12 Critical Tips For Boutique Owner Success

Hey, guys, it's time for episode number 241 with my friend, the retail professor, Sarah Burks. Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works, from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts, and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the boutique Hub. I can't wait to chat. All right, guys, you are in for a treat today, because we're going completely behind the scenes today in the Hub, and it's with one of my favorite people, Ms. Sarah Burks. Hello, Sarah.

Hey, guys.

How's it going? So if you guys could ever be a mouse in the corner or a fly on the wall, Sarah and I get to travel quite a bit. And when we do, we're always talking business. Like, our brains function the same way. So today, we thought it would be fun on the episode to just go behind the scenes in a conversation that you and I have undoubtedly had a million times at. In our hotel room or at a hotel bar or you name it. But we are always talking about the questions we get asked from retailers of all sizes, of all shapes, of all backgrounds, and some of the most common stumbling blocks that we see retailers come across. And there's 12 main areas, and really, these are the areas that we kind of thought in detail about step by step, put them in a process, and ended up building retail bootcamp off of these 12 key areas. Kind of in a progression, would you say, Sarah, they all have to kind of go in order to make sense?

Absolutely. I think anything that a person decides they want to do, they have got to start at the beginning and build that solid foundation, or they won't succeed. And that's the same thing with retail. And that's. Yeah, that's where retail bootcamp came from.

Yeah, I used to get the question, and I know you would get these questions, too. I'd always hear, help me with Facebook ads, or my Facebook ads aren't working. And I would go in to do that, but then I would find out, well, you really don't know your ideal customer and your branding needs help or your website really isn't working. And so we always ended up having to unpack things and work backwards. And so when you and I kind of sat down to build all this, we're like, hey, we have to start at the very, very Basics, which for some people you're going to feel like, really we have to talk about that. But don't you think in business so many times we are building the plane as we fly it and we just kind of figure out what's next and we run with it. And sometimes we leave a lot of loose ends that just have to be tied up in order to hit the next level.

Oh, absolutely, 100%. I get asked those kind of things all the time too. And I know I was just asked earlier today, you know, when do I know it's time for me to go to market? And so, you know, I said, well, where are you at in your business? And she said, well, I haven't really started yet. And I said, oh, well then let's not go to market until we know exactly what we're going to market for. You know, who are we buying for? What are, you know, what is that? Who's that customer we're actually serving? Well, sometimes that's not the fun stuff. Sometimes, you know, we get a lot of first time boutique owners or newbie boutique owners that just want to dive into the super fun stuff and they realize once they do that then they not really sure where their cash is. They're not really sure who their customer is. They have all these oh my gosh, what now? Type realities and then they think, oh shoot, yeah, I totally put the cart before the horse, you know, a year ago or six months ago and now I'm in trouble. And that's, yeah, we, we built retail bootcamp for that to be able to build that super solid foundation which is just rock solid. So now we can, we can get big and we can do it and, and scale it and manage it and be proud of it and pay ourselves and do all these fun things. And yeah, without the, I mean there's going to be burnout, there's going to be stress. This is retail that is 100% what retail. You know, that just happens. But absolutely, those foundation pieces and these 12, 12 like pain points, I guess, you know, that we are, we've down into helps tackle the whole big picture and make it manageable. So that's what I love about retail Bootcamp and the testimonies that we've received from people, you know, they prove that. And yeah, that's. We love it. Absolutely love it.

You bring up a really good point. You said a lot of times, you know, you kind of focused on newbie boutique owners. They see, gosh, it must be easy to own a boutique. I see these people killing it on social media. And there's kind of like that, I would say they're into like the pretty part of the business. But you and I both know that there has to be, I don't want to say a pretty and ugly part of the business. That's not the analogy I was going for. But there's a right and a left brain for sure side of the business and even bigger boutique owners that we've worked with, multimillion dollar boutique owners that get lost in the trap of comparison on social media. And we're always looking at all these other boutique owners. They're going to market again or they're going to LA again, or they're doing these things with influencers or they're opening multiple locations. They must be killing it. So I have to open multiple locations too. And that trap of comparison is just crippling. And if I've heard one common theme so far this year from our community, it's been that it's time to scale back and understand what is actually working for me. And facing that harsh reality that it's not always the pretty things that people do on social media that really should be my focus, but it's the unpretty things. The times when I'm sitting at my desk and I'm going over reports and numbers that make my head spin and I really am analyzing where are my margins and what are, what's my GMROI like, how do I know what vendors are actually turning in my store and where I should be really placing my orders? Right. Wouldn't you say? Those are the areas of focus that we don't want to focus on because it doesn't look great on social media. It's not the FOMO part of the business, but it's the most important part of the business.

