Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Sometimes you have to have a “what the hell” attitude to discover new possibilities.
- Narrow down your offerings based on what works for you and your customer.
- Be involved in local craft shows to get your name out.
- Regarding your website, you can’t just create it and think people will automatically find and buy from you. You need to direct people there.
- Use Facebook in the beginning to get visibility. This is a great place for your friends to learn about and support your business.
- Make sure that your business card has details of other ways people can reach you.
- A variety of vendors and products brings sales to everyone because it attracts a wider audience.
- It makes a huge difference to have support and people that believe in what you’re doing. Make sure to build that team of people for yourself.
- Establishing a program of lobby pop up shops can be a large source of revenue for your business and get you in front of corporate decision makers you’d never meet otherwise.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
This is gift biz unwrapped episode 172 it's always just so
Speaker:great to realize that something you're doing makes people that happy
Speaker:that they will buy it.
Speaker: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 thank you so much for spending part of
Speaker:your day with me today.
Speaker:If you're a first time listener,
Speaker:welcome and once you've listened,
Speaker:if you're enjoying what you're hearing and you want to make
Speaker:sure not to miss a single episode,
Speaker:click that little subscribe button and then the shows will automatically
Speaker:be downloaded to you each week when they go live.
Speaker:If you're a longtime listener,
Speaker:know how much I appreciate your loyalty and your listening week
Speaker:after week.
Speaker:If you haven't had a chance yet,
Speaker:I'd love for you to review the show.
Speaker:That helps us get more listeners and more people being able
Speaker:to capture new ways to grow their business together.
Speaker:We can help each other get bigger and better and Oh
Speaker:my gosh,
Speaker:you guys,
Speaker:this is an episode.
Speaker:I am just so excited to bring you.
Speaker:I had no idea when I started talking with a net
Speaker:the gold that she would be producing that could be key
Speaker:to making your business greater this year than ever before.
Speaker:Let's dive right in.
Speaker:Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a net
Speaker:pardon of fill my jar and that started fill my jar
Speaker:candy company three years ago.
Speaker:Introducing to the world a unique line of handcrafted yet traditional
Speaker:caramels, toffees and chocolate barks.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I cannot wait to talk about this.
Speaker:Growing up in a large Italian family,
Speaker:everything centered around the kitchen.
Speaker:There was always good food and a large table to gather
Speaker:around. Even when she was young.
Speaker:Annette loved showing people she cared about them by making delicious
Speaker:dishes and sweets.
Speaker:When Annette started her own family,
Speaker:she would make handmade treats and candy to give as gifts
Speaker:for holidays or as a way to say thank you to
Speaker:family, neighbors,
Speaker:friends, teachers,
Speaker:coaches and coworkers.
Speaker:After raising her daughters a net decided it was time to
Speaker:return to school and start on a path of making her
Speaker:dream a reality.
Speaker:Annette, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thanks. Happy to be here.
Speaker:We start off in a little bit of a crazy way
Speaker:and that is by having you share something a little different
Speaker:about yourself through a motivational candle.
Speaker:It gives us a different peek into who you are.
Speaker:So if you were to create your very own motivational candle,
Speaker:what color would it be and what would be the quote
Speaker:on your candle?
Speaker:Well, I gave that a lot of thought and I have
Speaker:to tell you right away,
Speaker:I can tell you my color is always been a very
Speaker:warm kind of wine or cranberry red.
Speaker:And I think that it's because to me,
Speaker:warmth and that kind of red just signifies gathering and good
Speaker:food and good times.
Speaker:And so I would say that that would be my color
Speaker:though. My daughters laugh and say,
Speaker:how can you have a color when you burn your candle
Speaker:at both ends all the time.
Speaker:My quotes,
Speaker:funny enough,
Speaker:Julia child really resonates with me in the way she viewed
Speaker:food and in the way she viewed life.
Speaker:And so there's actually two quotes that I really think resonate
Speaker:with me very well.
Speaker:The first one is more about the strength to move forward
Speaker:and pursue your dreams.
Speaker:And this one is that the only real stumbling block is
Speaker:fear of failure in cooking.
Speaker:You've got to have a what the hell attitude.
Speaker:So perfectly said,
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And the other one more resonates with me about life in
Speaker:general, whether it's through my cooking or whether it's through my
Speaker:confidence or pursuing and basically simply enough side by Julia.
Speaker:It's with enough butter.
Speaker:Anything is good and that is so true.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Anyways, so true.
Speaker:And I've just got to say this.
Speaker:Do you know of the Bulletproof coffee where you throw in
Speaker:butter into your coffee?
Speaker:It's interesting you say that because one of my newest flavors,
Speaker:the inspiration for that flavor,
Speaker:which I call it coffee crunch,
Speaker:is the idea that technically from what I understand,
Speaker:Europeans were the people that started dropping butter into their coffee
Speaker:and now here in America they call it the Bulletproof or
Speaker:butter coffee.
Speaker:I understand that there's a diet called the keto diet.
Speaker:I believe that also has you put butter in things like
Speaker:coffee and it is an amazing flavor and it made the
Speaker:coffee crunch that I developed because of it really turned out
Speaker:nice. It's buttery tossing mixed with a white chocolate and fused
Speaker:with dark roast coffee.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so well we're going to talk about how you're going to
Speaker:send some of that my way for sure.
Speaker:So Julia,
Speaker:I guess was ahead of her time,
Speaker:right? With all the butter?
Speaker:Always. Yes.
Speaker:Although that is the staple of French cooking for sure.
Speaker:Yes. All right,
Speaker:well love,
Speaker:love both of those quotes.
Speaker:That is fabulous.
Speaker:So Annette,
Speaker:I am so excited to hear about this story.
Speaker:What were you doing before you went back to school to
Speaker:make your dream a reality?
Speaker:Well, okay,
Speaker:to start,
Speaker:I was married very young and I was in marketing and
Speaker:sales and everything in before I started my family.
Speaker:But by my early twenties I had had my first two
Speaker:daughters and made the decision quite early on.
Speaker:I was going to take some time and I was blessed
Speaker:with the opportunity to take some time to be home with
Speaker:them and face them.
Speaker:Good for you.
Speaker:Yes, it was great.
Speaker:And through that I was able to,
Speaker:I think it without me even knowing,
Speaker:nurtured even more,
Speaker:my love for the kitchen and showing people how much I
Speaker:cared about them through good food and learning about food.
