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Are you ready to live from rest instead of rush? Join Life & Business Coach, Speaker, and Author Teresa McCloy each week for conversations, stories, and practical wisdom from people doing what matters in their personal and professional lives. This is an invitation to do life differently through rhythms, routines, and practices that help us live the life God has for us.
Hey, hey there, friend. Welcome back to the doing what matters podcast. It is great to be back with you again. As many of you know that have been listening along, we are in a series about the seven p's of business. This is a piece of content that I have been developing and using with my clients for several years. It's just a way to give some language and framework around what many of you are working in. Many of my private clients are actually working on their businesses, and one of the things that I think God has gifted me with is the ability to take something that might feel complicated and simplify it down a little bit for the everyday, ordinary person and take the complexity out of it. And one of those things that I've been able to do is talk about this idea of building a business around these seven areas.
Now, by no means are these the absolute, in detail, everything that we would do in each of these areas, but this is going to give you a really good framework. So if you're brand new to the podcast, welcome in. If you've been invited by a friend, for those of you who have been listening and actually been sharing with me how much you're loving this series and what great resources it is for you as you think about your business today, we're going to be diving into the third p, and that is the p of your products or your services. We've already covered your purpose and we've covered your plan. And if and then we did an overview back about three episodes ago. So if you want to back up and catch them all, you can, after you listen through this week, they all kind of start to tie together and you hear some overlap. And with each episode there is a download. And the downloads are pretty simpler to remember because they all start with the name of that
So for example, today's free download is found at the reallifeprocess.com forward Slash product. And then we have one that's forward slash purpose and one that's forward slash plan. And so you can also find all of that in the show notes so you don't miss out. But you may want to go download that download free resource, follow along with the episode. You may want to listen through the whole thing and then download everything. I try to keep these episodes 25 minutes, 30 minutes or less so that they're really easy and applicable for you to walk through so that I can keep that promise to keep them fairly short. We're going to dive right in, but I do love hearing from you when you are loving the podcast and the other great thing that you can do for me is actually to leave us a review. That is so helpful too.
So favorite podcast app. Leave us a review. Actually was just looking at some analytics. I've gone to a new podcast provider platform. I'm actually now using one called Transistor. I'll put it in the show notes for you. If you're someone who has a podcast, I'm loving it because I can do several things and it's super easy. I've been on another platform for years, just switched over and I love the analytics.
So I can see that I have friends that are listening in from South America, that are listening from Spain, of course here in the United States. But I love seeing all of my friends all over the world. So if you are one of those friends, send me a shout out. Let me know. Either tag me on social media or just send me an email at Teresa at the reallifeprocess.com. i love hearing from you. So without further ado, let's dive in to this third p that we're going to look at, which is your product. So we've talked so far, right, about your business that you're building needs a purpose, it needs a plan.
All that is great, but we actually need something to sell and create revenue. So that's why we're going to look at this idea of your product. And you may want to rate yourself on a scale of one to five, one being not too sure. I'm real clear on my products or services all the way up to five, which is I got it nailed. So one of those places you've got a scale there to look at. And I'm actually going to walk through lots of questions. We have six areas we're going to look at on this episode that you can really think about your business, think about your product or your services. I'm going to use the word product because it fits with my p, let's be honest.
But the reason that I'm using it is because it goes for product or services. So if you're someone that is in the coaching world like I am, or you do contract work where you're selling your service, you really, your work is the product, your intellectual property, your knowledge, your wisdom, that's the product. So it's interchangeable. Little Sidebar note here. Last year I actually bought a product based business that has an actual product when we purchased the one life maps tool. And that's what really got me thinking about this. If you're not familiar with the maps, there are some life mapping tools that you can use. They're related to your faith story and how God is responding and with you in that story, both in your life and in your business.
So they're applicable in all those places. They're an actual product that I have inventory for and I'm selling. So I'm now sitting on both sides of the fence, as many of you are. And so I think it's applicable to call it product and services. So let's dive into these kind of six areas. Again, not all inclusive, but my goodness, if you can define these questions and answer these things, you're going to be rolling really strongly in the right directions. And it took me a couple of years to get to here. Now when I work with entrepreneurs, small business owners, solopreneurs, many times people are in a hurry to get to here.
