Authenticity and Live Selling in Retail

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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.

Thank you.

And I can't wait to chat.

Hey guys.

Welcome back to the podcast this week. I have been looking forward to this. Stefania, I told you that earlier. I have been so excited to interview you because we really haven't gotten to chat before and you're part of our mastermind and so I can't wait to like dig in and get to know more about your business. But from what I can see, you do things in really unique ways that I think are different than some of the common boutique owners that people may follow. And so I've been dying to just dig in and hear all the behind the scenes things. So before we get into the nitty gritty, first, of course, thank you for being here. This is amazing.

And thank you for having me.

Yeah. And just get started. I want to hear how you got into this. Tell me your brand story.

Okay. Well, I'm so excited to be here. I've been looking forward to this for a really long time. I feel like we, we do have a little bit of a different path and I come from a very different background. I'm not from this country. I was born in Argent, Argentina and moved here when I was 23 years old. I do come from a boutique family. My family had a, a brand in Argentina. So I was, I lived through that. And the smell of fabric, it's like embedded in my brain. The fabric being cut and like threads flying and me making dolls out of the little pieces of the cut out fabric is just how I grew up. But then I left it and came over here. When I came here, I spoke very little English and was completely kind of just changed a lot. And even though I always wanted to have my own boutique, I went the silk flower route. Somehow ended up having a silk flower business for like a good 19 years. And it was very successful. We, we did very well. It was an accidental business. I sold my own wedding flowers when I didn't like them and it did amazing. And we were on ebay and then we were on Etsy and we run that for 20 years, more or less. And I always on the back of my mind wanted to jump Onto the boutique. But I didn't know how to do it or how to bridge it. I was always very insecure with my English. I. The style that I go for, it's very different. My parents are Italian, I'm from Argentina. Definitely not the same style in here. So I very slowly started adding small accessories into my sunflower shop. Started with bracelets, little beach cover ups. We live in a beach down. So started adding little things. I didn't feel like I could do the jump right from the start. So it was a very kind of like, leveling situation, little bit at a time. And I did that for a very long time, Kind of wanting to grow that but not feeling ready or confident enough that I could do it. Until Covid came and I had all this inventory and weddings exploded actually during COVID So silk flower business was exploding during COVID because nobody could get fresh flowers. But on the other hand, I had all this inventory and I decided, you know what, it's now or never. Let's just do it. And I jumped in at that time and I so wanted. I. I wanted this. Like I dreamed of what's happening right now, but I was terrified. I didn't know how to do it. So we did our first live on Facebook and it was so good. And I'm like, what is this? I didn't even know common sold existed at the time. And it was. It was just a crazy ride. And I started hearing about this other way of selling and just slowly I said, okay, I. I want this, I want this. I want to make this work. So very slowly started kind of equalizing the income a little bit more, Using the money that the stockflower business would give me to pour into the boutique and grow the inventory. I never had to borrow money. I just would take all the money and put it in here because I believed I could do it.

So.

And slowly but surely, I started replacing the income and was able to make that jump. After I had to sadly close the silk flower business, I couldn't do it anymore. I had to let go of my silk flowers, which were my babies, and. And yeah, I finally was able to replace the income and make the jump.

That's incredible. I so couple things, actually. So many questions coming from that. But I'm sure part of the jump for you was like, did you feel like you had an identity in the silk flower business? And it had to be a little bit unnerving all of a sudden to go into this whole nother business model where you felt like you were an experienced business owner? Over here and now you're brand new. What helped you make that jump and like find the confidence as you built this new business?

We were definitely like successful in the silk flower business and known for what we're doing. There was so much about owning a business, buying. I actually have been going to Atlanta market for probably 25 years and once the gift market I was done with a silk flower building, I would walk to the fashion one and kind of like drool over and dream about this is what I really want to do. But I had been going to Atlanta for so long and I was actually as part of being a so flower business owner was hired by a company in China and travel for China China to China for many years designing Christmas lines. So I had a whole inside of the production side. So it, it honor. It gave me a lot of knowledge of owning a business, managing employees, shopify, all of that. I was kind of acquainted for I did Etsy for a very long time and saw how Etsy change and the ins and outs of putting your money into another platform. Which is why made me so weary of TikTok and all those other things because I saw so much like I did 15 years of Etsy so and how they started owning us and all that. So definitely, even though it's a very different business, the amount of knowledge that came from that, I mean every business that you own, whatever it is, even if you're selling candy or ice cream, you can. That's knowledge. That's just knowledge. Being a business owner, managing budgets, books, all of that was super helpful but nerve wracking because the boutique world is so different, so different and the vendors are very different and everything is just a completely different world. But the knowledge was there and it did help me a lot. I have to say I felt like I had a little bit of a easier transition because of that.

