Shownotes
The Fabscraps Story
What is Fabscraps? [5:23] The idea started with her sister in their loft. [6:19]
Fabscraps mannequin display at Creativation 2017
Creating the initial collection. [8:52]
Candle Flickering Moments
Failure’s not an option! [14:06] You would initially think selling out a collection wouldn’t be a problem. [19:30] A ship carrying their leather albums sank! [24:44] You have to hear this heartwarming story of what Brigitte’s factory workers did. [26:53]Business Building Insights
Overcoming fear and what happens when you continually move forward. [11:11] Learning what your customer wants and adding design twists. [13:07] Product expansion comes easily when you listen to your customers. [16:01] The value of changing our product. [18:58] How to handle the inevitable problems that come up in your business. How to keep your sanity! [21:43]Success Trait
Brigitte has a strong work ethic and knows also that taking time for family and friends is equally important. [29:49]Recommended Reading and Listening
You Before Me by Lindsay Paige
Contact Links
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest YouTube LinkedInIf 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
Hi, you're listening to gift biz on rap episode 102.
Speaker:It wasn't brilliant sales,
Speaker:but it was enough to say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I think this can work.
Speaker:Hey, this is Johnny Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to leave.
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 Mona height.
Speaker:Before we get into the show,
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:Do you know that you should be out networking,
Speaker:but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's
Speaker:scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room
Speaker:and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?
Speaker:When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,
Speaker:where you talk about yourself and your business?
Speaker:Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't need to
Speaker:be scary.
Speaker:If you know what to do to help you with this,
Speaker:I would like to offer you a coffee chat for the
Speaker:price of buying me a cup of coffee.
Speaker:We can sit down through an online video and I'll tell
Speaker:you everything that I know about networking and how I have
Speaker:personally built two multi-six figure businesses,
Speaker:primarily through networking to learn more about this opportunity.
Speaker:Just go over to fiddly forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:That's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:And now let's move on to the show.
Speaker:Hi, there it's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped
Speaker:podcast, whether you own a brick and mortar shops sell online
Speaker:or are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have the joy of introducing you to
Speaker:Bridgette Wimbush of fab scraps for GE has a fine art
Speaker:and graphic design background and has been in the advertising industry
Speaker:for over 20 years.
Speaker:Astonishingly within 12 years,
Speaker:path scraps has grown from what started off as a small
Speaker:venture in a loft by two sisters,
Speaker:into the largest craft and fabric manufacturer in Africa,
Speaker:crab scripts.
Speaker:Factory employers are predominantly from the bassoon Tal region,
Speaker:and many are single parents since 2005.
Speaker:Fab scripts has strived to transform the lives of many of
Speaker:these men and women by providing and mentoring career resilient programs
Speaker:and assisting them in growing within the company today,
Speaker:the theft scraps collection are,
Speaker:has vast and varied as the people of their rainbow nation.
Speaker:And as a result,
Speaker:the brand has become one of the most recognized in South
Speaker:Africa and across the globe.
Speaker:All my word,
Speaker:Bridgette, I am so excited to hear more.
Speaker:Welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. It's lovely to be on the show.
Speaker:Thank very much for inviting me And I cannot believe that
Speaker:you're sitting in Africa,
Speaker:I'm sitting in Chicago and we can have this conversation.
Speaker:It's fantastic.
Speaker:Modern technology has really moved forward For sure.
Speaker:I like to start off.
Speaker:It's a little bit of a tradition here to have you
Speaker:describe yourself in the way of a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to create a candle that was all
Speaker:about you,
Speaker:Bridgette, what color would it be and what would be the
Speaker:quote on your candle?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:soup, I'm sorry,
Speaker:but I really,
Speaker:really can't choose one color.
Speaker:I'm a creative and color rules.
Speaker:My life,
Speaker:our dress every day in a different color,
Speaker:because depending on what I'm going to do,
Speaker:that's gotta be more creative.
Speaker:Then I use reds and bright colors and pinks and yellows.
Speaker:And if I've got to be more serious than I tend
Speaker:to dress more in blacks and blues.
Speaker:So I'd like to say I've got a multi-colored candle.
Speaker:Is that okay?
Speaker:Okay. It's okay.
Speaker:This is all about you.
Speaker:So whatever you want is good.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:And you don't,
Speaker:there's two motivational factors that really do stick with me just
Speaker:about every single day of my life.
Speaker:And the one is I did not wake up today to
Speaker:be mediocre because there's no point what's the point of getting
Speaker:out of bed if you're not going to do something fabulous
Speaker:that day.
Speaker:And the second one,
Speaker:which tends to be move a family one because all of
Speaker:us kind of live by it is that failure's not an
Speaker:option. And that was when the Apollo 13 was launched.
Speaker:And Kat said to his crew,
Speaker:failure's not an option.
Speaker:And I just have lived by those two quotes is that
Speaker:I'm going to be fabulous and failure's not an option.
Speaker:And I think they go hand in hand.
Speaker:Yeah, they certainly do.
Speaker:You're going to stretch the limits by not just being mediocre
Speaker:and you're going to be successful in that stretch period.
Speaker:Nothing else to say about that.
Speaker:It's just going to be
Well, you and I met at the New York now show,
Speaker:I was actually scoping and I'm telling,
Speaker:I'll give his listeners this.
Speaker:So you kind of understand and get grounded here.
Speaker:And those of you who were viewing the scope,
Speaker:remember this,
Speaker:you're all saying,
Speaker:I want to know more about the story,
Speaker:make sure she gets on the podcast.
