Gift biz unwrapped episode 244 I feel now more than ever

that everything that I dreamed of plus more for this business

as possible.

Attention gifters,

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

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there,

it's And I'm so happy that we're back together again today.

If you're brand new to the show,

then welcome and for my regular listeners,

I want to tell you again how much I appreciate you

and I'm always interested in your feedback.

If you'd like to reach out to me,

you can always do so at SU at gift biz,

on ramped.com

thoughts show ideas,

any input is always great.

Now onto this week's past guest spotlight today I have an

update for you from Regina of D alchemy.

They make organic natural products such as skincare,

body care and dietary supplements.

Can't believe it's been this long,

was episode number 87 I comment in that show that we

have a lot to watch for with Regina and she does

not disappoint.

Back then,

she was closing down her retail shop in exchange for a

larger warehouse space.

Now she's getting ready for another move.

They just signed a lease for a new 9,000

square foot facility.

They recently launched a new CBD lotion and completed a repackaging

relabeling project for all 300 skews.

What an undertaking.

That must have been RD.

Alchemy is a perfect example of how a business grows and

develops over time.

A brick and mortar shop worked in the beginning.

Then Regina decided that the focus and strategic direction of her

company required a different physical setup and now they continue to

grow and grow.

I want you to think about this for your business too.

It's an evolution and it takes turns and changes over time.

The trick is to get started.

Regina may or may not have had a large production and

testing facility on her dream board when she started and she

definitely didn't jump right into that as a brand new business.

It's a journey and sometimes we forget about that.

So I'm here to remind you.

Let's talk about this week's shadowy.

I have the feeling that Sam's business,

although a different industry entirely is going to see the growth

that we just talked about with Regina.

Can I just say to meet this woman is to love

her like immediately.

It's a perfect interview to be bringing you during the holiday

season. So as IQ,

the intro,

I want you to think about twinkling lights and everything that's

glittery and gold that Sam Today I am so excited to

introduce you to Sam Holmes.

She's the owner of home sweet home,

which is a confections company that crafts gourmet nut brittles and

caramel sauces.

Sam started experimenting with sugar cooking in her fifth grade science

class enamored by how simple table sugar can be transformed into

so many treats.

She continued to hone her skills over the next 25 years

after leading sales teams.

She combined what she learned in corporate America with lessons gleaned

at her grandmother's hip to create a very special business.

Today you can find home sweet home products in bakeries,

coffee shops,

candy stores,

specialty gift stores,

and coming soon wineries.

Well, that's going to be exciting for all of us to

find out about.

Sam, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Thank you so much too.

I'm so excited to be here.

I am thrilled that you are here and you know,

I know that you are super fancy and we're going to

get into a lot of that.

But before we do,

I'd like for you to share with our listeners about you

in a little bit of a different way.

And that's through a motivational candle.

So if you were to describe a candle that's all you,

what color would it be and what would be a quote

that could go on that candle?

Well, my candor would definitely be pink.

I have always been attracted to it as a color.

It's a path for me.

I feel super confident when I wear pink clothes or have

pink nails.

So my candle is pink and like a peony pink,

not just any field like hot pink or anything like that,

but the beautiful pink that you see on peonies.

And in terms of what it would say,

I think my candle would say reach for the best feeling

thought you have access to.

For me,

I believe that what you focus on grows,

whether that's good or bad,

and in entrepreneurial life there are a myriad of opportunities and

challenges that come your way,

sometimes moment to moment and at times there can seem to

be more challenges or uphill battles and there are opportunities.

So it's important to focus on what's going well,

but to also be realistic.

For me,

if I just burned 10 pounds of sugar while I'm in

the kitchen,

it's literally impossible for me to look at that situation and

flip directly over to joy.

You get there.

From there.

I can move up the emotional scale from this feeling of

powerlessness to maybe anger where there's a little bit more control

of my emotions and then from there I can get to

frustration or contentment and then hopefulness and so I focusing on

the best feeling thought that I can grasp,

I can do the work of pulling my focus forward.

Oh my gosh,

that is such a powerful idea and just being intentional with

your thoughts and your feelings and taking control over them instead

of it reversing it.

Taking control over you.

Exactly. You know,

I also think we always are optimistic in that there's never

going to be anything wrong.

When the opposite of that is also true.

There's always going to be something that happens that's wrong.

It's part of business,

you know,

whether it's with product production,

there is something with a customer,

delivery goes wrong.

That's part of the gig and I think that's a great

thing that we just kind of walked ourselves into here.

Just the understanding that that's the way it is.

That's part of it.

So you have to get comfortable with that,

but it's how you respond to it.

To your point,

that's the most important It is.

And so many times in my business,

I had a plan and I didn't account for things going

left and when they did go left,

it's like,

okay, well what now?

You know?

And so I've learned over time that you can have the

perfect plan,

but people aren't perfect.

So you gotta have a plan B,

C, D,

E and F.

Wait, are you telling me we're not perfect.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood.

All right.

So let's talk a little bit,

a Bit about your past and the Avenue that brought you

to where you are here today.

Sure. So starting this business is literally a combination of a

lifetime of experiences.

As you referenced in the intro,

I started my work with sugar when I was in fifth

grade, but what led me to the point that I am

I've worked for for 10 years and taken on a full

time position as COO of a sports tech startup in Greenville,

South Carolina where I live.

And so startup life is such a departure from the rigidity

of most corporate structures.

And so along with being more creative in that role,

I also sort of gave myself license to be creative at

home and in my free time.

And so that summer my sister and I went on a

cross country road trip.

I ended up writing a patent and I ultimately started what

is now home sweet home candy company.

