#262: Creating a Customer Loyalty Program with Elizabeth Presher, Founder of Grit and Grace Digital Marketing

It's time for episode number 262 with my friend, Beth Pressure of Grit and Grace Digital Marketing. And if you have any type of loyalty program, this is the episode for you. 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. Hey, guys. There's only two ways to grow a business. To find new customers or to get your existing customers to buy more. Simple, right? Well, studies show that it's actually much more cost effective to get current customers to buy more. It's all about the 80% of your revenue that comes from the 20% of your list. And one of the most impactful ways to do that is by increasing customer service and customer retention programs through loyalty. So today on the show, I'm so pumped. A true OG of the Boutique Hub, who has been here as a boutique owner since the very beginning, turned marketing expert turned loyalty program expert, my friend Beth Pressure, she's going to be talking to you about a loyalty program that she actually implemented. Plus all the things you need to know about Facebook messenger marketing. She is a manychat expert and has actually spoke at Boutique Hub events on the topic before. She is so kind, so genuine, so knowledgeable, and has absolutely been in your shoes before. So I know you're going to love this episode with Beth. So check it out. Meet Beth with Grit and Grace Digital Marketing and find her anytime inside of the Boutique Hub. All right, guys, welcome back to the show. This week, I am with one of my favorite people in this industry, Elizabeth Pressure of Grit and Grace Digital Marketing. One of the kindest women I've had the opportunity to work with. I am so happy you're here today. Thank you for coming to the show.

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk.

I love that. I love your journey. I love that you have been in this industry for as long as I have. And as a boutique owner first and transitioning into helping boutiques and. And you do it with such humility and generosity. And I'm just gonna gush about you now, so I'm gonna turn this over to you. But I'm just so excited to see you here doing what you're doing. So tell us a little bit about how you first came into the industry and how you landed where you're at right now.

Yes, yes. So I am a context person so I love to hear people's stories and I think it's obviously it's fun to share mine because it's just a fun journey I had and a background in event planning and I've been doing that for a little bit, but really felt like it was taking time away from my family, especially the Saturday weddings. And I was sitting at my desk one day and I said to my, I was texting a friend and I said, I think I want to open a boutique. And she said, oh, I know a girl in Vegas that has a boutique. You can talk to her. So we got connected and the girl had said, well what I did is I loaded up a trailer and I went to people's houses and I set up shop. And then I grew into a brick and mortar and, and I thought that is brilliant. So I started googling mobile boutiques, boutiques on the go, kind of anything to do with that concept and found these mobile boutiques popping up all over the place. And so my husband came home from work that day. I said, you know that money we're saving to renovate the house instead we're going to buy a 23 foot step van and we're going to turn it into a boutique. And he was like, okay, let's do it. So literally that was December 16, 2013 and 100 days later exactly we were open for our first event. So it was one of those fast forward, just you know, do it events or do it projects. And I loved owning a boutique. I love the relationships that I made. But with the mobile boutique, I found myself back in that spot of nights and weekends, you know, kind of the reason that I went out on my own. So I started thinking about just again those relationships and I worked with a coach who was like, hey, why don't you start working with boutique owners and helping them grow their businesses. And my dream job is always the foundation, is always to meet with customers to find out their needs and then to best fit their needs. And I thought this could be a really good fit. So I started coaching and as I was talking to boutique owners, I realized so many of them, you know, I was telling them I was giving them a bigger to do list. So we'd meet, we'd kind of talk about what was working, what didn't and I would say, okay, now do go do this. And they were so overwhelmed. With their to dos. And I thought, how could I help? How could I help serve them better? And I thought, I think taking things off those to do lists. So when I would say to them, you know, you need to create this email list, well, how about I help them do that? So that's kind of how I really transitioned into digital marketing after, you know, just investing a lot of time in learning and, you know, just really feeling like my mission was just to serve them better and to find ways to meet their needs in a way that fit both of us better too. So that's kind of that big transition.

