112 – How to Succeed in Retail Today with Andi Malone of Infinity Gifts
Andi Malone is the owner of Infinity Gifts, Baskets, and Balloons.
She started her business 11 years ago and is a professionally certified designer and the winner of numerous awards within her industry.
Infinity Gifts’ services include custom gift baskets for all occasions as well as balloon design to make events unique and exciting.
When her son and daughter were young, Andi held auctions at their baseball events to raise extra money.
Her gift baskets were a huge success and over time, she recognized that this could turn into something more. That’s when the idea of starting her own business began. Today she works out of a traditional brick and mortar store in Ventura, CA.
The Infinity Gifts, Baskets and Balloons Story
How it all began. [4:29]
A discussion on how and where she set up shop. [7:18]
The role the Chamber of Commerce plays in her business. [8:54]
Brick and mortar of today. [13:12]
Andi recognizes that she has control issues. Here’s how she’s dealing with it. [15:08]
Candle Flickering Moments
Family first. When life throws you a curve ball. [19:28]
Doing a major overhaul and rebuilding the business. [22:05]
Business Building Insights
Be careful what you say! [2:58]
It’s important to learn the business side. [8:18]
The reality of retail today [13:25]
Taking advantage of a local opportunity while Party City remodels. [23:42]
The value of customization. [24:45]
B&M visibility and store displays. [27:26]
Movement attract attention. [30:35]
You better know your competition. [36:07]
Success Trait
Andi has a brilliant way with words. She uses this (unintentionally) to capture attention online in member forums, Facebook Groups and other similar communities. [32:11]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Andi most valuable tool is her phone. She uses it for all facets of her business from communication to photography to accepting payments. [33:34]
Recommended Reading and Listening
Find books within your industry and continue to learn from others. [36:44]
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:You're listening to gift biz on rapt episode 112.
Speaker:I wrote them a check and then I went,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I just lost my mind.
Speaker:What if this doesn't pan out?
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gift to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host Sue Mon height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover a new insight to gain traction and to grow
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:And today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Andy
Speaker:Malone. Andy is the owner of infinity gifts,
Speaker:baskets, and balloons.
Speaker:She started her business 11 years ago,
Speaker:and today is a professionally certified designer and the winner of
Speaker:numerous awards within her industry for services,
Speaker:custom creative gift baskets for all occasions,
Speaker:as well as balloon designed to make events and exciting.
Speaker:And his business started from an activity that she was doing
Speaker:when her children were young over time,
Speaker:she recognized the opportunity to turn what she loved into a
Speaker:business. And that may be exactly why a lot of you
Speaker:are listening today.
Speaker:So we're going to hear how she did it.
Speaker:And I want to introduce you to her right now.
Speaker:Welcome to the show,
Speaker:Andy, thank you for having me.
Speaker:I am So excited that we got this together and the
Speaker:way I like to start all the shows is having you
Speaker:describe yourself in a little bit of a different way,
Speaker:and that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to describe your ideal candle,
Speaker:what would be the color and what would be the quote
Speaker:on your candle?
Speaker:Well, it would be Brown because Brown is my favorite color
Speaker:and it's just earthy and it's a color chocolate.
Speaker:So how can you go wrong?
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:And this is a candle that we can't burn because on
Speaker:the other side of the motivational quote is a picture of
Speaker:Brad Pitt.
Speaker:And why Brad Pitt?
Speaker:I might ask,
Speaker:Oh, come on it.
Speaker:Doesn't everybody know how hot.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So we've got your Brown candle.
Speaker:Brad Pitt is on the back.
Speaker:And what is the quote?
Speaker:My quote is actually quote on stealing from Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker:No, I didn't know him personally.
Speaker:I'm not quite that old.
Speaker:I dunno,
Speaker:Lincoln and Brad together.
Speaker:This is interesting.
Speaker:My quote is it is better to be silent and thought
Speaker:of full than to speak and remove all doubt.
Speaker:Ooh. Now I have a little bit of advantage here because
Speaker:I know you and I know you are not necessarily soft-spoken.
Speaker:You are a riot to talk with as we'll all see
Speaker:as we keep going,
Speaker:but how do you apply this to your life?
Speaker:And why did you choose this quote?
Speaker:Well, I don't know.
Speaker:I think sometimes people speak too much.
Speaker:I can just remember so many instances,
Speaker:especially public figures,
Speaker:whether it be musicians or actors or politicians or whoever,
Speaker:if you're in the public eye,
Speaker:you really need to be careful about what you say because
Speaker:you come off looking like an idiot.
Speaker:And I just think that if people put more thought into
Speaker:what they said before,
Speaker:they said it,
Speaker:they would present themselves a lot better.
Speaker:That's a good point.
Speaker:Because especially as business owners too,
Speaker:we are the face of our business.
Speaker:You can talk about social media and all of that.
Speaker:Now people who put posts up and maybe don't think twice,
Speaker:but all of that comes back and it is a reflection
Speaker:on who you are.
Speaker:I really like this.
Speaker:Cause sometimes silence is just better.
Speaker:Yeah. I actually know somebody who lost business because she was
Speaker:posting very strong political views and she lost three clients in
Speaker:one week.
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:No kidding.
Speaker:Wow. Well an example for all of us.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I take the approach.
Speaker:I am not going to be on either side of the
Speaker:political fence or any religion,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because this is open and free and I want everyone to
Speaker:feel good about being here.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:Powerful. You're Switzerland.
Speaker:I'm Switzerland.
Speaker:Absolutely. So let's get into infinity gifts.
Speaker:I want to talk about,
Speaker:and I didn't even want to in the intro talk about
Speaker:how it was developed because I thought it was better coming
Speaker:from you.
