Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Brick and mortar is all about the experience. That's what customers can't find online.
- Listen to what your customers say they want. You may discover a way to grow your business by adding in what they request - even if it doesn't seem like your thing, at first.
- If someone reaches out to you about your product, call back even if it seems like a long shot. You never know where opportunities will come from.
- When you have a physical store, every product on every inch of the store needs to pay its way.
- Create a unique brand. People love to hear the story behind your brand.
- Listen to the full conversation to get a ton more biz building insights!
Private Label Products For Small Business
- You can use your own recipes or use published ones to create your own private label products.
- Even existing products manufactured by others can be private labeled as yours, allowing you to focus on just sales and marketing.
- If you sell private labeled products, you must have liability insurance AND your manufacturer(s) must have liability insurance.
- Going to trade shows and meeting your vendors is key. The connections and interactions make all the difference. Don't skip this even if it feels expensive and time-consuming.
- Networking has lead to so many opportunities. Don't neglect your contacts.
- Tune in to the full episode for all of Anne's private label tips!
Anne's Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedinJoin Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 285.
Speaker:Someone needs to do this.
Speaker:I'm fine.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Hey, why don't you do it?
Speaker:Attention? Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:And I'm so happy that you're joining me here today for
Speaker:stump. A quick announcement about the new Facebook shops.
Speaker:I did a challenge in my Facebook group gift biz breeze
Speaker:a few weeks ago now.
Speaker:Well, maybe it's even been a month to get people up
Speaker:and running on this new platform.
Speaker:It was so exciting to see current business owners open another
Speaker:channel for money to flow into their business,
Speaker:and also new makers getting their first sales ever based on
Speaker:all the feedback I received.
Speaker:I've now turned this challenge into a mini chorus.
Speaker:If you've been thinking about making money from your handmade products,
Speaker:but haven't formally started a business yet you definitely want to
Speaker:check this out.
Speaker:The holidays are coming so it's the perfect time to have
Speaker:some of those gifting dollars.
Speaker:Come your way.
Speaker:Get more details at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash Facebook shops.
Speaker:I'm so excited to get you over to the show today.
Speaker:You're going to hear from a retail store pro.
Speaker:Remember those things,
Speaker:brick and mortar shops and is on her third.
Speaker:So I think we can call her a pro you'll hear
Speaker:her journey from one shop to another.
Speaker:And what she's learned along the way,
Speaker:including how she identifies the products to carry in her store,
Speaker:what led to private labeling of her own line of products
Speaker:and the single strategy that led to getting into total wine,
Speaker:whole foods and airport shops.
Speaker:And she did this pretty easily.
Speaker:Make sure to stay until the end when she shares,
Speaker:where she's headed next.
Speaker:Nope, not another store,
Speaker:something even bigger stay tuned.
Speaker:I am so excited to introduce you today to Ann Mitchell
Speaker:of so El Paso after opening and selling one retail store
Speaker:in Austin and then another in El Paso.
Speaker:It's fair to say that Anne has a good grasp on
Speaker:the retail landscape in Texas.
Speaker:What she realized during that time was that there were no
Speaker:available to represent El Paso.
Speaker:You see she's a fourth generation El Paso Texan,
Speaker:and takes great pride in having attended Texas a and M
Speaker:during five successful football seasons in the Southwest conference.
Speaker:Yay for that,
Speaker:but not being able to stock products representing El Paso simply
Speaker:wouldn't do enter.
Speaker:So El Paso,
Speaker:her current venture,
Speaker:which began in 2015,
Speaker:it's now grown into a retail wholesale and internet business,
Speaker:offering a line of gourmet products,
Speaker:including salsas jams,
Speaker:nuts and more,
Speaker:and welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Wow, thank you.
Speaker:That was a nice introduction.
Speaker:You've got a lot going on in your intro and we're
Speaker:going to get into some of that.
Speaker:What you shared with me earlier,
Speaker:we're going to talk about that,
Speaker:cause I want to get to exactly how you got to
Speaker:so El Paso,
Speaker:but before we do that,
Speaker:I know you're a listener to the show.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:what's coming.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:It's the candle question.
Speaker:If you were to share with everybody,
Speaker:a vision of you through a motivational candle,
Speaker:what would it look like by color and quotes?
Speaker:Well, I'm not very creative,
Speaker:so I'd probably copy my favorite candle,
Speaker:which is rewind out of Charleston,
Speaker:South Carolina.
Speaker:And they're made out of wine bottles,
Speaker:recycled wine bottles,
Speaker:and they have wine since.
Speaker:So mine would probably be a Murlow and the motivational quote
Speaker:would be,
Speaker:which is my GoTo motivational quote is the view only changes
Speaker:for the lead dog,
Speaker:but then not add on the back because there's a one
Speaker:candle I'd probably add work hard,
Speaker:play hard,
Speaker:Love the,
Speaker:both. Tell me more about the view only changes for the
Speaker:lead dog.
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:Well, it was a family friend of ours,
Speaker:mr. Gunny,
Speaker:and I mean,
Speaker:I must have been in sixth grade when I heard this
Speaker:and I was like,
Speaker:Holy cow,
Speaker:that totally makes sense because the dog behind me is looking
Speaker:at obviously my buttocks and who wants to go through life
Speaker:doing that.
Speaker:So to me,
Speaker:the view only changes for the lead dog.
Speaker:You got to keep pushing and keep going and make sure
Speaker:that everything is new and exciting in front of you.
Speaker:And not just the same old,
Speaker:same old.
Speaker:And I was thinking of that.
Speaker:I was thinking,
Speaker:well, when you're the lead dog,
Speaker:there's no one in front of you.
Speaker:So you're making your own way,
Speaker:which I kind of liked too.
Speaker:Yeah, that makes sense too.
Speaker:I wasn't sure where you were going with that.
Speaker:So you can look at it from both ways from both
Speaker:sides. You don't want to be looking at someone else's rear
Speaker:end, but much better to pave your own way in the
Speaker:future, maybe.
Speaker:Correct. I love it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So super curious.
Speaker:And because in your intro,
Speaker:so GIF is listeners.
Speaker:When I have a guest on the show,
Speaker:I ask them to give me a little bit of an
Speaker:intro, but then I'll improvise on it too.
Speaker:But you have some interesting experience before you started into your
Speaker:own businesses.
Speaker:So share with us a little bit more about that.
Speaker:I graduated from Texas a and M in 1987 in Texas
Speaker:was pretty much in the tank.
Speaker:So I upped and moved the lead dog to Phoenix,
Speaker:Arizona, and I was doing some temp work and they called
Speaker:and said,
Speaker:Hey, we have a job with Apple computer as a training
Speaker:coordinator. And I'm like,
Speaker:sure. Oh no,
Speaker:I think I'll start with the education group.
Speaker:And that was what I did.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:sure. I think it was like six 50 an hour.
Speaker:And I went there and just the whole,
Speaker:it was the Phoenix sales office.
Speaker:So it was just,
Speaker:everyone was outgoing.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:it was awesome,
Speaker:great place to work.
Speaker:And I was answering the phone here.
Speaker:I'm with a finance degree,
Speaker:I'm like so excited.
Speaker:I'm making six 50 an hour.
Speaker:Another position came open and they said,
Speaker:the temp agency said,
Speaker:usually when people go in as temps,
Speaker:they end up going permanent because this office is really growing
Speaker:quickly. So I'm like,
Speaker:okay, whatever.
Speaker:I was just happy to have a place to get up
Speaker:and go,
Speaker:right. Well in a nice business to be going to,
Speaker:of course It was a great time during Apple.
