Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
From Opera Singer to Gift Basket Designer [2:48] The $30,000 order that started it all [3:39]Candle Flickering Moments
The effect of 9/11 on her business [10:38] A pivot in the business plan based on current events [11:53]Business Building Insight
Sharon’s take on her competitors [6:54] Pop By Gift Club [15:49] Multiple income streams are a key to survival [19:14] How Sharon gets her business today [21:34] How to see monetary value in networking events [24:52] The power of simplifying your life for business [32:20]Success Trait
Sharon says that her mind works in pictures. In her creative career this ability to envision immediately the solution to a client’s request has led to her ability to WOW! her customers and become a valued part of their marketing strategy. [27:06]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Expensify – Capture receipts, track time or mileage and creating expense reports quick and easy Invoice Simple – Quickly and accurately create, email, and/or print professional looking estimates, invoices, and receipts with embedded photos at the office and in the field.Valuable Book
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn InstagramIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 55.
Speaker:How do I stay in business?
Speaker:When everyone around me is closing.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today we have joining us Sharon Day.
Speaker:Sharon is the owner and head designer at express yourself gifts
Speaker:and baskets,
Speaker:and the only certified gift designer in all of Massachusetts.
Speaker:The winner of two national design awards in 2015,
Speaker:Sharon is in her 21st year.
Speaker:Get that you guys,
Speaker:21 years,
Speaker:designing corporate and personal gifts and baskets custom designs at her
Speaker:specialty. And she creates everything from small client touch gifts to
Speaker:elaborate designs,
Speaker:fit for a queen.
Speaker:I love that Sharon,
Speaker:welcome to the show.
Speaker:Hi Sue.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:Is there anything I should add to this intro before we
Speaker:Get started?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I just love what I do and it kind of found
Speaker:me. So I think that was pretty good.
Speaker:Okay. As our listeners know,
Speaker:We like to align the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share all these stories
Speaker:and all these experiences of being in business for 21 years.
Speaker:Are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:I Am ready to light it off.
Speaker:All Right,
Speaker:well, let's talk about this motivational candle of yours.
Speaker:What color is it and what is your quote?
Speaker:Well, it's actually two colors which align with the colors of
Speaker:my logo,
Speaker:which I chose for a very specific reason.
Speaker:21 years ago,
Speaker:the first would be red because it's associated with energy,
Speaker:determination, passion,
Speaker:and love,
Speaker:which all describe how I feel about what I do and
Speaker:then purple because it combines the stability of blue and the
Speaker:energy and red,
Speaker:and it's associated with luxury,
Speaker:dignity, creativity,
Speaker:mystery, and magic.
Speaker:And that is a powerful combination for me.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Okay, Sharon.
Speaker:So what I want to do now is here.
Speaker:I want to,
Speaker:I want to take you back 21 years and hear the
Speaker:story about how you got this idea for your business way
Speaker:in the beginning.
Speaker:Well, I've always been creative,
Speaker:so that was,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:the start of it.
Speaker:But after spending 20 years as an actress and opera singer,
Speaker:I transitioned into marketing and public relations behind the scenes theater
Speaker:companies and realized after a few years that there's not a
Speaker:lot of money to be made in that.
Speaker:And it wasn't as creative as I felt I should be.
Speaker:So I opened my own marketing and PR business,
Speaker:which didn't last long because I've joined a networking group.
Speaker:And when I was a speaker the first time,
Speaker:a couple of months,
Speaker:and I gave a gift basket as a door prize because
Speaker:I've just always did them for family and friends.
Speaker:And it was something I enjoyed.
Speaker:And I started getting referrals,
Speaker:not for marketing plans and media buys,
Speaker:but for gift baskets.
Speaker:So I really wasn't in the gift basket business,
Speaker:but I am creative.
Speaker:So I would make these baskets for people.
Speaker:And a few months in,
Speaker:beyond that,
Speaker:I've got a lead to an order to bid on a
Speaker:job for a large Boston bank.
Speaker:So had decided,
Speaker:even though I'm not in this business,
Speaker:I'm going to bid on this because it sounds like fun.
Speaker:And I did just that.
Speaker:And I won the bid.
Speaker:So here I am with this thousand piece order from a
Speaker:large bank and I'm not in business.
Speaker:I have no vendors,
Speaker:I have no location.
Speaker:So I turned to the fellow members in my networking group.
Speaker:One of whom was a gift basket designer in a different
Speaker:chapter. And I said,
Speaker:okay, this is what has to happen.
Speaker:You need to help me put this together because I have
Speaker:this opportunity to fulfill this $30,000
Speaker:order. And I'd like to do it and see if I
Speaker:can. So she helped me and I hired members of my
Speaker:networking group to come and do production.
Speaker:One of my marketing clients loaned me his double garage and
Speaker:family room and $5,000
Speaker:to purchase product and supplies because I was not in this
Speaker:business, but I had won this bid.
