Understanding the 5 Gift Biz Growth Stages will be a huge source of insight into where you are in your business journey and why you might be struggling right now as you try and grow.

You'll easily identify which stage you're in as I describe each one. The magic here is that you'll also learn exactly what steps to take to move from one stage to another.

No more chasing shiny objects or trying to do "all the things" at one time! Easy does it, step by step, from one stage to another. You get to take a deep breath and enjoy the process versus feeling like you're always behind.

What's In This Bash Party?

• Free training on the 5 Gift Biz Growth Stages plus action steps you can take for each to help you grow
• Q&A with Bash attendees
• Showcases - attendees share their upcoming events, unique collaborations, and discount promo codes! << Tune in to grab these deals! 

Listen to this Bash episode now to learn the 5 Gift Biz Growth Stages and hear all the Showcases!

Resources Mentioned:

• Content for Makers
• Gift Biz Unwrapped Merchandise Shop

Interested in being part of the next Bash Party?

See upcoming Gift Biz Bash parties and grab your spot today! Don't delay - spaces are limited.

Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community

Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe so you automatically get the next episode downloaded for your convenience. Click on your preferred platform below to get started.

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Thank you so much! Sue

Gift biz unwrapped episode 368.

Attention gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

Now you are in the right place.

This is give to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

Hi there it's Sue.

And today in particular,

I am thrilled that you're here.

This is the day that you're going to get an inside

peek into our very first gift.

BizBash what's bash.

If you're new here,

hold tight.

You'll experience it in just a few minutes.

But first I want to remind you that doing events like

craft shows and farmer's markets offers great photo and posting opportunities

for social media.

I bring this up because you've told me you're discouraged.

When you don't see any of the time and effort you

put into social media,

moving the needle on your sales,

putting in more time posting in the same way isn't going

to magically bring you results.

You need to change the way you're posting and what you're

posting. You don't need to put in more work.

You need to put in the right work.

That's when things will change.

If you need some help with this,

I've got you covered with the content for makers.

Program content for makers will enlighten you as to why your

social media activities aren't converting into sales.

It will also show you how to put less time in

and start seeing activity that will increase your sales.

Just imagine a day where you know exactly what to post

and to get it done in five minutes or less,

then you can spend your time interacting with potential customers,

deepening relationships with those you already know too.

And it builds upon itself naturally.

Yes, this is possible.

Content for makers includes a step-by-step strategy to formulating your unique

plan based on your business and your products.

Then you'll have 375 social media prompts over a full year

of ideas along with the 375 prompts come 375 image suggestions.

So you're not left hanging on the creative.

These prompts and image suggestions can be used for all platforms

and all types of posting images,

live streaming reels,

even email direction.

There's more to content for makers to,

to see all the details.

Just jump over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash content for makers.

But honestly at only 27,

it's a no brainer.

Why carry on posting as you've been doing all along expecting

different results.

Sign up for content for makers now and see the transformation

of your posting experience change before your very eyes gift biz

on rap.com

forward slash content for makers ready and waiting for your immediate

access. Right now,

Moving into today's topic.

I'm going to share with you what may very well be

a huge source of insight into where you are in your

business journey and why you might be struggling right now,

as you try and grow,

I call this the five gift biz growth stages.

And as I go through them,

you'll be able to easily identify which stage you're in the

magic here is that I'll also tell you exactly what steps

you should take to move on to the next stage,

no more chasing shiny objects or trying to do all the

things at one time easy does it.

Step-by-step from one stage to another.

You get to take a deep breath and enjoy the process

versus feeling like you're always behind sound good.

Then let's get going.

Welcome to the first gift biz bash.

I am so excited about doing these bashes because one of

the biggest things I'm always hearing is how do I get

more eyes on my business?

How do I get the word out about what I'm doing?

And nobody,

I don't care if you're just starting,

or if you've been in business for a while,

nobody feels like they have this all wrapped up.

Everyone's looking for new ways of attracting eyeballs.

So what we're going to do during our time together is

I am going to talk about my five gift biz growth

stages for about 10 minutes or so.

And then after that,

we're going to get into the showcases to kick it off.

Let's dive right into the five gift biz growth stages.

I have the evolution of a business as I teach people

how to start and develop their businesses.

But these stages have become very,

very clear over time.

Also, there are very concrete,

specific steps that you can take to get from one stage

to the next stage,

to the next stage.

