Brainstorming ideas for product creation is almost identical to the process we just followed for service creation.
First, you want to find a need, then a solution.
How to brainstorm ideas for product creation
Because you already have a list of your audience’s biggest pain points, we can work off that same list to brainstorm solutions that are product-based (instead of service-based).
Some ideas for product-based solutions might include:
- A book
- Info courses (a membership site with video tutorials and resources)
- Physical products
- Mastermind community
What we did at EOFire
Let’s check out how we approached product creation in the beginning here at EOFire to give you a couple of examples of how this might play out.
Creating Podcast Launch
John launched EOFire to provide people with daily inspiration via interviews with successful entrepreneurs – inspiration and killer advice that would help them take their own entrepreneurial leap.
In the process, he realized there were a lot of people in Fire Nation who were also interested in starting their own podcast, and because of the success he had seen with launching his own podcast, they were coming to him and asking questions about how he did it.
Once John sat down and brainstormed some ideas for how he could create a product-based solution to these questions and recurring themes, he came up with the idea to write a book: Podcast Launch.
Podcast Launch is a step-by-step guide to creating and launching your own podcast, and it continues to sell on Amazon even today. We bring in around $100 / month profit from selling this book for $0.99 on Amazon.
You DO have knowledge and expertise to share, and self-publishing on Amazon is an incredible opportunity to do so in exchange for money.
Don’t like to write? Let’s check out how we came up with the idea to create our own mastermind community.
Creating our own mastermind community
John always thought it would be amazing to create an Elite Mastermind for Fire Nation because when he was launching EOFire, he had a tough time.
He wasn’t surrounded by like-minded people who could relate to him and who could support him on his journey (and vice versa).
Because John was his own avatar, he realized there was a good chance that if he was feeling this way, a lot of others in Fire Nation were probably either experiencing – or were about to experience – the same feelings.
So he started out by creating a landing page that talked about the idea of an Elite Mastermind, just to confirm that he was right about there being interest out there.
A few handfuls of people reached out to him and were very interested in what the mastermind would include, and also, how they could become a member.
They were saying things like, “I would LOVE to have a group that I could turn to for support – somewhere I could go and know there are people there who I can count on to help hold me accountable.”
So, what did John do?
He created Fire Nation Elite with these pain points as the cornerstone and the foundation for what the Tribe stood for: 100% support, 100% of the time.
Fire Nation Elite wasn’t developed over night, and I really want to stress this here because creating products (and services for that matter) isn’t always going to be a “quick win”.
John put up that opt-in page to evaluate interest around November of 2012, and if we want to get into some detail here (yes, please!), the interest page was actually for a Tribe he was going to call IGNITE.
Roadblocks, more bandwidth, a lot of twists and turns, and several months later (July of 2013 to be exact), we launched Fire Nation Elite.
See, John realized that he wanted to create this Tribe, and there was definitely interest out there for it, but he didn’t have the bandwidth himself to do it right. As a result, he waited nearly 8 months to launch the community – once I was on board and we had the support to make it happen.
As you can see from both of the examples above, creating the right products isn’t about you having all the answers, or you having to go out there and blindly figure out what it is you should be working on building.
Creating the right products and services is about listening to your audience.
Determining what’s actually viable for you and your business
As with service creation, once you’ve figured out what product creation idea you want to pursue first, it’s time to think about which of those ideas are actually viable for you.
As I just mentioned, when John first had the idea to start an Elite Mastermind, there was NO WAY he had the bandwidth to actually make it happen. He knew he wanted to do it, but he also knew it wasn’t something he would be able to create right away.
Podcast Launch, on the other hand, was definitely something he could create right away, plus it was scalable: he wrote the book and created the videos that accompany it one time, and to this day the book is selling over and over again while he’s recording the podcast, sleeping, at conferences, and so on.
When you think about info products (like a membership site with video tutorials, resources, a community aspect), know that those take time to create, and that you’ll likely have to hire contractors (if not actual team members) to help you manage everything.
Just to give you a quick look, here’s a checklist of the difference software / elements that are required when creating an info product (and this all comes after you’ve nailed the idea and proven the concept):
Email marketing provider (Mailchimp, AWeber, Infusionsoft)
Video recording tool (Camtasia, Screenflow)
Opt in page (ClickFunnels)
Sales Page (ClickFunnels)
Email campaign to promote the product (email marketing provider)
Email campaign to welcome buyers (email marketing provider)
Membership site / platform (Thinkific)
Video hosting service (Wistia, Vimeo)
Payment processor / merchant account (PayPal, Stripe)
Order form / marketing platforms (SamCart, WooCommerce, Infusionsoft)
Community forum (Facebook group)
That said, John and I created and launched Podcasters’ Paradise in probably about 2 weeks time (of course, we’ve been adding to it and evolving and improving it ever since, but just to get it launched, it took about 2 weeks once we had nailed the idea and proven the concept).
So this is definitely possible, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what all is involved.
The moral of the story: make sure you’re being very realistic with your time, because the last thing you want to do is start promising your audience something that you can’t deliver on.
Okay, now that we’ve covered how you’ll know what the right types of products are to create for your audience are, let’s continue down The Fire Path!
Our next stop: Using webinars in your business.
