654. "I want to turn my side hustle into a profitable business- how can I do that?" | Coaching Session

I don't know, I get in my own head and get like lost and it's like analysis paralysis sometimes because then I'm like, okay, where do I start? So that's kind of where I'm at.

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business? And what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hey product bosses. And welcome back to another coaching call. I'm so excited to be here today. It's your host, Jaclyn Snyder. And today I am chatting with Brittani. And Brittany is the owner of Embroidery Babe Design and she sells apparel and accessories including T shirts, sweatshirt and ha. Now, Brittany started her embroidery business after she had her second baby and as a way to dive into and fulfill her creative side. Listen, I started my second business after I had my second kid because as moms and entrepreneurs, I mean, hey, not busy enough, but anyways, now Brittany has decided that she wants to turn her creative side hustle into an actual business, which is so exciting. She wants to generate revenue, she wants to be more profitable because she's really sees the potential. But here's the deal. Even though she's been working on hashtag all the things, right? Do people say that anymore? But she's been working on all the things, she still feels really stuck. And between having two kids and a full time job, she's really been struggling to figure out how to get some version of her strategy moving forward and to actually have something that consistently makes revenue and is profitable and feels like a real business. So don't worry because Brittany and I are going to jump into this and figure it out together. So if you want to hear Brittany's story, let's dive in. Hey, hey product bosses. I know a Lot of us want to get organized. That's my word of the year. One of them is discipline. And it's that discipline and kind of getting organized and staying organized and really kind of minimizing my overwhelm this year. So if you're anything like me, you're probably juggling spreadsheets or you might be guessing, like, what stock do I actually have on hand or do I have enough to make these raw goods, right? Especially if we've just come out of the holiday season. And maybe you're just crossing your fingers that you have the right stock levels or that when you restock, you order the right amount. But I know that a lot of times when we're sitting in inventory, it's actually just chaos. It's like, is this organized? Is it organized in my head? Is it organized on a spreadsheet? I have a piece of paper jotted down somewhere. I don't know, right? But here's the deal. We're gonna move into this year without the chaos. It does not need to feel this overwhelming. Because what if managing your inventory could actually be simple, right? Simple and not stressful and actually really informative. That's where Katana comes in. Now, I love Katana. It is the IM inventory management software that I have recommended for years and it's built specifically for product based businesses like yours. And with Katana, you are going to save time. You are going to know the exact details about your inventory, especially when it comes to time to reorder and how to streamline your operations, all so that you can focus on what you do best, which is being the visionary, which is being creative and making amazing products and taking care of your customers and focusing on sales. So if you are ready to ditch the overwhelm and get your inventory under control, I'd love for you to schedule your free demo for katana@theproductboss.com katana and you can see how Katana can be a game changer for your biz and make 2025 a brace. Tell me what you sell. What I want to know is what you sell, what your best sellers are and how you're selling it. Like how are people discovering you and where are they buying from you?

So I sell embroidered, mostly sweatshirts and T shirts right now. And then I'm selling on Shopify is like my. I would like to most of it to go through there, but I do have stuff on ETS and I was doing markets. I haven't been able to do any like in the last six months. But those would be like my three main ways to sell. And the part, I guess, that I'm so excited that I got this coaching call. Cause it's just like, it's so hard, like trying to think everything through on my own. But like, so what I'm selling right now is gonna be designs that are either like curated or I've done myself. But the thing that happened is, like, when I started this, I've been doing it almost a year. Well, no, I'm sorry, a year in October. And I started out just like doing designs, but it also kind of turned into me doing like small business merch, like logos and stuff like that. So when I started listening, when I found you and your podcast and everything, I was trying to like, figure out, okay, like, what is my niche, like, what can I do? And I love the design part of it because I can be like, creative and I love finding cute things or making my own. But what's bringing in, like, what I realized my bestseller is logo merch for like other small businesses. So I'm kind of at a point where I'm like doing the two. But really what's bringing in more consistent income is gonna be the, like, doing other people's logos.

So where are people finding where? How are people discovering you? So you're doing a lot of like, small business merch and things like that that are custom. How do they know you exist?

So pretty much just Instagram and word of mouth, which it all just like happened really organically. Like, honestly, when I got my embroidery machine, I knew nothing about embroidery and then just slowly started learning. And then it just, I got like one person that asked me about logos and I was like, yes, I'll do it. And then it just kind of like they would repost it. And like, there's a lot. There's a pretty big, like, I would think small business. Well, maybe my eyes are just open to it now, but there is a big small business community here, like in Temecula mirror to some of the local area. So when they just started like reposting it, it was just kind of like word of mouth. So these really like cool businesses that I would dream of, like doing something for started reaching out and it just kind of like grew from there. So it's pretty much just. It's mostly Instagram. So like all I started making like reels and stuff of like the behind the scenes stuff and then would post like a finished product. So people would like repost that or I would tag them. And then that's how Other people would find me.

So we're talking about the idea that this feels like it's working, but revenue wise, are you feeling like you're making the kind of money you want to be making and that you're making the kind of profit you want to be making?

So right now. So I work a full time job too, so I have a regular 9 to 5. And this is kind of like a secondary thing. So I don't have as much time to like, invest in it and really, really, like, try to get more work. Because then I'm like, okay, like, if it really happened, like, do I even have enough time? So for me, would like to have maybe like double what I'm doing right now, at least for now, and just start like bringing in more consistent. But no, I mean, it's not bringing in like a ton of revenue, like I would want it to, but it really did start picking up like the middle of this year for me.

And then what? When you say it was picking up, was there something that happened that did make it pick up faster? I know you said Instagram, but, like, was there a real that went viral? Was there somebody who posted something? Like, what was it that got people to know you existed?