Speaker:So I started there and then I ended up getting a
Speaker:permanent position within like two weeks and then it was Christmas
Speaker:and I got two weeks paid vacation and I had health
Speaker:insurance. I was like,
Speaker:Holy cow,
Speaker:this is looking really good right now.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:because I didn't have that good a grades in college,
Speaker:which my husband will laugh at.
Speaker:So I just kind of landed at Apple and I just
Speaker:worked hard and they had this huge copy machine and it
Speaker:was brand new and no one knew how to use it.
Speaker:And so I just became the copy queen.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:I know how to use the copier and everyone have to
Speaker:come to me cause I knew how to use the copier.
Speaker:So it was really a fun time.
Speaker:And I had this great experience and we moved into a
Speaker:big high rise and it was great time,
Speaker:good money.
Speaker:They would give bonuses every quarter because the company was doing
Speaker:so well.
Speaker:This is windows was just starting to come out and the
Speaker:training department and what we called windows,
Speaker:Tammy Faye dos,
Speaker:because it was just dust just with bad makeup.
Speaker:So it was kind of a cocky time at Apple,
Speaker:which is,
Speaker:they're still cocky.
Speaker:But Sue,
Speaker:I'm sad to say that I had Apple stock at $50
Speaker:back then.
Speaker:Oh my,
Speaker:I sold it.
Speaker:You did it.
Speaker:Oh, Because it started tanking and Oh,
Speaker:I thought I needed some money at the time,
Speaker:which, Oh,
Speaker:well don't look back.
Speaker:Only look forward.
Speaker:Right. It was a great time where I first real manager
Speaker:lived. He was in orange County and his advice to me
Speaker:was it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and just
Speaker:let me go.
Speaker:So I did what I did and just moved on and
Speaker:it was a great company to work for.
Speaker:What kind of skills do you feel you picked up from
Speaker:there? It was really just make it happen.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there was not a lot of micromanaging.
Speaker:There was a lot of trust put in the employees and
Speaker:it was just do it until we tell you you're doing
Speaker:it wrong.
Speaker:And that was great for me because we were kind of
Speaker:creating this little training department and giveaways and how we we're
Speaker:catering. And no one really was looking over my shoulder.
Speaker:I was just doing it.
Speaker:And I thrived in that environment because that's just what it
Speaker:did. But I think that's probably the biggest thing I got
Speaker:and then they treated their employees so well,
Speaker:we would go to basketball games and we,
Speaker:there was always something going on.
Speaker:There was a tee shirt for every occasion.
Speaker:It was just,
Speaker:they treated the employees well and do your job.
Speaker:Well, that's a great mindset to start acquiring.
Speaker:I think right as you're starting out too in the workforce
Speaker:is not being afraid of trying things and just being able
Speaker:to be free and what you're going to work because so
Speaker:many people,
Speaker:they have people who are hovering over them,
Speaker:micromanaging 7,000
Speaker:layers of approval for anything,
Speaker:but for you to be able to have that freewheeling,
Speaker:let's try it.
Speaker:Let's see it.
Speaker:Let's create things and move forward without a lot of limitations
Speaker:is kind of a great mindset as you move forward,
Speaker:as I'm just observing where you went from here.
Speaker:And I asked that question because there are a lot of
Speaker:people who are listening,
Speaker:who are in corporate jobs right now,
Speaker:or some type of work.
Speaker:And I keep wanting to drill down to the point that
Speaker:there are things that you can be learning that can help
Speaker:you as you grow later with what you're doing right now.
Speaker:Sure. So there was that,
Speaker:and there was some more computer experience within your realm.
Speaker:Right. But let's just jump forward.
Speaker:Cause I know there's so much to talk about with,
Speaker:so El Paso,
Speaker:where was the turning point or how was it that you
Speaker:decided that you were going to jump ship and working for
Speaker:somebody else and create something for yourself?
Speaker:They lived in Austin.
Speaker:I was working for a software company.
Speaker:I was traveling all over and it was just really exhausting.
Speaker:And my mom gave me this quote that said,
Speaker:don't sacrifice yourself on the altar of someone else's success.
Speaker:That really hit me hard in the gut because I was
Speaker:like, gosh,
Speaker:I'm working so hard for someone else.
Speaker:And it was good,
Speaker:but it just was not really that fulfilling.
Speaker:So I just quit.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:And I had taken a Johnson O'Connor test when I was
Speaker:16. It's like an aptitude test and tells you what you're
Speaker:good at.
Speaker:And they had told me,
Speaker:Oh, you like big picture.
Speaker:So you used to stay in the big picture,
Speaker:but you're also good with numbers.
Speaker:So you could have your own business and do your finances.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:So that was always in the back of my mind because
Speaker:I had worked at a Papa Gallo shop back in my
Speaker:high school days and I really liked retail.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what the heck I'm going to go for it.
Speaker:And we had a family friend here in El Paso that
Speaker:was making furniture at a tobacco barn wood from Tennessee.
Speaker:And I fell in love with it.
Speaker:And I thought I'm an open a store outside of Austin
Speaker:and sell this furniture.
Speaker:So that's where it all started was with this tobacco barn
Speaker:furniture and home accessories.
Speaker:And it kind of grew into the typical Texas cow skin
Speaker:rugs and horns and limestone lamps and that kind of thing.
Speaker:That sounds amazing.
Speaker:Yeah. It was fun.
Speaker:It was a lot of fun.
Speaker:And then my husband,
Speaker:actually, we got engaged and married and he actually quit his
Speaker:job and we ran the store together and it was really
Speaker:a lot of fun until the guy who made the furniture
Speaker:wanted to retire.
Speaker:So we bought the furniture manufacturing company that was in El
Speaker:Paso and we moved to El Paso right.
Speaker:At the same time I was pregnant and we thought we
Speaker:would do both the manufacturing and the retail store and that
Speaker:just didn't work.
Speaker:So we ended up selling the retail store in Sausalito,
Speaker:Texas, and then doing just the manufacturing.
Speaker:So then I stayed home for a little bit.
Speaker:I got bored.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, so bored.
Speaker:And there was not a full service maybe store in town.
Speaker:So I opened that called duck duck goose.
Speaker:And that was a ton of fun.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:everyone was happy and,
Speaker:Oh, it's my first grand baby.
Speaker:Or I finally have a girl or it was just a
Speaker:really, really fun shop,
Speaker:really upbeat and registries.
Speaker:And it was a of fun.
Speaker:And then I ended up selling that I had a hard
Speaker:time getting pregnant and I finally got pregnant with my daughter
Speaker:through in vitro.
Speaker:And at the same time,
Speaker:my 15 year old niece had died of cancer.
Speaker:And so here,
Speaker:I'm working this business and I'm like,
Speaker:why am I working?
Speaker:I tried so hard for this baby.
Speaker:And I have her and my niece died.
Speaker:A life is short.
Speaker:I just decided to close up the store.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:My lease was up.
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:There's gotta be more of the life than this.
Speaker:And I ended up selling it.
Speaker:So that turned out to be a nice thing.
Speaker:It's amazing how you're so driven towards one thing and life
Speaker:events then can re allocate priorities.
Speaker:Cause it's so easy to just focus so much on something
Speaker:that you're building.
Speaker:Absolutely. Take me back or try.
Speaker:And remember when you were first getting into retail,
Speaker:you had experienced because you'd worked at another shop,
Speaker:but not owning your own retail store.
Speaker:What types of things for somebody who might be thinking of
Speaker:starting up?
