Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Be your own magic. We all have the power to do something special.
- You can be successful by doing something truly unique to you.
- Something small can set you apart from the rest.
- Define your own personal style. It’s the little things that can make a difference.
- When you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, you do good.
- Be open to asking for people’s help. Seek out those who will give you honest feedback.
- Sales is more than just selling. It’s service, relationship and listening to customers.
- To attract customer interest, tell the story of your product.
- Think of all the ways your product can serve your customers, there’s always a story to tell.
- Find ways to improve things and give people a good experience.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 214 when you look
Speaker:good, you feel good,
Speaker:and when you feel good,
Speaker:you do good and that's really truly what it's all about.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you have
Speaker:an established business or looking to start one now you are
Speaker:in the right place.
Speaker:This is give 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,
Speaker:it's Sue.
Speaker:So happy that you're joining me here today.
Speaker:Actually, if you're listening to the show on the day it's
Speaker:released, so this is Monday,
Speaker:May 13th you are one of the first people to find
Speaker:out about my new masterclass.
Speaker:Registration opens today and I cannot wait to share this information
Speaker:with you in the masterclass.
Speaker:You're going to learn why now is the perfect time to
Speaker:monetize your handmade products.
Speaker:You're also going to find out about the number one thing
Speaker:small business owners miss when starting their businesses and this is
Speaker:what causes them to struggle and eventually shut down.
Speaker:More importantly,
Speaker:you're going to find out how you can prevent this from
Speaker:happening to you.
Speaker:I'm also going to talk about how to get customers to
Speaker:pay what your product is worth and the secret to attracting
Speaker:customers effortlessly.
Speaker:The masterclass is called how to turn your handmade products into
Speaker:an income producing business.
Speaker:Registration is limited,
Speaker:so your fortunate to be listening to this and if you're
Speaker:interested, you should jump right over and grab your spot.
Speaker:The link to register is gift biz unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash master class.
Speaker:Now let's move on and talk about today's show.
Speaker:If you heard the podcast of a couple of weeks back,
Speaker:so that was episode 212 I talked about my takeaways from
Speaker:social media marketing world.
Speaker:You already know that live streaming is hugely valuable right now
Speaker:and is only going to get more and more so in
Speaker:the future.
Speaker:Veronica and I talked today about how she kind of stumbled
Speaker:upon this and what an integral part it now plays in
Speaker:her business and speaking of her business,
Speaker:I can't wait to have her tell you all about her
Speaker:very creative niche,
Speaker:how she got to where she is today through adding storytelling
Speaker:to her sales strategy and many other business building gems.
Speaker:Okay. This wasn't an intentional play on words,
Speaker:but I'm going to go with it because Veronica is all
Speaker:about jewelry.
Speaker:I can't wait for you to hear from her.
Speaker:So let me introduce you right now to Veronica stout.
Speaker:Veronica is the founder of vintage meet modern.
Speaker:She has over 20 years of experience in the personal styling
Speaker:and shopping industry specializing in jewelry and accessories.
Speaker:Her company focuses on helping women look and feel their best
Speaker:by dressing details.
Speaker:The secret sauce is her hand curated collection of designer vintage
Speaker:jewelry that has been sourced from all over the world.
Speaker:Veronica believes that dressing details set you apart from the rest
Speaker:to help you look and feel your best every day.
Speaker:No dressing room required.
Speaker:Plus it's fun empowering chic and sustainable too.
Speaker:Vintage meet modern is a unique business in that it is
Speaker:part collection,
Speaker:part collaboration and part consulting.
Speaker:Veronica, I have been so looking forward to our interview.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me Sue.
Speaker:I am excited to be here.
Speaker:Me too.
Speaker:I met you,
Speaker:Oh it's probably been a month or so ago at a
Speaker:conference and I like hung around your table the whole time
Speaker:cause you have so many beautiful things there.
Speaker:But I was really trying not to ask you a lot
Speaker:of questions because we had already agreed that we'd talk here
Speaker:and I want to hear it all live and for the
Speaker:first time.
Speaker:So really excited to hear about all of that.
Speaker:But before we do,
Speaker:I want to ask you my regular question that I ask
Speaker:everybody. And that is if you were to describe yourself as
Speaker:a motivational candle,
Speaker:what color would your candle be and what would be a
Speaker:quote on your candle?
Speaker:So altogether it speaks total.
Speaker:Veronica. Well,
Speaker:this is an interesting question And I really put a lot
Speaker:of thought into it.
Speaker:And I would definitely say that the color I would choose
Speaker:would be actually be orange because orange is a color that
Speaker:naturally attracts happiness and empowerment.
Speaker:But what my candle would say as a motivational quote or
Speaker:inspiration would be fear on magic because I strongly believe that
Speaker:we all have the power to do something special inside.
Speaker:And I think a lot of times our self doubt and
Speaker:anxiety is what holds us back.
Speaker:So I think that if you naturally believe in yourself and
Speaker:that you're happy that you should be your own magic.
Speaker:And then what happens when you add magic?
Speaker:Awesome things happen.
Speaker:So that would be my color and my candle.
Speaker:I have never heard that before.
Speaker:And I love it.
Speaker:Be your own magic and let yourself be and tell the
Speaker:world what your magic is.
Speaker:Yes, for sure.
Speaker:To be unique and individual and just yourself.
Speaker:Yes. And that's clearly what you've done with vintage meet modern
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's a great example of how using your own magic results
Speaker:in a business that's really super unique and,
Speaker:and people talk About you.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that that's a really important lesson to be
Speaker:learned. I think in today's world,
Speaker:and I have to say this as also a mother to
Speaker:three children,
Speaker:I think sometimes we all get wrapped up in thinking that
Speaker:we have to do things a certain way.
Speaker:And I think if there's something that really truly using a
Speaker:candle reference sets you on fire,
Speaker:like I think that you should go for it.
Speaker:I think that sometimes you have to invent your own rules
Speaker:or sometimes you have to invent your own processes.
Speaker:Sometimes you have to use your own passion and your drive
Speaker:to fuel what you want the outcome or the success part
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:But I just think that more times than not,
Speaker:we sort of like censor ourselves or we hold ourselves back
Speaker:from really achieving our true potential.
Speaker:When the reality is,
Speaker:is that when you look inside,
Speaker:if it's something that you feel that passionate about,
Speaker:you'd actually be doing,
Speaker:uh, to service to the world,
Speaker:not sharing it with other people.
Speaker:So I like having a unique business because I think it
Speaker:just goes ahead and proves you really can be successful financially,
Speaker:emotionally, physically in lots of different ways by doing something that's
Speaker:really truly unique to yourself.
Speaker:Right. And the other thing is you stand out because you're
Speaker:different. You've given people something to talk about.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know what,
Speaker:that's actually a really interesting thing because you said a little
Speaker:bit in the intro and talked about like dressing in details
Speaker:and things like that.
Speaker:We try to embrace that.
Speaker:We always say that something small can really set you apart
Speaker:from the rest and that will make you more memorable.
Speaker:But it will also be a great conversation starter also.
Speaker:And so I always want people to feel like you have
Speaker:the ability to be part of everything,
Speaker:but at the same time you're still unique.
Speaker:And one tiny little piece of jewelry.
Speaker:One fabulous accessory can really,
Speaker:really truly set you apart from the rest.
Speaker:So don't think that that's not accessible to everyone because that's
Speaker:the whole point with the jewelry,
Speaker:it always fits and there's a piece that fits everyone.
Speaker:You should definitely go out there and you should be able
Speaker:to set yourself apart from the rest.
Speaker:Beautiful. Well,
Speaker:let's take it back a little bit and talk to us
Speaker:about how you got to where you are today.
Speaker:How did everything start out?
Speaker:Well, it was one part passion and one part being raised
Speaker:around it.
Speaker:And then it was like one part really tapping into and
Speaker:acknowledging what I was really good at.
Speaker:So the historical part and the memorable part of it was
Speaker:that I was raised with a love of vintage jewelry and
Speaker:accessories by my own grandmother.
