617. How Product Business Owners Can Make Good Money During Their Busiest Season

Hi, 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 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 a million dollar 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. And you too can be the next million dollar Product Boss. Let's do this. Hey. Hey, Product Boss. So today I'm bringing you another special episode which actually was originally aired as the Blended Life over on Instagram. So in case you don't know what the Blended Life is, it's where I chat about blending motherhood, you know, personal stuff with entrepreneurship and all the things in life to together. Because if you ask me, I believe that balance doesn't really exist, right? It's always a little wobbly, it's always a little bit shaky. But I actually like to think of it more as blending all of it together. Right? Every day is going to look a little bit different and if we could blend it like my morning smoothie, that's what we need to do to make that day work. So I love doing the Blended Life because I think it really allows me to connect with so many of you, my community, so many people show up live and it's just really cool to be in it live with people on the Internet, right? To really hear from you, what you need. And so when this episode airs, I'm still going to be doing this live over on Instagram. So just make sure you're following the Product Boss on Instagram and you could turn on your little notifications. There's a bell. It's a hot tip. There's a little bell and you can say like, notify me when there's posts or reels or stories or lives. If you do that, Instagram will be sure to push it your way so you don't miss out on some of the cool things that we talk about. So in this episode that you're going to hear on the podcast, it's packed with cool golden nuggets, I think, because we actually dive into the biggest pain point that I'm hearing from product bosses this year. You know, every season, something new happens, something, you know, comes up. And I know a lot of times you all want to make sales, and that's like, a big topic. But truthfully, this year, it really is about sales, right? So whether you're not making any sales, like, you haven't figured out what to do next or yet, because you're kind of in that starting stage, or maybe your sales are flat, or maybe they're down from last year, or maybe you're having so many sales that you're like, I don't even know. I can keep up. I think there's so many different versions of sales as sort of the different cycles that we go in in it, and it's like kind of getting that first sale, right? Then how do you get your next sale? And then how do we kind of turn that into a snowball of sales, and then how do we keep up? So I want to dig into this conversation with you because we're heading into the holiday season, and this could be the best, most probably profitable time of year for you, right? This is when people have their wallets out and they're buying more than they typically do in the year. But some of you might be feeling, that's great, Jacqueline. But nobody knows I exist, so I actually don't make the sales, and I'm not busy at all. Okay, well, let's figure out how to fix that, right? Like, let's figure out what you need so people know you exist, your customers know you exist. How do you contact them? What do you sell them? And how do you make that first sale and then start to grow your snowball of sales? And then others of, you know, it's a busy time of year, and you're like, it's pretty, pretty busy. So my thing here for you is, how do we optimize this? How do we not hit burnout? How do we make it that you could still enjoy your pumpkin pie and sip your hot cocoa and be with your family or your friends or whatever you like to do at the holiday season and have the sales but not feel super overwhelmed by it, right? And have systems in place, have a business that works for you, right? We. There's. There's two sides to this. There's always two sides to the same coin. And no matter where you are in business, whether you're just starting or you've been in business for 30 years, things like ebb and flow, they are always in flux. And I just don't want you to miss out on the holiday season because this is it. This is the time. This is like, if you. If you decide that you're going to take action and do something different later down the road next year, I just want to flag for you that it's a year from now that this season will be upon us again. It's a year from now. For most of us, that is the best time to go all in because we could make something such a change in our businesses because it's easier to sell to people right now in the season. Okay? So do not put off your dreams. Do not put off your goals. Let's dive in. Because I want you to either get you to stop going from, like, paycheck to paycheck or relying on someone else, or I want to be able to help you live your dream life so that you're doing some big, amazing things with the money that you're making from your product business. And I want you to make good money and I want you to pay yourself. Okay? So grab a pen, a piece of paper, or come back and listen to this again later. But listen to it now, and let's dive in. Good morning, my friends. It