nobody, everyone

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:44

can tell a contrived brand straight away.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:46

Everyone can tell a copy cat straight away.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:48

Um, so yeah, authe, authenticity and do that by, by researching.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:52

Um, but what I would say is, as a second one is do whatever you can

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:55

to keep your costs down because it's very, very easy to get out of control.

Demi Pendakis: 00:08:59

Um, you think about all the research and developments, et cetera that you're doing.

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:03

Um, it just, yeah, just make sure you got, you got an eye over your costs.

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:08

But authenticity and, and that, because ultimately it's all cash flow for a young

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:11

business, so many, so many businesses closed within the first three years just

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:14

purely because of cash flow as well.

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:16

Uh, so from my perspective, you've got, you've got to have an eye on

Demi Pendakis: 00:09:18

that and whatever you're developing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:20

So up now is Cara Sayer from Snooze Shade.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:23

So Cara again had two pieces of advice for us, so you're definitely getting

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:27

some bonus advice this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:29

Um, following on from Demi, talking about being authentic, that's actually

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:32

something else that Cara touches on on in her advice, um, which I

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:36

thought was really interesting.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:38

And she also speaks about U S P and she had some brilliant points about

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:43

your U S P or unique selling point, um, which is something I haven't

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:46

heard actually say, so it might give you something to think about.

Cara Sayer: 00:09:51

I think I would say.

Cara Sayer: 00:09:53

Just make sure you are really clear on your U S P, which

Cara Sayer: 00:09:56

is your unique selling point.

Cara Sayer: 00:09:58

And like I say, that isn't necessarily the unique, unique

Cara Sayer: 00:10:01

selling point of the product.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:03

It could be the unique selling point of the customer service experience.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:06

It could be the unique selling point of how you deliver it and package it.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:09

It could be the unique service, unique selling, um, point of the fact that,

Cara Sayer: 00:10:13

you know, You sell a tea brand and you donate to, um, you know, elephant

Cara Sayer: 00:10:18

sanctuaries in India, you know, whatever it might be, but, but find something.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:22

Um, so I'd say there's that one.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:24

Find something unique.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:25

And the other thing I would say as well is at the Amazon world

Cara Sayer: 00:10:28

is full of a lot of people.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:29

It's quite funny whenever I go to Amazon events because it's full of people

Cara Sayer: 00:10:32

who are selling like, you know, seven, eight figures or whatever, and they,

Cara Sayer: 00:10:35

and if you say to them, what do you do?

Cara Sayer: 00:10:36

They're like, oh, I'm in the baby category, or I'm in the pets category.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:40

And I'm like, oh no.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:40

I do Snooze Shade, and they're like, what?

Cara Sayer: 00:10:42

Hmm, sorry.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:42

You know, because it's all very secretive and no one likes to share what they do.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:45

And I'm like, I don't care because I'm a real, I consider myself a, a brand.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:49

I just happen to use Amazon as a sales channel.

Cara Sayer: 00:10:52

Um, because I would say that, you know, one of my top tips is if

Cara Sayer: 00:10:55

you're not afraid of putting your face out there is, you know, add a

Cara Sayer: 00:10:59

bit of personality to your listings.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:01

On Amazon and, and to your website, make it about the real you or you know,

Cara Sayer: 00:11:06

give the, give customers a story because they like stories, they like a to be

Cara Sayer: 00:11:10

given a reason why they should support you over some other faceless entity.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:14

And you know, if you go to any of my listings, uh, and you're welcome

Cara Sayer: 00:11:17

to, they're not, I do them all.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:18

They're not particularly brilliantly done.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:20

But again, doesn't have to be perfect, just has to work.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:22

And you know, you'll see there's pictures of me on there, pictures of my daughter.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:26

Um, I talk about the fact that it's invented by a mum, you know,

Cara Sayer: 00:11:29

because that is actually part, a very important part of the story.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:33

And Amazon particularly, and the internet is quite a

Cara Sayer: 00:11:35

faceless personality less place.