Speaker:She was an absolutely wonderful woman,
Speaker:came from a very humble backgrounds,
Speaker:made her own clothing,
Speaker:but it had definitely an eye for detail and design and
Speaker:loved fashion as an expression.
Speaker:And she had a really incredible jewelry collection and it wasn't
Speaker:anything over the top.
Speaker:We're not talking about crown jewels or anything like that,
Speaker:like from from the queen or anything.
Speaker:She just had these really fun and interesting but high quality
Speaker:vintage and designer pieces,
Speaker:which really weren't vintage back then.
Speaker:They were just things that she bought that are vintage now
Speaker:and I am a self girly girl and I'm not afraid
Speaker:to admit that.
Speaker:And all of my cousins and all the other kids would
Speaker:be outside playing in the backyard when we'd go to visit
Speaker:our grandparents.
Speaker:But my grandmother would always find me snuck off in her
Speaker:room playing through her jewelry and her accessories and everything and
Speaker:instead of being like,
Speaker:no, no,
Speaker:should get outside with all the other kids,
Speaker:she was always like,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:Oh here,
Speaker:let's just put a little more on you.
Speaker:Let's put a few more rings out or let's put a
Speaker:few more necklaces on.
Speaker:That was really something special.
Speaker:And then later on in life,
Speaker:this is the emotional part of it.
Speaker:She had Alzheimer's the last six years of her life.
Speaker:And we of course all knew her,
Speaker:but she didn't really know herself.
Speaker:But she did know herself.
Speaker:And the interesting thing is is my grandfather put her pearls
Speaker:on her every single day,
Speaker:all the way up until the day she died.
Speaker:And so I had this lasting memory of how everything that
Speaker:she'd been through and everything that I'd even watched her change
Speaker:from, she's still resembled and looked like herself and she still
Speaker:has such an elegant way about her,
Speaker:even all the way up until the end.
Speaker:And I thought to myself,
Speaker:wow, if you could wear a strand of pearls your entire
Speaker:life, why wouldn't I want every woman to be able to
Speaker:have that?
Speaker:And so I just naturally fell in love with jewelry and
Speaker:accessories that way.
Speaker:And then it parlayed into a career for me.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:First off as you were describing it,
Speaker:I could just picture a little Veronica in there with the
Speaker:jewelry box,
Speaker:putting them on and then this strutting around whatever you would
Speaker:do and what a nice relationship and something,
Speaker:an experience to have with your grandmother doing that.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:And I also think by the way of your story,
Speaker:having pearls on until the very last moment just is a
Speaker:great example of a couple of things.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:her style,
Speaker:because that was hers,
Speaker:you just continued it on for her.
Speaker:But a statement that she would make and that's what we
Speaker:can do with your products.
Speaker:That's the whole point of vintage meets modern,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and that's what it is.
Speaker:It's like one part legacy,
Speaker:one part defining your own personal style and one part making
Speaker:the realization that it's little things that you can actually have
Speaker:your entire life and that doesn't mean your style might not
Speaker:change, but it's little things that really can make the biggest
Speaker:difference. And we do go through so much in our life.
Speaker:And so why not be able to feel really good about
Speaker:who you are by dressing and dressing up every day?
Speaker:Because you do have to go out there to the world.
Speaker:So we all have to be able to put on clothes.
Speaker:We all have to have some form of expression.
Speaker:So whether you're a fashionista like me or you have a
Speaker:more casual style,
Speaker:you should still embrace some part of it because it is
Speaker:a huge reflection of who you are.
Speaker:And I always tell all my customers,
Speaker:when you look good,
Speaker:you feel good.
Speaker:And when you feel good,
Speaker:you do good.
Speaker:And that's really truly what it's all about.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And you are so right.
Speaker:And you're talking to the right audience because our listeners are
Speaker:99% women.
Speaker:So we all can go to our jewelry boxes and put
Speaker:on our fancy stuff.
Speaker:Even if we're going for coffee,
Speaker:let's just go with that.
Speaker:So take me to the point in time when you decided
Speaker:this could actually Be a career for you.
Speaker:Well. That's also like everything in Veronica's life.
Speaker:It builds off of other things.
Speaker:When I graduated from college,
Speaker:I came home with a degree in political science and Spanish
Speaker:and I said to my father that I wanted to be
Speaker:an interior designer and he said,
Speaker:good luck with that because you were totally trained in college
Speaker:for that,
Speaker:obviously. Right,
Speaker:exactly. I said,
Speaker:very determined only because I am a very determined person.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:fine. I said,
Speaker:I'll put myself through interior design school,
Speaker:not a problem.
Speaker:So I took a job at Neiman Marcus in Chicago because
Speaker:I wanted something that I could work nights and weekends so
Speaker:that I could go to school for interior design during the
Speaker:day, and I started in the jewelry and the accessories department
Speaker:and I fell in love with it.
Speaker:It was like I had been connected to my grandmother all
Speaker:the times.
Speaker:You just didn't realize that it was going to happen that
Speaker:way. Right?
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:So I started this career at Neiman's,
Speaker:and this is the funny thing,
Speaker:like anybody who works in sales that has ever worked in
Speaker:commission sales can probably identify with this a little bit.
Speaker:Nobody talked to me,
Speaker:nobody wanted to be my friend.
Speaker:When you start off in a commission sales department,
Speaker:and I'm seeing a,
Speaker:Neiman's gave me the absolute best training and customer service and
Speaker:actually working with people in my entire life.
Speaker:So I cannot say anything negative about Neiman Marcus at all.
Speaker:That is my mothership.
Speaker:If you get to know me at any kind of personal
Speaker:level, like I'm a Neiman's girl through and through,
Speaker:but when you work in a commission sales environment,
Speaker:in the very beginning nobody would be my friend because it
Speaker:was like commission sales there.
Speaker:Was that competitive?
Speaker:Yeah, it was super competitive.
Speaker:So back then we didn't have iPhones.
Speaker:We weren't sitting on our phones like looking stuff up or
Speaker:anything like that.
Speaker:All the jewelry designers back then,
Speaker:they would send these like handbooks and books that would come
Speaker:into the jewelry department and so I would read them.
Speaker:I would read about like what the materials were made of,
Speaker:what kind of stones they were producing,
Speaker:what the season's line was inspired by.
Speaker:And so I take the books and then I'd stand at
Speaker:the counter and then all of a sudden customers,
Speaker:which is naturally start coming up to me and they'd be
Speaker:like, Oh,
Speaker:what are you doing?
Speaker:And I'd be like,
Speaker:Oh, well I'm actually reading about this piece from David Yurman
Speaker:or Steven Legos or something like that.
Speaker:And they'd be like,
Speaker:Oh, I didn't even know that the Kali collection was inspired
Speaker:by river rocks from John Hardy and stuff like that.
Speaker:And so all of a sudden this natural storyteller that was
Speaker:like always part of me connected with the customers.
Speaker:And so suddenly instead of not even worrying about my fellow
Speaker:colleagues not talking to me,
Speaker:all of a sudden I started getting this really amazing customer
Speaker:clientele book because I just became known as the person who
Speaker:knew about the jewelry,
Speaker:knew what to do about the jewelry,
Speaker:knew what to wear with the jewelry.
Speaker:So I had this really nice experience.
Speaker:And then when I left because I had children,
Speaker:I stayed in touch with some of my customers and then
Speaker:later on in life I actually found myself to be a
Speaker:single mom when my girls were two and four I got
Speaker:a call gun,
Speaker:I believe in fate and it was a customer of mine
Speaker:who had terrible,
Speaker:terrible arthritis in her hands and she couldn't wear any of
Speaker:her rings that I had sold her her throughout all the
Speaker:years. I had sold at Neiman's because of the arthritis.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, I've just heard about this thing called E-bay.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:what would you say if we took all the rings that
Speaker:you had on consignment since you can't wear them at any
Speaker:more? And we put them on eBay.
Speaker:And she was like,
Speaker:well, I have nothing to lose because I can't return them.
