#26 Boutique Hub Birthday: Ask Ashley Anything (Part 2)

Hey, guys, I'm back for Ask Ashley Anything on episode number 26, and so is Jesse Jarvis. Oh, boy. You guys get ready for this one. 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, host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub, and I can't wait to chat. Hey, we're back for another episode of Ask Ashley Anything, a special edition of the Boutique Chat podcast this week. And actually it's part two. We ran our first half of this episode just a week ago. And. And in case you missed it, we're celebrating and we're doing this Ask Ashley Anything episode because it's the Boutique Hub's five year anniversary. So we thought what better way to kick off this birthday slash anniversary, slash, we made it five years in business celebration than by answering your questions. So so many of you spent time sending us questions on Facebook and Instagram and emailing us questions. And so Jesse Jarvis and I sat down again this week to go over more of your questions and more of your answers. Guys, this was a lot of fun to do. Jesse and I had more than enough fun. And I have to be honest, our Internet was really kicking our butt. So it maybe took us like 700 tries to get through with this episode, but we made it and I really hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Thanks, guys. Hey, guys. Welcome back to Ask Ashley Anything. I feel like it should be a jingle week number two. Hey, Jarvis, you're back again too.

I am. How's everybody doing again?

All the feedback from the crowd, way too much fun doing these podcasts. And we've gone down a few rabbit holes I think, in the past, but we've got a lot more questions to answer. So thank you guys for listening and for submitting questions. And Jesse, thanks for. Thanks for hosting this.

Well, of course.

So you. Let's. Let's start here. You're back from a big trip this week.

Yes, I am. I just got back from a trip to Cheyenne Frontier Days. We went for about five days and I feel like I need a recuperation from vacation day.

Is that what this is, do you think? You and I chatting? That's recouping from vacation? I think that's a good way to look at it. Yeah, we could we. Could.

We could say that. I like that.

Perfect. All right, well, what kind of questions do you have for today to kick off Hubiversary Part 2? Well, first of all, yes.

Big happy birthday wishes to the Hub who's turning five. That is extremely exciting.

Thank you. It's a big milestone. I'm so excited. Just all week, we're saying thank you to our community at the Hub with giveaways and, you know, kind of going through what it means to be in business for five years, kind of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and the lessons learned along the way. And hopefully our story can help inspire, you know, other business owners to. To ride through all the ups and downs and. And to plan along the way.

So my real question here is, if you went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant tonight, would you get the Hubs free chips, salsa, and margarita for the birthday? Or, like, how does that work?

Oh, my gosh. That's a. That's a good question. You know, can I you a story like the unsung hero? Because every story has the unsung hero, right? So everyone says, you know, Ashley's the founder of the Hub. Yes. That's great. It was my idea. But every business owner who is married has a partner, has a spouse that has to be instrumental in that process along the way. So I want to sing my husband's praises for a minute because Eric's a pretty quiet guy, and he's a pretty humble guy, and he doesn't talk about these things. But what really happened when we started this business was when we moved to Wisconsin, of course we were moving for his career, and it kind of allowed me this time to start this business. But it took his support along the way. You know, our family went down to one income. Things got extremely, extremely tight for a long time. Like, tighter than we've ever had them in our lives. And, you know, he was okay with that. He. We had saved up a little money that we could invest to start the website and, you know, hire developers and those things. And he gave freely of his time and, you know, helping with the kids, helping with the house, helping hear me along the way and bounce ideas back and forth along the way. And really, without him and the way that he supported me and the kids and this dream along the way, it wouldn't have been possible. So while people will sing, you know, happy birthday to the Hub, really, I just want to make sure that he gets the credit he deserves because he was a huge part and still is a huge part every single day. In this business.

Will you go buy that man a double Pendleton for me?

Will do. Will do.

Oh, goodness. Sal, shall we get started on these questions?

Let's do it.

Okie doke. Vanessa Beckett says, how do you handle competition? Specifically, when another boutique asks you not to attend an event, even though the style and target customers are completely different, how should I respond?

