Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- The goal is to balance inventory quantities to realize and maximize profit targets.
- Reducing options such as colors or fragrances helps keep inventory under control.
- If you are just starting to attend craft/trade shows, your first product quantities will be an educated guess. Then track results and adjust as you go forward.
- For perishable goods the key is to have multiple outlets of distribution so you don’t have to throw away expired product.
- When analyzing your numbers, compare your results only against yourself – not others.
- Resist overstocking . That’s money stuck in on the shelf versus being used elsewhere.
- Managing cash flow will make or break your business.
Resources Mentioned
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If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.
Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz on wrapped episode 168.
Speaker:Don't be afraid to try something just because you think it
Speaker:is hard Attention.
Speaker: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 Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and thank you For spending part of your day
Speaker:with me.
Speaker:If you're a first time listener,
Speaker:why don't you go ahead and hit that subscribe button if
Speaker:you're listening in Apple podcasts.
Speaker:So you don't miss a single episode.
Speaker:And for those of you who have been around a while,
Speaker:my long-term listeners,
Speaker:I so appreciate you.
Speaker:Thank you for making time each week to listen to the
Speaker:show. If you have any comments for me,
Speaker:thoughts on who you'd like to hear on the show topics
Speaker:you'd like to have discussed or really anything you can reach
Speaker:out to me at SU at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com. Today,
Speaker:I have queued up a really important topic for you,
Speaker:and that is inventory.
Speaker:If you manage your inventory properly,
Speaker:it really can help strengthen your business.
Speaker:You're able to find extra money to invest and just keep
Speaker:all the dollars moving as you're growing your business versus having
Speaker:them locked up in inventory.
Speaker:That's sitting on the shelf for months or heaven forbid,
Speaker:should I say years?
Speaker:Lane booth is here to talk with us about this today.
Speaker:And without further ado,
Speaker:let's just go ahead and dive in Lane's business.
Speaker:The project booth focuses on the inventory and ordering mayhem.
Speaker:That becomes a struggle for many product based businesses.
Speaker:Lane grew up as a math nerd.
Speaker:So fun that you use that term land graduated colleges with
Speaker:two engineering degrees and went straight into manufacturing.
Speaker:She spent over a decade in the supply chain world,
Speaker:but as her family started to grow,
Speaker:she was ready for more flexibility.
Speaker:She started the project booth to help businesses confidently plan their
Speaker:sales, their inventory,
Speaker:and maximize their bottom line lane makes the numbers in your
Speaker:business. Air quotes show you the money.
Speaker:When not nerding out with numbers,
Speaker:you can find lane enjoying time with her family at the
Speaker:playground or catching the latest superhero movie with her husband lane.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Sue pleasure to be here.
Speaker:When I found out what you do in your business,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:So perfect for our audience,
Speaker:because this is a topic we've never talked about before,
Speaker:so I can not wait to get into it.
Speaker:But before we do,
Speaker:I like to start off every show by having you describe
Speaker:yourself in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to share with me what your ideal
Speaker:candle would look like in color and quote,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:I love this question.
Speaker:Sue, such a good one.
Speaker:Since I love clean,
Speaker:crisp elegance,
Speaker:I'm going to go with a bright white for the color.
Speaker:And the quote is actually going to come from my mom
Speaker:at something.
Speaker:She told me when I was a teenager that really stuck.
Speaker:And if you think back to your teenage years,
Speaker:what your mom said to you,
Speaker:a lot of times probably didn't sink all the way through,
Speaker:but this one did.
Speaker:And she told me don't be afraid to try something just
Speaker:because you think it is hard.
Speaker:And that is something that has impacted so much of my,
Speaker:everything from college choice to my career and now my business.
Speaker:So don't be afraid to try something just because you think
Speaker:it will be Right.
Speaker:Because I mean,
Speaker:the thing about hard too,
Speaker:is a lot of people won't try because it's hard.
Speaker:So if you do,
Speaker:you are way ahead of everybody else.
Speaker:Absolutely. And it's ranked true.
Speaker:I bet.
Speaker:So does your mom know that this is a quote that
Speaker:you use?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:have you circled back and does she know this Didn't really
Speaker:bring it up until about a couple years ago and we
Speaker:had kind of a teary-eyed moments.
Speaker:Oh, that's so sweet.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:just something that has really impacted a lot of decisions in
Speaker:my life.
Speaker:So she knows,
Speaker:and she's very pleased and happy to know that that's impacted
Speaker:my life And now you're sharing it with like tons of
Speaker:people too.
Speaker:So that's exciting.
Speaker:She has to know that too.
Speaker:Now I know I have to make sure she listens to
Speaker:the podcast.
Speaker:Exactly. So let's talk about how you identified and started the
Speaker:project booth,
Speaker:how you identified the need that this existed having to understand
Speaker:inventory and then how it circled into the project booth.
Speaker:Sure. So my supply chain career has been focused quite a
Speaker:bit on inventory and what we would call sales forecasting.
Speaker:So how is that all going to tie together?
Speaker:Because if you think about corporations,
Speaker:they're all about the bottom line for my career.
