Chris Lefteri is a Materials Consultant, Designer and author of 9 books on materials. He is also the inventor and founder of Fixits, reusable eco-plastic moldable sticks, which you can use to repair all manner of things around the home and office. 

Chris shared how he turned a useful material into a marketable product and the challenges of creating and marketing a unique product, where the audience needs to be taught how to use it. Chris also shares his advice from running a successful Kickstarter campaign. You will go away with lots to think about, and planning to order a pack of Fixits to try for yourself. 

Listen in to hear Chris share:

• An introduction to himself and his business (01:04)
• What Fixits are and how they work (01:30)
• What inspired him to create Fixits (03:31)
• Turning a useful material into a marketable product (05:11)
• Finding and working with a manufacturer (09:09)
• Manufacturing a product responsibly (11:45)
• Lessons in creating products in small batches (10:48)
• The challenges of selling a unique product (14:09)
• Teaching the public about your product (16:42)
• His advice for running a Kickstarter campaign (18:09)
• His number one piece of advice for other product creators (23:07)

USEFUL RESOURCES:

Fixits Website

Fixits Facebook

Fixits Instagram

Fixits LinkedIn

Fixits Pinterest

Fixits Twitter

Kickstarter

LET’S CONNECT

Join my free Facebook group for product makers and creators

Find me on Instagram

Work with me

If you enjoy this podcast, and you’d like to leave a tip, you can do so here: https://bring-your-product-idea.captivate.fm/support

Mentioned in this episode:

Proudly sponsored by Tonbridge Accountants

Welcome to Tonbridge Accountants, where creativity meets clarity in business finance. Wendy and Laughton are not just accountants; they're your partners in navigating the complexities of business finance. We simplify VAT, corporation tax, and crucial cash flow management, guiding you through decisions like company purchases or setting up a new business. Our approach is personal. We work closely with creative entrepreneurs, providing a virtual finance office that ensures you have the financial support and clarity your business needs to thrive. With us, it's more than accounting; it's about empowering your creative venture with strategic financial insights. Tonbridge Accountants is the partner you need to unlock financial clarity and freedom, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating. We're the missing piece in your creative journey, ready to transform your business finance into a strength. WEBSITE: https://tonbridgeaccountants.co.uk/

Support this podcast for the price of a coffee

if you loved this episode please consider sending me a one-off tip. It helps me to keep bringing this podcast to you, for free. If you'd like to support this podcast, you can do so here: https://bring-your-product-idea.captivate.fm/support

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:04

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:07

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:09

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:13

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:16

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:20

stories from small businesses.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:22

Let's get started.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:24

Hi, so today I'm talking to Chris Lefteri from Fixits.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:28

Fixits is Chris's very own invention and we have a great conversation today about

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:33

inventing a product and all that entails.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:36

The product Chris has invented is really unique.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:39

And of course there were some challenges with creating a product

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:42

and selling a product that people don't even know that they need, um,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:45

because it's something brand new.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:46

And we talk a lot about that during this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:49

It was a fantastic conversation and I would love now to introduce you to Chris.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:53

So, hi Chris.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:54

Thank you so much for being here.

Chris Lefteri: 00:00:56

Hi Vicky.

Chris Lefteri: 00:00:57

My pleasure to talk to you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:59

So can we please start by you giving an introduction to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:01

yourself, your business, and what you.

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:04

So my business is based on empowering people, householders to repair

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:10

their stuff, and I founded Fixit in 2018 as a product that would be a friendly,

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:16

fun, and convenient way for, you know, anybody, anybody in the house to be able

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:22

to repair their stuffand avoid the whole idea of putting stuff into landfill.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:28

That's brilliant.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:29

Thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:30

And can you just, I know it's really hard cause this isn't visual, but can you, and

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:32

we've all obviously linked to your website so people can see, but could you just

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:35

give us a really little instruction as to what Fixits is and how you might use it?

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:40

Well, Fixits are essentially a series

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:43

of, uh, plastic sticks.

