What You Need to Know Be a story someone wants to tell. How to Do It Imagine your consumer picking up the product for the first time and ask yourself, Why do they care? What is going to get them to go home and tell their friends about it? What will make it special? Is making it special even possible? What would it take to make my story “sticky” enough to remember and then pass on? Answer all those questions and then design the brand around that.

What You Need to Know Prove yourself wrong. Just because it’s your idea doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. How to Do It Imagine you hire yourself as a brand and product consultant to poke holes in every aspect of the idea you have. Make yourself a “hater” for the day and look at your idea as someone who is trying to destroy it. What are the results of this process? I was convinced that clean salad dressing that tasted good had to exist. And so, I went out into the marketplace to find it. It didn’t exist. I kept searching, I kept buying and trying products, but nothing was there. I was trying to prove myself wrong. It turned out, we had stumbled onto something big.

What You Need to Know Trust your “basic ass knowledge.” How to Do It I didn’t know what the brand was going to be that first day in my kitchen. But there were things I did know. I knew that bottled salad dressing: • Tasted like shit • Wasn’t cool Don’t overthink a customer’s reaction to the product. Too many people overthink a category or “white space” and don’t realize the everyday American consumer doesn’t know what you are talking about and doesn’t care. The consumer wants something that makes them happy and makes their lives easier. It’s as simple as that. Bringing my “basic ass knowledge” to the table gave me the courage to disagree with the “experts” and prove my idea right.

What You Need to Know You only live once. Take a risk, trust your gut, and live a life you are proud of. How to Do It I read a quote once about waking up early, “Only when the rest of the world is silent can you hear its deeper vibration.” When you are thinking about taking a great risk and it goes against the social norms of your close friends and family, find quiet and listen for the answer. I did this by journaling first thing in the morning, taking walks in nature, and working out without music. During those moments, I would ask myself the question I wanted an answer to, over and over. And then I would wait and listen for the answer. Your brain will try to fight an answer it doesn’t like, so keep asking the question and keep listening to the answer. Even if the answer is not what you want to hear, at least you have it.

What You Need to Know Be bold enough to say the idea out loud and pressure test it with the people you care about. How to Do It Write down the idea first. Then do some surface-level research. It can be as simple as Googling the idea to see what pops up. If there are fifty businesses already doing the idea you have, ask yourself how yours would be different. Map out how it would be different and put some preliminary research into it. Then non- chalantly bring up your idea to people who will give you some quick, honest feedback. The old saying, “When one door closes, another one opens” is true. Be bold enough to say the idea out loud and pressure test it with the people you care about. Saying it out loud and waiting for the reaction will be the easiest part of your idea’s journey. You never know unless you try. The feeling in your gut is the universe trying to tell you something.