Initially I named it as Ella's kitchen after my great grandmother,

but that was a big bust because there's already a baby

food company named Ellis kitchen.

So my good friend and founder of the sports tech startup,

Harold suggested,

he said,

you know what about home sweet home?

And I loved it immediately.

So thankfully I was able to register that with the patent

and trademark office,

which further sort of cemented the idea that that was the

right name for the business.

And at the time I only had one product.

I had my sweet cream caramel sauce.

And at this point my mom had been telling me almost

on a weekly basis I needed to consider jarring my caramel

sauce recipe.

I've been making it for about seven years as a part

of diverts and other sweet things because I love to make

desserts and I'm kind of convinced that that's genetic because my

great grandma,

my grandma and my mom all have furious free tubes and

they're who I draw a lot of my inspiration from when

it comes to the company and flavors and things like that.

So my caramel sauce was so special because of the depth

of flavor really.

And the simplicity and the recipe.

There were only four ingredients in the recipe,

which was a stark contrast to caramel sauces that you'll see

in grocery stores today,

whether it's a brand name that you know,

or even a gourmet sauce.

There's typically about 10 ingredients in that jar.

It was also during this time that I was refining my

brittle recipe in January of the same year that I sort

of took that leap of faith and started to work for

this startup.

My grandmother had passed away and she was famous for her

peanut brittle recipe and every Christmas,

all the kids would get together and take a big picture

with a spoon cracking the peanut brittle.

It just so happened that I got the news about her

passing while I was on vacation and this resort gave you

a little jar of spiced pecans as the welcome amenities.

And so when I got home from that trip,

we all went to her home to sort of come together

as a family and I thought about what I would bring

as a food item.

And so I decided to combine the idea of the sweet

and spicy pecans that I love so much from that vacation,

along with what I learned from her about making brittle and

that began the recipe for my cinnamon sugar pecan brittle.

Oh my gosh.

So steeped in tradition and family.

I love that.

Yeah. It's kind of a two part story.

There's the caramel side and then there's the brittle side.

Yeah, so,

well, and I have to say I'm really glad the first

name was taken because home sweet home,

like really it sounds so warm and comforting and aligned with

your product way better.

Absolutely. Yes.

Yes. And then to hear your story about it all leading

from the family story,

that also goes back to like the idea of home sweet

home. That's right.

So perfect.

It was meant to be that way for sure.

It was So on that ride that you were on with

your sister,

when you decided that you were going to start the business,

were you submitting for patents for the recipes or trademarks?

When you say patent and were you trademarking the name or

what were you doing at that time?

At that time I was trademarking the name home sweet home

patent that I was writing was completely separate.

I'd had this idea for a wide organizer as well that

summer, and so I went through the process of what it

would take to write a patent.

I was inspired by Sarah Blakely because she wrote her own

patent for Spanx and on that road trip,

and we're listening to a lot of podcasts,

a lot of how I built this podcast,

and that would happen to be one of the episodes.

And so that's sort of what inspired me to get involved

with the us patent and trademark office from that perspective.

But then it also educated me on how I could protect

the name of my company with a trademark for HomeFree home.

Got it.

Okay. So you had at that point then said,

all right,

I'm going to do something on my own.

And you had two different avenues then that you could go

down. Absolutely.

I mean I was really exploring everything that was sort of

pent up that I had thought about over the past 10

years working for corporate America,

but never really given any credence or audience to,

this was my time to kind of let all of those

ideas unfold and then see what the picture looked like.

But at the end of the summer,

at the end of the day,

and was also on this trip where I came up with

the other flavors for the brittle with my sister,

we said that we were in the car driving through Florida

thinking like,

well, what things do we like to eat with friends?

We like banana nut bread.

We like pineapple,

we like cranberry almond,

let's figure out how to make those into a brittle.

Okay, so this is interesting.

So at what point did you decide to go down the

sweet route versus another product?

It was encouragement from my mom.

She had called me one afternoon and said,

I'm tired of telling you to drive this caramel sauce.

You need to do it.

And I said,

mom, I'll tell you,

love me.

And that's why you're saying this,

but the world really looking for caramel sauce.

We ended the conversation and I went to the grocery store

that afternoon and I turned the corner and right on the

end cap was all of these local products at eye level

was a caramel sauce from a family owned company in North

Carolina. So I bought their caramel,

took it home,

I tasted it,

it was great.

It had a very distinct molasses flavor that I wasn't such

a fan of and I thought,

well Jesus,

these people are out here selling caramel sauce.

Certainly I should be able to sell my recipe,

which no shade to them I think is way,

way better.

So I want to say that next week that I went

down to the tax office to register my home as a

business, looked into what the D heck certifications that were needed

were registering with the department of agriculture and getting water and

pH testing for the caramel sauce done and then also finding

a commercial kitchen.

South Carolina is one of the States that has a cottage

law program where you can cook from home up to a

certain revenue amount,

but I knew that this business was going to be way

bigger than that from the very beginning,

just based on the feedback that I'd gotten from sharing the

sauce with friends.

I had already had these grand ideas for product placement in

terms of where the caramel sauce would be,

even from the very beginning.

So I never structured the business to be sort of a

hobby. I always took steps to make sure that the business

would have longevity,

if that makes sense,

and had the room and the space to grow.

I didn't want to be hindered by not being able to

participate in an opportunity or work with someone because I didn't

have the right certifications.

So I did all of those things upfront and so they

took about eight months to get everything sort of under control

from the tax perspective,

the product testing back from Clemson university,

the RVC license from the department of agriculture and getting set

up in a commercial kitchen.

