Profitable, printable and a little bit weird - Sara Saleh

What happened when I stopped building “safe” offers, and finally launched the idea that scared me most

https://www.skool.com/murder-mysterious-6507/about

[00:00:01]: Hello everyone. Welcome to Profitable, Printable and a Little bit Weird. My name is Sarah Saleh and today I'm going to walk you through what happened when I stopped to build in safe offers and finally launched the idea that scared me the most. I have been working as a in the I've been on the online world for around eight, nine years now in various different things. I have tried courses, I have tried coaching, I've tried consulting, I've tried. I've had two memberships that didn't really light my fire or a line of what I'm doing and then I've decided to launch Murder Mysterious. Now Murder Mysterious is a printable digital product which I sell on Etsy and beyond. They are printable murder mystery games.

[00:00:54]: I've spent years helping others grow their business and ignoring fun ideas that were calling out to me because I was a little bit scared. But let me confess something to you. I never thought Murder would be the key to my some of my most profitable but my most enjoyable products. When I stopped hiding behind smart digital offers and like gave in to the weird idea that was whispering background honestly everything changed for me. Like everything changed for me. I used to create things like this, the ultimate course launch planner. Now working in as a tech marketing va Naturally I was like okay, I'm going to systemize and sell my knowledge, what system is and selling my knowledge. So I'm going to be selling stuff around course launching and how to get clients and how to do lead generation and how to set up lead forms and all that kind of stuff.  

[00:01:50]: Things I used to create looked strategic, they fit the industry mold and they sounded good on paper but they did not excite me. They didn't sound like I hoped and they just felt like a chore. Like literally I would be so I would launch stuff like this course launch planner. I would launch things, I'd put a back end upsell or something like that on it and I wouldn't really promote it because I didn't want to follow through with it. I didn't want to deliver it. I just, it did not light me up with joy. I even started a me I've had, I've had, I've tried two different styles of memberships around this this topic and even though everybody loved the membership and they said that I was a great coach and I helped them so much, it didn't light me up with joy. Honestly I used to dread getting on calls and it just wasn't for me.  

[00:02:43]: They some of them sold, some of them didn't. But I just didn't care about them. And I had this idea around what can I do that really lights my fire as a creative but also can give me the income and give me the money that I want. But the reason why I ignored these ideas is because I thought things like what will my email list think? This isn't serious enough. People will think it's a joke. No one will buy this. And I was terrified it would lose my inadverted commas brand. No one would take me seriously.  

[00:03:15]: And I am a visibly Muslim woman. And you, when you think of murder mystery writers, you don't automatically think of a visibly Muslim woman selling murder mystery games. It's quite controversial in some circles and I was scared to be seen doing something fun because I was trying to be this, you know, this coach. I was trying to be the person that I was trying to emulate and cookie cutter other big coaches in the space that I was working for or working with and it just didn't work. But why it worked, it did work and I gave in and I just had a hunch one day it was a September and I said to my husband, I'm going to try this. I'm going to put them on Etsy. No one even knows that I'm on there. So he was like, yeah, go for it.  

[00:03:57]: And he was really like supportive of me. And I started, I uploaded my first couple of games and I started getting sales straight away because it was unique in the market, it was high demand, low competition. I wanted to make it and it stood out in the sea of samey offers and my passion showed in every part of it. Like safe isn't always successful. Now I've got 1100 Etsy sales. Yeah, this isn't, this isn't like change your life living on a beach with my laptop money, but it's making me money every month. I'm doing it alongside my full time VA clients. So I'm a completely booked out va.  

[00:04:37]: I've got clients that I can't take any more clients on. I've got an email list of 4000 subscribers now in this brand. Absolutely crazy. It just blows my mind that everybody, these many, this many people share my passion. I'm building a thriving community on school now and of like fe fellow mystery lovers and creatives and I've got more creativity, momentum and confidence than ever. So you don't need, what, what does this mean for you? Okay, so you don't need to niche down into your vis invisible. You don't need to wait for permission to create Something fun and you don't need to stay in the safe zone now. This is more relevant now than when I first started.  

[00:05:16]: It's more relevant than ever. We are in an age of AI. We're an age of where the coaching industries exploded. The digital product market has completely exploded with the likes of the master resell rights people and all the PLR that's around. It's more accessible and easier than ever for people to come on create digital products. But what I see everywhere is the same old bland. I don't want to say bland. Sorry, it's really bad word.  

