Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
Anne purchased holiday gifts for her company recognized the marginal quality and service provided by several large companies in the business. Her firefighter husband was the one who said suggested that she could do that … only better! [4:35]A Candle Flickering Moment
A business opportunity took Anne’s eye off of her gift basket business. In the end everything turned out but the lesson was clear. Keep focused on your core product.[13:05]Success Trait
Anne as made her business parallel the growth stages and the goals she has for her children. Listen in to understand what that means and where she plans to take her business in the future. [25:27]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Instagram – A fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and familyValuable Book
A Gift from The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram is @sbgiftbasketsIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode number eight.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and grow your business.
Speaker:Today. I am joined by Ann pacier.
Speaker:She is the owner of Santa Barbara gift baskets.
Speaker:The focus and true differentiator of her business is that they
Speaker:create unique gift featuring the finest gourmet food wine and craft
Speaker:beers specially made from the Santa Barbara area during the 10
Speaker:years and spin in business.
Speaker:Her journey has gone from being a home-based startup to purchasing
Speaker:a corner bakery that she turned into a deli,
Speaker:which was meant to compliment her gift business.
Speaker:Then she sold that deli and most recently,
Speaker:meaning within this last month opened a brand new retail location.
Speaker:Success definitely follows and around.
Speaker:She was recognized as the 2013 Colita finest entrepreneur of the
Speaker:year. And just last week was honored with the spirit of
Speaker:entrepreneurship 2014 award.
Speaker:Wow. And welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. I'm delighted to be here and grateful that you are
Speaker:impressed enough with my business,
Speaker:that you want to share it with your guests.
Speaker:Totally. And they are all going to understand why you're on
Speaker:the show as we continue.
Speaker:Is there anything else you would like to add to your
Speaker:bio before we get started?
Speaker:I think you covered it and it'll probably come out in
Speaker:the rest of the year.
Speaker:Perfect. We like to align the conversation around the life of
Speaker:a motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share your stories and
Speaker:experiences. So Anne,
Speaker:shall we light it up?
Speaker:Yes. Yay.
Speaker:Now help us envision your candle.
Speaker:What color is it?
Speaker:My candle is definitely a blue ocean blue and here in
Speaker:Santa Barbara,
Speaker:it's a really special shade of blue that could be sort
Speaker:of almost green,
Speaker:but really blue and silvery.
Speaker:Okay. And why would you pick that color?
Speaker:I just always feel more connected to life in general.
Speaker:When I'm closer to the ocean,
Speaker:I've lived in lots of places all over the United States
Speaker:that are really beautiful,
Speaker:but there's something about the energy of the ocean that I
Speaker:just really connect with.
Speaker:What would be the motivational quote on your candle?
Speaker:My quote would be from Maya Angelo.
Speaker:And it is that I'm a,
Speaker:I'm paraphrasing a little bit here,
Speaker:but it's basically the idea that people will forget what you
Speaker:say and they'll forget what you do,
Speaker:but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Speaker:And how does that resonate with you and how do you
Speaker:apply it in your life?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm in a perfect business for that because every day we
Speaker:are creating gifts to touch someone in a way that the
Speaker:person who ordered them is hoping that they will touch them.
Speaker:So I get to engage this concept every day.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:I want to go back now and,
Speaker:and let's talk about your journey.
Speaker:What ignited that spark inside you to start your business in
Speaker:the very beginning?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I wished I could say that I always wanted to make
Speaker:gifts or always wanting to make gift baskets and that's not
Speaker:really true.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:my mom would argue that I was constantly finding things to
Speaker:decorate and tie ribbons around and so forth.
Speaker:She likes to tell that story,
Speaker:but I was in sales and a passion of mine was
Speaker:always too believe it or not produced movies,
Speaker:but I just never could get to that part of my
Speaker:dream. And there were all these great career opportunities that came
Speaker:up within sales.
Speaker:I was with Eastman Kodak for several years,
Speaker:but always in the back of my mind,
Speaker:really loved that idea of producing movies and things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that would tell a story and bringing people together to collaborate,
Speaker:to make that story come to life.
Speaker:When I met my husband,
Speaker:I was actually in film school,
Speaker:but still kind of working part-time in sales.
Speaker:And when I was pregnant with my son,
Speaker:we decided I needed to leave that job and find something
Speaker:to be able to do from home.