The very first stage of your business growth is what I'm

terming Visibility.

So that's like visibility,

but with a B biz ability At this point,

you wouldn't have started yet,

but you're thinking about the possibilities.

Maybe a friend or a family member has said,

oh my gosh,

what you make is so beautiful.

You ought to start a business.

Hadn't even been on the radar,

but all of a sudden,

one little sentence,

you're like,

Ooh, maybe,

but then when you start thinking,

it gets kind of scary.

You have no clue what to do.

When people are invited into gift biz breeze,

I asked,

what's your biggest challenge right now,

people who are beginners are like,

well, I don't know what to do to start.

I don't want to start wrong.

You know,

all of these fears come up.

Lots of times in this very first stage,

people are concerned because how could I possibly start a business

if I don't have any business education,

but that contrasts with looking out into the world and seeing

that other people are doing it.

So there's an element of hope there to action steps.

If you're in this stage,

visibility is first to really think through what a business would

look like that you think would feel good to you.

It's the dreaming stage still,

but to solidify and clarify the dream a little bit,

then make a Commitment to yourself that you're going to start

Because you can go on for years and say,

yeah, I'm thinking about starting a business and never,

ever start.

So put a date on the calendar or just commit to

yourself that yes,

I'm getting started.

And here's my very first step.

This is what I'm going to do.

And to help you along with that,

the other thing I say to do in this stage is

permit by telling three people.

I don't care if it's a friend,

family, member,

your coworker,

say it out loud to somebody they'll hold you a little

bit accountable.

And the hardest thing like we know with anything,

weight loss,

anything same applies to business.

The very hardest thing is just to start.

Then I want you to define two products because with makers,

lots of us make a million things,

right? So what are two products that could be something that

you would sell and then gift this to two people.

Okay. So I'm saying you can give it for free.

Or if someone has said to you,

Hey, would you make me one of your scarves?

I'll buy it from you.

Then let them pay for it.

Through that transaction gifting or selling with two people starts to

build the momentum.

You start to get the feel,

okay. That's stage number one,

stage number two,

I'm calling validation.

I would say of everybody I work with probably only two

to 5% of people ever even do this step.

This is time of testing and discovery narrowing in on what

products will actually sell.

So you're actually finding your market.

You're perfecting your product.

I've had a lot of people who'd go into maker's MBA.

Take a lot of time in the beginning of refining production.

So the end product is exactly right.

The candles burn clean or all the different things that into

the production of your product.

This is also the stage under validation.

When you will introduce your product for the very first time

to an audience,

and this can be exciting,

but it can also be really anxiety provoking because now all

of a sudden you're going to put yourself out there.

The action steps that you're taking during this stage is to

sign up and attend one or two shows in person shows

could be a farmer's market craft fair.

It could even be just a show you put on in

your house because you're really not establishing your business yet.

What you're doing is testing and seeing who likes your product,

which products sell better than others.

If something's not selling,

what do you need to do to tweak it so that

it will sell?

You're validating that the product that you're going to put out

into the world has a market where people will actually open

their wallets,

push the button on the computer to say,

buy the people will actually give their money for your product

because you know how it is people all day long,

they'll say,

oh, that's beautiful.

That looks great,

but they won't pay money for it.

So it's really important to validate your product before you really

truly get started.

This is why so many people will say I went to

the craft show and no one bought any of my products.

We have to be realistic about whether we have a market.

This is the second step.

It's also where you get to know who your customer is,

who is attracted to your product.

And Amy great that you're here because you revised who your

customer was over time.

That's a perfect example.

All of this is validation in the beginning,

surprisingly, before you should even really start your business.

And again,

as I said before,

I'd say two to 5% ever do this validation stage,

which is why we have such a high close rate on

businesses. They just think you can put everything out there and

people will buy,

particularly in handmade.

You may need to make sure you validate the market.

Okay? Moving on to the third stage,

I call this making it real.

This is where you officially start your business.

You start adding that professional structure underneath the structure.

You need to create a solid foundation thinking about what is

my brand going to stand for?

Notice we're already at stage three fear sets in here that

resurfaces up again,

because now it's time to make investment personally and financially into

the business is also a time when you start questioning your

current ways,

because now I'm really truly going to do this.

I am making it real.

You're rethinking a lot of the manual systems that you have

in place.

So the action steps when someone is in this stage is

to formalize your business name.

