Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Starting a business is about being fearless.
- Take a business concept, work with it and then grow it.
- You'll never reach a point that you know everything. One place to seek ideas and suggestions is from your team.
- With the evolution of commerce, power and control are going to move closer to the consumer.
- The customer connection is about the story behind your business and your product.
- There's great value when, no matter how large the company gets, each employee has each other’s back in fulfilling the overall goal - regardless of their areas of expertise.
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You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 257 really to me,
Speaker:starting a business is about being fearless Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, 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 packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and I'm So happy that we're back together again
Speaker:today. If you're a first time listener,
Speaker:welcome. I'm thrilled to have you here as well.
Speaker:Top order of business today is an announcement you,
Speaker:my podcast listeners,
Speaker:get to be the first to know that my live masterclass
Speaker:is now open.
Speaker:It's called how to turn your handmade products into an income
Speaker:producing business without a fancy degree or wasting time and money
Speaker:doing the wrong things.
Speaker:If you've been struggling getting your business off the ground,
Speaker:if you're wondering what you're doing that's preventing you from seeing
Speaker:the results you're expecting or if you're thinking about whether this
Speaker:is all worth it in the first place.
Speaker:Help is on the way go sign up for this masterclass@giftbizunwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash masterclass and let's get you back on track and
Speaker:excited about your business.
Speaker:Once again,
Speaker:it's totally free and the information I'm sharing is definitely worth
Speaker:knowing. Gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash masterclass today's guest comes not only from an entirely
Speaker:different industry into the gifting world,
Speaker:but she transitioned from a digital technology space to a product
Speaker:based business that's a big switch.
Speaker:I often say that when we focus solely on our individual
Speaker:industries, our vision becomes tunnel focused and limited.
Speaker:Here Laura uses her past expertise to add depth and differentiation
Speaker:to her new business,
Speaker:which by the way,
Speaker:like many of us was started from her basement.
Speaker:You're going to hear how Laura began with an analysis of
Speaker:her market,
Speaker:how she focused on a specific part of the sale that
Speaker:led to the core value of her business and a host
Speaker:of other important topics like hiring,
Speaker:product development,
Speaker:fulfillment and growth.
Speaker:Here we go.
Speaker:Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Laura Jennings
Speaker:of NAC.
Speaker:After a career as a senior exec at Microsoft and that
Speaker:is a venture capitalist,
Speaker:Laura decided to build an eCommerce business around celebrating the customer
Speaker:as a creative force.
Speaker:Every gift they send out at NAC is made to order
Speaker:whether it's one gift or thousands.
Speaker:Each gift on the website is easily customizable and their exclusive
Speaker:gift builders system allows customers to create completely unique gifts from
Speaker:scratch, as if that's not valuable enough.
Speaker:They also have a shop by ethos feature that allows customers
Speaker:to find products from companies who share their values.
Speaker:This could be supporting a female led business,
Speaker:focusing on sustainability produced products or contributing to a business.
Speaker:That gives back to a specific cause.
Speaker:This business sounds so fabulous,
Speaker:Laura. I'm so excited to dive in.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Oh, thank you for inviting me.
Speaker:I cannot wait to talk with you further and learn what
Speaker:all of this is about.
Speaker:And I love your website.
Speaker:PS, I'm saying that right in the beginning here,
Speaker:but before we get started,
Speaker:I want to ask you a question that's become a tradition
Speaker:here on the show.
Speaker:And that is to have you describe yourself by way of
Speaker:a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to share with us a little bit
Speaker:more of who you are by a color and a quote
Speaker:on a motivational candle,
Speaker:what would that look like?
Speaker:One of the things that I think is true about me
Speaker:is that I have an ability to make things more complicated
Speaker:than they need to be.
Speaker:And so my candle would really start with the meaning behind
Speaker:it, who made it.
Speaker:And so what's important to me is that everything I do
Speaker:is very intentional and as leveraged as possible.
Speaker:So my ideal candle would really be made by someone who
Speaker:I'm helping in some way.
Speaker:So that really would be the core of it.
Speaker:And the part that really is meaningful to me in terms
Speaker:of color,
Speaker:my favorite color has always been yellow.
Speaker:It's very optimistic,
Speaker:it's very positive.
Speaker:And really to me starting a business is about being fearless.
Speaker:And so that would be my motivational saying,
Speaker:Be fearless and being fearless.
Speaker:In what way?
Speaker:Give us a little more context to that.
Speaker:Well, I think first daring to think big,
Speaker:so I have a business that I started in my basement,
Speaker:which has now evolved quite a bit and also being fearless
Speaker:about failure because inevitably when you put yourself out there and
Speaker:create something from scratch,
Speaker:the risk of failure is very high.
Speaker:And that can be personally embarrassing and professionally embarrassing.
Speaker:And so I think it's both of those things.
Speaker:So you and I already have a lot alike because my
Speaker:favorite color is also yellow.
Speaker:And I started my first business from my basement too.
Speaker:So that's just kind of funny.
Speaker:Yeah. But take us back to before NAC.
Speaker:So you had a corporate career for a while.
Speaker:I did share us a little bit about That.
Speaker:So I was fortunate enough to go to Microsoft before really
Speaker:they were successful.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:in the early days,
Speaker:that was a crazy time and it was a time of
Speaker:such rapid growth that all of us in the company or
Speaker:taking on larger roles maybe before we were ready.
Speaker:So everything I did,
Speaker:although it was a big corporate structure and Microsoft during the
Speaker:course of my tenure,
Speaker:it became a very big company.
Speaker:Everything I did was about growing things.
Speaker:So I launched a very original Microsoft office back in 1989
Speaker:dating myself a little bit.
Speaker:Yeah. But in those days,
Speaker:the Microsoft office only existed on the Mac because we did
Speaker:not have applications on windows yet.
Speaker:In order to put that together.
Speaker:And although we think about the Microsoft office as this staid,
Speaker:enormous, successful business,
Speaker:it was actually a controversial idea when we first launched it.
Speaker:After that,
Speaker:I grew that email business,
Speaker:although we were running our company using email.
Speaker:Email really was still not widespread in business.
Speaker:And so we acquired a little company in Vancouver,
Speaker:Canada that was doing about $8 million a year in revenue.