Speaker:The state dealer doesn't really want to deal with them because
Speaker:their designer and their costumes jewelry and they're not fine jewelry,
Speaker:so let's give it a go.
Speaker:And that is how the business was born.
Speaker:It was born by basically a consolidation of people's estates and
Speaker:I started putting things online on marketplaces like EBS and things
Speaker:like that and then suddenly it took my accountant at tax
Speaker:time saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I know that I'm not supposed to interfere in your personal
Speaker:life, but you to realize you made more money selling things
Speaker:on eBay last year than you did teach in preschool.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:Oh, thank you for this.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:did you ever think about maybe turning this into a business
Speaker:and that is truly how the business was born and it
Speaker:wasn't even on your radar at all.
Speaker:Yeah, and like the thing is is it came so naturally
Speaker:to me because I loved it so much that it just
Speaker:came naturally to me that I didn't even realize that that
Speaker:was what I was doing.
Speaker:I thought I was just making some side hustle money so
Speaker:that I could give my girls a better life while we
Speaker:were trying to get ourselves started over again after divorce.
Speaker:And then the interesting thing is is then enters my husband
Speaker:who I'm now been with over 11 years going into the
Speaker:business and how the business even grew to the next step
Speaker:was my husband is a film editor,
Speaker:a professional film editor,
Speaker:and so he also has training at the tire fee and
Speaker:one night while we were sitting having a glass of wine,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I didn't understand.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:a lot of people sell similar things to mine on eBay,
Speaker:but they seem to get a better price point than I
Speaker:do on it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I really wonder why because my descriptions are good and I
Speaker:really don't know what I'm doing,
Speaker:and he looked right at me and he said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I can tell you why this coming from like a minimalist
Speaker:who like doesn't really even like jewelry.
Speaker:He says,
Speaker:your pictures suck.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:what? He's like,
Speaker:your pictures are terrible from there.
Speaker:My husband,
Speaker:he was then at that time my fiance,
Speaker:because he was trained as a photographer and an editor,
Speaker:he started taking my pictures for me and then again like
Speaker:another area or another facet of business improved.
Speaker:And so like that's a perfect example of how you have
Speaker:to be open to asking for other people's help.
Speaker:And that's a perfect example also of how my product based
Speaker:business grew was that when I felt like things weren't going
Speaker:the way that they were,
Speaker:I would confide in people who could give me some honest
Speaker:feedback and we would find solutions to get over the hump
Speaker:so that we could get to the next part.
Speaker:So that goes everything from taking things on consignment to then
Speaker:even figuring out how we could just buy entire estates so
Speaker:that we could keep our profit margins done.
Speaker:We just grew and grew and grew.
Speaker:Now you have to stop because I have like 7,000
Speaker:questions so we can't go any further.
Speaker:I'm backing you up a little bit.
Speaker:Okay, sure.
Speaker:Cause this I think would be interesting.
Speaker:I've been writing notes and as you've been talking,
Speaker:I'm taking you back to Neiman Marcus again for a second
Speaker:with one question here.
Speaker:Sometimes it's easier for us to understand how to be successful
Speaker:when we see what you shouldn't do.
Speaker:So you were at the counter learning the stories behind all
Speaker:the pieces of jewelry and that's how people got attracted to
Speaker:you and you started talking to customers,
Speaker:but what were the other salespeople doing not doing that you
Speaker:were doing?
Speaker:Like what were they doing to try and get business that
Speaker:wasn't working?
Speaker:Honestly, I would say that if you've ever seen like the
Speaker:water cooler memes and things like that,
Speaker:like they would basically stand behind the cash wrap area,
Speaker:which was protected back then because back then the POS,
Speaker:the cash register itself was like in this little sort of
Speaker:alcove so that the customer wouldn't see you wrapping things up
Speaker:and stuff like that.
Speaker:And that was a big congregation area.
Speaker:It was a congregation area because there was a phone back
Speaker:there. So employees would be standing around talking on the phone.
Speaker:I don't know to who,
Speaker:I'm not a nosy person,
Speaker:but it wouldn't be uncommon to see three to four associates
Speaker:congregating in sort of this little cash register area or being
Speaker:on the phone.
Speaker:I, myself personally,
Speaker:I was always out right in front.
Speaker:Okay, so you were out right in front interacting with customers.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think this is a good point here,
Speaker:even in today,
Speaker:even though we're not having to stay behind counters and all
Speaker:that, in a way we are because we are staying behind
Speaker:a computer screen.
Speaker:We think that,
Speaker:and I'm saying we as a generality,
Speaker:but we've got a website up,
Speaker:so why aren't people coming to the website or we're working
Speaker:some type of a show.
Speaker:I know you were just at the Chicago,
Speaker:the garden show,
Speaker:right? A lot of people even at shows just sit behind
Speaker:and expect people to come to us versus us initiating and
Speaker:encouraging conversation.
Speaker:So being proactive versus just available if someone wants to talk
Speaker:to you makes a big difference.
Speaker:Oh, for sure.
Speaker:I think that an important thing to point out is that
Speaker:you can be a successful sales person.
Speaker:Like, I guess you could say taking a step back or
Speaker:taking a more relaxed approach,
Speaker:you don't have to be like in,
Speaker:people were naturally attracted to me when I used to work
Speaker:and even now I think people are naturally attracted to me
Speaker:because I admit when I'm working or when I'm doing something,
Speaker:people are naturally curious to see what I'm doing.
Speaker:That's just something that's inherent about me.
Speaker:I think that it's probably why I was actually even a
Speaker:successful preschool teacher.
Speaker:A little kids would love to just congregate around me and
Speaker:see what I was doing even then.
Speaker:So I think for certain people that's natural.
Speaker:I have met certain salespeople speaking of the Chicago flower and
Speaker:garden show because we were just there.
Speaker:If you are a more laid back sales person,
Speaker:that doesn't mean that you can't be,
Speaker:you don't have to be in somebody's face introducing yourself or
Speaker:going after them or something like that.
Speaker:But for example,
Speaker:my booth partner was a much more laid back gentlemen,
Speaker:but he was constantly moving around in his booth and then
Speaker:people were constantly just naturally seeking him out to ask questions.
Speaker:And so he was not necessarily a super outgoing person,
Speaker:but he had a very successful show just like I had
Speaker:a very successful show because people naturally thought,
Speaker:Oh, this person's doing something.
Speaker:So they must be able to answer my question.
Speaker:So being approachable could be a way to say it.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:Yes. Being approachable.
Speaker:And one thing though that's still does goes a really,
Speaker:really long way.
Speaker:And I'd love to bring this up just because I see
Speaker:even with my own children or it just drives me crazy.
Speaker:We're all glued to looking down at our phones.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:I'm guilty of checking things even when I'm on the selling
Speaker:floor of answering questions or regramming a picture on Instagram or
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:But if you have somebody that's in your general vicinity,
Speaker:talk to them,
Speaker:make eye contact with them.
Speaker:You don't have to sell them anything.
Speaker:But the polite thing to still do is sales is so
Speaker:much more than just selling something.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it is service,
Speaker:it's connections,
Speaker:it's relationships.
Speaker:It's listening to the customer about their problem,
Speaker:whether they're verbally telling you or they're physically telling you through
Speaker:cues why they're even being attracted to looking at what they're
Speaker:doing. So take the time to make eye contact with them.
Speaker:Say hello,
Speaker:start the relationship with them.
Speaker:Who knows whether it's going to lead to a sale in
Speaker:the end or not.
Speaker:But you always must at least be able to start the
Speaker:relationship. And that's always a very simple thing to do.
Speaker:Eye contact.
Speaker:Hello, how are you?
Speaker:Can I help you with anything?
Speaker:Put the phone down.
Speaker:Okay. So then the other thing that I want to point
Speaker:out with your time at Neiman Marcus is you started getting
Speaker:into stories around the product and that is something because I've
Speaker:seen you in action that you've carried over even today.
Speaker:And I noticed at the table anytime someone picked up a
Speaker:piece, you just like started diving into the story.
