← The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
The Product Boss with Jacqueline Snyder
679. "Should I Simplify My Products and Go All-In on Wholesale?" | Coaching Session
00:38:04
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- [00:02]
Jacqueline Snyder
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 a 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 everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Product Boss Podcast. Oh my goodness, I am so glad you're here. We are going to do another behind the scenes coaching session today. Now, if you're new here, the Product Boss podcast is for makers, manufacturers, people who source products, really anyone who sells a physical product. And every week we talk about strategies to grow your business. I love to talk about marketing and sales strategies that don't include needing a huge social media following. You don't need to pay for ads. Of course, if you have these things, it's great, it's a tool. But you don't have to think that that is the only way to do it. Okay? And that is a big part here at the Product Boss. The other thing I want to let you know, because I know we have a lot of new listeners, is that I help physical product based business owners and they can sell pretty much anything. And if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know, you've heard me talk and coach people that are making and selling all different kinds things. But here's what I want you to know. There is no straight path for any one of you in your businesses, whether this is just an idea that you have this physical product idea and you want to turn it into income, right? You want to start to make some extra money, or maybe you have the idea, or maybe you have the products and you've started to sell, but you're ready to turn this into a real business. Or maybe it is a real business to you and you really are looking to grow it. But here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want you to learn from listening to all of these episodes, especially my coaching sessions. There's no one straight path. We all have a different way of doing this. And that's what's so incredibly amazing about starting product based businesses. And you might listen to other podcasts, you might be in other programs and courses, or have other coaches that are telling you, you know, you have to do it this way, you have to do it that way. Like the way that you grow your business is only on Amazon or the way you grow your business is only through wholesale or in person or Etsy or, you know, start a jewelry business or start a candle company or clothing line. Listen, I've had my own jewelry business and clothing line and I've made money from both. And so there's the thing I want you to know is that you can have a side hustle or a full time business or an empire making and selling pretty much anything. But there are some steps that you need to follow. There are some key steps that you need to follow to make sure that you can sell it. Because what I want you to know is it's more than just that idea. Yes, we all have really good ideas sometimes. I mean, I have a shelf of ideas that I've had, but it doesn't mean that they all got implemented and the ones that do it means that I followed the right steps. So hopefully, as you listen to the podcast, you listen to the episodes, you pick up nuggets, and hopefully one day I'll get to work with you inside of one of my programs, whether it's one of my courses or my masterminds or memberships, whatever it is. I hope one day I got to meet you and work with you in person. But otherwise we're going to dive into today's episode and like I said, we're going to be coaching Michelle and she is the founder of Sunshine and Saltwater. Now this is such a beautiful, amazing brand. Just think about the name Sunshine and Saltwater. You kind of already know what she sells, but what she does sell is a coastal lifestyle brand that began as a T shirt company and quickly evolved actually into a scent forward wholesale success. Yes, I said sent forward has nothing to do with the clothing and we're going to get into that. Now Michelle has a full time job, but she also has this growing product line. She keeps adding to it, adding more scents and styles and designs and she actually has more opportunities than time. So Michelle's biggest question is, should I simplify my business and go all in on what's working, which for her would be wholesale. So this episode is for anyone who feels pulled in too many different directions. If you're unsure what to cut, what to sell, what to keep, what to focus on, how to make smart decisions that fuel real growth. Because again, whether this is a side hustle or it's your full time business, the one commodity we can't get more of is time. And so my goal today is to help her know what to focus in on in the time that she has to have the greatest return. So let's help Michelle get clear, focused and confident and let's dive in. Tell me about Sunshine and Saltwater, which by the way, such a good name.
- [05:15]
Michelle
Excellent naming. The Sunshine and Saltwater really is the birth child of my love for the beach and everything. Beach, coastal lifestyle. I actually, when I started and I was kind of dabbling, I named the company first in 50. And I realized very quickly that that didn't mean anything to anybody but me. And the meaning behind that was the first state, Delaware and the 50th state, Hawaii. So I used to live in Hawaii, still have friends there, go back all the time, you know, adore it. And then we have a home in Rehoboth beach as well, which is so those two beach towns, obviously Hawaii is a whole beach state. But those really influenced me. But very quickly, like I said, realized that didn't make sense to anybody. And so I came up with Sunshine and Saltwater. Somebody had the URL, I snagged it from them back and forth. And that's when the new branding began and it truly started off as a T shirt business. I am a graphic designer by trade. That's what I went to school for. I've worked in the web industry way back in the day when we were still designing AOL sites. But I also have worked for a T shirt company who designed a lot of licensing for Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, you know, so I've been, I understand T shirt design and I've always been drawn to T shirt design. So that with the love of the beach is kind of what started Sunshine and Saltwater. Now it's evolved immensely since then. As you can see from the website, there's a lot more there now than just T shirts.