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:45

You dip them into a cup of hot water.

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:49

Straight from the kettle could be around minimum of 60 degrees.

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:52

The hotter it is than the faster the, um, they will soften.

Chris Lefteri: 00:01:56

Uh, once you put the stick in the cup of hot water, it will begin to become

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:01

quite soft and within sort of 30 seconds to a minute, it will become floppy.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:06

You take it out, it's completely cool.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:08

So it doesn't, doesn't, it's not even hot.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:11

And you, um, then can mold it into any shape you want in the same way you

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:15

can with, you know, modeling clay or plasticine and use it to repair any

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:21

number of things that would be very difficult to repair with tape and glue.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:25

So things that may be quite brittle and, and the glue doesn't have much

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:30

of a contacts area or things like tape where you need to wrap it around,

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:34

you know, Fixit does things that all, both those two products can't do.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:39

So we use it for a very popular one with our customers is repairing,

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:44

broken, uh, glasses on the side frame, uh, for charging cables for big things

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:51

like children's toys, that sort of snap and you want to fix it back, you

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:55

know, you want to fix it back together.

Chris Lefteri: 00:02:57

Um, any number of things taking them on holiday with you.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:00

So I think the best thing about it is that, and, and the unique thing about it

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:04

is that if that repair doesn't work or you wanna try it again because you wanna make

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:09

it better, then you stick it back into the whole water and um, and do it again.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:14

Oh, that's amazing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:14

So it's completely reusable.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:17

Yeah.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:17

Fixit is completely reusable and I don't have to use it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:19

I don't have to use hot water.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:20

I can use, um, a hair dry, heat it up again, and yeah, pretty much.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:26

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:27

Infinite number of times.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:29

That's amazing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:31

So how did you come up with the idea, Chris, and what inspired you to even

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:34

start thinking of a product like this?

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:37

My background is a designer and the the other company that

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:41

I run is a materials design studio.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:43

So several years ago when I was writing one of my books on materials

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:47

for designers, I discovered a sort of material that was used in industry.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:53

In a very obscure way, in a way that you'd never really see it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:57

And I was really fascinated with it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:03:59

And I, you know, got some, some material from the supplier.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:04

I was using it at home.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:06

I took some home and we kept some granules, a bag of granules

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:09

in the kitchen drawer, and my wife thought it was fantastic.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:12

We take it on holiday with us, you know, the little bag bag of granules and

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:16

she had this idea to turn it into a, a consumer product and to make story, which

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:23

it didn't have, you know, it wasn't a product that was ever used for repair,

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:27

part of what the material could offer, and that's really where it started from.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:32

Well, that's amazing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:34

And what was the material used for?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:36

Just out of interest?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:37

What?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:37

What did people use to use it before, before you came up with this use?

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:41

It's used in packaging as a compostable material for packaging.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:45

It's used as an adhesive.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:47

It's used in medical applications.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:50

Yeah, I mean, a whole range of things are quite obscure.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:53

Nothing that you'd be able to point to and say, oh yeah, you know, I know what it is.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:57

I know the material.

Chris Lefteri: 00:04:58

Yeah, so quite obscure and, and not having anything like a

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:01

story to do with, uh, repair.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:05

That's really interesting.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:06

So it came in granule form, is that right?

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:10

Yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:11

So how did you come up with the idea of

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:13

creating the Fixit sticks?

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:16

Well, so I, I really thought.

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:18

You know, as magical as it is to watch these granules, you know, soften

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:21

in a cup and it is quite magical.

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:23

I wanted to have something that was much more accessible and much more handy.

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:29

And I always had it in my head that when I had this bag of granules, I'd keep

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:33

it in the kitchen drawer and I wanted something that would feel like you'd

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:37

keep it in the kitchen drawer, you'd put it in your in a bag if you were

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:41

going a holiday, or if you were going camping, you know, very convenient.

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:46

And I started by looking.

