Shownotes
The Infinity Gifts, Baskets and Balloons Story
How it all began. [4:29] A discussion on how and where she set up shop. [7:18] The role the Chamber of Commerce plays in her business. [8:54] Brick and mortar of today. [13:12] Andi recognizes that she has control issues. Here’s how she’s dealing with it. [15:08]Candle Flickering Moments
Family first. When life throws you a curve ball. [19:28] Doing a major overhaul and rebuilding the business. [22:05]Business Building Insights
Be careful what you say! [2:58] It’s important to learn the business side. [8:18] The reality of retail today [13:25] Taking advantage of a local opportunity while Party City remodels. [23:42] The value of customization. [24:45] B&M visibility and store displays. [27:26] Movement attract attention. [30:35] You better know your competition. [36:07]Success Trait
Andi has a brilliant way with words. She uses this (unintentionally) to capture attention online in member forums, Facebook Groups and other similar communities. [32:11]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Andi most valuable tool is her phone. She uses it for all facets of her business from communication to photography to accepting payments. [33:34]Recommended Reading and Listening
Find books within your industry and continue to learn from others. [36:44]
Contact Links
Website Facebook 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
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 112.
Speaker:I wrote them a check and then I went,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I just lost my mind.
Speaker:What if this doesn't pan out?
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it.
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 Sue Mon height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's 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 a new insight to gain traction and to grow
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:And today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Andy
Speaker:Malone. Andy is the owner of infinity gifts,
Speaker:baskets, and balloons.
Speaker:She started her business 11 years ago,
Speaker:and today is a professionally certified designer and the winner of
Speaker:numerous awards within her industry for services,
Speaker:custom creative gift baskets for all occasions,
Speaker:as well as balloon designed to make events and exciting.
Speaker:And his business started from an activity that she was doing
Speaker:when her children were young over time,
Speaker:she recognized the opportunity to turn what she loved into a
Speaker:business. And that may be exactly why a lot of you
Speaker:are listening today.
Speaker:So we're going to hear how she did it.
Speaker:And I want to introduce you to her right now.
Speaker:Welcome to the show,
Speaker:Andy, thank you for having me.
Speaker:I am So excited that we got this together and the
Speaker:way I like to start all the shows is having you
Speaker:describe yourself in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to describe your ideal candle,
Speaker:what would be the color and what would be the quote
Speaker:on your candle?
Speaker:Well, it would be Brown because Brown is my favorite color
Speaker:and it's just earthy and it's a color chocolate.
Speaker:So how can you go wrong?
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:And this is a candle that we can't burn because on
Speaker:the other side of the motivational quote is a picture of
Speaker:Brad Pitt.
Speaker:And why Brad Pitt?
Speaker:I might ask,
Speaker:Oh, come on it.
Speaker:Doesn't everybody know how hot.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So we've got your Brown candle.
Speaker:Brad Pitt is on the back.
Speaker:And what is the quote?
Speaker:My quote is actually quote on stealing from Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker:No, I didn't know him personally.
Speaker:I'm not quite that old.
Speaker:I dunno,
Speaker:Lincoln and Brad together.
Speaker:This is interesting.
Speaker:My quote is it is better to be silent and thought
Speaker:of full than to speak and remove all doubt.
Speaker:Ooh. Now I have a little bit of advantage here because
Speaker:I know you and I know you are not necessarily soft-spoken.
Speaker:You are a riot to talk with as we'll all see
Speaker:as we keep going,
Speaker:but how do you apply this to your life?
Speaker:And why did you choose this quote?
Speaker:Well, I don't know.
Speaker:I think sometimes people speak too much.
Speaker:I can just remember so many instances,
Speaker:especially public figures,
Speaker:whether it be musicians or actors or politicians or whoever,
Speaker:if you're in the public eye,
Speaker:you really need to be careful about what you say because
Speaker:you come off looking like an idiot.
Speaker:And I just think that if people put more thought into
Speaker:what they said before,
Speaker:they said it,
Speaker:they would present themselves a lot better.
Speaker:That's a good point.
Speaker:Because especially as business owners too,
Speaker:we are the face of our business.
Speaker:You can talk about social media and all of that.
Speaker:Now people who put posts up and maybe don't think twice,
Speaker:but all of that comes back and it is a reflection
Speaker:on who you are.
Speaker:I really like this.
Speaker:Cause sometimes silence is just better.
Speaker:Yeah. I actually know somebody who lost business because she was
Speaker:posting very strong political views and she lost three clients in
Speaker:one week.
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:Wow. Well an example for all of us.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I take the approach.
Speaker:I am not going to be on either side of the
Speaker:political fence or any religion,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because this is open and free and I want everyone to
Speaker:feel good about being here.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:Powerful. You're Switzerland.
Speaker:I'm Switzerland.
Speaker:Absolutely. So let's get into infinity gifts.
Speaker:I want to talk about,
Speaker:and I didn't even want to in the intro talk about
Speaker:how it was developed because I thought it was better coming
Speaker:from you.
Speaker:So how did affinity gifts get started?
Speaker:Well, I actually have a background in graphics.
Speaker:Is that by education then Andy?
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:And did that for a while and actually kind of switched
Speaker:things up and went into lending.
Speaker:And when I had my first child,
Speaker:I would drop him off at my mother-in-law's house and he
Speaker:would sleep all day.
Speaker:And he was up all night.
Speaker:Lucky for you.
Speaker:Yeah, there were many days.
Speaker:I went to work on like 45 minutes sleep Dell.
