630. "I’ve crossed the six-figure mark and want to double my sales for next year, what’s my best, simplest path forward?" | Coaching Session

So just like, as far as, like this year I'll probably reach about 150k. How do I double that next year? But also simplify things and not make things too over complicated.

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, or 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 bosses. Now welcome back to another coaching session. So today you're going to hear me chatting with Tirza of Tirza Lane Art, who creates and sells colorful cowgirl and western inspired art. Now, Tirz comes from a long line of strong independent women in her family which are deeply intertwined in her work, including her great grandmother who was a painter, and her great great grandmother who owned and operated mines all across Utah. I mean, the legacy here is strong and the stories and lives of these incredible women are central to tears work as an artist, which has led her to creating and owning a six figure business. You know, we love powerful women around here and Tirza is modeling all of this, but her biggest struggle is having a simplified, clear direction forward on how she can continue to increase and even double her revenue next year. And so this is exactly what we're gonna figure out. So you ready? Let's dive in. In your words, tell me a little bit about what you sell and where you sell it.

Yeah, so I am a artist, first and foremost. I'm a western artist. So I create giftable items. I would say so. Cards, scarves like that. Yeah.

Where do you sell? How do people find you? Like where do they discover you and then where do they transact with you?

Yeah, so I mostly sell to stores so you can find my product in stores all over the world and then I sell online at my website, tears of lainart.com and then I don't really do in person. So those are my two kind of main ways to buy my product.

Okay, great. And it looks like you have almost 10,000 followers. So would you say that your lead acquisition, like the way that people discover you other than the stores is through social media.

So I would say that. And Pinterest.

Pinterest. Okay.

Pinterest. Yeah.

Which one do you think has more weight? Pinterest or Instagram?

Pinterest.

So if I were searching something on Pinterest, what, what are they searching? That. Then they're. They're buying from you On Pinterest, they.

Are searching for like stylized photos. Like my top seller are my scarves or my wild rags. And so a lot of times they'll be searching for like stylized images with my product in it. I would say that's the main thing. I do have some home products. So, like things that show up and like, definitely like the stylized images people are more drawn to on.

When you say stylized, are you meaning like styled? So, like they look cute wearing your scarves? Is that what you mean?

Yeah. Or just like people are doing things while wearing them.

So are they searching for Western scarves? I think that's the part that I'm, I'm wondering, like, because Pinterest is a search tool.

So yeah, they're searching for like western style. Western fashion.

Okay, Western fashion, yeah, things like that. All right. You have almost a hundred thousand monthly views. That's amazing. And you're selling through Pinterest as well.

I sell, yeah. I guess I can, yeah. Click the link and buy. So yeah, I sell through, through Pinterest. I would say like my monthly revenue as far as my Shopify site has gone up since I've started doing that. I didn't start doing that till like June. So I have seen.

So what did you, what did you start doing in June?

Pinterest or not advertising, but Pinterest marketing of this year.

Do you mean post, like allowing them to shop through Pinterest or just being more specific and getting your product on Pintere?

The latter. Just being more specific. Okay.

Amazing. So good. Your Pinterest is really cool too. All right, so you're doing great revenue wise. Looks like you're projected to be well into the, you know, six figure range. Your biggest struggle is direction with what to really hone in on and focus on. Do I grow my E commerce side or focus on wholesale? I also struggle since my designs can literally go on anything. What products to offer, which ones to get rid of and what to add, if any. Like, that you're feeling the need to simplify, but also feed your creativity, which you're not alone in that.

Yes.

Like, I can make anything. I know I make everything.

Oh, yeah. It's the. The battle between the two for sure.

So what would make this strategy session a success to you? Where would you like to be about an hour from now?

I think just having a clear direction of, like, especially from your point of view and, you know, from you looking at so many businesses, what you see, because, like, I'm. I'm a sponge. I'm, like, ready to just be like, okay, I'll do it. So just like, as far as, like, this year, I probably reach about 150k. How do I double that next year? But also simplify things and not make things too overcomplicated. Yeah.

I mean, simplification might be the way to get there really fast.

Yeah, perfect. So, yeah, just, like, input.

How to get there.

Yeah.

And then so your topics you want to cover is which area of revenue to focus on. Do I stick with wholesale or do I devote my energy into other revenue streams like custom work or retail? E Comm. Which we'll dig into. And then the second part is it goes back to what products to be eliminated or add.

Mm.

He said, I know it's costing me lots of extra money to have extra products, even though they all sell. Where do I keep my focus on? All right, so focus. Let's. Let's get into that. Then I'm gonna ask you exploratory questions so I can help coach better. Even though. Yes, you sell everything. And we can have the different sales channels. Right. Like, do you sell wholesale? Like, a lot of wholesale?

