#729: From T-Shirt Side Hustle to National Wholesale Brand: The Saltwater Boys Story

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Business can be a lonely game. But it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub your and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys. Welcome back to the podcast this week. Lacey, I'm so glad that you're here. Thanks for jumping on with me today.

Yes, no, thank you so much for having us. We are so honored, so flattered, so happy to be here with you.

So a lot of people hear about the Boutique Hub and they hear, you know, they think it's just about the boutiques and growing the boutiques. But the truth is half of the Boutique Hub is also about growing the brands and the partnership between boutiques and brands. But we also look at brands as, I mean, you're a product based business owner. How can we also grow your business besides just connecting you to boutique owners? So I know you and I have a lot to dive into today. Before we get into all the details, just take me back to the beginning. Give me your origin story. How did you get started in this business?

Yes, well, it's a really, actually crazy story. So I am a registered nurse and I had been working for quite a few years in home hospice nursing. And then you were a.

That is like the toughest type of nursing.

No, I don't know about that. Those are the best nurses. I was very blessed to be able to do that. And honestly, like took away from it way more than I gave, to tell you the truth. But I had done that for about three years and I was like, I'm ready to go into the hospital setting. You really can develop your skills in that setting. So, so I started a month before COVID broke out at the hospital and so I worked all through Covid and was just very burned out. And so I was home on maternity leave with my now 4 year old. So he was a brand new baby. And I told my husband I was like, I just need like a creative outlet of some kind. So I said, I'm gonna buy like this $200 Heat Press and I'm gonna start making T shirts in our closet and like sell to friends and family in Facebook groups. And he was like, lacey, are you insane? And I said, just, just go with it. So we literally bought a press and some transfers and Blank tees. And we were printing shirts in our closet at night, posting them in Facebook mom groups. Well, the first month we sold, I want to say it was close to $20,000 of T shirts in these Facebook mom groups. And I was like, brandon, that is so weird. Like, that's just a fluke thing. It could never happen again. And he said, well, if you can do it again. And so we did it a second month, and same results. And so about the third month, I started having stores, boutiques who were in those groups reach out to me organically and say, hey, I have a store. Will you sell your products to me? And so I kind of looked at my husband, and I was like, I'm not really sure, like, how to do that. And he said, well, you better figure it out. And so we went to Atlanta in October of that year. So October 2021, we were like, we'll just go check out the market and, like, see what that's about. Stumbled into the Boutique Hub booth as a result of the gentleman who sells bags. And I cannot think of his name.

But he's David with American paper and plastics, I bet.

Yes, David. Yes. David was like, are you in the Boutique Hub? You've got to be in the Boutique Hub. So he sends me down there.

Yeah.

And I signed up, immediately joined the Boutique Hub. And so then just three months later, we were back at our first market in Atlanta and two showrooms, both of whom I connected with through the Boutique Hub, both of those showrooms. And so that first market, literally, we're six months old, we picked up our first 30 wholesale accounts, and we were off to the races.

My gosh, that's fast and furious.

It was fast and furious. When I tell you that it literally was like a train dragging us down the tracks behind it in the best way possible. But just. It's always interesting to me when there's people who, like, thoughtfully and responsibly, like, enter their business, and they have, like, a plan and a budget and all the things. And I think that is amazing. That is fantastic. But that is just not how it happened for me. It was very much like, you know, once that first little ball started rolling, then it was just really escalated.

So the funny thing is, funny that you say that about this being your creative outlet. If I had a dollar for every either retailer or wholesaler I knew that used to be a nurse or a teacher that came over to this industry, I would be rich. Because I think that's, like, you're so used to the mundane or, you know, A certain stress level, say, with your career. And so it's so natural to want something on the side. And I think that's the best business story when you just have, like, minimum viable product. Like, you just test it out and it takes off and you run with it. There's no fancy business plan.

You just go, absolutely not. And for me, I have always very much like, let the market kind of guide me from inception, and then it continues to help me make my decisions. When we first started, I feel like I was sort of shooting from the hip, if you will. Whereas today we really listen to what the market says via data. So when I go to markets, I'm analyzing, like, what my wholesale customers are telling me, what they're ordering. Those are the kind of things that drive our, you know, decisions. When I'm at market and I have customers consistently ask me for things, or I'd really like to see that, you know, we really implement that. And that's, I guess, some of the difference between a small, a smaller brand who's able to execute those changes. You don't have these complex teams between you and the end result. You just hear from your customer, they want to see something different, and you make it happen.