Cara Sayer: 00:11:38

So the more you can do to make people actually care about why they should buy

Cara Sayer: 00:11:42

from you, the better, I think, really.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:45

Next up, we have some great advice from Claire Grants, and this

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:48

advice is particularly relevant to those of you in the very early days, perhaps

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:51

just starting out with your business.

Claire Grants: 00:11:53

It would be, don't be afraid to try everything yourself.

Claire Grants: 00:11:57

Um, I, from the outset was very set that I wanted to do every step

Claire Grants: 00:12:04

along the way and learn about what it took to actually create a brand.

Claire Grants: 00:12:10

And I think there's some amazing experts out there.

Claire Grants: 00:12:12

And certainly in time I might outsource more of what I do, but I've learned a

Claire Grants: 00:12:18

huge amount from actually having to do the marketing, the sales, the branding.

Claire Grants: 00:12:23

Um, I've done every step along the way, and I think that has definitely, um, held

Claire Grants: 00:12:28

me in good stead and allowed me to make sure the brands exactly as I want it.

Claire Grants: 00:12:33

I think sometimes when you use experts too soon, um, or you outsource things like

Claire Grants: 00:12:37

your branding, then it is very expensive.

Claire Grants: 00:12:40

So it's a, it's an upfront cost, but it's not always authentic

Claire Grants: 00:12:43

to what you wanted it to be.

Claire Grants: 00:12:45

Um, and so yeah, that would be my thing is don't be afraid

Claire Grants: 00:12:49

to, to try everything yourself.

Claire Grants: 00:12:50

Might take a bit longer, but I think it definitely pays off in the end.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:12:54

Next up is Vic Wood from Greener Beauty.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:12:56

And Vic's advice is actually indirect contradiction really to the advice

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:00

you've just heard from Claire.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:02

But the reason I chose to include it is because I feel like

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:05

there is no one size fits all.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:07

Um, not every piece of advice you hear today or anywhere else is going to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:10

resonate with you or with everyone.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:13

And um, I think it's really good to get lots and lots of perspectives,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:16

which is why I love each of these interviews because everyone has

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:19

something else to bring, including the advice that they give.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:22

So, um, I would love now for you to hear what Vic has to say.

Vic Wood: 00:13:27

I think if I could go back and do it all again, I'd

Vic Wood: 00:13:30

probably work out a way to work with experts from the beginning.

Vic Wood: 00:13:36

And I know that makes it difficult because there's not always the budget

Vic Wood: 00:13:39

to do that, but the challenge is, you know, you could spend five years

Vic Wood: 00:13:43

doing your own ad campaigns or your own accountants and it just, it

Vic Wood: 00:13:48

just will take you so much longer.

Vic Wood: 00:13:51

And it's more, not only, it's a time thing, it's also the efficiency thing.

Vic Wood: 00:13:55

I would say, you know, do your best to invest as much as you can on

Vic Wood: 00:13:59

getting the right people on board.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:01

Our next piece of advice comes Marieke from Snackzilla.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:04

Marieke's advice is also relevant to anyone in the really early

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:07

stages of creating a business.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:09

Um, and it's all around asking for help and who you might thinking about asking.

Marieke Syed: 00:14:15

I think my number one tip would be before you start, really

Marieke Syed: 00:14:18

reach out to other people with similar products and really invite them for

Marieke Syed: 00:14:24

a coffee or a phone call and really, you know, drill them for, sorry, drill

Marieke Syed: 00:14:31

them for everything that they know.

Marieke Syed: 00:14:34

What are the highs?

Marieke Syed: 00:14:35

What are the lows?

Marieke Syed: 00:14:36

How much money have they really had to invest or raise to make their

Marieke Syed: 00:14:40

products successful and just get as much info as you can at that beginning

Marieke Syed: 00:14:46

stage before you start investing your time and money into doing anything.

Marieke Syed: 00:14:51

Because you just learn so much from, from doing that network and getting

Marieke Syed: 00:14:56

that advice from other people.

Marieke Syed: 00:14:58

Um, So that's just so important.

Marieke Syed: 00:15:01

Before you start, just talk to people who have, who have done it successfully,

Marieke Syed: 00:15:05

but also maybe not successfully.