Speaker:It got to the point where I had the opportunity to
Speaker:stay home.
Speaker:And so I did and had another baby and was able
Speaker:to stay home with my kids for 17 years.
Speaker:And during that time,
Speaker:I don't know how it is around the country.
Speaker:I would imagine it's pretty much the same in California.
Speaker:Education has taken,
Speaker:just such hits with the cuts.
Speaker:They cut out this and they cut out that really bare
Speaker:bones. And if you want anything extra for the kids,
Speaker:the parents have to come up with the money we're talking
Speaker:public schools.
Speaker:So I got involved starting to do auctions.
Speaker:Both my kids played baseball and I would do auctions and
Speaker:I would do baskets.
Speaker:And I found that the baskets went over really well.
Speaker:I had a couple of people because I was doing several
Speaker:auctions while a couple of auctions a year,
Speaker:I would do one for baseball.
Speaker:I would do one for the school and people would follow
Speaker:me back and forth between them and not necessarily having association
Speaker:with my kids' school,
Speaker:but they would show that auction or maybe not necessarily have
Speaker:a connection with baseball,
Speaker:but they'd show up for that auction.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:after 17 years it was kind of like,
Speaker:well, my skills in graphic really didn't apply anymore.
Speaker:Everything had become so much more technical as opposed to the
Speaker:old school cut and paste.
Speaker:And so that kind of went by the wayside.
Speaker:And I didn't want to go back into lending because I
Speaker:still had school aged kids.
Speaker:So just ended up where I went.
Speaker:Okay. You know,
Speaker:I think this is what I want to do Stop here.
Speaker:So were people following you around and were they wanting you
Speaker:to make baskets for them for an event they had like
Speaker:a birthday or something like that?
Speaker:No, but they would follow me from auction to auction.
Speaker:I didn't have anybody really request back then.
Speaker:It was that I can remember,
Speaker:but I had several people that had nothing to do with
Speaker:baseball show up for an auction.
Speaker:I had one gal,
Speaker:she must've bought like eight or 10 baskets and her son
Speaker:and my son were friends,
Speaker:but her son didn't play baseball and we're loading her,
Speaker:her car.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:I got this one.
Speaker:My brother just bought his first home and he could use
Speaker:us. And it was a toolbox basket that had tools and
Speaker:tape measures and like picture hanging kits and the stuff you'd
Speaker:need for a new home.
Speaker:And then somebody else was getting married.
Speaker:So she bought a wedding basket and some Gail had birthday.
Speaker:And so she bought a book lovers basket.
Speaker:So she had all these baskets going into her car,
Speaker:but it was all for stuff she had coming up.
Speaker:She knew she'd need.
Speaker:And so I had a few people doing that and I
Speaker:went, wow,
Speaker:maybe there's something to this basket thing and that's how it
Speaker:was born.
Speaker:So what'd you do?
Speaker:What were the first steps way back then that you did
Speaker:to create a business or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:make the flip into a business?
Speaker:It's tough to my husband.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:are you out of your mind?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, yeah.
Speaker:And my parents had a spare bedroom because I'd left home
Speaker:and I set up in their bedroom and started that way.
Speaker:And I put an ad in the yellow pages and that
Speaker:lasted, I was in their spare bedroom.
Speaker:I matter of months,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:and outgrew it needed another place.
Speaker:So then I found a little office type place.
Speaker:It was a mixed use led industrial office area and rented
Speaker:three rooms and did business out of there for the next
Speaker:seven years.
Speaker:Maybe a little over seven years.
Speaker:Gotcha. I'm going to stop you here just for a quick
Speaker:question. And then we're going to talk about where you are
Speaker:today. What did you see as the difference when you were
Speaker:doing it as a hobby for the auctions?
Speaker:It was somewhat of a business purpose,
Speaker:obviously. Right.
Speaker:But what was the difference that you saw as you switch
Speaker:from doing it?
Speaker:Just for the auctions,
Speaker:as something on the side to when you turned it into
Speaker:a business?
Speaker:Well, other than the money going to me and not the
Speaker:schools or the,
Speaker:or baseball,
Speaker:I realized how much of the business side,
Speaker:I didn't know.
Speaker:Yeah. You can make great baskets all day,
Speaker:but if you aren't really dialed into the business side of
Speaker:it, you don't have a very good chance.
Speaker:You just don't and you have to treat it like a
Speaker:business. And what did you do to do that?
Speaker:To learn?
Speaker:Cause you were saying you didn't really have that business in
Speaker:the beginning.
Speaker:No, I didn't.
Speaker:I started going online and researching and researching,
Speaker:trying to find vendors and researching,
Speaker:trying to do promotions and how to on a very tight
Speaker:budget, get yourself out there.
Speaker:I joined the chamber of commerce and funny story about the
Speaker:chamber of commerce.
Speaker:I wrote them a check and then I went,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I just lost my mind.
Speaker:What if this doesn't pan out and second,
Speaker:guess myself for the next two weeks.
Speaker:And then I got a call from the chamber that said,
Speaker:there's a woman in Louisiana whose son is here in Ventura
Speaker:is having a birthday.
Speaker:She wants a gift basket.
Speaker:She's going to give you a call.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:okay. So she did.
Speaker:And the funny thing about that was is what she spent
Speaker:on the gift basket was exactly what I wrote the check
Speaker:for my chamber dues for no way.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's like the universe smacking me in the head,
Speaker:smacking me in the heads saying you did the right thing.
Speaker:Can keep going.