Speaker:And one of the last things I did in that position
Speaker:with the company I was with was purchased all of the
Speaker:holiday gifts.
Speaker:And it seemed like every year I was always having trouble.
Speaker:I won't mention the name of the companies that we used,
Speaker:but they were like mainstream corporate kind of gift companies.
Speaker:And there was just always an issue.
Speaker:And he said to me,
Speaker:I think that you could do this.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:I don't know if I can do it.
Speaker:I think that this really looks harder than you think it
Speaker:is. So he was on eBay one night and my husband's
Speaker:a firefighter and he's also a very entrepreneurial man.
Speaker:He was on eBay one night and I was kind of
Speaker:looking over his shoulder,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with my baby in my arms.
Speaker:What are you doing over there?
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:oh, I just won this auction.
Speaker:It's a book on how to make gift baskets and a
Speaker:website. I got it for $33.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, that is a waste of $33.
Speaker:That's going to be,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a total scam.
Speaker:He goes,
Speaker:well, if it is,
Speaker:it was $33.
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe this is what we need to kind of start what
Speaker:we're doing,
Speaker:which by the way I had not bought into,
Speaker:at that point,
Speaker:I thought that I had said,
Speaker:this seems too difficult.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:and shortly thereafter he got called out on a wild land
Speaker:fire. And as I'm kissing him,
Speaker:as he's leaving that out the door,
Speaker:the mailman comes up with this book on how to make
Speaker:gift baskets.
Speaker:And I was kind of left standing there in the doorway
Speaker:with the book and the baby.
Speaker:And I guess it's time for me to start this gift
Speaker:basket business.
Speaker:But the key here is that I did leave my other
Speaker:job first by asking my employer,
Speaker:if I could still do the gift baskets for them next
Speaker:year, myself.
Speaker:And they agreed to it.
Speaker:They were really excited about it.
Speaker:They knew that I knew who the clients were and that
Speaker:I would come up with something creative.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:we started with just this book on how to do it.
Speaker:But we also started with a $20,000
Speaker:account, not until the next year,
Speaker:but we knew that we had that business.
Speaker:And I think that's a really big piece of advice that
Speaker:I would give anybody is if there is a possibility to
Speaker:take an order before you even have to really put any
Speaker:money into your business,
Speaker:that's an ideal situation to be in.
Speaker:Plus then you had quite a bit of time to make
Speaker:sure you perfected your skills and were prepared for an order,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that could really set the stage for the future for you
Speaker:in terms of corporate business.
Speaker:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker:And so in that same vein,
Speaker:so here,
Speaker:my husband leaves the book arrives.
Speaker:We kind of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I was looking through it and sort of again,
Speaker:feeling anxious.
Speaker:Like I,
Speaker:this really looks hard.
Speaker:These are really beautiful and it looks really difficult.
Speaker:And then Sue things started arriving like boxes of soaps and
Speaker:candles and crackers.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:what is going?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:he just was gung-ho that this is what we were going
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:So when people ask me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how did you start your business?
Speaker:They think it's really funny that this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:big burly firefighter is really the brains behind this whole operation,
Speaker:but then I took it upon myself to really make it
Speaker:my own.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well, we can't just compete with the same.
Speaker:I'm not going to try to recreate the baskets that you
Speaker:can buy at the big box stores because I'll never make
Speaker:any money off of that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:my costs will always be more than theirs are.
Speaker:So we live in this beautiful seaside town.
Speaker:That's filled with local wine and beer and fabulous foods,
Speaker:and it's a really unique place.
Speaker:And so I started looking at the farmer's markets and looking
Speaker:at the local gourmet markets of what was around that came
Speaker:from this area.
Speaker:That's when it really took on sort of its own identity.
Speaker:So you made yourself totally unique within the market and be
Speaker:just totally different,
Speaker:unique selling proposition.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:from anybody else.
Speaker:There are two things that you've said that really stick out
Speaker:for me.
Speaker:Number one is clearly your husband's support.
Speaker:When you start a business,
Speaker:it's so important to at least have somebody behind you and
Speaker:supporting what you're doing.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:not everybody.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you hear the whole story about like the Mrs.
Speaker:Fields cookies,
Speaker:where everyone thought she was crazy.
Speaker:And then look at what success she had.
Speaker:Sure. But you know,
Speaker:whether it's a family member or a friend or people within
Speaker:your chamber,
Speaker:it is really important to have someone who supports what you're
Speaker:doing. So that downtimes you're able to go to somebody and
Speaker:they can help lift you up.
