636. "My products aren’t selling the way I want them to and I don’t know why." | Coaching Session

One thing I realized that I do more than I thought is the comparison game. And especially when I'm feeling like having that imposter syndrome, I don't realize that I'm doing it, but it's there.

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. And welcome back to another coaching session on the Product Boss podcast. I am Jaclyn Seider. I am your host and your coach. And today I am chatting with Sandra of Catitude Crafts. So Sandra makes beautiful handmade faux floral decor and centerpieces out of faux flowers. Now, her pieces are just incredible. And right now, Sandra is feeling a lot of overwhelm in her business. And although she's been in business for three years, she's not where she wants to be. I'll bet a lot of you out there listening are thinking, yup, I feel the same way. And so here's the deal. Sandra feels like her products aren't selling the way she would expect them to after being in business for a few years. But she doesn't know why she isn't making more sales and she doesn't know how to scale scale this business because so much of it is custom. It's one of a kind and she loves the one of a kind making. Now, while Sandra believes a tailored marketing plan will solve her problem, is that what she really needs? Or could it be something else that's holding her back and making more sales and growing this into a profitable business? So that's exactly what we're going to find out. So let's dive in. Let's just start there. How are you doing? I'm like in go mode because we.

Were trying to problem solve, I would say I was, I was, I was good. And, you know, since September 1st, it's just been kind of crazy, you know, getting into fourth quarter and then all of a sudden, you know, and I found your program got into that. This really was like, I guess I'm hopeful, like, okay, let me get some, some clear, you know, definitions as far as what I need to do. And then all of a sudden this week I've been having, I've tried to implement a couple, not really seeing much results. And all of a sudden this week now I'm having, like, imposter syndrome is where I'm feeling this week. I know we all, we all have that, you know, at times, but it's hitting me a lot. Like the last three days.

Yeah, I feel that. Yeah. Very deeply. So thank you for sharing that for one. And like, I'm glad that you have that awareness that you're like, it's the last three days. It's the way that I'm feeling right now. It's not a permanent feeling at the time of us talking right now in this recording. Right. Like, we're two weeks away from the election in the U.S. so it's. There's just a lot happening in the world, in the news cycles, in the election here in the States, where people are just unsure in which direction things are going. And so it just makes people stop doing some of the things that are pleasurable to them or feel it feels harder to, like, part with their cash when they're just unsure. It's not that we all think, like, the world's going to end on the day after the election, God forbid, but, like, you know, it's more of we're just unsure. So when people are unsure, they're just going to wait a sec until they're more sure and then we're gonna jump into the holiday season. So it's, you know, I was talking to a veteran business owner, actually. You're an actual veteran. This is so. Thank you for your service to this country. This is a person who's been in business for so long that the company that she's now CEO of, she took over from her family. It's been around for 42 years. And she was saying that they just very much know that every fourth year things get a little wonky when there's an election here. And but we are also heading into the holiday season and the economy does good. So, you know, people will spend again. They're. They just feel unsettled. So I was like, okay, it's great because history repeats itself. So it was really nice to kind of talk to her because it always feels like something new, you know, where I was like, wait, it's us. It's you alone, right? It's just, it's you, Sandy, or it's me, Jacqueline, and it's just us and it's only happening to us. But I want to just reassure you that it's not just you. And you being you're in two of my programs and multi stream machine and standout society, and you have the community there that I'm sure you can either go in there and say, like, is anyone else feeling imposter syndrome? What do you guys do? Or how are you all feel? Because it feels better to know you're not alone in the experience that you're having, you know?

Yeah, I definitely know I'm not alone. I've heard other people, you know, say the same thing.

It.

One thing I realized that I do more than I thought is the comparison game. And especially when I'm feeling like having that imposter syndrome, I don't realize that I'm doing it, but it's there. I've, like, I've been noticing, like when I really stopped to think, I've really been noticing like, oh, well, that that's working for that person. Why is, like, why is it not working for me? And what am I doing wrong and. And I. Yeah, so I, I need to be even more aware that that is going on in the back of my head more so than I thought.

Yeah. And I think that's the, you know, I teach it sometimes and it's not a me thing. I didn't create it. But it's called, like, name it to tame it. So you name the thought you're having or the emotion you're having to kind of tame it. And I think the power comes into and you're express. You're showing me that right now where you're like, I have this awareness that, oh, there's my brain doing the thing that my brain does. Right? And I think that's one of the very first steps of instead of suffering, you know, sometimes you can just suffer with that comparison and, you know, compare, compare, compare. But you're like, you know what? Actually I'm noticing that I compare. And I notice that when I compare, it causes suffering for me. So just that awareness will start to check you a little bit more. I mean, I feel like I've done that since high school. You know, I remember just thinking about, like, Especially as women, comparing myself to other women, like whether it's their body or face or what they have or don't have, you know, and it's, it is something that I have walked with for my life. And you know, I had this distinction last week where it was like, is it jealousy or is it envy? And so I feel I resonate very deeply with what you're saying. And so, you know, sometimes it's envy. But what my life coach had said to me was envy. Cuz jealousy is a, you're afraid someone's going to take something of yours away. Envy is comparison and saying, oh, that person has these things and I don't. And you might be envious of it. But the thing is, is they're more proof it can be done. They're, they're, they're proving to you that it's possible. Because if we didn't have these people around us that showed us these other ways, then it'd be, we wouldn't be exposed to how far we can go, how far we can grow. So I am shifting my own thoughts in that envy conversation of more of okay. My mom used to say this to me. She's like, there's a saying that if everyone took their baggage and went out into the street and put their baggage down in the street and then you could go and pick up anybody else's baggage, let go of yours, you'd probably go pick up your own baggage again. Right? Like, I don't want your thing. I know my, I'm comfortable with my own thing. So, you know, I think their thing is, is like we are so exposed to these highlight reels on Instagram and social media. And you know, we think back to the days of where it's like, oh, what happened in our house is we knew what happened in our house. And like, maybe if we talk to our friends, but we weren't exposed to all this stuff and all these lifestyles and stuff. So I think it's just that noticing and, and using it as fuel, the comparison is using it as fuel to say, okay, like I'm comparing myself, but let's just position that this person is proof this is possible. And now my job is just to think through how do I get there in my version.

That's, that's good that you said that. I like that you like that you said proof. Because that actually leads me to one of the things that I think I put in my one on one information is that yes, I do. I see all of these proven methods that people, even people that do exactly my niche do. And they have success, though, doing all these different methods. And then it makes it very hard for me to decide and reel in, okay, well, what. What do I want to try for my business? And I know you're not going to. You're not going to know unless you try, but it's just overwhelming to make that decision and to even say, okay, well, this is the direction that I want to try to go in.

