I have some huge news to share with you this week, the publication of my book Bring Your Product Idea to Life: Your step-by-step guide to creating a product to sell. It’s all about how to create your own product, how to go from idea to having the products launched, and all the steps involved.

I’m rereleasing this episode, which is all about how to create a product in 10 weeks, as I think it ties in really well with the content of the book. Now the book is not about creating a product in 10 weeks, it is about taking as long as you need to create your product. However, the steps involved and the things I talk about match up.

When I first created a product I had no idea what I was doing, went down various rabbit holes on Youtube and wasted a lot of time and money. In this episode I share with you the process I subsequently used to create products which is a lot more efficient, and it is packed full of practical advice. 

EPISODE NOTES

Listen in to hear me share:

• My introduction  (00:28)
• Week 1 - Get clear on your product idea (01:45)
• Week 2 - Validate your product idea (04:07)
• Week 3 - Data gathering & thinking about pricing (10:42)
• Week 4 - Prepare your supply communication (14:29)
• Week 5 - Research credible suppliers (17:25)
• Week 6 - Tracking responses (20:52)
• Ordering samples (24:16)
• Week 7 - Shipping & logistics (26:40)
• Week 8 - Finances (29:02)
• Week 9 - Placing your order (31:23)
• Week 10 - Creating a marketing & launch plan (32:19)

USEFUL RESOURCES:

Buy My Book

Read the accompanying blog post

Free Product creation weekly planner & checklist

Free Validate your product idea

Podcast: How (and why) to validate your product ideas

Podcast: Should I source my product overseas?

Podcast: Shipping & importing your products

Podcast: Where to sell your products online

Book a Power Hour with me

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:

FREE call for Amazon Sellers

I’m running a free call on 26 Feb for anyone selling on Amazon (or planning to) who’d like some practical support and a chance to talk things through together. It’ll be very relaxed - a mix of updates from me on upcoming Amazon policy changes, Q&A and discussion about what’s working and what’s not right now. It’s fine to come along and chat, or to just sit back and listen. I’d love to see you there if you’re able to join.

Amazon Sellers Support & Connect

FREE call for Amazon Sellers

I’m running a free call on 26 Feb for anyone selling on Amazon (or planning to) who’d like some practical support and a chance to talk things through together. It’ll be very relaxed - a mix of updates from me on upcoming Amazon policy changes, Q&A and discussion about what’s working and what’s not right now. It’s fine to come along and chat, or to just sit back and listen. I’d love to see you there if you’re able to join.

Amazon Sellers Support & Connect

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast.

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

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

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

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

stories from small businesses.

Let's get started.

Hello.

It's just me again this week, and today I'm sharing a previously.

Released episode with you.

There were two reasons for that.

Um, well, actually it's really one reason.

You might have had, hopefully you've heard somewhere that I

am releasing a book this month.

The book is called Bring Your Product Idea to Life, which probably sounds familiar.

And it's all about how to create your products, how to go from idea to

products and all the steps involved.

So with all that going on, it's been quite a busy time.

There's lots to do when you're launching a book.

Much more so than I anticipated actually.

And so, um, I haven't had much time to sit down and think about, okay, what podcast

episode could I record for you this week?

Then at the same time I realized I had this episode in my catalogue, um,

how to create a product in 10 weeks.

And I thought, actually this is a really good episode that ties in really

well with the content of the book.

The book is not about creating a product in 10 weeks.

The book is about taking as long as you need to create your product.

However, the steps involved and the things I talk about do kind of

match up, so I thought there might be a little bit of synergy there.

The book will be out soon and you will be among the first to know.

But until then, I really hope you re-enjoy this episode.

So let's get going and of course, because I'm doing this in order.

I'm going to start with week one.

So week one is about getting clear on your product idea.

The very first thing you want to do is define what your product

is and who your product's for.

And I want you to really take some time to think about this.

So what is your product?

Um, and rather than just saying, well, it's a towel.

Okay, well, what sort of towel?

Um, who's, who's, what problem does it solve?

Who might buy a product like this?

Who's it for?

You know, it might, is it for children, but you are expecting parents to buy it.

Is it a towel for swimmers?

Is it aimed at um, a different demographic.

Have a real think about what the, your product is.

What's it, what's it made of?

What makes your towel different?

Are you making a towel that you can change underneath for people who are open

water swimming, are you making handsfree towels for mums with small babies?

