104 – Staying True to Your Brand with Ben and Blake from The Village Common

Hi there.

You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 104.

So we said,

let's do it.

Let's create that product.

Hi, this is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.

And now it's time to light It up.

Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific

insights and advice to develop and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Mona height.

Before we get into the show,

I have a question for you.

Do you know that you should be out networking,

but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's

scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room

and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?

When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,

where you talk about yourself and your business,

while I'm here to tell you that it doesn't need to

be scary.

If you know what to do to help you with this,

I would like to offer you a coffee chat for the

price of buying me a cup of coffee.

We can sit down through an online video and I'll tell

you everything that I know about networking and how I have

personally built two multi-six figure businesses,

primarily through networking to learn more about this opportunity.

Just go over to Bitly forward slash network Ninja.

That's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.

And now let's move on to the show.

Hi, there it's Sue and welcome to the Gibbon biz unwrapped

podcast. Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online

or are just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

business. And today I'd like to introduce you to Ben and

common was a dream regeneration in the making and spanning over

40 years,

they create handmade,

natural hearing words,

kindled by their family history.

Then in play,

bring to us this new installation of family traditions blended together

and thereby continuing the legacy of the village comment Lake.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you,

Sue. So I do understand that Ben is sitting by your

side. You either drew the long straw or the short straw.

I'm not sure which way you look at it,

but you're going to be the spokesman of today,

right? Yes.

I went to acting school.

So I think I,

I was,

I drew the short straw to Ben,

but to me,

I got the better straw.

Oh, that's a great answer.

And Ben may chime in at some point,

you know,

we've talked about that a little bit earlier,

so, all right.

We are going to start off as we traditionally do by

having you describe a motivational candle and since candles are part

of your line,

this so fits right in.

So it's perfect.

But if you were to describe on behalf of both of

you, what your ideal motivational candle would look like,

what color is it and what would be the quote on

your camera?

Yeah, so it was funny whenever we got this question,

because I was like,

Oh, did she tell you this?

Just for us?

Because I thought that was perfect.

What we came up with was I think the color for

sure would be blue.

And the reason is because it's always associated with depth and

stability. It symbolizes trust and loyalty and wisdom and confidence and

intelligence. And I think that's what we both strive for.

And then the quote that we chose and I'll tell you

who is after I say it,

because I think that makes it a little bit better.

The quote is you need to really believe in what you've

got to offer,

what your talent is.

And if you believe that gives you strength.

And that was said by Ms.

Dolly Parton,

who is a huge inspiration for both of us.

And I think that ties in perfectly to what we're trying

to do with our brand.

And I think for us,

it's not only about the candle,

but also how it comes.

So this hypothetical candle would also have a beautiful packaging and

draw you in aesthetically as much as the color and the

quotes. So it's the entire experience.

It's not just about the product,

it's the whole experience when someone gets it.

And I love this quote from Dolly too,

because she certainly models passion for what she does,

but your commitment.

I mean,

when you're starting a business,

the amount of hours and the amount of dedication and stress

and time and thinking,

and you know,

all of it,

it kind of takes over your life.

So if you don't have that commitment,

boy, you're not starting off on a good note.

You've got to have that commitment right up front.

Absolutely. Now I have to tell you,

I've been snooping around on your site and your website and

the, our story page is like a history book.

Oh my gosh.

And give biz listeners,

you really should go over and read all of this.

really, really interesting.

And for us to cover all of that,

it will take a multi-hour podcast.

So we're not going to totally go there,

but let's try to talk mostly centered on village common,

but we can't do that without going a little bit backward

in history.

So give us a little bit of the story.

Yeah. So I think what's important to know is people always

ask us in our logo,

And what's important to know about that is that Ben's grandmother

His mother had one in 84,

So like you described,

our business is rooted in history and re-imagining family traditions and

beyond. So that's where we started.

And then on my end,

my grandfather had a shop and it was,

I guess,

what you would call an early convenience store bodega in the

fifties and sixties and seventies in Louisiana.

So when you were younger growing,

you were surrounded by retail and the business profession in that

manner. Were you already feeling as you were young,

that this is something you would get into because a lot

of people repel what their parents are doing,

and it sounds like both you and Ben leaned into it.

Absolutely. I think both from speaking on behalf of Ben and

myself, he was a lot more immersed in the family business

of not only the village common,

but his family has another huge wedding business.