Yeah. Like, it's probably 95% of my business.

Oh, okay. Wow. Okay. So 95% of your business right now is wholesale.

Yes.

And how are you selling? Like, how do people discover you? Are you on fair? Are you selling at markets? What. How are you doing that?

All the above. So I sell on fair, and then I do have my own platform that wholesalers can buy from through Shopify. And then I also go to this last year, I went to two trade shows, so kind of I've kind of just dived. Dived in this year.

So basically the 150k is really. Even though things are coming up on Pinterest and stuff, it's not some. It's not the direct to consumer that's driving that money. Okay. It's a lot of info. Okay, great. So out of fair, your own Drive. So we've got your own website, your Shopify that you've got your own wholesale link to, which means you're driving people there. We've got Fair, which is where you're probably being discovered by new shops, and then trade shows, which is also being discovered. What feels like it's working, what's not working, what do you want to do more of? What do you want to explore?

Fair is working. That's where I make most of my money or most of my sales. I would say the trade shows. This is my first year doing trade shows, so they went well. They just cost a lot of money and they're a lot of energy.

Did you make any, like, really big contacts or anything that you wouldn't have found unfair?

Not necessarily.

Okay.

No. I do plan on, like, trying a couple different ones. I did the one in Dallas and kind of seeing how they go. But I would say, like, that out of, like, getting acquisitions, like, that's probably the hardest one, because it is. You get to meet your retailers. But Fair is easy. I just. People order from me. Yeah. I mean, I don't know.

So many people would be like, can it be easy for me, too? It's not easy for everyone. I just need to let you know how successful you are. So knowing that you're selling wholesale, 95% of that are product made. Having a healthy margin like this is huge. So I feel secure with scaling from that. Because you have a manufacturer, you got people that can scale your product, and we know you're making the right margins. Your own Shopify, wholesale. Are people coming to that or not really?

Occasionally, I don't do anything to, like, really promote it. I'll post on Instagram, be like, hey, if you want to buy directly from me, I've had some people from Fair come over to my website to order, and then I've had some organic traffic. I just started that, like, a couple of months ago just so I could have my own, like, that. The retailers, I can kind of control a little bit more of it.

How are you doing with the commissions on Fair?

Like, is that I've factored it in to my profits, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Okay. So what I think I'd like you to do is knowing, because you're like, where do I focus? 1. If fair is a great transaction portal for you and you're being discovered, part of paying the commissions is the discovery. Right. You're not having to pay a rep. You're not having to pay for a trade show like Dallas Market where you have to go pay for the booth, travel, hope to God the right people walk by you and. And you convert. So that's why that kind of platform is charging you a percentage. What you can do is really work on driving your own traffic to Fair. So working on finding the right retailers, making a phone call, intro, and then potentially instead of even having them come to your own website, potentially you have them just go to Fair because you don't pay the commission on your own people. And that's for the time being, long term, if you feel like you need more lead time and you don't be reactive and you would rather like, because when you go to these markets, you take a purchase order, you take an order and then you go into production and you fulf. Fair is more like, what do you have on hand typically when you sell? Wow. I'm just, I'm so excited for Tirza and the success she's seeing from wholesale. So so far she's doing everything right on Fair. But if she wants to continue to grow her wholesale part of her business, which she should, because that's where she's seeing success. Right, we want to lean into things that are working, then one of the easiest ways for her to do this is by starting to drive her own traffic to Fair using her social platforms on Instagram and Pinterest. If TEARS is able to do this, she'll also start saving the commission fee she has been paying Fair to find the retailers for her. It's a win, win. Now, listen, I'm all about commission and the fees because that's honestly the cost of doing business. So I don't want you to hear me coaching her and saying like, yeah, that's why I don't want to do this. And that's why I don't want to do that. Because when I had my own business and I was selling wholesale, I was paying 15% commission to my sales reps. I was paying for their showroom fees, which was like a thousand dollars a month. I was paying for them to travel and go on the road. So Fair really overcome a lot of those obstacles for small business owners like you and me. But this is another strategy in her strategy tool belt that she can really start to implement. And I see it as a win win and an excellent next step to increase her sales and grow her business. Okay, so now let's see if TEARS is having any other struggles while selling on Fair and how we can address them. Is that any sort of issue for you right now or you feel okay.

In that way I feel like I'm always adjusting because I'm just like getting larger orders and so I'm just like constantly balancing inventory and like how much to order. So I feel like I'm doing my best with. With Fair and More, the reactive retailer. Yeah, I mean I think I struggle with like having enough inventory on hand. I sell out of things really quickly. So like having that I. Yeah, that's always an issue. I'm running, I think.

