Shownotes
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Build your online presence. Have a variety of ways that people can reach you.
- Be in tune with the trends of the market. It's in this way you can best serve your customers.
- Link your Facebook business page to your personal page.
- For business accounts, if you make somebody look good within their organization, you’ll likely get their business.
- To compete with the big box guys, see what your strengths are and what you can offer that they can’t.
- Gain your customer's trust. Education them and provide value.
- Strengthen your business so you are prepared. This isn't the last time unwanted circumstances will arise.
- Create a business model that serves different clients.
CONTACT LINKS
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 267 we're no stranger to the impact
Speaker:that something like this can have on a business and how
Speaker:very quickly you have to switch gears.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there And if you're new here,
Speaker:welcome to the show.
Speaker:I'm so happy to have all of you joining me here
Speaker:today. This is the third episode in our four part series
Speaker:highlighting business owners who have faced these new times and gotten
Speaker:creative and become stronger for it.
Speaker:I'm so inspired by the ownership and control of your destiny
Speaker:that so many of you are exhibiting and the solutions that
Speaker:are being devised are genius.
Speaker:It's also exciting to know that some of these new concepts
Speaker:are working so well that there'll be incorporated into your planning
Speaker:long term.
Speaker:My goal for these four episodes is to spark ideas for
Speaker:you. If you're just starting out in your business,
Speaker:there are ways to attract customers or creative services to offer
Speaker:that you may not have considered yet.
Speaker:And if you're an established business,
Speaker:these examples may trigger another idea.
Speaker:Do you use now or in the future?
Speaker:Speaking of established businesses,
Speaker:I've heard from a number of you that are asking how
Speaker:to join maker's MBA.
Speaker:Now, this program was originally created to take a brand new
Speaker:business dreamer from concept to profitable business in a proven step
Speaker:by step manner.
Speaker:But I'm listening to you because the truth is even when
Speaker:you have a business up and running,
Speaker:things can get messy and important elements like websites and email
Speaker:marketing can be forgotten or never set up in the first
Speaker:place because you're busy.
Speaker:And interestingly,
Speaker:we have many people who have gone through maker's MBA and
Speaker:were already in business but wanted you to join for just
Speaker:this reason.
Speaker:So I've created a new option for you,
Speaker:my established business listeners who've had your business up and running
Speaker:for two years or more.
Speaker:If that's you and you want to know more,
Speaker:please head over to gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash makers MBA there you'll see a link for established
Speaker:businesses and you can go from there.
Speaker:Let's get into what's up today.
Speaker:I can't wait for you to this interview.
Speaker:I'm talking with Ann pacier who lives in California with her
Speaker:children and a firefighter husband,
Speaker:no matter where you live,
Speaker:I'm certain that you've heard all about the fires in that
Speaker:area. My son even sent me a photo last season of
Speaker:the fires shutting down the highways.
Speaker:There's a reason behind the scenes spreading like wildfire.
Speaker:All of that is to say and is no stranger to
Speaker:serious disruption in our normal business flow.
Speaker:I want you to listen closely as we talk,
Speaker:not just the details of the programs she's going to share
Speaker:with us,
Speaker:but how her brain starts to think as she plans her
Speaker:responses to these crisises because within her strategic thinking is where
Speaker:the magic of her creative thoughts and actions form.
Speaker:Today it is my pleasure to reintroduce you to Ann pacier
Speaker:and is the owner of Santa Barbara gift baskets located in
Speaker:guest where Santa Barbara,
Speaker:California operating out of a 3000 square foot refurbished welding garage
Speaker:and in her team curate and produce gifts featuring locally sourced
Speaker:gourmet foods,
Speaker:spa products,
Speaker:and handmade goods.
Speaker:Her retail establishment also serves as a wine bar and craft
Speaker:beer tasting room and began her business 15 years ago after
Speaker:stepping down from a corporate sales position to start her family.
Speaker:She used that experience to immediately begin focusing her gifting services
Speaker:on corporate clientele today.
Speaker:Her portfolio also includes a great deal of hospitality and event
Speaker:business along with a large following of loyal individual clients outside
Speaker:of her business and is active in her community and serves
Speaker:on several boards including her local chamber cottage hospital.
Speaker:And the Santa Barbara chapter of the national association of women
Speaker:business owners,
Speaker:also known as Nabo.
Speaker:Of course Ann and her husband Todd,
Speaker:a firefighter are proudly raising their two children.
Speaker:Aiden who I understand just turned 16 and Katie who is
Speaker:10 and welcome back to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thanks so much for having me back and I have become
Speaker:such a fan of yours cause I feel like the first
Speaker:time we recorded this it was among the first dozen or
Speaker:so that you had done and now I'm a loyal avid
Speaker:listener and subscriber.
Speaker:Oh you're so sweet for saying that and yes,
Speaker:I wanted to blow your mind with how long ago that
Speaker:was. You were episode number eight care to think about what
Speaker:year that was.
Speaker:It was five years ago,
Speaker:wasn't it?
Speaker:Or no,
Speaker:four years ago.
Speaker:2015 Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Our shop was brand new to us at that point.
Speaker:I remember it was brand new and so gift biz listeners
Speaker:you can go back and I would actually love for you
Speaker:to do so here and whole story of how she started
Speaker:the business because that's not what we're going to focus on
Speaker:now. You can already listen to that episode of how she
Speaker:started the business,
Speaker:how it was growing and evolving and yeah,
Speaker:you had just moved into this location and now look at
Speaker:where you've gone from here.
Speaker:I know and this funky location that I was so doubtful
Speaker:at first cause it's completely nontraditional off the kind of beaten
Speaker:path, old welding garage and now as we talk I can
Speaker:share with you a little bit later in some of the
Speaker:things we've used,
Speaker:this funky aspect of our space to really benefit us in
Speaker:these crazy times.
Speaker:Seriously, for sure.
Speaker:That is absolutely true.
Speaker:And I also just have to say just for fun as
Speaker:we're getting started here,
Speaker:do you remember what happened during our first recording?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:I do because I think because it is this sort of
Speaker:tin roof and it was a functioning store that was open
Speaker:to the public.
Speaker:I had to go out to my car,
Speaker:I think to do the interview and then everything heated up
Speaker:to the point where my phone just died and we completed
Speaker:the rest of it inside after it cooled down in my
Speaker:wine room and I think I sat on a couple of
Speaker:cases of wine staring at all of our chocolate and wine
Speaker:stash while we did the rest of it.
Speaker:I love that story.
Speaker:That is so hysterical to me.
Speaker:That's how we did it,
Speaker:but it all worked out.
Speaker:You take the situation at hand and you make it work,
Speaker:You roll with it and how you reach people can be
Speaker:different and nontraditional and again,
Speaker:that is in alignment with what I think we're going to
Speaker:talk a little bit about today.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And you are going to be,
Speaker:I believe the third in my series here about how people
Speaker:are coping with a whole pandemic and what's been going on
Speaker:and how people have shifted.