Speaker:So we got the job done,
Speaker:long story short in two weeks,
Speaker:the bank picked them up.
Speaker:They were very happy.
Speaker:And when I got that check and paid all the expenses,
Speaker:I used that money to turn the voting public relations business
Speaker:into corporate gifts because I realized right away that this was
Speaker:just such a happy business to be in.
Speaker:It made people smile and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:nobody wants to spend the money to buy advertising and media
Speaker:buys and they don't want to pay you until it works.
Speaker:And so it baskets though,
Speaker:on the other hand,
Speaker:you do them and people smile and pay you right away.
Speaker:And everybody's happy.
Speaker:So that's how I ended up with this industry finding me.
Speaker:Would you say then that really your networking group absolutely saved
Speaker:you because how would you have ever been able to do
Speaker:it without them?
Speaker:Well, Oh,
Speaker:I wouldn't have even been in this industry because it had
Speaker:not occurred to me that I could start a business as
Speaker:a gift basket designer,
Speaker:marketing and PR I knew.
Speaker:So that was a familiar ground.
Speaker:And that's what I started in originally,
Speaker:but it wasn't fun and I wasn't passionate about it.
Speaker:I was good at it,
Speaker:but not passionate about it.
Speaker:And I'm not good at lasting with things I'm not passionate
Speaker:about. So this called my,
Speaker:and I answered the call and I've never looked back.
Speaker:You had that first job and Oh my gosh,
Speaker:gift basket owners would die for a thousand dollar piece order.
Speaker:Much less at your first order.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I've never done a $30,000
Speaker:order sent in one piece and I'm not sure I'd really
Speaker:want to,
Speaker:it was a tough assignment to do $1,030
Speaker:baskets. Sure.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I feel lucky to have had the big order at the
Speaker:beginning. Right.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you just described how you got your product,
Speaker:that manpower put it all together,
Speaker:delivered it on time.
Speaker:Then you've probably had a chance to sit back and take
Speaker:a deep breath.
Speaker:Right. Probably want a massage or something.
Speaker:Well, I did my research on starting this kind of business.
Speaker:So I spent a lot of time,
Speaker:even with things like the colors that I wanted in my
Speaker:logo, as I mentioned before,
Speaker:and I decided right off the top that even though there
Speaker:were a lot of providers out there,
Speaker:nobody was my competition because we're all different mob,
Speaker:design style is different.
Speaker:The way I approach customers and relationships with those customers is
Speaker:very different.
Speaker:And back in that time in 1995,
Speaker:there really wasn't the internet to contend with.
Speaker:So most of what people consider complication was local,
Speaker:but I just felt like I didn't need to be afraid
Speaker:of them and they didn't need to fear me because there's
Speaker:plenty of room out there for everyone to work.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:I felt good about the research I did when I started
Speaker:it. And I already had clients from my networking groups.
Speaker:So that just grew.
Speaker:And for years,
Speaker:this business pulled me along like I was the car and
Speaker:it was the horse.
Speaker:It took many years for me to feel like I was
Speaker:actually in control of the growth.
Speaker:Very interesting comment.
Speaker:I've never heard that before.
Speaker:Really interesting.
Speaker:Wow. Times were very different back then because the economy is
Speaker:really good.
Speaker:People will spend just crazy money because they were making crazy
Speaker:money. So I never had to really spend a lot of
Speaker:time. Like I didn't leave a print ad or any other
Speaker:kind of advertising for like the first 10 years I was
Speaker:in business and that's a luxury and I was steadily busy.
Speaker:I had plenty of work and was able to actually drop
Speaker:my marketing and PR the very first retainer client that I
Speaker:ever had just a few months after I had started.
Speaker:So I was very lucky.
Speaker:It, the timing was just good plus I'm tenacious and I'm
Speaker:never give up.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Give biz listeners.
Speaker:One thing that Sharon said that I really want to underline
Speaker:here is that she was talking about the fact that even
Speaker:though she entered into the business and she had competitors there's
Speaker:room for everybody and there's work for everyone,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you're going to be professional,
Speaker:start your business on a solid foundation,
Speaker:just because there's somebody else doing a business,
Speaker:similar, what you're thinking of doing,
Speaker:don't let that stop.
Speaker:You there's always work for everybody.
Speaker:Everyone brings their personality into their business and people are going
Speaker:to gravitate to different areas.
Speaker:Like you might have different industries that you'd focus on or
Speaker:a different type of style.
Speaker:That's going to resonate with one person over another.
Speaker:So keep what Sharon said in mind.
Speaker:There's always room for everybody.
Speaker:You have to work at it.
Speaker:No doubt,
Speaker:but don't let that stop you from starting your business or
Speaker:really working hard to make your business a success.
Speaker:Would you add anything to that?
