In creating a game, what’s the worst thing that could happen?
In my business world, it’s the wasting of time and money. Of course, I’ve done plenty of that! I’ve also seen plenty of people wasting energy and resources, especially when producing games. It seems that game creating should be all fun (and I think it is!) but sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know!
Last week I was on a mastermind call with a business/spiritual coach that I love. One of the other participants on the call was excited about creating an oracle style deck for her business. She had some beautiful graphics and couldn’t wait to create a fabulous product for her business. She was envisioning a viral product that would support her business’ growth. Someone mentioned that perhaps I could help her.
Of course I can!
I know how to make game decks more fun, easy and profitable. I’ve made and seen many of the common mistakes (and some not so common ones!), and I can see ahead and envision all kinds of challenges that could derail the process (and make in very Un-Fun!).
Potential Mistakes
The first issue that I saw for this woman is the first on the list below. Being ordinary. Although her subject was interesting, a deck of beautiful oracle cards is becoming more and more ordinary. Of course, I do love oracle decks and I own many of them, yet it only takes a little time, creativity and testing to add some game components so it’s more engaging and more likely to be picked up, shared and used by those who own it!
For her deck and business, I suggested adding a complementary component from her training that made the cards ‘playable’. This can be as simple as adding numbers and/or suits to the cards. Or for even more fun, add some wild cards. There are many gaming strategies that can augment and bump up the fun factor of your game and make an ordinary deck into an extraordinary game.
Why create ‘just a deck’ when you can create a GAME!
The next thing I suggested for her was waiting to create her game deck until she knew what her business is and where it is headed. It sounded to me like her business was fairly new, all over the place and not yet very solid. I suggested getting more paying clients and regular income first. This would solve mistakes #3, #4 and #6 on the list below, as well as get her ready for testing in #9!
Games are a solid way to grow your marketing and list but, if you don’t yet know who your ideal client is and what she desires, your game can totally miss the mark and waste your time and money.
What’s at the ‘Heart of Biz’ that you are Creating a Game for?
Finally, I suggested digging more deeply into what the heart of her business is and determining what her business model will be. By aligning a game to your heart, all kinds of cool things happen for your game and for your business.
The “Heart of Biz’ model is one that allows you to be the creative person you are and go with your flow and not be attached to a rigid marketing funnel.You put the simplest form of your business’ heart into the game, and now it becomes an ambassador for your business. It also is a lead generator, workshop/webinar outline, you can grow it into a retreat, you can speak about it, and on and on. As the heart, you end up with a hub of high-end products that can shift, grow and change with your goals and highest excitement! This allows her to tackle mistakes #2, #5, #7, #10.
(If you want to know more about the Heart of Biz model, I did a webinar about it in M. Shannon Hernandez’ community, you can find it HERE.)
The Mistakes
And so I introduce to you, the top 11 mistakes people make in creating custom card and board games for their business:
- Being Ordinary. A lack of gaming components, fun or engagement. Not having any gaming structures or ‘fun and engagement factors’ in the game/deck. What makes your deck/game unique? Have you done any searching on who else has something similar? How will you set yourself apart as a thought leader or expert?
- Creating a product (game or deck) that is not aligned with the full marketing strategy and business plan of the business.
- Branding is not well established, and the look and feeling that is being evoked do not match the big vision.
- You don’t know what kind of engagement your clients desire or need. (For example: Do they need more fun or play? Perhaps they desire a sense of community or collaboration. Is a more meditative or deep thinking approach desired? Maybe you need some competition or cooperation! Aligning to the needed outcome can make all the difference.)
- The game or deck does not clearly illustrate what is at the ‘Heart of your Biz’.
- Not looking at and aligning the financial and time commitment of creating a physical product.
- Not a big enough vision, it’s not scalable or you are not using the game/deck in the ‘Heart of the Biz’ model for 6-7 figure growth.
- Not pricing for profit nor using the game to drive a ‘profit center’ in your business.
- Not properly testing the game or deck with your ideal clients to make it the best version of itself.
- Throwing it on your website without any launch or marketing strategy.
- Misunderstanding how the process works, not knowing the printing resources, lingo or timeline to get what you want when you want it.
These tips are truly meant to be shortcuts to creating a game or physical product for your business. Which mistakes are you ready to correct course on? Which courses of action are you ready to implement in your business? Do you need more information on any of them?
I would love to share with you insights on these strategies and get you the support you want or need. If you’d like to talk with me about a game idea you have or creating a game for you business, I’d love to chat with you!
You can book on my calendar HERE.
This is a free call, of course, and if I feel like I can help you with what is going on in your biz, I will certainly make an offer to help. If I can’t, I will do my best to find you a resource among my trusted colleagues.
Have a fabulous & fun week!
