4 Tech Pieces Every Subscription Box Owner Needs

Good morning, everybody. Happy Monday. Today we're going to talk tech, and I feel like that's a, a dirty four-letter word around here because, you know, tech is one of those things you either kind of love it or hate it, or you're somewhere in the middle where you just know enough to be dangerous, but you could basically jack up a whole bunch of stuff if you don't know what you're doing. So I'd love to take your temperature this morning on where do you feel like your skill level is for tech? Let's just go 1 to 5. Um, are you like super techie would be 5, and we'll say 0, I know nothing, help me, help me, help me. Let's go 0 to 5. Where do you rank on the tech scale as far as what you know, what you're comfortable with? Uh, how would you rate yourself? Let me know in the chat. I'm also going to come over to the chat and say good morning. I can see lots of our YouTubers are here this morning. If you don't know, if you're watching me over on Facebook, I started a YouTube channel last year and it's been growing like crazy. And I can see that so many of you are watching me on YouTube this morning. But you can watch me on YouTube every Monday morning. You're also going to be able to find my past Monday Momentums. So much easier than you can on Facebook. So it's easy to kind of flip through the playlist there on YouTube. And also I'm creating some brand new content just for YouTube and that's going to start dropping, I believe, this week. So if you are not over— subscribed to my YouTube channel, team, can you grab my YouTube link real quick? I didn't tell them that beforehand, so I'm just going rogue on them today because if you're not subscribed to my YouTube channel, I would love for you to follow me over there as well because you're going to be able to consume the content a little bit easier. Than you can on Facebook. And there we're generating some brand new content just for YouTube. So let me come to the chat and say hi. Now the question is, from 1 to 5, where do you rank yourself on the tech scale? 5 being super techie, I got this, no problems. 0 being I know nothing, give it to me. And then somewhere in between. I'm gonna come say hi in the chat here. Good morning, Susie. Hi, Jonica. Good morning, Dawn. Good morning, everybody. Okay, Shawna says 3.5. Lexi says 3.5. Hey, Andrea. Dawn, 4.5. Look at you, Dawn. Okay. Bev says 4, but I have to watch training a couple of times to actually get it. But I love that, Bev, because you're not afraid of it. And I think that that's what a lot of times we get, you know, we get into the idea that I'm not techie. I can't do it. I'm afraid of it. So I'm going to ignore it. And when we ignore it, that's when we don't make progress in our business. And I don't know if you guys— let me know in the chat. Do you guys have my book? Have you read my book, One Box at a Time? It came out a few months ago, but I'm super transparent in this book and you get, you get Sarah on a transparency. Like, I'm pretty transparent in real life and in our groups and things like that. But in this book, I just get super transparent about starting a business and starting a subscription business and really how that made me feel as I was going through building that business, the ups, the downs. And I talk about the tech in here. I talk about how it really slowed me down in getting my business going. And if that is anything that I could teach you or anything that I could pass on or anything that I could really help motivate you with or inspire you with is that, you You don't have to be techie to understand the tech that you need for your business. And it shut me down and it stopped me from moving forward for about 18 months. And I talk about that, my journey on that in here. And I just don't want you to do the same things. Like, that's the goal. I'm here so that you don't have to make the same mistakes that I am. I'm here to help guide you on what worked for me and continues to work for me. Because let's be honest, I'm still a subscription box business owner. And I still have wins and I still have losses. And so if I can take you along this journey with me as I'm going through the ups and downs of running my own subscription box business, that's the goal. That's why you're here. That's what you want from me. And that's what I want to serve, how I want to serve you. Um, Jonica says she's a 3. Um, April's a 4. Tammy's a 0.2, like a 0.2. Like you just, know how to log into the computer? Is that what the 0.2 is? Good morning, Jen. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Rebecca. Jen says she's a 3. Selena says she's a 4. I love this confidence in you guys. Like, some of you just have this air of confidence about your tech abilities, and I really love that. 3.5 to Michelle. Michelle, Michelle, I can't talk. Michelle says she's a 4. 