207 – Empowered Women EMPOWER Women with Christine Walsh of Cake and Whiskey
Christine is the owner of a thriving print and graphics shop that has been in business for 47 years.
A woman-owned business, Christine is proud to be employing 5 people and 1 intern. Although her custom printing boutique is located in Baltimore, MD they serve clients around the country and worldwide.
Christine is also the founder of Bmore Cake & Whiskey, a women’s networking group in Baltimore, that has experienced tremendous growth hosting social hobnobs for 250 women per quarter.
Christine is a stepmother to four and mother to 2 all ranging from 20 to 32 years old.
Business Building Insights
- You don’t have to know everything. Hire people who have the skills or knowledge you need.
- Make it personal and let clients know you’re there for them. Business relationships can start with friendship.
- Find partners where your work compliments their work and vice versa.
- Getting women or minority owned business certification isn’t hard but it is time consuming. Being certified is valuable because it qualifies you to bid on business you might not otherwise get.
- If you’re thinking of starting a social business networking group like Christine’s Cake and Whiskey, it helps to find a partner who has a background in event planning. You can start small and grow as you go.
- The more you shout out what you’re doing and how you’re supporting each other, the more people you’ll attract to support your events.
Resources Mentioned
Contact Links
Gift Biz Resources
Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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
This is gift biz unwrapped episode 207 the fact that we've
Speaker:created something that's wanted and needed and looked forward to Attention
Speaker:gifters, bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:I there it's Sue and thank you So much for joining
Speaker:me here today.
Speaker:I want to start off by reading a review that just
Speaker:totally warms my heart.
Speaker:It's from Meredith of a podcast that you should probably be
Speaker:listening to,
Speaker:selling with soul Meredith says,
Speaker:love Sue and love this show.
Speaker:Sue is such an engaging and inspiring host,
Speaker:but more importantly,
Speaker:the show provides the knowledge and strategies needed to grow your
Speaker:business. She provides realistic and actionable strategies,
Speaker:tactics, and tips through her interviews and her own experiences.
Speaker:Love this show.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Meredith, I wanted to read this one in particular because that's
Speaker:what we're trying to do.
Speaker:I'm just not trying to entertain you,
Speaker:although the stories and our guests always are so interesting and
Speaker:enjoyable, but I'm really trying to get you to take action
Speaker:to listen to one point a guest says or one new
Speaker:opportunity that we're presenting to you through this show and applying
Speaker:it into your business.
Speaker:It might be something that'll just take one day and all
Speaker:of a sudden you can have it working in your business,
Speaker:or it might be a strategy that takes a little while
Speaker:to put together.
Speaker:Either way.
Speaker:My whole vision and goal of this podcast is to be
Speaker:a source for you to be able to get inspiration and
Speaker:find something new again that can advance your business and today's
Speaker:show is no exception.
Speaker:I look forward to sharing with you Christine's story now.
Speaker:Crazy enough.
Speaker:Christine is the owner of a business that has been in
Speaker:existence now 47 years,
Speaker:so that's a feat unto itself,
Speaker:but she didn't always own the business.
Speaker:She bought it from somebody else and with that came a
Speaker:whole slew of different challenges versus starting a business by yourself.
Speaker:You can do it either way,
Speaker:but there are implications.
Speaker:You can't just think because you're starting from scratch or somebody
Speaker:bought an existing business that it's easy,
Speaker:it's not,
Speaker:there's always challenges.
Speaker:She shares with us how she worked through those challenges and
Speaker:then also talks about the value of being a certified woman
Speaker:owned business.
Speaker:Maybe you've never thought about that.
Speaker:She gives us all the scoop why it's important and how
Speaker:you get certified.
Speaker:So very important point there.
Speaker:And then my favorite part is her development of cake and
Speaker:whiskey, which is a social business entrepreneurial group.
Speaker:She's also referred to it as a hobnob.
Speaker:It's not a standard networking group.
Speaker:It's where women get together and just get to know each
Speaker:other first,
Speaker:become friends first,
Speaker:and then start talking business and possibly also sharing business amongst
Speaker:each other.
Speaker:Totally different concept of networking.
Speaker:Dare I say we probably shouldn't even use that term,
Speaker:but it's hugely successful for Christine and I'm not gonna talk
Speaker:any further.
Speaker:Let's just get over to her and hear all the goodness
Speaker:that she's going to bring to this show Today.
Speaker:I have the pleasure of introducing you to Christine Walsh of
Speaker:alpha graphics.
Speaker:Christine is the owner of a thriving print and graphic shop
Speaker:that's been in business for 47 years as a woman owned
Speaker:business. Christine is proud to be employing five people and an
Speaker:intern, although her custom printing boutique is located in Baltimore,
Speaker:Maryland. They serve clients around the world and even worldwide.
Speaker:Christine is also the founder of be more cake and whiskey,
Speaker:which is a woman's networking group in Baltimore that has experienced
Speaker:tremendous growth.
Speaker:Currently at about 250 women per quarter.
Speaker:Christine is the stepmother to two and mother to four all
Speaker:ranging from 20 to 30 years old and boy does that
Speaker:make you a busy woman.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz on rap podcast,
Speaker:Christine. Oh,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:So I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker:I am thrilled that you are here too.
Speaker:I cannot wait to get into the cake and whiskey by
Speaker:concept, but also because I just love that name.
Speaker:First I start off,
Speaker:and I know that you've been listening to the show before,
Speaker:so you know this is coming,
Speaker:you're prepared.
Speaker:I want you to describe yourself by way of a motivational
Speaker:candle. So if you were to tell us a color and
Speaker:a quote that would represent who you are,
Speaker:what would your motivational candle look like?
Speaker:So I did have a lot of time to think about
Speaker:this and I know that my candle would be white because
Speaker:I have a lot of white candles all over my house
Speaker:with a yellow flicker and it would be a pretty tall
Speaker:candle. The quote on it is going to say empowered women
Speaker:empower women.
Speaker:Ooh, I love that.
Speaker:Did you see that somewhere or did you make it up?
Speaker:I did see it somewhere.