Speaker:And I grew that business up to about one 75 million.
Speaker:And then I moved into other emerging businesses,
Speaker:the largest of which was MSN.
Speaker:So I ran MSN for about three and a half years
Speaker:during the early days of that.
Speaker:And then my final job at Microsoft was the vice president
Speaker:of worldwide strategic planning.
Speaker:So although I was in a big company,
Speaker:really my background and where I've always gravitated is to the
Speaker:building process,
Speaker:taking a business and growing it.
Speaker:And that's what interests me,
Speaker:not running something that is already large.
Speaker:Very interesting.
Speaker:And I'm sure so applicable as you went off then on
Speaker:your own.
Speaker:So nice to be able to kind of get your feet
Speaker:wet and really learn and especially,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:who knew Microsoft was going to grow to the size it
Speaker:did when you first started.
Speaker:But I can only imagine all of the knowledge that you
Speaker:got all those years had to really help.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:when I went to Microsoft,
Speaker:that's why I had gone to business school.
Speaker:I had an undergraduate degree,
Speaker:worked for a few years,
Speaker:went to business school,
Speaker:then went to Microsoft and when I went to Microsoft I
Speaker:was actually making less money than I had made before.
Speaker:I invested all that money in business school,
Speaker:but it just felt right.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that sort of entrepreneurial feeling.
Speaker:It just felt like the right fit even though it was
Speaker:by far my lowest financial offer,
Speaker:but I went with what felt right and that worked out
Speaker:okay. The other thing I want to say about that experiences,
Speaker:I went from that to being a VC,
Speaker:so as a venture capitalist I sat on many,
Speaker:many startup boards and had a really front row to that
Speaker:process. However,
Speaker:I will say as well prepared as I thought I was
Speaker:to start my own business.
Speaker:Really doing it from scratch as you did as I did
Speaker:really is a completely different thing.
Speaker:I'm really glad that you said that.
Speaker:While there's two things here that I think are really great
Speaker:and we see this all the time in different ways.
Speaker:Your corporate life gave you so much knowledge.
Speaker:And I think there's people who are listening to us right
Speaker:now who might even have their earbuds in in their cubicle,
Speaker:you never know and are listening and are trying to figure
Speaker:out a way where they could start their own business and
Speaker:possibly have it replaced what they're doing now.
Speaker:And I think they discount all of the knowledge and learning
Speaker:and skills that they're getting from whatever they're currently doing.
Speaker:So you bring this up as an example that this has
Speaker:helped you pave the way.
Speaker:Although I did also hear it didn't pass me by that
Speaker:you're still not ever fully prepared and I'd be interested to
Speaker:see what you think about this.
Speaker:But I kind of always thought that once I got my
Speaker:business established and up to a certain level,
Speaker:then I'd know everything.
Speaker:It would run smoothly.
Speaker:There'd never be problems.
Speaker:Right. Yeah.
Speaker:And I finally figured out there are always going to be
Speaker:things that come up.
Speaker:Do you feel the same way?
Speaker:Absolutely. And the problems might change,
Speaker:but growth and success itself has,
Speaker:it brings its own set of issues.
Speaker:I certainly haven't hit the point where I know everything.
Speaker:I don't think we ever do.
Speaker:Plus the world is changing around us so quickly that even
Speaker:if we got to that point,
Speaker:then we'd have stale information because it's just going so fast.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:So, and be honest,
Speaker:I think that would get boring.
Speaker:I mean it might feel good for a little while where
Speaker:you can breathe and just know that everything's going to stay
Speaker:status quo,
Speaker:but at some point there's no challenge anymore.
Speaker:I think that's right.
Speaker:I think the sort of person who starts a business that
Speaker:is absolutely true.
Speaker:So we've had the luxury of growing enough that I have
Speaker:a number of employees and I've interviewed a lot of people
Speaker:and when I try to describe what it's like to be
Speaker:in a startup,
Speaker:everybody says,
Speaker:Oh yes,
Speaker:yes I want to do that.
Speaker:But the reality is not everybody does that.
Speaker:There is a risk tolerance.
Speaker:There has to be a capacity to handle chaos and to
Speaker:make things up and then to retrench when the things you
Speaker:made up didn't work.
Speaker:That is for someone who wants to start or wants to
Speaker:work in a business.
Speaker:Once they help grow something,
Speaker:those are really important characteristics.
Speaker:The glass is always half full and challenges are like,
Speaker:Oh that's interesting,
Speaker:let's figure that out.
Speaker:But that doesn't work for everybody.
Speaker:So I think what you say is true,
Speaker:but I think you need to really be honest with yourself
Speaker:about what type of environment you really thrive in.
Speaker:And it's not a right or wrong,
Speaker:but really building something from scratch requires a certain personality type.
Speaker:Such valuable information.
Speaker:Laura, just giving that notice,
Speaker:self reflection.
Speaker:Are you the type of person who would be able to
Speaker:manage through these types of situations because what you described is
Speaker:absolutely reality,
Speaker:no question about it.
Speaker:Yeah. So at what point did the idea of NAC enter
Speaker:into your mind?
Speaker:Were you still working at that point or tell us about
Speaker:how it all started?
Speaker:No, I wasn't working at that point.
Speaker:I had just had my fourth child.
Speaker:I had been actually helping a startup for a while.
Speaker:But really when I think about the roots of nag,
Speaker:if I think about my career,
Speaker:I've had the luxury really of experimenting with this idea of
Speaker:how do people use technology to work together for a very
Speaker:long time.
Speaker:Even really starting with the Microsoft office and then of course
Speaker:at MSN.
Speaker:And so I've watched the evolution of commerce on the internet
Speaker:go from selling things to marketplaces,
Speaker:to double-sided marketplaces.
Speaker:And to me having this kind of a longer view,
Speaker:it seems to me that power and control are inevitably going
Speaker:to move closer to the consumer.
Speaker:So to me,
Speaker:I've been thinking about this idea of where are we heading
Speaker:and what was important to me in starting knack was this
Speaker:idea of how do we make the consumer themselves a creative
Speaker:force? How do we celebrate that?
Speaker:How do we give them the tools they need to create
Speaker:exactly what they want in a way that is accessible and
Speaker:not overly complicated.
