618. “I’m in a huge life transition and now I need this hobby to turn into a money-making business. How can I do that, fast?” | Coaching Session

So this is definitely my, like, pivotal point of taking it from a hobby, making sure, like, I just don't feel like I have. I feel like my foundation may be sand right now and I want to make sure that, like, I have the pillars in place.

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 you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's hey, hey, Product boss. Now welcome back to another coaching session where I coach our students that are part of Multi Stream Machine and they come on the show and then I start to coach them in their business. And so people have been loving these episodes where it's kind of like a peek behind the curtain at a coaching session. And so many of you love them because it feels like I'm talking to you. So today I'm chatting with Julie of whatsoever things and she sells beautiful and amazing unique custom gifts for every occasion. Now, Julie started her business around nine years ago as a hobby and this really began out of a way to help others make every occasion special and spread joy. Just like her mom did for her when she was growing up and her mom would give her all these amazing handmade gifts. Now, if you know Julie like I know Julie, she wants every person to feel so special. She loves unique gifts. She loves things that are different than everyone else. And she wants you to feel special on your special occasions. Like my birthday, she got me a cake and she didn't need to do that. And it was just so thoughtful of her. But that's how she is and it comes through so clearly in her business. And so it's a beautiful, beautiful business that she's growing here. Now, while Julie's been in business for a while, she's been treating her business like a hobby. And she really needs to think through how can this hobby transition into a full time business that can support me full time? Right. She's been working and she's been relying on income from other places. But right now there's a big transition happening in her life and in her business and she needs to step out of hobby and into running this thing like a business making money from this money making machine so that she can have this business be the source of her income. But to do this, Julie needs a plan. And right now she's unsure of where to start or what steps to take next. And so that's what we're going to figure out today. So let's dive in. So you're doing about 9,000amonth. Right now your goal is 30. Your biggest struggle is getting out of being the neighborhood person. You mean you just want to expand, you want to grow?

Yeah, I want to grow. And I think truly it's taking it from a passive hobby to like the full time CEO. So this is definitely my like pivotal point of taking it from a hobby. Making sure like I just don't feel like I have, I feel like my foundation may be sand right now and I want to make sure that like I have the pillars in place. I mean, I've been in business nine years, but it's all been built on just naturally, if that makes sense.

Yeah. So when you're making the 9,000amonth on average, Right. What, who, how, how are they finding you? Who's buying from you? Where are they buying? Give me more info on that.

I would say like 80% is probably in my neighborhood or in Dallas.

So when you say my neighborhood, give me more information on that.

Oh. So I live in a portion of Dallas called Lake Highland. So like it's just, it's probably like there's one big high school so like that that graduated 700 kids this year. It is an active like stay at home mom community. So there's, I do have reach into Dallas because I mean it's Dallas too. Most of my business is people coming to my house to pick up. So it's, it's definitely within Dallas. How I get customers in Wisconsin and New York and things like that, I have no idea.

Where are they buying from you? When you say Wisconsin, New York. Are they going to your website? They go on your Instagram, like where are they finding you?

They're going to my website.

Okay, so they're buying a website.

Yeah, they're definitely going to my website. I have like 5,200 Instagram followers. And I think we're at 2, 500 email subscribers.

What about the response is sending the emails? What's happening with the actual, like, what's happening from the emails?

I am not a hundred percent sure yet.

Okay. So every time I send an email, about a hundred people unsubscribe. But I'm constantly working on growing my email list. So it's the same way if you look at your insights on Instagram, like, there's a net zero, right. Sometimes, like, and if you even look at your. The more I post, the more people unfollow and then the more people follow because they're just able to curate their own content. They get to choose. What do I want in my inbox today? I actually recently did start just like unsubscribing from a bunch of different things. And I'm like, I'm just not into it right now. So don't take it personally. It's the state of their inbox. Now, what we want, we want either people not to open them, but to see the subject line in their inbox and just remember whatsoever things exist, that's like, that's number one. You message someone, it just reminds you of them. Second thing is, is like, if the subject line is the right subject line at the right time for that customer, they're going to open it.

So.