Speaker:I've used it frequently with the Kagan whiskey especially,
Speaker:but I use that quote a lot.
Speaker:I have it on cards,
Speaker:I have it on t-shirts and I even posted it on
Speaker:Instagram because I think it's true.
Speaker:I think it's true too.
Speaker:I think as women,
Speaker:just by nature,
Speaker:we want to help share in the successes and what we've
Speaker:been able to do.
Speaker:We want to help share so that other people can do
Speaker:the same.
Speaker:Absolutely. So talk about your business.
Speaker:It's really interesting how this came about.
Speaker:Why don't you share it with our listeners?
Speaker:So I have a custom printing and graphic shop.
Speaker:We are located in a small section of Baltimore or really
Speaker:cultural section called Hamden and it's actually very artsy and cultural
Speaker:and we've got crafters,
Speaker:makers, all sorts of people there.
Speaker:And I kind of fit right in there because I am
Speaker:a custom printer.
Speaker:So we've been around for 47 years.
Speaker:I bought the company 12 years ago.
Speaker:Did you buy at that location?
Speaker:No, she was actually in downtown Baltimore.
Speaker:Okay. So that'll be interesting to talk about.
Speaker:But let's do that in a minute.
Speaker:I'm sorry,
Speaker:I didn't mean to interrupt.
Speaker:Keep going.
Speaker:Okay. No,
Speaker:when she sold the business to me,
Speaker:she sold the building she was in.
Speaker:So I had to leave.
Speaker:I had about two weeks to get three floors of a
Speaker:building moved out.
Speaker:So I had a lot of garbage but found this cute
Speaker:little mill,
Speaker:old cotton mill in Hamden and moved us there with pretty
Speaker:much the shirts on our backs and everything I could bring
Speaker:into a smaller location.
Speaker:And my production manager plugged in the poster printer and said,
Speaker:I've got to get going on production.
Speaker:And she just started and off we went and all of
Speaker:a sudden I became this owner of a print shop and
Speaker:didn't know lick about printing.
Speaker:So what I did learn,
Speaker:I learned from the employees that were there for 25 35
Speaker:years. They were long time loyal employees,
Speaker:which is why she wanted to sell it instead of closed
Speaker:the store.
Speaker:And so I bought it really in my mid thirties not
Speaker:knowing a whole lot about running a business or running a
Speaker:print shop for that matter and learned it all and read
Speaker:so many books and listen to podcasts and pick people's brains.
Speaker:And then I finally got it and I realized I can
Speaker:do this and I don't need any more help.
Speaker:I'm a certified woman owned printer,
Speaker:which allows me to work on bigger contracts with bigger companies
Speaker:and right now we have about six.
Speaker:I'm a minority participant in about six contracts nationwide and locally.
Speaker:That's actually been very good for my business and I try
Speaker:to share that knowledge of becoming woman owned,
Speaker:being certified woman owned through the state or through the federal
Speaker:government or through a local municipality.
Speaker:And when I really started getting into the woman owned aspect
Speaker:of it,
Speaker:I wanted to start a networking group so I would get
Speaker:this magazine called cake and whiskey.
Speaker:It was just a small publication that would go out to
Speaker:maybe she had a hundred thousand subscribers and she was out
Speaker:of Ohio,
Speaker:very small.
Speaker:And this magazine was just so wonderful.
Speaker:It was all about women in business,
Speaker:women working in corporate world makers,
Speaker:crafters, it was all sorts of women in all sorts of
Speaker:industries. And in the back of the magazine they had a
Speaker:recipe for cake and then they also had a bourbon recipe,
Speaker:a whiskey recipe every month.
Speaker:I looked so forward to getting this magazine.
Speaker:I'd sit down with my coffee and curl up on the
Speaker:couch and read this magazine.
Speaker:And they also had in the back that said,
Speaker:have a hobnob have a cake and whisky hobnob and I'm
Speaker:thinking, Ooh,
Speaker:what a great idea.
Speaker:There's nothing like it in Baltimore.
Speaker:So I got ahold of the magazine and we got our
Speaker:Baltimore hobnob approved,
Speaker:and I knew I was not an event planner.
Speaker:I could print things and make pretty things.
Speaker:But I partnered with Stephanie Bradshaw.
Speaker:She's actually in the building with me and she's an event
Speaker:planner and she's a high end event planner.
Speaker:So I went over to her shop through the magazine and
Speaker:her desk and said,
Speaker:let's do a networking event for women.
Speaker:And after a little bit of hemming and hawing about it,
Speaker:she said,
Speaker:great, let's do it.
Speaker:And our first event was about 25 women.
Speaker:The next event we said bring a friend that was about
Speaker:50 women,
Speaker:then the next event,
Speaker:75 and it kept growing and growing and growing.
Speaker:And now it's gotten to the point where the Baltimore sun
Speaker:has a photographer come and take pictures of the attendees and
Speaker:the best dressed they get in the style section.
Speaker:So it was kind of nice to have this event gets
Speaker:so big and then be featured in the local newspaper.
Speaker:That's so cool.
Speaker:Okay, so I have like 7,000
Speaker:zillion questions for you.
Speaker:Yep. Okay.
Speaker:And I really want to focus on cake and whiskey.
Speaker:So we're going to get there pretty quick.
Speaker:But I think your story has some elements here that will
Speaker:be really interesting to our listeners based on people in different
Speaker:facets of their business development.
Speaker:Why did you decide that you were looking to buy a
Speaker:business versus start a business of your own?
Speaker:That is a very good question.
Speaker:I was not looking to buy anything.
Speaker:Okay. So what happened?
Speaker:You got an envelope in the mail with an invite to
Speaker:buy the business.
Speaker:Well, yeah.
Speaker:Well you know what?
Speaker:And my husband is an attorney and he was the previous
Speaker:owner of alpha graphics attorney for about eight years and she's
Speaker:the one that called him and said,
Speaker:Don, I'm looking for someone to buy my business.
Speaker:I have all these employees that I've had for 25 plus
Speaker:years and I don't want to let them go.
Speaker:Do you know anybody that wants to buy my company?