Speaker:Right. My mom was a huge inspiration to me growing up.
Speaker:She was born in Sicily and when she came here she
Speaker:carried over all that idea of the dishes that she bring
Speaker:and the family and the cooking that she provided us.
Speaker:And I think that that gave me an opportunity to carry
Speaker:that forward and really learn from her more.
Speaker:And so for the next 15 or so years though,
Speaker:I worked a little part time here and there.
Speaker:For the most part,
Speaker:I was a stay at home mom and playing in the
Speaker:kitchen. Like I said in that intro about making gifts that
Speaker:were treats.
Speaker:It's exactly where I really found my passion.
Speaker:I would make handmade caramels or tophi.
Speaker:I would do some peppermint barks at the holidays or whether
Speaker:it was that,
Speaker:or my mom's traditional cookies,
Speaker:the Italian Easter cookies called pastor trophies.
Speaker:I would always make trays of those to give to neighbors
Speaker:or during the holidays and there's a fig cookie they call
Speaker:GoDaddy's that are just amazing.
Speaker:I would make trays of those for my husband's coworkers or
Speaker:neighbors and friends or again,
Speaker:coaches and teachers for my kids.
Speaker:And it really sparked a passion for loving how warmly everybody
Speaker:accepted those guests and how much I enjoyed making them.
Speaker:So I think by being a stay at home mom,
Speaker:it really also helped me in a way to realize that
Speaker:my dream and my goal in life was more about being
Speaker:in the kitchen and designing things that allowed people to get
Speaker:more out of life through food.
Speaker:And you were really fortunate to be able to take those
Speaker:precious years and be with your girls too.
Speaker:And then in the kitchen in a way you were doing
Speaker:some research and you didn't even know it.
Speaker:Yes. Perfecting recipes yet you were doing it personally.
Speaker:But I'm sure you use a lot of what you learned
Speaker:there even now today.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh absolutely.
Speaker:And it was great because many times my girls were in
Speaker:the kitchen making messes with me and so sometimes it was
Speaker:great to see them put their inspiration or their imagination to
Speaker:work in the kitchen with me.
Speaker:And sometimes we came up with things just by sheer mistake.
Speaker:It was a lot of fun and we really enjoy doing
Speaker:it. And again,
Speaker:I think that had I not been fortitude of that opportunity
Speaker:to be a mom that could be home with our kids,
Speaker:I don't think I ever would have had that time to
Speaker:spend in the kitchen like that and to spend with my
Speaker:imagination. So when you went back to school,
Speaker:what did you go back to school for?
Speaker:I actually went back to school thinking that I was going
Speaker:to open a restaurant,
Speaker:believe it or not.
Speaker:So I went back and did restaurant management and all the
Speaker:certificates that go along with opening a restaurant,
Speaker:sanitation and things like that.
Speaker:So it was very eyeopening.
Speaker:I learned a lot and it really gave me a good
Speaker:perspective. Even now with the candy business though,
Speaker:it's not a restaurant and I don't have a store location,
Speaker:it really did teach me a lot about food management and
Speaker:all the different,
Speaker:you don't realize how many little things you need to do,
Speaker:whether it's health department codes or whether it's codes for different
Speaker:products or different equipment you need,
Speaker:how to go about getting them or through.
Speaker:And so having gone through these classes was very,
Speaker:very helpful.
Speaker:In the end,
Speaker:my husband was really encouraging me and he grew up in
Speaker:a family that had a floral shop for over 80 years
Speaker:in his family.
Speaker:So he knew small business and he loved it and really
Speaker:thought that I was going to end up opening a restaurant
Speaker:now that my girls were older,
Speaker:all college bound and on their own and in the end
Speaker:it turned out to be candy,
Speaker:which is amazing.
Speaker:But learning what I had to learn through my classes,
Speaker:thinking that I was going into this one direction really again,
Speaker:it was something that prepared me for this end of my
Speaker:adventure as well.
Speaker:So what was the switch?
Speaker:Where was the point where you realized,
Speaker:no, it wasn't going to be a restaurant,
Speaker:it was going to be something different?
Speaker:Well that's interesting because we literally had a name to the
Speaker:restaurant. It was going to be Tablo FreshCo,
Speaker:which is fresh table.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:So you were really well down the road to that path?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:We sat together and my husband's in business.
Speaker:He's a an accountant who's actually a COO for a technology
Speaker:firm in.
Speaker:So I trust him with the money end of it,
Speaker:which is great because imagination and numbers do not go like
Speaker:I'm with a girlfriend.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:great, you can take your of these spreadsheets.
Speaker:I'll take care of spreading the cats.
Speaker:And so it was kind of interesting,
Speaker:but I will say one night we were sitting down,
Speaker:I actually drew my entire business plan.
Speaker:I had to create an entire business plan to graduate my
Speaker:management course.
Speaker:And I used that as an opportunity to literally plan out
Speaker:the restaurant that I had intended to so open.
Speaker:And we were sitting down one night and I will say
Speaker:my husband and I married again.
Speaker:I was 21 years old when I got married.
Speaker:So I had many years to help out at the floral
Speaker:shop and to see a small business in action early on.
Speaker:And I will say it's a wonderful adventure.
Speaker:And my husband's grandparents and his mom,
Speaker:they built an amazing business,
Speaker:but it didn't go without sacrifice.
Speaker:And that sacrifice a lot of times centered around family in
Speaker:that you're not going to be home Christmas morning with your
Speaker:kids around the Christmas tree because there are people that need
Speaker:their flowers.
Speaker:You're not going to be home for Easter until late at
Speaker:night because people are coming into the flower shop all day.
Speaker:So it's something I saw firsthand and I learned and we
Speaker:had a very serious and long discussion about opening a physical
Speaker:restaurant location that really it would take away that our time
Speaker:together would be spent at the restaurant and my family,
Speaker:my kids,
Speaker:my brothers and sisters,
Speaker:my mom and dad for the most,
Speaker:even David's family,
Speaker:we weren't used to that.
Speaker:That's not how my girls grew up.
Speaker:Mom being gone 24 hours a day,
Speaker:seven days a week.
Speaker:And I think that that was more maybe a challenge to
Speaker:me than it was to them.
Speaker:But I had a hard time with the idea that this
Speaker:was going to be all encompassing.
Speaker:And I truly did believe,
Speaker:and I still believe this to the state,
Speaker:that to say,
Speaker:Oh, you're going to hire a manager and let that manager
Speaker:work it and all this.