Oh man, 100%. And you know, you know, I'm a sports buff and I talk a lot about sports and you know, when I'm listening to what you're saying, it resonates with me because yes, it's not just the newbie boutiques, it's the boutiques that have been in business for 10, 15, 30 years. Right. Retail changes every day. The strategies that need, that need to succeed today are different than they were five years ago. And that's where these existing boutiques are finding that need for that continued education also, because things are so, you know, they're turning quickly, trends are turning. Yes, we know that happens, but so is marketing and strategy and a lot of these tools that are here today that are make this almost an easy button for boutique owners. They weren't there five years ago. And those are, you know, we partner with so many experts in the field to bring those strategies and those services to you through Retail Bootcamp that it's a win. And, you know, we really pride ourselves in making sure we're going out and we're finding the in the know, the must, you know, be in the moment, things that can help you scale your business today and sets you apart from, you know, everybody else and, you know, just gives you that leg up to be able to succeed. Because if you do stick in the same rut that you were trying to run your business in, say, five years ago, you're really going to get. You're going to get passed, and you're going to get passed quickly because the people that are truly in the know and that have the time to do the shopping around are your customers. And we're noticing that there's so much being thrown at them that, you know, if you're not where they live and if you're not speaking to them in the language that they speak today, you know, you're going to get passed up. And that language is different than it was five years ago. And so, yeah, it's newbie boutiques, it's existing boutiques, but, oh, man, you're right. When you, when it's changed, it changes and it changes fast. And, you know, we really want to make sure we're bringing that new, vital information to help everybody win and succeed. And, yeah, that's fun. But I would say one other thing on that, you know, the, on the sports analogy is we see guys on, you know, we see the big NBA players, we see college athletes, and we see them succeeding and we see them getting interviewed and we see them, you know, maybe on a T shirt or all that kind of stuff. And that's awesome. And we like, oh, man, all these little kids, I want to be that guy, I want to be that girl, whatever it is. But what we don't see is those 5am Morning practices. We don't see the injuries, we don't see the setbacks. We don't see them getting, you know, beat down and trying their hardest to survive in this very competitive world of, you know, of sports. We don't see that. We look and we, we choose to focus on the tennis shoes that they're producing or the T shirts or the commercials or whatever it is or the sports. You know, the going to an awards show with, you know, really beautiful woman on their arm. That's what we look at. But the truth is there's all this stuff behind the scenes and that's the same way it is in business. And I feel like social media can give such, you know, we all, you know, we all know that, that there's a lot of catfish out there that are saying they're this, but they're, you know, the truly are something else. So we know, we talk a lot about that in retail Bootcamp of know who you are, know what lane you're in, know who you're serving, focus in on that, you know, and do those hard things to be able to reward yourself for the successes later on.

Oh, you're so spot on. Spot on. And if I could add one thing to, to what you're saying, it's, you know, we see, we see these people that we think again, are killing it, like you're saying these athletes and everything else. And we think, hey, what's the easy button? What's, what's the one thing? What's their one secret? Right? You're, tell me more in depth. Go in depth. There's got to be more, there's got to be more. And the truth is sometimes the answers of how to get from point A to point B and where you're going in business, it's not a secret. It's the really, really basic things that you already know that seem like they're no brainers, but you just have to do them and do them better. But it has to fit where you are at in your business today. Like, the secret for one boutique is not going to be the same secret as what might grow your boutique. So just taking in training, whether again it's bootcamp or any training online or any blog post online or any speaker you listen to, listen for the one nugget that's going to make sense for you and your business, that's all you need is one nugget to take action on and to do the hard thing. Like you said, Sarah, but that's the thing that's going to grow your business versus just trying to have that instant gratification that our society is so used to and finding the quote, unquote secret from some other business.

