← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
660. "How do I build a profitable and thriving product-based business?" | Coaching Session
00:39:30
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- [00:00]
A
I'm in this like, weird mental block of like, disassociating myself from where I saw success, thinking I'm good enough to make it without that and just refocusing, it's really, really hard.
- [00:12]
B
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, hey, Product Boss. Welcome back to another coaching session here at the Product Boss podcast. And today I'm chatting with Sarah. And Sarah is the owner of Sarah Hines Designs, who creates fun, fun, happy and relatable illustrations along with inspirational quotes that she sells on teas, mugs, tumblers and towels. After being in business for about six years, Sarah thought she had finally found success and her niche for illustrating and selling inside jokes from fan favorite pop culture. But unfortunately, when selling on a platform like this, you don't really have control and sometimes listings disappear because of all the nonsense that comes with other types of platforms that you don't control. Right. So for the past four years, Sarah's really been struggling to find her new niche and to build a successful business that won't crumble. And she's looking for clarity on how she can move forward and where she could focus her efforts so that she can build a sustainable, profitable, thriving business going forward. So that's exactly what Sarah and I are going to figure out. Now, before I move forward, I have a big favor to ask of you. Would you mind just pausing the recording for a quick sec and make sure that you're following the show? If you're not following the show, then you're not going to know when we release new episodes. And it really just makes it so much easier for us to get into your earbuds. And if you haven't left a review yet. I would be so honored to read your review. Okay, so let's jump back in if you are ready and you want to hear how I coach her today. Let's get started. 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 stuff, 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 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 breeze. So tell me about your business, what you're making and selling.
- [04:16]
A
So I've been in business since 2014 and I started by. I was a graphic design student in school and I decided to. I wanted to get my stuff online. So I started an Etsy Shop where I was selling kind of digital prints and digital invitations. And then I wanted everything on products. So I taught myself sublimation and I started with mugs and then I've slowly kind of expanded kind of my product offering over time. So I have a home studio where I print mugs, tumblers, towels, bags, and some apparel. And then I outsource for some things. It just kind of depends on what it is. I'd say I'm mostly known for my drinkware, so my cups and my like my mugs and my tumblers. But I have different bestsellers on different platforms. So right now I'm on Shopify and then I have two Etsy shops and then I do in person events. I do all of my designs and drawings myself, which I find really funny that that's a unique selling point at events. I just posted in the Facebook group saying how I was verbally saying that and a lot of people are surprised. So some of the members in the group were helping me come up with a way to like make a sign that helped get that point across because I thought that that was very common knowledge and it's not. So. So yeah, I. I'll kind of get into a little bit about what I. When I went into like a really long saga in 2020, I started like designing fan favorite things. So I was just kind of designing Minnesota cute. Just like not really having a niche of what my designs were. And then in 2020, I decided, decided to illustrate kind of inside jokes from fan favorite movies and shows, TV artists, like singing artists and everything. And those skyrocketed. So I had a hundred thousand dollar a year. I was over the moon after being in business for six years. I was like, I've made it. This is it. I've done it. Like, I'm on my way, I can quit my job. I'm gonna do this. And then Etsy started taking down my listings one by one by one by one, saying I was copyright infringing, which I was so confused about because it's all original art. And so then I consulted a lawyer and I was like, what is going on? Like, I am on cloud nine. My business is finally taking off. Like I found my niche. I'm so decided, like, this is going so well. What can I do? And I spent lots and lots of money for him to tell me that I built my business model on an illegal model. He said it doesn't matter if you draw a picture of a stapler and some scissors and a piece of paper. And then as long as you list it as the Office or Dunder Mifflin. If