Marieke Syed: 00:15:07

Really find out what were the lessons learned so you can take

Marieke Syed: 00:15:10

those lessons into your own business.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:13

Now you're going to hear a little chat

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:14

with Ciara from Pico and myself.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:16

Um, what we talk about is really more of a mindset, um, hack or trick or point of

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:22

view, or however it is you want to say it.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:24

Um, and by the way, for anyone who listens to the original episode,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:27

no one has proven me wrong yet.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:29

Um, so if you think you can please do get in touch because I genuinely

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:32

would love to hear from you.

Ciara: 00:15:35

Oh yeah, I saw this.

Ciara: 00:15:37

Um, I would say time, just like give it time because you know, we've only been

Ciara: 00:15:42

started for three months, but I am in such a different place to where I was

Ciara: 00:15:48

when I first started and I'm in such a different place to when before I started.

Ciara: 00:15:53

I know so much more now from three months ago and then three months before that I

Ciara: 00:15:58

know so much more and you just have to, you know, I think we hear about these

Ciara: 00:16:02

overnight successes of people that they start, and that's amazing that they do.

Ciara: 00:16:08

They start businesses and they're a success straight away.

Ciara: 00:16:11

But actually I think, you know, to start a business, you really do need to have

Ciara: 00:16:15

time and you also need to have resilience, which I'm sure, you know, most founders,

Ciara: 00:16:21

um, know about You just, you have to keep kind of going and don't burn yourself out.

Ciara: 00:16:28

But give yourself time and really, you know.

Ciara: 00:16:34

Yeah, I would just say keep going and you'll be, if you're stuck in somewhere

Ciara: 00:16:38

right now, take a break and then you, you know, take a, a moment to kind of

Ciara: 00:16:43

flip everything over and then in, you'll probably look back in three months

Ciara: 00:16:47

time and be like, I got over that, and then onto the next hurdle type thing.

Ciara: 00:16:51

So yeah, just, I would say give it time.

Ciara: 00:16:53

Give it time to get orders up and give it time to, you know, learn so

Ciara: 00:16:59

much more to get to the next stage.

Ciara: 00:17:01

Yeah, time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:02

Thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:03

I think that's really good advice and you are right because I think it can be really

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:06

tempting to, it would be really tempting to sort of do thing quickly or you can

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:12

get really disheartening that things take time, but I definitely think it's

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:16

worth spending that time and that's all.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:18

A lot of the, what am I trying to say?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:19

I think there's so much more time upfront than you realize, but it's all

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:23

the stuff that's really important, like all the research and the stuff that

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:27

feels like maybe you're not actually getting anywhere, but I think it's

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:29

really good groundwork to be doing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:32

Definitely, like I think about it when I was just,

Ciara: 00:17:35

you know, sat on my, um, desk, um, every morning and

Ciara: 00:17:38

Pico was really just a vision.

Ciara: 00:17:40

I remember thinking, is it ever going to become like reality?

Ciara: 00:17:44

Like at one point I was like, am I really going to get there?

Ciara: 00:17:46

And if I can think of myself a year ago, I, I feel like really?

Ciara: 00:17:52

Wow, okay.

Ciara: 00:17:52

I did it.

Ciara: 00:17:53

Like it's just the start and there's so much to come and

Ciara: 00:17:56

I'm so, so excited about that.

Ciara: 00:18:00

I didn't, in a sense, I didn't think I'd be here at one point, but I am.

Ciara: 00:18:04

And then hopefully, you know, I've got visions for the next six months and the

Ciara: 00:18:07

next year and hopefully I can look back and be like, I actually did get here.

Ciara: 00:18:11

And you know, be proud of that.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:13

And I think as well that it seems like a long time,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:15

but then I meant, I was mentioning big one before we start recording

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:19

that we last spoke last year.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:21

And to me the time in which between we last spoke and speaking to you today,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:25

when I look at how much you've done in that time, I just go, wow, you've done

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:28

such a lot in a short space of time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:30

So I think often we are quite hard on ourselves as well, but um, yeah,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:34

whenever you speak to any, any sort of company founder, they've always,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:38

always been working on it for much longer than, than you'd think.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:42

And actually even a lot of like massive companies now.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:45

Um, and I know we are all small businesses.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:47

When you even talked to massive companies, they, some of them took like

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:50

5, 10, 15 years to actually get to be.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:55

You know, a household name or in some cases get to be selling

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:58

anything much at all really, you know, see any kind of success.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:02

So I just think, yeah, we're often quite hard on ourselves, but it really doesn't

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:06

matter how long it takes, does it?

