Managing COVID-19 and Your Retail Business

All right, you guys, we have been hearing all of your questions about how to not just survive, but thrive through the coronavirus pandemic. So today, Sarah Burks and I are answering your 16 most frequently asked questions and giving you all the strategies on how to keep growing. Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works. From mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat. Hey guys, in case we haven't met yet, I'm Ashley. I'm the founder at the Boutique Hub and I'm mildly obsessed with all things marketing and business strategy and analysis when it comes to your business. So today I'm super excited to have this conversation with my girl, Sarah. In case you haven't met Sarah yet, Sarah Burks is the partnerships and education director at the Boutique Hub and is a former boutique owner herself and an all around boss. Right, Sarah?

Absolutely. Hey guys, it's my pleasure to come to you guys today and talk about some strategies and tips and tricks in this industry and, you know, being alive in the industry today and surviving through all this craziness and yeah. So, Ashley, thanks for inviting me.

Yes. So we have you and I've been doing a lot of coaching, I would say, and information sharing through this entire COVID 19 pandemic. And we teach on a regular basis through Retail Bootcamp, but also to all of our members and the industry through the Boutique Hub. So we wanted to come together today to share six frequently asked questions that are really strategies and tips that should help you not just survive the pandemic that we're in, but really to thrive the pandemic that we're in.

Absolutely right. You all know that there's never going to be another day that's lived like.

Say March 1st of 2020.

Those days are behind us. So we are being asked by thousands of boutique owners, you know, what are we doing today and how are we going to come out of this okay in the weeks to come. And, you know, yeah, we've put together some really awesome tips for you and these are all based off of your frequently asked questions, things that are really pressing to you. And you know, what we have discovered from other experts in the industry as well. So I'm excited to share all these with you?

Yes. All right, so let's start with this. This seems like question number one that we always get. Is this the end of my retail business?

Oh, man. Can I just say, well, that depends on if your retail business was a good one to begin with or not.

Right.

Like it's okay for your business to take a complete turn right now. I think a lot of boutiques are realizing that they weren't really on top of their game before, and that's okay. Every once in a while we all need this big eye opening experience or kind of that slap in the face a little bit to say, hey, get your ducks in a row here and you know, make sure you're building a business, not a hobby. So to answer that, some people aren't going to come out on the other side of this and the ones that do are probably going to come out even bigger and stronger than they did going into it.

Yeah, I feel like it all comes down to mindset. You know, we all have a choice every single day to say, am I going to be the victim in all of this? Right. Is this happening to me or is this an opportunity that's happening for me and am I going to adapt as humans do better than any species on the planet and not only survive this, but thrive this? So I do think it's a choice and it's then figuring out how to dig down and do the hard thing that you really knew you should have been doing all along, but now you're forced to do in order to grow your business. I think about Sarah. We talk a lot to brick and mortar retailers and online retailers and it seems like brick and mortars are always saying, oh, I know I should go online, I know I should be doing E commerce or I know I should be doing live sales, but I just haven't figured it out yet. Well, now's your time to figure it out. That's how you're going to make it through this entire thing. In online boutiques, we hear from you, I just don't know my numbers or I'm overstocked with inventory or I don't know how to get more traffic to my website. This is your opportunity. This is the off season where you're going to figure it out so you can come out of this stronger than when you came into it.

Yeah, I love that analogy, that this is your off season. And you know, as a, as a quick little tester, if you ever caught yourself saying this before, when I have more time, I'm going to whatever, fill in the blank. Well, here you go, here's some time. And it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be 40 things, 20 things. Heck, it doesn't even have to be five. It just has to be one thing that you are going to tackle. You're going to implement it, you're going to do it well, you're going to measure it. And when this is over, it's not going to be new anymore. You're going to feel comfortable in that process.

Right.

You're going to be implementing a system or an operations that is going to work for you going forward. And some things you're going to try and like, nope, that's not for me. But nonetheless, to look at this, like you said, as an opportunity, that's what's going to go, you know, or allow people to thrive in this.

Yes. And every retail business today has the opportunity for multiple revenue streams, right? You can have your online revenue stream, you have your brick and mortar revenue stream. You have a revenue stream from live selling or comment selling, from setting up vendor events. Right. There's all these different ways to. And then your brick and mortar, I guess that's five. So there's all these ways to build revenue. But before all this, everyone was so stuck in the rut of, well, this is how my business operates and this is what I'm going to work on and I don't have time to learn anything else. Well, now is your time to build out those five different revenue streams.

Absolutely. Take advantage of it.

Yes. All right, Question number two is, and man, we see this a lot too, and I think this comes back to guilt, but it's, should I still be selling during this time? There's people struggling. Should I be selling?

