608. “My business is growing, but I’m very reactive and I don’t know how to break through that.” | Coaching Session

Not being so reactive. In my business, I'm reactive to everything. Trying to juggle everything, taking care of everything in my personal life and then taking care of everything here. I'm the only one doing it. And for the longest time, reactive was okay because I didn't have this kind of volume of orders. I come in and I'm like, okay, I have orders, I have to ship, I have to pack, I have to make. And just because I can multitask, it's clearly not productive.

Hi, Jacob. I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into a successful business? And what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become $1 million product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar Product Boss. Let's do this. Welcome back, Product Boss. We have another awesome coaching session for you today. I love that you are loving these episodes so much. I love coaching. You know this about me and my entire life's purpose is to help as many small business owners, especially women business owners, who really figure out how they can make things and sell them and make money beyond their wildest dreams, beyond our mother's wildest dreams, beyond our grandmother's wildest dreams. Right? And that we can do this through these amazing creative businesses that we have. So I'm glad that you get to sit back and listen to some of my coaching calls because I know a lot of you tell me and I read the podcast reviews that you're like. It was like you were talking to me. It's so helpful and I just want to make sure that you feel supported. Supported and helped out. So make sure you're following the show so you can get every episode that we release, which we release two a week and they'll just download straight to your phone. And if you haven't done so already, my one ask is if you wouldn't mind leaving A review for the Product Boss podcast. It's really helpful to reach more people. I love to read them all and I love to know that I am right on track and I'm just loving the ones you're all leaving. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. So today I'm chatting with Bethann of Mighty xo, who makes and sells topical magnesium products for women to help them sleep better, stressless, and feel like the best version of themselves. Sounds amazing right now. I love this because the majority of Bethann's customers are women, and I think it's so inspiring and amazing to bring all of these women owned businesses together. Not only owned by women, but created for women as well. So Bethann started her business because she felt like there was no way she could keep up with working as a costume designer in the film business and raised her son. So she decided that she wanted to be more available to him. So she's like, you know what? I'm going to start my own business. So she started taking her side hustle more seriously and she left the industry. And she's been doing this business full time for the past four years. Now. She's realizing that she wants to grow her business, but she's scared. She has limited time and resources and feels like she's always too reactive to things happening in her business. Right. A sale comes in, she has to make, she has to ship the product. She's feeling super overwhelmed, which is starting to cause issues as the volume of her orders go up. Right. You hear me say it? I quote the 90s rap song, right? Like, mo money, mo problems. So the more sales she gets, the more she's feeling overwhelmed by it. She wants to keep growing her business, but she's not sure how to break through being so reactive. Right. Not having plans and having to really react when the orders come in. And she's not sure what her next steps are or how to get out of the cycle, which is what we're going to help her figure out today. All right, let's dive in. Bethann, I am so excited to work with you today and coach you in your business. Looks like you're building an amazing brand. And so as we're sort of getting into it, I'd love for you to tell me a little bit more about your business, what you sell.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. I make topical magnesium products. I make them. Most of my customer base is women by 90%, so I would say I make topical magnesium products for the wellness conscious woman to help her sleep better and stress Less naturally, ultimately having her feel like the best version of herself. I make everything's organic, everything's fair trade. I use, it's very largely based on supporting women. I use shea butter as the base of my products which is really supportive of women. In the regions where shea butter is in Africa, only women actually because it's considered a food product, can work with shea butter. So it's supportive of them. And I only buy fair trade, so they're getting a fair wage. My two biggest ingredient suppliers are local and local ish, you know, in the Pacific Northwest and they are women owned businesses too, so. And I'd say 90% of my wholesale. I do a lot of wholesale. No, actually not 90%. 100% of my wholesale customers are all women.

That's incredible. To really get all these women owned businesses like together and collaborative. And then also just the fact that like where you're sourcing it. I didn't know that. And then tell me a little bit about where you're currently selling your product. Sounds like you're selling wholesale. Are you selling direct to consumer? Like what does your path to profit look like?

Yeah, so I have my own website through Shopify. I do a tiny bit on Etsy that really never took off. I've, I, you know, I tried to make it work and it just, I don't know, it just wasn't working for me. There's a lot of other magnesium people on there, but I feel like they're just racing to the bottom of price. My stuff is priced a little bit more, a little bit higher, but I think it's fairly priced definitely for what it is. So I just didn't make headway there. So my Shopify site for retail for sure I do sell on fair and I sell wholesale myself. Like my direct customers, whether they email me or I have wholesale that they. So I have a lot of old school people that just like to email me their order, which is fine for me. And that's kind of how I started out. We've been working together all these years through that they just, hey, I want like five of this and five of that. And I just send them an invoice through Square. And then I also have it that it's shoppable on Square for people to submit their own orders because some people just want to do it that way. So it's this way I kind of have options for everybody. And then some people, even if they're my direct customers, they'll order through Fair because they got like free shipping for a year. Or something like that. Yeah, but fair has been kind of not so great. I know, you know, you're a big proponent of just cold calling and directly reaching out to people. So I need to do more of that.

Well, listen, I love, I love to make options for ourselves. Right. Like I never want to be stuck in any sort of situation. It's my own sort of safety and security realm. So while I love the fact that Fair and Bulletin and other sites like that exist and they're a tool to use there, it's not the only way to do something. And that's what I think I really want. And that's what my students in multi stream machine know is that I give you many ways to sell and many versions of it. And so you noting that you're doing well with wholesale, you have proof that last year it worked. And maybe the platform fair itself for now is flooded or it's not working. It's like what else can we do to make a difference? And so you know that wholesale works for your business. So maybe it's just kind of like refining that. So looking at your business, I think you said that you feel like your business is a mess behind the scenes. How can I support you in this coaching call? What can we, what can we go over for you?