So I think both of us saw this as an opportunity

to be who we were,

but have this history have this backing of family,

you know,

been there,

done that.

Let me help you,

let me guide you,

let me lift you into the next generation,

as opposed to saying,

you know,

I'm going to go and do something else.

You know,

we figured out a way to marry our passions with family

history and take the benefits of having our families already have

so much knowledge and have that lift us up.

Right. For sure.

And it also makes a great story for you because not

everybody can say that.

Absolutely. It's great stabilization under your brand,

if you will.

So village common then was a name that you carried forward.

You didn't create that name yourself.

Exactly. It was the shop that bins grandmother had in New

Jersey in 68,

it was a antique shop and had plants and different things.

And then when Ben's mother had it in 84,

it was like dried flowers and gift items,

then reimagine to a florist shop.

we asked both Ben's mother and grandmother reset.

We see what YouTube did and we want to take on

the name and,

and the heritage and turn it into something that's ours,

because every iteration has been something different.

We saw it as a perfect opportunity for us to do

that. Wonderful.

So when did you and Ben meet?

We were both working for Ralph Lauren.

I was working for the website for the men's brands and

Ben was actually an architect for new stores.

So that's where we met.

And that's kind of where this all began,

where you guys Hanging out after work one day and decided,

you know,

how, where did the commonality come from?

And how'd that conversation go?

Well, we actually,

it sounds like there might be a story here.

Well, the funny part about our business and it's so funny

because people always ask,

you know,

we're not very,

I guess,

upfront about like,

how did this all begin?

Because we actually began dating.

So this was totally like life partner,

not business partner.

And then we thought,

well, how is this going to,

you know,

H how are we going to make this work?

Because we were sort of like,

we wanted it to have a relationship personally,

but we also wanted to have a business together.

And so,

yeah, I mean,

it just started by saying,

you know,

I guess we'll learn if we can be partners in every

sense of the word.

And you were Doing both almost at same time.

So we had only been together in our personal lives for

a year.

And we said,

I think that this can't wait.

We really want to do this.

And we only let our personal relationship enhance our business relationship.

Not hurt it.

Well said,

I like that.

So you guys decide,

okay, we're going to do this.

Your family agrees to the name,

which had to be so fulfilling and honoring to them when

you went now.

Oh my gosh.

They were so excited.

Yeah. Just to see something that they'd spent so much time

building, be able to carry on,

even in a different fashion,

I can only imagine was so great.

Absolutely. How then do you decide and build,

you've got the name,

but now still,

and you have a little bit of direction,

but how did you decide on your product line?

Well, both Ben and I are artists.

So we were making things all the time,

just out of inspiration.

I love music.

I write music.

I love poetry.

I love reading.

I love making things with my hands.

So it was painting.

And I was making candles for friends for Christmas gifts because

the time we were living in New York city and you

got to get crafty because money is not always available.

And so that's where kind of the candle started.

I said,

why not bring this into our business?

And Ben was making handbags.

So he had been giving those to people as gifts or

selling them,

you know,

on the side,

just to fulfill that artists part of him.

And so all of that coming together is how we got

to where,

okay, how can we make a lucrative product?

Or how can we actually make money to continue doing our

art? And eventually that turned into candles and we do carry

other products,

but that was our start.

That was our kickoff because we know everyone can identify with

a candle,

but we wanted to make our candle unique.

That was the next jump was,

how are we going to make this?

Not just like every other candle And a very important point

when you're looking at establishing a business.

Cause you would think that,

Oh my gosh,

there are a million different candle companies out there.

So your line of thinking was perfect.

You know,

how are we going to do something where we'll be talked

about? Because we're different.

I would hear people that are successful in business and on

television talking about business or reading.

And they would say it's really important that when you're starting

a business or continuing a business that you are asking yourself,

what problem are you solving?

Not that that's always the question or always the answer,

but I think when you're starting off,

you don't want to just do something just because,

or we did it.

What we wanted to do was have a purpose,

but also be solving a problem.

So what are we going to bring to our clients that

we can say,

here's the solution on top of it being art and inspiring

and things like that as well.

So how did you answer the question?

What problem are you solving?

Well, we've found that in the market,

there weren't candles that were exclusively scented by essential oils or,

you know,

personal fragrances or sprays or anything like that.

There are a few,

but there weren't very many,

I mean,

I'm saying we may have found three products that carried essential

oils in their products,

but it was with other things.

So it was always dot,

dot dot.