Yeah. So my thing with Fair and I've said this to them. Cause I had an actual meeting with execs at fair and I was like, hey, I love what you've done. But the problem is is not everyone can. It sounds like with you too, you're manufacturing this product. It's not like you're going to pour soap and sell it in like a week. Right. Like it's all. You're just doing it all at home and then it's available next week. Or people who, God bless everyone but they like get so reactive and they're like, now I have to stay up and bead 75 bracelets to ship to the store tomorrow. It's not the way the business is supposed to be operated. Typically fair. And getting orders for immediates on there is what's on hand. Like product on hand versus if you were to ever sell to let's say free people decided they were going to do like a western theme and they loved all your bandanas, they would be placing an order with you now to be shipped to them next spring, right?

Yeah.

You would have all this time that you get the purchase order, you'd go into production, you'd have a delivery date and then you would have a production against a purchase order and then you would be shipping. So the mix between fair and not fair, the mix between your own Shopify and trade shows is trade shows and your own Shopify will allow for you to work ahead of time and present collections that you take purchase orders on, then you go into production against that and then you ship at a delivery fair. I know they're playing with like pre orders or they've got this longer lead time that people can place orders. But the customers that are buying on Fair are sometimes buying the fill in versus them to like the more a buyer that's been around for a while that buys bigger lines. They are having to order way ahead of time.

Right.

They want to get jeans from a denim company, they're having to have ordered it way ahead. They don't get to call it denim company number one. And be like, can I have this in two days? And the denim company's like, yeah, sure. That's not how it works.

Right.

So having this mix is good. The way for you to streamline this is for you to think of your business and collection.

Okay.

So what's going to be your spring 25 collection or your summer 25, your fall, your winter? You may decide that you're going to do two collections a year and then drop them a little bit at a time. Or in the fashion industry, which sounds like you're kind of fashion or home, it might be spring, summer, fall, winter.

Okay. Yeah.

So four collections.

Okay.

And even though it's four collections, it doesn't mean that they all. Like, spring gets all dropped on January 1st. Right. It could be like, you're like, I'm going to come up with 25 products for spring, and then I'm going to release them in drops throughout those three months of spring. It doesn't need to be all at once.

Okay. And that's like a little kind of what I'm doing already. So it's good to hear that. Like, keep doing that.

Yeah. So if you're working ahead of time, when you do go to these markets, if you do approach stores, it's gonna. It's gonna eventually be getting you into the cadence. Like, right now we're recording this in September. Right now is a big time in fashion that we've got. That's why there's New York Fashion Week or Paris Fashion Week. That's always the beginning. They're showing you next year's spring collection because the buyers go to those F shows. That's the whole point of these fashion shows. The buyers go, they see what the collections are, and then they're buying to be in their store. And at the same time, we've got coterie New York now, like the show, the Vegas shows, like all the trade shows are happening. Because right now, if I was at market, I would be selling my spring collection for 25, and then I'd be cutting off my orders probably by November 1st, and then I'd be in production against those, and then I'd be shipping in January, February.

Okay.

So it's just starting to think through your cadence, how long you need for design, development, production. And if you could at least design a develop ahead. When you go to these markets, you can present earlier product. You can try and get orders ahead of time to go into production against, and then you've got fair or the way that you've been selling where you've got your immediates and they just buy from the inventory that you have.

Okay. Do you think it's okay to do like a mixture Like I like some things are pre order because some things I can get quicker that I always have on hand. So like having. I'm just like wondering. I know with pre orders on, on Fair especially like each product is like a separate or it becomes a separate order. So then they have to be shipping for each thing. I don't know. Yeah. So that's why I haven't done it a ton.

It's just the playground you're playing in on Fair, you're gonna play according to their rules, which is like in multi stream machine, for example. I know you're not in the program, but when I teach wholesale, I don't teach it depending on a platform like Fair because it's the same with like Etsy or anywhere else. You're playing in their rules, their playground, the way they set it up.

Okay.

So I love the combination for you where if you feel like you want to eventually work ahead of time, you'll create line sheets, you'll know what your spring summer collection looks like, your fall winter ahead of time. And then if you go about finding your own retailers, perhaps you're like, I'd love to show you the spring summer collection. We're taking orders, delivery is on X date. And here's my immediates, my open to sell and that's the inventory you have that they can buy from, which fair to you is more of your, your immediate open to sell inventory.

Right. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, so using my own platforms to kind of like, kind of have my retail learn kind of to order ahead of time. Fair is more like the open to sell.