Speaker:I've decided I was going to do this at the last
Speaker:minute because at first I was like,
Speaker:not everyone's going to be wanting to focus on this.
Speaker:Like there's so much emotion around it that I wanted a
Speaker:safer place not to talk about it,
Speaker:but as things evolved and as we've gone on,
Speaker:there's no choice.
Speaker:Like you have to be looking at it and I actually
Speaker:think it's a really good lesson of how we need to
Speaker:be able to flex our businesses in different ways and be
Speaker:creative, et cetera,
Speaker:so that we can make it through unknowns that are going
Speaker:to occur.
Speaker:Absolutely. Hopefully they won't all be as dramatic as what we're
Speaker:doing. Right.
Speaker:Oh, right.
Speaker:I could use with the not so much drama for a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:Yeah. Let's just have this be the only one that that
Speaker:happens, but when I heard,
Speaker:because of course we chat periodically and when I heard what
Speaker:you did and how you've worked through this,
Speaker:I definitely knew that you were one of the people that
Speaker:I wanted to have come on to share your story.
Speaker:So that's what completely a hundred percent I want to focus
Speaker:on today is just how you worked through all of this.
Speaker:I'll have some questions along the way and hopefully will also
Speaker:spark some ideas for other people so that they could use
Speaker:something similar for their business as they go forward.
Speaker:So, but let's start with everything looked like it was changing
Speaker:and business as you had normally done it is now going
Speaker:to have to take a pivot.
Speaker:So take us there and what were you thinking back then
Speaker:and walk us through that.
Speaker:Well, I want to start by just saying that lots of
Speaker:parts of the country have experienced various regional crises and Santa
Speaker:Barbara is definitely one of them.
Speaker:I think you're aware that in the last couple of years
Speaker:we had this fire that started really far away from us
Speaker:in another town and at the time I would have never
Speaker:imagined that it would have the impact that it did.
Speaker:But over a month's time,
Speaker:I mean it's really funny how this kind of mirrors a
Speaker:lot of what's going on with us.
Speaker:Over a month's time.
Speaker:The fire got closer,
Speaker:conditions got worse,
Speaker:they started closing the freeways down.
Speaker:Our little town that relies so heavily on hospitality was really
Speaker:kind of cut off from the major artery to the rest
Speaker:of California.
Speaker:And then we had the just horrific deadly mudflow incident in
Speaker:Montecito. So we're no stranger to the impact that something like
Speaker:this can have on a business and how very quickly you
Speaker:have to switch gears.
Speaker:And I remember when all of that was going on that
Speaker:the businesses that were downtown,
Speaker:especially the retail businesses that only had a storefront really suffered,
Speaker:the ones that did survive that period of time survived because
Speaker:they very quickly ramped up and started having an online presence.
Speaker:And I think that's probably serving them now once again because
Speaker:all of the doors are shut again from any of those
Speaker:businesses. So it sounds like there were quite a few brick
Speaker:and mortar shops that were caught not ready for this obviously
Speaker:because they didn't have an online presence.
Speaker:And so there was that kind of like as you're talking
Speaker:in your chambers and other networking meetings,
Speaker:was that really recognized as this is a necessity for people
Speaker:to have to work through A hundred percent yeah.
Speaker:And I'm sure that your listeners who,
Speaker:and most of them will not,
Speaker:most of them,
Speaker:some of them have a brick and mortar business.
Speaker:That whole business model has changed.
Speaker:And I didn't know enough to talk about it when you
Speaker:and I spoke the first time cause that was my sort
Speaker:of first experience of having retail.
Speaker:I had always been online and I had always relied on
Speaker:corporate clients and so forth.
Speaker:So I learned over the last few years how to have
Speaker:a retail storefront.
Speaker:And that was new to me.
Speaker:But the fact that I can go back to my original
Speaker:model, which was really online sales has been helpful.
Speaker:Amazon just the face of downtowns are downtown in Santa Barbara.
Speaker:We have a homelessness crisis down there.
Speaker:We have high rents.
Speaker:There's a lot of things happening in our downtown that are
Speaker:changing the way that retail operates in general.
Speaker:So this just sort of sped everything up I think quite
Speaker:a bit.
Speaker:Sure. So anyone who's listening who is in a physical location,
Speaker:this would be then a heads up,
Speaker:kind of like a little poke to say if you don't
Speaker:have an online presence right now,
Speaker:it makes sense to start developing one and by online presence.
Speaker:And what are you encompassing in that?
Speaker:We just have a very robust website that has all of
Speaker:our products.
Speaker:It has,
Speaker:I go in regularly and look at metrics and look at
Speaker:things to tell me what are people searching for,
Speaker:what new products do we need to add?
Speaker:Which ones should we take down because they're not getting as
Speaker:much interest.
Speaker:Again, we're unique and I should just remind people who don't
Speaker:know that we really heavily focus on items that are sourced
Speaker:locally here in Santa Barbara or other parts of California.
Speaker:So our business is unique in that sense that people look
Speaker:for us for just gifts in general.
Speaker:But certainly if they're looking for a regional gift,
Speaker:we would come up pretty quickly for them.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So your website keywords and all of that optimize for
Speaker:search and all of that is also local.
Speaker:Where does a Facebook page fit into this?
Speaker:And the reason I say that is,
Speaker:you know a lot of people think online presence and they
Speaker:say, okay,
Speaker:well I've got a Facebook page so I'm good.
Speaker:So the Facebook page is key for,
Speaker:again, this is kind of just like everything that's going on
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:right? You have to have so many different channels that people
Speaker:can reach you because you have some people that Instagram resonates
Speaker:with them.
Speaker:Or maybe Facebook is the way that they do shopping and
Speaker:everything else.
Speaker:And then others stumble even with an online order.
Speaker:And that's why having the retail option or at least a
Speaker:phone that they can call and do it over the phone
Speaker:with is important as well.
Speaker:We actually use our Facebook page,
Speaker:we use the shop now option on Facebook a lot.
Speaker:Are you familiar with that?
Speaker:Share that with us.
Speaker:And I'm just going to use this as an example because
Speaker:literally as we get off the phone and I'm behind in
Speaker:it, but I'm launching Amy nominate an extraordinary mom for mother's
Speaker:day, and we're going to give away five mother's day gift
Speaker:baskets to different winners.
Speaker:So I have linked on my Facebook page under the shop
Speaker:now category,
Speaker:I've uploaded links to the four different mother's day products that
Speaker:are on my website,
Speaker:and I put the description there and it links right to
Speaker:my page.
Speaker:It's got photos that they can see.
Speaker:I posted it as posts within my page,
Speaker:but the nice thing is that also when I go over
Speaker:to Instagram,
Speaker:which is truly my more main platform,
Speaker:I actually do a lot more selling and storytelling and connecting
Speaker:with my clientele through Instagram.
Speaker:But because those two are,
Speaker:does Facebook own Instagram or is it the other way around?