- [07:01]
Jacqueline Snyder
You've got wonderful aesthetic, like and I could tell, you know that you. Well, there's a lot that you have going on that's I think really great. So graphic, right? We don't have all have that superpower of like graphic Design and. And you have that understanding web web development, like user experience. And then you change your name. And so the name so very clearly explains at least the vibe of what they're coming in for. So sunshine and saltwater. I probably don't think I'm buying, you know, moccasins. Right, right. So it's just like, okay, like immediately we have a visual in our head as a consumer to kind of know what we're stepping into. And it's. And it's catchy and you remember it, so I love it. You have, though, a long URL like me when it's like, my name is 10 Letters.
- [07:45]
Michelle
Right.
- [07:47]
Jacqueline Snyder
I used to have designer consulting co ops as Jacqueline at, you know, and I was like, oh, my God, this thing is so, so. Okay. So it's gone from a T shirt company into a coastal lifestyle brand that specializes in scents, gifts, and still some apparel. So what is your best seller? Like? What do you feel like is the thing that's really driving the company right now?
- [08:07]
Michelle
So the best seller by far is the car diffusers. Those are selling gangbusters. They're in nearly every wholesale order that I am getting, and I have tons of repeat wholesale customers. And those are always on their list of what they are, you know, returning for. And that was kind of an afterthought. I am, you know, scents for me are huge. They bring back memories, they flood back instantly. And so I'm, you know, big into candles and reed diffusers and all that. And obviously scent is such a huge aspect of the feeling of the beach. So that kind of started. I don't even remember exactly how I started doing that, but that has snowballed for sure. And is definitely the best seller in wholesale for sure. And definitely in the shop that I have the spot in in Lewis, that's all the other vendors where it doesn't seem to be as much of a big seller is retail. So the B2C, that still seems to be more apparel. So, you know, I went through a ton of numbers prior to this call, and I really looked at it. You know, you can look at it in so many different ways. What is selling the most? What is the gross sales? But the car diffusers are always top on that list for sure. And then I would say I did kind of go down and go through apparel is kind of next. And that's been a newer thing with some newer designs and then allowing wholesalers to customize some of that. Because I print everything myself right now, direct to film or screen printed film, just on a Heat press. And then after that was the wine and gift bags and then the stationary items. The stationary items, obviously those have the biggest profit margin for me and they, they do sell well, but they're not by far not the best seller. So there's all these different ways, you know, you can break it down and look at, at these numbers, but car diffusers for sure is in the lead.
- [10:26]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, so when I was looking at all your data, it looks like there's a lot of stuff coming from a lot of places. Right, so that's what you're saying. So what you're saying to me, because you, it sounds like the majority of your money comes in through fair.
- [10:38]
Michelle
Yes, right now, for sure. Absolutely. And January was crazy. It was, you know, they do have fair market in January, which, to try and drive sales. And I was thinking, yo, January, I'm going to be able to regroup and, you know, relax from the Christmas rush. And it was not, it was insane.
- [10:56]
Jacqueline Snyder
That's amazing.
- [10:57]
Michelle
And so, and it keeps going, which is great, except for most of them are coming through fair.
- [11:04]
Jacqueline Snyder
So for the repeat customers, are you doing any outreach to them or are you just kind of waiting for them to come back to you?
- [11:09]
Michelle
I do a little bit of email marketing through the Fair platform. You know, announcing of new products or pushing a collection. Not a ton. You know, I've probably sent out a dozen emails or so. But I've only been on fair since last May.
- [11:27]
Jacqueline Snyder
Well, only we're almost at a year and you just crushed it. So it's your biggest need. Right? It's the thing that's making you the most money right now. So the Cardiff users, they're buying and they're reordering and then what is your revenue? What was your revenue last year? And then what do you think you're on par to hit this year?
- [11:47]
Michelle
Last year? Shoot, I don't think I downloaded that. It was probably around 35,000.
- [11:55]
Jacqueline Snyder
But you've already hit 20 and we're only in the third month.
