Some Simple Cheats to Help You Find Products to Sell

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I went on a Youtube streaming binge recently. My subject, designer Aaron Droplin. I won’t talk about his high-energy brilliant storytelling technique. Or talk about his fascinating life as a high-level designer working with some of the largest brands in the world. What I’m going to tell you about Droplin is his incredible ability to think up and create products to sell.

He’s not just a logo designer, he’s an idea creative making money not only by design but by creating his own product to sell and marketing is another essential. There are many projects to look out their marketing strategies, many successful and some don’t but tree company leads are a booming business to watch for.

One of the videos I watched showed scenes of Droplin and his girlfriend in the corner of a Walmart parking lot, folding tables set up to fulfill online orders. They were on the road on a book tour, but customers needed their orders filled. They set up a makeshift packaging and shipping center just to fulfill the orders.

Droplin is a hands-on creator who shows his passion for connecting with his customers by saying, “If they ordered from him, he wanted them to know that their package actually came from him.” Most other people would have outsourced shipping so they could concentrate on the tour. Not Droplin, he is a hands-on American entrepreneur. Much of what I saw in Droplin from the videos, I see in other bootstrapping creative entrepreneurs. I see the same traits in him as I do in people like James Altucher or Tim Ferriss. So, let’s dig in and go through some of these traits. Along the way I’m also going to add in some little tidbits of info I found while watching the Droplin film festival.

Always be alert for new ideas.

One thing I’ve heard from all of these and other entrepreneurs throughout the years is that you must always be on the lookout and be ready to jot down new ideas when they come. James Altucher carries a restaurant wait pad with him. Aaron Droplin not only carries and uses field notepads with him but he created Field Notes, a small niche notepad someone can easily tuck in their front pocket. Field Notes has grown into a full-scale business with a cult following which rivals any pop culture icon.

Ideas could come at any time. You need to be ready to make notes. I’ve lost so many ideas because I’ve failed to take my own advice of always having a quick note system nearby. I’m getting better. Now I even find myself pulling my car over to take some notes and my phone or Ipad is always nearby. I like taking notes digitally. I can quickly open up a new doc in either Evernote or Google Docs to record all my ideas.

I find most of my best ideas come to me either when I’m sleeping, driving, or showering. Funny, but those are usually the most inopportune times to take notes. I try telling myself, ‘I got to remember that.’ But, I rarely do.

Altucher even goes to the point where he says everyone needs to come up with ten ideas every day. I tried it for a while but I must admit I failed at this after about a week. It’s tough coming up with that many ideas.

Keep putting yourself in different situations and be curious.

To spawn new ideas, put yourself in new situations. When I get stuck for new ideas or I seem to hit a wall with my writing, I go for a ride or a walk. I love going for a ride when the weather is nice. Nothing is better than cruising around with the windows down soaking up the sun, and letting all the ideas flow in. Lately, I’ve been going to antique stores. Even if you are not into antiques, I’d check some out. These are huge collections of history in everyday life. If you are looking for products to make, sometimes old ideas are great sources of inspiration.

Traveling to garage sales and rummage sales is where Droplin got his idea to create field notes. He always wanted to carry a notebook, something he could put in his pocket. Farmers used to get these mini notebooks filled with important farm information or fill them with notes of their own. Tuck a pencil next to them in a shirt pocket and they were always nearby when you needed to write something down or look up some important info.

Don’t be afraid to try and fail.

I’m not saying that you will fail, but you need not be afraid to fail. Being afraid to fail only leads people to play it safe. Playing it safe means you won’t have the guts to take chances and do something new and exciting. There are a ton of copycat businesses. The best ones were new businesses born out of old ideas which changed enough to be unique in some way. You can build a new business out of old ideas. You just need to find something which makes your idea unique and have something your audience responds to. You just need to not be afraid to play it safe.

Find mentors or partners to fill in your gaps.

If you are the creative idea person, you might not be the right person to set up and run the business. You may have to find or collaborate with someone who has the skills to get it going and build the business aspect. If you are more of an idea person and a business person, but needs a designer or tech people to make other aspects of your idea happen, search out other people to fill in the places of your weakness. With Droplin’s Field Notes idea, he is the designer and the creative and I think he has other partners who help him run the business.

If you are starting a business with the idea of being a solopreneur, this is part of your scope. You will want to limit your idea list to only those items you could get going on your own. If the project grows further than you could imagine, your plans may change. Even as a solopreneur you may want to hire freelancers rather than having partners. I know I’m not a tech person. If I need some tech built, I’ll need to hire that out.

Create a brand around your idea even if your personality is a part of the company story.

Droplin doesn’t brand all of his projects separately like the Field Notes. Most of his carry the branding of his design business, DDC. I think it’s a great idea to brand your projects. In case your projects grow beyond your ability or willingness to run them, branding will give you something to sell off as a separate business. You don’t need to hide behind the brand if you don’t want. Droplin is still very much the frontman of Field Notes, but the Field Notes brand is large enough to stand on its own.

Branding a project is like starting a band. Everyone knew John Lennon and Paul Mccartney were the front men of the band, but their brand as the group was the Beatles. I would even argue starting a separate brand identity around anything you do, but be careful. When you start branding and trademarking separate entities some legal issues may arise. If you call your brand something other than your name, you may want to spend the more for trademark protection and at very least a trademark search to make sure you aren’t infringing on someone else’s trademark.

In our ruthless kill or be killed society, there are people out there waiting to pounce on anyone at the first sign of blood. Don’t leave yourself vulnerable to trademark infringement.

If you are just sitting on the sidelines waiting to get it and are struggling to come up with some ideas, I hope this little article at least helped you somewhat on your journey. I’m continually updating my idea list and exploring new things. Most recently I’m re-exploring my love for art and design. I don’t know where it’s going to take me, but I’m going to keep pushing forward.

As a quick side note if you want to check out some of Droplin’s charisma, Check out his video in the Field Notes about section. It’s a blast to watch his passion unfold as he really gets into telling his story, I bet he’s a ton of fun to hang out with.

Till next time, be safe.

Kevin