What Vendors Wish Boutique Owners Knew To Be Successful

Okay, calling all boutique owners and wholesale brands. Man, this episode is for you. I'm so pumped today to be talking to someone who I feel like is one of the brightest minds in our industry. She's so incredibly talented and experienced and creative and she is sharing tons of mega nuggets for all angles of the industry today. Molly Wilson is the founder of Molly and you, a food related company that many of you are familiar with in the home and gift space. Also huge in the boutique and live selling space, as well as the founder of Best of Show, a huge showroom based in Atlanta. She's a very active member inside of the boutique hub with not only her brand, but all of the brands represented in Best of Show. And she's so willing on a regular basis to drop feedback and ideas and nuggets of support for fellow members. Today, not only do we dive in for her experience of running a retail store, a large retail store, mind you, being the top performing Hallmark store in the country. What it took from then to go from retail to start starting her own wholesale brand and manufacturing in the food industry to then starting a showroom in Atlanta called Best of Show. One of the things I think is most important about this episode today, you guys, is that she talks from the angle of a vendor about what it's like to work with boutique owners, the.

Good and the bad.

There are definitely some huge tips and takeaways that are shared in Love today, both from Molly and myself on how we both think partnerships can be formed that are going to create much longer lasting relationships, relationships between vendors and retailers. The things that we all need to hear. Again, wrapped in love. I love this episode. It is so honest and straightforward and packed with tips and ideas and information. I can't wait for you to meet Molly. So let's get into it. Molly Wilson of Molly and you'd and Best of Show. 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. Welcome back to the podcast. This week. I am pumped, Molly, that you are here. Molly Wilson, one of the most creative women in our industry today. I would say without a doubt. We have had so many good conversations just on the phone. And brainstorming and chatting back and forth. And you had the opportunity to be with us at the Boutique Summit. So I hope everyone has pen and paper today because we're going to get into it and maybe have some squirrels. Would you agree?

Oh, some squirrels. We're going to. There's going to be so many nuggets. Write this down. Be typing in your phone if you're on a walk, listening. Like, this is going to be like inside Ashley and Molly talks when we have those real talks and that are just real about what's really happening or what we're struggling with. So I'm glad to have that with you on your platform because I'm also a big fan of the podcast and I've listened to dozens and dozens and dozens.

Oh, it's gonna be so good. So before we get started, I know what I think is gonna be unique about today is you have such a great vantage point in our industry. So you have retail experience, you have building a wholesale brand experience, you have showroom experience, you have wholesale platform experience. Like, you really see everything from all angles. So I'm excited how much everyone will have an opportunity to learn from your vantage points. So before we get there, just let's go back to the beginning. Everyone has to hear the origin story of how you got into this industry in the first place.

Well, when I was eighth grade, I babysat for the family that owned the Hallmark Gold Crown store in my town of 10,000 in rural Iowa. And then I needed money and they let me work pricing items in the basement for the summer sidewalk sales. That was my. I was hooked on retail immediately. I gave, I was a four sport athlete. I gave up three of them so I could work more. I told them one day I was gonna be the president of this little store. I just, I felt it in my bones. I started doing their radio ads for them. Hi, this is Molly from Sugar Bowl. Come on down. It was like a soul connection. Retail talking to people, having people walk in the door, not looking for something, but me knowing them and learning about them or having seen them at church or wherever and suggesting something that they ended up purchasing. And they walked out and never felt like they were sold something they didn't need or told. This looked amazing when it didn't. But they walk out. Like, I'm so glad she mentioned that. Oh, yeah. And then later they say that to you or they mention that gift or the person they gave it to, or you see them wearing what they bought. I was just. The whole thing. I was right away I'm like, this hits all my happy touch points. So I got started really young. I went away to college to grad school. I had a whole nother career in politics, working on women's public policy issues and heavily focused on domestic violence and what we might call kind of women's empowerment issues on the. On the legislative side, like women's economic inequality and pay and all of that. And had just a gut feeling I needed to make a shift. And when I was 28, I moved back to my small town in Iowa and bought that little store and became the president.

Oh, my gosh.

Full circle, full circle. And had my babies in my town. I grew up and had, like, right at the same time, JCPenney closed. So if anybody's listening in, like a small town where you had those big brick buildings, JCPenney was kind of the anchor. And they closed and I was freaked out. Same time they were closing, Walmart was coming to town. And I was like, downtown is going to crumble. This is the worst thing ever. I woke up one morning, like, what if I had that building? What could I do with it? And I went to my first boyfriend when I was 10 years old. His name is Ben. He. His dad was the president of the bank and he was working there. And I went and I said, could I get a loan to lease? I couldn't buy the JCPenney building. He said, yeah, but you're crazy. And I said, I'm going to do it. And I did. And I moved and created a 6,000 square foot destination retail store with everything from bridal registry with china and tabletop to fragrances to fashion to Avira Bradley. Store within a store, kids in cards. And my mission became my, why is employing women creating jobs? And I didn't know what I was thinking. I just knew I could do it.

Oh, my gosh.