Speaker:I had spent so much time projects and efforts to really
Speaker:maximize the right amount of inventory to get the right amount
Speaker:of profit at the end of the day.
Speaker:And I just had a thought that this might be really
Speaker:beneficial for smaller businesses.
Speaker:So I started doing a little bit of market research,
Speaker:started talking to some small business owners and asked them about
Speaker:what is your ordering process look like?
Speaker:How do you figure out how much inventory to have?
Speaker:And I was getting a lot of dead air on the
Speaker:other side.
Speaker:Yeah. It's like guessing,
Speaker:right? I mean,
Speaker:really that's what most people do It is.
Speaker:And you got to start somewhere so guessing that was a
Speaker:start for some of these folks.
Speaker:But when I talked about the benefits of that and how
Speaker:that could reduce some of the chaos and the confusion,
Speaker:it really started to identify that,
Speaker:yes, this was a need in this small business,
Speaker:medium sized world.
Speaker:So What were your first steps?
Speaker:How did you,
Speaker:so you identified the need,
Speaker:you understood that there were potentially customers out there with knowledge
Speaker:you had that could help them.
Speaker:How did you develop,
Speaker:what were the first things you did to start the project?
Speaker:Both. I started with a couple of folks that agreed to
Speaker:be my Guinea pig,
Speaker:Which is a great way to start.
Speaker:Right. Just to start getting a little bit of traction going
Speaker:with your business.
Speaker:Yeah. So I connected really with some great ladies in the
Speaker:candle business and some in the consumables and said,
Speaker:Hey, you know,
Speaker:I think this bull could be really helpful for you and
Speaker:the candle business.
Speaker:You've got to figure out how much wax do I need
Speaker:for how much fragrance oil do I need in each candle?
Speaker:And if that's all happening,
Speaker:how much do I need to order?
Speaker:And at what point in time,
Speaker:because you've got to work with lead times and all that
Speaker:sort of fun stuff and deliveries.
Speaker:So she walked me through her process and I said,
Speaker:okay, great.
Speaker:I have an understanding of what's working well and what's not.
Speaker:Let me pull together a tool that I think could be
Speaker:really helpful for you.
Speaker:And so it started out as a pretty simple inventory ordering
Speaker:template, and we figured out how much wax and scented fragrance
Speaker:she needed because she does a lot of events.
Speaker:So a lot of farmer's markets and traveling for other events
Speaker:and things like that.
Speaker:So she could all at once put in how much she
Speaker:thought she was going to sell of each fragrance.
Speaker:And then flip that around to see,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:I need to order this much wax,
Speaker:this much oil,
Speaker:this many wicks and everything else,
Speaker:jars, to be able to support that event.
Speaker:That's coming up in four weeks.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So first I just have to say,
Speaker:as an aside,
Speaker:you totally sparked my interest and excitement because you're talking candles.
Speaker:One of my favorite things,
Speaker:interesting that you kind of walked the path with her to
Speaker:see what she was already doing.
Speaker:And then you saw areas of development.
Speaker:I think that's the way you approach all your clients,
Speaker:right? You see where like get a baseline and then figure
Speaker:out from there,
Speaker:how you can enhance the business and get the supply management
Speaker:going well.
Speaker:Right? Absolutely.
Speaker:That was definitely the start.
Speaker:And now that I've been helping several clients along the way,
Speaker:I'm starting to see a lot of similarities.
Speaker:So while pieces of the process do tweak a little bit
Speaker:based on their product,
Speaker:a lot of the core baseline is the same.
Speaker:So now we have a very streamlined approach as to all
Speaker:right. Here's what I need to look for.
Speaker:These are the major call-outs I've seen in other clients.
Speaker:And then what are those custom pieces that we do need
Speaker:to tailor specifically for their business?
Speaker:And so it models all of that together.
Speaker:Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker:Can you share with us some of the common challenges that
Speaker:you're seeing because I'm guessing a lot of our listeners are
Speaker:going to be able to say,
Speaker:yep, that's me.
Speaker:Absolutely. I'll say the one that hits home the most is
Speaker:probably cashflow because here you are trying to get your product
Speaker:out to the market and you're not sure how much to
Speaker:order, and you're also have limited funds.
Speaker:Typically, I,
Speaker:you can't just order three year's worth of inventory and sit
Speaker:for awhile.
Speaker:So cashflow is a big one on how much have you
Speaker:already spent how much inventory is sitting on your shelves,
Speaker:that's cash that's already spent.
Speaker:And then how much do you think you're going to need
Speaker:to service your customers?
Speaker:Well, over the course of the next few months,
Speaker:so cashflow really ties straight back into inventory.
Speaker:I'm guessing the goal here would be,
Speaker:you don't want to buy more than you really need for
Speaker:a certain amount of time,
Speaker:then you continually cycle and replenish,
Speaker:right? And that,
Speaker:and that replenishment gets to be more and more as your
Speaker:business grows.
Speaker:Absolutely. So one of the other top challenges we see is
Speaker:how much to anticipate for your future sales,
Speaker:because that is going to dictate how much inventory you need
Speaker:to buy.