It was probably because I was being a little more consistent in doing those, like, videos, because the reels, it's funny. It's like the things that I want to get more views don't, but those behind the scenes seem to really help. And like, it's turned into something that I love because I'm working with other businesses that are great too. So it's like I'm making their merch and then posting it. So it's like kind of beneficial for both, I guess. But it's mostly that, like, being more consistent.

So my question back to you then is like, since you're doing this custom embroidery, do you have a minimum requirement for people to place the order with you or are you just taking them, like, custom orders? How are you charging people? Because what I want to do is I want to break up your total amount and start to work out what you've sold. Like, how did we get to that number so that we could repeat it and then double it?

Yeah, so it's mostly like people reaching out, like organically and then. And that's the thing too, because I've just recently started trying to, like, figure it out. Because in the beginning it was like, oh my gosh, like, what do I charge? You know? And then it's like everybody's logo is entirely different and for me, like the embroidery, it not only most of it is like in the process of it, like how long it takes and whatnot. So recently I've kind of like to make it easier on myself, I've done kind of like three different options where people will like somehow land in one of those and then it kind of like goes for depending on like what and where you want it.

We're getting there, we're gonna, we're gonna keep peeling this back and then get to where we wanna go. So I can get you to custom embr something for me with my logo and is there a minimum or I can just get one shirt from you?

You can, yeah, you can do one. And like what I've been doing lately is if they do like at least 10, then I was giving like a small discount.

Okay. And then does that include the shirt or that's they send you the shirt and you embroider? It's just the service, it does include the shirt. Okay. So it doesn't sound like you're making money profit wise.

I'd like to be making more.

So let's just talk through because on your form you're like, I have two things. You're making cute shir that are like mama and Mary. And you know you like the design and basically you're creating a brand in your own product line. But you're also a service, you've got product as a service. So I want something customized and I'm a business and I'm tending to know you as a business, like as a company that does embroidery. And I'm like, oh yeah, I need a sweatshirt that says the product boss on it. I can hire Britney's company to make me one. Okay, so in your time capacity, if I were to like wave a magic wand and make 2025 your ideal year of time capacity, revenue brought in the stuff that you want to do. Like do you want to be building a brand where you're designing apparel and selling mama shirts and things like that or do you want to be a service where I can come to you with a specific need and you can make that for me the way you've been doing it, business to business.

Honestly, like if it were up to me, like I enjoy it is up to you.

So like up to you, I wave the magic Wand, I make 2025 Britney's year. What do you in your heart, not what your brain is over writing, but in your heart, what do you feel like you want to do?

My heart, I would love to like have the collections that I curate and design on my own and have those sell because it just time wise like I could come out out with like seasonal and like maybe like quarterly collections where I'm just doing that because although I love the small business stuff and it's bringing income in, it's also, it is like more time consuming.

Yeah. You're not getting paid what you should be charging so we can dig into that. Second, it's, there's a lot of back and forth customer service, a lot of design, a lot of approvals and by you making literally $0 on all of the effort, sure you're buying a shirt with a logo on it, but you're not accounting for your time on design setup, setting up the embroidery, you know, back and forth with them. All of that is of value. Your time is the utmost value. Especially. Did you say you have kids?

Yeah, I have two little ones.

Okay, two kids, full time job side hustle. Like let's value Britney more than your Brittany. Okay. Because if we were to sub you out with another human that we paid minimum wage to, even wherever. Because you're in California. So our minimum wage is bonkers. Right. It's like $1718. I don't know what we raised it to. We just had an election. So 17 bucks an hour, you're spending more than an hour, start to finish in this whole process. So what you're charging for the completed product is less than what it's taking you to actually make it. It's okay because you've made money, you've been testing and trying. You tried both ways. But what take this time together to do is like create a strategy that's closer and more aligned with what you want, what your heart told you you wanted for 20, 25, which sounds like it's a brand.

Yeah, I mean I do that. That's what I would like because I want to source like I do want it to be kind of more of like an elevated, casual type thing. And it's, I know it's going to take time and more like design and stuff. But yeah, I mean if, if you were saying like, hey, think next year would go how you want it would be me creating stuff and it really, it just be more of a brand.

Okay. So the plus and the minus this, the plus is that it's your business, you can establish the price that you want, all the things. The minus is that you're going to feel like potentially you're making less money because at least right now you're like, at least someone's buying for me. And all those numbers are adding up to the total that you've brought in so far this year. And so it might feel like you're at more of a deficit. But my goal for you then would be is that you're more profitable. So if you're going to still take business to business, I want you to, I'm just going to really quickly touch on that is because that might be your cash flow, that might be the thing that keeps you motivated is that you have a setup fee. So they do a one time setup fee with you of what, 50 bucks? Hundred. I know if I'm going to do screen printing, I pay $200 for screens to be made. So you can do, I don't know, a 50 setup, which means you've come up with the, you know, you've done the logo, you've done the test strike off of it, you've gotten their approval. Now it's housed in, I'm going to use the product boss. It's housed in the product boss bosses folder. So now I know whenever I need merch I can come to Brittany and she can do it. I've paid my setup fee. You can start with 50, bring it up to 100. Like whatever you want it to be, you can do, you can say the setup fee is like voided. I don't charge you the setup fee with an order of what, $500, a thousand dollars worth of product. Like we can have markers that we want them to go to to wipe the setup fee. But then the next part is, is while they pay the setup fee, it's not just one because honestly I could go to the dry cleaners or like there's, there's local embroider, take a shirt to or a sweatshirt to and get it done. So people are finding you because probably also younger people are finding you and following you. And the Internet makes more sense to them than local business. But it needs to be worth your time. So even if it's like there's a setup fee of 50 bucks or setup fee of $100, you know you're getting paid for that part. So at least you're getting paid for the service part. Then if you're going to charge for the shirts, I would also say if it's just one, you need to take the cost of your blank. Right. And then you need to account for the time. So let's say the 50 or $100 is accounted for your time on like the back and forth communication. Again, I want you to replace Britney with someone you're paying $20 an hour to you. Let's just go with a $20 an hour person in California. Let's give her a name. What do you want your new assistant to be called?

