Episode #53: The Importance Of Defining A Vision Statement For Your Toy Business
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As a toy inventor or entrepreneur, you know that there are about a hundred decisions you make on any given day. A decision to partner with a specific person or organization, a decision in how you interact with your customers, the factory you choose, the suggested retail price point you set. And at times it can seem overwhelming and challenging to continue to make the right decisions day in and day out.
In this episode, we’ll talk about developing the key to guiding the decision making in your toy business, and that key is your vision statement. We'll go through a few examples of vision statements from both toy companies and non-toy companies and then highlight the 4 big questions you should ask yourself to start defining a vision statement of your very own.
Get ready to take action, and define the future vision of your toy business.
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Azhelle
You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, Episode Number 53.
Intro/Outro + Jingle
Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, a podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. And now your host Azhelle Wade.
Azhelle
Well hey there toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of Making It in The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. So a few months back, I posted in my free Facebook group for this podcast that I was in desperate need of a game night. And a bunch of you responded saying yes, I'm 100% down with a game night. And finally, it's happening. On Friday, January 29, I am hosting a live toy inventor and toy entrepreneur themed virtual game night, I partnered with two friends of mine who are the co-founders of this game called The Bundle, which is a customizable board game. And we have been creating custom questions, challenges and prompts for a very special bundle game for toy inventors and entrepreneurs, specifically who enjoyed this podcast. So get ready to answer questions like what was the worst idea you ever came up with? Or where do you go to for inspiration, but there will also be a few trivia questions related to this show. Join me for game night just by visiting gamenight.thetoycoach.com to sign up, and you'll automatically be registered for the virtual game night. Oh, and prizes. Yes, of course there will be prizes for the winners. First place is going to get 25% off their own custom bundle. Plus, they get to choose one piece of free merge from the toy coaches bread bubble store, that might be a T shirt, a notebook, a sticker, your choice. Okay, now that I've got you all amped up for game night, I want you to head over to gamenight.thetoycoach.com and register right away. Today we are going to discuss the importance of having a vision for your toy business. When you start a toy business, whether it's as a toy inventor or entrepreneur, it is extremely important that you have a singular vision that is leading the decisions that you are going to make inside of that business. As I've said many times before, in business and social media, consistency is key. It's the key to success. Putting out that consistent content, or just inventing and pitching consistently is the only way you can really try to assure any success will come out of your hard work. And why is that? That's because the more you try at something, the more you hone a skill, the better you will get at it. And the better you are at a skill as you repeat that action again and again, your likelihood of achieving something remarkable are going to increase. But without having a vision for your toy company or your toy product or your toy business, you will easily find yourself thrown off track distracted by many things. We call it shiny new object syndrome, or frustrated with your own slowed progress. And you might wonder why is this happening. And the key to all of that is really having a vision behind your toy business that is driving your key decision making. So that's what we're going to dive into today, we are going to talk about the importance of having a vision for your toy business. And we're going to get into a few examples of visions from other toy companies. And I'll show you how to define your vision statement. And we're going to talk about why it's so important that your vision also align with your true beliefs, your abilities and your ideal lifestyle. And at the end, I'll give you a quick little exercise that you can do to define a vision statement for your toy company, no matter how big or small today. To start off. As always, I like to start with a simple definition. What is a vision exactly? Well, a vision is an ideal view of the future. And what does it mean to be a visionary in business? Well, a visionary in business is someone who not only can see that ideal future, but they can also see the different paths they need to go to achieve it. And they can visualize the steps that are needed to lay the groundwork to go on those paths. Now why is it important to have a vision for your toy company even when it's small and you're just starting out? Well as a toy inventor or a entrepreneur, you will have many decisions to make in your toy business. These decisions will include everything from the factories you choose to work with the toy agents you choose to hire, the way you communicate with your customers on social, the factory costs that you target, and even the category of toys that you develop. Having a vision for your toy business and developing a clear and thoughtful vision statement or sometimes it's also called a mission statement will help guide your choices make decision making a little bit easier, and help you maintain your true path toward your desired goal. Now, there may be times in your toy business when you turn down opportunities or projects that really don't align with your mission statement. But oftentimes staying focused on what that mission or vision is, is what is going to attract your ITM your ideal target market and entice them to buy your toy product. To explain how a vision statement can do that. First, you've got to know what a vision statement is. So what is a vision statement? A vision statement is a one sentence inspirational statement of an idealistic future of your toy business of vision statement will in a few words, state who your product will serve and how your product will improve their lives or even their state of mind. It could be something you've already achieved, yet planned to continue achieving. Or it could be something you've just started to achieve or haven't achieved, but you really want to maintain your focus on. Okay, so let's look at a few examples of vision statements from different companies. We're going to do two toy companies and one non toy. First step I want to take a look at MGA. I pulled this mission statement from their website MGA mission statement reads, "our mission is to entertain children around the world and become a memorable part of their childhood". What that mission statement tells you is the goal of this toy company is to create a lasting impression on the kids that play with their toys around the world. How do we know this? Well, we break it down. The first part says our mission statement is to entertain children around the world. So from that part of the sentence, we see that their mission is a global one. So you can assume that this company's focus will be on play patterns, designs, character styles, and packaging designs that have a global appeal. So they might stay away from themes or concepts that are too locally niche to specific to any one region. And for packaging, that might mean that they have an entire design team dedicated to just redesigning packaging to fit each language without losing the brand identity or the styling of that packaging. But it also might mean that they have a company wide effort to reduce the amount of language on every package to reduce the number of translations needed because their main goal is a global one. Now the second part of this mission statement is "and to become a memorable part of their childhood". Now that part is pretty powerful. What that tells me is that this company is looking to the past, looking at what toys