Speaker:And so then I rallied you up and made you commit
Speaker:to it,
Speaker:live on Paris,
Speaker:go, right?
Speaker:Yes, you did.
Speaker:So people who were not seeing that scope though,
Speaker:may not totally understand yet what fab scraps is about.
Speaker:So let's start with that.
Speaker:What is the business and what is the product that you
Speaker:offer? Okay,
Speaker:so we are creative manufacturers.
Speaker:We manufacture everything to do with Croft.
Speaker:So it goes from paper to card making to DIC APOs
Speaker:to fabric fabrics,
Speaker:quite new.
Speaker:It's only two years old.
Speaker:We do kits.
Speaker:We sell individual products.
Speaker:We've probably got over by over 3000 product lines.
Speaker:We're introduced 60 new products a month.
Speaker:So the team is constantly busy.
Speaker:There's no time with slacking off at all.
Speaker:They're constantly preparing new stuff and we work six months in
Speaker:advance. So you always gotta be ahead of the game and
Speaker:make sure that you are on top of the new and
Speaker:creative lines that are coming out.
Speaker:You got to follow trends.
Speaker:So it's a very exciting business to be in and that
Speaker:I'm loving it.
Speaker:It's stressful,
Speaker:but I'm loving it every day.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:So now that we've kind of grounded everybody in terms of
Speaker:what you do.
Speaker:I want to jump back now 12 years,
Speaker:how did this start?
Speaker:In the very beginning I have four children and my third
Speaker:child was when I went,
Speaker:I gave birth to my third child.
Speaker:I decided I wasn't going back to the advertising industry.
Speaker:I just wanted to spend more time at home,
Speaker:but always been a very busy person.
Speaker:And I then started working on the clients that I had
Speaker:been working on for the last 12 odd years.
Speaker:I carried on working with them.
Speaker:And then when my first child was born,
Speaker:I decided,
Speaker:hang on.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I realized that the third child,
Speaker:when you're working from home,
Speaker:you're feeding your child.
Speaker:You bothering them,
Speaker:you get disturbed quite a lot.
Speaker:I used to get paid per hour.
Speaker:And so I wasn't earning as much as I really wanted
Speaker:to earn.
Speaker:So I decided I've got to find something that can make
Speaker:me money while some also looking after children and stuff like
Speaker:that. So my sister and I,
Speaker:we used to work together and the advertising side of things.
Speaker:And we then decided that there was no one that was
Speaker:introducing or making locally made products in South Africa for the
Speaker:crafter, like beautiful papers shouldn't we try it out.
Speaker:So we decided that in our spare time in the advertising,
Speaker:we would start creating this.
Speaker:And it just took off from there.
Speaker:We started in a loft above my garage,
Speaker:just the two of us.
Speaker:And then it just grew and grew and grew.
Speaker:And eventually we hold in my mum and dad who are
Speaker:both, one's a bookkeeper,
Speaker:one's an accountant,
Speaker:which is absolutely perfect.
Speaker:And we drew them into the company and then it just
Speaker:grew from there.
Speaker:We've now got about 25 employees factory.
Speaker:We moved into a factory once the kids were at school
Speaker:and it's just grown.
Speaker:We've actually just recently moved again.
Speaker:We needed a bigger premises and it's just grown beyond our
Speaker:wildest dreams.
Speaker:It has grown,
Speaker:but it hasn't been without a stresses.
Speaker:I'm not saying that this has been a smooth ride.
Speaker:This has been a bumpy road all the time.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm so glad you say that because people can see
Speaker:the result and can hear you and hear the result.
Speaker:And it sounds like,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they just decided to start a business and here it was,
Speaker:and now they've got 25 employees and on and on it,
Speaker:it doesn't work that way.
Speaker:It does not give us a little bit more detail.
Speaker:So you're sitting in the loft with your sister and you
Speaker:have this idea and I'm quite sure you did know how
Speaker:to make paper when you started.
Speaker:No, I would have known how to make paper because remember
Speaker:it being advertising,
Speaker:I was used to print and designing for print and designing,
Speaker:according to a brief.
Speaker:Now I didn't really know much about the craft industry,
Speaker:but as a designer,
Speaker:I can work by a brief.
Speaker:So we started investigating the scrapbooking,
Speaker:the card making that's,
Speaker:where it started was the scrapbooking.
Speaker:And it was 12 by paper.
Speaker:We had to find some acid free and lignin free paper,
Speaker:which we duly found.
Speaker:And then we started designing.
Speaker:But I mean the design,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:if I look at my first collection,
Speaker:I actually just want to die.
Speaker:It was so revolting,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:it seemed to sell a bit,
Speaker:but we had already jumped in.
Speaker:So now the,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we've put the money behind it.
Speaker:So now we've got to just keep it going and learning.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:we seriously worked hard trying to make sure that we got
Speaker:the right product mix and we got the right designs going
Speaker:and created our own signature,
Speaker:which is what we needed.
Speaker:We didn't want to copy what anyone else was doing.
Speaker:We wanted to do our own signature from South Africa and
Speaker:for the South Africans.
Speaker:Cause that's where we started was for the South Africans.
Speaker:We weren't even thinking about a worldwide launch at all.
Speaker:We were just looking at South Africa at that stage.
Speaker:Two things that I want to point out that were really
Speaker:smart, that you did is number one,
Speaker:because you didn't know crafting,
Speaker:but you already had a skill.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:if you are in a nine to five job,
Speaker:now you may be picking up skills along the way that
Speaker:you're going to be able to use as you grow your
Speaker:business, because you don't have to just jump ship and start
Speaker:something. You can start building it on the side as well.
