#24 Boutique Hub Birthday: Ask Ashley Anything (Part 1)

Hey, guys.

Welcome to a very special episode of Boutique Chat. Because this week, it's all about Ask Ashley Anything. And I'm going to warn you, it could be the good, bad and the ugly. 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, and I can't wait to chat. All right, you guys, this week's episode and part number two coming in a future episode are gonna be a little different than normal because in this episode of Ask, actually, in this episode of Boutique Chat, rather we are doing Ask Ashley Anything. And the reason that we're doing this is because in case you didn't know it, the Boutique Hub is actually celebrating a big anniversary. We are just coming up on our five year anniversary in business. And I'm sure most of you know, five years is kind of that turning point for most business owners. Before five years, you're still trying to get your legs in business, figure out where you're going to go in the future and what's going to work and if that business is going to be there for the long haul. And after five years, you have a certain confidence about what works and what doesn't work and a more clear vision for what you want your future to look like. And, and guys, there was a lot of times that I didn't think we were going to make it to five years. There was a lot of ups and downs in this business along the way. And thank God, and thank a group of very generous, very supportive, very big picture thinking business owners who saw the vision of the Boutique Hub long ago and latched onto it. Thank you guys for making this possible because truly, it has taken a community to make this movement. Dick. And the movement is community over competition and creating a new day and age for boutique retail. You know, five years ago, we started under one business model and quickly shifted to become something a little bit different. And I'm so happy that we did. I'm so happy that so many people caught the vision and really latched on and helped build the Hub to what it is today. So we want to use these episodes kind of as a way to give back and to tell you this story and to celebrate what happens behind the scenes, the good, the bad. And the Ugly. And I'm just going to tell you, I'm totally letting it all hang out in these episodes, no joke. But also to answer some of your very specific business questions as well, and some pretty random Will Ferrell questions, I might add, which happen to be my favorite, by the way. So I asked for some help for these two episodes that are going to be releasing from my dear friend Jesse Jarvis. Now, Jesse is a member of our team at the Boutique Hub and has been for a couple of years now. She's actually one of the very first people we hired. But the funny story is that actually I interviewed Jesse and actually hired someone else instead of her. I had to reject her and it didn't work out with the first person we hired. But after that happened, I went back and re offered the job to Jessie and thank God she took it and didn't think I was a total jerk in the process. And it turns out we became great friends along the way and have an awful lot in common. So I'm so thankful that we got to share this time together to laugh and and to share this episode and we bring in some conversation about our other team members at the Boutique Hub that I think you're going to have a lot of fun with along the way too. So what happens is Jesse's asking me several of the questions that you guys submitted across Facebook, Instagram and via email to our team, and I'm going to shotgun and try to answer them as best as I can and tell you some fun stories along the way. So without further ado, I want to get started. But more than anything, you guys, thank you for being here, thank you for listening to this show, and thank you so much for being a part of our community at the Boutique Hub. I. I truly believe in the future of retail and where this community is going and in this mission of community over competition. And I know that when we work together like we are today, the future is going to be so much brighter for an awful lot of business owners, both in retail wholesale and those of you who are service providers who have a hand in supporting these businesses in the industry. So thanks for being a part of it, catching the vision and being here with us to celebrate five years in business. Enjoy the episode, you guys.

Hey guys, welcome back to a unique episode of Boutique Chat. This week we're celebrating the fact that the Hub is finally five years old, which is a big turning point, a big milestone in the business. And so you guys requested that we do a special episode that of Ask Ashley anything which this could be interesting. I'm here to tell you. So to come along the journey and to ask Ashley anything, I brought in Jesse Jarvis from the Boutique Hub. So welcome, Jesse.

Hello. How's it going, everybody?

All the feedback that you can hear in the background. So good. Oh, goodness gracious. I figured if you and I were chatting back and forth, this episode could take a lot of twists and turns.

It can. I hope everybody prepares themselves accordingly for about what is about to come.

Now I have to have you tell them because you are a new mom and you've got little guy Jet at home. You've got to tell them what he's doing right now while we're recording this episode.

