124: Turning Your Lifelong Career Into a Subscription Box with The Interpreter Box

I have a special episode today. I recently interviewed one of my students live inside Subscription Box Coaching Week. It was such an inspiring interview. I wanted to make sure more people got to hear it. Come listen to Michonne's story from her lifelong career as an ASL interpreter to building her subscription box business. I know she will inspire you.

Welcome to the Launch Your Box podcast with weekly tips, tricks, and strategies to start, launch, and grow your subscription box. Now here's your host, Sarah Williams.

Hey everybody, it is Sarah and I have Michon here with me today. We're back for another fabulous interview. I'm going to tell you a little bit about how this interview came to be. I met Michon a couple weeks ago. We were at an event called Sub Summit and Michon has been a member of Launch Your Box for about a year, but I officially met her in person last week. I just instantly connected with her because she's such a positive person. I think I was getting coffee. Was, was I getting coffee? And you came up and talked with me and I was like, I want to talk to her more. Like I had to hurry up and get ready for stage, but I was like, I want to talk to her more. You're so like, you're just, you just exude positivity. And then what happened was you were at my workshop. So I hosted a 2.5-hour workshop that morning and she was in the workshop and I, was challenging everybody in the room to go live. And I was really challenging the people that had not gone live to find a buddy that always goes live and to go live. And I was watching the process. They were all around the room going live and it was really cool. And I saw you sitting on the stage and I don't know if you know, but I was behind you recording you going live. I have— I'm going to send you that video. I was in awe of what you do and when you were going live and you were signing. And I was like, this is incredible. Like, I am just in awe of what you do. And so I thought it would be great for me to get you on video in front of Coaching Week members and Launch Your Box members and just share your story because I'm super inspired by it. Why don't we talk a little bit about who you are, what you do, and then we'll get into the subscription box.

Okay, so my name is Mishaun Shaw. I am by profession a sign language interpreter, and so I've been interpreting professionally since 2006. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in interpreting, and then I later went back and got my master's degree so that I could return to the classroom in the post-secondary sector and be a professor and to teach interpreting. I am someone who loves connections. I love making— I love language. I love culture. I love meeting new people. I get that from my dad and just being able to meet somebody that's not a stranger. How do you strike up a conversation with someone and connect in less than 5 minutes? Finding those—

You did that with me over my coffee that morning. Yes.

Yes. So I love that. I just love people and I love interacting. That's who I am. When people ask, who are you? What do you do? Sometimes we talk about, oh, I have family. I have— yes, but who I am at my core My core is I love people, I love connecting.

So you've been in this ASL world for quite a long time. Like, that's been your career, that's your passion project. Tell me a little bit about, I guess, more of the niche down part of what you do. Let's talk about that a little bit because I think it's super important. Absolutely.

So in our profession, our profession of sign language interpreting has really just been around for a little over 60 years. If we compare it to another profession like being a doctor, hundreds of years of people becoming doctors, but the profession of becoming a sign language interpreter really just took effect in the early 1950s, and so people are still learning and growing about what it is, what it means to be an interpreter, which also means there's not a lot of apparel or merchandise that advertises our profession as a sign language interpreter. So I have a company that's threefold, but one of those is providing designs and merchandise for sign language interpreters because as of today, we can't go into Target and purchase a shirt that says interpreters rock, or we can't go into Walmart and purchase something. We see it out there for nurses and other teachers, but not for interpreters. So I put my design hat on and I started designing, and it started with one shirt that said Black interpreters rock. And I wanted to advertise Black interpreters because in our profession only 7%, the demographics say only 7% of interpreters are Black and about 12-14% are brown. So I said, what better way to advertise and let people know Black interpreters rock? Yeah, buy a t-shirt. And so I started selling shirts and I started selling different apparel. And so that started, and then your feed came up on Facebook about a subscription box, and I had never thought about it. And I said, let me check this out. And this was 2 years ago, Coaching Week, 2 years ago.

Wasn't even last year, it was 2 years ago.

2 years ago. Okay. And I said, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna sign up, I'm going to do this. And so that week I signed up for Coaching Week, I took it. I was in my, my office on the campus of the university, and I had it plastered on my wall. So when people walked in, they saw all of my, my Post-it note challenge Then I took it off and I brought it home and I legit started that next month. I launched in May. That coaching week was April and I launched in May.

