Episode 9: Crafting Meaningful Gifts and Strengthening Community with Debbie Lexow

When someone sends a gift, the note is equally as important as the gift. In many cases, that notice is saved. It's kept because of the words that the giver has said.

Debbie Lexo is the gift giving guru behind local Box curating gifts from Ohio artisans to small businesses and other customers everywhere. Debbie, I am so excited to have you share with our audience the goals and the beauty of gratitude and the joy of gift giving. So thank you for being on the show today.

Well, thank you for the invitation. I'm delighted to be here.

So can you tell me and our audience a little bit more about your business and what Local Box does?

Absolutely. Local Box is a gifting service that we provide Ohio made gifts to anyone around the country. So we promote small batch local artisans who live and work in Ohio and they make their products and crafts and we put them in our boxes. Wow.

So in some of our conversations in the past, you've talked about the ripple effect of gift giving. Can you share that for the audience?

Sure. We created a ripple effect by giving locally sourced gifts which have a positive impact. So what we say is when businesses use a product that's made in Ohio, they're aligning their brand with the values of community support, sustainability, and most important is the thoughtfulness that goes behind it.

Wow. And I love it. You brought a gift today, and for those that are listening, not seeing, it contains an Ohio cookie, a lovely mug with the state of Ohio, a coaster, all sorts of things that are locally sourced from northeast Ohio and maybe a few other places. But what I love about Local Box is not only are you supporting the person that you're giving to and you're giving gratitude, but you're also supporting all of these lovely small businesses and small artisans throughout the community. So what made you start Local Box? Where did this idea come from?

Well, that's pretty easy. That's the basis of the way we started the box is when we moved to Ohio several years ago, we found that there's something different about especially northeastern Ohio and their pancake breakfasts and their maple syrup. So when we moved here, I started curating my own little boxes and sending them out for holiday gifts. And yes. Wow. It wowed friends and family. They loved it. And it got to the point where it wasn't just the holidays that they wanted these gifts. So they would say to me, hey, can you send me some more maple syrup? Can you send me some more pancake mix and I'll pay for it. So it's like, well, okay, we'll do that. So that is how it started. And then when I retired from my corporate job, I found that I needed to do something more for myself. And it just seemed like a natural progression to start the business of local box and sharing this joy and the local artisans with people around the country.

Wow. So from small business, so from gift giving to becoming a small business, you've continued to kind of grow and expand. So in gift giving, especially as small business leaders, small business owner, sometimes we have misconceptions or thoughts about what a gift should be or maybe what it should look like. The everything should contain our logo. What are some of the misconceptions that you work on educating small businesses around when it comes to gift giving?

When people ask me, how do you curate a gift?

Yeah.

The most important thing is for them to step back and think about why. Why are they sending the gift in the first place? Then the next thing is make it personal. Make it about the person that's receiving it, not so much about the person that's sending it. One of the things that sort of a pet peeve of mine is sending swag. I understand the purpose of swag, but I also would advise people not to send too much. For example, if they wanted to send a very special personalized gift, they can add a coffee mug if they choose, with their logo on it. And that could be very nice. But people, they can read through the swag. They can read through the purpose. And the whole purpose of local box is to make it personal, to make it about the person who's receiving it.

So one thing when I got my first local box that stood out to me was that the note was not typewritten. So can you tell me the impact and the feelings that you have towards handwriting notes?

Absolutely. And my hand will tell you that it is a labor of love. But I feel very strongly that it's very important. When someone sends a gift, the note is equally as important as the gift. In many cases, that notice is saved. It's kept because of the words that the giver has said. So I strongly recommend people to think about what they want to say, think about the reason why they they're sending the gift, and I'm very willing to help in creating and crafting that message because that is equally as important as the gift itself.

Wow. So as small business owners, expressing gratitude is something that oftentimes we do, but we don't always do well. So what are some of the ways that you send out local boxes? What are some of the reasons that small businesses would want to send a local Box.

There are a lot of various reasons, but I would say the number one reason is to thank someone. Most of the gifts that we send out are notes of gratitude. Gifts of gratitude. Thank you for a referral. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for your business. I think that's probably number one. There's also other reasons why a company might send out gifts, and that might be milestone events, milestone anniversaries. They might be sympathy, for example. It may be a good get well, but by far, I would say thank you.

Okay, so you see organizations sending not only to their customers or to referral partners, but then also to their employees at times.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Employees are their number one important benefit.

Yeah.

And I think they need to take care of their employees and not take them for granted. So. Yes, absolutely. In fact, we promote not only sending gifts at the holidays, but to send them all year long. So, for example, an employee does a good job, send them something and say, hey, thank you. We appreciate you. We appreciate that extra work that you did.

Nice. I like that. So we've talked about your business. You talked a little bit about going from corporate America into being a small business owner. In previous conversations we've had, you've talked about the challenges of being your own boss. So I would love to know what. What are some of those valuable lessons that you've learned as you've transitioned from corporate job to small business job and small business owner?