That's incredible. That's like such a incredible awareness of. And that is that over, like, over input. So I struggled with this when I was dealing with some medical issues, and there were too many people giving me too many bits of advice. So I had a nutritionist telling me one thing, and then I had another nutritionist telling me another thing, and then I had my actual doctors telling me something, and then I had, I don't know, gut health person telling me something, and I near about lost my mind. I was like, I'm broken. I'm unhealthy. Like, I don't know what to do. And I was feeling anxiety and probably did have anxiety attacks from it. And so again, and I'm going to shout out my life coach, Stacy, and everyone probably needs a life coach because it's different than, like, talk therapy and psychotherapy. It's like rewiring the way that your thought patterns are. And, you know, she's like, just pick the one person you want to trust right now. And we can go through seasons in our businesses and in our lives where one time you might be listening to a lot of, like, murder podcasts, and then you might be like, you know what I'm saying? Gonna listen to just, like, gossip podcasts. And then maybe you're like, I'm gonna get into business. And same thing with our TV habits and all the other things. And so we have these different seasons. And so, yes, there is a lot of information out there. We have more access to more information in a single day than people have had in the history of human existence. That's not a, like, specific quote, but I'm just kind of generalizing. But for you, it's like, what feels best to you, right? What's the path that feels best and most aligned with Sandy? And that's where you start, because none of us are gonna. None of us, my courses, somebody else's courses, programs, any of it, a coach, they're all going to give you their own version of the path that they perhaps walked or the path that they've created that they've seen success in. But I'm guaranteeing you, and I'll tell you this, for all of my students that have had success, none of them have done it the exact same way because none of it is cookie cutter. Our environment, what we sell, our pricing, our customers, our unfair advantage. Right? We all have an unfair advantage of some sort. And so while I'm like, here's the system to follow, we all kind of do it differently. I think about my grandma when she makes recipes and she's like, oh, I put a pinch here and then I, I, you know, I eyeball it. I'm like, that's not a recipe to I can't eyeball, you know, and so we can all get to the end result that we want. We're just going to have a different way of doing it as we get there. Does that make sense?

Since I got into your program? So some of the things that I've implemented, I mean I'm still, I'm still fairly new and barely been able to, you know, delve into many of the modules. But what I've taken so far out of it is I did my first Facebook Live cell Flash, you know, flash sale and then I found a local place to get my products in for a physical location. That's been a week and a half, no sales yet. It's again, I think that was one of the reasons why I'm having imposter syndrome this week because I was, I just expected when it's actually right there in front of someone, not just, you know, on the computer screen. I don't know, I don't know what it was like expecting. But yeah. So I finally got into a place and now I need to just build that up, have a 10 by 10 spot into a vendor mall and I am working on putting together email. That's something that I did not have. That's part of my overwhelm right now though is figuring out okay, well what, which email platform I think is going to be best for me.

Okay.

And I, you know, look through like some of the ones that you recommended and some that I know other people use and I just really haven't been able to land on what, what to try yet. But I need to make that decision very quickly because what I wanted to do was implement Black Friday promo to get on my list and, and then just part of me and my business, like I know my business name is Catitude Crafts. So I, I like to kind of bring the Catitude with. That's like my, my voice is to have a little bit of attitude so you know, maybe have like a play on it where you know, get on, get on my email list to become a viper, you know, like instead of vip, you know, just, just I usually do silly things like that and, but I wanted to have the promo where it's like, okay, get on my email list so you can have an exclusive first dibs on Black Friday before it's open to the public. And I'm percentage of a sale for like a 24 hour time period. You know, that's at least the ideas that I've come up with so far. And then maybe having a, a Christmas, doing a Christmas Facebook Live sale like I did for my fall and Halloween, doing an end of year sale and maybe also using my email marketing with that as well. And then also maybe for Facebook because that's where a lot of my followers currently are, is on Facebook, maybe doing something like every Saturday, like whatever I made throughout the week, like maybe taking one item and then on Saturday morning just going live for five or 10 minutes and doing like a Catter day, Catter day showcase. But this item and then maybe for like that one day having a sell. I'm just, I'm in just really trying to, you know, I did the, what was it, the 2K in 30 days. 30 days, the 90 day roadmap. And I'm just like trying to pick out different things that really try to get some things moving.

Do you see how Sandra is experiencing the feelings of imposter syndrome and overwhelm in her business? So much so that it's actually holding her back from being able to take the next step because of analysis paralysis. I know we're all diagnosed with that. And this is a common theme I see among product bosses especially, especially those who I coach. And oftentimes they get stuck in that comparison game or feeling like an imposter or maybe they're feeling like they're not worthy of running a successful product based business. So similar to what I told Sandra, my friends, you are not alone in feeling like this. And it's okay because it even happens to me like it happens to all of us. So the first step is to name that feeling. And then like I told Sandra, start to shift your mindset to use this as a tool for growth rather than a feeling or emotion that continues to hold you back. You're going to feel overwhelmed. Course when we're learning new things, when we're figuring things out, when personal life and business all comes together and we're trying to blend it all, it's going to Feel overwhelming. And especially during the holidays, where it's the busiest time of year for product bosses, it's the busiest time of year for a lot of families. There's all these things that are happening. And so I get it. Some of these days you're going to feel like an imposter, and then other days you're going to feel awesome, right? Sometimes you're gonna feel great. Sometimes you're gonna feel like you're hitting rock bottom. That's okay. But by acknowledging it, you're allowing yourself to change the narrative and to continue to move forward. I often say name it to tame it, and that's why mindset is so important. Oftentimes everyone's like, give me the exact strategy, tell me what to do, right? Tell me the step by step. But oftentimes we are the bottleneck, right? We are the problem, as our friend Taylor Swift says, right? Like, hi, it's me, I'm the problem. It's me. Because we're kind of getting in our way. Our mindset's getting in the way of us moving forward. And so if we name it to tame, and we're like, oh, there we are, there's our brain. We gotta shift our mindset here. I am, I'm comparing myself again. Or I feel like an imposter, right? No, like, we're not like, hey, baby, you're an imposter of a toddler while you're learning how to walk. No, we're like, yay, baby, you're standing and you're walking. I'm talking about an actual baby. Like, think a one year old, right? When they're starting to learn how to walk. And then we're like, great, now you're learning to walk without falling down all the time. And now you're running and, oh, no, now I've got a running toddler. But we're not, we're not hard on them as they're learning, and I want you to give yourself the same grace. Okay, now let's see if Sandra's next best step is what she actually thinks it is or if there's something underlying that we need to address first. Okay. So since we're doing a one on one call, would you mind if I kind of took us in a different direction than maybe where you think you need to go?

Okay.

Okay. So first what I want to do is I want to go back to the ideation phase. So when you came up with Catitude Crafts. Because when I look at your Etsy shop, it says you make handmade wreaths fake bakes and seasonal decor. But then there's also this, like, love of cats and the play on, you know, cats and vi purr. And if I look back to some of your older products, or maybe not older, but they're just, it's just down further on the page where you've got cats with pumpkins say Happy Halloween or beware of little meowsters and their little cats. Right. And so there is this, this element of being a cat lover. But then we get into crafts, and you're very talented at the fake bakes and the wreaths and holiday decorations that you have. But let's step back into where you were when came up with this idea, why you created it, and what gap in the market you thought that you were filling with coming up with this business.