3, 4.5, 2, 4. Okay, I like it. Hey, from France, nice to have you here. I don't even know what time it is in France, but good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it is. Susan's a 2.5, 4. Carrie says, I love to teach tech. Okay, I love that. Kathy's a 4, Tara's a 4. That's okay that you have to watch training. Let's talk about that for a little bit because the training is important. I just, I'm going to share my screen with you because I'm really excited about that. When we were, when my team and I were out, we were out in Vegas in January and we did just a complete look at our training library for Launch Your Box and we just went through everything. Like, What do we have? What needs updated? Because there are things that need updated. And also, what are we missing? And, and it was so obvious to me, but I had never seen that we were missing this because in my mind I had all this information out there, but it wasn't put in a module inside our library and it wasn't really like I didn't dig down in it. And that's why our community had so many questions about tech was because I hadn't provided this module. I talked about it a lot. I answered a lot of questions about it, but I had not put together this module. And so I'm super proud of this brand new module. It is, it is uploaded in everyone's library that is a Launch Your Box member. But I'm walking you through the tech tools that you need for your subscription box business. And I have 7 videos in this module. 6 of them are brand new and I'm just really excited about it because What I've realized is that's why so many of us, if I were to give you a percentage of why people don't move forward in launching their subscription business, it's because of tech. I would say that probably 50% of it is tech. And I would probably tell you that 30% of it is your mindset and 20% of it is financing. So in my mind, that's where tech really plays a role in getting you moving forward. So I created the 4 pieces of tech that you need. I'm gonna walk through those with you this morning so that you have an understanding of what those are. And then I'm breaking them down for you here. And I'm, and I'm, here's the thing, like the first piece of tech that you need is your website. Now we could get into all kinds of website platforms. We could talk every different platform there is, but that's where we get overwhelmed and that's where we get stuck. And so when I'm going through this, I'm just giving you the top 3, my top 3 from having experience experienced a subscription box business and also having worked with thousands of subscription box owners over the last 4 years is that I don't— I'm cutting the overwhelm for you. There's no reason to go down every rabbit hole of website platforms because yeah, we could make it work on a lot of platforms, but I'm giving you the top 3 and I'm also breaking those down of why I think you should choose one of those. Okay. So that, that's tech piece number one. Tech piece number two is your email CRM. And if you don't know what an email CRM— it is just an CRM means customer relationship management. It basically, simple Sarah, simple terms is it's how you bulk marketing, bulk market, how you do your bulk email marketing. That's what I'm trying to say. You can't just go into your Gmail account and send a bunch of emails for marketing your business. You can't do that. That's illegal. You will be flagged. You will be— they will not be delivered. You will be so— you'll put on the spam list, everything. You need an email CRM so that you can send bulk messages for marketing, okay? And so I'm breaking down my top 3 email CRMs because there's probably over 100 email CRMs out there. And when you're new to business and when you're just getting started, or even if you've been in business a while and you've not had a CRM, going down the rabbit hole of figuring out what CRM that you need, why, and researching those is overwhelming. And again, it takes time and it puts you in decision fatigue and your brain's overloaded and you get overwhelmed and you overthink and you don't make a decision because there's too much information out there. So I'm giving you my top 3 and I tell you about the one I'm using and the one I use to teach inside Launch Your Box. Then we got to get into payment processors. And this is number 3. We have to have a way to collect recurring payments. And it's different based on number 1, the website platform that you pick. So I'm just going to cut all the crap with that lesson and I'm going to tell you exactly what you should be using on which platform that you're at, period. You don't have to overthink that step. You just have to do what Sarah says. Okay. My mastermind will tell you they made shirts. Um, last fall or last summer that says, just do what Sarah says, because when they just do what Sarah says, they win, they have success, they move forward, and they stop overthinking it. So I'm just telling you to do this in this training module and move forward, because again, you can overthink all of that— the charges, the percentages, the transaction fees, the, the how you're going to get paid. Like, all of those things are factors and variables inside payment processors. I'm gonna make it real easy for you to move forward with that. And the last, the last tech piece that you need is shipping software. And in this, I'm gonna tell you what you don't need and what you do need and when you need it, because you, you probably don't need it right off the jump, but when