Speaker:So you're not necessarily buying for tomorrow.
Speaker:You're buying for a few months from now sometimes depending on
Speaker:where your product's coming from.
Speaker:If you have to order from Asia,
Speaker:then it's going to be several months.
Speaker:If you're making it yourself,
Speaker:then you've got the limitations on how much time you can
Speaker:dedicate to being able to produce enough product for what's coming
Speaker:up. So being able to pull that together is definitely an
Speaker:area. So as a top challenge,
Speaker:And I bet that's different for everybody.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm thinking of myself over here with one of my businesses,
Speaker:the ribbon print company,
Speaker:I do make my own brand of ribbon.
Speaker:And it does come from Asia.
Speaker:And not only is there the time to produce it,
Speaker:but that,
Speaker:and the time to get it over,
Speaker:it could get stuck in customs for awhile.
Speaker:Like all of that stuff,
Speaker:you have to kind of figure out,
Speaker:right? Plus minimum order quantities that you have to,
Speaker:Yes, you may only want a hundred,
Speaker:but the minimum order is a thousand.
Speaker:So now what do you do?
Speaker:Right? Or as you order more,
Speaker:your cost can also go down.
Speaker:So those are all different things I think are very customized
Speaker:based on each of your individual clients.
Speaker:Absolutely. Interesting.
Speaker:Okay. Can you give us another,
Speaker:so we've talked about cash flow.
Speaker:We've talked about anticipated sales.
Speaker:Wait, I do have another question with the anticipated sales.
Speaker:When somebody like you were just talking about your client who
Speaker:had events.
Speaker:So when you have events lined up,
Speaker:then obviously you're going to be selling more.
Speaker:So I'm thinking you flex everything based on what the plans
Speaker:are in the future and the growth of the company based
Speaker:on events.
Speaker:You're going to,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:just general overall trends,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Absolutely. That has been a challenge,
Speaker:especially for that person that I worked with early on,
Speaker:because she has not only an online business,
Speaker:but she also has the event business.
Speaker:She still has a couple of products on Etsy.
Speaker:So she's got several platforms that are continuous and you can
Speaker:have orders coming in all the time.
Speaker:But then that event could be several thousand dollars in a
Speaker:weekend. And you want to maximize as much as you can
Speaker:through that event.
Speaker:So we had to look at not only the event piece,
Speaker:but also all right,
Speaker:we've got to remember that you can have orders coming in
Speaker:every day on your website and Etsy.
Speaker:How do we manage them as well?
Speaker:And so that has been kind of a blended approach.
Speaker:So you also don't want to carry too much inventory at
Speaker:a time,
Speaker:especially candles.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you can have so many fragrances.
Speaker:We did tailor those down a little bit,
Speaker:so that helped her with reducing her inventory or to at
Speaker:least have different fragrances available at different seasons.
Speaker:So you don't need every fragrance available 12 months out of
Speaker:the year.
Speaker:You can have your spring,
Speaker:you can have your summer,
Speaker:you can have your fall winter and by eliminating some of
Speaker:those options that allowed her to really focus on,
Speaker:alright, I'm going to make these 10 for the season.
Speaker:And so when she's doing her event prep,
Speaker:she can also go ahead and prep for all right,
Speaker:the next two weeks,
Speaker:I think I'm going to have this many in daffodil.
Speaker:I'm making up a fragrance here that could be ordered from
Speaker:the website or Etsy over the time period.
Speaker:So she started being able to batch process things together based
Speaker:on what was coming up in her business.
Speaker:I'm so glad you bring up this topic because I've talked
Speaker:a lot in the past about limiting the number of offers
Speaker:you have,
Speaker:whether it's flavors or scents or whatever,
Speaker:because it can become overwhelming to somebody.
Speaker:Even let's take it a craft show.
Speaker:Since we're talking to events,
Speaker:people will come up and if there are too many options,
Speaker:sometimes people get overwhelmed and they walk away.
Speaker:You would naturally think,
Speaker:well, if I have more offers more options,
Speaker:then there's going to be something for everybody.
Speaker:And people are more likely to buy.
Speaker:And actually that's not true when you whittle it back,
Speaker:it's easier for people to make decisions and to purchase.
Speaker:That's been proven over and over again,
Speaker:but I never thought about it really in terms of inventory
Speaker:control and purchasing of the materials that you need to create
Speaker:your product.
Speaker:So this is a really important point.
Speaker:What did your clients see after you instituted this procedure?
Speaker:Well, she was able to minimize how much inventory she was
Speaker:keeping, and then she's working out of her home still.
Speaker:So the closet can only hold so many candles.
Speaker:Right. Although I could help her out with that,
Speaker:FYI I'll let her know.
Speaker:Okay. And then the other piece was it's either that she
Speaker:houses a little bit of inventory in her closet,
Speaker:or she's got to stay up late one night and actually
Speaker:make the candle to the order that day and make sure
Speaker:it ships out in the two to three day window that
Speaker:she's promised the customer,
Speaker:which got really frustrating.
Speaker:She had a really good example in time of she stocks
Speaker:a lot of this 1 cent and she has a standard
Speaker:eight ounce candle.