Well, when I first came up with the business, it was just okay. I. I was in the military for 20 years. I've dedicated my life to the military. Now I get to have, you know, more freedom to choose what I want to do with my day to day. And I wanted to do something that I loved. And I, I took a year off after I joined the military just to kind of explore that. And I just did. I thought it was just fun at first doing a lot of different arts and CR workshops in my area and online. And once I started creating reefs, I fell in love with that. And I just, I immediately knew this is what I wanted to do. And so I said, okay, you know, I want to move forward with this. I didn't really know what that was going to look like. I just know, okay, this is what. Let's just, let's just move forward. I mean, my, like, if you sit around and dream. My dream was to have a brick and mortar store. I knew that that was not really the best, especially during, you know, Covid. So I said, okay, well then let's do an online business. And why I came up with Catechu Crafts is just because I'm very passionate with animal rescue. And then my craf. It was just more of a personal thing for me to combine my two passions in, in my business name of Catatou Craft. And especially when I'm thinking of like a brick and mortar a lot of times. Brick and mortar, the names, I mean, even like places I shop for my business supplies, like Michael's and Hobby Lobby, that, you know, there's a lot of different things that are being sold in there and it doesn't necessarily reflect just the name. So I didn't think it was going to be such a big deal when I first came up with that. And a lot of people, they might be a little confused at first. Like they might think, just reading the name that my items are. Are cat related. And yes, you pointed out that I do have cat related merchandise. Those are product on demand stuff that I was just testing out. And I don't promote them and they haven't really gone anywhere.

So going back to the ideation phase, it sounds like, you know, you wanted to do something creative and crafty and you have a lot of ideas. So if we were to have a brick and mortar, let's just go to this imaginary brick and mortar. What would it be filled with? What is the thing that you were like, oh, there could be a brick and mortar store full of this for my customers.

Yeah. And you're not gonna like it. I want to know it just like places that I like to go and shop, whereas you walk in and it's all like handmade items. Whether you have handmade greeting cards, you have your home decor. So it'd be like home decor and gifts and most of it made by me. And because I do like to do more than just, you know, the floral design. And then I was, you know, also had envisioned like maybe having a certain spot, like a, A, you know, corner or something where maybe I could have consignments for other artists to have some other items in, whether that be candles or whatever. And then maybe having a spot space in the back with tables. So I could have craft workshops open to the public, like, you know, ladies night out or something like that to come in and have some kind of crafty night. And then if I'm dreaming any bigger, then that could be like, attached to another store, a separate store, but attached. And that could be like Catatou Cafe. And I wouldn't run it, but I'd get someone else to run it because I'm not getting in the food business. But so I'd have, you know, Catatude Crafts and Catitude Cafe. And then, yeah, that was just kind of what. What I envisioned. And then maybe even having like a section in the store where I would have, like, supplies I was selling mainly for, like, floral stuff, like the ribbons and florals. So, you know, other crafters wanted to come in and they'd have, you know, some selection there. And I've been in plenty of stores just like, just like that. And that's so that's kind of what I envisioned when I was dreaming, you know, back in the early days before I decided to go Online. But I know and I've been learning, especially with online that you know, you, you can't just do all the things. Things.

Well, the thing about doing all the things is it costs you a lot of money. So it's to make all the things that you're doing. And I get that the other ones are print on demand, but there's different. If you were selling wholesale, let's say you were going to go try and sell to Macy's, there is a different buyer for every department. So a lot of times when people come to me and they're like, I want to make this and this and this. It's. The thing is, is you would need to connect with three different buyers at Macy's. One that buys accessories, one that buys. There's like a wovens bottoms buyer, right? Which means it's like someone who's buying denim the for Macy's, let's say. Or I'm just making these rolls up, by the way. But it's that concept and like if you want to do home decor, there's like soft goods and there's furniture and then there's lighting and there's different buyers for everything. So I say that because as you build your business, if we have to meet with all of those buyers, it's actually very hard to get in front of them. So it's like you usually want to like go in with one of them and get really good at that one thing. So I'm going to say it's similar to the way that I want you to approach your ideal customer. I want them to know you for something and that they, what we do is when they know that they can get XYZ from CA attitudes, they then hold that spot in their brain and they're like, oh yeah, when I need this, I go here for that. And there's a difference between a retail shop that's like a home goods, you know, crafty gift store, which is solving this kind of like all in one problem. But even if you had that retail store, you would still see in the buying behavior what people came to you most for. So, oh, we really do well with our like kids gifts or we do really well with our, you know, baby shower gifts or you know, you'll still kind of know, you'll start to get that information, that data. And you're operating right now without data just because you're newer business. So to me it sounds like what you really like is seasonal home decor. Would that feel like that would lump it in because you have this Love of wreaths and wreath making. So it's seasonal and it's decor, but it's. It's very specific. Right. It's like if I buy my spring wreath, I might not buy another spring wreath. I might now keep that in storage for every spring. So we need to think about the ways that we can get people to buy again, but then they will cap out at just wreath. So would you say that aligns with you or.

Yes. And just even try to. I don't know if it'd be considered. Are niching down even more or maybe just a little bit different direction. But what I've learned over the last three years of making reefs is that I. My preference and what I seem to be maybe known for and what my customers seem to purchase more is centerpieces, like arrangements and centerpieces. And again, it's still home decor. And so if I'm going to be known for something, that's what I want to be known for is centerpieces. And I've been trying to kind of move a little bit more towards that. But it's still the floral decoration. Yes.

Okay. So it's the floral decor.

And one thing that, that I do and I, I really don't want to change much of this. Even though I. No matter what, no matter where, what information I'm getting from where it seems to be like you have to have multiples and that's what's going to get you the repeat cells. But for me, that's kind of what I feel like Catatou Crafts is about, is more of the uniqueness. So that's why I usually have. When I make something, it's quantity of one, sometimes up to three. And I've never made anything really more than three. I do have in my faux food decor, I do have some things my brown do. That's a repeat, that, that's a multiple. But that's really the only thing as far as my floral decor is. I'm usually just making something and it's one and done. And I know that makes it. That's going to make it a lot more challenging. I know, I know that.

So before I jump to where I was going with like the ideation start part of it and by you bringing that up, what is your end goal then for this company? Like what would be your ideal thing? Where is it? Is it making you enough money to live off of? Is it a hobby? Like where. What do you see it doing for. For you?

Yeah, I want it to be a business where it's Yeah, I can, I can live off of it. It's sustaining, you know, my, my needs and my wants and, you know, thinking about also the future for retirement. I do want to keep it more small, though. Smaller. I, at least at this point, you know, I might, I may change and I may want to go in a different direction in the future, but right now I just wanted to have it where it's just me. It's just I do want to eventually get. Get it to the point where I can. Can contract some things out, but not necessarily in the business. Like, I want to be able to contract house cleaner, where I not taking that time away from cleaning my house, I can focus on the business, you know, things like that, you know, yard maintenance. I can contract that out maybe eventually, like social media, contracting that out. I mean, I'd even like to do. Have someone just do my photography as well, you know. Yeah, it's those things. But yeah, I want to still keep it on a smaller scale, but where I can live comfortably.

What would living comfortably look like to you? Like, what would that, what would that income be? So not the revenue of the business, but what would it look like for you to take that home? What would your take home be?

Well, because I have other income with my retirement and my VA disability right now, my goal to hit up my first goal and then maybe I can reevaluate is 36k a year.

Okay. And that's your take home, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

And I'm nowhere near that right now.

Totally. We're. We're going to work on getting you there. So one thing that I need you to play with the idea of and get curious is I get that you only want to do one. And that could be because you really lean into the thing that you love is the creation process, but you don't love the repetition of the production process.

Yeah. In fact, sometimes even making the brownies I don't, I don't like because. Yeah, boring. Yeah. For me, the excitement is two part. The first excitement is the going to the store and shopping and getting my inspiration and like playing and putting it together and then bringing that home and then making that come to life. That's the second part.