Speaker:It's interesting to me,
Speaker:unless there's some portion of your past that I'm not familiar
Speaker:with yet,
Speaker:that you switched though for more informational product to physical product.
Speaker:Yeah. And that has been a real growth experience for me.
Speaker:You're exactly right.
Speaker:I come from a world of software world where once you
Speaker:build the software,
Speaker:you're basically finished,
Speaker:Right? Your investment is in the development and growth and then
Speaker:the monetary rewards come after that where with product you've potentially
Speaker:inventory more labor,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Exactly. And that was an area where I really had to
Speaker:rely on other people.
Speaker:So the first thing I did was hire a consultant and
Speaker:we went through sort of merchandising one-on-one.
Speaker:And so tell me what are the jobs in a merchandising
Speaker:department? What do people do?
Speaker:How do you think about it?
Speaker:What are the tools you use to manage that?
Speaker:So I really had to educate myself and even that wasn't
Speaker:enough. I made sure from the beginning that I hired people
Speaker:who knew how to do that.
Speaker:So my very first chief merchandiser had come after a long
Speaker:career, both at Nordstrom and then in other industries.
Speaker:And I really have relied on having somebody in my organization
Speaker:at all times who brings that knowledge because they've,
Speaker:they've lived it and they've been trained in that environment.
Speaker:I like your description of the development too.
Speaker:You went out and ask questions of someone who knew,
Speaker:so you knew the different types of positions.
Speaker:I guess I'll say that you needed to fill,
Speaker:you knew what you were just familiar with and then you
Speaker:went out and filled it with people who know instead of
Speaker:you trying to figure it all out.
Speaker:Exactly. I knew that I didn't even know who to hire,
Speaker:so I found a consultant who I needed to get the
Speaker:lay of the land to even figure out what I needed.
Speaker:What was the profile of that sort of person?
Speaker:Did you have connections from the past that helped you find
Speaker:somebody? Well,
Speaker:I live in Seattle and the sort of place where you
Speaker:might not know everybody,
Speaker:but you know someone who does and so I think being
Speaker:in this environment was helpful because I had been a VC.
Speaker:I also knew a lot of people in the startup community
Speaker:and they were very useful.
Speaker:I think I found my first consultant as a referral from
Speaker:somebody that I knew in my previous life.
Speaker:As a VC.
Speaker:That's an important point unto itself.
Speaker:Just connections,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:where different connections can take you.
Speaker:You have to ask the questions.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:Maybe we can come back to this later,
Speaker:but I think when you're starting a business,
Speaker:those connections are so important because you don't have the infrastructure
Speaker:of an organization behind you.
Speaker:And even to this day,
Speaker:I'm part of a group of all female CEOs who get
Speaker:together once a month.
Speaker:And the energy I get out of that group,
Speaker:that ideas,
Speaker:the energy,
Speaker:the support,
Speaker:that contacts are just immeasurably important to me.
Speaker:How much time did you take actually planning and preparing and
Speaker:building a business plan if indeed you did give us a
Speaker:little insight into that before you actually got things up and
Speaker:running. So I would say that I thought about it for
Speaker:too long before I did it.
Speaker:Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker:And then what I did do next is I put together
Speaker:a little test,
Speaker:so hired some consultants to build enough of a software rig
Speaker:that I could do a popup store.
Speaker:So there's a downtown mall here in town that I did
Speaker:a popup store at holiday in a very central location,
Speaker:purchase some inventory,
Speaker:and it had really set that up as an experiment.
Speaker:I set it up so that people could interact with this
Speaker:idea of creating your own gift in multiple ways.
Speaker:And then we observed what did people gravitate to.
Speaker:The most important thing we learned in that popup store is
Speaker:what did it mean for someone to make something?
Speaker:Where is the point at which the customer feels ownership?
Speaker:Because there were lots of ways we could have gone forward.
Speaker:And so that test case was really important.
Speaker:So we did that and then after holiday we used that
Speaker:information to then build the business plan and wireframe the actual
Speaker:software platform.
Speaker:So did you feel like identifying the point where a customer
Speaker:felt ownership equated to more probability of them completing the order
Speaker:or the sale?
Speaker:Yes, but I want to step back for just a second.
Speaker:Everybody has in their history,
Speaker:given someone a gift that they think is so perfect that
Speaker:they can't wait for that person to open it.
Speaker:It's the best feeling in the world.
Speaker:It just like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you nailed it,
Speaker:you are so excited.
Speaker:You could just barely wait to give them that gift.
Speaker:That is what I was trying to accomplish.
Speaker:What is it about that?
Speaker:Does the person need to touch it physically?
Speaker:Do they need to have gotten the items themselves and put
Speaker:them in and made the box?
Speaker:Or is it about choosing or is it about the ethos
Speaker:behind it?
Speaker:And so that's really what we were trying to figure out.
Speaker:What is the point at which our customer feels fabulous?
Speaker:Like I nailed this gift,
Speaker:I'm so excited to give it.
Speaker:So that's really what we were after.
Speaker:And then the part about it is the conversion rate go
Speaker:up or do they complete more often?
Speaker:That really is secondary.
Speaker:But we were very focused on trying to give them that
Speaker:experience of ownership and joy because that when you do find
Speaker:the perfect gift for somebody,
Speaker:it feels so good.
Speaker:Right? And if you're not quite landing it,
Speaker:then you just keep creating until you have that perfect gift.
Speaker:Right. So interesting because you know,
Speaker:there are other types of companies that I would put things
Speaker:in boxes and offer boxes of product by category and all
Speaker:that, but not so many that allow you to customize and
Speaker:for sure not to the level that you're doing.
Speaker:But the thing that I really like,
Speaker:and I'm pretty versed in both the gift basket slash gift
Speaker:box industry and I haven't heard anybody really talk about it
Speaker:the way you are,
Speaker:where you're going after the feeling of the purchaser and the
Speaker:experience that was your driver from the beginning,
Speaker:which is brilliant.
Speaker:Well, and I think that I came at it because of
Speaker:my background from a completely different direction.
Speaker:So I came at it from how do we build around
Speaker:the consumer as our central point?
Speaker:So this idea,
Speaker:yeah, there are other people who have environments where you can
Speaker:build or make changes,
Speaker:but that's everything we do.