Have a think through all of this and jot down all of your initial

thoughts about your products, whether that's how, what it's made of, how it

works, how it's packaged, and don't know worry if you don't know the

answers to everything now as well.

So if you know, okay, I want to create a towel for, um, parents with new babies and

I want it to be sort of handsfree in some way, but I don't know quite how I do it.

That's fine.

Just make a note of everything that you know right now, and as

we go through the process, we are going to start to refine it.

Also think about what's your U S P or unique selling point.

This can and probably will change when you start to do some research

in later weeks, but it's always good to get your initial ideas onto paper.

Also, think about why you want to create and sell this particular product.

Maybe this is your USP.

Maybe you've been in a situation where there was something you desperately

needed, um, it wasn't available and you've decided to create it.

And knowing what your U S P is might also come in useful, further down the line

when you start to talk about your product.

So for example, in your marketing, your social media posts,

maybe if you get any press.

So definitely worth taking the time to think this through.

You also need to be thinking about your customer.

So who is your customer?

What problems or concerns they have?

How would your product help them?

And a final very useful thing to think about is where your ideal customer shops.

So for example, do they shop online?

Do they shop in person?

Do they shop via social media?

Now, are they likely to buy things on Instagram posts or do they

shop on other online marketplaces?

For example, Etsy.

Knowing this will also help you decide where to sell your

product further down the line.

But I should just say, if you don't know this now, do not worry, because

this is something you can ask.

You know, once.

Next week we are going to talk about validating your product idea.

We're actually talking to potential customers.

So if you don't know where they shop, make a note and we can, we can

ask people that when we get to it.

So that's week one.

In a nutshell, it's about getting everything down out of your head onto

paper, all of your initial ideas for your product as a starting point.

Week two is about validating your product idea.

And I'm going to pre-warn you that this is a big week.

I think we went in for hopefully fairly easy with week one.

That's something you could probably do in half an hour to an hour if

you've got a bit of quiet time.

But week two, there's quite a lot to do.

So there's two stages to validate in your idea.

First one is customer research.

Knowing who your customer is is key, which is why we spend time.

On that during week one, it re, it helps you to ensure that you are

creating the product your customers want, the product they need.

And it also makes it easier to be sure you're speaking to the right people.

This week when we're starting to validate your idea, I should say

that I've spoken about validating your product, your ideas a lot.

I have a free guide with lots of free ideas and I have a whole

podcast episode on this topic.

So if validating your product idea is something you want to know more about,

there is more information available.

If you can't find it, drop me an email and I can send you over the links.

Um, but there will be links in the show notes as usual as well.

So what we don't want you to do here is just ask your

family and friends for input.

So you, you know, you've got a great idea for a product.

Um, and of course we're not saying, I'm not saying don't share it with

people, but your friends and your family might not be your ideal customer.

And asking them can be tricky because you might find that actually they

say what they think you want to hear.

Yes, yes.

That's a great idea.

Go ahead.

You know, that sounds like a wonderful product.

And actually they don't know because they're not the person

that would buy it or use it.

Or you might find that they go the opposite way and they're a little

bit cautious and they put you off and they say, is that really a good idea?

Would somebody really buy that?

So I'm not saying don't listen to their opinions, and I'm certainly not

saying, don't talk to them about it, but I am saying unless you've, your

family or friends, and this possibly won't apply to all of them, you might

just have a few family members or a few friends who are your ideal customers.

If they're not the person who ultimately your product is targeted at, you

have to take it with a pinch of salt.

To give an example from real life, when I was about trying to validate some of my

ideas for my brand of baby products, I had one friend who I, no, I, I should say, I

wasn't asking for her thoughts, but I was telling her about my products and what

I was planning and she was saying, well, I don't know if people will buy that.

And I thought, that seems a bit expensive and this person I

was talking to wasn't a parent.

And I'm not saying that means her opinion wasn't valid, but she

definitely wasn't the person that I was targeting at that time.

And yet, of course I still was quite hurt by the feedback.

Of course I was, because this was my business and my brand and you know,

you, you only want to hear nice things.

But I did have to sort of have a little chat with myself and say, okay, she isn't

someone who's likely to buy this anyway.

Which doesn't mean her opinion isn't valid, but for the purpose

of my research, I need to talk to people who you know, potentially

might buy my products in future.

So maybe you know some potential customers for your products personally.

