As I began to get serious about this idea of starting a business, I had in my heart and mind that I would want to do something crafty. I have found tremendous joy and satisfaction in crocheting and knitting, so I really thought that creating a product to help busy and stressed-out moms relax would be a meaningful product with which to start.
The problem was quite simple though…the main yarn crafts of crochet and knit are very saturated with 60,000 competitors; a small fish like me wouldn’t have the budget to get on the front page and make any sales. So, I began the first stage of this journey: product research.
In finding my perfect product, I started to evaluate every product idea that came to me. I needed my product to meet specific criteria in order to be profitable and affordable. I started spending nearly an hour every day researching different ideas, but most led to dead ends. I found myself getting frustrated at times and having to shut my computer off and take breaks. Some of the products I looked at were goat pajamas (not enough people searching it…duh!) to gutter cleaning tools, which if I had been even remotely interested may have been a profitable first product. I remember renewing my first month’s subscription to my product research software and thinking, “I am one month in, and no closer to finding my product than I was a month ago.” If I didn’t have a growth mindset, I probably would have toyed with the idea of quitting, but I really felt strongly that my product was out there, and that I just needed to keep looking to find it.
I really had my heart set on a craft. I used some of the tools recommended in my program, went down too many rabbit holes to count, but eventually landed on a product that checked every single box…most importantly, one that I would be passionate about creating: punch needle embroidery. I didn’t really know anything about punch needle crafting, so I ordered my first product, one with decent reviews but with definite room for improvement, and waited for it to arrive.