148 | Coaching with Katie Hunt: Expanding Into New Product Categories

Hey friends! Has the thought of expanding into new product categories crossed your mind lately? You aren’t alone! In fact, today I had on a Paper Camp alumni for a live coaching session where we chat ALL about her hopes to expand into new product categories. It can be pretty scary to try to logistically plan for expansion but I think today’s episode will be really helpful for all of you who are looking to bring on more products to serve your people. What are the first steps to this process? For today’s guest, Tomi Hill of Little Happy Things, we broke down the steps she needs to take to make this happen and since it was a coaching episode, I gave her my advice and some homework so she could start taking action right away! I challenged her to start thinking and dreaming big about the new product category she’d want to layer in and to start setting some goals around that. We broke through some of the barriers that have been holding her back and had a frank discussion about diving deeper into the people you really want to serve. At the end of the day, it’s about recognizing WHO your customer is at the core - what kind of solutions are you providing for them? What problems do they have that your products solve? What stores do they shop at? We also touch on digging into the financials (because knowing your numbers is key to success) and looking through your numbers from both a retail and wholesale lense.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Why Tomi got into her business, Little Happy Things Transitioning away from wooden dolls into enamel pins, stickers and other gift items Making the leap from an Etsy shop to a wholesale model Making all of your products cohesive with one another Determining which products sell the best (and honing in on those) Looking at your products from a financial and passion perspective Layering in one new product category at a time to figure out the manufacturing process, fulfillment and the numbers (and of course, profits!) Getting to know your audience personally and finding out what they want and need Dialing it back to the basics, no matter how new or seasoned your business is For full show notes and resources, head to bit.ly/PTPEp148 SUBSCRIBE To subscribe on iOS, go to the iTunes page and subscribe to Proof to Product. On Android, you can listen using your favorite podcast app.  WRITE A REVIEW Writing a review on iTunes will help other product based business owners find Proof to Product as they are working to up level, scale, and build profitable and sustainable companies. FOLLOW PROOF TO PRODUCT Follow Proof to Product on Instagram for the latest updates. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST If you'd like to receive more information about our upcoming episodes of Proof to Product including show notes and information about our guests, head over to www.prooftoproduct.com and sign up for our email list.   SHARE Be sure to share Proof to Product with all of the product based business owners that you know!    ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT: Proof to Product is hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, Proof to Product has worked with thousands of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!