653. Why You’re Stuck in Your Product Biz and How to Start Moving Forward

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hey, hey, Product bosses. Oh my goodness. Happy New Year. Can you even believe that we've made it to 2025? And the deal here is that we're thinking about all of the ways we want to plan to make this year better, easier, right? We all have these, these big resolutions of what we want to do. And then it's like, how do we do it differently this year? So, so I know a lot of us want to get organized. That's my word of the year. One of them is discipline. And it's that discipline and kind of getting organized and staying organized and really kind of minimizing my overwhelm this year. So if you're anything like me, you're probably juggling spreadsheets or you might be guessing, like, what stock do I actually have on hand or do I have enough to make these raw goods? Right? Especially if we've just come out of the holiday season. And maybe you're just crossing your fingers that you have the right stock levels or that when you restock, you order the right amount. But I know that a lot of times when we're sitting in inventory, it's actually just chaos. It's like, is this organized? Is it organized in my head? Is it organized on a spreadsheet? I have a piece of paper jotted down somewhere. I don't know. Right? But here's the deal. We're gonna move into this year without the chaos. It does not need to feel this overwhelming. Because what if managing your inventory could actually be simple? Right? Simple and not stressful and actually really informative. That's where Katana comes in. Now I love Katana. It is the IM inventory management software that I have recommended for years and it's built specifically for product based businesses like yours. And with Katana, you are going to save time. You are going to know the exact details about your inventory, especially when it comes to time to reorder and how to streamline your operations, all so that you can focus on what you do best, which is being the visionary, which is being creative and making amazing products and taking care of your customers and focusing on sales. So if you are ready to ditch the overwhelm and get your inventory under control, I'd love for you to schedule your free demo for katana@theproductboss.com katana and you can see how Katana can be a game changer for your biz and make 2025 a breeze. Hey, hey product boss and welcome back. Happy, happy New Year. I cannot believe we've made it to 2025. I mean, cars should be flying, am I right? So we've made it. We made it through 2024. So for take a moment and pause and reflect, reflect on all the things that happened in the last year, all of the hard times, all of the good times, things that really forced us to our growth edges to shift and change and grow, right? Because even if the year felt a little stumbly or hard, we've learned and grown through that. I know that's happened for me personally and it was quite the year for me, both personal losses and shifts and changes. And I'm really excited about this new year, about turning the page about this chapter. Things feel a little bit more settled in and, and now it's like, all right, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna grow? So one of the things I was reflecting on, you know, over our break at the product boss and after I've taken so many calls with so many students. I've done a ton of one on one coaching calls this last year. I've been on calls with people that want to join my Design to Scale lab or my inner circle mastermind. Because I've made that very intentional and curated. And so as I started listening and talking to them and coaching them, I started to think, wow, so so many people feel the same way. They feel like they're working really hard, really hard. They're doing all the things or they feel like they're doing all the things, but nothing really seems to be removing the needle in their business, right? So if you feel this way, you might feel like you're putting in all this effort, but the results that you're hoping for, they're just not matching. Or maybe you might be stuck in planning mode, right? Like, you've got a lot of planning, planning, planning. You're taking in a lot of information, and you're always thinking about what you should do. Or maybe you could do that, right? There's all these things of the shoulds and the coulds, but you're never actually doing it. Or when you do do it, it's not really getting the results you want again. So if any of this sounds familiar, I want to dive into that in this episode. So in my experience, the number one reason I believe that entrepreneurs stay stuck isn't because they don't have great ideas or big dreams. Because, trust me, a lot of us do. Not a lot. Most people do have great ideas or big dreams. You know, what's the difference? The difference is, is that the people who actually make these great ideas or have these big dreams turn into something. And is those people start to take action. And not only do they take action, but they take consistent, focused action. So let me give you a quick example. My brother, remember back when he was in college and he had a dog, he came up with this idea for a product. In fact, he called me. I remember late at night, he went, and this is a very fast action y kind of brother, okay? He does kind of wacky things. So he went and bought a sewing machine. And he calls me at night, he's like, how do I sew? It's like, I don't know that I can teach you this over the phone. And I have this idea for this product that I wanna make. My dog. And he was in college, so it was really cute. He was sending us pictures. He's like, sewing and making this one product, and he has this idea. And we're like, okay, sounds a little wacky, right? And that's it. He made it. I don't think he ever sewed again. But you want to know something that happened years later? We were watching a Shark Tank episode, and his college roommate had the product that my brother was making that one night on his sewing machine and went to Shark Tank with it and got funded, right? And now it's a little bit of a sticky point where my brother's like, that was my idea. And I'm like, yeah, but this guy took action. Whether or not the idea was there, we all, you know, if you think. Think about a show like Shark Tank, so many people watch them. Like, I had that idea or I had that idea. But guess what? The difference. The difference is when people actually take action. And not only action, they