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I think self-confidence in your own ability is paramount.
Speaker:If you don't have that,
Speaker:no matter what business you're starting,
Speaker:you probably won't succeed because you'll talk yourself out of it.
Speaker:One thing I've always had is just confidence in my ability
Speaker:to create beautiful things,
Speaker:whether it's a role of an opera or a gift basket,
Speaker:I just know that that it comes from within me.
Speaker:And I'm confident with that of my ability.
Speaker:So I think you have to find that confidence,
Speaker:no matter what business you're starting or you're have a harder
Speaker:time succeeding.
Speaker:I would agree with that too.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So let's take all of that confidence and walk into a
Speaker:story where there was a challenge for you.
Speaker:Maybe your confidence dipped a little bit or something happened.
Speaker:That was a little bit of a struggle that you could
Speaker:share with all of us and how you overcame a problem.
Speaker:Yeah, I can actually,
Speaker:yeah, I've got a couple and they sort of go hand
Speaker:in hand on,
Speaker:because as I mentioned the first six years or so that
Speaker:I was in business,
Speaker:everything was just up the Hill and I was just trying
Speaker:to keep up.
Speaker:And then nine 11 happened and being in Massachusetts,
Speaker:so many people were impacted during that time with loved ones
Speaker:that got lost on the planes and in the building.
Speaker:And I can remember that my business actually surged just after
Speaker:nine 11 and I felt really kind of guilty about that,
Speaker:but there were just so many sympathy baskets that I got
Speaker:called to do.
Speaker:The difficulty with that emotionally was that people would tell me
Speaker:the stories.
Speaker:So I became involved intimately with these people's lives and the
Speaker:people who knew and loved them.
Speaker:So I can just remember taking a basket to go deliver
Speaker:it and walking up to the door and I'd just be
Speaker:a puddle of tears.
Speaker:It was the hardest couple of months I have had personally
Speaker:in this business.
Speaker:So that was more a difficulty on the personal side of
Speaker:having to Nash,
Speaker:being able to make money off of a tragedy,
Speaker:which I've just felt as still feel guilty about it,
Speaker:but people wanted to show their care and their love and
Speaker:their sympathy.
Speaker:And so I put everything I had into those baskets to
Speaker:make them as personal and comforting as I possibly could.
Speaker:And what led from was that everything changed in business after
Speaker:nine 11,
Speaker:many of my clients,
Speaker:they had a budget.
Speaker:They no longer had it at all or their budgets were
Speaker:drastically reduced.
Speaker:So at the same time I was opening my first shop
Speaker:outside of my home,
Speaker:I was faced with some of the larger clients.
Speaker:I had either not being able to stay with me because
Speaker:they weren't buying gifts and luxuries anymore,
Speaker:or they had drastically reduced their budgets.
Speaker:So I had to get really creative.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:this is the difficult part was how do I stay in
Speaker:business? When everyone around me is closing and I had many
Speaker:good friends in this industry,
Speaker:in this new England area and all of them are gone
Speaker:now. And I'm the only one of that group that is
Speaker:left. And I've since made new friends in the business here
Speaker:and other people have opened to replace them.
Speaker:But I did have to get creative to keep my expenses
Speaker:down, to try and discover a way to make gifts that
Speaker:were affordable because in the past people would spend just like
Speaker:wildly, they had no limits,
Speaker:but all of a sudden people would have a budget of
Speaker:$25. So it's a whole new way of thinking about how
Speaker:you satisfy clients and keep them and have them come back
Speaker:to you.
Speaker:And that was tough.
Speaker:Very tough.
Speaker:I want to say two things here.
Speaker:You talk about feeling guilty about collecting money and running your
Speaker:business and having quite a bit of business during a very
Speaker:challenging time.
Speaker:But thank God you were there because you were offering comfort
Speaker:for so many people because people wanted to do something for
Speaker:those who were suffering.
Speaker:And I think we were all suffering in America during nine
Speaker:11, but for those who had lost people,
Speaker:family members,
Speaker:friends, you were there providing a service that was helping people.
Speaker:And I can't help,
Speaker:but think that when you were delivering those baskets,
Speaker:it just added to everything for them to see how emotionally
Speaker:surrounded you were with what you were doing.
Speaker:So I think that was wonderful.
Speaker:It had to be just unbelievably heart-wrenching as you say It
Speaker:was, and I've tried to rationalize it and I've come to
Speaker:terms with it at this point.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:for a while,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:I must be just awful to financially benefit from this because
Speaker:it just is,
Speaker:it's a hard thing to do,
Speaker:but I was providing that comfort in a service that they
Speaker:couldn't get otherwise.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:I've made peace with it,
Speaker:Right? And the other thing that I want to bring up
Speaker:here in no way to diminish that,
Speaker:because that's really a powerful thing is that you saw that
Speaker:the world had changed and you didn't continue doing the same
Speaker:things that you had already done.