If so, great.

If not, go and find them.

You might be able to find them in Facebook groups or other online or

offline groups, and once you do find them, you need to ask them some questions.

So you want to ask things like, um, have they ever brought a product similar to

yours, and if so, what they thought of it.

If they have never brought anything similar to your products idea, you

could ask them whether they'd consider buying it, what reason they'd be buying

it for, and what they'd expect to pay.

One of my favorite questions to ask is, if you were buying an X,

whatever it might be, what would it need to do, or B, to exceed or

even maybe meet their expectations?

And you can do all of this without giving away too much, because I know that you

might not be comfortable sharing all of your product plans and ideas just yet.

You don't need to go out there and say, I'm going to sell, and whatever it is.

What do you think?

You can ask all these questions hypothetically and just

gather a bit of research.

And as I say, a lot of this you can do online as well.

So if you, again, if you don't need to be setting up focus groups,

you don't need to be walking into a room and speaking to people.

If that's not your thing, you can perhaps find Facebook groups with, as I say,

if your product was aimed as swimmers, maybe you can find some Facebook

groups with that demographic and maybe check the admin if you're not sure.

But I can't see anyone would object to you going in and saying, I'm just wonder

if anyone has bought a, whatever it is.

And can I ask a few questions?

So the second phase of validating your idea is to carry out some

market and competitor research.

And by this I mean look at other products.

This is really easy to do online.

Again, you don't have to, this is time consuming, but you

don't have to do it in one go.

This is something you can definitely do in little chunks, but the key thing here is

to keep notes and be meticulous on this.

I like looking at Amazon to do my competitor research.

And even if you never intend to sell there, because I know you might not,

you can really learn a lot because, so there's a whole range of products on

Amazon and a lot of them have reviews.

For some reason it seems to be a marketplace where people

really do leave reviews.

If you're listening to this and you sell there, you, you know, you

might be going really, but you know, it is, it is hard to get reviews.

Um, however, for whatever reason, you do tend to get more there

than you would somewhere else.

If your products are handmade, then Etsy would be a good place to look.

And what you're going to be doing is search for products similar to yours.

And it might be that your product is completely unique, but

there's likely to be something comparable or kind of similar.

And you're going to be looking at those product's features, um, how much they're

selling for, you can look at their photos.

And importantly, you're going to take the time to read the reviews

because they will tell you a lot.

If you're short on time, um, because depending what kind of niche you're going

into, that you know, there might be lots of similar products on the market already.

Just read the one star and five star reviews because then you get to

find out why people really dislike products and why they really like it.

And as I said, make sure you do keep notes.

So when I do this, I have a spreadsheet.

I write down the name of the product, I include a link to it.

I write down what the price is, and I have a column for what people like, what

people dislike, and the features as well.

And this will really help you design and refine your own product.

So this week is all about data gathering.

When we get to week three, you're going to write your product specification.

So you are going to use what you found out during the last two weeks to make

your product the best it can be and write up a detailed specification.

And at the moment, this is just for your use.

While you are doing this, I think there were two questions that

you can give some thought here.

One is, how can my product meet, meet my customers needs?

Because you've spoken to your customer.

Hopefully you've got an idea of what they're looking for.

And the second question is, how can I improve on the

products already on the market?

Because remember now you know what other products are already out there.

You know what people think of them.

How can you make your's better?

So coming back to my towel example from earlier, maybe you've been looking at

similar towels and everyone said, oh, they're a bit scratchy, or they're a

bit small, or, I wish they were brighter colors, or maybe I wish they were

more camouflaged, or whatever it is.

You can see what people are actually asking for and create

a product that meets that need.

Also, even if you're making products yourself, I still believe

a product specification is helpful because you may still have to

source ingredients or components.

So if you make candles, you might need jars, for example, and it's always good

to have something to refer back to.

Of course if you're, if you're making something really creative

like art or jewellery or photography, then perhaps you work intuitively

and you can skip this step.

I'm going to leave that to you to judge.

But if you are creating a product that you intend someone else to make

for you, you really need to do this.

So this is about taking your initial ideas, everything you've learned, really

taking some time to think it through and getting something down on paper.

I also think that this week is a great time to make a decision on price.

I've spoken about this before, but I'm going to talk about it again.

I can try and keep it brief.

I like to think about what I might sell my product for at

this stage for a few reasons.