And then I did it. I did it. And oh, my gosh, eight or nine years in, I had this bread recipe and I've had this booming store, the number one grossing Hallmark store in America. There was about 4,000 Hallmark stores then.

Wow.

Yeah. And I was young. I don't know.

I was.

Not enough. Fear. Yeah.

That's to your advantage, for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. I had this bread recipe and I wondered, I wonder if people would buy this in my store.

Yeah.

So I put a bag of it in the store. Like five bags. People bought it. Five more, 10 more. This is so great. I love this bread. And stores didn't sell food then. Yeah. And I was like, I might be onto something. So I leveraged friendships with 10 women that owned stores around the country and sent them a box. And I said, if it sells, pay me and please give feedback. If it doesn't sell, please give feedback. Do you think I'm nuts? And 10 years later, Molly and you exist. And those women are all customers. And I, at 38, I sold that retail store to two of the employees and created Molly and you, my food company, and became a food manufacturer. I'm like, I need a new challenge. I can do this.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Wait, so pause, because we've got to talk about Molly and you. But so does the retail store still exist today?

Oh, yes. Liz and Holly are the owners. Holly was, they were both in their 20s at the time. She was the store manager and Liz was an OB nurse who worked like four shifts a month for us. And I went to them both and I said, you two would be amazing business partners. And they were like, what do you mean we can't do this? I said, yes, you can, yes, you can. And they agreed and I helped them get there. And it's thriving. More ideas than I ever, ever thought of.

That is amazing. A 6,000 square foot story. That's a beautiful story. And at the time too. I just want to go back and touch on this. You mentioned Walmart coming in and I can remember working in economic development at the time when Walmart was coming into communities and it just sent chills down everyone's spine. And you looked at it in a very different way. To me, I would think about it like abundance mindset. Right. Like a shift in an opportunity. How did you approach that when there was the change? Not only did you create a new store, but you just saw an opportunity.

Well, you said it. Abundance mindset before I kind of knew what that was. Is really leveraging the abundance of someone else to be open to receiving it yourself. So how would a small retailer ever think they could leverage any abundance from their competitor Walmart, that we may have many things we don't like about. And I was on the chamber board and everyone was protesting at the city council. I said, we've got it wrong. Wash the windows, stay open till eight at night and let's open on Sundays. And they said, no, we need to protest. I said, they're going to spend all the advertising money bringing people to town. Yep, let's get them somewhere else to go that is small brands that they can know the owners. And I just really rallied people to just believe in my idea that now I would call it abundance mindset. Let's go. Let's roll out the red carpet for the new customers that are coming in because of Walmart. It worked.

Oh, I just want to drop the mic right now because that's so good. That was my biggest lesson, I would say, in development. When one store closed across the street, the other store came in and said, what can we do to fill that store? And I said, but aren't they your competitors? And they were like, no. Wherever there's two or more stores, we become a destination. We have to draw people to town. So I just love that way of thinking. And I think that same thing's true today. Whether it's Walmart or Amazon or any other big competitor, there's opportunity always. And I know you know that's we're going to get into more of your story, but you still live that today, so that's amazing.

I still love that today. And you know what I don't look at in my food company? So Molly and you is a gourmet food company. We manufacture mixes like, easy, easy, easy. We do the work, and you look good. So a beer bread. So we have multiple flavors of beer bread mixes. Garlic, cinnamon, Italian. You add a beer and you bake.

Amazing.

We have mug cakes that you make in the microwave. Our top item with boutiques, for sure. But there's competition. But you can't look in the rearview mirror. You got to look forward. That's how you thrive and grow and wake up feeling good and not feeling dread.

Absolutely. All right, so fast forward. You started the bread vixes and decided, I'm going to get into food manufacturing. Which I'm sure you were like, I don't know anything about this either. But my gosh, here we go.

Nothing.

Where'd you start? How did you start to grow, Molly? And you. And you were like, hi, does anyone have a commercial kitchen? What are we gonna do?

Relationships, mentor, humility calling. I'm thinking about doing this. I know I want. There's this famous brand in the grocery store. Brownie brittle. Yeah. It's like the crispy edges of the. It's in the package. It's everywhere. I found where her office was. Drove there. It's a woman owned. Her name is Sheila G. Owns it. I walked in and I was like, I just wondered if Sheila was around. I had my bag of beer bread mix, and I was like, I just would love 10 minutes to talk to her. You know, my. My inspiration is Sarah Blakely. And Sarah Blakely can knock on doors and sell fax machines, you know, and and she was like, I love to sit down with you. And now I have a friend who owns a hundred million dollar company. How'd that happen?

It's because you were a stage five clinger. You just showed up. So.

So I, you know, it's just baby steps figuring it out, knowing I don't have to be an expert at usda, FDA food if I partner with experts. I'm really good at branding, sales and marketing. So, you know, and in the beginning, we were making the mixes by hand. A certain amount of flour, a certain amount of baking set, a certain amount of sugar, a certain amount of salt, the whole thing. Our, our party dips. We had, you know, parsley by hand for a few years. And then I was like, as we got bigger and bigger and 50 stores became 100 became 500, I realized I was becoming a manufacturer and I was, I was kind of nervous. I have no business now. We need bigger machinery. I don't know how to do that. I don't barely know how to light the grill sometimes. So I decided I'm going to, you know, release control and share my recipes again, abundance mindset with a couple factories and let them help me. So now we can outsource the factories. And it freed us up to grow to 4,000 stores because we're focused on what our team does best, which is building the brand, sales and marketing, and connecting with mostly stores. About 70% of our business is B2B to retailers and 30% is E Comm.