Speaker:Yeah, Facebook owns Instagram.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:So I've like,
Speaker:I've gone into Canva and I've designed all my graphics to
Speaker:be prepared to put these stories out,
Speaker:the Instagram posts,
Speaker:and there's a link that you can put to the products
Speaker:if you've already put them up over on your Facebook page.
Speaker:So it's such a helpful tool to get people to my
Speaker:website pretty easily through that channel.
Speaker:I don't know if I've made that clear enough.
Speaker:That's perfect.
Speaker:You've got your website though as the base and then Facebook
Speaker:and then by the connection Instagram,
Speaker:when they're looking at those posts and they're interested in what
Speaker:they click through to is the link to your website to
Speaker:those products.
Speaker:Yes. And you know,
Speaker:you do so many programs with Sue B Zimmerman,
Speaker:and I've learned so much by listening into both of you.
Speaker:And I just remember learning how critical those stories are and
Speaker:how linking people,
Speaker:and also how you don't own your Instagram or your Facebook
Speaker:at any point that's just rented space that those organizations can
Speaker:take away from you if they had any reason to.
Speaker:But getting them to your website and getting them to become
Speaker:a user where you're capturing their email address is just so,
Speaker:so critical.
Speaker:And that was just one of the valuable tools I've picked
Speaker:up from you and some of the podcasts you've had with
Speaker:her. Wonderful.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And I could not have said it any better,
Speaker:so that was perfect.
Speaker:I learned,
Speaker:I Learned.
Speaker:Well that's why you're so successful.
Speaker:Like you are like you listen to what people have to
Speaker:say. You take it,
Speaker:you analyze it and then you implement the things that make
Speaker:sense for you.
Speaker:I've seen it this whole time.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And you're not feeling like you have to figure it out
Speaker:yourself all the time,
Speaker:which is really smart.
Speaker:Well in the introduction you were kind enough to share.
Speaker:I do sit on the board of my chamber,
Speaker:my cottage hospital here in town,
Speaker:our big hospital organization and then Nabo and it's hard to
Speaker:juggle from a time standpoint under normal circumstances being part of
Speaker:all these organizations.
Speaker:But those are where I truly make my connections and where
Speaker:I kind of am able to keep my finger on the
Speaker:pulse of what's going on.
Speaker:So I know we're getting to it,
Speaker:but I was going to share with you one of the
Speaker:very first things I did when it became clear that businesses
Speaker:were going to start sending their workforce home.
Speaker:This was before in California.
Speaker:We had any kind of mandate to do so.
Speaker:I noticed that my top three corporate clients were shutting down
Speaker:their offices and moving everybody to virtual home offices.
Speaker:So very quickly we took designs that we kind of already
Speaker:had product that we already had and put together what we
Speaker:labeled a virtual workforce gifting suite is what I called it.
Speaker:And I had a whole tab on my website.
Speaker:And if you have your ducks in a row,
Speaker:you can pretty quickly pull things together once you recognize the
Speaker:behavior change in your bigger clients.
Speaker:So that was one of the things we did based on
Speaker:that. But you're right,
Speaker:always watching and being open to what people are doing next
Speaker:and what their behavior is is key.
Speaker:Yeah. And I want to underline the fact that you talk
Speaker:about your local networking and the groups that you're part of
Speaker:keep you really in tune with what's going on.
Speaker:And I think that's critical.
Speaker:It's not anything that I think we often talk about as
Speaker:an added value to networking.
Speaker:But here it clearly served you well.
Speaker:So with,
Speaker:what did you call these again?
Speaker:The virtual,
Speaker:We called them,
Speaker:I struggled with it cause this is the,
Speaker:we're all inventing language now.
Speaker:That just wasn't what we used to say before.
Speaker:Right? So I think I called it virtual workforce gifting.
Speaker:So we have a happy hour box that has a craft
Speaker:beer from a local brewery.
Speaker:We have a little champagne version of it.
Speaker:And then we have a virtual break room box.
Speaker:And the whole idea behind that is your staff no longer
Speaker:has that great benefit of going into the break room and
Speaker:sharing snacks together.
Speaker:But you can be on a zoom meeting and send the
Speaker:box ahead to everybody and then they all can be sort
Speaker:of experiencing the same water cooler environment if you will,
Speaker:that they had watercooler is so old fashioned because now they
Speaker:have like kombucha on draft and seriously crazy work break rooms.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:How did you get the word out about the virtual workforce?
Speaker:Gifting. So you created the product,
Speaker:you decided,
Speaker:okay, I see there's a change.
Speaker:There is a need on behalf of these businesses because you
Speaker:want to still keep that team,
Speaker:that feeling of team together.
Speaker:Now they're going to be working virtually where they never may
Speaker:have before.
Speaker:Yes. So you identified that you figured out and I really
Speaker:like and that you used product you already had,
Speaker:so you didn't go adding to your cost because we have
Speaker:no idea at that point what was going to be happening.
Speaker:And then how did you communicate out about the product?
Speaker:So I did my typical social media releases of information and
Speaker:so forth,
Speaker:but I also,
Speaker:this time I really took the time to personally call on
Speaker:the phone,
Speaker:which I know we talked to the other day,
Speaker:has that crazy people would actually call and speak with each
Speaker:other, but I called them and said,
Speaker:Hey, I understand that you guys are,
Speaker:I even sent a couple samples to some of the people
Speaker:that were my contacts and advance and just said,
Speaker:Hey, this box is arriving.
Speaker:I want to explain what it's all about.
Speaker:If this is something that is going to fit a need
Speaker:for you and your team,
Speaker:or if you have communication that you'd like to send to
Speaker:us or drop off at our door,
Speaker:we can incorporate a meeting agenda or whatever collateral might be
Speaker:important, or maybe everybody needs to get hand sanitizer or some
Speaker:element of something that's left at the office that we can
Speaker:ship to them,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:So phone calls to them directly and then I promoted it
Speaker:on my personal pages.
Speaker:Like there is so much value with your own personal page.
Speaker:I am always shocked by people who don't under their about
Speaker:us on their personal page link that to their business.
Speaker:Like everybody needs to know that you own such and such
Speaker:business and how to get there and how to become a
Speaker:fan of it cause they all want to support you.
Speaker:So out of my personal page,
Speaker:I just promoted it to my friend saying,
Speaker:Hey, who all has had to be moved to a home
Speaker:office? Raise your hand or let me know if you have,
Speaker:I have a great opportunity for you to share with your
Speaker:management. Were you with your team?
Speaker:And I had more takers that way than anywhere else.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:And I really liked that because Facebook sees that you're advertising
Speaker:you can have a problem,
Speaker:right? Cause you're not supposed to advertise on your personal page.
Speaker:But the way you did it was more just a post
Speaker:communication with your friends.
Speaker:So the wording and then did you have a picture of
Speaker:it? Oh I had a picture of it and I had
Speaker:a link to it.
Speaker:Okay. I have to be careful because Facebook does not like
Speaker:that. I sell alcohol at all,
Speaker:so like I can only show the break room option in
Speaker:my shop now on Facebook,
Speaker:but I can certainly talk about it and I can do
Speaker:a link over to my website to that category on the
Speaker:page. Is this on your personal page or on your business
Speaker:pages? The sensitivity to alcohol on any image?
