Find Your Pain, Fix It and Create Your Business with Amy Fazackerley
Today, I’m excited to talk to Amy Fazackerley, CEO and Co- 
Founder of Lay-n-Go, a company that designs and manufactures innovative organizational solutions for life, play, and travel. Amy has been awarded three U.S. Utility Patents on her invention and distributes her products to leading retail companies domestically and internationally.
As a women-owned business, Amy has been featured on national TV shows like MSNBC’s Your Business, Fox and Friends, and Good Morning America.
She is very active in the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Women Presidents' Organization (WPO), DC’s Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and my personal favorite, the US Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council.
And yes, if you’ve been listening to past episodes, Amy is Adam’s wife!
In this episode…
In this episode, you will hear how Amy felt her scariest ask was how to get started in business, how to get started in manufacturing, where do you go? It’s hard to go overseas, share your ideas and not know anyone not to mention hand over a prototype and negotiate dollars and all the major details.
After stepping on loose Legos drove her over the edge, she brainstormed on how does one clean, corrale, and pick up after them without having to throw them all in buckets.
Her advice to others wanting to start a business is to know your pain point and solve it. Questions they should ask themselves include:
- Do you understand your audience and their price points?
- What problem are you solving? To Amy, it was “What would I want?”
- How do you plan to get the message across to make it better? Will they look at the product and say, “Oh my gosh, I need that!”
Some people can get stuck in perfectionism when they are getting ready to launch a product, and they shouldn’t. Learn from the mistakes you make, but get it out there. If something goes amiss, then quickly pivot and fix it. It’s a learning process, but it makes your product better and your brand stronger as well as reviews better.
Ask for feedback, always. Feedback is so important! It shows the customer you are listening to them. Customers want to feel like they are part of what you’re doing, so make it a priority and engage with them. Make your brand feel real!
Amy shares she goes through every day, week and year bumping into other problems. She loves finding products that provide simple solutions to make her daily life better.
When just starting out, how does one get feedback, expand and get people engaged? The strategies they used were organic growth by telling their stories. Someone out there will relate and react.
So, start with your story, grow organically, reach out to your friends and family, and use technology to your advantage.
Not everyone “gets” or listens to feedback that is shared, but all feedback needs to be listened to as it’s all positive and all an opportunity. It’s all information you can put in your toolbox to make it better and stronger.
Feedback could indicate changes are needed in education, changing the product, whether or not it’s off-trend, etc. Don’t look at negative feedback as a reason to throw everything out and start over rather look at it as if something needs tweaking. For instance, you might have the right product but are in the wrong place selling it to the wrong person.
It’s easy to get lost in ideas and start branching out, but you need to remind yourself to stay focused. Your core is your core. Sometimes you just have to say “no” as it isn’t aligned with your mission or vision. It’s easy to get distracted.
When it comes to sharing her time, Amy starts with family and friends, which lots of the groups have become. Looks at where she can add value.
Amy’s ask of listeners: If you’re listening to this, take a look at their website and share feedback. Would love to hear thoughts and ideas.
Promo code: April40 to get a 40% discount on any of the items!
Resources Mentioned in this episode
Sponsor for this episode...
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