Wow. Talk to me about that journey because, I mean, just you don't casually grow to 4,000 stores. Right. So sales and marketing. Talk to me about the process and just the evolution. It started with relationships. You started sending samples to other stores. I'm assuming you started selling online. When was the first time you decided, you know what, I'm going to take Molly and you and I'm going to set up at a gift market. What was that decision like?

We did not start selling online. So we were not online until a couple of years ago.

Okay.

So I only knew retail. That's what I knew. That was the language that I spoke. So didn't even focus on consumers. And if you look back at our Facebook, then I was talking to both the end customer and the store at the same time. I was all confusing, lots of mistakes, but I knew I needed to target stores. That's who I could speak to and relate to and who I could help build sales because I had a multimillion dollar store myself. So I was like, I can train stores how to sell this food because I did it in my store. So that's what I did. And it was one on one connections and knowing every store. And then everything I knew is I started to add employees, teaching them everything I knew instead of keeping it for myself. And they sit in the box and do this. So I was trying to clone myself to make everything stronger. But I went to my first trade show, the Minneapolis gift Show. Yeah, that was the first trade show. And we did start. We sold a hundred bags at our first craft show. So in the beginning, we were doing some of those craft shows too, that just sort of built a little bit of name recognition and taught us how to do the sales, but really started selling to stores. And that's always been the focus of our business, not the E Commerce. We want to drive people to stores because I love American retail. I want retail to stay strong. So that's where I want them to buy.

Yeah. Talk to me about the growing pains at that time. What do you think as a new brand, a growing brand, you're just trying to expand your reach. I know we have a lot of brands like that that we work with. What do you think were three biggest lessons you learned at that time? Like if you could go back and teach yourself all over, what would those three biggest tips or lessons be?

Oh, my gosh. You know, I would almost say taking things personally, but it's a negative and a positive. Right. So feeling emotional or crushed when something happens or customer doesn't like what you do, it can derail you so quickly. I think in the beginning, you're so one on one. And every sale matters, every dollar matters. Especially when you have one employee or two and you need to pay them, the failures feel so much bigger than they are. So I would say one thing is to feel those failures. Process them. Never, never, never. The customer is always right. Even when they're wrong, they're right. So when you have those little failures, really, truly analyze it. Don't be defensive, but don't let it define your day. Learn from it and go. Don't get stuck in it. And I think people get stuck in those little failures. Find a mentor, talk to someone, Tell someone, you failed this, failed. I went to this trade show. I have my pack size, this, and no one's buying it. I'm having returns. Did you have this? And why? You can't figure it out yourself. You won't get there. So take those failures, learn from them, and then get someone else's advice. Yeah, you know, that's one thing and then in the growing pains is know when you're at a pain point and don't ignore it, hear it, and then figure out what to do about it. So if you ignore those pain points, you're going to miss those opportunities to grow. If you're going to keep doing things the same way, you're going to keep getting the same results. Yes. So many moments, like when we needed to switch to QuickBooks in the beginning and not using Excel and all of that. Like, that's too much. We can't figure it out. It's too much. Nope. You need to do it if you want to grow. So I know you don't want to, but figure it out and do it. Because I would ask people, well, how are you managing books? Nobody was doing it on Excel after year one, but I was because I was too scared. So the second thing would be to recognize pain points. And they're telling. That's a voice that's telling you tend to grow. Yes.

That's so good. I have another question around just that growth period. So obviously, I mean, you get to 4,000 stores, almost 5,000 stores, right? So you get there a. Because you have a good product that people like and it sells and they can reorder, but. But it's also because they like the company, they like you, they like the experience that you're giving them. How does a growing brand manage having both a great product and a great experience?

The product is you. You, whatever your quality control is. And quality control, whether you're. You have a clothing brand, a headband brand, a food brand, you stick with your quality and you make that not a lot of work. You get there, you perfect that, and you put that on autopilot. Right? So then how do you manage that and the growth, you get the foundation right, and you don't keep changing the wheels. Once you get it right, let that go to autopilot and then you can focus on some of that growth. My biggest tip on how to get there is, and I know where you're going to connect this, you work as a brand, you work so hard to get a customer, so hard. The money you spend to find them, to give them customer acquisition, a trade show, if you're paying a sales rep, if you're driving to a store, walking in the door, all the gas, the hotel, you spent so much money to get that customer keep them. We're in four to five thousand stores because they haven't left in three, four, five, six, seven years. We give them reasons to stay. And you know so many people that are focused on sales, are focused on getting those sales and the triumph of the day, the week, the month, and they're just looking at what's around the corner and not realizing the opportunity to build your business is right here with the people you already worked so hard to get. So why aren't you working hard to keep them so you can grow that big if you keep adding value to the same customers?