Okay. Yeah. So it's. You're very much in the creative mode, which is basically your story of how you started this, where you were looking for a creative outlet. You served for 20 years. You're amazing. And then you're like, I need, I need a second. And I'm gonna go get crafty and play with flowers and do all the these cool things. So what I need you to just kind of consider is in the very beginning, as you're building this company, it might be that you do need to repeat your production process or you document it, and then you do eventually hire somebody to do it for you. So you still live in that creation mode. So I'll give you an example. As a fashion designer, I was the one who. We had a creative director at the bigger companies that I worked for through. They would set the tone of what was happening. Right, okay, we're going to do Ibiza, meet 1970s flight attendants. I don't know. Right. And then it's like, let's put this together and come up with the designs of it all then. It was my job as a fashion designer to design within my category. So my categories when I worked for the lingerie company was I was doing their summer collection and their ready to wear, which was like their clothing, their pajamas or loungewear. So that was my realm. And then there was another designer that did lingerie. So with that said, I was inspired by. I designed, I ideated, I designed, I helped the, the. The product development process, but I didn't have to do the production of it because we had a production team. I too agree with you, because as a designer, I'm like, I need to keep moving. I'm like, what's next? What's the next design? What's the next idea? You know, and I think that's very much. You're not alone in that from an entrepreneurial perspective. But if something hits for you, if all. If I look at your rates and I'm looking at your Halloween wreaths, for example, or like your spooky black grapevine witch hat centerpiece, there are some things that are going to hit and you're going to actually be putting yourself at a deficit by not allowing more people to buy from you. So even though you want to build your email list, if it's like one thing that they can get and then they can't get another version of that, or they can't get it again, then it's. It's basically like a wildfire, right? Like if we can control good wildfire, but one in which, you know, we set the match and then the thing goes, and then we start to. It keeps building and building and building on itself. We don't have that ability here. But you just set it with the brownies for some reason. If the brownies are selling constantly for you, then you're seeing what it looks like to create the Design. So I just want you to consider that this might not be forever, but once you've kind of ideated your collection for the fall, for the fall holidays, for Halloween, for Christmas, for whatever holiday you want to do it for, I'd rather you come up with a collection idea. And you can see that even, like, if you go to a Michael's right now, I was just there. And they have their Christmas collections in, and each section is a different theme. One feels like Candyland, you know, one is, like, very green and all about reindeer. So they have these, like, seasonal collections and themes. And you could still have, you know, three, four themes for the fall holidays or for Halloween. But it's like, okay, this is my witchy group. This is my, like, like, hauntingly beautiful ghostly group. This is my spooky skeleton group. And you create a few variations. Like, maybe it's two or three wreaths, maybe it's three to five centerpieces, and maybe a couple other things that you think would be complimentary products. And that's your collection, but you make multiples of them, or when they order from you, you make another and another. Does that make sense?

Well, I'm glad that you said collections, because that is. And I think I put it on my form that that is one of my goals, that I want to try to go more towards collections where. Yeah, because, I mean, I want someone to. If they pur. Reef, I can say, well, here's a matching centerpiece. Would you like this as well? You know, or vice versa. And. And that's also what I want. My goal for my vendor booth as well is I want to have it where I have a fireplace in there, a front door, a wall, and then I can decorate. You know, at least have three. I could have three up to three different sections of a collection. You know, where they have the fireplace with mantle and a matching reef and some matching centerpieces or matching candlestick arrangements. So that's definitely the direction that I want to go in. Some problems that I see with that is. Is, you know, right now I buy my. I source locally, so I do go to the local craft stores. And. And the. The availability is not going to always be the same. So even if I were to make something and then I need to make it again, that doesn't mean that I might be able to find. Find it anymore. And, you know, they're always constantly changing, and every year it's different as well. As far as, you know, it might be the same flower, but they changed up the color a little bit. So it might not match. So I, I'm. I need to figure out, well, how am I going to do that? That since I buy locally, how am I going to have enough of supplies to make multiples? Because I don't know if I want to make multiples of everything and say, okay, now I have quantity of five when I don't even know if one's going to sell.

So what I would do is, well, one for sure, you need to source and have backup resources because you're paying retail prices and then you're. You're not making a margin, I'm sure, because your product is like $100 for a wreath. And. And I was at Michael's and they're selling their wreaths for a hundred dollars, so. And if I were to buy all those pieces individually, I'd probably be spending pretty close to that. And then there's your labor. So one of the first things I do want you to do is I want you to start thinking about sourcing. And it doesn't mean you have to do it yet, but that you're going to start to look to these suppliers of bow flowers, the suppliers of wreaths, suppliers of all this stuff, because you'd be, if you ever came to la. Michael's started as Moscatels. And so Moscatels is still in downtown la, and it is there kind of like now everyone's, like, going to rush to downtown la, but it's like there, it's warehouse version of Michael's in downtown. Because downtown has different sections. It's got the fashion district, it's got the toy district. It has. We have a huge flower mart there. And so Moscatel started there. They obviously changed their name to Michael's, and we know what they are today. So I want you to think, too, where are the suppliers? Because right now you've got a means to an end. This is how I'm doing it. This I'm testing and trying. I'm trying to do this thing, but you won't really be able to be profitable and scale in the way that we're talking about it. Because, yeah, you're right. These are the obstacles that are in front of you. And you're kind of working what you're given versus creating a new. A new pathway. So I think you're serious about doing this. You've joined these programs, you're learning, you're, you know, all that. So if you're serious about it, I want you to get serious about your sourcing. I think that's One part. Second part is, is if you want to create this as collections, I love that for you. So I think when you think about going into your seasons, you come up with it as different grouping collections. Like I said, Michaels is a great inspiration for their areas. Even home goods will do it, where, I mean, everything looks different. But I. My home goods next to me had like this western cowboy theme for a second. And, like, everything was like cowhide covered furniture that they grouped together in a section of home goods. Right? Because there's still. What that's called is. It's called merchandising. And I think what happens is when I speak about being known for something, that's one part, right? That's the niche. But coming from the fashion industry, we had to merchandise, meaning we had to think how many tops to bottoms. I was doing swimwear. It was like if I sold them as separates, a top and a bottom, how many versions can be mismatched between different bottoms and different tops and then how many coverups? And so maybe that print that I was creating, maybe there were three tops, three bottoms, and two cover coverups, and that was the collection. So if you can start to think in merchandising your collections, you'll have your ideas of your design of the collections and then merchandising within it. Then you're thinking, okay, if one person's absolutely in love, they're going to buy all of it or they're going to buy pieces of it. The. My fear is that by not having more than one merchandising, the collections gets harder because they can't get the look you're presenting to them. So what would be one way to solve for that right now is that you use similar. Because I see all the flowers behind you, you use similar elements across product. So when you buy it, you have blue flowers. Let's say you use these blue flowers. And the wreaths. The wreaths don't sell that well. So, like, you have. You make one wreath, you take a photo, you could make another. But let's say people aren't really buying the wreaths, but they're really liking the centerpieces. You can use that on the centerpieces as well, or maybe you can use it down the road in another product, but that's kind of maybe how I would step into it. I'm not saying to make five. And I know your sales aren't exactly where you want them to be yet, but I just. This is just kind of like lifting the lid for you or like seating this for you. Right now where you're just gonna like it's gonna be in your brain and then you're just gonna, you know, it's gonna sprout some ideas for you down the road to decide like what you wanna do. But really what the first part is that I wanna figure out with you is truthfully, like what you can be known for. Because yes, while you're in that retail shop, it doesn't mean that the right customer's walking in. It doesn't mean that that customer right now is thinking to buy the thing that you're presenting in that store. Because if it's a craft store, they're kind of not craft but like small business, product based businesses. Right. They're walking around and they're just kind of in discovery mode. They're not there for any. They're not like if we went to Michael's, I went to Michael's yesterday for last minute Halloween decor. So sold out of everything. But I went there for that because in my brain I was like, I'm going to go look for decor and some like stationary supplies. I knew what I was getting. So the disconnect right now is that people are just going in exploratory phase and it's going to have to hit the right person at the right time that they need exactly what you want versus is if you were in spaces that it made sense. So some examples of other places that you could sell that would make more sense could be flower shops. Right. Where they're selling real flowers. But perhaps you offer some centerpieces with fake flowers that they carry during seasonal time. So when somebody's coming in for something, they may be like, oh, that's really cute. I've seen this. There's a grocery store called Gelson's here in la that's expensive and in the front of the store they have their florists. You know how grocery stores have florists, but then they also have some like home products there, some cute home products. So you need to think more of like where your customers going and how your products would be complimentary to their intention of shopping. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I've thought about both of those ideas before. The florist and then grocery stores. I, I only talked to one florist so far and that was actually like a year ago. And that. Yeah, they weren't, they weren't. That one location wasn't interested. But luckily I'm in a location here in New Jersey where, I mean, you know, there's I could go any different direction and find like probably five different floors. Florist, you know, so I've, I've definitely have available availability. I just have to find the right place and someplace that says yes.