Speaker:That's the first thing I'm pulling from the conversation.
Speaker:Another thing that I think is really potent is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're talking about how were looking at gift baskets from some
Speaker:of these huge companies,
Speaker:but you weren't totally thrilled with what you were getting in
Speaker:return, possibly the basket.
Speaker:Wasn't the quality that you feel you paid for,
Speaker:or there were customer service issues or one thing,
Speaker:one thing or another.
Speaker:And when you're in charge of your own business,
Speaker:you can make sure that every level of that kind of
Speaker:customer interaction is nothing but the best,
Speaker:right. And so much easier to do than a bigger company
Speaker:can ever do.
Speaker:So if you're thinking in terms of businesses,
Speaker:you're going to start or how your business compares to the
Speaker:big guys and that you just can't compete think a little
Speaker:bit differently here because you absolutely can.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:you have an,
Speaker:an edge over them in for sure quality of product and
Speaker:also customer service.
Speaker:I'm also coming from it from the standpoint of I've been
Speaker:a sales person.
Speaker:I understand what the purpose of that gift is.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:$20,000 for corporate gifts.
Speaker:That's a lot of a budget,
Speaker:right? Eight,
Speaker:and it's not just supposed to be this nice little gesture.
Speaker:There's a point behind it is to maintain business that's already
Speaker:there or engage with new potential clients and impress them.
Speaker:And so for my employer,
Speaker:my former employer able to have them send me handwritten cards
Speaker:from all the managers in the locations,
Speaker:all over the country,
Speaker:right. They sent those cards to me and I put them
Speaker:in with each gift so that the gift arrived,
Speaker:had a sticker with the logo of the com.
Speaker:It, it had a handwritten card from their point person,
Speaker:and that was not even possible with bigger companies.
Speaker:They would just have some typed out message,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and it could have been from anybody and as soon as
Speaker:that's thrown away,
Speaker:but so often is as soon as the gift arrives,
Speaker:it's lost as to who it came from.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:the final straw with attempting to do these gifts when I
Speaker:was working for my former employer,
Speaker:was that no cards were put in one year.
Speaker:I was just shocked that this company would have done that.
Speaker:And so that has for 10 years been always the most
Speaker:critical piece of what we do is make sure that there
Speaker:is in fact a message.
Speaker:And it is really clear who it came from.
Speaker:And especially when they're corporate,
Speaker:you want some type of a purpose.
Speaker:It could be a thank you for customer retention and all
Speaker:that, but there needs to be a business purpose behind it.
Speaker:You're so right.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:when you have that sales background,
Speaker:you can come up with creative ways.
Speaker:I'll sit down and I'll meet with my clients and say,
Speaker:what is the purpose?
Speaker:What do they get out of this?
Speaker:We have an monthly that sends out five-year anniversary gifts to
Speaker:whoever is on their client list.
Speaker:That's been with them for five years and they come and
Speaker:they drop off,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:25 or 30 of these handwritten cards.
Speaker:And we send them out and it's now just become,
Speaker:we're like an arm of their marketing department.
Speaker:So Anna and I were in the middle of the interview
Speaker:and something happened.
Speaker:And I'm going to let Anne explain to you and tell
Speaker:you how we have research-related to finish the interview.
Speaker:What happened When you said that light it up?
Speaker:We sure lit it up.
Speaker:Apparently we lit it up,
Speaker:but my phone got so hot that it shut off,
Speaker:which is great.
Speaker:This is why my phone,
Speaker:this is why Siri calls me hot stuff on my phone.
Speaker:I programmed that.
Speaker:So it's true.
Speaker:So now I have moved into our wine cellar.
Speaker:So I'm sitting on top of some wine boxes,
Speaker:staring at my collection of wine and chocolate,
Speaker:which we keep in this nice,
Speaker:cool room.
Speaker:So if you hear something in the background,
Speaker:it might be just opening a bottle and having a glass,
Speaker:But I got on the plane and come on over,
Speaker:please Let's do that.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:So Anne,
Speaker:we're going to pick up here and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:those days weren't always sitting in your wine cellar with chocolate
Speaker:surrounding, You know,
Speaker:struck by it.
Speaker:I was looking at this inventory thinking there was a time
Speaker:when we didn't have enough in our bank account to even
Speaker:front the inventory that I'm looking at right now.