take consistent action. They actually take it all the way through. So here's the truth, right? Your dreams are not going to build themselves. They're not going to just grow out of nowhere and happen. And if you're waiting for the perfect moment, like the perfect plan, the perfect amount of time, the perfect amount of money in your bank account, the perfect anything, you're going to be waiting forever. I referenced that back to, like, when we started planning to have kids. And it was like, well, it's not the right time. It's not the right time. And then actually, like, when I did get pregnant with my first kiddo, that wasn't planned. And I remember, for a planner over here, control freak slash planner, some of you may relate. I remember, like, going to my husband and crying, and I was like, I'm not ready. I have all these other plans in my life that I want to do. I was growing my fashion career and I had my business and just all the things. I'm not ready. He's like, we're never going to be ready. And that's the cold, hard truth, right? We're never. If everything has to align, it's never going to be the right time, because nothing's ever going to align. So I want you to ask yourself, how long have you been telling yourself this story that you need? The perfect moment, the perfect plan, the perfect timing, the perfect amount of money in your bank account, the perfect something. It has to be a certain way before you can take action, before you can start to make the big changes that you need to make. And so that's what I want to talk about here is I want to talk about how we can create these intentional resets, right, to get back on track and to take action. And we've talked about this in the past, but there's this kind of idea that there's three new years in every year. There's traditional New Year's, like right now, the beginning of the calendar year. Then if you are a parent or you have anyone in school or, you know, there's that school year end, which usually happens between May and June. So it's another reset because especially if you're a parent and your kiddos are going to be home or we're transitioning into the summer, it's a different way of being, right? At least here in the States, right? I know my friends in Australia, New Zealand, your summer is right now. But we know that, right? We know that whatever your. The timing is in the calendar, your kiddos or your responsibilities, or things are going to slow down or things are just going to shift, we might want to just be outside more. So that's another time that we kind of have to create this intentional reset of what's this part of this season, of this year going to look like? And another really big time is that back to school time, right? September, when we transition into fall and winter. That fall transition is another reset time, especially for product people. We've just made it through our busiest seasons for most of us is it's that, okay, you know, August, September, we gotta gear up and plan and get really ready for how we want to see our holiday season rollout. So that's the reason why I wanted to kind of talk about this reset right now, right in the beginning of January. Because here's the problem that I see a lot. Okay? This is what I see happen in all of my coaching calls and the lives that I do and all the things right? I see people who set big goals. But somewhere along the way, you might be losing steam, right? I've got this big goal, but things happen, life happens. Hiccups. Or you get distracted. There's a shiny object, and then we start to lose steam. Or perhaps you get overwhelmed by all the things you could do, so you end up doing nothing, right? That's analysis paralysis. Or maybe you're stuck in perfectionism. I know a lot of people who get stuck in perfectionism. They're waiting for everything to feel just right, be just right. Look just right before you actually make a move. So if any of this sounds familiar, the end result that happens is that you just end up spinning your wheels. You feel frustrated, and you start to doubt yourself on whether you're really cut out for this. And, my friend, it's not because you don't have the talent or the drive or the dreams or the vision. It's truthfully, usually because you're not clear on what to focus on and how to take meaningful action so that it works towards your goal. Right? Goal setting and planning according to it, A lot of us are creatives. It's just not natural. I'm speaking from experience, okay? So if this sounds like you, I want you to imagine what happens if nothing changes? What happens if we go through this entire new year and nothing changes? And what happens if you keep hesitating or you keep overthinking or you keep trying to do it all well, a year from now? My question to you is, will you feel proud of the progress that you've made or will you feel like you're still in the same place, wishing you had started Sooner? Hindsight is 20 20. And a lot of times, like, I should have done that then I should have done that then I hear people say that all the time. And so I get it, you know, in hindsight, it's like, I should have done this earlier. Okay, so how are we gonna make this year different? So this is what I see happen all the time, right? People who are passionate and talented, they're creatives, but they never get the results they want because they're stuck in this cycle of indecision and inaction. I see these people spend months or even years on the sidelines, right, waiting for something to magically click. But I wanna tell you this, nothing will change unless you make the decision to get real about where you are, focus on what matters and actually commit to taking action and doing something different. Hey, friend. Okay, I want to talk about something that I know that you really need. But so many people have all the reasons why they don't do this. We really need is we need to build an email list. I am going to tell you that there are two things that you need as a product based business. You need an email list because that is your asset, you actually own that and that's a direct communication with your customers. And you need your own website because you can't build on borrowed land. But right now I want to talk about email marketing. Because email marketing is actually the way that you are going to drive sales in your business. It's the way that you're going to stay connected. Forget thinking that social media is the way because guess what, the algorithm chooses who they