As you started to transition, then more onto the services side, like beyond coaching, what did you find yourself that you were doing or you were finding ways to take on for boutique owners?

Initially, yeah. So one of it was kind of a combination of what I could take on and then what were some new technologies that that no one really knew a lot about, but I knew could really help them grow. So it was the summer of 2018, I really started learning about messenger marketing. And it was at that time still in the very beginning phases. It's definitely an evolution constantly. But so I started looking at messenger marketing as just a really great way to grow their business, but also their relationships and their revenue. And so that's really where we started with the digital marketing is. I love messenger because there's some automated stuff that we can put in there that serves our customers really well, but it also serves us as, you know, women business owners that have families and a lot going on. So I love that automated side of it.

So you started, and I want to talk specifically about messenger marketing in just a minute. If anyone's like, what is that? But you also built a loyalty program. How did that come along with the messenger marketing side of things?

This is a really cool story, actually, and it shows just what a small world it is and what a big world it is. So I had gone to the ManyChat conference, the messenger marketing that we use in 2018, and I heard a speaker and he showed the use of messenger in loyalty program programs, and they shared the statistics with loyalty. And I thought this could be a really amazing fit for boutique owners. So I was in a group, like a kind of a mastermind group, and I had posted a few questions and I actually had a developer reach out to me and he said, hey, I can build this. There's a lot on the back end. There's a lot of tech stuff. But it sounds like you are in the boutique world and it sounds like you know some of the, the special things we can put into it and kind of the industry and what would work well. So how about we team up? So that's how I kind of started with the loyalty side of it. And he and I have kind of been partners ever since. And it's just really cool to see how, you know, we kind of fill in the blanks there.

All right, so let's get into the nuts and bolts of it. Let's start with messenger marketing. If anyone's not yet familiar and using ManyChat and Messenger bots, can you kind of give like the overview of like the Cliff Notes, what do you need to know and how it works?

Yeah. So messenger again is an ever evolving platform. So what I always recommend for boutiques especially to start with, is using as a customer service tool you can set up. Manychat is who we use. We're a partner agency. I've had a great experience. But you can set up things on the back end that are going to automate some of those conversations that you're already having. In messenger, we never want it to feel automated. We want it to be a well branded, you know, kind of an extension of yourself. But we can set up automations in messenger where customers, you can look at your frequently asked questions and you can say, you can set up keywords. So if somebody is asking about returns, what you can do is when messenger sees that word return, it's going to automate a response to them that's going to send them in the right direction. So it may be sending to your website or it may be a standard answer that you're going to give. But messenger just allows us to again serve our customers well because we can set up those automations but also just protect your time as a business owner.

So just like you are spending time building an email list that'd be similar to what you're doing on messenger, correct?

Yes. And in messenger, the cool thing now with ManyChat and even with our loyalty, is that ManyChat has become more of a CRM. So you can actually email and use SMS out of Messenger. So we know that messenger is a huge platform. I think the latest stats somewhere in the 2 billion people use messenger, so customers are already there and they can go to our Facebook business page. We know they're messaging us anyway, so we can use that information, kind of multitask that versus it just being that information or that list in one place. We can really build again our SMS lists and our email lists all through that one platform.

Okay, perfect. So how do most boutiques like, when you think about segmenting your email list, you're going to do it a certain way. What's the most common way that boutiques build segments in ManyChat.

So what I love about ManyChat is the ease of tagging. So I think in email, sometimes we don't always start off with the tagging. It's something we kind of think is a, you know, an afterthought. Where with ManyChat, especially with Pro, you can create as many tags as you'd like. So you can create. One very cool way to use it is you could create a quiz for your customers and you could ask them lots of questions and kind of like a choose or kind of a style quiz. So you ask them these questions. At the end, you could say, hey, based on your answers, it sounds like boho is your style. You could actually tag those customers as boho. And when you have boho new arrivals, you could specifically send those new arrivals to that list. And I love that. You know, I think as boutiques, one of our biggest strengths is personalization. And I think tagging really well and segmenting really well allows us to extend that outside of, you know, a brick and mortar. It just allows us to create that unique customer experience even outside of being in person. And I love that, that relationship building that we can do.