We wanted to bring a product that had no dot,

dot, dot.

We wanted the product to be straightforward,

to be clean,

to be non-toxic and to be safe.

And the client didn't have to worry about what was in

their product.

How do you go about creating something like that?

Is that where the family knowledge and all came in?

Actually, it's funny because neither of us had the knowledge of

using essential oils or,

you know,

how they worked and neither did our families.

So this was something that we had to learn on our

own. We had to really become scientists and experiment with things

that we had not really worked with.

This is where people and outreach and connecting with other people

who were using essential oils and also,

you know,

using online services and things like that.

So you had to really resource everything and do a lot

of testing and figure it out for yourself.

Right. And it's taken,

I mean,

it took,

and it's,

I have to say to this day,

we still evolve our product based on any new knowledge that

we receive,

you get the same ethos.

So we never compromise our product,

but we do enhance it if there is a possibility of

doing that without compromising.

So yeah,

we had to completely go out and educate ourselves.

And this is the first thing.

Once you've had the idea,

it's village common,

you've landed on the fact that it's going to be candles

and then it's going to be essential oils.

Right. That you're,

this is the very first thing you did was figure out

what the vision was.

Right. Exactly.

Okay. And then you're figuring out the product,

and obviously that candle has to go into something.

So you had to figure out what the container and what

the whole look was going to be.

I bet you guys had a blast.

Oh, it was so much fun.

And that was the other thing,

like I said,

we wanted something that you weren't going to see everywhere.

So we started off with just a glass jar in a

bag with our label at a very different price point than

we are right now.

And that turned into then being,

we would coat the glass and plaster that we sourced from

New Mexico.

And then now it's turned into,

we just completely have a concrete metal with a lid.

And so it's funny to see the evolution,

but we've definitely had a blast creating the look of our

kids. And I have to say the label falls right in

line. I mean,

your branding is so spot on,

describe a little bit about what the labels look like.

So when you first see the candles,

you see color,

you see image,

you know,

imagery, you see landscape,

and that's all inspired by our candles being named after places

that inspire us.

So the picture that you see in the packaging is a

picture of the place it's named after.

And when you see the candle there's writing,

there is,

you know,

like I said,

there's color,

it's engaging.

And that's what we wanted.

We wanted something that wasn't just going to be,

Oh, a Brown box on the shelf.

We wanted something that was going to draw people into it,

just by looking at it and not even smelling it or

anything like that.

Perfect. Okay.

And then I'm imagining that you were in charge of the

website, right?

Since you've been doing that before you were the pro.

Yes. Well,

I have to say it was about 50 50.

I wouldn't have,

I can't say that.

I figured it all out,

but a lot of it yes,

yes. In terms of building it and actually all the mechanics

behind it now.

Yes. Okay.

And what kind of,

what platform do you have your website on?

We use Squarespace and we love it.

It's wonderful.

Okay. So you're a thumbs up for Squarespace.

Absolutely. And then what other types of activities did you have

to go through to get the business up and running?

So we kind of had to figure out how we were

going to market ourselves.

You know,

how are we going to represent ourselves online if we're doing

shows and things like that.

So that was something that we worked through as well in

the beginning was,

are we just doing candles as a,

too much to do other things?

Is it not enough?

Or are we going to actually sell them,

you know,

what's going on.

So I think that that was a big thing for us

in the beginning and understanding who we were.

Right. And I think this is a really important point.

I'm glad you bring it up because I think a lot

of people,

if they haven't been in marketing or any type of advertising

retail before,

think that,

okay, well,

if I just put a website up online,

then I'm good to go.

People are going to order from me.

I just fill the orders and everything.

The real story is you still have to get people to

the website.

You have to have people know that they need to come

there and get your name out.

And yes,

of course,

some of that can be done through social media,

but a lot also still should be.

Face-to-face like what you guys are doing.

Absolutely. Talk to us a little bit about the shows and

how you're deciding what shows to go to and how it's

This is our first year that we are actually solely focusing

on our business.

And it's so important.

Like you said,

we have the website,

we have the product,

but how are people knowing to go there?

Even with social media?

I mean,

you can pay all day long to have someone work it

and sell it,

but still,

how are people going to understand your product?

How are they going to want to come to your website,

especially when it's something that's scent.

So doing these shows,

we've been in LA,

we've been in New York,

we're looking to go to other places in the year.

