How To Get Started On Designing Your Next Product Idea With Tracy Hazzard From The SharkPreneur Podcast With Seth Greene

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Seth Green is a five time best selling author, speaker and nationally recognized direct response marketing expert who is CEO of one of the fastest growing direct response marketing firms in the country. To get free access to a download of his new book Podcast Marketing Magic and a free live training webinar that will show you how you can use a podcast to attract new customers and referrals like Magic, Simply register at www. Ultimatemarketingmagician.com. on the podcast, Seth brings together some of the most cutting edge thought leaders in the world to share with you how they grow their businesses and how you can too. And now, here's your host, Seth Green.

Welcome to the Direct Response Podcast. I am your host, Seth Green. Today I am here with Tracy Hazzard of hazdesign.

Hazzdesign.Com Tracy is CEO of design firm Haz Design and co designer of 200 and well over 250 consumer products bought every day, generating over $750 million in sales for her clients. Through her Ink magazine column By Design and the upcoming book IP Battle Scars, Lessons and Evasive Tactics, she pushes companies of all sizes to strategically and tactically design and success and accelerate business growth. Tracy also co hosts the WTFFF 3D printing podcast, the Start Point for the Next Industrial Revolution. Tracy, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thanks for having me.

How did you get started?

You know, it's that sort of typical entrepreneur story where you get thrown into it and you didn't realize how much you love being an entrepreneur. So my husband, who's my partner, decided that he had this great invention and we should go for it. And he was going to start a company. I looked at him and I said, look, you're a great designer and you're a great inventor and this is a really cool product, but you can't run a company. And so we dove in and I loved working for myself and I loved being the person who steered the ship. And so that's how we got started. And that was back in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Wow. And how did you get from hey, let's try this to this point in your career?

Well, you know, a lot of great experiences. So I was lucky enough to work for Herman Miller back when they were inventing the Aeron chair. And I worked for a great company called Milliken & Co. Which does textiles and they pretty much train major executives to come out of there and learn how to run about any business division, which I found very supplemental to my art degree and, you know, it's just been one of those things where it was one experience after another that just kept leading us. We had patent infringement happen to us. We had licensing deals we had to learn how to do. It was just like all of those things combined to realizing that the design is greater than just drawing pretty.

Pictures. Design is greater than just drawing pretty pictures. That is a writer downer right.

There. Yeah. It's a whole process. So that's what we love. And we learned we had to embed design in. Throughout the whole process of launching a product or launching a.

Business.

What do you wish you knew when you started that, you know.

Now? Oh, gosh, you know, when I started. You know, you're green and you're young and you, you make a lot of mistakes, but you also don't have quite that filter that says you shouldn't take that big a risk. So I actually kind of wish I had a little more of that now. I think I, you know, I actually wish I had that still. I think that is a great benefit. At that time, I thought it was my liability, but looking back on that, I think it's.

Strength.

That is a great way to look at it. Let me ask you this. What have been? Because obviously not every product is a grand slam home.

Run.

No. What have been some of the products that didn't work and what did you learn or what did you learn from.

Them? So sometimes you invent something and you don't really know, or you design something and you don't really know how successful it's going to be. And what we do and the reason why we have so many successful projects and products is that.

We just prolifically design an event without regard for whether or not this is something that's going to work. And then we screen it through a process we call Prove It. Where we really look at does this fit the market needs? Does this fit everything? And does this fit the possibility that it will sell, which is extremely important at the end of the day? And when we screen it through that, then we toss ideas out, but sometimes we put them on hold too. So it's kind of a series of being able to look at everything. But being prolific in the design process and in the invention process is really the key there. You can't hamper it by whether or not you need to design for this particular market or keyword. Like you see a keyword in Amazon and you think, okay, I got a design for that. It almost doesn't work like that.

It has to start from the I have A need and I have a solution. Then will that solution sell, is your next.

Question?

Absolutely. Now, $750 million is a mind blowing number. What are some of the secrets behind your.

Blockbusters? The reality is that we are ghost designers. So I didn't have to invent a brand for each one of those designs, which makes a huge difference. If you are private labeling or doing any of those types of things or you are out there marketing your own brand. That is very costly and time consuming and my clients bear that cost. It makes it easier for me to be free to do my job and design really well for their brand. That is the key. They're already on the shelf somewhere. My job is to keep them on the shelf and to explode that out maybe across new product categories or new design ideas and expand on the market that they already have. And that's, I think a big mistake. Most people spend a tremendous amount of money building their brand, but then they just get distracted and they go off to the next shiny thing that doesn't actually fit the market they already.

Have.

That makes a lot of sense. How? Just because, gotta know. I'm sure my marketing magicians who are listening want to know what are some of the products that we use every day that you're.

Behind? So we have the best selling office chair at Costco that's only $99. We have a lot of juvenile products at Target and Walmart that are, you know, like kids play tables and lounges and like little lounges for kids. And gaming chairs, we've done a lot of gaming chairs. And we've design some furniture for Martha Stewart at Staples, which I don't know if that is actually still on the market right now. It might.

Not. I mean, Martha didn't design it all.

