638. "I want to grow my business, but it feels like a hot mess- help!" | Coaching Session

It's selling great in person, but not so much, like I said, nothing online or just a few couple repeat customers, but that's about it.

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 boss. And welcome back to another coaching session. I'm your host, Jaclyn Snyder, and this is the Product Boss podcast. So today I'm chatting with Beth of Tiny Spice Kitchen. Beth creates crafted spice blends for those with spice special dietary needs so they can still enjoy delicious flavorful food. And right now, Beth is seeing her products sell well in person, but she isn't really seeing any online sales. And with being a teacher in August, she had to start cutting back on the number of markets she could attend due to her full time job. And also, Beth, thank you for being an awesome teacher. Okay, so now Beth just started her business in June and similar to other product bosses, she really, really, really wants to make this business work. But she's feeling like a bit of a hot mess and isn't really sure where to focus or how to go about growing her business or making more sales. But no worries, because that's exactly what we're going to dive into in this coaching session. Are you ready? All right, let's do it. So let's kick off with you first telling me a little bit about your business. So what do you make and sell and where do you sell it?

So I make packaged food mixes. My biggest sellers are like seasoning packets that people can use as dips, which is what mainly people tend to tend to think about. When they think about me, they're like, oh, the dip lady. I'm like, well, okay, more than that. But yeah, the dip lady, but the seasoning packets. And then I've also done soups and I've been doing some hot cocoa. I'm. I haven't officially launched it. I've been testing it and I don't really know if I'm going to. But then also some desserts, so. And mostly I'm selling at farmers markets and at other local events. My website is revamped and up and running and I have absolutely goose egg sales. So if you build it, they won't come. Right.

If you build it, we wait.

Right.

Okay. So you're selling, you have a lot of products. It sounds like a lot of product diversification, but. And then you're selling mainly in person and it's not selling very well.

It's. It's selling great in person.

Okay.

But not so much like I said, nothing. Nothing online or just a few couple repeat customers, but that's about it.

Okay. And how do you feel about the in person markets that you're doing?

Most of them have gone really well. I think I've for the most part really dialed into my, the right markets for my customers. I started over the summer, some farmers markets and just really local, really small ones because I kind of started late so I wasn't able to get in to a lot of the bigger ones. And I'm also just operating under cottage food right now, so some of the markets won't take me. All my feedback has been really great. But then I went back to school. I'm a teacher, so had to go back to school. So the regular after school markets and daytime markets had to get cut the beginning of August. So the in person markets, they're exhausting, but they're also, in a way, they're kind of energizing too. But yeah.

Right. Okay. And so you've only been in business a few months, right? Since June.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, since June.

Right. Well, you're doing amazing. You've got a really nice website. There's probably some updates we can make to it, but in terms of navigation and things like that. So my question is, is because you just started, why did you decide to make all the things or let me step it back one more step. Why did you start, decide to start this company? What did you find that was missing out there? Which you're like, you know what, I've got this idea. I'm gonna start Tiny Spicy Kitchen.

Right. So my really, my very first spark was I have grandkids with food allergies and there just was nothing out there could Have. So I was like, okay, we can create some things. And I've always been those, like the mixes that I do have always been things that I've gifted and always done. And I've always had compliments on. And so I'm like, okay, let's take this a step further and see, because there are so many people I know that just more and more and more people who have the food sensitivities or allergies or restrictions, whether it's, you know, from cholesterol or from an anaphylactic reaction. I mean, so that's kind of where I started.

Okay, so you say low, low, no sodium products, allergy friendly products. What is the biggest? So, because I have a lot of like food sensitivity, so I barely eat anything sometimes it's really annoying. But we, you know, and then people are like gluten free. But then maybe you're looking for something else or maybe you're vegan or maybe you're, you know, so there's so many variations to it. So if we were to solve a problem for who's the person that you're solving this problem for? Like the, a big enough problem that's out there that we can be the solution for.

So I don't know if that would be generically sensitivities. I have. Everything that's on my website is labeled. Anything with a green tag is free of the top nine allergens and also gluten free. So everybody knows that that's an immediate free to browse or the same thing when they come, if they come to my table at a market, same thing. I've got that really clearly marked for them. And then anything, anything else is also super clearly, clearly labeled, obviously. But also as a way to promote it, not just, you know, in the allergy ingredients or whatever. It's also just really labeled out there really clearly what is, what's safe and what's not safe.

And so the people that are coming up to you at these markets are they, are they people that are like, oh my goodness, I have allergies or I have gluten free issues.

They are probably 25% come up to me and they're, they're like, well, I can't have gluten. Like with my samples. I've usually got crackers and have things made into dip. But then I also have some set aside that's dairy free and gluten free crackers. And so I've always got that set aside. Well, I can't have any because, you know, I have A dairy allergy or I have a gluten allergy, I'm like, oh, but wait, I've got you. So I don't really know if that's the problem I'm solving or if the simplicity of having a seasoning pack or having a quick, you know, whether it's a quick dip or a quick meal or whatever to put together is more the way to go.

