619. Is Your Product Business Ready for the Holiday 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 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 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 do this. Hey. Hey, Product Boss. All right, I am back with another episode that we actually originally aired as a blended life show episode over on Instagram. So if you haven't been joining me live on Instagram lately, and pretty much every week I've been going live to chat about blending all the things, right? So blending motherhood, personal life, lifing, and being an entrepreneur, I really believe that it's a blended way of being versus I call, you know, BS on balance and on juggling, I don't think that those are ever fully possible, but blending feels a bit better. So over on Instagram, doing these lives, I love it because I also get a chance to connect with you. I get to hear direct feedback. I get to kind of see where you're at, you know, in the moment, so that I know how to best support for product based business owners in the moment, right? So I'm still showing up live over on Instagram and even at the time that you hear this, so make sure that you're following the product boss over on Instagram, turn on those notifications. So there's a little bell once you start to follow us over on Instagram, there's a little bell and you can actually be notified every time we go live or post a reel or a story or something like that. So if you toggle that, you'll know when I go live and Instagram will just shoot you a little like, hey, the product boss is live. All right. So jumping into today's episode, really, it's like, like it's something that every time I hear it or think about it, it really kind of just breaks my heart to think that product business owners are getting stuck in this way or that they're being told something, right? That I think that is really just a disservice to your growth and what's possible. So when it comes to helping and coaching product based business owners, I also dig into this and think about what or why you shouldn't hesitate to invest in yourself. Because I think that's like a big huge thing that gets in the way is that when we're given this opportunity to invest in ourself, in our own, in coaching and expertise and something that's going to fast track our results, it's going to make our results even more possible. We'll hold ourselves back for ourselves on what we're willing to invest in for our own growth. I mean, all day, every day, we'll do it for our kids. Like I use this analogy the other day in the blended life where I was like, you know, if your kid shows they want to play piano and then you're like, okay, I'm either going to get a piano teacher to come to the house or I'm going to take them to a piano teacher. I'm going to take them to group classes, right? Or I'm going to find an app for that. We're always willing to pour into our children and their growth, but. Or even our pets, right? Like, oh my goodness, my dogs that are the most untrained dogs ever. But you bet your bottom dollar that when I got a giant 90 pound dog, we're like, we need a trainer to help us control this beast that we love so much. But he was a lot of dog and that was our responsibility. So we're like, great, we're gonna invest in whether we were going to, you know, a pet store or not pet store, but like a Petco and doing trainings there. Whether we got someone here to help us train or teach us how to be great pet owners, those were things that we were willing to invest in. But how about you? Right, so, so I think what I want you to think about is the expectation that you have that if you pour into your children, if you pour into your pets, if you see this as like your past self when you went back to school or you went to college and you're like, yeah, I didn't know what I was doing, but I went and I learned and I invested time and potentially you've invested money and resources into your growth because yeah, you shouldn't know all the things, right? But as you want to grow and Change and shift. Chances are you. You might not be seeing the results that you're looking for because you're holding yourself back from reaching that next level because you're. You're holding back on pouring into yourself, on filling up your own cup, on learning, on advancing, on kind of getting to that next level. So I don't want you to worry about any of this, because by the end of the episode, you are going to know your next step forward to reach your goals. We're gonna start talking about how to invest in yourself to make the most out of your business. Entrepreneurship. And truthfully, as we lead into the upcoming holiday season, this is the time to get more customers, to make more sales, to create plans, and to really reach and hit those goals that you have for yourself. So if you're ready for this, let's dive in. We're gonna do a little bit of a get ready with me while we talk about the fact that pumpkin spice lattes are here and what does that mean for you and your small business? Right? Let's talk about it. Let's talk about what it means for you and your small biz. You're like, why does Starbucks affect my business? Well, let's chat about it. So, my friends, did you see what was in Starbucks this weekend? Anyone go to Starbucks? Anyone open up their app and see that it's pumpkin spice season? It's here, it's made it. It's August, 20, what, 6? And it's fall, y'. All. Labor Day's next weekend. We've rolled in. And so I like to say that, you know, if the red cups are already in Starbucks, it's too late to prep for the holiday