Yeah, I. So I feel like, well, I have limited time because I have a three and a half year old. And so I started this business, I used to work as a costume designer in the film business, film and tv. And there was no way I could keep up with that. And I started taking this more seriously. I've been doing this for about eight years. So right before I had him I was like, I know I want to be available to him. I don't want to be away on set somewhere. So I really have been taking it seriously and this is my full time thing for the past four years. So because he's little, he goes to daycare for only like three, three and a half hours, five days a week. Right. And so I end up in the afternoons a lot of time taking him now to my office and he's fine and he, you know, does his thing here. But that's something that I need to organize. And obviously now that this is growing beyond like 15 hours that I have dedicated to the business, I need to obviously figure that out. And so what, what I really would love help with is not being so reactive in my business. I'm reactive to everything, like trying to juggle everything. I'm trying to be, you know. Yeah. Taking care of Everything in my personal life and then taking care of everything here, I'm the only one doing it. And for the longest time, reactive was okay because I didn't have this kind of volume of orders. But being reactive is causing problems. Like, I'll be like, oh, shoot, this huge order came in and now I'm short on my bestseller labels because I didn't have the time when I came into my office before to label count, you know, all those things. Like, I'm not doing those things because I come in and I'm like, okay, I have orders, I have to ship, I have to pack, I have to make. And just because I can multitask, it's clearly not productive. So, yeah, I'm at a level in my business now with it growing that I'm kind of scared to get more orders because I'm like, can I handle it and can I scale it? And I know I can because I know you that we can. And I do believe in that. But I just feel right now and I don't know how to get, like, break through that.

Okay, so let's talk about what part makes you the most reactive. Are you getting, are you sitting on inventory? Like, do you have the shelf life for this product? What does that look like?

The shelf life is about a year to 18 months because they're natural products, so it's not a long shelf life.

I want you to actually take that out of your mind that it's not a long shelf life. Because if you look at the majority of cosmetics, 12 to 18 months is on the longer side versus I have, I have bought, I bought this like natural creamy, like eyeshadow. And it's drying out. Like, why can't I use it? And it's because it actually only has a shelf life of like three to six months, which we all know in cosmetics is like not long enough. So yeah, so let's like, let's remove that thought. It does have a good shelf life. So we know that we have 12 months. 12, 18 months. Once you know, to use it. Okay, so there's that part.

Yeah, yeah. Because even the raw ingredients like coconut oil and shea butter, like, even when I order those are like, it's a 12 month shelf life. So 18 months is pushing it because I put a little bit of a natural preservative. And honestly, I only make 2 and 4 ounce jars on purpose because people should be buying that and using it within a month. And then I tell my wholesalers to buy smaller stuff so they're not sitting, like, don't buy two years supply of my products. Like I prefer for them to order like every couple months. So. So maybe I could be making more product. I feel like, yeah, I'm always making product. Like when an order comes in, I think I'm just, when I'm making it, I'm making the largest batches that I can make. I think I'm just, I'm going through it. I'm, I'm fulfilling, you know, wholesale orders, retail orders, and then yeah, I'm just going through it. Like I'll make it like a two week supply and then it's just gone. So it's a good problem. Before I would sit on it longer and I'd be like, oh, this is great. Like I just like made all this body butter. I'm exhausted and it'll last me like a month. And now I'm like, oh, I just made all this body butter. And then literally like four days rolls around and I get another order. I'm like, okay, here we go again. Like, I did have somebody helping me very part time for a little while and that was helpful. They, they can't really help me too much anymore. So maybe that's something I need to look into again. I just feel like I'm growing really fast. But I'm also when the money, like having to buy that much more supplies and things like that. So it makes me a little nervous to hire anybody and to really commit to them because can I afford it, you know. So I guess there's that part of.

Scaling too, which at any level of business, Whether you're making $30,000 in business, whether you're making a million dollars, Whether you're making $30 million as the boss of your business, as the CEO of your business, that is a thing that you will consider every single time you make a hire. Can I afford this person? So the first thing I want to say to you is, is that whoever you hire should earn their, like whatever you pay them. Let's say you pay someone, I don't know, a salary of thirty thousand dollars, they should be making you back sixty thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars. Like the investment into that person is to multiply your profits. So whether it's saving you time, let's just say you got an after school sitter. Let's say you had someone go pick up your kid from daycare and bring them home and feed them snack and get dinner prepped so that you could just extend your day a little bit longer. Let's just pretend and you were paying that person, 20 bucks an hour. That $20 an hour, why it might not have a direct thing in your business, will actually make way more in that hour. Sticking in your business, not having to break your work day up. So there's lots of ways to invest in help or assistance that will have a return. And that's what I just want you to start to think about it as is more of like an investment in a person to multiply your time. Okay, then the next part, if we want to get into, like, the tactics of production and stuff. When you say, like, you just get orders and in two weeks you're sold out, is that direct to consumer orders? Are they wholesale orders? Like, what's. What's coming in? That's clearing out your inventory?