you're using that as a listing or a tag or an association with it at all, you're in copyright infringement, which I had no idea. So my world came crashing down. I was in a really, really not great place for a while there. I wasn't sure what to do. I ended up taking down all of my listings that had any association with a movie or show off of Etsy. And then it was Crickets. There was no revenue anywhere. So then my family and I at the time were like, we need to bring in some sort of money right now. So we've created another Etsy shop that had. And I relisted all the stuff that was on my original site, except for the ones that, like, flagged regularly. So I just uploaded all the ones that didn't get flagged. And that is still up and running and is still a primary source of income for my family. I don't know why it got flagged on one and not on the other. It's not generating nearly as much income, but it's the exact same thing. So I have my Sarah Hines designs Etsy, which is just kind of like, cute, happy, positive. What I have on Sarah Hines designs on my Shopify site, I have Morris Design Finds, which is the show stuff. And then Sarah Hines designs Shopify is like both together. So for the last four years, I'd say I've been struggling with kind of finding my way of, like, what is my new niche? How do I build this business in a successful trajectory on a legal foot? Because obviously you can't continue down that path and find success and something that you can continue to grow if it can come crumbling down underneath you someday. So I have kind. I've been working really hard at that. And my new designs that I've made recently are around bringing positivity and joy to your life. So I want the person that picks up my product, my mug, that gift, just have experience, joy whenever they use or wear that item. And so that's been kind of the trajectory I've been taking recently. But I think I still have that, like, mental block of I don't know if I should completely separate myself from the show and movie stuff. I don't know if I should, like, completely take down absolutely everything that I had and start fresh. Cause I just counted Today, that's like 70 listings. That's. And that's hours and hours and hours of drawing and work. And it's just like, super heartbreaking to just be done with that. So this last six months, I'd say I. My holiday launch in particular, I kind of was trying to bridge the gap. So designing new products that had just holiday themed. And then I had one or two items that were associated or kind of like a movie or a show, but weren't completely wrapped in it. They were a lot more subtle, they were a lot less stuff on there. So I'm in this like weird mental. I think a lot of my issues right now is like my mental block of like disassociating myself from where I saw success, thinking I'm good enough to make it without that and just refocusing, it's really, really hard.
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B
I want you to move. We have to move past all this. So let's just like, let's turn the page, right? Let's put it behind us. Because what you know, is to know that we can't keep going this way. So it's like what we need to do now is. And then I think, you know, why you're excited about this call too, is like to think, well, well, why. So talking about product, the actual physical goods that you sell, what sells the best or what do you want to lean into? Because you've got mugs and dish towels and T shirts and stickers and I mean, I don't know if you have stickers, but you've got all the things. If we were going to niche down on the product category, what would be the thing that you niche down on?
- [10:25]
A
On my Shopify, my mug sell the best. And on my Etsy shops, my towels sell the best. In person shows, towels sell the best.
- [10:33]
B
Great. So let's drop T shirts and sweatshirts in any wearable product that's sized. And then you're going to start to be like, like a home goods company. So dish towels are really easy and great for people to buy mugs. People like, you got the tumblers, the glass one with the bamboo lid. Let's drop all of the other product because you have office and home. But there's not really any office stuff here because you've got towels and drinkware underneath. So I would rather you just think, okay, and even the bags I'm not sure that you need because if you really start to hon on on home products, that's going to help you start to at least niche down and think, okay, what product categories am I going to serve then? What would this. When you identify who your ideal customer is, and this is, you know, part of what programs are you in right now of mine at the.
- [11:16]
A
The Rock your holiday promotion. And then I bought the highest one. So multi string machine. But I have access for life and then I have access to the full library of everything.