Now this might sound way late in the game,

right? Because a lot of people,

right in the beginning,

I'm going to start a business.

What am I going to name it?

Well, what if you see that the product that you thought

you were going to sell,

isn't really the one that people will pay for.

And so you want to change your product along the way.

And then you're stuck with a name for your business that

doesn't match the product that you're selling,

right? So it's better to test the market.

Like I said,

in stage two and then finalize it in stage three.

Here's where you formalize your business.

You actually register it with the government sole proprietor,

LLC, which is of course always my call.

You open a business bank account because now you have your

company name really important to keep your finances a hundred percent

separate from personal finances.

You also get to do your logos and your colors at

this point.

Not that they might not change over time,

but how are you going to start off?

You add in some type of an accounting system,

not just an Excel spreadsheet.

And then right here is where I want to start building

up to two sales channels at minimum two sales channels.

So you may open an Etsy shop and also do face-to-face

online. Or you might do networking because you're trying to get

into a small businesses in the area like state farm agents

or realtors,

or, you know,

who knows what it depends on the product,

but two different ways that you can sell your product because

each channel has its own audience.

Even online sales platforms like Etsy has a different audience than

Amazon handmade.

Then of course,

people who just come directly to a website,

if you were starting that way.

So having more than one way to attract sales is going

to help you get in business faster,

because this is all in the making it real stage three

here is when you start buying wholesale.

So things that you're making and including in your product or

packaging, instead of buying a retail prices,

if you're baking,

going to the grocery store for flour and sugar and eggs,

you're starting to buy in bulk,

maybe not everything right away,

but it's starting to,

these are the steps in stage three.

Now we're going to jump over to stage four,

which is upping the game.

This is where you start developing consistency with the business.

You're starting to see it.

Sales steadily coming in.

You know who your customer is.

You've buttoned down your processes.

And you're understanding the sales cycles probably for all of us,

handmade products,

Christmas, huge time of the year for selling.

But other times to specific industries,

I'll just say,

gift baskets,

some gift basket people will do great at Easter and mother's

day some don't.

So you have to see for your own individual audience,

what the sales cycles are.

You get a real handle on them here.

And your desire in this fourth stage is to grow.

You want more sales,

you want to get bigger.

This is where you want to reach that revenue number that

you've been thinking about in your head,

but it starts to get overwhelming.

And you're juggling everything because if you're making and you're selling

and you're doing your accounting,

all of a sudden,

you've got a lot of plates in the air.

So you're starting to feel some anxiety.

And you're juggling.

You might also in this stage,

be tempted to diversify.

And I am going to say,

for sure,

you want to resist that?

Meaning let's say you sell candles.

And now you're like,

okay, well,

this is great,

but I'm also going to sell some other product that doesn't

even relate.

I don't mean not extending the line of what you sell,

but I don't want you to get out of what you're

getting known for what you are becoming the expert in.

There's the temptation here to do that because you think,

well, I can make more money because I will have different

products to offer.

You want to stay tight and stay solid with the products

that you currently are doing.

Steps that you're taking as you're working through this,

getting your own website,

even if you're on Etsy,

these other sites that are online,

you don't own those sites.

The golden nugget is always to have your very own website.

At some point,

this is the stage where you really want to start thinking

about this.

You're making sure that not only have you been collecting email

addresses, but you have an email marketing strategy in place that

you're using regularly.

You're also solid on social media.

You have a structure and a plan.

You know,

which platforms are the best for you.

Those types of things all happen.

In this fourth stage,

you build a team now,

or you become a boss of people because you just can't

handle all the juggling.

So if you start building a team because you simply can't

do it all yourself,

and maybe you're starting to think about brick and mortar,

or you're putting your pieces on consignment or wholesale.

All those types of things are ideas that are coming up.

That again,

depending on your business are things that you would be putting

in place here.

I would say between 60 and 70% of all businesses are

in these two stages and many stay stuck in these two

stages permanently.

And that's where your business starts to grind because you don't

have everything in place.

So it gets hard.

Then you try to make changes.

And sometimes you make changes that don't fit with what you

were doing before.

So you start confusing your audience.

As I was talking about diversifying before,

and sometimes you flip back and forth between these two stages

too. Okay?

Then the final stage I'm calling,

keeping it coming.

This is all about sustainability.

I'm talking about the sustainability of your business.

