Five Minute Friday: The Six Layers Behind Retail Bootcamp (And Why They Work)

Hey, guys, it is you and me for five minute Friday, and I had to jump in here and I want to talk about all things Retail Boot Camp. This is the time of year January and June, when we open enrollment for Retail Boot Camp. And it has been our most successful program at the Boutique Hub, literally to date. It is like college for retailers. And I'm so excited because this is the time where I feel like I get to spend the most both one on one time, but also just small group time. Getting to know so many of you because I see you on zoom every single week. You're asking questions, I'm getting to learn about your business. And we are literally walking you through the six layers of retail during Retail Bootcamp. So I want to talk about what this experience looks like, but also I want to start with this. I don't know how many of you know this story and I don't know how much I've actually told this story, so maybe this is new, but back when, oh my gosh, way back when every good story starts like that, when we started the Boutique Hub, this is probably. I gotta think about what year this was. We started in 2013. This is probably in 2014. I had started the hub, was trying to figure it all out myself, trying to, you know, put this idea I had on my head, in my head on paper and trying to find like, contractors, help me build websites and, you know, do all the things. And honestly, you guys, the first version of the Boutique Hub, I know many of you know this, this part of the story, the first version of the Hub wasn't working. I didn't have. I built this online shopping mall of boutiques. This is how it all started. And I didn't have enough retailers on the site, not enough boutiques to attract enough shoppers. I didn't have enough shoppers, you know, looking at the site on a regular basis to demand more boutiques. And I was in this weird, like chicken and an egg. I didn't have enough of one to create the other. And my business really felt stuck and I felt stuck. And as I went along, what I realized was it wasn't necessarily that I needed to create this online shopping mall of boutiques. What I was hearing from all the retailers I was talking to on a daily basis was they didn't need that. They actually needed a support system. They needed business information. They needed to know how to run marketing and make money and manage inventory and run Facebook ads and learn all the corners of social media, which were still pretty new at that time. And So I can remember thinking, man, okay, if this version of the Boutique of, like, this is not working, but I know what I can do that will work is I can just help people. I can just serve people. I knew my business needed to do this pivot, and I needed to serve people. And so I started to make this pivot. And for about a year's time, I just gave and gave and gave and served and served and served completely for free. You didn't pay for anything. It was a free Facebook group. Like, I was just trying to help people. And. And what happened during that time of just, like, giving and figuring it out was we built a really strong community, and we rooted ourselves in community over competition, which we do today. And I built some really amazing connections and friendships. And many of you are still members of the Boutique Hub, literally today, because it wasn't until about a year after that that I started, like, the actual membership and the community that many of you joined immediately. I think 300 people joined in the first month, and many of you are still here today. So it took a long time to get to that point where it was like, oh, this is what my business is actually going to look like. And I have to tell you, at that time, I felt very lost. Like, I had this idea in my head. I thought I knew what I was creating, but it, you know, it was tricky along the way. And I kept thinking, like, there's gotta be somebody who knows. There's gotta be somebody who knows. And two things happened. One, I had major imposter syndrome. I found a person that I met online, and this person, I was like, wow, this person has a very similar idea and dream as me. Maybe we could work together. This person's been in startups and they've exited, they've sold businesses. Like, they must have so much experience. Yes, this would be great to work with this person. And this person convinced me that they were going to take over half of this company at the Boutique Hub. And. And nothing was ever written in paper. Nothing was ever formalized. This is just like a verbal, like, I'm gonna take 51%, you're gonna take 49, and this is what we're gonna do. And. And because I had such strong imposter syndrome, figuring that I couldn't do this on my own, I went for it. And I did this for a while until eventually I. I just felt like, this is getting super suspicious. And I eventually contacted this person and said, you know what? This feels super fishy. I am not going to go for this. Like, I'm out. Like, there's no. This is not working for me, right? Like, paperwork never came in the mail. It was always being promised, like, super fishy. And that person, immediately as they hung up with me, drained our bank account, drained the PayPal account, blocked me from all the Facebook groups I created, blocked me from the email list I had started. Like, seemingly everything that I had started in this business was gone in an instant. And silly me for being Midwest nice and not protecting myself and not ever assuming someone would do that to me. I let it happen unknowingly. And it was at that moment, you guys, where, honestly, for a couple of days, I'll. Let me back up for a couple of days. I can remember feeling so ashamed and feeling so stupid that I just laid on the couch and cried. Just like, what? Like, poor me. What am I gonna do next? And I can remember at that time, Eric literally, like, standing over me one afternoon as I was on the couch, and we've got three little kids running around the house, and he stood