Sometimes the most brilliant ideas are also the easiest ones, and sometimes “shortcuts” pay off.

Like most of us, you’ve probably spent a lot of time reading books written by successful people. You probably follow a few blogs, listen to podcasts, and try to soak up as much knowledge as you can from self-made millionaires.

If you don’t do this, you should start. It’s good for you.

Anyone who pays attention to successful people will inevitably notice that they all share one thing in common: the efficient use of time.

Sometimes it even seems superhuman. No doubt you recall the controversial interview with Elon Musk on The Joe Rogan Experience. Say what you will about either of them, but it is worth noting that the very first question Joe asked was how Musk finds the time to accomplish all of the (zany) things he does.

Think about that for a moment. Joe, who isn’t a billionaire by any stretch of the imagination (but who is a surprisingly accomplished interviewer), chose to ask one of the wealthiest people on the planet that question first, before anything else.

We’re talking about the opportunity to have a conversation with a guy who launches rockets and makes flamethrowers for kicks, and the first question asked was about time management.

Yeah, it’s that important.

How This All Ties In With Your Private Label Product Business…

As it turns out, absurdly successful people like the aforementioned don’t actually have super powers. They’re regular people who operate on the same 24-hour-day just like us. However, they do have clever ways of using their time.

The more of these clever tricks you have up your sleeve—time hacks, if you will—the more you’ll be able to accomplish in less time.

So what if there was a way for you to get rock-solid private label product ideas darn near passively as you go about your day?

Rather than sitting at your desk, poring over statistics and products for hours on end, what if you could reach the end of the week with dozens of proven-to-sell product ideas… without changing your schedule or working overtime?

What if you could do that for free, without buying expensive software or outsourcing research to someone else?

Needless to say, it’d probably be a game changer both in terms of data collected and time saved.

Here’s how it’s done:

Your Shopping Trips are Now Research Opportunities

How many times per week are you out shopping?

For most of us, it’s at least once, and probably closer to two or three times. Maybe you have to hit the grocery store, grab a few things at a big-box store, and pick up a needed item at a specialty store, like sporting goods or pet supplies.

These trips, which you’d have to make anyway, should be viewed as priceless research opportunities—ones that might lead to a richly successful private label product idea. Kind of makes the prospect of going to the store a bit more exciting, doesn’t it?

Keep your eyes open no matter where you are, but keep in mind that private label product ideas are likely to be found more easily at specialty stores. You now have an excuse for that shopping trip you’ve been putting off to stores like…

• Hobby Lobby® (Crafts)
• Big 5® or Cabela’s® (Sporting goods)
• Petco® (Pet supplies)
• Bath & Body Works (Bath/home goods)

The reason specialty stores make the process easier is because they sell a specific category of product. Comparing products and finding niche items is simplified because they’re likely to have things you might never have even thought of before.

Having said that, department stores like Sears® often yield great ideas too.

How to Find Private Label Product Ideas at Stores

Now that you know where to look, let’s discuss what you should be looking for during your next shopping trip/research expedition.

You should already have an idea of the general characteristics of a viable private label product. We discuss this at length in other posts here on the blog, but here’s a quick crash course:

• The product shouldn’t weigh too much
• It should roughly fit in a shoe box
• It doesn’t have a ton of moving parts (that could break during shipping)
• The price point is likely somewhere between $20-$60

There’s more to it than that, but those are the broad strokes to keep in mind while you’re shopping.

Look everywhere you can in the store for items that fit your preferred description, but pay special attention to the products found at the ends of aisles. These displays are called endcaps and usually contain items matching most if not all of the criteria listed above. If the stock looks low (because people have been buying the product) that’s an even better sign.

Put Your Smartphone to Work

Since you probably already carry your phone with you everywhere anyway, the best way to create a “list” of your discoveries is to simply take a picture of the products you find while you’re shopping. This makes it incredibly fast and easy to “take notes” while you’re in the store.

Later on at home or the office, get your pictures from the shopping trip to check their BSR, reviews, etc. Keep your ideas/pictures organized however you prefer. Simple folders will do, but a note taking app like Evernote or similar can be helpful as well.

If you’re eager to check a product right away, you can use the Amazon Seller app on your phone. Go to the “Add a Product” section and pick the corresponding category for the potential product you found. You’ll get an idea of price ranges, BSRs, and more. This can help for quick answers when you’re wondering whether or not a product is worth further investigation.

Having said that, it’s better to have more product ideas than less, so take pictures of “potentials” liberally. Try and find at least 10 per trip—it shouldn’t be difficult.

If you’re feeling especially sociable, you can ask employees if they know of any products that seem to be very popular and always flying off the shelves. If they give you an odd look, you can always say you’re trying to come up with gift ideas. You’d be surprised at how interesting some of these employee insights are.

Putting it All Together: A List of Winners

If you really put this method into practice, you’ll have a nice big list of winners after a few weeks of shopping. We’re talking about dozens or hundreds of potentially viable products—all from doing stuff you’d be doing anyway. From your big list, you can narrow things down even further until you settle on an optimal product to run with.

Efficient use of your time can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Rather than trying to figure everything out on your own, wouldn’t it save you a lot of time to have access to the collected knowledge of people who have successfully launched private label products with millions of dollars in revenue?

You bet it would—talk about a shortcut that works.

When you decide to sign up here at Physical Product Pros, that’s exactly what you’ll get… plus plenty of other goodies like $12,000 worth of bonus resources, custom-built tools and apps unavailable elsewhere, and access to private mastermind events. Your time has value, so make the most of it!