That's so good. There's a lot of ways I could take this conversation because there's so many lessons. On the boutique side of things, it's the value of understanding partnerships, truly building a partnership with your vendors, understanding your turn, understanding reorders and understanding on a boutique, it's not just about turn and burn with products, but really where is a brand I could partner with for the long term that's a really great product and they're going to take care of me. Right. But on the brand side of things, teaming up and collaborating with other brands and also providing an experience where a boutique, not just a boutique, but a gift store, anybody, any retailer can come in and not just shop your brand, but shot multiple brands with the same experience. And that's really kind of the. The next step that you took in your journey was from Molly and you tell me about the next business that you created.

I know I, I did another one.

Oh, my gosh.

I saw, I saw, I saw a problem at our brand. So Molly and you. I employ all women. We have all women, license to drive the forklift operations, customer service, sales, everything. So we were doing, I don't know, 16, 18 trade shows a year across gift shows, food shows, hardware shows, mostly like pipe and drape temps and ladies that own stores. When you go to these, these people have worked so hard on that day one when it opens, they are so exhausted and their back hurts. Unloading pallets, building their booths. So much money to get it from the dock right to. There were just in thousands and thousands of dollars and exhausted by the time you walk in.

Right.

And we've been building our brand this way. And we were just. My team was exhausted. I've got moms. We're missing so much. And I have a motto at my company. You will never miss anything that is important in your life or the life of anyone you love. I don't care if it's, you need to drive your mom to an eye doctor appointment or donut day, Sally's kindergarten class, you will not miss it. If you work for me is so important that you're happy and we started missing so many things, and we're exhausted. Right. It's just a hard way to work. And then we were also in big rep groups, which has a great place in especially helping a brand seed the market and being that in between for you and the store. But the commission model was we were struggling with it and not making the money that we thought we should, because what we had to pay to be in rep show rooms. And there's just always something that works at the right time for every company, every business. And neither were, like, working. And I just kind of kept complaining. And my husband was like, I'm kind of tired of hearing you complain. Can you do something different? And I'm like, well, there's no other way to sell in the marketplace. And this was before, you know, online platform selling was getting started. This is four years ago, five years ago, I'm in the shower. And I was like, okay, I'll just do it. I'll just make the alternative that doesn't exist.

There's a pattern here.

Okay, I'll just make it up. So I went to Atlanta, America's Mart, and I sort of pitched them on this idea, and they're like, like, I'm like, I want to create a showroom with lots of brands in it, but there's no. I don't have a rep group company. There wouldn't be. They'd be selling their own. And they said, you sell your own in the temps. And I was like, no, I want to do it this way. They said, well, we'll give you a 20 by 20 room and you can just be there by yourself for $3,000 for a show and see what you think. They put me on a floor with country pillows and candles and primitive things. And I had beer, bread, and we stood there in the hallway with samples. We outsold our tent, booth. We outsold everything. All new customers. And friends of mine that owned other companies, jewelry and everything, were like, what are you doing? I said, oh, look at the sales. Look at all the new customers. I don't know, but you want to join me in the summer? I'll try to get this room again. And then I had six. I had a. I had a children's band, a hat brand. I. I had all different brands. Diffuser company. And then that summer, we had the six of us in this room with no name. And then I was like, I can. Nope. This is a thing. I can do it. And I created a brand called Best of Show. And we just. We're in our fourth year. I think. And we have 10,000 square feet of showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas at the gift show. And we have 50, 60 brands like my brand Molly and you that's there. We have small brands that are in, that are just new, like really in like 100 stores. And we have hundred million dollar brands. And so we are the place to come when you want to meet the owner in a beautiful, curated permanent space. And we do live music and food and drinks and parties and it's just an amazing vibe. And the, the brands have a different way to sell. So we're just an alternative in the marketplace and it's a great place for boutiques and others to connect with gifty brands.

I love it. You're so creative and it really is a need in the market and it is a whole new way. It's not a typical showroom or agency, but you really invested yourself into growing multiple brands, which is amazing to see. And something I feel like you were really on the forefront of is one of the first, I guess I've ever spoken to that had a room like yours. You really invested in live sellers before that was a thing. Tell me about stepping into that direction.

So do you. Well, you know, even on online platforms, only recently have live sellers that don't have brick and mortar been allowed to shop. Right. I've been an advocate because of one woman. So someone came in to best of show wanting to sell and she said, can I buy in here? And I said, well, of course. What do you mean? Well, I can't buy in a lot of showrooms because I sell on Facebook. Not I don't have a store, I don't have a website. I sell on Facebook. Okay, sure, come on in. What's that all about? And I said, can I hang with you while you walk around and buy the brands in here and learn from you what you're doing? And sure, I would love that. She was had a little like 1500 square foot space and then she was buying brands and she was buying volume and I was like 1500 square feet? Wait a minute, you're buying big order. You're ordering 72 of things. What's happening? And I just listened to her and she's a woman and trying this business and she used to sell lularoe leggings. And I was like, okay, explain this journey. She's like, but I think I can do my own items too. I just need to figure out how to find them. But places won't let me come in and buy. I was like, well, you can buy here all you want. And then I flew to see her live in action. We sold some Molly and you mug cakes. And then I was like, I get it. Are there more of you? She's like, there's lots of us. Yes, there's lots of us. I was like, give me some names. I'll invite them in. So we started inviting in boutique owners and telling explaining to our brands, and they're like, wait a minute. What are their hours?

