017 – Working with Hollywood Stars by Terry August of Fanciful
Terry started Fancifull back in 1987 from her dining room table. Today her business has grown into a famous fine food and gift shop on Melrose Avenue – just a 5 minute walk from Paramount Studios.
A look into the Fancifull shop reveals an array of fresh gourmet foods and wine to suit any taste. What sets them apart is the elite clientele they serve while still offering a comfortable and personable style. They maintain a gift site and send gifts daily for Sony Pictures. Conan O’Brien has been a client for years … as was Michael Jackson. They send gift baskets from other celebrities such as Jenifer Lopez, Charleze Theron and Director Tim Burton. During the recent Emmy’s, they did a large basket for Lily Tomelin. This gives you a pretty good picture of her clientele.
All this sounds really exciting but she says “It’s just part of working in Hollywood.”
This is Part 1 of a 2 episode talk with Terry. Listen to Gift Biz Unwrapped Episode 018 for the rest of the interview where she continues with more incredible stories and advice.
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
The path towards Fancifull [6:30]
The bridal fair experience creates an idea [9:25]
Business Development
Terry’s strategy in choosing a business name [8:50]
Zeroing in on the core business [10:10]
First gift basket done for Hollywood [12:43]
A Candle Flickering Moment
Learning the difference between sales and cost [15:00]
The 2008 Crash [16:14]
Business Insights
Defining the business – how she niched down for success [19:58]
Sending gifts to the current and past Presidents and the White House [24:12]
What from Terry’s childhood helped to form Fancifull [26:02]
A heartwarming story about Terry’s intuition – hear what happens! [26:38]
Contact Links
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
Gift biz unwrapped episode 17.
Speaker:This is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift is unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. After you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing you help to increase
Speaker:the visibility of gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:To help others with their entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker:Today, we are joined by Terry Aug of fanciful find food
Speaker:and baskets.
Speaker:Terry started fanciful back in 1987 from her dining room table.
Speaker:Today, her business has grown into a famous find food and
Speaker:gift shop on Melrose avenue in Hollywood,
Speaker:just a five minute walk from paramount studios.
Speaker:A look into the fanciful shop reveals an array of fresh
Speaker:gourmet foods and wine to suit any taste.
Speaker:What sets them apart is the elite clientele they serve while
Speaker:still offering a comfortable and personable environment.
Speaker:I've just got to do some name dropping here.
Speaker:So you truly understand Terry's business.
Speaker:They maintain a gift site and send gift daily for Sony
Speaker:pictures. Conan O'Brien has been a client for years,
Speaker:as well as my all time.
Speaker:Favorite Michael Jackson,
Speaker:they send gift baskets for many celebrities,
Speaker:such as Jennifer Lopez and Charlise Theron.
Speaker:One of their most recent jobs is a large gift basket
Speaker:for Lily Tomlin who was nominated for an Emmy.
Speaker:I think you get the feel here.
Speaker:All this sounds really exciting to me,
Speaker:but she says it's just part of working in Hollywood.
Speaker:Let's jump over to teary now and see what else we
Speaker:can find out about her fascinating company.
Speaker:Hi Terry,
Speaker:welcome to the show.
Speaker:Hey Sue.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:Glad to be here.
Speaker:Is there Anything you'd like to add to your introduction before
Speaker:we get started?
Speaker:No. You summed it up pretty darn.
Speaker:Well, I mean,
Speaker:we've been around for 28 years and yes we do celebrities,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:what makes me happy sometimes is when we do gifts for
Speaker:that 93 year old grandmother who loves bud light,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you just go,
Speaker:oh, okay.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll put that in a basket for her.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we like to say we're of the people for the people.
Speaker:We just like making people happy and setting out these little
Speaker:baskets of love.
Speaker:Okay. So to get started,
Speaker:we like to align the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:candle. The light shines on you while you share your stories
Speaker:and experiences.
Speaker:So shall we light it up?
Speaker:Talk to us about what your candle looks like,
Speaker:what color is the candle?
Speaker:Well, Mike candle is actually the color of my office that
Speaker:I'm sitting in right now.
Speaker:It's sort of this grade plum.
Speaker:It's sort of an odd color,
Speaker:but it's beautiful.
Speaker:Some people it's actually puce,
Speaker:which is like a grade plum with a little bit of
Speaker:kind of edges of brown.
Speaker:And I just seem to gravitate the colors that require more
Speaker:than one word to describe them.
Speaker:I really like things that look different.