Speaker:I think you're setting yourself up for failure,
Speaker:especially in the first five plus years.
Speaker:Sure. Clearly what you're talking about here is that a lot
Speaker:of your sore of pleasure and fulfillment in life revolves around
Speaker:family. Absolutely.
Speaker:I mean that's really the source of where you're starting the
Speaker:film, my jar business anyway,
Speaker:and give biz listeners.
Speaker:I want you to think about this.
Speaker:If you are in a place right now where you're thinking
Speaker:of starting a business,
Speaker:this is so important,
Speaker:you need to,
Speaker:just like a net was saying live in that dream,
Speaker:whatever you think you're going to build,
Speaker:put yourself there and work through what your day would be
Speaker:like and see if it makes sense for you.
Speaker:Yes, because a net,
Speaker:so many people don't do what you just are talking about
Speaker:where you're actually looking at it and then putting that layer
Speaker:of reality on top of it and saying,
Speaker:okay, it looks all good from the outside,
Speaker:but when you're actually in there doing it,
Speaker:are you still gonna like it?
Speaker:Is it really what you want to do?
Speaker:And you were so wise to see before you even got
Speaker:started, look you had invested now money and classes and all
Speaker:of that and still you put the brakes on and said
Speaker:wait not in this way.
Speaker:Yeah. And at that time I didn't even realize that it
Speaker:was going to be candy that was going to be where
Speaker:I ended.
Speaker:You had your business plan on paper and the model and
Speaker:everything all set up so easily could have been where you
Speaker:just continued on the path,
Speaker:right? Cause everyone had bought in et cetera.
Speaker:How did you make the switch and then how did you
Speaker:identify that it was candy?
Speaker:Let's pick up from there.
Speaker:Well, we put the brakes on the restaurant and during this
Speaker:period, so kind of in between all of this while I
Speaker:was going to school and that I had actually interviewed and
Speaker:gotten a position to become a cake and pastry decorator for
Speaker:will. And it was great.
Speaker:It was freelance.
Speaker:I can schedule my own hours.
Speaker:So that was a wonderful experience.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it gave me more practice as to things I love and
Speaker:I was there for at least three or four years.
Speaker:While again,
Speaker:I was doing that and working through all this,
Speaker:my opening a restaurant,
Speaker:finishing school school took me two solid semesters.
Speaker:And so that technically a whole school year,
Speaker:and as I was doing this and as I was making
Speaker:candy for the holidays and stuff,
Speaker:so many times people would ask me,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:where did you get this?
Speaker:I would love to buy some.
Speaker:And I would say,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:I hand make it.
Speaker:And they'd say,
Speaker:can I buy it from you?
Speaker:And I would traditionally say,
Speaker:I really wish I had time make more,
Speaker:but I don't.
Speaker:I'm in the middle of school.
Speaker:I'm in the middle of working at Wilton.
Speaker:I'm in the middle of working on my next project,
Speaker:possibly opening a restaurant.
Speaker:And it was interesting cause one night I am also,
Speaker:I love jarring and canning.
Speaker:And every year in the fall I Jaren can tomatoes and
Speaker:tomato sauce with my entire family.
Speaker:We do about six,
Speaker:700 pounds of tomatoes every fall.
Speaker:And we all share in the fun of getting a couple
Speaker:of cases of fresh homemade tomato sauce,
Speaker:chard. Well,
Speaker:that led me to having tons of jars in the house.
Speaker:And one holiday season I usually ran out to Joanne's and
Speaker:bought tins to put my candy in and my different treats.
Speaker:And I ran out and I needed more.
Speaker:And I had a couple of cases of new jars in
Speaker:my closet and I grabbed him out and I filled them
Speaker:up. And I was like,
Speaker:well that looks kind of boring.
Speaker:So I added a bow and then I said,
Speaker:well, that looks even a little more boring.
Speaker:So I added a lid,
Speaker:a little topper to the lid,
Speaker:and the next thing you know,
Speaker:they turned out to be adorable.
Speaker:Gifts and people just love the idea that they can reuse
Speaker:the jar and that the candy States so fresh in there
Speaker:and I all of a sudden felt like,
Speaker:let me see what would happen if I could sell this.
Speaker:And I started with craft shows and that's really where it
Speaker:all started.
Speaker:It became fill my jar because the jar became a signature
Speaker:piece for me.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Your story is like perfection,
Speaker:right? Because you were very open to the fact and recognize
Speaker:that people were interested in buying already something you weren't even
Speaker:selling. So that was kind of like on your radar then
Speaker:and then step-by-step with the jars in your house you created
Speaker:and put something together.
Speaker:So that is so perfect in terms of walking down the
Speaker:road to product development and craft shows.
Speaker:Let's continue with that because that's a great place for you
Speaker:to really demonstrate to yourself if the product has a market,
Speaker:what the price points should be,
Speaker:what the flavors are.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about how did those first few
Speaker:shows go in terms of which shows did you select to
Speaker:do and what did your setup look like because you're brand
Speaker:new, so I think this would be really valuable for some
Speaker:of our listeners to hear.
Speaker:Yeah, well the setup was as basic as as basic could
Speaker:be. Craft shows.
Speaker:The interesting thing about them,
Speaker:pretty much I didn't select them.
Speaker:I grabbed anything that was local to me.
Speaker:The ads had,
Speaker:for example around me at the time I was living in
Speaker:Naperville, out in Western suburbs and so Cod college held spring
Speaker:and fall craft shows,
Speaker:and again there were farmer's markets,
Speaker:lots of farmer's markets,
Speaker:so I started looking up different holiday events and how do
Speaker:I apply and all that and got myself involved in a
Speaker:couple of them.
Speaker:I would have to say it was always like what a
Speaker:thrill it was to see how much candy I actually sold
Speaker:in an event and I'm still this day always shocked when
Speaker:I come home as to how much candy I sell,
Speaker:no matter what I'm doing.
Speaker:It's always just so great to realize that something you're doing
Speaker:makes people that happy that they will buy it.
Speaker:To me,
Speaker:I think that says so much and so I started with
Speaker:the craft shows and the setup literally,
Speaker:and to this day,
Speaker:my setup is still very simple because I'm still working on
Speaker:building the business.
Speaker:It is six foot tables that I throw in my car.
Speaker:It is totes filled with all the different flavors I'm offering
Speaker:and I have all my bows ready to go and pretty
Speaker:much I have four different sized jars that I bring to
Speaker:a show.