So when you started to really grow during that time, one of the things that you did right off the bat that I'm sure helped catapult your growth was you started going live right away and that still is a huge part of your business. Talk to me about what you think it is about going live and maybe some of your strategies in terms of going live that you think really has helped sustain your growth.

Well, so I studied journalism in Argentina in broadcasting. Oh, perfect. So that was, that's my degree. I wanted to be a newscaster but then I moved here and I couldn't. I didn't speak English very well, you know, so that had to be like put out and like Forget about it and never go back to it. And I thought I would never, ever, ever. I've never felt uncomfortable in front of the cameras, and I actually. I am a very socially anxious person. But when you put the camera in front of me, it's like I don't care anymore. It's weird. I think the opposite of most people. So I never had. I am just who I am on camera, on, off camera. And I think that's been the biggest asset for us, for sure. The fact that I just don't care and I have. So many things have happened to us live and, like, accidents, tornadoes, hurricanes kicked out of hotels. Like, seriously. And I just. It's just we. We go through it, but I started right away because I felt confident doing it, and it gave me a good way. Like I said, I. In person, I am a very social and nice person, but bridging that gap immediately, it's a little bit harder. So when I go live and I turn the camera on, it's. It's. It's fun. It's different. It comes off as authentic because it is who I am. And I'm more me than probably, if you see me, like, in Publix and supermarket. So. We are big life sellers. I have to say, it is 95% of our bread and butter. Like, it's. It's. And it keeps growing. I am trying to not make it grow very hard. I'm trying to grow the website, but I don't know. The more I do to grow the website, the more live sales grow because people go and check it out and they're like, oh, this is fun. I'll just do this. And so our numbers keep going up. And like, I've. I've dedicated a full year to try to not do that. And it's just. It's. It's going. So my strategy is we go live every day. It is social hour, 100%. We are not just showing things. I am because of the way I am and how I grew up. I'm very much of. It's a. It's a lineup in a collection every single day. Okay? Every single day is a theme, a collection, a color situation, a this with this. Every piece matches, and we style it. This is why our lives are also very long. This is not for everybody, but it works for me. This. I can't do it any other way. I've tried to do it other ways, and I just have to. I realize that the more authentic. Authentic I am to who I am, the best it is for me. And the business. So I just battled it for a minute, and this is what I do. So it's a very planned collection. It's designed to all be interchangeable and create outfits and give women solutions. If you don't know how to style it, don't worry. I have 10 different ways of doing this. And the shirt, you can cross it like this. And you can wear with these shorts and these pants and this hat. And this is the purse you need for this. And these are the earrings that are going to go and match this. It is outfits, outfit, outfits, but it is every day. So it's. It's six collections a week I love, and 30, 40 new pieces a day. Wow. It's a lot.

But what I love about what you just said and I think is so critical to your success is I think sometimes we get lost in the trap of just like, it's new arrivals, and we're just showing products versus showing solutions. And that's what you do is you're showing solutions.

You have to be intentional on it. To me, I mean, so many people are successful doing that, and I love it for them because that's the journey that works for them, but it doesn't work for me. And my brain would not allow me to be live six days a week unless I enjoy what I'm doing. And it's six days a week, two hours a day, sometimes two and a half. And unless I love what I do, I can't do it as much and as good as I do it. So this is what works for me. I offer solutions. I offer fun time. We discuss everything while we're live, from menopause to hair extensions to lashes. And it's definitely like a group nice experience. That translates into our group, into our community. People have become friends, people travel to meet. We go to rodeos together. We definitely have created, like, it's people that we speak to each other in a fashion level, but also, like, we have similar sensitivities, a similar appreciation of things. And it just creates, like, if you get it, you get it, and if you don't, you keep scrolling and this is not for you. I love that, you know? Yeah, that's it.

And the community piece of it's absolutely critical. I think that's one of the benefits of. Well, first of all, I know you have a group, but I think groups are just still so critical. What would your advice be to somebody who is, like, thinking about going live or maybe they've tried it and they're just feeling like, oh, it's Feeling like a bit of a hurdle. What are some things that someone might be able to do to test out going live? What are maybe some components of the live or maybe some, you know, kind of intros or like, beginning pieces of the live that can help you bridge that gap and make us a better experience along the way.