24. All of them.

Wait. Yeah, we don't understand. So the brands didn't understand either. So it has taken a long time to get the brands to understand. And I pushed the marketplaces to let these buyers in and out. And then pandemic hits. The pandemic hits and trade shows are like, you know, it's terrible. And brick and mortar's closed. But guess who's coming live? Sellers boutiques. The ones that are selling live and they're coming to best of show because we've been there, we get them. We've been their friend. We're willing to take a risk on them. And I think we've taught them a lot as they're growing up, and they've opened our brands ideas to like, you can have a different mindset of work and work with customers that are outside of the margins, because a lot of boutiques are outside of the margins in the way they operate. And so it's been a win. Win. Yeah.

One of the first times I spoke to you, Molly, we had this whole conversation around the difference in boutique and brick and mortars or gift stores. Because I consider a boutique is still can be a brick and mortar. I think, to me, I have this, like, rosy vision that a boutique is anything it wants to be. It's online, it's a live seller. It's E commerce. It's a brick and mortar. It sells clothes, it sells kids, it sells makeup. You can sell whatever it wants. Yeah. Conchos, who knows all the things. But that is not how our industry was like, to your point. It was, I'm a gift store versus I'm a boutique or I'm an E commerce store. And so I personally feel like the industry is really changing. I'm curious, like, your perspective on do you see the industry just really melding in a new way between boutiques and gift stores, both from the boutique perspective, but also for the brand perspective?

I do. Oh, my gosh. I have so many thoughts on that. So we always have to be open to change. Those that aren't are slow to come. Right. So we want to be open to change. We want to be open to this community. And I think that the more we're open, we're open to changes in the industry. So, yes. And I think Boutique Hub has done such a wonderful job of empowering these stores, especially young and new and small, to not feel overpowered. Part of why I started Best of Show Showroom was for 10 years, I was a buyer, and I. You know, it was rural Iowa, and I would walk into Atlanta to a showroom, and I would know they didn't want to wait on me. I didn't look like I had money or I didn't fit the bill, or I didn't have a suit on. Like I was from Macy's with my badge turned backwards. And I had the feeling I would see people sitting at a table, not look up to help me. And I felt left out because I was small. And eventually I got big. But that feeling never goes away. And so it's still happening. It's still happening. And so it does not happen at best of show, right? It's like the Pretty Woman thing. Like, oh, you thought I couldn't spend this money?

I could spend this money. Big mistake.

I'm gonna give you a very specific example. In our industry, on the side of the sellers, we have key accounts. Who is a key account? A key account is Disney. A key account is Nordstrom. A key account is a Von Maurer. If you're in the Midwest, there are 39 chain departments. They write big POS. They are corporate. Everything is on Excel or different system. At trade shows there, there's a day before, and a lot of buyers don't know this. We're really open the day before. Who's in there? The key accounts, the big stores. When the pandemic hit, who wasn't traveling? Corporate policies, not traveling. Nobody was going into Von Mawer department store or, you know, Belk or Nordstrom. And they hadn't figured out the online thing. But guess who had boutiques. And whether they were doing live selling or just in their store, I had a revelation one day, and I said to all the brands in Best of Show, I do a little pep talk before every show. And we were like, no one's gonna come. I said, you know who is gonna come? Boutiques. We're gonna welcome them with open arms. Because guess what? They are the new key accounts. And if we help them build their businesses, absolutely, they will be the next key accounts. And Molly and you has been in Nordstrom. We were even in Walmart for a while. That's a whole nother story. But we're not. We're not. We're not. We're not in any, like, discount or major like that. But we have key accounts.

Yeah.

We have boutique club members that out order all of those key accounts.

That's awesome.

Every single month. The key accounts aren't the key accounts anymore. Boutique Hub specifically is, you know, fast approaching 15% of our wholesale sales at Molly and Eels.

Oh, my gosh.

They are the key accounts. You know, if they were just a little bit easier to manage, that would be better, but they are the key accounts. So that's a shift that's happening. And there's a lot of power for those boutiques right now because they know how to sell greater volume.

That's so good to know. I love hearing that. Now, here's another conversation we have. We have to have today, and we've got time to do this, Molly, but there is a difference in traditional brick and mortar gift stores that have been in existence for a long time and how they operate versus the new online social sellers, which we've discussed. Right. There's. They operate totally differently. But I would say I hear this from brands a lot, and that is the request that they wish that boutiques sometimes operated at a slightly more professional level in some ways. And so boutiques, if you're listening, guard your hearts because we have to have this honest conversation. And this is something I feel like. Oh, boy. We talk about this in retail bootcamp a lot. Like, if you know Sarah Burks, Mama Sarah, when she gets to talking about operating at certain standards and professionalism and managing inventory and all these things, like, she will go on a rampage on this. But you have to do it in order to grow.