Boy, you know, everybody deals with this. Everybody, no matter what business you're in. It's not just this industry, you know, and even we do. Even I do. And really, all that is, all the word competition is, is a shadow of fear, right? It's the fear that someone else is going to beat you to whatever your end goal is. And so from the moment we started the hub, this idea of community over competition was so important to us because I truly believe that with anything in life, when you collaborate and build partnerships and build bridges, you all can become stronger. We can become stronger together. We can strengthen an industry together, not just our single business. And I'm going to go back a little bit to my economic development days, because I do remember the first time I ever heard this concept, and it became so important to me. There was a clothing store. Actually, there was two clothing stores on main street in our town, and one was an embroidery business then at, like, an older men's and women's store. And then they carried coveralls, and, you know, it was a small town, so they had to be the jack of all trades. And I remember when the store across from them went out of business, and that embroidery business, that clothing store came to me, and they said, ashley, as an economic development director, you know, we've got to do something to find another clothing store to put there, because that's crucial for our business. And at first I was like, wait, what do you mean? Like, they're your competition, aren't they? Why would you want someone else to go in that business or in that space? And they said, because anytime there's two or more businesses together, we become a shopping destination. And because people now have options and they can shop either business now, they're more likely to shop here versus going out of town or shopping online, whatever. And I thought, wow, that's really a novel idea. And they were right. You know, for the time that that other store across the street was empty, that business, number one, their sales suffered. And when a business finally went into that old location, now it became a stronger shopping district again. And I believe that same thing is true online. So going back to answer Vanessa's question, how do you deal with Competition, Competition. I think when people express those fears and they don't want you to attend events or they're expressing jealousy in different ways, all you can do is stay in your own lane and keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on your own business. Do what you do best. Don't look and don't worry, because it's only distracting for you and what your end goals are. Just know that it's fear manifesting itself through competition and there's really nothing you can do except lead by example. You know, show them the best way to handle that situation and eventually, you know, hopefully they find some confidence and they come around. But you've got to be the one to always extend that olive branch and just keep leading by example. So that's, you know, as much as it sucks, there's anxiety and things that go along with it. You just have to handle it the best you can and keep going forward.

Okay, the next question off of Instagram from Gabrielle's Good Tidings. I would love for you to share your thoughts on building your own brand while also being loyal to buyers. As a wholesale brand, how can you do well on both?

That's a good question. And it's a big topic in the industry today. You know, with the Internet, anything is available to everyone, right? So I think there's a great opportunity and I love, I love this brand. They make these cute little Libby clips. And I think the opportunity is you can build your own brand and create this customer demand and customer awareness through your own marketing channels and even selling direct to customers, but also serving your retail customers at the same time. And the way that you would do that, you know, first of all, if you're driving more brand awareness, it's gonna be beneficial to your retail customers because they're gonna hear about you and then go into that store and wanna buy the product. But you as their brand, have to offer some considerations to the retail customer along the way. As in, you know, price protection, zip code protection. A lot of times brands that are doing this are only offering certain styles through their own website for customers to buy direct. And a lot of times it's the older styles or discontinued styles, but the newest, freshest, you know, best pieces, those go into the retail stores, you know, so there's a number of ways you can, you can slice this and dice this, but above all, whatever it is you decide, however you decide to sell to both markets, the most important piece is clear communication and making sure that those retail buyers, your wholesale customers, making sure they know what Your policy is and being very clear to them about how you're going to protect them and keep them first along the way. And when you do that, well, I think there's definitely a win win. I think Makeup Junkie Bags is probably a really good example of this. MJ does a great job of driving this amazing brand awareness on her own, but then helps support her stores along the way. She even offer, I think, a buyback program where if you purchase her products as a retailer and they don't sell, you can send them back to her and then she'll sell them on her own website, you know, once they're discontinued or another store doesn't need them. So there's some opportunity out there, but communication is the most important piece of it.

I completely agree with that. And I think you definitely have to be aware of why are you wanting to do that? Are you wanting to do it to make more money? Are you wanting to do it to have a better brand in general and just grow your brand? And I think that that's probably a very, you know, deciding factor on how successful you can be in that as well.

Boy, that's a really good point, Jarvis. I mean, if it's just to make more money, I think, you know, that that's a little bit harder. But if you truly have intentions of building a stronger brand so it's a win win again, like collaboration, then I think you've got a lot more opportunity for you.

Yeah, you have a better, a stronger driving force behind what you're. Okay, next question. Courtney Harrison, she asked, what are the top three biggest setbacks you have faced in business?