So, yeah, that's the beautiful part about being a small business owner. You have the freedom to move on a dime and test things out if they don't work, go in a completely different direction. For sure.

Yes, you can be, I would say, very fast, and I think that's a competitive advantage as opposed to a very complex organization with huge teams. It could take, I would imagine, quite a bit of time to move projects through all the checks and balances of that.

Yeah. So once you got going, I've got to go back to your origin story just a little bit. Going back to why boys and why the name. How did those. Those decisions come about?

Absolutely. Well, the name, just honestly, my husband and I, we debate. He's like, I came up with the name. And I'm like, I came up with the name. But anyway, regardless, we at the time were living on St. Simon's island, which is a tiny little island off the coast of Georgia, and obviously beach town. And we, you know, not only living there, but we have all always loved to go to, like, the Gulf of Mexico or Florida to the beaches. And that's always been our quality family time together. And so we drew the name off of that. We also have at the time, two boys, but today we have three. So we have 12, 12 years old, four years old, and then a newborn wow. And so obviously, our salt boys is very much, you know, in honor or remembrance of our boys. And so that's a big piece of.

It, I would have to say. Anyone who's listening, that's a boy mom. And especially if you have boys and girls, you definitely know the stark difference here. It's hard to find boys clothing. You know, there's girl stuff everywhere. But to find something that's really cute and not, like, cartoonish or hokey for boys, that's a little bit trickier market. So, I mean, I'm assuming that's why your customers responded so well to your brand right off the bat. But tell me more about that feedback that you've gotten from your customers and from the stores that carry your brand brand and just how you continue to serve that ideal customer.

Yeah, I think, honestly, a lot of the success of the brand has been in the name. I personally believe the name of any business is very important to nail and execute that. And I think we just got really lucky out the gate. That was the name we started with. We trademarked it before we made the first shirt, or we started the process, rather, I should say before we made the first shirt. I went after the mark for my logo, my fish, so that no one else could use that. So I really think that all of those pieces played a huge role in why we have been successful. I think that something about the beach and saltwater, even if you don't live there or even if you don't live near there, it resonates with all of us because for so many people, the beach is something we all like to go to and experience with our families. We have, in my family, our best quality time there. And so I think there's a strong emotional connection for my customer between that, those memories, and their children with the brand name.

Yeah. So tell me also about. You know, I think that some of the strongest relationships that you have are also a result of the fact that you're in retail yourself and you understand both the retail and the wholesale side of business. So talk to me about that perspective and how the retail knowledge that you have really plays into the wholesale side of the business.

It does. So the nice thing with us having the two stores is we're able to really, like, meet our end customer and talk with them in our stores, hear feedback from them about what they like, maybe what they would like to see different. And so that has been invaluable. We did not open our own store until the end of 2023, and I would say I feel like that once we did, that has really strengthened our understanding of what our customers and continues to make us hopefully stronger and stronger in giving them the things they're looking for just by getting that feedback face to face in our stores.

Yeah. What do you think that more wholesale brands need to hear from retailers or. Or better understand from retailers in order to serve them and maybe vice versa. Again, you're kind of on both sides of the cusp. So anyone who's listening, that's a retailer, what do they need to know about wholesale brands and what are the, you know, wholesale brands need to know about the retailers in order to make stronger partnerships?

I think honestly, just having conversations, for me, it's really important to go to markets and have conversations with my store owners and our accounts, our customers, wholesale customers, and learn about their business. And a lot of times once I ask questions and kind of ask about, you know, their end customer or what are some other brands they're carrying and just really kind of understand their pain points, I think it really helps establish that relationship and for us to better serve their needs. So I just think honestly, talking really has just been a game changer and really market is the best way to do that. You just can't. It's hard to have a digital equivalent, if you will, to meeting somebody face to face and saying like, tell me about your store. And then, you know, after they talk about their store, then I usually talk about my store. And so it just makes it a. You're no longer like, brand versus store. It's like you're just two people talking about your business. And I think when you can get to that place, you can accomplish a lot.

