Flipping the Turtle

Yesterday I listened to a webinar put on by the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. It was LOADED with food for thought and my mind is still buzzing. He talks about helping entrepreneurs and how, in many cases, they just get stuck on some point - like a turtle who's been flipped - and that if they can just get unflipped they can move forward.

I'm very excited that, as a result of signing up for his class early, I've been offered the opportunity for an hour-long consultation with Mike. (Mike was kind enough, by the way, to endorse my book). I'll talke with him about the CADDi, as that whole arena is still the most foreign for me. I've been thinking a lot about where I could use help and when and where I, the turtle, got flipped.

I'm sure there are many many areas where I need to tweak and reevaluate and rework - I think that will always be true and, while frustrating, it's what is interesting about business. But, the big flip for me was, I believe, when my manufacturer took my minimum order from 2,500 units to 6,000. I've been working to get the CADDi in people's hands - getting it visible and recognizable. The ultimate goal, though, was not to sell individual CADDis, but to get orders for custom. At 2,500 units I could offer as few as 1,200 at a time if I combined two orders. With a minimum of 6,000 I need either 6 orders or two very very large ones, which is pretty unlikely with a product people barely know.

So, I'm stuck. I'm willing to sell singles as a matter of marketing and awareness, but selling custom was the whole point - a plan which would work in conjunction with my other work. I never wanted to be dealing with inventory - just brokering orders/helping with design - ship straight from manufacturer to customer.

As I was hoping, writing this has clarified my thinking a bit - not solved anything, but reminded me about where I got flipped. Being flipped doesn't mean I haven't been able to do anything, but it has completely changed the view. I look forward to getting my feet back on the ground.