I think that's such a key piece of marketing is everyone wants to feel important, right? Everyone wants to feel like you're speaking just to them. And that's what segmentation really does, is it makes them feel like, oh my gosh, this was made just for me. So I think, man, great point. I understand there's been some changes with manychat and just like Facebook messenger in general on who you can send to, how long they've been on your list, that type of thing. Can you talk more about any of those changes?

Absolutely. So, again, messenger is an ever evolving platform. And I think the biggest reason and when I talk about messenger versus email, I always say one of the biggest difference is that messenger is heavily regulated by Facebook. And Facebook wants to protect messenger as a space that serves its customers really well, not necessarily the business side. So we can still use messenger really well. We just obviously have to respect the rules. And Facebook does not want it to become a spammy space. They want it to be, again, that protected customer service side. So as of March, what they did is you cannot message if as a business page, if someone messages you, you cannot message them again outside of 24 hours again to Protect that space. There are definitely some exceptions that are made and you can use tagging. If somebody like RSVPs for an event, you can tag them and then you're still able to send them a message. And I think that's why, you know, we're trying to look at it more as like a chat marketing strategy versus just a messenger marketing strategy. So looking at, you know, getting email addresses and SMS and not in a spammy way, you know, we don't want to hit our customers everywhere, but we do have to realize that some customers, you know, want messages through SMS and some are going to prefer email. So it's important for us to build those lists so we're able to communicate to them where they want to get that information.

Super helpful. So I have to say this every time. I don't know if it's my accent or what, but when I tell people to go to many channels and they type in mini chat.

Yeah.

Like with an I, it comes up with something you probably shouldn't be googling. So M a n y Manny people just. I'll say chat. Yeah, there you go, you guys.

Check it out. I have to be very intentional about that. And I've noticed that some of the, like, some of the, like, leaders in the messenger marketing where they'll say, manny, chat. And then you do have to be careful.

I just think it's so funny. The first time that ever happened, I was like, what? What did I just do?

I think it happened. I think it happened last year at Magic when I was speaking, people were going on the site and we had to do some troubleshooting.

Yes, yes. Go here, not there. All right, so talk to me about how, you know, automation is so key and like talked about. Messenger marketing is all about making your customers feel unique and special and important. And really having a rewards program has that same psychological effect. Talk to me more about, like, do you think that there's big mistakes that boutiques make with rewards programs when they're getting started?

Yes. And I speak from experience here. So what has been fun for me to see that this evolution of our loyalty is a lot of it is helping boutiques not make the mistake that I did in the beginning with my loyalty program in my boutique. So what I did, and this is probably really common, is I went in the App store, I found a loyalty program and I installed it and I had no idea how it worked. I didn't know the levels, I didn't know the rewards. And I really realized that what a problem it was is I Had a customer come in and sweet, sweet customer. And she said to me, hey, I think that I have enough Rewards for a $5 or enough points for a $5 reward. And I was like, I'm a people pleaser. So I was like, oh, okay. So I just gave her $5 off. I had no idea that she was in the loyalty program, and I definitely had no idea how many points she had. And it made me realize the importance of using loyalty with intention, putting thought into what your points and reward systems will be. You know, sometimes I will see boutiques that they will have it's 1,000 points to get that $10 off. And psychologically, when we think about our shopping habits, I know if it's going to take me $1,000 to get $10, it's probably not going to really influence my behavior. It's not going to make me think, oh, I'm going to go to this store versus it just seems very unattainable. So what we like to do is we like to look at average order values and kind of look at those metrics and say, how can we influence customers to come back? How can we use this as that dangling carrot to get customers to shop with our boutique versus going somewhere else? I love to look at statistics with loyalty because they're really powerful. If we can increase our retention rate by just 5%, we can increase our bottom line anywhere up to 95%. And the reason being is it's just much more expensive to get new customers than it is to keep our current customers. Our current customers already love us. They're more likely to buy new products, they're more likely to tell their friends about us, and they're more likely to spend more. So I think that is another big mistake is we just don't realize sometimes the impact that retention can make on our bottom line. So I see that pretty frequently just those kind of things that we just need to refocus and just learn that retention is really important.

