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Making Money as a Writer: Products · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've been working our way through a series on making money as a writer.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: On today's episode, we're talking about one of the most fascinating and probably a bit complicated ways to increase your income, and that is by developing products.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've seen this before.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of writers and business people create hats, t-shirts, mugs, journals, and an endless survey of other merchandise and products based on their brand.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite examples of a writer who creates unique and interesting products based on his writing is Ryan Holliday.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan's products include special editions of his books, coins that feature figures and mottos of Stoicism.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: He has a calendar, there are rings, jewelry, there are prints, and a lot of other really cool stuff.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I would go to dailystoic.com and check it out if you want to see some really cool examples.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Products can be a great way to set yourself apart from others who are writing about the same topics.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But let's be honest, most writers don't have the business mindset or the persistence to go through the stages of developing a successful product.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you're committed to building your audience and thinking like a business owner and not just thinking like a writer, products can be a great source of income.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is an area that I absolutely want to dive into more over the next couple of years.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: At our recent Daily Writer retreat back in October, I had special journals, pens, and tumblers made with the Daily Writer logo.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody seemed to really like those.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I admit they were pretty cool, if I do say so myself.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this was really kind of an experiment to see what the response to people would be if I did small batches of specific products.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And based on their response, and based on just what I thought about them myself, it really convinced me to dive into this area more.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my personal view on products is that you need to be willing to test some products and have a real entrepreneurial spirit to make these successful.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: You also need a customer base of some kind who can buy the products consistently in order for it to be profitable and to justify the time and effort that you put into creating them.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that said, products can be a great way to stand out as a writer because, you know, if you if you've been listening to this podcast a while, you've heard me say this before that I just believe in being radically truthful and honest with you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason I'm saying that is because I just know how most writers are, most writers will not go to the trouble of messing with products or of getting on VistaPrint or some other kinds of sites and, you know, testing out a logo on different tumblers or pens or journals or whatever, because it all just kind of seems like a hassle.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I totally get it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of things that are kind of a hassle in life, but for the people who go to the trouble of taking that extra step and taking a little bit of extra time to experiment and order some products and see how people like them, for the writers who go to the trouble of doing those kinds of things, they will have success with it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you to do that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to not just be a writer who is only happy writing books.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think like a business person.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's a theme that we come to over and over and over again on the Daily Writer Podcast is you're not just a writer, you're also a business owner.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You are an entrepreneur because if you are selling anything for money, then by definition, you are a business owner.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the the sooner you can get comfortable with that concept, the better off you're going to be.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I will be totally honest with you.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, just going back to the radically, you know, honest idea, um, being a business owner is not an idea that has come naturally to me by any stretch of the imagination.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I come from the worlds uh of church ministry and higher education, two fields that are pretty far away from business thinking in a lot of ways.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's no denigration on those fields, but it's kind of just like the honest to God truth.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had to learn to think much more like a business person, and it doesn't always come easy to me.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, on my bad days, I just kind of want to go into my man cave and write and not engage on social media, not do email.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I just kind of want to put my head down and go into my little world, my introverted world, and and just sort of stay content in my thoughts on my bad days.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: But on days when I'm thinking a lot clearer, I realize that I don't just get to wear my writer hat, I've also got to wear my business owner hat because that's part of what makes this successful.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of what's gonna make your business successful too.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you got to think in terms of being a business owner.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things that we do as business owners is we think, what is our audience gonna like?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: What would meet their needs?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: What would they enjoy?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: What would be good to invest in as a business person?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as a writer, products are a really, really simple, fun, and very effective way to make some income as a writer.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a really long rambling um rabbit trail, I guess I just went down.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just kind of being honest with you and uh sharing part of my journey, which is having to learn to think more and more like a business person.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it doesn't come easy to me, it doesn't come naturally to me, but I did find that when I put my logo on a few products and brought them to the retreat, people really seem to enjoy those.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I would encourage you to do the same thing.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you've got a logo for your writing or for your business, or take one of your book covers or whatever it is, uh, put that on a Tumblr, put that on uh a pen and just give it away to a few people and see if they like it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Put it on social media and see what the response is.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be willing to experiment and see what people like and what works and what you enjoy personally.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, this is a little bit of a longer episode.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess it's not really long, it's not even six minutes yet at this point, but you kind of get my drift.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I really want you to be successful.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And for you to be successful and for me to be successful, we have to be willing to think outside the box and we have to be willing to get uncomfortable and do things that don't come naturally to us sometimes, because that's what leaders do.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's what business owners do who are successful over the long term.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this episode has helped you to think a little bit more like that and is helping you to get comfortable with the idea of thinking more and more about products.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me ask you a question.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I always try to wrap up the episodes with a question.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's question.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you were going to design a product with your logo or brand, what would it be?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Would it be a journal?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Would it be a tumblr or a pen or or something else?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before I wrap up this episode, I do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by the Daily Writer Club.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for a great community of writers who are success-minded, who are launching books and growing their writing businesses, then the Daily Writer Club is probably the missing piece that you're searching for.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: When you join the Daily Writer Club, you have access to weekly writing sprints and live calls with expert teaching.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You have access to a very active online group on Facebook, and you have access to retreats and in person events.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And best of all, we give you a clear pathway for growing your writing platform and your business.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love working with the people in the Daily Rider Club.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the highlights of my week every single week, and I know it can be for you as well.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So check it out.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Go to daily riderclub.com.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you tomorrow.