Okay.

And so I provide boxes and I have 3 levels that I provide to sign language interpreters so that they get something new every 2 months that celebrates us, the work that we contribute, what we do in our field. So some of it's fun, some of it's for the profession, some of it's to help us along. Some of it's just to say, hey, I own— I earn it. I deserve it. I should do something nice for me as an interpreter.

So talk to us a little bit about your 3 offerings. Tell me what those are because you have some really great names. Like your t-shirt club has the greatest name ever. So I want you to talk to them about your offerings.

I started with just the one offering, which was the box. And in coaching week and in subsequent videos, you talked about, well, one thing new every month or something like that. So, oh, I could do something extra. So let me figure out what else I could do. So my 3 offerings are for different budget levels too. So my Terp t-shirt is Terp, T-E-R-P, right? Because interpreters, we call ourselves Terps for short. Okay, so I did a Terp t-shirt, and so that's the, the t-shirt design that goes in with the big box. And then I did Terp t-shirt and more, that's for accessories that match the theme of the box. And then the ultimate box is this, this, and then other additional things that come in the box. So I— and I did a fourth box for interpreting students. Okay, as a professor, I saw interpreting students every day in my classroom, and I would take note of what are the things that they need to help them on their journey to become an interpreter. What are some things that they need in the classroom? What are some inspiration or affirmations that they need? What are some gear that they could use that says, okay, I'm not an interpreter yet, but I'm on my way. I started a student interpreter box too. So those are the 4 offerings that I have currently for the—

I love them. And why I wanted to bring Michonne's story here today is because sometimes it's hard to figure out like what we could do with the box, and aside from that kind of thing, right? And so what I love is that you took your career. And we've seen it over and over again in our group. We have someone like Ann Stuccio, who is a full-time practicing dentist who created her Brighter Life for Dentists box. She also has, I believe, a t-shirt club too now. And so we've seen other professions, and that's really what I wanted to talk about today. When I was talking with Ann, and Ann's on my podcast, I think she's one of the first few episodes on the podcast, maybe number 3 or 4, but You know, she never purchased products before. She had never shipped products before. This kind of stuff was all new for her. She was in a very professional career like yourself. Talk us through learning the logistics of building a product-based business and what challenges you had.

Some challenges are what I don't know. I don't know. Didn't know. I didn't know this. And so sometimes I learn things from watching videos. And saying, oh, I didn't think about that. Oh, I need to weigh some things out first before I actually choose how much is going to go in this box. I came through challenges of figuring out the pricing for shipping. Do I include it in the price or do I separate it out? And so other challenges of getting things in on time, working with vendors. And you talked, I think it was this week, about letting vendors know, no, I need this now. We can't wait another month. And then you talked about, well, what do you do when that happens? When it arrives late, when something is damaged? And one thing that I've learned from you is communication. Let the customer know. Let them know that if this was my goal, I wanted to do this. However, this is where we are. And it happens with other companies and we don't get upset. Well, we might get upset, but we don't just stop subscribing because another company's late. So I've learned that the more we communicate with our customers and let them know what's going on in the process, most times they're like, I'm good, thanks for letting me know, can't wait to see it. Oh man, I was hoping to see it. Okay, good. And we keep moving in life. Some other issues that I've come up with, box sizes. And so because I have a variety of things and a variety of objects, I didn't size things out before I bought the boxes. So I'm like, oh boy, Or if I want to do my custom box through different companies, they don't have a box size this size, so I can't get my logo on that box. Oh goodness. Well, I've already brought the product, so I need to go ahead and find a box that's going to fit this product and then slap on a logo with a sticker and keep moving and keep going.

Don't let it trip you up, right?

That part, that part is so— it's, it's paramount in knowing that it's going to keep going. I have to be solution driven. And I think that's the new— that I've come about.

I'm writing that down. Solution-driven.