Ciara: 00:19:08

No, I know.

Ciara: 00:19:09

And I think that is, again, maybe we have, like I said, you know, we, we see things

Ciara: 00:19:13

like I even saw things and I was like, oh, but like you see these overnight success

Ciara: 00:19:17

stories and all these kind of things, but mo, I don't think most companies.

Ciara: 00:19:22

Actually it does happen like that.

Ciara: 00:19:24

Um, so yeah, don't be disheartened that if, you know, I would say don't

Ciara: 00:19:29

dishearten if you haven't, if that doesn't happen for you because yeah,

Ciara: 00:19:32

there's so many companies that it didn't happen, but they have been

Ciara: 00:19:34

huge successors, but it's taken time.

Ciara: 00:19:37

So yeah, just give time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:39

Yeah, I think overnight success is actually

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:41

a myth and um, I'm pleased.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:42

If anyone wants to prove me wrong on that, that's fine, but I would

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:45

say nine times out 10, it's a myth.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:46

And actually that overnight success has probably been working away quietly

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:51

for much longer than any of us realize.

Ciara: 00:19:54

Yeah, I agree.

Ciara: 00:19:55

Agree.

Ciara: 00:19:55

But yeah, let us know anyone if, um, prove us wrong.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:59

Yeah, I'm sure I will be free from all of that.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:02

We're now going to hear from Trish from Autism Threads.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:04

Trish's advice follows on really well from what we just heard before from Ciara.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:09

So I really wanted to share this advice with you and, um, I'm sure

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:12

lots of you will be able to resonate.

Trish: 00:20:15

Um, it's a really good, good question, I think don't, don't be

Trish: 00:20:19

sort of, um, disillusioned by, you know, or, um, fooled by people's

Trish: 00:20:26

success, especially on social media.

Trish: 00:20:28

There's the, you, you see it, and you can't help but think all

Trish: 00:20:31

of these businesses with their very pretty posts and are, are,

Trish: 00:20:35

you know, churning out the sales.

Trish: 00:20:37

It, it, that really isn't the truth.

Trish: 00:20:40

Um, it takes years, um, pandemics aside and, um, like you suggested

Trish: 00:20:47

earlier to, to focus on your passions and your strengths you have.

Trish: 00:20:53

You know, you're going to have to work really hard.

Trish: 00:20:55

You, things that you do in the background, you won't realize that

Trish: 00:20:58

will actually start to generate sales.

Trish: 00:21:00

Um, you just have to keep, you have to keep at it.

Trish: 00:21:03

And I think my, my, you know, you have to, you have to make it, you

Trish: 00:21:09

have to tell yourself, if you are, if you're a personality like me, who's,

Trish: 00:21:12

who's not full of self-confidence.

Trish: 00:21:15

You have to tell yourself that this is, that this is your business.

Trish: 00:21:18

Because when you're a mum and you're working from home and it's

Trish: 00:21:21

your own small business, you can't believe how, how unimportant it can

Trish: 00:21:26

become to the rest of the family.

Trish: 00:21:28

They just seem to assume that it just does its own thing in the background, you know?

Trish: 00:21:31

And, and, and you drop everything for loads of washing, for family

Trish: 00:21:34

lunches, for school runs for, yeah.

Trish: 00:21:38

You have to, you have to keep making it important for yourself you know.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:43

Last year I spoke to Raksha Patel about how she started up

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:46

her business around bullet journaling.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:48

Raksha has some great advice to share with us now, as well as, um, a quote

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:52

that she uses, which I absolutely love.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:54

Um, see if you can spot which one it is.

Raksha: 00:21:57

What I would say is that there's a lot to learn, um, in this

Raksha: 00:22:01

whole journey, and you only really learn by doing and reflecting.

