Building Connections and Giving Back Through Your Business with Sydney Petersen

When I first met Sydney Peterson, I felt like, man, this is one of the most compassionate, caring, and thoughtful women that I've had an opportunity to meet inside the boutique hub. Yet she's been a part of our mastermind. And not only that, she's a heck of a karaoke singer. I know firsthand. Our mastermind experience definitely taught us that together. But Sydney is someone who has such a great background in children's boutiques, in children's wholesale manufacturing. But more than that, today she's going to talk and teach us how to build a business around social good. You see, not only does Sydney sell children's clothing and wholesale apparel as well, but she also firsthand knows what it's like to have a child in the nicu. And today she's going to bring that experience and talk about how she manufactures social good to give back to her community based on her own traumatic experience and how every single one of us has the opportunity to do the same thing inside of our business. It's all about building community. You guys are going to love this episode. Meet my friend, Sydney Peterson, the only owner and founder of Bizzy's Boutique and busy Izzy's. 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 ch. Hey, guys.

Welcome back to the podcast this week. I think you are going to absolutely love meeting Sydney Peterson today. Sydney, thanks so much for being on the show with me.

Thanks for having me.

Every time I'm with you, I have this, like, sense, like, this warm aura around you. You are like, one of the most kind and genuine, genuine and generous people that I have ever met in this industry. So I'm so pumped to tell your story today.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited and I appreciate that. That's a really big compliment. So that means a lot.

I mean it. I do. And I know everyone's gonna be able to feel it just hearing your voice today. So there's so many, so many takeaways. I want to cover so many different, like, edges of your business that I want to touch on. But just to give everyone context, tell me about your business and how you got started.

My husband and I live in Iowa. And we had our second child in 2019. Her name is Isabel. We call her Izzy. But she was born and had an extended NICU stay, and it was pretty traumatic. She was born with a rare genetic condition we didn't know about. And she came out and had a really, really rough start. It was like all of those things that you fear as a mom going into labor and hope that nothing ever happens. But it happened. Separated in different hospitals. And I just knew, like, that I needed to do something to help other moms after we left the hospital, because it felt very lonely and traumatic. And I knew that if I felt that way as a NICU mom, other moms did, because the focus just becomes about the child and the baby and which, of course, it needs to be, but they kind of forget about you and the parents. So I knew that we were like, missing a bonding piece. And I should have said that. I'm actually a social worker. It's how I started. So I think that's kind of where my heart is and, like, where everything about the compassion and social good side of our business comes from. So we created the Love Izzy project. And it was started six weeks after Izzy came, after Izzy was born and was finally home from the nicu. I'm actually sitting at my dining room table now, and it's not the same one that we started our business at, because that table is in our storefront now. We use it as a teaching piece for our employees and team members, and we have it as a baby shower display table. We use it as a way to talk to customers about our story and our mission. And then we added children's clothing, started designing those. When I proposed the idea to my husband and was just kind of like, hey, I want to do the Love Izzy project. And I've always wanted design to design kids clothes. He was like, you can have $500 from our savings to do that. And I was like. I knew in the back of my mind that was not going to be enough, but, like, he said yes. So I just, like, rolled with it. And then I came back to him with like 10 designs. I was like, I need $10,000. And he just stared at me and he was like, well, you better make this work. And so we did it in our basement. And then all of a sudden, it grew pretty quickly. We were in all 50 states organically, with sales in the first six months of being open, and then grew to two storefronts after that and then added wholesale almost two years ago. So it's been a lot.

What A ride. It is a lot. And you just. You summarized a whole lot into that story. Yeah.

That's a quick summary for those of you that are trying to watch and listen while dropping kids off or like, while you're shipping orders. That's the. The very, very brief version.

Tell me about, in detail the Love Busy Project. And. And what does that mean? And how do you feel like that helps other moms in the NICU like you?

So the Love Izzy Project is where it all started. And we named it after our daughter Izzy. And our children's brand is actually called Busy Izzy's, which is what she calls herself, and all of her friends at school call her that, too, which is kind of funny. But we use these beautiful swaddles, which I actually have one, so I'll grab.

It and show you, since we're actually.