Speaker:It was either where you found it,
Speaker:how the piece was made,
Speaker:some special quality of the piece.
Speaker:Maybe it was the stone or I don't know what,
Speaker:but everything was story and what I saw was people who
Speaker:thought something was pretty and picked it up or just kind
Speaker:of looking started to fall more in love with it because
Speaker:you were telling them more about it so they'd be more
Speaker:becoming more bonded to the product or to the piece of
Speaker:jewelry I should say.
Speaker:Products are still meant to serve us,
Speaker:whether they're serving in a neat need like the food that
Speaker:we have in our refrigerator or they're becoming something that's ingrained
Speaker:in our personal style.
Speaker:We're all going to be connected to what the service of
Speaker:the product is that we've taken into our life.
Speaker:So when you have an opportunity to work with something that
Speaker:is special or if you were a product based business that
Speaker:is developing a product,
Speaker:you're always thinking about who the product is actually going to
Speaker:serve. It's what I have been most proud of is being
Speaker:able to continue to tell those stories because we live in
Speaker:a world where we consume so much stuff,
Speaker:everything, information,
Speaker:technology, physical products,
Speaker:everything. And I happen to be one of the people who
Speaker:is fully committed to the sustainable fashion movement and to other
Speaker:sustainability. I think that there's a product for everyone.
Speaker:I really do.
Speaker:I'm not saying that product based people shouldn't create products,
Speaker:but I'm saying in order to more successfully serve your customer,
Speaker:which then helps your bottom line tell the story of your
Speaker:products because you will hit home runs with your customers and
Speaker:your core audience over and over and over again and you
Speaker:can't put a price on that.
Speaker:You really can't Love it.
Speaker:Okay. So give biz listeners,
Speaker:you might be saying to yourself,
Speaker:okay, I don't have any stories to my products,
Speaker:so some ideas that come to the top of my mind
Speaker:and Veronica you can add in,
Speaker:but how you started as an artist,
Speaker:your personal story might not initially relate to the product,
Speaker:but just like we went through with Veronica,
Speaker:how she got there,
Speaker:her path,
Speaker:so her journey,
Speaker:it could be a customer who's using your product and some
Speaker:result that they got or how excited they were about it.
Speaker:It could be a new method that you created that you
Speaker:weren't expecting and it was just a surprise for you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there can be a million stories if you start looking for
Speaker:them. Absolutely.
Speaker:Can you give any others ideas and suggestions,
Speaker:Veronica, just to get people's minds thinking?
Speaker:Well, I do think that if you have taken time and
Speaker:money and investments to bring something to market,
Speaker:you have a story there.
Speaker:First and foremost.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and I think that that's always one of the most important
Speaker:things that you can start with.
Speaker:In my situation.
Speaker:This is just an example of that.
Speaker:Why do I sell vintage jewelry specifically?
Speaker:I sell it for a lot of different reasons.
Speaker:I sell it because over the weekend we sold it to
Speaker:somebody who bought a pair of earrings from the 1940s and
Speaker:she was going to wear them as something old for her
Speaker:wedding. I mean,
Speaker:that's a perfect example of how that,
Speaker:if you took the time to actually think about all the
Speaker:different ways that your product could serve your audience,
Speaker:there's always gotta be a story to tell.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:otherwise you wouldn't have taken your own time in your own
Speaker:passion to say to yourself,
Speaker:we need to take this product out there and we need
Speaker:to be able to give it to people.
Speaker:I think the important thing to think about so much when
Speaker:it comes to the product itself is maybe the story comes
Speaker:when you think about who your ideal audience is.
Speaker:If you don't think you have a story and you know
Speaker:that you've touched the heart of a customer,
Speaker:whether you're serving a simple need that's no big deal to
Speaker:them, or maybe it's changed their life because let's use like
Speaker:my son has very,
Speaker:very slight sensory processing disorder and of all things they gave
Speaker:us this little medical brush to brush his arms with.
Speaker:Okay, now I gotta tell you that little medical brush that
Speaker:they gave us was the same medical brush that they gave
Speaker:me to brush my children's hair when they were newborns.
Speaker:So when they gave me this brush,
Speaker:I just thought to myself,
Speaker:I use this to brush my kids' hair when they were
Speaker:like newborns,
Speaker:what this going to do for my son?
Speaker:Now you know what?
Speaker:This was a product that I saw in a totally different
Speaker:light when we would be able to use it to set,
Speaker:brush his hands and then he would calm down and he
Speaker:would be less fidgety.
Speaker:So this is a perfect example of how you're taking the
Speaker:time to look at the product from how the customer is
Speaker:using it.
Speaker:And something that maybe was used in a completely different surrounding
Speaker:was absolutely life changing for us because you gave my little
Speaker:boy his freedom back to calm down instead of fidgeting while
Speaker:he was in school.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think if people start getting the idea of
Speaker:going out and looking for the stories,
Speaker:the other thing that you were talking about Veronica,
Speaker:is if you are also not just thinking of who your
Speaker:client is,
Speaker:but interacting with them when they're purchasing,
Speaker:how are you going to use the product?
Speaker:Is this a gift?
Speaker:Maybe those stories will come out.
Speaker:Cause you would have never known what that customer was going
Speaker:to use those earrings for unless you would have asked her
Speaker:or engaged in conversation somehow.
Speaker:Well exactly.
Speaker:And that's the other thing is it's really interesting when you
Speaker:think that your product is going to be serving a certain
Speaker:audience and then somebody comes up to you and tells you
Speaker:how they're going to use it and you're like,
Speaker:wow, I never even thought about that.
Speaker:It opens up a whole new Avenue for how you message
Speaker:in social media.
Speaker:I mean there's so many opportunities if you just talk to
Speaker:your customers.
Speaker:Yeah. And then you know,
Speaker:it's a really great door that opens to,
Speaker:I happened to be a big note taker also.
Speaker:So when we receive notes or feedback like that,
Speaker:we often sit back down and when I say we,
Speaker:I say my small team,
Speaker:but we often think to ourselves,
Speaker:is this a niche that we before like kind of ignored
Speaker:and that we,
Speaker:maybe we have more customers in it or is this just
Speaker:another thing that we should use as a perfect example of
Speaker:a niece that we did feel at the time.
Speaker:So look.
Speaker:Therefore there are other ways that our product could be marketed,
Speaker:sold another audience that it could serve,
Speaker:but it doesn't always necessarily overlap,
Speaker:in which case.
Speaker:Then we turn it into a super positive review.
Speaker:That's the other thing.
Speaker:I'm a really big person with recycling content.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Let's circle into now talking a little bit more about photography,
Speaker:so this was really interesting that your husband's like,
Speaker:okay, Veronica,
Speaker:change out the photos.
Speaker:Yeah. What was the experience like once you had different photos?
Speaker:Well, in a visual world,
Speaker:the story is really important.
Speaker:I mean it's super important and we'll we can talk a
Speaker:little bit about how that video has been even more of
Speaker:a game changer than just great photography for us because you
Speaker:get to use the visual and tell the story at the
Speaker:same time,
Speaker:which is great.
Speaker:The photography in general really did change our business a lot
Speaker:for a lot of different ways.
Speaker:One, people took us a lot more serious because our photos
Speaker:were, well,
Speaker:they weren't distracting.
Speaker:I mean that's what a good professional product photo will do.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be anything ultra special.
Speaker:I mean you don't have to have it laid out imagery
Speaker:wise on a stack of gold bricks trying to set yourself
Speaker:apart from the rest,
Speaker:but good clear,
Speaker:clean photography for a product based business is critical.
Speaker:That's the very first thing because you don't want that customer
Speaker:to be distracted and you want to have them have the
Speaker:clearest image of what they're actually going to buy,
Speaker:especially in the online world.
Speaker:That's their first interaction with it before they probably even read
Speaker:the description.
Speaker:Okay. Question.
Speaker:Are you a fan of individual pictures,
Speaker:like flatly images of the product or more lifestyle where it's
Speaker:integrated like maybe someone is wearing a bracelet?