Well, I hired a babysitter to come over and I put him in his stroller and I sent them outside and I told them that they are not allowed. Allowed to come back inside until I go get them. And I said, if Jet is bleeding, you can knock on the door.

I love it because I feel like, you know, as they get older, like as Jet gets older, I think you're gonna find this is what I do with my kids anyway, because I work from home a lot. They have to read sign language. So if they try to come to my office and I'm on the phone, I have like a series of signs that I will get them. They. It doesn't include the middle finger, by the way. Oh, gosh. They know they cannot come in. Oh, man.

My issue is I can't scare my babysitters off because I've only got like 2 to choose from in the 10 mile radius around my house. So I need to be like, I've got to treat them very kindly.

Got to keep your crap together, Jarvis.

Yeah, I can't run them off in the first year of his life.

Perfect. Oh, my gosh. Well, shall we get to this before Jet starts crying or bleeding?

Yes, let's get. Let's rock and roll.

All right, so we posted about this on social media and on our groups, and we had a ton of people respond with questions. So you've got all these questions, right, and you're just going to shotgun them at me?

That is correct. So I hope you're ready.

It's like 9am and I don't have any wine. So we're just gonna get through this. I've got coffee. We'll be good.

Okey doke. So the first question, can you give us a little bit of background about the Hub and why you started it and what all of that is about?

Softballs. Softballs. I got it. Okay. So the boutique hub started. Like all great stories start out of a need, right? All great businesses start that way. But mine was kind of like a failure trying to fill a need that turned into something wonderful. So I'm originally from North Dakota, ak kind of the middle of nowhere when it comes to fashion. And there wasn't much for boutiques when I grew up and when I moved back after getting married, all those things. So there was a time in my life rodeo was a huge part of my life. I traveled quite a bit with a sport of rodeo. It was Miss Rodeo America at one point and was on the road for 320 days that year. It was in 2007. And when I traveled, I loved discovering boutiques all around the world. Whether it was, you know, a western boutique that was set up at a rodeo that really had the style and the unique pieces that I loved, or if we were in big cities, all the great, more higher end boutiques that I would discover. So when I got done with that opportunity and moved back to North Dakota and married Eric and started working there, I really wanted to have that same opportunity to discover great stores but online, since there weren't any near me. So that's when the idea for the hub really began, is how do I fill this need? And I really wanted to build this online shopping mall of boutiques, but it was something that took the back burner. You know, that was the beginning of social media. It was the beginning of Facebook. Facebook was still a college network at that point. You had to be invited to join. And so instead I started working in economic development and small business development, ran a small business development center, a chamber of commerce and an EDC for our county and four cities. And I loved that I did that for about seven or eight years before Eric and I then decided after my dad passed away to move to Wisconsin. When we made that move and I had to leave the career that I loved, that's when I finally had that time and that freedom to go, okay, I now I'm going to try to put this together. And trust me, I knew less than nothing about coding and building websites and starting a tech company. Like, it was so foreign to me. And luckily I got in contact with some great people. Actually found our CTO today, Ben Holman. Found him five years ago when we moved here and found some other designers to help start to build the initial version of the hub, which at that point was the online shopping mall of boutiques. And when we started to build it that way and all These boutique owners started to come together, you know, and the intent was for them to reach shoppers. Really what they needed more than anything was each other and they needed that community and they needed someone to help provide them information that wasn't available online. Surprising enough, so because my background was in business development and I loved coaching business owners, you know, for the past eight years and writing business plans and marketing strategy and you know, I was already doing Facebook advertising way back then. It became a really natural fit to develop the business side of our platform. And so it just kind of just snowball from there, both the style side of what we do and the business side of what we do. But I would call it like an accidental success because it kind of started on the style side, but the business is really what makes the hub go round today.

Okay. I love it. That's probably one of my favorite business stories, like from the ground up and why it started.

You know what we have gotten.

Oh, go ahead.

