341 – A Subscription Box Business with a Mission Featuring Kesia Steele of Spotlight Box

Gift biz unwrapped episode 341.

The message Box was just too important for me to keep

it to myself or be shy about it.

Tenten gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

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Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

Hi. Hi,

and welcome to another episode.

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Okay. Back to talking about the show,

we're going to cover subscription boxes and Kesha's unique twist on

the structure.

If you've ever thought about starting a subscription box business,

or wondered if you could get your product into a box,

go back to episode number 338.

So just a couple shows back with Eric,

where we cover all that.

The thing I love about what Kesha is doing is her

mission based overlay.

Her box is focused on African-American businesses,

but it doesn't stop there.

Well, why don't I have her tell you all about it?

Let's dive right into the show Today.

I am so excited to introduce you to Kesha steel of

spotlight box spot.

when many were becoming more aware of the social issues facing

the black community.

People started asking questions,

how can I support black businesses?

What should I learn about black history?

How do I begin to understand the many social issues facing

the black community for these reasons Kesha created spotlight box to

provide us with a resource so we can feel comfortable in

our knowledge and appreciation for black history.

The spotlight box is a curated monthly subscription box filled with

educational materials and products from entrepreneurs and brands owned by African-Americans.

It also provides a path so that we can support black

owned businesses.

I love this so much and I have to tell you,

I have known and watched Kesha from the very beginning when

she started spotlight box.

I'm so proud of her and so excited to bring her

to you.

Kesha, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Thank you.

So that's so nice.

I'm so happy to be here.

Like I said,

I am so excited that you're here and I can't wait

to share the story.

I'm really interested to find out if you say some things

that I don't know about,

cause you know,

I've been supporting you.

I've been watching you and I don't know,

I'm excited to see,

but before we dive into all of that,

I have a traditional question here,

which I know,

you know,

and that is the motivational candle.

So if you were to share with us a little bit

more about you,

who you are,

give us like kind of a creative,

deeper dive,

what would your motivational candle look like?

So describe it by color and quote.

I think this is such a interesting question.

I actually looked about a little bit later,

but I did start working on making a Campbell mine for

my box.

And so I think this is a definite wonderful question to

lead in.

I really like the way the wax melts.

When you make a candle,

I use soy wax,

very pure,

no preservatives.

And because of that,

I would just keep my candle,

the cream color,

because it's a pure form.

It's just who it is.

There's no change.

There's nothing.

It's just who it is.

And the Colt that I would use is from Oprah.

I grown up watching her on TV and my mom would

always have her on in the afternoons,

have to watch Oprah before the evening news.

So that was at the,

in our house.

And one of her quotes was turn your wounds into wisdom.

And I think just the whole concept of my box and

why I started it.

Our community was hurting after the murder of George Floyd.

And I really just was inspired by everyone,

wanting to look at what's happening in our world and make

something positive from something that so tragic happened.

So I,

you know,

it's just the perfect quote for a camera that just,

it exists in its perfect form.

And you want to just make something beautiful.

Absolutely. And we're not out of this stage.

There's a lot of work to do no question about it,

but it was such an interesting time and not so long

ago, really at the time that we're talking what a year

and a half ago,

maybe A year change Something give or take.

But the thing that I want to point out here and

what I love about your quote is something was happening in

our world and you saw an opening and a need to

make things better and built a business around it.

And I want to get into,

and we're going to start with how that happened,

but anyone who's listening here,

we have a lot of people Kesha who are like,

I know I want to start a business,

but I don't know what it's going to be.

I make so many different types of things like they're so

flustered because they are creative.

There are a lot of opportunities.

And this is a great example of seeing a need that

you could fulfill being part of the community being talked about

first off.

So you have a unique perspective helping your own,

but sharing because we all need to understand better.

Right? So I think that's wonderful.

And I'm going to stop talking and let you talk.

But I also do want to share with everyone who's listening,

those of you who are part of gift biz breeze,

Kesha came in and spoke way back when that was happening.

I had four people come on and talk very,

very raw about what was going on.

And likewise,

the community was able to come back and ask questions too.

That might be uncomfortable questions because we don't know the right

words. We don't know how to manage some things.

And we learned in a private environment because it was a

private group and Kesha,

you were so helpful in that.

And that was even,

I think,

before spotlight box even started or just like maybe even your

very first one.

I'm not sure Around the fourth,

first one.

I don't think I had some,

the first one yet.