Oh, man, this is gonna be a long one. You know what? Any business likes to paint a pretty picture and tell the great story of how wonderful it is and rightfully show. Rightfully show rightfully so, because everyone wants to talk about their wins. But more important than that and more valuable than that is talking about what didn't work so that you can help other people not make the same mistakes you did. And I am ready to do that. So this is a good question. All right, number one, biggest setback. Let me go back to the beginning. The first biggest setback, I would say, and I think I mentioned this in episode number one, was rather than letting the market drive the product development, I, in my mind had the product that I wanted to create. And I built. I tried to build it out, you know, to spec and perfectly to what I thought was going to work in my mind versus building, you know, an mvp, a minimum viable product. And Then letting the market direct it from there. Now, to a certain extent, that's what happened with the boutique hub, but kind of after I almost killed it along the way by not being receptive. And I think we do that because, you know, when we start businesses, whether it's a boutique or any business, we get this idea in our mind of what it's going to be and how perfect it's going to go according to plans. And our pride can, truthfully, our pride can hold us back from letting the market take us in another direction. So originally the boutique of when it was just the style side of the site, just this online shopping mall, boutiques didn't work the way I wanted it to initially. And it took some time for me to figure out how to go and kind of shift and go back to really what everyone was wanting and needing and truly where my passion was. And that was the community piece of it and helping boutique owners, you know, find each other and find access to information, education, getting together in person, all of those things. So do your MVP first, no matter what your business is. Setback number two was along the way for me. You know, as I was learning that lesson of the MVP product, I also trusted someone to bring into my business who I thought was smarter than I was and had a better opportunity to build it bigger than I thought I could. The lesson here is that totally failed. The person ended up taking lots and lots and lots of money from my husband and I. Basically everything we had saved and everything we'd put into the business was gone. I think like over $20,000 plus a empty PayPal account. We got blocked from our customer list and out of our Facebook groups and just it was bad situation because we trusted someone we met on the Internet. So rule of thumb there, don't trust someone you meet on Twitter right away. Make sure you have an in person meeting before you decide to do any business with somebody. In that process though, I think the best lesson that I learned was when we start a business, you know, a lot of times we aren't coming into it with all the information about how to run that business or, you know, all the skill sets that you need to be successful. But we have to know that we can develop those along the way. It doesn't have to be perfect. And just don't think because someone's got more experience in one area or another that they're necessarily smarter than you. I mean, you really have to rely on your own intuition somewhat along the way, you know, and trust that you can do this. You don't have to outsource everything or take someone else's word for it. It's your business, it's your heart, it's your soul, it's your vision, and trust in that and just go for it. I definitely. That was a big mistake for me, and that hurt a lot along the way. And thank God we were able to recover and kind of lit a new fire under my butt to get the boutique cup going into what it is today. And I think the reason it's successful today. So that was number one and number two, third biggest setback, I would say, you know, is something that we all struggle with, and I still am struggling with it currently, and that's juggling it all and thinking that as a business owner, you know, frankly, we're all control freaks and we think we have to do it all to do it perfect. And someone once told me this, and it's still in a post it note on my computer, and it says, are you the bottleneck of your business? And for me, most days the answer is, yes, I'm the bottleneck of my business. So the biggest setback or struggle I've been facing is just how do I continue to outsource to my team? You know, how do I hire a team, bring them on to do these things? And the chicken or the egg, I think for a lot of people, and myself included, is cash flow. You know, when cash flow is tight, how do you hire a team knowing that that's going to continue to build ROI down the road? So that's something we've kind of worked our way through a little bit and still continue to. But just getting things off my plate so I can save my mental sanity, that's a big lesson. And I know that as entrepreneurs, we put everything into the business, but that can lead to burnout really fast. So for me, it's been kind of a new learning process of learning how to take care of myself and to take breaks and to ask for help and not just try to internalize everything and take it all on my own shoulders because it just. It's proving not to work very well in that sense.

Well, I think that those are all setbacks that other business owners can relate to, which. Which in a. I think that sometimes we think that we're so different from one another, but in the grand scheme of things, we are all so similar as well as, you know, the struggles that we face and all of those things in life.

Agreed. I totally agree. There's so much you can learn and even, you know, if you're listening and you're thinking like, man, I wish I had a mentor or someone I could just sit down and visit with. Don't feel like it always has to be someone that's necessarily in the same industry, because some people that I've learned the most from haven't been in this industry at all. But it's just learning along the way the growing pains of starting and scaling a business to whatever size you want it to be. It doesn't have to be large, you know, it just has to be self sustaining for some of you who are looking for that freedom. But you've got to find someone who you can talk these things through with and get advice. Especially the whole going into business with someone, man, get lots of advice. And while things may look rosy on the outside, you know, just always plan for what's my worst case scenario and if that happens, what will I do? And then make the rest of your decisions after that. You know, just plan for the worst, hope for the best, and look for the good in people, but protect yourself along the way.

I completely, wholeheartedly, 125.9% agree.

Yes, we've had this combo a couple of times. But you're, you're always good to help me see the trees.

Oh, I don't know about that. Okay, the next question from Instagram, Rusty Soul, Wyoming or RustySoul, WY, are there any benefits to having a blog on your website? Not necessarily fashion or product related?

Yes. So I would say not. You know, the question. The first part is yes. Oh my gosh, I'm stumbling over myself. The first part is, yes, having a blog is important on your website for a couple of reasons, but not necessarily fashion or product related. You know, I think you can mix lifestyle pieces into the blog, but I think it should still be in the same family somewhat as whatever it is your business is. So therefore, you know fashion. The way that I look at a blog is it's awesome for SEO. You know, that's pretty obvious. Most people know that. But I think the greatest benefit truly is that customer service aspect of it and what I talked about earlier and knowing your customer and knowing what our needs are and how to fill them, I think the blog is the opportunity for that and it's educating your customers and it's building your brand along the way. So if you think about, you know, your customer may have different body types. So how do you use your blog to educate her on, you know, trends or styles or fits that are good for different body types or, you know, Educating her on trends for the different seasons or what to wear to different events, or how to tie a scarf. You could slice and dice that a number of different ways. And they don't have to be long, they don't have to be wordy, they can be pretty short and sweet. You know, an intro, an attention getter, what this blog is going to be about. And then, you know, five products or five trends or five key pieces you're featuring. And then a close and a call to action. You join my email list, sign up for text updates, whatever your main call to action is, join my VIP group. Those are all important. And I think if that's the core of the content is serving and educating the customer, then you could mix in those lifestyle pieces along the way. So if you want to talk about the why behind your business or charities that you are passionate about serving, you know, or some merit thing or health issue or whatever it is that you faced in your life that you feel like this is an opportunity and a platform for you, I would definitely go for it on the blog.

