172 – Lobby Pop Ups for the Corporate Biz Win with Annette Pardun of Fill My Jar

Annette Pardun of Fill My Jar

Annette started Fill My Jar Candy Company three years ago, introducing the world to a unique line of handcrafted yet traditional caramel, toffees and chocolate barks.

She grew up in a large Italian family where everything centered around the kitchen. There was always good food and a large table to gather around.

Even when she was young, Annette loved showing people she cared about them by making delicious dishes and sweets.

When Annette started her own family, she made homemade treats and candy to give as gifts for holidays, or as a way to say thank you to family, neighbors, friends, teachers, coaches and co-workers.

After raising her daughters, she decided it was time to return to school and start on a path of making her dream a reality.

Business Building Insights

  • Sometimes you have to have a “what the hell” attitude to discover new possibilities.
  • Narrow down your offerings based on what works for you and your customer.
  • Be involved in local craft shows to get your name out.
  • Regarding your website, you can’t just create it and think people will automatically find and buy from you. You need to direct people there.
  • Use Facebook in the beginning to get visibility. This is a great place for your friends to learn about and support your business.
  • Make sure that your business card has details of other ways people can reach you.
  • A variety of vendors and products brings sales to everyone because it attracts a wider audience.
  • It makes a huge difference to have support and people that believe in what you’re doing. Make sure to build that team of people for yourself.
  • Establishing a program of lobby pop up shops can be a large source of revenue for your business and get you in front of corporate decision makers you’d never meet otherwise.

Contact Links

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If 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
Transcript
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This is gift biz unwrapped episode 172 it's always just so

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great to realize that something you're doing makes people that happy

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that they will buy it.

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Attention gifters,

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bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

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now you are in the right place.

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This is gift to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal,

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Sue moon Heights.

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Hi there,

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it's Sue And thank you so much for spending part of

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your day with me today.

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If you're a first time listener,

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welcome and once you've listened,

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if you're enjoying what you're hearing and you want to make

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sure not to miss a single episode,

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click that little subscribe button and then the shows will automatically

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be downloaded to you each week when they go live.

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If you're a longtime listener,

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know how much I appreciate your loyalty and your listening week

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after week.

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If you haven't had a chance yet,

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I'd love for you to review the show.

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That helps us get more listeners and more people being able

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to capture new ways to grow their business together.

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We can help each other get bigger and better and Oh

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my gosh,

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you guys,

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this is an episode.

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I am just so excited to bring you.

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I had no idea when I started talking with a net

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the gold that she would be producing that could be key

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to making your business greater this year than ever before.

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Let's dive right in.

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Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a net

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pardon of fill my jar and that started fill my jar

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candy company three years ago.

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Introducing to the world a unique line of handcrafted yet traditional

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caramels, toffees and chocolate barks.

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Oh yeah.

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I cannot wait to talk about this.

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Growing up in a large Italian family,

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everything centered around the kitchen.

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There was always good food and a large table to gather

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around. Even when she was young.

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Annette loved showing people she cared about them by making delicious

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dishes and sweets.

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When Annette started her own family,

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she would make handmade treats and candy to give as gifts

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for holidays or as a way to say thank you to

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family, neighbors,

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friends, teachers,

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coaches and coworkers.

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After raising her daughters a net decided it was time to

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return to school and start on a path of making her

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dream a reality.

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Annette, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

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Thanks. Happy to be here.

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We start off in a little bit of a crazy way

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and that is by having you share something a little different

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about yourself through a motivational candle.

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It gives us a different peek into who you are.

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So if you were to create your very own motivational candle,

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what color would it be and what would be the quote

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on your candle?

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Well, I gave that a lot of thought and I have

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to tell you right away,

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I can tell you my color is always been a very

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warm kind of wine or cranberry red.

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And I think that it's because to me,

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warmth and that kind of red just signifies gathering and good

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food and good times.

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And so I would say that that would be my color

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though. My daughters laugh and say,

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how can you have a color when you burn your candle

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at both ends all the time.

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My quotes,

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funny enough,

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Julia child really resonates with me in the way she viewed

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food and in the way she viewed life.

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And so there's actually two quotes that I really think resonate

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with me very well.

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The first one is more about the strength to move forward

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and pursue your dreams.

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And this one is that the only real stumbling block is

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fear of failure in cooking.

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You've got to have a what the hell attitude.

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So perfectly said,

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I love it.

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And the other one more resonates with me about life in

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general, whether it's through my cooking or whether it's through my

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confidence or pursuing and basically simply enough side by Julia.

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It's with enough butter.

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Anything is good and that is so true.

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Oh my God.

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Anyways, so true.

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And I've just got to say this.

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Do you know of the Bulletproof coffee where you throw in

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butter into your coffee?

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It's interesting you say that because one of my newest flavors,

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the inspiration for that flavor,

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which I call it coffee crunch,

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is the idea that technically from what I understand,

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Europeans were the people that started dropping butter into their coffee

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and now here in America they call it the Bulletproof or

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butter coffee.

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I understand that there's a diet called the keto diet.

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I believe that also has you put butter in things like

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coffee and it is an amazing flavor and it made the

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coffee crunch that I developed because of it really turned out

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nice. It's buttery tossing mixed with a white chocolate and fused

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with dark roast coffee.

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All right,

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so well we're going to talk about how you're going to

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send some of that my way for sure.

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So Julia,

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I guess was ahead of her time,

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right? With all the butter?

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Always. Yes.