I think that I've been blessed that I've had both. I had a long career with a company that I truly enjoyed. I loved my job, and I loved everything about it. And what that did to prepare me for this was I have a very strong background in sales, in marketing, very strong in project management, which helps me to keep aligned. And so when I started this business, I had that background and I had that strength. So I think that prepared me for being a small business owner.

Nice. So you've mentioned too, as you've grown, learning from different things, as you continue to scale, learning from your mistakes. So how important is it to forgive yourself as you're continuing to kind of work through the iterations of your business? I know you have to do a lot of logistics during specific times of year. And so how do you navigate those challenges when sometimes things go right and sometimes things don't go as right as you want them to?

I certainly don't. I think you said it. It's forgiving yourself. I'm very hard on myself. I tend to be more a perfectionist, which is good for the Recipient, not so good for me. But I think the big thing for me is just take one day at a time. The experience that I've had in this business for the last 10 years has taught me a lot as well. And sharing the fact that you've made a mistake with a client is not terrible. It's not a bad thing. And in fact, if you have made a mistake, which I have, I've gone to the client and said, hey, you know, we didn't send the right thing, or we sent this instead of that. And in 99% of the cases, it's like, that's okay. Isn't that a problem?

Yeah. I found that if you. Usually admitting that something has happened is much better than covering up or hoping that no one notices.

Absolutely.

Which is hard as someone who can be a recovering perfectionist. So I. I understand, but I appreciate your words of wisdom there. So let's talk a little bit more about your artisans and kind of how you've moved into curating everything with local box. So you've had to develop a pretty diverse network of individuals that are craftsmen, craftswomen. So can you talk about how you built that community and kind of how you find your vendors and who helps you with different types of things? I would love, because I'm looking at the box again and you've got mugs and cookies and chocolates and all these different places. And I know that each one of them probably tells a different story. So can you tell us about how you've built your network of people?

Sure. That is what I'm most proud of, to be honest with you, is the artisans that I have an opportunity to work with. So as I mentioned, when we first started this and I was sending out gifts to friends and family, I developed a relationship with a maple syrup vendor and then also a vendor in Chardon, Ohio, who does the pancake flour. So I've had that relationship for a very long time with them. And that was fun. It was fun getting to know the people. They're all small businesses, too. I mean, we're all here together and we want to help each other. So those are the kind of people that I've kept on all these years. I go to a lot of farmers markets, I take a lot of referrals, and I have pretty strict rules about who can be in a local box now, because they have, first of all, have to have a full fledged business. They have to comply with all the Ohio laws, and their product has to be amazing. We don't sell just anything. Everything that Goes into a little box is amazing. Our footprint is Ohio. So we do have some vendors as far south as Cincinnati, but I would say probably most of them are in the northeast Ohio area because so many of our products are edible. And we want to make sure and we guarantee that everything that goes into a box is fresh.

Wow. So how do you start a conversation with a vendor that you're kind of having as a prospect? Do you secret shop? Do you just walk up to them and say, hey, I curate local boxes? Like, how does that conversation and how does that idea start as you're going through the farmer's market, how do you identify that business?

I stand back and I watch. First, I watch how they interact with other people and how are they selling their product and what is it about their product that they feel is special? Because first of all, they need to feel a pride in. In what they're making in order to sell it that I would be interested in. So I watch them and then I listen, and then I just ask a few strategic questions about why did they start and what makes them so special and what makes them unique and different. And once we engage in a conversation like that, I have a better idea if that's some one who would work well in a local box or perhaps not. And then we just move on.

So, Debbie, I appreciate the work that you do. Not just in curating boxes and creating the ability for small businesses to share gratitude, appreciation, celebrate different things with their employees, their customers, their referral partners, or anyone, but also the fact that you're curating and helping to support small business owners yourself with the business that you run. And so, so much of what I do in my business life is trying to figure out what's the next thing that we can do, how can we be supportive, how can we give back? And so it is refreshing, and I'm honored to be in the same room as someone who feels the same way that I do about small business and how it can change not just Northeast Ohio, but the rest of the world. So thank you for your time and kind of sharing this stuff with us. I have another question that we generally try to close out the podcast with, and that is with the Small Business Leaders podcast, we want to do better business. So what I would like to ask is, what is the one thing that you would like to leave our audience with that can help them be 1% better in their business today?

I would say listen to the people around them and listen intently to your employees, listen to your clients, listen to your coworkers. Find out more about them and what their goals are and what they want out of life. I just think that that's incredibly important because we don't listen enough. I think that's probably what I would say. The other thing is, you know, support local. Support the people around you. Keep the economy going in your own community. And I think it's easier sometimes to forget that. But every small business that you support is supporting your neighborhood, your community, your state.

Wow. Debbie, thank you for today. Thank you for sharing about local Box and bringing in these lovely local treasures that I get to enjoy. And we hope that our audience has enjoyed listening and can learn some more about the value of gift giving and supporting local and small business. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate being here.