Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Insights
The value of customer surveys [4:23] Terry’s secret weapon [8:15] How to handle mistakes [11:30] Passing up business [15:38]Success Trait
Terry is gutsy and persistent [13:12]Productivity/Lifestyle Tools
Good planning process [19:25] Balancing different areas of life [21:35]Valuable Book
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter InstagramIf 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 18.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to 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 there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast,
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store online,
Speaker:or just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. After you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing you help to increase
Speaker:the visibility of gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:To help others with their entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker:Today, we are joined by teary Aug of fanciful find food
Speaker:and baskets.
Speaker:Terry started fanciful back in 1987 from her dining room table.
Speaker:Today, her business has grown into a famous find food and
Speaker:gift shop on Melrose avenue in Hollywood,
Speaker:just a five minute walk from paramount studios.
Speaker:Look into the fanciful.
Speaker:Shop reveals an array of fresh gourmet foods and wine to
Speaker:suit any taste.
Speaker:What sets them apart is the elite clientele they serve while
Speaker:still offering a comfortable and personable environment.
Speaker:I've just got to do some name dropping here.
Speaker:So you truly understand Terry's business.
Speaker:They maintain a gift site and send gift daily for Sony
Speaker:pictures. Conan O'Brien has been a client for years,
Speaker:as well as my all time.
Speaker:Favorite Michael Jackson,
Speaker:they send gift baskets for many celebrities,
Speaker:such as Jennifer Lopez and Charlise Theron.
Speaker:One of their most recent jobs is a large gift basket
Speaker:for Lily Tomlin who was nominated for an Emmy.
Speaker:I think you get the feel here.
Speaker:All this sounds really exciting to me,
Speaker:but she says it's just part of working in Hollywood.
Speaker:Let's jump over to Terry now and see what else we
Speaker:can find out about her fascinating company.
Speaker:Hi Terry,
Speaker:welcome to the show.
Speaker:Hey Sue.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:Glad to be here.
Speaker:Is there anything you'd like to add to your introduction before
Speaker:we get started?
Speaker:No. You summed it up pretty darn.
Speaker:Well, I mean,
Speaker:we've been around for 28 years and yes we do celebrities,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:what makes me happy sometimes is when we do gifts for
Speaker:that 93 year old grandmother who loves bud light,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you just go,
Speaker:oh, okay.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll put that in a basket for her.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we like to say we're of the people for the people.
Speaker:We just like making people happy and setting out these little
Speaker:baskets of love.
Speaker:This is actually part two of our interview with Terry.
Speaker:She had so many things to share that I decided to
Speaker:split it into two different episodes.
Speaker:If you've missed part one,
Speaker:just jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped episode 17,
Speaker:where she shares in detail,
Speaker:how she started the business,
Speaker:her experiences in getting her very first Hollywood basket and challenges
Speaker:she's overcome along the way.
Speaker:There's also a very heartwarming story that came about from listening
Speaker:to her intuition.
Speaker:It's really a not to be missed discussion.
Speaker:And now we'll jump into part two of our chat with
Speaker:Terry Aug from fanciful.
Speaker:Talk to us a little bit about a promotion or some
Speaker:event that you've done,
Speaker:that our listeners could also draw knowledge from that brought in
Speaker:more customers or somehow move the needle.
Speaker:In some way I can think of two.
Speaker:I think one,
Speaker:it's not like a specific event,
Speaker:but what we were smart about at the beginning is we
Speaker:did this.
Speaker:When we were first in business,
Speaker:we did a big business mixer and it was like a
Speaker:business to business expo that was put onto the Los Angeles
Speaker:chamber. I was smart enough at the time to get this
Speaker:woman to write three survey questions and do surveys.
Speaker:And one of them was which woman who,
Speaker:who I had a woman that I know that I said,
Speaker:Hey, will you come down to our booth?
Speaker:And will you just ask people these questions and write down
Speaker:the answer?
Speaker:What do you want from a corporate gifting company?
Speaker:And what was interesting about it?
Speaker:And we probably talked to hundreds of people when you do
Speaker:a survey,
Speaker:the beauty of it is you get their words.
Speaker:So you know what to put in your promo pieces.
Speaker:And a lot of people,
Speaker:I was surprised,
Speaker:said, we want one-stop shopping.
Speaker:I want it easy.
Speaker:I want to bill one person for like flowers and gifts.
Speaker:I want to make it easy.
Speaker:I need really good customer service.
Speaker:So I took all these surveys and honed them down.
Speaker:And when I saw that one-stop shopping and convenience were big.
Speaker:Well, I have a,
Speaker:I had worked for a floral shop,
Speaker:so I knew how to do flowers.
