What I Learned in My Entrepreneurial Journey

Hey guys, it's episode number 326. And this week I'm letting you in on a behind the scenes conversation all about the Hub, how the Hub got started and what is happening in the Hub today. And hosting me in this conversation is Mary Langry, a consultant at Management One. And I know so many of you guys have a great relationship with Mary inside of the Boutique Hub. So I'm taking you behind the scenes from Atlanta, where Mary and I sat down for this one on one interview. 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.

Well, Ashley and I have actually known each other for, for a minute. Yeah, we met I don't know how many years ago it was when Boutique Hub was just starting. And you came to Management One. And it was just a super fun meeting because she had quite a vision. And so can you tell us about what your vision was for Boutique Hub?

Yeah, we've been reminiscing on this the last couple of days because in the early days it was a big vision and we had a lot of people say, oh, I don't know if this will ever work. You know, I don't know how this is ever going to become a thing. And we're so thankful that it has. But initially the vision was I'm from North Dakota originally and quite the fashion mecca, as you can imagine, back in the day in North Dakota. But I fell in love with boutiques traveling around the country and wanted to create a place where people like me in the Midwest who maybe felt intimidated by fashion, we thought that was New York and that was la, but what about us is kind of how I felt. And, and I wanted to create this place where people could find boutiques because boutiques make fashion personal for people. And so we started to build this online shopping mall of boutiques. But what happened when we started to build that was we brought these boutique owners together who really just needed a community, they needed a support system, they needed business training, they needed help with hiring and just growth and strategy and all of those things. And so we started to put the pieces together of what now is, is the Boutique Hub today. And it's conferences and courses and community and wholesale and all the pieces that can help make a boutique owner successful.

Awesome. One of the things that you say is that you have a heart for people with a dream.

Yes.

Can you talk about how that's influenced you and how it's influenced the development of boutique hub?

I'm so thankful that I had parents that really did say, whatever you want to be, you can be. And I grew up on a ranch in North Dakota, so I'm the youngest of six kids. Like, we didn't have much growing up, but they still were so supportive of Ashley. Whatever you want to do, you can do. And so I can remember as a kid when, you know, our teachers would ask, what do you want to be when you grow up? And everyone wanted to be a doctor or, you know, something that they could put a name to. I never had that. I always said, I'm going to do something that no one's ever done before, and I'm going to change people's lives when I do it. And that's all I could ever come up with. And I really feel like that's what's manifested in my life. And that's our big why. That's what we do every day. You know, boutique owners, it's not just about selling products, but it's about changing people's lives through confidence and really just a support system. A boutique owner kind of becomes a counselor sometimes.

Amen. Yes.

And I feel like that's what the hub is for the boutique owner. Like, we're that counselor. We're a sounding board to help them help other people. So today, the center of my vision board says, you changed my life because that's our purpose every single day.

It's wonderful. It's wonderful, and it's making an impact on people. So in all that, you grew up on a ranch.

Yes.

You grew a love for barrel racing.

Yes.

Can you tell us about your love for barrel racing and where that all started?

Yes. So I grew up on the back of a horse. Basically. We had cattle. We had a lot of acres. And so we used them as a part of our operation. So my dad rodeoed, my siblings all rodeoed. And it's a lifestyle. You know, people say, what's the most expensive sport you could get into? Is it hockey? And I'm like, no, it's horses guaranteed. But it's just such a passion of mine. So my husband actually rodeoed in the western side of the United States. Like, it's a big deal. It's a college sport. He had a Full ride college scholarship to rodeo. So we met through that experience and now we have three kids and we've got seven horses currently, and we travel every single weekend for competitions.

And.

And now our kids are in that lifestyle as well.

That's amazing. That's amazing. That's an amazing way to travel the country.

Yes. We love it. It's camping, it's family time. Like, it's. It's traditional family fun that I'm so thankful we have.

Yeah. And that's where you got your love for the boutiques is through that travel.