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Although that is the staple of French cooking for sure.

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Yes. All right,

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well love,

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love both of those quotes.

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That is fabulous.

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So Annette,

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I am so excited to hear about this story.

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What were you doing before you went back to school to

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make your dream a reality?

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Well, okay,

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to start,

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I was married very young and I was in marketing and

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sales and everything in before I started my family.

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But by my early twenties I had had my first two

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daughters and made the decision quite early on.

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I was going to take some time and I was blessed

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with the opportunity to take some time to be home with

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them and face them.

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Good for you.

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Yes, it was great.

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And through that I was able to,

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I think it without me even knowing,

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nurtured even more,

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my love for the kitchen and showing people how much I

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cared about them through good food and learning about food.

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Right. My mom was a huge inspiration to me growing up.

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She was born in Sicily and when she came here she

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carried over all that idea of the dishes that she bring

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and the family and the cooking that she provided us.

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And I think that that gave me an opportunity to carry

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that forward and really learn from her more.

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And so for the next 15 or so years though,

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I worked a little part time here and there.

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For the most part,

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I was a stay at home mom and playing in the

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kitchen. Like I said in that intro about making gifts that

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were treats.

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It's exactly where I really found my passion.

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I would make handmade caramels or tophi.

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I would do some peppermint barks at the holidays or whether

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it was that,

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or my mom's traditional cookies,

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the Italian Easter cookies called pastor trophies.

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I would always make trays of those to give to neighbors

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or during the holidays and there's a fig cookie they call

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GoDaddy's that are just amazing.

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I would make trays of those for my husband's coworkers or

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neighbors and friends or again,

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coaches and teachers for my kids.

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And it really sparked a passion for loving how warmly everybody

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accepted those guests and how much I enjoyed making them.

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So I think by being a stay at home mom,

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it really also helped me in a way to realize that

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my dream and my goal in life was more about being

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in the kitchen and designing things that allowed people to get

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more out of life through food.

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And you were really fortunate to be able to take those

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precious years and be with your girls too.

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And then in the kitchen in a way you were doing

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some research and you didn't even know it.

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Yes. Perfecting recipes yet you were doing it personally.

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But I'm sure you use a lot of what you learned

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there even now today.

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Yeah. Oh absolutely.

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And it was great because many times my girls were in

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the kitchen making messes with me and so sometimes it was

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great to see them put their inspiration or their imagination to

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work in the kitchen with me.

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And sometimes we came up with things just by sheer mistake.

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It was a lot of fun and we really enjoy doing

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it. And again,

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I think that had I not been fortitude of that opportunity

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to be a mom that could be home with our kids,

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I don't think I ever would have had that time to

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spend in the kitchen like that and to spend with my

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imagination. So when you went back to school,

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what did you go back to school for?

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I actually went back to school thinking that I was going

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to open a restaurant,

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believe it or not.

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So I went back and did restaurant management and all the

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certificates that go along with opening a restaurant,

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sanitation and things like that.

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So it was very eyeopening.

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I learned a lot and it really gave me a good

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perspective. Even now with the candy business though,

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it's not a restaurant and I don't have a store location,

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it really did teach me a lot about food management and

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all the different,

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you don't realize how many little things you need to do,

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whether it's health department codes or whether it's codes for different

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products or different equipment you need,

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how to go about getting them or through.

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And so having gone through these classes was very,

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very helpful.

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In the end,

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my husband was really encouraging me and he grew up in

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a family that had a floral shop for over 80 years

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in his family.

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So he knew small business and he loved it and really

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thought that I was going to end up opening a restaurant

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now that my girls were older,

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all college bound and on their own and in the end

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it turned out to be candy,

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which is amazing.

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But learning what I had to learn through my classes,

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thinking that I was going into this one direction really again,

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it was something that prepared me for this end of my

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adventure as well.

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So what was the switch?

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Where was the point where you realized,

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no, it wasn't going to be a restaurant,

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it was going to be something different?

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Well that's interesting because we literally had a name to the

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restaurant. It was going to be Tablo FreshCo,

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which is fresh table.

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I like that.

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So you were really well down the road to that path?

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Oh yeah.

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We sat together and my husband's in business.

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He's a an accountant who's actually a COO for a technology

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firm in.

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So I trust him with the money end of it,

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which is great because imagination and numbers do not go like

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I'm with a girlfriend.

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I was like,

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great, you can take your of these spreadsheets.

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I'll take care of spreading the cats.

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And so it was kind of interesting,

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but I will say one night we were sitting down,

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I actually drew my entire business plan.

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I had to create an entire business plan to graduate my

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management course.

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And I used that as an opportunity to literally plan out

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the restaurant that I had intended to so open.

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And we were sitting down one night and I will say

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my husband and I married again.

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I was 21 years old when I got married.

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So I had many years to help out at the floral

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shop and to see a small business in action early on.

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And I will say it's a wonderful adventure.

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And my husband's grandparents and his mom,

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they built an amazing business,

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but it didn't go without sacrifice.

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And that sacrifice a lot of times centered around family in

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that you're not going to be home Christmas morning with your

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kids around the Christmas tree because there are people that need

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their flowers.

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You're not going to be home for Easter until late at

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night because people are coming into the flower shop all day.

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So it's something I saw firsthand and I learned and we

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had a very serious and long discussion about opening a physical

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restaurant location that really it would take away that our time

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together would be spent at the restaurant and my family,

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my kids,

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my brothers and sisters,

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my mom and dad for the most,

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even David's family,

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we weren't used to that.