Speaker:And I went to art school for one year and then
Speaker:he thinks I'm an artist and a designer and blah,
Speaker:blah blah.
Speaker:But way back in the eighties and he said,
Speaker:I may have somebody in mind for this.
Speaker:What were you doing at the time?
Speaker:I was an it administrator at the Maryland general assembly.
Speaker:So I worked with the legislators,
Speaker:the senators and the delegates with their hardware,
Speaker:their computers,
Speaker:their laptops,
Speaker:all that good stuff.
Speaker:And so did you think he was off his rocker asking
Speaker:you to consider this or how did you feel when he
Speaker:approached you with it?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I thought he was drunk.
Speaker:I am in it.
Speaker:I don't know anything about printing done.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:ah, but you do know about how to handle people.
Speaker:Mm, Yes.
Speaker:And that's what got me.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:you tell me stories about the senators and delegates coming in
Speaker:your office all angry and mad about having their laptops taken
Speaker:away for three or four days.
Speaker:And by the time they left they were like,
Speaker:Hey Chris,
Speaker:no problem.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:Well I'll wait to hear from you.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:I got your back in the business part of it,
Speaker:you are the people person and that's all that you really
Speaker:need to run a business is to know how to deal
Speaker:with people and how to treat people and you treat them
Speaker:the way they want to be treated.
Speaker:So he said you would do very well at this,
Speaker:So right.
Speaker:I mean that you really can learn anything about business and
Speaker:I think that's something good for our listeners to hear is
Speaker:they may be making candles or whatever it is and be
Speaker:in a different job.
Speaker:Totally unrelated,
Speaker:but interested in starting a business.
Speaker:And that's why I was asking you a little bit of
Speaker:this. Would you agree with that?
Speaker:That you need those interpersonal skills and you can learn all
Speaker:the rest.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that's what you hire people for.
Speaker:You hire the people that have that experience and knowledge to
Speaker:do those things that you can't do.
Speaker:I know how to run a business.
Speaker:I know how to deal with financials.
Speaker:I know accounting,
Speaker:my accounts payable receivable,
Speaker:but when it comes down to color management and adjusting curves
Speaker:on a press,
Speaker:that's where you hire people that know what they're doing.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That's exactly what I did.
Speaker:Okay, so now you've made the decision,
Speaker:we're leaving a few chunks out here because we'll be on
Speaker:for like days if we keep talking like that,
Speaker:but so you decide,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to do this.
Speaker:How did you go about finding a new location?
Speaker:Well, he and I literally had three days.
Speaker:The new owner of the building kicked us out literally on
Speaker:the street and gave us almost less than 24 hours to
Speaker:find a new place.
Speaker:My husband said,
Speaker:there's this little place I've heard of.
Speaker:Let's go up to Hamden,
Speaker:and I'm thinking Hamden.
Speaker:Well at the time Hamden was just,
Speaker:it was not as cool as it is now.
Speaker:And we ended up at this great location,
Speaker:this old cotton mill,
Speaker:and I begged the property manager to find me even a
Speaker:garage so that I could plug these printers in and get
Speaker:production rolling.
Speaker:And Ken,
Speaker:I'll never forget him.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:yeah, I'll get you a place.
Speaker:I can get you something and we can get you in
Speaker:here this weekend.
Speaker:And I could actually finally sleep that night knowing I had
Speaker:a place for my employees and for the equipment and you
Speaker:know, we could get up and running again.
Speaker:Because when you're down for a day or two,
Speaker:that's thousands of dollars in revenue gone that I hadn't even
Speaker:started to make yet.
Speaker:Well, and especially with that uncertain territory of transitioning to a
Speaker:new owner,
Speaker:I think all customers are a little bit on edge then
Speaker:what's going to happen?
Speaker:Will I have the same quality?
Speaker:Will it be the same experience?
Speaker:So being down just exasperates that issue It did.
Speaker:And also the fact that the previous owner kind of,
Speaker:it was sort of funny,
Speaker:she knew she was retiring and so the people that really
Speaker:annoyed her when she was running the business,
Speaker:she'd really let them have it.
Speaker:Oh, that's not very nice.
Speaker:Yes. So I had to go in and repair those relationships
Speaker:and explain them that I was not her and that I
Speaker:am a different person and this is how I run the
Speaker:business and Hey,
Speaker:let's go have a cup of coffee and meet and I
Speaker:took months out of my time to go out and meet
Speaker:these old clients that were very,
Speaker:very loyal to us for years and some still are 40
Speaker:plus years coming to my shop.
Speaker:I had to be with these people and explain to them
Speaker:that we do care.
Speaker:We'll give you the same high quality you were getting before
Speaker:minus the yelling and the flag that you got from her.
Speaker:I want to point out that you met them in person.
Speaker:You didn't just call them on the phone.
Speaker:Absolutely. Now I met them in person,
Speaker:whether they were a big client,
Speaker:corporate client or a very small design client.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I went out to them and introduced myself because I knew
Speaker:I was going to lose business if I didn't make it
Speaker:personal and it was personal.
Speaker:It was a passion to me.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:I need to go out and tell these people how much
Speaker:I care and I do care.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:personally, meeting and bringing whatever it was,
Speaker:a chocolates or a mug or whatever,
Speaker:I brought them just to say,
Speaker:I'm putting my hand out to you.
Speaker:Let me know what you need.
Speaker:I'm there for you.
Speaker:Really, really great.
Speaker:So I want to talk for a second about the cotton
Speaker:mill because that just conjures up for me,
Speaker:such a cool picture,
Speaker:and you may not be as familiar with this,
Speaker:but I talk a lot about USPSS being a unique special
Speaker:power, which is something that differentiates you from anybody else who
Speaker:might be a printer.
Speaker:Now, Christine,
Speaker:there's a lot that differentiates you for sure,
Speaker:but one here is your location,
Speaker:right? So can you use that or do you use that
Speaker:to your advantage?
Speaker:And do people know you because,
Speaker:Oh, that's the person who's in the cotton mill.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Oh absolutely.
Speaker:And we moved from where we were at the mill center.
