Three Most Common MISTAKES Boutique Owners Make

Hey, everybody, it's Sarah with the Boutique Hub. I'm back today to answer another one of our frequently asked questions. Often I'm asked, what are the things that boutiques are doing that keep them from growing? Right. So I guess you could say, what are some of the common mistakes boutique owners make in business today? Well, over the years, I think I've come up with three. My top three mistakes that boutique owners are doing repeatedly that make it so they can't scale. Make it so they can't grow. Right. They peek out too early. So here are my top three. One, not staying in your own lane, right? Trying to be absolutely everything for everyone. Guys, I can tell you that we did this at our store, and I feel like it spread us way too wide, way too thin, and we actually stopped serving the people that were really paying our bills. We had a pretty good idea who our main target audience was, who the main people were that were supporting our business. But yet we fell into the trap like many boutique owners do, where when a customer came in and said, oh, if you would have had this in plus size, I would have bought it. Or if you would have this in green instead of blue, I would have bought it. Or if you started carrying career wear instead of casual wear, I would buy more things from you. Or if you would get more selection of shoes, I would buy more from you. If then that's a big problem, right? Because we find ourselves wanting to serve everyone. By serving too many people, we actually end up serving no one. Right? Because we offer them too little of too much, spreading ourselves way too wide, but too thin. So a big believer in staying in your lane, knowing who your audience is and just really serving them, right, solving their problem, solving their migraine problem. Something that they are going to look to you first as the resource to fix their problem. All right, Problem number two, not knowing your numbers. For those of you that have taken any of our courses in the Boutique Hub, Retail Bootcamp or Boutique Owner Basics. You know, I preach a lot about knowing your numbers. If you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business. You don't know what's coming in, much less what's going out. It's important to you to know. What does it cost you every day to turn the lights on? What does it cost you to go to market? Everything from the payroll that you're spending back home while you're gone to the taxi or Uber trips, your hotel, your lodging, your food, and even everything down to those pre packs that you're buying from A vendor, right? What is it costing you to actually leave your place of business, your home, your family and be gone? I tell you that it's really important to understand that because the better you understand that expense, right? And it is an investment into your business and you have to make it, but it helps you make better decisions. So knowing your numbers and having a really strong relationship with your numbers and understanding the if then question of your numbers helps you to become profitable, right? That allows you to grow. We can't grow if we don't have any money, right? And we don't know where our money is. It's really hard to grow. All right, number three, getting too big too fast. Another big problem that I see with a lot of boutique owners is the whole, well, maybe if I was in a different location, or maybe if I had two locations, or maybe if I went online as well as my brick and mortar, or maybe if I did this. Okay? The maybe syndrome is kind of the kiss of death for a lot of boutique owners. Please don't make any harsh, rash decisions about getting too big too fast if you have not gotten control of your numbers and you don't know where your inventory lies and you don't have a real good understanding of your inventory ebbs and flows and supply and demand. And also if you don't know who your key customer is. Alright, there's a lot of market research out there about best locations. And yes, you're gonna find some stellar, amazing opportunities that you think, oh man, maybe I should jump on that. Well, why is it open? There's probably a reason it's open, right? Do your research. Don't think bigger is always better. The bigger you get, the bigger your problems, right? The bigger your problems, the bigger the headaches. So getting too big too fast, not knowing your numbers right and not knowing who your ideal customer is, being too much to too many people. Those are my three common mistakes that I see a lot of times boutique owners are making and it really halts them in their tracks where they can't grow. Yes, there's a time to grow, there's a time to get bigger that'll come, right? But don't go too fast. Become awesome and in control of what you're doing now before you expand. And I think it all boils back down to those numbers and knowing who your ideal customer is and really serving them. Alright, guys, if you have some other questions that you'd like us to answer here at the Boutique Hub, please drop them in the comments below. Let us know. We're here to help. And I'll be back again another time to answer another one of our frequently asked questions.