Well, and I just answered this question for somebody earlier today and I said, well, do you still have customers? And they said, well, yeah. And I said, well, does that customer have a need? Well, yeah. And I said, can you solve their problem? She said, well, yeah. Well, then do it. Get out there. You know, if you take the role of, I feel like maybe I shouldn't be doing this, guess what, somebody else is, and they're going to go get your customer and coddle them and nurture them and support them at this time. So when the green light goes, your customer is going to have forgotten about you or else you're just not as relevant in their life anymore.

Oh, man, I could not echo that more. I feel like right now you have the most captive audience that you've ever had.

Ever.

Everyone's Stuck at home, right. And there are so many people, there's so many moms out there especially that are trying to homeschool and balance all these things and need an escape and they still have a need and they can't get out and fill that need. So they're going to come to you, they're going to come to the person that relates to them most during this time. It is not ever going to go back to how it once was. There's only going to be a new normal going forward. And just like you said, wherever that is. Right. Every consumer is going to go to what they're comfortable with, with the people they know, like and trust. And those are the relationships they're building right now. So getting in front of your customers, being totally authentic, showing up on video, serving while you're selling, those have to be mainstays right now.

And I know we're going to get into this a little bit and hold clienteling question that we get asked a lot. But I just want to say when we talk about going out there and selling. Right. No, it might not be relevant today to really be hammering out the, let's say what dresses to wear to Easter.

Right.

Easter Sunday. Because nobody's going to be getting up and going to church for the most part on Easter Sunday.

Right.

Maybe that's not the need that they serve, however. What about those, you know, you've got more like the trouser pants or that cut off gaucho denim, right. That you have a whole bunch of in your store. Well, what's the one thing a customer says, God, what shoe do I wear with that? Or how do I pair anything back with that? So an opportunity right now is to go back and educate that customer on those looks, what goes with what, how to build a capsule wardrobe, all these kind of things. I know we'll get into that later, but when they asked, should I still be selling? Selling is a pretty broad term. Not necessarily just pushing a product, but selling you, selling your brand, continuing to sell that customer service and that experience that you are providing that education. Yeah, we need to continue at that even more so because they are so captive.

So captive. And like you said, you might not be selling your Easter day collection, but you got your quarantine chic collection and you've got pants, stretchy waistbands because we've all gained the corona 15. I mean, why not serve your customers that need bigger pants right now, Right?

Absolutely.

All right, question number three is what does shelter in place mean for my business?

Well, I guess When I answer this question for people, I always say, you know, consult your local area to make sure everybody's on the same page. But in general, you know, you have a business to run, right. You, you can get creative, bring that in inventory to your garage, wherever you can run it from.

Right.

Be very mindful and conscious of what's going on in your area and your community, what your state regulations are and stuff. However, if you can get in there and get that inventory and bring it home and ship from home, or somehow get creative with live selling from home, get after it. That's what an entrepreneur does. They figure out a way to make it work.

Absolutely. And if you still have employees, which hopefully you do because there's so many opportunities in government programs which we're going to talk about in just a little bit, I mean, this doesn't mean that they can't still be working too. I would bet you have email automations to maximize. I would bet you have social media that still needs done. I would bet you need photos edited. I would bet your branding could use a refresh. I would bet someone could be optimizing SEO on your website. Right. There's so many things that your staff can still be doing even if they're sheltered in place. So you may have to be the one that's shipping product right now. You, your husband, your kids, whoever, you're going to enlist to help you. But you can figure it out. And honestly, there's so many boutiques right now that are thriving through this because they've been the entrepreneur that solves the puzzle. Right. Entrepreneurs do that better than anybody else. They solve problems. So that's your chance. Yeah.

And if you do still have the employees, like Ashley said, hopefully you do. Here's a quick thing to do. Take map out a couple hours, get everybody on a zoom call and say, alright, in this situation, Ashley, when you do your job, what's one thing that holds you back? Like one thing, that one system that we do that could be streamlined. And I know when I had my store it was the photos on our computer, right. They were never where they thought they should be, never organized. We'd always lose things, right? And every once in a while I just have to pay somebody to go in and organize files, go in and organize all that stuff. And that is definitely somebody, they could be doing that by watching Tiger King, you know, just hammering it out there. But the thing is, once that's done, man, don't you feel accomplished? So when you do go in and look for a logo or you're going in looking for something, know right where it is, it's labeled and you have a process going forward. Be like, alright, when you save a file, this is how we're going to do it, right? Going forward. But implementing a process, yes, and writing.

That out in your SOP, creating your operations doc and writing out all those SOPs. So important. But let me take that a step further and go back to selling and serving. Segment your email list, segment your point of sale system, pull out your top 100 customers and have your employees write them cards. This is the time to connect with your customers. So do it the old fashioned way and your customers are going to love it. Nobody gets happy mail anymore. So figure out a way to make them happy and send them a surprise in the mail.

You bet 100%.