It's a way for people to see us,

to see our brand,

to smell the candles,

to touch them,

to really feel a part of our brand.

And you don't necessarily always get that when you first just

go on the website.

I think people,

although we are in this high tech,

social media driven society,

both been,

and I feel that people want that human interaction with product

with people.

They want to feel a part of a community.

And so I feel like that's,

I mean,

yes, we go to these shows to hopefully get new and

to reach out to people.

But we want people to feel a part of our community

and feel as though our product is for them.

Absolutely. And I think that human connection,

then, you know,

when, cause both of you guys were in your booth,

I think you were busy.

Yes, exactly.

But you guys were both there.

You're both talking.

And when you have that personal interaction,

I just want to support your business because you guys were

so fun and so cool.

And of course the product is great.

You've got to start with a good product too.

So this is a great time.

And I think this could be really interesting for our listeners

as well,

because you're just now starting off with larger shows.

I mean,

let's face it.

Some of these shows you're going to are pretty expensive.

What types of things have you learned or advice that you

could give someone who's looking at jumping from maybe a local

craft show type experience to one of these larger shows?

I would definitely start with saying that those local craft shows

are going to be the best jumping off point.

But when you think you're ready to move on to the

shows that are going to be bigger,

like the one that we saw each other at,

or any other of the ones that are going to cost

you thousands of dollars to be a part of what we

learned is that not everything is going to come out as

a profit,

right? In the beginning.

You know,

like I said,

these shows are very important for people to learn who you

are for people to see you.

If I was sitting down with someone who hasn't done these

shows before,

but is looking into it,

I would say don't put yourself out of business,

but take the risk,

take this job and believe in your product,

believe that there is a reason that you need to be

at the show and then how it goes after that's where

you assess,

what can I do differently?

How can I market myself differently?

How can I differently reach out to these different people?

Or you can just say,

how the heck am I going to fill all these orders?

Because I did so well.

And you know,

that was our experience.

Our first trade show that we did that cost us a

lot of money.

We did exceptional,

we got really lucky,

but that didn't change the fact that it costs a lot

of money.

And then we had to have a lot of money to

make a lot of the product that we needed.

So With those orders come,

some production work behind it.

Exactly. What would you say about your booth in terms of

putting it together and deciding what it was going to look

like? We wanted to stay true to who we are.

That's so important for Ben and I,

and our brand is that we're not marketing to a specific

person or group of people.

We're saying this is who we are and educating,

I guess,

our community on who we are,

but for the boots,

that's expensive too,

especially in New York city where we saw you,

there's a lot of rules and regulations.

So just be mindful of that,

but don't compromise it for who your brand is.

And that's the time that people are going to walk by

and go.

I have to see that product,

you know,

remember that you have to have a great product,

like you said,

but when people are walking by,

there's a thousand other booths,

what are you doing to get people to walk next to

you and to see what you're doing,

Right. And what did you guys do?

So I think,

and this was a point for us was The first year

that we did the show,

those specific shows I'm speaking of,

I was all white booth and our product really stood out

because of the color and the packaging.

And we had personal things from our home to sort of

outfit it as if it was a room or a space

that you could come and be a part of,

which we did really well with the next show,

we changed the look completely and had a complete black booth.

Cause our packaging is partly black and we saw a completely

change in the perception or the traffic into our booth.

So this year we said,

look, let's be on the corner.

Let's change it back to Y let's make this a space

like it's our living room.

So people feel like they can come and sit down with

us. It completely changed the whole attitude and the feel of

people wanting to come into our booth,

you know,

make it a space that people want to come into,

not something that is like,

we're too cool for school or we're edgy or we're not,

you know,

or we didn't put any work into this.

We don't really care.

We just want to sell the product for us.

It was really making it a space that was welcoming,

Really great information.

I really appreciate your talking about that.

And you know,

as I remembered your booth,

it was very clean.

You had the table,

you had a lot of products.

It was,

I won't say it was simple because there was a lot

to draw you in,

but it felt comfortable to look at too,

you know?

So it attracted you in that manner and you guys were

there and receptive to you.

Weren't just sitting behind a table on your phone or something.

You were drawing people in communicating with them and all of

that gift,

biz listeners,

just a couple of things.

I just want to summarize what Blake has said here.

When he's talking about trade shows,

he's been saying that yes,

probably some local fairs just to get started is a good

way to go.

It's also a great way to test your product,

get some really good feedback on your product before you invest

in some of the larger shows.