Speaker:So how did affinity gifts get started?
Speaker:Well, I actually have a background in graphics.
Speaker:Is that by education then Andy?
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:And did that for a while and actually kind of switched
Speaker:things up and went into lending.
Speaker:And when I had my first child,
Speaker:I would drop him off at my mother-in-law's house and he
Speaker:would sleep all day.
Speaker:And he was up all night.
Speaker:Lucky for you.
Speaker:Yeah, there were many days.
Speaker:I went to work on like 45 minutes sleep Dell.
Speaker:It got to the point where I had the opportunity to
Speaker:stay home.
Speaker:And so I did and had another baby and was able
Speaker:to stay home with my kids for 17 years.
Speaker:And during that time,
Speaker:I don't know how it is around the country.
Speaker:I would imagine it's pretty much the same in California.
Speaker:Education has taken,
Speaker:just such hits with the cuts.
Speaker:They cut out this and they cut out that really bare
Speaker:bones. And if you want anything extra for the kids,
Speaker:the parents have to come up with the money we're talking
Speaker:public schools.
Speaker:So I got involved starting to do auctions.
Speaker:Both my kids played baseball and I would do auctions and
Speaker:I would do baskets.
Speaker:And I found that the baskets went over really well.
Speaker:I had a couple of people because I was doing several
Speaker:auctions while a couple of auctions a year,
Speaker:I would do one for baseball.
Speaker:I would do one for the school and people would follow
Speaker:me back and forth between them and not necessarily having association
Speaker:with my kids' school,
Speaker:but they would show that auction or maybe not necessarily have
Speaker:a connection with baseball,
Speaker:but they'd show up for that auction.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:after 17 years it was kind of like,
Speaker:well, my skills in graphic really didn't apply anymore.
Speaker:Everything had become so much more technical as opposed to the
Speaker:old school cut and paste.
Speaker:And so that kind of went by the wayside.
Speaker:And I didn't want to go back into lending because I
Speaker:still had school aged kids.
Speaker:So just ended up where I went.
Speaker:Okay. You know,
Speaker:I think this is what I want to do Stop here.
Speaker:So were people following you around and were they wanting you
Speaker:to make baskets for them for an event they had like
Speaker:a birthday or something like that?
Speaker:No, but they would follow me from auction to auction.
Speaker:I didn't have anybody really request back then.
Speaker:It was that I can remember,
Speaker:but I had several people that had nothing to do with
Speaker:baseball show up for an auction.
Speaker:I had one gal,
Speaker:she must've bought like eight or 10 baskets and her son
Speaker:and my son were friends,
Speaker:but her son didn't play baseball and we're loading her,
Speaker:her car.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:I got this one.
Speaker:My brother just bought his first home and he could use
Speaker:us. And it was a toolbox basket that had tools and
Speaker:tape measures and like picture hanging kits and the stuff you'd
Speaker:need for a new home.
Speaker:And then somebody else was getting married.
Speaker:So she bought a wedding basket and some Gail had birthday.
Speaker:And so she bought a book lovers basket.
Speaker:So she had all these baskets going into her car,
Speaker:but it was all for stuff she had coming up.
Speaker:She knew she'd need.
Speaker:And so I had a few people doing that and I
Speaker:went, wow,
Speaker:maybe there's something to this basket thing and that's how it
Speaker:was born.
Speaker:So what'd you do?
Speaker:What were the first steps way back then that you did
Speaker:to create a business or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:make the flip into a business?
Speaker:It's tough to my husband.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:are you out of your mind?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well, yeah.
Speaker:And my parents had a spare bedroom because I'd left home
Speaker:and I set up in their bedroom and started that way.
Speaker:And I put an ad in the yellow pages and that
Speaker:lasted, I was in their spare bedroom.
Speaker:I matter of months,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:and outgrew it needed another place.
Speaker:So then I found a little office type place.
Speaker:It was a mixed use led industrial office area and rented
Speaker:three rooms and did business out of there for the next
Speaker:seven years.
Speaker:Maybe a little over seven years.
Speaker:Gotcha. I'm going to stop you here just for a quick
Speaker:question. And then we're going to talk about where you are
Speaker:today. What did you see as the difference when you were
Speaker:doing it as a hobby for the auctions?
Speaker:It was somewhat of a business purpose,
Speaker:obviously. Right.
Speaker:But what was the difference that you saw as you switch
Speaker:from doing it?
Speaker:Just for the auctions,
Speaker:as something on the side to when you turned it into
Speaker:a business?
Speaker:Well, other than the money going to me and not the
Speaker:schools or the,
Speaker:or baseball,
Speaker:I realized how much of the business side,
Speaker:I didn't know.
Speaker:Yeah. You can make great baskets all day,
Speaker:but if you aren't really dialed into the business side of
Speaker:it, you don't have a very good chance.
Speaker:You just don't and you have to treat it like a
Speaker:business. And what did you do to do that?
Speaker:To learn?
Speaker:Cause you were saying you didn't really have that business in
Speaker:the beginning.
Speaker:No, I didn't.
Speaker:I started going online and researching and researching,
Speaker:trying to find vendors and researching,
Speaker:trying to do promotions and how to on a very tight
Speaker:budget, get yourself out there.
Speaker:I joined the chamber of commerce and funny story about the
Speaker:chamber of commerce.
Speaker:I wrote them a check and then I went,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I just lost my mind.
Speaker:What if this doesn't pan out and second,
Speaker:guess myself for the next two weeks.
Speaker:And then I got a call from the chamber that said,
Speaker:there's a woman in Louisiana whose son is here in Ventura
Speaker:is having a birthday.
