Traveling on the path of least resistance to your first digital product

[00:00:00] Rene: Hey everyone. Welcome to Your First Digital Product, a show that helps maxed-out service providers create their first digital product so they can gain an additional income stream, grow their impact without increasing one-on-one work and experience more time freedom. On the show, I talk to business owners who have launched digital products and dig deep into how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. I'm your host, Rene Morozowich. Let's go. 

[00:00:28] Hey friends. Today I want to talk about finding and taking the path of least resistance. I think a lot of times we hold this hard path in such esteem. Like if it's not hard, it's not worth it. And we have sayings like "you're taking the easy way out" which we look at as not the best way to go about something. So if you've ever had kids and let's say you needed to donate for their bake sale, the preferred way and the hard way is to bake those cookies from scratch and package them up and send them in. And if you're buying cookies, which is easier and the path of least resistance and sending those in, maybe you feel like less than, or other people can make you feel less than or worse, even just sending in a donation instead of baking those cookies. So I want to talk about all of this today. 

[00:01:15] Not so much cookies, although I love cookies, but taking that path of least resistance and why it's okay. And why I think it's preferred for your first digital product. 

[00:01:23] So really quickly before we dive in, I really want to learn more about the problems that you're having with your product. So that could be creating, it could be launching, it could be marketing, anything, any problems you're having. So I'm doing some free 15 minute, no strings attached calls. No sales, no pitches, nothing like that. I won't even add you to my email list unless you really want to be on there of course. And if I can offer any thoughts or resources I will, but really my goal is to learn more about you so that I can understand and create the best possible content. My goal for 2023 is to do 25 of these calls. So if you would like to help me out, I'd be forever grateful and you can go to [00:02:00] yfdp.show/convo and learn more and sign up. 

[00:02:03] A couple of weeks ago, I put something on Twitter. A joke that I'm thinking about renaming this podcast, something like digital products you don't have to do it that way. Because I've heard so many stories about products being hard or difficult, or having to be done in a certain way. Now this episode isn't so much like here's what you should do, but here are some things to think about while you're creating your product, while you're marketing your product, while you're launching. So I want to tell you that it can be easy. It can be fun and it can be simple. And most importantly, it can fit you. It can fit your style, it can fit your process and your audience. It doesn't have to be done in any one specific way. 

[00:02:48] So let's talk about how it can be easy. And for this I'm referring to your content. So it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be grueling. You are an established service provider. You've been doing this for a while. So you know what you are talking about, you know your stuff, and hopefully you enjoy it. Hopefully if you're thinking about creating a product, you are at the point where you're looking to learn and grow in another area instead of, you know, getting out of this business altogether. 

[00:03:15] So hopefully, you know your stuff and you enjoy it. Sometimes, I think when things are easy for us, we think that they're not really like worthwhile or maybe enough, like it was too easy. Maybe you find this with your clients, possibly not wanting to charge them for something that only took you a few minutes. But you really have to remember that it only took you a few minutes now because you have so much experience, you have so much knowledge. So taking that knowledge and getting it out. It should be easy for you to talk about this topic for any length of time, whatever your specialty is. 

[00:03:52] And then let's talk about it being fun. It should be fun to create this product. So the knowledge you already have, [00:04:00] it should be easy to get that out and think about like, what is fun for you? So maybe that's making templates or spreadsheets or creating video or audio. Don't force yourself into creating something that is not fun for you. If you hate video, don't sit down and create a course with 50 videos in it. You're not going to want to do that. That's not going to be fun for you. That will also come across to your audience. What's fun for one person isn't necessarily fun for the next person. Like cooking a full course meal. Not fun for me. I wish it was, but it is not. But what is fun for me is not fun for someone else and vice versa. So think about what is fun for you. You don't have to do it any specific way. And then for the parts that aren't fun for you, like maybe the technical parts or the marketing parts. You can find someone who thinks that those parts are fun to help you. So for example, you hear this a lot about bookkeeping. You know, if you're a service provider, a freelancer or whatever, you hear something like, uh, identify all of the parts of your business that you don't take a lot of joy in and outsource those and bookkeeping comes up a lot. So if you don't enjoy bookkeeping, you can find someone to help you with that part, but hopefully the creation of the actual content is fun for you. If you are using the content that you know so much about and doing it in a format that you really enjoy. 

[00:05:25] It also can be simple. I know we like to overcomplicate things. You can use content you've already created. You can use software that you already have, and yes, there are pieces that you might not be familiar with, but just start with what you know. Start with things that you already have and expand from there. You can expand later. I've done a lot of interviews where people have the full system already set up. Right. They have the lead magnets and the products and the upsells and the nurture sequences. But they didn't start there. They didn't start with all of that stuff right off the bat. 

[00:05:56] This podcast and my advice to you is just [00:06:00] starting. Right. Starting. Launch one product. Create something that you are proud of, that you like, that is fun for you to create. And then go from there. And then maybe add those lead magnets and the upsells and the nurture sequences. Simple is also better for other people too, for your customers, because it is less overwhelming. And I know I've talked about this a number of times. You can go back and listen to any of my solo episodes and probably some interviews too. It may seem like giving more is best. Like, oh, here I can give them this and this and this and this, but really simple is better. Simple is better. I know I go back to the kid analogy a lot. But I think a lot of us can identify with it and think about like, when your kids were little, you can't tell a three or four or five year old to do this and this and this. You have to give them one thing to do. And then let them do it and then give them something else to do. So keeping it simple can be easier for you and easier for your audience. Really my goal and what I want to share with you is that you should have balance in your business. It shouldn't take up all of your time to create this. It shouldn't be hard and feel hard. It shouldn't consume all of your mental energy because I recognize that you have other priorities as well, and they can co-exist. You can be serving clients and creating a product and not missing out on fun things with your family and friends and your social life. If you are creating a product and it is taking up all of your time and mental energy. Look at the path that you're on. Are you on the hard path? Like, are you on a path that is just taking up so much time that you can't focus on anything else. Is there a path of least resistance that you could jump to? Just think about that. Now this podcast and my brand is about the scenic route. So i'm a proponent of the scenic route but i want to just clarify you know in my metaphors here and that the path of least [00:08:00] resistance and the scenic route are not in opposition of each other. So I mean the scenic route to be one that isn't rushed or hurried or crazy fast to the exclusion of everything else. It's a path that you can enjoy along the way not just the destination. And I do think that the path of least resistance could very well be the scenic route. It could be a nice path alongside the river, a nice rails to trails or something like that if you will. One that is not super hard and is enjoyable and gets you to somewhere that you want to go. So are you on the hard path instead of the path of least resistance? What would it feel like for you to change paths? What would the path of least resistance look like for you? What does that path look like? Send me a voice message at yfdp.show/share. I'd love to hear from you. 

[00:08:51] Hey, thanks for listening. I'd love to continue the conversation in your inbox. Email SUBSCRIBE to hey at yfdp.show or sign up in the show notes to get bimonthly emails about how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. Can't wait to see you there.