Speaker:Like some people would look at it and say it's purple.
Speaker:And some people might look at it and say it's gray.
Speaker:And some people might look at it and say,
Speaker:ah, it's got brown tones,
Speaker:but it's one of my favorite colors.
Speaker:It's very deep and soft and just kind of pretty,
Speaker:it's kind of where I live.
Speaker:So does that mean you're kind of undefinable?
Speaker:Yeah. Or complicated if you want to beat,
Speaker:if you want to beat truthful too.
Speaker:I like layers.
Speaker:I'm a lawyer.
Speaker:I'm a layered person that works,
Speaker:which is really,
Speaker:I think is what makes my business successful because I can
Speaker:do something high-end I can do something for $15 for hotels.
Speaker:I can be whatever anybody needs me to be.
Speaker:That doesn't sound terrible.
Speaker:Well, So how about zeroing in on a quote that goes
Speaker:on that candle?
Speaker:Okay. Well this is a very large candle.
Speaker:So I'm actually going to break the rule and give you
Speaker:two quotes because I couldn't decide between these two and they're
Speaker:very short,
Speaker:but they're both by Kurt Vonnegut,
Speaker:who is one of my favorite authors and the first one
Speaker:from player piano.
Speaker:And it says,
Speaker:I want to stand as close to the edge as I
Speaker:can, without going over out on the edge,
Speaker:you see all kinds of things you can't see from the
Speaker:center. And then the other one I just had to include
Speaker:because it just sums up.
Speaker:My view was a purpose of human life is to love.
Speaker:Whoever is around to be loved.
Speaker:And I don't know that just kind of gets me.
Speaker:I like them both because my view is that I like
Speaker:viewpoints and I love getting out and looking,
Speaker:we travel.
Speaker:I'm always talking to people.
Speaker:I go to conventions because I love other people.
Speaker:And the universe is they live in and I love going
Speaker:to France and meeting people who make wine and how they
Speaker:do it.
Speaker:But I also love what we do because what we really
Speaker:do is we send out,
Speaker:love somebody sitting at their desk and they're getting something that's
Speaker:saying, I know you're alive.
Speaker:And I I'm glad of it.
Speaker:And that I think in this world,
Speaker:I think we can look at negativity,
Speaker:but there's just so much love.
Speaker:And I think if you always operate from that place,
Speaker:like even if I have to fire somebody or I have
Speaker:to make a tough business decision,
Speaker:it can always be done with love.
Speaker:And I think everybody needs more love,
Speaker:not less.
Speaker:You use both those quotes because they kind of sum up
Speaker:who I am.
Speaker:That is so well said.
Speaker:I have nothing To add to it because it is,
Speaker:thank you for indulging me.
Speaker:I can do two sides.
Speaker:Of Course you can do anything you want.
Speaker:Exactly. So Let's go back.
Speaker:We talked a little bit that you started on your dining
Speaker:room table back in 1987.
Speaker:Yes. How,
Speaker:from your Vast background up to that point,
Speaker:where did you get the idea that you were going to
Speaker:open some type of business and was this what you had
Speaker:in mind?
Speaker:Or just give us the story?
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:So that's a great question.
Speaker:I have to blame my friend,
Speaker:Lloyd Whitman,
Speaker:who really pushed me to this.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it was one of those things where I think I always
Speaker:knew I was going to maybe work for myself.
Speaker:I not a real conventional person.
Speaker:And I've always been sort of artistic.
Speaker:My husband is a musician.
Speaker:I actually met him when I ran sound and lights for
Speaker:him, traveled around the country,
Speaker:being a roadie.
Speaker:I quit UCLA to go on the road with a band,
Speaker:which my father loved my military.
Speaker:Italian father was thrilled when I wrote him a letter from
Speaker:Missoula, Montana and saying,
Speaker:I'm on the road with six guys.
Speaker:The, I bet he did.
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Luckily I got a husband,
Speaker:a great husband out of it.
Speaker:So he was okay.
Speaker:So anyway,
Speaker:my background is really there to kind of make a long
Speaker:story, sort of shortish.
Speaker:My background was designed.
Speaker:I was studying interior design and I did that.
Speaker:I worked with an architect who did very high-end homes.
Speaker:I pulled in clients for him.
Speaker:I did a lot of like doctor's offices and stuff,
Speaker:and I really loved design.
Speaker:And I think it really contributes to who I am right
Speaker:now because it taught me how to look.
Speaker:And that's what design does.
Speaker:It teaches you how to look and always be aware of
Speaker:what's in your environment.