Okay. I have one minor question and one major question here

before we go on.

The minor question is while you were doing all of this,

were you also still working for that sports tech startup?

Yes. Yes I was.

I got multiple projects at one time.

Okay. You know,

I was just curious if you were ramping that up and

still had something on the side.

I was just curious about that,

but my major question is this,

and you are such a rock star Sam,

because I know for a fact that a lot of people,

after you got off the phone with your mom and you

went into the store and you saw another local caramel company,

I know for a fact a lot of people would say,

Oh my gosh,

it's already being done and let the idea just fade away

because they feel like there's no room in the market for

them because someone else is already doing it.

Not just making caramel but is a local caramel maker.

Right. Why did your mind not go that way and why

were you so confident and saw very optimistically that there was

space for you,

even with a very direct competitor if you will right there

in the market?

What was your thinking?

Because I tasted their product and I knew that I had

a better product and again that is not a slight to

the other company.

My grandmother,

great grandmother and mother all cooked from scratch so I know

what real food tastes like.

I know what chemicals in food taste like.

I know what artificial flavors in food tastes like and so

when I had those other products in my mind it wasn't

even a competition.

It was hands down.

This is the best caramel thought I have ever had and

I know based on whatever else is out there in the

market, this is going to be the best caramel sauce that

anyone else has had.

And the basis of that really is holing gradients.

A lot of people like to use corn syrup or inverted

cane syrup in their caramel sauces because it's cheaper than sugar,

but it also doesn't taste good.

Corn syrup doesn't lose its sweetness the longer that you cook

it. So you then have to account for that by adding

artificial flavors to get that robust caramelization that you do.

A sugar in.

Very cane syrup has a very strong molasses flavor and that's

great if you like molasses.

But I only like molasses and Jude or snaps than anything

else. And so when I tasted their caramel sauce,

it didn't taste like caramel to me.

It tasted like molasses candy.

And so from that moment I was just sort of very

sure and confident in my own recipe in that I know

that for me my product is better and I have to

believe that there's a certain percentage of America that also has

that belief.

Right. Well,

you know,

you already said that there's wasn't bad.

It's just a different take on caramel,

I guess I would say.

Right. That's great.

Absolutely. You saw an opportunity to bring in your product that

is different and too many people it is going to be

better because of all that you just said.

Right. And so there wasn't an opening.

And I think this is such an important point and give

his listeners,

please hear this if you have in your heart a product

that you want to start cupcakes,

jewelry, but whatever,

there is going to be someone else out in that category.

I mean there are very few products that are totally reinvented

and nothing like it ever,

right? Right.

But it's the difference that you bring to the table in

the product,

whether it's ingredients,

styling, any of that,

that will make the difference.

So just like Sam did where she found an opportunity because

her product was different and I'm sure that you talk about

your product in that way too,

right? I mean four ingredients versus 10 the sugar versus other

ingredients, all of that.

So it's all part of your big story and that's the

important thing for everybody to remember is that's what you have

to find.

You don't want to repeat and do what everyone else is

doing and just put your name on it because then you're

in a head to head competition,

then you are a competitor.

But when you can make a tweak and it's something a

little bit different,

that's when you can win in your category and guess what

they can win too.

You're attracting different people.

Absolutely. And to that point,

the department of agriculture in South Carolina requires you to write

a business plan and explain what differentiates your product from every

other product that exists in your same category.

So again,

from the very beginning,

I had to be cognizant of who were my competitors in

this space and why was my product different and why should

they allow me this license to enter into this category in

the food space.

Perfect. Okay.

Love it.

This is all such great information,

Sam. Okay,

so you have your products now figured out,

love the stories behind how both of those came to be.

You got all your ducks in a row in terms of

the trademarks,

the patents,

making sure that you're in alignment with the cottage food laws.

How then did you start getting customers or bringing your product

to market?

In the very beginning,

I'm wanting to direct this conversation to someone who's thinking of

starting out themselves.

So the very beginning steps.

I actually got connected with the local farmer's market from the

owners of my commercial kitchen.

They are a great team and they actually,

when someone signs up new and they're in their kitchen,

they give you a list of local farmer's markets and a

list of local specialty food stores that you can then go

and approach if you want to sell retail or sign up

for these different farmer's markets if you want to go direct

to consumer.

So I signed up for my very first market that was

hosted indoors,

which was great because it was the winter at a brewery

in South Carolina and I brought out my jars and caramel

sauce. I had little plastic spoons and a giant squeeze bottle

of the caramel so that I could sample with folks and

the reaction was phenomenal.

I sold out of caramel that day.

And so I've walked into that space with a certain amount

of confidence in my product,

but I also had in the back of my head like

who wakes up in the morning thinking I need to go

to the farmer's market and get care of bill?

Probably not many people,

but what I realized very quickly was that someone doesn't have

to wake up in the morning wanting your product.

You have to be approachable enough for them to want to

talk to you about your product and to try it.

And from there,

if the product is good to them,

they will buy it.

Right? So I had to sort of let that self limiting

thought of who's going to come.

I had to let that go away.

The people were already going to come because it was the

farmer's market.

It was my job to then be warm and friendly and

inviting enough to interest them in my table and then also

in my product.

Okay. Well we're just going to jump right to that now.

Share with us what your first display looked like.

Oh goodness.

Okay. Was it kind of bare bones or like what was

it, the very first one,

where are you sold out of product?

I might want to remind everybody.

Yes. I practiced my display on my coffee table at home

first. And so I actually got just a white tablecloth along

white rectangular table cost.

I got a runner that was made out of burlap and

then I got apples,

brownies, croissants,

a little cup of coffee.