Speaker:Awesome. I was just going to say,
Speaker:since we're on the chamber,
Speaker:do you have any feedback or comments about your participation in
Speaker:the chamber for people who are in your situation that you
Speaker:were in back then,
Speaker:but they are there today.
Speaker:Like, do you think a chamber is a good first place
Speaker:of contact to get your name out?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because your audience is so vast,
Speaker:I don't want to make a blanket statement and say,
Speaker:yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think that some chambers are more active about promoting their
Speaker:members than others.
Speaker:So I would say,
Speaker:go check them out before you joined the most chambers have
Speaker:something that you can attend before you make that commitment for
Speaker:you, right.
Speaker:That chat,
Speaker:whether it be a breakfast or whatever.
Speaker:And then if you do decide,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you're a brand new business and nobody knows about you
Speaker:go to absolutely everything you can,
Speaker:which is what I did.
Speaker:I went to the chamber breakfast,
Speaker:which is once a month,
Speaker:I joined a networking group,
Speaker:which was twice a month.
Speaker:I joined the ambassadors,
Speaker:which again,
Speaker:the meeting was one month.
Speaker:And then you participated in ribbon cuttings on that kind of
Speaker:thing. So it's not just you write that check and you're
Speaker:a member of the chamber and your name is listed somewhere.
Speaker:You have to get out and be active.
Speaker:You have to meet people.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that's the way you're different from anybody else.
Speaker:Who's in a similar industry as you are because people buy
Speaker:because they like you.
Speaker:They know you as a person,
Speaker:they have some type of connection and they're going to then
Speaker:buy from you.
Speaker:And the only way that that can happen is if you're
Speaker:getting out so great information,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in terms of the chamber,
Speaker:anything else,
Speaker:but something that is face to face in the community,
Speaker:no matter how scary it is.
Speaker:Absolutely no anybody when you go in,
Speaker:but it's not going to take long.
Speaker:They generally open their arms and embrace you and welcome you.
Speaker:And they want you to succeed too,
Speaker:because think about it.
Speaker:If your business failed,
Speaker:they don't have your membership fees.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:And you also have to remember that everybody was in that
Speaker:place in the beginning,
Speaker:where they walked in and they didn't know anybody.
Speaker:And hopefully any event that you go to,
Speaker:people are sensitive to the new commerce and actually want to
Speaker:know them because that's a whole nother set of contacts for
Speaker:them as well.
Speaker:So it works both ways.
Speaker:Absolutely. Since Andy's been talking about chambers and networking here,
Speaker:I want to pop in and ask you a question.
Speaker:Do you know,
Speaker:you should be out networking,
Speaker:but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's
Speaker:scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room
Speaker:and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?
Speaker:When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,
Speaker:where you talk about yourself and your business?
Speaker:Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't need to
Speaker:be scary.
Speaker:If you know what to do to help you with this,
Speaker:I would like to offer you a coffee chat for the
Speaker:price of buying me a cup of coffee.
Speaker:We can sit down through an online video and I'll tell
Speaker:you everything that I know about networking and how I have
Speaker:personally built two multi-six figure businesses,
Speaker:primarily through networking.
Speaker:You'll walk away with a solid understanding about how networking can
Speaker:truly grow your business.
Speaker:And you're going to have new found confidence because I'm going
Speaker:to give you 10 fill in the blank template that you
Speaker:can use for your introduction message to learn more about this
Speaker:opportunity. Just go over to Bitly forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:That's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:And now let's get back to the show.
Speaker:Let's get to where are you today?
Speaker:Andy? Let's talk about your business as of today.
Speaker:Well, I have a brick and mortar store now.
Speaker:Yay. And you moved in how long ago?
Speaker:It'll be two years in June.
Speaker:So exciting.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:a big learning curve too,
Speaker:even though I had worked retail before,
Speaker:it's completely different when you own your own place.
Speaker:How so?
Speaker:You are responsible for everything.
Speaker:You're not the employee that kids to come in and do
Speaker:your shift and leave.
Speaker:And you're the guy that's got to make sure the bills
Speaker:are paid.
Speaker:You've got to make sure that you're aware of whatever the
Speaker:next upcoming holiday is.
Speaker:What's going on in your town when and where you can
Speaker:promote. It's just a whole different ball of wax.
Speaker:Are there any surprises that you had when you transferred,
Speaker:because you had a production studio before,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:after having the empty bedroom in your parents' house,
Speaker:then you had more of a production studio.
Speaker:What surprises or words of advice or anything that you'd want
Speaker:to share with someone who's considering making that jump to a
Speaker:true traditional brick and mortar store?
Speaker:Were there any surprise costs that you weren't anticipating?
Speaker:Yeah. I had to redo the floor.
Speaker:The floor was from the 1950s.
Speaker:It wasn't a specimen based,
Speaker:thank goodness,
Speaker:but it was old and crummy and crumbled when they were
Speaker:removing it.
Speaker:I hadn't anticipated.
Speaker:I had thought I could go over it,
Speaker:which would have been much cheaper,
Speaker:much easier and much faster that wasn't the situation,
Speaker:the situation,
Speaker:as they had to take it down to the concrete in
Speaker:the process,
Speaker:there was I think two different layers,
Speaker:but they also had to get up all the old glue.
Speaker:They actually had to sand my concrete down so that I
Speaker:could paint it.
Speaker:It was just a mess.
Speaker:So that was a huge surprise.
Speaker:Other than that,
Speaker:I, again,
Speaker:until you jump into it,
Speaker:you don't know.