Oh, let me add this one thing. I think it's a good lesson in that, you know, some people will start a business and they think that they have to develop the product perfectly before they launch it. You know, like you have to have this perfect plan and the website has to be perfect and you think that everything's gonna just come together as you imagined it. But really, most businesses that succeed any great startup today, it doesn't work like that. You start with an idea and like that mvp, the minimum viable product and then you iterate from there and you just try to find the thing that sticks. But if you start, you know, investing in this elaborate business model only to find that it fails later on, you're out. And that happened to me. So I wish I would have known that, like reverse engineering of the business from the get go and just to start smaller and to find something that works and then run with it.

I think that makes so much sense, especially when it comes to what you said about. I mean, you have to be willing to, to let your business go where it needs to go. Had you started with the style side, but you did, and then if that's what you'd only focused on, the hub would be something completely different. You kind of have to let your business take wings and take the reins and you know, take it where it needs to go versus where you want it to go.

Yeah. Don't let your pride get in the way. When you think you're going to build one thing and it turns out to be something totally different, that's okay. That's what's meant to happen.

Okay, well, that. That makes a lot of sense. And I know we always get the question of, you started the Hub, but you're not a boutique. Own anything else that you need to. That you want to add to that? I guess.

Yeah, I appreciate that question, and I think it's a really valuable question to ask because it kind of does sound like an oxymoron. But I will say this. Even though, you know, boutiques, fashion boutiques, like we know them now, weren't huge in North Dakota, I did work in retail from the age of 14, which you can get a driver's license, by the way, at the age of 14 in North Dakota. So I worked at a home decor and flower shop boutique and worked there quite a bit through high school. And then I worked at the Buckle, which was our closest thing to a boutique in the Dakotas, all through college. So I've always had that experience. And then, you know, going to school for marketing and PR and then working in business development, I feel like I've been in a boutique owner's industry my whole life, but I just haven't had my name on the door, so to speak. So I think the one thing I will say is I feel like it's given me a great ability to see the forest through the trees and to be able to see a high level and help people see their business from that same point of view. And I think about the analogy like this. When I played high school basketball, our varsity coach was a college basketball player himself. But to be really honest, God, I hope he doesn't listen to this podcast. I'm sure he won't. He wasn't a very good coach. You know, he had that experience of playing at the high level, but he really struggled as a coach. No one could connect to him, and he ended up losing his job because of it. Now, our JV coach, he played high school basketball, but in college, he only played intramural. He didn't get picked up by a college team. But honestly, he was an amazing coach. I mean, top notch. Everybody loved him. He could teach so well, and everyone played a lot harder for him. Now, this is just an example that sometimes there's people who do and there's people who teach. And I think it's important for all of us, no matter what we're doing in life, to know where our strengths are and just to try to run with those. So, yeah, I didn't own a boutique, but I've been in every single piece of this industry, and I feel like Since I've started coaching boutique owners and working, I mean, we've. We've built a lot of great things that have worked really well for people. So I just try to build on that experience, and I look at it as a positive more than a negative. For sure.

Awesome. I. Gosh, you are just killing these answers.

Shut up. Are you asking for a raise? Is that what you're doing? Are you buttering me up?

So the next question.

Who's your favorite employee? Beth, of course.

Dang. That Beth. She doesn't snore.

We have to tell the story about the snoring. Can we do that?

Yes, we can.

Where? I don't remember where we were, but it was you and I and Beth were staying in a hotel room somewhere together at a market first summit. Oh, yeah. Okay. So the very first boutique summit, and we rolled out of bed that morning, and Beth is, like, the funniest person. She's got the driest sense of humor. I just love that about her. And how did that happen? We rolled out of bed, and we're like, good morning, Beth. And I think you guys shared a bed. Yeah, we did.

We had to share bed. And she looked. Turns around, looks at me, and do you know you snore in the driest, most, like, halfway rude if you didn't know Beth kind of voice, you.

And I just lost it. Like, there was no, good morning, how are you? It was just, you snore. So it will forever be an inside joke at the Hub.