Speaker:Yeah. But so you were then investigating the crafting field and
Speaker:doing a lot of research behind what you were doing.
Speaker:We're going to offer the X while styles working.
Speaker:Wow. You were working.
Speaker:Okay. And then the next thing that you did,
Speaker:which is so important is you made the leap,
Speaker:you took action.
Speaker:You put out that first collection.
Speaker:And I would say anybody who loves their first collection started
Speaker:to make,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because you probably waited too long.
Speaker:You should like cringe a little bit.
Speaker:I cringe when I listened to my first podcast interview,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I look at old pictures of my first website.
Speaker:The point is you need to just get started.
Speaker:And that's what Bridgette is talking about here is you just
Speaker:need to take action and get started.
Speaker:Don't be paralyzed and like stuck in the mud,
Speaker:just waiting for everything to be perfect.
Speaker:You want to just get moving?
Speaker:Because the other thing you just mentioned too,
Speaker:is people were buying.
Speaker:So you saw,
Speaker:you were able to test it a little bit and see
Speaker:that you were having an audience,
Speaker:that there were people who are interested in what you're producing.
Speaker:We were so terrified to launch that first range because I
Speaker:mean, we thought it was good enough,
Speaker:but we didn't really know enough about the industry.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:as much as research that we had done,
Speaker:we didn't know enough about it,
Speaker:but there was enough sold to motivate us to bring in
Speaker:a second collection.
Speaker:It wasn't brilliant sales,
Speaker:but it was enough to say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I think this can work.
Speaker:Let's launch the second collection and we just got better and
Speaker:better. And I'd say probably the first collection that I was
Speaker:really happy with probably would have been about my 11th or
Speaker:12th collection.
Speaker:And then now all,
Speaker:yeah, all of a sudden things sort of came together for
Speaker:me. I found my signature and it's sold out.
Speaker:And that was,
Speaker:ah, that was pop the champagne.
Speaker:That was so exciting.
Speaker:What I'm saying is that was a full year of serious,
Speaker:hard slog and hard work.
Speaker:And we pack our own orders.
Speaker:This is just my sister and myself,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:So we had worked really long hours and we had packed
Speaker:the orders.
Speaker:Eventually we got one lady in to come and help us.
Speaker:And we all packed together and we,
Speaker:and we brought in DACA.
Speaker:And so we,
Speaker:we just started growing and you start seeing what works,
Speaker:what doesn't work.
Speaker:And you try and limit your risk as much as you
Speaker:can, as you go along,
Speaker:because you don't know if it's gonna work.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I launched a collection and I don't know if it's going
Speaker:to sell or not,
Speaker:but I've got it at this stage after 12 years,
Speaker:I've got a fairly good idea of something's going to move
Speaker:or not.
Speaker:You probably a little risk a little bit more because you
Speaker:have successes behind you at this point.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:yeah. If a line,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a style,
Speaker:you want to take a risk.
Speaker:It doesn't quite work as well as some of the others.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:you've learned something And that's happened.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:That's definitely happened.
Speaker:I take it every now and then I just get this
Speaker:bee in my bonnet that I want to do something totally
Speaker:different off my signature,
Speaker:everything like that.
Speaker:I don't think I've had many successes with those really risque
Speaker:ones, maybe one or two,
Speaker:but I've learned something from them.
Speaker:I've been able to draw from every collection,
Speaker:which then takes me into the following collection,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:okay, hang on.
Speaker:Let's not do this.
Speaker:This wasn't a good seller.
Speaker:This was a good seller.
Speaker:Let's try this.
Speaker:Eventually you find your way and your risks,
Speaker:even though you're going to take a risk,
Speaker:like I'm doing one right now,
Speaker:which is quite risque,
Speaker:but I'm prepared to take it.
Speaker:But I'm taking all the things that I think worked,
Speaker:but with a slightly different twist.
Speaker:Well, and that's how you really define yourself and be different.
Speaker:I know you're like everybody else,
Speaker:what prompts people to come to you then?
Speaker:Because they know there's going to be something that's going to
Speaker:be is going to be a twist and everything that we
Speaker:do. It's not going to just be straight down the line.
Speaker:Well, what about those first 11 then you know,
Speaker:that year of experimentation that you were doing,
Speaker:what kept you driving forward?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you're seeing some sales,
Speaker:but not a whole lot yet.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you say you've really landed it maybe at about 11 or
Speaker:12. What kept you going?
Speaker:What was the motivator that just kept you producing and testing
Speaker:and producing and testing until you're ready?
Speaker:Landed it.
Speaker:Firstly, failure's not an option.
Speaker:Okay. Which has our family motto.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So that was,
Speaker:that's the first thing that got me out of bed.
Speaker:And secondly,
Speaker:I loved what I was doing.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:Okay. I wasn't making any money,
Speaker:but I still loved what I was doing.
Speaker:And I just kept on thinking,
Speaker:it's I've got to get this.
Speaker:Right. It,
Speaker:it was like a challenge that I just had to get
Speaker:this. Right.
Speaker:And I wasn't like losing heaps,
Speaker:but I was losing enough to make everyone squirm,
Speaker:but I just kept on thinking I can get this right.
Speaker:I know I can.
Speaker:I know I'm a good designer and know I can get
Speaker:this right.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's not a formula creativity,
Speaker:isn't a formula,
Speaker:but I just,
Speaker:you that inside,
Speaker:I knew that if I worked hard enough and I drove
Speaker:it and I really put a lot more effort into the
Speaker:collections and did the research that I would be able to
Speaker:pull it off and all of a sudden,
Speaker:and I did all of a sudden,
Speaker:it just came together.