[00:05:46]: The same old vanilla types of products that everybody's doing the same. Go on Etsy for example and you have a look. If I put in planner, the same planners are up there and having something that's different that's a bit wild can definitely work for you. That weird idea in the back of your head might just be the one that works for you. So today I wanted to go through just the like a weird idea validation framework to kind of help you just get out your ideas that are in your brain and maybe get rid of some of those that what we call, I call it Auntie Imposter. She's my auntie. She's my imposter Auntie in the back of my head saying you can't do it, you know, you're not good enough that kind of stuff and just get it out on paper. Okay, if you see on the right hand side here, these are.  

[00:06:40]: These are some of the tiles in my Etsy store. So I've got a Carl Case file bundle as a couple of murder mystery games. I've made Murder Mystery Planners, all sorts of things. If you're in this bundle, I also have a. I've given out some free templates so you guys are going to be getting those first before I even put them out for general sale. What is the weird idea you keep thinking about? This is the one that feels fun, random or risky? What's the one that you'd secretly like to try if no one was watching? Okay. If it's whispering to you, it's worth exploring. Weird doesn't mean wrong, it often means real.  

Sarah Saleh [00:07:23]: So I'd love for you. I've actually created a free worksheet for you guys as well. It's called the Weird Idea Validation Map. That's. You're going to get the link for that as well. So I want you to write down your most inner thoughts. Okay. What are your most inner thoughts? What's the kind, what's the Product that you guys really want to create, but you thought, no, I can't do that, or no, it's not going to work, or no, I've got Validate.  

[00:07:49]: No, I can't do that. You know, you could be somebody. Let's get some. I mean, let's think of some real examples. Okay, so you could be a, I don't know, a coach, for example, who wants to do cooking, but you're like, I can't. I'm a mindset coach. I can't do cooking. Or a tarot deck for dog owners.  

[00:08:16]: Spooky cooking. So you could do spooky cookies. A meme, a workbook that's memes that helps people getting over their fear of showing up online. But it's memes, a passive income offer based on your obsession with Bigfoot. Like, what is it that you. Like, what is it that you really want to do that could be something that you really enjoy making. The next thing is what's holding you back. Okay, let's get honest for a second, because if you're anything like me, you don't actually need more ideas.  

[00:09:00]: You may already have one, maybe two, maybe seven. I have ADHD, I'm on the ASD pathway with the NHS and it's absolutely crazy. So I have ideas, 20 a day. But there's something between you and that idea that usually sounds like this is too random. No one would take me seriously. It doesn't fit my brand. What if it flops and I feel stupid? It's not strategic enough and I'm not creative enough to pull it off. That last one is the one that really stopped me.  

[00:09:33]: I've never seen myself as a creative. I've. But going through this process, I realize I am a massive creative. Does it sound familiar? Most of us aren't short on ideas, we're just scared of being judged for the wrong one. Or we're scared we've previously launched stuff and it's flopped. Or we've perceived as it's been flopped and we've convinced ourselves that the only good offers are the serious, polished professional ones. Tickle the boxes look like every single other person's doing. Or we're kind of looking each way and we're seeing what other people are doing and it's a bit too different from what they're doing.  

[00:10:11]: We're kind of scared to get out of the comfort zone. Some of the most profitable, joyful and connected products out there start with a whisper of an idea that someone was afraid to say out aloud. Now I want you to write down the thing that's holding you back and just get it out onto paper. I don't want the businessy version, I want the honest one. What fear, voice or story is keeping you from launching the idea that you actually want to make? What fear, voice or story is keeping you from launching the idea that you actually want to make? Think about that. And I know this can be quite deep for some people. We may have, like I said, we may have had different things going on in the past, but getting clear on what's holding you back is the first step to letting go. So don't worry about fixing it right now.  

[00:11:11]: Let's just name it, let's just get it out on paper and let's just start now. The next thing we want to look at is what's one tiny test you can run this week. I think a lot of you may be on here, maybe a bit more versed, maybe in the digital marketing world, if you're not in your beginning, that's great as well. If you're a beginner, testing offers is really important. Now often what we do is we will just post once or we put an idea out there because nobody replies to it. We think, oh, no one likes it. But even just putting that one test out can be really, really powerful for you, especially if you're in kind of holding yourself back. But I would suggest doing lots of small little tests.  