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That's not how my girls grew up.

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Mom being gone 24 hours a day,

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seven days a week.

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And I think that that was more maybe a challenge to

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me than it was to them.

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But I had a hard time with the idea that this

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was going to be all encompassing.

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And I truly did believe,

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and I still believe this to the state,

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that to say,

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Oh, you're going to hire a manager and let that manager

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work it and all this.

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I think you're setting yourself up for failure,

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especially in the first five plus years.

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Sure. Clearly what you're talking about here is that a lot

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of your sore of pleasure and fulfillment in life revolves around

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family. Absolutely.

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I mean that's really the source of where you're starting the

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film, my jar business anyway,

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and give biz listeners.

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I want you to think about this.

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If you are in a place right now where you're thinking

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of starting a business,

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this is so important,

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you need to,

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just like a net was saying live in that dream,

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whatever you think you're going to build,

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put yourself there and work through what your day would be

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like and see if it makes sense for you.

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Yes, because a net,

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so many people don't do what you just are talking about

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where you're actually looking at it and then putting that layer

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of reality on top of it and saying,

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okay, it looks all good from the outside,

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but when you're actually in there doing it,

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are you still gonna like it?

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Is it really what you want to do?

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And you were so wise to see before you even got

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started, look you had invested now money and classes and all

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of that and still you put the brakes on and said

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wait not in this way.

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Yeah. And at that time I didn't even realize that it

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was going to be candy that was going to be where

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I ended.

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You had your business plan on paper and the model and

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everything all set up so easily could have been where you

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just continued on the path,

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right? Cause everyone had bought in et cetera.

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How did you make the switch and then how did you

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identify that it was candy?

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Let's pick up from there.

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Well, we put the brakes on the restaurant and during this

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period, so kind of in between all of this while I

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was going to school and that I had actually interviewed and

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gotten a position to become a cake and pastry decorator for

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will. And it was great.

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It was freelance.

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I can schedule my own hours.

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So that was a wonderful experience.

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And again,

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it gave me more practice as to things I love and

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I was there for at least three or four years.

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While again,

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I was doing that and working through all this,

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my opening a restaurant,

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finishing school school took me two solid semesters.

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And so that technically a whole school year,

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and as I was doing this and as I was making

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candy for the holidays and stuff,

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so many times people would ask me,

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Oh my gosh,

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where did you get this?

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I would love to buy some.

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And I would say,

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Oh no,

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I hand make it.

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And they'd say,

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can I buy it from you?

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And I would traditionally say,

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I really wish I had time make more,

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but I don't.

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I'm in the middle of school.

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I'm in the middle of working at Wilton.

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I'm in the middle of working on my next project,

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possibly opening a restaurant.

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And it was interesting cause one night I am also,

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I love jarring and canning.

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And every year in the fall I Jaren can tomatoes and

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tomato sauce with my entire family.

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We do about six,

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700 pounds of tomatoes every fall.

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And we all share in the fun of getting a couple

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of cases of fresh homemade tomato sauce,

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chard. Well,

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that led me to having tons of jars in the house.

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And one holiday season I usually ran out to Joanne's and

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bought tins to put my candy in and my different treats.

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And I ran out and I needed more.

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And I had a couple of cases of new jars in

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my closet and I grabbed him out and I filled them

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up. And I was like,

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well that looks kind of boring.

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So I added a bow and then I said,

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well, that looks even a little more boring.

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So I added a lid,

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a little topper to the lid,

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and the next thing you know,

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they turned out to be adorable.

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Gifts and people just love the idea that they can reuse

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the jar and that the candy States so fresh in there

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and I all of a sudden felt like,

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let me see what would happen if I could sell this.

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And I started with craft shows and that's really where it

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all started.

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It became fill my jar because the jar became a signature

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piece for me.

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Oh my gosh.

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Your story is like perfection,

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right? Because you were very open to the fact and recognize

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that people were interested in buying already something you weren't even

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selling. So that was kind of like on your radar then

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and then step-by-step with the jars in your house you created

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and put something together.

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So that is so perfect in terms of walking down the

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road to product development and craft shows.

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Let's continue with that because that's a great place for you

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to really demonstrate to yourself if the product has a market,

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what the price points should be,

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what the flavors are.

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Let's talk a little bit about how did those first few

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shows go in terms of which shows did you select to

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do and what did your setup look like because you're brand

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new, so I think this would be really valuable for some

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of our listeners to hear.

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Yeah, well the setup was as basic as as basic could

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be. Craft shows.

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The interesting thing about them,

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pretty much I didn't select them.

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I grabbed anything that was local to me.

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The ads had,

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for example around me at the time I was living in

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Naperville, out in Western suburbs and so Cod college held spring

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and fall craft shows,

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and again there were farmer's markets,

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lots of farmer's markets,

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so I started looking up different holiday events and how do

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I apply and all that and got myself involved in a

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couple of them.

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I would have to say it was always like what a

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thrill it was to see how much candy I actually sold

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in an event and I'm still this day always shocked when

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I come home as to how much candy I sell,

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no matter what I'm doing.

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It's always just so great to realize that something you're doing

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makes people that happy that they will buy it.

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To me,

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I think that says so much and so I started with

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the craft shows and the setup literally,

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and to this day,

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my setup is still very simple because I'm still working on

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building the business.

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It is six foot tables that I throw in my car.