Yes. So this is a big story through rodeo. So anyone have siblings? Anyone feel like, competitive with their siblings? Like, they were good at this, and so I'm going to be good at that. Like, I'm going to do something different than everyone else. And that's how rodeo was for us. Like, everyone excelled in their own event. And while I loved that, I just didn't want my sisters telling me what to do. I was kind of annoyed by it. So I was like, again, I'm going to do something different that you don't know anything about, so you can't preach to me. So I decided I was going to be a rodeo queen. And I knew nothing about it, but one year I skipped my high school prom and my mom took me to a clinic where I could learn about what this whole life was all about. And, and decided, man, this is a great opportunity to learn how to meet people and how to speak and how to do interviews. And I thought, man, this is really going to help me get scholarships and, like, build my next stage of my life. I wanted to go into communications, and so I went for it and it worked out for me. And it kind of took me on this journey from being a high school rodeo queen to Miss Rodeo North Dakota. And just like Miss America, you then compete for the same process. Although we don't have a swimsuit competition. Yeah, cowgirl's legs are very white. Maybe a little hairy sometimes. I mean, no judgment. So I decided I was going to be a rodeo queen. I was Miss Rodeo N.D. actually had a cancer journey that year, so that's a whole nother story. But ended up being blessed with the opportunity to be Miss Rodeo America in 2007. And through that, I was the second North Dakotan to ever hold that title. But it really showed me the country. It opened up an opportunity that as a kid, we didn't go on vacations, we didn't travel because we couldn't afford to. And now I had the opportunity to See the world and see boutiques in the southern part of the United States that I just was enamored by. And when I would get home from my trips, I kept saying, like, where can I find this now? At home? And there wasn't anything. And so that's really where the heart for boutiques came from.

And the boutique Hub, are there any specific boutiques that you remember visiting that further encouraged that in you?

Yes, there was a couple. So a big part of the sport of rodeo is the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, which is like the super bowl of sport. And so there were a couple western boutiques there that now are members of the Hub. But actually Sarah Burks on our team, who, you know, and is our director of education, she had a boutique in my husband's hometown. And so when Eric and I met and I started to come back to Wisconsin to see him, I met Sarah. And they have all kinds of intertwined connections. But I started to shop in Sarah's boutique a lot at that time. And so she was the first boutique owner that I pitched the boutique hub to. And I said, do you think people could use this? Like, would it be helpful? And she's like, oh, absolutely. And so then to see a couple years down the road, she sold her business and came to work for us at the Hub. And now she's just such a central part of what we do with the Hub. I just love that connection.

Truly. Truly. She's an amazing person. So that's really interesting. I didn't even know that story myself. Yeah. So you have established a community of boutique owners and it's growing so significantly.

Yeah.

And one of the things that's very noticeable in my practice, I'm a Management One consultant for those of you who don't know. And I work with mostly BTC Hub members is the community over competition.

Yes.

And I've got people who have taken that so seriously that I've got next door neighbor boutiques that are referring each other to Management one and specifically to me. So they know they trust their neighbor that much that they're willing to share their consultant, which I think is pretty amazing culture that you've created.

Thank you. When I first started in this industry, coming to market felt very like siloed, if that's a good word for it, where if you were coming into a booth to buy, you were kind of like, oh, this is my rack, don't look at it. And it was competition. And don't get me wrong, I think competition's a beautiful thing. Like, I'm not a participation trophy kind of person. Like, you have to compete because it's forces us all to be better. But I think you can still compete and be great with the person you're competing with, because I believe a rising tide lifts all ships. And I felt a long time ago when we started the Hub, that if small business owners were going to be successful, we had to team up to the point where if someone walked into a booth at Market, they got the same respect as a boutique owner as they would if they were Nordstrom walking into the room. Yeah. And so we have to band together. And so now fast forward to see how this has all come together, like, since COVID and all of these big boxes are shutting down. I believe it's the power of the small business owner that believes in collaboration and believes in helping your neighbor. And frankly, our world needs more of that motto as well. So to see the people in the Hub really, like, run with that motto, that fills my bucket because it's so meaningful and it carries over into every single part of their life.