Halle.

Hallie.

Yeah.

Okay, so Hallie, Britney's assistant, who you can also do hally@your company.com, right? Like, let's just create a fake person so Hallie can be the one who talks back and forth. Hallie can be like, great. There's this fee, da da da. Because you're paying for Hallie's time, because long term, we can replace you in all these aspects of the business. The second part is then you measure the time that it takes for you doing the setup, right? Like, you're putting the backing on the back of the sweatshirt. You're putting it in, you're threading the machine. How long does all that take? And then do you need eyes on it or can you leave it for 20 minutes to embroider whatever it is you've cut, you trim, you package your sew. I want you to just account for the time that it would take, not the 20 minutes in the machine. But like, let's say again, if you're thinking more than at scale, you had 10 machines going at the same time, and you need one person to operate it. You know, it's just kind of like you set and forget. But also know that if you had lots of orders on, the machine is booked for that time. So you could give the machine a different hourly price point, right? You could say, like, it's $10 an hour for the machine, and that machine is 20 minutes right on it. So then you, you take that percentage and you make it a dollar amount. So if you can work backwards on the cost of time and labor and the cost of the shirt and then set your price for selling that product, they've paid you the service fee, the setup fee for the back, for the setting up of the logo, and now they're straight up paying you for the product. Does that make sense?

Yeah. No, that makes total sense.

So I would say, I would give them tiers. I'd say like between 1 to 5. It's. I'm just gonna throw a number, $50 a piece. If it's like one color thread 5 to 10, it's $47. Right? Like, you could also give tiers of product. So if the more they buy, the less it is per piece. But you just need to make sure that you're getting paid for the shirt and you're getting paid for the labor of that. And then if you still are taking that and people are willing to. To pay for that, then at least you're getting paid for your time. You're making money. Otherwise, right now, you're literally, like, either wiping out your profit or it's like a vanity number where the number's coming in, but it's not really paying you for what you're doing.

Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. Because it. Because the only setup fee that I'm charging right now is, like, for the embroidery. It does have to be turned into, like, a specific file that the machine can read. So that's kind of like the setup fee. I like it. So I add on, like, a few dollars because it's my time, like, getting it together. But I do think that I probably need to have more of like, a. Like you're saying like a setup fee because. Yeah, at the end of the day, I mean, it's like not making what I would want to make.

But I need you to think of this in the way of. I know you say you're not making what you want to make, but I also need you to think of this as if you were to replace yourself. So I want you to. On one of these projects, I want you to time track what it is and then associate whether it's Hallie or Brittany that's getting paid what you're paying. Let's say, Hallie, $20. Because, Brittany, you deserve to be paid way more. So that's like where you get paid the profit from the company. You get paid a salary, all the stuff. But let's say we were hiring an employee, our virtual Halle. What would she charge for it? Because then you'll start to see what the cost is actually affecting you. So I want you to take a little bit of time. You'll listen back to this call, and I want you to just kind of look at a reasonable setup fee. And then price breaks of minimums, one to five pieces. It will be this much for a shirt or this much for a sweatshirt. Right. Like, you can give your tiers five to ten. It's this much. People. People know this. You're not just like a online embroidery company that you could do one at a time. But if you do, I want charging way more. So. So start with your just time audit. Okay, so if you have a project coming up or you were to pretend do a project, I want you to just time audit. I want you to time audit the service side of this. So the back and forth with the customer, the setup, all of that the digitizing of the file. And then I want you to then say, okay, then if I got an order and I had to get the shirt and I had to, you know, embroider it and whatever, like, how much would that cost? Plus like shipping and packaging and the whole gamut. Just time track it and then start to assign it numbers and then just see what would make you feel good from a place that if you got an order like that you would be excited about it versus I'd prefer not. I'm not saying to build your whole business on it, but I'm saying that if you are known for it and you don't want to turn away work right now, that's a way to at least qualify that you're getting paid as you're shifting and transitioning into also thinking about becoming a brand. Does that make sense?

Yeah, no, that makes total sense. Because, yeah. I mean, at this point it's like, I'm trying because I do have one commercial machine right now now, which, like, it's just me and my husband that have pretty much like financed like the start of this. So it's like, I don't want to turn stuff down because at least it's bringing in some sort of income. But yeah, I told. I. I do think that that's a good idea to at least have like this set up and then to rethink the pricing on it.