Speaker:So I went back,
Speaker:but I did some more classes.
Speaker:I had my staff do classes and we began to offer
Speaker:flowers in addition to our baskets.
Speaker:And I tell you,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's a really pretty big part of our business now.
Speaker:And like Sony,
Speaker:one reason we're on,
Speaker:we have a special website for Sony is they weren't happy
Speaker:with their florist.
Speaker:So they came to us because we could do flowers and
Speaker:we could do baskets.
Speaker:And that's an account that's worth about 70,000
Speaker:a year and has been for 15 years.
Speaker:I think it's so important to ask your clients questions because
Speaker:you might think,
Speaker:you know the answer,
Speaker:but very often you don't or you,
Speaker:or you don't know how they would say it because when
Speaker:you're communicating to them,
Speaker:you want to say it in a way that indicates to
Speaker:them. Another example was years ago,
Speaker:this was before the whole food thing with takeoff.
Speaker:I was going to do all this whole line of organics.
Speaker:And I decided to send an email to my clients and
Speaker:say, okay,
Speaker:would you be more likely to buy a basket that was
Speaker:organic, less likely?
Speaker:Or does it matter?
Speaker:I was shocked at the number of people said less likely.
Speaker:I was told,
Speaker:ready to just,
Speaker:oh, everybody's just going to love my baskets.
Speaker:Because people had this concept that organic didn't translate into tasteful.
Speaker:And so then I knew that I had to,
Speaker:okay, if I'm going to do this,
Speaker:cause I love organics.
Speaker:How do I?
Speaker:And people would say things like,
Speaker:yeah, cookies tastes like tree bark.
Speaker:And they said all this weird stuff.
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:wow. I had no idea that that would get that reaction.
Speaker:So even now,
Speaker:like we did beacon baskets and it's a big seller,
Speaker:but I sell it by going,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:none of us are vegans,
Speaker:but we all have the food in this.
Speaker:Like I always tell him,
Speaker:I said it has to be good to people who aren't
Speaker:vegan. So they go,
Speaker:oh, that's great.
Speaker:And they'll sell it.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I sell a lot of vegan stuff that way.
Speaker:So I think talking and asking the right questions,
Speaker:don't assume that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the other thing we did,
Speaker:especially when it was really slow,
Speaker:we promoted a cheese tasting class at our shop and sold
Speaker:well over 300,
Speaker:we made enough that more than covered our costs.
Speaker:And we got people in our shop and they bought a
Speaker:lot of stuff.
Speaker:So that moves with the two things that I would say
Speaker:when you say promotional is like,
Speaker:always, always,
Speaker:always ask your client because you might think,
Speaker:you know what they're saying?
Speaker:They're thinking,
Speaker:but you probably don't.
Speaker:And then I would say the only other,
Speaker:like one thing we did the event was like doing a
Speaker:coupon that got people into our store.
Speaker:We didn't try and do baskets through it cause I couldn't
Speaker:make money on it.
Speaker:But by doing a cheese class,
Speaker:I got to promote number one,
Speaker:that we had great cheese.
Speaker:I got to promote our great food and I would get
Speaker:30 people at a time at a cheese class and they
Speaker:would buy they'd they'd spend an average of 20 to $30
Speaker:when they'd come in.
Speaker:What Jumps out to me about both of these things is
Speaker:it's not the traditional,
Speaker:oh, I did an event where I was selling product or
Speaker:I did some type of a discount.
Speaker:These were both things that you did that were interactions with
Speaker:the customer.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And anytime I can talk to a client and get inside
Speaker:their head,
Speaker:the better I can service them.
Speaker:And that's what we are.
Speaker:We are a service company.
Speaker:Yes. I make baskets and I make product.
Speaker:But gift baskets and flowers are really more an intangible.
Speaker:It's more service business and they want something done.
Speaker:They have a problem and you need to solve,
Speaker:Well, let's talk about that on the customer service end.
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:How do you interact?
Speaker:Or what do you offer?
Speaker:What do you do specially for your very prestigious clientele to
Speaker:make them feel special,
Speaker:valued? Because I'm sure with your elite clientele,
Speaker:they get that all the time in terms of being special
Speaker:and important and attention given to them and all of that.
Speaker:But what do you do?
Speaker:That's special?
Speaker:Well, number one,
Speaker:I have my husband Wally August on the sales line.
Speaker:And if you go to our Yelp reviews,
Speaker:if you see the number of people who say,
Speaker:Wally is the best,
Speaker:Wally just got what I wanted.
Speaker:He is,
Speaker:he is a master.
Speaker:So he's kind of my secret weapon.
Speaker:And luckily I live with him.
