What It Means To Be A Brand New Business Owner In 2022
Ashley Alderson advises new boutique owners to anchor their business to a meaningful why, define a narrow customer profile, and build a differentiated brand through quality photography and storytelling. Avoid competing on price alone. Use video and relationship-building to engage customers and support healthier margins.
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Are you a brand new boutique owner or thinking about starting a boutique and you're listening to this podcast? If so, I hear you, I see you, and today is all about you. Today it is a solo episode with you and me and we are going to talk about what it means to be a brand new business owner in 2022. The tips, the lessons, the things that you should know when you're getting into this business that are going to help you find success faster. I hope you love this one because it's just you and me, babe. 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, it is you and me today and we are going to talk about something that I'm just going to speak from the heart on and we're going to be very in the moment in terms of what is happening in 2022. So something I've noticed since the beginning of the year so far is there is this movement happening in the world around us and that is in part due to what some people call the great resignation and some people call what our world is like after. Covid is really creating this new entrepreneurial spirit and journey in the world around us. And so I have seen now more than ever new boutique owners, new wholesalers, new entrepreneurs in general, starting a new life and a new business as they walk away from a career that maybe they've always held. Maybe it's teachers, maybe it's nurses, maybe it's attorneys, maybe it's someone who's held a 9 to 5 somewhere and now they're deciding, you know what? I like working from home. I like being my own boss. I like having flexibility. Or maybe it's that they felt like life's too short to do something that I am not incredibly passionate about. And so I want to start my own business. So in the last month or so, I have met so many brand new business owners. And today I want to take time just to speak to you, those of you who are brand new in business, and talk to you about what to expect going forward, the highs, the lows, some of the things you may see on social media. But I also want to share what maybe you don't see on social media about owning your own business to help you get started on your strongest foot possible in 2022. So it's you and me and we are going to talk about tips for brand new business owners. All right, let's start here. I think one of the most important questions that we can ask ourselves when we start a new business is why? Why are we starting this business in the first place? And you may think, well, I want freedom, I want flexibility. It looks like I could make great money. It looks like a lot of fun, right? All those things are great. But I want to start with tip number one, by sharing that this is a business full of highs and lows. Any business, right, being an entrepreneur, period, is full of highs and lows. And so right now it's really important to anchor yourself to what is the why? Why are you here? And it has to be something that is attached to real meaning in your life and real value in your life beyond just money, right? Because money doesn't bring fulfillment. Something greater than money will bring you fulfillment. So what is that reason for us at the Boutique Hub? I'll give you an example. My why has always been firmly anchored to changing people's lives. I know that when we change a business and make a business strong and powerful, we change a family, we change that business owner's life, we change the employees that they employ and we change the community around them. And so changing someone's life is my why. So I want you to spend some time. It may not come to you immediately, but really ask yourself, why is this important to you beyond yourself, why is this now important to those around you? So anchor yourself to that why. So it helps you through the highs and the lows that you're about to face in business. The second tip I would give you right from the start is to know your customer. So you're getting into this business. You've probably seen boutique owners on social media. You've seen a great boutique in the town that you like to shop in, right? Online, brick and mortar, live selling, all these opportunities to be a retailer today. But I want you to really think about who is your customer and why. And if right now you're thinking, well, it's women, duh, ages 20 to 55, well, it's not, right? It is not. When you target everyone, you reach no one. So it's important for you to think about why do you shop different places, right? If you go to a mall, if a mall even still exists in your community, which sometimes they do, and Sometimes they don't. What stores do you go in and why do you go in them? Or, or when you're shopping online, why do you find yourself going to certain stores? If you're shopping with live sellers, why are you shopping with them? What is it about those stores that really speak to you? Why are you their customer? And now, as you think about being a store owner yourself, who's your customer going to be? A lot of times they're going to be very similar to you. They might be attracted to you because you've got great taste, you like to style things, right? You've got a great personality. Maybe you are super tall and so you can speak to dressing super tall women. Or maybe you've got five kids and just happen to have impeccable taste in dressing them and so they're going to come to you and trust for you to dress their kids. If you're a children's boutique, maybe you are someone who has been blessed with curves and so people are going to come to you because you know how to speak to women with curves and you will build trust with them. This business is all about building relationships and building trust. And a lot of times that's why your customer comes to you, right? They like you, they feel like you understand them, right? They trust you. And so who is that customer going to be and why? And when you can answer that, then you can move into the third tip and that is, how are you going to brand yourself? How are you going to make yourself different? So when you know that customer, immediately you have disqualified yourself from being an online trendy, affordable boutique, right? Because there's 10 million of those out there right now, I promise. And you don't want to look like the next guy. So when you know your customer, why are you going to stand out from the crowd of where your customer might shop right now? And I'm telling you right now, the answer is not price. It's not price. It's not. I'm going to be cheaper than Susie down the street, right? Because cheap ain't loyal. If cheap was loyal, right, we