Speaker:You relooked at the business and adjusted your products.
Speaker:As you're talking about lower priced products to suit the new
Speaker:way people were doing business.
Speaker:I remember during that time,
Speaker:myself, people,
Speaker:businesses didn't even want to send gifts.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I did a lot.
Speaker:I used to do a lot with banks.
Speaker:They didn't even want to send because it just didn't look
Speaker:right. If it didn't send the right message at that time.
Speaker:And so what you were doing was adjusting to fit the
Speaker:new state of reality a few.
Speaker:Well, Yep.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that was another growth point for me because I discovered how
Speaker:much I truly love small gifts because there's a place for
Speaker:them. There's a market for them.
Speaker:That's underserved.
Speaker:And probably always has been,
Speaker:especially in good economic times.
Speaker:Nobody would even talk to you if you didn't want to
Speaker:drop a hundred bucks.
Speaker:So I truly found that they're fun to do,
Speaker:and I love them.
Speaker:So I've now created even smaller gifts.
Speaker:Well, let's,
Speaker:let's talk about this.
Speaker:Let's back it up because I'm sure many of our listeners
Speaker:don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker:Let's go back and let's talk about what specifically you're doing
Speaker:with these smaller gifts.
Speaker:Well, in about 2014,
Speaker:I noticed a need within the real estate industry,
Speaker:which was coming back from a really disastrous few years.
Speaker:And people were starting to ask for small little tokens to
Speaker:take out and stay front of mind with their clients and
Speaker:happened to have a very deep relationship in real estate that
Speaker:I had built over many years.
Speaker:So people would come to me and ask me about what
Speaker:do you have?
Speaker:That's like three or $4 that I could take out with
Speaker:my card.
Speaker:So I saw the need.
Speaker:And since I loved the little gifts,
Speaker:I figured,
Speaker:how can I do this in action,
Speaker:make money because you can't make money.
Speaker:If you're doing one or two,
Speaker:$2 gifts,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:face it,
Speaker:you got to make money in this industry.
Speaker:I came up with the idea of putting a club together,
Speaker:a pop by gift of the month club,
Speaker:or as industries outside of real estate would call it a
Speaker:client touch gift or a small way to stay in front
Speaker:of your clients on a monthly basis.
Speaker:So I just asked around in the real estate sphere that
Speaker:I'm part of said,
Speaker:would you want to join this club for free?
Speaker:It's not going to cost anything.
Speaker:And you only need to make a commitment of 10 gifts
Speaker:a month at $5 or under.
Speaker:So your maximum expenditure for marketing in a month to the
Speaker:pot bike would be $50.
Speaker:And I've got like such a great response that I've actually
Speaker:had to curtail adding new people to the club because not
Speaker:only did people sign up like crazy 75 within like the
Speaker:first month committing to 10 a piece,
Speaker:but they can always up their order.
Speaker:That was always something I wanted them to be able to
Speaker:do is order more.
Speaker:And so now it has expanded out beyond real estate,
Speaker:into other industries as well.
Speaker:And some of them order up to a hundred every single
Speaker:month. So that's why I had to stop adding people to
Speaker:the club at this point,
Speaker:because honestly,
Speaker:if I wanted to make bliss of bulk company all on
Speaker:its own,
Speaker:I could,
Speaker:but I like the balance of the small groups and the
Speaker:big showy fabulous skips get for a queen or King.
Speaker:Sure. I mean,
Speaker:the thing that's so great about your club is number one,
Speaker:by being a club,
Speaker:I think people are feeling committed,
Speaker:right? Do they have to sign for a certain duration?
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:You have to give me a credit card that I keep
Speaker:on file.
Speaker:So I bill them monthly because the thing is,
Speaker:you don't want to have a lot of extra time taken
Speaker:up with either labor or things like billing.
Speaker:So they do give me a credit card.
Speaker:I do it annually.
Speaker:So they commit to a year I'm not hard and fast.
Speaker:If somebody is having a tough time,
Speaker:like one of my clients this past month called and said,
Speaker:can I just not get them this month?
Speaker:I'm having some challenges.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:sure, that's fine.
Speaker:And in the beginning,
Speaker:I think I gave him an opportunity to opt out for
Speaker:four of the 12 months,
Speaker:but nobody did.
Speaker:So I just dropped that and figured out,
Speaker:handle it on a case by case basis.
Speaker:But largely nobody on a consistent basis does want them.
Speaker:So how many people are part of the club?
Speaker:Now I have 125,
Speaker:125 people are part of this club.
Speaker:And all right.
Speaker:So we'll just,
Speaker:and it's going to be at least a minimum of $50
Speaker:per month.
Speaker:We know that some of it's more,
Speaker:how awesome is that?
Speaker:Because this then is revenue that you can count on to
Speaker:pay your expenses Every single month.
