Growing an artisan product business is exciting, but it can be a long and lonely road.
Too often, the enthusiasm you had when you launched faded as you learned a few tough lessons.
To start, selling beyond your friends and family isn’t easy to figure out.
It is wonderful that the people in your life support your business, but at some point, you will hit a ceiling.
Growing to the level that allows you to support yourself financially requires finding NEW buyers for your your products – and a LOT of them.
How do you do that?
- You must have a clear understanding of your target market. This can’t be a general demographic group like Women 25-54, or be based on your products (people who like soap / natural products / whatever you make)
- You must have a plan. There must be a destination, a set of goals. Without a plan, it is very difficult to understand which opportunities to pursue and which to pass on. Everything can seem like a good idea when there is no plan
- You must understand your costs and set prices accordingly. Too many new business owners set prices incorrectly. There are two common mistakes – using a pricing calculator found online that is only suitable for hobbyists, or using a pricing system based on your current expenses (it should be based on your future expenses)
- You must learn new skills. Consider the amount of time you invested learning how to formulate and make your products.. Have you invested the same amount of time and resources learning how to market and sell your products? Sales and marketing are skills.
Fortunately, there are ways to avoid the rookie mistakes that many new business owners make, and that can save you a lot of time, money and energy trying things that either won’t work, or don’t get you towards your goal.
I put together a short training on how you can avoid several of the mistakes that new product businesses make. It won’t solve every problem, or prevent every mistake, but it will help save you time and money on a few of the most common ones.
There is no charge for the class, and afterwards, you can join our free Facebook group where we have a lot of additional training that will help you.