All right, question number four. How do I operate my business virtually? Which is what we've been talking about, tips for success for working from home. And I think we can start by saying, or I'll jump in and answer this one first. Because we've been working from home for so long, our whole team at the boutique hub is virtual. So it's Sarah and I and there's 15 of us total from all over the country. So we're really well versed in this area. A couple of keys to success for us are the tools that we use. So we use Zoom all the time to do video chats. We use Slack, which is a program that actually has a free option starting out where you can video or not video, but you can message each other in chat rooms and it all stays organized by topic. We also use Google Docs so everything is shared to the cloud. And what else? Trello I guess would be the other online tool that we use to stay organized. Those of us who use Trello.

That takes some training for your staff and for your team to understand, right. But gosh, we're never going to go back to business the old fashioned way. So meeting virtually is going to be a thing that goes on, right? It's going to be the new norm. And so you might as well bring people up to speed on it right now. And you know, taking that into your customers lives as well. There's all sorts of opportunities there. But another thing I would say definitely working virtually is you have to map out some time and you just have to make some non negotiables in your day, one of which really at least a couple days a week should be.

Doing your hair and getting dressed straight.

You know, it just makes you feel so much More productive than, you know, throwing on the sweats and the, you know, you're staying in pajama T shirt with your hair up and no makeup on. And then somebody says, oh, let's jump on a zoom call. And you're like, no, not today.

That's what blue light glasses are for. So you can hide your face when you don't wear any makeup. Honestly, get blue light glasses.

There you go. But yeah, working virtually, I think is we just are going to need to figure out how to do it. People are going to get comfortable with it. And one thing I love about, like Will say my daughters, they're in high school, that generation's used to coming on camera kind of just as they are, you know, they're all the times. Of course, I give them a hard time about their Snapchat selfies, which is the forehead and up and the side, whatever, you know, but they're just as is. I would say it's much more on my generation that feels they have to be all 100% put together all the time.

Being who you are is going to.

Be a big thing, I think, going forward. You know, I just, when I said get dressed, I feel like that helps you stay productive. But it is just being comfortable with yourself being out there, just doing it, getting after it and however you can. Don't let the fact that you guys can't meet up in a space or can't actually sit together at a table halt your productivity.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

And keep a routine as much as you can keep a routine. I know there's. This is so new for everybody and everyone is just trying to figure it out. But one thing that brings me peace is when I feel like I have a routine. You know, you can't go to the gym, so it's get up and work out with what you can do or have breakfast with the kids. And then the kids start their school at a certain time. And I do all my work from certain time to certain time and we all meet for lunch at a certain time. Like we've got to find some type of routine in our day. And that gives us the freedom and the boundary to be more flexible and.

Make sure we're communicating that with whoever it is you're working with so they understand what you're bringing the table time wise and vice versa. So that like Ashley and I, we might be working on kind of different schedules, but it'd be extremely rude of me to be bombarding her Slack channel while she's trying to keep her kids on task on homework. Right. And then she's getting the ping, ping, ping, and she just is spread too wide, too thin. So. And that's one thing that's awesome about Slack is you can just shut off the notifications. You can go dark kind of to say, and give yourself that time.

Absolutely. All right, question number five. How can I best serve my customers at this time? What do they need?

Oh, man, we kind of talked about.

That a second ago.

But, you know, I think, you know, you've listened to your customers up to this point, hopefully building these customers, you've built relationships with them. You understand their pain points.

Right.

You understand some of their struggles. Is it what goes with what? How do I wear these type of things? What's the best fit for my body style? What colors should I be wearing? Any of these kind of questions that you've ever heard them ask, That's a way to get in there and serve them right now. Like I said, it might not be so product driven as much as product education. That I think can be. And fun. Right. That can be entertaining to them where they're continually drawn to you. They don't feel like their whole mission in life is to exist so you can sell them something that's building that relationship together. And I just think that's super important to capitalize on that right now.

Yeah. Just being authentic. Recipes, workouts, whatever, but don't stop selling in the process. Don't stop showing products because you can only sell what you show.

Yeah. And I think I've never been one to really get up and watch the morning shows in the morning, but I have now more because I love to see Kelly Ripa at home, you know, and I love to see those guys in their role. They don't look like movie stars. Right. They look like normal people, and they're vulnerable and they're just kind of goofy. But I feel like I can relate to them a whole lot more. And I always say the boutique owner is like the celebrity to their customers.

Right.

They feel so drawn to that boutique owner because they have all this access to fashion and knowledge, and they always look put together and all these kind of things.

Right.

Well, that's great. But if that customers at home feeling kind of ba humbug right now, you know, for you to show up and look like a million dollars and look like your life is completely put together at all times, that does kind of set a little bit of a divide there. Right. So be authentic. I guess that is like the word of this. This whole show here is be authentic. Be you. And that's so relatable.