Yeah, 100%. And I think that's where these 12 modules really came from. You know, going back and deep diving into those, you know, 12 categories or 12, 12 positions within a business and making sure there's tools for individual boutiques to succeed in those places. Because a lot of times that's where there's big cracks in the Foundation. And that's where there's a loophole or where you. Bad decisions are made. And a bad decision today might seem okay, but you really see the ramifications from it five months from now, and then that, you know, a crack in the foundation starts out small, it grows, or a leak in the bucket. You know, it might start as a very small little trickle of water coming out of there. Next thing you know, it's completely fallen apart. And we see that happen with. With boutique owners all the time, and they don't have a good balance, they don't have a good system, they don't have the tools in place. They don't have a community of support around them, all these kind of things. And it. Yeah, it's. It's a bad deal. And that's why, you know, we're here to help that, and we're here to reduce that. And, and I. And so far, with the people that have went through retail bootcamp, we've seen a ton of success stories, and I'm very happy about that. You know, I love. I love listening to people talk about winning within their business and financially is great, but personally is even better. And, you know, for women to be able to have that business that they, you know, they walk home in at night and they. They're with their family and they have a success story to tell, and the kids see them being successful and they're making a difference in their community and they're making a difference in the lives of the people around them. I just. Yeah, it's. It's awesome. I absolutely love it.

So let's start with pain point number one and area of focus number one. Because we're going to give you guys, whether you're in bootcamp or not, we're wanting you to walk away with tips and some nuggets and some strategy today. So focus number one is going back to just what you said. Saria. Is that your name now, Sarah? Look at. We're not even at a hotel bar. I have not had wine, and your name is now Saria. Module number one is about business building and going back to the basics. Set me up, Sarah. Talk about, you know, one pain point that we see with boutique owners being the foundations of their business and just not having a great mission, vision, or idea of who they are and who they're serving and then where they're going.

Well, I think one thing that we really cover here in module one is that whole naming of your store, naming of your business. There's a lot of different things here. But building on a solid foundation and making sure you've got all your I's dotted and your T's crossed. And a lot of it is legal. Right? A lot of it is the contractual part of your business and that legal entity of your business, even the name and how that name has got to grow with you, and it's got to set you apart, and it's got to work online as well as it does in print, and it's got to be able to be branded, but it's also got to be yours. And what I find a lot of times, and you and I've had numerous conversations about this, a business jumps in, names their business, something, only to find out later, after they've had the sign made, the business cards named, all this kind of stuff, that they can't actually get the website because it's already somebody else has the domain or it's trademarked for something else, or they're getting sued now because they're trying to build a business off of their name, which is actually somebody else's. So we go through an awful lot of that in module one. And, oh, my gosh, there's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a person just invest so much money and time into building something, only to be found later that they can't. They've got to start back over.

Yeah, we've had that. Even established businesses that have been around for a while have come through that module and said, oh, my gosh, you know, I was so new when I started my boutique and I just kind of threw all this stuff together. The legal paperwork, the insurance, the contracts. There was no trademarking. Right. There was no mission, no vision. And as you start to scale and build a team and really start to, you know, reach a wider audience, those things become so vital. So we've seen a lot of people come back and consider rebranding or even just having more, I would say, dynamic and deeper conversations with their customers about really who they are and what they need and why they're shopping with them in the first place. Like, those foundations really do set the rest of your business tone. And it's important that everyone come back and revisit them at least annually.

Yeah. And this goes for brands as well as boutiques. Right. Because that whole trademark thing is huge. And you might. You might come up with a product and you might get it out on market on the. On the market, and you just kind of put the cart before the horse, so to speak, and it takes off like absolute wildfire. If you have no protection behind that or you have no protection behind your name. There's nothing holding somebody else back there that's leaking in the wood, in the weeds to go in and capitalize on that and then trademark it as their own. So there's so many things that boutique owners, brands, everybody, we really need to be thinking about and being mindful about it to deal with some of these really hard things, the strategic things, the things that are going to set us up for, you know, five months, five years, 15 years down the road that are going to protect us. And we, we talk an awful lot about that in module one. Yep.