Speaker:So I did that,
Speaker:but then I had my kids and it just wasn't working
Speaker:out for me to have kids and be with the architect.
Speaker:So I,
Speaker:then I began to do catering cause I'm kind of my
Speaker:loves in life or like food.
Speaker:I, Julia,
Speaker:child's an idol of mine.
Speaker:My mother was French.
Speaker:My dad was Italian.
Speaker:We were always around the table eating.
Speaker:So it's always been about food and I always had people
Speaker:over and I'd always be making these big meals and they
Speaker:were all like,
Speaker:you should cater.
Speaker:So then I began to cater and I liked that too,
Speaker:but it was fairly tiring.
Speaker:And then one day I saw a woman at a craft
Speaker:fair who was doing a basket and it was beautiful.
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:that's so interesting.
Speaker:It's got food,
Speaker:it's got pretty colors.
Speaker:That might be an interesting thing to do.
Speaker:And then my friend Lloyd,
Speaker:who was back east in Jersey,
Speaker:read this article and family circle of all things,
Speaker:about a woman who was doing gift baskets out of her
Speaker:home in Colorado.
Speaker:And they shoot in these very pretty things.
Speaker:So we kind of sat around my kitchen table.
Speaker:I have a booth in my kitchen.
Speaker:We would sit around there and plan our futures.
Speaker:And my daughter was about three and my son was five
Speaker:at the time.
Speaker:And my husband was teaching music out of our home.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:let's try this.
Speaker:So we sort of picked the word fanciful because I didn't
Speaker:know which direction I wanted to go.
Speaker:And I liked fans focus.
Speaker:It was this great umbrella word.
Speaker:It's full of fancy it's of imagination.
Speaker:It's like not it's of another world.
Speaker:So I went,
Speaker:okay, well we could be fanciful designs.
Speaker:We could be fanciful food.
Speaker:I had done some floral design.
Speaker:I'd worked for a floor so I could de fanciful flowers.
Speaker:So I kind of was undecided,
Speaker:but I thought we would put some things together.
Speaker:So we actually did it in my house and we did
Speaker:it at her house and her dining room table.
Speaker:And I still have her table in my shop and I
Speaker:still use it to this day,
Speaker:the table it was born on.
Speaker:So what happened is some friends of mine who were in
Speaker:a band were going to be at a bridal fair.
Speaker:And they said,
Speaker:Hey, do you want to share the booth with us?
Speaker:And I went great.
Speaker:I can promote my catering.
Speaker:And I can maybe bring a few bridesmaids baskets that I
Speaker:really had this idea that I was going to do these
Speaker:pretty baskets.
Speaker:I remember this was 1987.
Speaker:It was Victoria magazine.
Speaker:It was pretty little houses,
Speaker:pastel colors.
Speaker:So I did it,
Speaker:but I had enough business acumen that I knew I needed
Speaker:a mailing list.
Speaker:And I knew I needed to promote because I promoted my
Speaker:husband's band.
Speaker:And so I knew some stuff.
Speaker:Well, what surprised me when we did this,
Speaker:as people love the food I had there.
Speaker:But so many people said,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:my husband owns a construction company and he sends baskets for
Speaker:the holidays.
Speaker:So I went,
Speaker:oh, well,
Speaker:that's interesting.
Speaker:I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:I did craft fairs.
Speaker:I did these things that were not where I needed to
Speaker:be. I had,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:things in my home,
Speaker:but then what happened is we did a little mailer and
Speaker:I had a good friend who was an artist.
Speaker:You do this beautiful basket with toppled on its side,
Speaker:with gifts and food coming out.
Speaker:And we wrote up my friend and I don't know if
Speaker:we even had that many baskets designed,
Speaker:but we wrote up descriptions of baskets and we had this
Speaker:great line that said,
Speaker:what makes fanciful so special?
Speaker:And it was a great question.
Speaker:And then we went on to say,
Speaker:why? And I mailed it,
Speaker:I got a little business directory and I mailed it to
Speaker:like 200 businesses.
Speaker:And within a week I got an order for like 200
Speaker:baskets. I hadn't even been in business a month at this
Speaker:point. And that's probably when the light bulb went off for
Speaker:me on gift baskets.
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:oh my goodness,
Speaker:I wouldn't surveyed the field.
Speaker:I didn't know.
Speaker:I had no corporate background,
Speaker:which would have aided me.
Speaker:I just went,
Speaker:wow, this is awesome.
Speaker:People do this.