Oh, man, I feel like you dropped a bomb and I want to have you repeat it. I always use this. You know, I'd like a general stat that 80% of your revenue usually comes from 20% of your list. And yes, I feel like we are stuck on this merry go round every day of new content and finding new customers. But if we just really focused on helping our current customers, that they would buy more.

Absolutely.

So talk to me about, you know, a little bit more about what makes your loyalty program, like psychologically, how does it make your program different than others that May be on the market.

Absolutely. So I was looking at some stats and I thought this was a really cool one. And it was in a study, about 95% of loyalty program members want to engage with their brand's programs through new and emerging technologies. And I loved that because I see that it just describes ours really well. So our loyalty program, the entrance is a messenger, and then we use messenger, email, SMS reminders, and then we also. And this is a really unique selling point for ours is we have a mobile wallet component. So it's kind of like your Starbucks card. And what's been really fun about that is two things. One, it's an amazing marketing tool. We can send push notifications to a lock screen. We know that that's really important. But it's also been so fun as we've created these loyalty programs for boutiques. To see their card for their boutique is so fun because it's so well branded. And every time I see it, I'm just so proud of the boutique boutiques that we work with. And I think it's really fun for the owners to see it come together like this is, you know, it just feels. You just feel really proud. So not only is it an amazing marketing component, but it's just a neat piece of the puzzle. One thing that I also, I think a lot about with this, you know, kind of what sets us apart. I had a summer in my boutique and again, we were mobile and we did a lot of events in the public and then private events as well. And at the end of the summer, I had a very close girlfriend who was a great shopper, said to me, hey, did you stay home with the boys all summer? And I said, no. What do you mean? And she said, well, I never saw. I never saw that you were out. I never saw any of your stuff on social media. And I thought, well, you were posting all the time. And it just makes you realize, you know, organic reach on social media is really tough. And. And so we're posting things and not everyone sees it. Social media is still an important part of our business. Absolutely. But it just shows us that we really need that Omni marketing approach and we need to communicate on lots of different levels because not everybody is seeing everything we post. So I think that's been a huge part of our development of this loyalty program, is really creating that Omni marketing approach so we can communicate with our customers really well.

Man, that is so important. I think, especially like going through what we all went through in 2020 so far. It's so Easy to put all of your eggs in one basket because you feel so overwhelmed just trying to keep up with it all. But it just goes back to if you're not automating something, you're not growing because there are not enough hours in the day for you to get it all done. Like, it is impossible for you to do all the things that are necessary to scale. So you can either outsource and hire, or you can figure out how to get smart and automate. And I love that that's what this is all centered around. I think that's so, so smart.

Absolutely. And with grit and grace. From the beginning, our mission has always been to encourage and empower boutique owners to provide their families with the income they need, but the time they deserve. And I think that just speaks to my heart as a mom. You know, I. I can look back in times where it was like, wow, we were like the boutique was rocking and we were, you know, doing so well revenue wise. But I felt like I was losing my mind. And so to help boutiques create those systems where they do feel like their revenue's rocket and they feel like they're providing for their family, but they're also, you know, not losing their mind, not feeling like they're sacrificing so much time with their families. And it's a balance. And, you know, there isn't a balance, but there's, you know, but we try to. Anything we can put in place to protect our boutique owners. Times is just. It's just so important to me and just what I want for these women.

Yeah, I'm sure there's people that are listening that are wanting to ask this question, so I'll ask it. Number one, making sure it works with Shopify, because I know that's what most people use. And number two, how do you pay for it? How does the loyalty program work that way?