And the other places could be like the exact idea that you had of like, of not necessarily gift stores, because at a gift store you're not necessarily going to pick what you're going to decorate your house with. Sometimes dish towels. But that's because dish towels tend to be a gift. Like people can gift those to people. But I would say if there are. When I lived in New Jersey, there was this cute town called Maplewood. I don't know where you are, but there were these cute towns. And I say this because I live in LA now and la LA doesn't have cute towns. We have areas. And it was like the local home shop that had pillows with like the zip code on it and cute mugs. And while there were gifts there, I. If I was going, it was with the intention of decorating my home. That's kind of what the window called me in on. And so that's the other side. It's like what you're finding here and what I'm seeing from what you're saying is that you're becoming known or you want to be known for faux floral seasonal decor. That's where we are right now. Now you started with the wreaths, now you're realizing that it's centerpieces. And so what I really want you to think of when thinking about expanding, it's like thinking about products that align with the same concept of seasonal faux floral home decor as your niche. So it could be the wreaths, it could be garlands, anything from mantels or tabletops. And then you could also do customizable, right where like someone might say, hey, I want this Christmas thing, but in my house, I don't want to do red and green. I want it to be really chic, blah, blah, blah. And that's, you know, and you're on Etsy for that. But I want you to become. And you can tell me if you resonate with this, but you could, you could almost become a florist, but you are the go to seasonal floral decor expert. People come to you for that, that you're very talented at it. And there's proof that this can happen in the market because there's all those like forever rose stores that happen where they sell you flowers that last forever. And they're not real florists, but they sell those like forever flowers. And so they've gone really niche and so for you, it's like I could come and get forever flowers from you in this home decor sort of, sort of way. Is that resonating at all?

Yeah, I'd love to be known for that. Whether that's local or, and or online line.

Do you see where we started compared to where we're ending up? At first, Sandra wanted to discuss all of her different marketing ideas. But after chatting with her, I realized that we were actually needing to peel back the layers even more and really go back to the why, right? The why behind Sandra's business and her vision for it. The reason being is that right now Sandra is making so many different things, as all creatives do, but she's not really known for anything. And this is really where. And if you think about the structure that you know, I teach in the profitable product boss method, we're thinking about ideating it. We're coming up with the idea of the products we're going to sell. Whether you're just starting out, you're like, is this a good idea? Or perhaps you've already started and you're coming up with new ideations of new products. A lot of times you come up with the idea and we jump straight to making it. But how about the brand, right? What does your brand stand for? What do people know you for, right? How are people gonna refer you when they're like, oh, go to Sandra, she's sells blank. Because when you aren't really known for something, right? Or you're not known as the go to person for anything, then it makes it really hard for your customers to know why they should buy from you and not someone else. That's why you not only need to become known for something, but you also need to understand your customer's journey, what they're looking for and prove that there is actually a need for your products. And I'm going to tell you this because I've coached thousands and thousands and thousands of product based business owners. There is a need for every product. You just have to make the connection, right? You need to understand how a lot of times again, we're like, let's come up with the idea, let's make it, let's start to sell it. But we actually have to come up with the idea, know exactly who our customer is, right? We need to know how to make it and make it a profitable product. But we also need a sellable product. Anything is sellable, we can sell anything. But it needs to connect. You need to build a brand around it. You need to know how to market it and then you also need to know how to sell it. There's so many steps involved. And so when you're able to figure this out and you know what your customer's looking for and there's proof that they need, want, desire your products, right. That's when you'll know exactly how you can effectively sell your products to your ideal customers. It's all kind of like a big soup and these are all the ingredients and we gotta mix them all together. So for Sandra, based on the why behind creating her products and the products she sells and the fact that there's been a proven need for this concept in the market, right. We've seen faux floral centerpieces and wreaths out there in the market. So she can become the go to seasonal floral decor expert. She could do it locally or she can be online and sell, let's say through her shopify store, through E Commerce or if she wants to sell wholesale. But the lease will know. Ah, Sandra, her company. Right. She's got that floral decor and it's seasonal. I hope that makes sense. So now that we figured out what Sandra can become known for and how she's going to position her product, which is really building the brand, let's figure out what improvements she can make in her marketing and get more customers. Happy holidays. Okay, don't think. Jacqueline, what are you talking about? It's still warm outside. I. I know, but guess what? We want to get you uber prepared for this holiday season. Because what we want is that you can get consistent sales, right? Have steady growth and keep growing your business beyond always having to offer a discount during the holiday season to drive sales. So if you want to get prepared while it's still warm outside, you can jump in and grab 101 content ideas beyond the holiday discount. And it is a bundle of content prompts, tools, hashtags and, and templates. And it includes a three month calendar with things to say every single day from October to December. It is so helpful. So go out, enjoy the sunshine and feel uber prepared for the holiday season when you grab yours. Now just head to holiday contentideas.

Com.

Okay, so then what I would recommend is that the print on demand while you can do it. I wouldn't waste your time on it. So the, the like the T shirts, the most mugs, all that and then, and then the faux food, are they buying that on Etsy? Is that where people are buying it?

Yeah. And then when I was doing craft bears.

Okay.

Especially like at Christmas, like the, you Know, a mug with the faux whipped cream topping. You know, those are usually, okay, pretty popular. I mean, I've even thought over the past year that I've even thought about maybe just doing away with that because. Yeah, because, you know, with some of that, with their dry clay and some other materials I use, it's of a piece process, and I don't like processes.

Like, someone from the military is like, don't tell me what to do.

Like. Like, you have that, but then you have to wait for it to dry before you can do something else. And so I have a lot of unfinished projects when it comes to. To that. Whereas the florals, I have it. You know, I get that creative juice. I have ideas in my head. I can come to my craft table, and whether it's, you know, 20 minutes or three hours to make something, I'm doing it from start to finish. That's what seems to be to work best for me. It's something that I can do start to finish, finish in one, one sitting.

