This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today's listener is doing a lot of things right. She has designed and printed a series of planners, planners for new moms struggling with postpartum depression. And so I think that's a very clear target market. She's also got a specific product. She's gone through a lot of steps to ideate and iterate and then create, produce that product.
But now she's wondering, okay, what comes next? Okay, you've got the product, you've got the idea, which you have now turned into something that can be for sale to a specific target market. These are things we talk about all the time, but how does she go from here to there? How can she reach that target market with this product? Okay, so you could do so many things, but our challenge in this world of unlimited choice and abundant resource is that you can't do everything.
And so that's why having a plan is not just valuable, it is critical. Let's talk about how this person can best prioritize their next steps. I think it'll be helpful for lots of other listeners as well who are trying to figure out, okay, again, there's so many things I could do. How do I decide what is the right sequence of actions to get my side hustle or small business off the ground? Detailed question and my answer coming right up.
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Hi, Chris, this is Lacey Newton from Metascadero, California. And I've been a dedicated listener since year one. My side hustle is a line of wellness planners for moms. I have three planners for three different phases of motherhood. I originally created versions of these planners to help myself through postpartum depression and anxiety, and I hope to offer this kind of support to others as well.
With one in seven women experiencing postpartum depression, I think these tools add value to postpartum care. My question is about how to best prioritize my next steps. I currently have products, a website, and an Etsy account. I'm in the process of building up my Instagram community, improving my photos, and considering how to approach marketing. I have a story in my head that I need to build up my Instagram account before emailing or reaching out to influencers, and I'm wondering your thoughts on that.
Also, am I right in thinking that cold emails are the best way to connect with potential sales avenues? Oh, and another big question. How do you effectively cold email without sounding like an annoying salesperson? Thanks for all of your efforts over the years. The show has taught me so much about how I might be able to establish a more flexible and creative income option.
[Music]
All right, all right. We are in a good place here. Let's review what we've got. Lacey has planners to help moms with postpartum depression and anxiety. She actually has three versions of them, I believe.
So in other words, she's got a clear idea. She's got a specific target market. She has a product and she has a website. So, you know, we're doing great. It sounds like Lacey's next steps are all about marketing.
Okay, so no time like the present. I don't necessarily agree with the story in your head about how you need to have a certain number of Instagram followers, especially in this day and age. All social media is algorithmic. A lot of accounts can have a low number of followers, but be reaching millions of people. It's really wild.
Whereas accounts that have a lot of followers, if they don't have great engagement, are not reaching people. So that has changed quite a bit in the past few years. And whether you're using Instagram or social at all, you know, you have a product that should be the focus. So there's a couple of common approaches to marketing this kind of thing. One is based on your existing platform, your existing relationships, and the other is based more on the product itself.
So when it comes to cold emails, I mean, those can be okay. It really depends on the category, the business. For higher end services, that's often a good approach, especially with LinkedIn. For something like this, if you're interested in wholesale, if you're trying to get stock to somewhere, if you're trying to build platform by proxy, where you go to people with larger audiences and try to connect to their audiences, you know, through some benefit to them, then that's how you do that. If it's just for selling the direct product, that's probably not the best approach.
So that's where the product focused approach comes in. So that's where you do think, okay, whether it's Instagram or some other particular platform, how do I create content around this product? How can I focus on how this makes people's lives better? How can I then, you know, reach those people using hashtags in my posts, perhaps, thinking about hooks, thinking about going to other accounts and liking them and so on? I mean, that is the approach there.
But if you're going to be reaching out to someone who's well-connected and might be able to help you build platform, then you can say, you send them an email or a direct message and you say, hey, I'm a fan. I wanted to quickly show you something. Can I send you one of these planners? You know, if you like it, maybe we could collab a little bit on something mutually beneficial. Just keep it short.
Don't over promise. Maintain that emphasis on relationships. Really, all you need is a few key relationships to move forward and then more doors tend to unlock along the way. Lacey's work can be found at mamasimpatico.com or mamasimpatico on Instagram. Listeners, if you have a question, a comment, sidehustleschool.com.
You can access notes for every episode. There's resources. There are downloads and streams of every episode we've ever made, 3400 and counting. Of course, the new episodes drop on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you like to listen. Thank you so much for being out there.
I'm excited for all that's to come. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