Absolutely. Yes. It is actually exclusively Shopify. We've looked at kind of going to other platforms, but we've realized there are so many amazing business owners on Shopify that we really want to stick to that. I know, Ashley, you told me once the riches are in the niches. So what we wanted to do is just really build something that is just the best Shopify loyalty program you can find. Another side note, it can be used in store and online too, which is great. Obviously, the points carry over on both sides. We try to make it really easy. And then for the payment for the loyalty to pay us, it's a monthly fee to use the loyalty program and the Cool thing now is we do have some add ons where it can be your full SMS and email platform. So we're trying to build things again that automate and that protect time. And even in the email platform that we're working on, we really want to create something that you can just submit the copy and the creative and then we take it from there. So again, just really building those systems to protect time but also just create that revenue for the boutiques.

Absolutely. What do you think as you look across your customer list, all the boutiques that you work with, what do you feel like your most successful clients all have in common?

As I look, I would say the most successful know who they are and they know who they serve and they do that really, really well. I think they are not trying to be something they're not so they can communicate really well with their people. And I think the cool thing about that is typically when we start building that tribe, those tribe members know more people like that. And I think that's just a really great way to build an audience they don't try to be for everybody. I know that's really tempting in the beginning. I know. Even when I started I was like, like, I want everyone to shop here because we want to serve everybody. But when we realize if we can really choose our audience and choose our tribe and just serve them really well, that's how we're going to grow the most.

Oh man, that. That makes. I just want to drop the mic because I think so many times, especially new business owners get into the business feeling like they need to be the best version of someone else, someone they look up to, someone they idolize. But really going back to the riches are in the niches. It's the riches are in being who you were created to be.

Yes.

And that's what people love about you and truly what sets you apart. I think that's so good. If there's someone listening that let's say, you know, is can't afford your services right now and they're wondering like, what's one thing I should do after listening to this podcast? What would that be?

Absolutely. I would look at your retention strategy and maybe you don't have a retention strategy at all. So the first thing I would do is I would look at ways that you can keep your customers coming back. One of my favorite ways that we focus on retention in my boutique is we ranked our 10 best customers. And Shopify lets you do that really easily. And I found something just a cute wrap. It was during the holiday Season and sent a wrap to each of them. I think it was like, like, you know, $7, you know, wholesale. And just sent them a card and said thank you so much for investing in my business, for supporting me, for showing me that, you know, being a small business owner is the best. And I think just really looking at ways to nurture those relationships and maybe it's not even spending the money on the gift, but it's reaching out to them and just sending a thank you. That loyalty, you know, we all love to feel special and I think for us, you know, as consumers to feel like we're making an impact on someone's business is just really important. And I think we know how that makes us feel. I was actually this weekend I received a phone call from a local business and they said, hey, we miss seeing you and we would love for you to come back. This is what we're offering. And I thought, wow, that was, you know, it was a very kind, not spammy phone call. And I just thought for them to take the time to appreciate me as a customer again, it didn't take any money at all, but it made me feel special and it made me want to go there the next time I needed what they had.

So, you know, there's so many, so many times I feel like people get hung up on price in this industry. Like I've got to be a dollar cheaper than everyone or you know, Karen down the street, she's a dollar cheaper than me and you know, my customers aren't going to be loyal. But your point that you illustrate is that people want to do business with people and price doesn't matter. Price shoppers aren't loyal anyway. They can go to Walmart. But when you make someone feel good about themselves, you make people feel like they're building a relationship with you and you're actually doing business with a human being and you have an impact on their future. Man, that builds loyalty like no other. I think that's a great example.

Absolutely. And I think too, going back to your point of, you know, when we start boutiques or we start businesses, we do think we need to be this put together, perfect, ideal person. And a lot of times people don't relate to that. And because I'm not perfect and I, you know, I'm not always put together and perfect. And my mother in law, I had the world, world's best mother in law. She had said once we relate most in our weaknesses and I think that's so true to say to people, I'm not perfect. You know, I've had boutique owner clients that'll say, like, I'm a mom. And when you see me running around like, I'm not always, you know, wearing my cute, you know, perfect top, but I'm, you know, this is real life and this is who I am. And I think people see that and they're like, yes, you know, those are, those are my people. And I think, again, you just build those, those strong relationships, that strong loyalty when people are real.