I totally agree. I feel like it's gotta be a, like we're locking arms, we're partners. And when I'm successful, you're successful, and when you're successful, I'm successful. So how can we better work together in order to get that done? And I think sometimes that's missing. You know, it's more like, how can you serve me? Well, that's really not what it's about. It's about let, let's be strong together.

And I think unfortunately, you know, intentionally or unintentionally, sometimes stores and brands get into this place of almost feeling like they're competition and that is never a good place to be. Like, I never want to personally, I never want to compete with my stores. I want to sit, help them be successful with my brand so that they sell more, and then we grow a deeper relationship together that is mutually Beneficial for their customer, for their store, and then for me as a brand. But I can see, truthfully, because again, I have my stores, I can see how sometimes the stores can feel like it's a competition. And I can't speak for every brand owner, unfortunately, I can only speak for saller boys. But for us, we really truly do want to like promote our stores. We sell to give them the tools such as like photography and assets to make it as easy as possible to be successful with our brand. Because like you said, I really believe in that, you know, rising tide lifts all ships mentality. So when they win, I win. When I win, hopefully they, you know, it's, it's, it's a group effort, if you will.

Yeah, that's so true. When you look across like your, I'll say your most successful stores that you sell to, what do you think those most successful stores have in common?

Gosh, I really think it's strong websites, strong social media presence, being very in their business as far as like really being engaged on multiple platforms. I think our customer today really wants that. And I think that the first thing a lot of people do when they hear about a new business or maybe a friend tells them about a new business is they jump on their phone and they go look them up. And if they go look them up and you know, your social is really outdated or you haven't said anything in a while. Even if you're in there every day just grinding all day long, it kind of gives that perception that maybe you're not up to date or maybe you're not. I don't know, it just, I just think that's really important. That's something I've started looking at more and more when we take on new partners is do you have a website? What does it look like? Do you have socials? What do those look like? Are you active in those places?

Yeah. And especially your customers. You know, children's stores can be tough. Specifically, it's a tough market and you're, you are compete, I would say more than a lot of the other, you know, boutiques are. I mean, you are competing to a certain extent with the dollars going to big box stores when you're selling into children's. So what else would you say is in terms of like, you know, merchandising and photography and the other things that are setting these children's stores apart that the big box guys can't compete with?

Yeah, I really think the photography is just. I can't overstate the importance of photography in my you know, length of time I've been doing this, which I guess is four years now, we've sort of decided we think there's two things that really sell clothes. Kids clothes, or maybe just in general. I only currently sell kids clothes, so I'm just going to speak to that. But I think mannequins and photography sell clothes, period. I've noticed when we have outfits in our store and, you know, on mannequins, those are the first thing to leave. If they can visualize and really see the items together, we get customers who come in and they're like, I just want that whole. That whole look. I'll just take that. So I think that helps. And then again, the photography, one thing that we do specifically to sort of help lift that photography burden, or asset burden, if we want to call it that, is we spend a great deal of resources, twice a year shooting flat lays and lifestyle photography of our entire collection. And when we send out our wholesale shipments last year during our two main shipping windows, we send those assets to our stores. And my hope with that is that that's one thing they can kind of mark off their list. Like, I don't have to worry about, you know, my. My flat lace for saltwater boys or my lifestyle images, because I know they're coming. And not only are they coming, but they were shot by a professional stylist, videographer, and photographer. And I know when I get my products, I am confident that I can go on my socials and start running really beautiful pictures of their products.

It makes a huge difference. And I think even going back to your statement about the mannequin and putting the pieces together and putting it in a lifestyle setting, what you're doing and what good retailers do is you solve problems, you make it really easy. You say, hey, you have a problem, I have a solution. Let's go. Because I think we take for granted both, I would say, as a designer and as a wholesale brand and manufacturer and as a retailer. Everyone has this gift of being able to put pieces together in merchandise. Like, we kind of know how things should look. And we take for granted, we think the general public has that same skill. And more often than not, they don't.

Yeah.

So when they see everything merchandise, they're like, oh, yes, I would have never put that together. But you did, and it's brilliant. I'll buy it. And then that increases our average order value on top of it. So there's just endless benefits when you put your yourself in that, you know, situation of solving someone's Problem.