Absolutely. Just doing a mental health check in, honestly, with your customers. You know, I came live the other day, or not live, but I shared video in the group the other day of me on my worst day having a total mental breakdown after I just cried my eyes out all morning. And I chose to share it because I knew I wasn't the only one who'd been battling that. I knew that the boutique owners, some of them in the hub, were having those same feelings I was. And so I kind of wanted to share it as a. It's okay to not be okay sometimes. Like, as much as we are going to be positive and maintain the fact that we're all going to go through this, it's okay to still have your dark moments. They're going to come, but it's how you get through them and what you choose to do after them and what you choose to do because of them that matters and that you don't let them completely consume you, man.

Spot on. I was actually talking to a store owner the other day that she did reach out to a customer just to say, hey, how's it going? And, you know, whatever. I forget what her main mission, but I think it was just a how are you doing? And that customer actually replied back with, hey, how can I help you? How can I help you? You know, and it was just one of those things like, huh, you know, yeah, they. People want to help.

They.

I think the customers right now are realizing what life would be like without small businesses, what life would be like without that opportunity in their life. And what a. What an opportunity. I should say, what. What a vehicle that is to customers, right? To live and experience and be them. And if that gets taken away, if that small business goes away, that's like darkness in our society, really. And what a devastating thought. So I feel like a lot of these consumers are starting to look at life and think, what if they weren't here? Okay, it's on me to support them. So what can I do to help them? And just simply reaching out and letting them know, hey, I am still here. We're doing our best and give them that opportunity to support you.

Number six is what social media matters the most right now. And I think we, again, we've hit on this a lot. But I would go back to whatever social media you normally connect with your customers on, Facebook, Instagram, obviously, most important. But I would add segmenting your email list right now, spending the time learning to optimize email and Pinterest spending the time to optimize Pinterest or if you have staff, having them optimize Pinterest. It's important to get those things in order to. But to show up as often as you can on Facebook and on Instagram authentically. Yeah.

And think about it this way. Remember way life was, say March 1, then of February, those customers that were super busy, those. Maybe it's that older generation that just was not on social very much. Guess what? They're now too, right? They're all of a sudden saying, hey, granddaughter, how exactly am I going to do an Instagram story? Or why am I watching this? And they're getting more involved because they're social beings. They want connection. So their avenue is through their phone. And they all have them. They just haven't had the time to sit down and learn it before. And now they have. And I'm seeing that generation really starting to get more active commenting and liking things. And so, yeah, don't assume, I guess that would be our one thing. Don't ever assume that your customer is the same today as they were earlier this year. They're not. Their life has changed, too.

Just because you tried something a couple months ago, say like comment sold or comment selling and it didn't work for you then doesn't mean it won't work for you now. Because our consumer has changed, her life's changed, her comfort level with technology has changed. So be willing to adapt and try new things again.

Absolutely.

Question number seven is clientelling. How do I use that to thrive in this market, man?

And I know I jumped the gun on this one, but you guys, think it over. Like I said, what are those things that your customer has had pain points with before? And how can you really reach out and educate them? I love the capsule wardrobe. I love a video on cleaning out your closet. I love a video on packing a suitcase. Right? Like, how do you get the most out of this opportunity? And you dabble in a little bit of that in and amongst, like the products showing. And actually you're doing two things at the same time. When you show a capsule wardrobe, you're showing people what they need to build that wardrobe, but you're actually showing them your products. Or when you are packing that suitcase with a for a business trip, you're showing them the blazer, you're showing them the shoes, you're showing them that one pair of pants. It's going to work the whole weekend, Right? So that kind of stuff, that's all client telling.

It is just getting creative and clientele really, by definition, is printing out who are your top customers. And you could do this a number of ways. Your top customers or customers that haven't purchased with you in so long, or customers that like this brand, or customers that are in this size and reaching out to them personally and basically being a personal shopper for them, call them, text them, email them, but give them personal service, video chat with them, do a personal styling session, walk around your store and video it, or walk around your warehouse and video it. But those customers, when they feel like you personally serve them, they're going to show up and they're going to buy more and they're going to stick with you for a longer period of time.

And you know, one thing I look at and think, okay, who are the people that are kind of getting the shaft right now? Birthdays, weddings, those kind of people. You usually celebrate that big time when the world's open, right? Well, the world's shut down, but people are still having birthdays, they're still celebrating anniversaries, or at least they are in and amongst their house.