So I would say yes to getting rid of the faux food because it is confusing. I'd be like, do this or do that, because the materials are different that you have to buy. The processes that you're doing are different. And I think, you know your background in the military. I want you to use that as your unfair advantage. You do understand discipline and, like, regimen, right? Like, getting things done in a certain process and order. And that's something that your brain might naturally do that you don't realize that other people don't have. Have access to. So as you're expanding this company or as you're thinking about growing it, I want you to think, like, what can I call on or pull on that? That is something that I have an unfair advantage of. My experience that I can call in. And one thing it sounds like you're not liking is the time effort ratio of this is gonna. I have to, like, let this thing dry, and then I can do the next step. And so what I see for you in your future is that you will eventually be the designer that gets to ideate, and then you pass it, and someone else is creating the multiples of things. The food makes sense to me. Me, if it's home decor that's seasonal, not just a brownie. But it's like you said, it's like a Christmas cocoa mug. Because I might be putting that with my decor, but it is very different. So if you need permission, you don't need permission. But if you want my advice, I would say stop Doing that and focus on the niching down and then the marketing and sales efforts that will come with once you do niche down and you're kind of focused.

Yeah. So like for example, my vendor booth where I have it, I want it to. Where it looks a little bit more, more like living space, living room space on one wall and maybe more like just regular or kitchen on the other side. Not that it's going to be that, but just kind of get that, give that impression. And so like I want, like I said, a fireplace, a mailbox that I can decorate, a door that I can decorate and then a table that I can decorate with some shelving. And so like maybe on the table during the seasonal times, like Christmas, if I have a tier tray with the, with the Christmas faux fish food, it sounds like maybe that would be acceptable. But just for throughout the year, don't waste my efforts on that.

Yeah, if you need to keep doing it. But as you're speaking, I'm curious and you can tell me what you think because you are in New Jersey, so you have access to the tri state area. You have access to lots of different areas. Right. So Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, even probably getting into Philadelphia. Right. Or Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania. I'm closer to Philly than I am near York City.

Okay. And there's money in all of these places. And I say that because I wonder if, because of your like, because you, you like to do these one offs and you like the creative process. What would you think if you instead leaned more into service with product versus product? So what that means is like, can I hire you to come to my house, have a consultation with me and then create custom decor based on what we discussed? So I might come to you and say like, hey, I don't want to buy the stuff that Michael's has out on the shelf. I don't want to search around on Etsy and try and buy the things thing. Like can you come in and like create my tablescape for me? Create a custom wreath and all that? Would that feel aligned to you? It's just like a random idea I'm throwing out.

I've done a little bit of that where I've had custom order. You know, someone needed a centerpiece to match their kitchen table. So they sent me, this is on. They contacted me on Etsy though. And so they sent me, you know, pictures of their table with their wall art and their rug so I could then match everything. And they told me kind of what they wanted to look like. And then I came up with the Actual creation.

And if it wasn't on Etsy, though, Like, if. Sure, there's Etsy, but what if. And I just want to know what your feeling is on it. What if wealthy people hired you to come help them style their tablescapes or their doors or things like that? Is that anywhere aligned with what you want to do or not really?

Yes. And I haven't done that yet. My. Mine has been more of that example. Or like, I have a couple of local people that hire me to do the centerpieces for a ceremony. So I made 10 centerpieces for the tables. Or, you know, someone needed an urn arrangement to keep for after the funeral, so I did a one, you know, for that. So it's not exactly what you're talking about, but I do have at least some experience with sort of.

But I guess I want to know, like, to coach you. Like, do you want me to keep coaching you down the make product, sell it the way that I. That I've been talking or. Because I want to just open this door a little bit to this concept again. I used to work for an actress. Like, she won an Emmy. I was her designer for her clothing line. And I remember being at her house, and I'm like, who are these people decorating your Christmas tree? And she's like, oh, every year I have these people, they come and they decorate my Christmas tree streets. And I was like. And they take it down. She's like, yeah, they take it down, too. I was like, oh, there's like a whole other life of people doing things for people. Or like, I saw. I called these people. There was like one of those random signs, and it was holiday decorating. And obviously there's people who can come put your lights up on your house. But I called this one company because I'm hosting a Halloween party at my house. And I was like, I don't have time to go through. This whole thing has been very relatable to me. I was like, I don't have time to figure out all these decorations and all the things, like, what if I could just pay someone to solve this problem for me to. And then, like, we start at $1200. That's their baseline, and then it goes up from there. And I remember in New Jersey, actually, the one of our neighbors would get her house with lights every year, and it was 1200 bucks as well. So I just want you to know that there is actually. And it could be that they're renting it from you, too. Like, it could be the point that like you have product you rent out and then they can send it back or you can custom make it. So I just want to play with this idea of still being able to stick to these one offs that you like and getting really creative and working in the creative process and then you're kind of done with that client and you can move on to another. What are your thoughts on that?

If it was like the home decor, I think I would like that more for the everyday type decor.

Okay.

Versus maybe the seasonal. And like right now I found that I really don't like doing the huge garlands that people put over their doors. So. And I'm not doing Christmas trees right now. So that would be something that someone would probably be looking for, like for Christmas. But if you have someone wanted me to come in, take a look at their decor and their color scheme and come up with or even a business, like if there was even a business that wanted me to do their lobby or something. Yeah, I mean I could, I would definitely enjoy doing that, but I just really don't want to do at this time garlands or Christmas trees.

But you don't have to. I'm just giving you examples of other businesses that exist out there and I.

Know a lot of people that do those installs and they, yeah, they can make a lot of money.

Because another thing you could do is you could pair up with Christmas tree people so you can find collaborations or partnerships where you contact. And so this is just another way it could be selling your product off the shelf or doing custom work. You can contact if you look up in your areas like around you, people who do Christmas tree lighting or Christmas tree decoration for people, you can contact them and say, hey, by the way, I'm really well known for my wreaths and for my centerpieces using faux flowers and themes and stuff like that. If you ever want to collaborate and team up front of your clients and this is what I can do because one way could be that they bring you in on it and they're like, oh yeah, I. They might say, yeah, I quoted my client $5,000 and we're going to give her this, this, this and this. And they bring you in and you're like a backend person that's a vendor for them or it's a collaboration where they introduce you. So I just want you to play with that idea too because you can make a lot more money as a service company with the product in the way that you want to do it, which is that those one offs and buying retail I'm just trying to problem solve for the way that you kind of want to run the company versus versus scaling it in a more traditional sense where it's like sourcing the product from the like the source, making multiples. Like that doesn't drive you as much right now.

So I have, there's been a lot of good talk and a lot of good ideas and it's all kind of running into my mind now. So I guess from here it's like, okay, so what do I do with this information and where am I gonna go? Because right before we get on this call I was thinking, oh, I really need to be working on getting my email list and like focusing on that and focusing on Black Friday sale and focusing on building up my vendor booth to make that area more enticing to customers that are coming by.