Speaker:People sit in baskets.
Speaker:And so that kind of changed.
Speaker:So we managed to do it out of our home.
Speaker:Stop you here for a second.
Speaker:Cause the point I want to focus on and make here
Speaker:is you kind of tested the waters,
Speaker:not even knowing it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because when you talk about this,
Speaker:you're very playful in how,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we just sent out this little mailer,
Speaker:it was all kind of fun.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you had all of your experience from the past because of
Speaker:designing and catering and food and you know,
Speaker:your ability to coordinate color and all of that.
Speaker:But it was still sounds like it was pretty playful.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden you mail out this mailer
Speaker:again, very fun and light,
Speaker:not knowing what direction and without knowing it,
Speaker:you tested the market and confirmed that there was a lot
Speaker:of opportunity out there.
Speaker:That's a really great point.
Speaker:So you're right,
Speaker:because we were the antithesis and we still are of the
Speaker:liquor store basket.
Speaker:This was before baskets were in every box store before they
Speaker:were in every grocery store.
Speaker:You'd go to liquor store things with red cellophane,
Speaker:a pull bow,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:really kind of tacky bow.
Speaker:And so we were kind of like going to be the
Speaker:custom company,
Speaker:which we are,
Speaker:but we've evolved certainly,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And so yes,
Speaker:you're exactly right.
Speaker:Like then we went,
Speaker:okay, this is something I can do from home.
Speaker:I don't have to cook a meal,
Speaker:put it in my car,
Speaker:take it across town,
Speaker:unload it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I liked catering,
Speaker:but it was a lot of work.
Speaker:But then you always do your friend's weddings.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you're always like at the party,
Speaker:but you're always in the kitchen.
Speaker:So this kind of seemed like something I could do for
Speaker:my home.
Speaker:I could still travel.
Speaker:I kept it pretty low key the first year.
Speaker:But after the first year I knew we couldn't do it
Speaker:out of our home again.
Speaker:And so we went to a space nearby and we had
Speaker:that space for a year.
Speaker:And then probably the year after.
Speaker:So 88,
Speaker:89 was when my husband came on full-time as my partner.
Speaker:And then we began to really grow.
Speaker:We began to get known in Hollywood.
Speaker:I remember like one of the first baskets we did for
Speaker:Hollywood. Now this is a long time ago.
Speaker:So this was,
Speaker:this was a star Trek movie.
Speaker:And they sent me a script.
Speaker:They used to send me scripts and I would come up
Speaker:with designs out of the script.
Speaker:And it was really a fun time in Hollywood.
Speaker:And it's not quite like that now,
Speaker:but, and I remember they were camping in Yosemite.
Speaker:It was with William Shatner was the old crew Leonard Nimoy.
Speaker:And we did this whole camping basket for them.
Speaker:That was the bow was made out of rope and it
Speaker:was it.
Speaker:So it did use,
Speaker:I still use all my design stuff and people still call
Speaker:me with,
Speaker:Hey, I need to do this project that make this effect,
Speaker:what can you do?
Speaker:And then we did something for the godfather three,
Speaker:we got violin cases and we put people's every actors and
Speaker:producers name on the outside and packed it with like Italian
Speaker:food and sent it back to Italy,
Speaker:which was really funny.
Speaker:So yes,
Speaker:all of a sudden these opportunities came about while we were
Speaker:still young and it sort of helped me formulate what direction
Speaker:to take fanciful and we've just grown like,
Speaker:and so now I would say from doing a lot of
Speaker:specialty baskets,
Speaker:we still do,
Speaker:but we have grown into being more about food and good
Speaker:food. And that kind of thing is a way to kind
Speaker:of make ourselves stand out against the huge conglomerates that are
Speaker:out there doing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:$29 baskets.
Speaker:Right? So You're telling us of all these really cool designs
Speaker:and that you,
Speaker:the creations you've made off of scripts and also how your
Speaker:company's grown in terms of being from the dining room table
Speaker:to then a shop to now the location you have currently
Speaker:possibly some steps in between,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:nothing is always easy.
Speaker:It's not a smooth road.
Speaker:Oh sure.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:This is all simple About some of those road bumps that
Speaker:you've encountered along the way,
Speaker:tell us a story or two about some challenges that you've
Speaker:had. And then also a most interesting for our listeners is
Speaker:what did you do to overcome those challenges?
Speaker:Cool. Yeah,
Speaker:of course there were lots of challenges.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:my husband,
Speaker:neither, my husband or I had a great corporate background.