is Monday, and I don't know where you are in the world, but it's the morning here. And I was thinking you could get ready with me. It's a really big day, and if we are going to live the blended life, we are going to try and do all the things, right? We're gonna do all things. So that's the thing, right? Like, it's busy and I landed last night at 10:30 at night from being away for a week after being away for two weeks. So life is lifing. It's back to school time. For my kids. It's their second week. Some of you probably have your kids back in school, some of you maybe don't have kids, but it's that time of year again where it's like, is the summer done? Are we back? Are we ready for this? So are you ready to transition into the fall? And then we're going to get ready together. So I've got and actually literally do the whole thing here because I am behind in my schedule. It was a hard morning to get up, so I'm really excited. Yeah, it's back to routines. My husband was like, waking up early is very hard. It's like, totally, totally hard. Right? And then it's especially hard when you're trying to like, I'm still like unpacking my clothes. Like literally my stuff is still in this from traveling. And I'm like, I gotta get ready. So we're gonna do that together. Today's like a really big day over here at the product boss. My team and I are getting ready for, getting you ready for the holidays, the holiday season, right? So that's the thing, right? We, we're at a time right now where we're like, it's this transition time and I want you to think about that too within your business, within your product based business. It's that time transition. I really want you to feel prepared. Things are feeling, you know, like the world is worlding, right? Things are happening all around us. And so we're really trying to figure out like, how do we navigate the season. If you're in the U.S. there's an election coming up, so things are always a little bit wonky. There's wars around the world, there's all these things. But I want to tell you, like, I'm not trying to sound the alarm. There's also some amazing things happening, right? There's some really good, amazing things happening. People are still spending, they're still buying and people are looking for that joy and that hope and you can be that for them, right? And when the holiday seasons roll around and this holiday season is not going to be any different, it's going to be a time where people are like, yeah, let's do this. Like, I really want this. I want the peace that comes with the holidays. I want the joy and all the things. And they're still spending money. So I want you to be prepped so that you can be there for them when they need it. Okay? So I got a totally free checklist for you. I'm really excited to share that with you. And it's going to get you just like really thinking about what are your next steps. Because it's still August, right? And the busiest time of year, but also the time where you can make the most money in your product based business. Business. If we're going to think about any time of year, anytime we're going to like lean in, they're going to lean in. It is the fall and winter season. This is the time where people's money, they've got their checks, their checkbooks, I was going to say, I don't know who I am this morning. Their wallets out and they're like, they have to buy gifts, right? Even if, even if their Budget is less. They still have to buy gifts for people, whether it's family, children, spouses, partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, their pets. Because they want that celebratory time. If we think about it too, from that, people are buying gifts for teachers and for coworkers, babysitters, right? Gifts are being bought. So people are buying and spending more than they're used to. So I want you to be ready. Allie says, I'm prepping my marketing strategy for doing my first pre order marketing of a new product. And I feel like a chicken without my head running around in circles. Oh, my God. Anyone else feel like a chicken running, a chicken with their head cut off, running around in circles? I mean, yeah, right? You're not alone. You are literally not alone in this feeling. I think no matter what level. Here's what I want you to all think realize is that no matter what level you're at, that you're always going to kind of feel that way. Because the next time that we kind of, we step into something new, we try something new, we don't necessarily know the next steps. Right. And we don't know the next steps. Someone says, I'm not a social media person, so it's difficult. What if I told you you didn't need social media? What if I told you you did not need social media and you did not have to pay for ads to be successful at this, to make good money, right? To not have to worry about that next, like paycheck or where it's coming from. What if I told you that, what if I told you that you could make social media fun but not mandatory? You would love that, right? That's literally the core of what I teach my students. Any multi stream machine students here. It's our signature program. It's. We're going to be having like doors are going to open. It's going to be amazing. Who here is a multi stream machine? I teach them how to do these things. Like, I have a client right now, okay. With 1800 followers. 