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It is totes filled with all the different flavors I'm offering

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and I have all my bows ready to go and pretty

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much I have four different sized jars that I bring to

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a show.

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There's your large and then there's kind of like a middle,

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large, and then a little smaller medium and then a small,

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I actually recently in the last year or two,

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added what I call snack bags.

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Realizing that there were people that just wanted to buy the

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candy to enjoy,

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but not necessarily looking for a jar or a gift.

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Oh, that's smart because they might've wanted to have it just

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while they're walking the shows.

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Exactly. Or just to bring home or if I'm in an

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office building,

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they want to bring it to their office and put it

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in their desk,

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that kind of thing.

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And so I started making the snack bags.

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And so basically to this day my setup is almost the

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same as it was from the beginning.

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And that is black tablecloths and the jars all lined up.

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And one thing I did do quite quickly,

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cause I started the shows,

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I would say the first time I actually put a show

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together was in the spring of 2016 so the business was

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technically started in 2015 and I was selling to friends and

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neighbors. I hadn't really done any shows at that point.

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And then in the spring of 2016 was the first time

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I started with craft shows and French market or the yeah,

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outdoor French markets.

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And it was again six foot tables,

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black tablecloths,

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putting my product out,

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making some nice signs,

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which today I find it will go to Walgreens and go

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to their photo shop and find a sale and pick up

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a really nice banner for $15 and it makes you look

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professional. So it was designing my own banners.

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I went to Vista print,

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made a box of 500 business cards to make sure there

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was somebody there that can take my information if they wanted

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it. And pretty much that was it.

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I got out there and decided let's figure this out.

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Soon after that I found out that French markets were really

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challenging cause they're always done in the nice weather and with

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nice weather becomes heat and heat and chocolate don't mix right.

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But you kind of start narrowing it down what works for

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you and that.

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And the crash shows were a staple for a very,

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very long time getting my name out there.

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So going back to the first shows that you did,

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were there any surprises or anything that you weren't expecting to

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happen that you could let our listeners know about?

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In case they're thinking of going to their first shows.

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I would say I think that'd be in your mind,

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you're thinking,

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you walk in,

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you set up,

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you're there.

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You need to realize it's,

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I found myself setting up the night before when my situation,

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and I would imagine anybody that's setting up a booth,

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regardless of what it is,

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is going to have things to login,

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tote. You have to be ready and make sure that you

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know that you're going to have to do a little bit

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of sweat equity to make sure that it all goes together

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well and you're giving up again.

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For as much as I realized that the restaurant was maybe

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too much of a reach for me,

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knowing how much I like to spend time with my family.

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I also realized that if you're doing craft shows,

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and trust me,

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there are tons of them out there.

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You could literally be busy every weekend if you really want

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it to.

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Oh my gosh.

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And there are people who are,

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I mean I talk to people who do 60 70 craft

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shows in a year.

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Absolutely. And they come in.

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The people I've met,

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amazing people,

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Minnesota, Indiana.

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I mean they drive and they come in and they set

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up, but this is their livelihood and I think that that

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was the first time I realized that there was a point

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where I guess I thought,

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is this me doing a hobby or is this me doing

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a business?

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Like I was a little confused at one point and I

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think it was because you're trying to figure it out.

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But I think the turning point for me was meeting so

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many people who've not only been do 60 and 70 craft

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shows a year,

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but they've been doing it for 15 and 20 years and

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this is their livelihood and they own homes because of it.

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They feed their families because of it.

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So realize that this can be a business.

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Did I meet people that it felt more like a little

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bit of a hobby to them?

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Yeah, I did.

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And I also think that they could have been very much

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in my spot where it was trying it out,

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seeing what happens and maybe it does or doesn't work.

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I don't know.

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It's so funny.

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I mean,

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I picture you like sitting there and all of a sudden

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having the realization like,

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Oh my gosh,

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I have a business.

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I didn't even know I did this,

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and here it is.

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It's a real business.

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Yeah. There was a couple of times where I was like,

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look what's going on here?

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Oh my gosh.

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That's so funny.

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Okay. So I want to spin this off a little bit

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in terms of more concrete and specific as you started your

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business. So you have your product,

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we've been talking about the product and getting the product out

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there in the craft shows and all of that.

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Let's back up a little bit.

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What did you do to actually formally start the business?

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So formally,

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I actually been that spring of 2016 is when I formally

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signed fill my jar.

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I got my licensing through the state of Illinois and I

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owned the name.

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So my jar,

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I bought the domain name.

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So my jar,

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I opened a website that I feel is constantly in progress.

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And did you do your website by yourself?

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Did you have someone help?

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No, no,

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no, no.

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Yeah. I am the most technology challenged person in the world

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and so I took some time and I did have a

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hand in,

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I got an Etsy shop going before the website and so

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that meant photography.

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Again, something that I never deemed myself a photographer,

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but a kitchen table and some fun little accessories from Michaels

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depending on what in my world.

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I was trying to depict something a little bit rustic and

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fun. So it was get some rustic boards and that,

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and I started taking some pictures to throw up on Etsy

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and that wasn't very interesting to point too because I would

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say I kind of thought,

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well, I'm on Etsy now.

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Come on,

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everybody start ordering.

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And it just sat there.

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Yeah. You're not unique in that,

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that you think that just because you put something up,

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people will just happen to find you.

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It doesn't work that way.

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Yes, and I was blessed with the idea and my oldest

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daughter, she is in marketing and strategy and does all this.