Yeah, because I think. I think one of the things that you're thinking about is you're like, well, I'm not going to bring any revenue, but if you're looking at like, am I actually making money? That's. That's the difference. So if you could start to really look at this and be like, am I actually, like, what am I making $10? But it costs. It was like, you know, or $15. I spent six hours doing this because you would never work for somebody for six hours for 15 bucks. Right. So I just want you to val, like you said, the undervaluing of yourself. I just want you to value yourself. And if you can't do it for yourself, because it is hard, because as the owners, we want to get paid hundreds of dollars an hour, right? Our. Our value, our dollar signs. Next to our names are four dollar signs. Like, if we were a restaurant, we're expensive. And then hire for the single dollar signs, like the cheaper roles. But if you can't hire for that yet, you can't charge your, you know, expensive pricing for tasks that cheaper labor would be used. And I say cheaper labor, not In a sweatshop, Cheaper labor. I say it more in the way of like, oh, I could pay someone minimum wage or a little over minimum wage to run my embroidery machines versus someone who is running your marketing. Okay, so are you catching on to where I'm having Britney start? So really it's twofold. But we're gonna take it back to basics here to figure out what Britney's actual goal is. Because as of right now, she's offering a service and a product. So if she wants to turn her hobby into a business, then she needs to figure out which business type she's going to lean into and focus on. So once we determine that, then we started talking about revenue. Right. Because if you're not making a profit in your business, if you're not generating revenue, then it really is a hobby. So for Britney, not only is she not where she wants to be revenue wise, but she's also been undervaluing herself and her time. Does this sound familiar to anyone out there? So if you're a maker, I know you could probably relate. If you're a manufacturer, no matter what you do, I think a lot of times it's very hard to charge what you're worth, charge what your products are worth. Sometimes we're undervaluing ourselves. We're not even including labor. And what we want to do here is we want to fix it, because this is not a hobby. Right. Your worth is also linked to how you value yourself and the time you put in. And sure, there's the creative process, and we all love creating and making, but there's also this level of sometimes feeling like, well, you know, I can't pay myself or I'm not worth something. But listen, if you were to hire somebody else, somebody else would. You'd have to pay somebody else to do the exact work for you. So I get it. It's like a chicken or the egg situation where you're not sure if you can pay yet pay yourself charge for it. But I really want you to start to dig into these numbers and ask yourself, how can I start to include some version of labor in here so you can keep building and building and building towards profitability? So here's the deal. What you to do? And this is something that I asked Brittany to do too, was doing a time audit. And when she does this time audit, the next time she gets an order, I want her to write down every step of the way for what it takes for her to make this product so that she could actually figure out the time cost. And then Add that into her product. And my friend, if you are not adding in labor, this is something I want you to do as well. Especially if you're not paying yourself or you're not paying yourself what you want to be paying yourself. Because right now this task, the task of production will be one of the lowest, lowest paid tasks in your company. Okay? So knowing that we do need to start to build that in, I know this feels like something that might feel out of reach and, and this is why I talk about it. And this is why I want you to price yourself correctly. And this is why I came up with the profitable product boss method. Right? We teach that inside of the product Boss Academy. But this profitable product boss method is to have the profit so that you don't have to pull out of your own bank account or work a full time job to pay for your business, but rather your business can start paying you and paying for your life and start building a savings and investing and buying yourself something pretty and whatever else you want to do with the money that you make. That's the point here. All right, so now that we've dove into these basics with Britney and I've gone on my little soapbox, I actually want to dive into Britney's brand and what it looks like. So let's get into that. All right, so let's move on to the building of the brand. So what we first need to do, when you're in multi stream machine and you've probably heard about the product boss Academy, it's my new membership that is really like from what I've established kind of goes deep. It goes to the beginning of the idea all the way through selling, selling your product, delegating your business and growing it. So it's really the step by step plan for people, especially at your level. And somewhere in that, and I say all that because. But I think with what you have right now, you can do it. And then if you consider coming to the academy, there's more weekly support. So from the perspective of standout society, the who your ideal customer is. So there we're talking about nailing your brand, right? We nail your niche, we nail your audience, we nail your brand. For you, it looks like you're going towards mama or like women with kids. You said you want to be a more premium brand, but we have to really tap back into why. Like why do I need another sweatshirt? And then when I'm buying an embroidered sweatshirt, what people don't realize is how much it costs, costs for the kind of embroidery that you do. So if you were working, if you were here in LA and you were working with embroidery factories out in downtown LA and you were hiring them, it is costly to do embroidery. Like so much more costly for me to hire someone. It might cost me five to eight dollars maybe to like have a single sweatshirt embroidered. Then obviously you're doing it the way you're doing it. But that's at scale with like minimums, like I need to do 100 or 300 or 500 to get $5, $8 worth of embroidery on someone's shirt. And so it's not 2 cheap. Where it comes cheap is if we're importing from China, for example. But the task of embroidery is actually like a luxury application to apparel, which is why we don't see a lot of it. Like it's in the higher end goods. So and that's why if you go into Target, none of it's really embroidered. It's like printed on because printing is so much cheaper than embroidering. Okay. So knowing that you're going to want to find and we cover this in the program, it's like you're going to want to figure out who your ideal customer is and your competition and who's on in the market serving them. So again, again, it's a premium product. So I need you to kind of be aware of where you land in that space of who's in the market, whether it's cheap, the differentiators, and whether you've got like a premium and then where you fall in that market category space. So what's gonna make you like a stronger standout brand is really determining, like, cause yes, you can have another shirt, you could have another shirt that says mama. But why? Right? It's not as strong in branding as it is in these other ways. And I'm not saying that you have to do custom. It's just really figuring out the, the why someone needs your sweatshirt and not another or your T shirt and not another. So in thinking through that for yourself, what do you feel very strong about in terms of developing this brand and like meeting a need in the market?

I guess kind of like what I wanted to do was just have it like more in like an elevated way. Because sometimes you like look at these like sweaters and you're like, okay, that's cute. But is it too like basic? And I don't like, I mean I like a good basic T2, but I, I guess like where I was originally is like I was thinking, okay, like I'm running around Chasing like a four year old and a two year old.

Yes.

I could throw on like whatever sweatshirt. But do I want to like feel pretty and look good and feel elevated? That's kind of like where I wanted the brand to be, like, kind of like in the middle. Because it's not necessarily like premium and exclusive where. Where I feel like I could charge that much. I don't really have like an idea for that. It's more like in the middle. But since, like listening to your podcast and joining some of the courses, I find myself, I'm trying to get to that niche. I would love to have that thing. I'm just kind of like still, I guess in that process of finding that specific.