Speaker:No, it's just if you're doing like a shop now or
Speaker:an advertisement,
Speaker:they screen it All right.
Speaker:Yeah, they've gotten very picky.
Speaker:Even for had approvals.
Speaker:I've gotten a couple of things rejected and it's like why?
Speaker:But then when my ad team calls up and explains it,
Speaker:then they're like,
Speaker:okay, approved.
Speaker:Right. They're watching and I think that's fine.
Speaker:Look, you know,
Speaker:we've got all this issue going on with the virus.
Speaker:We've got an election year.
Speaker:We're now in the middle of,
Speaker:apart from just the whole security things that could go on.
Speaker:Right. It is what it is.
Speaker:It's okay and we can work around it for sure.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so I love this.
Speaker:I'm calling this category kind of revising and re implementing your
Speaker:product to fit the times is really what you did.
Speaker:And I've learned over time that you can the same product
Speaker:and if you just change the name and make something in
Speaker:the title,
Speaker:speak to certain people.
Speaker:If you're not misrepresenting what it is,
Speaker:it's, it is what it is.
Speaker:But if you call it the welcome to your new home
Speaker:gift and it's the same design that is the stay at
Speaker:home break room or you know,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:you can just call it something different.
Speaker:So that's great for SEO purposes,
Speaker:but it also is great.
Speaker:Just from a descriptive standpoint.
Speaker:I don't know if you've ever done a podcast on how
Speaker:to write really good descriptions,
Speaker:but I could use that a tuneup on descriptions cause I
Speaker:know it is so important when I shop online I get
Speaker:drawn in by whatever story or element of how they describe
Speaker:products to me.
Speaker:Okay. I'm making a note because that is really good.
Speaker:No, you're right.
Speaker:It is good.
Speaker:So, and I think the other thing just with descriptions and
Speaker:what you're talking about in terms of renaming is we need
Speaker:to show our potential customers all different types of uses for
Speaker:our product.
Speaker:Like we think it's so obvious,
Speaker:but not necessarily like you're saying virtual gift rooms get well
Speaker:birthday, like whatever it is,
Speaker:it's hard for people to make that extension sometimes of what
Speaker:your product could be used for.
Speaker:It is obvious to us and I'm always surprised when people
Speaker:say, well that's so creative because I feel like it should
Speaker:be obvious.
Speaker:Right. Here's another example,
Speaker:I'm sorry I'm probably jumping ahead.
Speaker:But hospitality is huge for us.
Speaker:So when I look at where we've been impacted most by
Speaker:the current situation,
Speaker:it's definitely this time of year especially is when we have
Speaker:big conferences and big sales meetings and things here in Santa
Speaker:Barbara where people are buying out a resort.
Speaker:They have a hundred or 500 people coming and we are
Speaker:providing the welcome amenity.
Speaker:And so we've had two events that were 500 people each,
Speaker:which were really big orders for us that have been canceled.
Speaker:And so when I started to see the writing on the
Speaker:wall with that,
Speaker:when they were not answering me back,
Speaker:when I could tell that they were like,
Speaker:well, we haven't made a decision.
Speaker:I knew that they weren't deciding on my gift.
Speaker:They were deciding are we going to go to Santa Barbara
Speaker:or not?
Speaker:And so right away I jumped in and I said,
Speaker:Hey, and I didn't want to say,
Speaker:I didn't want to suggest that they not come.
Speaker:So I worded it very carefully,
Speaker:but I said,
Speaker:as you continue the planning process,
Speaker:be aware that we can absolutely do a box to care
Speaker:package version of the welcome amenity and get it out to
Speaker:your guests to convey whatever messaging you might want to have,
Speaker:whether it's to get excited about the upcoming event,
Speaker:change something in the schedule of it,
Speaker:what have you,
Speaker:and people were like,
Speaker:that's so great.
Speaker:We didn't even think about that.
Speaker:And that's really how I'm teaching people to use gifting as
Speaker:a strategy for what they're doing.
Speaker:And they will have a budget for marketing and strategizing around
Speaker:something that's way bigger than just the gift budget that they've
Speaker:put as a line item.
Speaker:Right. Because you're not positioning it as a gift.
Speaker:You're positioning it as part of the plan overall.
Speaker:Yes. For a business purpose,
Speaker:a result.
Speaker:The thing I'm really recognizing and all these things that you're
Speaker:talking about,
Speaker:Anne, is how proactive you are.
Speaker:You're just not waiting,
Speaker:you're rearranging and then going out and showing it to everybody
Speaker:and then you're getting the orders in,
Speaker:in kind.
Speaker:Yes. And also learned that if you can make somebody look
Speaker:good, you're going to get their business.
Speaker:So by sending a sample to my contacts with those companies
Speaker:that had changed to a workforce at home solution,
Speaker:they had it tangibly in front of them.
Speaker:They were able to get on the next meeting that they
Speaker:had a strategy meeting with their team and lift up the
Speaker:box and show it to them and it made them look
Speaker:like they were thinking way ahead.
Speaker:So people want to do business with people that they know,
Speaker:like and trust,
Speaker:but also that are going to make them look good and
Speaker:that they know they can rely on for great ideas.
Speaker:Right? And you made them look good and it was so
Speaker:easy for them.
Speaker:You gave them the idea,
Speaker:you gave them the product and you're ready to go.
Speaker:So let's talk now about what you did about Easter.
Speaker:I think this is brilliant.
Speaker:Okay, hold tight you guys,
Speaker:I know you just heard me ask about an Easter program
Speaker:and I know it's past Easter at this point,
Speaker:but what she put in place can be used not just
Speaker:for the Easter holidays but for events in the future.
Speaker:I can't wait for you to hear all about it and
Speaker:we'll do it right after a quick break for our sponsor.
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Speaker:Yeah, this was so interesting and I want to just preface
Speaker:by saying,
Speaker:if I sound like I'm really confident about all this,
Speaker:I am not all the time.
Speaker:I just like anybody else.
Speaker:On any given hour of the day,
Speaker:I can feel completely like what do I do next?
Speaker:And then on top of it,
Speaker:like I got this,
Speaker:we can handle it and it's just a roller coaster.
Speaker:Right? I know that you have shared that because I've been
Speaker:in on some of your lives,
Speaker:which have been so critical.
Speaker:These like little meetups that you're doing are so great right
Speaker:now. Oh,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:Well let me give a little shout out about them then
Speaker:real quick.
Speaker:So what we're doing,
Speaker:anybody who doesn't know over in my group give to biz
Speaker:breeze Monday,
Speaker:Wednesdays, Fridays,
Speaker:11:00 AM central.
Speaker:I'm jumping on and we're talking a little bit of business.
Speaker:There's a lot of interaction.
Speaker:So I'm taking the Facebook comments and we're talking things through.
Speaker:You can ask a question if you have any questions,
Speaker:so please feel free.