So right now I'm getting a lot of emails about, like, still sales because we're going into Labor Day, you know, so there's still kind of like summer clearance sales. So if you have a reason you need something, summer clearance or even waiting. Okay, but they're not switching over yet so much into. I'm kind of almost waiting for new, like holiday collections to drop. I actually think, like Starbucks at the time of you and I doing this has not launched their fall line yet, but they will. I think it might be next week. And that's when they're transitioning into the new fall collection, what's New? And then, then they're going to market to the what's new. So it's like, you know, there's going to be these ebbs and flows to business. There's a time that you're really busy and you're going to push something new and you're going to let people know it exists and you're going to try and get them. Bye, bye, bye. They're like, okay, they're not buying. I'm going to clear it out. So I'm not sitting on inventory. And then I'm going to come out with like the new launch of like fall collections here. Gift giving season is here, Halloween is here, whatever it is. And then people get excited about the new and then there will be the fast buyers, people who buy fast. There'll be people that need to see it in more places. There'll be people that might wait till sales and there are people that won't buy, but maybe they'll buy the next time you offer something. Maybe they'll buy next Mother's Day. Right. So I just want you to stay consistent and keep going, going and keep gathering people to add to the list. So the people that drop off, they're self selecting out and that's okay.

Yeah. And I did start from the retreat. I did start doing launches. So I did a back to school launch in August 1st. We did a back to school launch also everything is on my website, which was a huge win from when we met. So my things were make sure all my inventory is up to date and sending emails. So I feel like I pretty much throw it off.

So.

And then we're doing a fall launch which is mostly like Halloweeny fall stuff. I mean if I launch, I feel like for me, if someone sends me something Halloween right now, I'm like, it is 106 degrees in Texas today.

But there are people, but there are people excited about it. There was this whole TikTok trend called October and people were buying Halloween, you know, through that. And it's earlier in the stores and there's going to be like you and me that are like, I'm not ready for that yet. And there's people that are like, it's never too early to put skeletons in my house. Right.

I guess that's true.

Yeah.

So we're launching our fall stuff the 15th of September and then gift giving holiday November 1st. So I am planning out some product launches.

Do you have the ability to change those dates a little?

Oh, yeah.

Okay. I would bump your fall collection to more in the beginning of September.

Okay.

Sooner the better because you're going, that's what you're going to start seeing like everywhere. July and August. Well, July really tends to be transition, which means like that's why all the back to school was happening. You can't even get back to school anymore, even though some kids are literally starting school tomorrow still. But that's like cleared out now. If you were to go to Target, back to school is cleared out, space is opening and they're putting Halloween in. So we kind of have to operate marketing a little bit earlier. So I would launch Your fall sooner in the first couple, maybe after Labor Day or the first couple of weeks of September, and then your gift giving way before. Because November is already like cyber Month. People are putting everything on sale. I want you to have time to sell your holiday gifts at full price. And people are buying because they're buying full price. And then the people who kind of like hold out, they will come closer to the holiday season. That'll be kind of like their last advice. So I'd probably tell you September would be your fall lunch, and then by mid October, you're doing holiday.

Okay. Those were just like arbitrary dates that I'd kind of set in my head with my social media person. So that's another thing that I feel like I've really leaned into. And I think I said this at the retreat too. Is. And I don't remember when you said this. I think it was like a year ago. You were like, find things. So she's definitely. I've seen the growth in my return on investment with hiring somebody to do things that I'm not going at and is it my expertise?

Okay, so what we're going to move to, I'm really proud of you. But what I want to move to now is kind of get some of your questions answered. You are in this transition time, so you want to take this from a hobby to a company. So if you want to take this from a hobby to a company, then we actually have to start to think like a company. You start thinking like a CEO.

Okay.

You need to think about your money like it is so valuable, because it is, but it's not as available because there's not a salary right now. There's a now you got to make your own money. So. And I think you could also be like, you're also very good at giving advice and stuff. So I want you to take a moment and, like, give yourself some advice. Yes, you, Julie, can make everything. And yes, moms from the neighborhood can come to you and say, can you make me this? But what is whatsoever things? It can't be whatsoever things. Right? It can't be all the things. It's going to take money out of your bank account, so it's going to keep deducting and deducting and deducting from a pot that you have that isn't is only going to be replenished by you making money and putting it back in from your business. So with that sort of energy behind it, I look at your Instagram and everything's amazing and beautiful and cute, but I can get pillows, pillowcases, matches, matchbooks, hats, sun hats, bags. This. I've only gone through your grid six things. On your grid. I can get disposable party cups, clipboards, matches, notepads. I mean, keeps going beach towels. So the thing I want you to think about is what do we want to be known for? Like, what kind? Do you want to be a party store that I can come get customizable party stuff at? Do you want to be a lifestyle brand where it's, you know, the bags and the nightgowns and like, you know, because there's kids on here and baby, there's just so many things. So I think you putting on the boss hat for a second, we need to. You could potentially expand again in the future. But right now, when all our eggs are going in this thing, we need to make sure we protect them. So I want you to start kind of like feeling through what kind. If I were to be like, go to whatsoever things for what. What am I sending people for?

A custom unique gift.

Custom unique gift. Okay, now let's dig deeper. Who's the customer for these custom unique gifts? Like who. Who's the receiver of them?