Speaker:I was a little delusional.
Speaker:I thought that I would have time where somebody could be
Speaker:running a store in the front and I could spend time
Speaker:in the back and just design and take care of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the other aspects of bookkeeping and all that.
Speaker:And that's not the case.
Speaker:I have control issues.
Speaker:You personally.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Why does this not come as a surprise to me,
Speaker:Andy? Because you know me,
Speaker:because you don't want to give up the control of interacting
Speaker:with your customers.
Speaker:Everything I,
Speaker:even for a long time,
Speaker:didn't hire anybody.
Speaker:That's a challenge.
Speaker:We all face,
Speaker:especially if you're a creator because your product is so much
Speaker:ingrained in you.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:my assistant now picks up the stuff that,
Speaker:and I was so lucky to find her.
Speaker:And she has been with me over a year and she
Speaker:gets me,
Speaker:which is really important.
Speaker:She knows I have control as she is.
Speaker:So it's funny because she'll come in and like twice a
Speaker:month, I still do the networking meetings through the chamber.
Speaker:And so she'll come in and clean and then she'll play
Speaker:around. And it's funny because I'll come back and she'll always
Speaker:say, now,
Speaker:if you don't like it,
Speaker:you can change it.
Speaker:And I just laugh because it's like,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:Joe, But do you,
Speaker:or do you let it be sometimes?
Speaker:Oh, Sometimes,
Speaker:sometimes I let it be.
Speaker:And sometimes I'm like,
Speaker:no, can't do that.
Speaker:Now that will keep me up at night.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:this gets to the whole issue of the control thing.
Speaker:If you don't let go of control,
Speaker:you can't get back to other things in the business that
Speaker:only you can do.
Speaker:Absolutely. How have you been now that you've released a little
Speaker:bit of control?
Speaker:What's your recommendation to people?
Speaker:Hmm, absolutely do it.
Speaker:You will not survive if you don't.
Speaker:You just won't.
Speaker:Initially I was open six days a week and I thought,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Sundays are slow enough where I could close Sunday too.
Speaker:And the world is not going to come to an end.
Speaker:And so I have been taking Sundays off for about a
Speaker:year now.
Speaker:And it's nice because I've got Sunday,
Speaker:Monday off,
Speaker:but I wouldn't be able to survive.
Speaker:I would have gone nuts probably a year and a half
Speaker:ago. Sunday,
Speaker:Monday off.
Speaker:Is the store closed or is there someone else there Stores
Speaker:closed. Okay.
Speaker:Because I've got a control issue about not being there when
Speaker:somebody else is there.
Speaker:Well, here you go,
Speaker:Andy, at least you identify your weaknesses,
Speaker:right? Total control issue.
Speaker:Oh wait,
Speaker:is that a weakness?
Speaker:I thought that was a strength,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:However you want to look at it because in the end,
Speaker:your business is what you want to create it to be,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you want to do things that are going to bring
Speaker:enjoyment, make you feel satisfied and a rule book and a
Speaker:direction guide is just that you have to take those things
Speaker:and make them work for you.
Speaker:So if this is working for you,
Speaker:then Andy,
Speaker:then it's all good.
Speaker:Absolutely. And at the end of the day,
Speaker:your business is a reflection of you.
Speaker:And that was probably the biggest challenge with hiring somebody.
Speaker:Yeah, but I would also say with a retail shop and
Speaker:I have seen so many stores shutter for this reason alone,
Speaker:if you have a retail store,
Speaker:you kind of forget that you have to be there when
Speaker:the store opens and closes or have someone covering there.
Speaker:Absolutely. You cannot.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we've had just,
Speaker:even in my hometown had several stores where a small business
Speaker:owner decides they're going to open up,
Speaker:but then they want to go to a networking meeting in
Speaker:the middle of the day.
Speaker:Well, you need some coverage,
Speaker:then you just can't close and say,
Speaker:I'll be back in two hours.
Speaker:Now that does not work.
Speaker:It's not going To work because people who might want to
Speaker:buy from you to support you,
Speaker:because remember you've been out in those networking meetings,
Speaker:right. Then come to your shop and you're closed.
Speaker:So if they needed something,
Speaker:they are disappointed and you lost that sale.
Speaker:And that happens one or two times and word gets out
Speaker:and you will not have any customers.
Speaker:So give biz listeners just a word of caution.
Speaker:Retail shops.
Speaker:Think this through like act as if this is your life.
Speaker:Do you want to be tied down to a location from
Speaker:the time nine to six?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:whatever the retail hours are.
Speaker:And if not,
Speaker:are you going to get somebody to cover the shop?
Speaker:Because if the answer is no,
Speaker:then don't go retail period.
Speaker:Absolutely. Now there's a boat cheek next to me.
Speaker:And the owner is never there because she's hired.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:she's open every day.
Speaker:11 to six.
Speaker:Yeah. So the store is still open access to the product
Speaker:and to buying is still there.
Speaker:Absolutely. Otherwise,
Speaker:why have a store?
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Super Andy,
Speaker:we're going to move on a little bit.
Speaker:Are there any other challenges that you've had as you've been
Speaker:putting together your business that you think would be good information
Speaker:for our listeners?
Speaker:Unfortunately, we had a pretty serious family crisis and I ended
Speaker:up five,
Speaker:six days a week having to go to LA to deal
Speaker:with what was going on.
Speaker:This was a lifestyle emergency.
Speaker:And you had to figure out how to balance the business
Speaker:with this personal emergency.