Speaker:It might sound crazy in this time to even be asking
Speaker:this question,
Speaker:but I do see people seeing an opportunity in brick and
Speaker:mortar, retail shops today.
Speaker:What types of things do you wish you would have known
Speaker:before you got started or advice you would give to somebody
Speaker:today? Who's thinking of opening a retail shop?
Speaker:Well, all three of my stores are very different.
Speaker:I'll just take so El Paso,
Speaker:I mean trade shows are key and I know it's COVID
Speaker:and all that,
Speaker:but I mean just going and really knowing that when you're
Speaker:buying product,
Speaker:that's the most important thing buying good product is a number
Speaker:one, right?
Speaker:And trying to do research on the internet and all that.
Speaker:It's not as effective as going in person,
Speaker:meeting your vendors.
Speaker:Then when you have a question,
Speaker:you call them when you want to reorder,
Speaker:they know you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:to me,
Speaker:trade shows,
Speaker:whether I'd go the Dallas market or I go to the
Speaker:Las Vegas souvenir trade show or the debit Quintana's gift basket,
Speaker:convention, trade shows and meeting people.
Speaker:And your vendors is key.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:And key because you understand the product better,
Speaker:you get more deals.
Speaker:Like why do you feel that that's important?
Speaker:Well, I think all of the above,
Speaker:I think you go and they'll give you a shipping deal.
Speaker:If this show special,
Speaker:which is anytime you can save money on shipping,
Speaker:I am like,
Speaker:I hate paying for shipping.
Speaker:It's a lot of money.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:That's my pain points.
Speaker:And I think just making those connections,
Speaker:seeing what the trends are seeing what's coming down the pike.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:those people,
Speaker:they're professionals,
Speaker:they're there to help you.
Speaker:And you're not at first,
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:Oh, I have to take three days off and go to
Speaker:the show and it's expensive and blah,
Speaker:blah, blah.
Speaker:But once you change your mindset of like,
Speaker:look, this is everything,
Speaker:it's your product.
Speaker:So if you don't have a good product on the shelf,
Speaker:it's not going to sell it.
Speaker:Didn't matter how pretty you make it.
Speaker:Look on the shelf,
Speaker:you got to have the product.
Speaker:So once I kinda got into the mindset of,
Speaker:alright, I need to really take time.
Speaker:And this is step one.
Speaker:You can't miss step one.
Speaker:You can't miss step one.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:I'm also thinking,
Speaker:cause I do trade shows a lot as well.
Speaker:That that connection that you get allows you to really understand
Speaker:what's behind a product from a way deeper level,
Speaker:just like you and I,
Speaker:how we're talking right now about your products,
Speaker:you understand the story and the history,
Speaker:and you can talk to it with people who are in
Speaker:the shop and you know them more intimately,
Speaker:which makes a customer more interested in buying Well,
Speaker:it's part of the experience of buying.
Speaker:If you know the guy who made it or the gal
Speaker:who made it or this person does this,
Speaker:or they came from forever.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and that's what brick and mortar is all about the experience,
Speaker:right? I mean,
Speaker:you don't get that online in our store here.
Speaker:It's an experience.
Speaker:It's not just when I hire people.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:we're not seven 11.
Speaker:We don't just check people out.
Speaker:We greet them and we welcomed them and we're glad they're
Speaker:here and ask them about why they're here or whatever.
Speaker:So brick and mortar should be an experience.
Speaker:Right. Alright.
Speaker:So let's move into,
Speaker:so El Paso,
Speaker:did you start the store before you started the so El
Speaker:Paso brand?
Speaker:No. Okay.
Speaker:So you tell the story.
Speaker:Well, there was a company called a Pesa chili company and
Speaker:they had salsas and kind of same thing I'm doing.
Speaker:And they went bankrupt in like,
Speaker:Oh eight.
Speaker:And there was nothing that represented El Paso.
Speaker:And as you mentioned in our intro,
Speaker:I'll passes in the mountain standard time.
Speaker:We're not really Texas.
Speaker:We're not really New Mexico.
Speaker:We're not really Mexico.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we are our own little weird,
Speaker:unique redheaded stepchild over here in the West,
Speaker:Texas. It drove me crazy that there was nothing that really
Speaker:represented El Paso.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:my friend was getting married and I wanted to give him
Speaker:something from his wife or his fiance,
Speaker:something from El Paso.
Speaker:And I couldn't,
Speaker:I couldn't find anything.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:someone needs to do this.
Speaker:And finally I'm like,
Speaker:Hey, why don't you do it?
Speaker:Who's that someone,
Speaker:Hey Jeremy,
Speaker:why don't you do it?
Speaker:So I ended up,
Speaker:I thought I was working for a personnel agency doing their
Speaker:marketing. And so I was only working 20 hours a week
Speaker:for them.
Speaker:So I started on the side and I went to the
Speaker:Dallas market and learned all I could about private labeling,
Speaker:which is whole nother thing.
Speaker:And the health department and doing it legally,
Speaker:I already had my LLC lined up.
Speaker:So I was good there.
Speaker:But then I had to come up with a logo and
Speaker:a name and a brand.
Speaker:And I had had my 30 year high school reunion and
Speaker:we kept laughing about things like going over to Mexico and
Speaker:drinking beer at age 15 or whatever.
Speaker:And we'd say,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's so El Paso or going to the levy and having
Speaker:a bonfire that's so El Paso and we'd laugh because these
Speaker:people came from all over back to El Paso and they're
Speaker:like, that doesn't happen anywhere else.
Speaker:That's so El Pesa.
Speaker:So it just kind of stuck to me that there is
Speaker:something unique about it.
Speaker:And I liked the name.
Speaker:So El Paso,
Speaker:so started doing that.
Speaker:So the name came easy for the most part.
Speaker:Okay. Pretty easy.
Speaker:And then the logo that was June,
Speaker:and then by December,
Speaker:I was kind of ready.
Speaker:And then March,
Speaker:I got a call from this local business newspaper,
Speaker:the El Paso ink.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:Hey, you want to just story on your products?
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:well, I'm not really ready,
Speaker:but I really didn't want another retail store because it's a
Speaker:lot of hours and duck,
Speaker:duck goose.
Speaker:I was the one.
Speaker:So like,
Speaker:Oh, I went to your store and you weren't there.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:are you kidding me?
Speaker:I'm there like 23 out of 24 hours a day.
Speaker:So I really didn't want another retail store,
Speaker:but I just was going to do corporate gifts.
Speaker:And that kind of,
Speaker:how did you get Into product development and actually figuring out
Speaker:what was going to be different apart from the wording and
Speaker:the branding and all of that.
Speaker:What about the product?
Speaker:Well, that's kind of the funny thing of my whole career.
Speaker:When I was talking to someone the other day,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:I did really didn't know how to use an Apple computer.
Speaker:When I got a job there,
Speaker:I was dragging stuff to the trash,
Speaker:but it was just not in the trash can.
Speaker:It was all around the trashcan.
Speaker:And someone said,
Speaker:why is this stuff all around in the trashcan?
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker:In a way,
Speaker:no, you have to have thing light up.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, I really didn't know how to use computer.
Speaker:And I went to the next computer company and then I
Speaker:worked for a software programming company.
Speaker:Well, I don't know how to program a computer.
Speaker:I don't know how to do my product anywhere.
Speaker:I'm just more sales and marketing.
Speaker:So you can take already recipes that are already made and
Speaker:just private label them.
Speaker:Or you can take that and you can tweak them a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:There's different ways to do it.
Speaker:I haven't come up with anything all 100% my own.
Speaker:That's not my strong suit.