Speaker:I was elated.
Speaker:I can't tell you that feeling.
Speaker:And that feeling is what keeps you going?
Speaker:It's like these boys that take golf and they have one
Speaker:good shot.
Speaker:And that's what gets them back on the golf course is
Speaker:that, you know,
Speaker:you've got it.
Speaker:You've just got time to do it more times than not.
Speaker:Okay. Do it again.
Speaker:And you want to do it again.
Speaker:And as a creator,
Speaker:what you're creating and your patterns and your designs are all
Speaker:originating from inside.
Speaker:You it's just like all of us listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whether you're knitting or you're baking or whatever,
Speaker:to your creation there.
Speaker:So it's a way to feel highly vulnerable.
Speaker:But I love Bridgette.
Speaker:I mean your passion and your confidence that it's going to
Speaker:work out,
Speaker:we can all hear it.
Speaker:Yeah. Tell me What point then did you decide,
Speaker:okay, paper's working,
Speaker:I'm going to move on to something else I'm going to
Speaker:add to the collection.
Speaker:How did that start to happen?
Speaker:Okay, well,
Speaker:what was happening is that I realized,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as time went on that I had to offer more than
Speaker:just paper because people were saying,
Speaker:Oh, but you know,
Speaker:I can't find card stock.
Speaker:That's going to match this.
Speaker:And I'd love to have a
that could,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with a CD collection that I could have a little lighthouse
Speaker:and I could have a little sailing boat.
Speaker:And this is what drove us is actually people coming to
Speaker:us and saying,
Speaker:we need to be able to match a collection when we're
Speaker:putting a page together or card together,
Speaker:we need the matching stuff.
Speaker:And we thought,
Speaker:well, gee,
Speaker:why not do this?
Speaker:Most of the stuff we try and source as much as
Speaker:we can from South Africa,
Speaker:those that we can't,
Speaker:we design what we need to,
Speaker:and we get it manufactured in China,
Speaker:especially on metals.
Speaker:Cause there's no one that does metals in South Africa.
Speaker:So that's when we started launching into that.
Speaker:And I had been to China on business with my husband.
Speaker:And so I met this little when I say little girl,
Speaker:I really do mean she's little,
Speaker:she's like four foot five or something.
Speaker:She's really little.
Speaker:And I met her and she's been with us for 12
Speaker:years now.
Speaker:So she does all my quality control and she makes sure
Speaker:that everything is happening in China.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she made sure the shipment is perfect.
Speaker:And so she sends it through.
Speaker:So that's how we started getting into that.
Speaker:And then we realized people wanted words.
Speaker:And the words that we were getting in South Africa were
Speaker:really, they were small and it was basic.
Speaker:We just thought it could be a lot more funky and
Speaker:we could do really beautiful fonts as opposed to punched out
Speaker:fonts. We then invested in our first investment.
Speaker:This is after they live in,
Speaker:use it.
Speaker:No, it wasn't a living collection that must've been the second
Speaker:or third year we then invested.
Speaker:And that was a huge big step in a really,
Speaker:really good laser machine.
Speaker:And we started then matching our words and everything with the
Speaker:collections that we were developing,
Speaker:it kind of grew out of our customers' demands.
Speaker:When you hear it enough times do something about it.
Speaker:Otherwise someone else is gonna get it Is so great.
Speaker:You are right.
Speaker:Do it,
Speaker:do it yourself.
Speaker:Or someone else is going to do that.
Speaker:Beautiful and give biz listeners,
Speaker:I'm underlining this right now.
Speaker:Listen to your customers.
Speaker:They tell you,
Speaker:instead of you sitting behind the scenes,
Speaker:trying to think of what next,
Speaker:ask them,
Speaker:ask them exactly.
Speaker:Exactly. It makes life so much easier.
Speaker:Now it doesn't make it easier on fulfilling the requests,
Speaker:but in terms of exactly what to do,
Speaker:you're kind of creating a pre-made audience of purchasers already because
Speaker:they're telling you what they want.
Speaker:Yeah. That's exactly it.
Speaker:And when you hear it enough times,
Speaker:then you think,
Speaker:okay, let's go in small Creedman don't,
Speaker:don't go in huge Rouge and bring out a massive collection,
Speaker:starting with just a couple and then try it out.
Speaker:And if you start seeing the sales coming through there,
Speaker:then you can start driving it up.
Speaker:And then listen,
Speaker:again, I've got to do some changes now just from customer
Speaker:demand. So it changes all the time as a creative,
Speaker:you always going to have to do things that are different.
Speaker:It's not just like a standard product that you can manufacture
Speaker:and then you just tune up hundreds and thousands of it.
Speaker:Creativity is totally different.
Speaker:But to be innovative,
Speaker:you've got to be cutting edge.
Speaker:You've got to come up with different ideas,
Speaker:but all those ideas are there.
Speaker:You've just got to listen.
Speaker:So with your designs,
Speaker:do you continue reproducing some of the more popular ones or
Speaker:once they're gone,
Speaker:they're gone.
Speaker:Once they're gone,
Speaker:they're gone.
Speaker:Yeah. So you better grab it up.
Speaker:If you like something,
Speaker:you better grab it up while you can.
Speaker:This is a mistake we made when we first started Sue,
Speaker:is that what we did was because it was popular.
Speaker:We got so excited.
Speaker:It's sold out in three weeks or four weeks or whatever
Speaker:it was.
Speaker:And then we would reprint and we'd sell maybe 25% of
Speaker:it. And then we're left with the other 75%.