Speaker:Well, someone on Etsy wanted a four ounce of a very
Speaker:minimal quantity that she would typically have for another candle.
Speaker:So she had to stay up late and make this little
Speaker:tiny four ounce candle and ship it to the customer.
Speaker:And so stuff like that started to go away.
Speaker:Once we trimmed down how many fragrances she was offering at
Speaker:that time.
Speaker:And so she could not only,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:she still might have to make a fresh batch when something
Speaker:goes out,
Speaker:but she knows she can make eight a time.
Speaker:And those will sell over the course of the next few
Speaker:weeks. She doesn't have to make these very small batches and
Speaker:then almost waste her time making just a single four ounce
Speaker:candle. I think so many of our listeners are sitting there
Speaker:like, yup.
Speaker:I know life,
Speaker:because this is what I do.
Speaker:I think with your story,
Speaker:she gained back the freedom to not have those last minute
Speaker:issues all the time.
Speaker:Because what if something does come in and you had a
Speaker:big family event you're going away for the weekend,
Speaker:how would you possibly juggle things like that?
Speaker:So I think your service actually brings back some balance into
Speaker:your whole life too,
Speaker:especially if you're still producing yourself out of your home.
Speaker:So was she calling you saying,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Yes. She's been wonderful.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:she was one of my Guinea pigs,
Speaker:so we've done a lot of trials through her and found
Speaker:out what works for her and then tried to see if
Speaker:we could spread that across some other industries as well.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:So we've been talking about the challenges with inventory.
Speaker:So we've talked cash flow.
Speaker:We've talked about anticipated sales.
Speaker:Is there now another one that you could share with us,
Speaker:I would say focus on your lead times and for people
Speaker:that aren't necessarily familiar with that that is how long it
Speaker:takes you from knowing what you want to make to when
Speaker:it is shippable from your,
Speaker:either your home or your,
Speaker:if you have a distribution center or warehouse,
Speaker:you want to know how long it takes that product to
Speaker:be created and shippable.
Speaker:And there's two versions.
Speaker:You could have that internal.
Speaker:So that's how long you actually take to create the product.
Speaker:So if you are stay with candles,
Speaker:if it takes you several hours to produce a candle and
Speaker:then it actually takes several more hours for it to dry
Speaker:and cure,
Speaker:then you may have a 24 hour lead time for that
Speaker:candle. So you need to know that at any point in
Speaker:time, if you get orders,
Speaker:you've got to have at least 24 hours to be able
Speaker:to get that out.
Speaker:The other piece of the lead time that I find folks
Speaker:often forget about is how long it takes their supplies to
Speaker:get to them.
Speaker:So if you are ordering from Asia and it's a four
Speaker:month process from the time you place your order,
Speaker:until it arrives at your doorstep,
Speaker:pending minimal issues with customs or damage on the boat and
Speaker:things like that,
Speaker:that do come up,
Speaker:but it should be more rare.
Speaker:You do need to think about how long it takes you
Speaker:to get your supplies,
Speaker:because I'll find that folks try to order or they'll expedite
Speaker:at the very last minute.
Speaker:And then they're upset because it's another three days late.
Speaker:Well, three days late in the world of supplies actually is
Speaker:not too uncommon.
Speaker:So you need to be able to have that lead time
Speaker:and then a little bit of buffer as well,
Speaker:so that you can continue to support your business.
Speaker:And there's no stop starts because you're waiting on your supplies
Speaker:to come in,
Speaker:to create your product.
Speaker:Two things about this that I think are important.
Speaker:One is that word expedite totally freaks me out because that
Speaker:possibly means more costs to get your product to you in
Speaker:additional costs,
Speaker:probably wasn't included in the pricing of your product to start,
Speaker:which means your margins are going to decrease.
Speaker:Absolutely. That goes back and circles back to cashflow.
Speaker:But I'm thinking all that you're talking about here,
Speaker:lane, all circles,
Speaker:back to the same thing,
Speaker:they're all integrated to have the best result you can.
Speaker:Right. And what you mentioned actually brought up another thought experience
Speaker:I had with another client who is in the book publishing
Speaker:business. Before we hear about lanes of book publishing client,
Speaker:a quick word from our sponsor,
Speaker:This podcast is made possible.
Speaker:Thanks to the support at the ribbon print company,
Speaker:create custom ribbons,
Speaker:right in your store or craft studio in seconds,
Speaker:visit the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information,
Speaker:He had someone in the States that was printing her books,
Speaker:but she was also starting to look at someone in Asia
Speaker:who had a much better pricing.
Speaker:So not to jump from one and go to the other.
Speaker:But we had a time period where we were testing both
Speaker:and we wanted to make sure that they could meet their
Speaker:expectations. If they said they were going to be here in
Speaker:12 weeks,
Speaker:that they were here in 12 weeks,
Speaker:that the quality was the same that we didn't have to
Speaker:expedite orders.
Speaker:There weren't any other hidden shipping costs because it might be
Speaker:one thing to produce,
Speaker:seem like it's half price to produce in Asia.