I love that. You know who does a really good job at that? Ricky Reese with Frosted Cowgirls. Every Friday, she has an email that goes out, that's a blog, so it goes out to her normal email list. And it's always about something different, like whether it's family or fashion or something more like behind the scenes of the business, but it's always related to her, her family fashion, like you kind of, you can finger out in three different areas. That's what I always like to think of, whether it's Instagram, you know, your blog, like you have family, fashion and then something else, but it's all relatable that way. You're not going out in too many different directions, but you get a little bit different content each time.

I like that. And you know who else, and this is not in the boutique industry, but the other person think of when it comes to this is Jenna Kutcher. I know a lot of you probably listen to her. Yeah. So the gold of your podcast. I love Jenna because when you go to her site, you know, you could be funneled there for a number of different reasons. It could be an Instagram training, it could be a Pinterest training. It could be her story of having miscarriages and infertility issues. It could be about body positivity, which is a huge topic for hers. And now she's finally pregnant and, you know, she's talking a lot about her marriage and, and she said some posts that have gone viral about her, you know, hot husband or whatever. However she described it in that post on Instagram that went so crazy. But she does a really good job. She's got a lot of different things she talks about, and people come there because they can relate to one or several of those pieces. Got it. We're recording.

Okie dokie. Take 769.

If everyone listening only knew how many times our Internet has gone in and out during this podcast. It's taken, like, 17 hours to record two shows.

Oh, my goodness.

We do deserve wine.

It might only be 10am but I'm ready to pop open a bottle.

Oh, my gosh.

But it's been fun.

It's been therapeutic, so thank you. Just picture me, like, lying back on my couch. Keep. Continue, continue asking away. Oh, my gosh.

You know, if anything, I mean, people think that the hub is, like, perfect and we have no problems, but this podcast goes to show we got issues.

Technology issues. All right, what you got? What else? Okay.

Jolie bbs. What's been the hardest thing in growing your business?

Ooh, hi, Jolie. I love Jolie. And crazy Consuela. You know, I think the hardest thing in growing my business, and I alluded to this earlier, talked about it earlier, so I'll keep it short, has been time management and balancing what's on my to do list. And one thing Eric's always been very good about helping me with and adamant about is do the 20% of your list. That gets you 80% of the list. The results, understanding what is the biggest rock and will get me from point A to point B faster than all the little busy stuff. And saying no has been, you know, something that's been really hard to learn. But it's easy when you're growing your business and you're in hustle mode just to say yes to everything and think that your hand has to touch everything. But there's no way you can be the CEO of your business and, you know, be the laborer at the same time. You have to figure out what that balance is and how do you really accomplish the most in the shortest amount of time. And frankly, you know, I love Gary Vee, and I love this hustle, hustle, hustle mode. And it's so important, and you have to have that, but you also have to check yourself at some point and go, okay, am I working? You know, am I at a place where I'm really living the life that I want to live while I'm working? Or am I just hustling 24 7. And there's no life to be had, you know, for me, with little kids, three little kids at home, and a marriage that's very important to me, I can't work 24 7. And I feel like our marriage and our personal lives, they're in this, like, weird, you know, kind of turning point right now where we're, you know, on five years and we're finally, we've got a team that can help and they do an awesome job. And we're finally kind of coming to that point where how do we have more life? Like, how do we go back to now having date nights and, and living life and being at all the kids events and all those things while also growing in business. So finding that balance along the way, don't lose sight of that.

No, I think that's so important. And I also think especially in growth, a lot of people want to get bigger, but a lot of people forget about the option to get better at what you're doing. And you can get a lot of return by getting better versus getting bigger.

Yes. Oh, that's so well said. And it reminds me of Kelsey Darby's story too. And actually Kelsey and Randa two years ago at the Boutique Summit talked about this. Bigger isn't always better in business. You really have to decide what's best for you. What do you really want out of this? Like, where do you see it going? And don't compare yourself to the Joneses. All the time thinking that you have to be doing, having this huge warehouse and doing all these orders, whether it's online or in store. You got to do what works for you and your family and your vision, not somebody else's.

No. And you know what, it's like that in any business I think of our ranch, and it's the same thing. So it's not only boutiques and brands that struggle with that. I think it's every business in any industry has those same problems. And you know how to scale and grow without losing it all.

You bet.

Okie doke. Next question comes from Hope Stultz. At what point should a person know you could leave your full time job with health insurance and be able to work the boutique full time and pay for health insurance?