Speaker:So what I'm saying is,
Speaker:is that that lesson took us a long time to learn
Speaker:because I kept on reproducing because clients would come and say,
Speaker:Oh, you don't understand I'm doing this cost.
Speaker:Well, 50 people,
Speaker:and I've got to have this paper,
Speaker:so we'd go and print because we just didn't want to
Speaker:let our clients down.
Speaker:But it doesn't make sense in the end because you can't
Speaker:sell through on a second lot enough when it comes to
Speaker:printing, you can't do a minimum run because it's too expensive.
Speaker:So then you wouldn't be making money.
Speaker:So Is it because you're using the whole concept of scarcity
Speaker:as a way to drive through and sell that whole design
Speaker:line. And Since we doctored that it worked,
Speaker:It just means then that you have to continually be in
Speaker:the creative mode.
Speaker:But as creatives,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whether you are a small creative or a big grant,
Speaker:it doesn't matter if you're a creative person,
Speaker:that's what you do all day.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't even have to be at work and I'm creating
Speaker:in my head.
Speaker:That's what creative people do is that we just,
Speaker:all of us just have that wonderful ability to be able
Speaker:to look at trees and look at a dam.
Speaker:All of a sudden we've created something different out of it.
Speaker:So that's the beauty of being a creative.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:my husband's a scientist,
Speaker:so he's quite envious.
Speaker:Actually. He just can't go laterally at all.
Speaker:He just doesn't think in that line,
Speaker:that way of thinking.
Speaker:And so I think,
Speaker:I think that's creatives are lucky.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:I agree with you there.
Speaker:So you have been talking so confidently about how all of
Speaker:this has grown.
Speaker:You've given us a little bit of idea of some of
Speaker:the struggles that you've had.
Speaker:And we talked right before we went live about the fact
Speaker:that you were saying to me,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:If I had only known all these things right.
Speaker:That I wish I would've known before I got started,
Speaker:that I've learned along the way.
Speaker:Can you pick out something else that was a biggie for
Speaker:you that you could share with our listeners,
Speaker:a struggle that you had or something that you've overcome or
Speaker:some great piece of wisdom that we haven't heard from you
Speaker:yet? You don't Sue.
Speaker:As I said earlier on that,
Speaker:if I had the knowledge I had now after 12 years,
Speaker:I feel as though I've got it.
Speaker:I finally finally got it,
Speaker:but it's taken me 12 years to get it.
Speaker:Do you know?
Speaker:Because it's that whole balancing act,
Speaker:which I just didn't get in those early years.
Speaker:I really didn't.
Speaker:I'd get so excited because I'm a creative and I love
Speaker:what I've created.
Speaker:And I just want to share it with 20 million people
Speaker:except 20 million on interested.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there's only 1 million that might be interested,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:So I've had upheavals throughout business and I've learned because we
Speaker:produce so many products so fast,
Speaker:we've had enormous upheavals throughout.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we halfway through your production,
Speaker:your machine crashes,
Speaker:or your staff was sick or your,
Speaker:those sort of hassles are just,
Speaker:you just want to curl up and die and think,
Speaker:how the hell am I going to get this out?
Speaker:And there's one thing that I've learned.
Speaker:And I feel quite calm when it comes to stresses now,
Speaker:whereas before I used to freak out and didn't know what
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:whereas now I sort of sit back and I think,
Speaker:okay, what solutions do we have?
Speaker:Which one's the best for the company.
Speaker:And I say that every single time,
Speaker:every time some young lady walks into my office and says,
Speaker:Oh, you're not going to believe what's just happened.
Speaker:And then she'll tell me a Dr.
Speaker:Shipment didn't go.
Speaker:Or the shipment sank,
Speaker:which we did have by the way,
Speaker:a whole ship sank.
Speaker:And I lost everything.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:So that's just one of the things when they come in,
Speaker:right? How do we salvage?
Speaker:What is the best way that's going to minimize the cost
Speaker:of the company?
Speaker:And then we just look at the,
Speaker:okay, there's the options,
Speaker:which is the side that I didn't know about myself is
Speaker:that you consider,
Speaker:look at the problem and say,
Speaker:right, where's the solution.
Speaker:Then you pick one,
Speaker:that's going to be based for the company.
Speaker:Okay. It's going to save time.
Speaker:It's going to save money.
Speaker:You won't have made the money that you would've made.
Speaker:Had it all been perfect,
Speaker:but this is the best way to solve the situation.
Speaker:And that has been the best thing I think I've ever
Speaker:learned in the years.
Speaker:I don't know when I,
Speaker:I don't know which you,
Speaker:I learned it and straight away I don't put up with
Speaker:anymore with staff or whatever,
Speaker:because they're all creative.
Speaker:So they're all quite emotional people.
Speaker:And they'll come in and now just say right,
Speaker:come to me with solutions and then let's work out,
Speaker:which is the best one for the company.
Speaker:This is such great advice.
Speaker:Limited. It's saved my sanity.
Speaker:Better advice saved my sanity because otherwise,
Speaker:as a creative,
Speaker:I'm just too emotional.
Speaker:I want to implode.
Speaker:I've just so desperate for the stuff to get up.
Speaker:I'm just no calm down.
Speaker:And I just said,
Speaker:rat, and it really does work.
Speaker:And I think you have to just expect that everything is
Speaker:not going to go smoothly.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's going to happen no matter what you put in place
Speaker:in terms of safety and all of that,
Speaker:it's going to happen.
Speaker:And man,
Speaker:I fear when I'm sending things over from China,
Speaker:which I also have to do.
Speaker:Cause I can't source everything in the States.