- [11:25]
B
Awesome. Okay, great. So the thing that probably and, and we just launched the product Boss academy and people are asking what's the difference between the two? Because of where you're at, we can talk about more ways to sell your products which MSM Multi Shoe machine teaches you like all the different places you can sell. But what might need to happen for you is coming back into the like the step by step plan on building the business. Because now that you're really serious about getting off of Etsy as your main, main sales channel, we're selling in person. We could sell wholesale. We've got direct to consumer on the website. It's going to be coming back to the studs and saying, okay, from the idea perspective, if I were coming up with this business today, which you kind of are, how would I do it again? All the lessons I've learned, I seen my success, I, I can keep up with a hundred thousand dollars in sales. So that's all win. So meaning like you know that it's there like you've climbed Everest and you know you can get to the top. So we know that to be true. So that is like something I want you to hold on to as a superpower versus the scarcity feeling of I'm never going to get there again. It's, you know, you just, you don't have the exact roadmap yet but you're going to just step by step this thing towards it. But you know you can get there because you've done it. So we got to shift that mindset. Second part is, is coming back to the idea and thinking, okay, what is the sellable product that we can create? So really identifying the ideal customer for this and the brand you're going to build. Because you know when I talk about like if we talk about Bando, which I was in their showroom, we had the same sales rep back when I started Cuffs Couture and Bando was just a hair accessory company. Now it's this gigantic brand that people know about that sells everything. But that's not how they started and they started in a very specific way. So then we think about Rightful Paper Co. Same idea. So we really need to establish the brand. This is all going to give you that like solid foundation of a sellable product. A brand that's referable that people know that they go to you for this and then it makes everything Easier because everyone tries to jump to market, marketing and sales and all the things and it's like, sure, but it's not easy and it's not sustainable. And I want you to build a sustainable company. I want you to have like this plan to go through it. Okay, did you catch right there where Sarah needs to start? So her goal is to build a sustainable product based business with a solid foundation. And in order to do that, we first need to figure out how her sellable product, what it is and what niche she's going to lean into. So right now Sarah is offering her illustrations on all of the things, but she really wants to build a scalable business. She's going to need to focus on and become known for something. So based on her numbers and data, Sarah should be leaning into becoming a home goods company with dish towels, tumblers and glasses. Right? That's what we've gathered. But knowing this information, she is thinking or trying to figure out if she's able to start to niche down her product categories and she really wants to get clarity on the direction she should go towards in her business. So when it comes to creating a scalable business, a profitable business, one that's thriving, your first step is always going to be figuring out what product you're making. Right. That ideation phase, how do you nail down your niche? Because this is going to allow you to focus on exactly what's working instead of just throwing spaghetti at the wall. And usually when you do that, you're just trying to offer all the things and hoping someone's going to buy something, which is exactly what Sarah is doing right now. Plus, when you really start to hone in on what your sellable product is, what you're going to be known for. All the parts of this that we really talk about in the profitable product boss method in that idea module is where we start to build those building blocks to actually building a brand more than just a product, something that people are talking about. Okay, now let's dig into the next piece of sustainability and brand building. Then if we were going to go a step deeper, who do you think if we were to pick like a, the perfect age woman? Like because women are probably your main customer. How old is she? Not a range, but how old is she?
- [14:58]
A
35.
- [14:59]
B
Okay, 35. She have kids?
- [15:00]
A
She has girls.
- [15:01]
B
Girls. Okay, awesome. You're gonna give her a name?
- [15:03]
A
She doesn't have a name now, but I should give her a name.
- [15:06]
B
Let's give her a name.
- [15:08]
A
Bella.
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B
Bella. Okay. So BELLA with the two kids, she's 35. And how does Bella want to be seen to the world? Like, is she funny? Is she, is she bright and shiny? Is she kind of like more reserved? Is she quiet? But like, she lets her things speak for her. Like, how do you think Bella interacts in the world?
- [15:25]
A
She's energetic, she's really positive. She likes, likes to light up a room when she walks into a room. She likes to be the center of attention. She enjoys socializing in many different ways with friends and groups, girls, nights, throwing parties, hosting parties. She has a great attention to detail. She enjoys being hostess with the mostess. She loves holidays and holiday energy, not only for herself, but creating holiday magic for her kids.