Speaker:We've moved to about,
Speaker:it was a mile away and now it's an 1870s old
Speaker:stone building that used to be an envelope factory.
Speaker:Oh, and that relates,
Speaker:do you think people come just to see the building as
Speaker:well? Oh they do.
Speaker:We have print workshops.
Speaker:I was doing it every month,
Speaker:last year,
Speaker:but now it's going to be like every quarter I take
Speaker:a group of 10 people that sign up and it's free
Speaker:through a,
Speaker:it was free actually.
Speaker:We had to monetize it somehow because I would get too
Speaker:many people that were on the list.<inaudible>
Speaker:Yeah. So I had to actually put a number in there
Speaker:so I could actually get people that truly needed to be
Speaker:here and learn more about the printing process instead of,
Speaker:Oh, well this is interesting.
Speaker:I'm 72 years old,
Speaker:but I'd like to know about that.
Speaker:Mm. And so what was the goal of the workshops?
Speaker:So the goal of the workshops was to bring people through
Speaker:to show them that we weren't just business cards and letterhead
Speaker:and postcard printer.
Speaker:I was that fine.
Speaker:Art printers dream.
Speaker:So if you're an artist or designer and you have these
Speaker:art prints that you want to get done,
Speaker:I'm the one you come to because I know exactly what
Speaker:the output needs to be,
Speaker:what paper it needs to be on,
Speaker:what your price point should be for selling it,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Did you make things then during the workshops?
Speaker:No, we didn't make things.
Speaker:We would print things on our platter,
Speaker:so I would show them how the platter worked for cut
Speaker:vinyl<inaudible> And now we have a printer,
Speaker:a big 64 inch roll in printer that actually does all
Speaker:the for us.
Speaker:So it prints it as well as cuts it out,
Speaker:Which saves us so much time<inaudible>.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:it was basically to show them that we can do this,
Speaker:but then at the other end of the spectrum,
Speaker:we can do this because I also have a specialty service
Speaker:product that we do.
Speaker:It's called,
Speaker:we call it alpha colors,
Speaker:but there are colored transfers that are used for product mockups
Speaker:and we worked with cover girl.
Speaker:We still work with black and Decker,
Speaker:and now we're working with<inaudible>.
Speaker:We helped with some of their production,
Speaker:so if they need,
Speaker:for instance,
Speaker:there's a show on Hulu called 13 reasons,
Speaker:I think it's called.
Speaker:They need to have a watch box.
Speaker:They needed to look engraved,
Speaker:so we created a transfer that they could put on a
Speaker:box that would look like an engraved wooden box.
Speaker:Oh, it sounds cool.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I want to talk a little bit more about the women's
Speaker:certified business.
Speaker:I don't think that any of us keep this top of
Speaker:mind and understand what the benefits are to doing this.
Speaker:You talked about it a little bit in the beginning.
Speaker:Let's talk about what the benefits are and then what the
Speaker:experience is if you want to apply.
Speaker:So the benefits are,
Speaker:and some people really don't even understand,
Speaker:well, if I become certified,
Speaker:I just become certified.
Speaker:I can't really use it.
Speaker:You can,
Speaker:you have to go out and hunt jobs down and you
Speaker:have to look for prime contractors that you can sub with.
Speaker:You have to look for those partners where your work complements
Speaker:their work and vice versa.
Speaker:So for instance,
Speaker:I'm doing the Maryland lottery inserts because I can't do that
Speaker:quantity. I partnered with somebody who does the printing for me,
Speaker:but we do the project management.
Speaker:And the reason I got this job was because the Maryland
Speaker:lottery requires that there be 25% minority participation.
Speaker:I am minority owned.
Speaker:I'm an MBE,
Speaker:meaning minority business enterprise or a WBE means women business enterprise.
Speaker:So I'm certified through the state of Maryland.
Speaker:I'm also certified through,
Speaker:we bank,
Speaker:WBE, and see through the federal government as well as Baltimore
Speaker:city. So I can work on those contracts that require those
Speaker:qualifications through any of those entities.
Speaker:Okay. And so how tough is it to get qualified?
Speaker:It's not tough.
Speaker:It's time consuming.
Speaker:You need about three years of your personal taxes.
Speaker:You need three years of your business taxes.
Speaker:You need to have your personal net worth.
Speaker:They ask for shareholder meeting minutes.
Speaker:They ask for all sorts of stuff that you don't really
Speaker:have handy.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:I have to find all this stuff and then you have
Speaker:to have it all notarized.
Speaker:It's about six inches worth of paperwork,
Speaker:but if you took a month out of your time and
Speaker:a couple hours a week to put all this stuff together
Speaker:and send it in,
Speaker:it's all electronic.
Speaker:Everything is uploaded to a website now.
Speaker:You don't have to send it out anymore.
Speaker:You could really,
Speaker:I mean probably the revenue I've gotten from my minority work
Speaker:is probably close to half a million dollars and that's in
Speaker:one. Sounds good.
Speaker:I'm trying to think.
Speaker:With our listeners who are creating handmade goods,
Speaker:do you think that it's worthwhile to do?
Speaker:Yes, and I only say that because I recently went to
Speaker:a meeting in Baltimore where it was crafters and makers and
Speaker:light manufacturing,
Speaker:which is what I am considered.
Speaker:We were all invited to be in front of a panel
Speaker:from university of Maryland medical system hospital,
Speaker:Johns Hopkins hospital and university as well as,
Speaker:Oh gosh,
Speaker:all the other big time companies,
Speaker:Whiting Turner,
Speaker:all of the big companies in Baltimore are,
Speaker:they're trying to push more of these big companies to work
Speaker:with the makers,
Speaker:the smaller businesses,
Speaker:and if you're certified,
Speaker:that even makes you probably more able to get work through
Speaker:these bigger companies because they need those qualifications And you know,
Speaker:it actually sounds very cumbersome in terms of what you need
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:but once you achieve and are qualified,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a way I'm glad that it takes so much because
Speaker:then you know that the people that are on the list
Speaker:have really been through and been fully researched and truly should
Speaker:be the ones who are there.