Let's move on to question number. Hmm, let's go to question number eight. Question number eight is, how do I start with live videos and what tools do I need? Ah, didn't answer that one. Getting started with live video is super simple. All you need is a phone, a light ring, actually you could use a phone or an iPad, a light ring for good lighting, which you put up in front of you, and then a rack with some clothes on it. If you want to get fancy, you want to number them. That's the easiest way to go. If you have a stand where you could set a laptop to look at comments as they're coming in right in front of you, that's perfect way to do it. All you need to do is stand in front of again, that laptop and that great lighting so you can read comments and you just show products one at a time. You talk about the product, how would you wear the product, how do you wash the product, how does the product fit, what would you wear it with? All the things. And your community can start to comment number 1 sold. And if you don't have a tool like comment Sold, which is a completely automated system that handles all the invoice management for you, you can start out just by doing it manually, just to test the water. So it could be sending them a PayPal invoice, or sending them a Shopify invoice or a square invoice, whatever system you use, and letting them Purchase the item and then you ship it as soon as that invoice is paid. It's as simple as that. And not all live sales have to be completely selling. Some of them could be just a wind down Wednesday where we're just chatting, having a glass of wine and I'm showing you my three picks of the week and how I would wear them or how they would fit in with a capsule wardrobe. The most important thing to me is just that you start going live and you start getting comfortable. And yes, it's okay to be completely awkward at the beginning. It is for everybody. Just be authentic with your audience that this is my first time going live and I'm about to vomit on myself and you'll be fine. They're gonna love you anyway.

Yeah. And then just dropping in and reminding them exactly if you want to come in, if you want something, reminding them how to process that, you know, like they would comment, sold, size, medium, number one or blue sweater, whatever it is. My only tip on that would be I do like the numbers to hang on an item. Because say if I had three yellow sweaters and somebody jumps in late and says, oh, I want the medium and the yellow sweater at the end of the night when you go through it is kind of hard to say, oh, I wonder which yellow sweater Sarah wanted. And so putting a little hang tag on those does simplify that.

Yes.

But getting out there and just showing them in a fun, lively atmosphere, that's really being successful right now. A lot of people are having a lot of success with that.

Question number nine, what are the basics of getting my website and e commerce site set up? I'll also start there with Shopify is my jam. And Shopify is so easy to use. You guys, it is simple. You don't have to do any code. There's all kinds of themes for you. It's the fastest growing e commerce company in the world, which means it comes with the most integrations, the most apps, and the most opportunity for growth. It starts at $29 a month and I think they've actually given you now two months free to try it out during the pandemic. So I can drop our code if you guys need it to try your free trial, but I would definitely say go there. You can take your Shopify, pick a free theme and then it's just drag and drop. Get some beautiful photos or graphics that you can make in Canva, which is a graphic design program. Again, completely free. And your photos, whether they're flat lays or mirror selfies or model Photos, whatever it is that you have right now, and just start to upload them. Make sure though that your photos are well styled. Again, just like you would be selling in store or just like you see people doing online. No one's gonna buy just a yellow sweater. They want to see how the yellow sweater pairs with other pieces. They want to see it style. They want your expertise. Because not every woman understands fashion the.

Way that you do.

So your photography, even online, really, really matters and that it's quality. And then again, educate them and solves a problem. And then make sure your website's personal. Make sure it talks about who you are, why you started it, what is your why. How can they follow you on social media? Make sure all the links work. How can they join your Facebook group, which, yes, everybody absolutely must have a Facebook group. I will argue with you till the end about that. I definitely think you have to have one. And then just get busy posting. Post the links directly to the product URL that you are selling, not just to my boutique.com but myboutique.com journeyt shirt so that in as few of clicks as possible people can start to check out with you.

Yeah, I want to double back on. That is ease, make it as easy as possible for the consumer. Think about you in your life. You're busy, you don't have time to.

Look at a picture.

Fall in love with the T shirt, then go find the website, then find the page and all that jazz. No, just if I like the T shirt, give me the link for the T shirt.

Keep it simple. That goes into question number 10, which is how do I optimize my site for more conversions at this time? And I think it goes back to just that. Keep it simple. People want to do business with people and especially those that they know, like and trust. So make sure your website is just as authentic and personal as your social media. And as a storefront, if you have a storefront. So you've got to bring your own personality into that brand and people want to know that they can trust you. So customer reviews or photos from your storefront or photos from you behind the scenes in the warehouse with your family trust badges of all the checkout options you have, whether it's PayPal or Apple Pay or Sezzle, which is honestly Sezzle to me is super important right now. If you're not familiar with it, it's an option to do basically like a reverse layaway where people can pay in installments. And when economy is tight, sezzle is a great opportunity because they pay in these smaller chunks, but they get the product right away and you get the money right away. So all those little things just elevating the trust are going to help you with your conversions and the things that help build your brand, like photography and keeping it personal. What do you think, Sarah?

Yeah, I think you hit on all of them. Absolutely. I love it.

All right, number 11, what website collection should I maximize right now? Personally, my favorite is Quarantine Chicago with the pants with the stretchy waistbands. Stretchy waistband collection should be a thing, right?

I mean, it's so important to think what is your customer going through right now and what's on their mind. They're gonna get up and they want to be comfortable, so give them comfort. Leisure loungewear, whatever. Corona Chic, whatever you want to call it. But that is. That has got to be. Has got to be a collection on your page. It really does. Yeah. But at the same time, and then.

As we move into. Oh, and then as we move into May, also Mother's Day, May Day, graduations, all the things that are coming down the road. Start to think a month and two months ahead and start to feature those collections right now.