Speaker:We knew enough to look at statistics.
Speaker:I think the biggest mistakes we probably made was number one,
Speaker:my husband quitting his job over this,
Speaker:having to support us,
Speaker:but it has,
Speaker:it has supported the both of us and other people.
Speaker:I think one of the biggest mistakes we made early on
Speaker:was we looked at our sales all the time and our
Speaker:sales were robust,
Speaker:but I don't think I looked at what it costs to
Speaker:make those sales.
Speaker:And I would say that's a really cautionary tale for people
Speaker:because we were just doing great.
Speaker:We're doing over a million business,
Speaker:but then I wasn't really looking at our profit loss or
Speaker:cashflow enough and going,
Speaker:wow, but it costs me this much to do it.
Speaker:So we survived and we did fine,
Speaker:but I think we would have survived better.
Speaker:Things would have been maybe a little easier if I had
Speaker:looked at that earlier,
Speaker:luckily I just finished this really big business program to Goldman
Speaker:Sachs and it was nothing but numbers and it really put
Speaker:it into alignment.
Speaker:So I would,
Speaker:that would be my cautionary tale for anybody starting a business
Speaker:is it's great to have terrific sales,
Speaker:but you really need to know what it's costing.
Speaker:You it's the unglamorous side.
Speaker:But when you get into it,
Speaker:it's actually very sexy.
Speaker:It really is.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:I love numbers because they give me truth.
Speaker:They give me data and I'm a data person and I
Speaker:go, oh my goodness,
Speaker:last year we spent this much more on labor,
Speaker:but our sales stayed the same.
Speaker:What the heck?
Speaker:And it gives you a way to steer your boat.
Speaker:Like don't you want to,
Speaker:before your car goes off,
Speaker:the cliff,
Speaker:be able to turn it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:so you stay on the road.
Speaker:And so it's really important to know that.
Speaker:And I think that set us up.
Speaker:And then of course,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there was the crash of 2008 and that was devastating.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:there were a lot of gift basket businesses in LA.
Speaker:I was just talking to a sales rep that sells to
Speaker:me and she says,
Speaker:you're the only one left.
Speaker:I used to get all my business from gift basket companies.
Speaker:And that was tough because we had a client in Alaska
Speaker:dealership that would a hundred baskets a week.
Speaker:And that dropped to like 20,
Speaker:we had mortgage companies,
Speaker:it did Christmas baskets.
Speaker:We had banks,
Speaker:it was disaster.
Speaker:So what Did you do?
Speaker:So how did you survive when everyone else kind of went
Speaker:by the wayside?
Speaker:One thing we did After the crash is we realized we
Speaker:had too much space.
Speaker:We had almost 4,000
Speaker:square feet and we wanted to sort of edit and make
Speaker:it smaller and groovier.
Speaker:And our landlord was sort of funny cause we'd had half
Speaker:the space and then we took the other half.
Speaker:So we had like 18,
Speaker:1900 square feet and there was an identical space next door
Speaker:and we've knocked walls out.
Speaker:So we began to just go to one side and we're
Speaker:going to put the walls back up.
Speaker:And I looked at the space in the back and it
Speaker:had its own door out to the back.
Speaker:It had its own bathroom.
Speaker:And I looked at my husband.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I bet we could sublet this.
Speaker:Sure enough.
Speaker:We sublet it to the sky who runs a club.
Speaker:He was okay with my landlord.
Speaker:It's, it's no alcohol.
Speaker:It's all for like high school kids.
Speaker:His daughter is actually going to be on the voice,
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:And, and they come in in January.
Speaker:This is so sweet.
Speaker:They leave in early November and they pay a third of
Speaker:our rent.
Speaker:And so we were able to get our rents up.
Speaker:So it was just it's at the same thinking outside the
Speaker:box, don't be stopped.
Speaker:I didn't really want to move.
Speaker:We can walk to work.
Speaker:I knew the rent was good for where we were.
Speaker:Our location is amazing for our deliveries.
Speaker:We do.
Speaker:And for like,
Speaker:if somebody meets something odd,
Speaker:like a wine,
Speaker:we don't carry,
Speaker:we have a place up the street.
Speaker:We go,
Speaker:it was just easy.
Speaker:So that,
Speaker:and the guy he's going to renew next year,
Speaker:he loves it.
Speaker:He loves being in there.
Speaker:He's still there.
Speaker:He's there.
Speaker:They're actually over there today as an aside.