I was still moaning it and just trying to get the

word out.

Yeah. So right in the very beginning.

So anybody who's listening,

if you have joined the breeze since then,

you can go back and listen to all four of those.

If you'd like to,

and if you're not part of the breeze,

what are you waiting for?

Gift is breeze.com.

All right,

Kesha. So actually I met you in another Facebook group,

right? Pat Flynn smart,

passive income group is where you and I kind of connected

on the side and realized we were both creatives,

et cetera.

And then we started talking and then all of a sudden,

I see that you're doing this business.

So talk us through that.

Like you just shared with how you got the idea,

but tell us a little bit more about the initial thinking

and then actually starting the business.

Right. So I was listening to pat for,

in his,

actually during,

at the time,

I think he had started his little morning podcast every day

because of the pandemic had started.

And he was just trying to help business owners kind of

pivot and think outside the box.

So I was listening to him and then I was also

at the same time going through the TRIBE program with student

McLaren. And he also has a program where he talks about

memberships. And so both of those leaders I was listening to,

and at the time I was trying to figure out how

can I start a business?

I really didn't have an idea in mind.

And I just was taking the tribe course kind of as,

let me figure out what I want to do.

And that was around April may timeframe.

And so then at the end of me,

beginning of June,

when George Floyd happened,

there was all these kinds of discussions,

not just with pat Flynn or Stu,

but just all over social media everywhere.

And I specifically remember going to my Facebook page in all

of the groups that I was in,

everybody was asking,

we want to support black businesses.

Where are you?

List your business here.

We want to buy from people in our group,

put your business here.

I saw it anywhere.

I'm not exaggerating.

I just found one list that had more than a hundred

businesses listed.

And I called one of the girls.

I looked at her website called had this idea.

We talked for an hour and a half.

And at the end of that call,

we had our first box already curated,

ready to go from that first conversation she was onboard.

She was in.

And that's really how it started.

It was like a weekend,

went from no idea on how to solve a business to

Sunday night,

putting a page together,

finding my first vendor and running with it.

And I say that because I'm a type of person who

is a planner and my career path has been project management.

I am a project manager.

So I very much,

don't like last minute things.

I like to plan as much as possible.

So for me to jump into a business,

I don't want to say on a whim,

but just jumping in full force,

ongoing with this is really outside of my personality,

but I was so moved and I cannot shake.

I have to do something.

I have a way I know how to project manage.

I know how to put these together.

I know how to organize things and I see a need

here and I can organize this box.

I know exactly where I need to go.

I know exactly what I need to do.

And I just started doing it Well,

and the time was then too.

I mean,

you had to take advantage of the time and I don't

mean take advantage for your own good and not others,

but everybody needed that at the time here in your story,

it seems to me that you just knew in your heart,

this was something you had to do And was in Christian.

And I was praying on it and it just felt like

the word spotlight just kept coming to me.

And it was something that I couldn't shake.

And I was like,

what is this?

Every time I would talk to people online about their business,

that was just forefront.

So I knew that was going to be the name of

the book.

Well, that's cool because that is such a stumbling block.

People will wait and wait and wait,

trying to figure out the best name.

I mean,

I just feel like all of this came together so beautifully

for you.

The time was right.

You met up with that person and that also probably helped

you make the decision because then you weren't feeling like you

were totally in it alone.

You had someone who knew what you were doing,

confirmed what your plan was and was there to support.

There's always that little inkling when you feel like,

is this a good idea?

Do you think you'll like it?

You know,

you always feel like that when you find something new.

So that definitely helped.

But man,

if you didn't try,

like spotlight bucks wouldn't be around today and that would be

terrible. So everything was coming together.

You knew it was going to be the name spotlight box.

You already had your first items curated to some extent anyway,

but you've got to start structuring it as some type of

a business.

So give us a little bit more how that first box

started to happen.

So We worked together,

of course,

since it was the first box,

we weren't quite sure how to go about it,

but she had a lot of different items on her website.

And my thought was,

I want to highlight and spotlight what she does.

And so every time I do the box,

I have something,

an insert inside the box that highlights the business owner so

that you can understand and learn more about who she is

and what she does.

And as diverse as the woman,

they have diverse businesses.

So I wasn't set on a specific,

like, I didn't want to just do bath or I didn't

want to just do makeup.

I wanted to leave it open to inspiration on what kind

of businesses I could spotlight in each month's box.