Speaker:And that's a milestone in and of itself within a business.
Speaker:Sure. Is,
Speaker:well, listen,
Speaker:take us to a time when things worked so well,
Speaker:tell us a story about when that inner flame,
Speaker:that passion that you had for your business started to dwindle.
Speaker:Well, I think,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as you grow,
Speaker:so your business,
Speaker:you try new things.
Speaker:We got to a point with our home-based business that we
Speaker:fought, we needed a brick and mortar.
Speaker:We, we jumped right to brick and mortar and found this
Speaker:little corner deli that was for sale downtown.
Speaker:We thought it would be a nice compliment to our business.
Speaker:We purchased it with no previous front of house experience in
Speaker:a restaurant we'd both been servers and so forth.
Speaker:We really got in over our heads.
Speaker:And what happened was we bought a second business that took
Speaker:us away from focusing on our gift basket business.
Speaker:I made some corporate contacts out of that because it was
Speaker:in a downtown area,
Speaker:but really there was this big stretch of time where I
Speaker:just had to put the gift basket business almost on hold
Speaker:and really just do holiday orders and then run the restaurant.
Speaker:The rest of the time I had babies in that time
Speaker:period, California had five major wildfires in five years.
Speaker:So my husband would leave for weeks at a time.
Speaker:And I would be sitting there with the gift basket business,
Speaker:the deli,
Speaker:and two small children.
Speaker:And it wasn't fun at all.
Speaker:I think now because I'm in a place where I love
Speaker:getting up and starting the day and I love and look
Speaker:forward to going to work.
Speaker:And I don't want to leave at the end of the
Speaker:day. I value that even more because there were certainly days
Speaker:when I just dreaded and felt like our business was a
Speaker:ball and chain.
Speaker:And that's so unfortunate.
Speaker:We were able to get out of that miraculously,
Speaker:somebody approached us and wanted to buy the deli.
Speaker:So they did,
Speaker:we took a tremendous loss,
Speaker:but I like to look at it as a very expensive
Speaker:business school that my husband and I went to for five
Speaker:years now,
Speaker:we're really cashing in on a lot of those expensive lessons.
Speaker:So it definitely was not all for,
Speaker:for nothing.
Speaker:And I think the point here really is don't go off
Speaker:and start focusing on something other than what is your core
Speaker:business, because you can just get spread too thin and lose
Speaker:everything. It's So true and I'm skipping.
Speaker:So I,
Speaker:before I comment on that,
Speaker:I'm going to go back to,
Speaker:so we sold the deli,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and then looked at each other and said,
Speaker:okay, well the basket business really has to do something.
Speaker:It has to make enough that I don't have to go
Speaker:back and get another job.
Speaker:And that was enough motivation to make me make this business
Speaker:work immediately joined my local chamber because I didn't have to
Speaker:go make sandwiches all day long and do catering with the
Speaker:deli. I was able to show up at networking events,
Speaker:give people my card,
Speaker:follow up,
Speaker:make phone calls,
Speaker:go in and have meetings.
Speaker:And very quickly within,
Speaker:I would say like six months,
Speaker:we noticed a huge change in our business.
Speaker:And that year we doubled our sales from the previous year.
Speaker:And then the next year we doubled them again.
Speaker:And by that time we were working out of a warehouse
Speaker:that was just a very nondescript tucked into an industrial warehouse,
Speaker:industrial area building that belonged to some friends of ours.
Speaker:And they kind of gave us a good deal on rent.
Speaker:And because of that and keeping our overhead low,
Speaker:we were able to continue to climb up out of that
Speaker:economic downturn.
Speaker:And it's so attempting,
Speaker:especially in a business like ours,
Speaker:because you make such beautiful things to want to show it
Speaker:off and to want to have that beautiful showcase and that
Speaker:beautiful showroom.
Speaker:But I really think it was a wise decision for us
Speaker:to just slowly chug along and grow the business until the
Speaker:sales really would sustain being in a retail storefront.
Speaker:And that change happened.
Speaker:Do you want me to go into that part of it
Speaker:now? Sure.
Speaker:Okay. So again,
Speaker:the following year,
Speaker:our sales doubled people started coming to the warehouse and I
Speaker:found that I was really embarrassed.
Speaker:It never was meant to be a showroom,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:I was always embarrassed of how it looked,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as they were trying to shop my warehouse shelves.