Exactly. And, you know, I really made an egregious error when we first started by thinking that my, you know, target customer was, let's just say, between 20 and 40. That was kind of. If you would have sat me down and said, you know, who is she? I would have said, oh, she's a mom, mom. She's, you know, mid-20s to mid-40s, you know, that kind of thing. What we found out over four years is our target customer, a huge piece of that is actually grandmothers.

Yeah.

And they come in and they have disposable income. Most of them are retired, they have grandchildren they want to buy cute clothes for, but they just need that help in figuring out what that outfit is, is, or what that piece is. And so I think that's where, you know, of course, customer service always reigns supreme. But then also, you know, having the mannequins and help them kind of, you know, get an understanding of what it is they're looking for and how that's going to look on a child and things like that.

So, yeah, so true. Okay, you've got to know about this if you have thought about being a member of the Boutique Hub or if you're already a member of the Boutique Hub. This year we added something that I just can't wait to get into your hands. Okay, so if you're a monthly member of the Hub, awesome. Glad to have have you. It's a great experience. But we were like people who are really serious about their business and growing it into the future. They don't just join the Hub monthly, they join for the whole year because it takes more than a month to impact and make real lasting change in your business. So this year we have updated our annual offer for those of you who are our members are thinking about becoming a member and joining for the entire year. You want to hear about it? All right. If you're an annual member of the Hub, not only do you get access to everything the Hub has to offer from all of the education, live training, every single week, all of our exclusive discounts, resources, wholesale brands, all the things. But now, as an annual member of the Hub, you also have access to some of our very best selling masterclasses and handbooks. That's right. I'm throwing all of these crazy things in for free. If you are an annual member of the Boutique Hub, this includes our best selling small business marketing handbook, which is over 100 pages of content, calendars, live sale ideas, TikTok ideas, reel ideas, social media ideas for literally every day of the Month engagement questions for literally every month of the year, collections, event, ideas to run in your brick and mortar, and so much more. The Small Business Marketing Handbook is a must have for every type of retailer, no matter what you sell. I guarantee it. We're also throwing in our Small Business Hiring Handbook, which is all the things you know to hire train, onboard job descriptions, everything you need to know to grow a team. Plus our holiday Marketing masterclass, our Content Sanity masterclass, Best of our Boutique Summit videos, and so much more. There's over $1,300 added in courses, masterclasses and handbooks just for you. Plus, when you're an annual member of the Boutique Hub, you get access to join one on one coaching calls with myself and several members of our team. We don't give out an opportunity to do one on one coaching anywhere other than for our VIP students in Retail Bootcamp or those who are members of Boutique Hub Black. So this is a real opportunity for those of you who are a member of the Hub and you're like, hey, I just need to pick Ashley's brain for an hour. I need to pick Sarah's brain for an hour. What does that look like? You can book an annual coaching call if you are an annual member of the Hub. Did I say annual coaching call? I meant anytime. You can book a coaching call only if you're an annual member of the Hub. So that's it. I'm excited. I'm rambling. I just want you to know if you're gonna join the Hub, I this is the best opportunity to get the most out of your membership. If you're already a member, reach out to our team@happypeopleboutiquehub.com we can get you upgraded to annual. If you're not yet a member, scroll all the way down to the join page at the boutiquehub.com and click annual to join us now. I can't wait to see you inside and get you all of these extras. We're going to do a lot together to grow, scale, optimize and secure your business together in the next year. Let's get started. What an opportunity in honing that down. Like knowing that ideal customer that you have now as you're running ads. That's a whole nother level of business that you've stepped into. You've been as a wholesale brand, a member of Boutique Black, and been maximizing just all the digital marketing aspect of business. Tell me more about that learning curve as you stepped into advertising.