Just different things that you would use the caramel sauce on

or in to sort of inspire people's ideas about where they,

to use it.

Because the first thing I would imagine someone saying,

Oh, you just put this on ice cream,

right? And it's like,

well, sure you could put it on ice cream,

but you could also put it in a barbecue sauce recipe

to sweeten that up.

You could put it on croissants for brunch.

You can add it to coffee.

So the tablescape was very reminiscent of,

uh, Sandra Lee from semi-homemade where she has all these different

knickknacks or things that sort of tie into the recipe itself.

So that felt like you were walking up to someone's Thanksgiving

table and the caramel sauce was the highlight.

It was stacked up in these beautiful glass jars with gold

lids, some of them and pyramid style one jar ahead know

opened and have a big spoon in the jar that was

kind of spilling over so that people could see the consistency

of the product as well.

So I tried my best to make the table look like

the place that you wanted to be in the market And

note that it wasn't expensive,

elaborate signage or anything like that.

I guess that's my point is a lot of people will

hesitate to do it because they don't have everything buttoned down

or the display.

But quite honestly,

Sam, from what you described,

that's a good display for moving forward too,

because to your point it's a tablescape and for all the

reasons you just said,

I don't have to repeat it.

It's perfect.

Okay, so that's part of a show is just the display.

And this was a farmer's market.

So people were buying right then and there?

Correct. What types of systems did you have for checkout?

Did everything run smoothly at the show in that manner or

talk us through that a little bit.

Sure. Interestingly enough,

the industry I come from is the point of sale industry,

so I was already prepared with my square reader,

you know that you attach to your cell phone and then

I also had a cash box because most of the folks

at the farmer's market didn't accept credit card and I thought,

man, that's wild.

Like who has cash these days?

Only my dad has cash.

So I decided to bring a cash box.

But then I also had the square reader attached to my

cell phone so that I could accept credit and debit payments

at the show.

And I still use that same methodology today except that it's

got my cell phone.

I now use an iPad mini so that tons of people

aren't touching my phone that I put on my face Point.

That is a good point there.

And did you have enough product for that show or once

you were sold out,

were there people still wanting the product?

There were still people wanting the product.

I did not have enough for the show.

And that was again because I didn't really have an idea

of how many people were going to be at this show.

There were a lot of things I learned at the end

about what kinds of questions I should ask the show organizer,

like how many people tend to come out to the show.

Is it sort of a front end or back end heavy

audience that shows up in terms of attendance.

So I did not have enough product,

but that was also sort of very inspiring because what I

did is the folks that came to the table tasted the

product, liked it,

but weren't able to purchase.

I actually got their contact information and I sent them a

sample jars for free.

So they were smaller,

right? They weren't the full sized jar,

but it was enough to sort of keep them interested so

that when they came back out to the market the next

week, then they would purchase.

Well that's brilliant.

And it's also a thank you for being here and being

interested. And I'm sorry that I didn't have it for you

almost. Right.

And so how did that first season,

it sounds like you did several of the farmer's markets,

maybe weekly,

and you can share that with us,

but how did you feel overall about your experience then at

the farmer's market for that first season?

Well, Here's Sam's response to this question right after a quick

word from our sponsor.

This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the

ribbon print company.

Create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in

seconds. Visit the ribbon,

print company.com

for more information.

You know,

I actually only did that one farmer's market that season.

I didn't realize that there were multiple farmer's markets happening throughout

the week.

I've never been to a farmer's market first of all,

before I went to this one.

So I fought all of the markets happened on Saturday morning

in this window and it was at the seasons end.

In speaking with some of the other vendors that I realized

we committed,

there's a market on Wednesday,

Thursday and Tuesday.

And so that first sort of winter and spring I had

only done one market and I thought that I was like

on a roll and it was at the end of that

that I realized,

man, there's a much greater opportunity for getting my product in

front of folks at other markets.

And so it was in that late spring,

early summer when I actually signed up for my first vegan

festival, which completely transformed where the business was going and did

several other markets and realized there's a much better way to

sort of capitalize on the opportunity in front of me as

well as use these markets as a litmus test for,

or what recipes worked really well,

which recipes people are like,

no, this is gross.

Don't ever make it again.

And things like that.

What do you mean that there was a much better way?

What does that mean?

Well, again,

I thought that there was only one channel to get my

product out to focus up that I could only do one

market at the time.

I see,

okay. So I didn't realize that I could be at a

market on Tuesday,

Thursday and Saturday getting feedback and making sales versus just the

one day on Saturday.

Right. I'm a big advocate of using the person to person,

whether it's farmer's markets,

craft shows,

more formal trade shows for not just selling,

which is obviously what people go there to do primarily,

but getting that feedback,

seeing the response to not just all the products that are

selling, but the sizes in your case that jars,

all different types of things like that.

Do you have a formal system of documenting what you're hearing

and what you're seeing or you just keep it in the

back of your mind?

I actually am very old school and I still have an

agenda planner that I carry around with me.

Good. I love that.

And so even when someone comes up to the table and

they say,

Oh no,

I don't like caramel,

or I don't like pecans,

or I don't like cashews,

I still ask them to try it to say,

okay, you're going to be my most critical case tester.

So I would appreciate it if you don't have a food

allergy. Don't make me use my business insurance.

Oh seriously.

And give me some feedback.

And so on each Saturday day,

I have a running list of notes on that day and

my agenda planner,

sort of what people said,

how willing people to buy the half pound bag versus the

quarter pound bag of brittle,

how responsive or receptive they were to X amount of dollars

for a caramel sauce jar versus another.