Speaker:It isn't the court,
Speaker:it is our true North that when we make decisions that
Speaker:the part where we're celebrating the customer as the creative force
Speaker:is always the center.
Speaker:And so we invest in way you see that manifestation on
Speaker:our website really reflecting that.
Speaker:And other people came at it from a different direction.
Speaker:It's not a right or wrong,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:that is really what is unique about us that we were
Speaker:formed around this idea of everything is made to order and
Speaker:we will always be that.
Speaker:That's the core of what we do.
Speaker:It's not,
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:And by the way,
Speaker:if you don't like what we have put together,
Speaker:we have this other thing.
Speaker:So would you say that the product is secondary to the
Speaker:feeling and the experience of the creation?
Speaker:That's a good question.
Speaker:Maybe if I had to really push,
Speaker:but they're so close together because you talked about in your
Speaker:intro, this shop by ethos feature,
Speaker:at least I can talk about as a gift or I
Speaker:tend to,
Speaker:when I give somebody a gift,
Speaker:I have a reason for it.
Speaker:So I gave you this because I picked this because,
Speaker:and when we think about gifts that we remember,
Speaker:we don't remember the items so much.
Speaker:We remember how it made us feel.
Speaker:Right? And we remember the story.
Speaker:So let's take,
Speaker:let's say I come to visit you and you invite me
Speaker:to your home and I bring a bottle of wine that's
Speaker:very, very nice.
Speaker:But if I walk in and I give you that bottle
Speaker:of wine,
Speaker:and I say,
Speaker:so I'm so excited.
Speaker:This is the wine that my husband and I drank on
Speaker:our honeymoon and we found a case and I want you
Speaker:to try it.
Speaker:Or whatever that story is.
Speaker:It's the same gift.
Speaker:It's the same item.
Speaker:But it is a completely different feeling.
Speaker:And as humans,
Speaker:that's really what forms those lasting memories.
Speaker:So the part where we pair people with merchants that they're
Speaker:excited about stories that they're excited about,
Speaker:products that reflect their personal values is part of what gives
Speaker:people that feeling of,
Speaker:wow, I nailed it.
Speaker:Right? And I think that also extends on to people talking
Speaker:about the experience with other people,
Speaker:which attracts new customers to want to come and try the
Speaker:site the next time that they have a gift that they
Speaker:need to produce.
Speaker:So give biz listeners,
Speaker:I want you to really,
Speaker:really, if you didn't catch this,
Speaker:go back and listen again because so often we talk about,
Speaker:well what's the why behind your business?
Speaker:One of the why's is why you start your business in
Speaker:the first place.
Speaker:But the second is why would someone purchase from you?
Speaker:And I think it would benefit you to sit and give
Speaker:some thought to what is the experience that a customer gets,
Speaker:whether they're buying what you make for themselves or whether they're
Speaker:buying it as a gift.
Speaker:Is there a way to add another level of experience onto
Speaker:it for all the reasons that Laura just talked about?
Speaker:So just wanted to make that comment cause I think that
Speaker:is a golden point,
Speaker:Laura, I really appreciate it and I'm thrilled that we brought
Speaker:this up and talked about this.
Speaker:I want to take us back to after you did the
Speaker:test, you saw that it was working and then obviously filled
Speaker:any orders that came through with the test from your popup,
Speaker:right? But then how did you start growing the business from
Speaker:there? Well,
Speaker:let me tell a story about connections.
Speaker:Laura is going to share her story right after a quick
Speaker:break. Yes,
Speaker:it's possible increase your sales without adding a single customer.
Speaker:How you ask by offering personalization with your products.
Speaker:Wrap a cake box with a ribbon saying happy 30th birthday,
Speaker:Annie or at a special message and date to wedding or
Speaker:party favors for an extra meaningful touch.
Speaker:Where else can you get customization with a creatively spelled name
Speaker:or find packaging that includes a saying whose meaning is known
Speaker:to a select to not only are customers willing to pay
Speaker:for these special touches,
Speaker:they'll tell their friends and word will spread about your company
Speaker:products. You can create personalized ribbons and labels in seconds.
Speaker:Make just one or thousands without waiting weeks or having to
Speaker:spend money to order yards and yards.
Speaker:Print words in any language or font.
Speaker:Add logos,
Speaker:images, even photos.
Speaker:Perfect for branding or adding ingredient and flavor labels to for
Speaker:more information,
Speaker:go to the ribbon.
Speaker:Print company.com
Speaker:One of my best friends broke her leg and was stuck
Speaker:in bed for many weeks.
Speaker:And so lots of her friends were coming through,
Speaker:not only me,
Speaker:we would go try to keep her company.
Speaker:And at one point my friend Liz said,
Speaker:gosh, you know this other friend of mine who I did
Speaker:not know told me a story about a business she's trying
Speaker:to put together and I think the two of you should
Speaker:meet. So okay.
Speaker:So the two of us met and we had in common
Speaker:that we both very much like this mutual friend.
Speaker:And by sharing our stories of what we were trying to
Speaker:do, it really gave me the courage to move forward.
Speaker:And in fact,
Speaker:this person helped me,
Speaker:she invested her personal time to help me with my business.
Speaker:And I am in fact an investor and very much a
Speaker:big supporter of her business.
Speaker:And so there's a little serendipity to that,
Speaker:but it really speaks to even having had this background of
Speaker:building things in a big company and then being a VC,
Speaker:I think having that person who was going through this same
Speaker:thing, albeit a different business that we could support each other
Speaker:was really important.
Speaker:So really between when we did the popup shop,
Speaker:when we did that test case and when we launched our
Speaker:software platform online was about nine months.
Speaker:We really think of that as our MVP,
Speaker:our minimum viable product we got in the market by the
Speaker:next holiday.
Speaker:And then again,
Speaker:what we were trying to figure out what that MVP was,
Speaker:does what we saw in a physical environment translate to e-commerce.
Speaker:So we ran that for three or four months and analyzed
Speaker:it and found that yes,
Speaker:it very much replicated on multiple dimensions,
Speaker:exactly what we had seen in a physical environment.
Speaker:And then based on that,
Speaker:we then built the beginnings of what is the platform we're
Speaker:still built on today.