Speaker:Well, because of the way that my company is proud of
Speaker:being full service and because of the way that we really
Speaker:resonate with our most successful audience,
Speaker:that continues to come back to us more and more.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a very good question to ask.
Speaker:We learned from the feedback from our customers that they enjoy
Speaker:both the lifestyle and the flat Lake.
Speaker:They like the lifestyle ones because jewelry specifically or I would
Speaker:say smaller things specifically when they see it on a person's
Speaker:body or a person's arm or things like that.
Speaker:It's a really easy way to tell size and scale without
Speaker:them being able to touch it.
Speaker:And I'm sure we've all seen this before,
Speaker:it's like you order a shirt online and then you come
Speaker:in, it's like the size for Barbie.
Speaker:You're like,
Speaker:wow, you're like,
Speaker:I thought I read the dimensions right,
Speaker:but I wouldn't even let my five-year-old wear the sweater.
Speaker:So that's one thing that I've learned that has been very
Speaker:successful and our audience gave us that feedback.
Speaker:Our audience told us,
Speaker:we asked our audience,
Speaker:which were their favorite types of photos and they said the
Speaker:ones that you have featured on models or on bodies or
Speaker:things like that,
Speaker:because we can get a size of the scale as to
Speaker:whether or not it's right for their personal tastes and their
Speaker:personal style.
Speaker:The second runner up,
Speaker:which goes along with the collaboration side of our business is
Speaker:a lot of people take a second look at our pieces
Speaker:because vintage not going to deny gets a bad rap.
Speaker:Grandma's jewelry.
Speaker:It's outdated.
Speaker:What would I want with it?
Speaker:But then all of a sudden what was very successful in
Speaker:my business was showing you,
Speaker:okay, you can wear this vintage necklace with what you picked
Speaker:up at Ann Taylor.
Speaker:You can wear this vintage necklace with what you already like.
Speaker:It anthropology.
Speaker:You can wear this vintage necklace and you can look like
Speaker:an old Hollywood bombshell with a classic black dress that you
Speaker:already have hanging in your closet.
Speaker:And then that's when customers really knew that vintage meet modern
Speaker:really was vintage meet modern.
Speaker:Wow. I could wear all this vintage jewelry with my modern
Speaker:clothes every day.
Speaker:This is genius.
Speaker:Where have you been my whole life?
Speaker:And it was nice too because like I said,
Speaker:as much as we love having the collection,
Speaker:we get really nice responses for people who say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have a whole entire box of clip earrings that were
Speaker:my grandmothers that I never ever once thought to put them
Speaker:on. And that's what I want.
Speaker:If you got a box of your grandmother's stuff,
Speaker:like I had a box of my grandmother's stuff,
Speaker:pull it out,
Speaker:you'll have the best memories in the world and I might
Speaker:even make some great suggestions about what you can wear it
Speaker:with because of course that's collaboration side of our business.
Speaker:So if you're struggling to find what to wear,
Speaker:those blue clip earrings from Gramma with,
Speaker:I can also help you out in that department.
Speaker:And if there were a couple of pieces that you would
Speaker:simply never wear,
Speaker:they might be something that you'd be interested in.
Speaker:Veronica, absolutely take that too.
Speaker:So it works all the way around.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:photos are definitely important.
Speaker:Very important.
Speaker:Okay, so I've got to ask this because I know when
Speaker:you made mention of this name,
Speaker:a lot of people perked up their ears.
Speaker:Just because I know this to be true.
Speaker:You talked about eBay and how once you went on to
Speaker:eBay and then you adjusted the photos,
Speaker:that's when things really started taking off.
Speaker:How do you equate that to happening?
Speaker:Were you directing people over there?
Speaker:Were you running ads?
Speaker:How did you get traffic going on eBay in the beginning?
Speaker:In the beginning it was consistency,
Speaker:and I've always said this before because even though vintage meet
Speaker:modern, the website is a bulk of our sales and is
Speaker:a bulk of where we conduct our business as well as
Speaker:be able to direct people to now we still get quite
Speaker:a few sales even from eBay at sea,
Speaker:other small marketplaces,
Speaker:and for me,
Speaker:honestly, the trick to success was just being consistent,
Speaker:just putting things out there consistently always helped with the algorithm.
Speaker:I will share an insider tip when we got too busy
Speaker:to be able to consistently put things on eBay and Etsy.
Speaker:We found ways through our inventory management system to have VA's
Speaker:help us basically transfer and put other listings out there.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker:No, but a lot of people actually,
Speaker:even in my own industry are like,
Speaker:well isn't that overwhelming?
Speaker:And I keep telling them,
Speaker:no, it's really data entry.
Speaker:You must be scared of data entry or having somebody else
Speaker:do your data entry for you easy if you set the
Speaker:process up to do it.
Speaker:And that has actually,
Speaker:I'm very grateful for it because there have been times where
Speaker:we've had problems with the website and since I'm a non-techie
Speaker:person, I didn't even realize that we were having problems with
Speaker:our website.
Speaker:We've had months where Etsy has just blown us out of
Speaker:the water because we've had a customer who found us through
Speaker:Etsy who bought 25 pieces at a time because she's flying
Speaker:back home to China and she wants to bring her entire
Speaker:family, American vintage costume jewelry as a gift.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:being able to be selling on multiple platforms.
Speaker:When you find that there is a process that works for
Speaker:you, one place,
Speaker:document it and try to repeat it someplace else.
Speaker:And if you need help documenting it,
Speaker:I can even give you some suggestions of people who helped
Speaker:me figure it out,
Speaker:how to document my processes.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:So the one big,
Speaker:big takeaway overall,
Speaker:cause there are so many topics here I want to try
Speaker:and get into,
Speaker:but the one big key that you've continued to find first
Speaker:off for sure your advice about multiple platforms,
Speaker:one of them being your own website,
Speaker:by the way,
Speaker:always. Always.
Speaker:But even if you're on Etsy,
Speaker:eBay, whatever,
Speaker:at some point have your own website as well.
Speaker:But the big takeaway you'd say is consistency,
Speaker:right? Oh absolutely.
Speaker:And when you say consistency,
Speaker:I know it'll vary by product for people.
Speaker:Now you're lucky because you have new jewelry all the time
Speaker:to show and it's not the same jewelry.
Speaker:You're not making the same piece over and over again in
Speaker:different colors every single time.
Speaker:It's different.
Speaker:Yes. So consistency might look a little bit different to different
Speaker:product makers,
Speaker:but for you,
Speaker:what does consistency mean?
Speaker:How often are you posting new pieces?
Speaker:We'll hear what Veronica has to say about consistency.
Speaker:Right after a word from our sponsor,
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
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Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Well, consistency for us actually we learned with the volume of
Speaker:what we felt that we could keep up because our pieces
Speaker:are one of a kind.
Speaker:We consistently put up between 25 and 50 pieces per week.
Speaker:Okay, so that's a lot.
Speaker:That's why you need a VA.
Speaker:Yeah, and we have an in house inventory person that helps
Speaker:us, but the good news is is that we've been very
Speaker:lucky in that we have very good margins and when you
Speaker:have that,
Speaker:you can figure out what your sweet spot is in terms
Speaker:of being able to figure out how many pieces you can
Speaker:put out per week.
Speaker:I like,
Speaker:again, being a storyteller,
Speaker:so 50 to 60 pieces per week is our sweet spot
Speaker:in which I can do my Facebook live.
Speaker:We basically come up with a month's worth of merchandise at
Speaker:a time.
Speaker:She goes along with that consistency factor.
Speaker:So we know what we're going to be doing week one,
Speaker:week two,
Speaker:week three,
Speaker:week four,
Speaker:and then we can even plan in like when we're going
Speaker:to do a sale or something.
Speaker:Like if I'm traveling or if we know that we're going
Speaker:to be doing a big show or something where we know
Speaker:that that week is not a good week to be adding
Speaker:a ton of new merchandise.
Speaker:So then that would be a week that we might host
Speaker:a sale or do something like that.
