205 – Navigating Through the Stages of Your Business with Debbie Adame of My Daddy’s House of Gifts

Hi there.

You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 205 After being in

corporate America for quite a while,

I was kind of getting a little burned out and really

wanted to do my own thing.

Attention gifters,

bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there,

it's Sue and thanks You so much for joining me on

the podcast today.

I'm really excited about this story because our guest shares with

us her journey with her business development.

You know,

I think so many of us think,

especially when we're just starting out,

and I definitely was guilty of this too,

that you have to nail it right at the beginning,

like whatever you start has to be perfection right from the

beginning. And if not,

you're not successful.

Truth is that no matter where you start,

you always continue to progress and to evolve and Debbie's a

perfect example of this.

Every single stage of her business was right for her at

the time,

but when she saw opportunities or when in her heart she

was thinking and feeling like she was ready to switch it

up, that's exactly what she does.

So she's a perfect example for all of us to learn

from and I can't wait for you to hear her story,

but before we dive into the show I want to tell

you where I believe we are going to be at the

time this podcast goes live.

I've been sharing with you over the last five or six

episodes or so that I've had something really exciting in the

works and that is a daily planner made specifically for you

gifters, bakers,

crafters and makers.

I didn't know it was going to take as long as

it has to actually get them all printed up and have

them available,

but they should be ready.

So I'm super excited to share that with you.

I'm recording it now.

Hoping everything stays on time.

In preparation for that,

I've also created a video that gives you an inside look

at the planner,

but even more than that,

I go through what has become a lifesaver for me in

terms of productivity in my business and that is what I've

termed the power of purpose.

People often ask me how I get so much accomplished in

my days and apart from being a little crazy Morgan,

a lot of hours.

What I do is employ the power of to make sure

that all the time I'm putting in is getting the most

reward. I'm using my time as efficiently and properly as I

can and I do that through the power of purpose.

I invite you to watch this video.

It will share with you the concept of the power of

purpose and then it also goes into what the new inspired

daily planner is all about.

If you already have a planner that you're using,

no worries at all because a lot of the concepts that

I lay out can be applied to bullet journals or whatever

other planner you have.

I bet you're wondering where you can get your hands on

the video.

Just go to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash.

Planner. I guarantee you you're in for a real treat.

Okay. Are you ready?

Let's get into the show.

Debbie is the owner and certified gift designer at my daddy's

house of gifts located in Magnolia,

a business under a different company name after the passing of

daddy's house of gifts to honor his memory.

Prior to being in the gifting industry,

Debbie had a lengthy career working as an account executive and

regional sales manager in the heavyweight air cargo logistics industry,

including 10 years at ups.

You might note nothing having to do with gifts in her

spare time.

She enjoys gardening,

traveling, and spending time with her husband Richard and giving lots

of hugs and kisses to her grand baby.

Isaac, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

Debbie, Thank you.

So I appreciate you having me today.

I am so excited to dive into your story.

But before we do,

I would like you to share a little bit of a

different side of yourself.

And that is to describe who you are through a motivational

candle. So if you were to share with us what color

it would be and what would be the quote on a

candle that speaks all you,

Debbie, what would your candle look like?

My candle would be white.

And the reason why I choose why,

because to me white represents freshness and newness.

And the reason why I chose this color is because I

remember when I was a kid and we lived in Phoenix,

our Sunday school class took a trip to the mountains of

Flagstaff, Arizona to play in the snow.

And what I remember most was the beauty of the fresh

snow and the pine trees.

And it's just such an incredible tranquil feeling.

And it would be scented with a clean,

fresh scent,

like the smell of the outdoors in the winter time,

just crisp and cool.

And the I would have would be,

every day is a new day,

a chance for a fresh start and new beginnings.

Perfect. And Adeline's with the white color wonderfully.

Right, Exactly.

So did you know that I really love snow.

That's like my thing is it?

Yeah. So I would have been smiling over here when you

said the snow and how peaceful and fresh it is.

I'm like,

yes, she's my girl.

Yes. I mean it is.

It's just so beautiful.

And here I am in Houston and we rarely get to

see snow.

Maybe some flurries every now and then.

But that just was a memory that just stuck in my

head for such a long time.

And it's still a fond memory for me.

Well you just joined me in Chicago here anytime you like,

and I'll show you a little bit of snow.

Oh, I'm sure you could.

I love you a quote.

Every day's a new day because so many things happen and

we could just wallow in challenges that come up or things

that don't go right.

But having a fresh approach every day just puts you like

in the clean mental mind state to move forward.

Yes, definitely.

Definitely. It's a chance for a fresh start.

Every day is Every day.

Absolutely. Let's not do a fresh start yet.

Let's go back a little bit and talk about how you

transitioned from air cargo logistics into gifting.

Okay. Growing up,

my mother was the creative type and she was always creating

something, whether it was making him made clothes or if she

was drawing or painting home decorating or gardening.

I mean she just has this creative genius in her and

one of my favorite memories with her was going to the

fabric store and helping her to pick out patterns for the

clothes she was going to make.

Now unfortunately,

I didn't pick up the gift of sewing,

but I did get some of that creative gene in me

and I love to do projects with her.

We used to do embroidery projects together and so it was

some good memories there.