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:48

The shapes that you could, that were conducive to putting something

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:51

into hot water and a stick felt very natural because, I mean, you know,

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:56

you dunk it, you only hold as much of the material of the stick in the

Chris Lefteri: 00:05:59

hot water as you want to, to soften.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:02

And so we played around with different proportions and different sort of,

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:08

Variations on the stick and then settled with something that I wanted

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:12

people to feel very familiar with, you know, so it was about, I, it's about

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:20

the same proportions as a lolli stick, or same proportions as a nail file,

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:23

because it's a completely new product.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:25

It's not something that exists in any.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:29

It is completely a new way of repairing something.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:33

And that's a quite a hard story to tell.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:35

So I didn't want to then create a shape that was out there as well.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:38

I thought let's just keep it something quite generic that is familiar that people

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:42

can at least have some connection with, you know, so I, I kept it very simple.

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:48

And then in order to kind of consider the colors and make it,

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:53

you know, feel something that was, um, You know, universal and the,

Chris Lefteri: 00:06:59

and the, you know, color is a very personal thing, and pe people can

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:01

be put off by color very easily.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:04

So obviously black and white, because a lot of products are black and white,

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:07

so it kind of, you know, blends in.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:09

And then the orange one, so we launched with black white, orange.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:12

Then the orange one really, I, I think, came about because, um,

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:17

the first color that we trialed to get the coloring right was orange.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:21

And it looked really good.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:21

It was kind of bold.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:22

It was bright, optimistic.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:24

It kind of talked about.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:26

Utility and functionality.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:28

And so we kept it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:29

And so we, the first ones we launched were black, white, and orange.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:34

And then I re, as I said, I re, I really wanted to have this

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:38

element of repairing, being fun and to, you know, empower people.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:43

And the easiest way of doing that is you make the product attractive.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:47

So from the beginning, from the outset, it was, I, I wanted this

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:51

idea that people would look at and think, oh, that's interesting.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:54

I like, and I'm gonna need it at some point.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:58

So it was those two things.

Chris Lefteri: 00:07:59

I need it and I like it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:01

And the extension, the natural extension of that was to launch

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:04

some colors that were much more, uh, fashion colors, you know.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:08

So I went to, um, Rymans, it's not Rymans, uh, Paperchase on Wandsworth Road.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:14

Uh, and they, and they, you know, it's filled with color in there and

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:17

colors of pens and paper and, and crayons and all that sort of stuff.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:23

And I just remember thinking it'd be great to see Fixit in this type

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:28

of environment and, and to actually, you know, build that story of fun

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:33

and accessibility through the colors.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:35

So that's why we launched.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:36

I'm trying to remember.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:38

We have a, a specific name for them.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:39

I won't use specific names.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:40

I'll just say yellow, green, and pink.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:43

They have quite nice, catchy names, but I have a, a memory

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:45

problem, so I can't quite remember.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:48

I don't wanna get it wrong.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:50

No problem.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:51

I know exactly what that's like

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:52

Flamingo pink.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:53

Flamingo pink is one.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:55

Sorbet Yellow and Mid Green.

Chris Lefteri: 00:08:59

Am I right?

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:00

I'm not sure.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:01

Something like that.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:02

I think I've seen the colors and I think

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:03

that's a good description anyway.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:05

Even if that's not , the exact names of it as a great

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:07

description of what they look like.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:09

So.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:10

How, um, I'm, I'm really curious, actually, there was something you, you,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:14

um, mentioned, I'm gonna touch on a bit later, but what I'd love to know is, so

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:17

were you working with a manufacturer to go through this process of developing

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:21

them sticks and developing colors?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:23

How did that come about and how did that work?

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:27

That's a very good question.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:28

It was, it wasn't easy.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:29

We had to, to find, we had to contact a lot of manufacturers

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:35

because it's not an easy to, to mold.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:38

And because we were starting up, there wasn't a huge, uh,

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:42

you know, business for them.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:43

You know, we weren't gonna order millions of, of sticks.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:46

And we were really lucky we found somebody in the UK who's been a fantastic

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:53

partner, so he, he used an existing.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:56

Mold tool to trial the material.

