You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business on the internet and the occasional Web3 issue. Today’s email was written at The Lynn Hall #2640.
Good morning,
I’m picking up a draft that was intended for last week and hitting send. More about training for 5 days on a commercial sharpening system with an OG sharpener to come in the next issue. The short story… this is going to work!
Bit #1 - Build the ecosystem
Get folks in the ecosystem and it’ll grow. Once people know the experience of what it’s like to sharpen with us they gush about the service back to us, usually in text. That’s a great sign.
Next steps will be those folks purchasing the second sharpening in 4-6 months from the first. We’re starting to come up on the 4 month mark for a few folks. We’ll see what that’s like.
Yet, we’re looking for other signals of support too. Those could be 1) referral to friends and family, 2) referrals to media and bloggers 3) ordering other product (hones, gift cards, small knives (TBD). We’ve done a poor job of marketing those products. In fact we just put ‘em back on the home page (we’d previously thought ads were getting turned down because of that section).
We also continue to hear back from folks younger than 50 that they’d be interested in a sharp knife rental service. This will likely manifest as a Santoku + Paring knife set on subscription (example, monthly membership gets you sharp knives delivered every 2 months - just ship the other ones back to us).
Interested in sharp knife rental? Hit reply and we’ll put you on the waitlist.
Anyway, the start is sharpening and so much more can be built in the ecosystem around sharpening.
Bit #2 Package Imagination
That package… yo.
The decision was made to get the package updated and made with no printing on the outside. There is simply more printing and messaging prototyping to do before we’re ready to get 1000+ boxes made with the WRONG printing on them. :)
Can you see them at your local grocery store, hardware store, et. al.? Check these to assist your imagination. :)
Bit #3 SEM
Search engine marketing or SEM is where we’re getting the first successes in paid media. The short story is that I was just more excited about paid social than search. So, I focused on social first.
Lesson learned. You can be right for your curiosity but wrong for your goals. In other words, you can be excited about something but that alone doesn’t mean it’s going to be “right” for your goal of selling things.
Bing continues to turn off… and then back on… our ability to run search media on platform. The people we’re talking with don’t know why. #mystery
Weekends have a 1/10 of the current search traffic as the weekdays, roughly.
Sum
The ecosystem has potential. The package needs more iteration before scale. Paid search is a better channel today than any of the others we’ve been working on.
Change
After training for 5 days on a commercial sharpening machine a few things have changed. 1) I’m a much better sharpener. The tools don’t make the sharpener. The sharpener and their skill does. 2) I know this is going to work. I’ve seen it work. 3) I need far more power than 15 AMP service in the shop.
On Your Way
May you have new experiences that expand your skill set too. Seek them out. I’m refreshed and jacked, energized, after 5 days of learning and coaching. It’s not just about sharpening but about being alive. Consider something you’ve wanted to learn… find a course and enroll it in, TODAY. It’s worth it. It might not seem like it’s worth it. It will be.
Follow @josephrueter on Instagram or Linkedin. Follow Vivront.com on Instagram and Facebook.
Order your knives sharpened, or a subscription so a package just shows up on a schedule, at Vivront.com.