Raksha: 00:22:08

Um, and a, there's a quote that I love that describes this really well.

Raksha: 00:22:12

It's, I hear and I forget.

Raksha: 00:22:14

I see.

Raksha: 00:22:15

And I remember.

Raksha: 00:22:16

I do and I understand, and this couldn't be more true because I always

Raksha: 00:22:21

thought about starting a business or wanting to work for myself and spent

Raksha: 00:22:25

years just putting myself off because I always thought I didn't have any

Raksha: 00:22:28

good ideas or I don't know what to do.

Raksha: 00:22:31

Um, and it was only after taking that first step of making a video that I

Raksha: 00:22:36

really started understanding how to offer something valuable to others.

Raksha: 00:22:41

And so it's when you actually try to do something and then reflect on what you've

Raksha: 00:22:46

done and refine it along the way, that's when you truly understand your offering.

Raksha: 00:22:51

Um, so my advice would be to take a small step, act on one of your thoughts,

Raksha: 00:22:56

whether it's just sharing something online or testing, making a small

Raksha: 00:23:01

sample of a product to try and sell.

Raksha: 00:23:03

Um, the more you try to do something and then reflect and refine it

Raksha: 00:23:08

along the way, the closer you get to creating something special.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:14

Now, Charlotte Phillips has some advice to share with us, and

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:17

Charlotte's advice applies whether you are right at the start of your business.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:21

But equally, I think whatever stage you are, however long you've been in

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:23

business for, this is definitely something that it's always worth remembering.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:28

Be adaptable.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:30

Um, as I've explained to you, we started out with one idea of how

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:36

we were going to run the business.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:38

We had to change due to a pandemic.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:41

Um, now I wouldn't ever wish a pandemic on anybody and hopefully

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:47

current situation, um, uh, regardless.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:51

Um, no one would have to deal with something as big and potentially

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:55

damaging as that when they're setting up.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:23:58

But I think, you don't know what the market is going to be like.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:04

Be it online, be it selling through Amazon, be it selling

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:07

it actually face to face.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:09

So it's a really good idea to just be adaptable, be ready to change, to tweak.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:16

Don't go into this with two, set an idea of exactly how it's going to work,

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:22

because I think you're going to set yourself up for failure if you do so.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:26

That would be my one piece of advice would.

Charlotte Phillips: 00:24:28

Be adaptable.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:29

Next, I'd love you to hear from Puvan Briah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:32

She has some great advice for you, which is based on her own experience.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:35

So if you haven't listened yet to her episode, that's a great one to listen

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:39

to for a bit of context around the advice she's going to share with us.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:43

Hmm.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:43

I'm trying to think.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:44

I want it to be like golden advice.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:45

You know?

Puvan Briah: 00:24:45

I want it to be like the be all and end all of like advice.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:49

I would say change if you feel like it's going to make you happier.

Puvan Briah: 00:24:54

If your business isn't making you happy, then why are you doing it?

Puvan Briah: 00:24:57

You know, the whole point of it is that it gives you freedom and

Puvan Briah: 00:25:00

it it gives you purpose and you can live your life on your terms.

Puvan Briah: 00:25:05

Um, and that's why I got in, got into it.

Puvan Briah: 00:25:08

So if it's not making you happy, then change it to make you happy.

Puvan Briah: 00:25:12

Um, And also additionally, if you have extra stock, sell it and make some money.

Puvan Briah: 00:25:18

So yeah, that's my, that's my advice.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:21

The next advice we're going to hear is from Amanda

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:23

Davy, who actually had two pieces of advice to share with you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:27

Don't worry.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:27

They're really succinct and they are both definitely worth hearing.

Amanda Davy: 00:25:31

Can I do two?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:32

Of course you can.

Amanda Davy: 00:25:35

Advice we were given, um, was make your mistakes while you're small.

Amanda Davy: 00:25:40

But there's another bit of advice and that is be patient, go for the long game.

Amanda Davy: 00:25:45

Not.