I love that. Okay, well, let's. Now that we've divulged that, the fact that I snore, let's get down to the nitty gritty questions that were asked. Okay, so Trista wants to know, what are the top one to three things you've seen boutiques do that has the biggest, most positive impact on their sales?

Ooh, good question. Okay, number one, I would say maximizing video. Maximizing video and live sales. And I know there's a lot of fear that surrounds that for some people, but honestly, the people who have really stepped into that and owned it and run with it. I think of Angie with a pink pig in Iowa, who is a boot camp, a client of ours. She just freaking kills it with live sales. Mindy. Mindy's boutique kills it with live sales. There's so much potential there, but you really have to own it and be comfortable with who you are and just step into whatever it is that makes you unique. Mindy does inappropriate Pictionary sometimes on her live sales, which you could Imagine is entertaining. I think you have to kind of find that thing that makes you you and different and own it. Number two would be smarter marketing, not harder work. So, you know, sometimes I'll say, if someone tells me their sales are down, well, you know, are you email marketing? Are you retargeting your email list? Are you using your Facebook Pixel and running retargeting ads? No, no, no. Well, you don't have to work harder in business. You have to work smarter. You have to use automation, make sure all your emails are set up, automated text messages, Facebook messenger messages, all those opportunities to automate. And then the biggest thing there would be Facebook ad retargeting. Katie Iverson's a great example. Glamour defined the first time her and I set up retargeting ads together. I think in that week, or maybe it was like three or four days time, she recouped $4,000 in sales just from setting up retargeting ads. These were people who are already coming to her website, seeing her content and then leaving. And now she's showing them ads to get them back again. And she recouped all that money. So that's a huge missed opportunity for people. And then the third thing I would say is to get busy and to hustle in a new way, to not be scared to try something new or different. I think sometimes people say, I had this plan and I tried this and it didn't work. Okay, well how did you iterate your plan and try something different and work in a different way? Like what are you doing to be creative? What are you doing to plan in your business when you know a slow time is coming so that you can prepare and try a new promotion? Take notes, see what you liked, see what you didn't like, and then do it again, different next time. It's just, how can you hustle and get creative in a new way? Is that three? That's three, yes.

That one. And I think that is especially that last one is such great advice. I mean, you've always got to be willing to try something new. You can't do the same thing and expect different results. That's not how life works.

Yep.

Okay, next question. Corey o' Laughlin asked if you could offer one piece of advice. You knew everyone listening would actually act on what would.

Well, that's a simple one. Treat others how you want to be treated. The golden rule, right? And on top of that, don't do anything that you don't want printed on the front page of the newspaper. And I say this for Two reasons. One, our motto in the boutique hub is community over competition. And that's a hard one, I think, for people to really latch onto sometimes, like they have to get used to it. But old habits die hard. And so I wish everyone could really, like, put their pride aside, put their hearts aside and truly treat others how they wanted to be treated. And then the newspaper thing. Jesse, we could be here all day, but I could tell you the craziest story about getting in the fight with a newspaper editor back in my old economic development days like this. Have I told you that story before?

No.