Speaker:So I know you have a lot of bakers and crafters
Speaker:and all that,
Speaker:and I'm sure they could do it,
Speaker:but that's just not my strong suit.
Speaker:Are you private labeling?
Speaker:Is that what you're doing?
Speaker:You're taking existing product and private labeling them,
Speaker:but it's all product then that still represents and has the
Speaker:feel and the vibe of El Paso.
Speaker:Right. Got it.
Speaker:And so what types of legal requirements are there?
Speaker:So you're not actually cooking in a kitchen or anything either.
Speaker:No, at first I thought it might be a weakness,
Speaker:but I watch they ever watched the show,
Speaker:the profit with Marcus.
Speaker:Limonus love him.
Speaker:Yeah. Actually,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:he's from my area.
Speaker:He's right here.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I love that show.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm not into manufacturing.
Speaker:I'm more sales and marketing and branding and that kind of
Speaker:thing. Okay.
Speaker:This is really smart.
Speaker:So you took where you knew your skills already were matched
Speaker:it with an opportunity that you saw in the market and
Speaker:something that you had been looking for.
Speaker:And I think that's a really good key to all of
Speaker:our listeners too.
Speaker:When you said somebody should,
Speaker:anytime those words come out,
Speaker:you should turn the mirror and be like,
Speaker:Hm, is this an opportunity for me?
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:So I love this.
Speaker:So because then you're not dividing all of your attention then
Speaker:on production and all of that,
Speaker:you can really do sales and marketing where you already know
Speaker:that you Excel was your first product,
Speaker:then salsa.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:it was salsa.
Speaker:And then also a line of cons.
Speaker:And when I went to Dallas to try to find some
Speaker:people, I got some really good advice.
Speaker:There was this guy,
Speaker:he makes it's come mojo something I can't remember,
Speaker:but he wears this funny hat.
Speaker:And he was like,
Speaker:so nice.
Speaker:The whole cottage law doesn't work for me because I don't
Speaker:manufacture it.
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:you got to do this,
Speaker:you got to do this.
Speaker:He like gave me like a roadmap of how to private
Speaker:label stuff and how to not to get in trouble with
Speaker:the health department,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:I was just soaking it all in speaking of trade shows,
Speaker:it was at a trade show.
Speaker:People are very willing to help you.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:that's where it kind of started with the pecans.
Speaker:And then I had a tortilla soup and then I had
Speaker:the salsas,
Speaker:which is obviously El Paso.
Speaker:And then it's kind of grown from there and I've added
Speaker:new things and Oh,
Speaker:should have this and this year,
Speaker:we're going to add a chicken case.
Speaker:So a jarred case,
Speaker:which I'm really excited about.
Speaker:Ooh, yeah.
Speaker:That one I tweaked.
Speaker:Cause it wasn't hot enough.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:we need more spice here.
Speaker:Come on.
Speaker:Let's spice it up.
Speaker:Right. But you're still not making that.
Speaker:Then the,
Speaker:whoever was your base for that is adding it in for
Speaker:you as your special brand.
Speaker:Correct. And then the other side of that also is that
Speaker:probably is not fun,
Speaker:but I have to have liability insurance.
Speaker:So I have to make sure whoever's manufacturing has liability insurance
Speaker:and I have to have liability insurance because if it comes
Speaker:back and someone gets sick or something,
Speaker:we both are responsible.
Speaker:Interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker:So even if you're not actually making it,
Speaker:you still need to have liability insurance as well.
Speaker:That makes sense though.
Speaker:Cause it's your label on the product,
Speaker:correct? We're the first call,
Speaker:but I'm thinking the way you did this,
Speaker:then allowed you to build products within your brand much faster.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Yeah. And I mean,
Speaker:most people do private label.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's very few people who create something in a big way.
Speaker:And then when I order,
Speaker:like I'm going to order this salsa or the case though,
Speaker:and it's going to be three pallets of CAISO,
Speaker:but it's like,
Speaker:I don't have a manufacturing facility that could do all that.
Speaker:So I didn't want to retail store.
Speaker:And then I realized Christmas is coming and I needed someone
Speaker:to do a popup shop.
Speaker:Well, that's a lot of work.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:okay, well let me just open a small store as like
Speaker:a showroom.
Speaker:And then we opened the small store,
Speaker:1300 square feet in this old part of the neighborhood of
Speaker:El Paso,
Speaker:current place.
Speaker:And people came in and they start asking for souvenirs.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:what do you have a snow globe?
Speaker:And then do you have a thimble?
Speaker:And do you have a T shirt?
Speaker:And everyday we'd laugh.
Speaker:Like my manager.
Speaker:And I would just laugh like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:start writing this stuff down.
Speaker:So we started writing it down and then I went to
Speaker:the souvenir trade show in Las Vegas.
Speaker:So now we're a souvenir store with also food items,
Speaker:which really wasn't ever the idea,
Speaker:but that's what we're doing well,
Speaker:but you got to listen to what people want.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:And we meet people from all over the world.
Speaker:It's really a lot of fun to be kind of the
Speaker:ambassadors for El Paso.
Speaker:And so now we have a store.
Speaker:So what was the craziest thing?
Speaker:Cause you certainly just because one person comes in and says
Speaker:they want something doesn't automatically mean you turn around and have
Speaker:it. Then what was the absolute,
Speaker:craziest thing that was asked for?
Speaker:I'm going to say the thimble because I didn't think people
Speaker:still collected symbols.
Speaker:And then on the back of that is the spoon.
Speaker:I'm like people really doing that stuff.
Speaker:Shot glasses.
Speaker:Yes. Then bowls and spoons.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Shot glasses.
Speaker:Yeah. All day long.
Speaker:And then snow Globes.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh good God.
Speaker:We live in the desert.
Speaker:People. You don't need a snow globe.
Speaker:Oh, good point.
Speaker:And let me tell you,
Speaker:we have all three.
Speaker:You do.
Speaker:Oh, that's fun.
Speaker:So you ended up getting your small shop.
Speaker:Is your retail portion still that initial shop actually.
Speaker:When did you start the shop?
Speaker:Cause you started so El Paso just product based in 2015.
Speaker:Right? So that's only six years ago or five years ago
Speaker:at this point.
Speaker:So when did you start retail?
Speaker:So we launched in March of 2015 and then we moved
Speaker:into the store in September of 2015 to take advantage of
Speaker:the holiday shoppers That very first holiday season.
Speaker:Okay. So you've been there for like five years.
Speaker:So you're in the same location that you started in.
Speaker:And so when you started your retail shop,
Speaker:how did you get the word out?
Speaker:Cause now remember you're the sales and marketing person here.
Speaker:Right? So how did you get people to know that you
Speaker:were there?
Speaker:Okay. More conversation about selling through a brick and mortar shop.
Speaker:Come in your way after this quick break.
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Speaker:I had a little hiccup there.
Speaker:I hurt my hip.
Speaker:I tore my labrum in my hip.
Speaker:So I was on a Walker from like April to August
Speaker:for my surgery.
Speaker:And then I moved into my store in September.
Speaker:And so I was on pain meds set up for six
Speaker:weeks. So I had a little hiccup there.
Speaker:I'd say Basically word of mouth and like Facebook.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:at the time I was not in any position to be
Speaker:really fired up about doing anything Like the worst time to
Speaker:do it.
Speaker:Really. You could have so easily said,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:holidays, it would be a good idea,
Speaker:but this just can't happen this year,
Speaker:given that you weren't very mobile and in pain,
Speaker:I ended up taking meds Pain meds.