Speaker:She wants a gift basket.
Speaker:She's going to give you a call.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:okay. So she did.
Speaker:And the funny thing about that was is what she spent
Speaker:on the gift basket was exactly what I wrote the check
Speaker:for my chamber dues for no way.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's like the universe smacking me in the head,
Speaker:smacking me in the heads saying you did the right thing.
Speaker:Can keep going.
Speaker:Awesome. I was just going to say,
Speaker:since we're on the chamber,
Speaker:do you have any feedback or comments about your participation in
Speaker:the chamber for people who are in your situation that you
Speaker:were in back then,
Speaker:but they are there today.
Speaker:Like, do you think a chamber is a good first place
Speaker:of contact to get your name out?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:because your audience is so vast,
Speaker:I don't want to make a blanket statement and say,
Speaker:yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think that some chambers are more active about promoting their
Speaker:members than others.
Speaker:So I would say,
Speaker:go check them out before you joined the most chambers have
Speaker:something that you can attend before you make that commitment for
Speaker:you, right.
Speaker:That chat,
Speaker:whether it be a breakfast or whatever.
Speaker:And then if you do decide,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you're a brand new business and nobody knows about you
Speaker:go to absolutely everything you can,
Speaker:which is what I did.
Speaker:I went to the chamber breakfast,
Speaker:which is once a month,
Speaker:I joined a networking group,
Speaker:which was twice a month.
Speaker:I joined the ambassadors,
Speaker:which again,
Speaker:the meeting was one month.
Speaker:And then you participated in ribbon cuttings on that kind of
Speaker:thing. So it's not just you write that check and you're
Speaker:a member of the chamber and your name is listed somewhere.
Speaker:You have to get out and be active.
Speaker:You have to meet people.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that's the way you're different from anybody else.
Speaker:Who's in a similar industry as you are because people buy
Speaker:because they like you.
Speaker:They know you as a person,
Speaker:they have some type of connection and they're going to then
Speaker:buy from you.
Speaker:And the only way that that can happen is if you're
Speaker:getting out so great information,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in terms of the chamber,
Speaker:anything else,
Speaker:but something that is face to face in the community,
Speaker:no matter how scary it is.
Speaker:Absolutely no anybody when you go in,
Speaker:but it's not going to take long.
Speaker:They generally open their arms and embrace you and welcome you.
Speaker:And they want you to succeed too,
Speaker:because think about it.
Speaker:If your business failed,
Speaker:they don't have your membership fees.
Speaker:Good point.
Speaker:And you also have to remember that everybody was in that
Speaker:place in the beginning,
Speaker:where they walked in and they didn't know anybody.
Speaker:And hopefully any event that you go to,
Speaker:people are sensitive to the new commerce and actually want to
Speaker:know them because that's a whole nother set of contacts for
Speaker:them as well.
Speaker:So it works both ways.
Speaker:Absolutely. Since Andy's been talking about chambers and networking here,
Speaker:I want to pop in and ask you a question.
Speaker:Do you know,
Speaker:you should be out networking,
Speaker:but you just can't get yourself to do it because it's
Speaker:scary. Are you afraid that you might walk into the room
Speaker:and not know anybody or that you're going to freeze?
Speaker:When you get up to do that infamous elevator speech,
Speaker:where you talk about yourself and your business?
Speaker:Well, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't need to
Speaker:be scary.
Speaker:If you know what to do to help you with this,
Speaker:I would like to offer you a coffee chat for the
Speaker:price of buying me a cup of coffee.
Speaker:We can sit down through an online video and I'll tell
Speaker:you everything that I know about networking and how I have
Speaker:personally built two multi-six figure businesses,
Speaker:primarily through networking.
Speaker:You'll walk away with a solid understanding about how networking can
Speaker:truly grow your business.
Speaker:And you're going to have new found confidence because I'm going
Speaker:to give you 10 fill in the blank template that you
Speaker:can use for your introduction message to learn more about this
Speaker:opportunity. Just go over to Bitly forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:That's B I T dot L Y forward slash network Ninja.
Speaker:And now let's get back to the show.
Speaker:Let's get to where are you today?
Speaker:Andy? Let's talk about your business as of today.
Speaker:Well, I have a brick and mortar store now.
Speaker:Yay. And you moved in how long ago?
Speaker:It'll be two years in June.
Speaker:So exciting.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:a big learning curve too,
Speaker:even though I had worked retail before,
Speaker:it's completely different when you own your own place.
Speaker:How so?
Speaker:You are responsible for everything.
Speaker:You're not the employee that kids to come in and do
Speaker:your shift and leave.
Speaker:And you're the guy that's got to make sure the bills
Speaker:are paid.
Speaker:You've got to make sure that you're aware of whatever the
Speaker:next upcoming holiday is.
Speaker:What's going on in your town when and where you can
Speaker:promote. It's just a whole different ball of wax.
Speaker:Are there any surprises that you had when you transferred,
Speaker:because you had a production studio before,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:after having the empty bedroom in your parents' house,
Speaker:then you had more of a production studio.
Speaker:What surprises or words of advice or anything that you'd want
Speaker:to share with someone who's considering making that jump to a
Speaker:true traditional brick and mortar store?
Speaker:Were there any surprise costs that you weren't anticipating?
Speaker:Yeah. I had to redo the floor.
Speaker:The floor was from the 1950s.
Speaker:It wasn't a specimen based,
Speaker:thank goodness,
Speaker:but it was old and crummy and crumbled when they were
Speaker:removing it.
Speaker:I hadn't anticipated.