- [15:55]
B
When we think about her then, because you, you mentioned a lot about her loving parties, she loves all things like celebration. She likes to stand out, right? She wants to be seen. She doesn't want to be a wallflower. She's looking to be kind of like at the center. And so you could be a brand for go to, like for celebration essentials, right? The go to person. So something that has like the energy of gatherings and parties and decor could be a way, right? It's vibrant, festive, playful. It could be that she's the person that goes to the place she'll show up at. I don't know whether it's Home Goods or. Cause I know a lot of times like Home Goods has every tea towel for the season, right? Or TJ Maxx, but she doesn't feel identified in it, right? Or I'll go places and I'll see tea towels that are like super snarky tea towels. But are we hitting the thing that like, what if I don't want snarky, you know, or what if I don't want funny, funny haha or like kitschy what TJ Maxx or Home Goods finds as a trend. So you also want to look at the stuff that she feels like she's missing that's just not representing her, which might be like sparkly and magical and celebrate, you know, she celebrates. She radiates all of that. So you can think about festivities and like the glamour that goes with it. You can also think about seasonal collections that are like holiday and party themed collections. So if she's always, if she's the person that has all of the decor for all of the things, has the basement and the attic and everything's full of all the stuff, right? How does she. You could position it that the major holidays have, you know, you bring the magic to these products that she decorates her Everyday life with. So you know, whether it's home, whether it's festive mugs, party decor, like in the winter, we know winter and fall, like it's all handled but in the summer is it poolside, is it, you know, chic, is it picnic? Is it everything she wants summer to feel like and you're, and you're thinking about themes within seasons or holidays.
- [17:41]
A
What is your stance on? So we're talking a lot about her, which is great because she's the one with the money and she's the one that's got the friends and she's the one that's going to show all the stuff that's going to, that her friends are hopefully going to love and buy and spread the word. But what about her kids? So like I have stepdaughter so anything that I make for her I usually put up there because people a love it and I loved. Oh my God, I don't know what module it was or what class it was or what. But you said don't just put up the shoulds and I loved hearing that because I hear that non stop. You should put up this, you should make this, you should do this and you. That was really validating to hear that I don't always have to do put up the shoulds because they're never ending.
- [18:24]
B
So we're thinking about her kids. But kids are very different. And my daughter, my daughter's nine and somehow knows about the office and wants me to buy her office stuff. And then she also Lilo and Stitches having a huge comeback right now and she's also obsessed with that. It's interesting like where pop culture meets our kids. I don't want you to focus as a kid's product line and I'll tell you why legally is that with kids products there's so many other things you have to do. So there's like lead testing, you have to like note the batches of where the production's coming from. And if you're doing a print on demand, they most likely have all of the requirements for it. But it's just a different market. So looking at your stuff, there's still stuff I would buy my kids here. I'm not going to buy probably a 4 year old something on here. But you have like pickleball which is huge. You could do an entire pickleball theme and just run pickleball on Etsy. And I mean my sister in law just had her birthday party at a pickleball court and everything was like we all, we all bought her like, cute pickleball clothes and my mom got her a custom pickleball bag and, you know, so you can think about big trends like that that are happening.
- [19:18]
A
So for like my bridge the gap of kids and adults, a lot of my email deliverables, if I'm giving away a freebie, it's like a coloring sheet to do to color with your kid or to give to your kids. Or I did a free fall bucket list where they could color the bucket list and then fill it out together. And then I did a video of me and my stepdaughter filling it out together.
- [19:38]
B
Is your company hitting the revenue that you want it to be hitting right now?
- [19:42]
A
No.
- [19:42]
B
No matter what you do then, even if you change it now, it doesn't mean that what you've been doing is working and that if we get rid of it, it's going to hurt the company. Okay, so this Inclus is watering down your target market.
- [19:55]
A
Yeah, I would agree with that for sure.