Yeah. So it's a combo I'm doing. I've always done more wholesale. And then because of that, my retail has grown. Because that's another thing that I wanted to touch on with you. I think my fear of success and reaching out as I thought I was just procrastinating on social media and sending out email newsletters because I realized I've been putting a lot of thought into it. And I was listening to another student that was talking, and it was about the fear of success. And I was like, oh, bingo. I'm like, oh, I'm excited about orders. But, oh, shoot, like, what do I do? So lately I've been selling out on retail, too, because I had partnered with this influence who's an anxiety coach, like, right before Memorial Day. First time I've ever reached out, but it was totally genuine. I actually follow her content, and I use some of her techniques to help with, you know, anxiety and stress. Y' all have been awesome. And I was like, oh, do you use topical magnesium? And I reached out to her and we just connected. And she used my products and loved them. So she. I, I, like, in two days, I got a hundred orders, and that was the most retail orders I've ever gotten. And I was freaking out. But. But my pricing was on point because of MSM and my. Her. It is absolutely crazy how much time that did save me, though, because legit, everybody bought my best sellers that I clearly, because of you labeled on my website, there's two bestsellers. They either bought one or the other, or they bought both. And I was like, wow, this works. So it saved me a lot of time because I wasn't making all five blends. I was making huge quantities of my two bestsellers. And normally I'd be running around like crazy, but it was so much more streamlined. So this is new for me, to have the retail side having a lot of volume. And so, you know, that requires a little bit more work, because for shipping, you know, I'm packing more boxes, whereas wholesale, it's a lot, but it's one box. I feel like it's easier, or maybe it's easier for me because I'm used to doing more wholesale, but I want to be prepared to be growing my retail and wholesale and be able to handle it.

Okay. So I hope that you caught that part. Bethann is starting to see rapid growth, and she knows she needs to hire, but she's nervous about being able to afford it. This is a common struggle I see with product bosses, because at every level, you'll ask yourself that same question about, can I afford to hire this person? What I want you to remember is that when you do hire someone, you're going to be giving yourself back time. And when you hire someone, our hope and goal is that they're an investment, Right? They should be able to multiply your revenue. Whatever they're putting in should help you start to grow and grow your business. Right? More money, more profits. So just like Bethann, my friend, you need to figure out which one is important to you, right? What you'll have the greatest return with. And based on your current situation, we really have to think, if I were to hire someone, how would that help me grow my business? And that would be your next move. I get it. And I want you to think back to that feeling that you have, because the idea in film and TV and acting or the entertainment industry is that you never know when you're going to have a job. And when you do, it's usually on location. You're very lucky if it happens to be local. And so you kind of like, pick up and disappear, or you have to figure out a way to take your family with you, which is not always as easy, especially the older your kids get. So you made a choice some years ago that you were like, I don't want to do this, and I want to be home and be a present mom, and I want to be around where my kid is. And congratulations, because you've really hit on a really needed product, a great product, and you're able to still pick up your son. But that same feeling that you have from being an employee or being a costume designer to where you are now is the same feeling you're pulling through. It's a through line where you still feel like there's not enough time you're overwhelmed. You're working a lot of hours. And I got to tell you, because the other side that you and I are similar on is that I come from the fashion industry. I come from deadlines. I come from sewing, cutting, and sewing things through the middle of the night. Same thing. James had a costume fitting yesterday. He's filming today. Those people working on costumes, we're working on all of it to get prepped for today.

It's insane. You're.

You're right. You're like, having PTSD flashbacks. Yeah.

And I worked in fashion before I did costume, so we have a lot of similarities.

So same with me, like, I will work. I still do it. And I hate myself. Every morning when I kind of waking up, I will pull all nighters. And that's something that was, like, ingrained in me when I was in fashion school. Once a week we pulled an all nighter. They took away our spring break because we had to cut and sew and make. We are all makers. And so I remember, like, I had a whole trip planned in New Orleans. And they're like, sorry, you have to be ready for the fashion show. I remember being at the studio so late that I lost a contact and then made a piece of fabric to make myself an eye patch so I could drive home late at night. I mean, the things we do. And so that being built into my body is. I've carried it through 20 years later, and I don't need to operate in that same way. And I want you to just start to note it. Right. It's the. It's that awareness point where you're like, oh, I'm operating in that same sort of energy. My nervous system is on fleek when I don't have to actually be in this position anymore. And you almost have to unlearn that. The feeling like. Of, like, going at it hard and needing to hit a deadline and all that, because your business does not actually require you to operate in that way anymore.

Thank you for telling me that. I didn't even really see that I was doing that. But you're right. I'm totally doing that because that's how I've worked since I've started working. Like fashion and then costume. Yeah. The film business, it's just. It's psychotic. And everything's last minute and everything's fast and everything's like. So you're totally right. That's how I still. And you can. And you have to get it done. So you become this very resourceful person. But, yeah, your nervous system is like shot. And that's why I got out of the business. And then I'm like doing that to myself. When I can do things to prepare and act very differently. I mean I'm my own boss, right? So I could do whatever, I could change it. Wow, that's so smart. Okay, that's totally what I'm doing. Thank you for clarifying that.

So noting that having that awareness, what do you think that you could do differently now? Having that awareness that without me even having to coach you on it, that you're like, like, oh, maybe I could try it like this. What, what could you make changes on?

Definitely allowing myself more time, like getting a sitter, reaching out more and planning that kind of thing because just because I can last minute run into my office and make it happen in between his time like you know, on a play date and with like, I don't need to be acting that way. I could be prepared and know, okay, I have this week, I have a sitter for this many hours. He's at camp for this many hours or whatever and like, and plan it. So I know instead of being reactive because have a plan and I, and I know like anybody successful, they know what they're doing the next day, like they don't wake up and they're like, oh, you know, I come into my office and I kind of know. Like I know I have orders, I know I have to make stuff, but it's very reactive. Or I'll, you know, I'll be like, oh shoot, I'm out of tissue paper. And now I'm ordering tissue paper. It's like crazy. I should have a day where I order supplies. Like time managing my time better and planning it out for the week. Maybe I do that on Sundays or something. Yeah, I need something to plan better.