Speaker:Cause his daughter is getting on the voice.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:And Carson daily is coming to do something at their club.
Speaker:It's a little club called amplify,
Speaker:but it's getting really well known and it's just,
Speaker:they enter through the back.
Speaker:They have their own door.
Speaker:So they come in through our parking lot that we don't
Speaker:see them.
Speaker:They don't bother us or they're mainly at night.
Speaker:So it's this ideal thing,
Speaker:but they pay over a third of our room.
Speaker:Really good idea.
Speaker:In terms of thinking outside the box,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a challenging economic time,
Speaker:what else could you do?
Speaker:That's a little bit different than what you would normally traditionally
Speaker:be thinking and here what a great solution that you're even
Speaker:using Today.
Speaker:I never say die.
Speaker:Sue. I never say Diane.
Speaker:It's cool because if we have a class or we have
Speaker:an event,
Speaker:we need the space.
Speaker:The guy's very cool.
Speaker:If they're not having anything there,
Speaker:we could open it up and we can use it.
Speaker:Oh perfect.
Speaker:Cause you're probably during the day anyway and there at night.
Speaker:Yeah. And so it's,
Speaker:it's fine.
Speaker:Or if they're not doing something one night and we want
Speaker:to have,
Speaker:we had a reading over there,
Speaker:we, we we've had acting classes,
Speaker:come in and use it during the day and they're fine
Speaker:with it.
Speaker:We give them some of the money in an acting class.
Speaker:We'll rent it for like a thousand a week and because
Speaker:they have a stage and everything.
Speaker:And so it's just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:being open to possibilities,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:Open to possibilities And being willing to play a game,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:okay, what are we going to do?
Speaker:We're not going to go under.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:it's just,
Speaker:you have to decide you're going to persist and you're gonna
Speaker:persist well.
Speaker:And how's that going to happen?
Speaker:What else did you do to survive the downturn?
Speaker:Well, no,
Speaker:I'm really tough.
Speaker:My dad was 25 years in the military and I think
Speaker:I am my father's daughter and I just never say die.
Speaker:We had luckily how we'd had a Paris apartment,
Speaker:a small one that I'm still sad that we sold,
Speaker:but we had sold it before we knew the crash.
Speaker:Cause it was kind of hard to maintain.
Speaker:So we had some cash to keep while you need liquid.
Speaker:And I still paid all my employees.
Speaker:I cut back,
Speaker:really cut back on staff.
Speaker:But what I really did and it was like a watershed
Speaker:moment for us is yeah,
Speaker:here we are at Christmas when we've had a pretty mediocre
Speaker:Christmas, but we survived.
Speaker:And we,
Speaker:we pulled some of it out,
Speaker:but people were so afraid.
Speaker:People were so afraid to spend,
Speaker:nobody knew what was going to happen.
Speaker:So what we did is we're sitting there and we'd get
Speaker:this email from one of the big,
Speaker:big, big people.
Speaker:And they were selling like a 29 99 basket with free
Speaker:shipping. And we went,
Speaker:holy crap,
Speaker:we can't do that.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I can't sell a 30,
Speaker:$40 basket with free shipping.
Speaker:My margins won't support that.
Speaker:Well, do we give up?
Speaker:And I went,
Speaker:no, because you know what?
Speaker:We don't want to do that.
Speaker:That's not who we are.
Speaker:And maybe we,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:so what it made us do was look at what we
Speaker:loved and what we really love and what our specialty was,
Speaker:was number one,
Speaker:customer service.
Speaker:Those big box stores cannot come close to the customer service
Speaker:that we give.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we are amazing.
Speaker:Like we take care of our clients,
Speaker:we deliver,
Speaker:we ship,
Speaker:we do all sorts of stuff for them.
Speaker:We customize.
Speaker:But then I also know our food was better and it
Speaker:allowed me to really get into great food.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:my grandfather was a farmer and my cousins raised cattle.
Speaker:So I'm very into knowing where my food comes from.
Speaker:I'm really into organic.
Speaker:So I'm really into sustainable.
Speaker:And so I really got into offering a better product,
Speaker:traveling, more meeting people,
Speaker:focusing on local,
Speaker:focusing on everything that they couldn't do.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:my job was to drive this wedge between us and them.
Speaker:So nobody would even expect to get a 29 99 basket.
Speaker:I have $30 gifts that are terrific.
Speaker:And so we just pushed quality and it really worked 2009
Speaker:was scary.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was scary,
Speaker:but I talked to a good accountant and he said,
Speaker:look, it,
Speaker:you get through 2009,
Speaker:you'll get through 2010.