1800 followers. They are a. They sell women's lingerie. 1800 followers. How much do you think that they're making in revenue a year? 1800 followers. How much do you think they're making in revenue a year? Hey, Suzanne, Suzanne's a multi machine student. She's got beautiful pottery. All right, 1800 followers. What is the revenue? Because you're like 1800 followers. That's not that many. You ready for it? One million. Good guess. 100,000. All right, one million. Okay. All right. Ready for it. Hold on to your coffee. Don't take a sip because you're gonna spit it out. $25 million a year with 1800 followers. I have another client. You go look her up. She's a multi stream machine student. She's on here. She's static. Block is the company name. Okay. They have 24 or 42. I might have like flipping my numbers. Let's say 24 or 42 followers on Instagram. Okay. Selling like a one bottle of anti static hairspray. Okay. Student of mine was working a full time job. Just went through what we teach. Went through some of my free challenges. So let's say she's got under 50 followers because I don't remember the number. She was working for somebody else. She leaned into like being known for something. She got it on Amazon. Not that I only teach Amazon, but that was one of the ways she went in her first year of business. Leaning in, made $200,000 selling a singular product. Okay. A singular product. $200,000 in her first year. She left her job working for someone else. She became a full time product boss. And she said she surpassed what she was making at home where she was working for someone else. Why are we building other people's dreams? When do we get to build our own? So I need you to just come to Instagram to hang out with me. Let's hang out, let's have fun. Let's watch funny reels. But you do not have to. This does not have to be your marketing plan. Okay. It's just one of the tools in your toolkit and I'm excited to support you in that. All right, so the three biggest struggles and challenges right now facing product based businesses. All right, so what are some struggles or challenges that you're currently feeling in your business as a product based business? Getting orders, getting more sales. Ooh, motivation. What else? What are other challenges? Organization. All right, I get that. So agree. People are feeling like it's really hard to just get that machine working, right? Like it feels really hard to actually start to make sales. Or maybe you started making sales, but it might feel flat or maybe there's even decline. Right? But the thing is, is it's sales. It's always sales. Because we're in business and we have to make something and sell it right? So I think a lot of people are feeling that. And I also think a lot of people are finding that, like, sometimes it feels tricky. You're like, wait, I used to sell this thing, but maybe it's not selling. You know, it's Feeling a little bit confusing. You might not know. Another thing that you might feel is like, how to attract the customers. Anyone else feel like a struggle or challenge is like, how do I get people to know my company actually exists? Right? Like, how do I get people to know I exist? How do I get more customers? One, it's like, how do I get them to. How do I get them to know I exist? Two, it's how do I get them to convert and become a customer? How do I actually get them to purchase from me? And a lot of times it's like, how do I get them to come back and buy again? All right? And then I think some people are not sure, like, what to sell. They're feeling confused or overwhelmed, and so they're kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall. It's like, I'm going to make this. I'm going to make this. I'm going to make this. Like, they're going to have to buy something here, right? You feel like, you feel like there's this, this need to make all the things. Anyone else feel like they have to make all the things. Hey, friends. So how many times have you thought about waiting until the week before Black Friday to even think about your holiday promotion plans? I mean, I know, I know I'm not calling you out here. You're not alone though, right? Because there's so many other things on our plate during the fall and holiday season that when we finally get to that week before Black Friday, Cyber Monday, I know we're like, oh, no, I gotta figure this out. Well, guess what? Not this year. Now, I know that successful product bosses know that the key to making sales, growing their businesses and making good money during the holiday season is to prepare. Right? We want to prepare what we're going to make an offer around and to start to build their promotions now. So that's exactly what we're going to do together. Yes, together. During our five day challenge, which is going to kick off on September 9th. So if you're someone who's wondering if a free training, if five days spent with me is really worth it, I'm going to say the answer is yes. We know that there's so much information out there and it's hard to tell what's actually going to move the needle in your business. But here's the thing. The Rock your holiday promotions challenge is 100% worth your time and energy because it actually creates results