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I really wish I could tell you more what she does.

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She works for an advertising agency and she does a lot

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of this for big companies like Pepsi and Quaker.

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So she would come to me and she'd laugh and she'd

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say, no,

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no, no ma'am,

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you've got to make sure you do the work to get

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people to go to you and you can pay for it

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or you can just work for it.

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And I didn't have the money so I was going to

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work for it.

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What I mean by work for it is working like crazy

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to get my name out there and get my business cards

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and anything I can out there so that people can go

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to my Etsy shop or my website.

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And to this day I've had now at seagoing since 2016

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and I can maybe say less than 30 orders have come

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through, but I've made some amazing contacts and it's great to

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say that it's a place for people to go.

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And the funny thing is,

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is the people that I do get orders from 90% of

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the time I've had people,

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I've shipped candy out to England and mostly farther off places.

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So these are people that are searching around at Etsy and

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the way I understand it,

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it's the more that you get reviews and the more that

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you get people searching for things on Etsy,

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you'll pop up more and more.

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Right. My guess is is that something with time and then

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my daughter was also clearly a huge help in helping me

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put together a website,

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so I would say that 2016 that spring I started doing

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the crash shows.

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That's when my husband was like,

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well, okay,

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let's hook onto the name.

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So he was very helpful in getting a tax ID and

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an EIN number through the state of Illinois and we secured

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the domain name and knowing that I'm talking to people that

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are possibly looking at doing this,

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please know none of that is very expensive.

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I bought the domain name off of GoDaddy for $15 or

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something like that and you have to renew it every year,

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but once you own it,

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you own it and now you can,

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well, I could open the website,

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just fill my jar.com

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I have an email address address that's in that top part

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on it.

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Fill my jar.com

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you own that name so nobody can take it away from

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you. It's not expensive to become a legal license through the

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state of Illinois.

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So those things were just time and paperwork,

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but expense wise,

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not expensive just legitimizes you and that was helpful.

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Right. I think there's one other thing I want to bring

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up here that you did so right that I just,

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since we're on this conversation for people who are just setting

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up, a lot of times people will pass up the portion

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of getting the domain and setting up a website.

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Just to your point too,

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they might not have a daughter who can help them actually

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set it up.

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The thing is though with an Etsy shop and even social

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media sites,

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those really aren't things that you own.

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If something happened and changed with Etsy and let's say they

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shut down your site for some reason,

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your shop,

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you lose everything so you still always want to have your

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own website,

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your own location online no matter what.

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Even if it takes a little bit of time to set

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it up.

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And I use GoDaddy to a nut,

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so I'm glad you brought that up,

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but even if you don't set it up right in the

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beginning, although you should make sure you grab that domain name

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and in the.com

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extension because yes,

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there are a million different extensions these days,

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but everybody still gravitates first to.com

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you don't want someone to find someone else besides you.

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Yes, You are absolutely right too because I forget that another

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portion of it was getting on Facebook,

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opening up a Facebook for fill my jar.

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It doesn't take a lot of time and it's a place

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where people can go or it's a place where you can

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send messages out and have your friends share.

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And share and so it's another great way of getting a

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small business kind of off and running.

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We're places where people can find you,

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so if you are doing a craft show,

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you have places that you can send them to.

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So for a long time my business card had my Etsy

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address on there.

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It had my Facebook address on there because that's what I

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had until I can go ahead and open a website.

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And again,

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the sooner you can do those things the better.

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And a lot of them are not either no money at

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all or not very expensive to start up and running.

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It's just a little bit of time and a little bit

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of patience,

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a lot of reading,

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but you get through them and it's well worth it because

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then you have places that legitimize you as a business For

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sure. I'm really glad that you are looking at,

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as we're just talking about websites and social media platforms and

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Etsy and all of that,

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because let's face it,

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not all of us go and look for things in the

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same places.

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And so as a business owner,

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you want to be in all different areas because you need

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to meet your customer where they like to go,

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not where you want to be.

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Correct. So when you're at Facebook or maybe you're doing Instagram

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or it's an Etsy shop or Shopify or whatever,

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you want to be in multiple places for that reason.

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Yep. I go as far as knowing,

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for example,

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if you're going to be at craft fairs,

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my biggest clientele were the older clients.

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And what I wanted those older clients to do was not

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only buy some candy and enjoy my candy,

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but the hope was they have a daughter or a granddaughter

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maybe getting married or having a baby shower.

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These were things I wanted to cater to and so I

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wanted to be sure that my business card,

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I was perfectly fine giving my cell phone number and an

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email address with these other ways of communication,

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knowing that some of these older generations aren't with anything more

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than a phone call or an email.

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Right. And so it's just the little things that you do

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and the more of them that you do that makes it

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all the better because again,

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like you said,

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it's just Being easier to be found.

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Okay. Gift biz listeners,

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I have a huge treat coming up for you with a

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net answer to my very next question.

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So stay tuned.

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You are going to want to be here for the answer

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to this,

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but first a super quick message from our sponsor.

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This podcast is made possible thanks to the support at the

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ribbon print company.

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Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in

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seconds. Visit the ribbon,

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print company.com

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for more information.

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So is your biggest source of sale Still the craft toasts

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nor physical sales?

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Yeah, believe it or not,

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it's really the tides turned.

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So probably maybe in 2017 mid year 2017 I had been

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doing my homework and I had been trying to figure out

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a way of reaching clientele because another portion of my business

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that I had decided was with the jars,

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I can personalize the jars,

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I can take the lids on the top,

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I can create somebody's logo,

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their own message,

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whether it's a thank you or a holiday gift.

