Creating Demand For A Market That Never Existed

Have you ever had an idea for a product or service, but let it slip away when you were told there was no market for it?

I have learned that just because there is no market for an idea or service, that does not mean you can’t make one. The best example of that was Apple and the iPhone. It was a revolutionary product that no one knew they needed until they actually used it. Now it’s a product people can barely live without.

Sure Steve Jobs was an extraordinary man with extraordinary vision, but that doesn’t mean little guys like us can’t do the same.

Take for example my story…

Inspired by Melissa Love of The Design Space Co, I had a dream to build & sell 3rd party products for WordPress designers and developers who use Divi. My target audience would be people who design and sell websites for a living which for obvious reasons, would be a pretty hard sell. But I knew that once they had their hands on a great design that they can use over and over again on their projects, they would see the benefits and value.

So to help make this vision a reality, I had to establish a niche market base that was not even in existence at the time. The strategy I came up with was to create a marketplace where other designers and developers who use Divi, could create and sell these products as well. The more people doing it, the more comfortable people would feel buying such products.

I knew I could not take on such an endeavor alone so I reached out to a small handful of members within the Divi community and I pitched my idea. Once this team was established, I then worked tirelessly for 4 weeks designing, developing  & then launching the first phase of the marketplace. Once I got the momentum going and people were finally getting excited about it, I was then able to step down and hand off the marketplace to the others so that I could continue to focus on Monterey Premier & creating products.

Fast forward 15 months later: the market has grown and so has the number of designers and developers who create plugins and child themes. In fact, there are now 3 multi-vendor marketplaces (including our very own Monterey Premier) and well over 15 independent shops who sell their own 3rd party Divi products. You can find a list of some of them on Quiroz.co.

Divi 3rd party product sales continue to grow and the Divi Premium Child Theme market is not only accepted, it is thriving.

“In fact, despite still being in its infancy, the growing Divi child theme ecosystem is starting to look like it might be set to rival the selection available for other popular WordPress frameworks.” – Joe Fylan (Elegant Themes)

Design agencies all over the world use these products to reduce costs, labor and time invested in their web design projects. Many are now able to offer low cost alternatives for the clients with a smaller budget. Its is benefiting non-profits, churches, small businesses and a lot of personal business owners who want to build their own websites but do not have the design know how.

So if you have an idea for a product no one is using, here is my advice:

5 Tips For Creating Demand For a Market That Never Existed

Dream Big & Go Big.

Most people said there is no way people will pay $175 for a child theme when you can buy a full parent theme for much less. And there is no way a Divi 3rd party Marketplace will be able to hold it’s own against huge WordPress Marketplaces like Envato or Template Monster. In my case, I know I have a Big God and I have learned over the years HE likes to do Big Things in our lives.

Take That Step of Faith.

The biggest failure we can make is not giving it a shot. What do you have to lose? I have made several leaps of faith over the years and many have led to absolutely nothing. But looking back, each one taught me something – perseverance, handling failure, being humbled or seeing the fruit of my labor. You will never know unless you tried and that in and of itself is worth taking that leap.

Bring Others Along.

We were never meant to do it alone. Steve Jobs did not do it alone. Bill Gates did not do it alone. Mark Zuckerberg did not do it alone. We are meant to be a gathered society. We are meant to be a community. It takes a village to raise a child, or in this case a child theme (Sorry about that. Had to say it). Monterey Premier is slowly ramping up to be a team of like minded people with some really great things in common. And for me that’s what it’s all about.

Take Risks.

It was a big risk sharing my idea with people I hardly knew. Not everything went smooth. In fact, we had many differences. But I knew it was important that the very first marketplace had to persevere. And although we had many differences, I took the risk and continued to support it until the market was established. It felt very much to me like the weaning of a child. But as new marketplaces began to spring up and the number of developers and designers creating these products grew, I knew it was well worth the risk.

Believe in Yourself.

I got a lot of flak for pricing my products higher than most Premium WordPress Themes including Divi itself. But I knew that once people caught on to the benefits, they would absolutely love it and find its value. Sure it took time and many people tried to convince me to drop my prices. Their idea was to sell thousands for real cheap. But I knew that if I took that approach it would eventually lead to burn-out and producing cheap products. So I stuck to my guns. I believed in what I was doing and I believed in the benefits for the customers. As a web designer and developer, I knew how such a product would benefit me. I invested $3000-$5000 in labor on some of these projects that only sell for $175 each. But I knew that even if I never sold a single product, my investment would pay off in the number of small businesses, non-profits and churches I would now be able to help without losing money. And pretty soon others began to see the value as well.

So the next time someone tells you your idea is never going to work or there is no demand, look down at your phone and remember you never knew you needed it until you had one.

Image Credit: Deposit Photos

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Geno Quiroz

Geno is the Owner/Creative Director at Monterey Premier based in Monterey, Ca.. He has been designing websites since 1996 and enjoys all things design, traveling, hanging out with friends, encouraging other believers, and experimenting with new technologies. When not doing any of the above, you can find Geno blogging here, or writing Divi customization tutorials over on Quiroz.co.

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