Preferred Values

Been thinking more about online business and my product.  As I said in a previous post, I have read most everything on 'how to' do online business AND done most of it! Many articles advise a seller to know their target audience.  Well, I think that I am coming to the conclusion that my potential customers are not interested in "use it up" products.  While I am interested in "using it up" but they are not.  (This is a reference to the following saying, that I have used before):

Use it up, 

wear it out, 

make do, 

or do without!

I think the current philosophy of this saying would be to use words like 'recycle', and 'upcycle'.  (One can see much on the internet about upcycling and recycling in the way of DIY projects, and products for sale.) 

I personally value using up everything and not being wasteful, so, I use up my fabric scraps to make handy, useful, utilitarian products, i.e.  reversible fabric coasters, pillow covers, quilted items etc. 

I am proud of myself when I use up leftovers to make a new creative project!  I value the creative effort and the use of otherwise unusable items.  I have been excited to list these items for sale, but have found that there is not an abundance of customers beating a path to my shop door for them. 

Although not the complete answer to lack of sales, I think the idea of 

"preferred values" 

vs. 

"actual values" 

comes into play here.   To define this, a person's values reflect unique convictions, core assumptions and principles that guide decisions. We all make declarations about what we value, but often we are stating what we think we should value.    

In an effort to make a shorter post, the bottom line is that an actual value is one that a person actually prioritizes and does!  If one does not actually practice (DO) it, then it is only a belief that one prefers. It's like much that we see on the Internet, like blog comments--they run in the category of preferred values.  "I  LOVE that . . ." but most people wouldn't (and don't) buy it.  They might value making it themselves, but not spending their hard earned cash to own it.  

My conclusion is that my target audience is a very small portion of people who actually value spending money on upcycled and recycled items; and that I need to re-evaluate and re-tool my products 1) to reach a larger audience, and 2) narrow my product line to items that are valued and, of course, 3) market accordingly.    

Ever ran into this with your online business??