- [19:56]
B
So even the teacher realm of it all, you have gifts for teachers, which is very big on Etsy, also might not be aligned. Unless you do realize that there's a lot of teachers and it's a teacher who wants to also sparkle and shine and have all the things, but she's also going to buy the other stuff that you have. So the shoulds are like, I should have something for the daughters and the moms and their teachers and the coloring books, but that gets so wishy washy on your brand that I actually then don't know what I'm coming to you for.
- [20:23]
A
Right. So if I want to be known for the home decor and then we're kind of bridging into the, the party stuff, would it be fair to say if I go down the path of like starting this from the beginning that, like napkins and like banners, like that kind of stuff, is that.
- [20:40]
B
Not yet.
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A
Not yet. Okay. Just still focus on the core product offerings.
- [20:44]
B
It's. If we just. You eventually you could like, you could get into, you know, other things like kits and stuff like that for themed drinks and cups and blah, blah, blah. But. But not yet. Right now, if we just served her as like we have to just reinforce that she's like the hostess with the mostess that does like magic. Like we all, we can all imagine a Bella in our life that we're either gonna get something for her or she can feel identified and seen for it. So first what we have to do is we have to really just think about the, like the home decor. Let's say if we're going with that, the home decor that she's looking for. So, you know, are you looking for home decor that's gonna take everyday moments and make them a celebration or you know, decor that's at of a gathering. But the, the visual of it is, is it glam, is it chic? Like what's the aesthetic? You know, your stuff isn't glam, right?
- [21:34]
A
So that's, I was trying to kind of channel that when I did my holiday launch this year with the 40 ounce tumblers like the Tis the Season and the Jolly smiles one and the Hanukkah one. Honestly, just thinking about her personality of loving to embrace holidays and she loves to have a seasonal cup. And I also was hearing at the shows because they, I thought they would sell so well. Everyone picks them up, everyone's obsessed. Everyone loves the 40 ounce tumblers and they're like obsessed with them. I've got so many comments on the Hanukkah one. So many people saying thank you for having a Hanukkah one. None of them are selling because they all look at it, love it and then they set it back down because they don't need it. And I wanted to grab like four people and be like, what would make you need this?
- [22:14]
B
I really appreciate that you have Hanukkah as well. I think from the Tumblr perspective it might be that it's one of those things, where am I gonna walk around with my Hanukkah tumbler? Because it's been scary being a Jew in this world. So self identifying. I even don't wear my Jewish jar sometimes when I'm, I'm, I'm going out and stuff like that, right? So. But then when you have something that's like festive like Tis the season or like hahaha elf or something like that, it's a little less like religious or identifying. So while I buy the Hanukkah pajamas for my family and like we wear those internally at home and maybe like for photo shoots and stuff like that. I again don't know. I don't, I wouldn't use it because Hanukkah's like eight days. And let's just say with Hanukkah it's a little bit of a different. We don't, we don't decorate the same way, which I don't love. I'm like, I told my husband, I was like, it's November, it's the beginning of November. And I'm like, can we decorate Christmas stuff in our house now? So it just might be product. It might be like, where the product is misplaced versus if it was a dish towel and they have it at home and their decor at home versus walking around with the tumbler. Cause I love that I saw the representation of it, but maybe it's. It's just different. It's like something I'm gonna use at my house versus externally. And I'm not saying this in a way of like. And other people might be listening and not agree, but you just have to think about the print or the graphic and the use of it. Because when we take a Tumblr on the go, that's on the go, how do we want to be seen? Like, it's like wearing a graphic shirt that says something, and then we have to think about the products that they want to use internally. So I still think it might like, there's still ways that you could do Hanukkah related products that can leave the house, but maybe it's not so, like, menorah dreidel, you know, like, maybe a little bit more, like, sophisticated in the way that, like, you know, what would Jacqueline wear? Like, what would I walk around with my blue and white mug? Like, we get eight nights, you know, like, who knows? But so I think. I think you're onto something. And then we have to just think, what do they want? I do think that there's your dish towels, the way that they're designed. I think there could be cool ways of you doing stuff like this without it being movie or TV themed. So I've seen dish towels in the way that you have it, but it's, I don't know, like a state or a city. So let's say it was Los Angeles and it would have the beach and a surfer and palm trees and things that people could self recognize of themselves. So people want to see themselves in product or they want to be reflected back. So you could just again, go back to her and think, like, what would she look at on a mug? Actually, your dish towels could also be on mugs, which I think you're kind of doing. So it's like, if I looked at it, how would it tell my story of the season? It's being seen, right? So it could even be funny, ha ha. Where it's like, this kid has, you know, gotta get this kid to the play and then gotta, you know, host people for dinner. And you could think about pain points that you can pull forward or things that self identify the season.