So it was really,

really a good opportunity too that my own ideas about the

business, the flavors,

the price points without the pressure of it being sort of

this, you know,

large retailer.

These were my neighbors essentially.

Oh right.

And did you see a different show by show?

So audience by audience?

Yes, absolutely.

So in the shows where there's a lot greater attendance,

there's a lot less price sensitivity and then the smaller markets

there's a greater price sensitivity.

So that was what sort of encouraged me to create the

quarter pound brittle bag versus the half pound because I was

at a market and I noticed that a lot of the

folks were actually coming in with buy vouchers.

And so the voucher system allows you to buy fruits and

vegetables and things at the farmer's market without using cash.

And so a lot of times that can be indicative of

expecting a lower price point,

right? If somebody is getting something for free and then you

have something on your table for $10 there's a disparity there.

Right. And so at the markets with vouchers,

we also bring out quarter pound bags and eventually we just

decided that any market with vouchers,

we're going to do the quarter pound bag and we actually

sell more when we do that.

Because again,

that barrier to entry is not so high.

Yeah. I'm also thinking those smaller bags,

there's potential that people want to buy it to consume it

there and they see how much they like it so they

come back to buy a bigger bag to take home.

Exactly. That's happened several times.

Oh my gosh.

All right.

I'm just staying on the craft show really heavily here because

it's a great way for people who are just starting out

to really understand the receptivity of their product.

Now there's another thing that you do so well and none

of us can see you,

but I might make you blush here.

Sam, I'm not sure,

but I met you at the Philadelphia candy show just a

couple of months ago and you were in the first aisle

there, but I just have to say this was the first

time you were a vendor at that show,

right? First time you're exhibiting there,

there was like stars coming from your booth because of the

energy and you were there with your mom.

Right? You are both such jovial,

happy, engaging women that I swear to God it was like

there were stars coming through and everybody else in the aisle

except for Amy who had the very first booth,

so outside,

cause she's kind of goofy,

crazy like that too.

But like there was almost nobody else in the aisle.

But you because of the energy that you brought to the

show and coming up to you guys.

I mean it just seems so natural for you guys,

you and your mom.

Is that just how you are?

It is,

you know,

my mom is such a cornerstone of for my whole entire

life now that I'm 35 and I don't have children.

I think about the fact that I was 10 she was

35 I'm like,

how did she do this?

She went to job,

her work all day.

She came home and made sure I did my homework.

She had a husband,

which you know,

I hear it's tough.

She's like a superstar.

She literally pretty super woman to me and she's always such

a great supporter.

She's my number one fan and again was the person who

was encouraging me weekly about making this a real business and

she also loves sweets and so we were both like kids

in the candy store at this silly candy show and I'd

never done any trade show before.

So not only was this my first Philly candy show,

it was my first candy show of any kind and I

was beyond excited to be there.

I wrote myself a giant focus wheel earlier that morning about

all the good things that were going to happen and so

we were just there in complete gratitude and appreciation and thankful

for every person that came by the booth or try our

product. It was so gratifying to hear people in the candy

industry give feedback because up to that point again,

everyone that was telling us that it was so yummy and

so amazing.

These were our neighbors.

These were people that were not necessarily experts in this field.

It was an amazing experience and so we had nothing but

goodbyes to give you.

It's not going to be any drama.

We had a great time.

We did a nine hour road trip up to her sheet

from South Carolina.

So yeah,

it was a great time.

It was a ball.

Yes. I speak to this because of the point that you

have to bring your personality and who you are to your

book because it really does separate you from other people and

not everyone.

I mean,

you can't fake being you like I don't know many people

who could be you and your mom,

Sam. It's just the way it is.

Right? It would look silly if you tried because for you

guys it's just who you are.

But I bring it up again because people who are doing

craft shows and trade shows,

you know,

whatever level of show,

face to face,

you need to show your personality and who you are and

engage with everybody.

Not just offer samples and say nothing,

but chat with them.

Get into conversations,

share things,

ask questions,

observe. All of that.

Makes your brand stand out just because of who you are

as the maker and the owner behind the business.

Yes, and I learned those skills from my mom when I

was really little.

I remember that she would decorate these dolls and she would

fill the clothes for the dogs and sell them at the

local farmer's market and she was so engaging.

She would ask people,

you know,

well, are you from here?

What brought you out to the market today?

Oh, I really liked your blouse or your earring.

So finding a way to genuinely connect with someone that's going

to share their time with you was always something that she

focused on.

And I learned that from her.

And that's exactly what happened with the show.

We were so excited to be there and to meet everyone,

but we also wanted to know about them as much as

we wanted them to know about us.

Yeah, give and take for sure.

And so this was your first trade show.

So give his listeners what we're talking about here is initially

when you're at craft shows or farmer's markets,

most of the time you're selling to a consumer direct to

consumer. There are also trade shows that sell direct to consumer.

This was a business to business show.

So the people who were walking the aisles are people who

own shops possibly make candy.

So they're looking for different elements to include new flavors,

et cetera.

So you're selling business to business now.

And so I just wanted to preface that,

Sam, what types of learnings did you have?

How is that type of a show different from the shows

you were doing already and what type of advice would you

have for people who are listening who are thinking of getting

into a trade show and doing that in addition to craft

shows or farmer's markets?

I think that the trade show is really the way to

elevate your business,

right? You're getting less purchase orders,

but they're larger.

So selling one bag of brittle or one jar of caramel

sauce at a time is exhausting.

You're giving up every weekend to be at the farmer's markets

a lot of nights during the week and it's you,

you know,

you have to be on.