Yeah. Let's talk about some of the success stories that you've seen through the boutique hub. I mean, we know that culture's there and we know it's present, and we've seen it kind of manifest. I think the two of us have seen it manifest in all kinds of different ways. Can you talk about how some of your success stories are things that you've.

Seen people grow through for boutique owners? Yes. Oh, my gosh. I've got a lot of examples. I'm going to just generalize some success stories because I feel like they're stepping stones. Some of my favorite success stories, they aren't financial. Like, financial is a big piece of it, but I feel like it has to be personal first. So to see someone. We'll start with pricing. See someone who had maybe a negative money mindset, and they're. They're choosing not to pay themselves because they feel like it's a worthiness issue, like they're a little bit scared. I'm sure you see this all the time, Mary.

I do.

So to see someone step into their own self worth and go, you know what? I'm worth it, and I'm gonna adjust my pricing and I'm gonna operate this like a true business owner, like a CEO versus just like kind of a scrappy entrepreneur, to see someone step into their worth in that way and all of a sudden their business can flourish because of a mindset shift, I think that's so beautiful because, you know, we can YouTube everything. We can do all the strategies. But if your mindset isn't right first, those strategies won't stick.

That's completely true. That's completely true. I think we see it in a lot of the same ways too. It's that mind shift. But a lot of times it's people going back to the hub and just participating in even the Facebook member page and reading through other people's comments. And people are so honest because of the culture that's been created there that they're willing to share their successes and their failures, and we can all learn from others failures. And I think that's the culture that's been created there. That's just truly amazing.

Thank you. One of my favorite memories of kind of that camaraderie is when Covid first happened and the lockdown started, I think collectively, our world kind of went into a state of panic. Like, oh my gosh, now what? What do we do? And so to see how our community really rallied, they came into our Facebook groups every day, like, what are we going to do? And so we kind of like wrapped our arms around everyone and we're like, okay, this is what we do next. Like, boom, boom, boom. Go live. I don't care if you're doing a cooking show. I don't care if you're doing a workout routine, like, get in front of your customers and build a relationship. And so every day as people were doing this, they would come back and report, this is working for me. This is working for me. And so as more and more people were starting to feel the panic, because it was like a wave that went in different spurts, it wasn't like one day specifically, but as people were hitting that panic at different levels, they were immediately supported by ideas that were working. And so to see the businesses that came out of COVID more successful than ever, like, thriving through Covid was unbelievable. I went on a podcast right after Covid, and they were asking like, oh, isn't it awful what's happened, you know, to these small retailers? And I was like, honestly, this is the best thing that happened. Opportunity is is there for everyone if you choose to look for it.

That's exactly right. We experienced a lot of the same things with our clients and my clients that are boutique hub members. They wrapped all around the management one process, and we were able to manage inventory down and back up again and do it in a critical way. And some of these businesses just exploded in growth. So as the malls were closing and as some of these other stores were closing, around them, they were picking up that business and it was remarkable. Yeah. So I think we've seen more growth in independent retail than failure. I can, I can speak from my, from my client list. I had no failures. Yeah. And so that was really, really exciting. But they did all band together and that was really, really amazing.

I think everyone collectively understood that people want to do business with people, not companies like Covid brought out the human element, this like raw authenticity out of all of us and connected us on such a deeper level. And so I think the most successful brands and businesses going forward are the ones that have a really personal, authentic element to them.

Yeah, I agree. And some of the partnerships that grew strength, I mean, I think the management one partnership grew a lot of strength with Boutique Hub during that time too.

Yes.

It's been really fun, especially for me, working so closely with you guys, to just see those relationships grow and how the owners can succeed through all of that, which is just truly amazing.

We're very thankful.

Yes, yes. We've got a great partnership, which is nice. So there's so many things happening at the Hub and I think some great ideas have come out of this past year. So do you want to elaborate on any of those wonderful things that have been coming?