Speaker:I had thought I could go over it,
Speaker:which would have been much cheaper,
Speaker:much easier and much faster that wasn't the situation,
Speaker:the situation,
Speaker:as they had to take it down to the concrete in
Speaker:the process,
Speaker:there was I think two different layers,
Speaker:but they also had to get up all the old glue.
Speaker:They actually had to sand my concrete down so that I
Speaker:could paint it.
Speaker:It was just a mess.
Speaker:So that was a huge surprise.
Speaker:Other than that,
Speaker:I, again,
Speaker:until you jump into it,
Speaker:you don't know.
Speaker:I was a little delusional.
Speaker:I thought that I would have time where somebody could be
Speaker:running a store in the front and I could spend time
Speaker:in the back and just design and take care of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the other aspects of bookkeeping and all that.
Speaker:And that's not the case.
Speaker:I have control issues.
Speaker:You personally.
Speaker:Oh yes.
Speaker:Why does this not come as a surprise to me,
Speaker:Andy? Because you know me,
Speaker:because you don't want to give up the control of interacting
Speaker:with your customers.
Speaker:Everything I,
Speaker:even for a long time,
Speaker:didn't hire anybody.
Speaker:That's a challenge.
Speaker:We all face,
Speaker:especially if you're a creator because your product is so much
Speaker:ingrained in you.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:my assistant now picks up the stuff that,
Speaker:and I was so lucky to find her.
Speaker:And she has been with me over a year and she
Speaker:gets me,
Speaker:which is really important.
Speaker:She knows I have control as she is.
Speaker:So it's funny because she'll come in and like twice a
Speaker:month, I still do the networking meetings through the chamber.
Speaker:And so she'll come in and clean and then she'll play
Speaker:around. And it's funny because I'll come back and she'll always
Speaker:say, now,
Speaker:if you don't like it,
Speaker:you can change it.
Speaker:And I just laugh because it's like,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:Joe, But do you,
Speaker:or do you let it be sometimes?
Speaker:Oh, Sometimes,
Speaker:sometimes I let it be.
Speaker:And sometimes I'm like,
Speaker:no, can't do that.
Speaker:Now that will keep me up at night.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:this gets to the whole issue of the control thing.
Speaker:If you don't let go of control,
Speaker:you can't get back to other things in the business that
Speaker:only you can do.
Speaker:Absolutely. How have you been now that you've released a little
Speaker:bit of control?
Speaker:What's your recommendation to people?
Speaker:Hmm, absolutely do it.
Speaker:You will not survive if you don't.
Speaker:You just won't.
Speaker:Initially I was open six days a week and I thought,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Sundays are slow enough where I could close Sunday too.
Speaker:And the world is not going to come to an end.
Speaker:And so I have been taking Sundays off for about a
Speaker:year now.
Speaker:And it's nice because I've got Sunday,
Speaker:Monday off,
Speaker:but I wouldn't be able to survive.
Speaker:I would have gone nuts probably a year and a half
Speaker:ago. Sunday,
Speaker:Monday off.
Speaker:Is the store closed or is there someone else there Stores
Speaker:closed. Okay.
Speaker:Because I've got a control issue about not being there when
Speaker:somebody else is there.
Speaker:Well, here you go,
Speaker:Andy, at least you identify your weaknesses,
Speaker:right? Total control issue.
Speaker:Oh wait,
Speaker:is that a weakness?
Speaker:I thought that was a strength,
Speaker:I guess.
Speaker:However you want to look at it because in the end,
Speaker:your business is what you want to create it to be,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and you want to do things that are going to bring
Speaker:enjoyment, make you feel satisfied and a rule book and a
Speaker:direction guide is just that you have to take those things
Speaker:and make them work for you.
Speaker:So if this is working for you,
Speaker:then Andy,
Speaker:then it's all good.
Speaker:Absolutely. And at the end of the day,
Speaker:your business is a reflection of you.
Speaker:And that was probably the biggest challenge with hiring somebody.
Speaker:Yeah, but I would also say with a retail shop and
Speaker:I have seen so many stores shutter for this reason alone,
Speaker:if you have a retail store,
Speaker:you kind of forget that you have to be there when
Speaker:the store opens and closes or have someone covering there.
Speaker:Absolutely. You cannot.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we've had just,
Speaker:even in my hometown had several stores where a small business
Speaker:owner decides they're going to open up,
Speaker:but then they want to go to a networking meeting in
Speaker:the middle of the day.
Speaker:Well, you need some coverage,
Speaker:then you just can't close and say,
Speaker:I'll be back in two hours.
Speaker:Now that does not work.
Speaker:It's not going To work because people who might want to
Speaker:buy from you to support you,
Speaker:because remember you've been out in those networking meetings,
Speaker:right. Then come to your shop and you're closed.
Speaker:So if they needed something,
Speaker:they are disappointed and you lost that sale.
Speaker:And that happens one or two times and word gets out
Speaker:and you will not have any customers.
Speaker:So give biz listeners just a word of caution.
Speaker:Retail shops.
Speaker:Think this through like act as if this is your life.
Speaker:Do you want to be tied down to a location from
Speaker:the time nine to six?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:whatever the retail hours are.
Speaker:And if not,
Speaker:are you going to get somebody to cover the shop?
Speaker:Because if the answer is no,
Speaker:then don't go retail period.
Speaker:Absolutely. Now there's a boat cheek next to me.
Speaker:And the owner is never there because she's hired.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:she's open every day.
Speaker:11 to six.
Speaker:Yeah. So the store is still open access to the product
Speaker:and to buying is still there.
Speaker:Absolutely. Otherwise,
Speaker:why have a store?
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Super Andy,
Speaker:we're going to move on a little bit.