Speaker:There's your large and then there's kind of like a middle,
Speaker:large, and then a little smaller medium and then a small,
Speaker:I actually recently in the last year or two,
Speaker:added what I call snack bags.
Speaker:Realizing that there were people that just wanted to buy the
Speaker:candy to enjoy,
Speaker:but not necessarily looking for a jar or a gift.
Speaker:Oh, that's smart because they might've wanted to have it just
Speaker:while they're walking the shows.
Speaker:Exactly. Or just to bring home or if I'm in an
Speaker:office building,
Speaker:they want to bring it to their office and put it
Speaker:in their desk,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:And so I started making the snack bags.
Speaker:And so basically to this day my setup is almost the
Speaker:same as it was from the beginning.
Speaker:And that is black tablecloths and the jars all lined up.
Speaker:And one thing I did do quite quickly,
Speaker:cause I started the shows,
Speaker:I would say the first time I actually put a show
Speaker:together was in the spring of 2016 so the business was
Speaker:technically started in 2015 and I was selling to friends and
Speaker:neighbors. I hadn't really done any shows at that point.
Speaker:And then in the spring of 2016 was the first time
Speaker:I started with craft shows and French market or the yeah,
Speaker:outdoor French markets.
Speaker:And it was again six foot tables,
Speaker:black tablecloths,
Speaker:putting my product out,
Speaker:making some nice signs,
Speaker:which today I find it will go to Walgreens and go
Speaker:to their photo shop and find a sale and pick up
Speaker:a really nice banner for $15 and it makes you look
Speaker:professional. So it was designing my own banners.
Speaker:I went to Vista print,
Speaker:made a box of 500 business cards to make sure there
Speaker:was somebody there that can take my information if they wanted
Speaker:it. And pretty much that was it.
Speaker:I got out there and decided let's figure this out.
Speaker:Soon after that I found out that French markets were really
Speaker:challenging cause they're always done in the nice weather and with
Speaker:nice weather becomes heat and heat and chocolate don't mix right.
Speaker:But you kind of start narrowing it down what works for
Speaker:you and that.
Speaker:And the crash shows were a staple for a very,
Speaker:very long time getting my name out there.
Speaker:So going back to the first shows that you did,
Speaker:were there any surprises or anything that you weren't expecting to
Speaker:happen that you could let our listeners know about?
Speaker:In case they're thinking of going to their first shows.
Speaker:I would say I think that'd be in your mind,
Speaker:you're thinking,
Speaker:you walk in,
Speaker:you set up,
Speaker:you're there.
Speaker:You need to realize it's,
Speaker:I found myself setting up the night before when my situation,
Speaker:and I would imagine anybody that's setting up a booth,
Speaker:regardless of what it is,
Speaker:is going to have things to login,
Speaker:tote. You have to be ready and make sure that you
Speaker:know that you're going to have to do a little bit
Speaker:of sweat equity to make sure that it all goes together
Speaker:well and you're giving up again.
Speaker:For as much as I realized that the restaurant was maybe
Speaker:too much of a reach for me,
Speaker:knowing how much I like to spend time with my family.
Speaker:I also realized that if you're doing craft shows,
Speaker:and trust me,
Speaker:there are tons of them out there.
Speaker:You could literally be busy every weekend if you really want
Speaker:it to.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And there are people who are,
Speaker:I mean I talk to people who do 60 70 craft
Speaker:shows in a year.
Speaker:Absolutely. And they come in.
Speaker:The people I've met,
Speaker:amazing people,
Speaker:Minnesota, Indiana.
Speaker:I mean they drive and they come in and they set
Speaker:up, but this is their livelihood and I think that that
Speaker:was the first time I realized that there was a point
Speaker:where I guess I thought,
Speaker:is this me doing a hobby or is this me doing
Speaker:a business?
Speaker:Like I was a little confused at one point and I
Speaker:think it was because you're trying to figure it out.
Speaker:But I think the turning point for me was meeting so
Speaker:many people who've not only been do 60 and 70 craft
Speaker:shows a year,
Speaker:but they've been doing it for 15 and 20 years and
Speaker:this is their livelihood and they own homes because of it.
Speaker:They feed their families because of it.
Speaker:So realize that this can be a business.
Speaker:Did I meet people that it felt more like a little
Speaker:bit of a hobby to them?
Speaker:Yeah, I did.
Speaker:And I also think that they could have been very much
Speaker:in my spot where it was trying it out,
Speaker:seeing what happens and maybe it does or doesn't work.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's so funny.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I picture you like sitting there and all of a sudden
Speaker:having the realization like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I have a business.
Speaker:I didn't even know I did this,
Speaker:and here it is.
Speaker:It's a real business.
Speaker:Yeah. There was a couple of times where I was like,
Speaker:look what's going on here?
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's so funny.
Speaker:Okay. So I want to spin this off a little bit
Speaker:in terms of more concrete and specific as you started your
Speaker:business. So you have your product,
Speaker:we've been talking about the product and getting the product out
Speaker:there in the craft shows and all of that.
Speaker:Let's back up a little bit.
Speaker:What did you do to actually formally start the business?
Speaker:So formally,
Speaker:I actually been that spring of 2016 is when I formally
Speaker:signed fill my jar.
Speaker:I got my licensing through the state of Illinois and I
Speaker:owned the name.
Speaker:So my jar,
Speaker:I bought the domain name.
Speaker:So my jar,
Speaker:I opened a website that I feel is constantly in progress.
Speaker:And did you do your website by yourself?
Speaker:Did you have someone help?
Speaker:No, no,
Speaker:no, no.
Speaker:Yeah. I am the most technology challenged person in the world
Speaker:and so I took some time and I did have a
Speaker:hand in,
Speaker:I got an Etsy shop going before the website and so
Speaker:that meant photography.
Speaker:Again, something that I never deemed myself a photographer,
Speaker:but a kitchen table and some fun little accessories from Michaels
Speaker:depending on what in my world.
Speaker:I was trying to depict something a little bit rustic and
Speaker:fun. So it was get some rustic boards and that,
Speaker:and I started taking some pictures to throw up on Etsy
Speaker:and that wasn't very interesting to point too because I would
Speaker:say I kind of thought,
Speaker:well, I'm on Etsy now.
Speaker:Come on,
Speaker:everybody start ordering.
Speaker:And it just sat there.
Speaker:Yeah. You're not unique in that,
Speaker:that you think that just because you put something up,
Speaker:people will just happen to find you.