So in talking with her,

I worked with other vendors from that list.

A couple of friends had referred me and we came up

with all kinds of different variety of boxes.

The first one was a Christian business and I had some

inspirational items inside a shirt with a sane journal.

And then the following box was like a bathtime box.

And then the box after that was spices and chocolates.

And we talked about loading at the time and then the

next one after that was jewelry.

So it's just been a lovely collaboration with all these types

of businesses and products and wanting to make sure that I

kept it fresh and exciting and different each time.

Yeah. And you didn't really need to niche down to a

specific category because you already have the theme of African-American owned

businesses. So that is the way you're niching down.

And I like that because then when we get boxes,

they are different.

Like I don't need pampering products all the time,

maybe candles all the time.

It worked for me,

but it wouldn't work for everybody.

So I think that that's great.

That was absolutely the right call.

Do you want to know what my favorite box was?

Oh yes,

please. Well,

actually I've liked them all.

I mean,

some products I like better than others as anybody would.

Right. Because we all have our tastes,

but I really liked the fun one you did with the

lashes in it.

Oh good.

Because I've never worn lashes.

I used to get my lashes done,

you know,

where they'd stay on for three weeks or so.

You know,

I used to do that,

but I'd never done just the strip lashes.

So that was so fun because you also did a Facebook

live showing people how to actually do that.

So that was my favorite one.

I'm glad that was actually my favorite box too,

because I don't wear lashes often either.

And for me,

I thought this was such a cool business and we're going

to get out of this pandemic here pretty soon.

And we're gonna have graduations and weddings and just celebrations and

all of this.

And I wanted to let them go up at home let's

practice on ourselves and make ourselves feel and look nice.

And then we paired it with the Hollywood glamour,

like old Hollywood,

like Dorothy Dandridge and all of that.

And it was around Oscar season too.

I love all of that.

That to me,

I love to see people ground up and I love the

black and white movies and seeing the ladies is so glamorous.

And so I thought it was just such a cool box.

I loved it.

That was perfect timing.

So I'm glad you talked about this and what I loved

about the eyelashes,

like I said,

was the educational of how do you apply them?

How do you take them off what's the right way and

an actual demonstration.

But the other thing that I think is so unique that

you're doing that plays into educating all of us,

whoever is going to join is you do and correct me

if I'm mistaken,

you do Facebook lives and kind of get togethers on the

topic of the box each month.

Right? That's right.

I have a private group,

everybody who has the box has access to the group and

within the box,

we have the insert from the business.

And then we have a FIM of the month that I

try to correlate with whatever the products of the box are.

So yeah.

And then we talk about the issues or the theme of

the month,

along with what came inside the box That is amazing.

And it's so creative and serves the purpose.

Like it serves your overall mission of spotlight box too,

which I absolutely love and Kesha,

I don't know if you're familiar,

but I talk about this concept of a unique,

special power.

And I want to apply this to what you're doing.

And this is one of your unique,

special powers.

Let's face it.

There are other people who put boxes out,

right? I mean,

subscription boxes have become really popular,

but yours focuses on helping a specific population that we can

all take advantage of.

But the addition of what you're doing in your Facebook group

and that education element,

I see as a huge,

unique, special power of yours.

Because when I talk about you and the spotlight box,

I don't just talk about the fact that you're supporting the

black community.

I also talk about we're learning as we go too,

because of those now I can't join all of them obviously.

Well, I shouldn't say obviously,

but it's hard for me to join all of them.

Cause they're at night and I'm exhausted at night and I

have other,

like it's just happened,

but that overlay really separates you from other people who are

doing kind of something different or similar,

but it's really different.

And that overlay is a unique,

special power of yours.

In terms of that educational element.

Have you found it hard to coordinate that?

Or what are you seeing with that?

Yeah. Well,

thank you for your kind words on saying that.

And I felt that as I was trying to get the

concept together as well,

that yes,

I did see other boxes and other companies out there supporting

black businesses,

which was great.

And I actually started subscribing to them myself,

but I also felt like I had two types of customers.

I felt like I had somebody like myself who is black

and who wanted to support her community.

And I do know a lot of the history and of

course I know the culture,

but I felt like there's other things that I need to

dive deeper into to understand the issues that are affecting my

family and how can I get more involved?