Well, let's. Do you want to work through this call doing that?

Yeah, I'd love to do that because that I feel like is where I'm set. Because like, if I. Because building a brand, like, obviously, like I need to find that niche because it is disheartening where I'm like, oh my gosh, okay. I started with this idea, but then it took me to like the business merch and this and it's like, that's fun. But really I'd love to just build the brand some sort of niche.

So the business stuff is a means to an end right now. So it's, it's the thing that's gonna keep you, let's call it like motivated in the way of. Because what's gonna be harder is when you do develop this brand that you're designing, you're making the product and then you're trying to sell it. And that's why so much of this is like. And you're in two fantastic programs in the product boss rate. But I used to talk about farmrio a lot, which is a beautiful, bright color apparel brand. Do we need it? No, we don't need it. Right. Like, I can wear, like, I can wear sweats I could wear. I don't need to change my clothes every day. Right. There's lots of. It's a privilege to have access these clothes. But why it worked and why it works is that they were close. That really bright in design and really bright, vibrant prints. So whether you're going on a tropical vacation, you felt like you're on a tropical vacation. If you just want to be seen or make a statement and you want to feel represented in a certain way, like that's the need that people feel to then buy that clothing line. So it doesn't need to be. We don't need to solve like gigantic problems in the world, but we have to solve for our customers. So you're saying. So I'll give you another example. And you're in California, and I'm not sure how it is up where you are, but Aloe Yoga is a premium brand for yoga apparel. It's the sexier version of Lululemon. Like all crop tops and just cute and sexy and whatever. And I was out this weekend and I was dumbfounded by how many teenagers were wearing Aloe sweatshirts. Like, I've saved up all my money to buy these Alo sweatshirts, right? And I'm like, these teenagers are wearing these, I think.

I don't know.

They're like 200. I don't know. They're expensive. And I say expensive, but I use the word expensive. But I actually corrected myself this weekend when I said that because I was like, saying something's expensive is actually our brain saying it's out of our reach versus for someone else. It's actually not expensive. So where I'm actually. I was like, projecting something onto the things where I'm like, no, it's not expensive. I just get to choose whether that's where I want to spend my money or not. So I'm going to take the word expensive back. It's just more of a premium price. So this sweatshirt that I see all these little girls wearing, it's $128, but still, it's just a sweatshirt with their logo on it. They just have a tiny logo. But what people are buying is they're buying how they feel wearing it and what it says about them. So the reason why I see these teenagers in Calabasas and the Valley, like where I live, where there's, you know, people are upper middle class, like, they've got money here, is that it is a status symbol. So many things that we buy are status symbols. And they sum us up. And going back to my sister, she's 10 years younger, but I remember her seeing someone I was with. It was head to toe in Lululemon. This was some years ago before Alo really took over that same age range market. And she goes, oh, she must be really rich. And I was like, why did you assume that about her? She's like, cause she was head to toe in Lulu. And I was like, oh, right. So Alo can get by by being. They have a tiny logo. It's silver. It's up on the chest. These girls, there are three of them together, all wearing a different color of it. I was wearing the same color as One of the other girls, and I was like, oh, so they're selling the brand. They're selling the status. Sure, it's a soft shirt. It better wash well for being $128. Better be in trendy colors. Like, all of that is a given. But they're selling status. That's why people drive cars. Cars get us around. But people choose cars based on status. People choose bags based on status. Like the house. You. Everything's like, how does it make you appear to the outside world? And then how does it make the person feel? So hearing me say that, that what are you or any of the work that you've done so far in the programs that you're in, where do you feel like you want to go with this?

It's just.

I don't know.

It is hard because, like, when I started, too, I was like, oh. And, you know, like, you have everybody saying, oh, this would be super cute. This would be super cute. And kind of like, when I started, I was, like, all over the place, too. I wasn't exactly sure. Like, I was like, oh, that's. You know, for me, like, oh, that's cute. So I would do, like, designs that I thought. Thought were cute. But really, I guess, like, where I'm at now because, too, the mama stuff has become very, like, everybody's doing that too. So it's like. That's why I was thinking, like, even just taking up, like, using different blanks that gave a more elevated look is kind of like what I was leaning towards because it at least took apart or, like, took me to, like, a different category than just because, like, you can go to Etsy and see, like, tons of people doing the same thing on the same type of sweaters in the same font. So really, I'm just. I'm still, like, in that phase trying to find out what. What exactly, like, my specific look would be. And it's hard because, like, when I started, too, it was like, the things that I like are very, like, classic and, like, Audrey Hepburn and some of, like, those classier icons. But then I'm like, okay, how do I mix that with, like, like, a crewneck sweatshirt? You know? So it's kind of like, I don't know, I get in my own head and get, like, lost, and it's like analysis paralysis sometimes. Because then I'm like, okay, where do I start? So that's kind of where I'm at.

So you need a unique value proposition. That's really what it is, right? It's a uvp It's Why someone would buy, why they're buying from you. So let's just dig back into what you just said about Audrey Hepburn and class classics. Do you feel like you wear more neutrals, like black, gray, white, not color? Or do you also love using color? Let's just start there.

I don't know. And I guess that's like, my personality is so weird too, because, like, I will, like, I love to look like Audrey Hepburn. Like, Halloween, I want to dress like Holly Go Lucky. And then it's like, then on Saturday, like, I'll go to the honky tonk and wear, like, cowboy boots, you know? So it's kind of like I'm all over the place. But I guess, like, what I find. I don't know what I would like to do more of would be some of more of those, like, neutral, like, classic colors. Because if I'm going out, like, I guess to. I don't know if I need to stop thinking about, like, what I think is cute, you know, and what. But my, like, if I would think about, like, the ideal customer, it would be someone that's shopping more at, like, the boutiques where you can go and get, like, a cute blazer or, like, a classic look look as opposed to, I don't know, just something you'd buy at Target.