created lasting memories for kids in the past, figuring out why and drawing from the essence of what made those memories so strong, and so deep seated so that they can reimagine them into modern toys. Now, I said we're going to do two toy companies and one non toy. So second, I want to look at IKEA's mission statement, because it's so simple yet tells you so much pulled from their website IKEA's mission statement is this "our vision is to create a better everyday life for many people", now I really can't break this one into two parts I don't really need to their key words here, though, are better everyday life for many people. And what this mission statement gives insight on which is interesting is price point. The words every day alludes to average price points, perhaps mid to low price points, but the word better pulls up the value without necessarily lifting the price point. And finally, the words many people express the reach that they intend to have on their business. They're not looking to serve only the middle class, and they're certainly not solely for the elite. But the term many people offers a simple evening of the playing ground, globally, and social economically that aligns so well with a simple straightforward nature of their entire brand. Okay, now for our final example of a vision statement, let's look at wild stuff toys. Wild stuff has pulled out some incredible product over the fast past couple of years from the invisibility cloak to well, pods and most recently, the chibi gang. Now I've told their CEO that their innovation is so tempting to make a girl want to move to the UK just for a shot to work and with their team. But in an interview with a and b media, Richard North states that the company's mission is to, quote, partner with tier one licensed brands and work until our brains hurt to deliver innovation that is on brand and in universe and quote. Now, that is a powerful mission statement, it's clear, clear that this toy cloak main focus is on partnering with number one brands and delivering the highest of innovation that aligns perfectly with the universe of the licenses that they take on. So let's break this one down. How could this simple one sentence mission statement simplify business decisions? Well, let's look at the first part to partner with tier one licenses. So that means if it really appealing tier two or tier three brand shows up at their doorstep, as much as they may want in there kept in line and infocus with their own mission statement. And part to work until our brains hurt to deliver innovation that is on brand and in universe. This statement means that they are relentless in their innovation. What that tells me is that if you look at their product development calendar, you might see three times more time given in the product development concepting phase, then most companies, or you might see a more stringent approval process or checklist that will allow a concept to pass that initial stage. I mean, quite frankly, it gives you the idea that maybe they get to a point where their entire team agrees that this is the next idea they're going forward with it. And maybe a lead team member says okay, but does your brain hurt? And if they say no, then keep let's keep on thinking that's our focus here. So you can see with all of these examples, how a really well thought mission statement can really define the structure of your toy company or your toy business, no matter how big or how small it is. So I want to just quickly look at a scaled down, you know, made up example of this. Let's say your mission statement is to create the highest quality interactive plush toys. And then you have a great idea for a plush dog that barks and runs to the door when their kid owner comes home just like a real dog. And you think the idea is done, you work with a factory to develop it, put it on your website or on Amazon and you sell it. But what if your mission statement was to create the highest quality, interactive plush toys and get it in the hands of kids who needed the most? well with that mission statement, your product development and launch process might actually include time to build up a partnership with an organization that will help increase the reach and visibility of your product. And maybe even offer funding to give a certain number of your plush dogs to kids who need them the most. And that partnership could expand your reach to your ITM, which is your ideal target market, which only will help your business grow more and assist in the launch of your next product by making sure that your market is aware of the mission of every product that your company puts out. Without having that mission statement or that vision statement in place, you could easily miss out on opportunities to partner with the right people that might help your product reach new heights. Now the reason that I said earlier that it's important that your vision or your mission statement aligns with your beliefs, your abilities and your ideal lifestyle is because in order to follow your vision statement or your mission statement of your business, you have to commit to that statement every single day in every idea you come up with. You have to believe in your heart in your gut in your mind that this vision is the correct vision that is going to lead you on a path of success. Because during those times where you have to say no to certain projects, or you have to take on projects that feel like a huge challenge. Knowing that your reason is driven by a mission statement that you spent time developing will make Those hard choices a little bit easier. Okay, now so at this point I've sold you, you're thinking, oh man, you're right. I need a vision statement. What do I do? How do I come up with one? Okay, so here's what you're gonna do. It's really simple. Just ask yourself a few questions. Who does your company create products for? How will your product make people feel? And how will your product affect or change their lives? And you could also toss in one more if your company has been in business a little while, which of your products tend to be your most successful? Now that one's a really good one. Now once you have an answer to all of those questions, your next step is to cut down and craft these answers into one sentence. You're going to pull over it from here and a word from there. And this is your homework toy people. I want you to come up with a vision statement for your toy business, no matter how small it is. And I want you to dm it to me on Instagram. I want you to tell me when you figure out what your mission statement what's your vision for your toy business is because once you tell someone you are claiming it and owning it and committing to it, so feel free you are now welcomed and invited to DM me and tell me what your mission statement for your toy businesses. Okay, toy people. That is all I have to share with you today. I really hope you enjoyed this episode, all about how to create a vision for your toy business. If you are an aspiring toy inventor, or entrepreneur, make sure you take that vision statement or that vision statement. And check out toy creators Academy at toycreatorsacademy.com the first of its kind online course for aspiring toy people like you. And today I've got a listener spotlight. This awesome review came in a few days ago and this review is from Gina Poo. Gina Poo says inspiration booster. I am not even in the toy industry and I love listening to Azhelle and her guests. She always has refreshing interviews with out of the box thinking that inspires me to take action in my own kids centric industry. Highly recommend. Thank you so much for that awesome review, Gina. I really appreciate it. And as always, thank you for joining me here today. I know there are many podcasts out there. So it really means the world to me that you tuned in to this one. Until next week. I'll see you later two people
Intro/Outro + Jingle
Thanks for listening to Making It in The Toy Industry podcast with Azhelle Wade, head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips and advice
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🎓Learn more about how you can develop and pitch your toy idea with Toy Creators Academy® by clicking here to visit toycreatorsacademy.com and join the waitlist.