All right, Area of focus number two in module number two is about retail mindset and productivity and really becoming the CEO of your business. And I'll start here and I want you to jump in with me, but I talk Productivity and mindset are really probably two of my favorite topics to cover because I know what an impact it's had in my life. And I've seen firsthand how many busy, overwhelmed, stressed out, overworked families are stressed out boutique owners that come through. Whether it's been retail bootcamp or boutique boot camp or one on one coaching. Like we've, we've seen some horror stories, right, Sarah? So I think nailing this part of the business is, to me, this is one of the most important that we work on on a daily basis because no matter how much money you've made, it doesn't matter if you aren't happy at the end of the day and if you aren't in a good mental state and you don't have a great family supporting you. So there's a lot of deep dive that happens here.

Oh, for sure. And you know, we have, we've seen a lot of horror stories here and you know, what is, what is it you're doing and why are you doing it and who are you doing it for? All these kind of things again, jumping in and putting the cart before the horse can kind of skip over some of these things and all of a sudden it's at a sacrifice for something else, your success moving somebody else second, you know, and you know, a real good reality check of what a boutique business looks like. You know, what are the time commitments and where's that time going to come from and how do you wrap your head around that? So important in module two. And you do some really cool activities in module two and some challenges here to get them to really dive in and take a, almost an inner assessment of themselves and their, their time and acknowledge, you know, where Are their shortfalls? Where are their strengths? You know, where is their time best spent in this business? To be the most productive human, I would just say, right? The most productive person. Not just business owner. Yeah.

I was just talking to a boutique owner yesterday, and she's a multimillion dollar boutique, and she's like. She was considering coming into Bootcamp and she's like, I would love to do it, but I just.

I don't have time.

Bootcamp looks like it's a big commitment. I feel like I don't have time. I've got a lot on my plate. I only have a couple of employees. I know I could have more, but I feel like I'm kind of a control freak. And as I was thinking about her, I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, module two is 100% what you need. And I think that's the hardest part of being an entrepreneur. And I know you can relate, Sarah, is we feel like we have to be the control freak of the business, and no one can do things as good as we can do them. So in turn, we hold on to all this baggage and stress and. And we try to do it all ourselves, but we cannot scale a business unless we step into being a true CEO. And this is where I know you talk a lot in this module about what does it mean to be a CEO? What does it mean to do the one thing on your plate that day that is going to get you that the 20% of your list is going to get you 80% of your results.

Right.

The CEO isn't going to be out shipping orders. Yes, they can. And yes, it would be great for morale once in a while, but that's not where their time is best spent. So what does it actually look like to be productive so you can scale a business? Right. Because Tim Cook isn't building chips that go into your phone. He's got better things to do. So how do you do that into your business?

Amen. Amen. We preach on that a lot. And I think you can find this in. This is not just retail boot camp stuff, but the strategies that you're learning here. I shouldn't say, not just retail boot camp stuff, the stuff just for your boutique. It's life skills. Right. And you don't want to just go through life spinning your wheels and, you know, kind of just 50% doing a thousand things and never really getting anything done. And we find that happening and we find the burnout and then we find the people that, like, are. We say, are those bottlenecks that are hindering the productivity and the advancement. And yeah, I think module two, really. I've seen a lot of awesome Testimonials about Module 2 and how it has really changed. Like I said, their personal life as well as their business life and how the inner two can be married together and be healthy. I think that is the one thing I see a lot of people talk about this year is being more healthy. And that's not just physically fit as emotionally and mentally fit as well, and how that builds everybody up and, you know, if everybody's healthy, my gosh, the amount of success that you can really have, you know, if you look at the human body and you've got an illness or cancer or something, that just drags everything else down. And so when you can really up that game, that mindset and the productivity and know that when you lay your head on the pillow at night like you got some stuff done and tomorrow plan, and I have my. My time blocked and I know what my goal is and I know what. I have the right players here that's helping me. Man, come Tuesday, you're going to feel like you've got so much done, you know, whereas before, it might be Saturday by the end of the week, and people are like, what did I even do to this week? I don't even know. And one week passes and another week passes, and next thing you know, a whole year has passed and you're just. It's all a big blur and you don't really have a lot to say that you've accomplished. So, yeah, retail mindset, productivity. Oh, my gosh. Module two, huge. That's why it comes number two in retail bootcamp, because you cannot go forward and focus on some of these other things unless you've got that down.