Speaker:So I don't have to worry about him going somewhere else.
Speaker:But what does he do?
Speaker:What, yeah,
Speaker:I guess not he's,
Speaker:he's an employee for life.
Speaker:He's an employee I've heard chained together.
Speaker:No, what we do is we understand that these people are
Speaker:busy and we want life as easy as possible.
Speaker:So we are just competent.
Speaker:We are discreet.
Speaker:Our job from the beginning was we want to get all
Speaker:the data at the beginning,
Speaker:so we never have to call them back my flaws.
Speaker:Well, the other thing I have is while he designed this
Speaker:amazing computer program that we're going to sell,
Speaker:that is an amazing customer service program.
Speaker:So we have complete customer histories back to when ever the
Speaker:internet started.
Speaker:So people can call me and say,
Speaker:what did I send last year to my mom?
Speaker:Oh, you sent this.
Speaker:Oh great.
Speaker:Can you do something a little bit different,
Speaker:same price range.
Speaker:You got our address.
Speaker:Great. And they're off the phone in two minutes,
Speaker:everything we've done with our business,
Speaker:everything we've organized.
Speaker:Like the computer program we designed was all designed to make
Speaker:our customer experience better.
Speaker:We want to make their life as easy as possible.
Speaker:I have customers call us going.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I can't find this address for this client.
Speaker:Do you have it?
Speaker:I know I sent them something and we do.
Speaker:I don't want to be the rut that they can't get
Speaker:out of.
Speaker:I want to make their life so easy.
Speaker:I don't want to give them my problems.
Speaker:I don't care if they're calling at four o'clock in the
Speaker:afternoon and need something way across town,
Speaker:I will never say.
Speaker:And we school,
Speaker:or if you don't say,
Speaker:oh my God,
Speaker:it's later.
Speaker:You kidding?
Speaker:We go,
Speaker:well sure we can do that.
Speaker:Our drivers out,
Speaker:but we're happy to call a courier unless you have a
Speaker:courier you'd like to call.
Speaker:And sometimes a courier is too much for them.
Speaker:So they do it then.
Speaker:But if you can get it there tomorrow,
Speaker:it'll, you know,
Speaker:we can do that.
Speaker:I don't want to give them my problems.
Speaker:I want to handle their problem.
Speaker:And they can make that choice of,
Speaker:yeah. It's worth paying $40 to get it across town.
Speaker:No, I'll wait and do it tomorrow for 15.
Speaker:So our job is just to kind of handle our clients.
Speaker:We have big tastings in our shop for our clients.
Speaker:We send them little gifts all the time.
Speaker:New clients all get a welcome.
Speaker:The fanciful gifts.
Speaker:Every week we have a list.
Speaker:Our computer prints out a list of new clients and we
Speaker:send them a letter with a $10 off coupon for an
Speaker:order of $50 or more.
Speaker:We do a lot.
Speaker:At Christmas time,
Speaker:we send our stellar clients,
Speaker:their list from last year with a gift basket so they
Speaker:can like eat.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:we just kind of pamper them.
Speaker:And my husband is great.
Speaker:What I love is when he has to call somebody like
Speaker:on a sales call,
Speaker:I listened to him and he'll say things like,
Speaker:is this a good time to talk?
Speaker:He's just very polite.
Speaker:And they,
Speaker:and they say,
Speaker:yes, he always makes sure he gets your agreement.
Speaker:That it's okay.
Speaker:He's very respectful.
Speaker:And I got to say that sometimes I listened to him
Speaker:with a client,
Speaker:my golf,
Speaker:if I was a client,
Speaker:I would never go to anyone else.
Speaker:I said you are.
Speaker:So he's just he's.
Speaker:And my I and my other guys are all this way
Speaker:too. They're very friendly.
Speaker:We make friends for life.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we we've watched people's children's grow.
Speaker:I have this one big client.
Speaker:Who's a caterer to all the celebrities.
Speaker:I remember I used to help him get gifts for his
Speaker:kids when they were like four and six.
Speaker:And now his daughter is like through med school.
Speaker:That's how long people stay with us because we just kind
Speaker:of treat them like they're part of the family.
Speaker:And our job is to make their life easy.
Speaker:And I think they really know that.
Speaker:And if we do make a mistake,
Speaker:I fix it so thoroughly,
Speaker:they tell everybody how amazing we are,
Speaker:because I know if they're mad at you,
Speaker:they're going to tell everybody in their office.
Speaker:But if you fix it and send them a little something,
Speaker:it doesn't cost anything.
Speaker:It costs nothing to keep that client.
Speaker:And then they get a package or a,
Speaker:Hey, we're really sorry.
Speaker:And they get some chocolates.