Speaker:I think anybody who has a business in a warehouse or
Speaker:home base even could appreciate just how the struggle of seeing
Speaker:people walk around your space like,
Speaker:oh gosh,
Speaker:this is not a showroom.
Speaker:So now this opportunity came up to move to a new
Speaker:location that jump into retail was a little bit daunting,
Speaker:but by this time we had grown enough that I needed
Speaker:to hire an employee.
Speaker:So since we already had an employee,
Speaker:I felt like,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:we can be open for business hours.
Speaker:That was always my fear that I wouldn't be able to
Speaker:leave and go work in my children's classroom if I needed
Speaker:to or,
Speaker:or whatever it was.
Speaker:So now we add an employee.
Speaker:Now we were kind of big enough to have a retail
Speaker:storefront, but it's also,
Speaker:still is a somewhat seasonal business.
Speaker:So I didn't want to pay the rent to be down
Speaker:in the tourist district and have the really fancy showroom.
Speaker:And I really liked this little neighborhood that we were in.
Speaker:It's an up and coming neighborhood.
Speaker:My husband has such vision.
Speaker:He found this old mechanic's garage and he said,
Speaker:I think this is a great location for us.
Speaker:And the rent is really low.
Speaker:And I looked at it and thought,
Speaker:are you crazy?
Speaker:How can I sell gourmet food and wine?
Speaker:And my beautiful baskets out of a mechanics garage.
Speaker:It had like an old Hummer up on blocks.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:it was just,
Speaker:but he had this vision and I trust him and we
Speaker:went with it.
Speaker:Your know,
Speaker:your location right now is right,
Speaker:like across the street from a little luncheon place,
Speaker:right? So he saw the garage and saw that it could
Speaker:be something bigger.
Speaker:And I turned around in the driveway and looked across the
Speaker:street and saw the lunch crowd lined up down the block
Speaker:to go to this cute little cafe that was directly across
Speaker:from us.
Speaker:And I realized that those people were going to be facing
Speaker:our little shop while they were standing there waiting for lunch.
Speaker:So that's when I started to buy into it and was
Speaker:able to see it.
Speaker:And then the fun came in when I was able to
Speaker:be on Pinterest every night,
Speaker:penny ideas,
Speaker:and just like leaning over to my husband saying,
Speaker:could you build this?
Speaker:Could you do this?
Speaker:And so now we have this really unique,
Speaker:beautiful showroom that people can walk into and see purchase things
Speaker:individually, you know,
Speaker:see our baskets.
Speaker:It's a whole different way of selling.
Speaker:The other thing is we weren't even going to get our
Speaker:on-premise license.
Speaker:My husband just happened to make that phone call to me
Speaker:from the ABC when he was getting our license moved and
Speaker:say, it's only $600.
Speaker:Do you want me to add on premise?
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:well, I guess maybe we'll pour a beer and wine at
Speaker:some point for somebody that could be interesting.
Speaker:And that's clearly become a whole nother business.
Speaker:We are a tasting room.
Speaker:Now people bring their lunch over from next door and sit
Speaker:and have a glass of wine or beer.
Speaker:And while they're sitting there having their glass of wine,
Speaker:they're staring at all of our gifts.
Speaker:And they're thinking of all the reasons why they need to
Speaker:send something to their mom or their dad or their client
Speaker:or whatever.
Speaker:We were talking just a few minutes ago about staying with
Speaker:your core business,
Speaker:but being able to have wine on premise,
Speaker:given that you have a nice little luncheon area right across
Speaker:the street,
Speaker:makes a good point in that you should always be open
Speaker:and have your antennas up four different ways.
Speaker:You can take,
Speaker:what's already your core business and add some extension to it
Speaker:because this could be a gold mine for you,
Speaker:right? I mean,
Speaker:you've only been open a month now,
Speaker:but you're already seeing that it's working.
Speaker:It's tempting to get distracted by all these other opportunities.
Speaker:People come in and now they want me to do this,
Speaker:or they suggest we do that.
Speaker:And I have learned from the deli and that whole experience
Speaker:to just stop and thank them and say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I do have vision that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:don't be confused that I don't have vision,
Speaker:but I need to focus on what my core businesses.
Speaker:And then if something else compliments that that's great.
Speaker:And someday,
Speaker:maybe, maybe the baskets will be a very small piece of
Speaker:what we do.
Speaker:And we really will be,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a tasting room.