Absolutely. I encourage you guys, wherever you're at in your business and whether you've done retail bootcamp in the past or this is not for you, I just encourage you, wherever you are, to be a lifelong learner and to time block at least an hour of your week, every week to some sort of continuing education. Like, just make sure it's a priority that you are constantly filling your cup so that you can continue to fill others and to fill your business.

That's.

If there's any takeaway, please take that away and block that into your schedule each and every week in 2020. Module number three, Sarah, this is really your. This is where you go deep. And I would say module three and four are where people's eyes start to get really big and go oh, crap. I have a lot to work on. So module three is the first talk about money, and we purposely named this module Money Matters. If you skip this module, you'll flunk.

Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. It's so funny because I see. And I can relate here because. Right. I've been in retail since the early 90s, and there was a point in time in my retail walk that I print out a report. I'd scroll all the way down, be like, awesome, that number is a positive number. Perfect. Close that report, move on. And then there's other times I'd look at that report. I'm like, geeks. That doesn't. That's not a very large number. Or actually, that's a negative number. Okay, I'll look at that again next week. Maybe it'll change. That's like the kiss of death. I mean, right? I paused there. I actually did that. That's so true, you guys. There's so many of you out there listening that I'm sure have done the exact same thing. And it's like you want to avoid conflict. It's. It's. You look at things, you're. You're nervous about it, and you're like, I don't really understand it. That's all written in Greek or whatever. And I'm going to. You know, I just don't want to dive into it. I don't have time today. And what I learned in my business and what people are learning in retail bootcamp, is that money matters. That money is. It's hard to come by, right? And we need to track everything that's coming into our store as much as everything going out. And we need to be the very best investors of not only our time that we Talked about Module 2, but also our money all the way around. Right? Every app that we download, that's important, every tool that we buy, that's important, every piece of inventory we invest in is important. Every person is important. When we take off and we hire somebody to come in, that's important. The hours in the day that we operate our business, they all matter. That all matters to our bottom line. So looking at those numbers on those days that I used to be like, oh, awesome, that's a positive number. Great. Well, I need to learn from that. I need to dive deeper into that and be like, why is that positive? What have I done here for that number to be what it is? Or crap. Why is that number negative? What can I do better to make it a positive number? How can I increase that? Right? These Numbers tell a story. And the whole point here is if you don't start analyzing those numbers now, pretty soon there won't be any numbers to analyze. Your business will fail, Right? You'll lose money, you will run out of money. And at the end of the day, our biggest goal for everybody that comes to retail bootcamp, and I'm gonna get an amen. I'm sure there's gonna be somebody driving in their car right now is like, yes, we want you to pay yourself. We want you to take a paycheck home, and we want you to be proud of that paycheck. And that's the big thing. So many times boutique owners, like, I reinvest everything back into my business. Well, I think that's code to say I don't have enough money to pay my bills, and I need inventory. So we want to make sure that you are the. You're the best employee you have, you are the most accountable, you're the most efficient, you're the most. You know, you. You. The business needs you, can't get along without you. So why in the world are we not paying you? So we want to. We want to make sure you have a plan, you have a process in place that that happens, right? And that you're paying your taxes, you're paying your bills, and you have cash flowing through your business. And we all. We do that through a number of different things. Understanding your. Your markdowns, learning from your markdowns, understanding what you're bringing in, when you're bringing it in, as far as inventory and when you're selling it, how long it's taking you to sell it. We dive down into all sorts of things as far as expenses and analyzing where there might be a leak in your bucket, where you're just bleeding out in your business, and we need to fix those things. But for the most part, when we talk about module three, it's understanding how to generate those numbers and how to read those numbers, right? We talk a lot about math formulas and a lot of that kind of stuff, but we give you some real good, solid advice on tools that you need to implement today to win back your life, to win back those 10 to 15 hours a week where you are trying to run your own numbers and do your own math and all that kind of stuff so you have a true, accurate report to look at, how to read it, and how to make good financial decisions going forward. Module three is all about reducing the guessing game in. In retail. So when you go to market and your feet hit the Ground at Vegas or LA or wherever you're at, you know, what kind of money you're dealing with as far as if you want to go out for dinner, if you want to take in a show, if you want to invest from this vendor, if you want to stay at this hotel or that hotel, or you're going to take the red eye home or you get to, you know, upgrade to first class, all those kind of things make a huge difference. And I see a lot of boutique owners just kind of winging it when it comes to the numbers.

