Groundbreaking: The Yard Socket Story

Sep 12

3 min read

Building a product. Building a business. Figuring it out as we go.

Starting a Product-Based Business: I Invented Yard Socket. Then I Had to Build One.

When I came up with Yard Socket, the idea seemed pretty straightforward.

Put a reusable socket in the ground once. Then instead of repeatedly pushing stakes into the dirt, trying to get everything straight again, or finding the same location next season, you simply use the socket that's already there.

Anchor Once. Swap Forever.

Simple.

What I didn't understand was that inventing the product and building a business around the product are two completely different things.

Suddenly I wasn't just thinking about whether Yard Socket worked.

I was learning about UPC codes.

Packaging.

Shipping weights.

Box dimensions.

Websites.

Product photography.

Labels.

Wholesale pricing.

Manufacturing.

Business banking.

Retailers.

Distributors.

And approximately 47 other things I didn't even know existed when I started. 😂

How Big Does a Box Need to Be?

This sounds ridiculous until you're the person paying for the box.

Too small and the product doesn't fit.

Too large and you're paying to ship air around the country.

Then there's the material. The appearance. Labels. Protection. Cost per package. Minimum order quantities. Whether your supplier can actually keep providing the same packaging if sales increase.

Suddenly:

"I need a box."

becomes a research project.

And that's been one of the biggest lessons of building Yard Socket.

Every answer seems to create three more questions.

Then There Are UPC Codes

Want to put a product into retail?

Welcome to another rabbit hole.

Our Yard Socket X and O versions are different products, which means product identification matters.

Then we made another decision: Yard Socket would be sold in 4-packs for $59.95 with free shipping.

Four X Yard Sockets or four O Yard Sockets.

That decision affects everything from UPCs and inventory to packaging and shipping.

Something customers may never think about becomes a surprisingly important business decision behind the scenes.

Where Do You Buy the Packaging?

Another question I never expected to spend this much time thinking about.

Local?

Online?

Custom manufacturer?

Alibaba?

Do you buy 50?

500?

5,000?

Buying more can lower your cost per package, but buying 5,000 packages for a product you're still introducing to the market is one heck of a way to discover you chose the wrong box.

So you balance price against risk.

Then second-guess yourself.

Then research it again.

Then change your mind.

Then realize your original idea wasn't actually that bad.

Welcome to starting a business.

And Then You Overthink Everything

This might be the most universal part.

Is the website good enough?

Should the packaging be different?

Is $59.95 the right price?

Should this sentence be shorter?

Should the logo be larger?

Will retailers understand the product?

Will customers understand it?

Should I change something that was perfectly fine yesterday because I've stared at it for six hours today?

Sometimes the hardest thing isn't finding another improvement.

It's knowing when something is good enough to put in front of a customer.

But Then Something Happens

Someone sees Yard Socket and gets it.

A customer places an order.

A business responds to an email.

Someone in the industry says they're interested.

A package containing something that started as an idea in your head gets sealed, labeled and shipped to an actual person.

Those moments are different.

Because suddenly this isn't just an invention sitting on a workbench.

It's a business.

There have already been mistakes, changes, victories, frustrating days and some pretty exciting ones.

There will undoubtedly be more.

That's what this blog is going to be about.

Not just Yard Socket the product.

We're going to share what happens while trying to build Yard Socket the company.

The UPC codes.

The packaging mistakes.

The manufacturing decisions.

The emails that go unanswered.

The ones that don't.

The wins.

The failures.

And probably a healthy amount of overthinking.

Because somewhere else, another person has an idea sitting in their garage, workshop, notebook or computer and is wondering:

"Could I actually turn this into a business?"

We're finding out ourselves.

And we're going to show you what happens.

“The finish line moves as you mature into your position, your spot in life. Only then does the real race start.”

— Kevin Scott Walters

Welcome to Yard Socket.