So the reason why I've dug into this way is that a confused customer is not going to buy. So we can make everything very beautiful, but if we don't know what we stand for and the customer doesn't know what we stand for, they don't know what they're buying from you. So I think what I want to kind of hone you in on is you selling on your own website right now and driving your own traffic. There is be going to, going to be some of the harder things that you do. It's going to be a much longer process than in the next 30 days somehow being able to build an email list and get them to make a purchase online in the next 30 days. I think that's a great goal from a longer term perspective. But right now if we're thinking like how do we optimize on the season, there's two things you can do. One, you're on Etsy. So if you have ever run ads or you want to run ads to kind of pop up more on Etsy, you can absolutely, absolutely do that. Second thing is you've got the vendor fairs. And so if you can be. It's the idea of them walking by them being enticed and you solving a problem for them. So the problem that I have in decorating my house for Halloween is that I want it to look a certain way and I didn't want it to. I didn't want all the dead ghouls. And I don't love the like that part of Halloween. I like the kind of like fun. I'm like, okay, which lives here, that's my decoration I'm doing. And my husband did buy a centerpiece yesterday at Michael's that I didn't even realize. And I was like, oh, this looks good. Really nice on the piano. So you're gonna need to think from a solution for your customers. Not just, like, if they want to buy something pretty for their house, but rather, it's gonna elevate their table. It's going to elevate their space. And so, yes, you can have the mantel, but sometimes people want to show you how they would set a table. Right. So if you're thinking, like, you're doing really well with centerpieces, little vignettes. This is why, again, if you go to Macy's and you go to the home department, they've got beds that are made in blank. Like, you know, you could buy the blankets and the sheeting, but they've actually got beds all over the place with the bedding on, because you want people to look at it and be like, oh, I want my bed to look like that. So once you just think one in your merchandising in your booth, so that they're in these kind of vignettes or collections so that if I walked by, I can see it, and you're making suggestions for me without me knowing. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. My Christmas table could look like that, you know? Oh, my. My. My Thanksgiving table could look like that, or my Thanksgiving decor could look like that. That. So don't just have things, like, laid out, but really think someone visually gets a problem solved by seeing how they could use it in their business. So that would be my answer to your question about how to make your booth better.

But. And it sounds like that's what I was envisioning, though, for my booth. Yeah. To have to. Where you can kind of walk in and see. And that way the customer can envision what it would look like in their home and not just, you know, look like a craft fair tent or something, you know? Yeah. With random. So.

So you could go get some, like, nice dishes and set up a dish, like forks and knives, and then, like, put the centerpiece next to it, and you could show, like, a few different versions of it. Um, so I just want you to get creative in. In making the leap or connection for the customer. The second thing that you could do is in your booths, because they're local, you could also put up a sign that says, like, we also offer, you know, custom pieces or custom decorating for your home. Right. Like, you could have a visual sign of that. And then I want you to just think of about when you're creating the offer for them. It's like they can just buy the centerpiece or you know, when you buy two centerpieces, you get three things. Like, you have to think about their buying patterns. We don't just want to throw stuff at them and be like, I'm going to give them five things. It's like we need to think what do they actually normally add to cart? And I put that in like air quotes. So when a customer does buy from you, are they buying one wreath, are they buying one centerpiece or are they buying two? So you make those decisions for them in your offer that's aligned with their buying habits and how patterns anyways. So do you know what that would be for them?

Usually people buy one.

One. Okay.

Yeah. I did have. Last year I had a set of three different mason jar fall arrangements and some. I did have someone buy the whole set.

Okay. So you want to think like you've got the customer that's going to buy just the one. They weren't expecting they were going to buy it. They're going to buy just the one. It solves the problem. And then you're going to find someone who's like, wow, you're actually the solution. I can get all three of these. I can get, you know, I have enough decor for certain things. So, you know, another thing you could do is buy more, save more. So you could have a sign that' like a, A discount thing that it's like spend a hundred, save $20, spend 150, save 30. Or like you can do like spend a hundred, save 15%, you know, like, and then give it like three tiers of not product. So maybe you're not bundling the product, but you're asking them to spend more and they save more the more they spend. And I think that could be a good offer for the holidays for you.

I'll have to see with the. Because you know, I don't control the checkout at the vendor mod mall. It's.

There's not the vendor mall. But are you doing, are you doing any in person markets or.

No, not. I stopped doing those. They were way too hard for me to do the setup. So the setup that I was using that's now in my vendor booth temporarily until I can get a better setup.

Okay. You just want to make suggestions for. For use. So if you're thinking of the different setup, like show suggestions of use and then people. It'll make the leap for them without them having to talk to a customer. And then yeah, you could ask them if it's like A spend, buy more, save more. Because we are going to lead into Black Friday and the holidays that if you had a sign like, then when they check out, they know how to like, apply a code so you can see if that works.

Yeah, I've only been in there a week and a half, so I don't know that answer. I'll have to find out. Yeah, I'll just have to find. I guess there's just some things I got to find out. And then I really got to focus on my booth to get that set up the way that I have envisioned. That way it looks like you're walking into someone's like, home and they can envision those products in their space by having like the collections.

I don't want you to spend so much time on it in the way that you've been in there a week and a half. So some of the time I do want you to spend is actually just being in there and paying attention to customers that come in. So one thing before you make a move like that again might be a little bit of hanging out and seeing who walks in, because I don't want you to spend so much time in the creation of that spot if it's still not going to make a significant change. So I think do a little research, like a little deep dive and out hang who's there. You can still update the shop, but it's not going to be your reliable spot right now for, for sales. Right? We're not. Yes, of course, sales aren't going to just turn on in a week and a half and we're before the, the election, but still it's like one spot. So here's. I think you were asking for action, so you ready to get into it? Okay, so the first thing, which I know wasn't necessarily the intention in your intake form, but that is the refining your niche. So staying focused and saying, I'm going to do faux floral decor and it's going to be seamless, seasonal, and it's. And, and whatever you make for it, it's complimentary to your main product. So if wreaths and centerpieces are like your main products that you're known for and that, you know, you sell it's curated collections around it. And then thinking, you know, again, if you have like three or four ideas like you create, you have like a mini merchandise collection around it. Okay, so that's like step one. And then what we have to think about is from a sales perspective, if we're not doing in person markets anymore, we have this one spot that we're selling at, you've got Etsy. I think that the easiest next step for you would be be wholesale or consignment to start. So I want you to think about your neighborhood, your town or towns that are surrounding and do that research into floral shops, home type shops, things like that. They may or may not be buying right now wholesale, but maybe they're willing to do some sort of consignment or two. You put the product in the shop and we just get more exposure, more exposure and more exposure to it. And then when you do get in a conversation with these florists or decorators or wherever you think you want to do it, there might be some sort of synergy or collaboration where you can also work with that, that shop right on like helping them do it. So I think the faster way to exposure in sales is through other people's audiences and other people's customers. So I would create a list of places that you think, like types of shops or stores you think you could sell to get alternative with it as well. And then I want you to create that list and then do outreach to them and say, hey, we make seasonal faux floral home decor, you know, like this, this, this or this. I can send you some pictures. I think that my products would be great for. Because, right. They might be coming in for a bouquet, they might be coming in, I don't know, new napkins or dishes. And they might also want to add on a centerpiece or a wreath. I'd love to explore the possibility of potentially working together through the holiday season because I think. And you want to make it about that customer too. So you want to go to them and be like, my product is going to help you because of this makes sense. So that's what I would say. I would say I would go straight to like the source where they would have customers and get more exposure and that way. Does that resonate with you?

Yeah, I can definitely start going to some florists and try, start there because to me that, that makes, to me that's a good fit.

