Shownotes
The Maureen’s Sweet Shoppe Story
Her key to happiness was not to use her law degree. [4:54] Cotton candy to lollipops to chocolate. [6:03] The mall kiosk. [7:04], [13:36] What Maureen did before she opened her shoppe. [11:29] Why the name of her business. [13:09] An email list confession [24:17]Candle Flickering Moments
Realizing her sought after degree would be shelved. [8:32] Growth to sustain the business. [15:01] Identifying how to be different. [25:57]Business Building Insights
Advice for making a career change. [10:25] Step by step. How to do a grand opening. [18:33] Juggling the candy truck and chocolate shoppe. [22:06] Repeat business comes from in-store customer connections. [32:34] Corporate customer experience and advice. [34:39]A Brand New Product
Teaser description of the new product. [30:00] LINK TO THE NEW PRODUCT ONCE IT’S REVEALED!Words of Advice to a Newbie
Have a next egg to fall back on. [43:07] Networking is key. [43:29]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Square – Accept credit cards anywhere. Sign up and they will send you a free reader.Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter LinkedInIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 136.
Speaker:It is going to be like nothing you have ever tried
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Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
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Speaker:Well, hello and thank you for joining me on the show
Speaker:today. If you're eight gifter Baker,
Speaker:crafter or maker,
Speaker:and you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
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Speaker:year. So don't delay to join the group,
Speaker:but for now pleasure of introducing.
had to save others for despair and
gosh. This is going to be such a sweet You Maureen.
Speaker:I just know it.
Speaker:Welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you Sue,
Speaker:for having me.
Speaker:We're really excited to be here today.
Speaker:I cannot wait to hear the whole story.
Speaker:I've known you for a while,
Speaker:but we've never gone into the backstory.
Speaker:So I am super excited for this one,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:we started off in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is by having you describe yourself through an ideal
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to us a color and a quote
Speaker:or a saying that represents you,
Speaker:what would your motivational candle look like?
Speaker:My motivational candle would be pink because pink is colored to
Speaker:me of happiness,
Speaker:purity, cotton,
Speaker:candy, all the fun things in life.
Speaker:And it motivates me and it always keeps me going forward.
Speaker:And the motivational quote I would put on it is anybody
Speaker:can do anything for a day,
Speaker:a week or a month.
Speaker:And I got that from my brother who went battle cancer
Speaker:and he would go in for these horrible treatments and he
Speaker:would sit there and go in for a week at a
Speaker:time and I'd sit there.
Speaker:And I say that anybody can do anything for a week.
Speaker:And it just kind of stuck in my head.
Speaker:And when I get really tired,
Speaker:I just keep saying that to myself,
Speaker:anybody can do that for a week or for a month
Speaker:of whatever season it is and how long we have left.
Speaker:I think sometimes within our businesses,
Speaker:it does seem like it's too much.
Speaker:It gets too heavy.
Speaker:The burden gets too much,
Speaker:not as much as what your brother had for sure,
Speaker:but it still does feel like that.
Speaker:So being able to say,
Speaker:yeah, you can just get through it.
Speaker:Cause it seems like there also then comes a point where
Speaker:you go home and you take,
Speaker:you get some sleep or you get some time off or
Speaker:something and then it's all good again,
Speaker:but you've just got to get through That's it.
Speaker:But when you see somebody that goes through something like that,
Speaker:I mean what's a week of 14 hour days.
Speaker:You can get through anything.
Speaker:I agree with you there.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Did you just create this quote?
Speaker:Is this like an original for you based on the situation
Speaker:with your brother?
Speaker:Yeah. It was just something that watching him.
Speaker:He was probably one of the strongest people watching what he
Speaker:went through.
Speaker:I drive my strength from that and it just was something
Speaker:that you can do it.
Speaker:You can do anything for a week.
Speaker:And it has stayed my mind through the holiday seasons.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:we do 14,
Speaker:20 hour days depending on the day.
Speaker:And it's just four o'clock in the morning comes and you're
Speaker:sitting here thinking,
Speaker:Oh, I'll never make it.
Speaker:And you're like,
Speaker:you can do anything for two more days.
Speaker:It just stuck around here.
Speaker:And we all say it to each other and it motivates
Speaker:us all to keep going.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, let's talk about how you ended up working 20 hours
Speaker:a week during the holidays.
Speaker:How did this all begin,
Speaker:Maureen? Well,
Speaker:it's kind of a crazy story.
Speaker:I started out practicing and family law,
Speaker:which as you can imagine is incredibly depressing.
Speaker:And I did a lot of grandparents taking custody of their
Speaker:grandchildren. That was my specialty.
Speaker:And I have like parents calling and threatening me.
Speaker:The grandparents were always in tears.
Speaker:The kids were always a mess and I'd come home after
Speaker:a 12 hour day dealing with that.
Speaker:And my husband thought it was miserable.
Speaker:And I was to be honest with you and he's like,
Speaker:would you just do something else?
Speaker:You're not happy.
Speaker:We're not happy.
Speaker:And to be honest with you,
Speaker:the other part of the backstory is my husband is a
Speaker:concessionaire. Who's got food trailers that goes to different fairs and
Speaker:I would go out on weekends and be with him and
Speaker:notice everybody happy there.
Speaker:It was like a fun environment.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:then I go back Monday to work and I'd just be
Speaker:a basket case.
Speaker:I ended up starting to work less and less and hanging
Speaker:out with him a little bit more.
Speaker:And one day my father-in-law said,
Speaker:what do you want?
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:I want a cotton candy trailer joking with him a week
Speaker:later, he called me,
Speaker:well, what color do you want your counters?
Speaker:I just bought all the equipment.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:are you kidding?
Speaker:No, we literally built me a trailer and I hired some
Speaker:teenage girls and they would go out and they would make
Speaker:the cotton candy.
Speaker:And I'll tell you,
Speaker:cotton candy making is a lot of fun.
Speaker:They make the cotton candy and I'd go out and supervise
Speaker:them on the weekends.
Speaker:And then it kind of grew.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I turned my husband's food business into like a great success
Speaker:and we were out all the time and it was fun.
Speaker:And he finally just said,
Speaker:why don't you just leave the other job and help me?
Speaker:And so I did.
Speaker:And then one day,
Speaker:my father-in-law's like,
Speaker:you need those big swirly lollipops.
Speaker:So I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, so I went out,
Speaker:I searched for them on the internet.
Speaker:I found the manufacturer called them.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:Oh, you got a distributor,
Speaker:not too long from you out in long Island.
Speaker:They sell them.
Speaker:So I called and I'm like,
Speaker:I'll come out and pick them up.
Speaker:So I went out one Monday and we pick them up
Speaker:and I came back and they had a showroom there and
Speaker:they had all kinds of candies and chocolates and everything on
Speaker:my mind started to work.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:this is fun.
Speaker:I've got to do something like this.
Speaker:I came back,
Speaker:I told my husband like,
Speaker:Oh, I bought you this bag of chocolate covered almonds.
Speaker:And he goes,
Speaker:where's your mind going?
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:I'm thinking we need to sell them somehow.
Speaker:They're not going to work out on the Ferris because it's
Speaker:too hot and melt,
Speaker:but we better do this.
Speaker:Next thing.