Speaker:Yeah. This was prior to opening the store.
Speaker:So you were in your production studio at the time?
Speaker:I was.
Speaker:That was good.
Speaker:Thank God It was.
Speaker:But the flip side of that is I was barely able
Speaker:to take care of the clients that I had,
Speaker:let alone get any new business,
Speaker:but family comes first.
Speaker:That's just the way my family is wired.
Speaker:Family comes first.
Speaker:Absolutely. So this went on for almost a year and my
Speaker:business did suffer.
Speaker:And so when everything was said and done,
Speaker:my business took a really big hit.
Speaker:And I almost had to start from scratch,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at that point,
Speaker:okay, either you fold up your temps and you leave or
Speaker:you really get down to business and you bust your butt
Speaker:and I wasn't ready to fold up my tent.
Speaker:So I got back to business.
Speaker:Let me stop you here for just a second.
Speaker:And I think that's one of the values I believe of
Speaker:being a business owner is that you can call the shots
Speaker:and if life throws you a curve ball and your priority
Speaker:needs to be somewhere else,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you clearly that you,
Speaker:weren't going to be able to put the time in the
Speaker:business, your business was going to suffer,
Speaker:but you had that choice.
Speaker:If you had a full-time job,
Speaker:they weren't going to let you off and not work for
Speaker:that whole time.
Speaker:Not for almost a year now.
Speaker:Yeah. So there was the advantage because you knew what was
Speaker:going on,
Speaker:but you could control and make those decisions for yourself.
Speaker:And I think that's really important to remember that the business
Speaker:always doesn't have to be going up and building and growing.
Speaker:This is something that you can flex based on what's happening
Speaker:in your life.
Speaker:Income is one thing of course,
Speaker:relationships and needing to be there for family is another thing.
Speaker:And it's a balancing act.
Speaker:And sometimes it's going to tilt in the way of personal,
Speaker:which is fine.
Speaker:That's your prerogative.
Speaker:And there's nothing wrong with recognizing it and knowing that's happening
Speaker:and let it go that way for awhile.
Speaker:And I was very realistic about what the consequences could be.
Speaker:I wasn't delusional.
Speaker:I didn't think that I was going to be able to
Speaker:pick up and carry on from where I had been.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:it was almost a year and I did lose business.
Speaker:I took care of what I could when I could,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:my priority was someplace out.
Speaker:Absolutely. So what happened,
Speaker:how did you start rebuilding then?
Speaker:Did you contact your past clients or what happened from there?
Speaker:I decided to do a major overhaul and reinvent myself,
Speaker:reinvent my business.
Speaker:Oh, tell me more.
Speaker:Well, so this is when I decided to open up the
Speaker:brick and mortar and had it been something that had been
Speaker:talked about before the family crisis and for awhile,
Speaker:it was the grieving process and you really can't see clearly.
Speaker:And so when some of the smoke cleared and I was
Speaker:able to sit down and really think about it,
Speaker:it's kind of a crazy time to do it because the
Speaker:business had taken such a hit.
Speaker:But if I don't do this one,
Speaker:I'll never know what could have been two.
Speaker:I will regret it.
Speaker:And three,
Speaker:it was something that had been thought of and most likely
Speaker:was going to be done before the Brown stuff.
Speaker:So you had been kinda muddling the idea over in your
Speaker:mind for a while,
Speaker:and I'm sure speaking with your husband about it and just
Speaker:thinking, you know,
Speaker:it's not like all of a sudden one day you wake
Speaker:up and say,
Speaker:I'm going to go look for property and start a store.
Speaker:Oh, no.
Speaker:At that point I hadn't really thoroughly looked through the city
Speaker:and had gotten information on other things.
Speaker:And so it was an educated move.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:and it was something I felt necessary if I wanted to
Speaker:continue on.
Speaker:I really didn't think I could stay in the space that
Speaker:I was just given some circumstances and everything.
Speaker:So is your clientele now totally different than what you had
Speaker:before? No,
Speaker:not really.
Speaker:I still have a very heavy realtor client base.
Speaker:I would say that they make up the majority of my
Speaker:client base.
Speaker:It's not vastly different,
Speaker:but it is somewhat Because you're going to get walked by
Speaker:traffic sometimes.
Speaker:And absolutely you're going to attract different people just by manner
Speaker:of your location.
Speaker:Yeah, Well,
Speaker:yeah. And also since almost the beginning of the year,
Speaker:guess the local party city,
Speaker:which had done tons and tons and tons of balloons shut
Speaker:down and remodeled for three or four months,
Speaker:Boy, wasn't that too bad for you.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:I wish they needed to remodel again next month.
Speaker:But my balloon clientele really picked up.
Speaker:It actually worked out great because then you were able to
Speaker:get people into your store and then they got a chance
Speaker:to see the other things that you offer to over and
Speaker:above balloons.
Speaker:I'm not knocking party city,
Speaker:but they don't do anything extra.
Speaker:They blow up balloons and that's kind of it,
Speaker:they don't do curls,
Speaker:they don't do stacks.
Speaker:They don't do a lot of different things.
Speaker:So it was nice in that.
Speaker:I got to be a little bit more creative too.
Speaker:This is a great idea.
Speaker:And a tip for our listeners,
Speaker:because if in your community,
Speaker:there is somebody a store that's closing that provided a service
Speaker:that you also provide or some where something that used to
Speaker:exist no longer does.