season. So the thing that I want to tell you all is we can go off of gazillion dollar companies and go off of their marketing calendar. They are starting to set the precedent or the feeling in the culture of the season through the beverages, right? It's a genius thing that Starbucks did. I have a whole episode on Starbucks and the pumpkin spice latte and that it was really just a haul, a fall promotion that did so well. They ended up making it a thing that was, you know, like something that happens every year that people look forward to. They kind of changed the market. Pumpkin spice turned into an actual scent, right? Pumpkin spice everything. Pumpkin spice turned into a color. And so the thing, though, to know about that and to consider is, you know, they launched something that was promotional and that they would take away. There was a scarcity element of time to it, and it's not to say you can't go get them to make a version of a pumpkin spice latte during the regular year. Unless maybe they don't have the pumpkin flavoring because I think they say sold out on some things. But that's the thing, they create the scarcity and then they move you into holiday tastes and they've been doing Boba drinks and all these different things depending on what the season is. Right. Starbucks is going through their own transitions, but that's the thing I want you all to think about. So let's talk about the fact that fall is here officially because I'm going to say we're going to go buy the Starbucks market marketing calendar. And the fact is that it's out. Okay? So what I want to make sure of though is as you're prepping for this holiday season, has anyone started prepping? Does anyone have their fall collections ready? How are you feeling? Is this like, do you feel like, yeah, I know what I'm selling this fall, I know what I'm selling this winter. I know what I'm selling, where I'm selling, how people are going to discover me. Okay, so I'm here, I can help you. But here's the deal. Okay, So I had people at my house last week. We did a retreat here that's part of like a one month mastermind that I'm hosting. And we were going through their prep, right, because they, they just, they invested in themselves. They decided to come in person. Like we're working together, but heard a lot of pretty terrible stories of people in my group that are students, that are multi stream machine students, that are standout society students that are just community people. They're in the community, they're just like you. And they were telling me about all of these programs that they've joined, all of these courses or masterminds or group coaching programs that were just not built for product based businesses. And I was just like sitting here like I kept like slapping my face. I'm like, oh my God, that's the worst advice. Oh my God, no wonder it didn't work for you. Anybody join any sort of programs or courses that they thought going to be the thing it was kind of promised or you thought, oh yeah, that's an Instagram course, it should work for me. Or that's a marketing course that should work for me. Or this person says they help product based and service based, that should work for me, right? I've seen there's a major who I love, but there's a program with a Letter, like someone called it the letter school and they say they help product based businesses and I was a student so I get access every year to the updates and I'm just like, no, this isn't, this isn't accurate for product based. It's somebody who's putting together something wanting product based people, but they don't actually know how to coach or how to help you in the market. This is not something that it's like, just do this. When you're in a product based business, there's so much stuff you need to know that's constantly changing in the market and in marketing and in trends and in production and in shipping and all the things. Right. Would you agree? So the thing is, is that I see real, real talk. Have you joined a program? Have you joined a course? Have you joined something that sticks that you thought would help you but then you realized it's not right for product people? Right? Have you, have you joined something? I just want to know because it breaks my heart. It totally breaks my heart that you're spending your hard earned money things that you hope are going to be the answer that are going to be the key to the lock that you're hoping to unlock to get to that next level in business and in life and all of your dreams that are totally possible. Right? And that then all of a sudden you're investing in the wrong programs. Right? Because the deal is, is not any kind of marketing or training will do. That's not true. Product people need to know, right? We need to understand what's going on in pumpkin spice lattes. We got to start talking, we got to start seeing, we got to start selling our fall stuff. And then some people were like, yeah, I'm going to come out with my fall collection in October. It's too late. Holiday starts to sell in October. Right. And I'm not going to say that it's too late, that you can't do it. It's just that you guys start getting prepared now. And so they're just not aware of, they don't even think about like free shipping and shipping cutoff deadlines, like keep selling. It's like you got to, you got to ship stuff before the holidays. Okay? And listen, there are a lot of programs out there. Like I said, there's the letter school which I joined back in 2013, which that person, amazing. She's done so much for women in business and all the things. But I'm going to tell