Speaker:Okay, wonderful.
Speaker:And I love you talking about the fact that you have
Speaker:a schedule,
Speaker:it's not like Monday morning you come in and say,
Speaker:okay, what are we doing this week?
Speaker:You plan it out a month in advance,
Speaker:a couple of months.
Speaker:We have a quarter system just like most retailers do.
Speaker:We have a four season.
Speaker:Yeah, and when it comes to the merchandise and the inventory,
Speaker:we planted out 12 weeks at a time and that helps
Speaker:my staff.
Speaker:That helps myself.
Speaker:That helps.
Speaker:Being able to,
Speaker:when we're doing popups and in-person things,
Speaker:we already know in advance what trays we're going to be
Speaker:bringing and what we have.
Speaker:We generally carry between 50 and 60 pieces a week and
Speaker:a great collection averages between 200 and 250 pieces per month.
Speaker:It gets boosted up a little bit closer to the holiday
Speaker:time because we sell through things faster fourth quarter like most
Speaker:retailers do.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so now I want to layer on something that most people
Speaker:probably don't know about you yet,
Speaker:and that is your Facebook live programs.
Speaker:Yeah, so that's really my excitement,
Speaker:what I want to talk about.
Speaker:So share us what you're doing And then we'll take the
Speaker:conversation from there.
Speaker:Okay. So the way that you're so lucky that you have
Speaker:your podcast,
Speaker:I started doing Facebook lives actually when I had a customer
Speaker:who lived remotely and I didn't even realize it.
Speaker:I had like this teeny tiny little Facebook group that had
Speaker:like three people in it.
Speaker:It was like me and it was like the customer and
Speaker:it was my inventory assistant and that was it.
Speaker:And she had a newborn baby and she lived really far
Speaker:away, overseas,
Speaker:far away.
Speaker:And she would always miss whenever I was going to be
Speaker:doing an in person event or she would never wake up
Speaker:when I was doing emails and things like that cause they'd
Speaker:come during the middle of the night and when a product's
Speaker:gone it's gone cause there's only one right,
Speaker:it's gone.
Speaker:So I started very nervously going live just to showing the
Speaker:jewelry on a table to her with my camera overhead.
Speaker:I wasn't even looking at the camera and she was like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh Rhonda,
Speaker:because this is so genius.
Speaker:She's like,
Speaker:I can hear you talking about the piece.
Speaker:I can see the size and the scale against your hand.
Speaker:If I ever needed to hold something up to myself,
Speaker:like I wasn't self conscious about it,
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:like this looks great.
Speaker:You could wear this with a black top and you could
Speaker:wear this with earrings and all this other stuff and everything.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it was my husband who just walked on by and he
Speaker:was like,
Speaker:why don't you do that on Facebook for everybody?
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:you're doing it just for her,
Speaker:right? She buys every time because she gets to see what
Speaker:you're doing.
Speaker:And so it started out that we just,
Speaker:and again we got a process in place.
Speaker:It started out that we just started showing new things.
Speaker:We were just showing like whatever the things would come in
Speaker:the same way that like people do unboxing videos.
Speaker:We'd get a huge collection of jewelry and maybe we'd have
Speaker:an estate consigned or something like that.
Speaker:And then people started saying to me like,
Speaker:what can I buy this and can I buy that?
Speaker:And since everything was one of a kind,
Speaker:it was driving my inventory manager nuts.
Speaker:She was like,
Speaker:we have got to stop invoicing people.
Speaker:She's like,
Speaker:I'm not even getting through things during the day.
Speaker:Were you doing this on Facebook live on your business page
Speaker:obviously. And then was it a certain scheduled time so people
Speaker:knew to come and watch you or how did you start
Speaker:attracting an audience?
Speaker:That's what happened.
Speaker:I said to myself,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:we're going live at all these random times.
Speaker:And then the next day Mariana's coming in and I'm like,
Speaker:you need to invoice this person and that person and everything
Speaker:else. And then there were people blowing up my inbox saying,
Speaker:are you going to be going live again?
Speaker:Because I want to see what you're going to have first
Speaker:before everyone else.
Speaker:And that's what I said.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I cannot be going live at five 30 while making dinner
Speaker:at the same time for my kids just to be answering
Speaker:people's questions.
Speaker:So we developed this thing called jewelry party Wednesday,
Speaker:I'm not getting you.
Speaker:We actually did it on Wednesday nights because my children were
Speaker:all at activities at the same time.
Speaker:So for those of you who don't think that you can't
Speaker:do alive,
Speaker:I do it completely around my entire family is all how
Speaker:you tell people all about it.
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:well, we don't have the kids on Wednesday night,
Speaker:so on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM every week I'm going
Speaker:to go live.
Speaker:And that's exactly what it is.
Speaker:I started telling people and then I did some homework.
Speaker:I learned about how some things worked on Facebook.
Speaker:I learned that you could schedule events.
Speaker:I learned that you could go under the video publishing tools
Speaker:and have a sole countdown that says five minutes before you
Speaker:were going to go live,
Speaker:but the way that you drop an episode with your podcast
Speaker:or maybe with a blog saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:new episode comes out on Tuesday at 4:00 PM every week.
Speaker:I just said,
Speaker:I'm going to go live at 7:00 PM on Wednesday nights.
Speaker:And so that's how it really got started.
Speaker:And then we've stuck with it.
Speaker:So I was already unofficially doing it for about six months
Speaker:and now we actually run it like an actual show and
Speaker:we are on our 52nd episode.
Speaker:So that means 52 weeks.
Speaker:So it's been a year to even a year now.
Speaker:It's actually been more like two,
Speaker:but before it was really sporadic.
Speaker:It was like just what I felt like going live.
Speaker:Now we have it like an actual professional show where we
Speaker:go on,
Speaker:we go live,
Speaker:we invite our customers.
Speaker:When we get new customers that are through email,
Speaker:we remind them.
Speaker:The other thing is is that we do more with it
Speaker:now too.
Speaker:We download the copy afterwards and we put it on our
Speaker:website, so if you can't make it to the party you
Speaker:can always go back and watch the video and a lot
Speaker:of people like doing that because they can get a second
Speaker:chance at the look.
Speaker:They can an automatic link to the latest collection.
Speaker:My inventory manager is very happy because they're all pieces that
Speaker:we already work to put online before the party starts so
Speaker:you can head on over to the website,
Speaker:add it to your cart.
Speaker:You don't have to wait for it to be invoiced as
Speaker:a ton of fun.
Speaker:And the awesome part is we have an amazing community.
Speaker:People show up from all over the country and the world
Speaker:every week.
Speaker:They actually say hello to each other in the comments.
Speaker:Oh, so they're becoming friends.
Speaker:Yes. Not be calming.
Speaker:They are.
Speaker:Some of them,
Speaker:even when they see certain kinds of jewelry will even say,
Speaker:Oh, I know who's going to get that.
Speaker:Like, I mean these are people who haven't even met each
Speaker:other or anything.
Speaker:They always joke,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:we're going to have to have like a vintage meet modern
Speaker:convention one day or something like that.
Speaker:You should.
Speaker:It's fun.
Speaker:Well, listen,
Speaker:the other thing that's so cool about your business model,
Speaker:Veronica, is there is definitely tension towards the purchase because if
Speaker:someone really,
Speaker:really likes something,
Speaker:if they're not the first one to get it,
Speaker:it's gone.
Speaker:Yeah. Scarcity.
Speaker:Dr. Lee is on our side.
Speaker:It plays a really big role in our company.
Speaker:It plays both an important role in reminding the customers that
Speaker:all the pieces are out of production.
Speaker:They're all one of a kind and the chances of me
Speaker:ever getting them again are slim to none.
Speaker:I might be able to find another pink rhinestone broach,
Speaker:but I don't know if I'll ever find one in that
Speaker:specific design from that specific designer and that kind of quality.
Speaker:And I don't know how long you might have to wait
Speaker:for it.
Speaker:My sources run pretty deep,
Speaker:but not always can I find something easily or something even
Speaker:similar ever again.