Don't even get me started on health insurance right now. Oh, man. That's been a, that's been a struggle for, for us and our family and Eric leaving his career to come join us at the Boutique Hub. You know, we've been in this process of having to leave our great health insurance with his career and then, you know, go get our own on the marketplace, which is not exactly easy or affordable. So we're trying to figure out some alternative options. And so one thing, actually, I'm really proud of Eric also for taking this on. He's very adamant about figuring out how can the hub help alleviate some of this stress for people in the industry. You know, there's a lot of people that are in Hope's position and that want to either leave their full time job or have their spouse leave their full time job so they could come work in the business. And so, you know, while the hub's dream is eventually to have their own, like, group health insurance plan, there's still several regulations that are standing in our way, not allowing us to do that yet. But we're working on, you know, creating some supplemental insurance coverages that can help bridge the gap for people in the meantime. So accident policies, critical illness policies, disability, life insurance policies, all those things that can help. And they're the type of plan that will like, pay you directly so that if you do have a plan with that really high deductible, it can help, you know, cover that gap between where you are in that $14,000 just stupid deductible that you might have, which is what we will have very soon. So there's those things that we're trying to work on to help people like Hope in the, in the process, but hope to answer you more directly, you know, when do you know? Boy, that's a really personal question. That's different for everybody. You know, your own comfort level with the amount of savings that you have and what your cash flow looks like, you know, whatever it is in your personal finances. I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan, so I don't really want to risk it all. You know, I'm pretty adamant about making sure that your debt's paid off and all those things before you take big risks for your family. So I would say start there. You know, look at the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University and try to make some wise decisions based on those strategies that have been studied over time more than listen to me on this podcast. I love to tell you the answer, but I don't have it. That's pretty, pretty personal.

Next question. Kristin Peterson Arnold asks, how do you balance at all? Coming from a mom of five boys who are so involved with sports and extracurricular activities, I stay on the road at least five out of seven days. My husband also works long hours and I own an online boutique. Cook and clean, blah, blah, Blah. You get it.

Well, let's just say that Instagram is a dirty little liar. Social media is a bunch of BS and this whole notion that you have to balance it all, and I know I use this question a lot in asking guests on this show, you know, how do you balance it all? The truth is, you know, society paints us this stupid perfect picture of balance and the mom doing it all, when in fact it's the family doing it all. It's the husband doing it all with the mom. You know, I talked earlier about how much Eric contributes to our family. Whether it's helping run the kids around or whatever it is, it is a true team effort for us to survive on a day to day basis. And then this idea that it has to be perfect and Instagramable in the process, it's just not reality. You know, our house has a lot of piles in it most of the time and our kids eat a lot of macaroni and cheese and we do the best we can with what we have and we try to enjoy our family time as much as we can along the way. So I'll just tell you, this weekend, you know, we loaded up, our kids have horses and they compete in sport of rodeo. We were gone for three days camping and attending an event for them and that was our primary focus. You know, how do we create great family time while we have the opportunity to do so. And meanwhile, the house certainly wasn't clean, the grass needs to be mowed, the weeds are overtaking my flower beds and there's just a lot of errands that have to get done at home. But it's just not going to be perfect. So find people to help you. We don't have family near us, so we have a really great nanny intern, our right hand woman who comes into our home and helps us juggle kids and helps us clean and do laundry from time to time. Find someone who can support you and your family structure for whatever that means for you. And if you've got family like you do, Jesse, man, kudos. Ask them for help. Just don't be afraid to ask your family and your friends to step in when you need them and return the favor in the process. And again, do the best you can with what you have and enjoy, enjoy your. Enjoy your kids while they're young.

I love that answer and I completely agree. You know this the dumbest thing I on the planet I think is that saying of how beyond you and Beyonce have 24 hours in a day and look what she's doing with her life. But do you know how many people Beyonce has to pay to get all that stuff done? I mean, that's not even relatable. So don't feel like you and Beyonce need to be doing the same things in the 24 hours a day the you are given, because that, again, that is the lie of social media. That is not attainable for anybody.

No, just like, you know, we talked about a minute ago, whatever size of business, like, whatever your goal is, life is the same way. Like, you're in the driver's seat, right? So you have this awesome opportunity to create this vision. Like, what do I really want my life to look like? What do I really want my family to look like? And when I talk about vision boards, I really want to make this clear. A vision board, to me, is not about things that you want to have in life. It's about who do you want to be in life? Like, what kind of person do you want to be? What kind of skills? Like, what is it that you want to be and teach your kids? And that's what the vision on your vision board holds. And sure, there's a lot of fun and great things along the way, but just don't lose sight of the fact that that you're in the driver's seat. You get to create and dream and of course, bring God into every step of planning that out together and asking for his hand in what you do. But don't feel like you have to be in control and do it all, because it just doesn't work like that.

No, it does not. And frankly, Kristen, I think that you are Wonder Woman if you are a mom of five boys, because I only have one, and he's not even, like, crawling yet. And I am on the struggle, but us. So no kudos to you because you are balancing it all. If you've kept them alive this far, like, you're doing great.

Oh, that's so good. So true. Oh, gosh.

Okay, well, our good pal Christina Verclur asks, how do you keep your emotions in check? Oh.

