My mind is a constant conveyor belt of new ideas: business ideas, product ideas, social media ideas, baking ideas, organizational ideas…
Can you relate? It’s like you need little creativity fairies working that conveyor belt who sort while you sleep and separate out the keepers from the stuff that needs to go.
You know, kind of like these ladies. 😉
Obviously the idea conveyor belt fairies are out, so how do you decide which ones to toss, which ones to table, and which ones to act on?
Think before you make
When I first decided to open a shop on Etsy in 2011, I didn’t think very intentionally about the products I was going to list and what options I should offer. In retrospect, the entire process of setting up shop was kind of random. I wish I’d had someone to offer me guidance in evaluating if my products were what buyers wanted and what I might need to tweak before making and listing them.
Now – after several years of experience – I’m not so random.
When it comes to a product idea, my margin for pursuing it depends on so many factors: the season of the year (spring – good | summer with the kids home or the busy Christmas season – bad), what I have going on with the Makery Space side of my business, what our family schedule is like, etc. I can never get to all the ideas I have for products I could add to my shop. I’ve learned to be okay with that.
But when I do feel that strong nudge that a new product idea rattling around in my brain might be worth the time to develop, I try to work through some logical steps instead of just making it and throwing it up on Etsy. (Nice visual, huh?)
Validate your product idea
These steps have produced goldmines of feedback from my target market and have saved me from spending time and money creating products that may not have been what buyers wanted even though I thought they sounded great.
Maybe you’ve been feeling that urge to create a product and open a shop or add something new to your existing inventory. Allow me to be the guiding hand I wish I’d had.
My Product Validation Checklist for Makers will walk you sequentially through five practical steps for testing a product idea before you move forward with producing it. It will give you clarity and potentially save you time and money.
If you’re interested in hearing the process discussed more in depth, check out the Facebook Live videos I did here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
You can download the checklist here and get started right away!
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