Amanda Davy: 00:25:46

Not try and do the, the get rich quick models because they blow up

Amanda Davy: 00:25:52

and then down again very often.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:54

Now you're going to hear Georgina Robinson from Juniper

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:56

Studios and myself have a little chat.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:00

Um, so Georgina had some really great advice.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:02

It's, um, Georgina did say it, well initially it wasn't about selling

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:05

products, although she did agree in the end that actually it, it is.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:09

Um, but I think this is great to listen to.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:12

And to remember when you are having tough times and you're just trying to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:16

sort of stay in touch with why you're doing what it is that you're doing.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:19

I think it would just be to make sure

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:21

you're still having fun with it.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:23

Um, make sure you're enjoying it because I think that really does

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:26

come across in, especially as a small business when it tends to be one person

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:31

or a few people doing everything.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:34

If you are not passionate about it and enjoying it and doing it for

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:36

the right reasons, your content and marketing and and re reason isn't

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:43

going to resonate with a customer.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:45

Um, but also it's going to be about your quality of life as well.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:50

Like there's very few people that will choose to work,

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:55

um, if they didn't need to.

Georgina Robinson: 00:26:56

But actually it, I don't know, it's not, I'm not making sense.

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:01

Are making sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:02

You are making sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:03

I think you're right.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:03

Because I think you need to enjoy it because, um, otherwise

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:09

it's a job and I guess.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:11

But a lot of us, if we didn't want to be doing what we were

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:14

doing, would go and get a job.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:17

Mm-hmm.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:17

Um, so you have the, I I agree.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:18

You have to, you have to want to do it because running a business isn't easy and

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:24

you know, you have to put in hours, maybe, you know, work more hours, maybe you'd

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:27

like to, and you know, the income might not always be where you want it to be.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:31

So I think you do have to have that reason to keep going, because it's hard, and I

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:37

think if you're not enjoying it, then it's much harder to keep going when you have

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:41

those hard days or weeks or months even.

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:45

Yeah.

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:46

Yeah, I, yeah, I think that's what I'm getting at, basically.

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:48

And just keep checking in with yourself and make sure that you are, because it's

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:52

really stressful and it's really hard work and the hours are actually way longer

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:55

than if you're working for someone else.

Georgina Robinson: 00:27:57

But obviously there's the huge perks of working for yourself and

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:01

running your own business as well.

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:03

Um, but yeah, I think my biggest thing is just keep checking in with yourself and

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:07

making sure you're still doing it for the right reasons and for you and your family.

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:11

Um, I guess it's not really a tip on how to get your product out there and

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:14

sell it, but um, ultimately I think it actually is because I think it

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:19

does come through in small businesses as a whole when someone is genuinely

Georgina Robinson: 00:28:23

enjoying and loving what they do.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:25

Em Royston from Chasing Threads is now going to share some

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:28

advice with us, um, which is something that I've definitely taken on board

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:31

myself over the last few years.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:33

And, um, I think while you're listening to this, it actually might

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:35

be worth thinking for yourself.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:37

How much of a good boss are you?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:39

And, um, love to know your thoughts on this.

Em Royston: 00:28:42

Yeah, no problem.

Em Royston: 00:28:43

I think it's probably maybe more down to kind of how I think, you know, a lot

Em Royston: 00:28:48

of product creators and small businesses work on their own and the whole kind

Em Royston: 00:28:52

of, um, The benefit of, of having your own business is, you know, that

Em Royston: 00:28:57

flexibility of lifestyle and, um, but I think that can be quite hard to kind

Em Royston: 00:29:01

of, to work with your own energy and like, you know, work with your own time

Em Royston: 00:29:05

when you are feeling creative and when you are feeling actually, like, I can't,

Em Royston: 00:29:09

I don't, I don't feel creative today.

Em Royston: 00:29:11

But, you know, um, I base, I guess basically what I'm trying to say is like

Em Royston: 00:29:14

the whole point of, of being your own boss is to be a good boss to yourself

Em Royston: 00:29:17

and not sort of give yourself a hard time if things aren't like going that well.

Em Royston: 00:29:22

I, I used to just set myself kind of a nine to six working day, but actually

Em Royston: 00:29:27

I found that that's not necessarily the best way to be productive.

Em Royston: 00:29:30

And you know, if I'm just sat on my computer just not really achieving

Em Royston: 00:29:34

anything, then I do just go for a walk and listen to podcast.