And as you, as you contact, as you get these contacts, right. Then you can start to create relationships with them. So fair is doing the work for you. That and then what you can start to do is you can send them the line sheet and get them to transact with you for a future order. So that now you're like, if I'm going to go in and make the scarves. But you're seeing from all of the orders that everybody's really liking this one print. You make more of that one print. You don't make it even across all prints.

Right.

Even get to drop a print if it doesn't sell well.

Right. Okay.

It's. It takes the guesswork out because there's still always going to be guessing and forecasting. But especially if you're telling me 95% of your business is wholesale, sustainable wise. We want to just start to. It might not be all at once. It might be by fall of next year. You're working ahead of time right now. It might just stay the same way that it is. But just letting you know that there's other ways that you can do this. Okay, can you start to see what her next step is? While there are so many positives to fair, especially if you're wanting to sell wholesale and don't already have an audience or you're not exactly sure how to find your customers, there's also some limitations to this platform that can lead to slowing her growth. So just like any platform where you're selling to other people's audiences and they're driving the traffic to you and for you, you do also have very limited control over your fulfillment and delivery time. So if this is how you're currently selling, then similar to tiers that you'll know that the link like this might lead to you feeling like you're being reactive. Right. Reactive to your orders instead of being able to plan ahead. This is probably one of the things that I like the least about this platform because it's not the traditional way of selling wholesale. You've probably heard me say it. I'll say it here again. So if she wants to keep growing her wholesale, she's going to need to start planning ahead and dropping collections throughout. Right. Like throughout the year versus all at once. And this is going to allow her to start to forecast and work ahead of time, which will ultimately lead to increased growth and sales. This making sense. Okay, so now let's explore Tears as products and see if she needs to simplify what she offers. Hey, product boss. Okay, so you know that I am on a mission to empower women all over the world to build product based businesses that give them the security and freedom to build their dream business, which will also lead to the life of their dreams. So I know that I can help you do this by teaching you how to nail the core four foundational pillows of a standout business. And it's going to turn your business into something that feels like it's kind of struggling along or limping along to standing out in a crowded market and getting more customers. So I am so excited to invite you to join my free masterclass, your four step playbook to stand out in a crowded market and get more customers so that you can grow your business no matter where you sell. In just 90 minutes, I'm going to teach you the core four foundational pieces your business might be missing, how to stop wasting time and money on things that don't work and what to focus on. Focus on instead. I mean, these are proven ways to build an audience that buys from you and that tells their friends about you. So what I want to do is I want to unlock what can be blocking you from growing a profitable business and how you can turn it around pretty instantly. All you have to do is come join me inside of this totally free masterclass, head to the productboss.com standout to get access again. That's the productboss.com standout. Now back to the show. So. So let's dig into the product. Okay, so you said to me that everything sells, but that's probably not 100. True.

That's true. Yeah.

It's a feeling. So what? Truthfully though, like, what are the. If I was like, okay, you can only keep 10 products on your website, what would those be?

So scarves. Those are my number one cards.

What about the bandanas? Are those the same thing?

They're cotton. So my. My larger scarves are the. Like a silk blend and my bandanas are cotton. They're just like a lower price point.

Both sell just as.

No, my silk scarf's so astronomically more.

They're silk scarves. So that's not the bandana.

Not the bandana. They do sell, just not at the rate that those scarves.

Those are the wild rags, right?

Yeah, the silk ones.

Astronomically. Okay. Wild rags. Great. And then what else? The cards.

Cards. I would say, like my two top sellers are my cards, my stationary, and then. Yeah, and then the scarves. So the cards, I sell like card sets, single cards. And that's kind of about it with that. But I have.

And out of single cards and sets, what sells?

Birthday, Mother's Day, single cards or set? Single cards. Okay, first single cards. Birthday, Mother's Day, wedding, and Christmas would probably be my four top card sellers. Card packs. I sell like a mini card set and those sell really well. And then I sell a couple larger card sets of mine, just regular size cards. Cards. Those still. Okay, I noticed, like the mini ones sell a lot better than the regular size for whatever reason. So.

Okay, and then what's next after those two?

So I would say tea towels would be my next. And then stickers, I would say. And then let's see, I would probably say bandanas. After that I sell scrunchies and then some. I would say keychain. So okay, art prints.

How about those?

The prints they sell. Okay, my printer Actually just broke. So I'm like, maybe that's a sign.

It is a sign. There you go. Okay, one thing off.

So I'm not really selling those anymore.

What about the calendars?

They're kind of my first year that I've done. So last year I did like a planner, like a book planner, and that sold really well. This year I had issues with manufacturing and I just couldn't get it in time, so I did a wall calendar instead. So far it's doing okay. I've had it up for like a couple of days. So so far it's selling well for being so early on. But that is definitely one of my seasonal products that I'm like, testing this year to see how well it. It does. Yeah. So that one's kind of like. I love doing them and I. They are a lot of work, but they turn out really nice. And so we'll see. Okay, that one's a question mark. Okay.