Oh, man. So true. Where do you think this is going to take the future of our industry? Like, do you think it's going to change going forward or maybe even surviving the pandemic? Like, what do you think things will be, like, 12 months down the road from now?

I mean, I think that. But the pandemic and the change in the brick and mortar atmosphere and just the way that things are going to go, I think it's really important for us to, again, just continue to focus on unique selling points. I think those relationships are going to become more important. I think that really showing your personality. Obviously, what we've seen in the past several months is we've seen the boom in live sales, and I don't think it's been just because people want a shot because they're at home. I think it's because people crave that interaction and they love the ability to see that personality. So I think we're just going to continue to see the emphasis and the importance on just creating a very unique brand. There's a lot of competition, and I think for you to be able to do things that are going to set you apart just becomes more and more important in this climate.

So true. So true. Let's do this. Let's have a little lightning round, shall we? Sure. Okay, perfect. Because I want to hear more about you on a personal level because I love all the marketing tips and strategies. I think you and I could go on and on about this for hours and nerd out about data, which I think is fun.

Very much so, yes.

Yes. But we both, like, we get inspired by similar things and following similar mentors. And we were actually just talking about this for everyone listening. Before we started to record the podcast, we were talking about some of our favorites, which I'm sure this will come up in a minute, so I won't even spill the beans now. But I want to hear this. What is your. We'll start with favorite podcast besides this one. Oh, yes, of course.

Yes. I love. I love building your story brand with Donald Miller and Dr. J.J. peterson. I just love, even when he was speaking on the podcast about that, it's so much about building relationships. And I love that empathy piece and that leader piece and those coming together and just relating with your audience. I think that their strategies sometimes feel B2B, but they're so. For all of us, they're for business to consumers. They're for business to business and that creating relationships. I just, I love to learn more about that.

So good. And we've got to talk about this for a second. Having JJ on the podcast was amazing. I think he dropped a Will Ferrell quote before we even started recording. So I was like, yes, you're my people. Yes, we're meant to be friends. But the thing going back to what you were saying a minute ago about live sales and how boutiques are relating to their customers on a new level, I think it all comes back to what they teach, and that is the element of story and how you are not the hero of the story. You're the guide in the story that's helping the hero achieve something great. And the hero is truly your customer. And I think we a lot of times get that so mixed up, like where we position ourselves in the limelight, but it's not about us. It's about how we position our customers in that place. So the way they break that down and make it really easy to follow and give you, you know, the story. Brand framework. Yes. I just think it's brilliant.

It is, it is. I loved it. The first, not the current book, but the first, the Building youg Story Brand book. I. They have like a guide in it and so they like walk you through all the steps and it's like you're on an adventure. And I loved that because it was like. It just. It just illustrates it really well. And I think as one common trait that I see with almost every boutique owner I have ever worked with is they are so service minded. They want to serve their customers and they want to provide this amazing experience. And so I think that just speaks so well to the hearts of boutique owners too.

Yeah, you can serve them through story so, so well.

Yes.

Okay, so I think we got on that by asking about your favorite podcast, but that aside, what would be your favorite book?

Oh, I have lots of favorite books. I. I love me some girl. Wash your face. I think that sometimes I'm not a tough love person. Like, I need. I always make this joke that when I gave birth to my children, I needed a nurse that was gonna be like, you're so pretty. Push like oh, you're, you're the. You know, I need cheerleaders in my life, but I like a little tough love with Rachel Hollis. I feel like that's been a good thing for me. And thinking about like these lies that we can get caught up in in our mind that we believe and really putting those to rest and addressing those sometimes with fears, I'm like, why do I even have this fear? Once we say it out loud and we address it and we unpack it, we realize that wasn't real to begin with. So.