Speaker:I'd love for any of you to jump in.
Speaker:You just have to join the Facebook group first gift to
Speaker:biz breeze and then we welcome you Into these lives.
Speaker:Okay. Carry on,
Speaker:Anne. Thank you.
Speaker:No, I love that.
Speaker:And I have found some really great new products by some
Speaker:of the makers in your group too.
Speaker:So it's a good collaboration all around love hearing that.
Speaker:So you know,
Speaker:we closed our doors on March 12th and right away I
Speaker:needed to make sure that my staff was safe.
Speaker:They felt comfortable in the environment they were in and I
Speaker:did have to let most of them go and have brought
Speaker:them back at various degrees of needs and so forth.
Speaker:But their safety,
Speaker:that was my number one priority.
Speaker:We closed the doors and the whole front of the shop
Speaker:just sat there with the displays out and it was so
Speaker:depressing to just only be in the backroom in the production
Speaker:area. And slowly we started realizing this is going to go
Speaker:on for awhile.
Speaker:And I looked at all this Easter inventory that I had
Speaker:purchased. Easter is my favorite time of year and we do
Speaker:big, like we do our wine and design classes.
Speaker:Those are some of those things that have had to fall
Speaker:by the wayside,
Speaker:kind of where people come and gather and we teach them
Speaker:how to make baskets and drink wine and socialize.
Speaker:It's just really fun.
Speaker:So we had all that planned,
Speaker:all this inventory and I'm like,
Speaker:nobody's coming.
Speaker:Nobody can come.
Speaker:What do we do?
Speaker:So we have this welding garage with a funky driveway and
Speaker:then garage doors and the side of the driveway.
Speaker:And one morning I pulled up and I looked and I
Speaker:thought, this is like a shop right here.
Speaker:Like curbside pickup is great,
Speaker:but if you're in a position to actually have a popup
Speaker:that you can just close the door on each night and
Speaker:then lift it up and people never have to get out
Speaker:of their car and they can just point to what they
Speaker:want. That is the ultimate in contactless.
Speaker:Because then it was like,
Speaker:if people could imagine,
Speaker:it's like your big garage door is if it just lifted
Speaker:open and you had a two car garage there.
Speaker:Yes. It's exactly like that.
Speaker:Yeah. So there's bays like there's different bays,
Speaker:so it was covered
I mean it's essentially a garage sale,
Speaker:right? So it's like a glorified garage sale and we've just
Speaker:made it spectacular and not rinky-dink.
Speaker:But also I was realizing like if you were to go
Speaker:to CVS to a pharmacy and get Easter bunnies to put
Speaker:in your kids' Easter basket,
Speaker:that to me just seemed so yucky and uncertain.
Speaker:People have been touching stuff.
Speaker:It's just out in this environment that's not controlled.
Speaker:However, our stuff had yet to even be touched by anybody
Speaker:because it was brand new inventory.
Speaker:So that was the selling point for us.
Speaker:She sometimes I have learned that to compete with the big
Speaker:box guys,
Speaker:you just have to look to what your strengths are and
Speaker:what you have to offer that they can't and then you
Speaker:totally highlight that.
Speaker:So not having to get out of the car,
Speaker:being able to support local businesses.
Speaker:People really,
Speaker:really at this time are wanting to continue to support their
Speaker:local businesses.
Speaker:So we're like a one stop shop for that.
Speaker:You're supporting us,
Speaker:but you're supporting dozens of other small makers here in this
Speaker:town. So we created this fun drive up and the way
Speaker:to promote that was I went online because I had already
Speaker:done a event page for the wine and design class weeks
Speaker:before I went in and I said,
Speaker:Hey, everybody was going to come to this wine and design
Speaker:class. I'm going to jump on and do a virtual wine
Speaker:and design class.
Speaker:So here's the day we're going to do it.
Speaker:And this is the other thing.
Speaker:I didn't make it real salesy.
Speaker:Like of course you can come and pull up and buy
Speaker:stuff from us here,
Speaker:but I'm not encouraging you all to leave your homes,
Speaker:order online,
Speaker:order at the pull-up or just make this Easter something special.
Speaker:And so I taught them how to make a basket out
Speaker:of things they might have laying around the house.
Speaker:And I think that this is a time when it's almost
Speaker:like we're politicians that are running for office.
Speaker:You don't see politicians hopefully in the middle of a crisis
Speaker:campaigning. No,
Speaker:they're like rolling their sleeves up.
Speaker:They're showing you what they're like in a crisis and they're
Speaker:gaining your trust that way.
Speaker:And then later they're going to ask you for your vote.
Speaker:And in retail the vote is in dollars in purchases.
Speaker:So I knew that this was just an opportunity to gain
Speaker:their trust,
Speaker:give them some education and some value and then hopefully at
Speaker:some point they'll come back and purchase later.
Speaker:So. Okay,
Speaker:so you did the wine in design online but very low
Speaker:key in terms of sales focus.
Speaker:Yes, more just about really the teaching and encouraging them to
Speaker:work with what they have and not stress out that this
Speaker:has to be the same kind of Easter that they always
Speaker:have. I mean,
Speaker:that's my message to everybody.
Speaker:Even my children that I'm homeschooling,
Speaker:like we're going to rise to the occasion.
Speaker:We're going to work hard at this,
Speaker:but we're not going to let,
Speaker:this is not the biggest priority.
Speaker:Our health and our sanity and our sense of peace is
Speaker:the priority right now.
Speaker:So we'll,
Speaker:we'll adjust around it.
Speaker:And we had an excellent Easter.
Speaker:We might've had the best Easter that we've ever had.
Speaker:It's so interesting because people's options were limited.
Speaker:They did not want to go out.
Speaker:They also weren't doing Easter brunch with their family like they
Speaker:normally would.
Speaker:So we were doing big family Easter baskets with things like
Speaker:soup and cupcakes sets and things that were becoming activities and
Speaker:cooking things that they could do at home.
Speaker:So the type of gifting has really shifted as well.
Speaker:Did you add any inventory to create more of the baking
Speaker:type things that they could actually make at home or were
Speaker:you really going off of all the inventory you had?
Speaker:I was really going off of all the inventory I had
Speaker:because even now I just don't know what's coming next like
Speaker:it's been,
Speaker:thankfully I do work with a lot of local small makers.
Speaker:So if you're listening and you're a local,
Speaker:small maker of something,
Speaker:this is where you have the advantage over other people is
Speaker:that you can distribute to the people in your area quickly,
Speaker:easily, and on small amounts on a regular basis so that
Speaker:it's constantly the best,
Speaker:freshest inventory of whatever it is.
Speaker:Perfect. That's a good point.
Speaker:Yeah, so for instance,
Speaker:this cupcake mix,
Speaker:Alison Reed,
Speaker:who's fabulous,
Speaker:she'd be great on your show.
Speaker:She won food networks,
Speaker:cupcake Wars,
Speaker:and she has a whole line of boozy baking mixes.