Speaker:But for now,
Speaker:this is what our focus is.
Speaker:Yes. And the beauty with your own business is you can
Speaker:take, you know,
Speaker:everyone has opinions for you,
Speaker:right? And you can take what is right for you and
Speaker:implement what makes sense and what doesn't,
Speaker:because when they give you an idea and then walk out
Speaker:that door,
Speaker:you're the one who has to live and die by what
Speaker:you're going to employ.
Speaker:It's True.
Speaker:One of the biggest things I found about having a retail
Speaker:as opposed to the warehouse is that I can take risks
Speaker:on carrying a certain product,
Speaker:or I can buy one or two of something and see
Speaker:if it sells.
Speaker:And if it doesn't it's okay because I'll sell the one
Speaker:or two,
Speaker:but when we had our warehouse,
Speaker:I wouldn't sell anything that I didn't photograph and put up
Speaker:online and make available on our website.
Speaker:And so there was lots of times when I just was
Speaker:overwhelmed and couldn't get to putting that up,
Speaker:or maybe only had one of them.
Speaker:We moved a whole bunch of inventory that we had had
Speaker:for a long time in the warehouse.
Speaker:The first few weeks that we opened salad bowls and things
Speaker:that I just only had a few of us Let's move
Speaker:on now.
Speaker:And Anne,
Speaker:can you talk with us about a promotion or an event
Speaker:that you've done,
Speaker:that's made a difference.
Speaker:So maybe it's brought in new customers,
Speaker:increased sales,
Speaker:moved product.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:clearly the new location has done that,
Speaker:but what else have you done in the past that you
Speaker:really saw moving move the needle each Year when people are
Speaker:kind of putting together their new year's resolutions?
Speaker:I look at our business and I learned this from when
Speaker:the economy did bottom out,
Speaker:is that if you have all your eggs in one basket
Speaker:and that particular industry suffers,
Speaker:then your whole business is going to suffer.
Speaker:So I've always tried to diversify and make sure that I
Speaker:have a little piece of all these different markets.
Speaker:And so each year I kind of try to,
Speaker:I say that this is the year I'm going to focus
Speaker:on this market.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we did so much corporate stuff with banks and everything two
Speaker:or three years ago this year is my year for hospitality.
Speaker:And I really have made it a point to go out
Speaker:and meet with every single resort and hotel.
Speaker:In my area,
Speaker:we joined visit Santa Barbara,
Speaker:which is our local visitor's bureau.
Speaker:I'm going to the restaurant and lodging association meetings and really
Speaker:connecting because visitors to Santa Barbara are the best clients for
Speaker:us because they really want a taste of this area.
Speaker:And that's what we do.
Speaker:So what I've done is I'll meet at a networking event
Speaker:or however,
Speaker:I get the connection,
Speaker:someone at the resort,
Speaker:they have these weekly sales meetings.
Speaker:And so I'll encourage them to include me in the weekly
Speaker:sales meeting because I will be bringing samples and it will
Speaker:be a nice little break for them.
Speaker:And I bring in a couple of samples.
Speaker:I bring in some of the foods that we carry so
Speaker:that they can try those and snack on those.
Speaker:And then I go around the room and I ask each
Speaker:of the people at that meeting,
Speaker:what is your role at the resort?
Speaker:And they each have different roles.
Speaker:There's one person that does weddings.
Speaker:There's one person that does corporate sales.
Speaker:There's one person that does meeting and events.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the general manager has different ideas,
Speaker:but I ask them to tell me what they think the
Speaker:gift baskets can be used for as far as a sales
Speaker:tool to meet their goals and objectives.
Speaker:And I take lots of notes,
Speaker:I've really have found the best way to figure out what
Speaker:a client needs is to ask them.
Speaker:Don't just assume that you know what they need,
Speaker:but we do hundreds,
Speaker:thousands probably of baskets a year for welcome amenities.
Speaker:So it's a really big piece of our business and I
Speaker:wasn't even doing it before On the customer service end.
Speaker:How do you make your customers feel unique and valued?
Speaker:That goes back to how can I differentiate myself from just
Speaker:these gift companies that use the 800 gift companies?
Speaker:Right? One of the things I like to do is whenever
Speaker:possible. And certainly with the permission of the recipient,
Speaker:I like to take a photo of the person receiving the
Speaker:basket. This makes the person who ordered it really feel connected.