That is probably where I feel like my foundation has been built on sand, is that I haven't defined my customers. So really, who comes to me are usually moms that are looking for a custom unique gift. Something that they're not going to get at Target, they're not going to order on Amazon. They want something special to be gifted to their receiver.

Who though? Who is their receiver?

Oh, it. I mean, so, I mean, obviously in the last three months, it's been graduation gifts. So it's the high school senior. It is your best friend that.

Are they women? Are they gifting mainly to women or girls?

Mostly they are gifting to women. I have definitely been trying to find more men options because I feel like that isn't available anywhere. Nobody has a custom gift for a guy.

Okay, but we're not doing that yet.

Yeah, I have a few things I don't want.

No, I don't want you to do it because your branding and your product offerings have to switch over to the more masculine men's giftable. You're either going to be more generic, but your essence and feeling and website and everything is very feminine. You're the, you're the southern hostess. So I just. Again, this goes back to. Just because you can doesn't mean you should let other people do men's gift stuff. Because now we're getting into Fighting with the Mark and Graham. You can't compete with Mark and Graham. And Mark and Graham cannot be your example because they're owned by Williams and Sonoma and Pottery Barn. They can. They have access to all the millions and millions and millions of people on their email list for all the other brands they're in. Right. And they can create gifts for all these people. Because think of this is a gigantic enormous corporation that was like, we're also going to try these giftables because they know like Pottery Barn kids, they do a lot of like stuff. And also a lot of this is drop shipped. So they're not sitting on any of this inventory. There's people that are like you, like, you could potentially get it. They could like do it. Right. Because it's not all to Mark and gram like product. And I'm not saying this is where I want you to go. But yeah, they sell to kids, men's women, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this is not your example of who you're going to be. Like not now, maybe in 10 years, but not today.

Yeah.

Okay, so we were getting to. She's a woman. I want to talk about who's getting the gift. A woman.

Yep, She's a female.

A girl female or let's just say woman. Grad gifts. What else are they buying them for?

She buys grad gifts. She buys baby gifts, hostess gifts. I mean birthday gifts for her friends or her kids friends.

What would you say the biggest let's. I don't like the kids stuff. Unless you're gonna become a kids line. So what would be the biggest pain point? Like because I'm a mom, I've got kids, I don't go at my age, I don't go to birthday parties anymore where I'm like getting something custom. So it would probably be if I was doing something embroidered. I know I'm not southern. We'll take you though, if you want to be. Okay. Thank you. No, but I'm saying that like from a giftable perspective, it would have to be like a special gift either. Like someone's getting married, a baby shower. But I feel like I'm too old for baby showers now. Like less people I know are getting having babies. So you know that this like helps you to hone in on like are you helping people give gifts to people with younger people in their lives? Like these 18 year olds that are graduating, people who are getting married? You know, then we're kind of like. Not that we're like grandmas are buying it, but I'm in this weird age that I don't have those events to go to right now. So. Actually wouldn't be your ideal customer for gift giving. Is it something she buys herself or really it's for gift giving?

I would say most people buy it for gift giving.

Okay.

I mean some people do buy things for themselves. Like, and that's where like the pillows I feel like have. That's the unique part that people look for is, oh, well, I know Julie's going to have these amazing unique pillows at Christmas or whatever. I feel like, really it's like the unique part is what they get when they purchase something that I source. So. So none of my products I make, I mean, none of my products I have a patent for or, you know, that would be great. But that's also 10 years down the line. I'm not doing it now. So I'm adding something to everything to make it. So it my ability to find maybe things that not everybody else carries or to put on, you know, like a little jewelry box, people are like, oh, that's so cute. They can't go to everybody and buy that. Or an acrylic tray. Oh, not everyone's going to do that. I feel like I know other people have done it too, but like the shadow monogram that, that's kind of my bread and butter is the shadow. And really the customization. There are some things that I'm like, this is it come. You know, this is A and it comes with B and that's it. But most things it's like, well, what, what would you want on it? Because that's what people want is that unique gift to stand out when they don't necessarily have. Have the thought process of the gift giver. So I have always been a gift giver. My family knows and my friends know that I'm going to, you know, I'm going to search for like the best gift. It's going to be something that I know they want. And when I find it, I might find it in July and for Christmas that I'm going to have something like that. So I think that's why people come to me. That's the person that comes to me is the one that doesn't have time to find unique gift to hunt it down. And so they come to me.