And I realize that we want to have revenue and sales quickly as possible. But I'm here to assure you, if you're on this journey, it can take a while to nail down what is going to resonate with your audience, with your customer, with your clients, however you use that word. And there's a couple things that come into play here. So if we want to create a standout product or service, and that's what I want you to be able to do with a clear understanding then of what you're offering to your customers, your clients, then let's look at these steps. The first one is, as we develop out your product or service is to what problem are you solving? I forgot to mention, let me just pause right here. If you love YouTube and you'd like to watch this on YouTube, I actually have the download up on YouTube right beside me on the screen and you can watch along. So that's another option for you if you like to take in content of your podcast through our YouTube channel at the reallife process. So it's a channel on YouTube.
Just search it and you'll find it. But anyway, back to our first step. What problem are you solving? What specific issue does your product or service solve? Because if you don't have something that solves a problem, people probably aren't going to purchase it. Now that being said, there's lots of ways to reframe something so that it solves a problem. Many people, and I'll just use this for an example and I don't know exactly why this popped in my head, but I'll use it is the idea of maybe you know how to play guitar and it's a skill, it's a hobby that you actually do. And a few people have asked you if you would teach them guitar, if you would give them lessons. Well, now you're solving a problem. You did just play a guitar, it was your hobby, but now you're actually solving the problem of teaching them lessons.
And you can do that in lots of different ways. You could have a community of people wanting to learn to play the guitar, and they'd play a membership. You could just teach guitar lessons in your home. You could teach group lessons to several people. You could teach online. We're going to talk about all those things. But do you get the idea that I know how to do something, or I've even paid money to be trained in how to do something, or I have a natural gift to be able to help people solve a problem, and they would exchange money for my expertise, my knowledge, my content, or my product. So that's solving a problem.
And you can do that in lots of different ways. And then describe simply and straightforwardly how it would do that. Now, one of the tools that you might want to do is just grab a piece of paper and use a mind map, put the problem in the center and all the ideas that you have around solving that, and then actually write that out into a short sentence, which will take us to a second part of this. Developing out of your product or services is what makes you unique. So now we get a little bit. Next step down, I'm going to stay with my guitar player, right. So there are a lot of different ways to play the guitar. I remember when my daughter was younger and she and I, I'm not sure she really wanted to, but we decided she was going to take violin lessons.
Well, she was super excited about violin. Really what she wanted to play was the fiddle. Same instrument, just different music, different technique. And I actually, she ended up playing classical violin for several years. It really wasn't what she wanted to do. She wanted to play country. She wanted to play the fiddle. So that's what I mean by unique.
Our guitar instructor could play a certain kind. He could play acoustic or electric or bass. There's all different kinds of styles, from bluegrass to country to jazz. So list the features of what makes your product or service unique. Now, I know for many of you listening, the industry that you're in helps you define that uniqueness. And you can write that down. I'm a life coach. I'm a medspa owner.
I am in the health industry, and I work around this certain thing. I am an attorney who works with these kinds of clients or a doctor. So start to list all the features that makes your product or your services unique. Okay. And then what difference to pick out some of those features that make you stand out. So you might have this massive list, 15, 2030 things even you could have mind mapped it again using that tool. But now I want you to pick out maybe the five to eight thing that you really think are your standout. Now, if I was doing this exercise, and I have one of my standouts is, I think, that ability to make things that are hard, simple.
So that's a uniqueness for me. I also have created my own process for living your rule of life, living the way you want to live your life. That is a unique feature for me in my services. So those are just some examples of what makes you unique. Is there a certification? Is there an expertise? Is there a machine or a product that you know how to operate or do? Have you done extra schooling? Do you just have a natural, God given gift that. That you feel like makes you stand out? Now let's move on to step two. So we've got step one. We've defined our product, what's unique and what are the standout things.
And now let's look at the benefits. It doesn't have any benefits. Nobody's buying. So we want to make sure there's some benefits. Turn those features into benefits for each feature. So that's the five to eight things. How does this help your customer or your client? So how does that help your customer or your client? Let's go back to my guitar guy. So my guitar guy, we're going to say he teaches country.
He teaches how to play the guitar in a country style, maybe an electric guitar in a country style. And one of his benefits, one of his specialty things is he's been doing that in the industry for 20 years. So he has experience that will help his client. He knows the styles that are being played right now in country music that will help his client. So start to think about benefits to that feature. What's the benefit? So experience is a benefit. Learning certain licks or certain things, you may have a product that you sell that you know the benefits. You know what it's going to do for your client.