- [24:55]
A
Yeah, okay. And I do have a handful of things that are Minnesota related. Cause that's where I'm from. And those are some of the main things that I think would sell really well wholesale. And I have a list of of shops that I would need to get organized and get in contact with that.
- [25:14]
B
I know you're smart. So are you able to see that next step in brand building? For her, it's figuring out and nailing her ideal customer avatar. Right? Which is one part we got to really figure out who that customer is, who she's selling to. And that's exactly what Sarah and I just worked on. Now, similar to what I told Sarah, when it comes to figuring out your ideal customer, you want to get as specific as possible. If your ideal customer is a woman in her 30s who loves candles, then you haven't actually figured figured out your ideal customer. Which is why we worked on peeling back the layers to dig deeper into Sarah's ideal customer and who she actually is and what emotion she's feeling. What products, you know, evoke those emotions for her. What does she want to do when she wants to purchase them. And remember, customers want to see themselves in your product. Meaning if they can self recognize in your product, in your brand, then there's a greater chance of them purchasing. Now the only way to figure out how your customer will be able to see themselves in your product is they're really knowing who your ideal customer is. So now that we've started figuring this part out for Sarah and we're really understanding her ideal customer and how we can serve her, let's see if there's a product that Sarah can really lean into to start setting herself apart from the competition. 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 the 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 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 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 going to 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? 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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. how's your. Like your craft queen or your banana bread towels?
- [29:46]
A
The recipe towels do well. The craft queen doesn't do as well.
- [29:50]
B
Okay. I think the recipe. Okay, so same thing that you gotta be careful with the branded stuff on here.
- [29:55]
A
Yeah. Some of my very first ones are branded with like the, the flowers and stuff. But then I have some that don't have any branding. So I can easily redraw them and.
- [30:04]
B
Make them, make them feel like it but not say what it. Where it's from, you know. But I think the recipe towels are cool. So to get clear on where you're going. Someone else was a student and they had gotten a coaching call and they're an artist and they're making all the things because as an artist you can design and make kind of anything that your head says. But when I really dug into it and she was selling on Etsy, she was doing really well with, with state maps and in her illustration style, they were prints. They weren't, you know, on product like yours, but they were state maps. And so she'd only done a couple of the states and she was doing so well. We're like, you should go in and do all 50 states. Forget the rest of it. Forget the paintings of the birds and the flowers and all the other stuff you can do. People want to see themselves and be self identified. So, you know, let's just pretend you just did these recipe type towels because you're telling me it does well and you'd recipe towels that were themed to the season. So even if it was a mug that was like a pumpkin spice latte, you could test this. But like a pumpkin spice version of a drink with the recipe on the mug or the, the dish towel and they're seasonal. That's really interesting. You know.
- [31:07]
A
Yeah, I do have my sugar cookie one that's more like Christmasy. And then I have a state fair one which is more summer. But I get what you're saying. Like the. What. What are your thoughts on. I've thought about reaching out and maybe this is a totally different avenue and this is my focus on one Thing, Sarah. But. But I've thought about two different ideas with the recipe towels, since I enjoy doing them and they do sell. Linking up with local, like, bakeries and illustrating their recipes and seeing if they want to sell them in their bakeries or like, I know some, like, chef influencers. Linking up with them and illustrating their recipes or a recipe of theirs and doing like a collab.