And I also felt like there would be people like you

who may not be aware of what's happening and want to

know more and not feel like I'm not saying the right

thing, or am I being nosy or am I doing like

tip toe around the thing I wanted to provide a space

where we could all be together supporting the community by purchasing

the products,

but also having a space where we have these conversations and

it's not a confrontation or it's an open and welcome safe

space for us to have those kinds of talks.

I love it.

It gives me shivers because it's what we all need.

It helps everybody.

It's just for all the reasons you just said.

I think it is absolutely a beautiful thing that you've integrated

into the spotlight box.

I think it's so unique and it's so special.

So I think that that's amazing.

So what types of challenges have you had as you were

just getting started?

And I'm asking that specifically for people who are getting started

and maybe are stumbling a little bit or thinking that everyone

gets their business up and running so easily,

when really we can all probably say that that's far from

the case,

but what were some things as you got started that you

weren't ready for,

or that you found were challenging and then how did you

overcome them?

How did you work through that?

I think that the just getting started was like I mentioned

before, outside of my conference zone and I think getting myself

out there was the most challenging because I am a very

quiet person.

I am very quiet,

very reserved,

and I wasn't really much on social media at all before

this box,

but I knew for it to be successful.

And I knew for people to even know that it exists.

I can't be my internal self.

I had to be externally facing and engaging and put myself

in front of the camera,

which is something that I'm not comfortable doing.

So I think at the beginning,

that was something that I had to just,

okay, this is what I'm doing.

This is what it has to be done.

And I'm just going to go for it and make,

I don't want to say,

make myself do it,

but I wanted to be intentional about how I showed up

on social media and to my audience because the message of

my box was just too important for me to keep it

to myself or be shy about it because I want others

to know and others to benefit from both the conversations and

supporting the businesses.

So I think that was my struggle at the beginning is

just learning how to be more confident in myself,

to put myself out there.

And I definitely believed in the product that wasn't never an

issue. It was just more so of my comfort zone,

putting myself in front of the public in a way that

was going to open myself up to anything coming my way.

So, and even now I don't think I struggle with as

much, but there are some times where that is.

I'm not as confident every day.

I think everybody has those those days where you want to

just curl up in bed and don't talk to anybody.

Absolutely. But it sounds to me from listening to you that

the mission that you had was bigger than the concern about

you showing up live.

Because if you didn't show up live,

no one would ever know.

And your mission couldn't start to be obtained in any way.

So that was lucky for you,

I guess.

And the fact that you just decided you were going to

do it.

I think there are other people who listen,

who let's say make jewelry and their mission.

I don't know.

Maybe they don't know what their mission is yet.

So that may be an interesting takeaway from our conversation here

for everybody too,

is what is it that your product provides?

Obviously with Kesha,

it's very clear,

but if you make jewelry,

for example,

what is it that your product does for your customer over

and above?

Now they have a new piece of jewelry,

obviously, right?

But make them feel pretty enhance an outfit that they already

have as they're going out.

What is Juul redo?

Everyone should have something a little bit different,

but have something in your mind as to what is the

benefit that your product brings.

And for us of all the great things with handmade products,

the benefit to the consumer is one that seems a little

bit tricky for us all to grasp onto,

or yours is easier.

Keisha, because you have a higher mission,

but that's something for everybody to kind of think about.

Well, even in that too,

you want to be your own cheerleader.

No one is going to know,

but you have the handmade jewelry or your gift basket the

way you do it,

unless you talk about it.

And I think that's what I've learned over this year of

doing this.

Everybody on social media is talking about their business and showing

up for their business.

And it's not a bad thing.

It's not salesy.

We're there to shout to the rooftops.

Hey, I have this thing.

If we don't talk about it,

nobody will come.

You have to.

And I don't mean like a bad way,

but if we don't do it,

who's going to do it.

It is so true.

And I'm going to ask you how you manage through this

Keisha. But what I see happen is it's so easy for

us to gravitate,

to making more product,

because that's a comfort zone of ours.

Maybe even taking photos,

uploading new products to the website,

things like that,

none of which actually drive people over to the website,

right. Or get people to come to a craft show.

And so we do so much more making and kind of

busy work versus the marketing end and the marketing end showing

up on social,

being at the shows like physically actually doing the shows or

what we need to get people to know us and to

make sales.

And I think there's a disconnect because people will think,

well, I'm working so hard in my business,

but they're working on tasks that aren't necessarily the next step

to the sale.

So showing up on social,

which is uncomfortable,

let's just go with that one.