You may have a treatment that you do that you know what it's going to do for your client. And so it's a feature to a benefit. Feature to a benefit. As a coach, you may have an assessment or a process. So does it matter what industry you're in or even if you're creating a brand new one friend. What is the problem you're solving? What are the features and what are the benefits? And then choose the benefits that matter most to your customer. We're keeping narrowing this down so your customer or client, it's front and center in your messaging. One of the ways that I might describe this, and because we've been hanging out together, you might know a little bit of some of the phrases and things I use.
So I often say this term of, if you're living with your hair on fire, I can help you live from a place of rest, not rush. So I can help you live from a place of rest, not rush. One of the ways I do that is to help you simplify things down and make sense of things, give you a framework for your business and your life. And that's part of my marketing. So it went all the way up there from that unique in step one to step two. Now to step number three. We're moving through this, products and services. So step three is now we need to turn our attention to our audience a little bit more.
It's really been on them the whole time, because if we can't solve their problem, they're standing over there yelling at us from one side of the big ravine in between us and them, and they're saying, hey, I'm over here. And we're like, well, I really don't care if you're over there. I'm over here. And this is what I want to do. Not going to love your client or your customer. Well, so we want to outline, you know, who's going to love this product. So we're in a both, and we're standing on both sides looking over there saying, what are they asking for? And what do I have? And it's a back and forth. So think about their age, their habits.
What are they like? This is another place that you can use a mind map. What are their values? What is their demographic? They're psychographic. What do they like? What do they think? Where do they hang out? We want to find as much out about that person that's standing on the other side of the cavern, other side of the mountain, that little gully in between us. We want to know as much about them and love them as best we can to say what's the language they're speaking? What are the terms that they use? Start to listen to them. Start to hear what they say. You know, my clients say, I'm so busy. My clients say things like, I'm overwhelmed, I'm busy, I'm stuck. I can't move forward.
I don't know that I could do anymore. I'm working night and day, all those kinds of things. My life seems chaotic. Everything's not connecting. So those are the things I want to say. Again, you could mind map around this. So I hope you're seeing this thread in the story between where you're standing and where they're standing and how we want to connect the two. We want to build the bridge across.
So now we might want to just pause right here at step three. A is what I'm calling it, and it's connected to this idea of research a little bit and just say, who's out there doing what I'm doing? Not that it matters a whole lot, but for some of you, just to calm the nerves, for some of my friends that are listening right now that are going well, somebody else is already doing that. Here's what I want to say to you. Yes, somebody else is, but they're not doing it just like you. So let me say that again. Yes, somebody's out there doing almost the same thing that you are with their product or service, but they're not doing it just like you. They're not uniquely designed by God, just like you are. Now, I'll be really transparent with you to say, this is one of them that used to hang me up.
I was like, oh, there's so many people out there that have the same message of helping you in your life and helping you to find your rule of life and helping business owners do business better with more clarity. But you know what? I've really come to a place that God uniquely designed me with unique word, unique ways of saying things. And that's what I'm going to bring to the world. That's what he has for me to do. So I'm going to do that. And I truly believe there is enough to go around. If I am to that place where I can turn away business, hallelujah, that would be great. But I'm going to serve the people that God has right in front of me.
So am I going to know about them? Yes. But do I need to go way down this rabbit hole of comparing and looking? Absolutely not. What I might be able to do, though, is learn a few things and see what language they're using, what's connecting with their clients. Is it exactly like mine? Or what's my unique place? And let's go one more place with three b. In this step of defining our audience is let's put together a statement, a concise product, description. It's many times it's our unique selling proposition. Sometimes maybe you've heard that phrase, our USP. It's writing out in a couple of sentences, here's my product, here's my service, and here's what makes it unique.
And just keep working at it until it's easy to understand and easy for you to say or to write in some copy in your emails or on your website and those types of things. So just this unique selling proposition and write it out. Make sure that it's easy and quickly tells your audience, you know, or what your product or service is. It's a little bit different than for sure, your purpose statement, your mission statement. That's your overall business. This is a product or service. For some of you, you may have more than one product or service. So you may go through this exercise for a couple of different things that you offer as revenue streams in your business.
Now I want to pause right there and say, don't go down the rabbit trail to too many types of things that you offer. This for forward moving personality. This can be a problem because you have a new idea and all of a sudden you want to create a new product or service out of it, or you want to buy something that will help you create a new product or service. So kind of reign yourself in. And for those of you who live a little bit more from fear of I don't have enough products and services, you'll want to do the same. You'll go, oh, maybe I create that because a client ask about that and it's really not my thing and I don't even really enjoy doing it, but I'm going to because they ask. So we want to get a clear statement. Kind of helps us keep our blinders on and say, yeah, I really feel good about this product or service.