Speaker:And if you get to 2010,
Speaker:it's just going to get better.
Speaker:And it has.
Speaker:And I think what we came away with is I feel
Speaker:like I know who we are more and we're doing more
Speaker:fun things.
Speaker:We're having cheese classes in our shop.
Speaker:We have better food than we've ever had.
Speaker:So it's very exciting.
Speaker:And I think we've gotten closer to the ideal for fanciful
Speaker:as a result.
Speaker:I love what you said here,
Speaker:because a big takeaway for me is that you're not going
Speaker:to be everything for everybody.
Speaker:And you recognized right away.
Speaker:Look, I am not going to compete with the box stores.
Speaker:I am not going to compromise my quality or your integrity
Speaker:in terms of customer service and offer something just to match
Speaker:what the competition's doing.
Speaker:I'm going to position myself in a different way.
Speaker:Something that fits me,
Speaker:meaning of course,
Speaker:and that you're passionate about and that your employees are passionate
Speaker:about. And you really,
Speaker:even though you might say fine foods and gift baskets are
Speaker:kind of a broad industry.
Speaker:You niched it way Down,
Speaker:fresh foods,
Speaker:Quality products,
Speaker:upscale and customer service.
Speaker:Exactly. That's exactly right.
Speaker:And it's,
Speaker:and the focus is the thing.
Speaker:Cause I think you,
Speaker:you nailed it when you said,
Speaker:I think we were trying to be everything to everybody and
Speaker:you sort of have to in business,
Speaker:you have to pay rent take.
Speaker:And sometimes those jobs that you think are going to be
Speaker:lousy jobs,
Speaker:end up being great jobs because they're easy and they're fun.
Speaker:And you just do them.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we did 3000 pieces for UCLA recently and it was fun.
Speaker:It was easy.
Speaker:There were $10,
Speaker:but they were great.
Speaker:They kept my staff busy,
Speaker:but you're right.
Speaker:It's I think it's easy to get just all over the
Speaker:place, especially in a business like ours,
Speaker:that isn't that focused.
Speaker:You can go in a million directions.
Speaker:So bringing it down,
Speaker:it made it very easy to decide,
Speaker:like where do we promote?
Speaker:What do we do?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:what's our message.
Speaker:And it made it actually easier to figure out some of
Speaker:those things rather than trying to be everything to everybody.
Speaker:Exactly. Right.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:that doesn't mean you don't take jobs that are out of
Speaker:your main scope,
Speaker:but you consciously are doing it.
Speaker:Exactly. And you still promote to exactly what your core is,
Speaker:your, your core concept and your core product.
Speaker:Exactly. Be like I always,
Speaker:when I started,
Speaker:I remember this,
Speaker:so clearly I said to somebody,
Speaker:I want to be the kind of place where someone can
Speaker:come in after work and pick up a 10 to $15
Speaker:gift for their spouse.
Speaker:But I love the fact that people can get a great
Speaker:15, $20 gift from us.
Speaker:We can wrap up some food,
Speaker:we can do something,
Speaker:but you want some extravagant,
Speaker:like, you know,
Speaker:we do baskets for the presidents.
Speaker:There's some guy I won't get into it.
Speaker:Some dignitary that sends $4,000
Speaker:baskets to president Clinton and president Bush and president Obama every
Speaker:year. You know,
Speaker:what Is in a $4,000
Speaker:basket, really expensive stuff At the white house.
Speaker:Cause you can't send food.
Speaker:Oh, so you're doing electronics and brand names,
Speaker:soft goods and that kind of thing.
Speaker:Yeah. And as we do think,
Speaker:like for Obama,
Speaker:we do things for the kids.
Speaker:Sometimes a container is really nice.
Speaker:We stood a big game table,
Speaker:one time,
Speaker:silver, antique,
Speaker:silver. Sometimes it's one,
Speaker:sometimes it's very antique and high-end because this guy has his
Speaker:kind of English and stuff.
Speaker:So we,
Speaker:we try and think sometimes I do a lot of like,
Speaker:like, especially through the crash and all that we've been doing
Speaker:this for about 15 years,
Speaker:did various presidents or 10 years,
Speaker:at least sometimes I'll do like all made in America.
Speaker:I'll do like great shaker boxes from back east and I'll
Speaker:try and get things from all sorts of different vendors and
Speaker:play up like for Obama,
Speaker:I got these beautiful bowls from Hawaii and that kind of
Speaker:thing. Like I try and I always,
Speaker:I'm a really good gifter in that I sort of get
Speaker:the sixth sense about people.