- [11:57]
Michelle
Yeah.
- [11:58]
Jacqueline Snyder
So you're really, you're like on your way.
- [12:00]
Michelle
And last year, you know, was like I said, fair was only I started that in May, so. And that kind of, you know, slow start and then it, it did much better. And then January, obviously, as I said, was my best month. Now I have a full time job, so this has been sort of secondary. And as I can, you know, I did just have somebody do the SEO for me on the site. Literally, she just finished last week and I know that that is, you know, a marathon. Not A sprint. But I felt that that was very important to do for the more, you know, direct to consumer selling. And then I also, I am a social media manager, so I do graphic design and social media for my clients. So I've been doing my own social media, but I don't want to do it anymore. So that was the second thing. My second hire is going to be a social media specialist that can do this.
- [13:05]
Jacqueline Snyder
Most of my clients, I love that you can do it and that you're like, I actually don't want to do it for my own business. So.
- [13:12]
Michelle
Yes.
- [13:13]
Jacqueline Snyder
Because some people wish they knew how to do it and that they could do it themselves.
- [13:16]
Michelle
It's just so. It's so time consuming and I know I can explain and share my vision with somebody, somebody and they can do a better job at it because for me, it's an afterthought and I'm not giving it the attention that it needs. And I know I'm not doing it justice. I haven't run any ads or spent any money. I've just been doing, you know, all organically and it's been great up till now. Definitely have, have gotten customers, you know, through social media, but I know it could be doing so much better than it is.
- [13:55]
Jacqueline Snyder
All right, my friends, this is real talk real fast. You can't grow if you're stuck in the day to day. Michelle's already making the shift from the solopreneur to a more strategic business owner. And I hope that you start to think in this way too. Right? Go from that maker to someone who is more strategic in their plan, from a manufacturer, someone who's more strategic. I know that you love to create. I love to create. I am a creative through and through. Okay? I hate a spreadsheet. I hate planning. I hate all that stuff because it's like it's out of my creative energy. But those are the things that we have to do to make sure that we can keep having the time and the spaciousness and these companies that we're growing to be able to still be the creatives and to have the gift of being able to sell what we make. Whether it's. You're making it with your own two hands, whether you're a designer like me and someone else is manufacturing it for you, or you had an idea for a product and you're figuring out how to get that idea, turn it into real life and sell it to people. So what I want you to do is we have to start to transition our mindset from being the Maker, the manufacturer, the creative, to being a leader, to stepping into that. And even if you're like, I'm the boss of me and I'm having a business meeting and it's with me, it's still getting strategic, it's still creating plans, it's still setting goals and going towards those, that's how you're going to grow faster with less stress. And this is what we're talking about with Michelle, so that she can grow faster with less stress, so that in the hours that she has as this being a side hustle, she can grow this business and maybe just one day she could become a full time product boss. So the things that are working really well for you is sort of like I call it the OPA method. And I know you're not and you're in Product Boss Academy, but OPA is for other people's audiences. What you know and what you've seen is the heart in Product Boss Academy. I teach building your own Shopify site, like having your own website, having your own, you know, social, if that's the way you want to go with it, for sure everybody should have their own email list. But it is the hardest way to sell. So I think it's like the center, like the hub of a wheel where everything should. And you know this because you've been doing E commerce or you've been doing websites since aol. So it's that place that, like, it's the place that you own on the Internet and you have a beautiful website, you have Instagram, like you're doing everything right. But you know that that's the hardest thing to make the sales on, right? Because you said you've never ran ads, you're a social media manager. And the effort that it takes to get this algorithm to favor us in any sort of way is a joke. So unless you want to spend all this time doing that, which some people do choose to have social as their marketing tool, the easiest way is through other people's audiences, which you're currently doing with wholesale. So my thought for you is that I love this idea because wholesale is working. So I don't want you to get so distracted that you're like, but I also have to make this work and I have to make this work. I would love for you to really focus, I would say over the next 90 days, because we're getting, we're in your season, right? April, May, June in retail is a harder time to sell because June they start to. Unless you go to beach stores, which will carry beach all the time. Which is a great kind of evergreen retail partnership to have the ones that are like gonna cycle in summer and then cycle out summer. They will not buy in June. That's when June it's gonna go on sale because they're gonna start to transition. To transition, which is the pre fall stuff coming in. So you've got like two buckets. You've got regular boutiques and places that are just seasonal. And then you've got the lifestyle kind of beach all year. So I want you to grow and strengthen your wholesale. It's your major revenue stream. It's five to $6,000 months, which is huge for you right now. And so there's things that you can work on long term, which will be that wholesale portal on your site that's password protected. I think that you've already started making the list of those ideal coastal and lifestyle boutiques and the beach boutiques. So what I'll do for this episode, for people that are listening and for you as well, is I'll give you two scripts. I'll give you the first reach out script if you're going to call and then a first email script if you're going to email.