in your business. And that's not just me humble bragging. It's what we hear from Our previous students who have shown up year over year over year and taken action on what they've learned and they've seen some incredible payoffs. Okay, so like Jenny, who had been in business for 10 years and felt unorganized and all over the place. But after going through the challenge, she walked away with a roadmap and a clear plan. She said, I can actually breathe now, right? That, breathing that, oh, weight off your shoulders. Or how about Ashley, who never knew what she was going to sell or offer and was always last minute in planning for the holidays. But after attending the challenge and implementing what she learned and knowing exactly what she's going to sell during the holiday season, she was able to wait for it, triple, triple her sales from the previous holiday season. I know, I know this all sounds incredible, right? I have so many other stories to share with you and you might be thinking, okay, cool, good for Jenny and Ashley. But what does this have to do with you, my friend? Well, let me tell you, okay, that is just a small preview of what you can do. What you can do after spending five days with me learning how to turn your business into a money making machine this holiday season. I know that you need more customers. I know you want more people to know your business exists. I know that you want to make more sales. And a small part of that is creating your promotions with us. But I'm going to teach you so much more over the five days together, you are going to feel so, so clear. You're going to walk away with a plan and your promotions are going to be built. And so don't forget, we start Monday, September 9th. It's totally free. And you can join us by signing up at rock your holiday promotions.com or just click the link in the show notes. I make it super easy and you can get all signed up and I'll see you inside. All right, back to the show. So I get that you're feeling this way. And some people, some people like there's not enough time to do all the things right. I know that one of my friends here said that she feels disorganized or like, you know, chicken with your head cut off. It's because you don't have a direction. You don't have a plan. You're like, what do I do next? Like, what is the thing? Oh, maybe I'll do this. And maybe I'll do this. Oh, wait, who defaults to making? Who defaults to doing more making more. You rather get into the creative side of it. All right, like, you're like, oh, I'm just going to make stuff that feels like the most in control to me than this whole concept of like the marketing part or the sales part, right? Because we're hoping I just make stuff and then I show up online and then I post something on Instagram. Somehow, somehow Mark Zuckerberg and all of the Facebook people are going to all of a sudden be like, you know what? Now it's time. Now we're going to show gems. Bakes, right? Like, today is the day. Today is the day. It's all going to work. No, right? We have to have a plan. We have to create a plan. We have to have a strategy. And that's what I want for you this, this holiday season, right? I want you to have a strategy and not a, like, I'm going to figure this out in the, like in November. We want to create a strategy in September. We want to have this time in September as soon as we can, right? We're going to, we're going to get through Labor Day, but we want to start to like, have this plan so that when we get to the busy time or when we get to the time, we're like, this is go time. We've got something to go with, right? We've got like a go plan. We're not just going on a hike, like just do, do, do, do, do, like through the mountains and hoping we're going to find our way out. No, we're like, we need a map to follow. Please tell me, which way do I go, right? How do I go there? What do I do? How do I get there? How do I get to those. More sales, more people knowing I exist, right? How do I get to that dream life? Okay, so what I wanna do for a sec with you is first I want you to take a breath, okay? And I want you to imagine yourself after Christmas, right? You made it through that time or you know, it's the busiest time of year for product based businesses. You're like, this is the busiest time. How do you want it to look? What do you want it to feel like, right? How do you want your season to have ended? What do you want to see in your bank account? What's that number that when you open up your bank account, you're not afraid to look inside of it. You're actually excited to look and say, all this work I prepped in September, I made, I started to do things differently, right? I was like, I'm, I'm going to go with a plan and have a roadmap. Want some to tell me the steps to do? Like, the how? Like, how do I do this? Right? I just want someone to tell me how to do this so that I can just take action. And then after Christmas, right, we got the after Christmas, that week between Christmas and New Year's, and now you're looking at your bank account and you're feeling a certain way. What number do you want to see in there, right? What number do you want to see in your bank account? How do you want to feel that week between Christmas and New Year's? Start to think about that