Stageworthy by Widy

One of the things that is really hard for newer sellers (and sometimes more established sellers too) is knowing what to work on first – especially when it comes to products.

Anyone who has been a TpT seller for any length of time have been there, I think. You get a great idea for a large product, spend AGES working on it, writing blocks of text, getting the design just right – and then when you finally post it…

Crickets. Weeks of work down the toilet.

You can avoid this cycle of tragedy by using MVPs.

MVP is short for most valuable player, but in the business world it also stands for Minimum Viable Product.

A Minimum Viable Product is the smallest, quickest version of a product that you can make. It’s still a complete, valid product – the important part is that it is a barebones version that can be created in a relatively brief amount of time.

By launching a Minimum Viable Product first, you have the opportunity to validate your idea, which means you will know BEFORE spending time on a larger product whether or not your customers are interested.

How to use MVPs to build your sales

1. Plan.
   Based on your store’s branding focus, choose a product you think your audience will like.
2. Create.
   Make the smallest, quickest but complete version of this product that you can. Make it high quality, but small. If your original idea was for a whole unit, maybe test with a single lesson. Leave out the “extras” that you would like to eventually include, but that aren’t strickly necessary for the idea to work.
3. Post.
   Post it on TpT. (Even though this is a minimum item, make sure it is still a PAID product. You can’t correctly assess what people are willing to pay for if they’re not paying for it.)
4. Promote.
   Use SEO and other strategies to give it the best possible chance of getting views. (This is important, because you can’t accurately judge the level of interest in a product if no one can find it)
5. Put it on the backburner.
   Go ahead and start working on other projects, while regularly keeping an eye on your stats – specifically views, previews, conversions, and also Q&A/reviews.
6. If sales start to take off – Go ahead and expand the product for a greater price, and/or develop a product line.
   If sales DON’T take off – Use your stats to determine if there is something you can fix (thumbnails, previews, description, etc) or if the product itself is just missing the mark.
7. Budget your time and energy wisely.
   Only spend extended amounts of time on ideas and products that an MVP has proven to be of interest to your audience.