Speaker:I know my father-in-law was calling me.
Speaker:My father was a great man.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:he's got great ideas and great vision.
Speaker:He goes,
Speaker:I have the perfect spot for your candy store.
Speaker:I'm like candy store.
Speaker:He goes,
Speaker:yeah. And it was a little kiosk in the mall that
Speaker:was like 150 square feet.
Speaker:But as part of it,
Speaker:it was like an old jewelry stand that had counters all
Speaker:around. And it was absolutely perfect place to start.
Speaker:Two days later,
Speaker:I'm signing a lease for something.
Speaker:I had no clue what I was doing.
Speaker:And I was working my tail off to come up with
Speaker:the money,
Speaker:to buy all the stock and everything.
Speaker:And I did it.
Speaker:And all of a sudden we opened this little kiosk in
Speaker:the mall and it was crazy.
Speaker:It was so much fun.
Speaker:So first off,
Speaker:kudos to your husband for recognizing that you were in a
Speaker:place that wasn't fulfilling to you and making you happy.
Speaker:And then your father-in-law just walking you down the path step
Speaker:by step.
Speaker:Almost. You had no choice once he's bought the van for
Speaker:the cotton candy or the truck for the cotton candy,
Speaker:I guess I'd say.
Speaker:And then your shop,
Speaker:but interesting Maureen.
Speaker:Cause I think you similar to me,
Speaker:didn't have the idea yourself that you could start yourself.
Speaker:If someone had to place that idea with you,
Speaker:why do you think we're like that?
Speaker:I think we've just tried to please.
Speaker:Everybody. I had said when I was little girl,
Speaker:I wanted to be a lawyer and my father was so,
Speaker:Oh, great,
Speaker:great. You want to be a lawyer?
Speaker:You want to be a lawyer.
Speaker:So my entire childhood,
Speaker:I was geared towards becoming a lawyer.
Speaker:Then you spend all that money on the degree you practice.
Speaker:And to be honest with you,
Speaker:when you go to college,
Speaker:you have no clue what the future career is going to
Speaker:be. So you sit there and you're like,
Speaker:okay, it's going to be great.
Speaker:It's gonna be great.
Speaker:I can out of law school and realized that 90% of
Speaker:my day is going to be pushing papers on a desk.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:this isn't what I wanted.
Speaker:I wanted to be in the courtroom.
Speaker:And I wanted the activity of being a lawyer.
Speaker:And it just wasn't there.
Speaker:I was so disillusioned and so stuck to it because of
Speaker:the money I invested in the degree.
Speaker:I didn't let myself think that it was okay to have
Speaker:another dream.
Speaker:It's like I had had this dream,
Speaker:my whole life and that,
Speaker:okay. I fulfilled it,
Speaker:but now what it wasn't what I expected.
Speaker:And because I invested so much in it,
Speaker:it was,
Speaker:they were only buddy down.
Speaker:I didn't wanna let myself down and I wasn't letting myself
Speaker:have the ability to do something I truly was passionate about.
Speaker:I'm thinking that there are listeners here who are probably in
Speaker:a similar situation.
Speaker:They've invested in a degree,
Speaker:they've got their career.
Speaker:Things are pretty comfortable,
Speaker:but it's only okay.
Speaker:They're not totally fulfilled.
Speaker:How did you go through telling yourself it was okay to
Speaker:leave? Cause I'm sure you went back and forth a little
Speaker:bit. Yeah.
Speaker:I'm not as happy,
Speaker:but it's solid and not everyone can be a lawyer.
Speaker:Let's face it.
Speaker:But what was your mindset of making that transition?
Speaker:Yeah. I don't think it was as much telling myself that
Speaker:it was okay.
Speaker:I think it was letting the world know it was okay.
Speaker:I was afraid of people's reactions because I had been so
Speaker:focused on this career.
Speaker:When you work in a job like that,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you've been in an industry where you work crazy hours per
Speaker:paycheck and you just sit there and it's like,
Speaker:you're focused.
Speaker:You kind of lose some friends because you're so busy with
Speaker:the work.
Speaker:And then it's like,
Speaker:okay, now I'm going to come out and say,
Speaker:okay, I made a mistake.
Speaker:That's one thing.
Speaker:I am a perfectionist and saying,
Speaker:I made a mistake was hard,
Speaker:but I felt like I was going to let everybody down.
Speaker:And I was wrong because all anybody ever wanted for me
Speaker:was to be happy.
Speaker:And I was so focused on,
Speaker:I was letting the world down that I couldn't see past
Speaker:that. Interesting.
Speaker:So what advice would you have or what first steps would
Speaker:you have for somebody who should consider doing that consider going
Speaker:off and separating from what they thought they were going to
Speaker:be doing as their lifetime profession?
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:let yourself do it.
Speaker:You're not failing your life changes in every step.
Speaker:You're single.
Speaker:You're a teenager.
Speaker:You go off to college,
Speaker:your life changes.
Speaker:You go to grad school,
Speaker:you go out to the workforce,
Speaker:your life is junior and you buy your house.
Speaker:So with every change,
Speaker:your life has changing.
Speaker:So just because at 18,
Speaker:you thought you wanted to be a fireman or a lawyer
Speaker:or a doctor.
Speaker:It doesn't mean you have to stay that way.
Speaker:I married a guy.
Speaker:I never would have thought I'd marry,
Speaker:has been wonderful.
Speaker:It takes my mood swings.
Speaker:Like he's a pro and comes in here and helps when
Speaker:he's not working.
Speaker:I married a champion and he helped me realize my real
Speaker:dream. Okay.
Speaker:So here we are.
Speaker:And you did get permission.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:obviously he said,
Speaker:okay, that's fine.
Speaker:Let's do this.
Speaker:And then also support from your father-in-law.
Speaker:So the whole family really was backing you,
Speaker:which does make it a little bit easier.
Speaker:Makes a lot easier.
Speaker:Yeah. What point did you,
Speaker:along this way from the cotton candy to then the spiral
Speaker:lollipops and all of that,
Speaker:and then the chocolate covered almonds.
Speaker:At what point did you actually create Maureen sweet shop?
Speaker:It was probably in a three or four month period of
Speaker:time. To be honest with you,
Speaker:it just happened quickly.
Speaker:We found the space and we started to work as hard
Speaker:as we could to make sure we had the savings we
Speaker:needed to go forward.
Speaker:And I think that that would be like the key to
Speaker:anybody thinking about this is before you jump work hard,
Speaker:save the money so that you can go a good six,
Speaker:eight, 12 months,
Speaker:not having to worry about income stock and all that,
Speaker:because it's going to take a while for you to be
Speaker:able to build your income back up.
Speaker:We worked really hard that summer,
Speaker:fortunately, with the trailers and stuff,
Speaker:we're able to book them and make the money we need
Speaker:to make.
Speaker:So you were consciously then putting it aside.
Speaker:Yes. Knowing that this was the plan,
Speaker:the plan was going to be to open the shop and
Speaker:face it.
Speaker:Retail is expensive.
Speaker:Exactly. And we went to a mall,
Speaker:so they required four months rent upfront.
Speaker:And there are a lot of things that they were requiring
Speaker:that were expensive.