So we'll get. We'll dig into all of this. So perfect. When I'm on your site, what I'm mainly seeing right now, there's a little bit of dessert, but I mean, you have allergy friendly beverages, soups, products, sweet treats, low sodium. So are they dry mixes? Is that really.

Yes, so they're dried mixes.

Okay.

And the girl who did my website really went too far on that tangent when she was updating things, she took that and really ran with it.

Okay, so really you're more of a spice kitchen, do you think?

Yes.

Okay. Okay. So it's more spices. And then the spices can be used if you want to make soups, it can be used. If you want to make desserts, it can be used if, if you want to bake stuff. So because when you're telling me what it is, you're kind of, you're saying to me, like, it's to make it really easy to eat, but it's not like it's dehydrated food that I just have to add hot water to. And so some are okay, like the.

Soups are, the beverages are, but the dessert mixes are not. And then the other, the other packets, like the generic seasoning slash dip mixes, those can be used. You know, throw them into whatever you're cooking, throw them in with a stir fry, throw them in to the veggies you're roasting, Throw them, you know, marinate your stuff in them before your. Before you throw it on the grill.

All right, so because all your products aren't up on your website, so it's. What are your beverages?

The beverages are. There's three different kinds of hot cocoa, a chai pumpkin chai, a regular chai latte, and, oh, golden milk.

All right, so I think what's happened is you can make everything and you are making a lot of things. And I think it makes a lot of sense as to why you're doing it. I think you said in your input, you're not a mess. You're not like as big of a quote, unquote, like, I don't know if you said like, biggest messes, you Think or feel you are. It's not that you've just started out so you have a cool idea. You've gone really far with the website in terms of like, visually it looks nice. But what I think we really need to hone back into is truthfully, like who is your ideal customer? So the, what, you know, what is a pain that they have that we can itch or like exasperate so that your product is a solution. So for me, saying that finding easy to make meals for dietary restrictions and needs would be awesome. But your stuff isn't meals necessarily because they're really like spices to add to something. So you're, you're more of like a spice market or spice kitchen. And it doesn't necessarily solve that pain point for me. So I think to say like allergy free is complicated because I was just in a market called Erewhon here in LA in California. It's very expensive market and I'm just like getting caught in my brain about how much I just spent on lunch. Because their hot bar is like you pick a protein in two sides and it was like $28, like what did I even. I was at a market. But they're all about like I was at their coffee, their coffee thing and it said we have like gluten free products but we are not a gluten free kitchen. So cross contamination can happen. So it's hard to kind of really lean into the allergen free products. Like if we're truly going to be that solution, then you probably need to really have the solution in the kitchen. So if we were to. Do you think that that is the like is that we can go that path. But for you, for your gut and what you want to keep building this business on because it's only been a few months since you launched. What do you really feel a drive about that you're really excited about for this company?

So I really feel like as far as the feedback I'm getting from people, I feel like it's more they enjoy having the mixes made. And I have a lot of people say I have a cupboard full of spices. I don't know what to do with them. This is really great. How do I use it? And I have a big graphic and I'm like, take a picture of this, scan this QR code. This will tell you how to use these 10 different things I offer that are my like my top sellers. So I really think that and having the, the ability. So the area I live in, in, I'm in Knoxville Tennessee. But they're. This is a huge growing retirement area and they're like active, active, active retirees. They're not sitting in their houses playing, I don't know, whatever, mahjong or canasta or whatever. They're. They're out hiking in the Smokies. They're out on their boats and, you know, on the lakes and they're, they're busy and they're active and they're socializing like crazy. So that is a lot of the people who have been coming at least at my very first markets since then, I've really tried to do. Still having to stay really in Tennessee. I've tried to spread like an hour every direction basically so that I can just kind of broaden that reach. But, but that seems to be the feedback that I'm getting is that, oh, this is, this is great for a ball game. This is great for entertaining. This will be fantastic when the ladies come over for Canesta.

Whatever. Just trying to think of the ones I play because we're all definitely retired at this point. What do they say? Like, oh, this would be great for when the ladies come over. What product are they talking about specifically?

They're talking about the mix and using them as dips.

As dips?

Yes.

Okay, I've got this. There's a spice company that my husband buys from and it's nutrition in a pinch is what they say. And it says Paleo, Keto, AIP and Carnivore. And on the back it says, no fillers, no gluten, no sugar, no sodium, nothing artificial. And then when he says subscribed, he got these jars. I'm showing you like three cute jars. One's yellow, one's green, one's red. And I think that the spice packets are the same color, I think so that like you would know. Okay. The yellow one is the chicken one or something like that. Okay, so this is a company for you to look at. But this one is like organ meat blend. I don't know, it's probably. I don't use any of these because I don't eat this stuff. So grass fed pasture beef organs. Okay, so organ meat blend, I'm not really sure because again, my husband buys from here. So let's look them up. Because the reason I'm doing this is what I think is important is that there, there we have not reinvented any wheels. We're redesigning them. Right. So it's always good to kind of see what exists out there so that we can get inspired on maybe something that we're going to do and bring to a different market category. So if we look at this company, Nutrition in a Pinch, it says delicious organic spices, herbs and umami organs enhance the flavor of any dish. So good that even kids love it. Nutritious. So organ meats are one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. And then easy to use. Simply add as you cook or sprinkle on a finish dish to turn any food into superfood. You can even add it to your takeout. So most likely the reason my husband saw this is he probably got served an ad on Instagram following some sort of bodybuilder and was like, oh yeah, this is great. So promise, no antibiotics, no added hormones, no gluten, no sugar, no additives. So I think that for your brand you can still say like made without these nine ingredients. But you know, it'll, it'll still say, you know, it's not in a, in a, you know, a allergen free kitchen.