You're getting consistent sales in.

You've probably been in business now for a number of years,

and you've seen your role change.

You know,

you've always been a visionary,

but now you're a visionary,

leading a team.

Your role has changed from being the maker to now being

a manager of the people who are the makers,

things that can happen during this stage,

burnout boredom.

You've done this for so long,

right? I saw Amy,

okay. Those who are listening on the podcast,

Amy like throws her head back in the chair like,

oh yeah,

you're thinking about the future.

You know,

what is the future gonna look like?

Is this going to just be more of the same?

And do I like this anymore?

Because you've just been in for awhile on the good side,

you've got reliable systems in place.

You've got reliable sales coming in.

And the other thing that you see as a characteristic of

this stage is you become the problem solver for others who

run the business.

They're coming to you to ask the answers to things that

they're actually having to put in place.

Your role has changed.

Action steps to take during this stage,

watching the market to make sure that your product is still

relevant. Think of face masks in a couple of years,

hopefully next month,

people who all they did was face maps or their business.

If they aren't looking at the market,

that's not going to be a thing.

Knock on wood,

hopefully, right?

Same things happened for other businesses and products.

Think of blockbuster and VHS tapes.

You're not watching what's going on in the market very easily.

Your product can become irrelevant.

As you got to be careful of that.

Cause you're the visionary in this stage,

you want to find new and exciting opportunities to sell to

re-energize yourself and your business.

Because just as you can start getting tired of your business,

your customers can get tired.

If you're not continually bringing new things on the table,

this is the place where you can extend your product line

because now you are solidly entrenched and people know you for

something. So you're able to take that really loyal following.

And a portion of them will be interested and move into

another product with you,

but not right away.

Like I said,

that doesn't happen until stage five.

And then another thing you might do here is start thinking,

well, if I were to decide not to keep going in

the business,

who would take over someone in the family,

do I want to sell?

Not that you're doing tomorrow,

but you start thinking about what would the future look like

for the business and making sure that you have things in

place for that to happen.

Okay. And I'd say in the evolution of handmade businesses,

about 10% of all businesses get to this stage where they're

really thinking about the future and keeping excitement going in the

business, et cetera,

to summarize the five stages we've got visibility,

which is starting with the idea and the what could be

validation, testing,

and discovering what the market wants in relation to your products

and tweaking them accordingly.

So you have someone to buy third,

making it real,

everything under getting your business out there to the public in

a legal way,

official way.

I guess there's a better word to say it.

Fourth is upping the game building on those sales.

So you're kicking out consistency and reliability and then the fifth

is keeping it coming.

You've got all your systems in place.

Your role has changed.

How do you continue to stay relevant?

Keep excitement,

being drawn to your business and going forward from there.

Okay. Any questions?

Does anybody want to unmute and tell me where you are,

where you see yourself.

Go ahead,

Ellen. Nice to meet you by the way.

Thank you for the invitation Of course that you showed up.

I love that.

That's okay.

We're keeping it real.

Definitely for sure.

I have a couple of different ways that I sell a

couple of income streams.

I have one helper who comes over to help me clean,

like tumblers and package them.

And all of that fits that sales are pretty consistent.

And of course I would love to have more definitely growth,

you know,

always yearning for that growth.

But I feel like I have a great seed planted and

now I'm starting to see the fruits of the growth,

but it is bringing a tad of anxiety.

Cause I am kind of doing all of the things.

Perfect. Well then,

yeah. And so that falls within what I talk about there.

That thinking of ways that you can get some of that

off of you,

because you know,

I think we all feel like we're super women and we

can just carry on forever,

but that's going to lead us to either getting sick hurt

or discouraged,

you know?

So it's such a relief.

I know anyone can vouch,

if anyone's brought on help,

such a big obstacle,

it's a big fence to jump.

It feels like,

but once you do,

it's like,

why didn't I do this sooner?

You know?

And it can be even something a little,

you Know,

Thank you.

Yeah. I have been watching your products and seen,

so I like that you're putting yourself in that spot.

That makes sense to me,

Cassie, where you going to say something?

Definitely for me as well,

I feel like I'm grinding my wheels all the time because

I do have a full-time job outside of the business.

And so it's hard to grow it.

I'm just in that middle point where it's,

I either need to take the leap and grow big or

just keep grinding away with my evenings and weekends.

So that's where I'm at.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think I also am in for,

I have multiple places where I'm selling things.