Speaker:So we had to make sure that all that was covered,
Speaker:we had to make sure the bills at home are covered
Speaker:as well because losing my income was a major hit to
Speaker:us. We just had to make sure that we had that
Speaker:ready and in the background.
Speaker:And then we move forward,
Speaker:full steam ahead in a very short period of time.
Speaker:And it was kind of crazy at first.
Speaker:And without the family support and their help actually doing everything,
Speaker:we wouldn't have been able to do it,
Speaker:but they were right there helping me construct the space,
Speaker:helping me stock everything,
Speaker:helping me decorate,
Speaker:put the signs up and everything.
Speaker:So, I mean,
Speaker:you need the support of Natalie,
Speaker:your husband,
Speaker:your kids,
Speaker:but whatever family that will come in and help because whatever
Speaker:help they'll give you will help you succeed in the future.
Speaker:Decide on your name as being part of the name of
Speaker:the company versus anything else.
Speaker:Talk us through how you created that and decided upon that.
Speaker:Actually, I give my father-in-law a lot of credit for that
Speaker:because he always felt like a woman's name should be in
Speaker:the name of the business for something like this.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:it'll go farther.
Speaker:People will respect because women,
Speaker:they associate with big products and candies and things like that.
Speaker:And he always liked the old fashioned way to spell shop.
Speaker:S H O P V E.
Speaker:And he just thought it would,
Speaker:it would just flow well together.
Speaker:Let's talk about your grand opening in the mall.
Speaker:What did you do?
Speaker:The grand opening in the mall was a little bit easier
Speaker:than when we opened the store because we went in that
Speaker:night. Cause you had to come and go in after the
Speaker:mall was closed.
Speaker:Cause we're in a kiosk.
Speaker:So we went in about nine o'clock the night before literally
Speaker:worked all night long to get the kiosk all set up,
Speaker:get the signs up,
Speaker:get the counters loaded and everything and opened at nine 30
Speaker:the next day.
Speaker:So it was,
Speaker:my brother has family,
Speaker:my father,
Speaker:mother-in-law my mom,
Speaker:Chris and I.
Speaker:And we were in there and working around the clock to
Speaker:get it up and open.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:And so you were there obviously as it opened and the
Speaker:first customers start coming in.
Speaker:Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker:Well, they're all excited because this mall had a candy store
Speaker:in quite a while and the customer,
Speaker:there's a movie theater in the mall.
Speaker:So we sold the lot of the bulk candy and some
Speaker:chocolates and everything.
Speaker:And one of our first customers happened to be one of
Speaker:the jewelry stores in the mall.
Speaker:And they came in and they literally bought all of our
Speaker:chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels to hand out to their staff
Speaker:because of the day.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:okay, what am I going to do now?
Speaker:Because I can't get delivery until Monday.
Speaker:It was crazy.
Speaker:He scrambled and kind of filled some spots with different things,
Speaker:but the mall staff itself and the employees were so supportive
Speaker:of us and they were always there.
Speaker:And the movie theater customers came to us for candy because
Speaker:we were cheaper than a movie theater and it worked out
Speaker:well for us.
Speaker:It was a great little spot for us to start in.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:And then what happened from there?
Speaker:Cause obviously you're not there now.
Speaker:Right? Well,
Speaker:we grew and in order to sustain the business,
Speaker:we knew we needed to make our chocolates because it's very
Speaker:expensive to buy them and we didn't have facilities to do
Speaker:that. So we were looking for a spot where we could
Speaker:make our products and we found a spot that used to
Speaker:be a candy store and they had a kitchen already in
Speaker:there. So it wasn't going to cost us a lot to
Speaker:build out and we rented the space and I regret it.
Speaker:I'm going to start by saying that and I'll tell you
Speaker:why. At first it seemed like it was a great spot,
Speaker:but we were set behind a grocery store.
Speaker:So we were kind of like the backyard Plaza and there
Speaker:was a pizza shop in there,
Speaker:Chinese restaurant and a hair salon.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:good traffic,
Speaker:that sort of thing.
Speaker:Well, the plan was,
Speaker:it was going to be great,
Speaker:but what happened was we get in there and I loaded
Speaker:everything up and having opened in the mall before,
Speaker:there really wasn't a chance for a big grand opening.
Speaker:So here it was like,
Speaker:I set the date for the grand opening before we were
Speaker:ready. So our stock came in Tuesday night,
Speaker:Wednesday morning,
Speaker:and we were,
Speaker:had a grand opening on Friday.
Speaker:We had 1200 square feet to fill and we weren't ready.
Speaker:And it was just disappointing,
Speaker:not only for myself,
Speaker:but for the customers that came in for the grand opening.
Speaker:And there was really nothing grand.
Speaker:It was just us still just stocking shelves,
Speaker:trying to get the shelves filled.
Speaker:And it was a huge mistake that kind of haunted me
Speaker:for the four years I was there.
Speaker:So the mistake was making sure you were truly ready for
Speaker:the grand opening.
Speaker:Right? Had I done a soft opening and just open the
Speaker:store as I was stocking it and then planned a big
Speaker:grand opening and invited all the officials and everything.
Speaker:It would've gotten much smoother because everything would have been ready,
Speaker:but I wasn't ready for the grand opening.
Speaker:So when people came,
Speaker:cause it was in the paper and everything,
Speaker:the store wasn't stocked properly and the shelves were kind of
Speaker:empty and it was just done wrong.
Speaker:So if you're opening a retail,
Speaker:brick and mortar,
Speaker:make sure you're ready for grand opening before you schedule it.
Speaker:They don't have to go through what you went through.
Speaker:Exactly. And then two weeks later,
Speaker:I ended up very ill and needed emergency surgery.
Speaker:And I was out for eight weeks and it just,
Speaker:one thing led to another led to another and it just
Speaker:turned out to be a cursed,
Speaker:bad location.
Speaker:And it never got to where it needed to be because
Speaker:of the incidents in the beginning.
Speaker:It's hard to rebound when you falter in the beginning.
Speaker:Okay. But that was four years.
Speaker:You stayed there four years.
Speaker:Then what happened?
Speaker:Well, during the four years,
Speaker:we're able to build up some corporate customers while we were
Speaker:there. We did some TV advertising,
Speaker:but then what happened was the store that had opened next
Speaker:to me,
Speaker:wanted to expand.
Speaker:And there was nothing for him to expand.
Speaker:On the other side,
Speaker:the pizza store had been there for 20 years and my
Speaker:landlord is like,
Speaker:you take the smaller space across the street and we're going
Speaker:to let him have your space.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:well, that doesn't work for me because it's going to cut
Speaker:down from 1200 to like 600 square feet.
Speaker:That's not working well.
Speaker:He needs that space.
Speaker:And he thought he was going to call my bluff and
Speaker:we ended up having a battle Royale and I a new
Speaker:spot and in the spot is right in the smack dab
Speaker:center of our town across from town hall,
Speaker:less money for rent and double the space.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:A blessing in disguise.
Speaker:When you say exactly now,
Speaker:did you have to build out a kitchen there?
Speaker:It's kind of Funny how we did it.
Speaker:We actually built out a sink room where all of our
Speaker:sinks to wash up everything is sectioned off.
Speaker:Just cause I didn't want people seeing that.