Right, right. I think there's, there's a statement on the back that Tennessee requires us to have that says made in a home kitchen. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, not subject to inspection, may contain allergens or something like that. And the phrase that I use is made without allergens and made without gluten.

So what they're trying to say, if we, if we were to kind of really figure out here, let's look at their story. Oops. If we were to figure out their why, it's talking about their why is about something being wrong with agricultural systems and they're trying to add this, this food product in, so meat organs, let's say, in order to help supplement like nutrition, for example. So if we look at this and we go back to the main page and then if we scroll all the way down, it actually gives you this comparison chart of like their product versus Old Bay seasoning or Lowry's. So it's like you're in your brain, you're like, oh, they're the same flavors that I use. But I'm getting these added things like vitamin D and iron and vitamin A and vitamin K and all this stuff. Ok. So I'm not saying that you have to do it like this, but why I'm trying to share this with you is that there's a, it's going to be the thing that differentiates you because you've ideated the product, you've come up with this product idea and you've made it, you've learned how to make it. But we Got to go back to the, in the ideation phase, there's the why you started it, and then there's going to be the why your customers should buy it. That's the thing that's going to make you stand out in that. In a crowded market, that's going to be the thing that's going to be like, oh, more than just a local spice company that shows up at markets and does this. Right. Like, this has a longer term vision for your company by honing into this. Okay. So I wanted to share that with you because I think it's important for us to kind of dig into it. So from what I've said to you so far, for you saying it back to me, what do you think could be your differentiator or I can help, I can still help you kind of get to that. Okay. Okay, we'll keep working on it then.

I would love some help, I think. Yeah, Well, I definitely, I feel that even if I am not again in a commercial kitchen yet, that I can still target that market that needs low salt, low sugar, which again is a lot of people I'm running into.

Okay, so no salt, no sugar is great.

Most of my products have no fillers. And I always really upfront about that because, you know, I get some people that are kind of squeamish at the price point and I'm like, yes, you can get this for 250 Hidden Valley Ranch. And it's, you know, 80% fillers, whereas this is no fillers. And you know, the same amount is going to make you four things, a dip instead of one or whatever. So. So I'm, I'm quick to, you know, say that, tell everyone there are no fillers in the products. Most of the herbs and veggies, well, as winter comes, I probably can't say most anymore, but a lot of them, I grow myself, as many as I can. I grow myself and I source locally where I can. So I try to, you know, keep that because that's really important with a lot of customers.

So, okay, so they solve a clear problem. Like, so they know their, their ideal customer is health conscious and they want an easy, nutrient rich way to enhance flavors in their meal. So they're looking for, like, for not only the things that it's avoiding, but the nutrient density. Now, this isn't what we're, we're doing. So if we think about your ideal customer. So I think your ideal customer can be a variation of the young family, right? The young, like some like working parents with a family that want to eat at home, and they need a way to kind of, like, spice up their meals in a healthy way. Like you said, like no salt, no sugar, no fillers. Things that people don't even realize that maybe are in their spices. They have no idea the crap they're probably eating. Then secondary, you're telling me that some of your market, and it could be because of where you're located, could be for a little bit of an older generation, where they're perhaps retired, they don't. They cook for themselves. Maybe they want something really fast to eat. They might want to cook themselves off a piece of salmon or chicken and just, like, have a way to sprinkle on extra flavor. But we have to solve this in a way that it doesn't already. It can exist in the market, but we have to come in in a different angle to it. Did you catch that? So while Beth wants to know an exact plan for what's going to grow her business, we first need to take it back to the basics, right back to the studs, and really figure out why she started the business in the first place. We have to see what kind of brand she wants to build, why her customers should buy her spices, and who exactly her ideal customer is, because Beth isn't quite sure yet either. Similarly for you, my friends, if you're not making sales in your business, chances are you may need to go back to some of the earlier stages of business, like the ideation phase and the branding phase, and really figure out who your ideal customer is, how you're going to differentiate your product from others on the market. How are you going to find the sellable product? Remember, the majority of the times when you're selling a product, you're not reinventing the wheel. You're actually redesigning the wheel, which means you need to differentiate yourself, right? Why yours and not someone else's. So if you're struggling to figure out who your ideal customer is and how you can set your product apart, just like I did with Beth, I always recommend looking at other products and brands on the market that are similar to yours. So you can try and get inspired so that you aren't starting from scratch. And then from there, you can figure out what's working, what's not working, and who it is you want to sell to. And really, who we want to repel as customers. Yes, I said that we can repel customers. And so in Beth's case, she really wants to lean into selling to young families or perhaps the older retired generation who want to make clean Flavorful meals that are easy. So let's see how we can approach this problem from a different angle. That's going to set Beth's spices apart from her competition. So if we were to. Then. So we keep talking about dips, but if we were to move away from dips and we were to think of like any of the other strong products that you currently have. Tell me about some of your strongest products.