Speaker:I try to when I can,
Speaker:but you hear these stories of those containers just falling off
Speaker:into the water and it just freaks me out every time
Speaker:I hear that.
Speaker:So, and then hearing that had happened to you.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
And I just had all these
sank, you know?
Speaker:And the worst part about it is that we had done
Speaker:pre-orders so I'd at least know what,
Speaker:more or less what was coming in.
Speaker:And so once we had reached the 50% Mark with pre-orders,
Speaker:we said,
Speaker:right, let's go for it.
Speaker:Let's pay the money.
Speaker:Let's get the shipment in and the ship sank.
Speaker:So what did you do?
Speaker:Okay. I was still at my emotional stage.
Speaker:I cried.
Speaker:Well that's allowed sometimes.
Speaker:And then you get back to work,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:So I cried and I thought,
Speaker:okay, right now,
Speaker:how are we going to solve it to this?
Speaker:Because all the clients that wanted the order,
Speaker:they placed the order because we a Cod company,
Speaker:they all paid upfront.
Speaker:So now we had to reimburse them all their money,
Speaker:which was seriously,
Speaker:seriously tough on my cashflow.
Speaker:So I reimbursed the money.
Speaker:I did the right thing,
Speaker:reimbursed the money and say,
Speaker:right, the next shipment is going to be in eight weeks
Speaker:time when the ship docks real,
Speaker:then put out the invoice.
Speaker:So we kind of learned that one the hard way,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you don't want to take the money upfront and then you've
Speaker:spent the money.
Speaker:It misses with your cashflow rather just wait until you're sure
Speaker:that everything's okay and then send out the invoices and get
Speaker:them to pay for it.
Speaker:So it just means that you've just got to stretch your
Speaker:money a little bit further,
Speaker:But you did the right thing by doing right by the
Speaker:customer. Yes,
Speaker:absolutely. Probably didn't lose anybody because people,
Speaker:even though they might not like it,
Speaker:people understand that things happen too.
Speaker:And by you doing what the,
Speaker:in the best interest in your restaurant,
Speaker:They appreciate that.
Speaker:I can tell you now the customer,
Speaker:we try our hardest to really zoom in on the customer
Speaker:and fulfill their,
Speaker:every desire.
Speaker:If they need something really urgently,
Speaker:I'll tell you the factory stuff,
Speaker:they will break their,
Speaker:and we say,
Speaker:listen, this is Andrea.
Speaker:That's been with us for 12 years.
Speaker:She needs this.
Speaker:She's got a class tomorrow and she has to have this.
Speaker:Get it sit overnight tonight.
Speaker:And I'll tell you,
Speaker:now they'll stop at nothing.
Speaker:Some of my staff,
Speaker:I mean the one time we had a massive shipment that
Speaker:was going out and the electricity,
Speaker:we lost the electricity,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we are going to power shortages here.
Speaker:And so they just shut down the electricity.
Speaker:And I just sat down in the heat,
Speaker:but I just burst into tears.
Speaker:I just thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we've worked so hard to the shipment and now you're not
Speaker:going to meet the deadline anyway.
Speaker:So then I,
Speaker:CT, everybody looked,
Speaker:let's pack up.
Speaker:Let's go home.
Speaker:We'll deal with this tomorrow and make a decision as to
Speaker:what we're going to do tomorrow.
Speaker:The next day walked into the office and I couldn't believe
Speaker:it. All the lights were on.
Speaker:All the staff were there and I walked in.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well, what's going on here?
Speaker:And they said,
Speaker:the security guard had phoned them at 11 o'clock and said,
Speaker:the lights were back on.
Speaker:And all the staff came back and they cut the rest
Speaker:of the stock and they had the shipment ready.
Speaker:I promise you,
Speaker:well, the,
Speaker:I proud even more than,
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Amazing. Because they just knew how important it was.
Speaker:And they just pulled out all the stops.
Speaker:I didn't know anything.
Speaker:I was sleeping soundly in my bed and they did that.
Speaker:And it was just the most,
Speaker:I was so emotional that day was just ridiculous because we
Speaker:got it out in time.
Speaker:And it was wonderful.
Speaker:We were talking about how important it is in terms of
Speaker:your relationships with your customers.
Speaker:But now listen to what you just talked about,
Speaker:your relationship with your employees and the factories that are working
Speaker:for you,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:They didn't even call you.
Speaker:They just did it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that is just,
Speaker:that speaks mountains about who you are as a person and
Speaker:as a business owner.
Speaker:It's an excellent example.
Speaker:I'm so glad we got onto this topic.
Speaker:I don't know if you were planning on sharing this or
Speaker:not, but I'm so glad we drew it out.
Speaker:It was the one order that really stood out in my
Speaker:mind and the factory stock.
Speaker:They're just amazing people.
Speaker:And they just try so hard and they work so hard
Speaker:and I'm so proud of all of them.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:we try and mentor them so that they get into a
Speaker:position of knowledge and position where they can be powerful within
Speaker:the company,
Speaker:that they can make decisions because they've been there and they
Speaker:understand the products.
Speaker:So unbelievably well,
Speaker:because most of them have been with me from the start.
Speaker:And it's fantastic.
Speaker:We've got a great relationship.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I yell and scream and I'm mad at them sometimes.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:and they also got Wolf.
Speaker:Don't worry.
Speaker:They're also under stress.
Speaker:But the end of the day,
Speaker:we bought Kentucky fried chicken and we sit down and we
Speaker:have a good laugh.
Speaker:It's the highs and the lows.
Speaker:But we in a creative world,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what do you want to do?