Um, main one being, in my opinion, I'm most likely to get it right because

I've just been looking at the market, so I know what other products are around

and I know what they're selling for.

I know how my product compares against theirs because I've just done my

specification, so I know, okay, all my competitors are charging this,

but actually mine's a bit bigger, so perhaps I can charge a bit more.

And I've also asked my ideal customers for their opinions about what

would you expect to pay for this?

Um, and what, you know, what do you want from the products?

I think this is a really great time to think about what your selling price

will be because the danger of pricing your product later is that you're basing

your price on the production price or maybe your time if you're making your

product with the aim of making a product a profit, which means that the price

you choose might not be viable if you price your products this way round.

When you start to get the price for it to be made, you can see if a profit is

possible right away based on the price you already decided you're selling it for.

And if not, if you start getting prices back and you realize actually this

product is not going to be profitable, then you can do something about it.

So you can look at other suppliers, maybe look at sourcing in other countries,

maybe you can tweak your specification.

But the one thing I don't think you want to do is to say, okay, well I

can't make a profit unless I sell my product for X amount, and then

price it so high that nobody buys it.

Because remember, people actually, for you to make a profit, you have to make sales.

And if you, you're, if you're pricing your product just to make a profit

without thinking about where it fits in the marketplace, then that's, you

know, that's, that's a harder sell.

So a little word of caution.

I do have a whole podcast episode on this, which I will of course link to

in the show notes, um, where you can hear me well, basically saying what I'm

saying now, but in a bit more detail.

But yeah, bottom line is think about the price now.

I think it's a great time to do it because you've just done all this research.

Really good time.

So moving on to week four.

This week, you're going to prepare your supplier communication.

So you did most of this work last week when you finalize

your product specification.

So this week is a really good time to put it into an email template

you can send to potential suppliers.

So I recommend writing a standard email that you are going to send to every

supplier that you contact via email.

Because even if you are looking at suppliers in the UK and you think,

well, I can just phone them up.

Most of the time they'll say to you, oh, actually, can you

send that over on an email?

It just saves them writing everything down.

Also, if it's in an email, there's no ambiguity.

You know, no one can say, oh, you didn't tell me this, or, I wasn't

aware of that, because it's in writing.

What you want to include in this is everything a supplier would

need to be able to quote for your product directly and accurately

without giving everything away.

So at this early stage, I think that you, you know, you might not want to be

sharing designs or blueprints or, you know, whatever your products consists of.

You basically just want to be given enough information that you can get a quote.

So that might be, I don't know, there, there might be a fine line, but I

think you'll, I think you will know.

Um, and if you don't know, of course you can get in touch and ask for help.

You might want to think this week about whether you need a pattern or

any other protection as well, if you haven't thought about that already.

Because I think when you are starting to think about how much you're

willing to share with suppliers that might throw things up or you go, oh,

actually, maybe I should see, um, if I need some sort of protection

before I start speaking to anybody.

So what I suggest including are the key requirements for your product.

So that's everything that's fixed and you won't be swayed on.

And then asking the supplier in turn, your sort of deal breaker questions.

So these might include things like, do they handle the packaging in house

because maybe you need to find a supplier who can do packaging for you.

Um, you might want to ask about their current lead times.

Because it might be that if they can't you know, if they can't work to a certain

schedule, then that doesn't work for you.

Um, if you do ask this, it's also worth asking whether there were times of

year when this significantly changes, because for some products it does.

And you also might want to be asking about their minimum or the quantities

because it is quite likely that you know, you are going to have a budget that

you can spend for this initial product.

And if they want you to order a thousand, that might just not be feasible and

it might just rule the supplier out.

So think about what you, you are going to, what they're going to need

from you in order to give you a price and what you are going to need from

them to establish initially whether you could potentially work together.

Because the first thing you're going to be doing once you start contacting

suppliers is ruling them out.

Um, that's how it tends to work.

You sort of rule them out, rule them out, rule them out until you end up

with, hopefully with a couple where you think, okay, this could work.

So week five I suggest is a good time to research credible suppliers,

and then perhaps towards the end of this week, start to contact

them if you're doing really well.

You know, if you've managed to get your supply communication done right at the

beginning of week four, maybe you move on to this a bit sooner, but let's say,

you know, you've only got limited time.

Week five is when you need to start your research.

The first thing to think about, and I'm sure you've thought about this already,

potentially, is where you'd ideally like to source your product from.