On camera as well, just chatting. But this is the first swaddle we did. It is the Izzy Blooms print, which we use as our logos and our branding. And we use it as a way to give back to the nicu. So for every swaddle that someone purchases, we donate a swaddle to the NICU. And we've done a little over 3500 since we've started. It happens all at the Blank Children's Hospital NICU where Izzy was and was cared for. And so we. We've always envisioned it as a way to help with bonding. So for us, like, we couldn't dress Izzy for the first five and a half weeks of her life almost. And I. I mentioned this yesterday when I spoke with Samantha and Sarah as well, that I don't think I even realized at the time. But it's always kind of been about the clothes for me. Like, that's such a bonding piece for moms. And so even then, I felt like I was missing that bonding because I couldn't dress her. And so that's kind of where the clothes part came in. So that we explained to the moms this is something to help with bonding for keeping them wrapped up in this, making room for cords and tubes and something more personalized for them until they can wear clothes. And so we have that displayed in both of our stores, and then we use it as a way to help build a bond. And a lot of times the moms will come in and figure out who we are after and bring their babies in. And it's. For us, it's about the connection and the community aspect.

Sydney, have you also expanded that to other. Like, do you wholesale for the Love Izzy Project as well, so other children's store owners around the place country can have that same experience.

Yeah, so we actually haven't started that yet. I would love to. It's something that's definitely in the works. It's what I want to spend a lot of time in the next year on is working on a way to have this program available to all boutique owners nationwide. So we're working on some really cool packaging for it, and I've been writing some books that would go with it as well. And then they'd be able to donate those swaddles to their local nicu.

I think that's so cool. And something that you've been able to do with that is just create such a community around your brand of NICU moms. So it's not even just about them finding the swaddles or finding clothing, but really they're finding one another. They went through working with one another. Tell me about how that's really impacted your business, just having a community.

Yeah. So that is truly the heart of our business, and we started it just as a way to connect with other moms. So I did mention this yesterday as well. If you caught my video chat yesterday, I talked a lot about how it's a community of moms from all over the US that have something in common, which is a shared experience that kind of doesn't need to be. It's kind of the unspoken thing in the room. As soon as you find out that they're also a NICU mom or have a child with healthcare needs, you, like, immediately understand them, and it's kind of this, like, level of comfort that you're like, okay, they get me. They understand. They've been where I've been. And so we actually have. Our VIP group for our retail customers is filled with NICU moms from all over the country. And I do think that's probably how we had sales in all 50 states, organically within the first six months, too, because they just kept telling people, and it just grew from there. So we celebrate home days in our VIP group, which home days? You know, when you're. When you actually get to bring your NICU baby home. It's a big day to celebrate. Some of us celebrate that more than their birthday because the birthday can be so traumatic and scary and not the warm and fuzzies that you had hoped for. So we continue to see all these NICU babies grow from. Maybe they get one of our swaddles in the nicu, join our community, share the picture, or say, I got one of Your swaddles. And then they start wearing our clothes and you get to see them grow up and get bigger and hit all those milestones. And it's fun because they're also wearing our clothes. And so it's a, it's a cool kind of support network around bonding and fashion.

I love that. You know, they always say just in business and marketing, right, like the riches are in the niches and when you target everyone, you reach no one. And your business is such a testament to that because you've built a community in such a niche way. But when you think about like, every boutique owner has an opportunity to do something similar with social good, like, they can certainly attach their brand and their identity to like a greater purpose or mission or people. Tell me more about like that social good aspect and what can other people learn from your journey and how to create something like that of their own?

I love that you brought that up. That's. That's honestly how I try and approach things in our business. And I have from day one. For us, it's just about like building that connection and trying to connect with your customers, whether it's online, in a post, or in person in your stores, finding that immediate connection of. And sharing your values with them. There's so much, there's so much value added to carrying a brand that aligns with your values and mission. And I found that even in like the hardest recession times or when people are just choosing not to buy for whatever reason in their life, if you still throw something out there to them that has a social good aspect that you truly care about, you write about it in a post. They can hear it in your voice when you talk about it on a live, they're going to support you and figure out a way to purchase or share or comment and like show up for you, no matter what their financial situation is at the time, whether they need something or not. But I would 1000% recommend kind of digging deep and finding something that you're truly passionate about. What, whatever that mission might be that you feel like you can bring into your business long term. Maybe it's at the holiday time, maybe it's something you have struggled with in your life and you're like, I would bet there's a hundred plus moms or one in five people that come in that can align with an experience that I've had and they're gonna hear your voice in their mind when they read or listen to you talk about it.