Yes. So we just made a bunch of announcements of things we've been kind of quietly building. The first is we just rebuilt the entire Hub platform. We call it Hub 8.0 because it's our eighth year in business. A whole new website, whole new membership site, brand new dashboard. And we just want to make the Hub as easy as possible for people to use because when you're a member, you get so, so many great discounts places. The discounts alone should pay for your entire membership. It should be a free opportunity that pays you back dividends every single year. So that was a really exciting announcement for us. We have a brand new boutique boss planner coming out very soon and so we got to show that recently. But the biggest announcement that we're most excited about is a brand new platform that we built, a sister company to the Hub called Hubventory. And we've always had wholesale as a part of our community. We have over 700 brands right now at the Hub, but they sell in our Facebook groups. And so they've been begging us like, please just build us a platform that we can actually sell and manage inventory through. And so we thought about it and now it's been a two year process building this platform that we finally get to talk about. But we feel like this is a really grassroots effort. And we've taken so much feedback from both boutiques and brands that this platform is built by the industry, for the industry, with some seamless inventory management integrations. If you're a Shopify customer in the future, hopefully if you're a comment sold customer, there's those integrations as well. Also, we want to maintain our relationships with the trade shows with Atlanta and we want to encourage that not all wholesale buying can be done online. You still need to come in person and buy. And so there's an opportunity still to manage your trade show list and what brands you're going to see through the platform. And then we've got some really neat inventory planning options that are a part of the platform as well, where it gives boutique owners control of how they're going to plan their buys and manage collections. So it's not a situation where we're just adding everything to the cart and then deleting half the cart or canceling an order because we aren't really sure what's coming when. So the planning boards I'm really excited about and I think the biggest piece is anyone can buy on Hubventory. It's open for everyone to be a part of. But if you are a boutique hub member, as a boutique, you get a negotiated port planned discount across the entire site. So everything is discounted and that's at no cost to any brand. That's a part of the platform. The hub actually eats that as a give back for our members to make it a really easy, simple platform to use.

Amazing. That's amazing. I'm so excited about it. So when do you anticipate that it'll be fully up and running?

That's such a magic question. So our development team probably hates my guts every time I talk about this because I'm like, oh, we should do this and then we should do this, that. And so I keep adding things to their to do list. I'm a big like first impressions person. It has to be perfect. But this fall we will start letting our members in to break the platform. Like break it. Tell us what you love, tell us what you hate so that we can make sure again, it's grassroots. It has to be built with business owners in mind first. So that will happen this fall and then we anticipate like a full rollout to anyone and everyone at the first of the year.

Wonderful wonder. Yeah, this is very exciting. Buying has been a real challenge over the last year and having things arrive when you need it to. So any platform that can help with the planning of that is just amazing. And then management one can help with the budgets for that.

You know, that's a beautiful part. And I know Mary, like we haven't even talked this all the way through, but I see our partnership growing in that way because what you guys do is so critical to boutique owners. Like to have that data. I always think retailers have such like two sided brains. We've got the retail art side of the brain, which we love, the fashion and the people and the marketing. But to be successful, you also have to have the retail science part of the brain. And as a communications major, you can imagine how much I loved math growing up. I basically hated it. I failed a lot at math. But once I figured out how to let numbers tell me a story that then I could take that information and turn it into marketing or turn it into opportunity, like, then math became really fun. So what you do is critical and I think our collaborations will really help with that.

I think it's going to be great. I look forward to anything that integrates with Shopify that. That can help the user from the back end of that platform because it can be such a wonderful. There's just so many tools to it that can make it a really great platform. So to have that seamless is just amazing. So very exciting stuff coming up.

Thank you.

So some more important things we have to know. We know you're a basketball fan.

Yes.

Who's your team girl?

Well, you know, here's the thing. I'm like more of a old school basketball fan. Like Reggie Miller was my man. Reggie Miller? Were you a Reggie Miller fan?