Speaker:We built a smaller kitchen upstairs and we have a whole
Speaker:downstairs that we build half storage and half our full kitchen.
Speaker:So we did a little bit of build out,
Speaker:but it wasn't too too bad because the space was designed
Speaker:perfect for us.
Speaker:Okay. So let's talk about moving into that space.
Speaker:So you have this learning about a grand opening.
Speaker:What did you do differently the second time?
Speaker:The second time around what we had done is the minute
Speaker:I knew I was moving,
Speaker:I went to the town hall,
Speaker:filed for all the permits followed through on them because the
Speaker:town hall we'll let them sit there.
Speaker:So I had to go down and I would call every
Speaker:day, where are we sitting?
Speaker:So then I knew exactly when the inspections would be and
Speaker:when our licenses would be issued.
Speaker:So that was all set and ready to go.
Speaker:Before we even got close to opening,
Speaker:we finished all the plumbing,
Speaker:we got the health inspection done.
Speaker:And then we would open the doors every day for probably
Speaker:about a week and a half.
Speaker:Then I sent out all my formal invitations for our grand
Speaker:opening. I set the date for two weeks later,
Speaker:sent out invitations to all of our customers,
Speaker:to the town officials,
Speaker:to our state reps,
Speaker:to the press releases to the newspapers,
Speaker:had everybody down here,
Speaker:got little citations from the house of representatives.
Speaker:And it was just,
Speaker:everybody came free,
Speaker:publicity like crazy because all the press was here and it
Speaker:was done,
Speaker:right. The stores were stocked full and you couldn't have gone
Speaker:any better.
Speaker:Oh, that's fabulous.
Speaker:So everyone got samples.
Speaker:I'm guessing Samples all over the place.
Speaker:Absolutely. We had a coupon in the paper for a 20%
Speaker:off. Any of your purchases,
Speaker:everybody that came for the ribbon cutting.
Speaker:What we had done is like we had done like a
Speaker:soft opening.
Speaker:Then we did an invitation,
Speaker:opening, fell our customers.
Speaker:And then we had the big grand Caribbean cutting opening on
Speaker:a Friday afternoon.
Speaker:And each event brought new people in that's spent money.
Speaker:So it was just great to plan it out properly and
Speaker:do it so that people got an invitation,
Speaker:they felt special and it was just perfect.
Speaker:So once you've got everything set in terms of the licensing
Speaker:and the inspections and all of that,
Speaker:you had the doors open so people could come in,
Speaker:but you weren't officially ready yet.
Speaker:I'd say so you would call that your soft opening,
Speaker:Ready to go full speed yet.
Speaker:We're still stocking the shelves.
Speaker:We're still making product be fully loaded,
Speaker:but people have been so curious because they'd seen the decorations
Speaker:in the window that we would let them come in.
Speaker:And if they wanted to buy that goodbye and we're like,
Speaker:Oh, we're still stocking.
Speaker:We have another grand opening,
Speaker:but welcome.
Speaker:And then you're making them feel special because they can go
Speaker:back and say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:They're not really open yet,
Speaker:but they let me come in.
Speaker:Here's what I saw there.
Speaker:Exactly good strategy.
Speaker:I don't know if you meant to do that,
Speaker:but that was excellent strategy.
Speaker:I'm here.
Speaker:The doors should be open.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Why would you lose sales?
Speaker:Then everyone needs chocolate every day.
Speaker:I'm thinking exactly.
Speaker:So soft opening and then specific invitation grand opening.
Speaker:And then the full bone public opening where you're three steps.
Speaker:Yes. So what happened after the grand opening?
Speaker:Obviously you want to keep the momentum going.
Speaker:What was We had done?
Speaker:Because typically when you open a candy store,
Speaker:you open it August through October because you get all the
Speaker:holidays coming in and when you move your store,
Speaker:it takes about six months for people to find you.
Speaker:So we had known,
Speaker:we were moving in January and what we had done is
Speaker:we have put a big banner in the old store saying,
Speaker:we're moving,
Speaker:here's our address.
Speaker:We've made everybody sign up for our mailing list.
Speaker:And then we invited everybody that signed the mailing list on
Speaker:Valentine's day to the invitation opening.
Speaker:And we opened about,
Speaker:I want to say a month before Easter.
Speaker:So people were able to find us.
Speaker:We wanted to open before a big holiday,
Speaker:because if you open in the summer,
Speaker:it's like summer and chocolate,
Speaker:they don't mix well together.
Speaker:So we needed to find a way to let people know
Speaker:that we were here and that we're still the same company.
Speaker:And that this is where you can get your tacos Question
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:What happened to the candy of the beginning?
Speaker:Like cotton candy and all of that.
Speaker:Did that go away at the point that you opened Maureen
Speaker:sweet shop?
Speaker:Now, unfortunately we still have it and it drives me crazy
Speaker:because I'm so busy here.
Speaker:It's hard to run that on the road,
Speaker:but it's trying to juggle too many things,
Speaker:but it's still a great money maker for us.
Speaker:It's something that we really do need.
Speaker:So we find a way to make it work.
Speaker:Chris is great and he goes out and he makes sure
Speaker:that all of that is set up and ready to go.
Speaker:And then I'll come out for the weekends and make sure
Speaker:that everybody's in their place and doing the right thing.
Speaker:And that's even grown too.
Speaker:And we're doing so many different things that we never thought
Speaker:we do there.
Speaker:So it's trying to juggle a lot,
Speaker:but they compliment each other too,
Speaker:because we do a lot of favors that involve cotton candy.
Speaker:So I just robbed one machine from there and bring it
Speaker:here and do that.
Speaker:And I'm wondering if,
Speaker:because you're right chocolate in the summer,
Speaker:I don't know if it does or not,
Speaker:but does that take a little bit of a dip and
Speaker:then in terms of sales and then the cotton candy and
Speaker:other increased during that time?
Speaker:Absolutely. And a lot of chocolate shops will bring in ice
Speaker:cream during the summertime.
Speaker:Our board of health is kind of funny with ice cream
Speaker:and their health codes and everything.
Speaker:And I'm not sure I could actually bring the store up
Speaker:to code for the water system that you need for that.
Speaker:So we don't bring that into the store,
Speaker:but the trailers that we have with the cotton candy and
Speaker:the stones and all that,
Speaker:that helps us offset what the store isn't making during the
Speaker:summertime. I don't know if you do that intentionally,
Speaker:but that works great.
Speaker:It's awesome.
Speaker:And the timing of it,
Speaker:it really compliments each other because that picks up right after
Speaker:we get through the Easter mother's day season,
Speaker:and we're waning down on the early wedding season.
Speaker:So that'll pick up during when we're really slow.
Speaker:And then as wedding season starts again in the fall,
Speaker:that starts to slow off a little bit.
Speaker:So they compliment each other very well on that.
Speaker:Good idea for everybody.
Speaker:If you have a little bit of a dip in your
Speaker:sales, is there something else complimentary and in line with what
Speaker:you already do,
Speaker:but a little bit different in terms of a product,
Speaker:even perhaps that peaks at a certain time when sales normally
Speaker:are low,
Speaker:because you've already got the staff you've already got all your
Speaker:fixed costs.