Speaker:Yeah, they are vetted.
Speaker:If you get certified through Maryland,
Speaker:they come to your location and you can have a location
Speaker:in your house or your garage or wherever you are,
Speaker:but they come to your location to make sure that you
Speaker:are the business owner and you're not just a front for
Speaker:five men that are behind you.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay, so now I want to move on to cake and
Speaker:whiskey. First off,
Speaker:is that magazine still around?
Speaker:Unfortunately, she went out of print maybe two years ago.
Speaker:Okay, so we're going to forget about the magazine because I
Speaker:was going to tell everybody,
Speaker:go take a look at that magazine,
Speaker:but forget that for now.
Speaker:The reason I think this topic is so important and really
Speaker:want to spend time on this is again,
Speaker:when I'm talking about unique special powers,
Speaker:when you organize a group of people,
Speaker:now what Christina's doing isn't totally related to her business.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:in a way it links in,
Speaker:but she's doing something special,
Speaker:organizing people,
Speaker:very similar to how you create events in a store,
Speaker:which of course Christine has done as well.
Speaker:It gives you visibility and makes you known for something and
Speaker:it just so happens that your business comes along with it
Speaker:and is also known.
Speaker:So it's a great way to separate you from other people
Speaker:who own a bakery or anything else that they do.
Speaker:And I'm going to say adds another layer of business credibility
Speaker:on top.
Speaker:So that's why I really want to get into all of
Speaker:this. So let's talk about your saying that you partnered up
Speaker:with an event planner who was in the building at the
Speaker:same time.
Speaker:So the two of you did it together.
Speaker:Let's talk through what the benefits are of doing something like
Speaker:this. Creating your own networking group,
Speaker:which is totally achievable for anyone who's listening no matter what
Speaker:level of business you're even at.
Speaker:You could start a networking group,
Speaker:but what would be the benefits that you've seen coming from
Speaker:an group like this?
Speaker:We're going to take a quick break to hear from our
Speaker:sponsor and right after that we're going to jump back to
Speaker:Christine as she talks about the benefits This podcast is made
Speaker:possible thanks to the support of the ribbon.
Speaker:Print company,
Speaker:create custom ribbons right in your store or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds, visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Oh, the benefits have been that I've created these networks,
Speaker:these groups of close friends.
Speaker:We're not just acquaintances now.
Speaker:It's I now can call Mary Kate and say,
Speaker:Hey, I need your help on this.
Speaker:I wanted to give back to the women and of course
Speaker:men that helped me get where I am in my business.
Speaker:But it's like I know these younger companies that are starting
Speaker:in the smaller companies that are starting need that help and
Speaker:that advice.
Speaker:And so the purpose of this was to gather women together
Speaker:to hopefully entice mentorship to the younger entrepreneurs and create more
Speaker:personal relationships.
Speaker:So then after that personal relationship is created,
Speaker:maybe business can come out of it.
Speaker:But every business relationship that I have with my clients and
Speaker:we have several thousand clients has started with a friendship.
Speaker:Yeah. It truly has.
Speaker:It's like when that client from 1985 calls me and says,
Speaker:Oh, Hey Chris,
Speaker:I just need to get this in production.
Speaker:I just want to make sure that you guys still do
Speaker:it. And it's like,
Speaker:Oh, Hey Richard,
Speaker:good to hear from you.
Speaker:Your kids have got to be what,
Speaker:how old now?
Speaker:And it's like that relationship really,
Speaker:really helps business because I care about them and they know
Speaker:I care about them.
Speaker:Well and they know you as a person.
Speaker:Exactly. And it's genuine.
Speaker:And that's how it started.
Speaker:Really. Yes.
Speaker:And that's how it started.
Speaker:So well,
Speaker:I will throw in there that this year,
Speaker:January 1st of last year,
Speaker:I made it a resolution to meet up with 50 women
Speaker:from cake and whiskey because 300 women would walk in the
Speaker:door and I didn't know any of them.
Speaker:And they didn't know me.
Speaker:Sometimes it was like,
Speaker:Oh, I just heard about this event.
Speaker:I need to come.
Speaker:But I needed to get to know these women on a
Speaker:much more personal level.
Speaker:And so I made it a point to meet up with
Speaker:50 women and every single one of those meetups I made
Speaker:and I have made 50 new girlfriends and love it.
Speaker:I want to make this really actionable to people who are
Speaker:listening, who have had their interest a little bit peaked and
Speaker:thinking, wow,
Speaker:maybe a networking group.
Speaker:I wonder if I should start one myself.
Speaker:Can you think back to when you first started,
Speaker:now I understand you were with an event planner,
Speaker:so you probably had a little bit more experience behind you
Speaker:for your first event,
Speaker:but what would you say to somebody who is thinking about
Speaker:starting, what would their first steps be and how would they
Speaker:put together something for the first time?
Speaker:Oh my sister would like to start one in Florida and
Speaker:she's been calling me and we've been texting back and forth
Speaker:and because she's like,
Speaker:how do you start this?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:you really need to find a partner that does have the
Speaker:background in event planning and if it's somebody that you can
Speaker:connect with through a colleague,
Speaker:that's great.
Speaker:These events that we have are curated.
Speaker:Each one of them are curated.
Speaker:What do you mean by that?
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:Every piece,
Speaker:the flowers.
Speaker:I mean we have a florist put flowers on every table.
Speaker:The cakes are three tiered cakes and it's not just one
Speaker:cake. There's possibly up to 12 cakes on the table at
Speaker:each event.
Speaker:I mean it gets to be a lot.
Speaker:Did you start out that way?
Speaker:We started out with,
Speaker:so Stephanie knew,
Speaker:obviously she knows these wonderful venues and she would say,
Speaker:Hey, would you mind sponsoring basically letting us have this event
Speaker:here for a hundred women?
Speaker:And it's good for them so they can actually show these
Speaker:100 women,
Speaker:these neat venues.
Speaker:And they would say,
Speaker:okay, and so we'd get a cake sponsor.
Speaker:Hey, would you like to make a three tiered cake for
Speaker:the next event?