Yeah, absolutely. Inspire your guests all the time. Give them inspiration, because we are going to get the green light someday eventually.

Number 12, what government programs will help me right now? I know you've dove into this a lot. Let's talk about what we know.

First and foremost, I really encourage you to. If you have somebody at the bank that, you know, get on the phone, get those applications and get them on somebody's desk, they don't have to be perfect in the priority order, I would say, is the PPP or the CARES act first? Definitely. That is offered through your bank as long as they're an SBA lender. And then the Eidl loan, that would be second. Definitely get that taken care of. And for anybody that is listening, that would need unemployment, that would be the third thing. But in that order. Definitely the ppp, from what I understand, this is changing all the time, but from what I understand, the funds are possibly. They're probably going to be run out on that. So you don't want to be the last one in line that doesn't even get an opportunity at it.

Yeah. And really, this goes back to what we all should have been thinking about before this crisis hit is who is on our team in our business. This, to me, is one of the number one reasons why we have a banking relationship. I know you guys, it is so easy to use paypal and Shopify Capital. But those people are not purchasing at your store. Right. Those people are not supporting you and your business in your local community. And those people are not going to have your back in the middle of a crisis. But your local bank will. And your local bank can have competitive rates you a line of credit, which Sarah, I know you talk about this all the time, that's going to help get you money when you need it throughout your business journey, but will support you in a time of crisis. Right now and we're seeing so many people that come to us saying I don't have a bank. Right. But you've got to have a bank. So make sure you're establishing a banking relationship right now. Yeah.

And all those things you might have done leading up to this point, you might not have really been realized the importance of that relationship until you need it.

Right.

That's like why we have insurance. You don't even know you're thinking, why do I even have this? Until you need it. And this is one of those times that relationships, for those of you that have a good relationship with your accountant, your bookkeeper, your banker, you are to say laughing all the way to the bank right now, that's you. The people that are thinking, oh, I'll just run everything on credit cards and I'll transfer business and I'll take out a this loan into that loan from wherever. All of a sudden you're in a bind. You don't really know who to call or anybody to help you get these numbers organized. So highly recommend you having, I always call it part of your team. It's a non negotiable part of your team to have your banker, your accountant, bookkeeper. I even had an attorney, your insurance agent. Those are key players in a business and there's no getting around it. I mean you can't do it all on your own and grow into a huge business.

Right.

You show me a super large, large, impressive, successful business that does it 100% with one person.

Yeah. If you are still having questions about the Eidl loan, the ppp, which is through the CARES act, or any of the SBA loan forgiveness that's happening right now, or the opportunity you have to withdraw on your retirement at no penalty, which is also happening right now. We have a complete blog post on this on the boutiquehub.com but also if you're a member of the Boutique Hub, we just did a huge training on this. We had two experts from Principal Financial join us and we've got that inside of our training library inside of our Facebook group. So you can come and have all of your questions answered through that training as well. All right, question number 13. How can I cut costs in my business right now and stay lean?

Well, the first thing a lot of people want to do is just cut off their employees, right? And just let them go because they're, oh, I don't want to pay payroll. Well, my thing on that is all of a sudden you've cut your productivity completely off. You've cut all avenues for tackling other projects, you've cut that off, right? So like Ashley and I were talking before, all these things that you, your business is going to come out of this and you have got to be able to roll with it as soon as, I keep saying the green light, but as soon as we get it. I mean, for those of you that watched the news yesterday and saw when they got the green light over in China, the crate, I mean, people couldn't hold the people back from the trains and the buses, all these kind of things. And then the businesses, people went nuts. Well, it's going to happen here too. So therefore, what do you want to be? The business that is standing there with no employees, no strategy in place, and all of a sudden all these customers that want to come to you but you're not ready because you got so lean, you pretty much cut your lifeline off. You don't want that to happen, right? So that's why, that's why the government has put together things like the CARES act and all these things. However, this is an excellent time for you to go through and fine tune some of these extra expenses that maybe you didn't, you weren't utilizing, right? We all have apps, we all have things that we've bought and we just aren't using, right? They're not fitting into our business right now. And that's fine, go through and clean those kind of things up. But something else that I think is big is your credit card processor. Who is it and are you getting the best rate? How about looking at any of your other utilities and some of these other monthly expenses that you have, you know, taking a good look at that expense report and thinking, alright, holy smokes, look at that number. Is that right? Does that, does that look right? Do I think I could renegotiate that a little bit, you know, and just pinpointing some of those things to get leaner, Definitely take an opportunity there. And to be very honest, one practice I would ask you to do or challenge you to do is have Somebody else do that, have a whole new set of eyes do that because they're not emotionally attached to those numbers at all.

Right.

But they can look at it from a different side and be like from a business side, man. Does that number really reflect off of the sales that you're generating? Maybe you're putting out a little bit too much in this area or that area.