Man. Amen. And it really, it flows right into module number four and pain point number four. And that's really like having gaps in understanding how to manage inventory. And sometimes I fear that there are some boutiques that really, you know, reports they think of money as just one big ball or one big section of the business, like, oh, I mean, I kind of know here and there a little bit. But we really have to understand the difference between managing cash flow and that whole reporting side of the business. Your income, your expenses, your sales reports, all of that. But then managing inventory and having an accurate buying strategy and understanding, are you overbought, Are you underbought? What's your turn rate, what vendors are really doing you justice and how you can continue to build and grow and move forward. So talk to me about module number four and becoming a retail scientist, really with your inventory and your buying.

Yeah, so much, so much of your success is going to stem right back here to your inventory because that's the one thing we seem, you know, that's what we're selling. That's where our opportunity to make money comes from. Our opportunity doesn't make, to make money doesn't come from, you know, all these other little tools and things. It comes from our inventory. So we want to become the best investors of our money into inventory as possible. So we have a high return on investment. And one thing that I feel like is really happening this year is there's a huge concentration on quality of, of purchases. Right. People like sustainable fashion people are liking some working with brands and companies that are, you know, giving back to society that have, you know, some sort of a cultural experience with them as well. I think that there's a big turn or shift in what that customer is looking for. Right. So that's a difference. That's a difference five years ago from today. So therefore, when people are buying, I like to say investing, but when boutique owners are going out and they're going to market to invest or buy an inventory, they have to look at that cultural shift, right? But they have to know who their customer is, what they really want, right? And so then they have to look at that, that brand or that, that vendor and see what their offering is. And I see a lot of times people, first thing when they walk in, they walk into a booth and they say, well how much does that cost? And I will. Module four is all about, you know, understanding that you want a good return on investment, right? So it's not about what it costs, it's about what am I going to sell that for, how much is, am I going to make on this is do I have a strong ROI here? Am I tying up my dollars in inventory that's going to give me the best return on investment, Am I bringing it in at the right time? All these kind of things, working with vendors on terms, understanding an open to buy plan. We talk a lot about open to buy plans here in module four. And what is that? I'll be very brief and honest with you. I guess should say blunt is it is what it is. It's a plan. It's a, it's a non emotionally attached set of numbers that will tell you what to buy, when have it delivered, how much of it to buy and at what price. So it takes a lot of that guessing out of it. It is a true, like it's a. You, you're not going to go build a house without house plans, right? You're not going. So I agree you should not go build inventory without an open to buy an inventory management plan. And that's what it is. So a lot of times and we're going to have sale racks every. I don't care if you're a grocery store, I don't care if you're the five and dime or the gas station or your Nordstrom's. There's sale racks there. That's inevitable. But you have to learn from those mistakes. Is there why you have markdowns? You have sale racks because they're buying mistakes, nobody wanted it, so you have to reduce it eventually, right? So it teaches you how to learn from those kind of things. Help understand a pricing strategy where you're not getting into just a low price war with the person down the street. Because at the end of the day retail is about making money and it's okay. You can't pay your bills and you're not, you're actually not going to pay yourself if you're not having a strong markup pricing strategy to make money at the end of the day to Absorb some of these discounts and things like that and absorb your expenses. So I could go on and on and on because I really am passionate about this. And where I find a lot of boutiques have that big hole or that leak in the bucket and they're just not cash flowing and they're not able to pay their bills, it's because they have not concentrated on module three and four. They've actually not been educated on that. And so I'm a firm believer in module 3 and 4 as solid, solid principles in building a boutique.