Herself. You know, sometimes the celebrities brands, they expand into a new category. So they say, hey, we're going to go into this, you know, and establish this relationship with the store. And then they have like, oh, we've got to launch everything in six months. And if you don't have core competency in a particular product category, things can go really wrong. And that's typically when they bring us.

In. So you're almost, you get brought in not just to create things, but to fix.

Them. Yeah, that's why my Ink bio says that I'm a product fixer, because that's what I can do. I go into a company and I say, well, let's look at your whole line. And you know what, you have too many SKUs, you have too many products. Let's cut some and we're going to get you 20% back in terms of operational excellence and operating income. And then we clean up some because sometimes they're out of trend. And when we clean them up, then they generate about another 20% in incremental income. And then we say, now let's use that money and grow you for the future. Because that takes at retail, that's like 12 months to 18 months. So it can take a.

While. What do you like best about your.

Business? I like that it's never the same thing twice. It's always a new product, always a new client. It's always something new tomorrow. And it's kind of really exciting and interesting to dive into a new category and just apply the same principles. And that's what we found, is that our same process and plan and our sequence for how we do things really works every time. And it's worked across so many.

Categories.

What do you attribute your success.

To? You know, I have to attribute my success to my great partner, Tom. We work really well together, and it's really great to be able to be a woman in the workplace.

And be able to talk like that. Like, you know, I could say women aren't going to like this or women aren't going to like that. And it's really great that we can talk about that because most of mass retail and the very large percentage of the consumer market, over 80% is influenced by women. And so when you can't talk freely about that in your work environment, you can't be as successful. So a little sexism in the office is a good.

Thing. A little sexism in the office is a good thing. All right.

With all the success you've achieved, what's your biggest challenge.

Now? You know, my biggest challenge is actually marketing, because it turns out that when you're an Ink columnist, you have to market yourself. And so it's always a challenge. It's like, I just started another business on top of my business. And it's really interesting that in today's world, we're sort of on our own at building our own following and building our own market, and that it's really everyone's problem. We are our own.

Brand.

Absolutely. So how do you do that? What are things that are working for.

You? Well, I get to talk to interesting people like you, Seth, of course, and that always helps. So really, I've been trying to reach out there and say, if it's my problem, then maybe it's my reader's problem as well. And so I'VE been reaching out to people, people who can provide solutions and.

Ideas.

Who is your ideal client? I mean, first of all, who's your ideal.

Client? My ideal client is someone who has a product idea. Perhaps they haven't fully resolved it.

I definitely don't want them to already have a patent. That drives me crazy because then you get so locked in and there's so little I can do to help. And they've also spent a ton of money and I want to help them lay out a really tactical action plan for getting their product to market. Really proof check it, make sure that it really has the right market, and then put in an action plan to take it all the.

Way.

Now, is that because $750 million is a huge number? Some of that isn't. And you mentioned some household names in some Fortune 500 companies. Are you looking for more? But what your description is kind of different. Are you looking for the targets and the Herman Millers of the world, or are you looking for the brand new inventor, small business owner? Are you looking for everybody in between? Obviously there's different. Obviously what you would charge a target is going to be very different from anybody else. How does that.

Work? Well, that's a really good question. The retail market is kind of broken right now. I think that the future, and that's part of why we started our 3D print podcast, is the future is going to be in the hands of the smaller businesses, in the individuals and in the inventors. That's because of the way that Amazon has restructured kind of the way, you know, the way retail works and the fact that you have a reach even if you're small. But also because retail itself is only doing direct source right now. So they have cut out design at so many levels and they have so many inexperienced buyers picking products that there's not enough good design in the process. And it's frustrating to work with that. And so, you know, you can slap a celebrity brand on a product that you just direct source in Asia, but at the end of the day, it's only that brand that's carrying it. It's not a great product. And I want to make great.

Products.

That makes sense, obviously. What do you do about, I mean, $750 million? Do you get a percentage of.

That? I do, I do. It's.

Anywhere. Oh, that's.

Incredible. It's anywhere from 3 to 5%. But you got to keep in mind that's probably spread out over 12 years. So, I mean, it's not like I got that all in One.

Year. You didn't get a check.

Yesterday? Yeah, no, but product, my best product probably does about 250,000 per year. So it's just a single product I design and it's usually designed three years earlier. So my business run, my daily bills are paid by work I did three years earlier. So that's kind of. It's like a residual model. And it works really well as long as you continually have projects in your.

Pipeline. Got it. Okay, so.

Do. Now let's say you get someone who isn't a Target, who doesn't have a patent yet. So do you just, they pay you just to design it or do you help them say, oh, Target should carry this. Let me talk to my client, you know, my whoever, my VP of whatever is over at Target and see if I can help you get you.