Em Royston: 00:29:37

Or I'm lucky that I can stitch as part of my kind of work.

Em Royston: 00:29:41

Um, even though it feels really weird, especially like a cross

Em Royston: 00:29:43

stitch, uh, sorry, a trade show time when I'm trying to stitch up samples

Em Royston: 00:29:47

and I'm manically cross stitching.

Em Royston: 00:29:48

It doesn't feel like.

Em Royston: 00:29:50

But, um, yeah, I think just kind of, yeah, allowing yourself to, to use

Em Royston: 00:29:55

time as, as it works for you and, and give yourself a break if you know

Em Royston: 00:29:59

it's not all happening every day.

Em Royston: 00:30:01

Because I think I went through a few years at the beginning when I really did

Em Royston: 00:30:04

late hours and weekends, and I really put all of my energy into my business.

Em Royston: 00:30:08

And that's, you know, put me in the position I am in now, um,

Em Royston: 00:30:11

where I don't necessarily have to burn the candle all the time.

Em Royston: 00:30:15

And yeah, just allowing myself to sort of work with my energy

Em Royston: 00:30:18

when I'm feeling creative and, and know that it'll come back.

Em Royston: 00:30:20

Um, so yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:22

We are changing gears slightly in this penultimate piece of

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:25

advice and we're going to hear some really practical business advice from our

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:30

last two contributors to this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:32

So first we can hear from Tas from Very Craft Tea, who's got some really

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:36

practical but useful advice for you.

Tas: 00:30:40

That's a really good question.

Tas: 00:30:41

Um.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:41

That's why I leave it till the end because it's true.

Tas: 00:30:43

Yeah.

Tas: 00:30:44

Lull to a false sense of security being, oh yes.

Tas: 00:30:48

This is a lot harder question . Um, I really, th.

Tas: 00:30:52

Oh, I think the main thing is, is getting your numbers right.

Tas: 00:30:56

I can't stress this enough about everything.

Tas: 00:30:59

So I have this spreadsheet and it's, I don't know, I think it's about 27

Tas: 00:31:04

columns long or something like that.

Tas: 00:31:05

And it talk and it goes through every single bit of costs that it takes

Tas: 00:31:10

for me to produce either a bag of tea to sell or a craft kit to sell.

Tas: 00:31:17

Um, and it talks about bags, labels, uh, processing costs on the website.

Tas: 00:31:24

Uh, so, you know, so like, um, so I, my websites do Shopify, so it'll, um,

Tas: 00:31:30

the cost that Shopify take per sale.

Tas: 00:31:34

Postage how much?

Tas: 00:31:35

Um, you know, PayPal takes all these sorts of things and it all works, and

Tas: 00:31:39

I've done it every single point and then work out how much it costs to

Tas: 00:31:44

sell that before I end up with a price.

Tas: 00:31:47

I didn't do that for about two and a half, uh, no, probably longer

Tas: 00:31:50

than that, probably three years.

Tas: 00:31:52

I hadn't had that and I worked out that I was selling cheaper than it

Tas: 00:31:56

was costing me to, to make it, which is not really a good thing when

Tas: 00:32:00

you're, when you're in a business.

Tas: 00:32:01

So, um, so, um, so yeah, so if I could start again, that would definitely

Tas: 00:32:06

be it, because not O one I guess it would is obviously you don't get into

Tas: 00:32:13

the thing that I was, that you're not selling things cheaper than what you are.

Tas: 00:32:15

It's costing you to get and make, um, two, it you'll be able to build

Tas: 00:32:21

in quite a nice, uh, you know, margin or profit for you as well.

Tas: 00:32:25

But also like three is like you can build in potential uplifts and

Tas: 00:32:30

costs that you, that you might incur from like, uh, you know, like, you

Tas: 00:32:35

know, uh, over the pandemic, like nobody could get cardboard boxes and

Tas: 00:32:40

cardboard boxes that I was buying for 30 p went up to like a pound 50 each.

Tas: 00:32:43

And it was, you know, and all these sorts of things.