Okay, so the work you have to do is first, I want you to just go back to your why, why? And you have this in standout society. It's also in the product boss academy, but it's your why. Why are you starting this company? And it's more than why you're starting it, but really it's why you decided to start it. Because you probably saw that there was a need in the market. Like, why did you go out and spend your family's money on an embroidery machine? Right? Do you have an answer to that? That.

Well, yeah. I mean, originally it was because I liked, like, the uniqueness. And, like, I chose embroidery because it's just so much better. Like, I love, like, a good screen print tea, but it's like, sometimes even like, the Christmas stuff that I have. Like, if somebody bought a Chris an embroidered Christmas sweater, like, it will last you years just because you take it out every, like, Christmas, every holiday. But I fell in love with, like, how embroidery, like, just is, like, just has a very classic look. It's very pretty. It is, like, way more elevated than just a normal. But I did. I started it because I was like, I wasn't a weird. Like, I had my second baby and I just needed Something to be like. I just wanted to dive into something creative or just for me. And that's kind of like how it started. And I bought like a very basic machine and was doing things like that. And then it just turned into more of like a passion. And I wanted to turn it like I always wanted to have my own own business from the time I was little. And then it just kind of like sparked where I was like, oh, this could be something that I do, this could be something that I grow. So the why is still just something that I'm just like this little scrappy gal that got an embroidery machine and then tried to turn it into a business.

Okay, we gotta go deeper on that. So that's your why. And then we need to go deeper on why. So you've got this in the program. I don't want to coach you on all of it through this call because it needs to be be whether you're the inspiration initially, then you need to go from like you and you need to fan it out into how can I capture more people? And you've got this covered. Right? So your why nearly you're going to need to figure out the niche and the market. So you're going to need to do a little bit more market research. Because by saying elevated, it's such a general word and you use the word like elevated from Target. And again, someone who's going to pay for an embroidered garment from someone who's making it in California, where we already have a high minimum wage, it's automatically going to be putting you into a contemporary brand. So in the fashion apparel world, there's obviously there's like the cheap, fast fashion kind of stuff. And then contemporary is to kind of wrap it around a department store. It's Nordstrom's, Bloomingdale's. There's the departments where contemporary is there. Then it gets into Bridge, which is kind of like that Gap before designer. Designer is Chanel, Louis Vuitton, like the thousand dollar plus products. Your contemporary is aloe Yoga, that price point. So shirts are actually like above 50 T shirts, plain T shirts. You can go buy a plain t shirt for 80 bucks. Okay, so that's like the starting price of a plain T shirt at Bloomingdale's is $80 for a shirt. So things on top of that are even more expensive. You know, jeans are $200. So you're gonna really want to hone in on ideal customer and market research. Because even though where you currently live or the friends that you're around, or even your customer. But if in your brain it's this elevated style and you need to have like premium garments and things like that, then it's higher. So I hope you saw or caught what I just taught in that first step for Britney and building her brand. What it actually is is figuring out her why and the why behind her product and why her product exists. So when you're starting to build your brand or refine your brand, it's all going to come back to your why. Why are you selling your product? And why should customers choose your product over the competition? So if you're not seeing the sales you want and you're struggling to answer one or both of those questions, then the chances are is that might be a big gap in why you're not making the kind of sales you want to be making. I know, it sounds nuts, right? You're like a brand, I need a brand. I have a great product. But it really is more than the product. Customers buy more than the product. In fact, there's so much more around that that customers buy versus the product. That's how you choose between this necklace or that necklace, this candle or that candle, this sweatshirt or that sweatshirt. There's little parts that attract you to it, but much of it also has do with the brand. Why can you sell two sweatshirts? Like let's say you have a red sweatshirt in aloe and you have a red sweatshirt in at a farmer's market and a customer's walking around. Why can you sell a sweatshirt for $120, it's red. And struggle to sell a $35 sweatshirt at a farmer's market. So much of it is at the brand. Knowing why your customers want it, being where your customers are, being where the customer is, that they're going to buy what you're selling. And so that's really what I've seen. I've coached, coached, you might have heard last year how many coaching calls I took on with one. Just an offer if anyone wants to do it. And also we did a coaching call at least every week last year. So I'd say it probably jumped onto, I'd say close to a hundred calls last year with product based business owners all over from just starting out, they've been at it for years. They've made a couple hundred dollars, they've made a couple million dollars. Right. Like I've talked and coached so many product people. And the reason I did this was as I was starting to reestablish or really nail down the profitable product boss method, I wanted to Go through. Where were the gaps? Like where were the common gaps? What were the commonalities as to what was really getting in the way of people succeeding? And this is what I saw and this is exactly what I teach in the academy. This is what is that you hear me coach on here in the calls all the things, right? So if you're not seeing the sales that you want and you're struggling, then maybe you haven't figured out how to set yourself out or apart from the other companies that are out there. Maybe you haven't figured out a way yet for customers to really see why they need, want, desire, what problem your product solves for them. Maybe we're not answering that question. Maybe you don't have the sellable product yet or the brand that connects it for them. So