So what I heard you say were you sell unique gifts to women for women. What I see is I feel like you sell a lot of things not because I don't want you to be this like one stop shop that they're able to find the things that they need. But because of the current state of your business, I want you to get more honed in versus like more maybe collection based. Like you said, like you're going to curate the gifts of the season versus having all the gifts. So it's like how do you become the, like, maybe like you're helping people become the ultimate gifters of the season where like whatever the season is and whatever you need to get someone, like that's the gift that people still talk about. It's more bird's eye view in. I mean I, I do tend to see. I think one of my coaching powers is like you can kind of see it and then like hone in on more of an idea. I just kind of like ping into it. But we. The differentiator between you and anyone who can customize. Like my mom can customize too in the way that like she has all the machines and if I, I want something sent to her, like she can do it. She's not doing a customization business, but she can, you know, but she kind of was getting known for like bags and accessories. So there could be an element of you looking at Mark and Graham. I mean they're not as unique, but they do have, they have gift guides and then they have bestsellers. So if we look at their best sellers, like best selling gifts, we can go get some information from them. So if I were to ask you, if we think back again back into your company, what are the things that are special because you're a good gift giver. So what are the things that you be like, oh my gosh, I have these things that people just like absolutely need that I have in my, my lineup.

I think that people love the and but this is a boy gift. I sold probably. I have no idea how many Texas flags this year. So being Texan, not that I ever want to advertise made in Texas sometimes, but the Texas flags people were coming from all over to me for these monogram Texas flags that boys are hanging in their dorm room. Yeah, that was my number one back. Like my number one boy seller.

How do you know it's for boys?

It's usually what people are buying it for based on what they tell me and the type of monogram that's going on it and the pictures that I get afterwards. And that's just been a boy gift. And I'm sure other states flags would sell great too.

But I live in Texas, there's certain states. So you're correct in the way of like not all states are as prideful, let's say, as Texas. So, okay, so that Texas flag. Well, let's. What else?

I think the. Oh, the bouquet sashes. So that definitely is. Was another top seller that I have. So it's like if you. It's for prom, it's for homecoming, it's the ribbon that would go around your bouquet and it's monogrammed and so it becomes more of a keepsake. And that is a word I've never thought about using. The pillows do I need to search by category? And I think that's part of, like, part of my questions that I have is like, with my Rocky, with my Sandy foundation, like, what, what things would be helpful to have in place to know better of, like, what my best sellers are besides sorting and Shopify and knowing that a Texas flag sells well. But like the category of pillows sell well or my category of baby sells well or my smocked clothing that people love.

Okay, there's really just systems that you can set up where you're just like, I'm going to run this report once a month where you just tell yourself, I'm going to set this time, that I'm going to check it. Have the metrics. If you have an accountant or you do your own accounting, the way that you can also categorize your profit and loss statements and stuff could be like home, wedding, baby. You know, like, you can have all the different categories that are, that are aligned in a way that when you make the sale, it. Your bookkeeper sees that and they drop it in. So then you can actually look like, oh, you know, out of a hundred thousand dollars, I made 20,000 on home, I made 40,000 on wedding. Like, there's ways from the accounting, you just have to set it up on the back end in whatever way that you need to see the data. There's no sort of like, like, tell me, Magic ball. You kind of. We have to know our numbers because we have to know our numbers, right?

And, and I think that that's part of too, is that I haven't been. I haven't needed to know my numbers because it's been passive. It's just been. But now it truly is like, okay, well, I made a flag. It has a X number of profit margin. I'm, you know, I make X number of dollars on it. That's going to buy me two drinks when I go out on Friday night. Like, you know, it's, it's definitely different. I def. I'm looking at money a different way than I used to. Because I don't think I really, I mean, I think that's what I messaged back the other day was like, well, what should my profit margin be? Because I don't, I don't know, I don't run any reports. So. And that's, I think that is going to the other things to have in place. Like, would a bookkeeper be helpful? I have an accountant. But I mean, you can ask your.

Accounting company if they have a bookkeeping service. A lot of times that's easier because they can kind of like do the numbers all year with you. And then when it comes to accounting or when it comes to tax season, it's done. They've been doing it monthly versus like you having to catch up on the whole year. I, I think one of the big things that took me the longest amount of time was doing my books, was sending invoices, was filling out like purchase orders. So if there's parts that it's not as much of a strong suit for you. So you can just see resource some people to see. But, but maybe, I mean, you're, you are, you're making good money. So I want you to see just like, you know, it could be a couple hundred dollars a month and it might be worth it to you to get that kind of service.

I think to have a better insight into my numbers, I mean, I can do math in my head, but knowing doing math in my head and being good with numbers are two different things.