Oh, girl, you guys, you wouldn't even believe this to be true. That's how freaking crazy it is. But when I was in economic development, granted, small town, small town newspapers pick up everything from like donations and what's happening at the nursing home and like all this small town news, right? We had this newspaper editor move in from a bigger city and it was like he wanted to come in and make our local small town happy. Go lucky newspaper, the National Enquirer. It was horrible. He started writing these weekly editorial columns, just bashing everything and everyone in the community. And being in economic development at the time. The week that he wrote this nasty editorial about hating to come and cover check presentations, like he called it out, the week before that, I had him come and take a picture of a check presentation from our local bank donating $100,000 to a huge indoor arena that was put up in our community. I mean, big deal for the community, huge donation from the bank, Very important to give the bank the recognition they deserved. And clearly he didn't like it. And so I stood up to him. And I mean, I'm like a young 20 year old girl at this time, so you can imagine how that was received by a 70 year old man. And there's like a lot of good old boys like that in the community. And so from then on, because I stood up to him and I said, no, this is important to our community. How dare you bash that. Then it just became kind of a war. And every week, every single newspaper that came out, there was a new editorial and it became very like Gossip Girlish. Like so and so is in conspiracy with so and so and the city commission's evil. And what's that girl doing in economic development? She was only hired because she wears tight jeans. Like all this crazy stuff that you couldn't even imagine being printed in a newspaper was being printed. And it got so bad and so harassing that finally my board went and contacted the owner of the newspaper. And this man was eventually fired. I mean, it was harassing to the point where the police were patrolling my front street in front of my house. And I was pregnant with Hadley at this time. And Eric and I were really worried, like, what if something happens to the baby? Because I was under so much stress. I mean, because the things he was printing, I just. I can't even tell you how crazy they were. And it came to the point where the last newspaper he published before he was fired was about my board president, who was the CEO of our hospital and health center across the county, a pretty important man. And he was resigning because he took another position three hours away in another town. And so this newspaper editor didn't use quotes, facts, nothing. Like, every story that was printed in the paper was his own opinion. So the front page story was about our CEO of the hospital, president of my board resigning. And basically this fairy tale story of he was resigning because of his involvement at the EDC and all the shady stuff that was going on. I mean, it was just crazy. So he left, got fired. Well, then what happened next, because he didn't have a newspaper, was he started his own underground newspaper that published every Thursday in, like, a new newsletter format and showed up on every local business owner's doorstep every Thursday. And it was like the local coffee shop fodder, you know, so and so cheated, so and so out of business, and just all kinds of things about the leaders of our community. And so this went on for several months. And as luck would have it, guess what? Guess how this all ended. I can't even believe this. This is God's hand at work. The man had a heart attack and was brought in by an ambulance to the local hospital. And the nurses were so worried. They're like, is he faking this to try to write a story about us? And so clearly, I mean, they revived him. They saved his life. He wasn't faking it. But after that happened, I mean, the very people he was trying to destroy saved his life. And so he and his wife moved away after that. Not to be. Well, kind of not to be heard of from the community again. But, I mean, I lived through that. I lived through that. Never, never fight a battle with a man who buys his ink by the barrel, is what everyone would say. And it's totally shaped the rest of who I am as a person today. And that's why, like, your character and do what you say and 100% be genuine all the time. That's why it's so important to me. Because I've seen such an ugly side of people like that.

How have you never told me that story? That is absolutely unreal.

I don't know why I haven't said it. Been a little bit fearful, to be honest, to talk about it. There's always been that thing in the back of my mind, like, what if he came back? You know, I mean, I literally was fearful for my family's safety for a period of time. It was really spooky. Eric could tell you stories. I mean, we slept with guns under the bed. And, like, you worry, what if someone's gonna try to harm your family? It's crazy.

Gosh, that is wild.

Yes.

Okay. Should we get onto a happier note, though?

Yeah, I wasn't really planning on divulging that today, so. Thanks, Jarvis. Thanks, Oprah.

Gosh, no kidding. I feel like Matt Lauer over here.

Just don't come on to me while you're at it.

Okay, we've got one from Instagram. Sheridan Rose Boutique asks, is it worth doing Facebook ads if you have less than 500 likes on your Facebook page?

Yes. Yes. Always. Yes. Okay, here's my game plan on Facebook ads, and there's a training in the library that will help you with this. And it's called the Facebook Ad strategy funnel. I look at Facebook ads, no matter what size your business is, you need three things. You need new customer acquisition. You need sales conversion. So actually getting people to buy something. And you need retargeting. Like I mentioned earlier about Katie Iverson, right? You've got to take all that traffic coming to your site and retarget them because they bounced for some reason and didn't purchase, get them to come back again. So no matter what your size, I think that strategy works for you. So first, first, one new customer acquisition. You're running engagement ads, just trying to build likes, comments, people to just click on you. So once they click on you, you have their information, whether it's through your pixel or through your Facebook page. And you can now retarget them in step two, sales conversion, and ask them to buy something because you're warming them up as an audience. And that number two kind of happens on repeat again and again. And then number three, once they've clicked on something on your website and didn't buy it, you can retarget them in the future to come back and finish the sale.