Speaker:And it's another income stream because I fully believe that in
Speaker:any business you're in,
Speaker:you need to have different income streams,
Speaker:because if one of them goes,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Speaker:That's kind of funny.
Speaker:Cause I said baskets,
Speaker:but honestly,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you need to have different income streams because things change from
Speaker:time to time.
Speaker:And if you lose your only income stream,
Speaker:you're left holding the bag and you won't be in business.
Speaker:So I've tried to find different ways to bring in,
Speaker:come in at all levels so that I will stay in
Speaker:business no matter what happens around me.
Speaker:Absolutely. So now do you have a waiting list for people
Speaker:who want to join the club?
Speaker:I have not actively marketed it.
Speaker:So occasionally I will have someone call and ask if they
Speaker:can be a part of it.
Speaker:And usually I'd say yes,
Speaker:but it's on a onesy kind of basis.
Speaker:I haven't had a whole influx of people wanting to be
Speaker:part of it because I haven't advertised it out.
Speaker:Only advertised it originally through word of mouth,
Speaker:just from people that I knew.
Speaker:And they told people they knew.
Speaker:And that's how I ended up with the first 75 people
Speaker:in the club that was in 2014.
Speaker:So in two years I've added another 50 people to it
Speaker:because I'm able to better handle them now that I'm in
Speaker:a routine of doing them because they come every single month.
Speaker:Sure. Just the concept of having that stable business coming in
Speaker:month in and month out and certainly 125 customers are not
Speaker:all going to drop out at one time.
Speaker:So if for some reason something happened and you started seeing
Speaker:a trend of people backing off,
Speaker:you could open the club up again and start promoting it.
Speaker:Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. And if I wasn't space challenged in my current location,
Speaker:I could just have this become bigger,
Speaker:but I'm in an 800 square foot shop,
Speaker:so it's not giant.
Speaker:And to have people coming in,
Speaker:working here would be very cramped.
Speaker:So at some point,
Speaker:if I find a different situation,
Speaker:I can have a set of people who just do pop.
Speaker:I get score me if space is available and then I
Speaker:can expand it.
Speaker:And who knows maybe one day I will start it as
Speaker:its own company.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:You never know,
Speaker:keep your options open.
Speaker:Right. So tell me real quick on the other end.
Speaker:So the larger basket,
Speaker:what types of things do you do to promote that side
Speaker:of the business?
Speaker:Again, almost a hundred percent of my promotion at this point
Speaker:is word of mouth or through MailChimp,
Speaker:kind of like people who sign up on my email list
Speaker:or my Facebook.
Speaker:I get a lot of business from my Facebook business page.
Speaker:After 21 years,
Speaker:I don't look to find that many new customers because I've
Speaker:been able to manage,
Speaker:to retain the ones that are add.
Speaker:And the word of mouth gets me all the new clients
Speaker:I can really handle.
Speaker:That's fabulous.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:we always talk in marketing that the best prospects are your
Speaker:current customers.
Speaker:So, and as long as you are servicing them,
Speaker:providing value continually,
Speaker:freshing it up with probably new products in the baskets or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just keeping things current.
Speaker:You can retain that business for a long,
Speaker:long time.
Speaker:Yeah. And since I do all custom work,
Speaker:nothing is ever the same.
Speaker:Like no one's ever going to afford her to baskets for
Speaker:me three months apart or three years apart and get the
Speaker:same basket.
Speaker:They got four that's never going to happen.
Speaker:So at Quinn's my customers and ask them questions about the
Speaker:recipient so that every single gift is unique.
Speaker:So is that how you make your customers feel valuable and
Speaker:important? Because everything they're giving is really unique.
Speaker:One of a kind It is.
Speaker:And, and so often I get my customers call me and
Speaker:they will say stuff like,
Speaker:how did you know they like that?
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I just asked you questions.
Speaker:And I kind of get a picture in my head and
Speaker:a feeling about it and I'd go from there.
Speaker:And sometimes I hit it out of the park and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:get something they didn't even know.
Speaker:I would put in a basket that the recipient was going
Speaker:to love,
Speaker:but I try to make it very personal.
Speaker:And, and I've built really strong relationships with my customers throughout
Speaker:the years.
Speaker:I don't really have a lot of customers that just buy
Speaker:a basket.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:they don't bind them online for me,
Speaker:generally, most of my customers are in the new England area
Speaker:and they call me or email me or text me.
Speaker:And we have that kind of a relationship where we know
Speaker:each other pretty well at this point.
Speaker:One-on-one relationships.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:They know you and that's probably how you keep business so
Speaker:often because you know,
Speaker:why would anybody go to anybody else?
Speaker:They know you,
Speaker:they feel good about what you're doing.
Speaker:It would almost like be cheating on you.
Speaker:Well, and I know them so well now that I even
Speaker:know their habits,
Speaker:like there's one customer I have.