- [18:08]
Michelle
Okay, okay, that'd be great to even see what it looks like up against the one I'm using, which may not be.
- [18:16]
Jacqueline Snyder
Yeah. And you can always adjust. But what the problem is is people treat it all like cold outreach and it needs to be more warm. And this is why people would get reps. And I'll bet you reps that are listening right now are like, yeah, this is why you need us. And not trying to do this yourself, but there's a lot that goes into knowing the retailer, knowing who they buy from, knowing who the store down the street is selling and that they can't get that brand. So they should buy from you, for example. All right, did you catch that? Because this is where a lot of business owners get stuck. They start to see one channel working, one sales channel working. For her, it's using FAIR as the tool to sell wholesale. But then they start to get distracted trying to grow in all these other areas. So what I'm pushing Michelle on here, and hopefully that you can hear this as well, is that instead of trying to do it all the key is, is to focus on what is actually working and to go deeper, go deeper into what's already performing. Michelle doesn't need to grow in 10 different directions. Remember that thing we said about time? And time is limited. We have to use her time well and squeeze the most that we can out of the hours that she has to put towards this business to make the most return to make the money. Because that's why she' in this as well. She really needs to just grow smarter. So now I'm going to ask Michelle what is really working and we're going to start to look at her product lineup and start to decide what can she keep selling, what can she move on and maybe some of the things that she might need to cut. So you have data already. Whether it's through direct to consumer, whether it's through retailers, you already have data on what your top performers are. So I want you to create a list of everything and I want you to do a keep, cut or tweak list. Okay. So keep would be like if you look at your cents. Yes. You have 20. You don't need 20. 20 is overwhelming for a customer to choose. They're just going to ask you what the best sellers are.
- [20:13]
Michelle
Okay.
- [20:14]
Jacqueline Snyder
So out of those 20 cents, what are the. How many of them are your top top sellers that you sell all day, every day?
- [20:20]
Michelle
Probably ten of them.
- [20:24]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay. I want you to really look at those numbers and see if those numbers. Because you're really good at data. So I want you to look at those numbers and see if they're really strong. 10 and like. Or if there's a disparity of like. No, I've sold a hundred of these three and these other ones I've sold 25 of.
- [20:39]
Michelle
Yeah, no, and I have all that. I definitely have all that information for sure.
- [20:45]
Jacqueline Snyder
So if you feel like 10 cents is a solid number and you know that you. They're pretty even in sales, then keep the 10. And maybe you have two new scents that you introduce seasonally that might even be a seasonal like Christmas at the beach or.
- [21:02]
Michelle
Yeah, and I, I had more like I've taken those down. Right. The totally seasonal ones. Yeah. The fall and the Christmas ones I did have just a small handful and they're obviously gone now. The ones that are up there now and there's, there's a few on there that I immediately can. I know they're not selling. Yeah, yeah.
- [21:23]
Jacqueline Snyder
Cut them. It doesn't mean that they're not going to come back at some point because you formulated them. But what's happening is there's too many. Nobody knows what to buy. They might be buying them based on name. You're going to want to kind of look at that data. And especially because this is a best seller for you, you don't need that many and like I was going to say if you're like, okay, I've got a. I almost was going to tell you like $0.05 and then two seasonal, meaning you always have like a core five and then maybe you rotate through and because this could be direct to consumer, this could be wholesale. So it's like Maybe you launch 2 cents for like the next 30 days. It's limited. Once they're gone, like they're like, you bring them out and then they sell through and they go. The original five are always there and then another two come out. Because the point is, if you think about it, it is a consumable. I mean, they're gonna love the same scent and keep reordering the same scent. Or like, ooh, you came out with like a coconut one. Cool, let me get the coconut this time. Because I'm in the mode for Coconut Sol de Janeiro, which is a similar customer. It's like beach feel all the time, but it's body creams and sprays. They only had 3 cents when they started, right. Then they, they grew the company as a scent company even though they started as lotions. So now they have the body sprays and stuff like that and they almost have more body sprays. I feel like thank lotions because they're really crushing it as like a scent company. And you could probably research like because it's a woman led business, like small business like us, like she started. You're in a lot of categories, meaning you're like doing scents and apparel and towels and bags and all this different stuff that like, yeah, I'm coming to you for this lifestyle brand. But it's costing you, Michelle, money to offer a lifestyle brand when now you need a lot of customers in there buying all the things. And I love it. I think your site looks really great, but it's almost like too big too fast. Especially because you're under a year old business.