over me and just said, you know, whatever you're going to do, I'm going to support you in it. So if you decide to get up and walk away from this dream and go get a different job, fine. I'll support you in it. Or if you decide you're going to get up and you're going to figure it out and you're going to go for it, Going to support you in it. Like, what do you want to do? It's your move. Let's go. And, guys, there was no money at the time. We were broke. Broke. Eric was busting his butt in his career. I was, like, selling baby cribs so that I could get groceries. Like, you know, it was just. It was a tough time. And I can remember that feeling, like, it was permission for me. Like, okay, all right, this is it. Like, it's do or die. I better get up. And either I'm gonna figure it out or I'm gonna die trying, but this is what I'm gonna do. And I got up, and I start just putting one piece in front of the next and piecing things together and just taking one step at a time and building confidence in myself that I didn't have to know it all. I didn't have to be perfect. You know, surely there's people out there that are smarter than me. But I can do this. I can figure it out one piece at a time. And after several months of this, this is in the midst of me serving in that free Facebook group. For a long time. I met a coach, and I don't know where she came from. I find it to be the weirdest coincidence that I met her. She literally showed up in my inbox and offered to work with me. And this person wasn't similar in business to me at all. Like, not at all. Like, didn't know anything about boutiques, but she was somebody who was more of, like, a mindset coach. And she had helped coaches put coaching programs together. And so she reached out to me, we had a conversation. Again, I literally had no money, I'm telling you. And we had gone through, like, Dave Ramsey, the whole thing. So Eric and I were very in tune. Like, if we're going to spend money, we're going to do it together. We didn't believe in having a lot of debt. It was like, this whole thing. Well, I talked to this coach on the phone and decided that I was going to invest. And I think the coaching program, you guys, was like, $6,000. Like, it was a lot, especially back then when coaching was so new and I had no money. And I said yes. And I did not exactly get Eric's blessing, but I just said, listen, if this is what I'm going to do to figure this business out, like, this has to be done. This is. This is the last straw. Like, I'm figuring it out. I'm putting the pieces together, but this is my last opportunity. And he understood, and he was supportive. Put it on a credit card, made a plan of how I was going to pay this thing off, started to work with his coach, who literally, on, like, the first thing she did, and the most important things she did were helping me rewire some of the limiting beliefs I had about myself and the limiting beliefs I had about money and what it took, what I thought it took to create a business that could make money versus what it actually would take. And how could I take what I was doing already in business, just shift it just slightly in order to meet market demand and provide something of value to other people. And I think I, like, was really undervaluing what I was doing at the time and undervaluing my worth. And I tell you guys this because I think this is something I see so often in many of you is undervaluing what you're capable of or undervaluing what you think your business can actually do at the end of the day, or maybe doubting yourself and having your own set of imposter syndrome issues where you don't think you can do this on your own and you can you can. You just need somebody to guide you. And so this woman became my guide. And. And literally, you guys, that was in the month of May of that year. And by the month of September, she'd helped me. I'd never done a vision board before. I did a vision board with her by the month of September. All but like two things on my vision board came true. And I had already paid off in full everything I had invested with her. $6,000, which was a lot. I'd paid that all off. And I had a business that was finally sustainable and that was making money. And I tell you guys this story about this coach, my first coach, because I had a lot of beliefs that I wasn't worthy of. It wasn't possible for me. You know, I had to DIY and scrap. But the lesson I learned is there is an easier way. There are people who are genuinely willing to help you. There are investments worthwhile to make in your business to save you the time, to save you the stress, to give you a few more easy buttons, but to help believe, but to help build the beliefs and the confidence in yourself that you really deserve and need in order to make a really great, long term sustainable business. And so going back to retail boot camp, this is literally like why I love retail bootcamp so much. Because it was an actual product out of that time of my life where I was like, man, I know these systems. Like, I know the things that work in people's businesses. And if I could distill it down, it is these systems, six layers of retail. If boutique owners would do these things, if they would focus on these six areas and they would build and let one flow into the next, into the next. It's not like there's this super big secret to being successful in business. The secret is it's doing the things you probably already know you need to do, but doing them in this order, focusing on your foundational layer, your operations, your brand, your ideal customer, you as the CEO of your business. Like, that's your foundations. Then building into understanding what. What are my products that are actually worthwhile? Am I pricing them correctly? Do I have the right inventory levels? How does cash flow work? What are all the numbers I've been avoiding but are critical to run my business? Like really owning that piece, then building into a team and knowing I've got to ask for help at some point. I can't DIY my way to a