Speaker:And I know she'll forget to call me when she does
Speaker:a trade show.
Speaker:So when I know the trade shows coming up,
Speaker:I call her and go,
Speaker:Hey, do you want a basket for that chain show?
Speaker:And she's like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:thank you so much for calling because I would have totally
Speaker:forgotten that.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:I've known them at this point very well.
Speaker:And I could pick up the phone and make that kind
Speaker:of call.
Speaker:And nobody feels like I'm being pushy.
Speaker:I'm trying to make a sale because I'm anything.
Speaker:But what I would call a sales person,
Speaker:I'm more on the educator and a brand to help them
Speaker:get what they need.
Speaker:And that's how I approach it.
Speaker:I'm very low threat when it comes to the phone ringing
Speaker:and I'm on the other end.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Well, I'm curious,
Speaker:I know you're actively involved in your local chamber.
Speaker:What other types of groups are you involved in or how
Speaker:else are you finding people face to face?
Speaker:Well, I've been a member of BNI,
Speaker:which is business network international for 21 years.
Speaker:That was the networking group I joined for my previous business.
Speaker:And I have stuck with that because I've found that it
Speaker:has just been the only thing that really knew my business
Speaker:right away.
Speaker:In addition to chambers and local types of groups,
Speaker:that sort of stuff.
Speaker:I try to participate in as many things as I can
Speaker:so that it's belly to belly.
Speaker:You meet people,
Speaker:you see people,
Speaker:they see you.
Speaker:I always take a little gift basket.
Speaker:It's like a Palm size mini basket.
Speaker:That's wrapped exactly as it would be.
Speaker:If it were a large basket you would purchase.
Speaker:But it's that visual reminder of what I do.
Speaker:That's important to create.
Speaker:If you're not out there,
Speaker:you can send all the emails and all the newsletters you
Speaker:want to,
Speaker:but unless you're out there and people see you and see
Speaker:what you do and get to know you and get to
Speaker:know what you do.
Speaker:It's very learned to add customers nowadays,
Speaker:particularly because the onset of the internet has made it so
Speaker:convenient for people not to even think about what it is
Speaker:they're doing.
Speaker:So you really have to have that presence in front of
Speaker:your clients and in front of your potential clients in order
Speaker:to have them understand why you're different than a basket made
Speaker:a year ago and put on a website.
Speaker:Do you,
Speaker:when you go to some of these events ever raffle off
Speaker:the basket,
Speaker:or is it always just a demo and example?
Speaker:No. I donate a lot of baskets to organizations having events
Speaker:and I'm attending,
Speaker:and sometimes I'm invited to attend with cause I donate a
Speaker:basket. So that's important.
Speaker:Giving back is huge to everyone,
Speaker:I think needs to do that because it makes you feel
Speaker:good. Not because you're going to get business from it.
Speaker:Cause I rarely do get direct business from a donation,
Speaker:but makes me feel good.
Speaker:And I meet people who then become that customers.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Sharon, I want to move on now into the reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you and what has made you
Speaker:so successful all these 21 years in business.
Speaker:What is one natural trait that you use that you think
Speaker:you've had your whole life that you call upon that has
Speaker:contributed to your success?
Speaker:Well, there are two of them really.
Speaker:I think one is,
Speaker:and it's kind of a first as well as a trait
Speaker:that helps me is that whenever I'm talking to someone,
Speaker:I immediately get a picture in my head.
Speaker:Like when a client is trying to tell me about the
Speaker:event or the person getting a basket,
Speaker:I can envision it immediately in my head.
Speaker:So I see everything in pictures which helps me,
Speaker:but it's hard.
Speaker:It's a burden to bear,
Speaker:to get a picture for everything people say to you,
Speaker:but it has helped me tremendously.
Speaker:And the other I think is that I am just getting
Speaker:outside the box or the basket kind of girl.
Speaker:I am not going to be reined them to using the
Speaker:basket necessarily to create a design because I'm looked around me
Speaker:in the world and I see all these things that could
Speaker:be a great container for instance.
Speaker:So I am not a person who feels restrained by using
Speaker:the typical tools of the trade,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:And I think that brings an unusual element to my designs
Speaker:and it helps me to be different and to be someone
Speaker:that people can call on when they need that weird basket
Speaker:or that weird event is coming up and they have no
Speaker:idea what to do for it.
Speaker:Right. Well,
Speaker:the creativity for sure,
Speaker:because as you talk about each of your designs is totally
Speaker:unique, right?
Speaker:It would be so easy just to gravitate into one type
Speaker:of style all the time.
Speaker:But at times like just naturally,
Speaker:because you're so picture oriented in your head and look for
Speaker:all those different ideas that actually explains why you're in the
Speaker:business that you are.
Speaker:Yeah. That's why I called it a curse too,
Speaker:because it really,
Speaker:sometimes I feel like it is a curse to have that
Speaker:burden of seeing visually something.