So if you can look at your revenue so far this year and then look at all the things you listed for me. So you went wild. Rags to cards, and then in cards you had your singles and you had your packs and then tea towels, stickers, bananas, scrunchies, keychains, and then prints. So the numbers aren't going to lie to you. You've had a very successful year. The numbers are going to tell you what you should keep and what you should get rid of.

Okay.

And. Or you don't have as big of an offering. So like you said, you can. You've got tons of ideas, talls of tons of prints, like all the things. But it gets overwhelming for someone to shop through all of them.

Right.

So it could be just a couple tea towels if. Or tea towels, I think is better. Bandanas. Right. Like maybe there's a couple of bandana always stay. And there's not a whole page or more pages of bandanas.

Okay, so I'm not like always updating a robust. Like update my top sellers with a more robust collection, but then maybe those other categories. Not as many options.

Yeah. And that, though is if you see that there's actual data and this does well, otherwise you could drop the bandana because the bandana and the wild rags might be competing with themselves.

Okay. Yeah, I always wondered that. I noticed the retailers will buy both.

But look at what they're buying. Like, let them. Let the data tell you what they're buying. Right. They might like it, but they might be buying the same print over and over. So you might say that. Okay. Every Season, I'm going to have five prints of bandanas. I'm going to have, you know, like, if I look at yours right now, you've got, like, white ones with a horseshoe, and, like, there's some, like, with more white to them. There's some with more color to them. So just thinking through, like, what do people want as that neck accessory? And then just having a variation of that. And maybe there's five bandana options versus right now, you have 15 different band prints, and a few of them are sold out. Makes your ordering easier too. Right. You're not sitting on all this excess inventory. And then it's a collection, so. And I don't want your bandanas to compete with your wild rags. So you can also think, like, what would look better as a bandana versus a bigger scarf that can be used in a lot of different ways.

Okay.

And then when you look at your scarves, you do have a lot there, too. You've got two pages worth of scarves. But same thing, you might look at, like, the chintzy print. So chintzy are like the little tiny prints versus you've got one with looks. You've got bigger buffalo. Right. Or some you have that are, you know, mirror images of the wild horse, prairie horses, or there's one of the vintage cowgirl that takes up the whole thing. Right. Then you have ones that have, like, little prints that can be folded. So look at what people are buying to then tell you also in that variation. So maybe you come out with 10 wild rags per collection.

Okay.

And you divide that up. You know, three are small prints, like your west, like your lucky cowgirl. One with, like, lots of little. So it could be twisted or whatever because it's just about the print and more places. Some of them have to be positioned in a really certain way so that you can see what's on it.

Yeah.

So then varying your offering there.

Okay.

And again, look at your data of what sold. And I would say to go through. I would say to look at your. Look at your sales and look across the whole thing and say, what's out of this money? Out of a hundred thousand, out of 150,000. You know, if. If you tell me, like, 80,000 is driven by wild rags, right? Then we've got some. And then you're like. And then the next thing is cards, and it's 20,000. You can see where maybe your money and effort go, because it's easy to drop the 20,000 and make more of the 80,000. Or if you're like, I do 40,000 of this, 30,000 of this, and everything else is like $10,000 each. Same thing. What would it look like if you really focused in on product that sold? You could expand on that. You don't need to offer everything to everybody. And then with your calendar. Yes. You're in calendar time right now. The hardest part about calendars is that they're data. So, yeah, if it doesn't sell the way you hope it to sell, it will have to go on sale. So it's probably like a good learning lesson of trying a new product category, but maybe it wasn't the right sub.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I know that the calendar always. The dated stuff always makes me nervous, but, like, well, try it once.

So, yeah, so I see your stuff as like a gift store or even a cool, like, you know, like, equestrian arena facilities. Have, like, a gift store at them. Like, you have. Have a lot of different places you can sell to, whether they're gift stores and locations, whether that's product focused. So again, it's like anthropology or free people or someone wanted to buy, like, a collection of the wild rags for you, and, like, they. They found all the different ways to do that. I do think your scrunchies, and I know they're not selling that well, but they're easy, giftable items. It just depends on what the trend is. Right.

So I think that's the other thing. It's like, are there seasons that I, like, drop the scrunchie and replace it with something else at times, or do I just always have a scrunchie or. Because I've thought about, you know, adding other products because I am very gifty. Like, people buy my product to fill in their stores, like those, like, missing pockets. So, like, bags or, like, makeup bags and things like that kind of thought. Like, you know, do I add things like that or do I just, like, spend another year building my, like, the wild rags and, you know, rinsing and repeating this, or do I go and add more product categories? Right.