Chris Lefteri: 00:09:59

Looked at how it, how it worked, how it would be produced.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:03

You know, does the mold separate quickly, you know, easily without

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:06

sticking to the, to the sticks.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:08

And then being quite specific about the texture on it, because the texture

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:11

on the sticks was, I mean, you know, people don't really think about texture.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:15

You pick up a product and you, you, you just perceive it as being something.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:19

Either it feels cheap or it feels Matt, or it feels nice, or it feels

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:23

premium or glossy, but you don't really.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:26

Perceive it, but I, I did want something that unconsciously would

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:29

just feel quite nice in your hand.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:31

And obviously when you put the stick in the whole water, the, the texture

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:34

disappears because it then, um, you know, becomes, Just a, a neutral

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:38

kind of semi, semi glossy surface.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:42

Um, so we did a lot of trials with the manufacturer working out exactly the

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:46

right thickness of the stick so that it would mold well efficiently, uh, without

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:50

any problems, making sure that the, you know, specifics of, you know, ejection

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:55

molding of where the two parts of a steel tool come apart is in the right place.

Chris Lefteri: 00:10:59

So yeah, we had a great partner.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:02

So Chris, are you still working with that same manufacturer now?

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:06

Yes, I am.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:07

Yeah, that's, yeah, he's, he's a great partner.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:10

He, he's fantastic.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:12

That's great.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:12

And I think it's, like you said, it's so important when you can build

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:15

up those long-term relationships.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:17

Yeah, yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:18

Absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:18

Absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:19

And um, I couldn't really have done it without him.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:22

And, and, uh, you take it, I don't, I don't actually take it for granted at all.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:25

Cause I've worked with manufacturers before and you know, when you're trying

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:28

to develop something new, you have to get somebody who embraces it and who

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:32

actually appreciates the challenge and wants to do something that is different

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:35

rather than somebody who thinks it's a kind of a labor and, uh, a chore.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:40

And, and actually he's kind of doing reluctantly.

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:42

So we have a great champion.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:44

Oh, that's brilliant.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:45

And, um, I know that something else that's important to you

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:48

is responsible manufacturing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:50

Can you talk a little bit about what that means to you and what the impact has

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:53

been on your product and your packaging?

Chris Lefteri: 00:11:56

I mean, the, it's absolutely, absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:00

I think that the product is in itself about, Helping, encouraging,

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:06

you know, consumers to, to repair and not throw things away.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:10

And on that level that, that is the most important thing about Fixit it

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:15

is the idea that you, you make it fun, you make it accessible, and you point

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:22

out that actually it's better to repair something than it is to buy or replace.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:28

That actually makes you feel good when you do that.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:31

There is that.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:32

Nice sense of achievement of of, of being clever and solving the problem

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:37

and, and making that repair, that that is the most important thing about fix it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:42

It is.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:42

The fact that it's manufactured in the UK is important because, you know,

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:46

we don't have to deal with shipping and that aspect of, um, of co2.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:52

The packaging originally was plastic, and it was plastic originally because it was

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:56

just, you know, it was a small startup.

Chris Lefteri: 00:12:57

It was the most convenient, easiest, low-cost way of making the sticks.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:02

We've stopped using plastic, now we use cardboard, and the material itself

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:07

is, Conforms to EU regulations for, uh, bioplastic classification, but I

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:15

don't necessarily wanna focus on that.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:17

I think it's a complex area to talk about bioplastics.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:20

In any case, it is officially a industrially compostable plastic.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:26

But you know, as I said, the story for me is much more about the repairability

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:31

and encouraging people to repair than it about what the material is

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:35

because ideally you don't want to get rid of the material, you just reuse

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:38

it again and again and again, so you shouldn't have to worry about where it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:43

Yeah, that makes sense.