Speaker:So really I think of this as a conceptual test to
Speaker:understand more of the sociology of what we were trying to
Speaker:do. Then the technology test to see whether it translated to
Speaker:e-commerce and then the build of the final platform.
Speaker:So from the test to when we started really building the
Speaker:platform, you see today was about 1516 months,
Speaker:which isn't that long.
Speaker:Really. No,
Speaker:I'm not a very patient person.
Speaker:Well and you also did say that you didn't jump in
Speaker:fast enough so that,
Speaker:that's interesting too.
Speaker:I know you take a lot of care.
Speaker:You're saying that as we were talking about your candle in
Speaker:the beginning,
Speaker:that you take a lot of care in the background of
Speaker:products that you provide.
Speaker:So talk a little bit about your sourcing and the standards
Speaker:that you have and all that for the products that are
Speaker:available. This is one of the issues with scale too.
Speaker:There's the,
Speaker:what we were able to do in the beginning becomes harder
Speaker:as we get larger.
Speaker:But what is true about everything we carry is that we
Speaker:really believe in it and we understand the story behind it.
Speaker:So we get to know all of our merchants and that's
Speaker:really important to us.
Speaker:So then when a corporate customer says their brand values lie
Speaker:at the intersection of sustainability and female empowerment,
Speaker:we know exactly exactly who to introduce them to as a
Speaker:merchant. So we take the time to really get to know
Speaker:people, we understand what their values are.
Speaker:And in the beginning I was able to play more of
Speaker:a role in that.
Speaker:And today we have a staff of two or three people
Speaker:who do that.
Speaker:So I've had to let go a little bit,
Speaker:although that's hard because I love our merchants.
Speaker:There's nothing I love more.
Speaker:When somebody we were working with when they were very small
Speaker:becomes a success story.
Speaker:So we have a modernist aesthetic,
Speaker:we want to do business with good people who we understand
Speaker:and we can introduce and share and pair with our customers.
Speaker:And there has to be a story behind the product and
Speaker:a cause.
Speaker:Something besides just the existence of the product.
Speaker:There has to be some depth to it.
Speaker:To the business.
Speaker:Yes. If you go on our site,
Speaker:you'll see there's a shop by ethos area where you can
Speaker:filter, I mean everybody doesn't have the same values for some
Speaker:people, they really want their products to support if they can,
Speaker:helping other people or giving back to the community or maybe
Speaker:they want to buy locally or female empowerment.
Speaker:I wouldn't say everybody has to have the same values,
Speaker:but we allow you to filter,
Speaker:maybe you want to support small businesses.
Speaker:So we allow you to filter it that way so that
Speaker:you can then take ownership of this gift.
Speaker:And I can say,
Speaker:so I know you really care about sustainability,
Speaker:so all of the products in here are made by whatever,
Speaker:or I picked this product because they give 20% of their
Speaker:profits back to water conservation.
Speaker:And I think that's all part of giving the customer ownership,
Speaker:particularly that if you think about the millennial generation and really
Speaker:have grown up curating their personal brand.
Speaker:And so this notion that they're going to buy something that
Speaker:doesn't represent who they are as a gift.
Speaker:I mean gifts are very personal.
Speaker:It's an Emissary from media.
Speaker:I think that is an antiquated notion.
Speaker:I think today we want to believe that who we buy
Speaker:from matters and that if we can take something we're doing
Speaker:anyway, which is a commercial transaction,
Speaker:and use that to make a difference in somebody's life,
Speaker:that feels really good and it feels contemporary.
Speaker:And if you've grown up in the last 20 years,
Speaker:your expectation is that's how it should be.
Speaker:Yes, and I really think for everyone who's listening here to
Speaker:what you said is really powerful.
Speaker:Who you buy from matters.
Speaker:Because when we're out at craft shows,
Speaker:let's say there's a big fear,
Speaker:I think with a lot of people who listen,
Speaker:Laura is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like let my product speak for itself.
Speaker:I don't want to go on Facebook live or I don't
Speaker:want to be in a craft show where people can see
Speaker:me. Like that's scary.
Speaker:My product is beautiful.
Speaker:People say they love it,
Speaker:let it to speak for itself.
Speaker:But when you start talking about who you buy from matters,
Speaker:getting yourself out there in front and interacting with your customers
Speaker:can be so powerful for the growth of your business.
Speaker:I believe that is true.
Speaker:I'm sympathetic though because I'm an introvert,
Speaker:so I get where that's coming from.
Speaker:However, I agree with you completely.
Speaker:It is so powerful to make a connection and that connection
Speaker:is really about the story behind that product.
Speaker:Why did you make it?
Speaker:How did you pick these materials?
Speaker:What motivates you?
Speaker:I think that is what resonates with people.
Speaker:Again, it's about the story more than the thing And you
Speaker:know what's so magical about that too is price becomes less
Speaker:relevant. People are going to buy the soaps that you make
Speaker:or the boxed gifts that you make,
Speaker:even if it's more expensive because there's just so much more
Speaker:to it than just the product.
Speaker:That's why I asked you that question earlier.
Speaker:There's so much depth then into not only the tangible pieces,
Speaker:but the gift overall.
Speaker:Right? It represents who you are as a person.
Speaker:Right. How often are you adding products?
Speaker:Are you continually on the search or do you have a
Speaker:certain percentage of rollover you try to do to keep things
Speaker:fresh, or how do you manage the inventory in that manner?
Speaker:Yeah, so obviously there's seasonal gifting occasions that we pay a
Speaker:lot of attention to holiday big one,
Speaker:which will have its own product climate will launch really for
Speaker:that season.
Speaker:Mother's day is another one where although we sell a lot
Speaker:of gifts for women,
Speaker:that's a very strong part of our site.
Speaker:We will typically launch new products around mother's day.
Speaker:However, there's always continual changes,
Speaker:modifications to the product line.
Speaker:As we discover new vendors,
Speaker:we see a place to put something in,
Speaker:we identify a new trend and one of the categories we're
Speaker:already strong in.
Speaker:So we are always looking for new ideas and the amount
Speaker:of turnover on the site tends to be pretty moderate except
Speaker:when we're launching maybe a new whole category or around those
Speaker:big holidays.