Speaker:Well maybe that's what led to the dosage then I'm not
Speaker:sure. Yeah.
Speaker:It was not the ideal situation,
Speaker:but Pretty incredible that you made the decision and just still
Speaker:did it.
Speaker:I think that's awesome.
Speaker:Was it the location?
Speaker:You just really liked it and decided,
Speaker:okay, if I'm doing it,
Speaker:I've got to do it.
Speaker:Cause I want this spot.
Speaker:Well that,
Speaker:and it's a neat old town part of El Paso.
Speaker:It's kind of,
Speaker:it's a cute little,
Speaker:I used to buy.
Speaker:I used to shop in the center when I was young
Speaker:and buy my clothes.
Speaker:It was just a cute little location and the price was
Speaker:right. The landlord was willing to work with us and he's
Speaker:a great guy.
Speaker:And the other thing with private label is you have to
Speaker:have an address.
Speaker:You can't just private label and put PO box whatever.
Speaker:So by law you had to have an address.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:working out of like an office as my address,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it just wasn't right.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:well, this is a good address,
Speaker:a good location.
Speaker:It was a three year lease,
Speaker:which was very doable.
Speaker:And you already knew retail.
Speaker:So you really knew what you were getting into.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:It doesn't scare me.
Speaker:So what was your experience that first year?
Speaker:Holiday season?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I kinda think we did the junior league fair that year
Speaker:maybe. And we got some more exposure that way we did
Speaker:pretty well.
Speaker:I don't remember.
Speaker:I wasn't really going after anybody.
Speaker:That was the problem.
Speaker:Cause like I said,
Speaker:I was a little under the weather,
Speaker:but to be honest,
Speaker:I don't really remember.
Speaker:Did you have people helping you,
Speaker:given that you were alone?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I heard one person and she helped me out.
Speaker:And then I think we might've hired some like a college
Speaker:student to help part time.
Speaker:Then what really has helped is people would Google souvenirs and
Speaker:then they would come in so that when we started doing
Speaker:souvenirs, like,
Speaker:Oh, okay,
Speaker:well this makes sense.
Speaker:But honestly Sue,
Speaker:I don't remember that first.
Speaker:Okay. Well you get a pass cause you were on pain
Speaker:meds. I give you kudos for just doing it because like
Speaker:I was just saying so many people would say,
Speaker:okay, it's not happening right now.
Speaker:Like there's not a chance,
Speaker:but to your point of always trying things and taking action
Speaker:and seeing the big picture,
Speaker:you just went for it.
Speaker:So I think that's awesome.
Speaker:How has the progression of the shop gone from that point
Speaker:to today?
Speaker:Well, The store at the time was divided kind of in
Speaker:half long wise.
Speaker:So half of it was the retail and half as a
Speaker:back room and the retail store,
Speaker:once we started doing souvenirs,
Speaker:this was too small people couldn't get in and out and
Speaker:around and about.
Speaker:So we kind of had to bust out a little wall
Speaker:and put part of our backroom as part of the retail
Speaker:store, which gave us a little more breathing room and a
Speaker:little more room to display things and that kind of thing.
Speaker:And then we started realizing that a $20 t-shirts a lot
Speaker:more fun to sell than a $5 shot glass.
Speaker:So we started bringing in t-shirts and then Christmas ornaments and
Speaker:all that stuff.
Speaker:So we've really just been able to expand our souvenir section
Speaker:part of it because we have more room.
Speaker:Gotcha. And all this time you're also then doing wholesale,
Speaker:Kind of fell into the wholesale that had a friend of
Speaker:mine who's has been worked at the airport for parodies,
Speaker:which runs the gift shops and like,
Speaker:Hey, let's try your products.
Speaker:And so I very quickly got into the airport here,
Speaker:which is really cool.
Speaker:And then when I was in my old place,
Speaker:whole foods opened up in El Paso in 2016,
Speaker:October of 2016.
Speaker:And they came by and loved the salsa and it's local
Speaker:and whole foods is really good about promoting local.
Speaker:So I got into the whole foods,
Speaker:which I'm still in there and that's a fun account.
Speaker:And then I've got into a total wine here in El
Speaker:Paso, which is a big wine retailer.
Speaker:I don't know if y'all have those in Chicago,
Speaker:but there's like a hundred or 225 stores nationwide.
Speaker:So I'm coming after you.
Speaker:It's not a line.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:because we're kind of souvenirs,
Speaker:I got involved with the hotel,
Speaker:they'll pass a hotel and lodging association and I've got my
Speaker:products wholesaled into like the hotels here,
Speaker:like the Indigo and the DoubleTree.
Speaker:And so in their little or shops,
Speaker:I wholesale there too,
Speaker:which is also good exposure and good marketing.
Speaker:And people are like,
Speaker:who's this?
Speaker:Or what's this?
Speaker:So the wholesale side is kind of just been a kind
Speaker:of fell into my lap,
Speaker:thankfully, but it's been a fun part of the business as
Speaker:well. I think wholesale would have happened as it has to
Speaker:the extent it has,
Speaker:if you didn't have that retail presence,
Speaker:because so much of it,
Speaker:you're saying they came to you,
Speaker:they came to you.
Speaker:Yeah, probably not probably right.
Speaker:It all kind of,
Speaker:and I do a lot of networking and that stuff too.
Speaker:So that helps.
Speaker:And then the other thing is,
Speaker:which is really surprising,
Speaker:which is probably a good thing for people to hear is
Speaker:when total wine reached out to me about having my product
Speaker:in their store here in El Paso,
Speaker:because they were looking for local items and the guy was
Speaker:very nice.
Speaker:He says,
Speaker:Hey, I called him back.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this is a great opportunity.
Speaker:You got to jump on this.
Speaker:So I've called him back and I'm working with them.
Speaker:And a couple of days into it,
Speaker:he's like,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:you're the only person that called me back.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:really seriously.
Speaker:Yeah. It's too bad for them.
Speaker:Right. I mean,
Speaker:I didn't know what it was.
Speaker:I didn't know what I was getting into.
Speaker:We never even had a total wine.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I knew what total wine was,
Speaker:but I was like,
Speaker:what the heck?
Speaker:It kind of goes back to that,
Speaker:ask for forgiveness than permission thing.
Speaker:Know it's like say yes and then figure it out,
Speaker:which drives my husband crazy.
Speaker:Cause he's the figure out person,
Speaker:but I'm always like,
Speaker:yes, sure.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:It turned out to be great.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're now in total wine and they let me do some
Speaker:signage and that says local.
Speaker:And of course I put my logo on it.
Speaker:It has a great East side presence.
Speaker:Cause I don't have an East side retail store over there.
Speaker:So as opposed to the West side of El Paso,
Speaker:if someone calls you,
Speaker:call them back for crying out loud,
Speaker:who cares?
Speaker:Yeah. And even if it's a little over your knowledge level
Speaker:at the time,
Speaker:like you're not sure exactly how to do it.
Speaker:There are so many ways to figure things out these days.
Speaker:It's so much easier now to do.
Speaker:And to your point,
Speaker:networking, I'm sure networking.
Speaker:That's how you got into the hotels and all that too
Speaker:connections. Right?
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:So all of that is important for sure.
Speaker:I'm also kind of thinking that a smaller footprint for your
Speaker:retail shop makes you not as much a competitor first getting
Speaker:into some of these stores too.
Speaker:Yeah. And so I also priced the wholesale items where we
Speaker:don't compete with each other.
Speaker:They can double their money and I can make my money.
Speaker:And we were at the same price point.