Speaker:So it's like orange Chardonnay,
Speaker:pink champagne.
Speaker:She's even has a line of beer one.
Speaker:So it's like chocolate stout.
Speaker:We carry her items and I didn't realize that you cannot
Speaker:get flour.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I mean it's different probably where everybody is,
Speaker:but I cannot find flower in the grocery store anyway.
Speaker:Flour and yeast.
Speaker:I, yeah,
Speaker:everyone's baking bread.
Speaker:Yeah, it's gotta be so these cupcake mixes,
Speaker:which were not,
Speaker:I mean they didn't,
Speaker:they have been popular,
Speaker:but they really have become popular because it's now it's become
Speaker:an activity as well as a gift item.
Speaker:Plus it's great for birthdays because you send them a birthday
Speaker:gift and they've got the wine and the cupcake mix and
Speaker:the candles and everything they need all in one place.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we're having to make these celebrations be something special at home
Speaker:and you're providing an easy way for them to do it,
Speaker:which I think is fabulous.
Speaker:Yeah. I want to go back to your actual setup of
Speaker:your drive through.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:walk through how that actually works.
Speaker:Sure. And you know,
Speaker:I can actually send you some pictures too.
Speaker:If in your show notes you put photos in,
Speaker:I can send a picture to you of what it looks
Speaker:like. Okay.
Speaker:That'd be great.
Speaker:But I essentially just started taking the display from the front
Speaker:elements of the display and putting it in the back and
Speaker:I had to make the pricing really visible from where they
Speaker:were from the car so they could see it.
Speaker:From a display standpoint,
Speaker:it's very much the same kind of thing we would do
Speaker:if we were going to do a popup shop,
Speaker:like we did a Christmas market.
Speaker:It was very similar to that.
Speaker:So were people driving up rolling down their window and say
Speaker:I want one of these,
Speaker:one of these,
Speaker:two of these?
Speaker:Yes. And then what happened from there?
Speaker:So your social distanced already.
Speaker:Yup. Then they'd pop their trunk and we would come out
Speaker:and put it in the back of the car for them.
Speaker:We had contactless credit card payment as well.
Speaker:But the other thing that's did Sue was that we weren't
Speaker:missing out on the upsell opportunities because a lot of people
Speaker:did order online ahead of time,
Speaker:but then when they came to pick it up,
Speaker:they saw what we had and they said,
Speaker:Oh, I want to get that from my mom.
Speaker:Or can you add to those soup kits?
Speaker:I love those,
Speaker:or whatever it is,
Speaker:and that's the advantage that a brick and mortar has that
Speaker:is being missed in all of this.
Speaker:If you don't have something where they can point and see
Speaker:what they want.
Speaker:Excellent ad.
Speaker:So we'll you seen that a lot of these people were
Speaker:new first time customers for you?
Speaker:Well, to be honest with Easter,
Speaker:it was a lot of my friends and people that I
Speaker:knew just because it was being promoted.
Speaker:My friends were talking about,
Speaker:Hey, you've got to go check out my friend Ann's place.
Speaker:So friends and friends of friends,
Speaker:referrals for Easter.
Speaker:It definitely looked like that.
Speaker:Now since Easter,
Speaker:I'm noticing that we're getting a ton of new people that
Speaker:are just discovering us that would have chosen some other form
Speaker:of gifting before they didn't know about us and now they're
Speaker:ordering a few times in the last few weeks I've seen
Speaker:those same people starting to reorder.
Speaker:Interesting. And so,
Speaker:and you've also made a comment to me that you think
Speaker:you're going to continue this?
Speaker:We are.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I do regular research every day.
Speaker:I try to spend at least an hour in the morning
Speaker:just reading articles and listening to,
Speaker:we're part of,
Speaker:we belong to the specialty food association.
Speaker:Like I get a lot of information across a lot of
Speaker:different platforms.
Speaker:I think it's,
Speaker:I find it very helpful.
Speaker:And so I'm hearing this term,
Speaker:I don't know if you've heard of it.
Speaker:That's floating around called click to brick.
Speaker:And so this whole idea of curbside pickup I really do
Speaker:think is here to stay.
Speaker:I think we're going to see retail with much smaller footprints.
Speaker:Collaboration, like we're doing the drive through,
Speaker:well, we're doing it on a daily basis now,
Speaker:but now it's really feeding towards mother's day and I have
Speaker:some makers who do handbags or jewelry that I don't normally
Speaker:carry in my store,
Speaker:but I know they need an outlet and they need a
Speaker:platform to sell from.
Speaker:And so we're doing some consignment things with them in our
Speaker:shop as well so that we have their products.
Speaker:So I think collaboration,
Speaker:smaller footprints,
Speaker:when people do start going back into stores,
Speaker:a place like ours where they can sit and have a
Speaker:glass of wine and shop and do have some form of
Speaker:entertainment is going to be more attractive than a great big
Speaker:mall. I don't know what's going to happen to our mall
Speaker:that we know how we've always known it.
Speaker:I think that's definitely changing.
Speaker:I agree with you.
Speaker:I think that first of all,
Speaker:support of small business is going to only get better.
Speaker:Yeah, we've had it and I think it's gotten better and
Speaker:it's recognized in the special holidays,
Speaker:but this is just a reemphasis on that and I think
Speaker:we're going to see a lot of it.
Speaker:So people who are in the audience that I serve,
Speaker:including you are going to benefit because people will want to
Speaker:be local.
Speaker:But I still think just as you were talking about with
Speaker:the bunnies from Costco or Walgreens or wherever,
Speaker:we still have to point those things out because it's not
Speaker:just going to be the obvious fact and word spreads.
Speaker:I absolutely think For sure,
Speaker:and before this happened I was recognizing that experiential shopping is
Speaker:truly the way to compete against somebody like an Amazon,
Speaker:right? Because this idea of meeting your girlfriends for a glass
Speaker:of wine around our gathering table that we have in the
Speaker:front of our shop and then being able to like look
Speaker:through and buy different retail things.
Speaker:That's huge.
Speaker:Doing the tasting events during the design classes that we do.
Speaker:And I wanted to share with you really quick if I
Speaker:can, something I did this weekend and I was totally thinking
Speaker:of your makers when this happened because I have a really
Speaker:good friend who's a chef,
Speaker:a personal chef,
Speaker:and she's written a series of cookbooks.
Speaker:She has a line of herbs and jams and things,
Speaker:but chefs in general are being hit so hard during this
Speaker:time. And I wanted to find a way to support her.
Speaker:I wanted an excuse to support her beyond just buying her
Speaker:products for our shop.
Speaker:So, and my dad,
Speaker:who lives in Orlando,
Speaker:he's not seeing any of his grandkids.
Speaker:He's not able to do any of that.
Speaker:So he started,
Speaker:I can tell,
Speaker:I can just see that he's starting to get a little
Speaker:isolated feeling.
Speaker:So I came up with this idea to hire my friend
Speaker:to do a private cooking class with my dad and I.