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And I thought,

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what a great way to send out a corporate gift or

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to do,

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again, as I mentioned,

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we do party favors,

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the party favors were kind of a given,

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but the corporate gift kinda all of a sudden I realized,

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well that's another whole genre of gift giving in this world

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that I can tap into.

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And it's funny because I kept thinking,

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I don't know where this is going.

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My husband would say to me,

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well, do you think you want to open a candy shop?

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And I'm like,

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I don't necessarily know if having a shop is going to

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be helpful because people would then have to come to me.

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And I think I'm still in the stages that I have

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to go to people.

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And so again,

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the craft fairs are a great way of going and getting

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in front of people.

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But I wanted to start targeting my audience more.

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And believe it or not,

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there are so many great ways and I think that so

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many small businesses don't even know that they're out there.

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And what I mean by that is,

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for example,

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the city of Chicago is just a mere gold mind for

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opportunities. For example,

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I was very persistent.

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I started calling management companies downtown city of Chicago.

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Uh, when I say management companies,

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management for the high rise buildings,

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close yours services.

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And I got some,

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my husband and some of my other family and friends to

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help me out in the sense of can you get me

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the name of your concierge?

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Who does your,

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who is the concierge in your building?

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What concierge has do in high rise buildings is they're there

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to help their tenants.

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So if it's a building that hosts 500 different companies,

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they're there to help them from anything,

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from setting up a luncheon to helping them with their corporate

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gift, giving to just a multitude of things.

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It's amazing.

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I didn't even realize that it was a thing.

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When you think of a concierge,

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I think it's somebody at a hotel.

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It is not.

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They are in every building in the city of Chicago for

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the most part.

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And if they're not,

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they have a management company that acts as the concierge and

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these people are there to make sure that their tenants are

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happy. So I learned quickly and how I did this with,

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cause I saw one,

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I was downtown one afternoon and it was like what is

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that? And there was a gal with jewelry in the lobby

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of a high rise building and it was just an office

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building. And I went up and I asked her,

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what was this?

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She said,

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Oh, I'm doing a popup shop.

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And I was like,

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it looked exactly like my six foot table with candy on

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it at a craft show and she was the only one

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there. And she said,

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Oh yeah,

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the concierge is in the management love having little popups for

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their tenants.

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So I quickly started trying to learn more about how to

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get in touch with these people.

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Started asking people like my husband and other family members that

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worked in the city,

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if they had concierges,

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could they get me in touch soon enough?

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I got my first pop up shop in the city and

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it was amazing.

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It was just unbelievable.

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First of all,

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it's amazing how friendly the people are downtown,

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but how receptive they are.

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The tenants in the building just really appreciate having these little

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conveniences and this fun little something to break up the monotony

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of their day.

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So did you set up in like the lobbies of the

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buildings? Yes,

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I would get invited.

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I mean again,

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it's all taking the time to make phone calls and send

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emails and get the invitations.

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And I finally had gotten an invitation to do a building.

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My first building was one North Franklin.

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I still remember it to this day and I remember pulling

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up in my car filled with stuff and they were kind

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enough. They were like,

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don't worry,

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we have a table for you.

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But I brought everything else and there I was by myself

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in this lobby and I thought,

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okay, we'll see what happens.

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And just the reception that I received from the tenants,

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it was so wonderful.

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I sampled my candy for them.

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They got to taste it and purchase it and then quickly

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I realized,

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okay, start thinking of every holiday that's going to be wrapped

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around that date,

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whether it's mother's day and father's day or whether it's going

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back to school or whether it's the end of the school

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year or whether it's something like Christmas and Thanksgiving or anything

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like every holiday you don't realize who finds it important Cinco

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de Mayo or anything.

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So I would start making little jar toppers that people could

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just pick up to go on the gyres that would wish

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somebody a happy Cinco de Mayo or happy mother's day.

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And it was just amazing and I loved it because it

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was indoors.

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I was a solo audience,

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so meaning I was the only person there and don't get

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me wrong,

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I've actually done many now where there are several of us

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in there.

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I actually have some buildings that actually do put on once

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a month,

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little farmers markets indoors in their lobby and it's like maybe

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six or eight vendors.

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Anything from fresh fruits and vegetables to handmade breads in that

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to jewelry to jams and jellies.

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Like I've pretty much seen quite a bit of everything and

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some of them are small businesses like myself and some of

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them are big chains,

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like nothing Bundt cakes,

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they still come out.

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I would ask the girls like they still do these and

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they're like,

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yeah, the owner started this way.

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Now it's a huge chain and they still to this day

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come out and do individual popup events.

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So Annette,

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do you have to pay them anything to be there or

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they just invite you and you show up and then you

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just sell?

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Yes. You make the connections,

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you get the invitation,

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but there is no cost to it from them.

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Do you have to give them back any portion of your

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sales? It depends on the concierge service or the management service

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that you're working with.

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Okay. So every building's a little different.

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And when I say every building,

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technically it's every like a concierge service.

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Mike concierge,

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20 buildings in the city of Chicago.

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So all 20 of those buildings will have the same agreement

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with that concierge service.

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Right? Right.

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So it'd be work out that way.

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I've never paid to be in a building cause you have

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to remember the concierges are putting you in those buildings.

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They want to promote and do nice things for their tenants.