Yeah, fear is a liar, man. Yes. What about your favorite mentor?

I would say, especially in this e commerce space, I would say Ezra Firestone. I love when I was transitioning, it was really. I was still owning my boutique, but I was looking for ways to grow. And I took his e commerce marketing course and I would say that it really changed the trajectory of my business because I looked at things so differently. I think I was in that mindset of you put up a pretty website, people go to it. But he just created and that course just really spoke about relationships and pre purchase emails and post purchase sequences and just again, making sure that you are making a mark on these customers and, you know, taking them from first time customer to loyal customer. And I, again, it just really changed the way I thought about things.

So. Good. He's one of my absolute favorites too. And I love his hair, obviously.

Yes, obviously. Yes, obviously.

I mean, Eric has curly hair, so I've been like, Eric, like, can't you just grow out like a Jew fro and turn into Ezra Firestone? And he's like, no, like, heck to the.

No, that. Well, this. My husband has red curly hair, so he would have like a mate, but he would have a Ronald McDonald face before he got to the ponytail face. So that would maybe not be a good idea.

But he would scare the children.

Yes, he might.

Yes. What about. What's your greater fear? Snakes, payroll or Internet trolls?

Internet trolls. Even though they're not real, they're real. I'm gonna say they're real, but they're not real. So it's. I had. This is a great example of. I had run a Facebook ad once and I was promoting an offer that we had and I had a high neck. I think it was like a flying tomato top that I loved. I loved this top. I thought it looked real cute. And somebody commented something like, you're kind of pretty, but that, that top makes you look like you have no neck. And I was like, why would she say that to me? Like, I don't understand. And that is probably the mildest of the Internet trolls. But it hits you. It's like, why is this person, I don't know, being mean to me or critiquing me? I've got enough self critique going on. I don't need these strangers to tell me these things.

Who has time to scroll on their phone? Like, scroll, scroll, scroll. Oh, I'm gonna tell her she does not look cute today. I'm take the time to use my thumb to type out this stupid message.

Right. It blows my mind. It blows my mind. So, yes.

You know, I was thinking, I was dealing with some trolls earlier this week, and I was thinking it would be fun to have. Like, do you ever watch mean tweets? Like, celebrity?

Yes. It's the best.

I think I'm gonna do a boutique hub version of it. Like, one podcast dedicated to everyone in the community that's had a troll. You can come on the podcast, you can read your troll comment and laugh about it. We're all sharing it together.

That's amazing. And there's a doobies, and it reshapes that too. Right. It makes us. When we can look at it and laugh, and when you see, you know, the famous people reading it and, like, those faces, it just reshapes your, like, view on what has happened. You're like, wait a second. No, like, this is.

They're.

They're beer. Yeah, it's just. It's. Yes. Sorry.

It says more about them than it does about you.

Absolutely.

100%, yes. All right. What about you're a mom. Let's talk about that for a second. You're a busy mom, and you balance this business, and that was really a part of your. Your journey to coming to where you are right now. I know I always ask this question, and I hate the word balance because I don't think it exists, but. And I don't think it's a zero sum game. Like, I don't feel like if you're great in one area of your life, like, if you have a successful business, that doesn't mean it has to take away from somebody at other area. Like, it's not a zero sum, but you can be great in all areas. So I would love to hear from you. Like, how do you strive to do that daily? How do you strive to be great both as a mom, as a wife, as a business owner and all the things that you've got going on?

Absolutely. And it's definitely trial and error. I know when my boys are in school, I have two school aged boys and that's been really great for business obviously because I can dedicate that time. You know, I drop them off at school and pick them up and I'm like, okay, clock starts now. So I drop them off at 8:45 and really try to make those tight to do lists. I love the book eat the Frog and I try to. And basically the premise is write down those hard things to do and get those off your list quickly. I think shutting down my phone and putting it away, having those dinner time is no phone time. And that's hard sometimes because I think as women we want to be, you know, if somebody's asking me a question or a client's texting me, I want to write back right away. But I think realizing, you know, I have a 13 year old and an 11 year old and this time is flying. And so I think really putting that in perspective, like they are my priority, my business. I've always tried to create this business that revolves around our life as much as possible. So making them the priority and realizing that I want to serve my customers well. But you know, there's that quote, family isn't the family isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing or something. It's basically, you know, this, this family that I'm raising is the most important and being a good wife is the most important. So you know, really prioritizing that and trying to stay organized as much as possible with the to dos as well.

