How to Start a Pinback Button Business from an Idea
There is an affiliate link at the bottom of this post. I wouldn’t be promoting it if I didn’t believe it could help you.
You have an idea that you want to purchase a pinback button machine. What is that idea for? What are you going to do with it? What is your business model? You’re going to make products? You’re going to do services?
Can you do both?
I’d say no, you can’t do both. I recommend you pick one over the other.
Client work
I recommend that you make projects that you can turn into products later. You need to have a portfolio for client work and making designs you want to turn into products later is a good way to build up your portfolio when you don’t have any client work yet.
I started with products and client work at the same time. This wasn’t the best plan as my time was split too much. I didn’t look at what my audience wanted their I just did what I wanted to do.
You need to focus on what your clients want other than what you want to do if you want to be more successful. You need to start treating researching your target audience as if you were a journalist.
Have you narrowed down your focus? Do you know who you are going to serve?
You need to narrow down your focus to serve your clients in the best way possible. When it comes to client work, you can’t spend you time just taking whatever you want.
Products
If you’re going to focus on products, you need to have a process to validate which products will work well for your audience. You can do this by using Instagram. Instagram is a great way to validate products.
You post up the design and then you see what kind of reaction is gets. This can vary depending on how long you’ve been in business and which tags you use. Give it a least a week to see how many responses the design gets.
I used this method to focus on what to make from my #geekybuttons design challenge. From that challenge, I took the designs that had the most likes and comments and decided to focus on those first.
Finding Time
What sacrifices will you make to get this done? New TV shows will come out. New books will come out. New movies will come out. Comic books. Your friends will want to ask you to come out and play.
Does your family know what you’re doing? Does our family know that you’re going to be taking time away from them so that you can do this? Do you know where your time’s going to go?
Target Audience
Now that you have your why and how, you need to focus on who you’re serving.
You need to know who your audience is. You can serve with your products. You can serve with your client work. You can even teach!
You can spend your time teaching others how to make pinback buttons. You can go from place to place and help kids in hospitals or the elderly in nursing homes. You can make that your business, your calling or your hobby.
You find your audience by asking who you want to serve. Not who you think you should serve. What problem are you solving in that without you the world will be a suckier place? What problem keeps you awake at night and makes you get up early to solve?
Those impacted by this problem is who you want to focus on. Every button you make, every word you write, every video your make, everything is with them in mind.
Where is your audience?
After you figure out who your audience is, you need to reach them. What are their interests? Where do they go online? Where do they spend their time? What online apps to they use. What physical tools do they use? Stalk them. No really, stalk them!
Where do they shop? What blogs and YouTube channels are they subscribed to? Who do they serve? What keeps them awake at night? What are their biggest struggles?
If you have a target audience in mind, get them on the phone and ask them what their biggest struggles are. Have at least 10 people in mind. Not all will say yes to a phone call. Not all will get back to you.
Start with those you’ve worked with in the past. Don’t have past clients? Contact those you’d like to serve either online or in person. Get to know them and what they make first. Do your research.
Keep track of who you’re contacting in a spreadsheet. Detail the name, links (if relevant), email, interests, desires, struggles, etc. You will want a way to keep all of this data straight so you don’t confuse people.
A good email app is Streak. You can bring people through a pipeline or a funnel. For example: first contact, follow up, definite no or unsure.
For more information on how to find your target audience, research what they like and where to find them and how to email them look at the course from Creative Hove Co called In the Limelight. In that course, Mei Pak takes you through step-by-step on the process of pitching your work.
I use this method to learn about my target audience and keep track of contacting them. I refer back to this course again and again. I highly recommend it!