Speaker:Are there any other challenges that you've had as you've been
Speaker:putting together your business that you think would be good information
Speaker:for our listeners?
Speaker:Unfortunately, we had a pretty serious family crisis and I ended
Speaker:up five,
Speaker:six days a week having to go to LA to deal
Speaker:with what was going on.
Speaker:This was a lifestyle emergency.
Speaker:And you had to figure out how to balance the business
Speaker:with this personal emergency.
Speaker:Yeah. This was prior to opening the store.
Speaker:So you were in your production studio at the time?
Speaker:I was.
Speaker:That was good.
Speaker:Thank God It was.
Speaker:But the flip side of that is I was barely able
Speaker:to take care of the clients that I had,
Speaker:let alone get any new business,
Speaker:but family comes first.
Speaker:That's just the way my family is wired.
Speaker:Family comes first.
Speaker:Absolutely. So this went on for almost a year and my
Speaker:business did suffer.
Speaker:And so when everything was said and done,
Speaker:my business took a really big hit.
Speaker:And I almost had to start from scratch,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at that point,
Speaker:okay, either you fold up your temps and you leave or
Speaker:you really get down to business and you bust your butt
Speaker:and I wasn't ready to fold up my tent.
Speaker:So I got back to business.
Speaker:Let me stop you here for just a second.
Speaker:And I think that's one of the values I believe of
Speaker:being a business owner is that you can call the shots
Speaker:and if life throws you a curve ball and your priority
Speaker:needs to be somewhere else,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you clearly that you,
Speaker:weren't going to be able to put the time in the
Speaker:business, your business was going to suffer,
Speaker:but you had that choice.
Speaker:If you had a full-time job,
Speaker:they weren't going to let you off and not work for
Speaker:that whole time.
Speaker:Not for almost a year now.
Speaker:Yeah. So there was the advantage because you knew what was
Speaker:going on,
Speaker:but you could control and make those decisions for yourself.
Speaker:And I think that's really important to remember that the business
Speaker:always doesn't have to be going up and building and growing.
Speaker:This is something that you can flex based on what's happening
Speaker:in your life.
Speaker:Income is one thing of course,
Speaker:relationships and needing to be there for family is another thing.
Speaker:And it's a balancing act.
Speaker:And sometimes it's going to tilt in the way of personal,
Speaker:which is fine.
Speaker:That's your prerogative.
Speaker:And there's nothing wrong with recognizing it and knowing that's happening
Speaker:and let it go that way for awhile.
Speaker:And I was very realistic about what the consequences could be.
Speaker:I wasn't delusional.
Speaker:I didn't think that I was going to be able to
Speaker:pick up and carry on from where I had been.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:it was almost a year and I did lose business.
Speaker:I took care of what I could when I could,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:my priority was someplace out.
Speaker:Absolutely. So what happened,
Speaker:how did you start rebuilding then?
Speaker:Did you contact your past clients or what happened from there?
Speaker:I decided to do a major overhaul and reinvent myself,
Speaker:reinvent my business.
Speaker:Oh, tell me more.
Speaker:Well, so this is when I decided to open up the
Speaker:brick and mortar and had it been something that had been
Speaker:talked about before the family crisis and for awhile,
Speaker:it was the grieving process and you really can't see clearly.
Speaker:And so when some of the smoke cleared and I was
Speaker:able to sit down and really think about it,
Speaker:it's kind of a crazy time to do it because the
Speaker:business had taken such a hit.
Speaker:But if I don't do this one,
Speaker:I'll never know what could have been two.
Speaker:I will regret it.
Speaker:And three,
Speaker:it was something that had been thought of and most likely
Speaker:was going to be done before the Brown stuff.
Speaker:So you had been kinda muddling the idea over in your
Speaker:mind for a while,
Speaker:and I'm sure speaking with your husband about it and just
Speaker:thinking, you know,
Speaker:it's not like all of a sudden one day you wake
Speaker:up and say,
Speaker:I'm going to go look for property and start a store.
Speaker:Oh, no.
Speaker:At that point I hadn't really thoroughly looked through the city
Speaker:and had gotten information on other things.
Speaker:And so it was an educated move.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:and it was something I felt necessary if I wanted to
Speaker:continue on.
Speaker:I really didn't think I could stay in the space that
Speaker:I was just given some circumstances and everything.
Speaker:So is your clientele now totally different than what you had
Speaker:before? No,
Speaker:not really.
Speaker:I still have a very heavy realtor client base.
Speaker:I would say that they make up the majority of my
Speaker:client base.
Speaker:It's not vastly different,
Speaker:but it is somewhat Because you're going to get walked by
Speaker:traffic sometimes.
Speaker:And absolutely you're going to attract different people just by manner
Speaker:of your location.
Speaker:Yeah, Well,
Speaker:yeah. And also since almost the beginning of the year,
Speaker:guess the local party city,
Speaker:which had done tons and tons and tons of balloons shut
Speaker:down and remodeled for three or four months,
Speaker:Boy, wasn't that too bad for you.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:I wish they needed to remodel again next month.
Speaker:But my balloon clientele really picked up.
Speaker:It actually worked out great because then you were able to
Speaker:get people into your store and then they got a chance
Speaker:to see the other things that you offer to over and
Speaker:above balloons.
Speaker:I'm not knocking party city,
Speaker:but they don't do anything extra.
Speaker:They blow up balloons and that's kind of it,
Speaker:they don't do curls,
Speaker:they don't do stacks.
Speaker:They don't do a lot of different things.
Speaker:So it was nice in that.
Speaker:I got to be a little bit more creative too.
Speaker:This is a great idea.