Chris Lefteri: 00:13:44

And as you

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:44

say, the fact that it's a product that's designed to help

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:46

people reuse things that they might otherwise fit in the bin or, yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:50

Yeah, I think, I think that speaks to itself really.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:54

And coming onto that, Chris, so I picked up on something you talked

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:57

about, um, earlier, it was probably about 10 minutes ago now, so

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:00

apologies if you don't remember.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:01

But you, you mentioned that, um, there were some challenges in

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:05

selling a product that's completely new that people haven't heard of.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:09

Can you talk a little bit about the challenges of selling such

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:11

unique products and maybe some ways in which you've overcome that?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:14

Please.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:16

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:16

It's, I mean, I, I underestimated how difficult it was gonna be to, uh, sell

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:23

this product because, you know, I thought it was fantastic everyone I'd shown it to,

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:28

I really thought that people would get it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:31

But as I said, I, I understood very quickly, I mean, after we launched

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:34

on Kickstarter, that there is, Big hurdle to overcome in the sense of I'm

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:41

not selling tape and I'm not selling glue, so I have to explain what it is.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:47

You know, I have to give a description.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:48

I can't just say it's glue, it's tape.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:50

So, so that's the first thing you have to overcome and, and do that in a very

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:53

quick way because, you know, we don't, we don't have huge attention spans.

Chris Lefteri: 00:14:58

So you have to, you have to get that across.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:00

And at the same time, uh, encourage, encourage consumers

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:04

to, to build the value.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:07

Um, you've got to, you know, point out the advantages, um,

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:11

so that it does save money.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:13

It does save the planet, it does make you feel great to fix stuff.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:16

And that's very much a about building a community and showing illustration,

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:23

you know, photographs of, you know, customers and what they've

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:27

done with the Fixits and just keep repeating that message that it's fun.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:31

It saves the planet, it saves you money, you know, in just repeating that

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:36

and building on that from the sticks.

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:38

You know, we're launching, uh, we've launched the tape, uh, we'll launched

Chris Lefteri: 00:15:41

some variations on the tape and some other repair products very soon as well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:46

That's brilliant.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:47

Thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:47

And I completely get what a challenge it is because I guess also there's

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:51

a thing that people don't understand it and they don't understand

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:54

exactly what the product's for.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:56

They might sort of say, well, this doesn't work, and it's because

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:58

they haven't quite got what the intention behind the product is.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:03

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:03

I mean, exactly, and you, and you, you have to be quite explicit because,

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:07

you know, I mean, as somebody pointed out, you are showing me a stick.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:12

How do I get from a stick to this repair?

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:15

You know, I don't need to do that.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:17

I don't need to explain that.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:18

If I, if I'm selling tape or glue, everybody knows how, what

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:21

tape is and how it works, and everybody knows how, how glue works.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:25

With the stick.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:26

You have to, you have to, you have to be very clear.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:30

But for me, the, the, the magic of this stick is that you put in

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:33

hot water, becomes soft and then becomes hard, and then you can do

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:35

the whole thing again and again.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:37

And, um, I wanna make sure that we, uh, that's shared.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:16:42

And were there any specific sort of communications or

Vicki Weinberg: 00:16:45

pieces of media that you created that you think really helped with this,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:16:48

with explaining what the product is?

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:51

Hmm.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:52

Uh, yeah, I, I don't think that there's a single, I don't think

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:55

there's a single one because there are so many facets to this story.

Chris Lefteri: 00:16:58

There are so many attributes that I want to get across.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:01

The, the hardness of the stick, how it works, what you can do with

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:05

it, um, how you can remold it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:08

So there are so many facets to the story and, and the usability that

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:11

it's, it's difficult to pinpoint to one image, to be honest with you.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:15

I mean, and I think video is absolutely the, the way that we're moving forward

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:19

because you can tell so much you, you can communicate so much more with a video.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:24

I was just about to say that I've seen your video and I

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:27

think that that for me is a really great way of just demonstrating what

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:30

the product is and how it works in just a couple of seconds because it is so

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:34

visual and it's much easier to get that across visually than it is in text.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:39

Yes, absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:40

Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:41

And, and we're trying hard with it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:42

We have a great copywriter.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:44

A again, you know, I have people are working with fix, poking, working

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:47

with me on Fixits who I really appreciate and they totally get it.