Speaker:Everybody in the office knows how great fans full is.
Speaker:So it's like,
Speaker:you be penny-wise and pound-foolish sometimes customers want their money back.
Speaker:You go,
Speaker:okay. That really costs me $20.
Speaker:If I keep this client for 20 bucks,
Speaker:that's worth it.
Speaker:So it's always being aware of that,
Speaker:that the client is really important.
Speaker:Exactly. And I have to ask you how big is your
Speaker:customer list?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's it's a few thousand,
Speaker:several thousand.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:some people just use this at Christmas and no matter what
Speaker:we do to try and get them to order through the
Speaker:year they just corporations like,
Speaker:yeah, they just ordered Christmas and they've ordered every Christmas forever,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And then we get people who use this do the year.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we have like a camera company uses us every week.
Speaker:We have weekly clients,
Speaker:we have yearly clients and we're always going to do 50%
Speaker:of our business at the end of the year.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how busy we are through the year.
Speaker:We'll just have more business at the end of the year.
Speaker:It's just the way it is.
Speaker:It's the way this business is structured As are most gifting
Speaker:companies, just by nature of gifting.
Speaker:The majority of your business is going to come in during
Speaker:holidays last quarter.
Speaker:Yeah. No matter what.
Speaker:Yeah. Terry,
Speaker:we're going to move now into the reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you and what's helped you with
Speaker:your success along the way.
Speaker:We've talked a little bit about some of this before,
Speaker:but I'm going to have you answer the question anyway.
Speaker:What is one natural trait that you have that helped you
Speaker:to succeed?
Speaker:I would say I'm gutsy.
Speaker:I'm very gutsy.
Speaker:It's not that I'm not fearful certain amount of courage that
Speaker:I'll do it anyway,
Speaker:going back to the Vonnegut quote,
Speaker:like I go to the edge so I can see,
Speaker:and I'm just willing.
Speaker:I think it's because my dad was 25 years in the
Speaker:military and I was born on a military base.
Speaker:I think I have that kind of drill Sergeant like,
Speaker:okay, troops are going to get it done.
Speaker:And I think that's really it.
Speaker:I think it's just,
Speaker:I have this persistence.
Speaker:I have a never say die quality to me that it
Speaker:will all work out somehow.
Speaker:And how do you apply that to the business?
Speaker:Every day I go in and,
Speaker:and there's always challenges.
Speaker:There's always things,
Speaker:businesses, good businesses,
Speaker:bad clients ask for impossible things,
Speaker:but I'm pretty fast on my feet.
Speaker:And so when somebody needs something,
Speaker:I'm the one I think that's why we've grown because I
Speaker:think what I get a lot from my clients is like,
Speaker:I'll call and say,
Speaker:when can I get this?
Speaker:Am I going?
Speaker:We can do this the same day.
Speaker:And they go,
Speaker:really? I can make the impossible happen.
Speaker:If somebody needs something,
Speaker:I'll find it.
Speaker:I'll get them a sample within days.
Speaker:I think we're very lucky to be in LA too.
Speaker:Cause I have a lot of resources,
Speaker:but I think it's helped because like,
Speaker:I don't think I would've survived some of the crashes in
Speaker:the economy.
Speaker:If my husband and I together,
Speaker:weren't just persistent and gutsy and said,
Speaker:okay, how do we figure this out?
Speaker:How do we make this happen?
Speaker:Yeah, we're going to take the chance or we're not going
Speaker:to, I would never say die.
Speaker:Let's just figure it out.
Speaker:And I also think I'm a really logical person.
Speaker:I get to see it in front of me.
Speaker:And I'm really,
Speaker:I'm the kind of person you want around in an emergency.
Speaker:Cause I'm really,
Speaker:really, I do think this is all like the military training.
Speaker:Like my dad had,
Speaker:cause I am him sometimes and I can go,
Speaker:this is important.
Speaker:This is important.
Speaker:This important,
Speaker:this is an important,
Speaker:let's get this done.
Speaker:Clients need to be taken care of.
Speaker:They bring money in,
Speaker:take care of the clients,
Speaker:get the samples done first.
Speaker:And I will stay till midnight.
Speaker:If I have to,
Speaker:to make sure my clients get their samples and their orders
Speaker:on time,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:So I'm pretty good at that.
Speaker:And just having the energy to that,
Speaker:no matter how tired everybody has to go,
Speaker:okay guys,
Speaker:paramount once needed,
Speaker:oh, it was a hundred thousand dollar order.
Speaker:First week of December,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they needed,
Speaker:I can't remember how many baskets,
Speaker:three different baskets,
Speaker:thousands. And they needed to approve the samples and get them
Speaker:all made and delivered in two weeks.