When you get into booth setup,

consistency and remaining on brand,

if you will remaining exactly what you stand for and who

you are,

should roll over to however your displays look and the total

booth experience overall.

And then in terms of shows,

you need to remember that you're there for exposure.

Yes. Blake's talking about how they really landed at that first

show and had tons of orders.

But this is also about visibility.

It's great.

If you're able to reimburse yourself the cost of the show

and even make some profit,

but if you're in a situation where that doesn't necessarily happen,

you also want to track through,

you know,

who are some of maybe the big brands that have come,

who are now going to call you three months from now

and you know,

want to buy from you so that they can have your

product in the store.

So don't just look at it for a one and done

type weekend where you just analyze what happens at right after

the show.

And the final thing that Blake's talking about is then you

review the show,

you know,

is it something that you should do again next,

go around.

There are plenty of shows out there and some will resonate

with you more than others because you'll have audiences that are

more interested in your product.

So you always want to review show.

And I would also say,

you know,

shows get old after a while,

there comes a time when maybe a show that was working

for you for a long time.

Now isn't bringing it what it once did,

and then you switch it up.

Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about that challenge that you

guys encountered.

You can free reign,

whichever one you want to pick.

I would say that our biggest challenge was figuring out how

to fund this dream without really having guidance to start.

So we would always hear people talking about investors or talking

about business partners and things like that.

And we just had no education on this.

So figuring all of that out and how to fund that

big order that we had from our first show was huge.

And then,

like I said before,

too. And so I feel like I'm a little bit repeating

ourselves, but it's true.

How are we going to market ourselves without changing who we

are as a brand?

How are we going to roll with the changes that are

coming into the retail realm,

but also remain true to who we are?

I think those two big things are challenges we deal with

daily. And I think that other people do too.

I don't think that these are unique problems.

I think that everyone else can relate to this as well.

I definitely think that the biggest challenge though,

is definitely just that pulling your hair out moment when you're

like, okay,

we have to fulfill these orders for 70 stores.

We went from zero to 70.

What are we doing?

You know?

So Cassius King,

no question about it.

Absolutely Point because as you're starting out and building a company,

there's always new things you want to bring on.

Maybe it's you want someone to work with your social media

or help you with your blog.

Like there's all their services and then there's product extensions and

you have to be so careful not to over-commit yourself because

you don't know what else is going to come in.

I mean,

if you clearly found a way to manage through those 70

stores, but what if you didn't,

you would have lost that opportunity.

Absolutely. Yeah.

So people have to be really careful with that.

And I also like what you're talking about in terms of

once again,

staying on brand,

you guys,

right from the beginning,

did something so smart,

which is really you defined who you were and that way,

anything that comes down the pike,

that's an opportunity you can run through that filter and say,

you know,

does this resonate?

And does this align with who we are,

problem we solve,

why we're here.

And it makes it a lot easier than to let some

things go because they're not exactly right for what you're doing.

Absolutely. Any other advice in terms of a business tip on

how you're attracting customers or how you manage customers so that

they keep coming back Really for us,

because we are such a online business,

we are driven a hundred percent right now by online.

We are opening our first brick and mortar in a few

months, but Whoa,

that's so exciting.

Oh my gosh,

I can't believe you're just bringing that up now.

But I think a way to stay with your people Is

understanding who's buying,

where are they?

What's going on and following up,

you know,

we've had people and I'm not talking about just stores.

I'm talking about clients who have purchased multiple times from us,

you know,

and we better understanding who they're buying for,

because if you're buying 12 candles,

you're not buying them just for yourself.

Maybe. Yeah.

Oh, I would be Understanding how you can better serve them

is something that is very difficult because you know,

you don't have million hours in the day to talk to

every client,

but reaching out to these people who keep coming back and

understanding why helps you better serve the client that maybe isn't

in for stores,

you know,

stores that maybe haven't reached out in a while,

following up with them,

is there more product knowledge that we can serve you with?

Can we come to the store to do a trunk show

or a product presentation?

I think being committed is the biggest thing.

And that has worked very well for us resulting in sales,

through our clients.

Let's move now into the reflection section.

And this is a look at you and Ben and what

you think has helped you to be successful.

Is there a natural trade?

And I guess I'm just going to stick with you Blake,

unless Ben wants to jump into,

we'll see,

he's been awful silent,

but what natural trait do you have that you've called upon

to work through and get to the point where you are

today? So when we were both talking about this point,

I think the biggest three things that came up for us

was that we're a go getters.