Speaker:And a tip for our listeners,
Speaker:because if in your community,
Speaker:there is somebody a store that's closing that provided a service
Speaker:that you also provide or some where something that used to
Speaker:exist no longer does.
Speaker:That can be a great opportunity just as Andy's talking about
Speaker:with the balloon example here,
Speaker:Or, you know,
Speaker:if your clientele is something else we're bringing in some custom
Speaker:t-shirts and custom mugs and the whole mug thing started because
Speaker:it wasn't that nobody else in town does them.
Speaker:It's just that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have these clients and we were trying to make as
Speaker:big of an impact as far as their branding on their
Speaker:gifts that they were giving.
Speaker:And I would ask them,
Speaker:Hey, so when you have that,
Speaker:we could incorporate in this,
Speaker:what kind of collateral do you have?
Speaker:We can add.
Speaker:And well,
Speaker:I have pins.
Speaker:Okay. Everybody has pins.
Speaker:That's not going to make a huge statement in a basket.
Speaker:Let's be honest in a gift basket,
Speaker:unless it's a pretty small gift basket.
Speaker:It's not gonna make a huge impact.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:gosh, you don't have mugs.
Speaker:No, can you do mugs?
Speaker:No, I don't do mugs.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:And I did have a couple of people check it out.
Speaker:And it was like,
Speaker:in order to make the price affordable,
Speaker:you had to order 72 mugs.
Speaker:And so now you're doing custom one by ones or how's
Speaker:that working Now,
Speaker:there is a minimum with me also,
Speaker:but it's not 17,
Speaker:But right.
Speaker:Which is important because you don't want a single customer coming
Speaker:in, making a single mug.
Speaker:I'm thinking price wise.
Speaker:That's not going to be worth your time either.
Speaker:So you've somehow figured out what the minimum was.
Speaker:That would be good for you.
Speaker:And then also fill a client need,
Speaker:especially your corporate clients.
Speaker:Actually they'll I will do ones one-offs because the margin is
Speaker:very good and it's priced differently.
Speaker:Yeah, it is.
Speaker:So if somebody wanted a mother's day mug with a picture
Speaker:of them,
Speaker:when they were three with their mom and it to say,
Speaker:happy mother's day,
Speaker:Betty, Jo,
Speaker:we can do that.
Speaker:And we're not opposed to that.
Speaker:But before you do anything new,
Speaker:you need to figure out what kind of margins you're looking
Speaker:at and what kind of investment you have to make before
Speaker:you do that.
Speaker:Because I needed to buy a sublimation printer.
Speaker:I needed to buy a mug pressed.
Speaker:So there are costs involved,
Speaker:but the way I rationalized it,
Speaker:I actually took a mug job before I had the mug
Speaker:press. I took the order and knowing that that order was
Speaker:going to pay for all but 39 of my mud press.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Well, now I understand,
Speaker:cause you're not jobbing this out.
Speaker:You are doing it onsite.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And that's how your margins can be as great as they
Speaker:are. Give biz listeners.
Speaker:What Andy's talking about is know your numbers.
Speaker:Did you hear what she was just saying is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she figured it all out.
Speaker:She got in the equipment,
Speaker:she got in jobs that she knew she could pay herself
Speaker:back with.
Speaker:And now it's a huge opportunity for her as she moves
Speaker:forward. So great example of how to expand your business,
Speaker:your services and your product.
Speaker:It's never,
Speaker:ever bad to have another revenue stream.
Speaker:It's never a bad thing.
Speaker:Andy, we've talked a little bit already about how you've gotten
Speaker:business through networking events.
Speaker:Is there another way you're attracting customers to your location?
Speaker:Well, it's nice.
Speaker:When you have a brick and mortar store on a very
Speaker:busy street,
Speaker:you put out a sign,
Speaker:you put out balloons and people are going to notice as
Speaker:they drive by.
Speaker:Do you dress somebody up as Brad Pitt to stand on
Speaker:the corner and direct people into your shop?
Speaker:No, but I'm also fortunate in that I have a huge
Speaker:display window in the front.
Speaker:Huge. And so what I'm going to do on one end
Speaker:is a,
Speaker:a table with a chair it's formally dressed and it's got
Speaker:wedding stuff on it,
Speaker:like favors and napkin rings,
Speaker:custom napkin rings,
Speaker:which I do with my ribbon printer.
Speaker:So it's like a setting.
Speaker:So the window display is like,
Speaker:as if it's a setting.
Speaker:Absolutely beautiful.
Speaker:Okay. And then on the other side,
Speaker:my assistant actually does mosaics.
Speaker:And so I've got a little garden fence and it's got
Speaker:some of her,
Speaker:she's got go like a frog and flip-flops and a Palm
Speaker:tree. So that,
Speaker:but in the middle,
Speaker:the next display I'm going to do is I have this
Speaker:giant Teddy bear.
Speaker:My mom bought me from Costco years ago.
Speaker:I couldn't believe she walked out of the store with it.
Speaker:Cause it was almost as big as she was.
Speaker:And I have a half wine barrel and I'm going to
Speaker:put him in the wine barrel and do balloon bubbles,
Speaker:put a shower cap on him,
Speaker:put a towel down,
Speaker:have a back scrubber,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:thing for him.
Speaker:So that's the next I'm going to do.
Speaker:Oh, so cute.
Speaker:So I'm fortunate in that I've got these giant windows where
Speaker:I can do just about anything and it attracts people in
Speaker:for sure it does.
Speaker:And since we put that fence with Jill's mosaics,
Speaker:people are always stopping and looking.
Speaker:Oh, so you really did see a difference from when you
Speaker:affected the display windows.
Speaker:Really good.