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So they're not looking to make money on this.

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Right. Cause they want their tenants to stay.

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So they want to continue to provide value for the people

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who are there.

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Yes. And this is took me a long time to learn

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and sort through all of what this all means.

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And I will tell you,

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it's interesting,

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I did a pop up this past end of April,

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beginning of may in a food hall.

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First time I had done one of those.

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And here's what happens.

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You start doing one or two and the next thing you

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know, somebody goes,

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this is amazing.

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Would you be interested in coming to this place?

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It happens.

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I've gotten a lot of introductions that way,

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but please don't misunderstand that.

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I still spend hours on the computer combing through and finding

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great places to be and connections to make.

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But I have had much success as well with people coming

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up to me going,

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so-and-so placed us popups and you would do great.

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They're great.

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Could you give me the information and I'll contact them.

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So you go home and you send emails,

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make phone calls.

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And so recently I did one in a food hall and

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that was a completely new experience.

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And again,

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it was just a completely different set of clientele.

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And I remember,

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I'm looking at it from the perspective of serving the tenants

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in the building,

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but also they now know who I am.

Speaker:

And so when they're ready to send out their holiday gifts

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or they have a convention coming up and they want to

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give a little goody out,

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they might think of me.

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Sure. I mean you're making sales there,

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but you're also prospecting for the future,

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Correct? Yes.

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And so,

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and I will tell you when I was at the forum,

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it was kind of crazy.

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Didn't expect it,

Speaker:

but ABC news showed up there and I ended up getting

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on just for a little blurb,

Speaker:

but the whole interview that they doing with the forum,

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not just me,

Speaker:

I just happened to be the popup that was there that

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day was around the fact that Rahm Emanuel and the city

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of Chicago wants to promote these popups for small businesses.

Speaker:

So they're actually doing a whole pilot program to encourage popups

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around the city.

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So what would you say,

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just circling back with and putting like a big bow around

Speaker:

this whole conversation of popups,

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somebody who's listening,

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who isn't in a big city,

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whose town has never even considered this before,

Speaker:

how would they,

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if they make a contact with a concierge,

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how would they describe what they would like to do in

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the simplest terms?

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Just to give them direction of how they could possibly do

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this in their own community.

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If it were me and I wasn't local to a big

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city, I will tell you,

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I have not just done popups in the city of Chicago.

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I have been invited in downers Grove while Naperville and how

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I've done that.

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Again, use your resources.

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People you know that work in bigger buildings and ask them

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have they ever done a popup or maybe you might even

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have to explain to them what a popup is and they

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may go,

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Oh yeah,

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there was a guy selling powers at Valentine's day.

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That would be considered a pop up.

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Okay. So use your resources in terms of family and friends

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that you know that might work in these bigger buildings.

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And see if you can get in touch with the management

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or the concierge in that building.

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Walk into the buildings yourself.

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In the beginning I closed the popup shop.

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Usually your popup shops,

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they want you to kind of out of there by three

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three 30 before the rush of everybody leaving is going on.

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So I pack up and I then take a walk and

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I'd walk around other buildings and I'd walk in and I'd

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shake hands and ask if I could meet the concierge and

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I would just introduce myself and say,

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Hey, I was doing a popup down the street and I

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was wondering if you ever do them,

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here's my card and if for every 20 cards if I

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got one call in yours that emailed me back,

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it's just one more person to add to my calendar of

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events. Absolutely.

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So okay so done by three 30 is when did you

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start, so what type of hours would you be?

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Every building's a little different.

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Yeah. It's interesting cause you kind of can set your own

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hours to some degree and some want to tell you when

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to come.

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But what I have found too is that a lot of

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these concierges are not,

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I've actually helped guide them into understanding it a little bit

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better in that.

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So I try to generally say,

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okay so I usually like to be set up by 10

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30 11 o'clock in the morning.

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So I usually tell them I'll get downtown by nine 30

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that way I have enough time to unload.

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So you're ready for the rush when people are coming up

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and down for lunch,

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for lunch,

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right by 11 o'clock cause there's a lot of people in

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these high rise buildings.

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There's a mom that might try to get to work every

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morning by six 37 so she can leave by three 30

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not everybody is a nine to five so I try to

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be ready by 11 and from 11 to three three 30

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I'm open.

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And then I usually start tearing down by somewhere between three

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and three 30 when things slow down.

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So I'm out of there by four o'clock the latest because

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by four o'clock you start seeing a mad rush where people

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are trying to get out of the building to head to

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their trains or whatever and you want to be out of

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their way.

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Right. And it makes for a nice day and what I

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love is is it's during the week,

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so you can do this in regular business hours as well

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so that if you're not able to always do just crash

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shows, you can hook onto these lobby markets and events like

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that and it will definitely do well as well.

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And there during the week.

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Oh my gosh,

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I had no clue that we were going to get on

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this topic,

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but this is like golden.

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Thank you so much.

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I mean this is a concept we haven't really talked about

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on the show yet and going to the concierge is,

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I think this is going to help a lot of people

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for sure.

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Yeah. Well I'm glad to help.

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A lot of people might feel like,

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well, don't give your secrets away.

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It's not a secret to me.

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The more people that can do this and help these concierges

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out. You want variety.

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I would never suggest to a concierge,

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it's like having a craft show every week in the same

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spot. You might get 5,000

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people that comes once a year because they know that college

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would you page or somebody like that is having a crash

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show. But if you had it once a month,

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it gets old.