Speaker:It doesn't work that way.
Speaker:Yes, and I was blessed with the idea and my oldest
Speaker:daughter, she is in marketing and strategy and does all this.
Speaker:I really wish I could tell you more what she does.
Speaker:She works for an advertising agency and she does a lot
Speaker:of this for big companies like Pepsi and Quaker.
Speaker:So she would come to me and she'd laugh and she'd
Speaker:say, no,
Speaker:no, no ma'am,
Speaker:you've got to make sure you do the work to get
Speaker:people to go to you and you can pay for it
Speaker:or you can just work for it.
Speaker:And I didn't have the money so I was going to
Speaker:work for it.
Speaker:What I mean by work for it is working like crazy
Speaker:to get my name out there and get my business cards
Speaker:and anything I can out there so that people can go
Speaker:to my Etsy shop or my website.
Speaker:And to this day I've had now at seagoing since 2016
Speaker:and I can maybe say less than 30 orders have come
Speaker:through, but I've made some amazing contacts and it's great to
Speaker:say that it's a place for people to go.
Speaker:And the funny thing is,
Speaker:is the people that I do get orders from 90% of
Speaker:the time I've had people,
Speaker:I've shipped candy out to England and mostly farther off places.
Speaker:So these are people that are searching around at Etsy and
Speaker:the way I understand it,
Speaker:it's the more that you get reviews and the more that
Speaker:you get people searching for things on Etsy,
Speaker:you'll pop up more and more.
Speaker:Right. My guess is is that something with time and then
Speaker:my daughter was also clearly a huge help in helping me
Speaker:put together a website,
Speaker:so I would say that 2016 that spring I started doing
Speaker:the crash shows.
Speaker:That's when my husband was like,
Speaker:well, okay,
Speaker:let's hook onto the name.
Speaker:So he was very helpful in getting a tax ID and
Speaker:an EIN number through the state of Illinois and we secured
Speaker:the domain name and knowing that I'm talking to people that
Speaker:are possibly looking at doing this,
Speaker:please know none of that is very expensive.
Speaker:I bought the domain name off of GoDaddy for $15 or
Speaker:something like that and you have to renew it every year,
Speaker:but once you own it,
Speaker:you own it and now you can,
Speaker:well, I could open the website,
Speaker:just fill my jar.com
Speaker:I have an email address address that's in that top part
Speaker:on it.
Speaker:Fill my jar.com
Speaker:you own that name so nobody can take it away from
Speaker:you. It's not expensive to become a legal license through the
Speaker:state of Illinois.
Speaker:So those things were just time and paperwork,
Speaker:but expense wise,
Speaker:not expensive just legitimizes you and that was helpful.
Speaker:Right. I think there's one other thing I want to bring
Speaker:up here that you did so right that I just,
Speaker:since we're on this conversation for people who are just setting
Speaker:up, a lot of times people will pass up the portion
Speaker:of getting the domain and setting up a website.
Speaker:Just to your point too,
Speaker:they might not have a daughter who can help them actually
Speaker:set it up.
Speaker:The thing is though with an Etsy shop and even social
Speaker:media sites,
Speaker:those really aren't things that you own.
Speaker:If something happened and changed with Etsy and let's say they
Speaker:shut down your site for some reason,
Speaker:your shop,
Speaker:you lose everything so you still always want to have your
Speaker:own website,
Speaker:your own location online no matter what.
Speaker:Even if it takes a little bit of time to set
Speaker:it up.
Speaker:And I use GoDaddy to a nut,
Speaker:so I'm glad you brought that up,
Speaker:but even if you don't set it up right in the
Speaker:beginning, although you should make sure you grab that domain name
Speaker:and in the.com
Speaker:extension because yes,
Speaker:there are a million different extensions these days,
Speaker:but everybody still gravitates first to.com
Speaker:you don't want someone to find someone else besides you.
Speaker:Yes, You are absolutely right too because I forget that another
Speaker:portion of it was getting on Facebook,
Speaker:opening up a Facebook for fill my jar.
Speaker:It doesn't take a lot of time and it's a place
Speaker:where people can go or it's a place where you can
Speaker:send messages out and have your friends share.
Speaker:And share and so it's another great way of getting a
Speaker:small business kind of off and running.
Speaker:We're places where people can find you,
Speaker:so if you are doing a craft show,
Speaker:you have places that you can send them to.
Speaker:So for a long time my business card had my Etsy
Speaker:address on there.
Speaker:It had my Facebook address on there because that's what I
Speaker:had until I can go ahead and open a website.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:the sooner you can do those things the better.
Speaker:And a lot of them are not either no money at
Speaker:all or not very expensive to start up and running.
Speaker:It's just a little bit of time and a little bit
Speaker:of patience,
Speaker:a lot of reading,
Speaker:but you get through them and it's well worth it because
Speaker:then you have places that legitimize you as a business For
Speaker:sure. I'm really glad that you are looking at,
Speaker:as we're just talking about websites and social media platforms and
Speaker:Etsy and all of that,
Speaker:because let's face it,
Speaker:not all of us go and look for things in the
Speaker:same places.
Speaker:And so as a business owner,
Speaker:you want to be in all different areas because you need
Speaker:to meet your customer where they like to go,
Speaker:not where you want to be.
Speaker:Correct. So when you're at Facebook or maybe you're doing Instagram
Speaker:or it's an Etsy shop or Shopify or whatever,
Speaker:you want to be in multiple places for that reason.
Speaker:Yep. I go as far as knowing,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:if you're going to be at craft fairs,
Speaker:my biggest clientele were the older clients.
Speaker:And what I wanted those older clients to do was not
Speaker:only buy some candy and enjoy my candy,
Speaker:but the hope was they have a daughter or a granddaughter
Speaker:maybe getting married or having a baby shower.
Speaker:These were things I wanted to cater to and so I
Speaker:wanted to be sure that my business card,
Speaker:I was perfectly fine giving my cell phone number and an
Speaker:email address with these other ways of communication,
Speaker:knowing that some of these older generations aren't with anything more
Speaker:than a phone call or an email.
Speaker:Right. And so it's just the little things that you do
Speaker:and the more of them that you do that makes it
Speaker:all the better because again,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:it's just Being easier to be found.
Speaker:Okay. Gift biz listeners,
Speaker:I have a huge treat coming up for you with a
Speaker:net answer to my very next question.
Speaker:So stay tuned.