The strongest ones still the seasoning packets. One of them is garlicky tomato herb, and it's just, it's dried tomato, like all the seasonings that are in Italian seasoning, basically, and lots of garlic. And that's one that everybody loves. And that's a no salt added. And then I have a couple variations on that. One's a cheddar and one is a parm. So it's that same base with cheddar added and with parmesan added. So those are really low salt as well. The only salt then is what's in the cheese. And then my other two biggest one is a dill, dill and garlic. And the other is my basic ranch. And same thing. I'm always like, you can't, you know, this is not just, not just dip. This dill is great on fish. It's great on roasted veggies. It's. And the same thing with the ranch. I try to encourage people to try it a million ways. The one that's really my. My best seller right now is Smoky Pepper Parmesan ranch.

And how are people using that?

They are using it. They love it as a dip, but they also love it on chicken and they love it on pork as well. So that's the biggest.

So do you think that your brand can hook onto the idea of like, convenient flavorable solutions for the busy home cook?

I think that would be good.

So it could be something like, okay, so these are some examples. So if home cooks want easy to use products, right? And they want to make their food taste better, like they want to enhance the flavor without a complex recipe that a long list of ingredients, if they're looking to kind of have that almost like gourmet appeal. So it feels like, you know, we're rest. It's like making restaurant worthy meals at home with like. Cause this could be a tagline for you. Restaurant worthy meals at home with just a sprinkle. And then what you can do is you can create. If you're creating these spice packets and things like that, I want you to think of them as solutions to problems people have. So you might have like the weeknight dinner collection. And then it's like these blends are specifically designed for pasta, chicken, pork, roasted vegetables. You could always have the, like the holiday. The holiday collection, which is like, you have the pumpkin spice right now. Things that make that kind of change with the season. It could also be. It could also be spices that do kind of change with the season, which is something that we don't see often. But because you're dealing, you're in a place where, you know, I mean, I'm in California, so and. But when I lived on the East Coast, I was like, oh, yeah, the winter, like, everything's dead outside and then here, you know, so it's, it's. Or I know, I remember, like I lived in Florida and Miami was it. Or maybe it was. No, I think it was the east Coast. And I was always shocked that I couldn't get avocados at all times a year, which I didn't realize how spoiled I was being from Southern California. So. So it's that idea of like, it could be seasonal flavors that come and go based on what's out there. Obviously, obviously it's like, still like, it could be that farm to table feeling, but I think a way to go. I think the, one of the first ways is that like, convenient, flavorful solutions for busy home cooks. And it's restaurant worthy. Meals at home with just a sprinkle. Okay, so then I want you to think about positioning these like, multifunctional spices, which you're telling me about. And you then get to decide, are they global flavors, are they domestic flavors? Because it could be stuff that's even specific to where you're located. You know, there's like Southern or Creole or, you know. Right, right.

Yeah. I have a, I have a Cajun and I have a Latin and I have a couple different Middle Eastern. One of them is a Za', atar, which I was just so into myself early this summer that I'm like, you worth it? I've thrown this out here. I think I've sold four packs.

It's okay. It's fine. You're testing and trying. Yeah. So I think it's. I think it's going back to the concept of your seasoning. Products can turn simple meals into something extraordinary. And then your, Your main customer, your. The person you're trying to reach out to is somebody with limited time or limited cooking skills, and they're looking for like a very quick and easy solution. Then the second part of that, though, the secondary part is that it's, it's made, it's free of the top nine allergens. You try to be as clean as possible. No salt, no sugar, gluten free. So like those are kind of the same thing with that, it still has, it's these reinforcers on the back of the packet that's like. And it says nothing artificial. Right? So it's really for the, the health conscious person that's like, it's the secondary reason they're gonna buy it. So I think the thing is that you could still be restaurant quality flavors. You got clean labeling with a gourmet twist. Right. It's premium quality. They're hand blended, they're organic or whatever you want to do. And then you can like, that's a secondary market position that you can be in. Okay, so then let's talk about all the other stuff you make.

Yeah, that's the other thing too. I'm killing myself with all these ideas in my head and chasing down rabbit holes and then, you know, buying gallons of stuff everywhere I go. Everywhere I go, buying gallons of stuff.

So if we're going to be the flavorful solutions for a busy home cook, then I want you to have as an anchor point and instead of making the things like, well, I could make hot cocoas or I could make soups. The thing about the soup or something like that could be spice. You know, spice packets, limited time if you want to add it to their rice or something like that. But, but that's all other types of ingredients that you're going to have to have that long term are complicated. So let's, so let's make it easier because you're called tiny spicy kitchen. There should probably be something spicy in it as well. So I think that the route you go and the thing that you hold yourself against is the idea that you're going to be flavorful, flavorful solutions for the busy home chef that are spice blends, that are multifunctional, that make restaurant worthy meals at home with just a sprinkle. So hot cocoa is not with just a sprinkle. Soup is not with just a sprinkle. Okay. So when you're getting super creative at home in your tiny kitchen, cause it's tiny and spicy, you just say, is it just a sprinkle? Like, is it something that someone could sprinkle onto something? You're like, no, they need a whole pack to make hot cocoa. Well, then I'm gonna have to shelve that idea. I'm gonna put it on my idea shelf. Okay, that sounds good.