It's just reports. So it might even just be looking at the kind of reporting that you can get out of Shopify or If you use QuickBooks, where you're like, just print me a report that you actually just tell yourself, I have to look at this. So if you can divide it up by categories or you look at top products sold, just look at them and then be surprised. Because sometimes we might think in our head the sashes are doing well. Because maybe the sashes did really well in May when you were doing graduations, but it's been a couple months since then, and maybe they're not still selling right now. Do you see what I'm trying to do here? I really want Julie to focus on what she's selling and what makes her product products unique. Because as I like to say, if you're selling to everyone, you're actually selling to no one right now. Julia is offering so many different items and she's trying to make everyone happy. I mean, I know a lot of us feel this way, right? We want to make Everyone happy with all of our products, but she's actually spreading her products too thin and she doesn't know where she should focus. When it comes to being able to transition and shift your mindset from hobby to full time business owner. Right, boss of your business, you need to know which products you're going to focus on, who your ideal customer is and how you're going to position your products to stand out from the competition. As I told Julie, you figure out where to focus by digging deeper into your customers pain points, analyzing your competitors and knowing your numbers. Does that make sense? So now let's take a look at Julie's website and see if we can figure out a plan to increase her online sales.

Yeah, no, that's true. I looked at, I guess I was looking at my. So not everything has always been on the website. So I'm trying to steer that way. And then I do do a lot of like one off personalized things so that I'm trying to not look at those things in the shopify. I mean I know how much they make but I did look at like the last year of products to see what I sold the most of but I never looked at that until this week.

Okay. I mean these are the things like it's okay if you've got so many things on your plate. It's okay if you haven't looked at them because you're doing it now. It is what it is. So what I actually think I want you to do as you're thinking about like transitioning this and kind of where we started to, where we are going to be right now is you can go to a company like Mark and Graham or any other competitor that you know exists that's bigger in the market. And I want you to just really analyze the brand, what they're doing because.

I think that, I mean I think some real examples of what people have done and how you've helped them is something that like I was for sure looking for because like what steps did she take that helped her? What you know or because of the customization piece of it. And then also you know what like of my questions that I had like either a custom base or people that have gone from hobby to CEO.

Yeah. So here's a company multi stream machine student eventually like making millions and millions of dollars on Etsy and she does all of this custom stuff and still her when she joined it's because she realized she had all of her eggs, like millions of dollars in eggs in the Etsy basket and she's Like I need to do a website, I need to get people to come shop for me, but they are really while they can do everything. And I remember coaching her at a point where like cutting boards, custom cutting boards which I bought from her with like my grandma's handwriting writing out like her cheesecake recipe. I could get engraved in these cutting boards. She's very much operating like an Etsy business, which is very similar to how yours is kind of operating now. She's in Texas too. She has a gigantic facility and factory. You know, there's no like consistent, consistent thing here. They, they sell a bunch of, a lot of things, but they'll kind of know what's really trending. These big signs, these like name signs for the walls ended up being the thing that they did. But she has hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery. She's got team that are doing all of this so you can keep making and selling all the things. It's just that you're going to need volume and a lot of people because you can't do it all yourself, you know. And they do have some men's stuff that I always thought was kind of cool. Like they had like an engraved men's hammer and things like that because they're going. What I was trying to explain to someone yesterday was the Etsy mentality is I have to have everything because you're casting this wide net. You're like throwing spaghetti at the wall because somebody's coming on. They're not. When you're on Etsy, you're not looking for a brand. You're not looking for Mark and Graham. You're looking for something you're actually looking for like men's personalized gifts or baby shower gift, right? You're looking up something that you're searching for and then a bunch of stuff that's connected, that keyword is going to find you. You're not attached to the brand, right? Like it doesn't matter who does it. You're going to look at it and it's going to be what the picture looks like and the pricing on it and the reviews. And then you're kind of going to pick which one it is and go with that unless it's something so, so special. So right now you're kind of operating in the Etsy mentality of having all the things, but people aren't searching. Like, you're not Etsy, so I'd rather you be. If you were a store, if I were to give you a brick and mortar tomorrow and say, set this store up. I want you to think, how would I set this store up? What would the corners look like? What would the shelves look like? They'd walk in and probably in the front of the store, you would have, you know, maybe your fall collection starts to be presented, and it's all in the front and it's fall. And, like, what would those fall pieces be? And then what would the outsides of the store look like? So you might have, like, the wedding corner and then the home corner with a few things, like, hanging there that you're like, here's some pillows and some tea towels. Right. So you can still have these different categories. But if you had a space we physically had to put this in, what would you actually put in this space?

So that is something. Last week. So I used to operate just in this room, and I kind of had stuff everywhere, and it was so disorganized, and I felt like I was cluttery. I hired somebody this summer that's helped wrap. That's another thing. Like, I wrap everything before it goes out the door. So I am setting up. I call it a showroom in my dining room. And I think that that will. From what you just said, setting up a shop, I mean, it's not going to be a brick and mortar, but if I set that up, then it'll help me narrow down my categories.