- [23:17]
Michelle
Yes, I did spend last year a good majority of it really paring down, not offering as many designs, kicking stuff out of. I had so many other things. I mean, what you see now is pared down from what it was before, believe it or not. But I still think it needs to be pared down.
- [23:37]
Jacqueline Snyder
It does.
- [23:38]
Michelle
Obviously listening to your podcast for about eight months now, that's an ongoing theme, right? And it makes sense. But it is, I guess the one of the things I keep saying, should I ditch or not, is the apparel, which has always been a hard decision for me because that's how I started. There's days where I'M like, I'm not going to do anything but diffusers. And then there's other days where I'm like, okay, I can't do that.
- [24:03]
Jacqueline Snyder
So you hear me ask Michelle about what's actually selling, what's actually moving the needle, because I get it, and I see this all the time with my students, that they have an idea and they start to grow, and maybe people are like, you know what you should make? Or they think to themselves, you know what I should make? And they start to add new products in, and eventually they look at their business and they're like, wow, I'm selling a lot of things, but I'm not selling nearly enough of any of them. So I know it's easy to fall in love with your entire product line. But, my friend, the truth is, is that not everything deserves your energy, your effort, and your dollars. The turning point in Michelle's business is going to come and is coming when she starts to identify which products that she was making, really just hobbies or things that she liked to make or thought maybe she should add. And which products could really be true hero products, which ones could really be the ones that sell and move the needle. So let's talk about what's actually selling, and we're going to hear that from Michelle. So if we were to look at your numbers, like, if. If I were to look at your. Because you made. I don't know. Let's talk about this year. So five to six thousand dollars a month right now. So out of. Let's go with five out of the $5,000 a month, how much of it is apparel versus the scents?
- [25:22]
Michelle
So when I was looking at the numbers, the quantity sold, it's primarily diffusers, but the gross sales numbers are apparel.
- [25:33]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, but quantity.
- [25:35]
Michelle
Quantity is car diffusers for sure.
- [25:39]
Jacqueline Snyder
You have reed diffusers, car diffusers, room sprays, and diffuser refills. So are you selling all of those or just the car diffusers?
- [25:47]
Michelle
So I am selling all of those. And like, well, so the reed diffusers were going very slow, but I think now that people have the car diffusers and the car diffusers are selling, they're starting to purchase the reed diffusers.
- [26:03]
Jacqueline Snyder
And how about the room sprays?
- [26:05]
Michelle
The room sprays, they were doing great. And then I ran out of bottles and china and long time and whatnot. So those. In my mind, I'm thinking I need to give them another run because I've basically cut them off the site and saying, you know, they're coming soon or coming back soon, because I Haven't had the vessels to fill them. Okay, so that's a to be determined. That product, I think, is a to be determined.
- [26:33]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, then let's move to your other side. Lifestyle and gifts. So beach towels, how do those sell?
- [26:38]
Michelle
They do well, but I'm. Once I sell out of what I have now, I'm not gonna do them anymore. They're on the chopping block.
- [26:45]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay. Bags.
- [26:46]
Michelle
The bags ironically. Oh, actually those are the big bags. Those I have. The smaller gift bags have been selling like gangbusters as well. And so I had a lot of.
- [27:00]
Jacqueline Snyder
What about the, like the totes? Like the aloha.
- [27:03]
Michelle
Yeah, the totes have not been selling.
- [27:06]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, and then we have tea towels. How did the tea towels do.
- [27:10]
Michelle
Those are on the chopping pot.
- [27:11]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay. And then I love this. Wine bags.
- [27:16]
Michelle
Wine bags are my second bestseller. So those have been doing very well. And I finally just got a nice, good quality bag that I liked. They were a good seller with the not so great wine bags.
- [27:31]
Jacqueline Snyder
So interesting. So wine bags are your second bestseller and this is on wholesale?