Speaker:But then you also have to think about,
Speaker:well, the extra shipping charges that would incur.
Speaker:So we had this testing period and then found that Asia
Speaker:actually produced higher quality for the type of book that she
Speaker:had. And they were able to deliver on time.
Speaker:And she actually had tremendous cost savings from being able to
Speaker:move her products and being able to print overseas.
Speaker:So that was one area where she was able to dramatically
Speaker:reduce her cost of her goods.
Speaker:And as you are doing that,
Speaker:that allows different opportunities.
Speaker:So you think about kind of the backend cost savings,
Speaker:but now you have funds to put on the front end.
Speaker:Now you have funds for marketing and advertising because you've been
Speaker:able to save in that area.
Speaker:Now you can increase your spending in other areas,
Speaker:what should just continue that cycle of more exposure and more
Speaker:sales Yeah.
Speaker:Driving sales,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:And so it's an entire balancing act,
Speaker:right? I'm thinking of the old fashion weight pendulums where there's
Speaker:one side and another.
Speaker:That's exactly what you're talking about here.
Speaker:And the issue too is sales fulfillment.
Speaker:Because if you don't have the product,
Speaker:when an order comes in,
Speaker:it's not going to take too long for that customer,
Speaker:never to come back to you.
Speaker:So you've got to have it available if you're promoting it
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:The other thing I was going to say about Asia,
Speaker:I don't want to scare people off because I also have
Speaker:other products coming.
Speaker:We source as much American as we can,
Speaker:but I have other products that come from Asia and I
Speaker:get them in like two days.
Speaker:Sometimes I get them faster than in the States.
Speaker:It really all depends on what your product is,
Speaker:where your factory is or who you're working with in terms
Speaker:of receipts.
Speaker:So don't be scared away from this conversation in terms of
Speaker:dealing with it,
Speaker:because clearly that client you're talking about with the books,
Speaker:that was a perfect solution for her.
Speaker:Yeah. And sometimes,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:truthfully, the expertise may sometimes be moving from us to overseas.
Speaker:So it really depends on the manufacturer.
Speaker:Just like it,
Speaker:it depends on the manufacturer here.
Speaker:Some are going to be more tighter on their processes and
Speaker:better on quality and you'll find the same overseas.
Speaker:So you just got to find the right person,
Speaker:right. Manufacturer to work with.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:Wonderful. So we've covered cashflow anticipated sales so that you're ready
Speaker:for them,
Speaker:both in creating and being able to have the product ready
Speaker:and inventory.
Speaker:We've talked about lead times,
Speaker:both in pricing for production time and then also supplies.
Speaker:And then we've talked a little bit about management too,
Speaker:if someone is way before all of that.
Speaker:Okay. Cause this is all talking about someone who has a
Speaker:product they're out to market already.
Speaker:What advice would you give somebody who's just starting.
Speaker:So they're just now starting to make their product,
Speaker:bring it out to shows so that they're at a perfect
Speaker:place where they can do it right from the start instead
Speaker:of back-filling better systems.
Speaker:Is there any guidance you have for someone who's just starting
Speaker:out what they should put in place or what they should
Speaker:be looking at at different points along the way for a
Speaker:startup? Absolutely.
Speaker:Yes. I feel like startups tend to focus on how much
Speaker:should I bring to the event or how much should I
Speaker:make and you really to take it just one step backwards
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:how much do I think I can sell?
Speaker:Not how much to bring,
Speaker:how much do you think you can sell first?
Speaker:And that is going to come from a lot of times
Speaker:conversations. A lot of times,
Speaker:if you are going to an event that has baked goods,
Speaker:you could talk to someone else that is sometimes they might
Speaker:be competitive or not,
Speaker:but you're probably will find someone that is not a competitor
Speaker:to you there that has been to that event in the
Speaker:past, ask them what they sell.
Speaker:Talk to people that have been to that event in the
Speaker:past. That is a great starting point for you.
Speaker:And then you can use that and you might want to
Speaker:go, all right,
Speaker:maybe another 10 or 20% heavier just because when you're starting
Speaker:out, like you said before,
Speaker:so you don't want to miss out on that sells fulfillment.
Speaker:So you want to have a little bit over what you
Speaker:need, but not 10 times what you need going into that
Speaker:event. And so being able to estimate what your sales will
Speaker:be, and then go just a little bit over that to
Speaker:be able to maximize your sales at that event.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:I love,
Speaker:love, love that advice.
Speaker:And then I think also just some type of a method
Speaker:to take information from someone.
Speaker:If it does happen that you run out of product,
Speaker:maybe there is a scent we're sticking with the candles here,
Speaker:my favorite,
Speaker:but let's say those daffodil candles that you were referencing earlier,
Speaker:you just happened to run out.
Speaker:I would think you tell me if you think differently,
Speaker:but I would think just having a system to,
Speaker:Oh gosh,
Speaker:they were so popular.
Speaker:I wasn't anticipating that.
Speaker:However, I can get you one in two or three days,
Speaker:what's your address.
Speaker:And even take the order right there and then turn it
Speaker:around for them super quick.