So I think you, like you said, you fill in at gift shops right now, and they're able to fill in with your products. You need to be everything that everybody know. Do you need to keep your finger on the pulse of what that's trending in the industry? I think so.

Okay.

But do you need to expand product lines? I think you could make it pretty far with just some, like, killer scarves, you know, thinking about Pinterest and how it's working for you. Obviously, like, you're saying that they want to know fashion and style. Well, you're selling accessories that are able to keep that fashion and style without you having to get into clothing. And I don't think that you should get into clothing.

Yeah, okay. Yeah. I mean, that is something I've considered. And if that's been.

You're dealing with sizes, you're dealing with returns.

Yeah.

Your product right now is pretty straightforward. Like, I buy a card or I don't. I buy a scarf or kitchen towel, and I don't. So I wouldn't. I wouldn't get into all that. So I think really that the plan for you is looking at your numbers, letting the numbers tell you where you should focus and let your creativity be explored right now in prints, in honing in versus spreading out and getting better at wholesale. Like hitting. You want to hit $300,000, let's do it. And if you can do it, because it's just getting people to spend more with you. And you can always, like with really great retailers that are constantly buying, you can always have conversations with them and say, hey, what are you looking for? Doesn't mean that one person tells you, I'm looking for this, and you go make it. But you start to get feedback from your custom. And so you might be like, yeah, makeup bag would be great. Maybe it would be okay. So you asked which areas to focus on. I think you focus on wholesale.

Okay.

Because you told me 95% is coming from there. And it is diversified. Because if one store closes, another store is not going to close. The only thing we ever dealt with like that was the pandemic when retail stores shut down. And then we needed people online to buy. And so the stores that could sell online were thriving. So you are diversified by selling wholesale. If you were selling to one store and they shut down, then that's problem.

Right. Okay.

So I just want you to think through wholesale. How do you find more customers? How do you communicate with those customers? How do you sell long term? Like, maybe you want to. You might not be ready right now to sell spring, summer 25. But maybe you're like, all right, I'm going to start thinking, I'd like to sell fall winter 25. And that timing starts to happen February, March, April of next year.

Right.

And so you might just start to think, what do you want your next collection to look like? You can get samples, you can get land sheets put together, if that's the cadence you want to work in. Otherwise, you just keep doing what you're doing and work on reorders. So work on your contacting the them to come in and buy again, getting the people that are buying from you to buy more, and then to get more customers to buy wholesale from you.

Right. Okay.

I would not do custom. You don't need to.

Okay. I don't like it anyway.

You do not need to. And if a retailer or some really cool, like, equestrian company came to you and they wanted to do it, great. Then we're going to license art. We're going to charge a lot for the setup and design fee. Like, I had someone once want to do this with cuffs and my. My, literally my rep was like, they're like, no. Unless they pay you a thousand bucks for, like a design fee and then they have like a minimum order of like a thousand pieces. We're not jump through hoops for people.

Okay.

And that was the right move because your resources get drained in custom. It has to be worth it.

Yeah. And that's. I mean, and that's. I don't have a ton of customs because I charge a good amount, but the ones I do, they do take a lot of time and, you know, brain resources and. Yeah. So I'm just. Yeah, that's one thing I was debating, like, do I keep doing this or do I just be done with the custom?

So let them pay you what it's what you're willing to get out of bed and do it for.

Okay.

And stick by that. And someone's like, yeah, I'll pay you all the money. Great. Maybe you'll take it as a project. I would drop it. And then for you, what I think is, like, if you constantly go back to the numbers, if you start to track your data better. Same thing with this. You can track it and be like, the numbers aren't going to lie to you, so it's going to help you make a decision. Okay. Yeah, I did custom. Pain in the butt. Huge amount of effort, made me X amount of dollars. And you look at the total pie, you're like, totally not worth it.

Right.

And that's where you're going to be able to regulate what you say yes to.

Right. Okay. Yeah. Because I think this year I'll probably make. I think so far it's like 7,000 from Customs. So in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty small a.m. yeah.

And your time is worth way more than that.

Yes.

Okay. So that's going to free up time, and then if you're ever like, oh, I'm going to lose this, like, seven grand. Great. Go figure out how to make $7,000, do it in a way that you're already doing it. That's scaled.

Okay. Okay.

And then your second part of the question. What products? To eliminate an ad, I wouldn't recommend adding right now. I'd recommend reducing. And if you need a hobby because you get bored, we can figure that out right now. So every time you get that itch, you're like, oh, I'm going to go make new products. Because if I make new products, I'm going to sell more. You're selling a lot of. So your hobby needs to switch to, okay, how do I sell more of what I have Go back to, like, how do I sell more Wild Rack? How do I sell more cards? Who else can I sell to?