- [31:48]
B
I think that that's always. That's always a place to go. Okay, so I know I said all this other stuff earlier. Cause we're just trying to peel this onion back and figure out speaking recipes, right? We're trying to keep excavating and figuring out your thing. Right? Cause it's the crux of it. So yes and yes, you can do that and not necessary right now. So they may or may not want to do a branded thing. Maybe they do. But I'd rather you start to establish yourself as this and then go to them or sell. You know, you could sell like these can sell all day, every day at lots of gift stores. So let's just go into, like, these, this. That's a good idea. And what if by thinking about, like, the decor and functionality of it, even though it's not really a real recipe. I mean, it is, but it isn't. Right? But it's for someone who uses her kitchen, she likes to bake. She wants something feeling holiday. It's interesting. Your graphics are really cool. And it appeals to the love of entertaining, of hosting and seasonal celebration. So it checks off all those boxes. So in the fall, you could do things like pumpkin spice latte, hot apple cider, classic chili. Right. The winter, you have your sugar cookie that has like a Christmas sugar cookie, gingerbread cookies, mulled wine. You know, things that feel festive. Spring and summer, Right. Lemonade iced tea. Because it's the graphic and the color and the interest in it. So right now you have orange spice pumpkin bread, tater tot, hot dish, banana bread. So out of those ones, what do those ones sell when you're at market?
- [33:12]
A
Yes. Yeah, they do. I say that the orange spice pumpkin bread sells the least, but tater tot dish is one of my best sellers in general. And then the sugar cookie one has been doing well. That's a new design this year. So that one's been. That one sold out at my last show. And then same with the hot dish at shows because we're in Minnesota.
- [33:31]
B
Okay, so what if. Then here's some other ideas, right? You can do themed towel sets for entertaining. So it could be like a Girls night one. Right. Like maybe all the ingredients that goes into a girl's night. Or maybe it's like the margarita and the cosmo one. There's game day ones where they can be guacamole, nacho recipes or brunch recipes. So you could sell sets like that. Not that you have to do this now, but what if you did personalized family recipes on these towels? So instead of thinking about the chef, that'd be cool. The kids part could be the family cooking. So your sugar cookies do feel a little bit more like a kid, you know, like kid focused. So maybe you're thinking, you know, what is the mom or the parent or the person buying this? Like, between the cutesy stuff that a kid would really like. So that's like the chocolate chip cookies or the Christmas sugar cookies. You know, there's. There's a little bit of a different aesthetic. And then a cool thing you could do is you could get into some regional ones. So the same way that you have the Minnesota stuff, you could do stuff that's like, I don't know, something Creole, you know, if you wanted to go to like, sell the New Orleans or avocado toast for California, you know, so you could think about, like, regional type stuff that's still gonna call for people from those areas. So if it's like New England clam chowder or sweet tea. And so people are going to. It's going to keep expanding. Like, you have so many different variations there. So I almost feel like I'm. I'm the most excited about this. I don't know how you feel, but like, forget the hostess with the mostest. Forget the joy of joy and the thing that you're seeing that you're like, I sold out of this. The information from the beginning is like, oh, this is the thing that's really interesting.
- [34:58]
A
Yeah. And I think that there's. It makes such a great gift too, because a lot of feedback that I hear in shows is, oh, I have too many mugs or they already have too many mugs or they have too many cups or I don't need. But I never hear that feedback when I, when people are talking about the towels. So, yeah, that's a good place to lean into.