Okay, so my question here is, did you catch that right? Did you see what quick changes Sandra is going to make to capitalize on the holiday season? So while she wants to do all of these different marketing things like building her email list and nurturing her buyers to make a purchase in the third days, these are all really great long term goals. But to make the most of now, Sandra needs to make small changes to focus on what's already been working for her through getting creative with her marketing on both Etsy and her local in person events. It's right here. It's what's in front of her, that's what we're going to double down on. And so the easiest way to do this is by making sure she's speaking directly to her ideal customers through her marketing and creating that connection or vision of why they need her products and should buy from her this holiday season. So through doing this, she can implement quick changes that will allow her to make the most of this busy season in the short term while starting to work on and figure out her marketing goals for the long term. Right. We're in business for the long term. We're always going to be learning at every stage. So sometimes even small changes can make the most difference. And with it being the beginning of November, this is your reminder that now is not the time to make all the big changes and to add all the, all the things. Right now we're in that holiday season, we're in the busy season. So we really need to focus on the plan we've already set for ourself. We're already in go mode. So we're going to lean into this holiday spirit. And let's wrap this up with a pretty bow.

And one thing that just came to my mind since we're talking about this is so you know, I did that custom Earn centerpiece for someone app because I wanted it for after the real flowers died. So maybe I could even get with some of the funeral homes here and see if they could push my information out to those that, yeah, they, yeah, they may want real flowers for the actual ceremony and I understand that. But if you want to decorate your space that you're putting your urn in your home, then let me make your flowers. I love that.

And that's such a niche, but could blow your company up in the way of, in a good way. So the niche of like custom Decor for your earns for sure, like straight to the source. So you go to the mortuaries and you're like, this is, this isn't a product I offer. And they might say like, great, we'll make it an offering. And then they would like place the order with you. They can have examples of it. I did just lose my dad in June and one of the saddest parts to me outside of that was when the flowers died because I didn't have anything left to like. It was just this moment in time that I wanted to like keep. And when the flowers that I was like, oh, Am I supposed to be done mourning now? You. You know, so there is this element and I have a lot. There are a lot of students in MSM that do. Do memorial type product, whether it's for humans or pets. So that is a very specific niche, but one that could be filled in a really beautiful way. So I love that your brain went there. So my fastest way for you for marketing and sales is not the way that I think you're maybe expecting me to code you, which was like, build your email list, grow your email list, do all this stuff. Really what I see as what I needed to back us up into was your niche, what you're going to be known for, like your why. And that whole ideation phase. We talked a little about the make phase, like the make it part where it's like, well, how do you make it? And so we dug into that. But because you feel so strongly about the way that you want to make stuff where kind of makes you feel like it doesn't. You're not as aligned with the production process of multiples. So I was trying to come up with, with knowing that of you, alternative ways in which you can operate the way you want to operate in your manufacturing process without you feeling like this kind of like repetitive thing that you don't love.

And it sounds like doing. Doing more of the custom side might allow. Allow for that.

Yes.

It just requires me to deal with people more.

I know, I know. That's like the worst part, right? It it longer process to get to where I'm trying to get you to. And I'm glad we're able to do this one on one because it's more than just again, like I said, follow all the steps. So. So for you in, you know, we've been on this call for almost an hour and a half. In an hour and a half later, we're at the point where you're like, huh, memorial. Right. Something in sympathy or memorial gifts like that is a massive. There's nothing shorter than death and taxes. Right. And so like we will always experience loss. It's part of the human experience. And you can have this element of creating something very special for that that only you can do. That's actually more special than a wreath and a centerpiece. Does that make sense? Like the wreath and the centerpiece can exist and you can do that, but there's more of that niche that you just got to with these somewhat of like these memorial gifts. So it's a really great complimentary product or complimentary market that actually might make you stand out in the, against the competition faster in a lot of ways.

But that's. That sounds like if I try to focus on that, that's going to be definitely more local because I think that'd be harder to market online.

There's so many beautiful local businesses. I was just reading about how like investment firms, financial firms are actually investing into like H vac companies and like service companies and things like that. I'm not saying that that's what's happening for you, but there is. People have existed before the Internet. We existed as local businesses in a lot of ways. So you still like, like I said, have your. You got states that are small that you have access to other states. So there could. And people die every minute of every day. And so I'm not saying again that you have to go that route. But there is no shortage of business for that. So as you're thinking through what we talked about, I think what we've come up with is the niching down your why, how you're making it, what resonates best with you instead of you worrying about this broad marketing strategy that's like get on social media, build an email list, try and sell to people and try and keep up with seasonal decor. It could be a version or a very like a version of that where your marketing is just the thing that does resonate for multi stream machine is getting more eyes on your business but through other people's customers. And that would be these partnerships that we're talking about.

You know, I feel a little relieved not thinking about email. Yes, I feel, yeah, I feel like some relief there.

Okay, before we jump off though, let us know if we want to support you and buy from you where we can do that.

So at Catatude Crafts right now I'm on, on Etsy and I have Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Amazing. We'll, we'll link all of that. Wow. I loved coaching Sandra and really digging into her why, why she started this business and also if you paid attention, why she loves to make and how we could fit what Sandra wants in her business with building a profitable business, having a sellable product and really helping her get to where she wants to go. And when we started the call, I think Sandra felt like she needed to do all of these marketing things to start seeing more sales in her business. But as I coached her more, we figured out that's not actually what she needs right now. Right now. Right. The main theme here is that if your products aren't selling like you want them to. Chances are that adding more sales or marketing channels is not going to solve your problem immediately because you're likely missing something else. In Sandra's case, and probably in many of your cases, she was missing the why behind behind her product, the why for her and the why for her customers. She had not yet figured out the gap in the market that her product was solving or what sets her products apart, which is holding her back from being able to make sales. So through all of the coaching I've done and continue to do, I see this a lot of times being one of the biggest struggles for product bosses, which is exactly why I've created something so brand new that I'm announcing next week. Oh my goodness. I'm so excited. It's literally the best thing I've ever, ever done in business, the best thing I've ever created. And it's literally going to be the thing that I know the majority of you need to truly understand how to grow your business right. You want it all in one place, all one big thing. I don't want to give away too much, but it is going to be the thing and the place that you want to be. And if you want to be one of the first to know about it, I want to make sure that you get on our wait list. Okay. Because you're going to be the very first people to know about it. I've got some amazing things coming to you. I'm so excited. And this is going to be probably the best thing, best place to be ever in the entire world for product based business owners. I know, I know, but I'm. That's how excited I am about it. So if you want to get on the waitlist, head to the productboss.com waitlist or you can click the link in the show notes because something big is coming to support you. All right? If you haven't started yet, if you've just got an idea and you're trying to figure out how to make this thing work, if you've started doing it and you're not really seeing the results you're looking, looking for, perhaps you've already started and you're making some sales, but you really want to grow a beautiful business that supports your dream life, Right? So for my people who are starting at nothing, at zero, you want to get to your first a hundred thousand or you want to add on another a hundred thousand, this thing is for you. So join the wait list. Again, it's the productboss.com waitlist. So if Sandra is able to implement what we discussed here today. I know she will start to see her overwhelm go down, her sales. Sales increase. And she'll start to build a sustainable and thriving business. Amen to that. We all want this for ourselves. I want this for Sandra. And for you, my friend. You can do this, too. You might just need a little extra help along the way. And I hope to be that help for you, whether it's here on the podcast or in one of my programs or in this amazing thing that's coming. So get on the wait list, so don't forget, and I'll see you in the next episode.