Speaker:Rep torta papers for the rest of your life,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Or do you want to actually do something creative and make
Speaker:a difference in people's lives?
Speaker:That's what we think we do.
Speaker:This has been fabulous.
Speaker:Okay. As we go on,
Speaker:I want to get some more golden nuggets out of you
Speaker:in a section that we call our reflection section.
Speaker:It's a way to look at you as a business owner
Speaker:and what types of things you innately have,
Speaker:or you use to help you be successful.
Speaker:So if you were to identify one natural trait that you
Speaker:continue to call upon,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:You have a work ethic.
Speaker:I'm a hard worker.
Speaker:That is my strongest rate.
Speaker:Make sure I'm there for my family.
Speaker:My husband said,
Speaker:he's never even mind if he doesn't mind me working at
Speaker:all. But the one thing is is that when it's family
Speaker:time, it's family time and that's it.
Speaker:You home on time and you switch off from work.
Speaker:But when I'm at work,
Speaker:I work,
Speaker:I don't waste time.
Speaker:I make decisions quickly.
Speaker:And it's one decision I can't afford to come up with
Speaker:too many different options and sit and discuss it for days
Speaker:on end.
Speaker:You can't do that when you're in the business,
Speaker:time is money and you've got to make a decision quite
Speaker:quickly and work hard.
Speaker:And everyone does work on.
Speaker:And we do that.
Speaker:Sometimes we've worked so hard and we say,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:Friday 10 o'clock let's all stop.
Speaker:And we're going to have a little lunch.
Speaker:And then we all going to go home and we do
Speaker:that. So it's like a little reward that you get,
Speaker:but we work hard.
Speaker:I would say that with all my staff,
Speaker:as to why we are,
Speaker:where we are now is because of sheer hard work,
Speaker:obviously talent.
Speaker:You've got to have talent.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:if you don't have talent,
Speaker:you're not going to get anywhere anyway,
Speaker:but there's talent.
Speaker:And it started in my tenants.
Speaker:It's all the creatives talents.
Speaker:It's a collaboration.
Speaker:It's not me.
Speaker:We all sit as a team together and we work together
Speaker:and we work hard together.
Speaker:So work hard,
Speaker:Play hard.
Speaker:And having that separation of when you're done,
Speaker:take your mind off it,
Speaker:go do other types of things.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:there've been a lot of studies done lately that showed that
Speaker:putting in 15,
Speaker:17 hour days and working like a crazy person,
Speaker:it doesn't necessarily produce any more than if you really focus
Speaker:for the eight hours or whatever your business is gonna be.
Speaker:That's exactly it often towards the end of the day,
Speaker:when I'm getting tired and I'm backing with the design and
Speaker:I just can't get it right.
Speaker:And I've created it myself and I've got everyone else to
Speaker:critique it and are still not happy with the solution.
Speaker:I didn't just close the office.
Speaker:And, and this also took me a while to learn as
Speaker:well. And then I forget about it.
Speaker:I'm now with my family and it's family time and totally
Speaker:relaxed by the end of the evening,
Speaker:you go to sleep.
Speaker:You wake up in the morning and I'm not joking.
Speaker:I'll go to that design.
Speaker:And I'll say,
Speaker:Oh, there's the problem.
Speaker:And I sorted out within 10 minutes in the olden days,
Speaker:I would have sat there for another three,
Speaker:four, five hours trying to get it right,
Speaker:forget it.
Speaker:My brain is too tired.
Speaker:It's it's just not working effectively and productively.
Speaker:So that's why I say,
Speaker:when I'm at work,
Speaker:I work really hard.
Speaker:And I know I get tired towards the end of the
Speaker:day when I've reached a problem.
Speaker:I never ever take it home with me.
Speaker:I leave it and somehow dreams and sleep.
Speaker:I can tell you it restores everything.
Speaker:Just take that time out.
Speaker:You have to,
Speaker:and don't interfere with the family.
Speaker:The family is so important.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they, my backup,
Speaker:whenever I'm in real trouble,
Speaker:anywhere, if I'm in a,
Speaker:in a Gosling meeting and I'm not having a good time
Speaker:at the back of my mind,
Speaker:I've always got trade school loves me trips.
Speaker:The lesbian traced the lesbian.
Speaker:That's my husband.
Speaker:I just think all else fails.
Speaker:He's the loves me.
Speaker:So that's okay.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:And that's what keeps me going is that is,
Speaker:is you can just leave you work.
Speaker:We have work and have play and play as hard as
Speaker:you work.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I, we have a great time and it just invigorates and
Speaker:it stimulation a creative person needs to get out of the
Speaker:situation in order to be stimulated.
Speaker:You need to get away.
Speaker:I'd taken,
Speaker:I know you Americans don't actually go for this,
Speaker:but seriously,
Speaker:I take two months.
Speaker:Leave a year.
Speaker:Yeah, we don't do that.
Speaker:I know you don't.
Speaker:So it's split up over the year,
Speaker:but it's not a holiday that I haven't holidays with my
Speaker:children when they're on holiday,
Speaker:I take off and I can tell you,
Speaker:I come back and I'm full of ideas and I'm so
Speaker:creative and I'm energized.
Speaker:I can't wait to get back to work.
Speaker:Whereas I've been business before in my first business,
Speaker:which failed.
Speaker:And I used to work until midnight.
Speaker:And I did that.
Speaker:You're in your art and you know what?
Speaker:The business still failed.
Speaker:What I'm saying is that this time I haven't done that,
Speaker:I've made sure I've kept it separate,
Speaker:but I've kept that balance.