Okay, okay. Yeah, like, oh, I sell more products. That means I'll sell more. That doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but.

And you're going to see it with your numbers. When you dig into your numbers, you're actually going to see it and be like, oh, I just need to dig in more to what's already working. I just want you to. The easiest thing for you right now, especially at the growth level that you're at, is, like, just doing more of what's working.

Okay.

So can you see what we were able to figure out here in tears Case? Her products are pretty straightforward. But like most product bosses I coach and talk to, she isn't sure of her numbers. I've said it before, but when it comes to knowing which products to focus and hone in on, you need to look at your numbers because the data will tell you what your customers are buying, which is what you want to be making and selling more of. So now many of you are creatives I know, just like me, just like her. So honing in and having to control yourself and not always making and making and getting more and more creative and making all the things. I know that sounds so much fun, but the other thing that's fun is making money, right? Makers gotta make money. Product bosses gotta make money. So in her case, she can explore her creativity by offering a variety of prints instead of continually creating new products for her customers. And also, as I tell other people, maybe it's time to get a hobby. If you're getting to the point you're like, I just wanna make. Well, make the things or sell the things that are selling. Lean into that. That's where the money is. And then pick a day that you can find a hobby where you can express your creativity. All right, now let's Move on to see if we've figured out her path forward. So what's working is they're finding you and they're selling to you. So my follow up to you would be. Follow them on Instagram, Message them on Instagram. Hey, do you need a reorder? Hey, new collection dropped. Keep letting all your retailers know there's new stuff. New stuff. Don't let them, don't hope that they think about you and they land on your thing. On fair. Let them know new product. Dr. Here's your link to fair. Your first bit of homework is to actually look at your numbers and see where the revenue is being driven from. That's going to give you, I know you wanted me to give you that feedback on what should be eliminated or what should you should focus on, but the numbers are actually going to tell you.

Right, okay, yeah, I can look at that and then that should be easy. Easier. Yeah.

And then start to create that like date with yourself that you're like, let me look at the numbers. Every time you have a question or an inkling, like, start to create a way that you can search out this information so that you can. The numbers don't lie. You can look at that and, and be like, your question about how long does it last? How long do you test something for? You know, I think if you've breathed life into it. If the calendar, for example, you just did a couple days ago. So if you did an entire campaign around trying to push the calendar, it's calendar season, maybe there's a promotion to it. Right. Because we're still early. Then it goes back to full price and it goes on sale again. To move it, you just need to say like, did I do enough to try and sell this product?

Okay.

And if it's crickets, then maybe it doesn't align with, with them. Right, right.

Okay.

Things that you're finding working is Pinterest. So do more of that. You've got a great Instagram following. Do do that. And I just want you to think through your collection. So think of your whole big collection. And then think, how do I want to market this? What do I want to call forward? What do I want to push? So that's your direct to consumer realm. And then you're going to still communicate with your buyers and try and sell to them and sell again to them, like getting them to come back in. But I think when you said, where do I focus? Yeah, I love you sticking with wholesale. Right now. I don't think, I think you're making a Lot of really good money wholesale and, and your margins are there and people are going to discover your brand on those shelves and then the hope is that then they come to your website and buy or they follow on social and then looking at the elimination of products and if you're going to eliminate them, then start to think through this holiday season. How do I put stuff on sale? Like your sales stuff you're it could be up to 70% off your website, let's just say, right. And then the stuff you really want to move, like keychains and prints that maybe you're not doing anymore, you put those at 70%. Everything else could be 20%. You know, like it doesn't have to be even across all products if like you don't need to put your best sellers on sale if you don't want to. Okay, makes sense. Any follow up questions?

I don't think so. Just I guess advice moving forward. Like if I want to look at doubling next year, any words of wisdom.

You can do it. That's one. I think instead of the chase, looking at the numbers and then finding the easier path there. Like you said, simple success leaves clues. It gets really boring for creatives but it's doubling down on what works. Right. You can be like let's get you really known in the industry for stuff and then paying attention, like getting in that right feedback, feedback loop. What else else they need, dropping things they don't need. And I want you to make sure that the inventory you have that you are profitable. Right. So I think it's this foundational part and then turning on the fire on things that are working. So in your analysis of everything that you're doing, look at what's working and then do more of what's working. Don't think you need to add something new on just yet.

Okay.