People are buying the product as much as they are buying

the experiences,

speaking with you.

And so at the trade show you can do that,

but then you also gain a repeat customer,

you be a lifelong customer and that order is going to

be 10 15 X would,

it would have been at a farmer's market.

And so for me,

I knew that having the direct to consumer sales was important.

It was a great way to sort of,

like I said,

litmus test the recipes,

the consistency and all of those things.

But ultimately my goal was to get more B2B opportunities in

front of me because that would allow us to scale the

business a lot faster than selling one bag at a time.

And so I was actually at a trade show for receipt

printers and I was kinda gamed off into the calls.

And I thought,

man, if I'm at a trade show for repeat renters,

there's got to be a trade show for candy.

And so I Googled candy trade show September and the Philly

candy show popped up.

It was about four weeks away.

And so I said,

this is it.

This is the moment I was supposed to think about this

this day and Google this.

And I found it and it was a great opportunity to

get in front of business owners because cold calling on a

candy store is really difficult.

10 times out of 10 the owner's not in the store,

they've got someone else working the registers for them and dipping

and things like that.

And so these events are where the business decision makers are

and they are buying candy for the next maybe fiscal year

or making relationships for the next fiscal year.

And so this industry B to B event was something that

really sort of elevated our business in a different way.

People were talking about us in the industry in a way

that would have been really to come by if we had

not attended the show.

Yeah. And you know,

you're putting yourself in front of people who are in the

mindset differently because if you're walking into someone's store,

the owner,

even if they're there,

their mindset is selling product,

managing the floor,

helping employees,

you know that kind of mindset versus when people are coming

to a trade show,

they are walking into exactly what you're wanting.

Right. Identifying new products,

speaking with owners,

making deals,

et cetera.

So that's different.

So at the consumer shows you're pricing your product one way,

now you go to a trade show.

How did the presentation and offering of your products change?

What did you need to do in a short time?

You said four weeks.

So what did you have to do within just a few

weeks to re present your product so that it could be

for a trade show?

Sure. So I had already worked out what my wholesale pricing

would be.

So I was selling at full retail at my local shows,

which was say goodness that I did that because I run

into so many small business owners who are selling at wholesale

at their markets and then they go to an industry event

and they don't feel confident in their pricing And there's nowhere

to go then either.

That's right.

Exactly. You can't go anywhere.

And so I had already worked out my wholesale pricing,

but one thing that I did learn at the show was

about Keystone pricing.

I had literally never been,

I've heard of them Before in my life.

Even though in first grade I was a Keystone cop for

Halloween, My mom,

I went in the contest.

Yeah. So Keystone pricing is essentially,

you know,

whatever their wholesale cost is,

you double that and that's what they would resell it for

in their store.

And they like to see that as a listed MSRP.

And so I learned that at the show.

The other thing I learned was that retail pricing varies drastically

depending on where you live in the United States.

So I live in a fairly small town in South Carolina,

so someone's,

what they're willing to pay for candy is different than say

in New York city or Los Angeles or Philadelphia.

And so a lot of the folks that were coming up,

because this was the Philadelphia candy show,

were from these parts of the country where things just cost

more in general.

So they were less price sensitive when it came to retail

pricing. And so I learned that depending on where I'm selling

into, the business owner may have a preference for a higher

or lower retail price.

But that should not impact my wholesale price,

right? My wholesale price should remain constant based on what our

profit margins need to be and what our business goals are.

But the business can change.

It's just a suggested retail price,

right? It's like a car sticker suggested retail price.

So those were two pretty big pricing takeaways that I learned

from Michelle.

You had information prepared for how many pieces would be in

a case and what the price of a case was.

Did you have minimum order there?

I did not have minimum order quantities per se,

a minimum order quantity with one case.

And I actually got advice on how to build a case

and price a case from another business owner,

a lady named Mimi who owns Mimi's mountain mixes.

She suggested having smaller case quantities because as a business that's

trying out your product for the first time,

they're not really sure how it's going to sell.

So rather than having a case of 50 bags of bread

in one,

maybe doing an introductory case of five bags,

right? So they could try it out,

they could buy a bag for samples to test them,

their store.

And then based on how well those smaller cases go by

flavor, then they could jump to a larger case quantity.

So that was something that we did at the show.

It was one of our show specials that we considered for

the scattered case of brittle is 30 bags for all of

the show attendees we did a case is five bags.

And so that was a really good way to get people

at least interested enough to make that first purchase and have

it in their stores and then see how those five bags

sold. And so we've had a couple of customers that have

already filled out and it's placed three orders.

So it was really smart idea that we got from TB.

That's perfect.

Okay. And so how did auto fulfillment go after the show?

Cause this is the first time you're doing it.

So you come back then with all these orders?

Well I was so excited and then I realized,

Oh my goodness,

where am I going to get all the bags and the

jars? Everything because I don't know,

a small part of me didn't really click in that people

would be ordering at the show because every other trade show

that I had attended,

people just came up and saw where you had,

they weren't really buying things right now,

this is also technology,

so it just didn't Dawn on me that people would actually

want to place orders at the show.

So my mom actually had to run down to the concierge

lounge and print off order forms because I forgot about that

part. But then I also got myself into a bit of

a tough position because I kept saying,

okay, I agree your order will ship Monday,

Oops. But you're like,

wait a minute,

we get home on Wednesday.

I have a department of ag review on Thursday,

Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the commercial kitchen to make all

of this.

And Oh,

by the way,

you don't have any more half pound bags or you only

have half the number of glass jars that you need.

So thankfully,

thanks fully aligned.

It's a great company for one of my vendors and they

have something called we'll call pickup.