Um, and I, by this I mean are you looking at the UK or are you looking abroad?

Um, I do often get asked what's better, and I have to be honest.

It really depends on what you're looking to sell because you can't

get everything made in the UK.

You, I suggest that you weigh up the options and maybe even

look into multiple scenarios.

So if your product could be made in the UK or it could be made abroad, or it

could be made in a few different countries overseas, it might be worth looking at

suppliers in different locations so that you can pair the cost, you can get the

quality and the lead times, obviously depending how much time you have and

which you know, what's important to you.

Because for example, it might be really important that your product is made in the

UK or if not as close to home as possible.

Um, or actually the most important things to you might be that you

can get it for the right cost.

And those things don't always tie up.

So think about what's important to you when you're making this

decision, and remember that this also applies to any sort of

components, packaging, ingredients, anything you need for your product.

So even if you're making your product yourself, presumably you are going

to need to source you know, whatever you need to make your products.

And I think the same things apply.

My key piece of advice here is to be really thorough.

You can work with sourcing agents if you want to, but you don't have to.

This is definitely something where I think you can save money

and you can do it yourself.

Um, the one thing to know is that it does take time.

Um, using your networks is a good way to get recommended.

Suppliers, manufacturers, nothing wrong with asking around.

Some people will tell you who they work with, some won't,

um, but then no harm in asking.

You also might find someone you know, knows somebody who works at a factory

that does this or that or whatever.

So do ask around.

I also think there's nothing wrong with Google for finding and ver

verifying potential suppliers, particularly if you are looking

to source products out of China.

If you're looking in China, I always recommend using Alibaba.

Um, is a sourcing site.

I've got episodes on this.

I won't go into details now, but it's good.

It gets better all the time.

And it's a good way to find suppliers there, but if you're looking in the UK,

there's nothing comparable and Google is definitely the place to start.

So what you want to do is end up with a short list, and actually it

should be quite a long, short list.

I'm thinking you want for maybe initially 15 to 20 suppliers to contact.

And um, yeah, once you've got this list, start contacting them.

You're going to use the email template you already created, so hopefully

it's just a case of finding an email address on the website, perhaps

following it up with a phone call.

Depending where they are and see what you get back.

Um, and one final thing, and this is just an aside, if you haven't already,

this week might be a good time to think, okay, do I need someone to help me with

design or branding or anything like that by, I'm well aware this is a big week, so

this may, this might be enough for you.

So when we get into week six, we're talking about tracking the responses.

So I'm going to make an assumption that it took you a lot of time

last week to research suppliers.

It should take a lot of time.

It shouldn't be something that you do in half an hour because, um, well if you, you

might find really great suppliers doing that, and if you have, that's amazing.

But in my experience, it does take quite a long time to research suppliers

that can do what you need them to do, um, are, you know, you can verify they

are who they say they are and yeah, it, it can take a while basically.

Especially because I do, as I say, you really want to be contacting 15 to 20.

You could probably find one very quickly, but I, I do think the

more you contact the better.

One of the reasons being, it gives you more choice.

So even if you contact 10 and all 10, let's say, can do what you need, it gives

you a bit more negotiating power because you're going to get 10 prices to compare.

Rather than two or three, and you're going to know, um, it gives you a

better idea of what you should be paying because you might not have any idea.

I know that I used, I certainly didn't in the early days, and I found that

the more quotes I got, the more I got a sense of what the price could be.

Um, and you find that, you know, say you get 10 quotes back, you'll

find that most fit into a kind of ballpark, and then you'll get a few

outliers that seem really high or really low, which to me is a red flag.

If you're only contacting two and one's really high, one's really

low, you might think, I'll go for that one because it's the lowest.

Without realizing that actually that's way too low.

And if you'd contacted a couple more, you'd realize that.

So yeah, I think I went off on a bit of a tangent then.

But yeah, contact lots of suppliers and I would say that this week you

should start to receive replies.

And by the way, if you are really ahead of this, then well done because this is the

part that I think some people can struggle with because it is a lot of work and it

is very time consuming, and it's possibly something you've never done before, and

I think it's a bit daunting as well.

So let's say the suppliers are start, the replies are starting to come in.

I'll also say if they're not, don't panic.

It can take a couple of days because you never know how busy suppliers are

and how many enquiries they're getting.

So once you start getting replies in, I would suggest immediately disregarding

anyone who can't meet your specification.