We don't let what happened yesterday,

change today or tomorrow we continue on and we're motivated,

you know,

we're motivated and we're ambitious,

starting your business and owning a business just is not for

the faint of heart.

I have to say you're under scrutiny,

24 seven.

So calling on that sense of being go getters or,

you know,

waking up and going,

how am I going to change my business today for the

better and staying ambitious.

Those are three things that really helped us and not letting

anything stop us from fulfilling our dream.

You're going to hear no all the time,

no matter what you do in life.

If you're a business owner,

if you're a ballerina,

whatever you are not letting that stop us has completely catapulted

us into success.

I mean,

we didn't speak about it in the past,

but I just wanted to bring it up so that we

don't leave it out was one of our biggest successes was

being chosen as one of Oprah's favorite things now.

Oh my gosh.

How exciting is that?

It was amazing.

I have to tell you.

And it was something like you spoke about in the last

segment was the trade shows.

That's where we met the contacted that got us into giving

over our candles,

but that didn't come directly from the show persistence and staying

a go getter and being motivated and ambitious and not just

hearing no and turning around and saying,

okay, well by,

you know,

remaining professional and persistent really helped us.

And so that's,

that's an actual concrete success that we've gotten from these traits

that have helped us get where we are today.

That is a perfect example of how those types of traits

in doing that leads to something that was perfect.

Quick question for you on that.

How did you handle the sales that being on Oprah's list

drove into your business?

You know,

it's one of those things where you just,

I don't believe that we are ever given more than we

can handle.

And if we are,

there's a reason we shouldn't be doing it,

but I believe that what helped us get through that?

I mean,

really, and it's funny because we were both working still nine

to five jobs.

So it was insane.

It was,

it was very hectic,

but we got through it by understanding that this was our

next jumping off point.

This was such a huge accomplishment for us.

We never thought that in 10 years we would get here.

We got here in three years.

So the way we handled it was just understanding that and

the weight of having Oprah's favorite things on your list of

accomplishments that remained our motivation at like midnight.

And we were burning the oil,

you know,

midnight oil and just saying,

keep going,

keep going.

These are one of those moments where you have realized it's

a worth it to work those extra hours.

This is not one of those times that you want to

rest. Do you want to take it and go full force

ahead? Cause it isn't going to stay that way forever.

So take advantage of the opportunity,

right? When it's there exactly.

Is there a tool that you two use regularly to keep

you productive or to keep balance in your life Would definitely

be a kind of a movement off of my last answer.

I would think what we've started to do is plan our

whole year.

Now this is something I have never done in my entire

life. But when you talk about trade shows,

when you talk about retail shows like these markets and things

like that,

where people are interacting with your product.

When you talk about wanting to see your nephew or niece

on their birthday,

when you talk about Christmas or Hanukkah,

all these things are going on in your life.

While you have to also run your business and you want

to have a successful business.

So I think a big tool for us has just been

planning, something that I think a lot of people take for

granted, or you don't think about.

We plan for the year.

We plan out business goals and things like that,

but what's actually going on in your life.

How can you say I'm going to work extra hard here.

Maybe we have Oprah's favorite things here,

and then I'm able to rest here.

I think it's so important to have a balance so that

you don't burn out or you don't just completely wear yourself

then because you won't have a business after that.

Yeah. If you're in it for the long haul,

you need to be able to have some of those breaks.

You need to be able to get away.

Absolutely. Any advice you have or how you guys managing your

relationship and then also the business.

Do you guys sometimes just say,

you know what,

timeout, no talk about the business or does it naturally happen?

It naturally happens.

The great thing about our company and what we do is

that we love it.

We're not in the place right now where it's a,

I guess like a workaholic kind of thing.

You know,

it's not taking over our lives,

but we see it as an opportunity to express ourselves and

to become closer with the community and our families and people

all around us.

So sometimes we'll say,

you know,

okay, let's just go to sleep.

We got us.

It's two o'clock in the morning.

Let's turn off our brains,

but it's always working and always thinking of the next thing.

But understanding that you do need to take time to rest.

You gotta take a load off.

Sometimes we just go,

okay, just go watch TV,

you know?

Yeah, for sure.

And when you're traveling into these great places,

there's always time to take a break,

go to dinner,

enjoy the sights.

Something just,

just to get away for a little while.

Yeah. Right.