Yes. So I had never ran any ads until October of 2024. That was something I waited a really long time to do. And I don't know that I would necessarily advise to wait a really long time to do it, but that's just what I did in my journey. And so we began in October and in May of this year actually joined Boutique Hub Black. And so before joining Boutique Hub Black, I had an agency who was really pulling a lot of those, you know, levers, if you will, as far as running my ads. And I did not have a working knowledge or understanding personally of a lot of the aspects of ads. And so now since joining Boutique Hub Black in May, I've been able to work with my coach, Dylan, and he has really taught me so much about that. I would say it's been great because we've sort of been learning together what works for my account specifically, because it's certainly not a one size fits all approach. I would say he would probably agree with me on that and that every business is different. And so he and I have been, you know, working to really refine my ad strategy and in the last week have just had insane success. So we have both been celebrating that and really excited about that, which is.

Cool, it probably feels. I mean, we get so much feedback. Dylan is amazing, by the way, and he came from a retail family, worked with his mother's business, his mother's in Boutique of Black. She's been in our mastermind. So I love all of his knowledge, but I mean, what an opportunity really for both sides of your business, both the retail and the wholesale side of your business, to drive traffic in a whole new way.

It is. And for me, you know, I of course love, you know, being successful with ads and some of those new pieces that I'm learning now. But two, it's like building that foundational knowledge. So hopefully my goal one day is to sort of, once I've built a working foundation of kind of ads and all of that, to sort of hand that off at some point in time when that makes sense and let that kind of be a total agency management situation. But, you know, that comes at a very large price tag. Shockingly so. And so I think this has been a really great way for me to build my knowledge in a way that financially makes sense and kind of put those foundational pieces in place so that as hopefully the ad strategy continues to grow in scale, then it will make sense to sort of offload that off my plate one day. But I'll still be able to look at the account and understand what's Going on and make reasonable and smart decisions, which is important. You don't want to. And with ads in particularly, you can start getting into some really serious money, and you want to make sure that I think you understand what you're doing, and then the person that's executing the levers understands what they're doing too, and tandem with each other. And so I have felt so comfortable working with Dylan. He's made me feel so comfortable and at ease and would just 10 out of 10 recommend.

Truly, that's so, so helpful to hear that. And I think to your point, you've got to know enough. No matter what it is, ads or, you know, handing off design work, whatever area of your business it is, you have to know enough to be deadly. Like, you have to have enough knowledge yourself. Because I think anytime you get in a situation where you kind of put your head in the sand and say, well, I don't really understand it, so I'm just gonna give it to so and so, and they're gonna just do it for me, it always comes back to be a bit of a train wreck. You always come back and you kind of bites you in the butt, like, oh, I should have had more knowledge. And so I love that Dylan and every coach inside of Boutique Hub Black can kind of put the. The power back in your hands. So that should you choose to hand it off someday, you have all the knowledge to be dangerous in doing so.

Yes. And Jeff, you know, I've been in a lot of group calls. He's amazing. I love getting in those group calls and, like, listening to other. Other boutiques talk about their ad strategy or ask questions. But it was so funny. I had an issue with one of my ads that just really wasn't performing. And I was like, it was nobody's fault, per se. It's just what was going on with that particular ad. And so I asked him, I said, list. I'm just really, like, curious, do I need to kill this ad? And he was like, kill that ad. He's like, cut that ad off at Denise. That ad is done. And so it was just really refreshing to me to have somebody just be very frank. And, like, sometimes it's just. You gotta just kill it and start over. And so, long story short, that's exactly what we did. We killed them. We started over, and now they are just going just wide open. So he was not afraid to give me very direct and frank advice. And I really appreciate that. And you won't always, unfortunately, get that everywhere. So that was really made me Feel good.

So good. I appreciate that. Well, you also, besides Boutique of Black and the Boutique Hub, like, you're just somebody who I can tell believes in investing in yourself and like constant learning and growth. I know you're a part of all kinds of different programs. What advice would you have just for anyone listening? Retail, wholesale, all the above, when it comes to just investing in yourself and taking the time to learn? So often I hear people say, I'm too busy, I don't have time for that. Or I canceled my boutique of membership because I didn't have time to sit down and learn. What advice would you have or experience have you had that says no, it's worth taking the time to learn?