- [35:16]
B
And you can always, if recipes work, you can always, you know, depending on what the situation is, it could be, I don't know, let's say you want to do tumblers or glass thing, and it was like recipe for like a great bachelorette or even if it was like friends plus this, plus that. Like, you know, eventually you could take the recipe concept and mix it into anything like what makes a good party, you know, like a hostess and a this and the that. So it doesn't always have to be an actual food or drink recipe long term, but I think, think where you've got the hit here. And then Minnesota is Minnesota. So allow for you to have your Minnesota type product. You'll also see, you know, the, you have the great Minnesota get together. Right. You'll also see. Okay, if certain things like do well like this, then state fairs could be, you know, it's, it's, it goes back to exactly what I was saying in the beginning. People want to see themselves in it. So they get to self identify by either being like, oh yeah, the Minnesota State Fair, like, I recognize this stuff, it makes sense. Or they love this, the cutesy sugar cookie. And I like that'd be so cute in my house during the holidays. But I would do trending food products. So the orange spice pumpkin bread, the reason why that might not do so well is like they don't have a affinity for orange spice pumpkin bread. It's like a different kind of recipe. So you have to think, why do like the tater tot hot dish, Is that something specific to Minnesota? Yeah. So that's what you want. It's self identified. So it's like if you know about the tater tot hot dish, it's because you're from Minnesota and like you get, you know it.
- [36:36]
A
Yeah. Okay. And yeah, I would draw that same conclusion for sure. Cool. It feels really good. I'm excited. Is your guidance to remove all of the show and movie stuff from my shop? No.
- [36:47]
B
Yes. I would say it makes me sad. Hear it.
- [36:52]
A
I hear you.
- [36:53]
B
Are you the sole breadwinner in your family?
- [36:56]
A
No.
- [36:57]
B
Okay. So you have. While it's nice, you, your best listings got pulled down. You're not making the kind of money you were making. We've hit rock bottom, quote unquote. Right. We've hit the point that everyone's afraid of hitting. You've hit it and that's okay because you wouldn't have come, you wouldn't be here and you wouldn't be coming to these conclusions had this stuff not happened. And this stuff is way more sustainable, way more original and has such a further. Like you could eventually take your graphics and have recipe journals, you know, like these graphics now can be used in lots of different ways. If we start to really hone in on what I come to you for now, I'm going to look at them and be like, oh yeah, that's a Sarah house. Right? Like I so easily can do it versus just a citrus kitchen towel or like dog treat cookies towel. They're cute, but they're not identifiable. Okay, so we just went over which illustrations and products Shara should start leaning into. Her recipe and trending food towels seem pretty awesome, don't you think? Sarah has an incredible opportunity here to really build her brand on original designs which will not be in jeopardy of copyright infringing, but that she could actually build a six or even seven figure business around. So based on what we know about Sarah's ideal customer and the direction Sarah wants to go, her recipe towels are going to be what could set her apart from the competition. It's what she can be known for. And not only that, she has the ability to really expand here right into different themes and targeting different individual groups so based on their interests. So this is definitely a sustainable product for Sarah and something that she can continue to build on as her brand grows. Similarly, if you're trying to figure out how to grow your brand, you need to figure out which product is going to allow you to do that by actually figuring out which category, which products you can stand out on and then you want to match that to your ideal customer. Does that make sense? Okay. Okay. Now let's see if there's anything else that we missed and what else I can help Sarah with.
- [38:39]
A
So when I start to build out these products, do you think that I should continue down the path of having them on both platforms on my website and on Etsy?
- [38:49]
B
Yeah. I also think that this new version, let's just say the dish towels is something highly wholesaleable. That's, that's official grammar, grammatically correct language. Are you doing print on demand?
- [39:00]
A
I am right now, but I've. Because of your wholesale module, I've done all the research and found all of my manufacturers and with my line sheets to be able to mass produce and no mums and know my delivery day because I know that when I, if I want to do wholesale and I want to do it on a large scale, printing them in my basement one by one is not gonna, not gonna cut it.
- [39:18]
B
So yeah, so great because right now at least you can get, get samples if you think that the quality is gonna be similar. But like you get samples, you have that. But I do think this is a highly wholesale product and again, it'll start to lead you into other.