Speaker:And I tell you,
Speaker:now that has got a lot to do with the success
Speaker:VR today.
Speaker:I come in fresh every day,
Speaker:excited every day,
Speaker:motivated every day because it hasn't been working all day and
Speaker:all night.
Speaker:You just can't do that.
Speaker:Such a great message.
Speaker:And if we could all just learn that it's difficult focusing,
Speaker:working when you have to,
Speaker:and then taking your break and focusing on things for yourself,
Speaker:being with your family,
Speaker:all of that,
Speaker:I naturally want to work day and not are naturally want
Speaker:to do that because I love what I do and I
Speaker:want to solve the problem,
Speaker:but I know whatever you learned this later is that I
Speaker:have to have that break for me to really be effective.
Speaker:It's taken me a long time to learn that.
Speaker:And I'm saying what you achieved in those six or seven
Speaker:hours that you work into the night you could have achieved
Speaker:in one hour the next day.
Speaker:Absolutely. You have a book or some thing that you think
Speaker:our listeners could find value in,
Speaker:in terms of what you're doing either in business or with
Speaker:your downtime.
Speaker:Okay. Mon his books are strictly downtown for me,
Speaker:as I say,
Speaker:I've worked all day and I come back and then I'm
Speaker:with my family and I've also got five dogs.
Speaker:So, and that all require attention.
Speaker:And so I generally on my holidays that I take,
Speaker:which is my two months,
Speaker:which is broken up in the kids' holidays.
Speaker:And I then grab every single possible romantic book or frivolous
Speaker:book or whatever book I can get my hands on.
Speaker:I've just read that you before me.
Speaker:And I just,
Speaker:Oh, it tickled my fancy.
Speaker:It was just this whimsical story about this girl.
Speaker:She was so creative and she just loved life.
Speaker:And she just made everyone else's life just beautiful.
Speaker:And she gave a lot,
Speaker:it really stood out in my mind because I thought she
Speaker:just made an effort with family and friends and everybody,
Speaker:it just reminded me that I'm just making sure that I
Speaker:keep everyone else upbeat as well.
Speaker:It was a lovely book to read.
Speaker:And it just made me realize that I'm as everywhere we
Speaker:go and let's just enjoy and disrespect life because it's so
Speaker:beautiful. And we sometimes ruin it by overdoing things in certain
Speaker:sections. I agree with you.
Speaker:And I also think that by getting Way in reading some
Speaker:of that too,
Speaker:sometimes you get brand new ideas for your business,
Speaker:just from things you're not even thinking about in that way
Speaker:or reinforcement,
Speaker:give biz listeners just as you're listening to us today,
Speaker:right here on this podcast,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books,
Speaker:business books,
Speaker:or more personal type books,
Speaker:romances, wherever you want with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:select an audio book for free on me.
Speaker:If you haven't done so already just jump over to gift
Speaker:biz, book.com
Speaker:and make a selection and grab yourself an audio book.
Speaker:Okay, Bridgette.
Speaker:Now I 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 this box?
Speaker:That is so exciting.
Speaker:I'll tell you now,
Speaker:what I really,
Speaker:really, really want to do is that I want to specialize
Speaker:in custom made kits and just drive that where for every
Speaker:occasion there'll be a different kit that you can open up
Speaker:and you can put everything together because people don't have time.
Speaker:Oh, I would love that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:also the staff,
Speaker:they love putting these kits together to come up with different
Speaker:kits and the most exciting creative kits off the wall projects.
Speaker:Dan did project God makers,
Speaker:but do things that are different,
Speaker:totally different kids.
Speaker:My passion is finite.
Speaker:That's what I studied.
Speaker:And I would love to involve a lot of mixed media
Speaker:off the walls stuff.
Speaker:We kind of known by our mannequins,
Speaker:which we dress up in paper and fabric and stuff like
Speaker:that. Now I want to put kids like that together,
Speaker:really exciting kits so that you can,
Speaker:you receive it in your home and you can put it
Speaker:up on your wall.
Speaker:And it's something that you've created and you've made it yours.
Speaker:So that's what I'd really like to do.
Speaker:It'd be really cool.
Speaker:And give biz listeners.
Speaker:I have a couple of photos of those mannequins.
Speaker:I will put them on the show notes page so that
Speaker:you can see what we're talking about.
Speaker:Also on the show notes page,
Speaker:there's going to be all the links that there normally are.
Speaker:Two websites,
Speaker:social media sites and all of that.
Speaker:So you'll be able to see what Bridgette is doing.
Speaker:And my guess is pretty.
Speaker:You might have some of those paths.
Speaker:I hear the passion passion coming through.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Your story has been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:Thinking of you with your sister in the loft,
Speaker:then taking the chance on your first collections.
Speaker:Blaue through to number 11 and 12.
Speaker:We really were seeing that this was clicking.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the rubber hits the road.
Speaker:As we say here,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's working for you and now to where you are right
Speaker:now, you know,
Speaker:such a successful company larger than you probably ever could have
Speaker:imagined. So fabulous.
Speaker:I wish you continued success and may your candle always burn
Speaker:bright. Thank you so much.
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y
Speaker:slash a gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting
Speaker:gift biz quiz to four four,
Speaker:two, two,
Speaker:two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source,
Speaker:but yoga business customization is more popular now than ever brand
Speaker:your products with your logo or prints,
Speaker:a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica Griffin,
Speaker:to add to a gift,
Speaker:right? A checkout it's almost done right in your shop or
Speaker:cross studio in second,
Speaker:check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information after you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing helped to increase the
Speaker:visibility of gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