Speaker:You are going to want to be here for the answer
Speaker:to this,
Speaker:but first a super quick message from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support at the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds. Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:So is your biggest source of sale Still the craft toasts
Speaker:nor physical sales?
Speaker:Yeah, believe it or not,
Speaker:it's really the tides turned.
Speaker:So probably maybe in 2017 mid year 2017 I had been
Speaker:doing my homework and I had been trying to figure out
Speaker:a way of reaching clientele because another portion of my business
Speaker:that I had decided was with the jars,
Speaker:I can personalize the jars,
Speaker:I can take the lids on the top,
Speaker:I can create somebody's logo,
Speaker:their own message,
Speaker:whether it's a thank you or a holiday gift.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:what a great way to send out a corporate gift or
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:again, as I mentioned,
Speaker:we do party favors,
Speaker:the party favors were kind of a given,
Speaker:but the corporate gift kinda all of a sudden I realized,
Speaker:well that's another whole genre of gift giving in this world
Speaker:that I can tap into.
Speaker:And it's funny because I kept thinking,
Speaker:I don't know where this is going.
Speaker:My husband would say to me,
Speaker:well, do you think you want to open a candy shop?
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:I don't necessarily know if having a shop is going to
Speaker:be helpful because people would then have to come to me.
Speaker:And I think I'm still in the stages that I have
Speaker:to go to people.
Speaker:And so again,
Speaker:the craft fairs are a great way of going and getting
Speaker:in front of people.
Speaker:But I wanted to start targeting my audience more.
Speaker:And believe it or not,
Speaker:there are so many great ways and I think that so
Speaker:many small businesses don't even know that they're out there.
Speaker:And what I mean by that is,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:the city of Chicago is just a mere gold mind for
Speaker:opportunities. For example,
Speaker:I was very persistent.
Speaker:I started calling management companies downtown city of Chicago.
Speaker:Uh, when I say management companies,
Speaker:management for the high rise buildings,
Speaker:close yours services.
Speaker:And I got some,
Speaker:my husband and some of my other family and friends to
Speaker:help me out in the sense of can you get me
Speaker:the name of your concierge?
Speaker:Who does your,
Speaker:who is the concierge in your building?
Speaker:What concierge has do in high rise buildings is they're there
Speaker:to help their tenants.
Speaker:So if it's a building that hosts 500 different companies,
Speaker:they're there to help them from anything,
Speaker:from setting up a luncheon to helping them with their corporate
Speaker:gift, giving to just a multitude of things.
Speaker:It's amazing.
Speaker:I didn't even realize that it was a thing.
Speaker:When you think of a concierge,
Speaker:I think it's somebody at a hotel.
Speaker:It is not.
Speaker:They are in every building in the city of Chicago for
Speaker:the most part.
Speaker:And if they're not,
Speaker:they have a management company that acts as the concierge and
Speaker:these people are there to make sure that their tenants are
Speaker:happy. So I learned quickly and how I did this with,
Speaker:cause I saw one,
Speaker:I was downtown one afternoon and it was like what is
Speaker:that? And there was a gal with jewelry in the lobby
Speaker:of a high rise building and it was just an office
Speaker:building. And I went up and I asked her,
Speaker:what was this?
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:Oh, I'm doing a popup shop.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:it looked exactly like my six foot table with candy on
Speaker:it at a craft show and she was the only one
Speaker:there. And she said,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:the concierge is in the management love having little popups for
Speaker:their tenants.
Speaker:So I quickly started trying to learn more about how to
Speaker:get in touch with these people.
Speaker:Started asking people like my husband and other family members that
Speaker:worked in the city,
Speaker:if they had concierges,
Speaker:could they get me in touch soon enough?
Speaker:I got my first pop up shop in the city and
Speaker:it was amazing.
Speaker:It was just unbelievable.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:it's amazing how friendly the people are downtown,
Speaker:but how receptive they are.
Speaker:The tenants in the building just really appreciate having these little
Speaker:conveniences and this fun little something to break up the monotony
Speaker:of their day.
Speaker:So did you set up in like the lobbies of the
Speaker:buildings? Yes,
Speaker:I would get invited.
Speaker:I mean again,
Speaker:it's all taking the time to make phone calls and send
Speaker:emails and get the invitations.
Speaker:And I finally had gotten an invitation to do a building.
Speaker:My first building was one North Franklin.
Speaker:I still remember it to this day and I remember pulling
Speaker:up in my car filled with stuff and they were kind
Speaker:enough. They were like,
Speaker:don't worry,
Speaker:we have a table for you.
Speaker:But I brought everything else and there I was by myself
Speaker:in this lobby and I thought,
Speaker:okay, we'll see what happens.
Speaker:And just the reception that I received from the tenants,
Speaker:it was so wonderful.
Speaker:I sampled my candy for them.
Speaker:They got to taste it and purchase it and then quickly
Speaker:I realized,
Speaker:okay, start thinking of every holiday that's going to be wrapped
Speaker:around that date,
Speaker:whether it's mother's day and father's day or whether it's going
Speaker:back to school or whether it's the end of the school
Speaker:year or whether it's something like Christmas and Thanksgiving or anything
Speaker:like every holiday you don't realize who finds it important Cinco
Speaker:de Mayo or anything.
Speaker:So I would start making little jar toppers that people could
Speaker:just pick up to go on the gyres that would wish
Speaker:somebody a happy Cinco de Mayo or happy mother's day.
Speaker:And it was just amazing and I loved it because it
Speaker:was indoors.
Speaker:I was a solo audience,
Speaker:so meaning I was the only person there and don't get
Speaker:me wrong,
Speaker:I've actually done many now where there are several of us
Speaker:in there.
Speaker:I actually have some buildings that actually do put on once
Speaker:a month,
Speaker:little farmers markets indoors in their lobby and it's like maybe
Speaker:six or eight vendors.
Speaker:Anything from fresh fruits and vegetables to handmade breads in that
Speaker:to jewelry to jams and jellies.
Speaker:Like I've pretty much seen quite a bit of everything and
Speaker:some of them are small businesses like myself and some of
Speaker:them are big chains,
Speaker:like nothing Bundt cakes,
Speaker:they still come out.
Speaker:I would ask the girls like they still do these and
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:yeah, the owner started this way.
Speaker:Now it's a huge chain and they still to this day
Speaker:come out and do individual popup events.