So let me.

Let me frame it this way.

Way.

If there were 10 vendors in a bar, I'm going to use your example. There are 10 vendors.

Oh, no.

Yeah, we're going.

We're going.

If there were 10 vendors sitting around in a bar talking about boutiques. Right. I wish they would know this. Why don't they know this? How can we help them know this? What do you think if a boutique owner walked in the door, what do you think they would hear or learn from that experience?

Oh, I know what they would hear. And if you. If you could see. Seen me say this. My face is black.

I'm putting you on this.

Make me be the. You're going to make me.

You can say it, but I'm going to tell you. I will back you up because I see this like I want to encourage everyone in our industry, no matter who they are. I don't care if you're brand new, if this is not a brand new boutique owner problem because there are multi, multi million dollars boutique owners with the same set of issues. So I am encouraging everybody who is listening that we are going to step up our game because, because we do not want boutiques to have a bad reputation. And so we're going to have an honest conversation about how can we do better, which would make the brands be like, let's go, here's how we can operate and really partner together. Because I think there still is, I don't want to call it animosity, I don't think it's animosity. But there's still hesitation for some brands to do business with boutiques because there are some issues. So let's just talk about that. How. What is a boutique owner going to hear from a group of brands sitting in a bar? How can they do better?

Okay, before I say it, I'm going to, I'm going to tease something up first. I'm going to say this is out of love. I have been in every stage of selling right and growing. So this is, this is a comment. This is going to be hard to hear, but is in love. And don't throw tomatoes at me. This is how the tomatoes I got you. And if someone doesn't tell you the real what is the point of women supporting women? Okay, so I'm going to tell you, here's what you need to hear. I'm going to start by saying two years ago, Best of Show hosted our first social seller show. We called it. So like this April, we've got social sellers coming in during the apparel show. And if you want to come, go to bestofshowshop.com contact us and you can sell. I put this show together. Pandemic's going on. Nobody's welcoming votes. Next summer, we're going to do a mini trade show for boutiques. We invited 12. Some of them were little, some were really, really big, like million dollar a month plus. They came in, we had all of our vendors flew in. They're just trusting. It was 48 hours. We had a prize, $1,000. I took it out of our marketing budget for the top seller. And it was, they were competitive and, and so they got to sell live off the inventory of the brands. It was a gift. We were giving all 40 brands, I think that were in our Vegas showroom. The amount of sales, almost every single boutique that were there said they had their biggest 24 hours or biggest single day in their history. Okay. This was in October two years ago. The sales at retail were $1.4 million. I was blown away, you know, so that's like 6, $700,000 in wholesale orders for the brands. It was amazing for the boutiques, amazing for the brands. We were all like, what is happening? It was amazing. Okay. Then it got. Then it got real. And here's what we're talking about at the bar. So I'm sitting with 10 brand owners at a bar, and we're talking about our businesses. We're talking about how we sell to brick and mortars, we sell to hardware stores, we sell to outdoor stores and surf shops and women's clothing and wherever. Oh, the boutiques. Oh, don't even get me started. That's what's good. That's the first thing. So at this event, then, instead of following the plan, like, all the accounts that we sell to and have historically sold to that are open from 9 to 7, not 9ish. And we show up at 10, right? It's. They order the way they're supposed to order. The orders are sent. Once they're complete, they're sent whatever the path is for that brand. They have all the information that you need. The information is correct. Shipping address is correct, et cetera. The boutique started sending in orders not following the plan. Text messages with photos. A husband saying one thing, a wife saying another, texting one staff member or another. Then personal Facebook messages. And we were like, wait a minute, what's happening? And then someone would say, I haven't gotten my order. Why didn't you send it? And someone. We didn't get it. I Facebook messaged it to you. I'm like, to who? That's not how we do orders. And then we disappointed them and they disappointed their customers. And I thought, oh, this is just because it was our first social seller show. No, Ashley, two years later, this is still happening. So at best of show, I've had some of our best of show brands. That said, I'm just, I'm done. We needed this boutique business for two years, but now every business is exploding. So we don't need the chaos of this anymore. Molly. And so all these ones that keep doing this, we're done. I had one at Molly and you, like two weeks ago, texting in, and someone was on vacation texting them. And we're like, oh, could you order this? Order this way? And this is a million dollar a month seller. And in the course of like 10 days they placed three orders, which is tremendous. But then they were messaging and calling because they. Wait, did we order this? Didn't we? Different staff people ordered on the wholesale site, each time under a different name. So now in our system, it's under the owner's name, the forward facing name of the boutique, and then the official name of the boutique. It's just really messy and I, I fear that for boutiques you're, you're not going to be let in the door a lot longer if you keep doing this. And it's, it's hard to hear and really hard to say because I want you all to like me, but I want to help you build your businesses and you got to make it easier.