Speaker:Awesome. And that was another learning curve,
Speaker:but now you figure it out or you find somebody that
Speaker:can help you.
Speaker:What Were your windows looking like before that then Sometimes there
Speaker:were empty,
Speaker:which is really dumb because you've got,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's free advertising.
Speaker:I did balloon stuff.
Speaker:I did other things,
Speaker:but doing more of a store display kind of thing that
Speaker:you would see at a department store seems to be attracting
Speaker:more attention.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So give biz listeners another great piece of advice.
Speaker:If you have a brick and mortar shop use any opportunity
Speaker:that you have to display your product.
Speaker:Andy's fortunate because she's got windows and I've seen pictures of
Speaker:your shop.
Speaker:I haven't been out there yet,
Speaker:Andy, but I've seen the pictures.
Speaker:And so she has a great display area for that.
Speaker:Another option,
Speaker:if you don't have windows is to do one of those
Speaker:boards that you can put right outside of your shop,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to welcome people to come on in,
Speaker:check with your city,
Speaker:make sure that that's allowed,
Speaker:but you are just stuck.
Speaker:If you don't have windows like Andy does that doesn't mean
Speaker:you Mark it off your list.
Speaker:What other types of things could you possibly do to draw
Speaker:people in right physically on site,
Speaker:as they're passing by your entrance.
Speaker:And as Andy's talking about,
Speaker:she has seen increased sales when she made an adjustment doing
Speaker:that. What were you going to say,
Speaker:Andy? I think that if you're going to look for brick
Speaker:and mortar place,
Speaker:I know that display windows were really important to me.
Speaker:We have a product that is conducive to that.
Speaker:So it makes sense that you would do that.
Speaker:Yeah. Even if you have a little display window,
Speaker:there are different ways that you can attract attention.
Speaker:One of them is to make sure that you've got something
Speaker:in that window.
Speaker:That's got some movement to it.
Speaker:Oh, good point.
Speaker:That will attract,
Speaker:but be aware when you're looking for a retail space that
Speaker:you need something that's going to attract attention and display windows
Speaker:are perfect.
Speaker:Right. I know our bread shop right down street side from
Speaker:my building here,
Speaker:pipes out the scent of the bread baking.
Speaker:So if you are in the baking industry or you have
Speaker:any sense that you could pipe out or you know,
Speaker:some people even just put bowls of water for dogs going
Speaker:by. Yeah.
Speaker:They do that a lot downtown.
Speaker:Yeah. Anything That makes someone stop.
Speaker:So get creative with that.
Speaker:It's a huge opportunity.
Speaker:And obviously with brick and mortar,
Speaker:you're carrying a lot more costs.
Speaker:So anything,
Speaker:little even that you can do to draw attention to your
Speaker:business is going to help you out in the long run.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right,
Speaker:Andy, we're going to move now into our reflection section.
Speaker:So this is another look at you more from a business
Speaker:angle. What do you do day to day so that everything
Speaker:gets done.
Speaker:If there's one natural trait that you would say you have,
Speaker:besides your love for bread pit that you call upon every
Speaker:day to keep you motivated and energized and being willing to
Speaker:delegate from time to time,
Speaker:what would that be?
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:You have Some type of a trait.
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:I'm going to just pull one out and embarrass you.
Speaker:So you better think of something Green eyes.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I'm going to give you your trait.
Speaker:Okay. And has such a way with words.
Speaker:And I know this because in a lot of the,
Speaker:I have to say they're private.
Speaker:So not everyone can go in and listen and hear what
Speaker:she has to say,
Speaker:but she draws so much attention to some of her posts
Speaker:and her comments because she's so theatrical in the way she
Speaker:talks. So that's an ability of her.
Speaker:She has,
Speaker:she brings these crazy words and brings levity to many different
Speaker:types of situations that she encounters day by day.
Speaker:And the big point there is,
Speaker:it brings eyes to her and her business.
Speaker:So I don't know if you're doing this or not Andy,
Speaker:but like on Facebook or any other social media sites or
Speaker:in person when you're out at meetings,
Speaker:if you have that ability to spur the moment,
Speaker:add levity,
Speaker:tell a story,
Speaker:those types of things that helps attract people to you.
Speaker:And Andy does this in our social media groups,
Speaker:especially the Facebook groups,
Speaker:what I was talking about earlier beautifully.
Speaker:And she has a style unlike anybody else.
Speaker:So Andy,
Speaker:I'm telling you right now,
Speaker:that's your trait.
Speaker:Okay. Good to know.
Speaker:Yep. Well,
Speaker:it's so true.
Speaker:And a lot of people listening are going to say,
Speaker:that's absolutely right.
Speaker:I know that.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Talk about a tool or something that you're using every day
Speaker:as you conduct your,
Speaker:My phone.
Speaker:Okay. Talk a little more about that.
Speaker:My phone is like an extra lamp.
Speaker:Are you an iPhone or an Android person?
Speaker:Oh, I'm an iPhone girl.
Speaker:Okay. Me too.
Speaker:So Facebook,
Speaker:Instagram, my vault.
Speaker:I have a vault on my phone that has all of
Speaker:my vendor login passwords and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:I could not function.
Speaker:I take photos of my baskets or balloons or whatever with
Speaker:my phone so that I can post on social media or
Speaker:whatever my website isn't up right now.
Speaker:It's under construction.
Speaker:But the photos that I'm taking are also for the website.
Speaker:I will be dealing with my website.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:once it's up from my phone,
Speaker:my phone is my most valuable tool.
Speaker:I could not run my business without it.
Speaker:I run credit cards on my phone.