Since that was the one you were talking about,

did you just that you had to do it or what

do you do to get yourself to actually get on like

click that little record button and go live,

whatever, you know,

that point of,

oh, I'm not going to do this today versus just deciding

you're going to do it.

How do you get yourself to do it?

Okay. So let's talk about That and be honest,

a hundred percent honest,

Kesha is going to share with us,

her show up on social secrets,

right after a quick break to hear from our sponsor.

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At the beginning,

I was like vehemently against Instagram.

I was like,

I'm not getting on there.

I don't like Instagram.

I don't like social media.

Like I'm an introvert I'm social media needle mix.

I was like,

no, but after starting this box,

I actually found somebody on Instagram who was an Instagram coach.

And she was kind of giving me some pointers.

So I hired her for an Instagram review and she gave

me so much information on what Instagram is,

how I need to show up what I needed to do.

And after that session,

I just had a different perspective on it.

It's like window shopping.

They need to see what it is that I'm doing behind

the scenes.

People like behind the scenes stuff,

they like to see you putting your box together.

They like to see you making your jewelry.

They like to see you go into the market and picking

out things and talking to people.

So I've just started to try to think outside of what

can I show or what can I talk about that gives

an insight into what it is I'm working on.

And that's kind of how I've hit that record button.

And I go live,

I do my sneak peeks,

or I do my box reveal at the beginning of the

month or the end of the month after everybody gets their

box. I do a big box,

reveals. Other people can see what's inside.

I've been getting into the reels more.

I don't do tick talk as much.

I'm not dancing all over the place,

but I do a lot of putting my box together type

videos. And that has really allowed a lot of people who

didn't know about me seeing me because I'm putting videos out

there. I'm not always on camera.

It's mostly,

my hands are mostly the products in the box.

So if you're not comfortable yet showing your face,

you can still show what you're doing,

or you still can show where you're going to get your

items. There's all kinds of things that you can do to

promote your business,

but not sale sale sale,

but just showing a day in your life of what you're

doing behind the scenes of your business.

And people really like that as well.

You've already mentally planned out what you're going to record before

you press the button.

Like if it's the unboxing or showing people what's in the

box, et cetera.

So you have like a bullet pointed idea of how you're

going to go through the products and who the business owner

is that you're highlighting owner or owners.

Who are you going to highlight for the month in your

mind? You've already kind of laid it out.

Yeah. In my mind,

I've already kind of isolated out.

And usually that week before I kind of lay out what

I'm going to talk about on social media,

like, I kind of have an outline on Monday,

I'm going to talk about this on Tuesday.

I'm going do this.

And then by Saturday I want to do the box reveal.

So I kind of already have those steps in place.

And then on Friday before the blocks reveal,

I'll do a post 24 hours come in and join me.

And that kind of gets me set too.

Cause I'm like,

okay, I already put it out there.

I'm going to do this so I can back out now

because I put it out there.

I love that you have a whole week outline like you

have a strategy already.

So that's one week of every single month.

You've already figured out how the structure is going to look.

That is honestly the key to posting on social with any

continuity is having some type of a plan.

So it's not every single morning.

Okay. Now what am I going to do?

I have those mornings here and there,

but yeah,

but not every morning,

not every morning.

And I usually try to use the weekends to plan things

ahead of time so that I'm not in the morning,

scrambling looking for toxins,

looking for hashtags on what am I going to do now,

looking for pictures and all of that,

do them again.

And so I think you said that the box reveal is

after the box has gone out,

right? So that means that people who see that video had

better sign up for the next box because they already lost

the opportunity for the current box.

Is that Right?

Not necessarily in most times I do have a few extra

and I'll say,

you know,

if you want this,

you need to get it right away because I only have

a few.

And usually it does sound.

But to me,

I want to make sure that my members,

my subscribers and get the bots and that it's like Christmas

morning that you get an open it.

Sometimes I do sneak peaks.

And sometimes I do tell you what's coming,

but I want you to have the joy of opening it

and exploring what's in the side before I posted online.

So that's kind of why I do the box reveals after

you guys get it so you guys can enjoy it.

And then you guys can come and join and share your

joy with those who are on the live.

But it also,

you're the first ones that are seeing it.

I like that.

And so then on the live,

there are a few leftover potentially.

And so that someone,

if they want it,

they have to act fast.

So that's good.

And that's a great way for you to clear out the

product. So the next month you're all fresh.