Speaker:You're going to be on all the social media pages,
Speaker:you'll be on the poster,
Speaker:you'll be on anything we have at the event.
Speaker:So it'll get them some exposure.
Speaker:It break down to the flowers.
Speaker:We've had some wonderful florists that make absolutely astonishing looking arrangements
Speaker:and just they make reeds out of the flowers and it's
Speaker:just absolutely beautiful.
Speaker:So curating,
Speaker:I mean you want to make it an event that people
Speaker:are going to go,
Speaker:wow, this is really nice.
Speaker:Okay, so you're doing it that way because you want the
Speaker:experience to be so good so that people continue to share
Speaker:it. Yes,
Speaker:correct. They're going to spread the word about it now,
Speaker:but I want to also point out gift biz listeners.
Speaker:You could do an event for 10 people,
Speaker:right? So if you're thinking of networking,
Speaker:what Chris is applying are all the added layers,
Speaker:but you could do this as a way scaled down version
Speaker:two. I don't want it to seem insurmountable for some of
Speaker:the people who are listening.
Speaker:That's why I'm saying that Stephanie is the event planner,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:So you guys have built this up to be really big
Speaker:and so you can see where it can go,
Speaker:but it doesn't have to,
Speaker:you can still start at smaller and grow it and if
Speaker:you're in control,
Speaker:you grow it to the size that you want.
Speaker:Walk me through the experience for someone who's coming to an
Speaker:event. Okay,
Speaker:we have them buy their tickets.
Speaker:At first it was free because it was only 25 women.
Speaker:So definitely would buy the stamps.
Speaker:I would buy the booze kind of thing.
Speaker:25 women,
Speaker:you can handle a hundred women,
Speaker:you need a bartender,
Speaker:you need all that stuff.
Speaker:We actually started an event right where they would sign up
Speaker:and get tickets.
Speaker:And when you come in,
Speaker:do you basically just give them your name and then you
Speaker:get the uh,
Speaker:whatever freebie were given away that day or something around your
Speaker:risk to say that you've registered and you've paid,
Speaker:you can go in and then we have a bar.
Speaker:So there's a bar with a couple of bartenders.
Speaker:We offer a few different drinks.
Speaker:So it could be,
Speaker:I mean we have our people that don't necessarily like whiskey,
Speaker:which I don't know understand that.
Speaker:Wow. We offer some wine or some champagne or some Prosecco
Speaker:or something like that.
Speaker:And of course water and you go up,
Speaker:you ask for the signature drink,
Speaker:we offer a couple of them and you can either get
Speaker:those or whatever and then you start mingling.
Speaker:At the past couple of them,
Speaker:we've had the pixelated pictures so you can get in front
Speaker:of the,
Speaker:I guess a green screen behind you and do some selfies
Speaker:with your friends or with a group of ladies or whatever
Speaker:and it kind of makes it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you get pictures from the night,
Speaker:which are kind of cool.
Speaker:And then towards the end,
Speaker:Stephanie and I usually get up there and say a few
Speaker:words and we just,
Speaker:the most recent one we had was our holiday hobnob at
Speaker:the Winslow room in downtown Baltimore,
Speaker:which is near the stadium.
Speaker:And it was a great turnout and it was interesting.
Speaker:A woman came up to me and said,
Speaker:you really have to meet this lady.
Speaker:This was right before I was going to go up and
Speaker:speak. And so I went over to her and it was,
Speaker:her name was Amy and Amy just recently started her own
Speaker:business doing inspirational speaking.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:Amy, I'm going to get you up here and we're going
Speaker:to shout out your business and what you do.
Speaker:And she actually helps women not feel shame for what has
Speaker:happened in their life.
Speaker:They believed her story was her husband was incarcerated.
Speaker:And the shame she felt along with that,
Speaker:she kind of had to break out of that.
Speaker:And now she's become this inspirational speaker.
Speaker:And she got up there and she spoke and then the
Speaker:crowd just started clapping and it was just such a wonderful
Speaker:experience to see.
Speaker:So we get up there and we thank all our sponsors
Speaker:or we think everybody that added to the evening and we
Speaker:have a DJ now.
Speaker:So DJ impulse is there and he keeps the music going
Speaker:and it's just a really fun event.
Speaker:That's beautiful.
Speaker:And we try to have swag there all the time so
Speaker:you can walk out with a bag or something.
Speaker:Interesting. But yeah,
Speaker:they're very curated.
Speaker:And that's the probably the best word that I can say.
Speaker:And it doesn't have to be highly curated.
Speaker:I have Stephanie because,
Speaker:and she does all those beautiful things.
Speaker:So I'll do the printing and some of the design and
Speaker:some things and then she'll do the rest of the event.
Speaker:And she just makes it really pretty.
Speaker:You can do the same thing on a smaller scale.
Speaker:It's nice cause you two are compatible.
Speaker:You both bring based on your businesses,
Speaker:you both bring something that's needed to the event.
Speaker:The other thing I'm really liking about what you're talking about
Speaker:is you know a lot of the networking events that we
Speaker:are familiar with are chamber events or BNI events where you
Speaker:know it becomes structured at some point during the time together.
Speaker:Either you're going to get up and introduce yourself and your
Speaker:business or those types of things.
Speaker:What you're doing obviously because of the whiskey element too,
Speaker:but is more like an after hours event where really is
Speaker:just everyone getting together and mingling in a party atmosphere kind
Speaker:of sounds weddings to me because of the extremes that you
Speaker:go to,
Speaker:but how fun to be able to do that and get
Speaker:to know people and mingle without being then interrupted because how
Speaker:often have you been in an event where you're just getting
Speaker:into some good conversation with somebody and then it's like,
Speaker:okay, time for a presentation and then you have to stop
Speaker:talking. We try to limit that.
Speaker:That's why we get up and speak and say thank you
Speaker:to everybody for coming and I guess appreciate the people that
Speaker:are there and maybe shout out to a couple of people
Speaker:and then it's like on your way out,
Speaker:guys, grab a swag bag and come to the next one.