Okay. This is a great question. Also, I feel like I've alluded to this earlier. Well, well, let me say this. God and prayer number one, gratitude number two. And really, like, starting the day off, I will say with all of this is most important, like, what's your morning ritual? So is it prayer? Is it gratitude and journaling, being intentional about your day and what's going to come? I think that's where it has to start. And also making sure that you're planning for Things if you fly by the seat of your pants, it's really easy to get in reactive mode versus being proactive. So starting your day off right and having, you know, those priorities in life in order, that's really important. I've got a coach that I work with, the business coach. She's a mindset coach. So that's also someone who helps me kind of see the forest through the trees along the way. So for you, you know, a mentor or a great friend, Jesse Jarvis is another person I know. I can call anytime and say, hey, I'm struggling with this. What should I do? And, you know, Jesse, you do such a good job of just listening and helping me, like, weigh all my options and then not let me make some kind of emotional decision, but really talk it through and then go forward. So I think everybody needs a Jesse in their life for that reason. You're gonna cry. I'll be quiet. Jarvis doesn't cry. So the other thing, too, Christina and. And, yeah, I think Christine has probably heard this piece of it because we talk about it in our Mastermind program a lot. And that's. Brendan Burchard has three questions to start every day with. And the first one is, what am I excited about today? Right? Because everyone knows when you've got something to look forward to, it's going to be a good day and keep you on the right path. So what am I excited about today? Number two is what might trip me up today, and how could I be prepared for that? So you kind of, again, going back to what's my worst case scenario? Planning for it, and then having a plan to avoid it. And then the third question is, who can I surprise today? And that goes back to the whole gratitude piece of it. And how do I build relationships and let people know how grateful I am along the way? Because gratitude builds something to be more grateful for, right? Gratitude builds gratitude. So I think if you start even with those three principles every day, it helps you start in a better place. Versus is again, being reactive and letting your emotions run wild, because those emotions are just dirty little liars most of the time.

No, that is so true. I love that. And I think, you know, I go see a counselor pretty regularly. Just like mental health in general is so important, especially when you're busy and you've got a lot on your plate, like most boutique and brand owners do. I mean, it's hard. And the more you know yourself and how your brain works and how, like, you are hardwired, the better you can do. Like, when those situations kind of pop up and, you know, okay, how would I react? How should I react? And those are really, like, key questions to know. And then, I mean, that's another good piece of how to keep your emotions in check, I think.

Yeah, I like that you said that, that you brought that up, because I think not many people will talk about mental health and just, you know what it's like. Everyone rides a struggle, struggle bus from time to time. Right. And, you know, whether it's struggling with anxiety or depression, everyone's been there and it's a real issue today. And I mean, finally, people in the media are starting to talk about this more and more, you know, with suicide rates and all these other things that are happening around us. And think about Kate Spade for a second. So I think it's really important that you are aware and you know what your triggers are and you have somebody to talk to that can help kind of bring you back and, and help you see your own reality for what it is. Because, again, emotions can really tell us a different story versus what's really happening.

That is so true and just. And really keeping a positive mindset. I notice on the days where if I kind of like, in my head, snap back at somebody, even if I don't verbalize it, those are the days where I think that that's when my emotions get the best of me. But if I always stay positive and, oh, they might be having a bad day or, or whatever it is, that's definitely a really easy way to kind of keep things on the straight and narrow.

Yep.

Okay, next question is a shop Miss Motor on Instagram. What time do you wake up? And what time do you go to bed? How do you get rest?

Well, I will say this just because my husband's the kind of guy who can't sleep. Like, he's on sleeping pills and bless him because he's miserable most of the time because he can't sleep. However, I'm the person that the second my, my head hits the pillow, I'm out. Where the second the airplane takes off, I always have a window seat because I can't stay awake. Like, I'm out immediately. So I'm blessed in that department. But managing the rest of it and putting myself on a pretty strict schedule, that's been a big factor for me in order to, like, maintain being productive. So I usually will get up. My alarm is set for like 10 to 5 every morning. And it's only been like that, I'd say, for like the past three years. Before that, I thought I had to like sleep every ounce I possibly could, which sometimes made me more tired. But I started getting up before five and going to work out. That's probably been the biggest shift that I've had in my life. That's been so helpful because I feel like I'm starting the day proactively again. So three mornings a week I'll go work out at five and then the other two I'll try to get up and I'll get my coffee and do like journaling or gratitude or mindset work, whatever before we get started. Now I will say there's some days where I hit snooze and I totally fail. And that's okay too. I just try to have some grace and do better the next morning. I mean this morning I skipped my workout, if I'm being honest, because I was tired from the weekend. So I'll get back into it tomorrow. After that it's chaos with the kids. Like we get the kids to school, school, get them out the door and then come back and start to work in the evenings. I usually will work until usually like 5:30 ish, 6:00 clock and then I try to walk away from my phone. Like I go black for a couple hours while I'm with the kids or at sporting events or doing dinner, whatever, and then back to bed. We kind of go to bed like at 9:30 maybe. Our kids kind of stay up late, which as a mom I probably shouldn't tell you that some of them will go to bed early. Jade will be the last one to bed with Eric and I. So I'll usually fall asleep maybe around 10, 10:30 sometimes.