want to send your images and reels and all the things to you. But emails really gets you connected with your customers. So if you feel like you're trying to connect, you're trying to sell, and you feel like you're wasting hours trying to get the job done, or you feel like you would just like an easier way. My friends, this year it's time for a change. And that change is Klaviyo. It is the number one email and SMS marketing platform that I recommend specifically for product based business owners. Did you hear that? It's for product based business owners, people who sell products online. And the reason why it's so amazing is that it's got these incredible capabilities and it's seamless with so many of the tools and, and the platforms that we recommend. So with Klaviyo, you can Send personalized messages, you can automate campaigns. And here's the best part. You can boost your sales and your revenue without having to do much more than type in a few things into your keyboard. Okay, so Klaviyo makes your emails feel like they are talking directly to your customers, right? Your customers are going to feel like it's a one on one conversation with you. And it's super easy to set up. Even if tech is not your thing. Trust me, tech's not my thing either. And this is amazing. So if you're ready to see it in action, I'd love for you to get started. Started for free. Now all you have to do is head to the productboss.com klaviyo that's the productboss.com K L A V I Y O and turn your email list into your best performing sales channel that you own. Hey friends, Are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content? Yes, consistent content. Because you know, consistency is key. Well, let me tell you, you are alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But as you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. Oh, I know. I see. I keep saying content and that's the dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers, but they don't know what to say. Or they are so busy they can't find the time, or they really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries, because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is your shortcut to creating consistent content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to www.ayearofcontent.com. so let's get honest here. You ready? My question to you is, are you truly happy with the progress you've made in your business so far? If not, I want you to reflect on this and ask yourself why. I want you to ask yourself what's been holding you back. And if you keep going at this pace, where will you be a year from now? Will you be proud of what you've accomplished, or will you still be wishing you had started sooner? So take a moment, reflect on this. If you wanna pause the podcast, you wanna write this down again in a notebook and kind of take a little bit of time to journal, I want you to ask what's been getting in your way? What's been getting in your way of what you truly want, right? What do you think has been standing in your way of having that? And what will be required from you to break through that? I want you to answer these questions. I want you to get curious about what it would be like to be supported in a different way, to do things differently in 2025. What would it look like? This is the time for resolutions. This is the time for words of the year. This is the time to really figure these things out. So as I was reflecting on all of this, I was thinking, you know what? I need to create something around this, right? Like, I need to create some sort of way to build this into some sort of cadence. And you all have heard me talk about the Product Boss Academy. And we've had the last couple of months, we've been getting our founders in, which is just incredible. This group is incredible. And I've worked to get the academy up and going in the month of January. And we're doing these live calls every week, right? There's going to be live calls with me or coaches. It's just going to be incredible. And so what I really wanted to do and what I thought about, I was like, huh? I think about every six weeks inside of the Academy, I want to do an Action Takers reset, right? I want to hit pause and I want to reflect, refocus and reignite, right? Reignite our passion and our goals. Because I know that it's easy to kind of get off track, right? I think maybe four weeks we can hold to something. Two, three, four weeks, we're like, all right, I made this plan. But at six weeks, things start to wane, especially if you're like a squirrel and you're like, what's that? What's that? Right? Things shift and change pretty quickly in entrepreneurship. So what I wanted to start to create is. And this is still kind of a work in progress, but I think this is what it's going to be called, is the Action Takers reset. And we're going to do it about every six weeks inside of the Academy, because it's not Just going to be about setting goals, but it's going to be about owning your progress, right? Cutting through excuses. There's a lot of mindset stuff. And then committing to the steps that will actually move the needle in your business. And I'm going to tell you, like, I think this is going to be just such an amazing workshop that we do inside the academy because it's not going to be about giving you more things to do, right? It's not going to be more things to add to your list. It's because I want to help you do the right thing. So during this reset time, I really think that one of the things we can do together, and I want you to think about this right now as you're thinking about doing this on your own or if you end up joining in the academy, right, Is I want you to reflect on why things aren't working. And I want to be honest, right? We want to look honestly at this and think what's working and what's not working. Because one of the big analysis points is that you stop wasting time on things that don't matter. I also want us to get out of that overwhelm of the hundred and million things that we have on our to do list of like, I got to do this and I got to do this. And I listened to the podcast and she said this and I should add that to my goal. And then. But this person over here is doing that. And I took one of the programs and they taught me this, right? There's overwhelm that happens with too much input. So when we can take this time to reset and refocus, what I'm going to do is help you start to focus on one goal that's going to move your business forward, right? One