Speaker:So I try and look into people's kind of spaces.
Speaker:And I think it's the designer in me cause you're always
Speaker:looking around and looking for inspiration.
Speaker:So I think it allows me to sort of get a
Speaker:sense of people and then create from that.
Speaker:It's just this weird little ability I have that I always
Speaker:have since I was a kid,
Speaker:I've always been a really good gift giver,
Speaker:always. It's always what I'd love to do to my first
Speaker:job. I was excited about getting my first job in high
Speaker:school because I could buy people better gifts.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I actually thought that when I was like 15 and a
Speaker:half, but that was the main purpose for my job and
Speaker:pay for my first trip to Europe.
Speaker:I love that you bring this up because anybody who's thinking
Speaker:about, you know,
Speaker:I want to go into business,
Speaker:but I don't know what it's going to be.
Speaker:What you're talking about right here.
Speaker:Just reflect back.
Speaker:What, when you were younger,
Speaker:really got you going really got you,
Speaker:excited and happy because more than likely,
Speaker:that's a very innate passion that you have and who would
Speaker:have thought as a child with gifts and that type of
Speaker:thing that that would end up being not only your profession,
Speaker:but such a successful business as it is today.
Speaker:And you're still using those talents,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:putting together all this creativity and to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to your point B,
Speaker:having an intuitive gut feel of what that recipient should receive.
Speaker:Exactly. I won't get into it,
Speaker:but there are stories where I've just known.
Speaker:Something was right.
Speaker:If I gotta tell you this one real quick,
Speaker:because this is so interesting,
Speaker:we're doing something for a child,
Speaker:a hot kid in a hospital,
Speaker:who's getting a lung transplant.
Speaker:The thing about this job is you really do get into
Speaker:people's lives and you find out things that are fascinating.
Speaker:So it's perfect for me.
Speaker:But this son,
Speaker:I think the mom was giving her son a lung,
Speaker:which just chokes me up right there.
Speaker:And they wanted things that the kid could do in the
Speaker:hospital. And I had this harmonica kit,
Speaker:this harmonica thing,
Speaker:and I went,
Speaker:why don't we give them this?
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:and I was like,
Speaker:no, you shouldn't put he's in a hospital.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:yeah, I know everyone's going to probably hate him.
Speaker:But I don't know.
Speaker:I think this will be a really good thing.
Speaker:I don't know why it indicates I got a call from
Speaker:the woman who sent it and this is almost going to
Speaker:choke me up.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:do you know,
Speaker:you put that harmonica in the doctor said that was the
Speaker:perfect exercise for him,
Speaker:for learning to use this new lung.
Speaker:And he was going to incorporate that into treating other patients.
Speaker:Wow. That's amazing.
Speaker:Crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker:But somehow I just went,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:He may disturb other people with it,
Speaker:but this will be fun.
Speaker:It had,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how to play and I had a book with it.
Speaker:And so that's the kind of thing that sometimes happens.
Speaker:Miracles do happen.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Oh, thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker:That is Well,
Speaker:give biz listeners.
Speaker:I made a decision.
Speaker:Teary is sharing such valuable content with us that I really
Speaker:didn't want to stop her as she was going through all
Speaker:of her stories,
Speaker:but we are getting kind of long.
Speaker:I like to keep these episodes about 30 minutes.
Speaker:So they're very digestible for you.
Speaker:What I'm going to do is cut this into two parts.
Speaker:So right now we're going to stop.
Speaker:This is the end of part one and it's fabulous because
Speaker:we've ended on that very uplifting story and stay tuned.
Speaker:Now next week for part two,
Speaker:where Terry's going to go through what her natural traits are,
Speaker:tools that keep her productive books,
Speaker:lots of different types of information,
Speaker:along with more incredible stories and not to be missed.
Speaker:Terry's answer to her dare to dream question.
Speaker:We'll get back with Terry next week on gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:and life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Would you like to be on the show or do you
Speaker:know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker:All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.
Speaker:You can access the forum@giftbizonwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash yes,
Speaker:that's gift biz on.com
Speaker:forward slash G U E S T today's show is sponsored
Speaker:by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grant your products of
Speaker:your logo or print a happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica, to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop for cross studio in
Speaker:second, check out the Rubin print company.com
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Sue: This interview with Terry was great. Again, I learned a lot!
Looking forward to hearing many more interviews.