Speaker:Cause once in a while I meet someone who also has
Speaker:that ability and our pictures are different and you know,
Speaker:that can be a problem,
Speaker:but I can always change my picture to theirs,
Speaker:but they have to be able to tell me what their
Speaker:picture is.
Speaker:Most people,
Speaker:yeah. Most people cannot do that and they don't really have
Speaker:the envision of what they want.
Speaker:But I'm pleased to say that many times I can do
Speaker:that for someone.
Speaker:And they're just learning why they're so happy because it's exactly
Speaker:what they were trying to tell me they wanted.
Speaker:So it's a good thing.
Speaker:And so rewarding when you hear that,
Speaker:when the feedback is,
Speaker:is that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they, that you just landed it,
Speaker:you nailed it.
Speaker:The exact thing that they,
Speaker:yeah. I love that.
Speaker:That's all the applause I need.
Speaker:Like, you know,
Speaker:I love being an actress because you get applause.
Speaker:And to me,
Speaker:that's my applause and send it straight.
Speaker:There You go.
Speaker:What tool do you use regularly?
Speaker:Now you're saying you're in an 800 square foot facility.
Speaker:You're doing hundreds and hundreds of these pop by gifts as
Speaker:well as the larger gifts.
Speaker:And so you've got to coordinate and organize between your customers
Speaker:and your Workday and you go out to meetings and all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:How in the world,
Speaker:what are you using to keep yourself organized?
Speaker:And you always are so composed,
Speaker:how do you do this?
Speaker:Here's the thing I would absolutely be lost and dead in
Speaker:the water.
Speaker:And I don't know how I ever survived for four.
Speaker:I'm got a smart phone,
Speaker:which was not until really a few years ago,
Speaker:but I use it daily for taking orders,
Speaker:creating invoices,
Speaker:running credit cards,
Speaker:taking beautiful pictures,
Speaker:keeping my schedule.
Speaker:And I even have a program that allows people to sign
Speaker:through their gifts on my phone.
Speaker:What are you using?
Speaker:It's a Samsung galaxy four,
Speaker:actually. It's not even the most modern Samsung galaxy phone,
Speaker:but it does everything I need.
Speaker:And it keeps me from being this drifted.
Speaker:Like I have a credit card processor right on it.
Speaker:So if I'm at an event and I happen to have
Speaker:a table and I'm selling products,
Speaker:I can just make it a one step sales so that
Speaker:I'm not going back after the fact and trying to do
Speaker:invoices or do billing.
Speaker:So it has cut my time probably more than in half
Speaker:and not having to load up a laptop or take it
Speaker:with me and start it off and have to find,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the connection and all of that.
Speaker:It's just,
Speaker:I don't know how I ran this business without a smart
Speaker:phone from the ghetto.
Speaker:Is there one particular app or something that you're using on
Speaker:that phone that you think some of us might not know
Speaker:about? That would be a good recommendation.
Speaker:Absolutely. One of them is called invoice simple.
Speaker:So it allows me to invoice someone right on the spot
Speaker:and I can actually,
Speaker:they have a,
Speaker:an air printer.
Speaker:I can just send it right to them while I'm there
Speaker:making the delivery.
Speaker:Sometimes they,
Speaker:they request that so they can pay me up front,
Speaker:which is really nice if it's a quick order or a
Speaker:quick turnaround.
Speaker:So that's been useful.
Speaker:And then Expensify is another one that I use to track
Speaker:my mileage because that's important for my CPA every year to
Speaker:know where I drove and what were my personal miles and
Speaker:my business smiles.
Speaker:So those are two of the ones that I find are
Speaker:very helpful.
Speaker:Wonderful. Thank you so much for that.
Speaker:Have you read a book lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value in?
Speaker:For me,
Speaker:the most impactful book that I've read in years is one
Speaker:called simplify by Joshua Becker.
Speaker:And it's a celebration of living more and by earning less.
Speaker:So the thing is that I guess,
Speaker:because of the business I'm in,
Speaker:it requires me to have all these little parts like ribbons
Speaker:and cellos,
Speaker:red florals,
Speaker:things to theme a gift and products and like 20 categories.
Speaker:So in some sense,
Speaker:I need a place where I can get white space in
Speaker:my life.
Speaker:And so simplifying everything outside of my office has been tremendously
Speaker:helpful to me because I just needed to breathe.
Speaker:I need a space that is not cluttered with things around
Speaker:me, and I want to just enjoy my life and not
Speaker:be encumbered by the things around me.
Speaker:So that book has been very impactful and I consider myself
Speaker:a baby minimalist and it fascinates me about minimalism.
Speaker:I don't know what it is,
Speaker:but I think it just frees your soul and your heart
Speaker:and your brain to enjoy your life and not be surrounded
Speaker:by the stuff that is really just stuff.