Speaker:So it's not like I sell it for three to them
Speaker:and I sell it in my store for five 95 and
Speaker:they can do the same thing.
Speaker:So I don't ever want to compete with my retailers at
Speaker:all. Right.
Speaker:You're reading my mind.
Speaker:Cause I was going to get into pricing because you started
Speaker:retail. Were you already at that price and you just saw
Speaker:that offering wholesale at that 50% approximately was going to work
Speaker:or did you have to adjust your pricing at that point?
Speaker:No, it worked.
Speaker:And then however it doesn't work with all my products.
Speaker:So I will tell,
Speaker:I have a jalapeno bacon jam that I can't wholesale for.
Speaker:I guess we sell it for 10 95 or something.
Speaker:And I just say,
Speaker:Hey, look,
Speaker:this is the wholesale price.
Speaker:I'm selling it for this.
Speaker:Either you can match my price or if you want to
Speaker:double, you're going to be more than me.
Speaker:So I'm just very upfront with them about this is something
Speaker:that either you don't make your margin and have the same
Speaker:price or you Jack up the price and get your margin.
Speaker:So most of the things or everything else I have,
Speaker:they make their margin.
Speaker:I make my margins and I do have people come to
Speaker:me and say,
Speaker:Hey, I want you to carry this thing.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:okay, well what is it?
Speaker:I, so what's my price.
Speaker:Well, your price is $10.
Speaker:Well how much are you selling it for 15?
Speaker:Well, I'm not going to take up room in my store
Speaker:for $5 margin.
Speaker:Right? I'd be more than happy to take it for $10
Speaker:margin and people don't get that because just because you have
Speaker:a store that every single space needs to be generating revenue,
Speaker:right. Every single inch is what you want.
Speaker:And so when they say that they get hurt,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:well, I can't sell it for 20.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:well, how can I sell it for 20 You're right.
Speaker:Not only that,
Speaker:but when you are providing so much value to the products
Speaker:that you're putting in your shop,
Speaker:because people are coming into the store,
Speaker:they're associated in it,
Speaker:even if it's not a complete,
Speaker:so El Paso brand for that it's related to your brand,
Speaker:when all that you've built up in terms of what your
Speaker:reputation is and all of that.
Speaker:So it's more than just the price when they place their
Speaker:product in your store.
Speaker:Well, yes.
Speaker:And then I have an employee,
Speaker:are there every day.
Speaker:I have my lights on every day I have in my
Speaker:security system,
Speaker:I have my software,
Speaker:I have expenses.
Speaker:And I want to make sure that if I put it
Speaker:in my store,
Speaker:it's going to sell and be at something that we believe
Speaker:When you started doing wholesale,
Speaker:because you're not producing.
Speaker:You didn't really have an issue of being able to run
Speaker:higher volume.
Speaker:No. Did any of your vendors have that issue?
Speaker:Did you come back to them?
Speaker:Did you see any challenges on that side?
Speaker:No lucky.
Speaker:And I'm seeing you lucky on a bunch of points.
Speaker:You set your pricing right from the beginning.
Speaker:So it just was a natural,
Speaker:nice flow.
Speaker:You had no problem with being able to stack larger quantities.
Speaker:So that's awesome.
Speaker:Talk to me a little bit about where internet started fitting
Speaker:in when that,
Speaker:when you started having an online presence and how that fits
Speaker:with everything else.
Speaker:So Of course that was one of the first things you
Speaker:have to do is make sure that that that's one of
Speaker:the hardest things.
Speaker:These days is having a website name that someone hasn't taken.
Speaker:So before I even went forward with any of my branding,
Speaker:I made sure www dot.
Speaker:So El paso.com
Speaker:was available.
Speaker:Do you mean like at the very start at the very
Speaker:start? Got it agreed.
Speaker:And the.com
Speaker:not dot anything else,
Speaker:correct? Yeah.
Speaker:You gotta be legit.
Speaker:So I did everything pretty much on the internet right away
Speaker:because I thought I was going to be doing corporate stuff
Speaker:and people can get on the internet and shop that way.
Speaker:And then I moved to Shopify for my store,
Speaker:which is the point of sale.
Speaker:And then Shopify makes it really easy to have the items,
Speaker:just push a button.
Speaker:It goes on your website.
Speaker:However, since we're a souvenir store,
Speaker:people don't buy a lot on our website because you don't
Speaker:buy a Disneyland mug when you're at home.
Speaker:You buy it when you're in Disneyland.
Speaker:So our internet sales are not very big.
Speaker:Usually I like to say that our internet is more like
Speaker:a selling tool instead of a sales tool,
Speaker:because people will go online and go,
Speaker:Oh, look,
Speaker:they have a symbol.
Speaker:Hey, I'm going to go.
Speaker:So it's more like a pre-selling,
Speaker:it's almost like a selling tool for me.
Speaker:Do you put all your products that are in the store
Speaker:also online?
Speaker:Then the majority of them,
Speaker:we have some like Mexican,
Speaker:Like pottery that comes red tone or Blacktown.
Speaker:I don't do that.
Speaker:I don't put all that stuff,
Speaker:but anything that can be photographed,
Speaker:I would say 90% of the stuff is online.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:our internet has gone up because of COVID and we now
Speaker:had to offer curbside pickup and we asked for a local
Speaker:delivery now on our website.
Speaker:So we had to do a little tweaking for COVID,
Speaker:but Internet's not that big of a percentage of my sales.
Speaker:Okay. So your audience is really local people who love the
Speaker:products. And then also people who are coming into visit who
Speaker:want to take back a souvenir.
Speaker:Yeah. I would say that the 50% of my business is
Speaker:the retail store,
Speaker:which is tourist.
Speaker:And then 50% is wholesale and local.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:But I could also see that people who really like the
Speaker:salsas or those jams,
Speaker:cause they're,
Speaker:as you're describing them,
Speaker:they're very unique flavors,
Speaker:right? So people who get it as a gift or bring
Speaker:it home,
Speaker:then still have the opportunity where they can buy it again
Speaker:online. So that kind of fills that need there.
Speaker:Right? So we'll ship like our jalapeno pecan brittle,
Speaker:which is one of our best sellers and we'll ship it
Speaker:to Virginia for a client and then they'll call and say,
Speaker:we need 12 more.
Speaker:It's so good.
Speaker:But we can't wait for our Christmas gift because it's so
Speaker:different and ourselves is damn good.
Speaker:So I'm going to send you some,
Speaker:Okay. Do it,
Speaker:not going to decline that offer for sure.
Speaker:Where does gifting fit into everything here?
Speaker:I've seen you at the gift basket show.
Speaker:So clearly you're selling products to people who want to include
Speaker:your products in gift baskets.
Speaker:And you also have the hotel presence.
Speaker:So I'm just wondering overall how that category looks within the
Speaker:village. Well,
Speaker:that's the category I'm trying to grow because obviously people aren't
Speaker:traveling due to COVID and people aren't coming into our store
Speaker:as much.
Speaker:And I think there's a big push for El Paso being
Speaker:put on the map.
Speaker:There's a lot of great things happening actually had a bad
Speaker:thing happened when last August we had the infamous Walmart shooter
Speaker:and then we've had a bunch of immigration issues.
Speaker:So we've been on the map for a lot of different
Speaker:reasons. And of course that's our work.
Speaker:So we're on the map,
Speaker:but we just need to be a little more positive with
Speaker:everything we're doing and make sure everyone knows exactly what El
Speaker:Paso is all about.
Speaker:And so the local companies here,
Speaker:the local corporate clients I work with,
Speaker:they're very El Paso proud.