you get to a certain point, you're going to need it. And so I'm breaking down the shipping software that you need. And so those are really the 4 tech pieces when we talk about it. You need a website, You need an email CRM, you need a payment processor, and you need a way to ship your boxes, your shipping software. That's it. Yes, there are lots of other things that you could add to this list, but that's where we get overwhelmed. And over time, and as your business grows and scales, you can add more things to this. And we kind of dig deeper into that inside Scale Your Box. But I only give you the 4 things because I need you to see it as simple as possible. Because when you overcomplicate these things, you don't move forward. That's where I got stuck for 18 months because there was so much information out there. I didn't know who to trust. I didn't have a coach that had done this before and could tell me what was working for them and what they use. I didn't have a community of subscription box owners that I could say, hey, what are y'all using for email? What are y'all using for payment processors? I didn't have anything like that. In 2016 when I started my subscription. And so I'm bringing that to you so you can skip the time, you can skip the overwhelm, you can skip all of that, and you can just move forward with the tech. And in this brand new module, I go a little bit further. Those are the 4 that you need, but once you get yourself going with those 4 tech pieces, I'm really breaking down what a landing page is because there is a difference between product pages and sales pages. And for your subscription box business, I really want you to have a sales page. And I talk about what you need on a sales page, what, what those components are so you don't have to overthink it. And I want to show you that today. That's, that's what's going to be my little tip for you today. What's the difference between a product page and a sales page? And why do I need a sales page? Because it's something I want you to build right away when you start your business, because it's going to make all the difference in the world in your conversions. Okay, let me share my screen again. I love all the comments in the— let me go over to the chat real quick and I'll share my screen. Um, Jonica, thank you. I'm wearing my green all week this week, um, because it's St. Patrick's week. And also it's my birthday week. So my birthday is on Wednesday and I just feel like I look good in green. So I'm just going to wear green all week this week. I think I look good in jewel tones. That's my thing. Like, you know, like sapphire blue, emerald green, ruby red. Like, I think I look good in jewel tones. So that's what I'm just— I'm just repping this week. Okay. I love it. Let's go over to— let's go over to— I'm going to show you my product page for my monogram box, and then I'm going to show you my sales page. And I really just— this is my— this is my momentum for you today, okay? For tech pieces, if you haven't started those or if you're feeling overwhelmed, cut the crap. Simple Sarah says do this, this, this, and this, period. And if you're not a member of Launch Your Box and you've been sitting there overwhelmed by the tech, you need to come and join us because This is in your library. It dropped last week. It's brand new. And all you have to do is consume the prerecorded videos that I've recorded in there and you're going to be on your way. You're going to be able to select your website. You're going to be able to select your email CRM, your payment processor, and your shipping software. And you're going to be able to move forward. We've got to stop letting stuff hold us back. Okay? We've got to stop letting stuff hold us back. And if I can help you move forward, that's my goal. That's why I come every Monday and I give you something to help you move forward. But also I am digging deep into the library this year. We are revamping the entire training library in Launch Your Box this year and I'm so excited about it. And once you get a handle on these 4 tech pieces, next month we're going to walk through the components of a high-converting sales page. Okay? That's what I'm going to kind of lead this in. So that's what we're going to do next month inside Launch Your Box. So I really want you just to understand these 4 pieces. Let's get them going while we're building our audiences if we haven't launched yet. And if you have launched and you have subscribers, it's time to take a look at these 4 pieces. Did we Band-Aid stuff together? Do we have these 4 pieces in place? Could my business be healthier and, um, create more longevity if I would take a look at these 4 pieces in my business. So that's what I want you to think about. Let's go look at my product page real quick. Let me share— present share screen. Y'all know I just love sharing my screen. Never know what you're gonna get. Okay, here we go. This is my product page. Okay, so if I want to sign up for the Ultimate Monogram Box I'm gonna go to this page. It has a gallery of my past boxes on here. It has all the things that I need to sign up for my monogram box, and then it's gonna take me to checkout. Okay, it's