Speaker:I had the iPhone six plus and I only had 16
Speaker:gigs when the seven plus came out,
Speaker:I told my husband,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:I have to go for broke.
Speaker:So I got 128 gigs because I was tired of having
Speaker:to dump photos because almost all of them were business photos.
Speaker:I was tired of having to dump photos so I could
Speaker:take another photo.
Speaker:I understand that.
Speaker:So I always say that someone can steal my car before
Speaker:they steal my phone.
Speaker:Are you in the same boat?
Speaker:Yeah. Taking the car,
Speaker:clean it,
Speaker:please. Clean it out.
Speaker:Wash it.
Speaker:Vacuum wouldn't hurt.
Speaker:Yeah. Just no one be touching my phone.
Speaker:No, because that's probably,
Speaker:I won't even wait for the police to come get you.
Speaker:I'll just knock you out.
Speaker:Take my phone back.
Speaker:Couldn't function without it.
Speaker:I just could not function without it.
Speaker:Yeah. Yup.
Speaker:I totally agree with you there.
Speaker:Let's talk about any other places that you go to continue
Speaker:educating yourself.
Speaker:Is there a book or something else that you would recommend
Speaker:for our listeners?
Speaker:Well, I would say obviously look in your industry to see
Speaker:what information you can get and then go for the general
Speaker:ones, like how to promote a business or how to promote
Speaker:them as a son,
Speaker:a shoe string,
Speaker:those types of things,
Speaker:because ultimately you're going to have to promote it doesn't matter
Speaker:what industry you're in.
Speaker:You're going to have to promote.
Speaker:So absolutely line up what you can do and how you
Speaker:can do.
Speaker:And also maybe how you can do it differently.
Speaker:I try to be out of the box all the time,
Speaker:which is kind of easy for me because I don't really
Speaker:think, I don't know,
Speaker:somewhere along the line,
Speaker:my thought process just seems to be so much different than
Speaker:everybody else's and that's worked really well.
Speaker:But to try to do that,
Speaker:trying to think out of the box because what you want
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:and the most important thing is to set yourself apart from
Speaker:your competition and you better know your competition,
Speaker:you better know who you're competing against because if you are
Speaker:copying them exactly,
Speaker:and you are not setting yourself apart differently in any other
Speaker:way. As far as the product,
Speaker:the service,
Speaker:the price chances of survival,
Speaker:aren't going to be very good,
Speaker:especially if they were in business first,
Speaker:absolutely know your competition and do whatever you can to set
Speaker:yourself apart.
Speaker:Perfect. Is there any book that you have read in the
Speaker:past that really helped you to get where you are?
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I've read so many.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of gift basket books.
Speaker:I've got a whole bunch of gift,
Speaker:basket DVDs.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of balloon books.
Speaker:I've got a bunch of balloon DVDs.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:Saturday was kind of quiet.
Speaker:So I watched the balloon DVD and now I have a
Speaker:different way to make Palm tree.
Speaker:Oh, interesting.
Speaker:And that's nice because you are a professional,
Speaker:but you're still learning,
Speaker:trapped in different ideas and all of that.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:It doesn't matter how long you've been in business.
Speaker:If you don't continue to learn,
Speaker:you go stagnant.
Speaker:Totally agree with you there.
Speaker:So give biz listeners.
Speaker:I think Andy is recommending that you go check out other
Speaker:books in your industry or podcasts.
Speaker:I might say too.
Speaker:And just as you're listening to the show today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book in your industry for free on me.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:Okay. Andy done,
Speaker:done, done.
Speaker:It's time for you to dare to dream.
Speaker: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:Oh, look,
Speaker:Brad Pitt.
Speaker:I knew he'd be consistent there,
Speaker:Andy. Yeah.
Speaker:My box is filled with pretty much everything that I have.
Speaker:I'm very happy and very content in my personal life and
Speaker:my business.
Speaker:I love that because you've reached what your dream is.
Speaker:Yeah. But you're still growing.
Speaker:Just like you said,
Speaker:a new way to do balloons.
Speaker:Absolutely. So I guess I pretty much have everything that I
Speaker:need. So you want it to continue with the addition of
Speaker:Brad Pitt?
Speaker:Yeah. And a clean car.
Speaker:Alright, I'll go with you there.
Speaker:Okay. Give biz listeners Andy's website currently.
Speaker:Isn't up.
Speaker:I have no idea when it is going up,
Speaker:but I also have no idea when you're listening to this
Speaker:show. So over on the show notes page,
Speaker:we will have the link to her website.
Speaker:And if it's not up,
Speaker:when you go there,
Speaker:it'll be up in a further date.
Speaker:We'll also have links to her social media sites.
Speaker:Andy, what sites are you on?
Speaker:Social media wise.
Speaker:I know Facebook.
Speaker:What else?
Speaker:Instagram. Okay.
Speaker:So Facebook and Instagram and I'll have the links over there
Speaker:for that as well,
Speaker:Andy. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Super information.
Speaker:I really appreciate your sharing.
Speaker:All that you have today,
Speaker:the stories are fabulous.
Speaker:Your insight is fabulous.
Speaker:It's really helpful.
Speaker:Also. I think there's a lot of people who start off
Speaker:just like you,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:turning something that you were kind of doing on the side
Speaker:into a business and then stair stepping it up.
Speaker:Cause everyone kind of thinks well,
Speaker:should I do retail?
Speaker:Should I not?
Speaker:So great insights into that.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate your honesty,
Speaker:your expertise,
Speaker:and may your candle always burn bright?
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at Vic dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone by texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four two,
Speaker:two, two.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever branded products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday.
Speaker:Jessica Rubin to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or cross DVO in
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Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the
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Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,