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:51

You know, uh, we have a copywriter who totally, you know, understands

Chris Lefteri: 00:17:57

the voice to Fixits has and where our target is and what we're trying to.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:03

So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's really about storytelling and making

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:06

sure the story is very clear.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:09

And while we're speaking about storytelling, if you don't mind,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:12

um, I know that you mentioned that you launched with a Kickstarter campaign.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:16

Can we just talk a little bit about that, about what your experience of

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:19

running that campaign was, and perhaps any insights that you had from it?

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:25

Um,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:26

I know that's a very big question.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:28

Um, so wh when, when was your, your Kickstarter campaign, what was

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:32

that, 2018 or was it a bit later?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:34

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:34

No, no, 2018.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:36

I mean, I think the, the thing was that we, I think we did fantastically,

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:42

I mean, I, I've never run a, a campaign like this before, and no

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:44

one who was working on that with me had run a campaign like this before.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:48

We did a lot of preparation.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:50

I did have access to certain, uh, journalists.

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:54

That I could, you know, write something for about, you know,

Chris Lefteri: 00:18:57

Fixits that, that was directly related to the Kickstarter campaign.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:00

So that really helped.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:02

But I think just getting the, the message out there.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:05

I'm being very prepared.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:07

I mean, you know, I, I thought it was a quick thing to, to launch a kick,

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:09

sunny kickstarter, but not at all.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:11

I mean, you have to be supremely prepared and organized and have a team

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:15

behind you because it's a global thing.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:17

It's, it will, it will launch.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:19

You know, I think it, when launched in Asia and maybe Australia, you know

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:22

what, uh, whatever it was, midnight UK time, and it's a 24-hour thing,

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:26

so you have to keep managing that.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:29

And how long typically does a campaign run?

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:32

I think typically they run for a month.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:34

I was run, ran for.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:36

Oh gosh, that's quite a long, that's quite a long time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:38

And I guess that's quite intense then if you're constantly trying

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:41

to draw attention to the campaign.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:43

Yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:43

I mean,

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:44

yeah, it is quite intense, but not half as, as intense as it

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:46

was to actually send out the products because, you know, we, we did very well,

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:51

um, sold thousands of packs of Fixits.

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:54

But the hard work really was was getting them out there after the

Chris Lefteri: 00:19:58

campaign and getting them out there, getting them out there to different

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:01

parts of the world in a timely way.

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:03

That was the, that was the really, that was a very challenging part.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:07

Oh, that's really interesting.

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:08

So we had, we had the office filled with, you know, my, my

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:12

team who worked in the design studio, packing sticks, putting them envelopes,

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:16

and putting labels on, taking to the post.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:19

Oh, I'm glad to hear it was a success.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:22

Um, and you mentioned you were working with some journalists at the time, so was

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:26

that to get words out about the campaign?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:28

Was that the purpose of that?

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:29

Yes, yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:30

Design journalists, yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:32

Well, that's fantastic cause I've, I've spoken to a few people

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:34

who've ran Kickstarter campaigns, but neither of none of them have

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:38

actually spoken about that angle.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:39

So that actually makes a lot of sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:42

So were you targeting journalists from the kind of publications that

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:46

you thought people might be, you know, people that read those might be

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:49

interested in supporting your campaign?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:50

Was that the idea?

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:52

No, it, it was, I was very lucky.

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:53

I knew journalists because of my design studio, because of the success of the

Chris Lefteri: 00:20:57

books, because the book books and the popularity of those books over the last

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:00

20 years, I was able to contact a couple of people that I knew very well and

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:03

say, Hey, I'm launching this product.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:05

A really designed for any product about the environment.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:08

You know, would you be, you know, would you like to write something out?