I do the events around the holidays.

I'm online,

I'm selling in marketplaces,

but I think I don't have certain things that are lined

up that need to support that kind of growth.

I've got an email marketing system going.

I don't have a formalized counting system.

I am still on spreadsheets,

you know?

So I think there's all these little bits and pieces of

things that need to get put into place to help me

kind of get through to those next stages.

Yeah. And that's where I say that stage three and stage

four sometimes overlap.

And especially now,

because I'm introducing these stages that this can be a guideline

for people who are starting.

So Wendy,

this could have been you like a year or two ago

maybe, but you know,

they do go over each other because it's usually when you

start the business,

you think,

oh my gosh,

I need an email list.

And oh my gosh,

what about my logo?

Like you think of all the things right in the beginning

this way,

it gives some clarity to which stage are you in.

Here's what you should do now that helps you move to

the next stage.

Here's what you do now.

But it's a more orderly way of doing things,

which makes everything a lot calmer than all of these things

that you think you need to do right out of a

shoot, you know,

all right,

let's see how we're doing on time.

I think the best thing for us to do right now

would be to move into this showcases here is how this

is going to go down.

Everyone gets a chance to talk.

I'm suggesting that we take about a minute and a half

based on who's here up to two minutes,

potentially. I'm trying to keep these somewhere around 45 minutes or

so, which is why spots are limited to even join the

bash. And so here's what I want you to do.

Tell me your name and your business.

And if it's not automatically obvious what your product is and

then tell us something you have going on.

If you have a special promotion coming up,

even locally,

like if you're at a craft show in a local area,

go ahead and share it because we have listeners from everywhere

across the country.

So you're going to be able to expose them to that.

They may not even know that there's a show right in

their area.

And then you tell them to come and see you.

Of course.

So you can do anything like that.

If you're looking for a collaboration with another maker,

perhaps you do jewelry and you were thinking for mother's day

would be really fine to pair jewelry with another product where

you guys actually bring two products together and sell to both

your audiences,

collaborations like that,

or going on lives or whatever it is that you're searching

for. You can call that out too.

And then finally tell us where online people can connect with

you further,

whether it's your website,

whether it's an email,

a social media platform,

whatever it is.

Okay. So three things,

what your company is,

anything you have special going on right now,

and then where people can go to find out more and

cam, I'm going to make you the star of the show

to kick off the whole bash,

like everything.

How about that?

Perfect. I wish I had confetti.

Yay. If I was on my other app right now,

I would be able to do that,

but not here,

take it away.

Okay. So I it's so weird to see my background,

not my kitchen,

I'm in my living room,

but I'm Kim from Kim's cottage confections.

I have a brick and mortar big shop located in a

tiny little town in Middlefield,

Connecticut. And right now we are focused on Easter because that

is going to be within two weeks.

So we have clients everyday coming in for Easter products simultaneously

kicking off a very busy wedding season.

So when,

when this goes live,

Easter will be over.

Okay. Right.

So Mother's day,

then we'll be moving into mother's day promotion pro promotions,

but really kicking off a very,

very busy wedding season.

It seems like everything that was scaled down or postponed from

2020 and 2021 is really coming to fruition in 2022.

So we are ready to kick off a big,

big year.

And you know,

you can find me Instagram,

Kim's cottage confections.

We post try to post every day Facebook similar.

And my email is Kemet Kim's cottage,

confections.com. Perfect.

All right,

Anita, why don't you go next?

Oh, hi everybody.

My name's Anita Houseman and I am from the Hershey gifting

company, formerly treasured touch promotions and gifts.

We have just transitioned over to our new name as of

January 1st and we are a gifting and specialty company specializing

in custom printed ribbon.

So for the next couple of months,

we are really focusing on working with other businesses to get

them branded,

whether they're want to brand their product or offer.

We're moving into the like Kim,

the mother's day graduation prom season,

which is very busy for me with ribbons.

But also this is great time for me to work with

small businesses and even companies that want to brand themselves in

an affordable way.

So using ribbon and other things we do t-shirts apparel or

beyond the pens and promotional items that are out there that

you often see at trade shows.

We are transitioning over to our new website today.

Actually it moved over to a new platform and you can

find me at the Hershey gifting co on the website,

Facebook, or you can email me directly@anitaatthehersheygiftingco.com.

Wonderful. Okay.