Speaker:The save the dates are in the Bay.
Speaker:I mean we make sure that it's not like a wedding
Speaker:reception, but it's more like a ladies night out.
Speaker:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker:Yeah. But it's more of a party atmosphere than a business
Speaker:atmosphere. Oh absolutely.
Speaker:Cause I don't want a business atmosphere.
Speaker:If it turns into a business atmosphere,
Speaker:I'm out.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That's not what I signed up for.
Speaker:I signed up to meet new people and to meet them
Speaker:on a personal level,
Speaker:not a business love.
Speaker:Don't hand me your card.
Speaker:You can DM me on Instagram.
Speaker:But I'm not a business card exchanger at this at all
Speaker:and I don't want it to be.
Speaker:Okay. And so do you promote it as a networking event
Speaker:or you promote it as cake and whiskey or what's the
Speaker:wording behind what the purpose of the event is?
Speaker:Cake and whiskey has become a household name among women in
Speaker:Baltimore. So that's what we really shout out is Kagan whiskey.
Speaker:We have hobnob every once in a while.
Speaker:But I mean that's what they started out being where it
Speaker:was hobnobs but it's more of just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:cake and whiskeys coming up on March 7th at our house.
Speaker:It's the letter R house in Baltimore.
Speaker:So we're having that and that's what we're shouting out on
Speaker:social media.
Speaker:And so Stephanie's got like 10,000
Speaker:followers on Instagram.
Speaker:I have like 2000 followers on Instagram.
Speaker:But people love the cake and whiskey.
Speaker:And when we shout that stuff out,
Speaker:the response is just unbelievable.
Speaker:Like I can't wait.
Speaker:I'm bringing my friend.
Speaker:The excitement bubbles up.
Speaker:It's excitement and that I love that.
Speaker:And I love the fact that we've created something that's wanted
Speaker:and needed and looked forward to.
Speaker:Absolutely. And how many times a year do you do this?
Speaker:Four times a year.
Speaker:It's quarterly.
Speaker:So right when you're done with one,
Speaker:you're starting to plan the other.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:We've got some locations.
Speaker:Well I think the next one's going to be in June.
Speaker:It might be the end of may.
Speaker:We do a fall one holiday one,
Speaker:usually a spring one and then something in the summer time.
Speaker:So it might not be till August.
Speaker:Okay. And how long have you been going so far?
Speaker:How many years?
Speaker:We started in 2014 So you're very well established with it
Speaker:already. So my next question to you is going to be
Speaker:what challenges or problems came up or something that you could
Speaker:advise someone who's interested in starting one?
Speaker:What experience have you had that you want to make sure
Speaker:to warn people about?
Speaker:Probably get your venues scheduled as soon as you can.
Speaker:That would be important.
Speaker:Yeah. If you're going to be doing something on a larger
Speaker:scale, you definitely have to get the venues taken care of
Speaker:and scheduled and if you're collecting money from tickets,
Speaker:you can of course use that money to for the venues,
Speaker:but we really haven't run across any issues because definitely uses
Speaker:all her in her event planning.
Speaker:She has insurance,
Speaker:so everything is good covered under that umbrella,
Speaker:so if you're going to do something like that,
Speaker:make sure that you do have insurance or some sort of
Speaker:liability if someone gets hurt or whatever that you're covered under
Speaker:that. I don't want to see anybody have any of these
Speaker:events and have it ruined them.
Speaker:Right. Yeah.
Speaker:We really haven't had,
Speaker:we're a good team.
Speaker:All more reason to get an it Partner that has experienced
Speaker:planning events.
Speaker:If you don't already.
Speaker:Well, that's what I tell everybody.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:you got to find yourself a Stephanie.
Speaker:Yeah. And ideally a printer too,
Speaker:but even somebody that's willing to sponsor for one or two
Speaker:events until it gets enough where they're like,
Speaker:yeah, okay,
Speaker:and you can pay them.
Speaker:So find your friends that are starting the bakeries that want
Speaker:to do a three tiered cake and get their name out
Speaker:there. Start with a small florist that wants to have her
Speaker:name sponsored on a really cool event.
Speaker:Especially women networking.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:start small and start with those people.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:And just some words on how you've seen this help your
Speaker:business. To tell you the truth,
Speaker:it hasn't really helped my business.
Speaker:I do a lot of corporate stuff.
Speaker:I think it's gotten me visibility.
Speaker:I think visibility is the main thing it has done for
Speaker:me. Like I said,
Speaker:I don't do business at these events.
Speaker:I don't if you're going to talk business,
Speaker:I'm not listening.
Speaker:So, and the meetups were not to,
Speaker:the 50 meetups that I had this year was not to
Speaker:monetize on it.
Speaker:It was to help these women with advice,
Speaker:with any mentoring,
Speaker:with referrals and whatever they had vice versa to me,
Speaker:but it was more in how are you doing and how
Speaker:is this business?
Speaker:And I know you're just starting out and here's some words
Speaker:of advice from me to you,
Speaker:kind of thing.
Speaker:I'd say mostly to answer your question two is visibility.
Speaker:It's gotten me visibility.
Speaker:I think we did a Facebook post two years ago.
Speaker:It reached about 127,000
Speaker:people. That's exactly what the Facebook analytics told me.
Speaker:Is it from a page of cake and whiskey?
Speaker:Your cake and whiskey page?
Speaker:Yeah. Okay,
Speaker:got it.
Speaker:Okay, so you know when you say networking,
Speaker:a lot of people will think,
Speaker:well this is lead generation and passing over leads like some
Speaker:of the groups are,
Speaker:right? But really what you're talking about is women supporting women
Speaker:in business,
Speaker:in business,
Speaker:in business.
Speaker:So there is that business overlay,
Speaker:but that doesn't mean you have to be talking business all
Speaker:the time and certainly not throwing cards at people.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, exactly.
Speaker:Yeah. To me that's it's like going to a BNI meeting
Speaker:or going to a chamber meeting And you know what,
Speaker:there's enough of those.
Speaker:That's the thing is,
Speaker:I mean I think they have their place but there's enough
Speaker:of those already.