Absolutely. I have 3 daughters, 10, 7, and 5, and they'll come to me with a problem and I'll tell them, okay, that's— I understand, got it. What's our solution? Come to me with the solution. All right, let me know. And thinking through how are we going to solve that, and then also enlisting the help of somebody else. I have a twin sister, she's my sounding board. Hey, Monet, what you think about this? And she'll say, okay. And she has a different perspective because she's not an interpreter, she's not a subscriber, and she's worked in the business world too. So her perspective is different. So I can pitch things to her. So that's some of the stuff that I've come up against. Like, in my head, I think this sounds great, this looks good, and I'll— hey, what you think about this design? Uh, well, what if—

and I'm like, because you know everything about it, so you can see what's not there. But when people see something for the first time, like, they're seeing what's not there, but in your mind you already see what's not there because you're the creator, right? You know what's next, you know where this is going. But we have to— it's like I always tell someone when they're brand new, before they even open cart to let people into their subscription, give your, give your phone to someone, say, go check out on my website, and I'm gonna sit here while you do that because I I want to see what hurdles you come up with. We know what to do, we know what to anticipate, we know what's coming next. But what is their journey like through the checkout process? Do they understand what I'm selling? I fully understand what I'm selling. I live in this business, right? Same with you. You fully understand. But have I made that messaging clear on my website, on my product description, on my sales page? That's something that we underestimate. We need somebody that's not in our world to look at it. Like, not you, not me, not all these people watching that understand subscription boxes. But we need the, we need the noob, the person that doesn't understand at all what we're doing, just to ask the questions. Well, what does it come with? Oh, is that not clear on there? Well, what am I going to get? Oh, is that not clear on there? When does it ship? Oh, is it— when do my payments come? Like, they're going to start to ask questions, and you're going to realize that you're missing part of your messaging, which will turn into bounced people off of your sales page. They won't convert into subscribers. And then you're— all the work you're doing to get traffic is just going downhill because you haven't given anybody with an outside perspective a chance to take a look at what you're doing.

All of that. Yes, absolutely. And then give yourself an extra day or two to fix that, that they found. And so timing has been that struggle for me as well.

And because you're busy, tell everybody like, what do you do all day? Like, tell them you're running this business after you do what, right?

So I have a corporate position. I'm no longer at the university, but I have a corporate position that is working with interpreter training programs all across the US, working with faculty, working with interpreting students all across the US and Puerto Rico. So I had that. I have a family, right? I'm wife. Yeah, I've been married to my husband Andre for 17 years. We have 3 kids. My husband's a senior pastor and founder, so I'm helping him in ministry and supporting that, right? And then my company itself, this is the third part of my business, right? We provide sign language interpreters all across the US. We have different contracts in California, North Carolina. We have different contracts. So this whole business runs Outside of that, and it's not 9 to 5, no corporate world is when you get done, it's not that clock in, clock out. So when I'm done, oh yeah, we got to take the girls to gymnastics. Oh yeah, they've got homework. Oh yeah. Oh, I need to cook dinner. Did I order food today? I didn't order the groceries today. Well, let's see what's in the freezer. What are we going to— you know, it's all of that. And so some of that and providing webinars and workshops for interpreters. You talked about your membership with STU or your connection and collaboration with STU. And so I started thinking about this membership process of interpreters that need to have training and want to have more training in specialties because our profession has a specialty of healthcare. We have a specialty of post-secondary, all these specialties, but we don't have always specialized training. I was like, I can do it. And last week you talked about, no, you can't do it all. We can't do all the things. What we focus on is what's going to make money. So legit, whenever I'm focused on subscribers, oh, more come. But then when I'm focused on contracts, more come. But then when I'm— you know, so it's all of that in addition to— that's right, I need to check on my subscribers. Oh, somebody had a birthday. Oh, let me do that. Oh, all of that. So growing that, and you feel like it's all—

