What the Survey Monkey Told Me

I recently surveyed my right people, or at least the people reading this blog so far. This site is just over one month old now — yay! — so I was pretty excited that 65 people in all took the survey and 41 of those left comments in the fill-in section. Thanks!

Photo by chrisparkeruk courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Survey Monkey says…

You are entrepreneurial.

• Nearly 75% of survey takers describe themselves as “active entrepreneurs.”

• The other one-quarter say they are aspiring ones.

Roughly half of you reading this are indie retailers or aspiring ones.

• 43% of survey takers say they are specialty retailers looking for more retail-related content.

• Over 9% say they are aspiring indie retailers.

• 3% say they have absolutely no interest in the boutique industry outside of being a shopper.

A little over a third of you are pretty hands-on creative.

• 37% of survey takers say they’re an artist, a designer, or a crafter interested in learning more about the boutique industry.

You’re fairly web/digital/tech savvy.

• 43% of you, to be exact.

• 21% of you say you’re a dunce when it comes to computer stuff.

Then I presented three info product ideas. I’m intent on creating my first free and paid products this Summer {yes, I know it’s almost mid-July!} and I want to be sure that they address a real need of the people who are getting the most value out of what I share here. I asked you to tell me which of the three info products you wanted to see first.

The product you told me you wanted to see first is…

A product to help you find the “voice” of your business and get you talking about it and writing for it in a way that makes your right people hang on your every word. This product won out over the other two by almost 20% of the votes!

The other two products — a shop owner’s guide to rocking the indie retail scene and becoming your customers’ favorite place to shop and a product to help you envision the unadulterated you, unearth your entrepreneurial mojo, and put your passion to work — were virtually tied for second place. The entrepreneurial mojo product won out by only one vote.

So, Yaysville! Guess which product I’m going to start mind-mapping next week?

For all of you who voted for the other two products, there’s a chance I’ll create those at some point, too. And you’ll certainly continue to see great free content around those topics here on Abby Kerr Ink.

I asked you to riff. I wanted to hear about what you’re hoping to see on Abby Kerr Ink, what you’ve gotten the most value out of so far, and how you think I could help you advance your entrepreneurial dream. Anything went. Here’s what some of you said:

“I just found your site and have been obsessively reading everything on it! I think I may need to hire you to write a tagline for my business. About your choices, I especially loved the third, but I’m not sure I can trust it. So many people are saying now that they can help you do that — and while I would love someone to help me, I’m just not sure. Can’t wait to see what you do.” – Anonymous

“It has become harder and harder to meet the needs of the buying public and make a living with such skinny margins. How can I maximize my return on investment? How do I identify trends? Being green is very important to me, and I’m disturbed at the number of young women buying from Ikea, Pottery Barn and the likes (usually made in China cheap goods). Like you, I work (out of passion AND need) seven days a week and am having difficulty taking proper time for me.” – D.

“Your enthusiasm and insight are a nice little kick in the butt for me! Keep it up! I really would love to see even more ‘nuts and bolts’. Specific ideas that we can act on {how to work social media, marketing, unique advertising idea, special events}. How to make us STAND OUT for all the others out there. I think that is something you excelled at with THE BLISSFUL.” – R.

“I just ‘found’ you this morning, and the value in the last 10 minutes has been realizing I am not the only ‘idea-driven-creative type’ out there who needs a kick in the wild ass every now and then.” – Anonymous

“I’d like to see more on how to find MY voice. One of your posts touched on emulating vs. imitating, and I think this is a big one. Originality & sincerity are invaluable in carving out one’s own niche — how do you make sure YOU are being YOU? It’s such a simple concept, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an easy one!” – Anonymous

“I know we live in the Midwest, but there’s another business like ours that has a big following. I know they’ve been around a lot longer, but do you have to be a gay man to get women into your shop???? ;)” – Anonymous { I love that my readers are funny!}

“I’d LOVE to explore the finding the business voice further, develop my own ‘phraseologie’ and words that customers will hang on and get excited about as much as they do photos.” – Anonymous

What this means for me as a content creator

I asked and you came through. Thank you. I’m listening. And more importantly, I plan to deliver. Over the next several weeks, I’ll keep you posted on the progress of my first info product — the one to help creative entrepreneurs find the “voice” of their business and speak it forth in a way that connects with their right people. To type out that promise makes me feel a tad daunted because — wow! — that’s a tall order. But it’s something I have a natural affinity for {it’s one of those topics I could talk about all day, you know?} and something I have proven experience in. So I know I can help you, too, if this is an area of need you have.

What you can takeaway from my survey experience

1. Try Survey Monkey for free. It’s easy and fun. And free. {Not an affiliate link.} Take a look even if you don’t think you’ll use it right now. It’s one of those tools that’s good to have in your naturally niche-y marketing toolkit. And you’ll probably have so much fun once you get in there — for free, yo! — that you’ll want to come up with a reason to survey your right people.

2. A pure and simple ask gets the job done. I wondered who was reading my new blog, what content they were connecting with the most, and what they thought I could teach them. And they told me! Now I can go forward into product creation with a good assurance that I’m making something my right people want and are ready for.

So I’m taking these survey results & runnin’ with ’em, baby. Lots more details to come.

In the comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the the “pure and simple ask” as it relates to your own creative enterprise. What questions do you need to be asking to help move you and your thing forward?