Speaker:But to have that plan in place,
Speaker:instead of just losing the sale,
Speaker:I guess I'd say Absolutely.
Speaker:I've seen that happen kind of in two different ways.
Speaker:I've seen just a simple sheet of paper.
Speaker:Hey, you like this candle,
Speaker:I'd be happy to get back with you when I get
Speaker:back home and just write down your name and your address
Speaker:or name a number and what you were looking for,
Speaker:what size did you want?
Speaker:What fragrance.
Speaker:And then some folks will actually have,
Speaker:like the lady I mentioned has a website.
Speaker:So bring your iPad,
Speaker:let them order the candle right there on the spot.
Speaker:They can enter it in the website,
Speaker:on the iPad.
Speaker:And then you've got that order ready to run with.
Speaker:As soon as you get back from the event.
Speaker:So Smart lane,
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:Take the order right then and there.
Speaker:And the trick is having the plan,
Speaker:having the answer right there.
Speaker:So you're not fumbling and not knowing what to do.
Speaker:You have the plan.
Speaker:Okay. Perishable products,
Speaker:probably the most challenging of all.
Speaker:And we've talked about this a little bit already,
Speaker:but not in this way.
Speaker:Any advice for that?
Speaker:Because ingredients with that,
Speaker:or if you actually make your cookies or your cupcakes and
Speaker:you bring them to the event and you don't sell them,
Speaker:that is lost money.
Speaker:So what do you do?
Speaker:Right. So unless you're planning on having a big party afterwards
Speaker:with all of your cupcakes,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:there's an idea.
Speaker:It's always a win there.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:That's one.
Speaker:Where do you have another outlet that this product can go
Speaker:to? So maybe you are selling at a local bakery,
Speaker:but then you also have this event coming up,
Speaker:trying to have multiple streams of where your product can go
Speaker:will be very helpful as well.
Speaker:So you're not locked into just this one event.
Speaker:Oh, I didn't sell all of my mini breads or all
Speaker:of my cupcakes.
Speaker:Is there somewhere else that they can go,
Speaker:but it really,
Speaker:even better than that,
Speaker:it comes back to what are your anticipated sales back to
Speaker:that sales forecast?
Speaker:What have other people done?
Speaker:How much do you have?
Speaker:And then also being able to move it into other streams,
Speaker:other accounts afterwards,
Speaker:it will be incredibly helpful.
Speaker:And then the last piece on that though,
Speaker:is this is assuming that you are a brand new startup.
Speaker:You've never done this before,
Speaker:but now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:now you've been to this event now,
Speaker:you know how much you sold now?
Speaker:You know where the prime location is.
Speaker:Next time when you come back,
Speaker:you'll not only have your numbers,
Speaker:you'll have the experience and you'll have the knowledge of how
Speaker:to position yourself differently next time.
Speaker:So one thing I highly encouraged to all of the startups
Speaker:is to record your sales,
Speaker:where you were and record any,
Speaker:just commentary notes of how the event was run and what
Speaker:you would like to do differently.
Speaker:Do you want to come back again next year?
Speaker:Keep up with that because your numbers are going to be
Speaker:more impactful than anybody else's numbers down the road.
Speaker:Sue's cupcakes may be very different from Lane's cupcakes.
Speaker:And so being able to track your numbers going forward is
Speaker:going to be the most impactful thing you can do for
Speaker:planning your business going forward.
Speaker:Yeah. Show to show can be different too.
Speaker:Some shows will perform better than others.
Speaker:And when you start doing more and more shows,
Speaker:you kind of forget.
Speaker:So tracking it right away after the event is really important.
Speaker:I'm so glad you brought that up.
Speaker:Yes. Wonderful.
Speaker:Okay. Any other thoughts for a startup or you think we're
Speaker:good here?
Speaker:The other piece would be,
Speaker:be careful not to order too much.
Speaker:I did have a client one time.
Speaker:She got a great discount if she ordered,
Speaker:or if she prepped a thousand jars of her product from
Speaker:the co-packer.
Speaker:But when she looked at her expiration dates,
Speaker:how long it could sit on the shelf,
Speaker:it really did not make sense to get that premium price.
Speaker:You can save a few cents per jar,
Speaker:but it didn't make sense to order that much as a
Speaker:start-up in her business.
Speaker:It made sense to cut that in about half and all
Speaker:right, let's move through the next six months within that shelf
Speaker:life. See what it does.
Speaker:And then maybe we can warrant a larger,
Speaker:better priced order in the future.
Speaker:So be careful not to order too much and maybe not
Speaker:always accept the first answer you get from a manufacturer I've
Speaker:seen too,
Speaker:where, Oh,
Speaker:well I've got to order this,
Speaker:this and this,
Speaker:but this one piece I have to order 2000 at a
Speaker:time. I would be leery of that.
Speaker:Let's see if there's another manufacturer that can offer you a
Speaker:small batch quantity.
Speaker:Can they give you 200 at a time instead of 2000
Speaker:at a time,
Speaker:can you find other people in the industry that are utilizing
Speaker:that product and say,
Speaker:Hey, can I go in with you on your next order?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:then you can split the cost.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And they don't want you to feel like you're locked into
Speaker:that first answer.