Speaker:That can be a great opportunity just as Andy's talking about
Speaker:with the balloon example here,
Speaker:Or, you know,
Speaker:if your clientele is something else we're bringing in some custom
Speaker:t-shirts and custom mugs and the whole mug thing started because
Speaker:it wasn't that nobody else in town does them.
Speaker:It's just that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have these clients and we were trying to make as
Speaker:big of an impact as far as their branding on their
Speaker:gifts that they were giving.
Speaker:And I would ask them,
Speaker:Hey, so when you have that,
Speaker:we could incorporate in this,
Speaker:what kind of collateral do you have?
Speaker:We can add.
Speaker:And well,
Speaker:I have pins.
Speaker:Okay. Everybody has pins.
Speaker:That's not going to make a huge statement in a basket.
Speaker:Let's be honest in a gift basket,
Speaker:unless it's a pretty small gift basket.
Speaker:It's not gonna make a huge impact.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:gosh, you don't have mugs.
Speaker:No, can you do mugs?
Speaker:No, I don't do mugs.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:And I did have a couple of people check it out.
Speaker:And it was like,
Speaker:in order to make the price affordable,
Speaker:you had to order 72 mugs.
Speaker:And so now you're doing custom one by ones or how's
Speaker:that working Now,
Speaker:there is a minimum with me also,
Speaker:but it's not 17,
Speaker:But right.
Speaker:Which is important because you don't want a single customer coming
Speaker:in, making a single mug.
Speaker:I'm thinking price wise.
Speaker:That's not going to be worth your time either.
Speaker:So you've somehow figured out what the minimum was.
Speaker:That would be good for you.
Speaker:And then also fill a client need,
Speaker:especially your corporate clients.
Speaker:Actually they'll I will do ones one-offs because the margin is
Speaker:very good and it's priced differently.
Speaker:Yeah, it is.
Speaker:So if somebody wanted a mother's day mug with a picture
Speaker:of them,
Speaker:when they were three with their mom and it to say,
Speaker:happy mother's day,
Speaker:Betty, Jo,
Speaker:we can do that.
Speaker:And we're not opposed to that.
Speaker:But before you do anything new,
Speaker:you need to figure out what kind of margins you're looking
Speaker:at and what kind of investment you have to make before
Speaker:you do that.
Speaker:Because I needed to buy a sublimation printer.
Speaker:I needed to buy a mug pressed.
Speaker:So there are costs involved,
Speaker:but the way I rationalized it,
Speaker:I actually took a mug job before I had the mug
Speaker:press. I took the order and knowing that that order was
Speaker:going to pay for all but 39 of my mud press.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Well, now I understand,
Speaker:cause you're not jobbing this out.
Speaker:You are doing it onsite.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And that's how your margins can be as great as they
Speaker:are. Give biz listeners.
Speaker:What Andy's talking about is know your numbers.
Speaker:Did you hear what she was just saying is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she figured it all out.
Speaker:She got in the equipment,
Speaker:she got in jobs that she knew she could pay herself
Speaker:back with.
Speaker:And now it's a huge opportunity for her as she moves
Speaker:forward. So great example of how to expand your business,
Speaker:your services and your product.
Speaker:It's never,
Speaker:ever bad to have another revenue stream.
Speaker:It's never a bad thing.
Speaker:Andy, we've talked a little bit already about how you've gotten
Speaker:business through networking events.
Speaker:Is there another way you're attracting customers to your location?
Speaker:Well, it's nice.
Speaker:When you have a brick and mortar store on a very
Speaker:busy street,
Speaker:you put out a sign,
Speaker:you put out balloons and people are going to notice as
Speaker:they drive by.
Speaker:Do you dress somebody up as Brad Pitt to stand on
Speaker:the corner and direct people into your shop?
Speaker:No, but I'm also fortunate in that I have a huge
Speaker:display window in the front.
Speaker:Huge. And so what I'm going to do on one end
Speaker:is a,
Speaker:a table with a chair it's formally dressed and it's got
Speaker:wedding stuff on it,
Speaker:like favors and napkin rings,
Speaker:custom napkin rings,
Speaker:which I do with my ribbon printer.
Speaker:So it's like a setting.
Speaker:So the window display is like,
Speaker:as if it's a setting.
Speaker:Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker:Okay. And then on the other side,
Speaker:my assistant actually does mosaics.
Speaker:And so I've got a little garden fence and it's got
Speaker:some of her,
Speaker:she's got go like a frog and flip-flops and a Palm
Speaker:tree. So that,
Speaker:but in the middle,
Speaker:the next display I'm going to do is I have this
Speaker:giant Teddy bear.
Speaker:My mom bought me from Costco years ago.
Speaker:I couldn't believe she walked out of the store with it.
Speaker:Cause it was almost as big as she was.
Speaker:And I have a half wine barrel and I'm going to
Speaker:put him in the wine barrel and do balloon bubbles,
Speaker:put a shower cap on him,
Speaker:put a towel down,
Speaker:have a back scrubber,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:thing for him.
Speaker:So that's the next I'm going to do.
Speaker:Oh, so cute.
Speaker:So I'm fortunate in that I've got these giant windows where
Speaker:I can do just about anything and it attracts people in
Speaker:for sure it does.
Speaker:And since we put that fence with Jill's mosaics,
Speaker:people are always stopping and looking.
Speaker:Oh, so you really did see a difference from when you
Speaker:affected the display windows.
Speaker:Really good.
Speaker:Awesome. And that was another learning curve,
Speaker:but now you figure it out or you find somebody that
Speaker:can help you.