Sounds good.

Okay.

I love it.

Cool.

I don't have anybody to bounce these ideas off of. Everybody thinks I'm nuts for even doing this because they know where I live.

Cause they know where you live.

Are you crazy?

I love that so much.

You can't turn around in that space.

That's why it's called Tiny Friend.

Right? Exactly.

The spices are actually kind of small, so it's perfect.

It's perfect.

Perfect. All right. So in answering that, because that, for me, is one of the biggest things as you're starting out, if we can really. And I think adhd, add, whatever it is, I think it's an entrepreneurial D. Like, it's just like, it's just if you're an entrepreneur, we have lots of ideas and everything seems like the best idea that we've had. And like you said, you don't have people to bounce ideas off of, which is why, like, I've tried to create these communities and things like that, because I too, was exactly where you are. It's like, I'm just gonna talk to my husband who thinks I'm nuts. Literally just had that conversation with him in the car about something with work. And he goes, he's so smart. He, like, learned this from our therapist. He goes, how can I support you? And I was like, good question. Then I start crying and I'm like, yeah. I was like, I don't know. I don't know how you could support me. Just make it better. So, you know, I think like, that used to be the only person I had to go to about stuff. So I'm glad you're here and I'm glad you signed up for this. So let's get into the next questions for you to help kind of keep you moving. Did you see where I led Beth here? Beth has lots of different products that she offers on her website, which is okay because she started her business business a few months ago. But if she's really serious about growing her business, which I know she is, then she needs to really hone in on what she wants to be known for and what she wants to offer. Right. What's the biggest problem out there that she can solve? So how does she do this? Well, she needs to figure out the problem she wants to solve for her customers or the biggest need in the market. Through our chatting, Beth was able to figure out that she really enjoys the spice packets and helping people create restaurant worthy meals at home with just a sprinkle. Do you see that? Do you see what we did there? And the secondary part of her product is the clean labeling aspect, where it's allergen friendly, which is another problem that she solves for her customers. So now that Beth is really clear on the problems her products solve and what she wants to be known for, she can use this as her guide to stop herself from getting super creative, which I know we all do, and offering all the things, right? Oh, well, I can make this and I can make that, and it's not Beth. We all know she's not alone. I know you listeners out there are like, yeah, me too. And then what we really, really, really want to do is really think about what's going to align with just that sprinkle to make a flavorful meal. And then she can really think, okay, well, do hot cocoas work? Do soups work? You know, really trying to figure out what products really align with the niche and the need she's filling. Similarly to how I'm guiding Beth, if you're offering all the products and all the things just because you can or just because you want to or just because someone told you you should, then you really need to figure out what you want to become known for or what you're already known for, which you may not be paying attention to, and start leaning into that more. And that's going to be best, that's going to be easiest, and it's going to help you connect like a great puzzle piece with your ideal customer. And my friends, this is going to be your simplest and fastest path to growth. I know, I know we all get creative and we all want to do all the things, but we kind of have to put our blinders on, right, and not be distracted by the distractions. So now that we've really figured out the groundwork for Beth's business, let's see if we can help her come up with the next steps for her business. Happy holidays. Okay, we want to get you uber prepared for this holiday season because what we want is that you can get 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, you can jump in and grab 101 content ideas beyond the Holiday Discount. And it is a bundle of content prompts, tools, hashtags 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 holidaycontentideas.com. so you wanted a clear plan of what to do next, get you on track and then do you want to discuss your holiday plans or where can we go next?

I guess just what do you have advice for like a strategic plan I can follow on a weekly basis. Like I'm so horrible. I have probably, I don't even know. I've probably got 30 Instagram posts all created and Facebook posts all created. And I've posted three in three weeks, maybe, maybe two. But they're created and then I don't, I've never used a scheduler to schedule them out because I always think, oh, I could do that right after school or I can do that right after, blah blah blah. And then, and it never happens. So I know I need to do that. But how? I, I try really hard to batch things out because I do work full time plus I tutor a million kids.

So let me ask you a question. What would it look like? What would the revenue, let's say by the end of the year, what would you like to make by the end of the year? If we were gonna kind of create a 65 day plan.

Right. So I was right. I was really, really hoping to. I think I put that in there. I think I wanted to 5x most of my entry fees for these markets, it varies anything from 60 to a couple hundred. And there's a, there's several that I think I can, there's a couple, I think I can even 10x easily. But I've never, like I said, there's been no website sales so I don't even know if my goal would be a actual monetary goal or it would be make x sales on the website or get it.

Well, right now you're doing the markets, right? That's like your main sales channel, right? Yeah. Okay, so how many markets do you have for the rest of the year?

I'm off for two weeks and then I have two every week through Christmas.

So what's your average order value or what are people spending if they do buy from you?