big goal that we will break down into a project. But basically this goal, that's going to be the needle mover versus wasting our time on things that don't matter. And in this reset, I think one of the things that's going to be so impactful is that we're going to create a simple, actionable plan to build that momentum. Because it's not going to come from the overthinking and the inaction. It's actually going to come from taking action. And here's the deal. I know some people are going to, like, clutch their pearls taking imperfect action, dare I say, right, for all my perfectionists out there, because, you know, here's the thing. Most entrepreneurs are never going to stop long enough to reflect and refocus. We're doers, we're visionaries, we're always looking forward. But what about the reflection? What about the refocusing? I know it's really easy to stay busy, but when you're unfocused and staying busy, you're always going to just feel like you're hustling, you're on that hamster wheel, and you're not really going to be making real progress. So that's what I'm really excited. So all of my new foundering members, anyone who joins the Academy, I'm really excited to help you break that cycle and to get clear on what matters to actually move you forward. I think it's just gonna be so incredibly amazing. And I hope that whether you're in the Academy or not, you're listening to this episode and you're thinking, huh, maybe I do need to pause. Maybe I do need this process and this reset. So then I can not just always have all the ideas and all the ideas, but take consistent, intentional action that are aligned with my goals. Right? And you don't have to figure that out on your own. You don't have to do this alone. Make 2025 that you're supported. Make 2025 where you get to be supported. What would it look like? That's another affirmation I've been using a lot in my life is like, I am supported. I am supported. I am the oldest of five kids. I had all the traumas and the dramas and all the things growing up. I was like, I can do this myself. I am solo. I will do this. I will figure this out. No, what would it look like if I asked for help? If I was supported, right? If I created environments in which I was like that and a decade into business, I did this all by myself, thinking I had to do it all by myself, thinking there weren't people out there that were giving and kind and loving and supportive and were rooting for me. It's possible for you, too. So I just want you to think about, what would it look like in this new year if you were supported and if you took these pauses to reset and reflect. It's just so powerful, right? It's just so powerful. So, my friends, if you're an action taker, just make sure that you take that reset. Now. We're gonna do this in the Academy. It's just around the corner. So if you are thinking like, hey, this is something that I'm into, this would be really powerful and useful to me. I'll drop the link in in case you have not joined yet. And you wanna join or you wanna get to know more about it? It's just something that I'm excited to start to integrate into the community. But here's what I want you to remember, okay? Action takers are the ones who see their dreams actually turn into reality. My brother was a big dreamer, but he didn this as a product or a business to actually take the action his friend did. And yeah, we can get into all the other things of like how is his idea and blah, blah, blah, blah. Sure, we can get into that. But the idea here is, is like really no idea is truly, truly original. They're all inspired by something else. Even inventions are inspired from something before. So if you have this vision, if you have this goal, I want to tell you that you are worth it, that your vision is worth it, that your goals are worth it. And what they are worth and what they require is your action. It requires reflection, it requires a refocus, and then it requires action. And you are absolutely capable of making that happen. So my reminder to you is to stop waiting for the perfect moment and start today. Start today. Imperfection is okay. Perfection is what's going to hold you back from making what you want happen. So if we can kick off this new year, it's going to be uncomfortable. It's going to be uncomfortable, do things that are different, but eventually it's going to start to settle in. So I'm excited to work with those of you in my new programs, like the Product Boss account. So exciting because it's officially, officially happening now in January with our weekly live calls. There's so many amazing, fun things that are coming up in the next few months that I'm so excited to bring to you and surprise you with and just lots of really cool things. I'm just really excited right now because I get to work with my academy members. Like, it's this beautiful community and membership that we're going to be, you know, having calls weekly and they're going to feel supported and I get to really, like, dig in and get to go deep and work through all these steps in building the business. And then like you see here going deep and, and this action takers reset and really thinking, like, what's needed in this community. It's just really the hub. It's gonna be the heartbeat of so much of what happens at the Product Boss. So I'm excited about it. But either way, you know you've got me twice a week on the podcast, right? Coaching call. A call like this got me twice a week, we're over on Instagram. Just all the ways that we can be supportive to you because like I told you, you deserve to be supported. And I am here to support you at whatever level that you're ready to commit to. Right? If it's just showing up the show and subscribing and being a podcast listener, I'm here for it. And if you take it a step further and join me in a free challenge or a workshop or whatever else that we do or one of my programs, I'm here for it because my life is dedicated to supporting small business owners like you, especially women around the world, to teach you how you can build your own wealth, how you can make and sell amazing, beautiful, creative things and change your legacy moving forward, change your life. It's happened for me, it happened for my mom. And the that's just been my calling in this world is to really support women and create this supportive place and especially product business owners, people who make and sell amazing things. So I'm so glad you're here. Happy New Year, and I will see you in the next episode.