When you joined Multi Stream Machine, did you get the 90 day roadmap as a bonus?

Yes. Okay, I've not done that yet.

Do that. All your answers are sitting in that bonus chain.

Okay, that'll help me. I know I'm still working on parts of the course. Like it's just life has been super crazy. And I know you say that like take the time that you need. Like you know, if you don't get it all done, I've just been picking away at it and it's been, it's been life changing for my business. And yeah, I keep looking at the 90 day roadmap. I even you had done like another one. It was live with, I forget another business owner. And like I signed up for that and I was listening to it. I think that's what happens. Like I get into something, I get into the excitement of something and then I like jump to something else because I'm conditioned like that thing from our old careers and stuff. So yes I need to but obviously I can follow through. I mean I have a business and I have customers so I know I'm capable of doing that but I need to just kind of stick with something like a task.

Okay so that is about a two hour training with the questions at the end what you're going to get and that's a bonus that people get when they join and they do the painful so you had done the painful option on multi stream machines. So that's why I'm bringing up it give you the overall arching sort of idea. We actually talked to you about how to block your weeks so that you can decide like exactly what you just said to me. If it's like I'm going to check emails, you check emails at this time and we block it out. If you're going to do production work like you actually have to make you block it out. You don't have to ship every day. We block it out in time and you can also do things. What I love and I'll give this is like a little bonus is there are five week months. So there are months that have four weeks and then there are like a few months that have five weeks. That fifth week week you can choose to do what you want with it. It could be a week where you catch up on production. When you look at the calendar it could be a week where you do nothing and you go on a vacation with your kid. You can choose what you do with that fifth week as this like bonus week that adds on to onto the months. You kind of have like this extra time within a month. And so for you what I think and I'm going to give you like some actionable advice here is one. One of the reasons you're reactive and I teach this inside the wholesale module is that the thing that I don't love about fair. So this is the thing and I've told them so this is not a secret and they're working on it and they're taking like pre orders is wholesale. You get orders and you have time to fulfill. You have time to go into production and fulfill. It's not an immediate order the same way the direct to consumer is. So what happens is if you're getting these big orders and all of a sudden you're like I have 30 jars. I gotta ship tomorrow, and I don't have 30 jars. And you're up all night making 30 jars. It's because the boundary that you have or the rules that you've set in your business are not clear. So immediate orders. If we were not using a platform like FAIR that had rules for us, if you were doing exactly what I teach you in msm, where you're, you know, how to call the store, how to get the orders and that, and you get them to write a purchase order, you tell them the delivery dates. I'm taking orders right now, and I'm cutting off orders at this date. And I will be shipping on these dates. So let's go back into fashion, the fashion industry. Because you were in it, there's no way we're making and selling stuff in a night and shipping it the next day or sourcing fabric a year ahead. We're coming up with colors, we're designing, we're developing, you know, fittings, how much time we spend in fittings and perfecting the garment. So I want you to go back to your, like, realization of, yeah, sure, you could mix some creams at night and ship them the next day. But if we were working in a real production facility, we need more time. So in the cosmetic industry and beauty, if you went to a market, let's say you went to a wholesale market next month, I think your timeline is a little bit shorter. It's about three months to take the orders and then ship versus in fashion, it's. Well, we're kind of at, like, if we sell in September, October, November, December, we're like between, like three to six months out. So what that means is, like, if I take an order in September, my start ship date is somewhere in January. So I've got September, October, November, December to go to, take orders, cut off orders, and then go into production. I normally have about two and a half months for production in fashion, and then I'm shipping, and then people are telling me they want it shipped in January, February, March. Like, I have delivery dates and they get to choose when they want their money spent in that month. So what I'd love for you is we call it open to sell inventory. You, I want you to set a number that you always have in stock. So maybe you always have 20 of each item in stock, 30, whatever, and give yourself a thing that you're like, if I go down to 20, I make another 20. You could operate like that, or you can operate the way that you would in production where, like, if if you were ordering this from somebody, you'd have to order at a hundred at a time. And then you would have a trigger point of when to go in and order that next hundred. So if you work in batches like that, and you're like, I'm going to make a hundred of each kind, and then when I get down to 20, I place another order for another hundred, you're working in that way and you're going to start to see the cadence and the timing of how quickly you move through this product to know, okay, then once a month, I need to dedicate one week that I could do production and. Or you have an assistant that you train that could do a bunch of things for you. Whether they're. They're labeling the jars, whether they're mixing the ingredients, like there's ways that. And then they're responsible for tracking inventory. But until you get there, I just want you to look at those numbers. And then if you get a wholesale order, it's not, I got this wholesale order out of the blue and now have to come up with all this product. It's, we will ship. If you place an order today, you can expect your stuff shipped two to four weeks from now. Let's just say, because you're always tracking, that you always have a hundred products in stock. Does that make sense?

Sense.

Any questions or does that clear it up for you or do you have any objections to that?