Tas: 00:32:45

And it was, you can take a little bit of the hit of that for a small

Tas: 00:32:50

amount of time, but not if it was for, for, you know, forever.

Tas: 00:32:53

So it's, you can work out, you can change, you know, small amount of figures, you

Tas: 00:32:58

know, your figures in this, you know, in your spreadsheet to say, you know,

Tas: 00:33:02

if it did go up a thousand percent, how much is that going to affect the,

Tas: 00:33:07

you know, what I end up getting or, you know, will I have to pass that cost

Tas: 00:33:10

onto the consumer and how, if I do, how do I, you know, explain that to them?

Tas: 00:33:15

How do I mitigate that if I can, or all these sorts of things.

Tas: 00:33:17

So yes, my one piece of advice would be to make sure your numbers are correct

Tas: 00:33:21

because it will end, it will save so much heartache and headache later on when you

Tas: 00:33:27

have up in your prices, um, because you've not factored that in until the beginning.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:32

Our very final piece of advice comes from Janet Murray, and to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:36

give a little bit of context, I asked Janet for her number one piece of advice

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:41

for creating content around your products because I know that's something that

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:44

a lot of us can find really tricky.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:46

And Janet is an expert in this area, so here she is with her advice for us.

Janet Murray: 00:33:52

I think it will be to almost put your product aside and to

Janet Murray: 00:33:57

focus on your ideal customer or client.

Janet Murray: 00:34:00

What problems does your product or service solve for them?

Janet Murray: 00:34:04

that's key.

Janet Murray: 00:34:05

But also what problems have they got that would bring you bring them

Janet Murray: 00:34:09

to your product in the first place?

Janet Murray: 00:34:10

So to use, you know, hair products as an example, my daughter does the curly, the

Janet Murray: 00:34:15

curly girl method, and I've bought her all sorts of stuff like silk caps and

Janet Murray: 00:34:19

silk pillows and all that kind of stuff.

Janet Murray: 00:34:21

Like, just really thinking what else would that person,

Janet Murray: 00:34:24

you know, want information on?

Janet Murray: 00:34:25

Like my daughter?

Janet Murray: 00:34:27

Multitude of videos on how to, you know, you sell, you might sell silk

Janet Murray: 00:34:31

caps, but actually your ideal client is also looking for the best brush to buy,

Janet Murray: 00:34:37

or they're also looking for the best, um, leave in conditioner or whatever.

Janet Murray: 00:34:42

And, and actually sometimes it's, bit about being brave enough to

Janet Murray: 00:34:44

talk about other people's products or methods because that's what your

Janet Murray: 00:34:48

ideal customers or clients want.

Janet Murray: 00:34:49

And rather than making them not buy your stuff, it will bring them closer

Janet Murray: 00:34:53

because they will see you as an expert.

Janet Murray: 00:34:55

That's my actually top tip actually to finish is you.

Janet Murray: 00:34:59

Instead of seeing yourself as someone who sells a product, see yourself as

Janet Murray: 00:35:03

an expert in the problem that your product solves, if that makes sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:08

So that is it, that is all of our advice for this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:12

So thank you so much for all the contributors to this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:16

Um, you may not have known you were going to make it here, but you did.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:18

Um, thank you so much for sharing your advice.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:22

Thank you so much for listening.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:24

I really hope you find these episodes valuable.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:26

I know that when I ask this question at the end of each podcast interview I

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:30

do, I always get such, you know, such unique answers, such different answers,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:35

but ultimately such valuable advice.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:37

Um, and I think it's really great to have this all in one place so that people can,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:43

you know, just pick up these top tips.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:45

It's great hearing everyone's stories and everyone's journeys, but I love

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:48

hearing what people say to this question, and I hope that you do too.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:52

So thank you for listening all the way to the end of this very special episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:56

I can't believe I've been doing this for three years now.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:00

That's such a long time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:01

And, um, in some ways, in other ways not.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:04

Thank you again for being here and if this is your very first listen.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:07

Thank you as well for giving this podcast a try.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:11

And, um, I will be back with another episode for you next week.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:16

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:18

Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:22

on my website, vicki weinberg.com.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:24

Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:28

and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.