Speaker:We are right next to a major university,
Speaker:university of UC SB,
Speaker:university of California,
Speaker:Santa Barbara.
Speaker:And I have so many parents who start ordering from me
Speaker:when their kids are a freshmen.
Speaker:And it's exciting to see,
Speaker:I almost feel like I'm part of these kids' lives because
Speaker:I get to see them when it's finals time or on
Speaker:their birthday,
Speaker:they turn 21,
Speaker:we deliver a champagne basket to them,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and then right up to graduation and the parents love that
Speaker:they can see a photo of their kid holding the basket.
Speaker:It's just kind of a little extra special treat.
Speaker:And the same goes for the assisted living facilities.
Speaker:Mother's day was a huge holiday for us just recently,
Speaker:I had a woman crying on the phone cause she was
Speaker:so happy to see her mom sitting in the dining room
Speaker:at her assisted living facility,
Speaker:holding the basket that we had delivered.
Speaker:So there's other things that you can do to really differentiate
Speaker:yourself. And there's no price you can put on that.
Speaker:I think No,
Speaker:there's no price.
Speaker:And it also goes back to your motivational candle.
Speaker:It's how you make them feel it does you're right.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:We're going to enter into the reflection section.
Speaker:Now this is a look at you and what's helped you
Speaker:with your success along the way.
Speaker:So Ann,
Speaker:what is one natural trait you have that has helped you
Speaker:to succeed?
Speaker:I don't know if it's a trait so much as it
Speaker:is just a natural progression in life.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I started this business when my son was a year old,
Speaker:he's just turned 11 and our business has just turned 10.
Speaker:And it's remarkable to me,
Speaker:the parallels between raising a child and raising a business down
Speaker:to the point of he has a younger sister and she's
Speaker:now five.
Speaker:And a lot of the things I did with him at
Speaker:five, I don't do with her because I kind of learned
Speaker:along the way.
Speaker:And I think that's true of us having,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the restaurant for so long and being able to make different,
Speaker:better choices this next time around.
Speaker:But when I look at my hopes and dreams for my
Speaker:children, they're very similar to my business.
Speaker:I want to be there for all these different things in
Speaker:their lives,
Speaker:but I want them to be independent,
Speaker:successful people.
Speaker:And someday I would like my business to be so independent
Speaker:that it is very independent of me,
Speaker:whether that is selling it or just retiring in some capacity
Speaker:so that I'm not running it on a day-to-day basis,
Speaker:but it's,
Speaker:the challenges are very similar.
Speaker:This could be a topic for a whole nother podcast really,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:often people say when they start a new business that it's
Speaker:like having another child,
Speaker:The beauty of this business and what I'm so grateful for
Speaker:is that the business has been exactly what we needed to
Speaker:be. You know,
Speaker:when my son was first born,
Speaker:I really did need to be home with him.
Speaker:And so having that home-based business was a perfect fit,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and as he got older and as he had,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:was going to school and had more independence than I was
Speaker:able to focus more on our business.
Speaker:And so I've a couple of years ago,
Speaker:I decided I really decided I don't want this to just
Speaker:be a job for myself.
Speaker:And that's what it was.
Speaker:I was doing everything myself.
Speaker:I was making a nice little profit that was probably similar
Speaker:to, you know,
Speaker:what I would make if I was working for a salary
Speaker:for another company.
Speaker:And I really decided,
Speaker:I don't want this to be a job anywhere.
Speaker:I want this to be a business.
Speaker:And that changed my whole thought process.
Speaker:Everything I did was to create a system that could be
Speaker:passed on to someone else.
Speaker:And once I decided I have a five-year plan,
Speaker:I want to sell this business or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:grow it and expand it in five years,
Speaker:everything I did was to get to that goal.
Speaker:And so that was a big change.
Speaker:What tool do you use regularly to help keep productive or
Speaker:to create balance in your life?
Speaker:Probably a lot of tools that I should use.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm still finding myself because I'm sort of open 24 hours
Speaker:a day and I have my cell phone with me all
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:I'm taking orders on the back of permission slips,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and then my son turns it in and I realized the
Speaker:orders on the back of that,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:So I should be using more apps that would help,
Speaker:better organize me.
Speaker:But I guess I constantly have my phone in my hand.
Speaker:And social media is really kind of something that I use
Speaker:all the time.
Speaker:It has become a secondary storefront for us.
