Ep56 Transcript: Developing a Product – Top Takeaways from Lori Crete

Andrea Vahl: If you have a great product idea, you can create it. You can make the world a better place. That is my main top takeaway from my interview with Lori Crete. Stay tuned as I dive a little deeper into developing a product.

Hello Dreamers. Welcome to the Late Starters Club, giving you the inspiration mindset and tools you need to start something midlife and beyond. Remember, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.

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And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

In episode 55, I interviewed Lori Crete, creator of the SpaStar Spa Wrap Towel, and it was such an inspiring interview. She was an esthetician and worked with a lot of the stars, but during COVID, she couldn’t go to work. So what did she do? She developed a product instead.

One of the things I liked about what she said about developing the product idea was to just ask the universe. She was very disciplined about her schedule, but was just open to the universe and asking the universe what she should do, and so she was just flowing instead of forcing, as she said, and just asking the universe, how can I be creative?

And then being open to the answer. And that’s how it came to her. And I actually had the same experience with this podcast where I knew I wanted to do a podcast and just wasn’t sure what that was going to look like. I didn’t necessarily want to do something about Facebook ads, but I wanted to do something different and inspiring.

And that’s where this podcast came from. And the same thing for her with her Spastar. She was asking herself, how can I, and I also like the question, what if and how do you use those questions to come up with ideas around making something better, noticing that something isn’t quite right in the marketplace?

And she did that same thing as an esthetician, noticing that there really weren’t good towels or robes or things for people who are spending a lot of money on spa treatments. So she wanted something luxurious like the Spastar. And the other thing I really liked about what she talked about in developing this idea is that she was on a labyrinth.

She was walking, she was out in nature, and she was just continually kind of asking the universe these questions and listening and being open to that.

So now let’s talk about how she got it done. One of the big themes on this whole podcast has been connections and using people’s connections, and I think that is huge as we’re doing things in midlife because we’ve grown into a lot of different connections. We’ve developed a lot of different communities, and that’s a great place to start. So if you don’t know how to develop a product, you might start with your own warm community, and there might be someone who’s already done what you do or done what you want to do or knows someone who can help you.

We’re all just a couple of degrees away from Kevin Bacon, right? Did I say two. Maybe it’s six. I don’t know. We’re all very close to Kevin Bacon. That’s what I know.

The other thing I love about Lori’s interview is that she went ahead and picked up the phone and called someone who she thought was going to be too big to work on her project, and probably too busy and you know, already was kind of thinking that she wasn’t going to be available, but as serendipity would have it, the person was available and was excited about working on her project. So you never know if you don’t have the courage to just call and ask someone.

The other thing that she really did was be persistent in her asking the hotels to carry the Spastar she said that the first call was not the no that she would accept. She would just go in and continue to call and connect with elegance and grace as she put it. And it often took four, five, six, eight different phone calls before that actually then happened for her. People are busy and I think it is great when you just continue to reach out and not be pushy, but continue to make that connection because you’ll hopefully eventually get the yes from that. And if you don’t, then that’s time to go on and move on to the next connection.

There were tons of great nuggets from Lori on how to develop a product and bring that to market, and I would highly suggest you go back and listen to that and get inspired. If you are interested in developing a product of your own, I think it’s a great way to pivot into something new or supplement your current business with an actual product.

Hope that was helpful, and make sure you grab the free guide. Top Tools for late starters on the website at latestartersclub.com and let’s turn dreaming into doing.