Speaker:Kind of don't take that first answer if it's not the
Speaker:one that you want,
Speaker:look and see if there's other options.
Speaker:Yeah. The other thing that a lot of people will do
Speaker:is they'll be certain,
Speaker:absolutely positive that there's a certain scent or a certain flavor.
Speaker:That's going to be a hit.
Speaker:So they'll order a lot of that and then find that
Speaker:they're the only ones who really like it.
Speaker:It's not even moving.
Speaker:So I think what you're saying here is so valuable in
Speaker:that even if it's going to mean you make less money
Speaker:initially, because you're testing your market,
Speaker:you're seeing what they like.
Speaker:And so you're buying it in smaller quantities,
Speaker:which means it costs a little more in the long run.
Speaker:You'll be better off.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely seeing that where folks have ordered too much and
Speaker:now they're sitting on three years worth of inventory.
Speaker:Now they can't pivot in the market because they're sitting on
Speaker:so much of what they've already bought.
Speaker:And that's another risk that you would be up against if
Speaker:you bought too much at the beginning.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:That goes for packaging too.
Speaker:How you're wrapping,
Speaker:how you're branding your product labels,
Speaker:the whole thing just by small first,
Speaker:make sure you like what it's doing,
Speaker:make sure it's working well for you.
Speaker:So you're not stuck with inventory.
Speaker:Love that you brought that up.
Speaker:So as You've been talking,
Speaker:and this was way back in the beginning of our conversation,
Speaker:you referencing,
Speaker:I think that you built in a tool or something that
Speaker:you use.
Speaker:Yes. So now I have a tool that's built to where
Speaker:we will look at it.
Speaker:Really, it comes down to how much to order.
Speaker:That's kind of what it's spitting out the end.
Speaker:If you think of kind of a box with all the
Speaker:bells and whistles and what comes out of the answer,
Speaker:it helps with what to order how much and when,
Speaker:but the pieces that have to feed into that we are
Speaker:looking at all right,
Speaker:what is that sales forecast?
Speaker:What did you do last year?
Speaker:Are you going to do better or worse than that this
Speaker:year? Is it going to be different by product?
Speaker:So we have these conversations,
Speaker:I, me and the client to say,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:where are you heading?
Speaker:And a lot of times that comes into what the marketing
Speaker:plan is as well.
Speaker:So we'll pull together the sales forecast.
Speaker:Then we'll look at your inventory.
Speaker:What are your costs?
Speaker:And then also the lead time.
Speaker:So based on everything you've got going into the business,
Speaker:how long is it going to take for the product to
Speaker:get there?
Speaker:And then that makes a clear decision at the end,
Speaker:as to you could order this much and be covered for
Speaker:three months,
Speaker:or you could order this much and be covered for the
Speaker:next six weeks.
Speaker:What are the risks and opportunities for ordering the higher versus
Speaker:lower? And we just have those conversations to see what is
Speaker:the best option for the business at that point in time.
Speaker:That's fabulous.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:So great.
Speaker:And that all is encompassed within the project booth and your
Speaker:whole consulting environment,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:That's what you use,
Speaker:which I love this example because it's something that you've created,
Speaker:which is totally yours.
Speaker:Like no one else can go out and get your tool.
Speaker:Right. They have to be working With you.
Speaker:That's right,
Speaker:right. It's Wonderful.
Speaker:That's absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:So are there any other,
Speaker:I'm thinking I'm just going over now into just the business
Speaker:environment. Are there any tools that you use or anything to
Speaker:keep yourself organized?
Speaker:Because now you have a ton of clients.
Speaker:You've got the whole consulting business up and running strong.
Speaker:What do you use to stay focused and in control of
Speaker:your day?
Speaker:Oh, I am a big calendar nerd.
Speaker:So I love time blocking in making sure that I can
Speaker:execute what I said I could by the end of the
Speaker:week. So I have certain days where I allow myself these
Speaker:certain days are for clients,
Speaker:client conversations,
Speaker:phone calls these days,
Speaker:or for client work.
Speaker:I think you use schedule once I use acuity calendar scheduling
Speaker:so that when clients or folks that are interested in touching
Speaker:base for initial consult,
Speaker:I can quickly give them the link.
Speaker:And it ties right back to my Google calendar.
Speaker:And it only books for certain hours out of the day
Speaker:hours. You've decided already based on your perfect week are times
Speaker:when you would take calls.
Speaker:Exactly. That's perfect.
Speaker:Wonderful. And give biz listeners,
Speaker:I'll put a link to acuity in the show notes.
Speaker:So you see what that's all about and tell us a
Speaker:little bit about your initial coaching calls in case someone is
Speaker:Interested here.
Speaker:Yeah. So we keep it very clean and easy.
Speaker:It's usually a 30 minute call that people can book straight
Speaker:off my website.
Speaker:And we talk about where your business is today.
Speaker:What type of product do you have and where you want
Speaker:to be in the next 12 months?
Speaker:So we're going to figure out a couple of key things
Speaker:from those questions.