I think that for me, if you have this is like. It goes back to what I just said. If I have a clear direction of where I'm going, it's easier to get there. Yeah. So if I know that this is the style and the vibe of what I'm going to do, and this is what we're going to talk about, and this is the theme, this is good. What I started doing at the beginning, I don't do that anymore. But I would roll the rack of what I'm showing, and I would tell them, this is what we're going to go through. I'm going to show you how to style this with this. With this. You have to wait until you see this piece. It's amazing. Wait until we style it with this top. And it kind of bridges the gap and it gets people talking and asking questions. And the silence is deafening when there's nobody there. And so loud. The silence is so loud. So it doesn't hurt to ask a few friends to join if you. But those few seconds that you don't know if anybody's going to show up. They're hard. They're not for every. They're not for the week of hard. They're still hard today, honestly. But I feel like conversations. I'm not much into games. We don't play games. We don't do the spin the wheel or anything like that. But I feel immediately we get talking. First of all, I always go back to an anecdote of something that happened that day. Not purposely, just I like sharing my life. And I'm like, can you all believe what happened over here? And, you know, I'm wearing this cute top, and this is what happened. And I was wondering about this. I start every day going, does coffee taste good out of your mug? Unless it's your mug. I can only drink coffee out of my own mug or otherwise. I don't like the taste of it. Just kind of like start a conversation and people are going to come for the clothes. We're going to stay for you. If they don't, if they can't mesh with that, it's just not going to work. So I feel like them appreciating that conversation and that candidness and these are the clothes. This is who we are. Do you like it, Stick around kind of vibe? Yeah. I would try to bridge it like that. That's what we always did.

That's so powerful. People are going to come for the clothes, but they're going to stay for you. Well, we're dropping the mic. We're going to put that on because it's so true. How do you take that same energy and your personality and just that community feel? How do you take that and bridge that then in other marketing mediums? So for you, how does that come across in email and in text and in on your website as well, on Instagram? How do you keep conveying that same personality without you burning out, being everywhere all at once?

Okay, now I feel poked. So. So I don't think there's a single boutique owner that is not burned out. If they're telling you they're not. I don't know. So, for me, I am a very, very, very. Like, I believe in things meshing across the board and having the same aesthetic. And whether you're on Instagram, live, Facebook, you have to see a picture, you have to see a graphic, and immediately you have to know it's coastal blue. Yeah. Like, there can be no doubt. You have to be like, wait, obviously this is coastal bloom. Because it all kind of has to go together. The way we edit the pictures, the fonts that we use. I am super intentional, and my employees would tell me I'm a little bit of a pain in the rear with it. I am very high, demanding on everything being across the board now. Not that we don't make mistakes and stuff happens all the time, but I am very, very, very much like that. So I. I love Instagram. Actually. I don't do TikTok. I have zero. I don't even. I think we have an account and we posted six videos and we're awful at it. Um, Instagram, we're pretty good. I. I am. I post funny videos. I post talk over videos. I. I am the same person you see now and you see the lives on Instagram. It's exactly the same. I am. I burn out. Yeah. It takes 10 seconds to film a video. It's not so bad. It's more about the hashtags, the understanding, the algorithm. That all drives me crazy about the spontaneity and you being who you are and people knowing. And then I post a reel that talked all the time. I do this about things that happen on the lives and things that happen. I post a reel about it. Like, it's been discussed many times. Am I really 5 5? And Steph, I don't think you're 5' 5. I think you're shorter than that. And that was a long conversation. So then I made a reel about measuring myself and being sad because I'm not five' five. I'm five' four. And the people that watch the lives watching, they're like, okay, now the truth comes out. So I try to bring it all together and do the same thing on the groups, and I try to be one voice across the board, because that's who we are, you know, That's. That's who we are. Now. Are we amazing at everything? No, I. We do klaviyo. I don't do it. I have somebody that does it. I wouldn't even know what button to push or where to go. I don't understand it. I'm like, this is what I would like the emails to look like. This is what I would. This is the flows that I want. And then I just. This is the graphics. This is the logo. This is the font. And then I just let the people that know what they're doing do it. I am dyslexic, highly dyslexic, so there's a lot of things that I just can't do. And text. I will probably send the text at the wrong time. I would ensure I would mess up the list of people in emails all the time. So those are things that I just have people that know what they're doing and they don't mess it up as I would.

There you go.

I would mess it up. Do what you do best and hire the rest.

Right? You've got that.

Yes. 100. I'm a big, big believer on that. Yes, Yes.

I hear you saying, though, like, what I think you've built is just a lifestyle brand. Like, so many people get caught up in. Like, I'm a clothing boutique. I'm a home and gift boutique, and we're so caught up in the products and the identity of, like, this container we've put ourselves in. But really, I think what's beautiful about what you're building is, like I said, you're a lifestyle brand. So it doesn't matter to me if you're selling clothing, if you're selling silk flowers, or if you're selling, I don't know, menopause survival kits, like, you name it.