Okey doke. The next question, Jenny Collier, what are your favorite podcasts? And I know this is a good question for Ashley because this woman listens to more podcasts than I have ever even heard of.

Okay. Oh, I got to scroll through my phone because there's a lot of them. And let me say, I love podcasts, but I also love Audible. I listen. Like I hardly ever read a book, like a paperback book, but I download them all on Audible and I love listening to books that way. So my two favorite things to do when I have time to do them. So podcast. Jenna Kutcher. I mentioned earlier, Lewis Howes has always been a favorite and Eric likes that one too. Rachel Hollis, of course. And if you haven't read Girl wash your face, you have to because it's, that's a must read. Rick Mulready has a really good Facebook ads podcast that I like and Amy Porterfield. She's got a marketing podcast and then Tony Robbins. I like his podcast. Tim Ferriss. Tim Ferriss interviews a lot of really smart business leaders and startup founders. So his is really good. The how I built this podcast. What is that? Npr? I think that one's really good. Great brand stories there. And then can I switch to YouTube? I also like in YouTube and podcast, Marie Forleo and then Brendan Burchard. Those are all. Those are all good ones.

Okay, so here's a funny for everybody. Speaking of podcasts. So I sent my child to my mother's house, which is like all of a half mile away from me today, so that I could record this with Ashley. And my dad comes toddling down here on his four wheeler because he wanted to come see Jet. And I told him that I was recording a podcast and that Jet was at his house. And he stares at me. What's a podcast? Keep in mind, he's 75, he doesn't own a cell phone, he doesn't have a debit card. I mean, the man is like, probably his IQ is a genius level, super smart, but just like, not in the technology. He can get on the Internet and get on Craigslist or ebay, but that's about it.

So did you describe. Yeah, I was like, it was kind.

Of like a radio interview and I just left it at that because I figured any more than that and it might be a struggle.

That's perfect.

Oh, what's a podcast? Oh, okay, so now we're into some fun questions. Not that the others weren't fun by any means, but these are a little bit more light hearted. Many, many of them from your. Your employees.

Oh, boy, I should be worried.

Okay, first of all, how would you describe your style?

Well, I should turn this on you.

How would you describe my style, Quigley Down Under?

Now we have to explain what that means. We have said that. Oh, so I love the vlogger Quigley. And how did you come up with this?

Well, I, I mean, Quigley down under, for those of you who don't know, it's a, it's a western movie. It has Tom Selleck in it, who was like the best looking older man in the history of the universe. But so then Ashley loves this blogger named Quigley. She has like a grandma style, but very like, like modern black. Like. Oh, Quigley just does.

Wait, did you just say grandma? Ish.

Yeah.

Are you talking about me?

No, no, you're not a grandma, but like, she just has like, there's a little bit of Quigley. That is totally grandma.

Right?

Like her big glasses, her chunky knit sweaters.

Yeah, okay, like, yeah, but like, 70s retro.

Yeah.

Grandma style before.

Oh, my gosh. Anyways, so. But Ashley's style also has a little bit western to it, obviously with the, you know, rodeo and ranching background. So that's why I came up with the name of Quigley down under for her style.

I like it with the grandma thing for a while. So I would say it's like denim, you know, like denim and like a rocker tee. It's like boho and western, but kind of like edgy, vintage ish, all wrapped up in one. And there always has to be one good statement piece that's super unique and hard to find.

I love it. Okay, Beth. Oh, Beth. She asks, if you could only watch one Will Ferrell movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I couldn't. There's too many good ones. I can't just narrow it to one.

Ah.

It would have to be not the movie, not a movie, but the Will Ferrell Best of SNL set. This is my favorite. So it's like all of his best skits from snl. That would be my go to because I all of them. And I could do, like, I could enact all of them. Actually, the other day, Eric and I were driving down the road and all I did was pull up YouTube videos of Will Ferrell and then we recited all of them to each other. That's how you know it's true love when you can recite Will Ferrell movies to one another. Otherwise, if it was. If it had to be a movie, it would probably be Anchorman. Like, I love Ron Burgundy.

Oh, my gosh. This is how we are so different. I am not a Will Ferrell fan. Was.

Oh, he's just the best. I love him.

Hey, which fashion trend, pattern or style would you like to see? Die Forever.

Low rise jeans. Because after you have kids, your body is just not the same and they make a terrible muffin top. I can't handle the muffin tops and the whale tails. So I am a huge fan of mid and high rise high rise jeans.

Oh, I'm a mid rise girl. Definitely a mid rise girl. Okay. Your sister in law, Marissa, asks, do you like a margarita on the rocks or a summer shandy?

Ooh, okay. Well, I'm a Wisconsin girl now, so that means beer and cheese are always available, so. And summer shandy, for those of you don't know, is a linen kugel's beer and leinenkugel's is made in the town that we live in, so that's a big, big piece of it. Anything. Liny's brand is name of the game, so that would be my go to. But I also like, like eat Mexican food probably three times a week. So when I go there, it's a margarita on the rocks.