Speaker:Okay. And are you going out to shows to seek new
Speaker:vendors? You know,
Speaker:we didn't in the beginning.
Speaker:A lot of it in the beginning was word of mouth
Speaker:and we would just show up places.
Speaker:So we go to New York,
Speaker:we go to where we would find people who were with
Speaker:artisans and they would introduce us to people,
Speaker:urban craft uprising.
Speaker:So in the beginning,
Speaker:a lot of it was word of mouth,
Speaker:being in the community,
Speaker:caring about people.
Speaker:And when you care about people,
Speaker:you make them feel good about working with you.
Speaker:They tell their friends that in the beginning was what we
Speaker:did. As we've gotten larger,
Speaker:we do visit the shows,
Speaker:we try to still find things that are unique.
Speaker:So we might not source from those shows,
Speaker:but it's a really good place for us to go and
Speaker:see trends and certainly get creative energy even if we're not
Speaker:always sourcing vendors that way.
Speaker:Okay. And I'm just curious.
Speaker:So as I look at your site,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:I already mentioned this before.
Speaker:The site is beautiful.
Speaker:The other thing I really like about it is there are
Speaker:some premade gifts that you can either just take as they
Speaker:are or you can add on.
Speaker:I'm telling you about your own company.
Speaker:Right? But I'm what I'm observing.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:Well, it's what I'm observing,
Speaker:but it's so easy then to customize it too.
Speaker:It's so intuitive.
Speaker:But I'm also thinking then about the composite of a gift.
Speaker:When people add in product,
Speaker:do you try and create so that all the product looks
Speaker:similar so someone doesn't have something that's all let's say pastels
Speaker:and then add in something that has bright red packaging,
Speaker:you know something like that where it's not going to look
Speaker:as visually pulled together if they add in more products.
Speaker:Do you do anything about that?
Speaker:So no is the big answer but let me talk about
Speaker:what we do do,
Speaker:right, so we have these already made gifts on the site.
Speaker:At least we put together those ideas.
Speaker:None of those are in inventory.
Speaker:I just want to be clear about that.
Speaker:We don't have a stack of those products already made in
Speaker:our warehouse.
Speaker:Those are ideas.
Speaker:You have the individual pieces With the individual pieces and we
Speaker:have an idea and a customer they can buy that idea
Speaker:or they can add,
Speaker:they can subtract,
Speaker:they can change.
Speaker:And most of the time they do.
Speaker:Most of the time they make something that makes it feel
Speaker:like theirs.
Speaker:It reflects who they are Because it's so easy to do
Speaker:Because it's easy to do.
Speaker:But what we do is then now we have all this
Speaker:data about how people,
Speaker:other real people have changed the gift.
Speaker:And so when you're modifying the gift,
Speaker:you can see down below we've gotten some recommended items and
Speaker:that really comes from both us saying,
Speaker:boy, this looks really good together.
Speaker:But also we observe that a lot of people taking this
Speaker:gift and putting this other thing in.
Speaker:The other thing we do is we have these gift builders
Speaker:where you can create a gift from scratch using a recipe,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:So we give you a recipe for a gift for let's
Speaker:say a typical bridesmaid's gift contains some item that they'll have
Speaker:forever. It contains something useful for the day of,
Speaker:and it contains something fun.
Speaker:It usually consumable.
Speaker:And so we'll put together that recipe in a set of
Speaker:products that fall into each of those categories.
Speaker:And you can very easily click,
Speaker:click, click your way through and make your own gift.
Speaker:But then again at the bottom there's just a search bar
Speaker:and you can add whatever you want.
Speaker:So although we help people,
Speaker:we guide that through these example gifts and the recommended products
Speaker:and these recipes.
Speaker:In the end,
Speaker:a customer can make whatever they want and sometimes these crazy
Speaker:gifts, sometimes the gifts are totally crazy and I love that
Speaker:because I don't need to understand it.
Speaker:It makes sense for the gift giver and the gift recipient
Speaker:and that's what really matters.
Speaker:Right? Cause they might not even look like products that should
Speaker:go together,
Speaker:but they all have a story that match the relationship.
Speaker:Whoever's giving and the receiver.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:Now let me go to the back end of that cause
Speaker:you talked about how things look.
Speaker:So we are making every gift from scratch.
Speaker:Well we think about the people who work in our warehouse,
Speaker:they're not pulling product and throwing it in a Brown shipper
Speaker:and putting a shipping label on it.
Speaker:These are people,
Speaker:I think of them more as their sort of florists.
Speaker:Right? They're like gift florists.
Speaker:So they're looking at what the customer has put together and
Speaker:their job is to make it look really good.
Speaker:And we give those people a lot of leeway.
Speaker:They're experts,
Speaker:they're making these gifts all the time.
Speaker:And so if they want to change boxes or they want
Speaker:to add a little something,
Speaker:they have the ability to do that,
Speaker:to make that gift look good.
Speaker:And we try to help the consumer,
Speaker:but we don't limit what they put together because that's sometimes
Speaker:those are the best gifts And there's a reason for it.
Speaker:If they've consciously selected a specific item and added it in,
Speaker:there's gotta be a reason for it.
Speaker:Exactly. Okay.
Speaker:So Laura,
Speaker:your story sounds beautiful.
Speaker:Perfect. Great experience as you were walking into knack and then
Speaker:you just picked up,
Speaker:figured things out as you went.
Speaker:Take us to a time when things were more challenging.
Speaker:Tell us a story there.
Speaker:Okay, so I love the Chuck off.
Speaker:Yeah, so two holidays ago,
Speaker:sales were stronger than I had anticipated.
Speaker:And in the middle of holiday.
Speaker:We came in one morning and we were out of boxes
Speaker:out of our most used box size,
Speaker:just completely out and we just put our heads together and
Speaker:we had some samples that were out and we collected those
Speaker:back and we changed what boxes things went in and we
Speaker:bought some boxes just kind of off the shelf,
Speaker:the best boxes we could.
Speaker:And we bought ribbons and really invested in making these new
Speaker:boxes that weren't our typical ones look really good,
Speaker:but we didn't do as,
Speaker:we didn't spend a lot of time figuring out who to
Speaker:blame for running out of boxes because you don't have time
Speaker:for that in a startup.