you, it's not for product based business owners. If you're Service based? If you're a coach, sure. If it's for product, not really. Okay. I've got really good friends that are huge, huge podcasters. I've been on their podcast, even online, and they teach people how to grow their email list, they teach people how to grow their Instagram, but they're not teaching product people. It's a different thing. Typically, product people are not want brands built around the owner. There's parts of it, but they're not. So there's other ways. You have to be able to market your products. So they're really great. There's some really great programs out there. I mean, when I was growing my businesses, I didn't have, I didn't have anywhere to turn. I didn't have courses or I didn't have podcasts to listen to. None of it. Like, I didn't. After a decade in business is when I discovered that there were podcasts out there for this. And the reason seven years ago we decided to launch the podcast is where, like, there are literally no podcasts for product people. There were Etsy podcasts, but those Etsy podcasts, we've been on them, we're like, makers gotta make. They just gotta make, and they gotta make everything with their own two hands. And like, if they don't, they're just not being true to themselves as makers. I'm like, you know what? It's like, you know what makers gotta do? Makers gotta make money. Am I right? Makers gotta make money. That's why we're doing this. I mean, if this is a hobby, great. You go out, you paint, you do your thing, you give it away. But if there is any sort of inkling in your body that you're like, there is more to my life than just this. I know I've got product. I know I've got like a great idea. I know somebody out there would want this. And you're like, let's do it. That's what I'm here for. I'm here to help you. Like, if you have a hobby that you want to run into business, great. If you have a business that you want to do something in your life, like help you not live paycheck to paycheck, or I don't know, help you buy something that's been something in your dreams, whether it's your first house, your dream house, update your kitchen, retire your spouse, help pay for kids to go to college, buy you something pretty, buy you something useful, right? If that's what you want to do with your money, if it's just confidence. That's what we worked on this week at my in person retreat. Everyone's like, tell me how. Give me the strategy. I was like, great, I'll give you the strategy. But you know what we gotta do first? We gotta work on believing what's possible. We gotta start naming it, right? We gotta start looking at it. We gotta start thinking, like, what is possible? What do I actually want in my life and how am I gonna get it? Instead of all the reasons why it's not possible for me. Oh, my God. The breakthroughs that were happening this week were amazing. Amazing. I mean, just truly. So here's the deal. You do need to find programs, coaches, courses, podcasts, all the things that are specific for product based business owners. Then you also need to make sure that it's aligned with the way that you want to run your business. Why do I say that? Because you can go find an Amazon course from like some sort of bro teacher marketer. Like, yeah, do this, like go source a product overseas, get that product up on Amazon, get the listing, and then you can roll around in your Lamborghini with your hot wife to your private jet, right? That could be for you, right? Who wants the Lamborghini, the hot wife? Some of us so far. Nobody. Right? Then you can go for the Etsy, the Etsy coach. That's like makers gotta make. We just love the art of making. It's always gonna be their own two hands. Because we really, truly believe in. No, if that's for you, great, great. If it's not for you, if you're like, I would like these made people's hands, just not mine, then let's do it with our hot husbands, right? Yeah, I'd rather be on a beach with my hot husband and my kids enjoying it. While I'm looking at my phone, I'm seeing sales come in, right? While people are opening my emails and finding me or reaching out to me and wanting to buy. So you have to find the coach that's right for you and you have to find the coach that has the right kind of system for you. Hey. 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, 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. 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 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. 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. So my system that I teach is that we teach that you don't need to have a huge social media following. You don't even have to lean into social if you don't want to. We also teach that you don't need ad money to grow your product based business. It's a choice and it's a tool, but it's not a must. And there are so many programs. I've also joined programs where I'm like, I just want to see what they teach. And it's like, you need social media, you need to grow and you need influencers. That is your way. And then you sell on your website and that is how you grow your business. It's not the only way. Okay, do you believe me when I say this? It's not the only way. Are you like, I don't know, Jacqueline, maybe it is the only way. Or are you like, yes, tell me more. Someone said, I did the holiday bootcamp last year and it gave me such a boost of confidence going into such a busy and chaotic season. I love that. Fiamma says, yes, this maker's got to make money. Yes, makers got to make. Twinkle Twig said, I literally just