This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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A business requires only three things. These three things are a product or a service, could be either one, a product or a service, a customer, and a way to exchange money for the product or service. It really is that simple, and the side hustle school model is all about making things simple. So the last one of those three things is the easiest, a way to exchange money. You know, you can get a Venmo account, you can get a PayPal account, you can sign up for Square or any other number of services.
It's not complicated, you just have to take a couple of steps. So with the last one out of the way, do you choose to focus first on the product and then think about who the customer is or the other way around? Do you think about who your customer is, your ideal customer, and then think about what is the best product for them? Well, it's kind of a trick question because either approach can be right. And throughout all of our archives, we have highlighted lots of different stories from either perspective or from both perspectives, let's say.
They just require kind of a different process of thinking. So let's look at this in the real world with today's example. Today's listener makes enamel pins with brain imagery on them. She's gonna describe this idea better than me, but I've been to her website, they look really cool. These pins are loved by neuroscientists and other professionals who work with the brain, and she's wondering how she can break into a larger market.
So let's see if we can help get her product out to more customers. How to launch a set of unique enamel pins. The detailed question and my answer coming up after this quick message from our sponsor. [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Laura Bundison from Western Massachusetts, and I've been listening to this show for about two years. I've been side hustling as an artist specializing in brain imagery for over six years, and I'm going full time next month.
My question is, what is the most effective way of launching my enamel brain pins wholesale and getting them into the right hands at museum and hospital gift shops nationally? The pins are high quality enamel designed by me, manufactured in China. They are loved by neuroscientists, neurologists, psychologists and others who work with the brain or people who have brain injuries or illnesses. I've thought about emailing links and sending samples in fun and different packaging, or I'm also wondering if I should go the more traditional route of the big expensive gift show. Thanks so much for all you do to help all of us out here.
It's invaluable. - Thank you so much, Laura, you are awesome. Congratulations on going full time. I think you said you're doing that this month or soon at least. Listeners, I wanna encourage you to check out Laura's site.
One, because we wanna support her, but also because it's a really good example here. LauraBundeson.com. Bundeson, B-U-N-D-E-S-E-N.com. Now, in my first comment here, before we talk about the new line of products, my first comment is I really respect her pricing. Like Laura's work is not cheap.
She's doing some really beautiful art. A lot of it is mixed media and it sells for a good amount of money. Like I'm looking at these pieces on the site and I'm seeing $800, $950, $3,600, $3,600, $1,500, et cetera. So some really beautiful art and she's not afraid to sell it for a good price. So good for her.
She probably wouldn't be able to go full time if she was selling this work for $50 to $100 each. Also, this kind of pricing allows for some investing in marketing and some experiments, especially when it comes to launching a new product line, like launching these new enamel pins. And so that was my first thought about I respect the pricing. My second thought, as I heard the question was, have you tried exhibiting? And then at the end, she mentioned the big expensive gift show.
I think it's a risk, nothing is guaranteed, but might you regret it if you didn't try? And if it were me in this situation, I think I would, which would tell me, oh, I should definitely try it. I think this is the time in which you invest a bit, in which you are willing to do some more extensive experiments, reaching out to her target market and sending physical samples. So I think she mentioned something about that kind of outreach. I would send physical samples of the pins, not just a link.
Or I might email and ask if I could send a physical sample, just so a bit more of a relationship has been established. But since it's ultimately a physical product she wants to sell, and I assume it'll be a lot lower priced than the handcrafted one-of-a-kind art that she also sells, probably gonna help to see it in person. Those are the things that I thought of, but mostly, Laura, I just wanna say congratulations. Looks really great, and I wish you every success. Again, listeners, laurabundison.com.
If you have a question of your own, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from listeners like Laura, who are launching and growing their projects. Wherever you are in the world, I hope you do something for yourself today, and I hope you'll tune in tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