wouldn't have Walmart. They can go coupon shop and price compare at Walmart all day long, but we don't do that at boutiques, so. So price is not a driving factor. You have to build a brand around your business that is far more important than the price. So you know your customer. Now what is going to make you different? Is it the photography? Because that is a huge part of building a brand. Is it the photography? Is it the Models? Is it the way that you speak to people, right? Is it the behind the scenes take? You are going to bring people into your life behind the scenes in your business and build those relationships, right? Why are you going to be different? Think about that. And why do you like to shop at stores that are different than the rest as well? Now, that's also going to disqualify a few things from your marketing arsenal, like using stock photos. All right, so if you've been shopping on fashion go or faire or with a vendor that you found that you love, a lot of them give you the option to download stock photos. And when you do that and you start to post them on your website or on your social media, if you're trying to drive store traffic, it's going to make you look like everybody else who downloaded those stock photos. So one of the most important investments you can make from the start, that doesn't have to be expensive, but you can run a trade with somebody, you can collaborate with somebody, or you can just use your iPhone and watch a few tip videos inside the boutique hub or on YouTube on photography so that you know how to start taking some great photos yourself. So invest in the quality of your brand and what is going to speak to why you're different. So things like making sure if you're doing mirror selfie photos, right, that you've actually styled an outfit together or if you're doing flat lays with adult photos. Adult photos. This is not what I meant. Adult clothing. I was also thinking about children's clothing or home goods or gift lifestyle, whatever it is you're selling, if you're going to do flat lays, making sure that that is fully styled, right, and it's fully merchandised. When you drive by a great boutique that you love to shop and you think about like a brick and mortar boutique with a beautiful window, right? The window, it's usually really merchandise, right? It's got outfits and some kind of inspiration. It makes you feel a certain way. It invokes emotion. Well, really, photography has to do the same thing. So if I'm just throwing on a shirt and jeans and I'm like, buy this top, nobody cares. Because it doesn't invoke emotion. It doesn't tell a story. It doesn't inspire me, the customer in terms of how I would wear that top or where I would wear that top, it's just another top. So when you start thinking about your brand and your photos, right, it has to create a story and emotion and it has to fill what a need it has to be able to fill a need. So the next tip I'm going to offer is your customer. Now that you've identified them and now that you've built a brand right, you know how you're going to be different. I want you to think about, what does my customer need right now? What does she need? So if it is before Valentine's Day, she's probably shopping for a dinner date outfit. If she lives in the Midwest and it's winter and it's 20 below, she's probably shopping for something she can wear in Florida when she goes on vacation in a couple weeks so she can finally get some freaking vitamin D and I get an amen. I am from Wisconsin and I am vitamin D deficient, if you can't tell. So what is it that your customer needs right now? Is it back to school? Is it game day? Is it that her body's changing and the season's changing and now she wants something to dress herself to feel beautiful? Is it that you're a children's store and she's shopping for back to school? The mother is shopping for back to school, right? What is the season? Who is your customer and what does she need? And your job as a business owner is to anticipate those needs before she knows she needs them. A great example of this is how many of you shop at Target. Give me a. Mm. Yeah, I love Target, right? Every time I go to Target and I'm like, I just need two things. I'm like, oh, but I should really get a cart just in case. And then I end up with all this crap I didn't know I needed. At the end of the day, Target does that to us. Why? It's because Target knows what we need and what we want better than we do. And so when I go into Target in the second week of July, right, It's no more than been the Fourth of July. And I've been eating hot dogs all week. And I go into Target and they have the back to school section set up and I'm like, freaking back to school, right? If I don't get in there now and buy that pencil case, it's going to be sold out next week and my kids are going to be mad because they've got the ugly blue plastic pencil case and not the shiny new whatever rainbow thing Targets created for my child that they think they have to have. So it's kind of like Ricky Bobby on Talladega nights. Like, if you ain't first, your last Target makes us feel like that if you're not first year last. And that's because they've anticipated our needs before we have, and so they lead us down the path of what they know we need next. You have the same opportunity. So if you are doing your homework as a business owner, you're looking at places like Target and you're saying, okay, what kind of collections is Target featuring right now? That's a really good indicator that I should be doing the same thing in my business. And when I am bringing in new inventory in my business, I'm not just bringing in inventory, I am bringing in collections. I am bringing in solutions. I am bringing in solutions to the needs that I am anticipating my customers are going to have before they have them. So I've got my date night collection, I've got my gifts under 25 stocking stuffer collection. I've got my what to wear to your best friend's wedding in the middle of summer when it's 900 degrees collection. I've got that because I know who my customer is. I know what she needs, I know how to take great photos. And now I can fill the needs and that makes me stand out from everybody else. Okay? All very important pieces of this equation as a new business owner. Now the next thing, and I already alluded to this, that cheap ain't loyal, right? You're not going to win your customers on price. I promise you. Even if you feel like you are in a town of 800 people and you're like, but Ashley, they just won't spend the money on that. And I'm here to tell you, I grew up in a town of 1600 People in North Dakota that was not the fashion mecca of the world. And I'm cool with that. But you know what everybody, they had a brand new Tahoe that now they spent $80,000 on, right? Or they had some $300 purse or they had $300 cowboy boots, we all did, right? We spend money on things we want. So this