And so I was able to drive to browse in Georgia,

which is about an hour and a half away,

not very far,

and pick up everything that I needed to actually pack and

fulfill the orders.

I was able to get my boxes there.

Um, and so it was probably the most frantic three days

of my life because I didn't even think about what I

was saying.

I just was like,

Oh, your order will ship Monday.

And I kept saying it and probably around the second day

I was like,

man, that's a lot of things It's all going to happen.

Yeah. I don't think I slept more than four or five

hours over that weekend,

but I did get every single order packed and shipped and

out of the door.

Good for you.

That's fabulous,

Sam. Yeah.

Now we did run into some issues with,

one of the things was I was also shipping gallons of

caramel sauce and so you know,

that's a liquid.

I was really concerned about how that would make it to

the destination.

Would it explode in the box?

What would happen?

I had one customer that bought seven gallons of caramel,

which was really heavy and so we did have some issues

around product arriving damaged with one of our customers,

and this is sort of where all those years of customer

service kicked in because we had decided that we would call

everyone the day after delivery to make sure that the delivery

was successful.

And in those conversations we found out so many things.

We found out one partner preferred ups because FedEx delivered too

early, so we were able to add that to their account.

We found out that one of the gallons of caramel had

burst open and the partner was gracious enough to send us

pictures so that we actually determined,

well, why did this happen?

How do we need to pack it differently?

And she says,

you know,

I was going to call you and I thought to myself,

well sure you were going to call me,

but were you going to call me today?

And everything that you didn't call,

that dissatisfaction with our business would just kind of grow larger

and larger.

Right, Right.

Or the alternative is that you don't call and we never

hear from you again.

So it was really a good idea for us to make

those followup calls.

And so from that point on we were just like,

well it doesn't matter if it's a sample box or a

full on order,

everyone gets a call the day after delivery to make sure

it was successful and ask them what could we have done

better differently,

things like that.

I love the fact that you were too to your word

and you got it out,

although I bet you after that last one shipped out,

you were home in bed trying to recover either that or

toasting with a glass of wine.

I'm not sure.

For sure.

Totally works for me.

So what's your stand now on farmer's markets versus trade shows?

Are you now out of the direct to consumer or where

do you think you're headed with that now?

Well, the holiday season is really,

really busy for us,

so we're definitely not out of the wind in terms of

farmer's markets in that regard from about October until January,

I think we'll always have a presence at farmer's markets because

our products are very seasonal in that regard.

People are always looking caramel for apples this time of year

and brittle is a great gift for folks,

so I think we'll maintain our presence at the markets in

that time of year.

But specifically in the spring,

the summer,

the early fall,

our focus will only be on trade shows or festivals,

things that sort of scale that business up in a much

greater way.

And then we're also launching this fall,

our 10 raising program,

which I'm really excited about because then I can have 20

to 30 kids out there selling on our behalf and then

we get to focus our attention elsewhere while they're out.

Also making the sale.

Give us a little more detail on that program.

What are you doing?

Sure, so I was inspired by the girl Scouts.

One of my coworkers,

her daughter was a girl scout and I never bought the

cookies for myself,

but I always bought them for the truth.

And so in the beginning of this business I also thought

about, well,

who's going to acquire a home sweet home with today?

What are the major candy players that are out there?

And in that research I found out that world fund chocolate

is churning like a hundred plus million in revenue per year.

It would be $1 candy bars.

And I thought,

gosh, they have got something here.

So I really need to consider having a fundraising program as

another stream of revenue.

And so I worked with the boy Scouts in the upstate

of South Carolina to get more information about what they look

for in a fundraising partner,

how long they typically run their fundraisers for.

And so this fall we're actually launching a fundraising program with

one of the attendees that we met at the Philly candy

show and they were attending specifically looking for candy companies that

had fund raising programs.

Interesting. I might have to have you circle back and talk

to us about that after you've gone through one.

Okay, sure.

Fundraising isn't something that is a complete structure versus donating a

portion of a sale.

Fundraising isn't something we've ever talked about.

Okay. Absolutely.

Once you've got that button down and have gone through it,

I think that would be very interesting to share if you're

willing to share on the show.

Absolutely. So GIF is listeners,

stay tuned for that.

I see that our time is starting to wind down,

but I wanted to touch very briefly on your website.

Do you have ordering capabilities for people also through your website?

I do.

We actually relaunching ordering capabilities on our website today for folks

for a little while.

We actually took that function down and we took it down

because we were investigating better freight options.

As a small business,

it can be difficult because you don't have the luxury of

large amounts of freight going out the door,

so your rates are way higher than say Amazon,

right? You can sit for free or very close to free.

And so ultimately what it came down to is we just

had to say,

you know what guys?

Our rates are what they are and we will either have

those sales online or we'll just have to put more effort

into growing our business so that people won't have to ask.

Someone says,

Oh, well,

where can I get your product?

I won't have to ask them where they live or direct

them to a specific state.

Soon we'll have distribution across the United States.

But for right now our,

at the time we were kind of hesitant about those online

sales that we said,

do you know what?

If people really want our product,

then freight will have to be a part of the equation

for now.

And then we always list where we traveled to for our

different festivals and markets and things like that.

So hopefully we'll be in an area where they can come

and pick up a bag without having to pay for it.

Beautiful. Okay,

perfect. And what is the name of your website?

It is homes suites.

Two S's in the middle.com

Give his listeners,

as you know,

everything will be over on the show notes page so you

can always go in and access there,

see what she's up to,

see the shows that she's at,

et cetera,

et cetera.

So that's perfect.