it's all jumbled in your head and you— and you feel chaotic, right? But You have to compartmentalize it, make time for it. I think that's something you said to me in the pre-interview, was that time was your biggest challenge because you are so busy. You are a professional career woman, you, you're a wife and mom, um, you are running your own corporation with lots of different, you know, uh, facets to it, which I know, like, I, I, I'm busy, girl. I know, I know what you're, what you're doing right here, but I don't have a corporate job on top of all of that. So yeah, it's It's interesting because, Mishon, people will give me every excuse of why they can't do something, every excuse. And then there's people like you that show up and they make things happen, and they're passionate about what they do, and that's why they make things happen. You said you're solution-driven, and that's why you're always finding the solution to whatever you're seeing, that you saw this gap in the market with the apparel. Solution driven. You saw this need to create experiences for people just like you in the industry. Solution driven. And so when we're passionate about what we create our subscription boxes around, the hard days, we're going to be able to get through the problems, the struggles, the time challenge. We push our way through it when we're not passionate about what we do, when we could care less if anybody, you know, really does anything with our box or not. We're going to give up at the first sign of struggle and we tend to. And so I think that the biggest takeaway that I could give everybody today is to really just lean into your passions. It's clear what you're passionate about. You're passionate about the ASL, being an interpreter. You're passionate about being a woman of color. You're passionate about those that you serve. Those passions are what's going to continue to make your business thrive. And you're right, we can't do all the things we have to hire. We have to cut things that aren't serving us anymore. And we have to, to dive deep into what we really want to make of our business. And you're figuring it out. You have lots of different little things that are, are all connected to one. It's not like you're doing something different here and something different here. It's all this combination of one passion. In little different areas that you can bring to the world. And I just love that about you. And I think that's why I just connected with you in that short little time that I got to meet you. Everybody can see how passionate you are about what you do and who you serve, and that's only going to draw more and more people to you. People that are interested in ASL, people that rely on ASL. Like, there's two different components here. You know, I have a friend that's super interested in learning, but he doesn't need it in his life, right? Like, he just wants to learn. And so I think that it's really great what you bring to the, to the world and to the subscription box industry. Think about your own careers. Think about what you've spent your life learning and who you spent your life serving in your own careers. And I know we've had talks, Michon, inside Coaching Week about people are burnt out in their careers. Can you talk a little bit about that? Not that you're burnt out, but you, you've been a career woman for a long time. Can we talk a little bit about that?

Absolutely. I think burnout comes when we give of ourselves way too much and we don't pour back into ourselves. And I'm just speaking for myself, what I do. I know I pour and pour and pour, and so I do have to be intentional with pouring back into me. And then also when I realize that this is no longer serving my purpose I need to pivot. I need to, I need to find something else that serves my purpose. And I wholeheartedly believe that I was purposed to be a professor. I wholeheartedly believe I was purposed to be a bridge builder. That's what I talk about, building bridges. How do we connect? How do we educate? And how do we do so softly? So when we are burnt out, find something else, go back to that passion, go back to my why, why do I do this? And then find a different avenue that can continue to serve that why, continue to serve that purpose. If you're a nurse, I know that during COVID nurses were beyond burnt out. Okay. Maybe take a step back and still are. How do I repurpose? Maybe you purpose it or you pivot into teaching. Go ahead and pour that heart, pour your heart into people who want to become nurses. And then let that continue to serve your purpose. Yeah. So pivoting, pivoting, pivoting. And it's not easy, but sit down and sit down and learn from somebody else. Sit down and talk to somebody else and don't just throw in the towel. But how can I use this elsewhere? There are plenty of people who learn American Sign Language. They may not never become a sign language interpreter, but they can use it. Maybe they're a bartender and they have a deaf customer. Okay, now you can serve in sign language. Now you can provide that communication and that connection to that deaf customer who lives and they navigate the world with no sound. They live and they navigate the space with not having people who are fluent in American Sign Language and can communicate. So pivot, pivot, find something else.

How does that customer feel? Like, how incredibly special does that customer feel when they now can feel heard because they probably walk through life not feeling heard very much. And to come in and to feel that they can connect with someone in a way that they can't connect with a lot of people is incredibly special. And we get to do that. We get to do that. And we can do that with our subscription boxes. I feel like I've done that this week in coaching week. I've connected my heart with my business brain this week with so many of you. And I, I just sat here last night and was thinking, all these amazing comments y'all are posting in Subscription Box Coaching Week now that we're done about how you felt on the week. That's why we do what we do. I'm sure when you send those boxes out— talk to me a little bit about how that feels when you get a customer that message you or or something like that. Talk to me about that. How does that feel different than your corporate job?

Right, yes, feels different from corporate. Absolutely. It knows I have instant gratification.