with that, while Britney was able to vocalize some of her why she hasn't quite figured out or found her differentiator yet. So while Britney was able to vocalize some of her why she hasn't quite found that differentiator yet for how she's going to get her products to stand out, which is really what she wants to and needs to focus on right now and nail down. If she wants to turn this hobby into a business, she has to niche down. She has to get really clear. She has to solve the why. So now that we know what Britney needs to do, let's look at how she can grow once she's able to nail all of this down. Hey friend. Okay, I want to talk about something that I know that you really need. But so many people have all the reasons why they don't do this. We really need is we need to build an email list. I'm going to tell you that there are two things that you need as a product based business. You need an email list because that is your asset. You actually own that and that's a direct communication with your customers and you need your own website because you can't build on borrowed land. But right now I want to talk about email marketing because email marketing is actually the way that you are going to drive sales in your business. It's the way that you're going to stay connected. Forget thinking that social media is the way because guess what, the algorithm chooses who they want to sell, send your images and reels and all the things to you. But emails really gets you connected with your customers. So if you feel like you're trying to connect, you're trying to sell and you feel like you're wasting hours trying to get the job done, or you feel like you would just like an easier way. My friends, this year it's time for a change. And that change is Klaviyo. It is the number one email and SMS marketing platform that I recommend specifically for for product based business owners. Did you hear that? It's for product based business owners, people who sell products online. And the reason why it's so amazing is that it's got these incredible capabilities and it's seamless with so many of the tools and the platforms that we recommend. So with Klaviyo, you can send personalized messages, you can automate campaigns, and here's the best part. You can boost your sales and your revenue without having to do much more than type in a few things into your keyboard. Okay, so Klaviyo makes your emails feel like they are talking directly to your customers. Right? Your customers are gonna feel like it's a one on one conversation with you. And it's super easy to set up. Even if tech is not your thing. Trust me, tech's not my thing either. And this is amazing. So if you're ready to see it in action, I'd love you to get started for free. Now all you have to do is head to the productboss.com klaviyo that's the productboss.com K L A V I Y O and turn your email list into your best performing sales channel that you own. Hey, friends, are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content? Yes, consistent content. Because, you know, consistency is key. Well, let me tell you, you are not alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But as you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. Oh, I know, I see. I keep saying content and that's the dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers, but they don't know what to say. Or they are so busy they can't find the time, or they really, really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries, because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is your shortcut to creating consistent Content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to www.ayearofcontent.com. so you can keep doing it this way. But I'm just going to talk to you in a way of like, growth because I think you can attract more of your ideal customer, especially if you're seeing that and, or you just figure out a way to serve this customer. So one of the things you're going to want to do is identify. You're going to want to know. I would look at Bloomingdale's, I would look at Saks Fifth Avenue, I'd look at Neiman Marcus, I'd look at all the bigger brands. You could do this online even if they're not there. And I teach this to you inside of the program. It's like your market research to see who exactly exists. That's top tier. Then also are there versions of this that are lower tier and this is not necessarily an Etsy research type place. Like if you're looking more to boutiques and department stores, understanding actual brands that are out there, that are making millions of dollars, that have proof of concept, and then you think through and say, okay, I actually really love the style of this brand. For example, how can I incorporate this more into casual day wear at potentially a different price point? Right? Like maybe, maybe it is different than that. So this is one of the brands to show you that has like tons of embroidery and details that I consider elevated. I consider a little bit more classic. But then you get to determine what classic and elevated is compared to like what the style looks like. So what I would love for you to look at then is a brand like this. And then you could look up like other brands that exist that are like this and say, okay, cool, they're doing these. This, this jacket Right here is $695. So those are the jackets that like sometimes I look at and I'm like, I can't, I can't do it. I know where to wear this to that many times yet. Right? So, but this, this jacket has lots of embroidery. It's beaded. You can zoom in on it so you can see the details. It's got applique, like crystal applique and then embroidery. So look to this brand and do some other research and then think, how could I be different? Different? So let's say you did a sweatshirt for a mama. And you did like a curve like this and instead that was on her arm and it said something on it. Or there was a sweatshirt that had a, you know, you found a variation of that. This is. As a fashion designer all I did was I would research what was out there. I'd look at high fashion, I'd look at low fashion, I'd look at street style. I'd get inspired by that. And then depending on the brand I was designing for, I had to say okay, like okay, I love these elements. How could I, I'm not say this, lack of a better word, dumb it down to hit the price point of the brand I'm working for. And so that's your job as the creative director and designer of your company as you're building this brand to do this research and then determine like design your own designs around it. And this is going to be the stuff that stands out for you so much more than using the like the block lettering of mama on the chest, you know.