But I'm gonna. I should be spo. Sponsored by a few people, a few companies. I send them so much business. Like, where's my link. I do believe we have a little bit of that just because it's. I don't have a problem with sharing what works and doesn't work. And I feel people appreciate that. You know, you, you want to know and you don't only want to maybe buy the T shirt. What's working for you is your hair growing are. And I'm not making any money of this. I'm just kind of sharing information and at the same time it is, I mean, I don't want to say it an image, but kind of, you know, across the board. I am not super high maintenance, but there's things that I like and we share on that and we, we are very, very big on two things. We sell a ton of jewelry. I am jewelry obsessed. So we sell a lot of jewelry and we do a lot of custom, A lot of customized items that we do in house. And I feel like what we cannot find, we make it because it corresponds to that lifestyle, like you said. And this is something I would like to have. And there's a conversation, wouldn't we love a necklace that is like this, this and the other. And next thing I, I make it.

And.

It'S just kind of goes all together to a brand that it's, it's more than just the clothes or just the, the T shirt or just the bracelet. It's just, it's just, yeah, it's kind of like an image. I would say it's like overall aesthetic of life.

Have you ever wondered if someone else in business is going through the exact same thing you are right now? Whether it's an obstacle to overcome or a new opportunity you aren't sure if you should pursue or not. Or maybe just some of those same questions about man, am I really getting the most out of my inventory or my Facebook ads or my TikTok team? How can I do business just a little bit better and enjoy life just a little bit more? Well, those are a lot of the questions that we answer on a day to day basis inside of our community at the Boutique Hub. If you're listening and you aren't yet a member of our community, I want to invite you to join us. We have 14 different niche Facebook groups to connect you with store owners at the same level. And just like you, no matter what you sell, homing gift apparel, children's specialty, we've got groups for all of that. Plus we want to get you up to date with the latest training, the latest information and strategy on what's working right now in our industry. With our weekly education plus our maxed out training library, we also have hundreds and hundreds of vetted amazing wholesale brands who have been proven to do business in boutiques. We don't like trademark infringement. We don't like brands with poor customer service. We handpick the best of the best and the best of the best. Love working with boutique hub members as well. So they offer numerous discounts and free shipping whether it's at market inside of our groups or on our own wholesale platform hubventory.com with thousands of dollars in savings just for boutique hub members. So if you aren't yet a member, we'd love to invite you to join us at theboutiquehub.com backslash join to be a part of our community on a daily basis. I can't wait to see you inside and I can't wait to see you connect with amazing business owners who are serious about their business just like you.

So let's dig into that a little bit further because I think that you have a really product selection and I know that you source in many different, not only markets in the United States, but you source out of the United States as well. Talk to me about like your, your sourcing process, your buying process for inventory and how you're finding new and unique things.

Okay, so because I guess I am not from here and my husband's Italian, he is from Italy and my dad's Italian, I always feel very attracted to all of that. And like I would say a good percentage of our business of 40, 50% it's Italian made clothes.

Wow.

It's, I've always loved it. There was a few brands that I would go to market and always admire and love and love the fabric and the way things fall. I got, I have to say, I'm not, I'm not a young customer, I'm not a mom Starbucks person, that it's not my customer. I would say it's more my age. And older people that want to dress well, feel good, that fabrics that don't compress you, that accentuate the good things and hide your insecurities. So I felt like Italian clothes did all of that and I started carrying some brands that you would find a market. But then I find I found a few vendors that were willing to work with me. I think they're finding small vendors. It's, it's a good thing if you find small vendors that are willing to work with you, that need your business and that you need their expertise. And if you can create this partnership, it's Hard when you're a small boutique to find big vendors that will work with you. It's very hard. I still, at my level, find it hard to work with some of the big vendors, but I found two or three vendors that were willing to take a risk and produce some things. So then we started creating our own designs. And I would see something, I'd be like, oh, gosh, I would like it in this. So now we have a style of top that we have producing probably 20 to 30 prints by now. And it's the same top all the time. And it's. I like the fit and it's new fabric, new prints all the time. We produce our own joggers and we produce shirts. We're in the process of designing, like, blouse with ruffles. So, yeah, we produce a lot there. I have found some smaller vendors that I'm willing. That are willing to work with me. And we are actually going first time ever, which is super sad. I won't be able to go to the the summit. It's going to Milan show.

Amazing.

And I've been wanting to go to the Milan show for a really long time, so I'm going to do that. And I have traveled to Italy and Germany a couple of times to see vendors and kind of solidify that relationship. It's not only about going and buying, but about creating a good relationship with them. And so we manufacture a lot of that in Italy. And the good thing about Italy is that they don't have a Chinese New Year. First of all.

Amen to that. To that.

Second, their quantities are not China quantities. Very different quantities. It's very different. You don't see it everywhere. So it's a little bit kind of. It has like, oh, I haven't seen this anywhere else. So it gives you a little bit of uniqueness. And second, they are really designed in a way, I find a lot of times. And we carry a lot of brands that are made everywhere. These brands are very forgiving the way they're manufactured. They're very forgiving. And they're a little bit more. Yeah, if you're a little bit more.