No, that helps a lot. So, like two to four weeks is reasonable. Like I. Depending on my volume of orders. I kind of do that now. It's like 10 to 14 days. So I would love to push it. But I think also what happens is my wholesalers and if I tell them, they'll, you know, respect, you know, obviously, because I have a lot of repeat wholesale customers, whatever I said. But I think people are so conditioned because there are a lot of smaller businesses, right, like acupuncturist, spas, things like that. So. And Fare has kind of set this standard that, you know, you just get things immediately, even for wholesale. People are just used to all this in life, in society. People are used to getting everything quickly. And I feel even it'll say 10 to 14 days on fair. And I've had people email me and it's like, before I even said I would ship it. And they're like, you know when you're going to ship it? And I'm like, dude, it's been like five days. And I. It's a natural product. I tell people everything's, you know, they know it's like I freshly make everything around two to three weeks from when they order it. But that's not everybody, right? So I guess you're right. I need to set my standard and that's what it is, right? And then people will have to plan accordingly. And then they'll get used to it. If they know that they're gonna. That they're almost running out, they need to think a month out. I guess I think people are used to. I'm such a people pleaser that I will. And again, I think it's from working in film, because I can do it last minute, I will. And so I allow people to do that to me and treat me in my own business like that. So, yeah, that's a really good point. I just need to change. Change that. And this is what. And it will definitely allow me more time to plan because I won't be freaking out and my time won't be completely of making and shipping products. I'll have time to sit down and create an email or, you know, plan my social media. I love speaking with my customers. I just feel always in production and shipping mode. So I'm not being proactive, I'm being totally reactive.

And you used to work for a director that would come up with an idea and be like, bethann, I want you to do this now. And you're like, oh, I gotta do it. That was part of your job in your career. You were the director. Now, okay, you get to make the choices. So what I hear you saying, and I know that you feel like chicken or the egg. Can I afford to hire someone? What I want you to just start to think about is exactly what you're saying is what we teach. The first hire, usually like service people will coach people and say, you need a va. No, the first thing that you may need is someone either to fulfill or produce. That is your bottleneck. Right? Right now, that is the thing that's keeping you in the like. If you think about like the Zagat guide or that's like old school, but you know, when you go to a restaurant, it's like $1 sign or $4 signs. I want you doing the three to $4 tasks and I want you to hire for the one to $2 task. You can outsource, you can problem solve. So like your jars, potentially you could eventually order jars that are pre labeled, or you get the neighbor to label them, or you hire someone that's just labeling, labeling, labeling. That's a huge task. Mixing the product. Someone else can do that when you could be doing stuff to actually move your business forward, you're stuck in a bottleneck and you're stuck on the fulfillment and shipping. So what I want you to consider is what would your life look like? What would your business look like? How would you feel in your body if you were able to do the things you wanted to do in business and that you knew, I'm going to hire someone. Wherever you're located, like here in LA, it might be $20 an hour person. You might have a $15 an hour person where you're like, it would so be worth if they worked four hours a day for you, five days a week. They worked six hours, like 60 bucks a day. Whatever it is, you know that if you went and sold your cream, which is $24 for a small jar, you just have to sell amount to cover the person helping you. And then you're able to keep thinking, how do I keep selling? Because now I have this thing I can keep making. I just have to sell five jars a day to cover my team. And everything on top of that is everything else. And then you get to put your energy towards that while they're mixing ingredients and shipping.

Okay, that helps. Yeah. To just do the math. You're always saying that. Just do the math. Like work backwards. Right. So that helps a lot.

Math, not drama.

Yeah. Like to think of it in terms of that in jars, like. Cause it's almost like 24 to $24 jar. Like, how many of those do I need to sell to pay somebody? That that helps. Cause then like you said, I could be doing that while they're making it. I. I could make that happen. That helps a lot. Yeah. I think I just need to get over that fear of that, that I can scale it if I do those things.

So we're gonna just step by step it. Okay. It's the same way that I'm sure you've heard me talk about it on that podcast. That from a money perspective, that's my issue. A lot of times my own life coach was like, go spend on something to take care of yourself something. Because a lot of times, especially as moms and women, like, we'll make money. But then it goes back into the household. So it was like, what was something special? And it was like, well, I can't afford X. I can't afford X. And so she's like. She had talked about really loving chocolate, and it happened to be during the pandemic. And I was watching that Zac Efron show where he Goes around the world. And he was in Iceland and he met with like an Iceland chocolatier. And we're sitting during the pandemic and I. I'm like, I'm gonna order chocolates from Iceland. Cause I can't travel during 2020. And I think I spent like 200 bucks with all the chocolates and then shared them with the people we were like, in our pod with. And that was the first step in me spending on something that was, like, extravagant, but then I could afford it. Like, I could afford it. And then it made it easier to like, get out of my mindset of, I can't afford this, I can't afford that. So many times we say it. So I don't have time for this. I don't have time for that. I'm afraid of growth. We just have to test it. So I want you to know, I want you to go back in your body and say, when I got the a hundred orders, I figured it out, I problem solved for it. And I looked at it and said, wow, this is amazing. And know that you can grow your business by allowing yourself to allow that help in. And so there might be some little things that you do. It might be like you're going to go out and have coffee by yourself while your kid is at daycare, or you're going to hire someone to pack boxes on one day a week for you. Something. Something like really small. Or you're gonna get a babysitter to do something. I want you to practice a small action of paying someone to do something for you while you do something else. And test it in a small way and see what happens for you. The spaciousness, the ideas, the not feeling crushed by magnesium and creams and jars that need to be filled. And you're just gonna test it. And once you start to taste that feeling, you'll be like, oh, it's not so scary. Let me try more of this. And that's when you're gonna start to see that door opening for you. And like, you'll start to see that light.

Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Gotta test in your body. Because I get that it's scary to grow. And what's amazing, amazing about what you've done is that you're like, you can, you can grow. You've got this product that's much needed. And then it's just about just changing the way you've operated in it, knowing, oh, my body feels really comfortable in this. My body doesn't know what it's like to not be. Be last minute. Staying up all night, reactive. But I don't have to do this. So then get really creative. The same way that you got creative to make things fit people or come up with a director comes to you and is like, I want this. And you're like, all right, I'm gonna go figure that one out. Figure this out. With that same creative energy that you have when you shift from the corporate world to being the boss of your own business, you also must shift your mindset as well. From being reactive and waiting for, like, oh, my goodness, like, the boss is telling me, I have to do this, I have to do it now. Which is reactive to acting actually being proactive. So as Bethann mentioned, she's not being proactive because she's still thinking like someone who's working for someone else. Meaning there's set deadlines, and you're in this constant rat race of what comes up next. And as you heard in this discussion, being in the industry and working on sets and in TV and film, it does require that. But her current business does not. And as the boss of her business business, she has the ability, as well as you. You have the ability to set your schedule and take the more proactive role. You have the ability to make more plans, to set goals and plan for them so that you can batch your time, so that you can have boundaries within your business, so that you can live the life you dream of and have this business of your dreams. So I always say that your limiting beliefs and mindsets are probably the biggest things holding you back, which is actually the case for Bethann. So now that we've tackled one of her biggest obstacles, let's see how we can help her hone in so she doesn't feel like she's constantly having to make all these products at a time, right? Just like hundreds and hundreds every time she gets an order. Hey, product boss. Okay, so you know that I am on a mission to empower women all over the world to build product based businesses that give them the security and freedom to build their dream business, which will also lead to the life of their dream. So I know that I can help you do this by teaching you how to nail the core four foundational pillars of a standout business. And it's going to turn your business into something that feels like it's kind of struggling along or limping along to standing out in a crowded market and getting more customers. So I am so excited to invite you to join my free master class, your four step Playbook, to stand out in a crowded market. And get more customers so that you can grow your business no matter where you sell. In just 90 minutes, I'm going to teach you the core four foundational pieces your business might be missing. How to stop wasting time and money on things that don't work and what to focus on instead. I mean, these are proven ways to build an audience that buys from you and that tells their friends about you. So what I want to do is I want to unlock what can be blocking you from growing a profitable business and how you can turn it around pretty instantly. All you have to do is come join me inside of this totally free masterclass. Head to the productboss.com standout to get access again. That's the productboss.com standout. Now back to the show question. Back to product. Product. How many people buy the 2 ounce versus the 4 ounce?

Most people start with a 2 ounce and then when they reorder they almost always buy the 4 ounce or they'll buy two 2 ounces like they're purchasing the one that they liked and then they're buying another blend. Because I send out samples of body butter in every order I try to give them one that one that they haven't tried or one that they, you know, that they didn't just order and so that helps. Usually they'll reorder that one.

So when you got the hundred orders that were new orders, were they all the two two ounce?

They were mostly two ounce. But I do better with the, the four ounce. Once people are repeat customers, I don't know, does that help?

So I'm curious for you if, if you can do something where you almost do like a sample pack or like a try it out pack versus offering the two ounce and you can call the two ounce like travel. I, I wonder if there's a different way because right now when you're giving me the two ounce and the four ounce option, yeah, sure, I might pick the two ounce because it's cheaper, but I don't actually think I can always conceive how big 2 ounces is is and I wonder because you'll make more money and you'll have. One thing that you only have to worry about is like if you just offered in the four ounce and then eventually you go bigger versus smaller and then your small are like travel packs.

Or the 2 ounce would become more of a travel size.

Yeah.

For wholesale. Should I offer everything though?

No.

Can that be different and just, just.

Keep it the way that you've got it. They also want less choices.

They Do. Okay, okay. So what about customers who have been buying all the blends? Like what do, how do you deal with that? Like when you pull back, you say they get upset. They're like, what do you mean? Like I, you know, I can't get the rose. Now I just want you to look.

At your real numbers. Cause right now you're, you're thinking, oh, they're going to get upset again. It's that like people pleasing self versus what are my actual numbers? Have I only sold 20 of those? It's cool. They'd rather know, like bestsellers. They'd rather know what people buy. So Soul cbd, Angeli, she's been on the podcast. She's a really good one to look at because she goes by benefit. So when you can sell your product specifically by Benefit, that's how people are really going to buy. Calm sleep, pain relief, focus, mood, whatever. Right? Then you can get into product, whether it's oil or cream, but they really love to. This is probably why they buy what they buy from you. And then you can even see like bundles and how they combine products into a bundle, which is what I want you to look at too. Like it's just inspiration to what you do.

Or a bundle. Like maybe people asking what to get. And I, so what how I use it is, I use the cream at night because you're not putting like thick shea butter on necessarily and like going out like that's kind of more at night. And I use the oils during the day because it's easy. Like I just roll it on my wrist in the back of my neck like while I'm doing stuff. So that's how I tell people to buy. So maybe a bundle would be great.

So day oil, night cream, it's your day to night Bundle. It's your 24 hour bundle, like whatever you want to make it. And then it's about and you educate on that. So when you have spaciousness, where you're not worried about making and or you make in batches and then you go back into your marketing and sales plan, this is where you're going to find the top time. So you're going to go in 90 day roadmap, you're going to figure out how to block everything out. You're going to consider hiring people. But I know it's not like an immediate fix. You're going to first start with just blocking and thinking, how much product do I want to have on hand? Maybe I need to make more of it. Maybe I spend three days every third Week or three days every fourth week making. I don't know your timing on it. And then the rest of my time is just marketing, selling, probably shipping. You also don't need to ship every day. So you could say we ship Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays days. And I want you to open up more spaciousness of time. Then I want you to look at these, like, examples that I gave you. And anything that somebody asks you, you can create an offer around. So if you're like, I recommend day oil and night cream. Watch in beauty, watch these companies, even your social media, your email marketing, even the way your hero images on your page can easily be like day to night oil for the day cream at night. Oh my God, you've just solved a problem for me. I didn't know how to use it. Then I. I'm gonna wanna buy both. Cause you're telling me, let me buy the bundle together. Or I can do the sample pack, or I can do like the lip glosses, like in three cents. And I would say stick to three right now. And then if you. Once you feel like you've got your feet under you, you can drop seasonal scents. You can drop seasonal things. Like if it gets into like, you know, when we get into like sick times. If you want to do wellness, do that. The beginning of the year, everybody wants to. I want to sleep eight hours. Great. And pitch the sleep one. You might have it, but you'll have marketing plans based on what's happening at the world. Does that make sense?