Speaker:So Annette,
Speaker:do you have to pay them anything to be there or
Speaker:they just invite you and you show up and then you
Speaker:just sell?
Speaker:Yes. You make the connections,
Speaker:you get the invitation,
Speaker:but there is no cost to it from them.
Speaker:Do you have to give them back any portion of your
Speaker:sales? It depends on the concierge service or the management service
Speaker:that you're working with.
Speaker:Okay. So every building's a little different.
Speaker:And when I say every building,
Speaker:technically it's every like a concierge service.
Speaker:Mike concierge,
Speaker:20 buildings in the city of Chicago.
Speaker:So all 20 of those buildings will have the same agreement
Speaker:with that concierge service.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:So it'd be work out that way.
Speaker:I've never paid to be in a building cause you have
Speaker:to remember the concierges are putting you in those buildings.
Speaker:They want to promote and do nice things for their tenants.
Speaker:So they're not looking to make money on this.
Speaker:Right. Cause they want their tenants to stay.
Speaker:So they want to continue to provide value for the people
Speaker:who are there.
Speaker:Yes. And this is took me a long time to learn
Speaker:and sort through all of what this all means.
Speaker:And I will tell you,
Speaker:it's interesting,
Speaker:I did a pop up this past end of April,
Speaker:beginning of may in a food hall.
Speaker:First time I had done one of those.
Speaker:And here's what happens.
Speaker:You start doing one or two and the next thing you
Speaker:know, somebody goes,
Speaker:this is amazing.
Speaker:Would you be interested in coming to this place?
Speaker:It happens.
Speaker:I've gotten a lot of introductions that way,
Speaker:but please don't misunderstand that.
Speaker:I still spend hours on the computer combing through and finding
Speaker:great places to be and connections to make.
Speaker:But I have had much success as well with people coming
Speaker:up to me going,
Speaker:so-and-so placed us popups and you would do great.
Speaker:They're great.
Speaker:Could you give me the information and I'll contact them.
Speaker:So you go home and you send emails,
Speaker:make phone calls.
Speaker:And so recently I did one in a food hall and
Speaker:that was a completely new experience.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it was just a completely different set of clientele.
Speaker:And I remember,
Speaker:I'm looking at it from the perspective of serving the tenants
Speaker:in the building,
Speaker:but also they now know who I am.
Speaker:And so when they're ready to send out their holiday gifts
Speaker:or they have a convention coming up and they want to
Speaker:give a little goody out,
Speaker:they might think of me.
Speaker:Sure. I mean you're making sales there,
Speaker:but you're also prospecting for the future,
Speaker:Correct? Yes.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:and I will tell you when I was at the forum,
Speaker:it was kind of crazy.
Speaker:Didn't expect it,
Speaker:but ABC news showed up there and I ended up getting
Speaker:on just for a little blurb,
Speaker:but the whole interview that they doing with the forum,
Speaker:not just me,
Speaker:I just happened to be the popup that was there that
Speaker:day was around the fact that Rahm Emanuel and the city
Speaker:of Chicago wants to promote these popups for small businesses.
Speaker:So they're actually doing a whole pilot program to encourage popups
Speaker:around the city.
Speaker:So what would you say,
Speaker:just circling back with and putting like a big bow around
Speaker:this whole conversation of popups,
Speaker:somebody who's listening,
Speaker:who isn't in a big city,
Speaker:whose town has never even considered this before,
Speaker:how would they,
Speaker:if they make a contact with a concierge,
Speaker:how would they describe what they would like to do in
Speaker:the simplest terms?
Speaker:Just to give them direction of how they could possibly do
Speaker:this in their own community.
Speaker:If it were me and I wasn't local to a big
Speaker:city, I will tell you,
Speaker:I have not just done popups in the city of Chicago.
Speaker:I have been invited in downers Grove while Naperville and how
Speaker:I've done that.
Speaker:Again, use your resources.
Speaker:People you know that work in bigger buildings and ask them
Speaker:have they ever done a popup or maybe you might even
Speaker:have to explain to them what a popup is and they
Speaker:may go,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:there was a guy selling powers at Valentine's day.
Speaker:That would be considered a pop up.
Speaker:Okay. So use your resources in terms of family and friends
Speaker:that you know that might work in these bigger buildings.
Speaker:And see if you can get in touch with the management
Speaker:or the concierge in that building.
Speaker:Walk into the buildings yourself.
Speaker:In the beginning I closed the popup shop.
Speaker:Usually your popup shops,
Speaker:they want you to kind of out of there by three
Speaker:three 30 before the rush of everybody leaving is going on.
Speaker:So I pack up and I then take a walk and
Speaker:I'd walk around other buildings and I'd walk in and I'd
Speaker:shake hands and ask if I could meet the concierge and
Speaker:I would just introduce myself and say,
Speaker:Hey, I was doing a popup down the street and I
Speaker:was wondering if you ever do them,
Speaker:here's my card and if for every 20 cards if I
Speaker:got one call in yours that emailed me back,
Speaker:it's just one more person to add to my calendar of
Speaker:events. Absolutely.
Speaker:So okay so done by three 30 is when did you
Speaker:start, so what type of hours would you be?
Speaker:Every building's a little different.
Speaker:Yeah. It's interesting cause you kind of can set your own
Speaker:hours to some degree and some want to tell you when
Speaker:to come.
Speaker:But what I have found too is that a lot of
Speaker:these concierges are not,
Speaker:I've actually helped guide them into understanding it a little bit
Speaker:better in that.
Speaker:So I try to generally say,
Speaker:okay so I usually like to be set up by 10
Speaker:30 11 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker:So I usually tell them I'll get downtown by nine 30
Speaker:that way I have enough time to unload.
Speaker:So you're ready for the rush when people are coming up
Speaker:and down for lunch,
Speaker:for lunch,
Speaker:right by 11 o'clock cause there's a lot of people in
Speaker:these high rise buildings.
Speaker:There's a mom that might try to get to work every
Speaker:morning by six 37 so she can leave by three 30
Speaker:not everybody is a nine to five so I try to
Speaker:be ready by 11 and from 11 to three three 30
Speaker:I'm open.
Speaker:And then I usually start tearing down by somewhere between three
Speaker:and three 30 when things slow down.
Speaker:So I'm out of there by four o'clock the latest because
Speaker:by four o'clock you start seeing a mad rush where people
Speaker:are trying to get out of the building to head to
Speaker:their trains or whatever and you want to be out of
Speaker:their way.