Oh, it is wrapped with love and Molly, I fully back you and support you in saying this because I, I am 100 here for the boutiques. These are my people. I'm their mom. Right? Like, I feel it. But sometimes moms have to lay down some discipline too, right? Like if I want you to be a great human when you grow up, like, I gotta show you the rules. And I think sometimes I see in this industry, it's such an easy entry business. We can easily get a sales tax permit, we can easily get on fashion, go and order some things, we can easily throw up a Shopify website and boom, tomorrow. I own a business boutique. And that's great. What an awesome opportunity. But if I want to have a hobby, that's one thing. If I want to build a business that financially supports myself and my family, creates the freedom that I know we all are looking for and the fulfillment that we are all looking for in being our own bosses. We have to follow some steps to really, to build and to grow. So really foundational things, branding things, knowing your customer, understanding your financial side of your business. QuickBooks, right? Where's the money at? The banking side of things, but the inventory management side of things, how are we managing our inventory? Where is that at? Is it in a great point of sale system? How are we managing it in Shopify or Comments? Sold. Do we have an open to buy plan? That is my number one like question and gripe today. I know stores, just like you're saying they're doing a million dollars a month and they're just buying crap. They have no plan at all. And it scares me because we call it bank account buying. Like, oh, there's money in the bank today. Okay, I'm gonna buy some stuff with it. And it's because I'm gonna totally throw us all like under the bus here. But we're all compulsive shoppers. We're in this business of retail because we love buying. So if we don't have the PO and we aren't really managing the money and investing, there's nothing. But there's not a long term plan for us. So I say that too.

Well, it's about what you take pride in, right? So maybe in the beginning, take pride in the fact that you were able to figure out how to start a business and get a tax ID and buy super cute, cute items and then shift. Yes. Don't stay there. Yes, don't stay there. You have a pain point. Like I said earlier, you're not listening to it. Shift and start to be really proud that I asked someone for help, that I took an online training at the boutique club. It's all right there. That I messaged a brand and said, could I get some tips? Take pride in the next step. Okay? So don't stay stuck in the basics. And maybe this quarter, it's two things. Break the year up into four. Maybe it's inventory management and then open to buy this quarter. That's it. Don't try to do everything at once and ask someone where to get started because it can be overwhelming. All the information, the books and the podcasts and the blogs and the Instagram posts. Ask someone where to start and start. And then be so proud that.

Yes.

And instead of showing your cute products on your stories, you know, blur out a bank account and like, guess who's getting a mini master's degree in inventory management? This girl. And make that something that people envy. And your customers are going to want to buy more from you because they see you evolving as a business owner and that's gonna inspire them in their lives and in their purchasing. If they just keep seeing the basics, they're gonna get bored and go elsewhere. Oh, that's so good.

So good.

And please get organized with your order management. Because it's like if you're throwing a party, if it's tailgate and you're having a tailgate and what do you do? You make a shopping list. You get everything. You're orderly, you know what crock pots you need, you get it all, the party's off. Awesome. Why can't you do that when you're buying?

Yes.

One time, go to the store once, have it organized. Yes. We want to help you not have chaos in your business. And that's exhausting in a setup to failure. So let's try to succeed together. And that's maybe my number two tip, not my number one. But I think all the brands who know that I knew I was gonna be on your podcast are like, are you gonna talk about the thing?

Well, it's an.

You're gonna say it?

Yeah, it's an important thing. I.

It's that big of a deal.

I appreciate you saying it and I just want to give everyone comfort and hope that we do trainings on this all the time in the boutique hub. And if you really want to step it up. Retail Boot Camp. Retail Boot Camp. Retail Boot Camp. We cover all of it. And management1. Management1 is a partner of the hub. They do open divide planning for a living. They are so good at it. I would highly suggest coming through the hub, meeting Management One and going on that journey and Shameless plug Molly. But you've really been in my ear about this as well. We've had a lot of conversations about building Hubventory and building Hubventory from a place that is really focused on inventory management and the creative boards that we have so that a boutique or a gift store can come on the platform and buy smarter and buy multiple times and create lasting relationship with brands rather than just one and done in and out. So I want to thank you for that.

Yes. Can we touch on that? Sure. And one thing that's going to be amazing about Hubventory is instead of having to reach out for mentorship or see what else someone is going to do, you're going to have a feature where buyers can know what is successful elsewhere. Right. Am I right about this? Yeah. And so that doesn't exist anywhere. That doesn't exist. So that's an amazing gift. So if you're shy to ask, ask someone. You're not going to need to even. Because you're going to be able to do that digitally behind a screen. Right, Right.

Absolutely.

Can't wait to hear more about this. I've just heard it. I know this is happening.

But so many things.

And all you have to do when you're buying from a brand is say to them, how do I buy from you in the future? Yes. Two things happen there. They tell you how to buy in the future and you get better at it. And the second thing is you think, I'm going to carry this brand in the future, not just right now. So actually you and I talk about how important, you know, kind of scarcity is, especially in online selling. But scarcity will exhaust the buyer. And I see some authentic scarcity.

Authentic scarcity.