mindset of I live in a small town and no one will buy it is bogus, I promise. Right? So if you are great at identifying your customers needs and building a brand, the other thing I guarantee you're great at is providing value. And you're not just saying, hey, buy this $80 shirt, but you're saying, hey, this $80 shirt, did you feel it? Did you touch it right? Or if I'm on live video, like, did you look at how soft this shirt is? I can wear this shirt seven different ways with all these pieces That I already have in my closet. And I can wash this shirt 10 different times and it's not going to look like you know something my cabbage patch doll is going to wear, my American girl doll is going to wear right, it's going to last. There is a difference in buying this $80 shirt and buying the $8 shirt on wish.com. you, your job as the business owner is to tell that story and to drive that value. And when you do that, that demands price. So when I say cheap ain't loyal, right? And you're not gonna just sell something for cheap just because you live in a small town. That means your job is to demonstrate value because your customers are willing to pay for value when they see it. You just have to show it to them. And we can't let our money mindset, our small minded thinking that gets all of us. I promise that was me when I started the Boutique Hub. I had very small minded money mindset thoughts that I had to evolve and to see that, man, this world is abundant. This world is abundant. There's opportunity for everybody and there's customers everywhere, right? And there's more than enough to go around. If I go to the store, if I go to Walmart and I walk down the bread aisle or the wine aisle, I am blown away. Better yet, if I go to my local grocery store and I walk down the wine aisle, there's like seven wine aisles, right? There's more than enough to go around and there's more than enough customers and there's people that want a $7 bottle of wine and there's people that want $100 bottle of wine, right? But how do we demonstrate the value and where are we going to fall in that equation? So when you are building out your brand and your business and your price points, I urge you to not think about, I'm just going to keystone it, I'm just going to double it. Someone told me I should just double the wholesale price. That's what I should have mark it at. No, no, the question that you should ask is what could I sell this for? What would I pay for this? How valuable is this? How much do my customers need this? If we start by asking those questions, then we can formulate, you know, some idea of price in our head and then we can look at the wholesale price and say, okay, does that make sense? Right? If I look at something like, let's say some cute sweater and it's marked at 15 bucks wholesale, well, if I was just keystoning it, I'd be Like, okay, I'll sell it at 30. It will be good. And maybe I'll. Maybe I'll eat cereal for dinner for a week, right? If I don't make enough money to pay myself. Or we could look at the $15 sweater and go, dang, that's really cute. I know. I could sell that for 60 bucks, right? And now we're starting to build margin into our prices, which, when we build margin now, we build room for growth. That's where. When we build margin, that's our opportunity to reinvest in inventory, to have a beautiful location. If we choose to have a storefront, to invest in technology or paid traffic, if we choose to market online, to hire someone to help us. Because we can't be a solo entrepreneur forever. We're gonna grow, right? And to pay ourselves. And when you start to grow and pay yourself, it's gonna go something like this. It's gonna start with things like I took over my cell phone bill, my car payment. I started to buy office supplies and things that I also use at home, right? I started to cover some of the family's expenses. But then eventually, like, you got to pay yourself some cash too, right? There has to be enough so that when you ride the highs and the lows of this business, you don't begin to resent it. Because when you are working so hard and you're paying yourself kind of, but you don't have enough money to go to Target and feel good about, like, all the crap you accidentally just threw into your cart. Oh, I'm gonna pay for that, right? If we don't have enough money, we aren't paying ourselves enough to feel okay about that. Then we need to go back and look at what are we marking our items at price wise, what's our initial markup, and then how much margin are we maintaining at the end of the day, Are we able to sell through those pieces enough to maintain margin to pay all those bills and invest in paying ourselves? So that price becomes really important. And that's why I really hammer on. Cheap is not loyal. So don't get lost in that cheap comparison trap, right? Build a brand that is building a business and not building a hobby. That's my soapbox for the. That's a soapbox for today. Okay? Another tip I want to give you if you are new to business this year, and that is video. It's video and it's relationships. So we live in the instant gratification society that wants to have everything at the tip of our fingertips, aka TikTok right? Aka Reels, aka Insta stories. And so we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable with video. So maybe that's you starting doing video like facing away from yourself. Maybe that's you just like doing a little bit of face to camera. Maybe it's prerecorded and it's not live, right, Like Insta Story. So you kind of have some flexibility and then you're working your way into going live. Because live video is the most personal form of communication we have right now other than face to face. And so there is so much growth in the live space. And I'm not saying you have to build a business that has to do live sales per se. Some people are amazing at that. And some people, that's just not their jam. And that's okay. But what we should all do is learn from that trend, that QVC trend that we're seeing and say, man, there's legs there, right? There's growth there. People want to relate to others in that way. And this all stems back to how much our world changed through Covid. We were so used to going out and about and seeing people in person. And then all of a sudden with COVID we were stuck at home and we had to relate to people through our phones, right? And so live video just absolutely exploded. So I know that your customer is going to be looking for some similar sort of experience. They're going to be looking for you. They want to build a relationship with you, because people do business with people, not companies. So how are you going to be the face of your brand or some sort of the face of your brand and relate with your customer through video and invite them in to be a part of the community that you're building around your brand. So maximize video, whether that's Facebook Live or in a Facebook.