Yeah. Do you ever find that when you're talking to boutique owners about this that people are intimidated to share their story. Like maybe there's somebody listening that is thinking, you know, oh I went through this thing, but you know, oh, so what, I don't want to talk about it. Or oh, nobody needs to hear about that. Or they're just feeling too vulnerable to open up about it. What advice would you give them about the power of their story?

Honestly, I think sometimes saying your story out loud helps a lot. And the first time you do it, you don't have to tell it to the world on a live sale or put it in a. Like invite people in and talk to them about it in person. Maybe record a video of yourself just that you might not even share with anybody and say it out loud and then watch it back and see if it resonates with you. I think maybe trying to talk to maybe one of your co workers about it or someone that you feel would understand and just see. I think as time has gone on and as TikTok has grown, people have done such a good job talking about and sharing their stories and maybe stories that were maybe more taboo in the past to talk about that are not anymore. And people are just wanting real authentic, the real authentic you rather than this picture perfect look that they feel like they can't relate to. So putting yourself out there, don't feel like you have to share the entire story, but kind of just like feel. If you feel it in your heart and you feel like it's the right time to share, share it and see what happens. You'll be shocked when you actually write something super heartfelt in a message or a post or say it out loud to a customer what the reaction is, it might encourage them to share too.

If one thing is true when it comes to retail, it's that we all know there are peaks and there are valleys. And a lot of times those peaks and valleys coincide with different times of the year. You may have heard the theory of the J Months, for example. Now, I'm not a huge believer in the J months because I think there's always opportunity in a slower time period if you choose to seek it. That's why I want to invite you back to Summer school. Summer School is our annual summertime training. It's completely free for three days for you and I to deep dive into your business and how to make the most of the summer months to make them your best opportunity yet. So so please check out the link in this week's show Notes to join me. June 5th, 6th and 7th we'll be on Zoom every morning. Again, completely free. So we can talk about a few very important topics. Number one, how to beat the J months. How to make your summer months your most effective time yet. Because you know, we've got to prepare for the two busiest retail seasons of the year. Back to school and holiday. We're going to map it all out. Plus we're going to talk about the economy that we're in right now and why some boutiques are are accelerating when others are slowing down. And finally, I'm going to bring you a full deep dive on AI. All of my favorite AI tools and prompts and opportunities to streamline and automate your business so that you can work smarter and not harder. Because I know your time is precious. You guys, You've got lives to live. So join me June 5th, 6th and 7th, again, completely free during summer school. Sign up in this week's show notes to make sure you do not miss this opportunity to use your summer as your best opportunity yet.

See you guys there.

So talk to me about selling children. There's so many similarities in selling children's clothing and selling women's clothing. Just the business model and just operations in general. But there's many differences. What do you think some of those biggest differences are? And maybe some strategy that children's owners need that maybe just aren't finding right now.

So what I have found over time is the approach to children's is, I think, pretty different. And then it is, like you said, similar to others. My approach is trying to make the cutest or find the cutest adorable things that you can even in the tiniest of sizes so you can connect with those moms from day one. And the amount of like baby shower cards and invitations that we get in the mail is kind of crazy. And we always send something because they're going to be hooked from day one and they're going to start taking those pictures. Moms want to take pictures of their kids in everything you like. Look at their phone and there's thousands of the same outfit on the same kid. And they'll post it and they'll be like, oh my gosh, so and so is getting so big. Wait, what is she wearing? Right? And you're styling a baby, maybe that's just laying on the ground. But the amount of comments you're going to get from that versus comments on you out in a selfie is not the same. You're always going to have that cute factor. So trying to find itty bitty things that are really, really cute that maybe look more adult. Like it's a game changer. Honestly. The other thing I would say is the way I've approached children's is having everything that you can. If you find a style that you know that sells really well, offering it in a ton of colors, and that I would say is so similar in women's. But the difference there that I was just talking to my husband about last night is these kids grow a lot and really quickly. And so if a mom loves something like hot pink ripped leggings, for example, or a pink metallic skirt, she's going to buy it in a three to six, and a few months later, she's going to want it in a 6 to 12, and then she's going to want it in a 2T and a 3T and she's going to keep coming back for the same item in a different size or different colors. So that is one thing I would say, like, look for basics or staples that you're going to always carry and continue to restock them so you can pair them with the fancy, the sparkle, the unique things that mix it up. Because those moms are going to be like, hey, do you have a restock on that bow leotard? I need it in the next size because my kid grew.