Speaker:So that's a great thing.
Speaker:I mean especially for your crafters and you're one of a
Speaker:kind listers and things like I would play that up in
Speaker:a heartbeat for sure.
Speaker:It only helps people feel like it's more special and it
Speaker:is. Absolutely.
Speaker:So there's a couple more things I want to address here
Speaker:and I'm looking at the time.
Speaker:So any advice for someone who is considering a live show
Speaker:like yours?
Speaker:Any suggestions,
Speaker:anything that you would want to share to put an end
Speaker:to this portion of the topic?
Speaker:Well, like my candle referenced in the beginning,
Speaker:make your own magic.
Speaker:I would say the most important thing is to go for
Speaker:it. Just go for it.
Speaker:I mean there's the pragmatic person and he is going to
Speaker:tell you right away,
Speaker:go for it because live video is like very hot right
Speaker:now and not as many people are doing it.
Speaker:And so when it comes to algorithms and when it comes
Speaker:to Facebook favoring those types of things and stuff like that,
Speaker:your views are already going to be dramatically increased.
Speaker:But one of the biggest benefits that I would say is
Speaker:that if you're struggling,
Speaker:it's also cheap.
Speaker:It's super inexpensive to do.
Speaker:I mean we have bells and whistles now as we're going
Speaker:into our 52nd show and after two years of almost doing
Speaker:Facebook lives,
Speaker:but in the very beginning I did mine with our ring
Speaker:light and my iPhone.
Speaker:We're not talking about any special editing equipment,
Speaker:we're not talking about any of the stuff that we use
Speaker:now. All that stuff came down the road.
Speaker:Once we started looking at ways,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:at vintage meet minor,
Speaker:we're always looking for ways to improve things and give people
Speaker:a better experience.
Speaker:So there came a time and a place strategically to grow
Speaker:into that.
Speaker:But in the beginning it's very inexpensive and very easy to
Speaker:do and the last thing that I would say is is
Speaker:that if you haven't tried using it,
Speaker:you will be shocked at how involved your audience will be.
Speaker:We were talking about serving the customers at the very beginning
Speaker:and finding out different ways and what's your story and things
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:It makes it so much easier for us even to give
Speaker:our customers a better experience because they interact with us and
Speaker:they tell us what they want.
Speaker:What are you seeing in terms of percentages of people showing
Speaker:up live versus people watching later?
Speaker:I admit this like I have not quite figured out the
Speaker:whole watch party aspect of things yet.
Speaker:People do show up live when we invite them.
Speaker:You have to stay consistent.
Speaker:Again, that's a big thing with me.
Speaker:I remember when I first started doing this,
Speaker:and it'd be like one person watching live,
Speaker:two people watching live.
Speaker:And even now,
Speaker:sometimes there'll be like the first five to 10 minutes,
Speaker:there'll be like two or three people.
Speaker:And then by the end you'll see like 90 or a
Speaker:hundred or things like that.
Speaker:And then the very next day you'll open it up and
Speaker:it'll be like,
Speaker:Oh, your video had over a thousand views on it and
Speaker:you're like,
Speaker:wow, in 12 hours.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:I didn't even do anything to boost it or pay for
Speaker:advertising or anything like that.
Speaker:So that's one thing that I'll say is stay consistent and
Speaker:keep doing it because the more you do it,
Speaker:the more eyes you will get.
Speaker:And then there are always strategies and things like that for
Speaker:you to be able to get them to your website or
Speaker:on your email list or things like that.
Speaker:As you get more and more comfortable with your life,
Speaker:you will,
Speaker:how to communicate with your customers better as to get the
Speaker:product into their hands,
Speaker:which is of course the point besides the community aspect.
Speaker:Right. And the one thing I would also add to this
Speaker:is when you start out,
Speaker:you might not have anybody watching unless you've invited a couple
Speaker:of friends or family members or something and that's okay.
Speaker:And even if,
Speaker:let's say you have three or four people in for the
Speaker:duration of time,
Speaker:let's say you are on for 20 minutes or half an
Speaker:hour, even if you only have those three or five people,
Speaker:that's okay,
Speaker:keep going because people will come and see it later or
Speaker:each time you go on there'll be more and more people
Speaker:who will be coming.
Speaker:So don't get discouraged,
Speaker:just stick with it.
Speaker:That's part of the reason why we now download them and
Speaker:we put them on our website and we put them on
Speaker:YouTube. So it's another opportunity to have people be able to
Speaker:go back and watch it on their schedule and on their
Speaker:time. And it's also another way for us to be able
Speaker:to make a graphic,
Speaker:put it on Pinterest.
Speaker:Pinterest graphics do really well for us.
Speaker:Put that on the website.
Speaker:They want to come into the website.
Speaker:They wound up watching the video there.
Speaker:That's another thing is like I said,
Speaker:is don't be afraid to ask your audience questions regardless of
Speaker:whatever your format is for your show because people will tell
Speaker:us, Oh,
Speaker:I just watched the video from four weeks ago or whatever.
Speaker:So you can't say that just because you didn't get instincts
Speaker:success from it,
Speaker:that it was a failure.
Speaker:Perfect. Okay.
Speaker:I've got to ask you this question because you are so
Speaker:bubbly, so upbeat.
Speaker:You have such a great story to share with all of
Speaker:us and we're learning so much.
Speaker:Bring us to a point when it wasn't so great.
Speaker:Oh wow.
Speaker:Like is it great today?
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:Well, I mean for one thing,
Speaker:being an entrepreneur,
Speaker:it definitely has its ups and downs.
Speaker:I know we've all seen that cartoon where it's like a
Speaker:straight arrow to success going up and then what it really
Speaker:feels like for an entrepreneur is like all the scribbles and
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:I would say the most difficult parts have been when we've
Speaker:hit plateaus.
Speaker:It's kind of like there's two things in life that you
Speaker:want. You want to keep losing weight when you're trying to
Speaker:lose weight or when you're trying to make money and grow
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:You keep wanting to see things go up.
Speaker:So I would say that we've had a couple of different
Speaker:times that have been very hard.
Speaker:Making the transition from E-bay then to Etsy then to Shopify
Speaker:was really hard.
Speaker:It took almost two years of consistency to have our Shopify
Speaker:shop out,
Speaker:pace, eBay and essay at sea together.
Speaker:Did you close the other site?
Speaker:When you add,
Speaker:you just layered them one on top of another And it
Speaker:was very difficult at times where when we would see our
Speaker:Shopify stop or our own standalone platform not doing well to
Speaker:say to ourselves,
Speaker:let's just put all of our effort back into eBay,
Speaker:or let's just put all of our effort back into Etsy.
Speaker:That was very tempting many,
Speaker:many times as an entrepreneur,
Speaker:I had to talk to my mastermind friends.
Speaker:I had to talk to my accountant.
Speaker:I had to sit down and refigure out numbers.
Speaker:I had to even emotionally decide to myself,
Speaker:you have to be careful about the amount of energy that
Speaker:you're putting into this because you're beating yourself up over something
Speaker:that we still haven't even seen completely through.
Speaker:That's definitely,
Speaker:I'd say that that has definitely been one of the more
Speaker:difficult times.
Speaker:Okay, so a point of clarification here.
Speaker:So you started with eBay,
Speaker:so eBay got to a certain level of sales.
Speaker:You decided that you wanted to also open up Etsy.
Speaker:While you were doing that,
Speaker:did eBay continue to stay consistent and so it was by
Speaker:Etsy, new customers and new audience.
Speaker:Your strategy was the business would build or did you see
Speaker:some loss from eBay?
Speaker:Oh, we definitely saw a loss from eBay because your focus
Speaker:wasn't there as much,
Speaker:or what do you attribute it to?
Speaker:Well, for me,
Speaker:I think at the time,
Speaker:honestly it was a change in eBay.
Speaker:It was definitely a time in eBay.
Speaker:And so that's the thing is,
Speaker:is you naturally think to yourself,
Speaker:well, if this isn't working,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm a big believer in that too.