Speaker:So if we were to go to your house and walk
Speaker:in, like,
Speaker:are all your counters clean and all your drawers organized and
Speaker:anywhere As a baby minimalist.
Speaker:So everything in baby steps,
Speaker:because being part of the baby baby boomer generation,
Speaker:we were brought up to think that you were judged,
Speaker:your success was judged by the things you owned.
Speaker:And somewhere along the way,
Speaker:I departed from the baby boomer philosophy and sorta more adopted
Speaker:the millennial philosophy of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you don't need to have all that stuff.
Speaker:You can live simply and just have what you use every
Speaker:day. And so my I've adopted a philosophy that if things
Speaker:are not beautiful or useful,
Speaker:they're gone,
Speaker:it's a process of partying with things that you think you
Speaker:need. And really you don't.
Speaker:So we'd have a place in our house where we put
Speaker:things and if we don't use it in a month,
Speaker:then it goes away.
Speaker:And my husband fights me on this a lot because he
Speaker:keeps everything.
Speaker:He still buys into the baby boomer way up.
Speaker:So it won't be totally decluttered because his things are there.
Speaker:And I don't feel it's my job to throw his stuff
Speaker:away. But good point personally,
Speaker:I have shed so much stuff in the last year that
Speaker:I'm already feeling lighter and brighter and full of happiness.
Speaker:So it's a process.
Speaker:Yeah. I love that.
Speaker:I've been thinking about,
Speaker:I look at my closet and I'm thinking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:some of this just has to go cause I don't use
Speaker:it. Maybe I'm just staffed to read this book.
Speaker:That's all,
Speaker:it's a wonderful book and gift biz listeners,
Speaker:just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:Sharon's book simplify might be available on audio.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible and you can get an audio
Speaker:book for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection.
Speaker:And maybe it will just be simplify.
Speaker:Okay, Sharon,
Speaker:I would like to invite you now 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:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Wow, that's a tough one,
Speaker:but inside my gift is air and sunlight and life work
Speaker:balance because I really need to start to savor each moment
Speaker:as they happen in my life and not be just so
Speaker:into the daily rigors of running my business,
Speaker:that I'm not enjoying my life in my work.
Speaker:So this gift is fabulous because it gives me the things
Speaker:that I need to have every day to balance my life.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that's so great because that's why we go in business in
Speaker:the beginning to be able to take command of our time
Speaker:and our life and so easily,
Speaker:we can get involved in all those little intricacies.
Speaker:Absolutely. And,
Speaker:and it just consumes you when you find,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you look at the clock and you've worked 14 hours that
Speaker:day and you know,
Speaker:people around you,
Speaker:your family,
Speaker:your pets,
Speaker:they miss you.
Speaker:And I find myself caught in that cycle way too often.
Speaker:And the older I get,
Speaker:I try to really find time to just decompress from the
Speaker:bills less because it will consume you if you let it
Speaker:Sure. And recognizing it as the first step to having that
Speaker:dream come true.
Speaker:Absolutely. And being a minimalist,
Speaker:minimize the business so that I can enjoy my life.
Speaker:So What would be the best way we're going to put
Speaker:on the show notes page,
Speaker:all the different contacts that you've given me already before we
Speaker:did the interview.
Speaker:But if someone is just listening right now,
Speaker:cleaning up their closet,
Speaker:maybe should need to what we had to say.
Speaker:What would be the best way for someone to get in
Speaker:touch with you if they wanted to learn more about you
Speaker:or possibly order a gift basket?
Speaker:I think that I would recommend my Facebook page at Facebook
Speaker:slash express yourself gifts because I'm on there daily,
Speaker:all of the new designs that I make get posted there
Speaker:right away.
Speaker:It's so much simpler and quick to do that daily than
Speaker:it is to put it up on a website or any
Speaker:other social media outlet.
Speaker:So Facebook for me is the best way and I'll respond
Speaker:immediately as well to people's requests.
Speaker:Super that's perfect.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Sharon. What great information.
Speaker:This whole idea of pop by gifts is huge,
Speaker:huge, because the way it can stabilize your business,
Speaker:all of that,
Speaker:and really that's part of having a good solid platform for
Speaker:moving forward and growing a business.
Speaker:So thank you so much for sharing in detail.
Speaker:A lot of that information and everything else you've shared.
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:I know you've brought great value to our listeners and it
Speaker:has been absolutely fabulous having you on.
Speaker:I wish you a light sunshiny eerie day and may your
Speaker:candle always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me Sue Learn how to
Speaker:work smarter while developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:in life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrap.com tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever Grande your products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica ribbon to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or cross studio in
Speaker:seconds. Check out the ribbon print company.com
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Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
Speaker:to help others with their entrepreneurial journey as well.
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Speaker:know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?
Speaker:If so,
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