It does, yeah. I do have a qu. So people do ask me that a lot. They're like, which one's great for sleep, which one's great for stress? They. They kind of. They all are. So. Because traditionally, if you go to like a health food store and you buy magnesium, they're not scented. Right. Like, it's one thing and it's boring and it's okay.

But you're calling it. But you've got one as sleep. So just name it that. This is sleep.

It's more of like a marketing for them. So when people ask me, I guess I usually tell them, well, all of them will help with sleep, but this one specifically has essential oils in it. So should I just market that one as sleep? Because that's where I get caught up. Because, like, the benefits are the same for all of them, kind of. But then people get confused. But I don't want to sell like just plain magnesium, because then that's boring.

There are companies out there, like, I bought, I forgot the name of it. The doctor, whatever. Or it's the bath stuff, salts or magnesium. So there's people who take magnesium supplements, there's people who soak in magnesium and then you're doing the creams and like topical product. If you look at the bath salts, which I have two jars at my bathtub, one is lavender scented for sleep and the other one is for muscles. The product is the same salt, which is the same idea that we're talking about, right? Like the magnesium. But the use. And I bought both sole cbd. It's CBD gummy. But they're giving them an intention or something that's been added to it helps with the result people want. So it you will make. I know we started with. I don't. I'm scared of making more sales. But you will have less confused customers and it'll be easier to buy and market and wrap your head around. If you're like, this is my calm, this is my sleep, this is my use the words that they're saying they need it for like the same way that you'll see the cbd. I think the CBD is a really good example of words you can use because, yes, magnesium. I have a student that does CPG supplements and magnesium is one of her best sellers. But she's in gut health. So she'll also talk about how internally ingesting magnesium. We know it's good for sleep. That's the obvious. But it's also good for gut health. So she talks about it in a different way. It doesn't say sleep magnesium. It's because she really. Her flag in the ground is about gut health. So I want you to realize I will buy all of them from you if you solve my problem. And yes, they can all solve my problem, but I want you to tell me how to use it. So if you're like, use this one at night for sleep. And it's lavender scented. Thank you for solving that problem. And then I want it during the day because I need the benefits of it during the day. Thank you. And I just want you to keep realizing I'm just solving problems for them. And the labeling and the use of it is a thing that's going to make it really easy and then they're going to actually consume more from you.

That helps a lot. I think I was scared of like not being clear about the benefit or just for them to understand that magnesium will help with everything. Because people ask that, like, which one should I buy for sleep? And I'm like, all of them. And then they're like, what? That's confusing. So then I tell them, like, the moon. Or if people are like, I like the moon is like, the essential oils in there help with cramps and PMS and perimenopause and menopause. So people are telling me that's their problem. I'll tell them to get that. I guess I didn't want to leave people out or something, like, in my marketing. You know what I mean? Like, I guess I need to be more clear. Like, this is what you should buy if you're buying it because you have bad PMS and cramps. Right. And this is what you should buy for sleep, and this is what you should buy for muscle tension.

Yes. Because that's not what we're selling. And they don't want that either. And they don't want you to just be another magnesium product. And the reason you've been so successful is because of how you're doing it. So just thinking about Soul C, B, D, they have supplements for PMS Now. I want you to just make sure that whatever you say, like. Like as to industry rules, like, there's certain things that you're not allowed to say that'll solve, like, medical problems. But it says, meet your PMS wing woman. And they've got two products. Orange makeup, Mango. It's called Happy. And they're mood gummies, which they can sell in other places. And they've got Harmony PMS relief gummies and their raspberry lemonade. So this is later, later, later. They didn't start this way. They had, like, when they first started, they had. I think it was like, three flavors. And so now you'll see that they have all these other products. But this is years down the road. Road. So I want you to get your feet underneath you. You're gonna know what you're marketing and selling. You're not gonna overthink. I need to make more for more people. You've got the product. You've got proof that it's selling. You're gonna make more of what sells, and then you're gonna just keep putting it in front of your customers. So we don't have time to get into the social media part of all this. But you are also a student of standout society. So once you kind of process this call and you're like, this is what I'm gonna do. I need to clean up my systems. I need to get help. I'm gonna work in batches. Is gonna do the 90 day roadmap. I would say do that first Then if you look at some of these examples that I shared with you, and then you. Did you get the bonus, how to go viral in 30 days? I think you did. I think everyone got it. It's in standout society. So that's my second place. So then when you watch that, that will most likely help you. You'll have some of these examples that I'm giving you. You're gonna feel more grounded. And then you can look at that and be like, okay, now I'm gonna think about what kind of content to put out there. But I don't want you to turn off on, Like, I don't want you to make it rain if you don't have the buckets to catch. That's where you're going to get overwhelmed. So over the next 30, 60, 90 days before the holiday season, we've got some time right now because we're doing this in the middle of the summer. I want you to just kind of get your feet underneath you and feel more supported. And then once you feel more supported and you've got the energy and the systems in place and the timing down, then we can turn on the faucet and make it rain, because you'll actually be able to catch. Catch what happens. But otherwise it's going to be foot on the brake, foot on the gas at the same time, and you're going to keep stalling out. So we want to just, like, slow it down, systemize, get these foundations underneath you that are more systematized, and then you can build off of that. And it's like what Julie says where she's like. She felt like she's building a sandcastle or a castle on IKEA furniture right now. We gotta fix the IKEA furniture.