Speaker:You try not to make the same mistake in the future,
Speaker:but it really is about,
Speaker:okay, this is the reality,
Speaker:what are we going to do now?
Speaker:So we have not made that same mistake but that was
Speaker:a big one because you know it seems crazy that we
Speaker:wouldn't have noticed but sales were good and we were all
Speaker:busy and everybody was just doing whatever they needed to do.
Speaker:And all of a sudden it's like,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:that was kind of a big mistake.
Speaker:Yeah. So solution first and then maybe you figure it out
Speaker:behind the scenes later to prevent it for the future,
Speaker:but certainly not the blaming game.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that doesn't take you anywhere for sure.
Speaker:No, it doesn't.
Speaker:So did that activity in the solution then delay some gifts
Speaker:going out?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:how did you manage that through from the customer standpoint?
Speaker:Or was it seamless?
Speaker:It was seamless.
Speaker:Well, that's a miracle unto itself.
Speaker:Yeah, it was expensive.
Speaker:Right. But no,
Speaker:it didn't impact the customer at all.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:one of the other things I want to say about that
Speaker:is we do have this attitude of,
Speaker:and this gets to the sort of the culture you're creating
Speaker:when you're building a company,
Speaker:then everybody has each other's back.
Speaker:We're in a business where,
Speaker:because it's gifts,
Speaker:high percentage of our business will come in that fourth quarter
Speaker:and things get really crazy in certain areas of the company
Speaker:during the fourth quarter.
Speaker:You know that holiday bubble moves through the company differently.
Speaker:Yeah. Our marketing and creative department are busy with holiday in
Speaker:August, September and then our merchandising department is busy even earlier
Speaker:than that.
Speaker:And then our fulfillment people are busy at the end of
Speaker:the year.
Speaker:So one of the things that happens in the fourth quarter
Speaker:is we redeploy resources.
Speaker:Our marketing people can be working on a production line when
Speaker:we are really full out at holiday.
Speaker:Our developer might be helping keep operational systems going and I
Speaker:think that spirit of we have each other's back,
Speaker:we all understand the value of every part of this business
Speaker:and we can step in and support other departments,
Speaker:really helps us get through those crises because we're used to
Speaker:that. When we hire,
Speaker:we say this is your job,
Speaker:but understand this is what holiday is like here and at
Speaker:holiday I'm on the line,
Speaker:I might be making your gifts and I learned so much
Speaker:by doing that.
Speaker:I learned operational things.
Speaker:I see firsthand what customers are putting together and that is
Speaker:a cultural element that I hope we never lose,
Speaker:no matter how large we get.
Speaker:I remember that from my corporate world because I was in
Speaker:a production facility as well.
Speaker:I was on the sales marketing end leading a Salesforce,
Speaker:but we had meetings with all of the department heads,
Speaker:so me being sales marketing,
Speaker:like accounting and production,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:and often there were challenges between the departments because people just
Speaker:didn't understand.
Speaker:Like if we're selling more and something wasn't created properly,
Speaker:operations didn't understand why we still got it out,
Speaker:but it wasn't what the customer had asked for or expected.
Speaker:Things like that.
Speaker:And I think you're so wise in having,
Speaker:not only are you able to cross people over and flex
Speaker:the jobs when you need them in different departments,
Speaker:but that understanding of the challenges that each department has,
Speaker:how everything fits together as a whole is so great.
Speaker:We never really talked about that because a lot of the
Speaker:businesses who are listening right now may be a business of,
Speaker:they start off as one but maybe five or seven people.
Speaker:But understanding how everything fits together is really a topper to
Speaker:explore more within your own businesses,
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:I think it is because when you're in charge,
Speaker:particularly as a small company,
Speaker:you know everybody has their area of expertise and you're running
Speaker:it over a hundred percent capacity all the time.
Speaker:You might not even know what questions to ask somebody in
Speaker:another department to make your job easier.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:we generate custom paperwork for every gift as well.
Speaker:We have a custom gift message and also a name tag
Speaker:that goes on the front of every gift.
Speaker:So that paperwork generation along with the pick sheet,
Speaker:cause again these are all made to order gifts.
Speaker:There's a part of our process between when the customer places
Speaker:an order and when it is on the floor being made,
Speaker:which is around paperwork generation.
Speaker:And that is nontrivial.
Speaker:That has to be perfect.
Speaker:It has to be perfect.
Speaker:It's part of the whole gift experience.
Speaker:So this holiday I talked about,
Speaker:one of our developers was working in that office and observing
Speaker:and realized that there's a solution he has since now built
Speaker:that can streamline and automate that process in a way that
Speaker:saves our operations people both time but also really increases the
Speaker:accuracy. So we're not reprinting very often,
Speaker:but if you're sitting,
Speaker:if you're just trying to get that paperwork generated every day
Speaker:and you might not even understand that,
Speaker:Oh, there's a solution that somebody else could provide.
Speaker:And so I think sometimes just seeing how other people work,
Speaker:sometimes if you're upstream or downstream of that department,
Speaker:you have ideas that come from a completely different point of
Speaker:view that can make the whole process better.
Speaker:And I think it adds to the richness of your experience
Speaker:in your job too.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if someone's in fulfillment and they are,
Speaker:yes, they have all the creativity of putting the package together
Speaker:in the most beautiful way,
Speaker:but understanding what also circles around them,
Speaker:even if they're not actually doing that,
Speaker:makes them feel more valuable where they fit into the whole
Speaker:and also a deeper level of satisfaction,
Speaker:I'd say.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that's one of the beauties of a small
Speaker:business because you don't have all the people you really need
Speaker:and you don't have all the ex that the specialized expertise.
Speaker:Sometimes you just get the group together and you try to
Speaker:put your heads together and figure something out and yeah,
Speaker:there's an intellectual stimulation that comes with that because you can't
Speaker:just call him the expert.
Speaker:You need to figure it out collectively.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:and that leads to the point that just because you're the
Speaker:owner doesn't mean you know everything.
Speaker:Absolutely not.
Speaker:There are other people could have a better solution and let
Speaker:that be except that and that's good.
Speaker:Right? You don't have to be the one who knows and
Speaker:has all the solutions.