Really the calculation here is, what's my customer lifetime value potential with kids? Because kids are growing, right? And so they're going to go through a lot of sizes. So how can I incentivize my customer to come back and purchase again and again and again? And whether that's through rewards program, I would imagine that has to be like double important for children's boutique even more than women's.

Yeah, we use loyalty rewards through our app, and then we have one in the store as well. And then the other thing we do from time to time is we'll just open up a buy sell trade feed on our VIP group for moms to swap busy's clothes. Our Busy Izzy's clothes. And you would think, in my mind, especially when I first thought about it, I was like, that might hurt me. But it actually doesn't because it's freeing up their cash flow of their goods that they've used already and their kids have outgrown so they can buy new from you. And so you just kind of have to change your mindset about that because that was definitely something. When someone brought that to my attention, I was like, I don't really want to do that. Could steal sales for me. But it's not. They get their money back and then they can buy new from you. And it's really fun to see those clothes end up on the next child. It might be something I don't have any more too, but that helps immensely. We do it, I would say probably three or four times a year, maybe more seasonally. We'll swap. We'll offer that swap and then we'll do like give backs in the store where people can bring in used busy's clothes. We usually just donate them and then they get some type of like gift card or a coupon to use in the store to buy something different.

Those are so good. Such good ideas. How else do you feel like one of the risks is having so many sizes. You're gonna have lots of onesies. Twosies, right? What are some other ways you can move overstock inventory in kids when you're stuck with those few pieces that you need to get rid of so you can bring in some?

That is definitely, I think one of the biggest, I would say, fears or something that holds people back from really diving into children's is all of the sizes. And it is a huge undertaking if you want to carry all those sizes. But my suggestion would be to really like target who, you know, would buy from you and what sizes those children wear. And also starting with like infant sizes, people will always buy baby gifts and they're always looking for unique things. So really honing in on like the infant sizes, those really itty bitty adorable things, because people are usually buying those sizes for gifts or a brand new baby that hasn't arrived yet and they may grow out of it, but it's adorable and it's for the cute factor when they open the package, you know, and then they get to dress them in all those milestone photos for all of the additional sizes. We've even done like bundles for specific sizes because kids grow so fast. So we'll be like, here are a bundle deal with four of our velvet bell bottoms, all colors at this size, and we'll do some type of a sale on that or some type of a discount or you can get a free graphic tee if you buy these or something like that. But definitely my recommendation is not to go all in on all sizes. That's not a good choice. I'm gonna put that out there right now. No matter if your neighbor down the street says, oh, my tween daughter would love, blah, blah, blah, don't listen to her if she doesn't buy from you.

Amen to that. Right? You bring up a really good point though, Sydney. So when I think about customer avatars. So a women's boutique or a gift boutique may have a, you know, a certain set of customer avatars. Children's is really pretty broad because you've got the grandparents buying gifts. You've got the first time mom, Lord knows she's very different from the third time mom. Like four different creatures. And then you've got the dressy looks, you've got gift, you've got all the things in between. When you're planning your merchandising and you're buying and then even like wholesale when you're planning what you're going to want. How are you trying to make sure you're meeting these different customer avatars?

Yeah, so we actually look at it from a calendar perspective and think about what special occasions occur. We look at special occasions first. What special occasions or holidays occur first per season. And then think, okay, well there's Father's Day, so they're gonna want dad outfits to show their love for their dad. There's weddings and flower girl opportunities. So, okay, let's think about that. Are there little girls that are going to be doing pageants at the fair or showing horses or showing something, an animal, and they need a 4H outfit or an FFA outfit that's just bougie and fun and makes them stand out, or is it holiday family pictures or fall family photos? So we look at that first and then we add the fillers from there. And the other thing I really like to do is add like something that someone can't say no to because it's so sparkly and so cute and so adorable. And then showing them how to pair it with something very basic like a graphic tee. Because my 4 year old does that on her own and she's going to continue to pick stuff out that I might not at the moment think they go together, but she definitely does. And so trying to show them like you can put a casual with something more special, more unique and showing parents how they can use it so many other ways or so many different opportunities. And then the fabric we use, we always try and use fabric that's going to stretch one to two sizes, which I kind of think women's should do that as well. So like a lot of parents, they'll be like, oh, I know I can buy busy's clothes because it's going to fit two sizes. Like they'll be able to wear it so much longer because of the, the, the fabric quality. So yeah, that's definitely an area that I would say could use some extra love and you really have to put some thought into when you're planning those things out. But holidays, special occasions, and honestly, I think the holiday thing, especially Halloween and Christmas, those are the two holidays and Valentine's Day for kids, you kind of have to think you go way heavier on those two, those three holidays for children's apparel than I would in. In women's because they just sell so fast. Holiday holiday wear sells very well for kids.