Instant gratification.

Instant gratification. Some— sometimes corporately we work on a project for 3 months and we don't see the manifestation of it until later. And 6 months later someone says, oh man, I really enjoyed that workshop. Oh great, good, I'm glad because I worked hard. Instant gratification when a customer says, Nishawn, thank you so much, I love that box and I've used it for this and this. One person this last box said, it was a travel theme, and they said, Nishawn, that box just confirmed that I'm supposed to take my mission trip during the summer to serve this. And I was like, I'm done, I'm good. You, you, you, thank you, you pushed me to the end of December. I'm good. I can keep doing this even though it's 4 AM in the morning. I can keep doing this.

Packing boxes, answering emails at 4 AM because you're so busy all day long, right?

Yes, right. But it's that instant, like, thank you. You continue to validate. Now, I can't wait for them to validate or I'll be lost. I have to know within myself, this is my purpose and I will continue to do this. Because everybody doesn't send a thank you. Everybody doesn't say, I love it. They may show up and wear the shirt and that's why they love it. And other people say, girl, I love it. Other than that, we might not always get a thank you or this is amazing because other people are busy too, right? They don't have time to always send a text or email. So I have to know within myself I'm doing this for this purpose, to serve this purpose. And then when someone sends me a message, that's that added, oh, thank you, because I just, I just needed a little pat on the back.

We just need that little, like, reassurance that what we're doing is, is, is making an impact on other people. And I, I talked a little bit about my box is really just cutesy but you don't even understand how much I love when I get a text or a DM from a member that says, oh my gosh, this is my favorite box ever. I put my shirt on and my earrings and I felt so put together today. Thank you for helping me feel like I can stand tall today. Like, that is why I do what I do. It's not just about the cutesy shirts. We all have to have the why. Yeah, we all have to have the why. And it— and we can do that with whatever type of box that we want to put together.

That's right. Yeah, that's right. And sometimes we have to use a Post-it note for an affirmation, and that's what I started doing. And let me tell you, while I'm here, Sarah, I appreciate you. I thank you because your passion does show. It shows through, through those late nights. It shows through when you're up on stage, and it— that it shows. And your passion is feeding my passion and feeding my purpose as well. So I appreciate you. I thank you. It's funny, my husband— I was talking to him and I said, you know, well, Sarah says— Sarah said this. He's like, okay, okay. Well, Sarah said if we do this, is this. And in that workshop you talked about just do what Sarah says.

Yeah.

And it's true.

I got my—

where is it? Listen, I carry it with me, the, the bag that you, that you gave us. Yes, it is with me. I may not be working on it every day But it's my constant reminder when I touch my note— my laptop. That's right. I'm going to be intentional today. I'm going to work on this, or I'm going to schedule the time to sit down and give myself 3 hours to devote to this. So, Sarah, you do an amazing job. Thank you. Doing a great job. Don't stop.

We need to give our gifts. We can't hold our gifts to ourselves anymore. We need to put our gifts out there in the world in whatever capacity that we have. We need to put our gifts out there in the world. And whatever you do is special.

People.

Whatever you're passionate about, somebody else is passionate about it too. It's find your people, love on your people. You're gonna get back just as much of it as you give. And that's why we do what we do. And that's, that's the thing. And I say this all the time, that I'm not anyone special. I'm not anyone special. If I can do this, anybody listening here can do this. And I want to be part of that catalyst for you being successful. I'm like the proud mom of thousands of subscription box owners, and it fills my cup. When you have a win, I have a win. If I can help you get that win, man, that makes me feel great. I don't want you sitting there stuck. I don't want you sitting there overthinking. I don't want you to look back at 6 months and say, I still haven't done anything. So I'm going to do everything in my power to put the tools and resources in front of you so that you can make progress. And your progress might be slower than someone else's because you might be like Michonne that works a full-time job, has 3 kids, is a wife, and, and all of the things, versus someone that might be single doing this full-time and doesn't have a lot of outside responsibilities. There's differences. Everyone's on their own journey, and I'm just here to support your journey on whichever direction it is. I'm gonna meet you where you're at. All right, Michonne, have a great day. Just go do what I say.

Got it.

Yes, we'll see you soon.