I am from Indiana. And so why am we not an Indiana Pacers fan?

You were.

Absolutely, sister.

Oh my gosh.

Okay, so we have the love of Reggie Miller in common that we did not know before this.

No, I was number 31 all the time when I was a kid because I loved his story so much.

I lived in Indianapolis when I first graduated from college and we used to kind of lurk in the places where he would go to eat.

So it's not creepy at all.

It's not creepy at all. So no, I was. I'm a huge Pacers fan. Always have been.

That's awesome.

I love that you love Reggie Miller. What a. What a great story. Yes.

So, and I love like that whole era, like that was the best era of basketball. Like today I don't like to watch anything until the finals because I feel like they don't really play like they jog. I'm not a big Jogger. Fan. I like college basketball a little bit more and I love youth basketball. Like seeing our kids now start. Our 11 year old, Hadley, she'll like, rip your arms off on the basketball court. She's so aggressive. And so I'm the crazy mom that likes to cheer really loud in the bleachers.

Awesome. I love. So I am from Indiana, y', all, and I do love basketball. It's. We. We did. It's true. We all grew up with backboards on our garages, so. And sometimes it was for serious play and sometimes it was with my dad for a game of horse. So, yes, those are the fun. Those are the fun moments in life. So that culture too is a little bit competitive.

Yes.

So that kind of brings it all back around to the community over competition one more time.

Yes.

And how that influenced you and your true feelings around that. And it's very clear.

Thank you. I, you know, tying it into the rodeo thing, again, I don't. Participation trophies are not a thing. But you have to compete to win. But when we're at a rodeo with our kids, you better do your best. But then you should be standing on the fence screaming your guts out for your best friend who enters the arena after you. And you're not competing against each other. Like, you have to make your best run and then still be best friends at the end of the day. And that's what I think has happened inside of the hub.

Yeah, it sure has. It's been a great culture. We've shared plenty of success stories together and we've got some great retailers that have worked through both of us. And I just really appreciate that culture you've created. It makes my job so much easier when I can work with two clients that are literally, I have two clients that are next door to each other and they keep referring their neighbors onto and they keep referring to boutique hubs. So it's like it's building this whole community of people. So I just really appreciate that.

Thank you. There's something to be said about creating a shopping destination.

Yes.

You know, when I worked in economic development, I'll never forget when one of the retailers on our main street closed and a clothing retailer. And the clothing retailer across the street came to me and said, you have to do something. You have to get another clothing retailer to go into that location. And I would pause, like, but why? They're like, you're competing against each other. Shouldn't that be more business for you? And they said, no, they create a shopping destination that people will now travel to and that was the first time I really understood that concept. But that's exactly what you're referring to. With the neighbors supporting neighbors, there's so much opportunity to be had when you can work with one another.

Absolutely, absolutely. So are there other things going on with the hub that you want to share?

Coming up. Coming up. So we just made an announcement that our Boutique summit for 2022 is going to be headed back to Dallas in March. So we like to move the summit around. We love partnering with Atlanta. This has been amazing. And the support that we've had through Covid with one event getting canceled and then planning another event in the middle of COVID and not even knowing if it was really going to go and it was wonderful. This is like our best Boutique Summit we've ever had in Atlanta. So such a beautiful time, but next year we're going to be on the road again and we're just so thankful to be seeing people in person.

No, it is. It's an amazing experience. This is my first time, my first time traveling since the whole. The whole thing began. So I'm just. I'm thrilled to see people and give huns and. And I am vaccinated, so you can hug me.

So.

So, Ashley, I just really want to thank you for your time and the chat and it's always great, great to catch up with you and I just appreciate the Boutique Hub so much and being a part of it myself and participating. So thank you so much.

Mary, you're such a light. You're so wonderful for our members. We appreciate you and we deeply appreciate Management one as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. Hey, guys. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you like, loved it. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a rating and review down below for a chance to be one of our featured listeners each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and how to access complete show notes and bonus downloads from our guests, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.

Sam.