How Do You Axe A Product Without Anxiety – Cross Blog Conversation
While chatting recently, friend and business partner Kelly McCausey of SoloSmarts invited me to a Cross Blog Conversation. If you don’t quite know what that means, check out her post about it.
To kick it off, Kelly asked me this question.
Lynette, Why Did You Decide To Focus on Tech?
Answer: I’ve always been somewhat geeky. When working at my last job as marketing exec, I hung out with the IT manager a lot. Mostly because he was unlike any other IT guy I knew. He had some really cool ideas how to use technology in our marketing.
Then I started this business, with a heavy marketing focus. After all, that’s what I just came from. But a good friend kept asking me to help with the technical aspect and it all just kinda fell in place there.
As my knowledge of both tech and marketing grew, I’m finding I like the tech a lot more – sounds like something I should have realized all these years right? And so I trimmed a big, very visible and profitable product early this year that wasn’t quite ‘techie’. I still have the site as part of my funnel it’s great for that, just the paid product wasn’t.
I’m going to be starting the year off with a well defined focus. Technical training and developing plugins – so looking forward to it.
Ok now, my turn.
Kelly, when I decided to stop producing that profitable product, I was a wreck, worrying about a ton of things like what I’ll have to create to replace that income, would customers hate me, what if I’m making a huge mistake and on and on.
I’ve always admired how you can start something fast and just as decisively axe them when they don’t fit your goals anymore even if they have been profitable. You’re almost ruthless. What goes on in your head 🙂 How do you keep your emotions out of that process? What do you have to say to those of us who have trouble letting go?
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I love your focus for 2012 Lynette! And I love the questions you asked me 🙂
I am very much a newbie to blogging and I have so much to learn. Lynette, I appreciate your honesty in talking about your anxiety about axing a profitable product. From reading your blog post, I can tell that you are truly passionate about the techie stuff. I think it is so important to be excited and passionate about what ever you put out there, so much easier to sustain something you really care about. My guess is that you will come up with an eve bigger money making product related more to technology!
Great focus for 2012 Lynette! I enjoy reading cross blog conversations and I’m looking forward to seeing Kelly’s answer to your question.
I think in these situations it’s often better to focus on the positives such as the reason you decided to stop producing the product. Usually the reasons are something like moving focus to other products or items…
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How you portray the changes can be vital to other aspects of the business.
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Great post Kelly, thanks 🙂