You don't have product that's been left over if you will,

because it doesn't fit with the theme for the next one

necessarily. But then the other thing that I was thinking about

with this,

Keisha, like the strategy is so cool because if I saw

something in that box that I really wanted,

I'd be like,

dang, I need to sign up now because I don't want

to miss any of the other future boxes.

Like if I don't get going,

like I've missed this one,

but this was so good.

Look at all this stuff I got to get in now

for the future.

Exactly. That's how it works.

Cause especially like you said,

I have different themes every month.

So it's going to be different every month.

If you like products,

if you like a surprise,

if you want to support it,

then you just sign up because they're going to be surprised.

You're going to be delighted.

And I am not had anybody say I had ate at

any all of it.

So everything has been wonderful and great.

And you're always going to get a good surprise when you

open the box.

Absolutely. And I'll tell you like the majority of everything in

the box I love I use,

but I'll also gift it forward.

There are some things like,

maybe I'm just not going to use it or wear it

or whatever.

It's not just for me.

I mean,

I'll send it forward to clients.

I've sent my daughter a couple of things.

Like there's so many fun things in the box,

so there's lots of ways to use it.

So yes,

it's fun.

I love it.

So how are you managing getting the people?

Do you have a system of reaching out to find who's

going to be in the next boxes?

Do you have some type of filter of who you take,

who you don't take?

How do you choose all of that?

And how does that get planned out?

I start off putting together like a,

I call it post-it note challenge.

I do also have a subscription batch coach who I work

with. She helps a lot of us who have subscription boxes

and we do like a post-it note challenge.

And we just like,

it sounds put post-it notes,

you know,

ideas down.

I have a huge wall calendar in my office where I

do most of my work and thinking and brainstorming.

And I just put the post-it notes.

I put ideas on the post-it note themes on the post-it

notes. And I just moved them around the calendar.

And what I think will work for this month,

especially as we come up on different types of seasons,

of course we just had Juneteenth.

So I knew for sure in June,

that's what I was going to do for February.

That's always black history.

So some ones are always going to be the same things,

but then I start trying to put a theme together and

then sometimes people will reach out to me and saying,

you know,

they heard about the box and they want to be in

it and I'll work with them on a theme and a

product. But sometimes not all the time I can take everybody

because I do know that there was one time I did

Campbell's for the box.

And then another candle maker reached out to me and I

didn't want to do two candles in a row.

So we spread some things out.

So that also feeds into how I choose somebody.

I want to make sure that I'm giving her the righty

to my audience.

I don't want to do the same thing in a row.

So I wanted to make sure that I'm finding different things

that can go in the box.

And then I want to try to accommodate everybody,

but it just doesn't always work in the timing that maybe

people need,

but that's okay too.

How do you know this is more of a logistics issue,

I guess,

and you've already said coming out of project management,

that was your forte.

You knew that that was not going to be a problem,

how to organize all of this,

get everything together,

all of that.

But I know that there's always the challenge about shipping and

the weights of the boxes and obviously a weight of a

box. Well,

I shouldn't say obviously I think so,

but you can tell me,

like, I'm thinking if you have too heavy a box,

your profitability on that box is going to go way down

because shipping is going to be so much.

Right. Right.

So how do you balance some of that out?

I mean,

you have kind of a plan of the weight that you

want to keep your box in.

I have learned on that some hard lessons on the way

in shipping.

And I think that's kind of part of also being a

new business owner and just jumping out there because you can

learn and learn and take all these classes.

But unless you start doing things,

I think that sometimes when the lessons come,

but I have learned now to prep my vendors and say,

this is what I'm looking for.

As far as the size of the items that need to

fit in the box and the weight that should be inside

the box.

And we have worked together,

there's been multiple times with the vendors where I've said it

needs to be this,

or how can we make it a little smaller or that's

not going to fit in the box.

Let's figure out another way.

And we work together and everybody's been amazing about that.

And I think that that also makes sense to them too,

because you know,

they thought I shook it to me as well to get

it in the box.

So I think it works out all the way around that

we'll be mindful of the size and the weight of the

items that are going in a box again every month is

different. So it changes.

But I try to keep it around two to three pounds,

no more than three pounds.

And I have definitely figured out tips and tricks with pirate

ship and sending things over the weekend so that they land

on the right day.

But all of that is trial and Well,

and it's so important because that talks to the profitability of

the business and your ability to keep it open and keep

it running.

It's interesting to hear you talking that you have the guidelines

now that you provide to your businesses that you're highlighting.