I love that. Because then you can think, I'm walking on a. I'm walking on Main Street, USA Street. I see a store window, and it's this beautiful, unique gift shop. Whatsoever things, like, I can come in and I can get gifts there. Do you do men's? Maybe there's a couple pieces that are, like, unisex. Maybe around Father's Day or Christmas, you decide you're going to come up with a few things that, like, solve a problem. But the esthetic of your brand is going to be very much whatsoever things. And so the majority of the room is going to look like. If I were to put Mark and Graham in a room, it's going to look very different than Daily Disco's room. So then if I were to put whatsoever things in there, and then who would be the lady that comes in? What would she be dressed like? What would be her, like, her, like, feel, Right. Because she has to be attracted to the store window to walk in. Because maybe she's into it and maybe she's not. Maybe she's into, like, super minimal Swedish design. Right. Not your person. So then she walks in, and you want her to walk around the store, and then you think I have only this limited physical amount of space, so I can fit maybe 8 to 10 things per category in each section. And again, it's not forever. It's just that when you do your launches, when you do your collections, you might have like your, your core products that always stay the things, you know, you could sell all day, every day, no matter what the season. And then, you know, Christmas, there might be different products that you bring forward and you're going to have really Christmas or holiday section and that stuff is going to be there, it's going to be sold for the holidays and. But it's not going to stay on your website forever. It's going to be available and then it's going to go because then beach bags are going to be popular versus maybe more travel bags. Right.

So like on the holiday stuff like I think, right. I mean I don't move categories in and out. I should be moving like the holiday stuff in and out.

Be curating your website the way that you would curate a physical store. That's actually, I think this analogy, like the visual for me is clear to kind of explain it that way. I want you to treat your website and your Instagram and anywhere else that people visually see you as store window. What's going to get them to come in and walk through the doors. That's kind of like the thematic part of what you're selling, what your promotions are. You see this when you walk into a Target like back to school. Then there's all the one to five dollar bins of like back to school stuff or Halloween pumpkins or whatever it is. There's the seasonal stuff. So you want to think about your windows as like seasonal, especially gifting Mother's Day, Father's Day, back to school, graduation, Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever. And Thanksgiving is a huge time for Hostess. So that might be when you're doing, you're leaning more into Hostess gifts. And so in the fall might be like candles and it kind of carries the holiday. That's when we're going to see all our emails come out that are going to be all like how to set the table. Right. Or how to transform your living room for the holidays. And people start to do all those like little videos of draping the blanket over the armchair, which I can never do, but. Right. And so you can do a whole thing on that. And so you just think about like what is the market telling you they want, need. And that's the thing you're going to market towards and put more of it in front of them. And yeah, you shuffle things around your website, your Instagram, wherever you're selling does need to be aware of what's currently happening in the market. It cannot stay stagnant. It's not. It's not a one and done. It's a store that you imagine people walking into every day and you are shifting store windows and what's up front and what's in the back. Bathing suits are available. Bathing suits are on sale, right? Bathing suits are gone from the stores. You can't go into a store and get bathing suits all the time unless it's a bathing suit store only, you know. Okay, so what other. Because I know you're. The question was pretty broad about basically how to take this from a hobby to a company. What I see is a lot of the curating and being known for something and honing in and, and more Seasonal marketing, more like solving problems through your. Your gifts by saying like, hey, it's the season. Here are the gifts for you. And not making everything for everybody, but being kind of knowing the essence of who your customer is. You already know that, I think innately. But then it's creating plans around it. Launch plans, you know, like we just did in the very beginning. When you're going to talk about fall, your website's going to switch over your categories, how people see it. I want you to pay attention to other people's websites and how they shift and change. Like opt into email addresses or opt into emails. And then when you get the email, go click on their website and be like, can I see? Are they marketing this? They are. And then go look at their Instagram. Be like, yep, it's on their Instagram as well. Did you catch that? You should curate your website to the way that you would curate a physical store. That's like a big old tip right there. Meaning you need to constantly be updating your website to not only improve the customer experience, but to keep putting and making. Making your customers more aware of the products that they should be buying from you in the moment. So in Julie's case, her best option is to focus on creating collections and categories with her products so that she can lean into seasonal marketing to grow her business. Knowing how you are going to set up your website. Right? And knowing how to set up your website and what products to feature goes back to knowing your ideal customer, their pain points and if your product is season based or not. Sometimes it's not about selling all of the things, but it's all about. About focusing on collections or categories that make sense at different points during the year and by marketing those products to your audience accordingly. Remember, if your website is staying stagnant throughout the year, you're missing out on potential sales. 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 a Black Friday Cyber Monday, I know we're like, oh, no, I got to 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 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 like, 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 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 else. 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 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@rockyourholidaypromotions.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.