Speaker:What Were your windows looking like before that then Sometimes there
Speaker:were empty,
Speaker:which is really dumb because you've got,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's free advertising.
Speaker:I did balloon stuff.
Speaker:I did other things,
Speaker:but doing more of a store display kind of thing that
Speaker:you would see at a department store seems to be attracting
Speaker:more attention.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So give biz listeners another great piece of advice.
Speaker:If you have a brick and mortar shop use any opportunity
Speaker:that you have to display your product.
Speaker:Andy's fortunate because she's got windows and I've seen pictures of
Speaker:your shop.
Speaker:I haven't been out there yet,
Speaker:Andy, but I've seen the pictures.
Speaker:And so she has a great display area for that.
Speaker:Another option,
Speaker:if you don't have windows is to do one of those
Speaker:boards that you can put right outside of your shop,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to welcome people to come on in,
Speaker:check with your city,
Speaker:make sure that that's allowed,
Speaker:but you are just stuck.
Speaker:If you don't have windows like Andy does that doesn't mean
Speaker:you Mark it off your list.
Speaker:What other types of things could you possibly do to draw
Speaker:people in right physically on site,
Speaker:as they're passing by your entrance.
Speaker:And as Andy's talking about,
Speaker:she has seen increased sales when she made an adjustment doing
Speaker:that. What were you going to say,
Speaker:Andy? I think that if you're going to look for brick
Speaker:and mortar place,
Speaker:I know that display windows were really important to me.
Speaker:We have a product that is conducive to that.
Speaker:So it makes sense that you would do that.
Speaker:Yeah. Even if you have a little display window,
Speaker:there are different ways that you can attract attention.
Speaker:One of them is to make sure that you've got something
Speaker:in that window.
Speaker:That's got some movement to it.
Speaker:Oh, good point.
Speaker:That will attract,
Speaker:but be aware when you're looking for a retail space that
Speaker:you need something that's going to attract attention and display windows
Speaker:are perfect.
Speaker:Right. I know our bread shop right down street side from
Speaker:my building here,
Speaker:pipes out the scent of the bread baking.
Speaker:So if you are in the baking industry or you have
Speaker:any sense that you could pipe out or you know,
Speaker:some people even just put bowls of water for dogs going
Speaker:by. Yeah.
Speaker:They do that a lot downtown.
Speaker:Yeah. Anything That makes someone stop.
Speaker:So get creative with that.
Speaker:It's a huge opportunity.
Speaker:And obviously with brick and mortar,
Speaker:you're carrying a lot more costs.
Speaker:So anything,
Speaker:little even that you can do to draw attention to your
Speaker:business is going to help you out in the long run.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right,
Speaker:Andy, we're going to move now into our reflection section.
Speaker:So this is another look at you more from a business
Speaker:angle. What do you do day to day so that everything
Speaker:gets done.
Speaker:If there's one natural trait that you would say you have,
Speaker:besides your love for bread pit that you call upon every
Speaker:day to keep you motivated and energized and being willing to
Speaker:delegate from time to time,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:You have Some type of a trait.
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:I'm going to just pull one out and embarrass you.
Speaker:So you better think of something Green eyes.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I'm going to give you your trait.
Speaker:Okay. And has such a way with words.
Speaker:And I know this because in a lot of the,
Speaker:I have to say they're private.
Speaker:So not everyone can go in and listen and hear what
Speaker:she has to say,
Speaker:but she draws so much attention to some of her posts
Speaker:and her comments because she's so theatrical in the way she
Speaker:talks. So that's an ability of her.
Speaker:She has,
Speaker:she brings these crazy words and brings levity to many different
Speaker:types of situations that she encounters day by day.
Speaker:And the big point there is,
Speaker:it brings eyes to her and her business.
Speaker:So I don't know if you're doing this or not Andy,
Speaker:but like on Facebook or any other social media sites or
Speaker:in person when you're out at meetings,
Speaker:if you have that ability to spur the moment,
Speaker:add levity,
Speaker:tell a story,
Speaker:those types of things that helps attract people to you.
Speaker:And Andy does this in our social media groups,
Speaker:especially the Facebook groups,
Speaker:what I was talking about earlier beautifully.
Speaker:And she has a style unlike anybody else.
Speaker:So Andy,
Speaker:I'm telling you right now,
Speaker:that's your trait.
Speaker:Okay. Good to know.
Speaker:Yep. Well,
Speaker:it's so true.
Speaker:And a lot of people listening are going to say,
Speaker:that's absolutely right.
Speaker:I know that.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Talk about a tool or something that you're using every day
Speaker:as you conduct your,
Speaker:My phone.
Speaker:Okay. Talk a little more about that.
Speaker:My phone is like an extra lamp.
Speaker:Are you an iPhone or an Android person?
Speaker:Oh, I'm an iPhone girl.
Speaker:Okay. Me too.
Speaker:So Facebook,
Speaker:Instagram, my vault.
Speaker:I have a vault on my phone that has all of
Speaker:my vendor login passwords and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:I could not function.
Speaker:I take photos of my baskets or balloons or whatever with
Speaker:my phone so that I can post on social media or
Speaker:whatever my website isn't up right now.
Speaker:It's under construction.
Speaker:But the photos that I'm taking are also for the website.
Speaker:I will be dealing with my website.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:once it's up from my phone,
Speaker:my phone is my most valuable tool.
Speaker:I could not run my business without it.
Speaker:I run credit cards on my phone.
Speaker:I had the iPhone six plus and I only had 16
Speaker:gigs when the seven plus came out,
Speaker:I told my husband,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I have to go for broke.