Speaker:So I had him tune into one of her weekly Instagram
Speaker:daily Instagram cooking segments.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:what do you think of her knees?
Speaker:She's delightful.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:great, because she's going to show up in your kitchen next
Speaker:week and I'm getting Instacart and I'm ordering you all the
Speaker:ingredients so you don't even have to leave your house.
Speaker:And he had that to look forward to all week.
Speaker:And then we got on on Sunday,
Speaker:my daughter was with me and he was with my stepmom
Speaker:and then Pascal,
Speaker:the chef,
Speaker:and we had the most fun preparing at the same time
Speaker:in the kitchen with all the things that happen in the
Speaker:kitchen, this meal.
Speaker:And then afterwards she got off and he stayed on with
Speaker:us and we sat together and ate the meal that we
Speaker:had all just made.
Speaker:And it felt like such a great connection.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:I wonder if any of your makers that do leather work
Speaker:or painting or something that they could do that would be
Speaker:able to teach what they do in a setting like that
Speaker:and get some income from the experience of it and maybe
Speaker:even whatever kit that was sent out in advance.
Speaker:But that whole experiential thing is just going to become so
Speaker:important. I think as we move forward with this.
Speaker:I love that you shared that and I totally agree.
Speaker:I think people are starting to see different ways of either
Speaker:putting kids together or offering some type of online training and
Speaker:a lot of it jumps over even to educational because mom
Speaker:has to do something with the kids,
Speaker:not just during homeschooling but free time.
Speaker:Like what do you do?
Speaker:You can't go outside down to the local ballpark anymore.
Speaker:So everyone's had to get creative.
Speaker:I think this is great.
Speaker:I love all of this idea actually a lot.
Speaker:Good. And I don't know,
Speaker:you just are able to come up with ideas like crazy.
Speaker:Like you,
Speaker:before we got on,
Speaker:you were telling me what you did for Aiden for his
Speaker:16th birthday.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Well I think my mind works in very strange and different
Speaker:ways and sometimes it's overwhelming the number of ideas that come
Speaker:at my head and I have to remember that not everybody
Speaker:absorbs them the same way.
Speaker:Like my husband,
Speaker:if he has an idea,
Speaker:he researches it and it is going to become a reality
Speaker:for him.
Speaker:And he gets really focused in it.
Speaker:I on the other hand,
Speaker:allow my brain to just have millions of ideas coming at
Speaker:it. And I announced them out loud and we talk about
Speaker:them. And if they don't happen,
Speaker:they don't happen or if a version of them does.
Speaker:And that stresses him out cause he's like,
Speaker:uh, take the idea,
Speaker:make it happen.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:well, let's just start big and bring it down to what
Speaker:is a reality that can happen and happen soon.
Speaker:Cause some ideas are just so grandiose.
Speaker:Have you ever had an idea where you think it's so
Speaker:good, so good.
Speaker:And then the next day it's like,
Speaker:what was I thinking?
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:Like even when I throw a party,
Speaker:I might have two or three games or activities at the
Speaker:ready to do,
Speaker:but if the party's flowing and whatever,
Speaker:I let go of it and just go,
Speaker:we don't need to do that.
Speaker:It has to make sense.
Speaker:It has to fit in and make sense.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:So yesterday for him,
Speaker:for his birthday,
Speaker:everybody's doing these drive by caravans of cars.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:man, I wish so much that I could invite all of
Speaker:them in to have a piece of this red velvet cake
Speaker:that I got from a local Baker.
Speaker:And as I was thinking that,
Speaker:I realized,
Speaker:well they make these little bun teenies that are smaller.
Speaker:It's a smaller version of the big cake we're having.
Speaker:If I order enough of those,
Speaker:I can package them with my gloves and my mask on.
Speaker:And then I made little care packages.
Speaker:So as they drove by with their cars,
Speaker:I was able to hand each car,
Speaker:contact Leslie a box with cupcakes for them to enjoy the
Speaker:same cake when they got home.
Speaker:So, and then we did the water balloons.
Speaker:I forgot that part.
Speaker:I gave them each water balloons to throw at him,
Speaker:which was kind of fun.
Speaker:And you can do that in Santa Barbara.
Speaker:Yeah. You couldn't do that in all the areas of our
Speaker:country right now.
Speaker:Like mine.
Speaker:Well not this month.
Speaker:Yeah. Snowballs.
Speaker:Maybe. There you go.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:I'd be all over for that too.
Speaker:That would work for me.
Speaker:Are there any ideas that you tried during this time that
Speaker:didn't really go as you had wanted?
Speaker:Well, I'll tell you back to those virtual workforce gift boxes,
Speaker:I was a little disappointed that that didn't take off right
Speaker:away. Now we are really seeing a big influx of people
Speaker:ordering those things.
Speaker:So that's an example of,
Speaker:I had it locked and loaded.
Speaker:It was ready,
Speaker:I promoted it.
Speaker:I reached out and told people directly about it,
Speaker:but they just weren't ready.
Speaker:Can you imagine?
Speaker:I mean I am not in their shoes,
Speaker:but if I had a whole team of people that I
Speaker:had to somehow figure out did they all have enough wifi
Speaker:at home,
Speaker:what do they need from,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like there's so much planning that was on the fly happening
Speaker:around that and then just financially like what does our budget
Speaker:look like now we have to shift and move.
Speaker:So they weren't ready for it in the beginning.
Speaker:I was ready for them.
Speaker:They weren't ready for me.
Speaker:And at the time I kind of felt like,
Speaker:Oh, I guess this isn't really a big thing.
Speaker:This isn't going to work.
Speaker:But now it is.
Speaker:So sometimes I think your idea is just might not be
Speaker:the right time,
Speaker:but if you just are patient and wait it might come
Speaker:to fruition.
Speaker:That's a really good point.
Speaker:Cause everyone was like,
Speaker:we didn't even have a handle on what it all meant
Speaker:to us.
Speaker:Like if you just walk outside,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:are you going to get it?
Speaker:Like nobody knew yet at that time.
Speaker:So the other thing that occurs to me is that with
Speaker:you, any,
Speaker:especially I guess you,
Speaker:cause you were mentioned in the beginning,
Speaker:in your area you've had other issues,
Speaker:mudslides, the fires,
Speaker:all of that,
Speaker:heaven forbid,
Speaker:whatever comes in the future.
Speaker:You've kind of started to set a precedent that this is
Speaker:something that you do,
Speaker:you create then specialty things for whether it's employees to do
Speaker:a virtual meeting or maybe for the firefighters for if they
Speaker:are going to have to stay somewhere.
Speaker:Like, I don't know all the services that you could provide
Speaker:them, but you're starting to position yourself also as a source
Speaker:for those types of things.
Speaker:Right. I unfortunately think that the pandemic we're in right now,
Speaker:I kind of equate it to like fire season here in
Speaker:California over the last few years.
Speaker:We've had to get used that this is our reality.
Speaker:At any given moment,
Speaker:a wildfire could break out somewhere and it might be small,
Speaker:it might be big.