Okay. Yeah, I definitely think that's where I don't spend time is curating that. I think I'm more, I've been more focused on getting the work done because I have limited time. And I think what is paralyzing me right now is what steps should I be following? Like is there a checklist? Should I do X, Y or Z? And I think that's where I'm getting caught up is. I mean like if I look at, I mean I've been a member of the multi stream machine for four years maybe but I'm like I, I want to make sure I'm using the right resources and not trying to like reinvent the wheel because that is the most annoying thing to me is reinventing the wheel.

I think the hard part is, is you think that there is a sure fire. How does this work? Cut and paste. What worked for somebody else will work for me.

Answer that is totally. And yeah, I mean what I wrote down was much like in life I want a checklist, I wanted to do list. I'm probably not going to follow it but if I had it I could be like, oh, I need to have like an llc, which I do now. I need to have an accountant. Okay. I need to report by product. I need to all the things. And yes, that's what I, I mean I think that's what I've probably said a hundred times is where's my checklist? I need to check.

Jacqueline, just tell me what to do and tell me what they did so I can do the exact same thing. Yeah, Obviously, duh, it looks different. Because if I show you Daily Disco and I show you the other company, they are two giftable products with very different ways at it. One went on Instagram and like did really well on Instagram. Another one was huge on Etsy, makes a gazillion things. Spent 30, $40,000 to build a website and came to joined multi stream machine so that she could drive traffic to her website. And so for you, it sounds to me like you want to move out of being the local company. Yeah. Okay, so what I want to be able to do, and this is my very first step for you, is I want to be able to tell people go to whatsoever things for. And if it's just like for unique gifts, it's not different enough. So for unique. Oh my gosh, you would love whatsoever things because, like, she has the most like, amazing gifts for like, like, I don't know, if you, if you were to say, like, I know you're gonna love this. If you were to say, like, if, if you wanted to be like Reese Witherspoon and gift the most amazing things, like Reese would, that's what whatsoever things would be. Right. And so if you can bottle that up into some sort of messaging, people know the brand aesthetic that Reese Witherspoon embodies. And then I know that I'm either gonna gift someone like a Reese Witherspoon or I am that person and I get that aesthetic. So I think that's like the first part of really leaning into the aesthetic of whatsoever things, which is you. Which you can bottle. You just need to put words to it. Because I'm. If I think about like my current family in la, I, you know, it might be something like I'd buy my mom or my sister for like a gift for something and I'd have to like curate it out. Would it be a hostess gift? Maybe not. I'm not sure. Right. But it's like, like, for like the feminine women in my life, like, people have like a lot of like feminine, like femininity or they love like these beautiful, pretty things. They like to collect beautiful, pretty things. So it could be like, for people who love beautiful, pretty things. And then again, we're getting closer and closer to being referable. And once I can say you go to whatsoever things for like beautiful, pretty things that are giftable, and then I'm like, okay, people who love beautiful, pretty things, I'm gonna go there. So I think when you hone in, I need you to like, focus and then the steps to Doing it really probably would be focusing, knowing your numbers and then starting to market and promote with like some sort of plan that's. You need to create your own checklist of.

I like the. I like these two that I can write down.

You need to create your own checklist of what products you want to offer. So I want you to think about your seasons and think about like the categories of what you're offering, what the like lineup or selections are going to look like and then what your marketing plans are going to be around it and then you're going to know. Okay, I need to post about this on social, I need to send out emails, I need you to tell people locally. But once you have collections formed, that's when you can expand out to like whether you ever did do wholesale. Because you can still do custom but wholesale. Right. They can have a selection and then like order from you. If you worked with influence or anything, like, you know, an influencer, like maybe there's an influencer that loves necklaces and you send her a jewelry box and she's talking all about it. But it has to be the right influencer.

And I definitely haven't gotten to kind of that of like who my right influencer is. I do have some influencers that buy from me and I'm like, oh, that's amazing. Like the micro influencer.

Yeah. And it's not your concern right now because you still need to hone in on being able to bottle this up and tell me so that I can. So that if anyone were to say whatsoever things we could say to people you go to whatsoever things for and either pulls me in or repels me and it's okay to repel me in.

My like showroom idea that I had. The reason I was because I feel like when I used to go to pop ups, which is, you know, part of my business too, I didn't ever know what to take. I'm like, I'm taking everything. I didn't. I wasn't able to like curate what I took until this last one. I had everything pulled and I was like, I'm just taking back to school. I don't need to take everything. I'm just taking fall. So I'm going to come and do one I think in LA with a friend that has a bar Method in Palos Verities and she's like, well bring just your fall stuff. And I'm like, well, yeah, that's what I would bring. I can't pack up my whole showroom and bring it with me. So that I think is helping. But setting up it like a store is a great idea, obviously.