Speaker:And we did it because I just do it.
Speaker:I went okay,
Speaker:who's local.
Speaker:How do I do it?
Speaker:Here's your samples.
Speaker:I have to have this approved.
Speaker:We'll get it done.
Speaker:I hired a crew of four people.
Speaker:Put them up in a spare warehouse.
Speaker:We happened to have,
Speaker:we got it done in less than two weeks.
Speaker:So you're giving me the impression that you never say no
Speaker:to a client less.
Speaker:I really think it's not our client.
Speaker:There are people who aren't your clients.
Speaker:And you have to realize that I don't do a lot
Speaker:of wholesale.
Speaker:I've done it,
Speaker:but that's not where we shine.
Speaker:There's times when people want things that you go,
Speaker:it's not totally.
Speaker:I don't think we can serve you there's times when you
Speaker:just go.
Speaker:I don't think we can serve you,
Speaker:but I will often refer them to somebody who can,
Speaker:because then when they do need me that they'll come back
Speaker:and that happens a lot too.
Speaker:People will call me and go,
Speaker:okay, everyone said,
Speaker:you know everything in LA,
Speaker:you might,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I'm I'm my head.
Speaker:That's why I don't sleep at night.
Speaker:I have so many vendors.
Speaker:I know people everywhere,
Speaker:but I'm like a Swiss army knife.
Speaker:I have a lot of functions,
Speaker:but I do.
Speaker:I know a lot of vendors I've been doing it 28
Speaker:years. So I know where my distributors are.
Speaker:I can drive down and pick up supplies.
Speaker:If I have to,
Speaker:if I say yes to a target,
Speaker:I'm not going to not make that target.
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:I'm not sloppy.
Speaker:So You'll say yes to gutsy challenges,
Speaker:but you also analyze the challenges to make sure they're ones
Speaker:you want to Exactly air and you go what?
Speaker:You're in the middle of a really terrible ordering.
Speaker:Great. What the heck?
Speaker:But I'm also a policymaker.
Speaker:I had a friend once who used to lecture all over
Speaker:Europe on executive and running companies.
Speaker:And he'd say you are a natural born executive because anytime
Speaker:anything happens,
Speaker:even if we just like miss a movie or something,
Speaker:I'll always go,
Speaker:okay, policy for next time,
Speaker:we call the theater first and make sure their tickets.
Speaker:He goes,
Speaker:you always do that.
Speaker:And it's funny because I do always do that.
Speaker:Like if I'm into some,
Speaker:okay, let's write a policy on this.
Speaker:This is something we have to watch for.
Speaker:So I'm always kind of like writing these,
Speaker:like I'm always learning from every experience and then formulating a
Speaker:future from that.
Speaker:Like, we did a huge thing for Bristol farms,
Speaker:which is a local high-end grocery store and we did wholesale
Speaker:for them and it was great and it was a lot
Speaker:of money.
Speaker:But when I looked at the profit on it,
Speaker:I went,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:not exactly where we belong and it was great for the
Speaker:prestige, but it was like,
Speaker:that was a lot more work.
Speaker:I can make more money doing this,
Speaker:but it was great to do it and I'll experience anything.
Speaker:Right. I'm willing to experience anything.
Speaker:And then from that formulate the next phase.
Speaker:Well, And you live and learn,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm sure there's some jobs you've taken that you,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:you wish you would have never done,
Speaker:but now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Yeah. You're going to go cry.
Speaker:No, you're just going to move on and create your future.
Speaker:The other thing that I really want to emphasize was when
Speaker:you were saying that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:no, you don't take every single job,
Speaker:but if there's a job that you're going to take a
Speaker:pass on,
Speaker:you provide them with a solution.
Speaker:You tell them who else in the area will be able
Speaker:to do it for them or give them other ideas possibly
Speaker:of things that you would be able to do to provide
Speaker:the solution that they're looking For.
Speaker:Yeah. Like somebody recently wanted to bring a bunch of balloons.
Speaker:We have a helium tank and one of those to blow
Speaker:up a hundred balloons.
Speaker:And I don't know,
Speaker:I didn't want to blow up a hundred balloons.
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:right down the street is vine American party store.
Speaker:I'm sure they're happy to do that for you.
Speaker:And I made it nice.
Speaker:I never want to be snotty.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you always have to treat people really well.
Speaker:It's that love thing.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's always outflow at taken from a viewpoint of like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I want to help you.
Speaker:I want to help you solve your problem,
Speaker:but I'm not the one that's going to solve it.
Speaker:But maybe talk to these guys,
Speaker:cause this is what they do.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:for me,
Speaker:balloons is kind of a side thing and I don't want
Speaker:to sit in,
Speaker:but I mean,
Speaker:I've done big balloon bouquets,
Speaker:but not someone bring it in.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:no, let's just let it go.