Speaker:We just have to be prepared for it and it is
Speaker:our new normal and I,
Speaker:I'm so tired actually on that terminology it just feels like
Speaker:almost aggressive.
Speaker:Well you've been dealing with this for years,
Speaker:like a revised normal every year off.
Speaker:Yes, and I think those are the times we're living in.
Speaker:This is not going to go away.
Speaker:It'll ebb and flow.
Speaker:This will recede.
Speaker:We'll have some semblance of going back to,
Speaker:it's free to move about the cabin kind of activity,
Speaker:but then we'll have to put the seatbelt sign back on
Speaker:again. I think we have to start positioning our businesses to
Speaker:know that this isn't the last time it's going to happen,
Speaker:but we can prepare for the next time.
Speaker:It won't be as much of a shock,
Speaker:I guess I'd say or a learning curve.
Speaker:Right. Cause people will are like,
Speaker:they'll know that this already exists the next time they have
Speaker:to send their workforce home.
Speaker:Right. So that's something for us to think through.
Speaker:I mean we're still in the middle it right now.
Speaker:So anything that you can do and has now given us
Speaker:a number of different ideas.
Speaker:So if you haven't incorporated some of these or they feel
Speaker:like they're a good fit,
Speaker:it's still a great time to do this.
Speaker:But I think when I equate this to a bird cage,
Speaker:when the door opens and we get to fly free again
Speaker:for a little while,
Speaker:it's still smart to go back and think,
Speaker:okay, what should I put in place now for the future
Speaker:and have that plan.
Speaker:So there's not so much anxiety.
Speaker:You just flip the switch on your action plan.
Speaker:It's become so obvious that we all are living through this
Speaker:in a very,
Speaker:very different way and our experience and our anxiety level,
Speaker:people that have someone with auto immune disorders at home are
Speaker:having a very different experience than someone who is not even
Speaker:concerned. They have younger,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:it's all very different.
Speaker:So creating a business model that serves different clients with different
Speaker:desires of how to reach you and purchase from you,
Speaker:I think is what to pay attention to.
Speaker:Absolutely. Tell me what you're feeling for the future apart from
Speaker:not just this and now everything that we've talked about because
Speaker:honestly the ideas that you have,
Speaker:the things that you've put in place that you've already proven
Speaker:can work are priceless and it's such a gift for you
Speaker:to share those with us.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Apart from all of this,
Speaker:what do you seen for your business as you move forward?
Speaker:We were in a position of growth.
Speaker:Finally like that is the irony here is that we had
Speaker:just taken over another unit in our building to make a
Speaker:3000 square feet instead of 2000 we were just looking and
Speaker:researching and investing in some equipment to start doing more custom
Speaker:work because so many of our corporate clients come to us
Speaker:and provide logoed mugs and things like that.
Speaker:I mean your ribbon print machine clearly has been something that
Speaker:has just transformed our business.
Speaker:And so that whole idea of offering custom things on the
Speaker:fly, especially in one or two off or 10 off or
Speaker:without having to have these huge minimums.
Speaker:We were in a position to do that and then this
Speaker:hit and so we were kind of extra exposed cause now
Speaker:our rent was higher,
Speaker:we had added more employees.
Speaker:We were just about to grow.
Speaker:So I hope that we can get just back to there
Speaker:where we can start looking at growth again.
Speaker:It's clear that delivery and shipping is a big method of
Speaker:how people will receive our stuff so that we're focused on
Speaker:that. We need to tighten up how we become a little
Speaker:bit more seamless with how we're packaging and getting things out
Speaker:the door quickly.
Speaker:Well, I'm optimistic for you because you have the client base
Speaker:in line already,
Speaker:right? So it's just adding additional services.
Speaker:So you're really looking at how can we provide more for
Speaker:existing clients we already have and through that you'll be getting
Speaker:new clients.
Speaker:Wow. Absolutely.
Speaker:And to just be ready for it.
Speaker:I think you and I had a conversation at one point
Speaker:about how I've always believed that even if you don't have
Speaker:an international trip plan,
Speaker:you should have your passport updated and ready.
Speaker:If you're not out looking for a job,
Speaker:you should still have your resume updated and ready to hand
Speaker:somebody if the right person comes along and asks for it.
Speaker:And so even if it feels weird right now to dream
Speaker:about where your business can go and think about ways to
Speaker:grow it,
Speaker:still do the research on the equipment that you want to
Speaker:invest in or whatever the strategy is because when the time
Speaker:comes you want to have that ready to go.
Speaker:That's another thing with the whole PPP and all that like
Speaker:having your taxes done and your books in order and all
Speaker:that stuff will allow you to be one of the first
Speaker:in line to apply for something like that cause you're ready.
Speaker:Right? Cause somebody who hasn't kept their books up to date
Speaker:had to go back and do all of that before they
Speaker:could even apply.
Speaker:Well and this has been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I have total faith in the future that you're going to
Speaker:have. So I want everyone to go over and look at,
Speaker:they should go to your website and your Facebook page.
Speaker:I think to see both or Instagram better yet.
Speaker:Instagram And Instagram for sure.
Speaker:I put a lot of behind the scenes stuff and fun
Speaker:daily stuff up in my stories.
Speaker:You are great with stories.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And so thank you for the community that you've created because
Speaker:the one big thing I've learned is we're all grappling with
Speaker:various degrees of loneliness.
Speaker:We are home and very close with the people that were
Speaker:in quarantine or in sheltering,
Speaker:in place with.
Speaker:But that doesn't mean that we don't feel lonely for a
Speaker:sense of a larger community.
Speaker:And you have created that and it's invaluable.
Speaker:And for anybody listening that isn't tapped into that,
Speaker:there's many different ways I know to connect with you,
Speaker:whether it's all the way up to a mastermind group,
Speaker:right? Or just the daily check-ins that you're doing over on
Speaker:Facebook. Well thank you.
Speaker:I appreciate you so much for saying that.
Speaker:Wonderful. Well have a great day.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:thanks for your time.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So take care.
Speaker:Be safe and healthy.
Speaker:So many good ideas here.
Speaker:You may have to bookmark this one and come back and
Speaker:listen again.
Speaker:Having multiple channels to get your message out,
Speaker:shift the message and the purpose of your product to fit
Speaker:the times and catch your customer at the right time when
Speaker:they're ready to buy.
Speaker:All of these things come from knowing your customer well and
Speaker:Ann's been a perfect example of this for us and now
Speaker:next week,
Speaker:Oh, I'm so excited for this one.
Speaker:We are going to be talking with a retail boutique owner
Speaker:who shut her doors weeks ago.
Speaker:Her life has changed,
Speaker:but she's selling and I mean selling a lot every single
Speaker:day, attracting new customers,
Speaker:making money,
Speaker:and having a lot of fun with it at the same
Speaker:time. I don't want you to miss it.
Speaker:Remember first thing Monday morning,
Speaker:subscribe and then you'll have it ready and waiting for you
Speaker:and until then be safe and be well.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week without doubt,
Speaker:wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