So that kind of streamlines the whole process,

I guess,

is the right word because they know then which products could

be suggesting to put in the box,

et cetera.

But for you as a business model,

like when I do a subscription and I do a six

month subscription,

you then already know how much I've paid for that box.

And regardless of the shipping price,

I've already paid,

right? So that's where for your business model.

And it's so important for other people who are listening.

The big thing seems to be free shipping.

That's what Amazon's all got us into.

And depending on your product,

some people I don't think could ever offer free shipping or

free shipping just site-wide like through all their products,

because what if you have something that only weighs a pound

and then you have something else that weighs 15 pounds,

that 15 pounder,

if they offered free shipping might actually be paying for someone

to have actually purchased it and have it shipped.

So I thought with you in a way,

you ever easier because it's finite,

like, you know how much you want the box weights to

be, to fit in the shipping prices that you have,

that you've built into the pricing of your box.

So all that,

but as you say,

it's a learning process.

I guess There hasn't been a couple of boxes where I

didn't quite do that and I'll ask,

but I counted as,

okay. Now I've learned,

I can't make that mistake again.

And if I don't fix that,

or if I don't learn from that or do something different

than that's on me and I got to figure that out

and it's good learning,

You learn by the doing,

I think that's a quote.

I'm not sure,

but until you see that that's something that you need to

be paying attention to.

How would you know,

or if you're with groups,

I mean,

part of it is learning from other people,

which is hopefully what we do through the podcast,

but it's also just doing it yourself and figuring it out.

And everyone's situation is a little different too,

based on the product that you have,

all of that,

but look Kesha,

how far you've come like a year and a half,

look at what you've done.

You should be so tremendously proud of yourself and what you're

accomplishing. I Am.

Thank you.

It's going to be exciting to see where things go even

from here.

But we talked about a couple of the challenges.

Let's talk about something that you were surprised about on the

positive end.

What have you seen that has just made you so happy

and so excited,

potentially something that you didn't even see coming what's happened with

the spotlight box on that end?

I think the most recent thing that happened that really just

increased my spirits was the Juneteenth box.

Someone reached out to me in preparation for Juneteenth.

Of course,

people were super hyper focused on Juneteenth this year coming in

and a business reached out and said,

Hey, we saw your spotlight box and we want to buy

10. Well,

actually they said 20,

but I pulled back and I said,

let's do 10 because I wasn't quite ready for such a

bulk purchase,

but they purchased 10,

three months subscriptions with me and they wanted to give them

away to their people.

So I wasn't looking for it.

It came to me and it just made me feel so

that all the work that I had been doing,

showing up on the live,

showing up on social media,

talking about my box,

it paid off because somebody found me and just paid money

straight up for my education.

I didn't have to sell them on it.

I had to tell them what it was.

They already knew and they came ready to play.

That's amazing.

And you know what,

Keisha, when that happens,

once you know that it's can happen again,

you're doing it right.

That is for sure.

All right.

Curiosity gets me like,

anytime anyone says the word candle,

I'm like all in,

right. And you had mentioned way in the beginning.

You're now making candles for the box yourself.

I am.

So I think I'm like you with the candles.

I have so many candles here in my home.

I love candles.

I love all the different scents,

the variety of how they look.

I love Canada.

So I had started playing around with it,

I think around Christmas time when I had it was in

the box.

But I think there were had like a special items for

Christmas time and of course loved black history as well.

And so I started a little candle line it's called since

by spotlight.

And it's also going to have little tributes to black history,

black culture.

The first camel that I debuted in my recent box is

called the first lady.

And I'm sure you can guess who that is from the

name of the candle.

But I thought it was something in my heart too,

because I left candles and I learned the different emotions that

you can bring by sentence.

And for the first lady I picked cashmere and Amarin,

it just smells elegant.

It smells like I don't even know how to describe it.

It just smells wonderful.

And I want it to provide both in the candle,

mine and inbox,

something also that represents something about LA culture or black history

as another feature of what spotlight represents.

So I haven't decided if I'm going to do that in

every box that I do have just a separate website for

the candles.

I'm getting good at making website now with spotlight box and

candle line,

that's something also,

I probably wouldn't have ever gotten into.

Had I not started this business is,

is just being online as well.

I'm making Oh yes.

Since by spotlight.com.

I see it right here.

Okay. What is this linen spray?

Is this YouTube Right?