[00:12:04]: So no big launch, no fancy funnel. Just be grave brave and start one scrappy step at a time to see if your idea has legs. So some examples of this are could you post a poll on Instagram inside or inside your community? Inside a Facebook group on Instagram stories. Like for example, I would say, would you ever play a horror themed party game? Or would you ever do you like murder mystery stories? Or have you heard of Cold Case Files? What would your be? And I suggest you do this more than once because not everybody's going to see the first post and just keep doing it. Okay? Like I said, if it's something completely different out of your niche, it's worth even just trying anyway because you'll be surprised at the amount of people that have the same likes as you. Like, I was so shocked when I started putting murder mystery stuff like in public. Like I told you I was, I did, I did do the easy route and I put it on Etsy and tell anyone and it started making sales. I had so many people like, oh, I love this idea.  

[00:13:09]: Can I do like I was like, could I basically put out a free game because can anybody test the game for me? I had so many people contact me. Like people I wouldn't even imagine. That did was amazing. You could create a mock up of it and say, be honest. Would you like this? Would you use this? You could write a short post. You could send a mini email to your list teasing the idea. Do you want this? Yes or no buttons? Now if you've got an idea that's completely far out there, that's not in your audience, like I said, it's a lot of your audience may still want to try it. So I would definitely still try it anyway, just drop it in there.  

[00:13:51]: You could start listing some stuff on Etsy. If you are going to use Etsy, I would suggest that you try a tool like I use Insight Factory now it is a paid tool. I think you get two or three searches for free. I pay for it because obviously I use Etsy a lot and I make create digital products to help me find and kind of validate the idea. You can also use the Etsy search. So go on to Etsy search and validate the idea. You can just use Google as well. Just have a look around YouTube.  

[00:14:20]: Just put the idea of what you've got in there. I guarantee someone else is probably doing something very similar. But it just may seem a bit. The idea may be alien to you at the time. You could talk about your idea on like a live say, okay, I've been sitting on this ridiculous idea. What do you think? You'll be so shocked if your audience are like vibing with you and they're on your level. You'll be so shocked. It's so funny.  

[00:14:43]: I'll give you a story. You can go onto my Facebook page and have a look over the weekend. I wrote my ADHD some. I think I wrote my adhd Today is telling me that I want to create and launch a hot sauce brand this week. And I had so many comments and they were all saying like, they were like, oh, what flavors would it be? And things like that. And I was like, you guys are supposed to stop me from doing this, right? And that's totally, completely out there. Like, I love cooking. It's probably gonna be my next little wild side idea.  

[00:15:16]: But yeah, and it was so funny that my audience, like people that I've done like marketing coaching and like mindset coaching and stuff with, they actually really, they were, they were the ones that were coming in. I even had family comment in and I was like, yeah, you guys have to stop me. So you'll be so surprised that was just one post. Someone even said, can we pre order it? I was like, look, I've got my first customer. So validated by idea, you can offer a free test version like I spoke before for. And you can DM a couple of people that you trust for feedback as well to see what they think. So yeah, you don't need to fully commit to the idea. Remember that.  

[00:15:53]: You don't need to fully commit to idea. Don't think you have to create this big massive thing, put it out there and then you have to commit to it completely because you don't. That's what testing's for. We test. We have to test our products. Just stop hiding from it and just really kind of hone in on your skills. Use the map. So I've got the freebie.  

[00:16:12]: There is like a freebie. It's a Google sheet to help you plan and kind of journal and work through some of these ideas. Trust the thing and let it, let it be fun. This possibly could be the smartest business move you have made yet. I thank you so much for watching this. I hope you guys have enjoyed it and I haven't rambled on too much because, yeah, that's crazy about me. Just a little bit more about me. Like I said, find me on Facebook, I'm Sarah Amira Sal.  

[00:16:40]: On Facebook, I'm Sarah Sali, consultant on Instagram, I have created a free murder mystery community on school. It's called Murder Mysterious. Go and find me there. But apart from that, any questions, like I said, just go and find me on social media. You need any support and I really hope that you've enjoyed spending your time to me today and I really appreciate you spending 15, 20 minutes your time to hear me out and I really hope this helps you. But yeah, thanks a lot. Speak to you later. Bye.  

[00:17:08]: Bye.