Speaker:So if there's a way to divert and make more money
Speaker:just to cover all of that,
Speaker:like Marina is saying,
Speaker:it's perfect.
Speaker:And it's great because different,
Speaker:even though you're here at the retail store for so many
Speaker:hours a week,
Speaker:you get to get out and do something different that isn't
Speaker:in the norm and it helps break it up a little
Speaker:bit. So when you come back,
Speaker:you're kind of refresh.
Speaker:Oh, great point.
Speaker:Let's talk about your mailing list.
Speaker:You are one who obviously understands the value of collecting emails
Speaker:so that you can communicate with customers.
Speaker:How are you using your list?
Speaker:I will freely admit I don't use it as well as
Speaker:I should use it.
Speaker:I should be emailing constantly.
Speaker:And I tend to email reminders of the big holidays coming
Speaker:up. I will email if like I have a focus group
Speaker:for our kids.
Speaker:Cause we do kids' birthday parties here at the store and
Speaker:I'll email like,
Speaker:Oh, we're having a special on birthday parties,
Speaker:but I don't do it as much as I should.
Speaker:And I don't do it as like with the material that
Speaker:I probably should plan ahead more.
Speaker:And I freely admit that that's one of my,
Speaker:the whole technology and social media part is something I'm working
Speaker:on and growing because it does help with the store,
Speaker:but I'm not quite where I should be yet because I
Speaker:focus on other things and I haven't in the past,
Speaker:viewed it as something that really worked until I really started
Speaker:to work at.
Speaker:And then I realized it does work.
Speaker:Ah, very good.
Speaker:And I use still though,
Speaker:even if you're not putting as much emphasis on it right
Speaker:now, are you still working on continually collecting emails?
Speaker:Absolutely. Okay,
Speaker:good. So even if that's the first start because you can't
Speaker:have a plan and an email is strategy,
Speaker:unless you have emails.
Speaker:Exactly. Even just taking that first step when people are coming
Speaker:in, however you can attract emails all along the way.
Speaker:Totally makes sense.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:So we've talked about some of your challenging moments already in
Speaker:terms of first not being happy in your law career from
Speaker:the beginning,
Speaker:I will say what I'm hearing from you challenge continues to
Speaker:equal opportunity for you.
Speaker:So you switched over to the candy trailer,
Speaker:to the mall,
Speaker:to your first shop.
Speaker:Then you had challenges there,
Speaker:multiple challenges we've discussed.
Speaker:Now your next job.
Speaker:Tell us another one.
Speaker:Where was another challenge in your journey here?
Speaker:Well, I think one of my,
Speaker:My biggest challenges was not knowing how to grow this business
Speaker:beyond what it's been.
Speaker:I have always,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:okay, candy shop,
Speaker:either carrying him,
Speaker:draw, you,
Speaker:make the chocolates,
Speaker:put it in the case,
Speaker:but where do you go from there?
Speaker:It's like you get stale after a while.
Speaker:And it's just like,
Speaker:there are some people out there that they love painting chocolate
Speaker:molds, to be honest with you,
Speaker:it's the worst thing in the world for me.
Speaker:I don't have the patience for it.
Speaker:So how do I get my pops to look really pretty
Speaker:without having to do that?
Speaker:I've invented my own little techniques that will help me add
Speaker:the charm and the color and the design to pop that.
Speaker:So I don't have to paint it.
Speaker:And it's kind of the same thing,
Speaker:but it's just a little bit different.
Speaker:And for me,
Speaker:it's a lot more fun this way.
Speaker:And it's just trying to keep things new and fresh.
Speaker:It's chocolate.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there's so much you can do with chocolate.
Speaker:That's different.
Speaker:And you've got to come up with new things every year
Speaker:because we have big corporate customers and we stock their entire
Speaker:gift shop with their chocolates and like,
Speaker:Oh, what's new this year.
Speaker:And I just sit there thinking,
Speaker:Oh my,
Speaker:what do they want from me?
Speaker:It's chocolate.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:So I have to look at it as a canvas and
Speaker:what is motivating me.
Speaker:So like every day we try to do something that's different.
Speaker:And a lot of times it fails epically.
Speaker:Other times we come up with this product that is just
Speaker:fantastic. Like we have one that we're about to launch probably
Speaker:in the next couple of months,
Speaker:actually we were going to start the launch tomorrow or Wednesday
Speaker:at a tasting that we have,
Speaker:but it's not ready for sale quite yet.
Speaker:Cause we're in the middle of trying to trademark the name.
Speaker:You have my curiosity,
Speaker:like so on edge.
Speaker:Now I'll have to send them out too,
Speaker:but it's a magnificent product that can combines pastry and chocolate
Speaker:and truffles.
Speaker:And it's just something I had tasted something once in an
Speaker:each flavor hit me while I was trying this dessert.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:I can make this out of chocolate.
Speaker:And it took,
Speaker:I want to say three years for us to actually get
Speaker:it right.
Speaker:And it is just decadent.
Speaker:It is sinful and it is rich and it needs to
Speaker:be on Oprah's list because that's my goal and my dream
Speaker:is for it to make Oprah's list.
Speaker:But we're excited about it.
Speaker:So this is going to turn into your signature product.
Speaker:Really? Yes.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:here you go.
Speaker:What I'm saying,
Speaker:challenges equal opportunity because had you liked,
Speaker:what do you call it?
Speaker:Painting the molds.
Speaker:Is that what you call it?
Speaker:Yep. Okay.
Speaker:So if you had liked that and done that,
Speaker:then you're going to be similar to other people.
Speaker:Like how then is your,
Speaker:what you're presenting different?
Speaker:What is the reason why people would come besides the fact
Speaker:that your chocolate is delicious?
Speaker:Because I've tasted it several times,
Speaker:besides that if it looks the same,
Speaker:what is the additional advantage of coming only to you?
Speaker:So the first is that technique you were doing because you
Speaker:didn't want to paint the mold,
Speaker:but now also this new product.
Speaker:And I talk a lot about signature products when I'm talking
Speaker:with people in any type of a consumable industry,
Speaker:because you're right.
Speaker:What do you do to make yourself different in the chocolate
Speaker:industry? So I am so excited to know what this is
Speaker:going to be.
Speaker:Now let's talk about this for a second.
Speaker:I'm turning around and I'm looking at my calendar.
Speaker:I believe that this show is going to be going live
Speaker:November 13th.
Speaker:Okay. Is the product going to be available at that point
Speaker:as do you know yet?
Speaker:I am about 99.9%
Speaker:positive. It will be available on November 13th.
Speaker:Okay. So here's what we're doing.
Speaker:Gift biz listeners.
Speaker:She's not going to say anything right now.
Speaker:So we're keeping you all in suspense,
Speaker:but I am going to now this is,
Speaker:if you're listening to the show live on the day,
Speaker:it goes live November 13th,
Speaker:2017, but let's put a link to the product on the
Speaker:show notes page when we can.
Speaker:So if you're listening to this right now,
Speaker:you can jump over to the show notes page.
Speaker:See if the link is there.
Speaker:If for some reason something has been delayed,
Speaker:I'll put the link up when that product's available.
Speaker:How does that sound?
Speaker:Maureen? That sounds awesome.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Yeah, that'll be fun.