I am just a really big believer in education in general. I possess three formal, I guess, degrees, one in business and two in nursing. And then all of the, you know, learning that I've done since owning my business and I'm just a big believer in it. I've never, I honestly can say I don't think I've ever spent a dollar on education. I regret, I think as far as the time management piece, that is a very valid point and I do struggle with that. But what I have found is the majority of the groups I'm in, you can listen. You don't have to just listen to the calls live. I mean, obviously, if you can, you're probably going to get the most from that because you're going to be engaged, you're going to be asking questions, things like that. But a lot of times what I have to do is go back and listen to the recording. And for example, I've got the issue right here of Southern lady that we were featured in recently. The only reason I was in this magazine is because one day I was on a drive in my warehouse. I had a super long drive and I said, I'm going to listen to a recording from a mastermind group I'm in while I drive. Well, on the drive, the mastermind was the editor of Southern lady teaching people how to pitch. And so I'm there on my drive taking notes about what she said on how to pitch people. And so I said, I'm just going to use her notes on her and see if it works. And so I sent her an email. I followed her guidelines of what she had said, how to pitch editors, and she responded right back and was like, I want to put you in this issue. It's going to be a huge spread. We're so excited. So my point is it is very hard to get all of those things, you know, to squeeze it in a week when you're so busy in your business. But I think if you can find the time to do that, even if it's like an unconventional time in the bathtub driving kids, whatever the case may be. Yeah, it can really pay off at exponentially.

Oh, without a doubt. And it's just one little nugget. It's amazing to me, you know, whether it's a mastermind that I've been a part of or. Or I see, you know, boutiques in retail boot camp, you don't have to implement everything. You know, you don't have to, like, 10 out of 10 jump in and reserve this huge block of time. But if you can just take one nugget, oftentimes the one little nugget, just as you demonstrated, is worth the entire experience.

It is, it is. And I mean, to put a dollar amount on something like that is almost impossible. I mean, when you start talking about paying for things like that, it really out. I'm not picking on them specifically, just in general. It can get really expensive. And so I think there's just so much little tips and tricks and shortcuts and things like that in those groups that are invaluable. And so I say get in. Soak it up. Network. Oh, my gosh. Like network, network, network. Be so nice to people, be so appreciative, be engaged, and. And good things are going to come.

Oh, amen to that. All good? All good. All right. Well, Lacey, I have just a couple of quick lightning round questions for you. Are you ready for this?

Oh, goodness, I'm scared now.

This is so easy. All right, first question. I give you two hours back in your day, and with those two hours, you can only work on income generating activity. What do you focus on first?

Oh, income generating activity. Honestly, if I had two hours back in my day, I would spend it income generating. I would spend it working on new collections. That is truly what I love to do. You can see kind of here behind me, I have spring. I have to think what season we're in. I have spring 26 behind me, and I should be starting on fall 26. I think I got that right. Yes, I should be. But I'm just so in the operation side of my business. So, yes, if you, like, waved your magic wand and I got two hours back, I would use all two hours planning future collections, reviewing new materials, new designs, things like that.

Yeah, love it. All right. What is the unsexiest process in your business that drives the most Impact, probably.

The photo shoots, honestly, we talked about those a little bit earlier and I'm a really big believer in photography. I have seen items here in the warehouse that did not. Maybe like when we did our photo shoot, that picture just didn't come out right. Or that child just really wasn't feeling it. And I'll sort of say to myself, like, why is there more of that item on the shelf? And I'll go back and pull the picture and it's just not a great picture. So we reshoot it and then next thing you know, the product's flying out the door. So I really, really believe in that. That photography process is so daunting. It is very unsexy. It's for us specifically because it's, it's children and they're like five years old and they get so overwhelmed with the photography process. I mean, you've got them for just a couple minutes max. So super. Not fun for a lot of people that, that situation. But really yields bigger turns and definitely worth it, I would say.

Yeah, I would say that's huge. You can't, you can't do enough quality photography. That's huge. All right, what's been the best business advice you've ever received? That always sticks with you.

Brand equals consistency.

Oh, and where'd you hear it from?

Actually, a consultant. A consultant I was interviewing and I actually didn't move forward with that. But he was a, he had been a very high level CEO for a very, very large brand. And he told me, he's like, brand equals consistency, period. And so that has always stuck with me. A close runner up would also be. And I guess this one's probably a little more cliche, but you're only as good as your last collection. So just because your last collection was really, really good, you know, you've got to bring the heat every time. And for me, well, let me go back. A lot of, A lot of other brands I see in our genre, they really repeat designs season after season. And we had kind of dabbled with that some and with our customers that really didn't resonate. And so pretty much every single season, we are almost starting over from scratch. It's fresh and new and updated almost every single time. And so I think that is really important and, and kind of bearing in mind that advice about you're only as good as your last collection. It's really kind of intense to sort of make sure that that next one is hopefully, you know, as good as the last, if not better. So.