Yeah. And really on the, on a normal day, this is something that inside of retail bootcamp you and I talk about all the time. Like what percentages of my expenses should be going to these key categories like payroll and rent and marketing and operating and paying myself. Right. Which a lot of people somehow forget to do. But it's possible when you get lean in these other areas. But in order to do that, you have to know the difference between what is an expense and what's an investment. Investments pay you back, right? A lot of times that's your employees, their investments, they pay you back, right? You're the owner. So you do the hundred dollar an hour jobs and your employees, they do the $10 an hour jobs. That's the only way to scale is because you only have 24 hours in a day, there's only so much you can do. You should not be the one hanging, tagging, steaming, unpacking boxes, following up with vendors, all these things. As we get back to normal and we don't have to social distance, our employees can help do that so that you can spend your time where you are most valuable and where you get the biggest return on your investment. And your expense categories, they're all the same way. There's some things I would say, like the hub that you subscribe to that are going to help get you through this time. And those are investments, Right. Or there's some Shopify apps that you honestly cannot go without. Those are investments. Comments Sold or Shopify, period. Those are investments, those are not expenses. So go through again, thinking through what actually makes me money, because I have this expense.

Absolutely. And I would just add in there on your inventory that before you all of a sudden think, okay, at this point I just have to show my customers something new. Making that assumption that all of your customers have seen all of your inventory numerous times. That's wrong. They haven't. You know, so you've got gold sitting in your inventory. You just have to figure out a way to turn it into cash. You know, inventory does not get better, does not get better with age, you know, but at the same time, you know, you can't in your mind think, well, Everybody's seen it. So I'm just going to move on and then all of a sudden just let that stuff die a painful death and absorb all your cash. So reintroduce it, refashion it, re show it, get somebody excited about it and use that because you're investing in that inventory and you want that to pay you back in dividends. Right. And so you can't sell what you don't show.

Soapbox moment. Question number 15 or number 14 is how is retail gonna be different after this? And I want to go off of what you just said to me. I think we've all been stuck in this rut of it's old to me because I got it in three weeks ago, right. So I'm over it by now. But really nothing is old to our customers unless it was like four seasons ago. We're on this fashion cycle where things happen so fast and we're and we're always looking for what's new. And we post a new arrival, we sell a new arrival, we reorder, we post a new arrival, we sell a new arrival, we reorder where we're missing these pieces of gold, like you said, that are hiding if we restyle or reshoot re merchandise. So hopefully this opportunity has challenged you to become more familiar with your data, more familiar with your numbers, more familiar with your point of sale reporting to understand what's actually turning by category, by size, by brand. What do the numbers tell me actually works in my business? Because that's where we should really like double down and be reordering in our inventory and growing our business in the areas that are most profitable. So I think the face of retail is going to change because we are going to become smarter business owners. We're going to get out of that rut of it has to be new and precious to be sold. It doesn't. We have to become much more analytical to be successful. What do you think is going to be different about retail?

Let's see. I agree. I think people are going to creative in the way they're gathering their, their products.

Right.

I think that the live sales, I don't think those are going to go away. I do think that business owners are going to speak multiple different languages, but I think it's going to be entertaining. I really do. That whole assumption that, you know, it's old and I'm moving on and the customer wants something different, I don't think that's going to be as big of a player anymore. And I want to use like your Journey T shirt that you have on today. Had you photoed that last fall under, like a flannel. It looks fall, right? So I see a lot of boutique owners get a little lazy and think, oh, that's the fall item. I got to go order something else in. And next thing you know, they're ordering the exact same Journey T shirt just to put with a pair of denim shorts. And when they go back and look at their inventory, they're like, oh, man, I already had that. So I think that's one thing that definitely from a business side is we are getting scrappier. I think we're all going to be a little bit hungrier now than we were before.

Right.

And we are going to use our resources to the best of their abilities. And, you know, I can say earlier today I had such a good feeling. I opened up my pantry. I'm like, man, I am really getting through some of this stuff. It was a good feeling to not look in there and see food to the point where I am like, God, am I ever going to get through all this? I'm using what I have. I'm making the most of that.

Right.

And I think shop owners can do that and reintroduce that in a different way to their customers that they want it. And that's all about business to be much more lean, you know, And I think it's going to be a real eye opener for a lot of us. And like you said in the very beginning, some people are going to come out on top and some people aren't. Some people aren't those that are going to know our numbers and are really going to understand the importance of knowing what's coming in and what's going out and serving those customers. Yeah, they're going to. They're going to thrive for sure.

I love it. I think this also speaks to the idea of more sustainable cycle of fashion. I think our whole world is going to move, like, much quicker. They're going to move toward this idea of using what you have and living within your means and not having all this excess and waste. Right. I think that's going to trickle down every area of fashion and every area of our lifestyle. I think about your pantry comment. I think about my bathroom cupboards. So we've been moving. We moved houses through this whole process, which is a whole other story in itself. So we're still living in boxes. But as I like, organize my bathroom cabinets, I'm like, what is all this garbage? Like, where'd this come from? Why do I have Little hotel bottles of shampoo that I've been saving for four years. Like, I'm not gonna buy anything new until I reuse all this garbage and don't waste it. So I think your customers are going to be in that frame of mind, but I think you as a business owner are going to start moving in that direction, too.