Well, just to curate your mind, you need your own checklist. Like, you need your own path to follow. And so you have all the data. What I want you to do is I want you to be sturdier than. I want you to be like the super sturdy tree that can, like, stand up against anything. So just because someone says, hey, can you make this? Unless it's really the money that you want, I want you instead to be putting your energy to what do you want to create and curate? You're my personal shopper, Julie, in the way of, like, I go to Julie for, like, knowing what the best gifts are. She always knows what the best gifts are and she has em. And so what is Julie telling me she has right now? I need it. And I actually think what an interesting thing for you could be potentially, like doing a weekly show. So when you have your little showroom set up, it'd be really cool for you to do an Instagram Live once a week that you're talking about. What do you want them to buy? Whatever you're sending an email about that week. This is for you specifically. This isn't a thing for everybody where, like, I go look and I'm like, what's the cutest, latest stuff that Julie's got that she's talking about? You could still launch your whole fall collection. It doesn't mean you need to launch something new. It just means you're talking about something new every week. So let's say you have 20 items in your fall collection. Maybe every week you're talking about three of them. You're doing different focuses, so it doesn't mean new drops. It just means you bring attention to different things per week. So it might be really fun to watch you tell me that. I check in and every week I'm seeing you, you're like. And I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah. Like, maybe next week I do start to get ready for Halloween and I catch your show and you're showing me these, like, adorable, I don't know, custom candy dishes, let's just say. And I'm like, my God, I need candy dishes. Maybe last week I didn't need them, but you're talking about them right now. And then I see them on your website, let me buy the candy dishes. And the next week you might entice me with something else. And that's how I want you to think about it. Like, you have your groupings and then you draw Attention groupings and draw attention and it's just gonna help you stay focused cause you're such a creative in what you're selling, when you're selling it and what you're gonna bring your customers attention to you. So if people wanted to buy unique, amazing gifts from you, how could they do that and where could they follow you?

So they can follow me on Instagram which is whatsoever underscore things and my website is just whatsoever things dot com.

Julie is so incredible and I truly enjoy being able to work with her and coach her. Now not only is she a multi stream machine student, but as she's grown and leveled up for business, she was able to apply and join the inner circle mastermind. Now you don't have to be an MSM student to join that. But so many of my multi stream machine students see such incredible success in their businesses that when they start to hit that six figure, multi, six figure and seven figure size business, they want more support, they want more community and that's when they will sort of ascend into my mastermind. Now Julie has some amazing products, but she just needs to figure out her exact path to profit and the next steps to be able to transition from treating her business like a hobby to becoming the full time boss of her business and having her business be her main source of income. The main theme here is that when it comes to navigating your transition, you need to focus and hone in, right? So knowing your numbers and figuring out a marketing plan, I know it sounds easy and simple, but I know a lot of times we feel super overwhelmed and we actually don't feel clear on the plan. So in Julie's case, it's figuring out how she can improve her website where she's currently selling and really focusing on collections and categories to make her product stand out. While Julie would love a cut and paste plan that's going to work for her business, what has worked for someone else may not work for her. And the same goes for you. Right? I want you to hear me say this. The same goes for you, product boss. You need your own path to profit. You need your own checklist to follow which will help you figure out what to do. This is exactly what we do inside of Multi Stream Machine. In one of our very, very first modules, we create your path to profit. Not Julie's, not someone else's, but but yours. Because each of us has a different product that we're selling, we have a different lifestyle that we want, we have a different way that we want to sell it. And so each of you have your own path, and each of you can have success no matter what you sell, where you sell it, and what your marketing plan looks like. So this is Julie's path going forward to achieve, becoming this full time boss of her business, right, Relying on her business. And now it's time for you to figure out your own path. I believe in you, product boss, and I want you to believe in you to. And so I hope that everything that we give here on the podcast and in our programs is that support that you've been looking for. Now, if you are feeling an inkling to give back to the product boss, would you be so kind to make sure that you're following or subscribe to this show? Just hit that little button wherever you're listening to podcasts. That's step number one. Step number two is if you haven't left a review for the podcast yet, I would be so incredibly grateful. I read every single one and it is so informative. It touches my heart and it makes make sure that we are on the right track to what we're doing. Okay, so please leave a review for the podcast, make sure to follow the show. And step number three, if there's someone that you think would benefit from listening to the show, send them the link, share the show with them, share this episode with them. Right, Those are my three things. Make sure that you follow or subscribe to the show, leave a review for the podcast, and share it with someone that you know. All right? Okay. So till next time, I'll see you then.