Let's see.

Cassie. I can unmute myself.

My name is Cassie Mecho for of Cassie's country cupboard and

I create better for you meal helpers,

such as soup mixes,

baking mixes,

spice, blends,

that sort of thing.

To help you get dinner on the table without losing your

sanity. And I am looking for referrals to all of your

friends who might be also trying to start a business like

that, any sort of dry mix goods.

And I do have capacity where I can co-pack for them

at very low minimum quantities.

And you can find me online at www dot Cassie's country,

cupboard.com. Perfect.

Wonderful Cassie,

Wendy. You're up.

Hi, I am Wendy.

I am the owner and creator of mystic moon.

So works and I hand craft soaps and lotions and all

kinds of bath and body products in my home here in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania,

I'm including a men's line of beard care and beard washes

and lotions.

I am gearing up for some special collaborations.

I'm going to be doing with the LGBTQ community for pride

month. So I'm going to have a special line of soaps

and there will be a contribution that we're working on to

help support homeless LGBTQ population.

So I'm really excited about that collaboration and that we'll be

launching in June and you can find me on Instagram and

Facebook, but my website is mystic moon soap works.com.

Wonderful Joyce.

Hi, I am joyous of Joyce's baskets.

I have a,

I would say corporate gifting boutique.

I've changed the name to corporate gifting,

duke boutique,

and got a lot of exciting things going on and having

growing pains and all that other stuff.

But then the next couple of months,

I have a major undertaking that I am revamping redoing and

restructuring the entire website designs and all.

So that is a major continuing ed continuing project for like

forever and a day.

So what do you offer?

What do you offer?

So everyone who's listening to this podcast,

what could they come to you to get?

What do you offer?

I offer custom gifting for any special occasions.

If you're having our events,

we do events.

We do print a ribbon as well.

We do personalize gifts and tax my business basically circles around

local handled very well we ship.

And so we're getting into a brand new baby line,

which I'm excited about that I have brand new baby vendors

coming up.

So I'm excited to put something together.

I think if Amy,

Sally, do you say sometime after a while in business,

after being in business for quite a while,

you kind of get titled seeing the same old things and

you want to just like throwing the towel.

So I'm trying to refresh and revamped,

you know,

myself here.

Okay. And where can people find you?

Joyce You'll find your I'm really on Instagram,

more than anything else was at Joyce's baskets on Instagram.

But my Facebook page is still the same Joyce's baskets.

You can find me there,

or if you want to hit me up and pick my

brain for whatever reason,

or you may have something that you think that will go

good with my products that have already picked me up,

send me an email@joyceandjoyceisbaskets.com.

And where are you in the country since you deliver mostly

local? Where are you?

Sunshine state of south Florida.

Miami, Florida.

There you go.

All right,

let's Sean.

You're off.

Hello. I am the Sean Barnes and I am the owner

of forever.

Mona Lisa forever.

Mona Lisa is an eclectic brand of handmade jewelry,

necklaces, earrings,

bracelets, and made a various semi-precious stones,

metals and wood and bone.

And I am located in Charlotte,

North Carolina.

I have a website which is for everyone.

Lisa I'm also on Instagram forever,

Mona Lisa.

And if you're listening to this podcast,

it'll be around mother's day or whenever you hear it,

you can use promo code bash B a S H for

a 10% discount off your purchase at the website at forever

Mona Lisa Leshaun.

You've upped the game with a promo code.

I'm so proud of you.

I love that.

I never even thought of that.

Ellen what'd you got for us.

Hi guys.

Okay. So I'm Ellen Montoya.

I'm in the sunshine state to joy.

So I'm the owner of angry tumblers.

I make these gorgeous,

glitter tumblers.

I also make laser and graves,

tumblers and sublimation tumblers.

And I also have another part-time business where I teach other

women how to make them both through private and online instruction.

So I can help you with custom orders.

We have mother's day coming up end of the year,

give lots of coaching gifts,

everything for the end of the coming up.

And if you're looking to learn to make tumblers,

I can teach you right in my workshop here,

I'm in the Lithia Florida area,

or I have an online coaching community as well.

Coming up,

I have a couple of local events May 1st I'll be

in the shop,

which is Lithia Florida,

May 8th.

I will be over in brand.

I'm sorry,

why don't cut it,

which is in Lithia,

Florida. And I have another show June 4th,

back in fish shock and Leshaun bash 15.