a little description. I'm gonna select that I do want my items monogrammed. I'm gonna fill in my information, and boom, that's a product page. And a lot of times when I'm reviewing your websites, which I'm doing this week for Launch Your Box, when I'm reviewing your websites, I just see a product page and I don't see a sales page. Now let me show you the difference when it comes to product pages versus sales page. Let me stop this, get into a new screen. Okay. This is a sales page. So a sales page is basically a landing page, and I, and I walk you through all of this in this, in this one of those lessons in the new, in the new tech module. It's a landing page that allows someone to land here for a specific reason. So this landing page is basically, I call it a sales page because the goal is to sell something. Sell you on my monogram box on this landing page. Now you can use landing pages for lots of different reasons. We use a landing page for a waitlist. We can use a landing page for an opt-in. We can use a landing page for lots of different reasons. But this landing page is a sales page and this is what I'm, I'm trying to sell you my subscription box. And it's different than a product page because I'm able to highlight the benefits of my subscription box. I'm able to highlight social proof of my subscription box. I'm able to highlight my box in a much more extensive way than I can with just a product page. Now, and don't feel overwhelmed by the sales page either, because when you first start a subscription, you don't have all of this information. Like I'm 6 years into my subscription box, right? But when I started my teacher subscription, I didn't have a lot of information. So it was smaller and it grows over time, okay? So I'm talking more in depth about my box and you can see my headline here, it's not, it's not the Monogram Box, it's a feeling. I'm trying to evoke a feeling right away. It's time you did something for yourself. That's the feeling I want you to get when you get to this page, you're like, Dang right, it's time I did something for myself. I do for everybody else around me. Instead of saying the monogram box, it's not a title. We want to evoke a feeling on this page. And the feeling from this page is that I deserve this for me. And I'm talking about the options. I've got lots of social proof. I've got lots of pictures of boxes. They can really— it's an experience. This page is walking through what it's like to get the Monogram Box delivered to you every single month. And so this page is so much more extensive than my other page, my product page, and that's what's gonna sell your subscription box. And so this is part of what we're gonna talk about next month inside Launch Your Box is what are those components to the sales page that you need to make sure you're converting the most pos— the most people possible? Because this is a funnel, this is a sales funnel, okay? So the top of the funnel is wide. We got to get all these people to come land on this page. How do we get those people to land on this page? And this page is going to convert them. And we know what a funnel looks like. It's smaller at the bottom. So we got to get as many people in at the top because they're going to come out the real small bottom and convert to subscribers. So we've got to use this page to convert people that have come to our website. And so that's important part. That product page is where they check out. That's not how we're going to sell our subscription box. And the problem is I see so many of you using a product page. Alone and you're not taking the time to set up a sales page that really evokes a feeling that someone's going to have when they subscribe to your box. And that's what this page— they need to know how it works. They need to know how they're gonna feel. They need to see other people enjoying that box. And so that's the goal as we start to build our tech stack. But let's bring it back to those 4 basics. Website, giving you my top 3 and why you should use them. Email CRM, talking through the top 3 so you can cut out all the crap of the hundreds of email CRMs that are out there. I'm telling you what and why. Payment processors, based on what you pick for your website, I'm teaching you what you need for your payment processor, period. You don't have to overthink that. And then where does shipping software come into play in our subscription boxes? That's the 4 tech pieces you need to get going, or you need to audit those if you've already got going. So keep it simple, streamline it. Let me help you. Let our community help you move forward and get unstuck with the tech pieces and get going on your subscription box business. If you're a member, get over to the library and watch those new tech modules. And I'll be back this week. We're gonna do website reviews on Wednesday. On my birthday, I might even wear this tiara that the ladies at the warehouse got me while we do website reviews on Wednesday on my birthday. So y'all have a great week. Keep the momentum going as we head into another week. We're already in the middle of March, y'all. We gotta keep making progress. I'll see you guys in the group. Bye.