watched the email module and multi stream machine yesterday. So much better than the 500 email course. That taught me nothing. Yeah, you know why? Because our program is like a whole bunch of programs in one. It's kind of like a one stop shop. People are like, you're giving them all of this in one program? Like, yeah, they're like, it could be a whole bunch. You could sell them all separate courses. I'm like, I could, but that's not the product, boss. We believe there's many paths to profit. We believe you get to try different things. We believe that it's like a snowball. You get on your main sales channel, you start to figure out how customers are going to find you. You start to bring in the right people and then you can get your best sellers, what you're known onto other sales channels. Right? Sales channels that actually perform for you. But here's the deal. You can go to Google University, you can go to YouTube University, you can even go to Podcast University. Right? Where you're Listening, and you're piecing it together and you're trying to figure out. So thank you for listening to the podcast, right? Cause I've switched it over that we're doing a coaching call every week, and people are like, it's like you're talking to me, which is so good. So I'm so glad that it's so helpful. But the thing is, is that what if you had, like, what if you had access to go deeper? What if you had access to the how, right? This is why people join programs. This is why people join courses, or they work with coaches, or people join my mastermind, or they'll hire me one on one, right? They do this because they're like, great, I can listen to this. And then I'm serious. I'm serious that I want this thing to happen, right? That's where people end up getting. And they're like, I want this to happen. I want to know more, and I want that roadmap. I want you to tell me a lot of the how you know, and so I do. And we walk through it and we make it a strategy that works for you, that works for your business, that works for your family, that works for the things that you want in your life, okay? So I want you to just make sure that you're paying attention to all of this. And I want you to also just consider, why do I keep not investing in myself? I want you to think to yourself, why? Why do I have all the excuses? Why will I pay for my kid to go to dance or gymnastics and learn things and put into them, or get a tutor when they need a tutor, after school, stuff like whatever it is. Why are you more willing to do that for others, but not yourself? Is there an expectation that you should know how to do all this? Is there a thing where the value in yourself isn't as aligned that you're like, I'll. I'll pour into this person. But what about you, right? Don't you deserve. If you're gonna spend this much money and this much time trying to grow a business, if this is what you're gonna do and you're gonna spend this much money, this much time, this much dedication, sitting on here on Instagram, scrolling, watching my leg, listening to the podcast, doing whatever you do, if you're gonna spend that time, why are you more willing to invest in others but not yourself? I want you to really think about that, okay? I want you to think about that. I want you to ask yourself, why am I more willing to and not Me, why do they deserve to be poured into but not you? Because if you really want to be able to give to charity and an abundance and to sign up your kids for anything and not worry about the, what the total is going to come out to at target, right? If you like, money can go up and down. Things can be more expensive or less expensive, but you know that you have this money making machine that's your business, that's bringing the money in so that you can live your life, so that you can pour into your children, so that you can pour into yourself and the people around you that you love and you can give away and you can save and you can invest and do all the things, then why is it that you're not filling up your cup so that you can. I want you to really think about it, right? We think that, like keeping away from us and like this like, lack of ourselves, some way, like pious or good of us, I'm not going to spend the money on that. I'm going to spend the money on something responsible. You want to know what's responsible? Responsible is learning how to manage your business and how to grow it. You know, Responsible is not going and buying all these supplies for all this product that doesn't sell, but not knowing how to sell it and not selling it. The number one thing that businesses have to do, the number one crucial thing in a business is sales, making money. I know it's hard for us to talk about sometimes, especially as women, but it's not a business if it's not. If you keep putting money into it but not getting money out, then it's a hobby. There's definitely the time that it is like, we put money in to grow something, right? We invest in it. Like, I saved up my 20 grand when I first started my business, I had $20,000. And I was like, this is what I have. I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna see if I can do that. And it was really scary when I thought I wasn't gonna make that money back. Really scary, you know? And then I made more money than I had ever thought I was gonna make, right? I made more money than I ever thought I would make. So if you're like, I'm done doing this by myself, I'm ready to do something different. This, this holiday season is gonna be great because people are gonna know that I exist. I know I'm gonna know what I'm