Speaker:Right. I mean,
Speaker:back to the point about customer service and love,
Speaker:even if they're not going to be your customer,
Speaker:you want them to walk away feeling like the interaction with
Speaker:you was positive.
Speaker:Exactly. It's all PR and it's all about creating a nice
Speaker:world. So to do that,
Speaker:you have good manners.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's all it takes is having really good manners,
Speaker:which is just sort of like letting people know that they're
Speaker:important that even though they want something or their price point,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you can't do what they want.
Speaker:You don't have to be rude about it and you can
Speaker:still be respectful of them and who they are.
Speaker:Very good point.
Speaker:What tool do you use regularly to help keep productive or
Speaker:to create balance in your life?
Speaker:Tell us what's balanced in my life.
Speaker:No, I would say good planning and targeting is really important.
Speaker:I think the one to work and I can stay busy
Speaker:for eight hours easily do that.
Speaker:I advance my business.
Speaker:Did I get done important things?
Speaker:No, I could sit and rearrange shelves.
Speaker:Like we have a lot of projects.
Speaker:We're updating our website.
Speaker:We are creating a new website for the store so people
Speaker:can buy things online.
Speaker:We're updating our customer service program.
Speaker:We have so many things going right now that if I
Speaker:don't have it laid out with targets,
Speaker:like, okay,
Speaker:we're going to get to meet with the web designer today
Speaker:and we're going to get this done and we're going to
Speaker:get, if I don't have that done,
Speaker:I could just be a heap of confusion.
Speaker:So planning and with good,
Speaker:like here's a project.
Speaker:Here are the plans.
Speaker:Here are the targets.
Speaker:We want to get them done.
Speaker:It allows me also to delegate and say,
Speaker:okay, Peter,
Speaker:who was one of my front office people,
Speaker:I need you to get this done.
Speaker:I need answers by Friday.
Speaker:It allows me to outflow and not trying to do it
Speaker:all because it's all in your head,
Speaker:then you're responsible for it.
Speaker:And so that is probably one of the it's,
Speaker:it's something that is so important that sometimes I fall back
Speaker:on it and I'm actually gonna do another little planning class,
Speaker:just so I get it renewed.
Speaker:And then I'm putting it up.
Speaker:I just installed a big bulletin board so we can put
Speaker:some of these projects up on the board so we can
Speaker:see them.
Speaker:So when we kind of have a minute,
Speaker:we'd go cause that's what will tell me what my battle
Speaker:plan every day is.
Speaker:Cause we have targeting sheets for our employees might go to
Speaker:Peter, okay,
Speaker:today let's finish up this,
Speaker:but Hey,
Speaker:we haven't worked on this cycle.
Speaker:Let's get that done.
Speaker:So I think,
Speaker:and then really scheduling,
Speaker:like travel time.
Speaker:I love to travel and I think that's the other thing
Speaker:that creates balance.
Speaker:If I don't decide to just go while you and I
Speaker:like in September,
Speaker:Willie and I are supposed to go to new Orleans for
Speaker:a week and I'm just doing it because I need to
Speaker:get away and we need to think and absorb and learn.
Speaker:And even like when my kids were younger,
Speaker:luckily I get a lot of air miles.
Speaker:We would take them for a month and we'd go to
Speaker:France and we'd go to England.
Speaker:And we,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we just do things so that we could spend time as
Speaker:a family.
Speaker:And it was heartening for me recently goes at dinner with
Speaker:my daughter and her boyfriend and listen to her,
Speaker:talk about some of our adventures in Italy and places.
Speaker:We stayed in funky places.
Speaker:We stayed and laugh and her boyfriend was just cracking up.
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:oh my God,
Speaker:I haven't given them a rich life.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:kind of being aware that there's all these areas of life
Speaker:we operate in.
Speaker:I operate as a wifi operator.
Speaker:As a business owner.
Speaker:I operate as a mother.
Speaker:I operate in my groups,
Speaker:in my church groups,
Speaker:in different groups.
Speaker:I operate as a member of mankind.
Speaker:I operate on all these different levels and know that all
Speaker:those are part of my life.
Speaker:Sometimes some of them have to suffer like during the Christmas
Speaker:season, everyone knows that I have to focus just on the
Speaker:business, but I really consciously work on then working on other
Speaker:areas of life when I'm out of work and making sure
Speaker:I'm putting attention and helping groups that I really want to
Speaker:help. I'm helping a group called brute down that helps some
Speaker:of the kids in the inner city learn about food,
Speaker:learn how to cook plant gardens and that kind of thing.