To match the candle?

I'm just kinda dabbling now into the candle space.

I love candles.

I love to sense.

And I just figured I could also honor black history and

black culture with special sense.

So I'm hoping for the Christmas time,

I'll have another debut or to have another signature collection.

I'm not sure yet.

I'm still toying it out,

but I got two things now in the fire.

Oh my gosh.

Listen to you.

Well, I love that.

And honestly your sense can develop over time,

but there are a lot of people who still don't even

know the first sense that you do have,

right? So there's no need for excuses about not developing new

sense. You what I mean,

because there are so many people who can still discover the

sense that you already have.

So well,

that's exciting.

I guess that leads me into,

what do you see as the future for now?

I'm going to say spotlight box and sensed by spotlight.

The world's going too fast.

I get that.

So I'm not going to say five years out,

but where do you see things going?

Next steps per se.

So the sense of my spotlight is brand new.

I just sent those out this last week.

So I'm really excited about how that's developing.

It's still brand new baby.

So I don't know where I want that to go.

It's just dreams.

Just kicking off.

Maybe I'll do a subscription box solely on candles or have

been toying with the idea of just having one candle in

the spotlight box out for now.

But both of them,

if they both take off that I would just be ecstatic

about providing a way for black history,

no pun intended to be spotlighted really around what's happening in

their country and wanting to be proud of my culture and

bring others into that as well and have that available for

everybody. People have asked me to,

you know,

what's my biggest dream.

And I started with Oprah now end with her,

but definitely when we have Oprah stranger thing and she lists

out all of the different things that she likes to see

if, if she holds up one of my candles or she

holds up one of my box,

I think,

I think that is a hundred percent achievable,

Keisha honestly.

And truly I see absolutely no reason why that shouldn't be

in your future soon.

That's very exciting.

Can I just give you a little idea?

Just a thought that came to me as we were talking.

So the thing that's really great also about having the candle

and the whole sense line is that always a backup that

you can fill in the boxes.

If something happens like a vendor's product comes in,

it's damaged or there's a month where something happened and things

just didn't get together.

Like having that sanity play of knowing heaven forbid you didn't

even have somebody for one month because something happened with you.

You weren't able to invest the time in your business,

like whatever it was to be able to have that backfill

always available for you is so great.

But the other thing I was just thinking,

and yes,

this is because I love candles,

but having one of your signature candles in every box is

also like a light.

It's like a spotlight,

right? A candle sheds light.

So I could even see you doing a candle of your

own in every single box and maybe you're spotlighting somehow the

people of the box.

Like I don't know what it would look like,

but that would also be really good for your margins too,

because obviously you make more on the product that you make.

I had to put it in here because it was on

my Mind.

I appreciate that though.

Those are good points.

And I Liked that a lot.

Just an idea.

Well, Keesha,

I, for 1:00 AM going to be like putting it out

into the universe about you being on Oprah's favorite things or

having Oprah hold up your products or whatever it is.

I really honestly think this is so achievable for you.

Your mission is so important.

I'm so proud to support you.

I love your products.

I love what you're doing and we're all benefiting.

You're lifting like the whole world up.

So for that,

thank you so much.

And thank you for coming on today and sharing your story.

Thank you.

Before we go,

Keisha, let's share with everybody how they can learn more about

the spotlight box.

You can find me online.

My website is www dot spotlight box,

that store.

And then my Instagram is also spotlight box store.

And then,

so the candles,

you can find me on sense by spotlight.com.

Beautiful. Thank you so much,

Kesha. I really appreciate you coming on today and sharing with

us your whole story.

Great to be Here.

Thank you,

sir. Did you catch the part in the beginning about how

Kesha came up with the idea and literally started her business

in a single weekend.

She didn't have it all figured out yet,

but believed so strongly in the purpose.

She took action immediately.

Kesha, your amazing and such a great example for us to

follow next week.

I'm bringing you another handmade business specialist from selling on the

Venice beach boardwalk to having an international wholesale clothing line to

now teaching others how it's done.

It's an episode you definitely don't want to miss to make

sure that doesn't happen.

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If you haven't had a chance to join the breeze yet,

you'll hear a little more about it in this ending trailer

and now as always,

thanks so much for spending time with me today,

be safe and well.

And I'll see you again next week on the gift biz

unwrapped podcast.

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.

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 what you're working on for the week to get

reactions 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 posts every single week,

without doubt.

Wait, what,

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