Yeah. Oh, that's good advice, but that's. It's daunting advice, too. I heard a real estate agent one time tell me he was very successful, and I said, what's, you know, what's your secret to business? How did you make it? And he said, I woke up broke every morning, okay. Because he's like, I, you know, every day I had to sell something new in order to keep up with yesterday. And. And I think retail and wholesaler are just a lot that, you know, it's just such a cycle, so you gotta, you know, take it in stride, I think, as much as you can as you're trying to keep up, I think.

You have to be like a duck. You know, they. They talk. I did not come up with this analogy, but, like, you look okay on the top, but you're just, like, paddling, like, pecking water. If you're in retail, I don't care if you have a store, you're a brand, you're a service provider. Wherever you fall in that genre, you better be under the water, like. Like, fighting like your life depends on it, and take it really serious.

Agreed. Agreed. Well, Lacy, this has been awesome. I have one last question for you, and it's kind of the big question that I just love to dig into on the podcast, because every business owner that I meet, I just. I love business owner stories, and I love the passion and the why and, you know, what is it that drives you, that makes you paddle underwater like that? Because it's not made for everyone, for sure. So when you. When you think about your life and your business, let's just fast forward, you know, 20, 30 years down the road, and I'm going to put you on the front porch with your family and grandkids, if you have them, and you're looking back on your life and the brand and all the things you did. As you tell that story and have that reflective moment, what's the thing that you really want them to remember the most about your life, how you lived and the person that you are?

I hope, because my children have really had such a front seat to our business, whether they stay in retail or go a whole other direction, which would be totally fine with me. That's no problem. I hope that they will see some of the struggles and challenges that we've had and growth moments and exciting things that we've had and apply that. That experience and those lessons and knowledge in their own life or their own chosen path or career, if you will. You know, I think there's so much that you can really apply. No matter what your business is, no matter what, you know, area, it just goes across the board. I think things like, you know, good work ethic, not giving up when things get hard, when you have an obstacle pivot, things like that. I really hope, you know, whether Saltwater Boys is still in existence, owned by me or owned by somebody else or whatever the case may be. And I can't even possibly imagine what it would look like, but I hope that my children will take away and say, you know, my parents built this business from scratch. They worked really hard and that they learned some valuable lessons just in general about being good people, good stewards, work ethic, all those things. That's what I hope they'll take away.

Oh, for sure they will. They will, without a doubt take those things away. I love that. Very good. Well, Lacey, thanks so much for being on the podcast today and sharing your story and your wisdom. We'll definitely link up all your information in the show notes today. So if anyone wants to follow you directly and see your products and get to know you on a one on one basis, we'll get that all linked up in the show notes as well.

Yes. Thank you so much for having me and truly thank you for building this platform. I cannot tell you how much we have truly used it, truly enjoy it, recommend it, other people. It's just being in retail, whether like I said earlier, no matter where on that kind of spectrum you are, whether you're a store, you're a wholesaler, you're a vendor, you know, whatever the case may be, it is so challenging. And I think that we all need support on the hard days and to feel like there's a community of other people. And sometimes when you're just like, really going through it with your business, seeing somebody else or connecting with somebody else that either understands or is in that boat is like, it's. It's the difference between giving up and not giving up, in my opinion. Ah.

It truly is. It truly is. Well, thank you for believing in the boutique hub and growing your business from day one. Literally, like from the beginning, literally.

I'm. I'm almost like a little boutique hub, baby. Really? Because like I said, we started July 2021, and then I'd have to go back and look, but I know it was in October of 2021, so we kind of were like. We grew up in it, really.

Those are my favorite stories. I love it. I love getting to witness it firsthand. So congratulations on all you've built and we love having you here.

Yes, and I love being here and look forward to growing more.

Thanks for listening guys. I hope you took away all kinds of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.