Okay, so we'll,

you've already talked about what some of the future holds,

you know the fundraising going to more trade shows is still

doing craft shows,

farmer's markets specifically,

I guess it is for you.

Where do you see the business going in like five years?

Oh goodness.

In five years we'll have national distribution.

We'll have,

in my mind,

I envision sort of a multilevel marketing platform form.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, I think it's interesting what Mary Kay has done in

that regard and I think about the idea of candies,

gourmet foods and things like that in a catalog where someone

can host a party and have people come out.

Maybe someone is getting married and they want to talk about

wedding favors.

Maybe someone's having a baby shower and they're looking for favorites

for that,

or it's just holiday season.

That was actually inspired by a friend of my mom's.

My mom sent her a bag of brittle,

she had her girlfriends come over for a sewing club and

they all loved it and wanted to buy it and ms

Shirley wanted to know if she could then also be a

part of a revenue stream on that.

And I thought well why not,

you know,

how difficult would it be to investigate having a 10 99

employee and then creating the structure where when you're available or

when you want to,

you can host this party and share these candies with friends

and then make some money from that.

So I think that's something that we'll have sort of the

lights turned on in that office for definitely the fundraising will

be a major revenue stream for us by that point and

I'm sure that at that point we'll also have some regional

distribution in retail stores.

Beautiful. I want to make note for everyone listening.

How old is your business right now?

Two years old.

I just had to ground everybody with that.

But this is the exciting thing,

Sam, is you are taking a lot of knowledge and experience

that you've had unrelated fields,

right? Completely.

Yes. But what you were learning does overlap in what you're

doing now and the ability to take something from the star

if you're committed and if you're willing to take the moves.

And if you're not afraid of someone who's making a similar

product to,

albeit not as good to your point and you're ready to

take action.

These are the types of things that can happen.

So it's so exciting.

It's so inspiring.

And plus,

you know,

I love you and your mom so much.

I wish I was your next door neighbor or maybe not.

It would be crazy.

It might be a little bit crazy.

My neighbor loves me because she's my official taste tester and

so every new flavor of anything,

I'm like,

Hey Sherry,

can you come over and try this out and see if

it's good?

Okay, well I might just have to come and claim a

bed for a night or two when you're sampling.

I don't know.

In any case.

You know,

Sam, this has been a wonderful demonstration of how you can

take a concept and a thought and so quickly develop it,

but the thing that I keep hearing from you is how

intentional it is,

how you have a plan and you're thinking forward already and

that's why you've made so much progress.

You haven't been just all over the place.

You're very intentional.

You're listening in a direct contact with your customers so they

help guide you to what the next steps should be.

You're always open to learning and testing and trying and look

at the results you've had already.

I'm so excited to watch.

As you continue on,

it's just you get chills and excitement when you think of

how far you've progressed.

I do.

I just had a conversation with my mom yesterday about that

because it's like I said,

it's a combination of a lot of different things really falling

into place.

There were decisions that I made very early on in the

business that from the outside looking in,

it's like,

well, why are you investing your time there?

That doesn't make sense here.

But now as I see things really sort of clicking in,

it does give me chills and I feel now more than

ever that everything that I dreamed of plus more for this

business as possible,

I believe it with every fiber of my being.

And I think that the only way that it will happen

is if I stop.

So as long as I'm still here,

I know that it's going to unfold in this amazing and

magnificent way and I just cannot wait to see how everything

continues to fall into place.

I cannot wait to watch it either.

It is amazing.

And I don't think for one second you'll get in your

own way because you haven't to this point.

So I don't see that happening.

Well, continued success to you.

We've already laid the groundwork that you're going to have to

come back and talk about fundraising with us later,

sometime in the next year.

So much success this holiday season.

Maybe I'll see you at a show you just never know

before the year's out.

Maybe the ultimate secret show.

Yeah. Are you going?

Oh yes,

absolutely. Absolutely.

Okay. So I think that will have come and passed by

the time this show airs,

but great cause I'm going to see you there.

So yay to that.

All right,

well then I will see you soon.

Say hi to your mom for me and once again,

thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Thank you so much too.

Isn't it exciting to hear the progress Sam's made so far

and I want to talk to those of you who are

just starting out like Sam was just a year ago.

Take notice of the fact that she's not the only one

in her industry who makes brittle and Carmel,

but she's rocking it.

Please don't ever feel like there's not room for you with

whatever your handmade product is.

There is a space for you and it's up to you

to go and claim it.

Now, I didn't really time it this way,

but it worked out perfectly.

If you're just starting out in business or you're considering right

now turning your handmade product into a business,

but you just aren't sure yet,

you can see that everybody else is doing it.

But for yourself and your product,

you just have some questions yet.

Well, I've recently released a brand new program called start with

confidence. Now this is a pre business program that helps you

ensure that your product has a market and that your product

will sell at a price where you can make money and

you can build a business.

If you want to check that out.

Go to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash start are you curious about what's going on

next week?

Well, we're going to be talking about happiness and gratitude and

how that applies as a woman business owner.

I'm going to kick it off right now by encouraging you

to take a few minutes each day between all the hecticness

of the holidays.

Breathe deep and take in and experience the beauty of the

season, even if it's just for a short time.

And with that,

I look forward to all of us being together again next

week. Bye for now.

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

group called gift is free.

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

support each other.

We've got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week,

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing,

to show pictures of your product,

to show them what you're working on for the week,

to get reaction from other people and just for fun because

we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in

the community is making.

My favorite post every single week without doubt,

wait, what aren't you part of the group already?

If not,

make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the

group gift biz breeze.

Don't delay.