And I do think, also talking about that, I think that some of that fluff is going to be gone. So the competition, some of that, like, underlying those. The people that wanted to buy something in at $10 and sell it at 12 because they're going to max you out on the price, they're not going to be around anymore because they just financially did not come through this whole thing. I don't. I do. Within the heart of hearts. I don't feel like. I feel like there's definitely gonna be a shift there.

Right.

And people are still. They're gonna be drawn to people that have really gotten out there and supported each other. And I think that loyalty is gonna grow. Oh, man, I'm so excited about that. Now more than ever, that loyalty is.

Definitely on the rise. Agreed. All right, last question is, what is the key to standing out right now?

Gosh. Being there. I mean, letting people know you care right this moment. Oh, man. If you disappear and go off the grid, you will be forgot about. Forgotten about. Because that person that's going to get a phone call from that boutique owner or a package in the mail or whatever it is, or a shout out on social media. And if you're the boutique that's going and commenting on other people, people's social media stuff and just giving encouragement. That is so big.

So big. Now is the time for community over competition more than ever. And we have seen the coolest collaborations, like all those little, like, Brady Bunch style photos that so many of our community members have been doing where, like, we're in this together. The videos that have been done together, the TikToks that have been done together, like, now is the time to collaborate and really build a network around your business because we are all in this together. And I think that your customer wants to know that you're a team player. Like, we're asking our customers to support us and be team players, but we've got to show them that we do the same with businesses that all of us work with. So show up, get present. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be full makeup. Just get on video, be authentic, and do the things to show you're alive in your community and be real with the ups and downs of it all. Because your customers are gonna, they're gonna be there with you when they're with you now. They're looking for someone to latch onto right now. So if it's not you, it's someone else and you're gonna disappear in a few months. So get, get busy being present.

Absolutely. And like I said earlier, if you're finding through all of this, whatever it was you built, you had built your business on whatever you thought were your non negotiables, your core principles. If it's not fitting the bill or you just don't feel comfortable with it right now, shift, I beg you, shift. Go in a different route, right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with change. There's nothing wrong with change. If you feel like you are building something your customers are not supporting and it's not serving them in a way it should be and you want to make a shift, go ahead, give yourself the grace to do it. And there is nothing wrong with saying, alright, that didn't work. I'm a big believer. If anybody knows me, they've heard me say, if we're not winning, we're learning.

Right?

And this is so big, so big for us to learn in this time. This is an opportunity to learn and your customers deserve that. You deserve it. Your family deserves it.

That's so spot on. If you're not winning, you're learning. So here's your opportunity to try something new. Who cares if you fall flat on your face? You're going to learn from it. You're going to get up and do it all over again. What a great opportunity and a great way to end this. Sarah, thanks so much for joining me. Thank all of you guys for taking the time to listen to this and watch this. A couple resources I want to make sure that I mention in case you need them. We have so many awesome partners at the Boutique Hub that have shared trainings and webinars and discounts and playlists. I mean if you need a pick me up music playlist, honey, we got one. But we put all the resources that we have from inside the hub and our partners outside of the hub in one place. So it was really easy to find. It's at the boutiquehub.com Covid I will link that up for you guys. Please be sure to check that out. And then also if you are a member of the Boutique Hub, right now we have a five week business workshop happening. It's completely free for all of our members. To be a member's $36. Obviously it's gonna pay you back tenfold if you just implement some of the things we talk about. But we've brought in so far, I don't know, it's two people a week. So we've got 10 different people that we're bringing in, experts on all areas of your online business. So we've talked about live selling and e commerce and inventory management, knowing your numbers and conversion rates. We've also talked about health and wellness and we're going to talk about email automations and text messages, all the things that matter most to be successful Right now. Those are all happening inside of the business workshop. And last thing third resource I'll mention is that I know it's challenging not being at a market right now. We love our friends at Atlanta Apparel. We've been planning the Boutique Summit with Atlanta Apparel, but we've got something happening inside of the hub trying to serve all of our wholesale friends. It's called the virtual market pop up. So there's over 600 brands that are a part of the boutique hub that are now sharing videos and showing their line. So if you need to get connected, get connected to a new brand, you can do that during this time through the virtual market pop up and then find them again when market season comes around and we can leave our houses and actually go to market together. So, Sarah, thank you again, you guys. Thanks for hanging out with us and good luck the next couple of weeks. This is not happening to you. This is happening for you. This is your opportunity, so go out there and get it.

Thanks, guys.

Great to be here.

And y' all go kill it out there. It.

Sa.