This sounds really obvious, but it can be easy to get swayed.

I think I've shared the story before that, I wanted my baby products to

be made of bamboo, but when I started sourcing, I got lots of people

come back and say, oh, I can't do bamboo, but I can do organic cotton.

And I did find myself going, oh, organic cotton doesn't sound too bad.

But no, I'd said bamboo and I shouldn't have even thought about it.

I should have said, you can't do bamboo, okay, thank you for getting

back to me, but no, thank you.

I also suggest disregarding any suppliers where communication's an issue.

So whether that's a language barrier.

Or whether, you know, they're simply not being good at responding.

You know, you're waiting, you know, a couple of days every time to get a reply.

Or maybe you'll feel like your questions you have aren't being

answered because you're looking for a long-term relationship here.

And if you feel like there might be communication difficulties in the start,

that's not really a good way to begin.

So in short, it's time to be ruthless.

I am rubbish at being ruthless.

But this is one time when I can do it.

Beause it's really important.

You might towards the end of this week, want to think about

ordering product samples, depending how conversations are going.

I suggest ordering two or three samples from suppliers that you feel that you

would be happy placing an order with, assuming the sample is up to standard.

Because to me, the sample is the final thing.

It's like, okay, I've got this group of suppliers, you know, the communication's

great, they can deliver the product.

The price is okay, the minimal quantity, you know, everything's okay.

Now I just need to see, you know, the product for myself.

And even if you're just looking for materials or components for your

products, I still think this is important.

If you're looking for, so your component, it might be actually you

don't need to worry about samples.

You can just place a small order and get the whatever it's you're looking

for and, and see what it's like.

But if this is a custom product, you, I would suggest a sample.

Um, whether that means you need a custom sample or not, it, it really

depends on what your product is.

And every case will be different.

I think only you can know that, if I'm honest.

Um, so you're going to order a couple of samples and then I think what you need

to do is compare them with each other.

And I should also say, if you are ordering a custom sample and it's expensive and

you think actually there's no way I can afford two or three because it's a really

high price, um, then I would just order one from the company that you feel, you

know, most like, you know, the one that you feel actually is the front runner.

And I would then perhaps compare that sample too to similar products

at home if I had them, or see if I could borrow something from someone.

Or maybe I would order something similar online with the intention of

returning it to compare them, to just so that you are, you know, I think

it's very hard to look at something in isolation and go, is this what I wanted?

But once you put it side by side, it's, it's a bit easier.

Whatever your product is.

So if it's something that you can use, wear, um, whatever, then do the thing.

You know, wear it, wash it, play with it, what, whatever your product is

intended to do, do that thing with the sample you receive because you need to

see how it stands up to day-to-day use.

And you need to find any issues before a customer does.

So if you get a lovely product sample, please don't just keep it in

the box looking pristine, actually.

Use it and check that it does what you need it to do, because if it

breaks the moment you handle it, you need to know that now, not when

you've ordered a hundred of them.

So week seven, um, is about shipping and logistics, and I've, I suggest you do this

this week because it might be actually that narrowing down suppliers ordering

samples does take more than a week.

So that can be carrying on as well.

You might be having conversations with suppliers, but at the same time, you

can be thinking about your shipping.

So if you're sourcing your product abroad, in fact, wherever you're

sourcing your products from, you need to figure out how you're going to

get them from the supplier to you.

There is a whole podcast episode on a blog post on shipping products,

shipping, and importing products, I should say, from abroad, which is well

worth a listen as it is a minefield.

And there is a lot to get your head around.

Um, and if you only listen to one other episode, I do think this is a useful one.

Um, I do think that you need to think about this before you place your

order because the method you use to ship your products will impact

on your final product cost and potentially your lead times as well.

So, you know, you have to weigh up how quickly do I need this

product to be here and how much can I afford to pay to get it here?

You need to have an idea of, you know, are you going to pay an import fee and what's,

you know, how much is that going to be?

Um, how are you going to clear customs?

All of this stuff.

And I'm not trying to, um, put you off at all here.

You know, that's not my intention, but I do feel that you need to be

thinking about this now rather than when you know your product's ready.

And then they say, okay, so how are you getting it over?

And then you think, oh, I haven't even thought about that.

So do you think about this now?

Um, this would also be a good time to think about logistics

once your product's ready to sell.

If you have the head space to do that now.