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:11

Or for me to write something up?

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:12

So we did it in that way.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:13

Not necessarily, it wasn't a huge kind of level of research to find the right

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:17

magazines or journalists, and they were.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:20

Magazines, uh, journal, you know, uh, online magazines.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:22

Oh, well, clearly it's, clearly it works.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:24

I think it's great and I think there's, it makes total sense to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:26

use any connections that you have.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:29

Oh, absolutely.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:30

Yes, absolutely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:32

And is there any other advice that you have for

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:34

anyone who might be looking at using Kickstart to, to get started?

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:38

I think it was a really good point you made about ACT actually having

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:41

to send the products out afterwards.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:42

Cause I think that's something that I'd never thought about that of course

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:45

the better you do the, the harder the job you might have afterwards.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:49

Is there anything else you think people, um, might be interested

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:51

to know or take on board.

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:53

Well, you're building a, you're building a story, and, and that

Chris Lefteri: 00:21:56

story has to be inspiring, has to be informative, and I would test the story

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:01

on, you know, friends, family, just see if what it is that you want to say about

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:06

your product is clear, because you might think you know your product inside out and

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:11

you should, but you know, making sure that other people know that it's a different.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:18

That makes lot of sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:19

Tell that story and um, and get it tested by your friends and family.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:26

That really makes sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:26

I guess, especially if in the case of your products, it's so unique.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:30

Um, I guess if your friends and family couldn't understand what the product

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:33

was and what it did, yes, then that was a really good indication that perhaps

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:38

everyone else would be in a similar.

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:41

Yeah.

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:41

And tell people about it and they'll point, they'll say, oh,

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:43

really, what does that mean?

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:44

Or what does that do?

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:45

Or, why are you doing that?

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:46

And, and they were, they're very, they were fantastic conversations to have had.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:50

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:50

That definitely sounds valuable.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:51

And it also sounds like, so if you were looking to mark a Kickstarter,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:55

there's, it sounds like there's an awful lot of material you need to

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:57

create before you even think about

Chris Lefteri: 00:22:59

Yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:00

Getting something up there.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:02

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:03

Yes, you do.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:04

That's really good to.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:07

Well, thank you so much for everything

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:08

you shared, um, with me today.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:10

Chris, I just got one final question, if you don't mind, which is one I ask

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:13

everybody who comes on the podcast, which is, what would be your number one piece

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:17

of advice for anyone who has a product idea that they'd like to take forward?

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:24

I would say without a doubt, just do it, and if you

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:27

dunno anything about retailing, if you dunno anything about.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:30

You know, product development, just do it anyway cuz you'll learn on the spot.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:34

And I didn't know anything about retailing.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:36

I had no concept of what online marketing was or is, or how it functioned.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:41

Um, I did know about materials.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:44

I did know about storytelling and I knew about design, but that's not, that

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:49

was not nearly as much information, you know, uh, expertise as I did have.

Chris Lefteri: 00:23:55

So my advice is just do it because, You regret it if you don't.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:01

That's brilliant advice.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:02

Thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:03

And I've also picked up as we've been talking that along the way you've

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:06

obviously worked with other people who can help you out in areas where perhaps

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:09

you you know, you didn't have as much experience and I think that's a really

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:13

good people to hear as well, that you don't have to necessarily do it all

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:16

yourself or, or learn it all yourself.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:18

You can work with other people and build on their strengths.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:21

Yes.

Chris Lefteri: 00:24:21

Like working with you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:25

Yes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:25

I should probably disclose the fact that I've been working you on your,

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:28

on your, on your Amazon account

Chris Lefteri: 00:24:30

and you are one of those people so thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:32

Oh, thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:33

And thank you again for everything you shared today.

Chris Lefteri: 00:24:36

No worries, Vicki, my pleasure.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:38

Thank you so much for listening right

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:40

to the end of this episode.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:41

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:45

on my website, vickiweinberg.com.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:48

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

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:51

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