So that's a hard thing too because you know, I'm not selling anything with a valid price tag. The spices are at my markets. I've been doing 650 or 3 for 18 and so pretty. Almost everybody does the three pack bundle except my last two markets which have been terrible.

Yeah, I know. I had a one on one with someone yesterday and she was like, I was so annoyed because the person across from was like this is the best show and it's so busy and we're going to another show. And he's like, yeah, this show is going to be just like this one. And she's like, mine was wah, wah. So she's like, yeah, everybody.

At my last two, I don't think the one I did two weeks ago, not a single person even made their entry fee. It was so bad.

Okay, so for you, if we're going to go to market, and this might feel like a lot, so I'm just going to run it by you. Having about an $18 average order value means that to make about $1,000 per market, you would have to sell about 56 of the $18. So do you feel like you have that kind of traffic that walks by to be able to sell 56 of them?

@ some markets, yes. And at some markets, absolutely not.

Okay, so note that in your brain. If I have, if I sell $18, the three packs at 18 bucks, then I need to sell 56 people of them, 56 of these to get a thousand bucks per show. I just made it a thousand dollars per market just to give a round number.

That's a great number. I would be really, really jumping, doing backflips if I could hit that number.

So you have to make sure that you have the inventory. So when you, you're. And I know markets are going to vary and it sounds like you can make things up pretty quickly. And you can also sell out. I mean, we can drive, we can drive scarcity by selling out, but.

Right. I did that. I did that a couple markets ago. I sold out of my three top sellers. And I, I really thought the market was going to be really nothing and sold out of my three top sellers. So I did a. Made a little sign that said, oh, my gosh, we've sold out of these three top sellers. And I offer free shipping if they ordered at least three. So did that. You know, this day only because I sold out.

Do you know about the spice. That's awesome. Do you know about the spice house? Do you know that?

I've heard that name.

Okay, so same thing. I somehow ended up with these spices in my cupboard. Spices and blends. Gifts. So you can, when you're thinking about your website, this is a good one to look at. I'm just looking because I want to figure out price points. So it says like signature blends, essential spices, culinary herbs, peppercorns, premium salts, and gift boxes. So you know you're more than a spice company because you are, you're elevating dishes with these blends. But if we look At a blend, signature blend. How much are they charging? Okay, they're 9.99 for one. So, you know, a question is, is. And I know it's where your market is and you're in person, could your price point go up? If that's something to think about. So you've got some room to play, I'll say, for a premium spice company. And you can also look at gifts when you're thinking about bundles. So especially right now, it's a great time. But. But just as you're thinking about how things so Bestseller deluxe collection. The barbecue Collection, the Chicago Heritage Collection. So Taste of Italy. So think when you're naming them, whether they're bundles or sets, if you name them, it solves a problem for your customer's brain. So everything Veggie seasoning collection. So that's great because it's like, okay, if you love to do veggies and you need better spices for veggies, it's like it makes so much sense for me to be able to just buy that or the Taste of Italy. And we're in a really good season right now for. For gifting.

Right, Right. So I had put together a couple little tins. I don't even know if I have a picture of them yet, but I put together two packs of little tins. They have a clear top. And was going to bring those out at my next market. So I thought that would be a same thing like a gift set and. And package it. As I was going to do one as best sellers, I put together a tailgating pack, which I thought would be huge because Tennessee Football, they're like insane down here, but they really. It really hasn't been. Hasn't been a thing.

So I think because people don't know how to use it. So if it's game day. But it's like great for dips barbecue, you have to like, you have to answer the question for them. People can't possibly like you. And I think about our products so often that we make the link really fast and the leap, they don't know. So that's why even the naming convention of how you name the product, like the popcorn collection, the dip collection, make it easy because like the dip collection, perfect for game days kind of thing, right?

Yeah. I had tried to do a. I think I had a rib rub, a like a burger seasoning and then a couple of dips.

But you don't need to have all the things. So even though I'm showing you these examples, like the spice house has a Gazillion. But Pluck has four. That's it, four flavors. So this is a good example to show you. Like, like four flavors to 1 million flavors. And then you starting to hone in on how, like the dinner, like the dinner series. Great idea. The dip collection. Great idea. What else? The holiday dinner collection. So just thinking through, like pain points, and then your product is solution. Pain point, your product as solution. People are always like, I don't know what problem my product solves. I mean, nothing. I mean, we all have problems. Whether it's I want to look prettier and so I want to wear a cute headband today. That's a problem. And you could sell me a headband. And yours is, I want to make my food more flavorable, but I want someone to like mix the spices for me and tell me how to use them. Okay. So thinking through your markets, we're going to set these goals. So we're going to go whatever you want. If we want the thousand, thousand dollars per market with an $18 average order value, then we need to sell 56 bundles. If you're able to raise prices or instead of selling the three packs, maybe you make like, you know, a six pack of the holiday collection, or you make better offers, maybe we can get people to spend 36 bucks with you instead of 18. Right. Then we're selling less and we only have to sell 28. So you work backwards. Then you make sure you've got the product for it. I know you're going to want to get creative, but I want you to. What? The creative part I want you to get to is being creative about what? What sets or bundles or kits you can create for people so that you just solve a problem. If you, you could sell me all day, every day, the dinner collection, upgrade any dinner, then I'm like, oh, cool, one and done. I just have to buy like chicken and vegetables or beef and vegetables and whatever. And I have this dinner thing. And then maybe perhaps it comes with recipes. Then you offer these. Like I said, we either we need to either get more customers, which you're working on, or we need to make the customers that are already buying from us spend more. So if you can create higher incentive bundles. Right. Buy six for 35. Or it's not even six, but it's like the holiday promotion. Here's the holiday gift set. People love these four. People give these to their mother in laws. People give these to their husbands. I bought my husband from one of our students a six pack of hot sauces one year you can also call them limited edition. So limited edition holiday blend, meaning it's not gonna be there. Or here's an exclusive market bundle. It's available here. Of course you can come shop on my. But this is exclusive to this market only. And then you can offer like, you know, bonuses. If there's ever like a bonus where, you know, let's say you are going to get rid of the hot cocoa or the soups and you have extra, you could be like, when you buy six, you'll get one free. Or when you buy six, pick a soup or pick a hot cocoa or something. Because you have the inventory that you can move through anytime. I think you're growing your emails in person. So anytime you can offer them a discount code. Either your email list, you can say, come visit me at market and then bring this coupon code and you'll get X off. So like visit me at these markets and bring this and you'll get $5 off.