Speaker:And then what I also ask,
Speaker:what type of tools are you using currently?
Speaker:So are you using QuickBooks for your inventory or do you
Speaker:have accounting professional helping you with your P and L?
Speaker:So we get a couple of details ironed out just from
Speaker:that questionnaire and then go through them in that phone call
Speaker:to see where you are rocking it in your business and
Speaker:where you see some opportunity and would like to get things
Speaker:more clear and confident.
Speaker:So you can feel like you're actually running your business like
Speaker:a CEO and it's not running you.
Speaker:Perfect. So if you were to give one overall big arching
Speaker:piece of advice,
Speaker:based on all those coaching calls that you've done already,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:That's a good question.
Speaker:Biggest nugget.
Speaker:Let's see.
Speaker:It's probably gonna come back down to the cashflow because if
Speaker:you don't manage that properly,
Speaker:you're going to be out of business.
Speaker:Right? Because everything that I work towards on the back end
Speaker:of your business is really geared towards maximizing your bottom line.
Speaker:And so we're going to make sure you've got your costs
Speaker:in line and your revenues planned out to where you at
Speaker:least have a plan to be successful.
Speaker:Yes. You might have to Dodge some things here and there,
Speaker:or you might get some great perks along the way,
Speaker:but you need to have a roadmap to get there.
Speaker:And that cashflow is going to dictate what that roadmap looks
Speaker:like. Perfect.
Speaker:So lane,
Speaker:at this point,
Speaker:I want to ask you my dare to dream question.
Speaker:Are you ready?
Speaker:I'm ready.
Speaker:Okay. I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Such a great question too.
Speaker:So my dream,
Speaker:if I were to open up this box would show that
Speaker:have an agency of folks that are on my team to
Speaker:where I can service many more clients that are in that
Speaker:range from startups to scale ups,
Speaker:to multi six or seven figure businesses so that they can
Speaker:have that outsourced expertise from years and years of experience in
Speaker:the industry,
Speaker:but they can outsource it to an expert.
Speaker:So I would love to have an agency set up to
Speaker:where we can handle a broad range of clients.
Speaker:In addition to,
Speaker:I want to be able to create a new software that
Speaker:is specifically geared towards small and medium-sized businesses,
Speaker:because right now the great forecasting tools,
Speaker:the great inventory tools are a multi-million dollars and really not
Speaker:something that is going to be well geared towards small,
Speaker:medium sized businesses.
Speaker:So I want to have not only the software,
Speaker:but the personal support needed to help move these businesses in
Speaker:the right direction.
Speaker:I'm so excited about that idea because this whole concept,
Speaker:I don't think people really think about and to have something
Speaker:that could be a little bit more off the shelf versus
Speaker:having to enter into a consulting type thing for you,
Speaker:I think would be fabulous.
Speaker:And for people who need the product would also be great.
Speaker:So love that I am all in on that idea for
Speaker:you, cause we all need it.
Speaker:So how can our listeners find out more about you?
Speaker:Where would you direct them?
Speaker:The easiest place to find me is just on my website.
Speaker:It's the project booth.com.
Speaker:And from there you can read a little bit more about
Speaker:me or you could also find the link to my Facebook
Speaker:page. And I also do have a Facebook group back in
Speaker:brilliance to scale your growing business.
Speaker:And that is where I spend most of my active time
Speaker:throughout the week in providing additional tips,
Speaker:some similar or maybe a deeper dive to what we've gone
Speaker:over today.
Speaker:So that's a great place to learn more Wonderful.
Speaker:And that's a free group to go into it is.
Speaker:Okay. You also,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:cause I was just looking before we got on you have
Speaker:some type of a download also on your website.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Yep. What's that It is five profit mistakes to avoid when
Speaker:growing your business.
Speaker:And so this will hit on some of the topics we
Speaker:talked about today,
Speaker:but also go into a deeper dive.
Speaker:And if that resonates with you,
Speaker:then that's a great segue into hopping on a phone call
Speaker:and starting an initial consult to see if we can help
Speaker:you fast track your day.
Speaker:Oh, perfect.
Speaker:Wonderful. Yeah.
Speaker:So download,
Speaker:read it and then see if you need further information or
Speaker:you feel like you want to take the next step.
Speaker:Absolutely wonderful lane.
Speaker:I am so,
Speaker:so glad we had this interview.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:like I said in the beginning,
Speaker:this is a topic we haven't really addressed and I think
Speaker:it is a key to being able to stay open with
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:We've talked a little bit about you do some of these
Speaker:touch points wrong.
Speaker:You're going to be putting your money in places that aren't
Speaker:going to allow you to build or grow so important.
Speaker:Thank you so so much for being on the show today,
Speaker:sharing your expertise with us,
Speaker:giving some hints into some of the consulting that you do
Speaker:with your clients.
Speaker:I appreciate it so much.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:sir. I appreciate your time as well.
Speaker:Are you discouraged because your business is not performing as you
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Speaker:are you stuck and confused about how to turn things around
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Speaker:just like you,
Speaker:who are seeing real growth and are living their dream maker
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