If you mentioned this at the podcast,

come out and see me and I'd be happy to send

50% off a tumbler for you.

And I have a website where you can find me and

I'm going to offer that on my website as well.

B a S H 15.

So you can use that@emorytumblers.com.

Love it.

Okay, Amy,

take us home girlfriend.

Okay. I'm Amy Hughes.

I'm the owner and managing partner of marshmallow MBA.

We are a gourmet marshmallow company based in your county,

Pennsylvania, and we're manufacturing marshmallows for the retail and wholesale customers.

Trying to think how to frame this.

I have no special events coming up,

however, and it's only because we have reduced the number of

events that we're doing in person.

But what we do have is collaborations ongoing with two breeze

members. One for mother's day,

we're collaborating with Lydia Cox.

She makes a handmade jewelry for us.

We have a honey based marshmallow that has no corn syrup

in it.

And we're partnered with Lydia for mother's day.

We're doing a be kind and be sweet marshmallow box.

So you'll be able to see that gift box up online

within the next two weeks.

And we're also ongoing with our collaborations with Anita over with

the Hershey gifting company,

because we're basically neighbors,

Wendy. I think we're a neighbor to you as well,

which is exciting to know.

And we will be at Lancaster pride this year.

Anita is helping us with a number of custom printed ribbons,

not only for the gift boxes,

but also for the Harrisburg desert festival,

which is coming up on July 16th in Harrisburg,

Pennsylvania, you can find more information about marshmallow mba@marshmallowmbadotcomandyoucanreachusatinfoatmarshmallowmba.com

and we're available at marshmallow MBA across all social media because

you know,

we're only so creative.

Perfect. I think that's a best practice is a single name.

Everywhere makes things so much easier and you just rebranded.

And we just did a podcast it's about Four Weeks back

now, but you can find it Amy with marshmallow MBA,

all about the rebranding and pivoting of her customers.

She found that,

you know,

it was a different customer than what she thought when she

started out.

So it's a great example of what we talk about,

just the evolution through the stages and great examples of collaborations

to taking advantage of this opportunity with discount codes,

all of those types of things.

So also not only are you listening to the people who

are talking and what they have going on,

but think of some of these ideas for yourself too,

like some of the collaborations that Amy's doing,

does that spark an idea for you not copying exactly what

other people here are doing,

but what other ideas get ignited to you because of things

that you're hearing through these showcases,

that's another way that you can use this.

And as long as you're a maker of a handmade product,

you are welcome to come on as a participant in this

batch. This is the very first one that we've done.

I'm planning on doing them twice a month.

The platform is going to be just like we talked about

10 minutes.

I'm going to be talking about some type of a point

more in a training mode,

a little bit of Q and a on the topic that

I talked about.

And then we're doing showcases.

The showcases are limited because if I have too many people

in, as you can imagine,

it could just go on and on and on and on

and on.

So I have to limit how many people.

So if you're interested,

make sure to sign up right away,

you can do so at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash bash,

you can sign up for one,

you can sign up for all,

if you want to guarantee your spot.

And I think Amy you've already signed up for several,

right? Yeah,

because really it is limited when I get to that limit

point, you can't get in anymore.

So if you're interested,

I would love to have other people join us.

And again,

I just gave you the link gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash bash.

All right,

you guys thank you so,

so much for joining in those of you who are here,

live, just hold tight.

I'm going to end the recording and then we'll chat for

just one more minute to take care and I will catch

hopefully many of you at the next bash Before you move

on to your next activity today,

make sure to get your name on the list for at

least one gift biz bash.

You can see the dates and times for upcoming sessions and

get signed up over@giftbizonwrapped.com

forward slash bash.

And if you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show

support a rating and review would be wonderful.

It helps spread the word about the show too.

There's also another way for you to get something tangible in

return for your support.

Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items

like mugs,

journals, water bottles,

and more featuring logos images,

and also quotes to inspire you throughout your day makes a

great gift to,

and we just added some new products for the season turnaround

as quick,

and the quality is top notch,

nothing but the best for you.

Take a look at all the options at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash shop I'll proceeds from these purchases helps me

offset the costs of producing this show and now be safe

and well.

And I'll see you again.

Next time for the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook

group called gift is breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and our community to

support each other.

Got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week to get

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making my favorite posts every single week,

without doubt.

Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.