Speaker:That's really important.
Speaker:So I try and also schedule those things.
Speaker:So I don't feel like everything is always about fanciful,
Speaker:Right? If you don't schedule it,
Speaker:it's not going to get done.
Speaker:Exactly. No,
Speaker:it's not.
Speaker:That's all part of planning.
Speaker:Like you have to plan your personal life and your time
Speaker:off, which sounds silly,
Speaker:but it's like,
Speaker:okay, well we're not doing anything this weekend while he was
Speaker:sick this weekend.
Speaker:And he is not a couch potato,
Speaker:but I said,
Speaker:you've got to learn how to binge watch on Netflix because
Speaker:that's what you need to do right now is you have
Speaker:to lay on the couch.
Speaker:He goes,
Speaker:what's this?
Speaker:I go like,
Speaker:put on 30 rock and you watch about four episodes in
Speaker:a row.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:that's what you need to do.
Speaker:So you don't get up and work and you can get
Speaker:over your strep throat and he loved it.
Speaker:But I go,
Speaker:no, this is what you do.
Speaker:This is what you're doing.
Speaker:You don't feel good.
Speaker:You better watch out.
Speaker:He might start loving it too much.
Speaker:No, I doubt it.
Speaker:He's worse than I am,
Speaker:man. He's always got something going.
Speaker:I also want to point out what Terry's talking about in
Speaker:terms of her daughter reminiscing on trips that they did in
Speaker:the past.
Speaker:Terry's been in business for so long that if she didn't
Speaker:do that type of thing,
Speaker:just get herself away and let herself have a break from
Speaker:the business.
Speaker:There's no way you could have longevity in a business such
Speaker:as she has right now.
Speaker:You've got to be able to find time to get yourself
Speaker:away. Whether it's daily taking a walk trips going on vacation,
Speaker:clearly you have to be there during the peak times of
Speaker:your business,
Speaker:but you do also have to get away or you're not
Speaker:going to make it.
Speaker:It's critically important for everybody starting a business to do That
Speaker:totally true,
Speaker:because that's one reason I started a business because I wanted
Speaker:to be able to go away.
Speaker:I want him to be able to travel and still be
Speaker:making money.
Speaker:So I've always set my business up from the beginning to
Speaker:operate without me.
Speaker:And that's why the policies and how to do things in
Speaker:a good computer system.
Speaker:So Wally and I don't need to be there.
Speaker:If there's a special customer,
Speaker:anybody can look up that customer history and know what they
Speaker:did in the past.
Speaker:And we have notes on the special customers.
Speaker:I still am the head designer.
Speaker:So if there's something I remember once sitting in Sicily and
Speaker:having to help somebody with a really special order,
Speaker:a really good client,
Speaker:but that was fun.
Speaker:I was sitting on a beach and Sicily.
Speaker:I'm not feeling too sorry for you,
Speaker:Terri. Oh,
Speaker:it was lovely.
Speaker:I was eating lamb chops,
Speaker:looking at the Mediterranean.
Speaker:It was great.
Speaker:What Book have you read lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value In?
Speaker:I read one that I really enjoyed.
Speaker:It's a business book.
Speaker:It's called David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.
Speaker:And it's like David and Goliath,
Speaker:underdogs misfits,
Speaker:and the art of battling giants.
Speaker:And it's a really easy read,
Speaker:but it's really good.
Speaker:I think for small businesses,
Speaker:because he really gets into how by being smaller.
Speaker:Sometimes there's a,
Speaker:he never won.
Speaker:He tells a great story of David and Goliath and how
Speaker:it was mismatched in that in many ways,
Speaker:David with his Slingshot was better positioned than this big giant
Speaker:with all this armor.
Speaker:And he uses that as kind of a metaphor for how
Speaker:as a business.
Speaker:And I think that's why we survived the big crash as
Speaker:we were small.
Speaker:I could let go when I didn't have thousands of employees
Speaker:to get rid of,
Speaker:I didn't have tons of product,
Speaker:but how has a small business,
Speaker:you can use that to your advantage.
Speaker:And it gives you story after story and interesting stories of
Speaker:people who've done just that with one good idea,
Speaker:or being able to be a little winery and being able
Speaker:to change like you're like in this little,
Speaker:you're not on the big Titanic,
Speaker:you're in the little boat and go around that iceberg.
Speaker:It's a really easy and interesting read.
Speaker:He's quite a good writer.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:You're the second person who's recommended that book lately.
Speaker:And so I'm just now going to have to get it.
Speaker:That's all there is to it.
Speaker:Yeah, it was,
Speaker:it was fun.
Speaker:He's a great writer.
Speaker:He's written some other ones.