Yeah, because I definitely don't want it to be just basic, you know. So I need to like get that thought. Like if I am creating that type of like I just need to stop thinking about like are people going to want to pay for that? Because I guess that's where I get stuck.

Well people, people do pay for it. It's just going to come down to how you market it. So it's so, so much of this is going to be a reflection of you. You're projecting a lot out of, of how you think you would react to your, to it. But we have to. And, and I can be totally off the mark here. You could never sell $198 sweatshirt. Like you may not want to build $198 sweatshirt company that might totally not be you. But you only get to choose like here are your options, right? Gildan cheaper. Eventually you could totally scale Gildan and shop directly from them and who knows how much you can lower the price point of this. You know, maybe you're getting them for $5 each because you might be buying them from like a middleman right now. So eventually as so their middle making up upsell. So as soon as you can go to the source which is in the make it module of, of the academy is like this idea of like you're gonna either pay more cause you're, you're buying, you're not buying retail but you're not buying at cost, wholesale cost. Right. So you're gonna just have to determine it's I'M not giving you any straight answers in this call because there aren't any yet. So where it's gonna come to is you going back and probably listening to this again and doing the why a product line that this needs to be created. I would come up with a visual. Visual, A visual board of what you would like it to see. So doing the hacks of researching the marketplace and getting familiar with go on Bloomingdale's, go on Nordstrom's and Google, search, like embroidered sweatshirts, embroidered T shirts, look at the product, get more familiar with that line, see what you like or don't like. You might be like, these are really expensive. I can do these for cheaper on a cheaper product. They could still get the look, but it's like almost like a knockoff of this, like $198 sweatshirt for $98 dollars. How you do it, right? But maybe it's not on the Bella Canvas sweatshirt. So there's no direct answer. It's gonna come down to you. And I want you to. I. Every time you're making these decisions, I want you to stop for a second, take a deep breath, put your hands on your heart and like how I started the call where I'm like, what is your heart telling you? Not your mind. Your mind is gonna override and give you all the reasons why something's not gonna work. But your heart's gonna tell you whether you're in alignment or not. And let that be your guide. Get closer on guiding from like your heart being like, nope, that doesn't fit. Feel right. Be okay with that. Nope, that doesn't feel right. Jacqueline's talking about 198 Sweat Dollar sweatshirts. I don't even know how to market to that. That doesn't feel right. Cool. So take everything we talked about and then find your version of that and it's going to go back to market, research what the brand looks like, the brand look and feel, your differentiator of it. Right. Because we don't need another mama shirt. So what version of mama? Maybe it is mama embroidered in a cool way. So maybe it's when I look at it, you're taking words that are familiar, but you're doing a different application of it. Right. So it's going to take some of that groundwork for you to figure out to then set you up for what's next. And so I think your, your product and service side of your business to business world right now. Keep doing that, but get paid your value and then take some time to do some Deep work on this and then you could start to build a collection off of this. And it's very clear to me why I go to your company. The look and feel I can, I look at it and I can be like, oh yeah, that's hers, oh yeah, that's hers. That's what you're like, that's what your end goal is going to be. So are you figuring out what Britney's next step could be? So as she's nailing down her why, she's also going to need to dig deeper into her market research, something that I teach inside of the membership. Because market research allows you to really dive into what other brands that are selling similar products to you are doing and it will help you be able to envision what you want your products and brand to look like. We can't design, we can't create, we can't do anything in a vacuum. We have to be exposed to what's happening in the market. So Brittany's expressed that she wants an elevated brand and since that can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, looking at other brands and companies who sell embroidered apparel can help her figure out exactly what piece of her brand and her products she could elevate and how to visually set herself apart. So market research is also going to help her figure out her price point and how she's going to sell her products and whether she's really going to be truly considered a quote unquote luxury brand or not. So if you're just starting your product business or you're wondering how your products can stand out from the competition, then I definitely want you to do some market research for your product. I want you to get familiar with companies that exist out there. Not just brands on Etsy, but bigger brands, brands that exist that have large followings. Right. Bigger companies and medium sized companies and some smaller companies. But companies I would say that what I'd love is that they have some version of a social media presence, that they have an E commerce presence, they have a website. That's what I would love if you're going to go do your research and if they're selling wholesale, you're finding them in shops, all of that because it means that they're more established and I want you to look at more established companies as examples of what could be because really I truly think that this is the final piece for Britney to really be able to lay the groundwork for her product business which she can then start to build upon and not only start to make sales and more consistent sales. But be profitable and with that profit, pay herself and live the life she dreams of. All right, now let's wrap this up. So if people want to support you, buy from you, follow you. Where could they do that?

My website is embroiderybabedesignco.com and then on Instagram, embroidery babedesign company.

Amazing. And by the way, you using the word babe in your name makes like a sexier mama. Like so there's also this way of like also trying to maybe incorporate some of that in. You know there's maybe that like kind of how Alo is like Alo's got that sexier feel to it.

Yeah, like a more like sultry. Ish.

Yeah but, but that you're not like it just has a different aesthetically like an aesthetic feel to it. Which I'd say my sister in law is like the sexy mama. Like she goes and plays pickleball and crop tops and short skirts and like she's got a rock and bod and like you know, I show up in my frumpy like full sweatshirt outfit, you know, which is fine. And she's got. But we're both wearing the same brand but we have different ways of wearing it. And the reason I wear it is I'm attracted to the like the cute sexy look as a 40 something year old mama but I might not wear all of it. So it's, it's how somebody feels when they think of your brand. So things to consider. All right. Brittany, it was so great meeting you. Thank you for taking this time to work with me today and it's been awesome.

Yes, amazing. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

I absolutely loved coaching Britney today and I cannot wait to see what she does and how she takes embroidery babe design to the next level. Now the main theme here is that if Britney wants to turn her creative hobby into a full blown profitable revenue generating business, then she needs to start by laying the groundwork. Might be filling in some gaps here. So that's going to include her time auditing to be able to pay herself for her time to make the product, determine her why and her differentiators for why her product for her ideal customer. And I really want her to dive into that market research to figure out how she can make her brand look and feel and make the customer feel right. This is more than just packaging, this is everything around it. So if Britney's able to do this, I have no doubt that she's going to be able to double her revenue in no time I at all. So My friends, if you feel like you are similar to Britney, maybe you're just starting out or you're looking, you're like, I have this business but just not doing what I believe that it could do. I just want to offer you an idea that if this feels familiar to you, know that I've literally spent the last over a year building the profitable Product Boss method. And all of that is inside of the Product Boss academy, including weekly calls and a community. Just, it's so, it's just so amazing. So if you're looking for that help, that's what I've been working over the last year to really, really like support you in. So check it out if you haven't already. And don't forget, let me be your reminder. You can turn your side hustle, your hobby into a profitable product based business, right? You can have that revenue generating business that really helps support the life you want to live. The deal is, is that you just may not know the exact steps, right? The step by step strategy or the action. And I've done this for so many years, for so many of my one on one clients with my old company and what I've done in the the last several years through our community and the Product Boss. So I just want you to know you are supported. If you don't feel supported, you are supported. You have this podcast twice a week. Make sure that you're following and you're getting the support that you need. And if you want to take another level, know that I've built the programs to help support you in that. All right my friends, until next time.