Speaker:I totally agree with you and that's why Kagan whiskey is
Speaker:different and people actually now come to see if they get
Speaker:in the paper.
Speaker:So they dress very nice.
Speaker:I mean we have some women in six inch heels and
Speaker:beautiful dresses and it's like the place to be.
Speaker:I know Sloan Brown,
Speaker:she does an article in the style part of the Baltimore
Speaker:sun and she told me,
Speaker:she said this event is the event to be at each
Speaker:time. Oh well you have one.
Speaker:You've crossed the finish line when you hear that.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I went home with a smile on my face just knowing
Speaker:that. Alright,
Speaker:this works.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I really appreciate all that you've shared about the development of
Speaker:alpha graphics while purchasing,
Speaker:developing, being in a cotton mill and so much about cake
Speaker:and whiskey.
Speaker:Christine has taken this above and but if you even just
Speaker:take it back,
Speaker:pull it back to something that feels realistic to you.
Speaker:I'm sure in the beginning you were never thinking it was
Speaker:going to build to the level that it is now.
Speaker:It's just step-by-step.
Speaker:These things happen.
Speaker:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker:And the more you can shout out what you're doing and
Speaker:how you're supporting each other,
Speaker:the more you're going to get that support in people coming
Speaker:to the event.
Speaker:Okay, so now I would like to offer you a gift.
Speaker:Christine, I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Wow, this is such a great gift.
Speaker:It's printed really nice on the outside too,
Speaker:just so you know.
Speaker:It's beautiful.
Speaker:I think the gift that I would want for myself this
Speaker:year and not for myself,
Speaker:for my business and my employees is scalability.
Speaker:I really would like to scale the business to the next
Speaker:level. What does that look like?
Speaker:It looks like double our revenue.
Speaker:It looks like bigger space.
Speaker:It looks like me not running everything on a daily basis
Speaker:anymore. I don't do that as much,
Speaker:but I still have to be there,
Speaker:but it maybe gives me the opportunity to buy another business.
Speaker:Ooh, Yes.
Speaker:Or to work in a different,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:atmosphere, environment To switch things up a little bit,
Speaker:keep what you have and then do some other things.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:my husband works with some government contractors and he told me
Speaker:that there's need for electricians.
Speaker:I'm considering going into that because the government arena is $5
Speaker:billion. Just waiting for people to grab it.
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And would you have to,
Speaker:I'm assuming that you would have to resubmit everything for the
Speaker:credentials. Now,
Speaker:since I'm already woman owned,
Speaker:that certification would just go to another company.
Speaker:My other company,
Speaker:I've already been vetted as a person.
Speaker:I've already been vetted as a business.
Speaker:It would just need to be the minority participation or minority
Speaker:certification. Would have to be in another business name,
Speaker:but me as a person have already been.
Speaker:Right. Got it.
Speaker:Very exciting.
Speaker:Well, good luck with that.
Speaker:That's exciting.
Speaker:You got to find another cotton mill in the area or
Speaker:something. I know warehouse Space where I can wear a sweatshirt
Speaker:and jeans to work.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that's funny.
Speaker:So if our listeners would like to get in touch with
Speaker:you, what's the best way for them to do so?
Speaker:We're on the web.
Speaker:It's alpha-graphics.net
Speaker:or.com. Either one works.
Speaker:I bought them both.
Speaker:You can also email us at production at alpha grap.
Speaker:That's with a P on the end,
Speaker:not an h.com
Speaker:and I'm also on Instagram at alpha grap with a P
Speaker:on the end,
Speaker:AAL, P,
Speaker:H a,
Speaker:G R,
Speaker:a P.
Speaker:And then you can even look up the tags,
Speaker:be more cake and whisky and you can find us too.
Speaker:Perfect. That's the one I wanted to see to be more
Speaker:cake and whisky and Instagram.
Speaker:Perfect. And we will connect that over in the show notes
Speaker:you guys so you can see what's up.
Speaker:I'm quite sure you post images of each event so we
Speaker:get to see everyone dressed up and all that and the
Speaker:cakes and all that fun stuff.
Speaker:Oh, we hire a photographer as well,
Speaker:so we get professional pictures right after we're done here.
Speaker:I'm going to jump over and take a look at that.
Speaker:I am surprised I haven't done that already.
Speaker:Please do.
Speaker:Wonderful. Well,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:This has been great,
Speaker:Christine. I really appreciate all the information,
Speaker:the detail,
Speaker:your knowledge and your recommendations for somebody who might want to
Speaker:start doing something similar.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker:and they can feel free to reach out to me.
Speaker:I can give them some advice.
Speaker:Wonderful. Thank you again.
Speaker:It's been a pleasure having you on the show.
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:Wasn't this interview with Christine's so much fun.
Speaker:You can just hear the energy and the passion that she
Speaker:brings to cake and whiskey.
Speaker:This also carries over into her online pages.
Speaker:If you look at her website or her Instagram account,
Speaker:you're going to see her in action right at the event.
Speaker:She has a lot of pictures there with other women who
Speaker:are enjoying the event and you also get to see how
Speaker:glamorous and you can just feel like you're in the room
Speaker:with all of those women.
Speaker:I kind of wish I was in Baltimore right now in
Speaker:relation to you.
Speaker:I don't want you to underestimate the value of creating something
Speaker:like this and being the woman behind an event that brings
Speaker:people together.
Speaker:As Christine says,
Speaker:it brings direct visibility to your company through an indirect act.
Speaker:Next week I'm going to share with you a different example
Speaker:of how you can spin your product knowledge and expertise into
Speaker:more, and if you've hung around me for a little while,
Speaker:you know that's all you get.
Speaker:I like to tease you because I want to see you
Speaker:back here again next week to make sure that happens.
Speaker:It's always helpful to subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker:That way every time a new episode goes live,
Speaker:it automatically downloads to your phone and until then,
Speaker:have a wonderful and productive week and I'll see you again
Speaker:on the next episode of gift biz unwrapped.
Speaker:For now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:I've got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week,
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite posts every single week without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.