I was doing that with my. When I was first starting on Facebook and I had a couple of the different local farmers markets, local farmers who were linking up with me and so they were spreading and sharing everything I was doing, which was wonderful. And they were. I was, you know, come see me at the market. Tell me you saw it, you know, wherever. And get a free. I was doing little tiny sample packets, you know, get a free sample. So.

And that might be interesting too, like if you tend to go with the same crowd, like if you guys tend to do the same market circuit, you could always. The other thing you could do is you could have like vegetables out that they can dip and try or that's.

What I've been doing. I've been doing the dips and doing like three or four of them. You know, these are our best sellers.

Or jars that they could smell like, smell through. But I think the better move for you instead of you worrying about social media in your website to start, because I think there's a bit of branding that needs to happen because we've got the ideate it phase, which you and I have gone back into ideate. You came up with the idea, but we have to kind of go back into the why the problem that solves the customer making it. You're making it right now because I'm going through like my phases. I've got ideated. And make it make it is production. And you're running your production the way that it is right now until it breaks because you grow and we need to scale that. Then we get into ID make and then the next one is brand to brand it. There is some stuff that we can do in the branding. You and I already talked about that with your unique value proposition, the kind of like the tagline so that it easily connects for people. And I think your website is beautiful. But the hardest part for you right now is going to be driving traffic and working on conversions on a website. So the better option for you might be wholesale. So I think that your stuff might be great at wine shops, cheese shops, shops, small markets, sometimes like coffee shops and cafes will add extra things. Like right now if you pay attention to what's happening, there's like product that you wouldn't normally get at certain stores but because the holidays are coming, they're just having other things in there. So I think for you wholesale might be better. And then as you start to kind of gain traction and get to know more, then we can go back into like again branding it again to uplevel the brand. But right now we're just trying to get your feet underneath you and say like, let's test and try and see what, what, what has legs here. And then from a marketing perspective then yes, grow your email list, yes, let them know what markets you're going to be at. But don't worry about social right now. So I think that as you get to know your brand better, it'll be easier for you to build the brand on social and like front facing, direct to consumer. But I like this small batch, test and try wholesale concept. It'll just be easier because there's other small businesses out there that will, will buy the stuff, like buy it the way that it currently looks and sell it because you'll have a human being selling it. Because you've already proven that you had a market as a human selling it. And online we don't have that. So our brand has to elevate. So there's still that market research. So I have a new program coming. It's going to be very exciting, right? It's a membership and it's going to cover all of this in there with like different modules. And so it's going to be something where like you can be in for a month or you can be in for a year, you can be in for six months. Months. The goal is obviously as long as you can stay and it's going to walk you through all of these parts and have templates and tools and stuff. So I think that I just want you to right now prove to yourself product, product, market fit and aligning your Messaging. And when you start to see that you're increasing, even if we don't hit $1,000 per market, but you're making more than you usually do, it feels easier to sell. You know how to talk about it, and you get to know your customer better. It's going to be easier for you the next time that you level up. So don't worry about the packaging yet.

Definitely. Okay.