Those are awesome tips on that. I think that's extremely important. Agreed. Okey doke. Next question from Tammy Old. What would you tell yourself in order to keep Going. When you first started your business, did you have a quote or mantra that you loved most to help motivate you?

Okay, so if you're in the hub, you probably know I'm a huge fan of the vision board and of yellow post it notes. I have a gazillion of them all over my office, but a couple that were really important early on. Number one was that fear does not serve me. Fear does not serve me because it's so easy to get discouraged and to worry about what everyone else is doing or why something isn't working or how I should, you know, go get a real job, whatever it is. But fear does not serve me. The second that has always been on my vision board is if you live in scarcity, you grow in scarcity. I'm a big believer in the whole scarcity versus abundance mindset. And it was a big shift for me, like, life changing when I figured out what that meant for me. If you live in scarcity, you grow in scarcity. The next one that's been on my vision board forever is that I will value my worth because my family needs me to. And for me, this went back to, like, my original money mindset and not charging enough as a coach, not being able to make ends meet as a coach because I would charge pennies because I felt sorry for people. Like, let me help you. But I mean, you might even look at our membership for $24 and say the same thing to me today, which is true. It's peanuts for what we're trying to provide for people. So that's something I always have to remind myself of. And I think boutique owners do too, you know, especially if you're new and you're like, I gotta keep my prices low to keep customers coming through the door. And that's not true. You have to value your worth, and then they will value you too. That's a big shift. And understanding in that process that money is not inherently good or inherently bad. Like, I had this idea, I can't charge too much. I don't want to take too much because money is evil or money is negative or money will make you a bad person. It's just stupid things that I grew up believing were so true in my life. But money is neither good nor bad. It's a reflection of your character. And so when you, you know, make money in your business, that's a good thing. Now you can grow the business now. You can help other people now you can employ other people. Now think about that. For us, the hub has grown A lot in the last year. You know, we've been fortunate that the business model has really worked. And, you know, people have seen the value of what they're getting and they tell their friends about it. I'm so grateful for that. What that allows us to do is to grow our team so that we can better serve our community and also fulfill kind of that vision board. At the same time. I'm going off on a tangent here, Jesse, but another thing in the middle of my vision board is a picture of a dad and a little, little girl. And it's a little like girl from Africa and this white father. And it signifies for me the beauty of adoption. And I've always been really called to, like, want to help people adopt. And maybe someday Eric and I will too. We've talked about that. But how that's transpired in this business, growing is now Ben, our cto, he and his wife have two biological children and two foster children. And tomorrow we are going to go to the hearing for Ben and his wife to finally adopt the oldest foster child that they have. Like, this is all coming true. This vision board is manifesting and becoming true because was able to follow these mantras, right. But also to see the business grow and succeed by just believing in what we were doing. So comes full circle. Gives me goosebumps to think about how that all works when you stick with it.

I know I must be like, I'm all teary eyed over here now. That is.

Oh, it's a big week. I'm really excited for this week. I mean, to see that happen is pretty like, God is so good. That's so unbelievable.

And to know that the hub and its members, I mean, that's who is helping to provide for that as well. So, yeah, that is their, their membership dollars are hard at work in a way that there's no doubt about that they're making.

Yeah, they are just everyone who's a member of the hud, they aren't just helping themselves. They're helping so many other people in the process. I mean, I've. I believe it's the beauty of community. You know, what you do for one, you do for all, and it works.

So we had a couple people ask about Instagram specifically. We talk a lot about Facebook engagement and followers. What about Instagram? How can we increase our Instagram followers likes and engagement? There is a huge age range of women who shop solely on Instagram that they want to target.

I feel like I should turn this question around on you. I mean, you're the Instagram goddess, if you will. Let's talk about this. I mean, there's a couple things. Jump in with this. Seriously. Photography is number one, great photos. And the timing of when you post the great photos is most important, I would say.