Speaker:So they want something that says El Paso,
Speaker:which is I'm thankful for,
Speaker:because that was the whole idea.
Speaker:Right. And then I thought maybe,
Speaker:well, maybe I need to give him some other options,
Speaker:like charcuterie or that kind of thing.
Speaker:And that's kind of what got me go to the,
Speaker:go to the national gift basket convention.
Speaker:But then the more I think about it,
Speaker:we just need to push our own stuff.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I like offering that other items,
Speaker:especially to our clients are over and over.
Speaker:But it's funny because I open it as a corporate gifting
Speaker:from the very beginning in 2015 and I've run through all
Speaker:this stuff and now I'm kind of like,
Speaker:we need to get back there.
Speaker:So gifting is huge.
Speaker:And especially now,
Speaker:when you can't see someone face to face to give someone
Speaker:a gift,
Speaker:either in the mail or delivered or whatever,
Speaker:it's a big deal.
Speaker:People aren't shaking people,
Speaker:aren't going to networking events.
Speaker:But how do you stay in front of these clients?
Speaker:Or how do you think a referral,
Speaker:Right. And seriously,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:when you bring up the Chakota rewards,
Speaker:like all your products fit with that,
Speaker:the salsas and the jams and not,
Speaker:I could see like a box,
Speaker:that's a solo El Paso box and you open it up
Speaker:and you may even have it.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:And then you have all that.
Speaker:And what great holiday gifts for people,
Speaker:even from El Paso to be Sunday.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're getting off of corporate gifts.
Speaker:I get to that.
Speaker:But lots of opportunity there,
Speaker:I would imagine for you.
Speaker:Yes, yes,
Speaker:yes, yes.
Speaker:How else?
Speaker:Because you do have your skills in sales and marketing,
Speaker:how else would you suggest somebody who's like,
Speaker:this is my struggling point.
Speaker:Like my product's awesome.
Speaker:I see people liking it.
Speaker:I'm just not getting in enough sales.
Speaker:What would you tell that person?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:for us,
Speaker:it's all about the experience when someone comes here,
Speaker:because I think people,
Speaker:they talk about it.
Speaker:I have a great sales person up front now and not
Speaker:even a salesperson.
Speaker:She's a greeter.
Speaker:She's not a seller.
Speaker:She's just nice to everyone.
Speaker:And people give us five star reviews on Google.
Speaker:They've never been here.
Speaker:They come in,
Speaker:they leave and they have a good recommendation for Mexican restaurant
Speaker:or they have a recommendation for a day trip or something.
Speaker:We're more than just selling.
Speaker:I kind of laugh because I'm like,
Speaker:we don't just sling salsa here.
Speaker:We're trying to create an experience and an El Paso centric
Speaker:one. So I think just don't try to sell so hard,
Speaker:just present your products and people will get it.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:the stories do is so important.
Speaker:Always the story,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:ours is branded with El Paso.
Speaker:So the story is pretty obvious,
Speaker:but I mean,
Speaker:for people that this is why I did it,
Speaker:or this is how I did it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:people love to hear that.
Speaker:You're not going to get that on your computer,
Speaker:in your pajamas,
Speaker:shopping on Amazon.
Speaker:You're just not right.
Speaker:You got to differentiate yourself from that.
Speaker:Amazon's always going to be there and target and all that.
Speaker:But people want to know the story.
Speaker:You look at that,
Speaker:there's a picture and there's like a cup of coffee and
Speaker:a white thing.
Speaker:And there's a cup of coffee and Starbucks.
Speaker:There's a cup of coffee,
Speaker:it's a dollar 50.
Speaker:And then Starbucks is $6 branding.
Speaker:You got to find your brand and make it work because
Speaker:no one's going to do it for you.
Speaker:Your story is really important.
Speaker:The story really makes you unique.
Speaker:And people then will support you because of that,
Speaker:because of whatever the story is.
Speaker:But the trick is you can't make up a story.
Speaker:Like it has to be real,
Speaker:just like you were talking about at the beginning,
Speaker:in terms of naming your name,
Speaker:like the fact that you with girlfriends,
Speaker:like you joke around it's so all pass out.
Speaker:Like I could see you saying that.
Speaker:And that leads directly into a fabulous brand.
Speaker:That just makes so much sense.
Speaker:You could do like promotional things like showing a product or
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:That's so El Paso,
Speaker:that could be like a whole thing.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:And it really sounds to me like when someone comes in
Speaker:the store,
Speaker:you're just being friendly.
Speaker:You're not hovering.
Speaker:You're not forcing a sale.
Speaker:People are going to look around to see what they like.
Speaker:You observe clearly what people are looking for,
Speaker:interested in and you're listening.
Speaker:And then you kind of,
Speaker:not everybody I'm sure,
Speaker:but you accommodate what you're stocking accordingly to what people are
Speaker:looking for.
Speaker:Yes. That's the thing.
Speaker:When you have a souvenir store that you're always getting new
Speaker:clients, so you can keep buying kind of the same thing
Speaker:over and over because they're different clients every day.
Speaker:Now, if you have a little retail store in a small
Speaker:town, you're going to have to turn your items.
Speaker:You can't,
Speaker:if you sell six,
Speaker:don't buy 27 more because people who come into a local
Speaker:retail store want new and exciting.
Speaker:They want to come and support you in a new and
Speaker:exciting way.
Speaker:So our store is a little different because like I said,
Speaker:we are mostly tourists and every time they come,
Speaker:it's their first time.
Speaker:So I can go deep on items.
Speaker:But if you have a local retail store,
Speaker:you gotta turn your,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just cause it's so that's great,
Speaker:but don't go too deep and tie up your money because
Speaker:you want to give them another reason to come in.
Speaker:And when they come in,
Speaker:Oh, this is new or this is new.
Speaker:So there's two different kind of retail ways to look at
Speaker:it. Well,
Speaker:and to the point of going to market and seeing what's
Speaker:new and fresh too.
Speaker:Cause that's where you're going to find the new products to
Speaker:stock. Right.
Speaker:And get free shipping And get free shipping.
Speaker:We all know how you roll with that,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Anyone who wants something within Ann's stores,
Speaker:you gotta out for free shipping period.
Speaker:Well, yeah.
Speaker:And we get beat up on this and because shipping is
Speaker:expensive and we don't put it into our price.
Speaker:So people buy,
Speaker:why is shipping so expensive?
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:well, we don't hide it in our pride Because it's expensive.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And we don't make money on shipping.
Speaker:It's just a pass through for us.
Speaker:So that's one of the hardest things about being a small
Speaker:vendor is that we can't compete.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:this is the prize.
Speaker:And if you walk in,
Speaker:that's the price.
Speaker:We're not going to doctor it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:cook it with shipping.
Speaker:Right. Do you ever offer sales on product?
Speaker:Not very often.
Speaker:I'm just not a big believer in that.
Speaker:When I had my furniture store that the man,
Speaker:his name's Jack Delaney,
Speaker:he owns a company called El Paso import here.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:don't ever discount.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:give something free,
Speaker:give something of value.
Speaker:Add on.
Speaker:Don't reduce your price.
Speaker:Yeah. Because some guy might buy $10,000
Speaker:with the furniture and you gave him a deal.
Speaker:And the other guy buys,
Speaker:went in table and wants a deal.
Speaker:So we would say,
Speaker:throw in,
Speaker:Hey, why don't you pick a lamp that you like?
Speaker:And this $90 lamp,
Speaker:they value at $10,000
Speaker:because, Oh my gosh,
Speaker:this is such a great gift.