Speaker:If this isn't working,
Speaker:what can we do differently?
Speaker:And so for me,
Speaker:the risk was saying,
Speaker:well then let's open up an Etsy shop.
Speaker:We already know that we have a platform and we already
Speaker:have a customer on eBay.
Speaker:So can we find a similar customer,
Speaker:or maybe even a completely different customer on Etsy,
Speaker:just to sort of broaden our net.
Speaker:And it was always worth taking the risk.
Speaker:But there's always that time investment.
Speaker:Let's not even talk about the financial investment there,
Speaker:is having to retrain how to do things that you can't
Speaker:just use the same strategy that you used.
Speaker:That was a success in one place and think that it's
Speaker:naturally going to have the same outcome and the other.
Speaker:So that's definitely where I have to say those were some
Speaker:pretty dark days.
Speaker:And sometimes it was hard to say.
Speaker:That's the other thing they tell you all the time is
Speaker:that, well,
Speaker:just stick with one thing that works and make it the
Speaker:best. Who knows what that one thing is?
Speaker:I only use eBay as an example because eBay has consistently
Speaker:changed every time they've changed things with the sellers.
Speaker:Global shipping you have to add into it want to keep
Speaker:a power level seller.
Speaker:You have to have X amount of products listed at the
Speaker:same time.
Speaker:You want to keep power of seller status.
Speaker:You need to take returns within 30 days.
Speaker:In my industry,
Speaker:having things be one of a kind,
Speaker:especially with vintage,
Speaker:it's really hard to say that we'll just take things back
Speaker:because not all customers are this way,
Speaker:but many times people buy things and then they just obviously
Speaker:return them and so in vintage that's very hard for us
Speaker:because people who usually do that also don't care for things,
Speaker:so we would get things back in the mail because we
Speaker:were forced into eBay's return policy,
Speaker:which is part of the reason why I even started my
Speaker:own site and we returned something and it looked like it'd
Speaker:be ran over by a car.
Speaker:I wouldn't be like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:and to keep power seller status,
Speaker:you have to accept,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:eBay's terms.
Speaker:That's how it parlayed into me eventually having my own site.
Speaker:But the real reason why was because I wanted to give
Speaker:people a better buying experience.
Speaker:You can't have an email list on eBay.
Speaker:I work in an industry where a lot of times it's
Speaker:personal shopping and personal styling.
Speaker:So many times I might have something,
Speaker:or for example,
Speaker:somebody might have a necklace and I might come across the
Speaker:matching earrings and I want the ability to be able to
Speaker:reach out to them to say,
Speaker:we have the matching pieces to this.
Speaker:You can't do that on eBay.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:you can do it a little bit on Etsy,
Speaker:but still only if you have a connection with the relationship.
Speaker:Whereas when you're on your own site,
Speaker:once they're your own customers,
Speaker:that's what we grew into.
Speaker:But that was a hard road And you bring up a
Speaker:good point in that each platform has strengths.
Speaker:So you were using the platforms for their strengths.
Speaker:Also understanding their weaknesses at the same time.
Speaker:Alright. So Veronica,
Speaker:we've talked about your past,
Speaker:we've talked about current day,
Speaker:and now let's talk a little bit about your future.
Speaker:And I want to do that by way of a virtual
Speaker:gift. This is a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your
Speaker:future. It's your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:So please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box of the future?
Speaker:We really want to make vintage modern.
Speaker:We want to be able to easily walk into all of
Speaker:the modern places that you like and be able to see
Speaker:that it has a present and it has a future there.
Speaker:My dream is to be able to walk into all the
Speaker:stores that all the women who we know and love,
Speaker:who are listening to us and be able to show them
Speaker:how easy it is to mix their vintage jewelry with our
Speaker:modern clothes.
Speaker:We're getting there.
Speaker:So J crew has been the first one to be really
Speaker:open to it and it's been very supportive.
Speaker:I hope that there'll be a few other well known retailers
Speaker:that will accept us with loving arms.
Speaker:Also, It's like you're creating a brand new style really with
Speaker:vintage meet modern.
Speaker:Thank you all.
Speaker:I'd like to say that we are probably not reinventing anything.
Speaker:We're just making it better and more accessible.
Speaker:Yeah, but just the idea,
Speaker:the concept of merging the two together is a whole new,
Speaker:at least for me it is.
Speaker:It's a whole new thought process in terms of doing it
Speaker:that way because I'll find people who like vintage,
Speaker:but that's all they wear you like it's vintage throughout.
Speaker:It's not vintage and anthropology for sure.
Speaker:I'm very intrigued by that.
Speaker:Veronica, thank you for the gifts.
Speaker:Oh, you're very welcome.
Speaker:Let's make it all happen.
Speaker:How about that?
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:So where can our listeners learn more about you and see
Speaker:the show?
Speaker:Well, they can find us@vintagemeetmodern.com
Speaker:if you'd like to tune in live.
Speaker:We go live on Wednesday nights for jewelry party Wednesday once
Speaker:a week.
Speaker:And if you can't make the live,
Speaker:please sign up for our email list because that's our VIP
Speaker:list and you will always get a link to the replay
Speaker:so that you can go and watch it at your convenience.
Speaker:Beautiful. And that's 7:00 PM central standard time,
Speaker:I'm presuming.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:Cause you're right near me in Chicago.
Speaker:Yeah man.
Speaker:Someday I'd like to come and watch you do a show.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:We would love to have to throw something out there Like
Speaker:random like that.
Speaker:But that would be really fun.
Speaker:It would be a blast.
Speaker:It absolutely would be a blast.
Speaker:And Ashley,
Speaker:it's one of our most requested consultation services.
Speaker:So is to be able to have us help other people
Speaker:who are afraid of going live,
Speaker:be able to see how easy it is.
Speaker:So we love also helping other brands and retailers really embrace
Speaker:using Facebook live or using any medium of video in order
Speaker:to really showcase their brands.
Speaker:Cause there's just so much you can do with it.
Speaker:Yeah. Well Veronica,
Speaker:let's see.
Speaker:When this interview errors,
Speaker:it'll be a show that was two or three weeks ago
Speaker:where I talk about the takeaways that I got from social
Speaker:media marketing world because I was just there when we're recording
Speaker:this today.
Speaker:The timing gets a little funky,
Speaker:but I was just there last week and you are so
Speaker:right on in terms of video and specifically live and how
Speaker:important it is now and it's only going to get more
Speaker:and more.
Speaker:So you are in with the good stuff for sure right
Speaker:now. So you're a great model and the ideas that you've
Speaker:given us and the little tips here and there along the
Speaker:way are fabulous.
Speaker:So I thank you so much for that.
Speaker:Well thank you so much For having a sign.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I absolutely adore you and your audience is fantastic.
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:And I adore you too.
Speaker:Feeling's mutual.
Speaker:Have a great rest of your day.
Speaker:You too.
Speaker:There you have it.
Speaker:And what did I tell you?
Speaker:An excellent example of what live streaming can do for a
Speaker:business. And it can be this way for your business too.
Speaker:I encourage you.
Speaker:No, I dare you to test this out if you haven't
Speaker:already. As you heard,
Speaker:it's well worth it,
Speaker:and we talked about storytelling,
Speaker:so that's your starting point with content for your live streams.
Speaker:We're moving on now from glamming up with beautiful vintage jewelry,
Speaker:too, tasteful Italian dining,
Speaker:getting pretty classy here on the podcast up next week,
Speaker:we're going to be hearing from Eric at pasta mamas and
Speaker:what's going on with this delicious brand.
Speaker:Believe me,
Speaker:you don't want to miss it,
Speaker:meaning you don't want to miss the podcast or getting a
Speaker:taste of this product.
Speaker:But for now,
Speaker:one more thing I want to leave you with.
Speaker:Remember to grab your spot for my free upcoming master class.
Speaker:How to turn your handmade products into an income producing business.
Speaker:To register,
Speaker:go to gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash masterclass that's a wrap and I'll see you back
Speaker:here next week.