Speaker:You can call on people around you to also help you.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Okay. I can't let you go without addressing one other kind
Speaker:of big topic,
Speaker:but we can narrow it down a little bit and that
Speaker:is once you got knack up online,
Speaker:then you're not in front of people with popups anymore.
Speaker:How did you attract people to come in and know about
Speaker:you? That's the hardest part.
Speaker:Without question.
Speaker:That is the hardest part that you think in this internet
Speaker:age, you're going to build it and people will come.
Speaker:That is absolutely not true.
Speaker:You need to think through where are you going to get
Speaker:your customers and particularly when you're just starting out and you
Speaker:don't have a big marketing budget and you haven't hired some
Speaker:big important marketing person,
Speaker:perhaps you need to be creative,
Speaker:so start with what you do have and really that could
Speaker:be your friends,
Speaker:it could be your contact network.
Speaker:Really think about how you leverage the assets.
Speaker:You have to build some momentum and be realistic about what
Speaker:you can do in the beginning.
Speaker:So that second year,
Speaker:although we weren't doing a popup,
Speaker:we did do a lot of events where we invited people,
Speaker:organizations, friends and family as we were getting the word out
Speaker:because people didn't know we existed.
Speaker:So I would say that it is easy to get excited
Speaker:about your product and not think about what your marketing channel
Speaker:will be an absolutely.
Speaker:You need to start doing that from the beginning And it
Speaker:sounds like what you do to start to get visibility might
Speaker:not be what you do longterm when you're smaller.
Speaker:You can do other things that aren't necessarily going to scale,
Speaker:but get your name out and start bringing money into the
Speaker:business. And then from there you can change it as you
Speaker:grow And start learning and understand the different parts of the
Speaker:marketing channel play different roles.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:paid search is a great way to use a small amount
Speaker:of money to test a concept.
Speaker:Is this a category?
Speaker:Am I describing the customer need the right way?
Speaker:Am I offering the right products to fulfill that customer needs?
Speaker:So you can use paid.
Speaker:So you can use SEM as a way to test a
Speaker:concept before you invest in maybe earned media or organic strategy.
Speaker:So I think also it's understanding what role you expect everything
Speaker:to play.
Speaker:And not only do early stage marketing activities,
Speaker:sometimes not scale,
Speaker:but sometimes you do things that deliberately are not your scale
Speaker:plan because you're doing them for testing reasons.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:So as you continue to move forward,
Speaker:what do you see as the future for NAC?
Speaker:Well, I really would like for NAC to be considered as
Speaker:part of a wave of companies that modernized of large sleepy
Speaker:categories. So when you think about what Bonobos has done to
Speaker:men's wear or what Warby Parker has done to eyeglasses,
Speaker:I really think gifting is one of those categories that is
Speaker:right for reinvention.
Speaker:If you look at the market leaders in the gifting category,
Speaker:so say people doing over a quarter of a billion dollars
Speaker:in annual revenue,
Speaker:not a single one of those companies was created in this
Speaker:century. And so I think there is a gap in the
Speaker:market for a GoTo gifting solution that really represents the modern
Speaker:era. And so that is our vision and it's really built
Speaker:around giving the consumer what they want in terms of operationally.
Speaker:What that means is,
Speaker:this is probably our last year having a single fulfillment facility
Speaker:that types of orders we're getting are increasingly large.
Speaker:The distribution partners who are starting to approach us.
Speaker:It really means that not in 2020 but certainly in 2021
Speaker:we're going to have this challenge of how do we manage
Speaker:a multi office,
Speaker:multi geographic company.
Speaker:Oh, that will be interesting.
Speaker:That is a challenge,
Speaker:but I'm guessing you're going to figure it out.
Speaker:You know it's coming.
Speaker:So there's that.
Speaker:Well we've been talking a lot about your website.
Speaker:Do you want to tell people how they can go find
Speaker:you there and anything else you want to share about how
Speaker:people can see you?
Speaker:Yeah, so our website is it NAX shops.com
Speaker:and there are multiple ways we would love for everybody who's
Speaker:listening to come to the site and experiment.
Speaker:Sometimes it's fun just to play with those gift builders and
Speaker:make gifts and you can save them in your cart for
Speaker:a future time or save them in your account profile.
Speaker:But we're trying to make the process of shopping for a
Speaker:gift, not a chore,
Speaker:but a joy.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:when you think about how people talk about gifting,
Speaker:particularly at the end of the year,
Speaker:but we'll say things to each other like are you done
Speaker:with your shopping?
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:It shouldn't feel like that.
Speaker:And hopefully it actually ups.com
Speaker:it doesn't feel that way.
Speaker:Well I'm pretty sure that people who go on and start
Speaker:looking around won't feel that way cause our biggest challenge is
Speaker:going to be not spending hours and hours on the site.
Speaker:That's really going to be the problem.
Speaker:And if you want inspiration,
Speaker:of course you can just follow us on Instagram.
Speaker:Perfect. Well thank you so much Laura.
Speaker:Such great information.
Speaker:It's so interesting the background that you come from and then
Speaker:how Nat got established and all the really,
Speaker:really valuable business building insight that you gave us.
Speaker:A lot of topics that we haven't talked about here before.
Speaker:So for that I thank you so much for coming on
Speaker:the show and thank you.
Speaker:So it was a pleasure.
Speaker:There are so many gems to remember from my talk with
Speaker:Laura here.
Speaker:Let me bullet point a few of them for you to
Speaker:ponder today.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:give the customer ownership.
Speaker:Is there something more you can do to give your customer
Speaker:control of their purchase or perhaps in some other way in
Speaker:relation to your business to who we buy from matters?
Speaker:Stand for something and make sure people know about that.
Speaker:It will endear people to you and your brand.
Speaker:It makes them loyal and brings referrals,
Speaker:which leads to the third point.
Speaker:The connection is about the story behind the product.
Speaker:What's your story and are you sharing it?
Speaker:Stories are what become memorable and passed on leading to natural
Speaker:word of mouth marketing,
Speaker:customer experiences.
Speaker:That was the overall theme today and we're going to build
Speaker:on that next week.
Speaker:You'll hear another version of how a business sets themself apart
Speaker:to grow a strong brand and a loyal following.
Speaker:I'll see you then.
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 that are 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,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
