4d • General discussion
Crayons weren’t made for kids
Most people think crayons were invented for kids.
They weren't.
The original crayons were industrial marking tools. Factories used them. Farmers used them. They were built to mark crates, barrels, and machinery.
And the company behind them?
Struggling.
The market was limited. Margins were thin. Growth was flat. They had a useful product that nobody was getting excited about.
Then they noticed something strange.
Teachers had quietly started using the wax sticks with their students. Pencils were expensive. Crayons were cheaper, brighter, and easier for small hands to hold.
That observation changed everything.
The company didn't invent a new product.
They repositioned the one they already had.
Suddenly crayons weren't industrial tools.
They became tools for creativity.
That shift created Crayola.
One of the most recognizable brands in the world. Built on a product that originally couldn't even keep its lights on.
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Dan Kennedy has a line for this:
"A starving crowd beats a brilliant product every time."
The factories weren't starving. They had marking tools that worked. Crayons were a marginal improvement at best.
Teachers? They were starving.
The pencil problem was daily, painful, and unsolved. When crayons showed up, the teachers didn't need convincing.
The product didn't change. The crowd did.
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This is what I see happen with agency owners all the time.
They build a service. They believe in it. They've spent years dialing it in. They can answer every technical question about how it works.
And somewhere in that obsession with the product, they go market blind.
They stop being able to see how the market would actually want to receive what they have. They keep describing the service instead of the outcome.
They keep selling the shovel instead of the hole that gets dug.
So they package it the same way everyone else does.
Ads.
Funnels.
AI.
Automation.
Lead generation.
The market sees the package and treats it like a commodity.
Then one agency comes along and frames the exact same capability differently.
For a more specific problem.
For a more specific market.
With a more specific mechanism.
And suddenly the business works.
More attention. Better clients. Higher prices. Less resistance.
Not because the service changed.
Because the positioning did.
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This is the work we do inside Agency MVP.
Not how to build a different service.
How to position the service you already have for a market that actually wants it.
For agency owners who've gone "market blind," it's the most important pivot they'll ever make.
If you're ready to stop competing on price and reposition the service you already have:
Stop being market blind → https://www.myagencymvp.com
Sam Carlson
P.S. Your service probably isn't broken. Your positioning is. The day you stop describing what you do, and start describing who you do it for, everything changes.
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Crayons weren’t made for kids
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