Speaker:So I got 128 gigs because I was tired of having
Speaker:to dump photos because almost all of them were business photos.
Speaker:I was tired of having to dump photos so I could
Speaker:take another photo.
Speaker:I understand that.
Speaker:So I always say that someone can steal my car before
Speaker:they steal my phone.
Speaker:Are you in the same boat?
Speaker:Yeah. Taking the car,
Speaker:clean it,
Speaker:please. Clean it out.
Speaker:Wash it.
Speaker:Vacuum wouldn't hurt.
Speaker:Yeah. Just no one be touching my phone.
Speaker:No, because that's probably,
Speaker:I won't even wait for the police to come get you.
Speaker:I'll just knock you out.
Speaker:Take my phone back.
Speaker:Couldn't function without it.
Speaker:I just could not function without it.
Speaker:Yeah. Yup.
Speaker:I totally agree with you there.
Speaker:Let's talk about any other places that you go to continue
Speaker:educating yourself.
Speaker:Is there a book or something else that you would recommend
Speaker:for our listeners?
Speaker:Well, I would say obviously look in your industry to see
Speaker:what information you can get and then go for the general
Speaker:ones, like how to promote a business or how to promote
Speaker:them as a son,
Speaker:a shoe string,
Speaker:those types of things,
Speaker:because ultimately you're going to have to promote it doesn't matter
Speaker:what industry you're in.
Speaker:You're going to have to promote.
Speaker:So absolutely line up what you can do and how you
Speaker:can do.
Speaker:And also maybe how you can do it differently.
Speaker:I try to be out of the box all the time,
Speaker:which is kind of easy for me because I don't really
Speaker:think, I don't know,
Speaker:somewhere along the line,
Speaker:my thought process just seems to be so much different than
Speaker:everybody else's and that's worked really well.
Speaker:But to try to do that,
Speaker:trying to think out of the box because what you want
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:and the most important thing is to set yourself apart from
Speaker:your competition and you better know your competition,
Speaker:you better know who you're competing against because if you are
Speaker:copying them exactly,
Speaker:and you are not setting yourself apart differently in any other
Speaker:way. As far as the product,
Speaker:the service,
Speaker:the price chances of survival,
Speaker:aren't going to be very good,
Speaker:especially if they were in business first,
Speaker:absolutely know your competition and do whatever you can to set
Speaker:yourself apart.
Speaker:Perfect. Is there any book that you have read in the
Speaker:past that really helped you to get where you are?
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I've read so many.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of gift basket books.
Speaker:I've got a whole bunch of gift,
Speaker:basket DVDs.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of balloon books.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of balloon DVDs.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:Saturday was kind of quiet.
Speaker:So I watched the balloon DVD and now I have a
Speaker:different way to make Palm tree.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:And that's nice because you are a professional,
Speaker:but you're still learning,
Speaker:trapped in different ideas and all of that.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how long you've been in business.
Speaker:If you don't continue to learn,
Speaker:you go stagnant.
Speaker:Totally agree with you there.
Speaker:So give biz listeners.
Speaker:I think Andy is recommending that you go check out other
Speaker:books in your industry or podcasts.
Speaker:I might say too.
Speaker:And just as you're listening to the show 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 in your industry for free on me.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:Okay. Andy done,
Speaker:done, done.
Speaker:It's time for you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Oh, look,
Speaker:Brad Pitt.
Speaker:I knew he'd be consistent there,
Speaker:Andy. Yeah.
Speaker:My box is filled with pretty much everything that I have.
Speaker:I'm very happy and very content in my personal life and
Speaker:my business.
Speaker:I love that because you've reached what your dream is.
Speaker:Yeah. But you're still growing.
Speaker:Just like you said,
Speaker:a new way to do balloons.
Speaker:Absolutely. So I guess I pretty much have everything that I
Speaker:need. So you want it to continue with the addition of
Speaker:Brad Pitt?
Speaker:Yeah. And a clean car.
Speaker:Alright, I'll go with you there.
Speaker:Okay. Give biz listeners Andy's website currently.
Speaker:Isn't up.
Speaker:I have no idea when it is going up,
Speaker:but I also have no idea when you're listening to this
Speaker:show. So over on the show notes page,
Speaker:we will have the link to her website.
Speaker:And if it's not up,
Speaker:when you go there,
Speaker:it'll be up in a further date.
Speaker:We'll also have links to her social media sites.
Speaker:Andy, what sites are you on?
Speaker:Social media wise.
Speaker:I know Facebook.
Speaker:What else?
Speaker:Instagram. Okay.
Speaker:So Facebook and Instagram and I'll have the links over there
Speaker:for that as well,
Speaker:Andy. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Super information.
Speaker:I really appreciate your sharing.
Speaker:All that you have today,
Speaker:the stories are fabulous.
Speaker:Your insight is fabulous.
Speaker:It's really helpful.
Speaker:Also. I think there's a lot of people who start off
Speaker:just like you,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:turning something that you were kind of doing on the side
Speaker:into a business and then stair stepping it up.
Speaker:Cause everyone kind of thinks well,
Speaker:should I do retail?
Speaker:Should I not?
Speaker:So great insights into that.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate your honesty,
Speaker:your expertise,
Speaker:and may your candle always burn bright?
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at Vic dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four two,
Speaker:two, two.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever branded products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday.
Speaker:Jessica Rubin to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or cross DVO in
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Speaker:for more information 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 help to increase the
Speaker:visibility of this one round.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