Okay. But it's the way you sell it and how it's displayed and how you kind of show how it is. So the things that you're going to want to work on are you could totally send emails about the markets you're at. Come visit me, bring this coupon. You can even on Canva, create like a fake coupon. So $5 off, or maybe even more than that. Maybe like 10 bucks off. But it could still have like a asterisk of like, on purchase, on orders over $35. Just the 50 people. Like, let's get those 50 people in. That'll be great. You're going to think about positioning of the product. You want to make less, not more. So you want to hone in on what your offerings are so the customer doesn't get confused. Like, oh, you make soups and this. Like, no, we make with just a sprinkle. We elevate your meals to restaurants. Restaurant. Restaurant quality. We can elevate your dips. We can. It's elevation. It's like elevating what you for like the person who's really busy, who wants to just their food to taste like you're at a restaurant, but you're home. And then I would go through these markets and every time, like, note for. Take a notebook for yourself and note down like, this worked. I said this. This worked really well. This customer said this to me. Listen, write it down. Because whenever you hear your customer saying something to you, you can actually flip it as a marketing messaging as well. So are you sensing a theme here? Beth is very much in the try phase of her business because she just opened it in June of this year, which means she's still trying to figure out her brand and what works best for her. So her goal for the holiday season is to 5x her market entry fees in sales. Right. So five times whatever she's investing into the markets to get back. And while she thinks posting more on social media will get her there, if you've been listening to this podcast for any sort of time, that isn't always the case. So instead, Beth needs to focus on what's already working for her, which is in person market markets, and see what changes she can make there. For instance, she can try to create different collections or bundles of her products to increase her average order value. And she can even test and try raising her prices since she's a premium spice company. From there, she can also start to build her email list by collecting emails from those attending the markets so that she can start to build their loyalty through email marketing. Right. Once they leave, how do you stay connected with the people you see in real life? So if something is already working for you and it's working well, or it's starting to work like markets are for Beth, then lean into that and figure out ways you can optimize what's already working, working instead of focusing on trying to try something new right now. Right. Does that make sense? Okay, let's wrap this up. Okay. So how can people shop from you, support you, all the things?

Tinyspicykitchen.com Find me on Instagram. Find me on Facebook. Yeah, definitely.

Thank you so much, Beth.

Thank you. I've really appreciated this.

I loved working with Beth today, and I'm so excited to see where she takes Tiny Spice Kitchen. Now, while most product bosses want an exact plan and the steps for what they need to do next, make more sales, oftentimes it first requires us to go back to those foundations. Right. To pull it back to the studs. Or I like to say it's sort of like an onion, and we just have to kind of keep peeling away and peeling away. Because I get these questions so many times. There's a very straight question, how do I do this? But if we don't have the sellable product, if we haven't gone through the idea phase, where we're really thinking through, like, what's the product? Do I have a hero product? A core collection? You know, do I have bestsellers? What's the data? What's the niche I'm filling? Does this match with my customer? Do I have a unique value proposition? Right. If we did, we don't know these things about our business, then it's really hard to move forward. So if you're feeling stuck, I want to tell you, you're not alone. But so many of us come up with the idea. We make the product, and we start to sell it. But there are so many more aspects to it that will help us just build our businesses and grow our businesses easier. Right? We want you to have this operating system in your business so that you can just follow steps and be like, where? Where do I need to go. And each of us have different products, different categories and different paths to profit. And there's. That's wonderful. That's why there's no step by step by step by step. Exactly. For everybody. Because we all want to do it a little bit different than the other. But here's the deal. The main theme here is that if you don't know who your ideal customer is or why you started your business or why customers should buy from you, or even what really sets you apart and your products apart from the competition, then you are going to have a hard time growing your business and making the sales you want to. I know it's a hard truth, but it's the thing that I've seen, right? You've heard me coach. I'm at a year now of coaching people every single week and there's episodes that haven't aired yet. So I've coached probably at least a hundred product based business owners this year alone. And I've seen all the things, right, everyone's kind of talking about very, very similar things, similar themes, just like Beth. And if you're feeling this way, if you're feeling like, oh yeah, I'm definitely in this place. My friends, have you heard about the Product Boss Academy yet? I know it's literally the best thing I've ever built. It's my brand new membership for the Product Boss. We've just launched it. There's right now we're in the founder founders time which means you can join right now at a founders rate which is over 55% off. So if you want to learn more, I'm really excited because it's designed specifically for product bosses like you, right. It's got curriculum, it's got a whole template vault that's going to have all the tools and resources, basically everything I ever used in my product based business or anything I've ever recommended to my one on one clients and students. It has a community, it's going to have weekly live group coaching with me and the Product boss mentors. It's going to be awesome. And so if you're looking for that step by step support, if you want to dig into each part of these phases and go back in, whether you are just an idea right now and you want to start now or you've been in business and you kind of have to figure out how do I really build this supportive business around me, right? You can have a freedom centered life when you know how you can start and scale a successful product business. And this is why we have the profitable Product Boss method inside. Because again, I need you to be profitable. That money is what goes back into your pocket. That's why you're doing all of this hard work. So if you want to know more, head to the productbossacademy. Com. We will also drop a link for you here to check it out. The founders rate will be going away and it will never be offered again. It is literally the lowest it will ever, ever, ever be. So if you want in at the ground floor, grab your spot now inside of the Product Boss Academy. It's the productblast academy.com or click on that link now. If Beth is able to nail down her foundations and really get clear on, I know she's gonna see a lot of success with her spice business. And if you're like, ah, I need help in the same parts, that's all inside of the Academy. And I know that you can do this too, my friends. That's why you're here. That's why you're listening to a business podcast and not some other, you know, gossipy podcast. You're listening to this because I know that you want to keep learning because you believe in this business and you believe in your ability. Or maybe you don't fully believe yet, but you know that you've got something and your life could look very different on the other side. So don't forget, I hope to see you join the Product Boss Academy. It's going to be awesome. And until next time, my friends, I'll see you on the next one.