- [27:35]
Michelle
Yes. And again, that's about 5050. That's another thing that I will customize for people. So there's ones that say, you know, it'll say siesta keys, my favorite place to drink. Or, you know, Sarasota, my favorite place to drink. Whatever. Roboth, my favorite place to drink. So the custom ones and the. The ones that I have just with the fun printed beach sayings on them do well.
- [28:03]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, Gift bags, how do those do those do?
- [28:06]
Michelle
Very, very well.
- [28:08]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, great. So this is so interesting to me. So you're telling me that wine bags and gift bags. Yeah, the car diffusers, right?
- [28:17]
Michelle
Yes.
- [28:18]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay. I just. I don't see like a cat. Like it's. They're gifts really. And part of the reason this might be working this way is because I believe on fair their gift shops or the reason why they're buying from you is like giftables versus maybe like an entire rack of your sweatshirts.
- [28:38]
Michelle
Yes.
- [28:39]
Jacqueline Snyder
Like saltwater and sunshine, where it's like they know the brand. And so here's the entire rack that they're going in to buy from.
- [28:44]
Michelle
Right.
- [28:45]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay.
- [28:46]
Michelle
I do think at one point last year too, I really did think about, you know, with taking in mind recessions and people not spending as much money. But people will continue to buy gifts. They're always going to need gifts for graduation, birthdays, you know, the big holidays, whatnot. And so that's where some of these smaller items and these gift bags and the gift part came into Sunshine and Saltwater versus the apparel. It's like Sunshine and Saltwater has an identity crisis. The stationary does really well too. And the profit margin on that, on the cards and the stickers is insane. Right. The itty bitty cards, I'm going to get rid of those did not do very well. And I've thought about just getting rid of the cards as well. Those are one of the things that I've thought that maybe they need to go. You know, I've also had an entire thought process of just being a scent brand. I know if I had candles, they would sell great. I don't want to make candles. I don't want to be a candle maker. I don't want other candle scents. I want my scents. And my scents are strong, you know, I want to be. And people love that. And they know that about me. When I talk to customers, when they come in the store, if I'm on site, they absolutely love the scents, love how strong they are. And I. So I want my candles to be the same way too, but I don't want to make them. But I do think that that would be one way to go. Obviously I can figure that out. I can figure out the manufacturing and provide the vessels and the scents and have somebody else, you know, manufacture and produce candles for me.
- [30:37]
Jacqueline Snyder
Oh, yeah. I mean, technically you don't have to manufacture any of this stuff. Like when you get ready for it and you're seeing that it's coming in, like you'll either work with a manufacturer, a co packer, just depending on what the product is, you might have multiple manufacturers for different categories.
- [30:51]
Michelle
Would love to get there. I know I'm not there now, but yeah. So I think there's many different ways that I could take Sunshine and Saltwater. And so I think that has been an ongoing challenge for me to make that decision of what direction to go.
- [31:10]
Jacqueline Snyder
So I agree with you on as much as I love apparel, as a fashion designer you have to deal with sizing. So it's more complicated in the way of like, you know, needing to get the units and the colorways. So I'd say from what you've already said to me, we're going to cut tea towels, we're going to cut towels, maybe limited amounts of tote bags. The cool thing about your brand Sunshine and Saltwater is it doesn't seem like a brand, right? Like. Like meaning, like it's not a label. It doesn't say Nike on it. It's like it's a Vibe. It's a feeling. And so you're kind of like promoting your brand name, but people are just like saying, I love sunshine and saltwater. You can position yourself as a coastal inspired or, you know, beach inspired giftable company, but you're fragrance focused. So your items are simple and they're grab and go gifts. Because you're telling me that you're. It's diffuser, stationary, wine and gifts. The data could be skewed a little because of where you're selling. But to have the shirts, like the manufacturing of the towels, the tea towels, the. The shirts, it's totally different manufacturing process. Even though I get the bags and stuff like that, or that too, they're just different. So the stuff you sounds like you're selling, they're easy to buy on impulse. Right. They're inexpensive, they're giftable. They're small, but they're special. They have that coastal brand vibe, and they don't require a lot of customization. I know that you offer the customization, and if people want to do customization, I'm just going to throw this in. You should have a minimum to that.
- [32:37]
Michelle
I do.