Speaker:So this is a little mystery package that we have to
Speaker:unwrap. What type of a teaser over and above what you
Speaker:already told us.
Speaker:The combinations.
Speaker:Give us a little teaser pitch to make sure everyone goes
Speaker:over and checks it out.
Speaker:And it's going to be like nothing you have ever tried
Speaker:before. It is a combination.
Speaker:We have Chris Croft from a bakery into a chocolate shop,
Speaker:all in the same dessert.
Speaker:It's got chocolate.
Speaker:It has a flavoring like caramel.
Speaker:Apple is one of the flavors we're working with right now.
Speaker:For those of you that love smores,
Speaker:we've perfected a smores category.
Speaker:Think Carmel,
Speaker:think amazing.
Speaker:Think rich,
Speaker:think something that is just different.
Speaker:I get excited about it because to be honest with you,
Speaker:when I finally got it right,
Speaker:it was just,
Speaker:I tasted them like,
Speaker:that's it.
Speaker:Then I went from there to the different flavors and we're
Speaker:working on,
Speaker:I think lemon now lemons.
Speaker:One of my favorites,
Speaker:Maureen FYI.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:You may become one of my samplers once.
Speaker:It's ready.
Speaker:Love to.
Speaker:They're just so decadent.
Speaker:And we're working on shelf life right now and how we
Speaker:can maintain the flavor and extend the shelf life so that
Speaker:we can offer them to the gift basket industry with a
Speaker:decent shelf life on them.
Speaker:Because right now we're at about a month and a half
Speaker:to two months,
Speaker:but we're trying to get it up to about four months,
Speaker:Give his listeners how exciting is this.
Speaker:You could hear the energy even get higher with our conversation
Speaker:because it's a new product.
Speaker:This is something that you can do with your businesses too.
Speaker:What can you do to create something that you can get
Speaker:really jazzed about?
Speaker:As you can hear Maureen talking,
Speaker:what is it that you can do that re energizes your
Speaker:business? Because it's something different and something you can talk about.
Speaker:Cause Maureen,
Speaker:I bet you're going to promote that like crazy.
Speaker:Oh, we are going to do a full launch for it.
Speaker:We're going to have an invitation launch here and then a
Speaker:grand launch for the product right here at the store.
Speaker:It's something that I really feel is an area in the
Speaker:industry that has never been touched.
Speaker:I just think that it's a breakthrough product and we're really
Speaker:excited about it.
Speaker:I cannot wait to be able to present it to everybody.
Speaker:I sampled them out to some companies and everything,
Speaker:but we're not quite ready to roll it out yet.
Speaker:And once we're ready to roll it out,
Speaker:it's going to be hard and heavy and we're going to
Speaker:hit everybody.
Speaker:Oh, excited show notes,
Speaker:page, gift,
Speaker:biz listeners,
Speaker:look for the link.
Speaker:I'm going to actually make it big too so that everyone
Speaker:could find it really easy.
Speaker:So we'll have to follow up with that.
Speaker:Maureen, getting back to our conversation here.
Speaker:I'm not going to say it's easy,
Speaker:but it's easier to get people to come into your shop
Speaker:for the first time to try you out.
Speaker:Exactly. What other things do you do?
Speaker:And you've also mentioned that you have a list of corporate
Speaker:clients. What else do you do to make sure that they're
Speaker:not coming in just for one time,
Speaker:but that you keep them coming in.
Speaker:And I know you will be doing the email list.
Speaker:We get your confession that you're not doing that right now,
Speaker:but what else do you do to get repeat business?
Speaker:When they walk in the store,
Speaker:we do our best to make them feel like they've been
Speaker:our friends life.
Speaker:That's the key that separates us from any big business.
Speaker:When they walk in it's hi,
Speaker:how are you?
Speaker:The minute I see them,
Speaker:I make eye contact.
Speaker:I ask them how their day's going.
Speaker:I, we talk about the weather just to kind of break
Speaker:the ice a little bit.
Speaker:Then we talk about some of the products in the store.
Speaker:I ask them if there's anything they're looking for,
Speaker:if they need something to let me know.
Speaker:And then when I come over,
Speaker:I make sure that we kind of have a little conversation
Speaker:about something like they'll a lot of times somebody will mention
Speaker:something. Like I had somebody in the store the other day
Speaker:that we were talking and in 2017,
Speaker:it's been a tough year for a lot of people.
Speaker:And they had just recently lost somebody and we were talking
Speaker:back and forth and I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm so sorry.
Speaker:And a lot of these people have become friends of ours.
Speaker:And when they come in,
Speaker:they have a conversation with us.
Speaker:Sometimes it lasts a little too long,
Speaker:but I want to know what's going on because we celebrate
Speaker:the good times and the bad,
Speaker:it's a special occasion.
Speaker:We gift drop everything for them and we don't charge them
Speaker:for it because it's just a little extra thing that sets
Speaker:us aside from a Macy's or any big company.
Speaker:So people come in and they feel welcomed and they feel
Speaker:at home and they feel comfortable and they feel special.
Speaker:Right. And even if they leave without buying anything,
Speaker:because like,
Speaker:Oh, we're driving by.
Speaker:We just want to check it out.
Speaker:Or I have an appointment next door.
Speaker:And I just have some time to,
Speaker:I still engage and we still talk to him.
Speaker:And then when they leave,
Speaker:we make sure we say,
Speaker:Oh, thank you for stepping in.
Speaker:We hope to see you soon.
Speaker:And we want to make sure that they're not buying something.
Speaker:Didn't bother us.
Speaker:And they're welcome anytime.
Speaker:Because a lot of times with our name,
Speaker:some of them think that we're a bakery and that we
Speaker:offer like cupcakes or something.
Speaker:So they're like,
Speaker:Oh, I was looking for cupcakes.
Speaker:So I'll direct them to the nearest bakery,
Speaker:which is around the corner,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And I'll offer them a sample of something.
Speaker:Do you always have samples in the shop?
Speaker:We don't necessarily have them out,
Speaker:but we can offer everybody a sample.
Speaker:So if they're in here,
Speaker:Oh, would you like to try a truffle?
Speaker:Would you like to try this?
Speaker:Would you like to try that so that everybody can try
Speaker:our product?
Speaker:If they're trying to decide what they want?
Speaker:Oh, what would you like to try that way?
Speaker:There, they can actually enjoy a product and then realize that
Speaker:the taste is great.
Speaker:So even if they're not shopping for it today that they
Speaker:can come and come back in the future when they're looking
Speaker:for a quick gift.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. And what about on the corporate end?
Speaker:What do you do there?
Speaker:Corporate customers are tough.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we do a lot of kissing.
Speaker:We have some great corporate customers.
Speaker:We had one guy.
Speaker:This is a funny story.
Speaker:I had opened the first store outside the mall and this
Speaker:guy comes out at Christmas,
Speaker:hands me a list and says,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to start picking these up on Tuesday.
Speaker:And it had a list broken down to days of different
Speaker:platters that he wanted,
Speaker:never met the guy before.
Speaker:So I'm like,
Speaker:okay. So I looked at my mom who was working with
Speaker:me that day.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:is this for real?
Speaker:And she goes,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:So I took a leap of faith and I would never
Speaker:advise anyone to do this.