selling. I'm gonna put money into the right things. I'm Gonna actually make sales so that I feel busy or I am busy and I wanna make sure that I'm fully supported in that and making the most money in profit and like really wanna level up. Then sign up for my totally free five day bootcamp camp. It's different than ones you've been at before. There's some similar stuff. We're going to figure out what your offer is. We're going to build promotions, but it's also different. It's five days and there's going to be a lot happening in there. We're going to have plans for the holidays. Right? We're going to overcome some of our mindset blocks. We're going to know what we're doing. We're going to feel not confused, not overwhelmed. Right? We're going to have clarity. Who wants clarity? If you want clarity and get your booty into the bootcamp, it's free and I'm sending five days and my whole team has been working for weeks and me weeks on getting this thing to be the best possible thing ever. Okay. I'm really excited to see you inside of the holiday boot camp. We're gonna build your promotions. We're gonna create a plan. You're going to feel prepared so that you can make good money, so that we can make it rain during the holiday season and you have the buckets to catch them. Okay? That's what we're gonna do together. Cool. All right, my friends, I'll see you in the next one and I'll see some of you inside of multi stream machine because you're already students in there, but otherwise get registered for the holiday boot camp. Okay, Bye. All right, friends, I hope this episode helped you realize that if you want to reach that next level and make the most out of what's possible for you this holiday season and beyond this holiday season, that you're going to need to do something different. And that might look like investing in yourself. That might look like finding the right coach for you. It might be like finding the right new program, course support system that that's going to be there for you. Okay? And this is for product based business owners. So I want you to think, if I'm going to invest in something, does this coach, does this course, is this, is this place that I'm at, Are they speaking my language? Are they speaking to my business? Or am I having to switch things around to make it work? So just, you know, hold that for you if I'm the right coach. That's why I offer these coaching sessions once A week where you can hear them. Because I want you to see, like, do you align with what I coach? Do you align with how I help people? Because if you can see this and you're kind of getting this peek behind the scenes, you can also can also see how a program like Multi Stream Machine might be just the thing that you're looking for. Okay? And the other thing I just want to point out, because I see this happen a lot. I've been here myself, I've said these exact words and I feel like I'm hearing them a lot right now because, you know, hey, Jacqueline, I'd love to invest in this program. I'd love to invest in myself, but I don't have the money right now. I hear that a lot. And you're not alone. And I've said that over and over, and I totally get that. Right? But sometimes that investment doesn't always mean that you need the money. Maybe it's your time, right? Maybe there are possibilities for you to grow, but it's about investing your time and not money initially. So that's exactly why I want to just encourage you to sign up for a totally free 5 day holiday sales bootcamp that I have running for you. Okay? So all I'm requiring of you is that you show up, that you do the work, you show up live if you can, but that you come to this five day holiday sales bootcamp, right? It's. It's different than anything you hear on the podcast and it's the thing that I think is going to help you unlock that next level. So if you haven't signed up already, I wanna help you create your plan to make some really good money during the holiday season, right? For you to really get customers to know you exist, for you to get more customers to make more sales, to set up your holiday promotions in September so that you can have the holiday season that you're hoping for and that that can carry on beyond the holiday. So all I'm asking for is your time. And if you're listening to this in real time, we're kicking off this five day bootcamp today. As you're listening to this, it is not too late to jump in. So all you have to do is click the link in the show notes to grab your spot. Or you can go to rockyourholidaypromotions.com, we'll just drop in all the links, but you'll get the replay if you've missed today, you'll get the replay if it's Tuesday or Wednesday still join. Okay, this thing is five days. You can join at any point as you hear this, because I want to get you the replay, if nothing else, so that you can listen and that you can take action in your business. All right, my friends. And if you so happen to have just found the show, make sure you're clicking the follow button or subscribe, depending on where you're listening, because you wanna make sure that you're updated every time we drop a show and we drop one twice a week. And if you'd be so kind, if you haven't done so already, would you mind leaving a review for the podcast? It helps me know that I'm staying on track, that I'm getting you everything that you want weekly in my coaching and in these extra episodes that I do for you. And it just really makes sure that I'm aligned with serving you. Okay, thank you so much. I hope to see you in the free five day boot camp. If not, I will see you in the next episode.