Authentic, not fake. No. That makes My stomach hurt when it's fake. You know, people can see through that. Right. So Molly and you like our mug cakes. People eat them and they're gone. It's scarcity. Right. That's why you've become 15% of our, our wholesale business. We can't keep them in stock and our boutiques go live and they'll place an order for a thousand and we ship them the next day and they're gone. Right. Why wouldn't you feature that product again? So I do want to impart a big tip. Having been a retailer, but working the shows and seeing how hard brands are working to find new. Find new, find new. Your customers also liked what they liked. They don't kind of go bananas, get new all the time. And you know, you've probably got those 5, 6, 10 brands that you repeat, you know, the Judy Blues, those big repeats. But your smaller brands are amazing opportunities for repeats and then some are higher margins.

Yeah.

So when we talk about turns and people don't know what that means, it just means how many times you sell a product in the year. So if you were carrying my mug cakes, just make it simple like this and say, I want to order every other month. That's six turns a year, meaning I want to turn my inventory six times. If you do all the work to find my product and you sell my beer breads or my mug cakes and you sell it once, you get a sale once and then you're spending all this time, energy and money finding more. When why not six times a year. Sell that and leverage the work you already did and then you can schedule your open to buy a little more. But that's what turns is. It's just turning a product fast. But then reorder it. Don't just, oh, I turned it next. Yeah, I turned it next. Because you're going to run out of stuff and then you're going to lower your standards. Yes, yes. Because that's easy.

That's so good, so helpful. There's another question. I know I've heard you say the most important question that retailers and boutiques should be asking vendors when they see them at market or when they order from them in general. What is that question? Yes.

And when you order from Molly and you or you know, Headbands of Hope or anybody on Hubventory, I bet you there's going to be a way to ask a question. So. And this is something that boutiques do the least compared to hardware stores and traditional gift stores or department stores or hospital. Hospital stores or pharmacies the most important question isn't what's your minimum? What's your opening order? That's the most important question is what are your top stores doing that I am not. Or if you're new, what are your number one stores do to sell your product? How do people sell more of your product? How do I become a top seller of your brand? And I think people are maybe intimidated or nobody has suggested that. So I hope store owners, boutique owners are listening and like, oh, my gosh, I'm right now going to email. Please don't Facebook message or text unless you have a really personal relationship. This question. And on my, on my notebook, on my app, when I'm going to market, this is going to be at the top. And when you walk out of every single. Every single brand ask that question, you're going to. You're going to be so much richer when you walk out with knowledge. And like, holy cow. Every brand told me the secret, man. You just got to ask. Will tell you.

What if we did this? I'm going to brainstorm live on a podcast with you. What if on Hubventory, every brand's profile answered that question?

I would love that. I. At the last trade show, I was like, okay, no, not enough people are asking. I'm going to tell them. And I started telling them the thing and then physically showing. Yeah, this is the magic.

Yeah.

And people were taking pictures. Oh, my gosh. I'm writing it down. Yeah. Like, why haven't I done this? Oh, my gosh. It's such a. And it's the most simple, simple thing. And it's, you know, it's for our brands, how you can sell thousands and thousands of mug cakes. But that would be amazing because it's abundance mindset. Right. So why do we want to keep that secret as a brand?

It's.

What do you say? Community over competition.

Yeah.

Why? We need to share that. So I. Let's. Could you do that? Could you add that to the profile?

Let's do that. That's easy. Yes. And it's good for the brands because they're going to sell more. And it's great for the boutiques. It's so great for the boutiques.

Can we call it the Molly tip?

Yeah. We're going to, we're going to embed. We'll embed it in the code. Molly, I've got you. You're going to be in the back end of inventory. I love it. Molly. We have squirreled all over the place, but with so many good nuggets.

Today.

Before I let you go, I do have one last question for you, just to be mindful of your time. But I know everyone has pages and pages of notes. This is always the big why question. And I have to end this way. So I know that you're not just here on this earth to sell mug cakes, right? Or to promote women in business, right? Or just to employ women. Like these are all big things, but they're not the only things. So I would love to hear. I know you've got kids 20 years down the road. You're on a country property on a front porch with grandbabies on your lap, and you're talking about all these businesses, multiple businesses that you've created and the life that you. You've lived and the legacy that you've left. What is the thing that you want those grandbabies to remember the most about you?

Without a doubt. I want them to know. I want them to say, she was always helping someone. Whether it's the neighbor that I sat with on Tuesday at the hospital all day and canceled all my meetings, which really happened, or helping a brand owner or creating a job that helped a family. I just. I just want to help. And that's the legacy for me is and help you as a friend in business. Because you help me. Right? It's the right thing to do. It's a soul thing. I think that's what I want. She helped someone. She helped me.

Oh, I love it. Well, Molly, you definitely helped me. And you are such a genuine person and such a light. So thank you for. Thank you for all of your wisdom, not just today, but every day. I know you've spoken for us and been a mentor for us in the hub, and you lead so many of our members on a daily basis in such a positive direction. So thank you for who you are and our ongoing relationship. I can't wait to see where it goes next. So, Molly, we've got all your contact information, your links, how people can order correctly with you in the show notes today. But again, thank you for being with us.

Thank you so much.

Hey, guys. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope that you 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 SA.