Speaker:So I've always had his,
Speaker:my words of wisdom in my back.
Speaker:Like I'd rather add value than decrease the value of my
Speaker:product. Right.
Speaker:I priced it fairly.
Speaker:Really. What I love about your whole business model is you
Speaker:have revenue coming in from different places.
Speaker:You have the retail shop,
Speaker:you have wholesale,
Speaker:multiple places,
Speaker:not just one place.
Speaker:And you do have internet,
Speaker:albeit it's a smaller portion,
Speaker:but all of them together as an overall package,
Speaker:if you will makes everything stronger because people might buy in
Speaker:your shop and then go into whole foods in three weeks
Speaker:and be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I can get it here too.
Speaker:So you're able to play one off another and they all
Speaker:become stronger for it.
Speaker:Yeah. The products are marketing the products for me when I
Speaker:put the product on,
Speaker:I placed the products,
Speaker:their marketing.
Speaker:Exactly. So corporate is your future vision corporate gifts.
Speaker:Yes. Yes,
Speaker:yes. Yes.
Speaker:Well that,
Speaker:and also I've created another line called zero miles that I'd
Speaker:like to do regionally specific local foods.
Speaker:So I just pitched the airport.
Speaker:So hopefully they'll come back with me because when you go
Speaker:to an airport,
Speaker:there's not a lot of local foods I'm working on that.
Speaker:Okay. So back this up,
Speaker:so my mind can wrap around this.
Speaker:So zero miles,
Speaker:is it going to be a new brand?
Speaker:Yes. And say again,
Speaker:what it is I have so El Paso and my vision
Speaker:was always to do like so Midland,
Speaker:so Dallas,
Speaker:so Phoenix,
Speaker:that was always my vision with the line.
Speaker:But you can't really protect that name because you can't protect
Speaker:the name of the city as far as the trademark goes.
Speaker:So I've had this thought,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:I needed to have a new brand.
Speaker:And it's so it's like Houston is zero miles or Phoenix,
Speaker:zero miles.
Speaker:And it's a new brand and I can put product in
Speaker:any area.
Speaker:So I could put peanuts in Georgia or I could put
Speaker:Cajun mix in Louisiana or I could put whatever.
Speaker:So I could take that whole brand.
Speaker:And I can also protect that as zero miles of God,
Speaker:I'm working on doing the trademark for that.
Speaker:And then that would be something that it's local,
Speaker:it's regional,
Speaker:but it's also got the flavors,
Speaker:but it's also got the name.
Speaker:So I'm actually working with someone in Nashville right now.
Speaker:You might know her and we're going to do a line
Speaker:of Nashville items for her so she can put them in
Speaker:her gift baskets.
Speaker:So people love they're visiting.
Speaker:They want something for their dogs that are,
Speaker:they want something for their mother-in-law and food is perfect because
Speaker:food, no one needs any more symbols.
Speaker:Well they do,
Speaker:but no one really needs anymore.
Speaker:They really don't like,
Speaker:could we just say like no more thimbles.
Speaker:I agree with you there.
Speaker:Some of our needle point people though are not going to
Speaker:be happy with us.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:We can get you one,
Speaker:but the thing that's so great about consumable products though,
Speaker:is that's a gift that you can give over and over
Speaker:again. Right?
Speaker:Well, and our bags are resealable,
Speaker:so you can pop it open and then you seal it
Speaker:back up and throw it in your suitcase or whatever.
Speaker:So that's the vision.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Cause I could really see like zero miles in all different
Speaker:locations with products that are from that location.
Speaker:It makes so much sense to me.
Speaker:And you become known as that.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:think of how broad man that is huge.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:How did you get this idea?
Speaker:Well, because the airport has well,
Speaker:parody is,
Speaker:is the name of the company.
Speaker:And they have like 125 airport stores around the country.
Speaker:And the buyer said,
Speaker:Hey, can you do something for Midland?
Speaker:I buy from the Midland airport.
Speaker:So we changed it to so Midland and we put a
Speaker:little Texas flag on it and a little oil rig and
Speaker:it was the same product,
Speaker:but it was so Midland.
Speaker:And he was like,
Speaker:Oh, the hard part is getting in these places.
Speaker:So I'm already in,
Speaker:how can I bring more of that into something bigger?
Speaker:Makes so much sense.
Speaker:So you'll still keep so El Paso,
Speaker:but then you'll also have zero miles for other locations.
Speaker:Correct? Got it.
Speaker:Yeah, because how could you let go?
Speaker:So El Paso,
Speaker:like you just can't that's so great.
Speaker:My child.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:This has been so much fun learning.
Speaker:The overall observation here is you have ideas and then you
Speaker:act, you put it into play.
Speaker:When do you predict?
Speaker:We'll see something,
Speaker:zero miles out.
Speaker:I'm ready.
Speaker:I sent the email to the airport,
Speaker:people Wednesday,
Speaker:just two days ago.
Speaker:So we'll see.
Speaker:Okay. But if you really want to know,
Speaker:you might be able to help me.
Speaker:I want Marcus Limonus to put this in his camping world
Speaker:locations. That could be awesome.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Well, I've got my eye on him because secretly I would
Speaker:love to interview him for the show.
Speaker:If he'd be willing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we are kind of like hometown ish people,
Speaker:but you never know.
Speaker:So we put it out there and,
Speaker:and see what happens.
Speaker:I'm putting it out there and every day it's all the
Speaker:law of attraction.
Speaker:So let's go for it.
Speaker:You and I both.
Speaker:Okay. If you can Piggyback,
Speaker:okay. Works for me.
Speaker:Alright. Well,
Speaker:and this has been so much fun.
Speaker:So now all of us as listeners are going to be
Speaker:on the lookout now for zero miles,
Speaker:No pressure,
Speaker:no pressure Coming to an airport near you.
Speaker:We just all have to be flying again.
Speaker:That's the thing Exactly.
Speaker:Because I was ready to make this happen,
Speaker:then COVID hit.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:Oh no.
Speaker:So that was not good.
Speaker:It'll happen.
Speaker:We'll be there.
Speaker:We'll be back soon.
Speaker:I am really confident that that's true.
Speaker:Yeah. No pressure.
Speaker:Sue. I should put it up there.
Speaker:I'm putting it out there,
Speaker:Out there for sure.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, listen,
Speaker:I'm so excited to track what you do.
Speaker:Watch you grow.
Speaker:You are a woman on the move without question.
Speaker:Thanks so much for being on the show today.
Speaker:Thank you Sam.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate it.
Speaker:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker:Wasn't an story inspiring apart from all the obvious information about
Speaker:private labeling,
Speaker:what I really want you to take away from this is
Speaker:the power of connections they allowed and to get product placement
Speaker:in stores.
Speaker:She couldn't even believe it also led her to understanding specifically
Speaker:what our customers wanted.
Speaker:So she ensured that they would buy when they walked into
Speaker:her store,
Speaker:not just souvenirs,
Speaker:but thimbles and spoons.
Speaker:Talk to your customers,
Speaker:listen to what they say.
Speaker:I tend to networking meetings and make connections in all areas
Speaker:of your life.
Speaker:You just never know where they may lead.
Speaker:Thanks for spending time with me here today.
Speaker:If you'd like to show support for the podcast,
Speaker:I'd love it.
Speaker:If you would leave a rating and review,
Speaker:that means so much and helps the show get seen by
Speaker:more makers,
Speaker:a great way to pay it forward and now be safe
Speaker:and well.
Speaker:And I'll see you next week on the gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reaction from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what,
Speaker:aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