Absolutely agree. And as we start to get into module five, this is where, you know, kind of depending on the size of your business, this is where this information is going to touch you differently. Module five, as we get into it, is all about building your team. Right. And for those of you who are listening and you're like, well, I don't have a team right now. I'm a solo entrepreneur. That's great. But if you're going to continue to be in this business and grow, eventually you will have a team. And so it's so important now to know how to set them up for success and how to structure your business in a way where you have.

An.

Awesome and amazing supportive team around you that much like you say, Sarah is like your basketball team and you're their coach. We have to understand how to do that right now so we can set them up for success later on. So module five, do you want to dive a little bit into kind of your analogies on coaching your team?

Well, just a little bit, yeah. Module five, I would definitely say it's all about building that team. And right. You, you might not have a sales staff or marketing team, so to speak, right now, but gosh, we sure hope you will. We sure hope your business is flourishing enough where you're going to need more help. Right. And you can be more productive with more hands on deck. So making sure you have the right people in the right seats to fill those positions. So we talk about hiring and interviewing and running team meetings or huddles, as I like to call them. But one of the things that Ashley was saying is my analogy with coaching is I'm a big basketball fan and I've watched my kids go from that third and four grade basketball team up to, you know, that higher level high school basketball team. And I've seen where their teams have grown and they're capable of doing other things now that they're, you know, in high school versus where they were in fourth grade. But I also remember that the strict instruction that that new. That new basketball team needed compared to that more advanced basketball team, right? They needed to know their roles. They needed to know specific things, some obvious things that as a coach, you think, why am I telling these kids this? This they should know. They don't know. They don't know the difference between offense and defense. They didn't even know, you know, for the most part, which basket they were going to. I mean, how many times have you watched a fourth grader go and do a layup on a fast break to the wrong basket? It happens, right?

I mean, it's painful.

Everybody in the gym's like, no, don't do it. And anyway, the kid goes and shoots the basket. It's the only one the poor kid makes the whole day. They go crazy, and everybody's like, oh, no. Well, that happens with our boutique teams as well. They think they're winning and doing some amazing thing, and next thing you know, they messed up a sale, or they haven't. They haven't served the customer properly, right? Or they've missed out on a selling opportunity because they didn't merchandise the store properly. All these kind of things, you know, it comes from training. It comes from that coach giving them the right information where they can really collectively serve your customer, make the sales, enter data, all these kind of things that make the wheel go round. And as hard as it is, a lot of times we're quick to blame society or quick to blame this generation of employees, but really it comes back to us as the coach of the team, that when the team doesn't work right, it's the coach's fault. It is 100% the coach's fault. And that's us as the boutique owner, right? So we talk a lot about that in module five. And to take it a step further, for some of you that feel like you don't have a team, you're like, oh, that wouldn't necessarily relate to me, but I would beg to differ. You might not actually have employees, but you do have a team. You have an accountant, you have a banker. You have a spouse or a significant other or a family. You have all these people that surround you in this business that play a role. You might not think they might not get necessarily a paycheck, but they are a team for your boutique, and they have a role within your boutique, right? Whether it's just to support you or to give you financial advice or to manage your books or to process your taxes, they have got to understand who you are, what the story Your boutique is what your goal is and help you align with that so you can succeed. So I think module five falls heavy on everybody, no matter where you're at in your business, because, let's be honest, there is not one sole person doing all of it 100% themselves. Maybe it's their. Maybe they're renting a space, you know, from. From. From somebody. Their landlord is part of their team, because that guy's got to play along with you. That guy's got to offer an opportunity for you to advance. So there's skills within module five that run very, very deep across the team board.

Absolutely. Including employee handbooks, team meeting, team motivation, hiring, firing, interview questions, how to scale your team, how to keep your team accountable. All kinds of things. Listen to module. Oh, I'm sorry. What was.

Yep, that's why I was saying all kinds of things.

All kinds of things. Module six. I want to talk about module six a little bit. This is where I would say module six is a little more leaning toward brick and mortar store owners in the sense that we talk about merchandising. And for the life of me, I can't find another place on the Internet that has a great, like, retail merchandising course or, like, training program. So I'm super proud of what's in here, because I remember one piece of feedback we got from the last round of Bootcamp. One girl came back, and she said, you know what? After module six, I went into my store. I completely rearranged it based on. We do, like, floor maps and layout guides and traffic plans in this module.