Yeah, that's how I feel. I love that one. I love that you always say that because it's such a good reminder. That's how I feel all the time. I'm like, oh, my God, this is gonna collapse, like, at any moment. You know, behind the scenes. But people, you know, my customers, they don't think that. Like, they're always shocked that it's me. Like, I have a chat button on my website. And they're like, you know, customers known me for. They're like, I didn't think you would answer. I'm like, who else is here? It's just me.

And then if you're only selling the. If you're now getting higher average order values, like, we're. We're packaging it in a different way. You are selling 34 jars instead of $24 jars. Now we have more money, money to spend on investing in help for you.

Is there a cap that you would recommend like for the bundle?

So instead of it being like 48 bucks, you could choose to. Because now you're selling more. You could take, I don't know if you have like a first time order offer, but it could be like 10 to 15% off. So I'm using a calculator. So you could make it. It's like $41. So you can make it for, you know, $42 save. It's crossed out or $38. You'd get it out of the 40 40s. So if you can afford it, I would do like $48 crossed out, $38. And that they could try the sample pack at that. And then what the goal will be is that we're raising average order value. So you're selling, you have less customers buying, not even less, but you have customers buying more. You're making more per order and then there's more cash flow. Do you see why it's so important to understand which of your products your customers are buying? When you understand that you're not only able to hone in on, on those products to create irresistible offers, but you're also able to get very clear on how to effectively market those offers to get your customers to buy more. Right from the start. Remember, your customers want less options because they want you to tell them what to buy. Which is exactly what Bethann has started doing and why she's seeing so much success with selling her products. Even though there's tons of other magnesium products out there. Right. She's really starting to become, become known for something. So to be successful, you truly need to understand what your customer wants and create around that, which is something that we can help you do inside of our program, Standout society. So that feels like it's aligned with you. We've got you. But the thing here is, is that the key to figuring out getting your foundations in place and your customers, right, that's the key. We need to get those foundations in place and we need to figure out who your customers are to buy more, more from you when they are actually ready to purchase. So I think, I think get started on all of that. You have lifetime access to it, right? You have multi machine, you have standout society. Go through it at your own pace. But right now we need to tighten the screws in the furniture. That's what you're working on. Go through your 90 day roadmap give yourself a plan to work on that part. Maybe it's over the next 30 days, you're going to fix your systems and then you can move on to whatever's next. Next.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, this is a huge help because I think, you know, so creative and come from that background. And I want to send more emails and I love talking to my customers and I want to be more present on social media. But I've had this, like, hesitancy, like, because I, I, I am not. The screws are not tight. So I like that I do that first and then that's kind of good timing. Like you said, for the holidays, maybe I have like a couple offerings, like a bundle or a day and night. And like, I'm excited about those things, but I, I haven't done them yet because I'm like, ooh. Like, oh my gosh. Like, I need to get my foundations a little fixed up and you can do it.

So if we want to buy and support you, I know you're like, I'm not going to give you my, my website because I. But we want to buy and support you, so where can we, how can we shop from you?

So you can go to my website? It's the mighty XO.com XO like kiss hug. You can find me on Instagram program. It's the same. It's the mighty xo. And yeah, I sell retail and wholesale. You can reach out to me for wholesale. Just send me an email. I would love to hear from you guys. Thank you so much.

Bethann is definitely on the right path. And with fixing up her foundations, I know she'll be able to continue accelerating her growth. Sometimes when you start growing at such a rapid pace, it feels like things are getting out of control and you need to take a step, step back. The main theme here is that if you want to continue to successfully grow, you can't always be reactive. And instead you need to shift to have a plan that not only covers the foundational pieces, but also addresses how you're going to be proactive to make the most out of the time you do have. Growth can be scary, but when you have the right foundations and a plan in place, it doesn't have to be. I really want you to think about growth as really like pushing yourself to the edges, right? Getting, getting uncomfortable. Because when we get uncomfortable, that's when we start to level up. So, my friends, I'm here for you to help you level up. I can't wait to do this with you. And I will See you on the next episode. Hey, before you go, I want to remind you, and you know this, that I am on a mission to empower women all over the world to build a product based businesses that give them the security and freedom that they desire to build the life of their dreams. So I know I can help you do this by teaching you how to nail the core four foundational pillars of a standout brand. And what I've seen people do is they've gone from coming up with an idea to making a product and jumping to sell it, but they've missed the core four foundations. So I am so excited to invite you to join my totally free masterclass, your four step playbook to stand out in a crowded area, market and get more customers so that you can grow your business of your dreams no matter where you sell and no matter what you sell. In just 90 minutes, I'm going to teach you the core four foundational pieces your business might be missing. How you can stop wasting time and money on things that don't work and how you can focus on things that are going to work instead. I also want to teach you my proven ways to build an audience that buys from you and tells their friends about you. And we're going to dig into what might be blocking you from your growth and your potential and how you can turn it around. And really, my friend, I just want to teach you how you can build a standout brand and get more customers and have more sales. It's going to be amazing. And I cannot wait for you to dive in. So come join me. Grab your totally free spot and head to the productboss.com standout to get get access. Again, head to theproductboss. Com standout to get access.