 you need to choose the right product because if you don't have the right product, you're going to lose motivation when it doesn't sell, when no one wants it, and you're going to end up be quitting. And that's the reason why you should really consider these 10 characteristics to analyze your food concept with. Once you analyze your food concept, you're going to tell, you're going to know whether it's the right product or not. Now, to give you a little bit more context of the characteristics that I'm sharing with you, there are no right or wrong answers. The only reason why I'm bringing it up is for you to understand what are the different characteristics that you should consider. Once again, this is not a must have for your item. It's just to expose you to different areas and different ways of thinking about your food items. Now, let's dive right in. Ingredients, what are the shelf life of the ingredients? Are they perishable or non perishable? Because if you're using milk a lot of times for your food, and if you are not able to sell through it, then you're going to have a lot of wastage, whereas dried fruits, they have much longer shelf life and it's going to be able to save you some money. You're not going to have to always go out and get fresh milk. So that's the difference between finding a product or finding a food concept and the ingredients that's entailed for that specific concept. Next up, the weight and the size. How big is your product? Is it easy to handle? Is it going to be always lugging boxes for you? Because you're going to be running this business most likely from home. How much storage space is it going to take? And that's the reason why you need to consider the weight and the size. Next up, shipping. Can your product be shipped? For example, frozen dumplings would have an issue when you're going to get someone to help you ship this item because you need it to be required to stay at a certain temperature all the time. Same thing with, for example, cakes. How are you going to be able to ship your cakes? All these needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to selecting the right product. Homemade bread kits consist mainly of bread mixes and recipe books. So that becomes really easy for you to ship that out and people won't mess up the whole experience for your customers. Next up, packaging. Is it possible to break for your packaging? So for example, we created this brand called Bubbasaur. What are Bubbasaur? It's DIY kits for bubble tea at home. And within this kit, we also include a mason jar for our customers. And this, it will break. But because of the fact that I think this would be a better experience and it'll enhance it, it's something that I'm willing to take on as a lot. So understanding that there is glass and understanding that there will be possible breakage doesn't stop me from going ahead with the sample. And throughout the rest of the modules, we're going to be using Bubbasaur as an example to show you. We created this business from scratch specifically to show you how to start that food business. Okay. Next up, spoilage. Once again, how difficult is the product to make? Would there be a lot of wastage of ingredients during the making process? You need to consider the spoilage because that adds to the cost of your product, which ultimately determines the price that you're selling it at. If you don't know and if you don't account for your spoilage, you might end up selling the products for too cheap and you're not going to be able to make enough money to sustain your business. Next up, logistics and storage. I talked briefly about that. Does it require a lot of space? That is something to consider, especially if you're going to be running a home business. Next up, labor. How long does it take you to make this product? A lot of people would not account for their own labor when it comes to producing these kits or these items. And it's very, very important for you to account for your own labor because you are running a legitimate business. So if you don't account for your labor, how do you know whether working at McDonald's for $8 an hour would be better than you spending 50 hours creating this new item that you're sending out and selling it for only $20, $30. So understand how long it takes. Popularity. Is the item well known or if it's completely new to your customers. If the concept is too novel, too new, then it requires some time for your customers to know about it, to be educated about it, to actually want it. If it's too saturated, then no one will buy from you. So having that medium ground is important, that they have heard about it, that they're open to receiving and open to trying it out. Next up, price point. If the price is too low, is it really worth your time? So for example, a box of cookie for seven bucks, but yet it requires three hours of your time to make, is it worth it or is it not? Next up, investment. How much is initial startup costs that you need and do you need a lot of specialized equipment to create these things? And once again, these items are just for you to be aware of. So as an example, I talked about Bulbasaur as our homemade Bulba kit. And this is basically our checklist with the different checklists that we have, the explanation of each of these items, analyzation, and now it is going to be your turn very soon to start creating that list. It's going to be in the resource link below, which you can download, look at it and actually fill it in for yourself. No, once again, I need to bring this up the third time. If these characteristics are not met, that does not mean your product is no good, okay? I'm bringing it to your awareness so you're aware of it. You can continue to proceed, but if you are blindsided, then that's not a good business person. You need to be aware of it and it becomes a choice that you make. Use this as a checklist so then that way you're aware of it. Something we recommend is at least eight out of 10 would be a good product and Bulbasaur hits that mark. Now it is your turn. Go through the catalog of products template to help your brainstorm for even more ideas, and on top of that, analyze the product of your choice by completing the characteristics.