So important and just having, I think if you have those boundaries, like you know, where you want your priority and your boundary to be from the get go, it makes it so easy to make the schedule and the decisions accordingly. Right?

Yes, yes. And evaluating really it's that constant evaluation too of realizing like this is taking more time than it needs to or this is where, you know, I need to put, you know, I need to say no to things too. I'm. I can very quickly over commit myself with church and with school and the freedom in saying no is, is been really good for me as well.

All right, Elizabeth, let's talk about your future. Let's talk about 30 years down the road and your kids are grown and they've got their own babies and you're sitting on the front porch with them and you're talking about this life that you led and the businesses that you built and the people you're able to touch. What's the thing that you want them to remember the most about how you lived and what you created, what do you want your legacy with them to be?

I want to them to know that I looked for ways to help, you know, when things. I want to be the person that when I see a need, whether that's a big need or a small need, I want to be able to serve people really well. And I want them to know that I want my boys to see that it wasn't all about me and that I, you know, served others as much as I did, you know, just served others and put others before myself.

I love that. I love that. Well, I know you've got some freebies and some specials for our listeners today that we're going to drop in the show notes. Do you want to mention what those are?

Absolutely. So we have a really fun tool that we've created that you can test out. It's a great way to build your SMS list. It's a love it or hate it. I love this tool. I'm really excited. It actually shows how you can build your SMS list, but it's also done in Messenger. And then we also want to offer to everyone listening for. If you sign up for the loyalty program, you will get your first two months of the SMS service free. So the SMS platform, you can try that out and that will be completely free when you sign up for loyalty. Awesome.

Well, Elizabeth, it is always so awesome to get to chat with you and to collaborate with you. I know we've had you at our workshops in Vegas being able to speak and we've collaborated on some other things and I look forward to working with you more in the future because like I said at the beginning, I just feel like working with people that you can totally trust. You know, they're going to take care of everybody that you send their way, which is huge for me. And just being as real and full of light as you are, I think makes such a huge difference. So thank you for all that you do and for being a big part of our community.

Thank you. And I love being a part of the hub and I love thinking about that first dinner where we met for the first time in Vegas. So it's fun. It's amazing to. To see how the hub has grown and what a service it is to so, so many boutique owners, service providers and wholesalers. So just thankful for this community.

Oh, man. Thank you so much. And yeah, that was. We had our very first get together in Vegas at a very random, sketchy hotel, but it's actually like one of the best local dives.

Yeah.

But everyone is always like, you took people there like, what were you thinking? I was like, I don't know. I found it on the Internet and it was cheap. I was broken.

Hey.

But amazing how far things come. Absolutely.

And that short rib was one of the best short ribs I've ever had in my life. So it was good. Perfect.

All right, well, I will let you go. Thank you again. You did an amazing job and we are so grateful again to have you on the podcast today.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hey, guys, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. In case you didn't already know, we have launched the Virtual Retail Summit. You guys know we were so bummed to cancel the 2020 Boutique Summit where we get the opportunity to see you in person. So we brought the party online. So joining us is over 30 expert speakers, top boutique owners, retail industry insiders, anyone and everyone who has a voice on what's happening today in retail, in E commerce, and what's happening on Main Street. So, guys, grab your friends, tag someone, let your local chamber of commerce know. Tickets are under $50 because we want it to be so impactful and affordable to every small business that could use it. So check it out. VirtualRetail summit.com and I've linked it up in the show notes just for you. 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, 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 theboutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.

Sam.