What other obstacle. I feel like children's clothing and gift really has this photography.

Yes.

A hurdle is a lot of boutique owners saying, my kids have outgrown this stage. I don't have a live model. My branding sucks because of my model situation, my photo situation. How do you recommend stores have better photography whether model or not?

Yep. So we actually started this from the beginning, and we've had an ambassador program. We have ambassadors all over the US that model our clothes. And again, we started with NICU moms and their siblings, like the NICU baby and their siblings just put it out there. And we would send them clothes for free or for a good discount. And we didn't do, like, a straight affiliate program where you get cash. You get. These moms want credit because their husbands don't want to know about their shopping problems. So they want the credit to just, like, swap for clothes. I promise you, they don't really want the cash. Most of them, they want the. The cash that they can, like, buy as much, and they're like, I got it for free. And the other part about ambassador program, I could talk about that for hours, honestly, is these moms are dying to take pictures of their kids in adorable clothes. They just need the clothes and the outfit to show them, hey, go take some pictures in this. And they're going to be like, absolutely. Reach out to moms that come into your store and say, hey, your kid is absolutely adorable. We have an ambassador program we would love to give you, hook you up with some clothes if you want to take some pictures. And then they'll. They'll do that. And you can give them tips and show them how. Ask your neighbor. Ask your soccer. The soccer team. It's wild. These kids want to do it. They really do. And so do the parents. And you could even take the photos, too. We've done, like, a model casting call before where you can come to our store and say, hey, we're doing a casting call. We need sizes 5, 6, 7, 8 today. And we're also looking for three to six, three to six months. And then people will tell us, yeah, I want to come in. And they all think it's awesome.

Your model casting call. How do you incentivize them when they come in and if they get to use their photos?

Yep. So any of the outfits that they end up taking pictures in, they get like 30 to 40% off of that outfit. And then we always let them pick out a graphic tee for free. Whatever graphic that they want for doing it. And then it depends how often they come. Because we have one mom that will bring her daughter in at least once a month. And so she just has, like, a credit from us for constantly helping. And her mom's like, here's your gift card. Like, go ahead and pick out what you want. Because she's in fourth grade, fifth grade. And so it's really fun for her to get to do that. And then she'll be like, my friends want to do it. And then her friends will come too.

Tell me more about the back end of your ambassador program. How do you organize all of it?

So we have found most of these moms really just use Facebook the most. We tried it on Instagram. It just didn't fly as much. So we actually have a Facebook group, and in that group, we have all of the ambassadors in there, the moms, they each have an album to drop their photos in. And then we'll do, like, competitions and things as well each week. And we will try and incentivize them, like, hey, if you can post X number of times, you will get X number of dollars in credit or free shipping for a month or something like that. And we ask them to post in our VIP group, too. To be part of an ambassador program, they have to be posting content and creating conversation, and that helps a ton as well.

With your ambassadors, do you ever also include mommy and Me in that scenario as well? Because that's got to be huge for you, right?

Yeah. We do a ton of mommy me photos, and they very frequently want to do it. They think it's super fun. And the little girls and the little boys are all about it and what we'll tell them. Because I smell some of them be like, oh, my kid won't sit still, or whatever the situation may be. They're like, they always want to hold their truck. And I'm like, let them. Let them hold the truck. It's so cute. That's normal mom life for the longest time. My daughter would, like, hold a crystal light packet in her hand when she took pictures when she was like one and a half. And I'd be like, whatever. Girlfriend, you are cute. It doesn't matter. And it would still sell the outfit out. So don't like stress that like they're holding a crystal light packet in their hand. Give them suckers. I would say suckers look way cuter, but like she was obsessed at the time. Mommy and Me works really good, I think, especially when the kids are younger, to get them to like sit still, stay in one place. And it is the cutest little outfit. So you may have to play around with like positions where you're like standing behind them, you're crouched out next to them. Mommy and Me photos, in my opinion, especially when they're smaller, don't work really well unless it's from like a distance if you don't get down closer to their level. But they turn out to be the absolute cutest photos.

I love it. So for photography, so you've got ambassador photos, you've got your own photos. I'm assuming you have some flat lays as well. But one other piece that you do really well is live sales. I feel like sometimes children's stores are.