Speaker:I've found that our Instagram feed people are purchasing off of
Speaker:that. They're calling me up and saying,
Speaker:I want that picture.
Speaker:I saw,
Speaker:it's a way for me to just test things out and
Speaker:gauge the excitement around certain products.
Speaker:It's a way for me to connect with the fan base
Speaker:of a lot of the products that I carry.
Speaker:I guess if I can say social media is a,
Speaker:is one of my greatest tools.
Speaker:That's what I,
Speaker:You absolutely can.
Speaker:And it fits perfect with your business too,
Speaker:because your business being creative visuals are perfect Instagram and you
Speaker:know, all of social media.
Speaker:What do you use?
Speaker:Mostly Instagram?
Speaker:I know you're on Facebook,
Speaker:too. Facebook personally.
Speaker:And I part of my trade association groups,
Speaker:which I find incredibly supportive on Facebook.
Speaker:But what I love about Instagram is that daily,
Speaker:I take photos of everything that's going out of here.
Speaker:I take photos of various products that I have.
Speaker:And when you use Instagram,
Speaker:you can instantly push it out to Facebook and Twitter at
Speaker:the same time.
Speaker:So while I really don't understand Twitter still,
Speaker:I don't,
Speaker:I just it's moves at a speed that I cannot keep
Speaker:up with,
Speaker:but I'm reaching those Twitter people because when I put it
Speaker:up on Instagram,
Speaker:it's going out there as well.
Speaker:Book, have you read lately that you think our listeners could
Speaker:find value in?
Speaker:There's a book that I read every three years and moral
Speaker:Lindbergh wrote a gift from the sea.
Speaker:And that's a business book.
Speaker:Maybe that's a surprise to you that I would say that
Speaker:book. And if you haven't read it,
Speaker:I highly recommended.
Speaker:I often give it as a gift to all the women
Speaker:in my life.
Speaker:But that's a book that if you read it every few
Speaker:years, it's almost like it's a whole nother book.
Speaker:It just speaks to a different part of you.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease,
Speaker:get a free audio book from audible,
Speaker:just like the one Ann is mentioning.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection.
Speaker:That's gift biz book.com.
Speaker:Okay. And we're circling around to the end here.
Speaker:My favorite portion of the podcast,
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or goal of almost unreachable Heights that
Speaker:you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside.
Speaker:Oh My gosh,
Speaker:Sue. It is exactly what I have always wanted.
Speaker:This is a really big box because a private jet is
Speaker:going to fly out of it.
Speaker:And that jet is going to be on the tarmac loaded
Speaker:with champagne and cheese and fruit and sausages and just waiting
Speaker:for my husband and I and my children to jump on
Speaker:board and take us wherever we want.
Speaker:I think travel anywhere is part of my dream.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Why don't you come visit me before you go off into
Speaker:some exotic place?
Speaker:We will certainly make a stop.
Speaker:Well, you're going to call me when you got that plane
Speaker:on the tarmac.
Speaker:Ready to go.
Speaker:Okay. I will.
Speaker:It's parked right next to Oprah's plane right now,
Speaker:so, Okay.
Speaker:So you're just waiting for it to show up for you.
Speaker:Yeah. Yes,
Speaker:yes, yes.
Speaker:Okay. How can our listeners get in touch with you?
Speaker:Well, If you're on Instagram,
Speaker:you can follow me at SB gift baskets,
Speaker:but our website is Santa Barbara gift baskets.com.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:And gift biz listeners.
Speaker:If you didn't capture all the information that was shared today,
Speaker:you can jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com and there you'll find and show notes page,
Speaker:which will have everything documented with links so you can easily
Speaker:access all the information.
Speaker:Thank you so much for your tremendously valuable gifts that you've
Speaker:shared today with us Anne,
Speaker:and may your candle always burn bright?
Speaker:Oh, thank you,
Speaker:Sue. It was such a pleasure.
Speaker:Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:and life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrap.com/tools. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Would you like to be on the show or do you
Speaker:know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker:All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.
Speaker:You can access the form@giftbizonraft.com
Speaker:forward slash guest that's gift biz on rap.com
Speaker:forward slash G U E S T today's show is sponsored
Speaker:by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grantor products of your
Speaker:logo or going to happy birthday.
Speaker:Jessica driven to add to a gift ready to checkout.
Speaker:It's all done right in your shop for craft studio.
Speaker:And second check out the ribbon print company.com
