This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Happy Valentine's Day, my friends. I'm very grateful for you. I feel much affection for you. And because of that, I decided to make an episode here today, all about how to sell a disposable fork. Does that seem on brand? Does that seem aligned with the theme of Valentine's
Day? Well, I'm not sure, but every single day, seven days a week here at the podcast, we are trying to make your life better by helping you to create or grow or transform, evolve, whatever verb you prefer, a side hustle. And by that, I mean a moneymaking project, an income generating asset, something that's going to allow you to do more of what is important to you. That's what it's all about. And today's caller has made a foldable tote bag. Did I
get that right? I think so. A foldable tote bag attached to a set of eating utensils and how is she going to find her ideal customers? That's what she's trying to figure out. Product is called, let's see, fork in the rose. She'll describe it more in her question. And she's
wondering about finding her ideal customer, which is something that I wrote about in the book, Side Hustle, day eight, have imaginary coffee with your ideal customer. The idea is basically somewhere out there, there's a single person who is best suited to your offer. Not a huge target market, but a single person who represents many other potential buyers. So let's talk about how I was going to say Rose, her name is not Rose, that's the name of the business, Fork in the Rose. Let's talk about how this caller, maybe it's Cherise, let's talk about how this caller might be able to find those people. Stay tuned.
Hi, Chris, my name is Cherise. I'm calling from Detroit. My problem is that I have an eco-friendly product that I can only make in small batches. It is a tote bag attached to a set of eating utensils and I think it would make a great souvenir for a zoo. I am not great at sales and I went to know if there's a way that I can become a small time supplier for a zoo or a park. And if this is a wise thing to do, because again, the product that
I have is not something that probably that you would buy off of a shelf, it's more of a souvenir. And I can only make it in small batches. Thank you. Hey Cherise, thanks for reaching out. I think Fork in the Rose is a great name. And also
a lot more people are eco-conscious these days actively making buying decisions based on that shared value. So that's good. But there are also some challenges or drawbacks. First of all, you've got the problem of only being able to make the kits in small batches. You mentioned like looking at Alibaba, but you haven't found anything yet. I think it's
okay to defer that search a bit. But obviously, if your product turns out to be a big success, you're going to need to figure it out. So it's not a small challenge. Second, also a challenge who is the market, the actual buyer? Because you know, selling them one by one is going to be tough at this price point. I agree with you that the market is probably
wholesale. And most people tend to be successful focusing on either direct to consumer sales or through a wholesale model, just kind of going one way or the other. You might try to do both, but usually better to first prove the concept, prove that it is a viable concept one way or another. Ultimately, you want to go where people are. So if you're choosing the first option, direct to consumer, you know, in this case, you are the evangelist.
It's your product. We had this story a while back about a woman who sold eco friendly dental floss. And her plan was to drive around to natural food stores in the state of Maine and sign up vendors there. She ended up growing that to a really successful business. I think we're going to do an update from her at some point. So you're the evangelist in this case,
but you need to make some allies and supporters in the retail world to make this work. So that's why I think thinking more about wholesale is going to be better. Look at trade shows, ask around. If selling feels uncomfortable, then just try to approach it in whatever way feels more natural because ultimately your goal here is to solve a problem, support more sustainable picnicking and eating on the go. So my question for you is who else might be interested in the fork in the rose solution? That's my take. Let me know what you think
and how it goes. Listeners, thank you for being out there. I'm so excited to make the show for you every day. Happy Valentine's day. Once again, new episodes drop every day, seven days a week. You know where to go. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening
to Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