Yes, absolutely. And I think especially in that quality over quantity, you can post one excellent photo a day and get far more reach and worth out of that than if you post 10 crappy stock photos in a day.

Yeah, there's no stock photos on Instagram for sure. I would also say, and this goes back Ali D. The Ali D podcast was really good a couple weeks ago because she talks about the. What did you call it, the hold your horses strategy or something like that, where it's basically, you know, stop farming Instagram for sales and start using it for authentic relationships. How is your captioning on Instagram genuine and human and really relating to the people who are there to follow you? And really, it's kind of the Gary Vee thing too. Jab, jab, jab. Right hook. Stop giving your customers right hooks all the time and start slowing down, giving them jabs and just having conversation and then not just posting something and running away, but commenting, following up, commenting on other profiles, building friendships, communicating with bloggers. Like using Instagram like a social network versus a sales network.

Because really, in the grand scheme of things, that's what Instagram is for. It wasn't built to be a sales network, it's built as a social network. I think a lot of people forget that. You are very accurate on that statement.

Right. And then I'd say Instastories, Insta stories are like crack for me. I know they are for you too. Like we're on them all the time. I love them. And the more engagement you get in your Insta stories, the more it's going to affect your general profile too. So ask questions, you know, do try on sessions, get feedback, do polls. We do a lot of like this or that types of things, and those work really well.

Especially with instastories, I personally get the most engagement or reaction from the most plain Jane relatable things, and that goes back to authenticity. But if I'm, you know, fully made up and doing something out of the world, nobody really seems to care. But if I just like this morning before this podcast, I've got my pineapple hair and my glasses and yesterday's clothes on, and that's what people relate to because that's something we all have in common.

Yes. And can I give you a total shout out for a minute? So I don't know if I can share this, but you did a shout out for a boutique this week on your Instagram, which if anyone's not following you, they should just because it's hilarious one your cat stories. But just to see what it's like to be real on Instagram. I think that's so cool. You did a shout out for a boutique this week. And just with that shout out, how many new followers did they get?

Oh, gosh. Oh, I don't even want to talk about this. They probably close to 500.

That's amazing. You should be so proud of that. And you're not the person that toots your own horn, so I'm gonna just toot it for you. And the reason it works, Jesse, is because you're so authentic. Like, what you see is what you get. You're real. You respond to people you know, you know who your people are and they like. It's such a great relationship to see.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

You know, this is going to be all about the Jarvis Instagram.

No more Instagram questions. I'm not going to ask any more of those. Okay, somebody asked, what is the biggest yet simplest to correct mistake that most businesses are making?

Oh, ding, ding, ding. Because we just talked about it. It's knowing your customer. When you target everyone, you reach no one. So really, truly knowing your customer and then really understanding what does she need? You know, what she need help with? Is it fitting her body type? Having outfits for, you know, certain events that are happening in her life? Is she a busy mom? Does she need fashion toward that? Is she going to weddings? Does she need fashion toward that? Like, who is she? How can I serve her? And then truly building a relationship with her and serving her versus selling to her. Big, big mindset.

I completely agree with that. I think a lot of when you spoke about that back to Facebook groups and how successful those are, but I think a lot of people get wrapped up in getting so many people in their groups and it's not necessarily the right people. And you can have 20,000 members in your Facebook group, but you're only selling to 50 of them. That's not a good conversion rate. You're better off to have a thousand people in your group and sell to 50 of them.

It's like the old adage, a thousand true fans. Like, all you need is a thousand true fans in order to be successful in business. You don't need hundreds of thousands of followers. You just need a thousand true fans.

Hey, guys, that's all for this week's episode of Ask Ashley Anything. Jesse and I are just getting started. We have some so many more questions.

To answer that we actually decided to.

Break this up into two episodes. So don't forget to come back for the next one. Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you loved it. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a rating and review down below for a chance to be one of our featured listeners each and every week. For more information on our sponsor, Spirit of Community Over Competition, and how to access complete show notes and bonus downloads from our guests, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community.

We'll see you next week.