Oh my goodness. Speaking of anything, Linies, Ashley sent my husband Liny's wool socks and he loves them so much. One, he wears them in the summer and two, I had to go buy more of them from the Lionies online store because those are his favorite wool socks.

That's awesome. He's repping the brand. Go Justin.

Okay, what's your favorite movie and favorite book?

Oh, book is girl, wash your face. So and that was like maybe what, two months ago, I think when I finished that. But really it's like the woman's the woman of today. It's like our anthem. So that's a must read for everyone. The other one, actually. So on the podcast we interviewed Missy Robertson a few weeks ago and this was also her favorite book. I'm a big when it comes to books, I love self help books. Something I can relate to. I'm not a big fiction reader, but my sister and actually Beth on our team read this book and gave it to me. And it's called redeeming love by Francine Rivers. And that is an amazing book. And it's like a love story, but it's also about God's love and it's about a prostitute in the old west, which put all those things together. And I'm not sure how it makes sense, but it's an amazing book. And then also I would say you are a badass at making money, Jen Sachiro. That's another must read. Did you also say favorite movie? Okay, I already said Anchorman. So anything Will Ferrell related would be favorite movie for sure. Or anything Adam Sandler related. Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler. My two go tos.

Awesome. Okie doke. Now we are going to end on a high note. We've actually made it through this podcast almost. I guess I shouldn't, shouldn't put our the chickens, you know, in all in one basket or eggs or whatever that is. But I think we're gonna make it this time. What are the top three short term and long term goals for the boutique hub?

Oh, good way to end it. Okay, so short term, we just are wrapping up the boutique awards, so that's kind of coming to an end now. But making sure we Celebrate those winners all year long. That's kind of a to do. That's on the list. But really short term, we've kind of grown the hub as it is today to a certain point and now we're kind of going back to the drawing board and we're making a lot of really big changes. So we're changing our entire online onboarding process. We're splitting the boutique hub website as it is today, into two sites which will be boutique style and the boutique hub business. Just trying to give some more definition between the two audiences who use the hub, whether they're a shopper or a boutique owner, brand designer, or someone in the industry. That's a really big undertaking. And then just making sure there's more clarity around those two sides of the business and how they work and what the benefits are. There'll be some changes in that process also in our Facebook groups. So kind of reimagining the hub and where it's at and how it serves our community into the future, that's a huge short term goal and project of ours in the next two months. And then the other one that's kind of been on our plate since last November and then kind of just kept getting put on the back burner and then finally we talked about it again at the Boutique Summit this year is the wholesale boutique box. So that's something our teams really had a lot of conversation on. But the way we want to build the wholesale boutique box is pretty in depth and pretty algorithm focused. So the question that we're trying to answer is how do we best connect wholesale brands and designers with their ideal retail counterparts? And how do we help boutique owners discover these new brands and designers and sample these products from their own store? Not having to see every single new brand that's at market, but trying to see as many as they can while they're there, but knowing that there's still another mechanism for discovery when they get back home to test these products out. So the wholesale boutique box, that's still something we're in the building process of. We've got a beta group who's kind of been helping answer some questions for us along the way and something that will fully launch this fall and we're excited about that. We wanted to make sure we didn't rush that project and that it was really all hands on deck for our team and making sure we do it right when it actually goes forward. So that's a huge short term goal and then I'd say more long term goals. We talked about Insurance that that's a huge thing on our plate right now. The supplemental policies are going to move forward a lot quicker than the possibility of group health coverage. But that's something that's always going to be on our minds. How do we bring more benefits to those of you who are members of the Boutique Hub? Whether it's cell phone discounts or these insurance policies or, you know, anything else you can get your hands on. Because as a small business owner, you know, any little piece will help tremendously in the business. So we want to make sure the hub is truly your family and your community that can help provide some of those other long term goals for the boutique hub. Boy, I would say a big piece of it's going to change how we offer brand discovery on the Boutique Hub and that wholesale community that we've built. We've got a lot of big changes there that I don't want to reveal quite yet, but you can bet your britches are coming. And then I alluded to changes in the groups, but really I say long term. I want it to be more intimate. You know, when the Boutique Hubs first started, the groups were very intimate and everyone really knew everyone and that's where the friendships that really formed the community started. And now, you know, it's growing so fast. There's new people all the time and I just don't want anyone who's new in our community to ever feel lost. And I don't want anyone who's been in our community for a long time to feel like they don't matter anymore. You know, that intimate, close friendship is the relationship is what's most important to me and I know to our team too. So as we look at the long term goals of the company, it's how do we continue to foster those relationships for the long term? Because I truly believe, you know, our mission at the Boutique Hub is to change lives and it's to change the future of this industry together. So our community is really at the core of everything that we do and making sure that we put those people first and those small businesses first and your personal relationships first. I know if we can do that, well then everything else is going to fall into place. Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you. 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 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, Sam.