Your next product is here. - ⚡️Kristen Kalp

Your next product is here.

Imagine you’re a fat kid stuck in a donut shop. Alone. What do you do?

I’ll bet you grab a maple bacon turnover and go to town. You double-fist the Cap’n Crunch donuts and drink coffee straight from the spout. You’re curious about donut making so you inspect all the equipment while you’re on a sugar high. You freak about how much you LOVE donuts and how you wish you could be stuck in a donut shop all the time, all the time, all the tiiiiiiiiime (okay, the sugar rush has gotten to you).

How do you feel about being stuck in your business?

I mean that literally. Let’s say someone sneaks up and closes the door on you. You’ve got to spend time with your business and you’ve got to come face to face with everything that’s happening in it, good or bad. No social media to distract you or activities to keep you busy. It’s just you and your products and services wafting around in the sugar-laden air.

Are you psyched? Are you bored? Are you prancing around in your underwear with a maple bacon turnover, blissed out of your mind? If not — why?

Be reasonable, Kristen. That doesn’t happen. Actually, YES IT FREAKING DOES. When people purchase a seat in an experience like Steer Your Ship, I dance around so hard that my pets wonder whether I’m having a seizure.

Why? Because mentoring peeps one-on-one and in person is pretty much the best thing ever for me. After spending years selling digital products and dealing with people at arm’s length, it’s absolutely invigorating to be getting under the hood of businesses with entrepreneurs again. That shit just plain lights me up.

Which product or service are you denying your peeps the pleasure of purchasing?

Don’t be so quick to poo-poo your ideas. Maybe the world does need a Starbucks bike delivery system. Maybe we could all use a mail-order cupcake subscription or a head-to-toe home organization and portrait package combo. I would personally love to pay someone to make me the ultimate playlist of running songs based on what I currently use and like. Heck, some running lessons would be nice, too.

That product you want to create — that thing you want to bring into the world, but you’re afraid? — that’s the money-maker.  That’s the kernel of inspiration that can do wonders for your business.

Take a moment to ask yourself what you REALLY want to create.

Then, ask your peeps if they’d be into it. They might not want to buy stationery if you’re currently running a massage service or floral shop…but then again they might. The only way to find out is to call ’em up and ask ’em exactly what would make their hearts go pitter-patter.

Finding ways to make your dreams happen — and to outdo yourself in the meantime — is one of life’s greatest joys.

So often, we business owners nix our best ideas and profit hatchlings before they have the chance to grow into viable income. Just for today, let’s not do that. Let’s dream a little.

If you gave your ideas a chance, what would you bring into being?

P.S.  For those dreams that will not die.