Speaker:So was he the one who did blink and some other
Speaker:stuff? And he's a good non-fiction writer gift Biz listeners,
Speaker:just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book just like Terry is talking about for
Speaker:free. All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection that's gift biz book.com.
Speaker:So Terry,
Speaker:our time is starting to wind down here,
Speaker:but we have arrived at the dare to dream question.
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 is inside?
Speaker:Well, it's a very nice future.
Speaker:Whenever want.
Speaker:I would be spending at least a month in Paris every
Speaker:year and speaking really good French,
Speaker:but I also see the future of Phantom fantastical as being
Speaker:a community center.
Speaker:It would be a place where people would come and they
Speaker:could have a cup of tea.
Speaker:There'd be some food,
Speaker:but also be like,
Speaker:there become like a permanent farmer's market,
Speaker:different vendors.
Speaker:There'd also be maybe a space for a gallery.
Speaker:So we could have different shows.
Speaker:Maybe even some music I'd have a teaching kitchen and it
Speaker:would be a place where people could come and they could
Speaker:learn about food or they could be like author readings,
Speaker:or they find the latest,
Speaker:greatest vendor.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:artisan in the community,
Speaker:who's making some,
Speaker:there might be potters,
Speaker:they're doing demonstrations,
Speaker:but it would be this great center in the middle of
Speaker:like Hollywood.
Speaker:I think that would just be full of create.
Speaker:Barnegat says doing artistic things or paraphrasing makes your soul grow.
Speaker:And I think that would be what I would really envision,
Speaker:but it'd be so well-run that I wouldn't have to be
Speaker:there all the time and I would still be traveling,
Speaker:but it would be this huge center where people would just
Speaker:want to come because there'd always be something happening That sounds
Speaker:so cool.
Speaker:And it merges back in what Wally's done with his music
Speaker:and what you've done with all of your interests,
Speaker:your whole life.
Speaker:Can I be the very first one to enter?
Speaker:Yeah. Come in,
Speaker:Sue. You're welcome.
Speaker:I'll make you a cup of tea or coffee.
Speaker:Whichever you like wine.
Speaker:I will open you a lovely wine depending on what kind
Speaker:you want.
Speaker:White red.
Speaker:We've got all sorts.
Speaker:Nice glass of wine,
Speaker:a beautiful cheese plate.
Speaker:I think I know you like blue.
Speaker:I've got a great blue cheese for ya and you're set
Speaker:up apple a little bit of local made jam.
Speaker:Oh, I'm there.
Speaker:I'm there already before this even exists.
Speaker:Yeah. It's part of my dream.
Speaker:So if that was it,
Speaker:that was me.
Speaker:What I would do.
Speaker:Something tells me that that's very achievable for you since you
Speaker:are so gutsy,
Speaker:logical, systematized,
Speaker:and a dreamer.
Speaker:How about That?
Speaker:So that's that kind of sums it up.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:So Terry,
Speaker:how can our listeners get in touch with you?
Speaker:Well, we have a website which is www fanciful with two
Speaker:L's dot com.
Speaker:My email,
Speaker:if anybody wants to get hold of me,
Speaker:it's Terry T E R R Y at
follow us on Instagram.
Speaker:I love Instagram,
Speaker:that's fanciful baskets,
Speaker:and we also have a Facebook page under fans,
Speaker:full gift baskets and Twitter,
Speaker:but I love Instagram and Facebook the best.
Speaker:So I'd love to get more followers on Instagram.
Speaker:We put up tons of great photos.
Speaker:It's really one of my favorite toys right now.
Speaker:Wonderful And gift buzzers.
Speaker:As you know,
Speaker:if you jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com, you'll find Terry's show notes page,
Speaker:and that will have all the links to all of our
Speaker:contact information.
Speaker:Also a lot of information based on what we've been talking
Speaker:about through our time together today.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Terry, for all of this valuable information you had said to
Speaker:me during our pre-chat that you had had pop whole pot
Speaker:of coffee.
Speaker:I totally,
Speaker:I totally get that now.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was all espresso too.
Speaker:I did a fresco pot.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:oh my God,
Speaker:I hope I don't talk too fast because I did the
Speaker:whole pot.
Speaker:Cause while he's been sick and didn't share it with me.
Speaker:So I drank it all.
Speaker:Well, You have been absolutely fabulous.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:thank you so much for sharing your journey and all of
Speaker:your insights and may your candle always burn.
Speaker:Thanks. Same To you.
Speaker:Thanks so much for doing this.
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@giftunwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash yes,
Speaker: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 grant your product of
Speaker:your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica Gribbon to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop for cross studio in
Speaker:second, check out the ribbon print company.com