You can do better on your website if you work on thinking about con. So if you want to get more direct to consumer sales, you've got leads coming in through Pinterest. So it's going to be figuring out like so again looking at what's leading them. So if Pinterest is working and it's driving traffic and you're selling wild rags, then sell do more of that across collections, right? Maybe it's getting better at Pinterest figuring out how to revive your email list, you might do a clear out of your email list and be like, hey, if you want to opt out, like click this button right? Like you can purge the email list. Or maybe it's just your emails aren't the greatest e comm emails. Right. I don't think you need Amazon yet. I think wholesale you can do in a couple variations. I think direct to consumer. You've got it, you're nailing it. Cause you understand social, you're doing well on Pinterest and wholesale but you can, you can hit a million dollars on wholesale alone. So you can do both. So it's just again it's looking at the clues and then for you right now it's just these minor tweaks. It's like. And then work on one at a time. So don't try and overhaul everything at once. Pick what you feel like is your best opportunity, especially leading into the holiday season. If you feel like you've sold a lot of your wholesale already and now you want to turn up your direct to consumer, then start thinking about your marketing for direct to consumer.

Okay.

I don't have doubt that you can get there. I know you want me to give you like the exact path I think you are on that.

Okay. Yeah. That's good to know.

I'm excited for you.

Thank you. Thank you for this. This has been like really helpful. I just needed a sounding board.

So to kind of wrap it. How can we buy from you, support you, follow you, all the things.

Yeah. So you can go directly to my website tearsalaneart.com I am on fair. Or you can request through my website if you're a retailer to order directly through there and on Instagram.

So good, so good. Follow her on Instagram. It's very great, great Instagram. And then shopping, we'll drop all the links in the show notes for everybody. Wow. I just enjoyed coaching her so much. I love her products, I love what she's doing in her business and I'm so excited to see her reach her next level of business. I mean this is something that I do within my inner circle Mastermind working with product based business owners that are in these multi six figure on the way to their first million dollar year or maybe they've already hit that million dollar mark and they're looking to increase and grow from there. There's a lot of fine tuning and tweaking that is necessary and fortunately for those of you that are in my inner circle, Mastermind or I know a lot of you right now are applying, we're taking applications and so I'm really excited to see those of you that come in because that's a group that I work the closest with at this level inside of the Mastermind. And this is kind of the stuff that we work through. Right. It doesn't always feel simple, but, but it's. They're small tweaks. They're small tweaks and test and try. So the main theme here is that Tirza is actually already on her best and simplest path forward. But to ensure that she gets there, she's going to want to continue to do what's working, which is selling wholesale, starting to drive her own traffic to fair, building relationships with her retailers and leaning into her products that she knows are selling by looking at her numbers. If she's able to do this, I know she'll be able to hit her next six figures in no time because she's already doing so many things. Things. Right. It's just about staying focused. I know, I know it's for all of us, but it's just about staying focused. So like I was saying a little bit earlier, but if your business is at that half million dollar mark on the way to a million dollars or you've hit a million dollars in revenue and you're going past that and you want support, community, you want my eyes on your business and you're looking for all of that in 2025, then you might be a perfect fit for my inner circle Mastermind. I'm going to drop that link in the show notes. Applications are now open and we have a really, really cool special early bird offer. So the sooner you take us up on this, I'm actually, I mean this is kind of bonkers, but it's a nine month mastermind. But you're gonna have over, you're gonna have close to a year with me at the same rate as the nine month Mastermind. But in this time you're gonna have one on one voice coaching, access to me voice and text coaching. Right. And we're gonna have some extra meetups and all these cool things. There's a virtual event we're doing, there's an in person event we're doing. There's so many amazing things. So if you're like, yes, my business is at half million dollar mark and beyond and you're like, I really want to be considered for the inner circle Mastermind where you can work closely with me. Oh, and the sooner you apply, I'm actually offering you one on one sessions with me. So it's real good. There's so many amazing things. So if you're at that rate and you want to learn more or you're ready to apply, head to the productboss.com mastermind. I'm excited to see your application come in. And otherwise, though, I'm here fully to support all of you every week and two episodes a week to help you hit whatever revenue level that is, whether you're at zero and you're looking to just make your first $2,000, whether you've already started to make a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars and you're ready to level up to that. I want to get you from zero to a hundred K and then from that a hundred K mark up and beyond to wherever you want to be. And as you can see in all of the coaching sessions, I coach people all over the revenue map, making all sorts of products and it's possible. And I hope that these coaching sessions inspire you to see yourself reflected in some of these stories. Stories. Because I hear that so many times, like when I read the testimonials or get emails where you're just like, it feels like you're talking to me. So I'm just so glad that this could be so supportive to you. And for those of you that are my students that are in Multi Stream Machine or in any of my programs, thank you for being in them and taking that next step forward into the next level of your business. All right, my friends, I will see you on the next episode.