Hi there, it's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk Day. These are bite sized topics that I pull from community questions and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business. If you'd like to submit a topic, DME over on Instagram at Gift Biz Unwrapped. Before we get started, I'm gonna share a secret with you. One of my superpowers is the ability to get an enormous number of tasks and projects done each and every week.
I easily meet deadlines, rarely forget to do something, and know at the start of each day what needs priority, attention and action type A personality. Yes, and a follow through on the Kobe assessment, which should have given me the clue, but it wasn't until people started commenting to me that I realized not everyone naturally knows how to do this. It's the biggest single contributor to the growth I always see in my businesses without spending hours and hours working either.
It's about focus and doing the right things efficiently. Prompted by all the questions on how I do this, I went about finding a way to help you perform at a higher level too. I analyzed my methods and formalized my process, which is one many of my coaching clients. Now, also follow. You can use it too. It's all part of a tool called the Inspired Daily Planner made specifically for Gifters, bakers, crafters, and makers. Make no mistake, this is not your ordinary planner.
First off, it comes with a video explaining my productivity strategy and the physical planner isn't dated, so you can start using it the second it arrives at your doorstep, and that's not all included for each day is a motivational or business building tip and plenty of space to capture and book in time for to-dos scheduled appointments and all those ideas that are now getting lost. You can watch the video for free and then get your inspired daily planner@giftbizunwrapped.com slash inspired.
Expect this to happen after you start and you're not alone. It happens to everyone. If you've been in business for some time, now you know it to be true because it's probably already happened to you. What am I talking about? Heidi, who started making wedding accessories and now sells finished and holiday ornament kits to boutiques.
Sheila, who started a gift basket business out of her house and now owns a building that includes a home goods retail shop, in addition to her gifting business, Amy, who began selling marshmallows directly to consumers only to find out wholesale is really where it's at for her. The truth is, you really have no idea where the path will lead when you get started. You think you do, you have a vision to work towards, but opportunities come up.
New connections provide fresh ideas and things evolve from there. I had no idea when I started my first business that it would lead to the ribbon print company and from there, gift bi unwrapped and a podcast no less. I know there are lots of people who dream of starting their own business but hesitate because they wanna do it perfectly, whatever that means right out of the gate, or they're full of fear because they don't want to do things wrong, so it happens.
They just stay put only talking about their idea. Here's the truth. There isn't a right path or a nonrecoverable move if you start out, and I put in quotes here wrong, the only mistake you can make is not to start to think and talk and dream, but never actually act upon it, and I guarantee you, as has been proven over and over again, your business will transform into something different as you move forward. But if you don't start, it doesn't even have that chance.
So you might ask, why does change happen? Lots of reasons. For one, you may find as you validate your product that those who purchase from you are an entirely different profile than you initially thought. Therefore, you need to adjust your product to provide what they want and will buy. Or as you progress with your making and selling, you may identify even invent a new twist to your products that you can claim as your own and become known for.
This arises only from the doing, not sitting on the couch thinking. It's the activity that brings you to these revelations. Also, over time, your product may become less relevant and needs to change. Pop culture is always morphing, as we all know. Think of the change in fashion with each season and year. Colors, styles, and fabrics all come in and out of vogue. This is a good thing because when you align with what's in your products are always fresh with something new to sell.
In marketing speak, you could call this the product evolution or life stages of a product, and it varies by the product you sell. Think back to boom boxes, for example. Certainly not the rave today as they once were, they were replaced over time by the iPod and now that is even nonexistent given our phones can do it all. Everyone will always want and need things like soap, jewelry, pottery, chocolate, except for rare exception.
Most of what you as a maker create yet how you present in market may change or who you sell to may change, meaning direct to consumers, wholesale, or a combination of the two. You may start at a church basement doing a holiday bizarre and work up to large, one of a kind maker shows or decide to expand nationwide and sell exclusively online. Don't let all of these options scare you.
Instead, consider them as opportunities to select what works best for you, what brings results and what you enjoy the most. Except that you won't know that either unless you jump in. We have a holiday season upon us right now. This is the perfect time to get moving with a new business. People are in a buying mindset, which makes your job of validating your product the first step so much easier. If you'd like direction on exactly how to do this, take a look at my Start with Confidence program.
It will guide you step by step on how to get your business off on the right track without wasting time and money. You can find that@giftbizunwrapped.com slash start with confidence. Just think you could be selling your handmade products within a week or so. Remember what I said, the worst thing that you can do is keep dreaming and never let that dream become a reality. I believe in you, and as I say all the time in this show, we want and need the products that you make.
They fill us up with so much joy and happiness. That's a wrap. I'm a get to the point kind of girl, and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek sessions. Now it's your turn. Go out and fulfill that dream of yours. Share your handmade products with us. We want them, and they bring us both so much happiness.