for yourself. You can just start to feel it. I want you to feel it like it's real. I want you to start to imagine, maybe write this down if you have the ability to write something down right now, I want you to start to imagine that feeling of, you know, that feeling of like you did like a hard workout, you. And you know, and then you're starting to feel, I did planks all weekend, like the workout plank. And like, oh, I can feel my abs. I have abs. And then today I'm feeling like my core feels strong, right? And I'm like, huh, who would have thunk if I did more planks that my abs would start to feel stronger, right? And so it's that feeling like we have to do the work to make the, have the difference, like, to the thing that we want to be different in our lives. And it's not just going to happen by you posting on social media. It's not just going to happen by you booking some in person things and doing things the way you've always done them. It's going to happen when you do something different, when you make a change, when you're like, you know what, whatever I've been doing this far isn't exactly doing what I want it to do. So I'm going to do something different. I'm going to make a change. Okay? So the thing is, is I want to help you make good money. And I want you to first start by imagining that's you, that, that everything you want that week after Christmas, you've put in the work. And now you're like, my abs feel stronger, huh? I just had to do something different. And I want you to start to think, like, what is that different? Okay, so what I. What I want to tell you the things that we have to do here, that the things that are different. You're like, give me something, Jacqueline. Like, give me the meat. Like, what do I do? All right, so here's a few things okay. One, we're going to make a decision that we're going to do something different. We're going to make a change. We're not going to keep doing things the way they've always been done, because if you're not getting the results you want, you're not going to see them by doing the same thing over and over. Second thing, you're going to start to figure out what you want to be known for, and I'm going to take you deeper into this over the coming weeks. So make sure to keep an eye out, because you've got a new challenge coming out. Like, all these things that I'm going to. I'm going to do for you, to just support you and support this community so that you can do something different, so that you can make good money, so that you can make sales, so that people can discover. You don't need to rely on social media. You can use it, but it's not what you have to rely on. It's not that. It's not the magic pill, right? Not. It's not that. Okay? So we're going to go deep instead of white on our products. We're going to start to think, how can I help my customers? What can I be known for? So if you have a feeling or an inkling, what can you be known for? Let's talk about Sully and Son. She does beautiful resort feeling bags and some jewelry. She's known for her bags and a very specific look. Okay. She got niche. She's not like, I'm going to do this and this and this and this. She leaned in. She's like, I'm going to be known for that. Okay, so you're going to be known for something. If you don't know how to figure that out, make sure to keep following here. Listen to the podcast and because you got a special event coming for you in September, and I'm going to walk you through all of this. Okay? Then you need a plan. You need a plan to get more eyes on your business, right? How are we going to catch the people? How are we going to capture them? Like a big, wide net. Like we're fishing big, wide net. How do we cast it out and grab the people? And then how in that do we reel in the ones that are our customers? Okay, and so how do you do that? Well, you're going to be known for something. You're going to either figure out bestsellers or what you want to be known for. You're going to create an offer. You're going to know what you're going to lean into and what you're going to sell this holiday season. Okay, what's the thing? It doesn't have to be one thing, but we're going to have a plan. We're going to actually create a plan of, like, what we're actually going to market and sell this holiday season. That is a huge thing that you're going to want to do. Okay? So we have to know what the offer is, what we're going to sell. We're going to have to start to think about what we're going to offer as a promotion, because people want a promotion and offer. Who waits for Black Friday Cyber Monday? All of us. Right. And we're looking for the deals or we're looking for the promotions, or we're looking for the thing that solves the problem. Right? Like, we need to buy gifts for people. Solve that problem for me. I'm not saying we have to discount it like, super crazy, but we do have to offer promotions. Okay. Just like the big guys. Okay. Halloween's in the store already. It was October. Got it. We got to keep up. All right, Then you're going to want a plan. You're going to want to create a plan. You're going to want to have focus on where you're going to sell this holiday season, how you're going to show those promotions. Right. And how we're going to market to them. Right? Are we