- [32:37]
Jacqueline Snyder
Okay, perfect. So right now you're like coastal inspired gifting and home fragrance. As long as the brand is cohesive, I think you don't have enough data under your belt. So if you were to kind of strip down and cut, we've already kind of talked. You already have your gut feeling on what to cut. Then keep fragrance as your centerpiece product and then your select gifts that are easy for people to add on that are just kind of the vibe because it take. Doesn't take up a lot of space. They don't need an entire rack. You just want that, like, cohesive theme that sticks with it and think. I want you to just think about these retailers as partners. Like they're, you're both in. You're both in this together. They're spending money to buy from you and they're hoping it sells through because if it does, you've made them money, they're going to come back and buy from you, which makes you money. It's a partnership, so it's a great thing to like. When I worked for Cosabella and Neiman Marcus was our number one buyer. The Neiman's buyer literally came into the design room and all of our designs went through her filter before it went to the world. I mean, we sold globally. So some buyers end up being really strong partners in the development of our product because they, they know what customers want. They're like boots on the ground, you know.
- [33:49]
Michelle
Right, yeah.
- [33:50]
Jacqueline Snyder
So I know you wanted to talk about direct to consumer. I want you to just kind of pause on that because you're making five to six thousand dollars wholesale mainly and you are working full time. So by working with another person's like the sales engine. Right. You've got your website, it's perfect. People are going to discover you, they'll come back to your site, you're going to get random orders on there. I think your social maintain it to being beautiful but it's again not like going to be the. We're not focusing on direct to consumer right now. So I think you don't have to fully focus on the brand building online yet.
- [34:24]
Michelle
Okay.
- [34:24]
Jacqueline Snyder
You have a very strong revenue driver coming from another other people's audiences by selling wholesale because you just have to make the connections with the retailers, then they're going to do the selling for you and that's going to spread, you know, sunshine and saltwater out in the world. People are going to discover the brand on shelves, which is what happened for my brand. And then they might follow you, then they might come to your website. It's like a trickle back to your site. I think that's where you don't have a gazillion hours in the day. So I would focus on that, get you to 10, 15. You can get to your $20,000 goal with wholesale only. It's going to be your follow up minimums to the units. And not only are you going to land the new customers, let's get them to come back in and buy more frequently, let's get them to order more, that kind of thing. Okay, so if people want to shop from you, support you, all the things, where can they do that?
- [35:17]
Michelle
The best place to go is sunshineandsaltwater.com and then because I had difficulty getting that on all the socials. The socials are kind of all over the place and long. But you can click on the socials from sunshineandsaltwater.com to find me and we'll.
- [35:33]
Jacqueline Snyder
Drop the links in the show notes so people can reach out to you.
- [35:35]
Michelle
Great.
- [35:36]
Jacqueline Snyder
Thank you so much. I hope that this episode resonated deeply with many of you. Whether you're selling wholesale, Amazon in person on a marketplace like Etsy, direct to consumer on E Commerce, whatever it is. The decision that Michelle made was a powerful decision and it's one that I want you to consider as well. And that's to simplify. Now Michelle realized that her car diffusers and the Giftable products that she has are what customers love, especially her wholesale buyers. And so it's taking that bird's eye view, stepping back and saying what is actually working in my business. By doing that and by focusing and simplifying, she's ready to grow. By taking what she's focused on, simplifying this process and leaning into wholesale. Listen, Michelle's not trying to grow all of the product lines and she's also not going to chase every channel. I teach multiple sales channels because I teach that in the way that they have other people's audiences built in. So the one that Michelle is going to focus on right now that has a built in audience is wholesale. She doesn't have to build or she doesn't need ads, she doesn't need to build a following on social media. She doesn't have to do all of that just yet because right now what's working is wholesale for her. So let's not chase, let's focus. And she's going to focus on what's already working and building a business that works for her. That's the key here. So if you feel like you're at a similar crossroads, here's what I want you to take away from this episode. You don't need to do more, my friend. You don't. You just need to do more of what's working. Let that be your guide. And once you focus in on this, you'll know what those next steps are. And remember those multiple sales channels selling in more places that audiences are built in. You've got forever to do this. So let's think about today. Today's the day you're thinking about your business and what you want to do and just focus. We don't need to know all the steps ahead of us. We're just going to focus on what's working right now and doing more of that. I hope this resonated with you. Make sure to click the link in the show notes to get your freebie download again. You can go to the productboss.com wholesalescripts so wholesale scripts and we will get you those scripts. If that's something you're like, yes, that would be so awesome. And I'll see you in the next one. Thanks friends.