Distribution. Yeah, we actually touch on the whole thing. So we sit down from the very beginning. So we, it's like brainstorm to box, in a sense. And so we sit down, we talk about the idea, we help refine the idea. And yes, we get it to a design level, a prototype level, a patentable level where it's ready to go to someone like that. And then we have referral partners that we use. And so it depends on where it's going to go. We always recommend every new product get in Amazon. And the reason for that is a lot of buyers today just want to see that it's already selling, that you have some sales proof. And the easiest way to do that today is to just get it ranking on Amazon. And we have a partner that we usually refer out to who will just do that in a really short period of time, like 90 days. And so you get it ranking on Amazon. At the same time you have a great sales partner who is going in and pitching the buyer. And then we try to get some press on the other side or some market proof on the other side, testimonials, that kind of thing. Reviews, make sure that they're all in place so that the buyer sees a whole package that you're willing to market your product, that you are capable of running a business.

That.

That makes sense.

What drives you crazy about your.

Business?

You know, we get a lot of inventors, and I say that they're inventors because that's what they are. They have product. They've spent so much money making a product that's never going to sell. And I just want to save them. I want to stop them from risking their families and their livelihood and their homes and all of that on Something that, that they're so far down the road in that they feel like they have to keep going. I want to head them.

Off. So kind of like Kevin on Shark Tank who said, you know, I forbid you take this out behind the barn and shoot.

It. You know, I'm not that mean about it. I always think there's a way to save it. But when you get that far down the road, you almost can't. And that's the problem is like, I just want to stop you before you spend $100,000 wasting money on something that either it's never going to. Usually it's a problem in pricing. You've over engineered it and it's not going to meet its.

Pricing.

Got it. So people should contact you. Do you have some type of consultation service where they can hire you before they start for a small amount of money to find out if it's worth them bothering to do.

Well. We actually just started this new venture called Mentors to Inventors with the number two Mentors to Inventors and it's on Facebook and it's a group where people can join. Inventors can join at any stage in their process. And we kind of help baby them through the process until they're really ready to use our services.

That way we're trying to head them off. Is the idea trying to get them to listen to the right kind of people about how to build your business and how to build a good foundation under your invention or your product.

Idea?

Absolutely. I think that is probably a very valuable.

Service. How with everything that is constant. I mean, your products touch so many different.

Places and people all over the world. You must get, I mean, to stay on top of design trends in so many different industries. I mean, how do you stay on top of that overflow of.

Information?

It's not easy, but I read about 200 books a year and I probably read dozens of publications every day. Listen to three or four podcasts. It's information overload. So I'm in constant information gathering mode. But the reality is that over time I've honed it down to getting the essence really quickly on what's happening because I'm constantly following it. I don't have to relearn something. So I already know what's been going on and oh, that's something new and you can dial right into that. But if you don't keep up on it, it's impossible. It's very.

Overwhelming.

That makes a lot of sense. What are three of the best books you've ever read that have had the most impact on your.

Work. Oh, my go. So good. Like I said, I completely love to read. It's my hobby and obviously a significant part of my business. Rembrandts in the Attic. I've actually mentioned it to multiple people. It's a great book about how companies like Xerox and IBM and things have all these patents and all this intellectual property and they don't know what to do with it. It's like this. It's all in the attic and they haven't leveraged that. And so it's. It really transformed the way that we approach intellectual property and how we use design and patents to become a asset for a company. And it's worked. In fact, two of the companies that I designed for, we worked with them for over two years and each one of them got themselves sold.

And sold for a higher value because they had all this IP now. So that one has been really influential in just forming the way that we work our business. But lately, I just love 10x. That's been such a great, influential book.

And I am just starting to read Be a Beast. Dave Austin's Be a Beast. He's a sports focus extreme focus guy, and he's helped so many athletes and other things develop focus. And I think that's really an important thing for the inventors and entrepreneurs that I talk about, how to get them focused. So I'm really. I just dove into the first few chapters and I'm thrilled with it. It's a really. It's a visual way to approach that extreme focus, and I love.

That.

Awesome. Great recommendations.

What do you want to share with our audience of marketing magicians that I didn't ask you that I should.

Have? So good. You know, I think that the important part is to start marketing as early as possible. And that's where the kinds of tips and things that you talk about are so critically important. You know, a lot of people think, oh, I'll launch the product. And that's when marketing starts. And it doesn't. You have to. I call it soft launching, but you have to market all along the way. You're always marketing about it, even if your product's not ready yet. And people underestimate that. Most entrepreneurs and businesses underestimate. They get worried like, where am I going to do with these people and what are they going to do? And, well, market buzz is never a bad.

Thing.

Market buzz is never a bad thing. Very, very true. For our listeners who have a product or a product idea, what is the best first step for them to.

Take. The best first step for them to take is start Googling it and Amazon checking it. I mean, just go out there and look and see what else is out there. If there's nothing out there, that's actually a really big red flag. If you think there's no competition, really start to dial in and think about your ideas harder.

Revolution doesn't happen that.

Quickly. What is the first step for them to take to work with.

You? So I would say the best thing is to find mentors to inventors. Like again, that's the number two in there on Facebook. Or you can find that directly off our page. HazDesign Hazz.

Design.

Okay, this has been Seth Green with Tracy Hazzard of Has Design. Thank you so much for joining us. We greatly appreciate.

It. Thanks.

Seth. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll talk to you next.

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