Speaker:Please don't do what I did.
Speaker:I did it.
Speaker:And the guy came in and he picked up the platters
Speaker:and walked out and I'm like,
Speaker:okay. He goes,
Speaker:I'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker:So I did it and I did it the whole entire
Speaker:lesson. He comes in and he goes,
Speaker:here's my credit card.
Speaker:And he paid for the whole list and he has been
Speaker:my customer ever since every year,
Speaker:he comes in,
Speaker:his list is growing and he's like doubling the size of
Speaker:his orders and everything.
Speaker:I think it was just like a test run for me,
Speaker:but I should have gotten the money up front.
Speaker:I didn't know the guy.
Speaker:And please,
Speaker:if you do it,
Speaker:make sure you get paid upfront.
Speaker:It was just every now and then you get a feeling
Speaker:like it's okay.
Speaker:I did everything for him when he picks up his last
Speaker:order, I have a little gift for him because he goes
Speaker:up to Maine every year with his family so that he
Speaker:can enjoy that for the holidays,
Speaker:with his family.
Speaker:So you always want to thank your corporate customers too.
Speaker:We have another great one.
Speaker:They have this big light display here in town.
Speaker:And it's wonderful because we do their gift shop for them.
Speaker:And we load the whole store with chocolates and everything.
Speaker:We let them borrow some of our fixtures and our tables
Speaker:and our displays.
Speaker:And they come back every year.
Speaker:They refer corporate customers to us because when they say,
Speaker:Hey, I know it's tight.
Speaker:Can you do this for me tomorrow?
Speaker:I will work all night to do it for them for
Speaker:tomorrow because they're good to me and I need to be
Speaker:good. So you would recommend Maureen.
Speaker:The first thing you were saying is don't ever do this
Speaker:as don't ever wait until the end to make sure you're
Speaker:paid upfront someone who's bigger.
Speaker:And I think maybe corporate people,
Speaker:it might be okay to do at least a deposit,
Speaker:like 50% or something.
Speaker:Yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker:Like the one where we stock the gift shop,
Speaker:I invoice them.
Speaker:I'll stock at night,
Speaker:invoice them and they'll send me a check for,
Speaker:I've been working with them for years and I don't have
Speaker:a problem with that.
Speaker:But like,
Speaker:if it's a new company that's coming in and they're ordering
Speaker:something big,
Speaker:I need at least a 50% down payment.
Speaker:And that's only fair because you got to buy the stock
Speaker:and everything.
Speaker:And a lot of times it can be a lot of
Speaker:money that you're putting out and you gotta make sure you're
Speaker:covered for that.
Speaker:Yeah. And you need history with people.
Speaker:And I think a lot of businesses would understand that as
Speaker:you go,
Speaker:as you're further along,
Speaker:you don't have to do it if you've had experience with
Speaker:them, but certainly in the beginning.
Speaker:And if you're doing that and it's a big order,
Speaker:make sure to get a contract.
Speaker:And that's where my legal background comes in because I can
Speaker:do my own contracts.
Speaker:I can do all that,
Speaker:that work myself.
Speaker:But if you don't have that background,
Speaker:have somebody that does have that background,
Speaker:review your contract.
Speaker:If you draw it up yourself or draw one up for
Speaker:you because you don't want to miss anything.
Speaker:And there's certain elements that have to be in a contract,
Speaker:make it valid.
Speaker:And I don't want you to be burned on that.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely good point there.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So what,
Speaker:during your day,
Speaker:you really busy because you've got the trailers going,
Speaker:you've got the shop going,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:What do you do or what type of either an app
Speaker:or something that you rely on in your business helps you
Speaker:keep this all together and stay as calm and cool as
Speaker:you sound right now.
Speaker:Well, if you were my husband,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I never stay very common.
Speaker:Cool. That's a little caveat.
Speaker:I guess It's kind of funny.
Speaker:There's a lot of different tools that we use here.
Speaker:One of them is I do a lot across the country
Speaker:with gift basket industry.
Speaker:So I use square up to do my invoicing online,
Speaker:have a great platform.
Speaker:And it's very easy to set up an invoicing system through
Speaker:them. And it goes right to their email and they can
Speaker:click the link and pay right then.
Speaker:And there that's been a wonderful tool to us.
Speaker:Believe it or not,
Speaker:you're laughing at me,
Speaker:but YouTube is great because if you're looking for something and
Speaker:you can't quite figure it out,
Speaker:there's always a video somewhere of somebody doing that.
Speaker:So it's been like a great tool to kind of get
Speaker:a little bit more creative in the store.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:chocolate is a bit of a,
Speaker:Oh, what are they doing?
Speaker:You got to keep up on it.
Speaker:And we do.
Speaker:And like,
Speaker:I was getting bored with my stuff and there was,
Speaker:there's this company out in New York called Hercules candy and
Speaker:we've become friends with them a little bit.
Speaker:And they do a lot of foiling.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, I watch their videos to see how they get it
Speaker:smooth. Cause like I love the look of a foil chocolates.
Speaker:So I've been watching and seeing how they smooth it out
Speaker:with the towels and things like that.
Speaker:So that to me has been a great tool.
Speaker:Obviously, Pinterest is a great tool because you can think outside
Speaker:the box without like sometimes I do cookies,
Speaker:the little sugar cookies that are decorated.
Speaker:It was like the first time I'd ever done it.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:okay, I don't know how to do this.
Speaker:But I said,
Speaker:I do the order.
Speaker:And I went on to Pinterest and there was like a
Speaker:recipe for the frosting that I needed and it was perfect.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Yeah. I've never had anybody talk about it in that way,
Speaker:in terms of things that then provide you motivation because you
Speaker:don't have to copy necessarily exactly what you're seeing,
Speaker:but it inspires you to take that and enhance it and
Speaker:make it your own.
Speaker:Then Facebook,
Speaker:there's always like different groups we're on.
Speaker:And part of the industry that does it from home,
Speaker:kind of like they don't have to do the permit thing
Speaker:that I do and everything.
Speaker:So it kind of rubs me a little bit.
Speaker:But on the other hand,
Speaker:some of these women are so talented that they're doing these
Speaker:glitter things and things that I knew nothing about until I,
Speaker:I watched them and I sit in awe every day of
Speaker:some of the pictures that they posted.
Speaker:Most of them do cake pops,
Speaker:which I don't know if you've ever made a cake pop,
Speaker:but I will never make another cake pop.
Speaker:As long as I live,
Speaker:they're the worst things to make,
Speaker:but they turn them into little animals and designs and I'm
Speaker:in awe of their work.
Speaker:I've learned a lot from these women and a lot of
Speaker:different tools I use now.
Speaker:I never would have known existed if they weren't sharing it
Speaker:with us,
Speaker:look everywhere for inspiration.
Speaker:Look everywhere for help because it's hard when you're doing it
Speaker:yourself and you don't really know what's the new trend or
Speaker:what people are buying and people are willing to teach.
Speaker:You just have to be there and you have to ask
Speaker:and people will help you.
Speaker:Right. Absolutely.
Speaker:I totally agree with you there.
Speaker:So this is a great way to also stay current in
Speaker:your industry.