Speaker:Right. And it makes for a nice day and what I
Speaker:love is is it's during the week,
Speaker:so you can do this in regular business hours as well
Speaker:so that if you're not able to always do just crash
Speaker:shows, you can hook onto these lobby markets and events like
Speaker:that and it will definitely do well as well.
Speaker:And there during the week.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I had no clue that we were going to get on
Speaker:this topic,
Speaker:but this is like golden.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I mean this is a concept we haven't really talked about
Speaker:on the show yet and going to the concierge is,
Speaker:I think this is going to help a lot of people
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Yeah. Well I'm glad to help.
Speaker:A lot of people might feel like,
Speaker:well, don't give your secrets away.
Speaker:It's not a secret to me.
Speaker:The more people that can do this and help these concierges
Speaker:out. You want variety.
Speaker:I would never suggest to a concierge,
Speaker:it's like having a craft show every week in the same
Speaker:spot. You might get 5,000
Speaker:people that comes once a year because they know that college
Speaker:would you page or somebody like that is having a crash
Speaker:show. But if you had it once a month,
Speaker:it gets old.
Speaker:Right. So nobody's going to really come around too much.
Speaker:So you want a lot of people with a lot of
Speaker:their imagination and their products coming in to give variety to
Speaker:these. And to me,
Speaker:the more that's there,
Speaker:the merrier.
Speaker:I think it's amazing for that.
Speaker:Well, and it also helps grow the concept.
Speaker:Yeah. Because then other buildings will see what they're doing and
Speaker:then more and more people will come and let's face it,
Speaker:you can't be everywhere for sure.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:even if you had staff helping in other locations,
Speaker:well that's a whole nother thing.
Speaker:So, Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And that we could talk forever.
Speaker:I have like five different angles that we could take this
Speaker:conversation, but I think we're going to have to circle it
Speaker:and close it up now.
Speaker:But before we do,
Speaker:I would like to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box or should I say jar?
Speaker:We can make it a jar.
Speaker:You can make an attire.
Speaker:In my case,
Speaker:it's funny because I think if you were to ask me
Speaker:that question a year ago,
Speaker:I feel like I would have answered by saying,
Speaker:Oh, I would love to just be in a place where
Speaker:I can get orders from people.
Speaker:But now this year,
Speaker:knowing the doors that have opened for me and realizing that
Speaker:the company has taken me to places that I never even
Speaker:knew existed,
Speaker:I do dream about now.
Speaker:Is it possible for me to spend my days designing more
Speaker:flavors and unique candies and having people go out and do
Speaker:these popup events and corporate orders for me?
Speaker:Yeah. That would be unbelievable if I could actually spend the
Speaker:time in the kitchen doing what I love the most,
Speaker:and getting to see people enjoy all the different flavors and
Speaker:seeing the company grow and to develop into something that would
Speaker:be something that I could be proud of and that the
Speaker:city of Chicago could be proud of.
Speaker:Yeah. Taking it to the next level.
Speaker:Yeah. I think it would be amazing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think it's very,
Speaker:very far away,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:if I had to dream,
Speaker:wow, that would be really interesting to see it go that
Speaker:big. I could see it.
Speaker:I could see it in that.
Speaker:I don't think that's that far out of reach,
Speaker:to be quite honest in terms of the concept and the
Speaker:ability to do it.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:I appreciate your confidence because I think and the good thing
Speaker:is is that I have people,
Speaker:my family,
Speaker:my husband,
Speaker:my kids,
Speaker:and even my brothers and sisters and mom and dad and
Speaker:them. It's funny because when you have support and you have
Speaker:people that believe in what you're doing,
Speaker:it makes a huge difference too.
Speaker:They're always willing to help out.
Speaker:If I need a last minute and trust me,
Speaker:I've called for help many a times going,
Speaker:okay, I bit off more than I could do here,
Speaker:so SOS.
Speaker:So it's always nice to have somebody come when you throw
Speaker:the SOS out.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Well give biz listeners,
Speaker:I know you're going to want to see a nuts product,
Speaker:so just jump over to fill my jar.com
Speaker:and you can take a look there.
Speaker:I also on the show notes page,
Speaker:we'll have links to her Etsy shop,
Speaker:Facebook pages,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So if you're interested in seeing all of that,
Speaker:jump on over to the show notes page.
Speaker:Annette, thank you so much.
Speaker:I am so glad we connected and I was able to
Speaker:hear your story.
Speaker:It's a lot that you told us.
Speaker:That's going to be just golden advice for our listeners as
Speaker:we move forward.
Speaker:So for that,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:Anytime loved being on it was a lot of fun.
Speaker:Wonderful. And gift biz listeners.
Speaker:If you're ever in downtown Chicago and you pop into a
Speaker:building and there are some little businesses set up,
Speaker:go and find a net and say hello.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:signing off now and add.
Speaker:Have a great day.
Speaker:You too.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:Okay. Gift biz listeners.
Speaker:I am so excited about this lobby popup conversation.
Speaker:I think the opportunity for you is so huge and perfect
Speaker:timing if you're listening to this show right as it's going
Speaker:live, so that's July.
Speaker:The timing is perfect.
Speaker:With the holiday season approaching,
Speaker:if any of you,
Speaker:or should I say when you take advantage of this concept
Speaker:and start putting it into practice,
Speaker:I would love to hear how it's going.
Speaker:You can contact me directly@suatgiftbizonrapt.com
Speaker:I personally read all the emails that come through on that
Speaker:address and if you'd like even more gift biz motivation.
Speaker:I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group
Speaker:called a gift biz breeze.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:pursuing your business should be fun,
Speaker:exciting, and rewarding,
Speaker:but so often it becomes stressful and honestly scary when you
Speaker:join the breeze.
Speaker:It's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you
Speaker:all the support and the answers that you need and that
Speaker:you've been looking for.
Speaker:You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along with
Speaker:tools and resources to catapult your business growth.
Speaker:To join the breeze,
Speaker:jump over to gift biz breeze.com
Speaker:and I'll see you over there.
Speaker:This episode is all wrapped up,
Speaker:but fortunately,
Speaker:your gift biz journey continues.
Speaker:Are you eager to learn more?
Speaker:Our gift biz gal has a free download just for you.
Speaker:Head over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com/twelve steps to get your copy of the 12 steps to
Speaker:starting a profitable gift biz.
Speaker:Don't delay.
Speaker:Head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/twelve
Speaker:steps today and until next time,