Is there a book that you've read lately that you think

our listeners could find valuable?

Yes. And actually this was Blake.

I read the book.

Ben hasn't read it yet,

but I'm pushing it on him.

Cause I really want him to read it.

But the latest book from Gloria Steinem my life on the

road, I mean,

ha we are probably getting inspired by travel.

But what I love about Gloria Steinem's book,

my life on the road is it's very personal.

And it's about how her travels around the world impacted her

life and her view of the world.

You know,

I don't think you have to necessarily agree with her points

of view to receive something from her story.

What I learned was that the value of being in contact

with someone who isn't like me or who doesn't share the

same culture that I do and how that can help open

my world,

my business,

my personal life,

everything to a whole new realm that I may have not

thought of when I listened to other people,

I'm a lot better off.

I find in my experience and the book taught me to

listen, to understand rather than to respond,

to really understand people.

And that can translate into your business.

How are you understanding your client?

So I really,

really enjoyed the book and I really hope everyone out there

listening can find some time to read it.

It's a beautiful book.

Thank you.

Listen to understand not to respond.

It wasn't said by me,

I don't know who said it,

but I heard it and I have not let go of

it. It is so awesome.

Yeah. You're right.

And give his listeners just as you're listening to the podcast

here today,

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to

get an audio book,

possibly my life on the road.

Not sure,

but a book of your choice for free.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com. Okay.

Blake, it's now your time to dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

So inside our box is,

as you know,

as we've talked about this whole podcast is that our company

is completely inspired by family and travel.

So I think for both of us,

our dream beyond measure would be to just be able to

go wherever we wanted whenever we wanted.

However we wanted with no limitation.

Part of that is just to be able to share that

with everyone and to have our business be able to support

us and our families,

I think is a big,

big dream for us.

And then to share our experience with the world,

we want to become a global company.

So I think our biggest dream that we opened was just

being able to travel and share it.

Perfect. All right.

So let's pretend I'm handing you an envelope with ticket somewhere.

Where are you going?

Oh, it's so hard.

You got to pick one right now.

I'm putting you on the spot.

I would probably go back to Italy.

We went last year.

There's so many other places I want to go,

but that place is so special to us.

We went to the Mafi CO's and it was one of

our first times that we took a break from our life

in three years and we talk about it every day.

It's constantly inspiring us.

So we want to go back and get more inspiration.

All right,

well you've just put it out there.

So it's going to happen.

That's all there is to that.

Okay. The secret.

Exactly. All right.

So if some of our listeners can not wait,

they want to go to your website or go somewhere to

see more about your business.

What single online space would you direct somebody to?

I would definitely say our website is the first place,

the village,

common.com or our Instagram page.

It's a little bit more personal and it's at the village

common. All right.

Perfect. And give biz listeners,

you know,

in the show notes page,

I'll have those two links repeated as well as other ways

that you can get in touch with them and pictures and

all this fun stuff sitting over there.

Blake, and I'm going to say Ben,

cause I know he's sitting right there.

Just say,

hi, Ben,

will you just say hi Ben,

say hi.

I All right.

I want to thank you guys so much for agreeing to

be on the show I had walked by your booth,

turned around,

got more information about your business,

saw the product,

smelled, everything I'm like,

Oh, I so hope that they'll agree to be on the

show. So thank you so much for doing that.

Such an interesting story.

I mean,

you're still a new company,

but you've done so many things well that you're catapulting already

in terms of your business growth.

Oprah's favorite thing.

And now you're opening your new retail shop.

Super exciting.

And may your candle always burn bright?

Thank you so much.

It's really truly been such an honor to be on your

podcast. Seriously.

We are so grateful for the time that you'll watered us

here. Thank you.

Where are you in your business building journey,

whether you're just starting out or already running a business and

you want to know your setup for success.

Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,

access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y

slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift

biz quiz to four four two,

two, two.

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

next episode.

Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company.

Looking for a new income source for your business.

Customization is more popular now than ever brand your products of

your logo or print a happy birthday,

Jessica Griffin,

to add to a gift right at checkout,

it's almost done right in your shop or craft studio in

seconds. Check out the ribbon print company.com

for more information after you listen to the show,

if you like what you're hearing,

make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on

iTunes. That way you'll automatically they get the newest episodes when

they go live.

Thank you to those who have already left a rating and

review by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the stability

of gift is unwrapped.

It's a great way to pay it forward,