going to email them? Are we going to be in communication back and forth with our customers? Are we going to start to tell them what to buy? Customers want you to tell them what to buy. But the first thing, the first thing I want you to do so that you're not overwhelmed, your homework, is I want you to think about how you want to feel after Christmas, that week between Christmas and New Year's. If you were to imagine opening up your bank account and you were to see a number inside, I want you to imagine what's that number inside. I should, like, start to visualize it. Like, do it right now. Like, think about it. Okay? I'm going to log in, put in my password, I'm going to open it up, and my checking account numbers are going to show up. And I'm not going to be afraid. I'm going to be so excited because there's a number in there that you want to see. Okay? Second thing is, I want you to think about how you're going to feel because you prepped earlier this year than you ever have. You actually decided I'M going to do something different. I'm going to stop doing it the way I've always been doing it. I'm actually going to get help. I'm going to figure out. I'm going to get a roadmap, I'm going to get a plan. I'm going to get the how to. I'm going to do it different. I'm actually going to take action. So when you put in that effort this whole holiday season and that week, that week after Christmas to New Year's and your bank account looks different, how are you going to feel? I did it. Put in that effort and I did it. Okay, and that's your homework now. That's your homework right now. It's going to be your homework after I end this live. You're going to start to imagine it as if it's happening now because we have to start to believe it. We have to start to feel it. We have to start to live like that. It's going to be our motivation. It's going to be our juice. It's going to be the thing that keeps us going so that we can get through the holiday season and so that we can make the thing that we imagine come true. I'm so excited for you and I hope you feel that excitement, too, because that's what you have to start to feel now and to motivate us to do the next thing. All right, my friends, I'll see you soon. I hope that this episode and kind of this, you know, focus from the blended life really resonated with you. And if you are making sales, right, maybe you're making sales, maybe you're still struggling to make that first sale or you've seen your sales decline or plateau, I want you to know that you're truly not alone. And as I mentioned, that the best way for you to ensure to get more sales and more customers finding you this holiday season is through having a place plan. And so that's why I'm so excited, so excited to invite you to join me for my five day holiday sales bootcamp, where you're not only going to learn how to rock your holiday promotions, but you're also going to learn how to set yourself up for success, to make more holiday sales this season and beyond. And what I want you to remember is you can make good money doing what you love and not working for someone else to pay the bills. Now, this bootcamp, this holiday boot camp, it kicks off next Monday, September 9th. And you will learn how to do all of this in Just free. Five days. Are you in? We start on a Monday, we end on a Friday. Imagine everything shifting and changing for you and you walking away with such clarity, with a plan, with excitement, back in your business, with this feeling of like, yes, I can. Yes, I can do this. Okay, so make sure to grab your totally free spot. This is what I do every single year to support our community and to really make sure that you feel prepped and ready for the biggest, busiest time of year for product people. And I want you to have everything that you desire at this holiday season. Okay? So all you have to do is click the link in the show notes or head to theproductboss.com holiday and my friend, if you're feeling called, if you're like, you know, this is really helpful for me or this sounds really exciting, but I don't want to do this by myself, right? I want to bring a friend. I want other people to do this. Like, go ahead and invite some friends to it, okay? Just tell them like, hey, I'm doing this thing. Head to theproductboss.com holiday and come do it with me. It's so much more fun to do it with friends or to invite people. Perhaps you're in another group. Because the thing is, is I will have other ways for us to go deeper and I will share them with you later on in the week. But what I want you to know right now is if you did nothing but just attend, if you did nothing but just attend, you would feel like you had a plan, finally, to get more customers, to get more sales, to be prepped for the holiday season. You would know what you were selling, what you're gonna do for Black Friday Cyber Monday. So invite someone to this or share this with other people in your community so that we can help more product based business owners really thrive, grow, survive. Any of it. Any of it. And it's more fun when we do it together, right? All right, my friends, I hope to see you inside of the boot camp. It's going to be awesome. Just click the link or go to the productboss.com holiday and I'll see you in the next episode.