And I fully appreciate you might not, but at some point you need to also

think about where you're going to store your product when it gets with you.

And actually, if you're looking at your shipping this week, um, maybe

you do need to decide that because you might need to tell somebody

where they're actually sending it.

And the other thing to think about is how you will ship to customers.

So will you send out products yourself initially?

Will you use a third party?

It might depend on the marketplace you use.

For example, if you're going to sell products on Amazon, you might think, well,

I'll send them to an Amazon warehouse.

If you do think that, don't send all of your stock there.

I have an episode on this as well.

Um, but you just need to ha just think this kind of thing through.

And the other reason to do that is that will all impact on the

finances, which is what we're going to talk about during week eight.

This week.

I want you to check and double check that you've included everything

in your costing and you're comfortable with the profit margins.

So you know what it's going to cost to make your product, you know what

it's going to cost to get your product to you, even if you haven't got

like exact cost down to the penny.

You know, you, you've got a good idea by this point.

Um, I also think you could think about any future costs.

So for example, um, let's say, you know, you're going to sell on Amazon

and there's an, there's a, there's an account fee you have to pay.

Find out what that is.

Um, maybe you are going to set up a website, you haven't done that

yet, or there'll be a hosting fee.

You might have to pay for a domain.

Find out as many of these costs as you can.

Don't worry if you, no, there's, I was going to say, don't worry if you miss

anything because about being pessimistic, it's really easy to forget one thing.

Um, but let's you know, let's not make it a big thing.

The biggest cost is going to be the product cost, potentially

the shipping cost as well.

It's depend where your product's made and the packaging.

Make sure you have all of those costs.

If you forget, it's going to cost you, I don't know, 20 pounds a year for a domain.

Don't panic about that.

Now.

Obviously if you can include it, great.

If you don't, don't panic.

Um.

But you know, think about all these costs and you know, are you going to need boxes?

Packing orders, are you going to need, how much are you going to pay?

You know, are you going to be sending orders to customers and it's going

to cost you, I don't know, I don't know how much cost to pay things

two pound 99 an order for example.

Anything you know you're going to be spending, include in a

spreadsheet so you can work out.

You work it out.

This might not take you a whole week, I should say, but in my experience, it's a

task that can often take people a while to sit down and actually do for many reasons.

Unless you know you've got a real head for numbers.

So for some people, I know this is fun, for me, it's definitely not my favorite.

This is a task I personally tend to put off for as long as possible,

but it is really important.

Please, please, please don't skip this step because before you place

your order, which we're going to do next week, you need to know,

you know where you are financially.

You need to know where your money's going, and you need to

have a good idea of whether you're going to get any of it back.

So week nine is decision time, placing your order.

So hopefully now you found a supplier that you're happy with, you've agreed

all of the terms, all the numbers add up, and it's time to place your order.

Before doing that, I would just ensure you're really clear on everything.

So for example, the product price, lead times, packaging, how the item

will get from the supplier to you.

And everything that you know, you need to be nailed down

before confirming the order.

And I also suggest having this in writing.

And even if that's just an email where you email over and say, okay, so we've

agreed X, Y, and Z to please, you know, email me confirmation that, that, you

know, this is your understanding too.

Whatever it is, try and get it in writing.

We can set up, make it easier.

In the very unlikely event, that things go wrong further down the line.

And so there you go.

Your product's ordered.

I say, there you go.

Um, where this has taken us nine weeks and there's been a lot of work,

but celebrate because it's exciting.

Then week 10, so you might be thinking, okay, well I've just placed the order.

You know, hard work's done.

Well actually, there is a lot to do while you wait for your product to arrive.

Two things I think you want to be thinking about is creating

a marketing and launch plan.

Because you need to start thinking about, okay, you've got products arriving.

You need to start building excitement for it.

Perhaps you're going to start taking pre-orders.

There's, you know, there's a lot to do.

Um, you also need to think about how and where you're going to sell your

product and start to get prepared.

You, you know, maybe you know where you're going to sell your product.

But what you need to start doing now, opening up accounts, online marketplaces.

If you haven't yet set up your social media and your website, then you

might want to do that now and just plan out all of your next steps.

You will also need to be thinking about writing your product description,

arranging product photography.

Um, there are lots of things you'll be wanting and needing to do.

These are just some of the big ones.

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

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

on my website, vicki weinberg.com.

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

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