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Right. So nobody's going to really come around too much.

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So you want a lot of people with a lot of

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their imagination and their products coming in to give variety to

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these. And to me,

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the more that's there,

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the merrier.

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I think it's amazing for that.

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Well, and it also helps grow the concept.

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Yeah. Because then other buildings will see what they're doing and

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then more and more people will come and let's face it,

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you can't be everywhere for sure.

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You know,

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even if you had staff helping in other locations,

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well that's a whole nother thing.

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So, Oh my gosh.

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And that we could talk forever.

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I have like five different angles that we could take this

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conversation, but I think we're going to have to circle it

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and close it up now.

Speaker:

But before we do,

Speaker:

I would like to invite 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

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Heights that you would wish to obtain.

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Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

Speaker:

What is inside your box or should I say jar?

Speaker:

We can make it a jar.

Speaker:

You can make an attire.

Speaker:

In my case,

Speaker:

it's funny because I think if you were to ask me

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that question a year ago,

Speaker:

I feel like I would have answered by saying,

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Oh, I would love to just be in a place where

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I can get orders from people.

Speaker:

But now this year,

Speaker:

knowing the doors that have opened for me and realizing that

Speaker:

the company has taken me to places that I never even

Speaker:

knew existed,

Speaker:

I do dream about now.

Speaker:

Is it possible for me to spend my days designing more

Speaker:

flavors and unique candies and having people go out and do

Speaker:

these popup events and corporate orders for me?

Speaker:

Yeah. That would be unbelievable if I could actually spend the

Speaker:

time in the kitchen doing what I love the most,

Speaker:

and getting to see people enjoy all the different flavors and

Speaker:

seeing the company grow and to develop into something that would

Speaker:

be something that I could be proud of and that the

Speaker:

city of Chicago could be proud of.

Speaker:

Yeah. Taking it to the next level.

Speaker:

Yeah. I think it would be amazing.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

I think it's very,

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very far away,

Speaker:

but yeah,

Speaker:

if I had to dream,

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wow, that would be really interesting to see it go that

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big. I could see it.

Speaker:

I could see it in that.

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I don't think that's that far out of reach,

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to be quite honest in terms of the concept and the

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ability to do it.

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Yeah. Well,

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I appreciate your confidence because I think and the good thing

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is is that I have people,

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my family,

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my husband,

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my kids,

Speaker:

and even my brothers and sisters and mom and dad and

Speaker:

them. It's funny because when you have support and you have

Speaker:

people that believe in what you're doing,

Speaker:

it makes a huge difference too.

Speaker:

They're always willing to help out.

Speaker:

If I need a last minute and trust me,

Speaker:

I've called for help many a times going,

Speaker:

okay, I bit off more than I could do here,

Speaker:

so SOS.

Speaker:

So it's always nice to have somebody come when you throw

Speaker:

the SOS out.

Speaker:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker:

Well give biz listeners,

Speaker:

I know you're going to want to see a nuts product,

Speaker:

so just jump over to fill my jar.com

Speaker:

and you can take a look there.

Speaker:

I also on the show notes page,

Speaker:

we'll have links to her Etsy shop,

Speaker:

Facebook pages,

Speaker:

et cetera.

Speaker:

So if you're interested in seeing all of that,

Speaker:

jump on over to the show notes page.

Speaker:

Annette, thank you so much.

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I am so glad we connected and I was able to

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hear your story.

Speaker:

It's a lot that you told us.

Speaker:

That's going to be just golden advice for our listeners as

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we move forward.

Speaker:

So for that,

Speaker:

thank you so much.

Speaker:

Anytime loved being on it was a lot of fun.

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Wonderful. And gift biz listeners.

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If you're ever in downtown Chicago and you pop into a

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building and there are some little businesses set up,

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go and find a net and say hello.

Speaker:

All right,

Speaker:

signing off now and add.

Speaker:

Have a great day.

Speaker:

You too.

Speaker:

Take care.

Speaker:

Okay. Gift biz listeners.

Speaker:

I am so excited about this lobby popup conversation.

Speaker:

I think the opportunity for you is so huge and perfect

Speaker:

timing if you're listening to this show right as it's going

Speaker:

live, so that's July.

Speaker:

The timing is perfect.

Speaker:

With the holiday season approaching,

Speaker:

if any of you,

Speaker:

or should I say when you take advantage of this concept

Speaker:

and start putting it into practice,

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I would love to hear how it's going.

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You can contact me directly@suatgiftbizonrapt.com

Speaker:

I personally read all the emails that come through on that

Speaker:

address and if you'd like even more gift biz motivation.

Speaker:

I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group

Speaker:

called a gift biz breeze.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

pursuing your business should be fun,

Speaker:

exciting, and rewarding,

Speaker:

but so often it becomes stressful and honestly scary when you

Speaker:

join the breeze.

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It's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you

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all the support and the answers that you need and that

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you've been looking for.

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You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along with

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tools and resources to catapult your business growth.

Speaker:

To join the breeze,

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jump over to gift biz breeze.com

Speaker:

and I'll see you over there.

Speaker:

This episode is all wrapped up,

Speaker:

but fortunately,

Speaker:

your gift biz journey continues.

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Are you eager to learn more?

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Our gift biz gal has a free download just for you.

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Head over to gift biz,

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unwrapped.com/twelve steps to get your copy of the 12 steps to

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starting a profitable gift biz.

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Don't delay.

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Head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/twelve

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steps today and until next time,

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