Nov 4 (edited) • 🧠 Quick Tips
Validating your product before scaling — and why it’s important.
I came across a post on Facebook today where the poster had an unsuccessful Etsy shop and was burnt out making little to no sales or profit.
After reading their post I realized a couple of things:
- They scaled before they validated their products. They are over $1,000 in the hole because they bought a ton of equipment before they tested or researched their market.
- They do not have a marketing plan or brand identity.
- They have received sales, meaning there is demand, but lack the mindset to take advantage of it.
Here was my advice to them:
“This is common for the start of a business. Most businesses don't see profit in the first 2-5 years.
It's a really slow grind, especially as an artist in a saturated market.
The most important thing is consistency. Don't scale any further, you need to validate your current products. Making new patterns is fine, but don't focus on it. You have enough for now.
Make sure you post on social media several times a week(consistency > quality), and maybe do some cold sales via email and DMs, and product plugs in discussions if you're brave enough.
The fact that you have some sales tells me that there is demand for your products and that's a great place to be.
One major thing I see businesses struggle with in their first year is they do not know their audience and their pain points.
I'd ask the following questions:
1. What is my art style?
2. Who would be interested in my art style?
3. What are common applications for said style?
4. What problem could my audience have that I can solve with my product/service?
5. How can I implement and market that solution?
What I'd do is give ChatGPT the link to your shop and ask it these 5 questions. Then have it locate 3-4 other shops with high sales within your market and breakdown what they are doing that is driving success.
From that you can create a brand identity, a marketing plan, and a 1-year growth plan.
Once your shift your mindset into a more business-focused one, you'll likely see more success.”
———————
The first step of opening a business is to ALWAYS validate your product/service. People do not buy things unless it does something for them.
Always research the problem before investing in the solution. You cannot sell solutions for problems that do not exist.
Some products/services aren’t so straight forward. For example, luxury items, like the products the OP is selling, often solve problems such as:
Does this product bring life to my home?
Will I impress people with this product?
Will this improve my self esteem?
Every problem has a solution, but not every solution has a problem — so make sure your product solves a problem people actually have.
After you know the problem + solution, your marketing will come much easier and you’ll have a real sense of direction.
👉 Have you ever launched a product before researching the problem you are solving? What was your experience with that product?
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Validating your product before scaling — and why it’s important.
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