long term sustainable business. So what does that look like? How do I optimize my team If I have one employee or 50 employees. What does that look like? And then my sales strategy comes next. Understanding merchandising and e commerce and live selling and my brick and mortar and how to optimize all the traffic channels that help make sales possible and the perfect sales process. Finally, the last two layers, I think are the thing that most people mistake and they start with first, but really they come last because you have to have all the other pieces in place for these last two things to make sense. And that's number five is the second to top layer is content strategy. Having a plan, knowing the amount of traffic you need, knowing the conversion rate you need, knowing your boutique traffic formula, knowing the six essential pieces of content, having the pieces in place so that you have a plan and a system to execute. Not just posting, just to post something. And then finally, the very top layer, traffic, Right? So whether it's email marketing or all of social media marketing, public relations or paid traffic across Google and meta, those things, yes, traffic is great. It cures a lot of headaches and it can create sales, but it doesn't work well unless you have all the other pieces in place. So literally everything from retail bootcamp, all of those systems came from a place of knowing there's gotta be a better, easier way for people to. To follow to build success in the business that I know is possible for you, I know you're capable of doing. And I want to help make it a little bit easier to help get you there. Because you guys, my life, the boutique hub, none of this would have been possible had I not randomly, you know, first walked through hell and fire and had a terrible situation where I didn't know if I was going to make it or not. To finding a coach and somebody that could support me and believe in me and say, no, girl, you've got this. Let's rewire a few things that you believe about yourself because they're not true. Let's get you refocused in the right direction and then just, I'm going to be the support system you need. And again, this person doesn't know anything about retail, doesn't know anything about the boutique hub and like how it's been built. She just helped me believe in myself and pull out of what was already inside of me to help create what was possible. And retail boot camp, that's the same thing I want to do for you guys. Everyone's business is a little bit different, but I do believe there are these six pieces inside of each one of you. And if I can help create the belief that you will have in yourself for you to know that it is possible that it will be. Hey, are you on the list yet? I know you want to be on this list. You don't want to miss this list because we are deep diving into your business college style. Not 101 style, not 301 style, 501 style. And that is inside of our college level course for boutique owners called retail bootcamp. Now, many of you may have already taken retail bootcamp, because the cool part about this course is not only do you get to watch it at your leisure, but then join us for for 14 weeks of live group coaching twice a year. That's 28 weeks of live group coaching every single year. Once you're inside of retail bootcamp, you're always inside. So you get that same two semesters of group coaching every single year for as long as you want to join us this year inside of retail bootcamp. I can't wait to go back to deep dive into the six layers of your business strategically, step by step. What do you need to grow before you're ready for the Facebook ads and digital traffic, which we did definitely cover. First, we have to make sure. How's your pricing? How's your profit? How's your inventory? How's your team management? We're going into literally every single topic of your business throughout retail boot Camp, so it only opens twice a year, January and June. Make sure you're on the wait list again. Once you get in, you're in for life. Why didn't college allow us to do that? Right? Whatever happened to all that college debt we had? That was silly. I can make way better use of your time inside of retail bootcamp. So I hope you're on the list. Get on the waitlist right now so you're the first to know. I can't wait to see you inside of retail bootcamp. So I hope this was helpful, you guys, just to know you're not alone on this journey. Whether you're in that moment of hell that I was in at the very beginning, or you're just starting to work with coaches, or maybe you've done this all along and you're somebody who's coming back to retail bootcamp for the 10th time. I'm so grateful for you. But I just want you guys to know that I'm here because I believe in you. And I'm here because I know that there is a simpler, there is an easier way, and one that can create a lot less stress in your life. So whatever that dream is for your business. I want to make sure you know it's possible and that myself and our entire team here at the Hub want to help walk with you arm in arm to achieve that dream every single step of the way. All right, thanks for listening, you guys to this five Minute Friday, which is way longer than five minutes, but I hope it was helpful. Wherever you're at in the journey, you guys, I see you keep grinding. I can't wait to help you achieve all of those goals together. That's it for five Minute Friday, you guys. I hope you found some quick, actionable steps you can put into play in your business right away. As always, if you're not yet a member of the Boutique Hub, I would love to personally invite you to join us. It's where all of the daily conversations happen. The up to date what is working now in the industry conversations, the latest trends, trainings, trend reports, discounts, resources, and of course access to thousands of wholesale brands that you also know and love. So please take a minute, follow the link in the show notes and we would love to invite you to join us inside of the Boutique Hub.