Speaker:You can see what new techniques are out there,
Speaker:demonstrating all of that.
Speaker:Is there anything else you do to make sure you stay
Speaker:up on everything,
Speaker:either within business overall or your specific industry?
Speaker:I definitely go to conventions as often as possible.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I go to different conventions.
Speaker:I just don't go to the chocolate ganache and I go
Speaker:to the gift basket convention because I learned marketing.
Speaker:You're a great mentor to me for marketing,
Speaker:social media and all that.
Speaker:Oh, thanks.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think you say to heart and I implement it.
Speaker:If you can do anything,
Speaker:watch Sue and watch gift biz gal,
Speaker:because she has so many great tips on marketing.
Speaker:Use her as a mentor,
Speaker:reach out to these different groups that could be helpful to
Speaker:you as far as marketing management,
Speaker:anything business wise,
Speaker:because the more,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the better you're going to do because marketing is something I
Speaker:never really had to do.
Speaker:So it was like a new animal to me that I
Speaker:had to conquer.
Speaker:And it's still a daily thing for me,
Speaker:like, okay,
Speaker:I only have so much this month for my advertising budget.
Speaker:Who's going to get it.
Speaker:And if at the free local paper or you've got the
Speaker:newspaper and they're all knocking on your door for money,
Speaker:but you have to know which channel is going to work
Speaker:for you.
Speaker:And that's something that,
Speaker:that you have try to figure out because it's going to
Speaker:cost you a lot of money And things keep changing so
Speaker:fast now,
Speaker:too. Oh yeah.
Speaker:And you need to stay focused on what you're the best
Speaker:at, which is your business and making sure everything's on target
Speaker:there until you're right.
Speaker:Why do you have to learn it yourself?
Speaker:You go find other people who have figured it out and
Speaker:can tell you That's one thing that you're always on top
Speaker:of is what's going on in social media and the marketing
Speaker:area. So if anything you say I listened to,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:do live video and that has been something I do quite
Speaker:frequently now on my Facebook page.
Speaker:And you have,
Speaker:I'm so proud of you.
Speaker:I took off For me not to feel self-conscious now.
Speaker:It's just like,
Speaker:I set up the tripod and I took the phone on
Speaker:there and I just started talking.
Speaker:Perfect. It works great for us.
Speaker:So, and getting a lot of attention and I don't just
Speaker:do, Oh,
Speaker:here's this chocolate.
Speaker:I have done bow tying lessons and all kinds of things.
Speaker:Yeah. And even just showing a picture of,
Speaker:even at the cotton candy trailer.
Speaker:Oh, that's so good.
Speaker:I hadn't even thought of that.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:You could do something with someone who has just gotten their
Speaker:cotton candy.
Speaker:Why did you pick that flavor?
Speaker:Or how do you eat it or isn't it sticky or,
Speaker:you know what I mean?
Speaker:You have so much opportunity for content.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:And I want to be seen it when that new product
Speaker:comes out.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:Well, definitely going to do a video launch on that.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Good, good,
Speaker:good. So any final advice,
Speaker:Maureen, for someone who has gotten inspired from our conversation and
Speaker:is thinking about getting started,
Speaker:but 10 minutes after they're done listening here,
Speaker:all of the questions come up again,
Speaker:they're getting nervous and anxious.
Speaker:What would you say to that person?
Speaker:How much time do we have?
Speaker:I would probably say is go for it.
Speaker:Because since I started this,
Speaker:I don't work anymore.
Speaker:I play,
Speaker:there's going to be some up and down days.
Speaker:And there's days that are going to frustrate you like the
Speaker:day, the board of health walks in the door for your
Speaker:semi-annual inspection and you're not expecting her.
Speaker:And you've got a sink full of dishes,
Speaker:but nothing is insurmountable.
Speaker:The key piece of advice I can give you is just
Speaker:make sure you have a nest egg to fall back on
Speaker:because it's going to take you a while to turn a
Speaker:profit. If you do it outside your home,
Speaker:if you have the ability to do it inside your home,
Speaker:it frees up your time for marketing,
Speaker:networking. Networking is key.
Speaker:Go out,
Speaker:join some groups and do some networking,
Speaker:but go for it because it's so much more fulfilling.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I make less money now and I work longer hours,
Speaker:but I don't work.
Speaker:It's just 90% of my time.
Speaker:I'm enjoying the day.
Speaker:There's always some times like tax season and Christmas Eve.
Speaker:And I haven't slept in a week,
Speaker:but go for it.
Speaker:If you don't go for it,
Speaker:you'll regret it and regret you can't live with Words from
Speaker:someone who's done that.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Marie. And now I want to offer you an opportunity,
Speaker:Maureen, to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:So accept this gift on of myself and our listeners and
Speaker:let us know what's inside of you.
Speaker:Box inside.
Speaker:My box would be listening our new product that we're about
Speaker:to launch on Oprah's best list.
Speaker:Tell us how you're going to get that to happen.
Speaker:Well, I think I'm going to,
Speaker:once I launched the product,
Speaker:I'm going to have to send it to Oprah.
Speaker:I think so.
Speaker:And we'll make her try it.
Speaker:And do you already know which flavor you're sending are All
Speaker:of them?
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Oh, a sampling of everything.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:They're going to try them on.
Speaker:She's going to pick her favorite.
Speaker:Love it,
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Gift biz listeners.
Speaker:You know that there's going to be a show notes page
Speaker:with a big,
Speaker:bold linked title to her product.
Speaker:And there's also going to be all of the other information
Speaker:about her shop.
Speaker:But if someone is listening right now and cannot wait,
Speaker:what's the best place for someone to look and see what
Speaker:you're all about.
Speaker:Corrine it's moorings sweet shop.com
Speaker:and there's two S's in the middle and it's PPE on
Speaker:the end.
Speaker:The shop.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Maureen. It has been so fun to listen to your backstory
Speaker:because I have no new for awhile,
Speaker:but we never went into all of this detail and kind
Speaker:of went down this other side road and so much great
Speaker:information, especially for someone who's just starting out,
Speaker:hearing how step by step by step,
Speaker:you have created this into something that you love.
Speaker:You no longer work you play.
Speaker:We all know that you will be on Oprah's list very
Speaker:soon. Best of luck with that.
Speaker:We are all rooting for you and may your candle always
Speaker:burn bright Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company.
Speaker:Looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grander products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday,
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Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or cross studio in
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Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:So get this listeners.
Speaker:You might've heard some pounding near the end of our interview
Speaker:in my office building right below me.
Speaker:There's a new spot coming in.
Speaker:And of course they're doing demolition,
Speaker:right? When we are recording the broadcast.
Speaker:In any case,
Speaker:they held off for a little while,
Speaker:but they had to start working again.
Speaker:So I just let that in because I did not want
Speaker:to miss any of Maureen's super exciting story.
Speaker:I also want to remind you one more time,
Speaker:but then if you're not already to give to biz breeze,
Speaker:Facebook group,
Speaker:make sure you don't.
Speaker:It's a great opportunity to get additional exposure for your business
Speaker:and to pick up some new holiday sales for the season
Speaker:to make it super easy for you.
Speaker:Just go to give is breeze.com
Speaker:and you can join right there.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:That's a wrap for this week and I look forward to