Now I want to pause again and just say, if you're in an industry where you are having to purchase equipment or having to expand every time you add a product or service, please do this USP statement. Okay, unique selling proposition so that you make sure that what you're investing fits within what you're doing. This can happen to people in the solopreneur industry too, where they're like, just one more training, just one more certification, just one more thing. Make sure that it fits and really will help you sell that product or service before you go investing a whole bunch there. Okay, last one is on this page. We're actually crafting that unique selling proposition, writing it down and working all the way through it. So step number three has a lot of little moving parts, a, b and c, that we really want to get wrapped around our audience. Now, step four is a little, a little shift now for, with our audience because how will you sell the product or service? So again, you might use a mind map around many of these steps because here you might put, you know, selling in the center and you might say, gosh, I could sell that locally on a storefront.
I could sell it online. I could build a business where I ship the product. I could sell it on Amazon or through a service. I could sell it here, I could sell it there. And then I want you to look after that brain dump and say what feels right for me, not just because this is what somebody else does, but what feels right for me. For example, I do a group program in my local community with clients, actually women business owners called CEO. And we look at life and business. Life is through my real life process and business is through these seven p's of business.
And we have a group program and then we take it to a mastermind level. And I love, love, love doing it in my local community. Now, I also do it online with a few women in a specific industry. But my favorite way I developed that service was in my local community. I could have built the whole thing online, but I love being face to face around lunch and across the table from these women. So make it feel good for you and easy for you to buy in and sell the product. You may have to try out a couple of places as well. So, you know, what's the first or second place that you would want to look at moving this product? The next one is pretty simple in step number five as we're winding this down around our product.
But how will you exchange money? And you may laugh when I mention this one because you're like, really? In this day and age, but you would be surprised how many business owners get hung up on this. Like, how am I actually going to have people pay me? What kind of services will I use? Will I have a way for them to pay online? Will they pay in person if I'm doing face to face? So where and when will they pay you? Is yours the type of service where people need to pay in advance or make a deposit? Kind of what's that whole selling process? Or are they just buying something off the shelf and you're taking their money? And what is the best way for you to take money and have the least amount of maybe fees and services and things like that? So you're going to have to get clear down to this part of collecting money and exchanging money for your services or product. So don't overlook that. And then last but not least, the step that we need as we develop out our products or services is to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. You're going to make adjustments along the way. Now, many times I will talk to business owners and they will be like, oh, I'm going to build it out. I'm going to have this great business when I develop out three or four services or products. And then I'm just going to sit back and I'm going to sell and I am just going to wait for the money to roll in.
And my friend, I am just telling you, praise God if it's that easy for you. But in my experience, you have to continue to tweak all the time, not start from scratch. Don't hit me wrong, but you have to continue to tweak so that you stay up with the market, you stay up with your clients. You're fresh and you're new. Yes, there are some industries that change very slowly. But for a lot of you that are listening to this podcast, so listen back in. Dial back in for you that might be listening to this podcast. You're in a space where it's constantly changing.
That does not mean you have to be out there buying new things, doing new things, but you have to be aware and just always evaluating your product and service to make it the best that it can be. So that it's a blessing to you and it's a blessing to your customer, your client and your audience that you are serving. So there we have it. That is product. Whoop. That was a lot. You may want to go back. You may want to listen to this episode again.
Download remember the reallifeprocess.com product to download the resource and it ties in with your purpose and your plan. That's the balcony stuff. Now we're moving into the doing of building out this product and service, making sure we're in touch with our audience and that it solves a problem or a need that they actually have. As they're yelling across at us saying, I'm over here, do you see me? And I know as I speak with you, as you listen into the podcast that you have something that you feel that it is your God given gift to do what you're doing. So I just want to encourage you to dive in to this product and service, dive into your purpose and your plan. And we will be back next week to talk more about another p in these seven p's of business that we're talking about here in this series, so make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review. I am loving doing this series for you, and thank you so much for the feedback that you're giving for downloading all the things to go with this series.
I hope that over the summer you're able to sit back, work with some of this content, and really relax and enjoy just a bit as you think towards what you're building and what has been put on your heart. So remember, every ordinary day has an extraordinary moment. You just have to look for them. Thank you for being with me on the doing what matters podcast. I will see you back here next week.