Why Your Product Won't Sell Itself With Kyle Ewing (388)

Life Skills That Matter | Create Work That Works For You

Even hear the old saying, This product is so good it sells itself?

Kyle Ewing shares why your product won't sell itself and why you need to embrace sales if you want to work for yourself.

He's the founder of TerraSlate Paper, a waterproof and tear proof paper used by the military and as washable menus by restaurants.

Lot of great lessons in our conversation including:

1. Why selling is the most important activity during the early days of your business.
2. Why he works harder for less money compared to when he worked for someone else.
3. How he felt when he has 100,000 sheets of his paper with no market to sell to.
4. Toughest lesson he learned as a result of starting his business.

Life Skills That Matter In This Episode

• Tell your story.
• Self-awareness.
• Outreach.

How Kyle Works and Thinks

• Wake up time: 5:45 am
• Core work activities + habits: 1) Hire people. 2) Find a way to meet demand. 3) Get his hands off of as many things as possible.
• Ideal work environment: In the morning, being first in the office with no one around asking questions and the phone not ringing, having a couple hours to really concentrate and work in deep thought.
• Superpower: Working at a really high speed for 12 hours at a time.
• Regains focus by: Making a good sale.
• 90-day goal: Hiring really good leaders to increase capacity, but maintain the quality that customers expect.

Inspirational Quotes

“The key really is, when you want to sell a product, is to get on the phone and sell it.”

“The risk is there, but it’s probably lower than what you think it is.”

“As soon as I started my own company, I had never known what hard work was, I mean I work harder now than I’ve ever worked.”

“One of the most valuable things I learned from being a management consultant is how to give a pitch.”

“Part of my personality is I am motivated by the challenge.”

“Sell the benefits. The features are great, but the benefits are what people buy.”

Coaching Advice

Have a business idea you can’t get off your mind? Kyle suggested these steps to give your idea a chance:

1) Get on the phone and figure out how to make a minimum viable product (MVP) by calling the best people you know and following their recommendations.

2) Set a goal of spending 1 hour per day figuring out the next steps avoid getting complacent.

Resources + Bonus Materials

The Office (2005 – 2013)

Related Episodes

Building A Minimal Viable Product (MVP) With Amy Kauffman (102)

Selling When You Have No Sales Experience With Meredith Bell (037)

Create Time Freedom With Laura Roeder (360)

Connect With Kyle

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter

Email

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