Now my dad also had a little bit of creativeness in

him. He liked to do a lot of building with things

with his hands,

especially doing home improvements.

And he was in the manufacturing business most of his life,

but he did have a couple of his own businesses growing

up. So one of his businesses was a catalog company,

which he sold guests from a catalog.

So it's kind of like the fore shadowing of online shopping.

That's kind of how I look at it.

And another company he owned was an outdoor deck building company.

Entrepreneurship actually runs in our family.

So my dad had with his two businesses and currently my

two younger brothers and my sister currently owned their businesses.

So it's kind of in our genes as well.

in the intro.

But prior to that I did work in corporate America and,

and worked in the heavy air freight cargo logistics industry for

almost 25 years.

And after being in corporate America for quite a while,

I was kinda getting a little burned out and really wanted

to do my own thing.

So always had in the back of my mind that I

wanted to start my own business but never really had the

Richard and I moved from Atlanta to Houston and I did

work in the air cargo logistics for about another year and

a half.

But again,

I still had that in the back of my mind,

mind, you know,

I wanted to kind of do something on my own.

So I started doing a little bit of research to see

what kind of industry would fit with my creative side as

well as dealing with customers because working in the logistics industry,

my position in sales,

I grew to love dealing with people and building that relationship

and maintaining that relationship.

So I've wanted to find something that I could do that

married both of those together,

so to speak.

In my research,

I came across gift baskets.

So I started doing a little more investigating and I thought,

well, how fitting?

I mean it evolved around creativity and relationship building,

which something that's highly valued for me is I love to

build and maintain relationships.

I was still on the fence whether I should start my

business. I had a lot of questions still and I knew

there'd be a lot of risks.

And then something happened that really pushed me over the edge.

My husband and I were driving through Louisiana on our way

to visit my parents in Georgia and it was nighttime while

we were driving and something caught the corner of my eye

to the right.

I saw this bright light and I just happened to turn

and there was this billboard just in the middle of nowhere

in the darkness and it had a scripture on it that

said, commit to the Lord everything you do and he will

make your plans succeed.

And I'm a woman of faith.

So that to me just kind of really stuck out to

me. And I was really excited about that.

And I told my husband about it and I said,

see, there's my sign.

Well, it's in moments like that that you get real clarity

too, Right?

Because just like why would you randomly turn and see that

in bright lights?

Right, Right.

You know,

as I mentioned,

it was in the middle of nowhere in the dark.

It was just amazing how it just happened to be there

at the right timing.

So sometimes timing is everything.

I often say that you put yourself in paths of opportunity

and so this is kind of like a path where you

were seeing and getting confirmation if you will,

whether it's true divine intervention or not,

people can have their own thoughts about it.

Right. But it's just that interaction at that moment just tells

you yes,

go forward.

Right, exactly.

So I was very excited about it and shortly after returned

from our trip,

I went to the process of getting my business name and

my license and I was so eager to get started and

take the plunge.

I took several classes online and I started going to some

networking groups and through a networking group I met another gift

designer. Her name is Pat And she had been in the

Industry for over 20 years and she has become so invaluable

in her mentorship,

helping me to learn my skill,

hone my skills and different aspects of the business.

I mean just has been terrific and to this day she

still is probably my biggest influence and mentor in the industry.

Let me stop you right here because I want to underline

three things that you just mentioned that I think for people

starting out are really important.

A lot of people who are listening to us right now,

Debbie are in a nine to five because they either financially

need to be,

it's just what they always thought they should be doing.

You know,

there was never an idea of,

boy could I really just make it with a business on

my own.

And I think we often forget how many skills we develop

even when we're working for somebody else.

Right. And I'm sure you developed a whole lot of other

skills besides what we've talked about when you were working in

air, cargo logistics,

but you recognize what portion of that job you really enjoyed

that resonated with you,

that felt good to you as a person,

and then you kind of laid the groundwork in your mind

as to what you were going to do.

You just weren't sure of when the timing was.

So my first point here was just recognizing what you like

and that you were gathering skills even though you weren't owning

your own business yet.

Right. But then at the point that you decided that you

were looking to take the jump,

you didn't just jump,

you did some investigating,

some learning and some research and then setting it up right

by registering your company and like getting every,

like all the foundation in line.

So that's 0.2

and 0.3

is seeking help and advice from someone who's already been there.

Absolutely. You and your mentor,

Pat, I'm wondering if I know who Pat is,

cause I know a couple of pats in the industry so

maybe I do,

I don't know.

But most things that we do,

someone else has already gone there and is a little bit

further ahead of us and to be able to tap into

that is really invaluable.

And I think a lot of people think they have to

do it by themselves or what they're building isn't really there.

Is there something,

I don't know why,

but it takes so much longer when you do it that

way. So those three things in terms of identifying skills from

corporate, really researching and learning as you start entering in and

then having a mentor are all really best practices.

Golden, golden.

So thank you so much for sharing all of that.

So we're at the point where you've got your mentor and

what was the name of your first company?

Okay, the name of my first company was a play on

my last name.

It was called a Dame gifts.

So it was kind of a play on my last name,

which is ADA AME.

So Adames gifts,

That was the original name.

What was that company?

It was a gift basket.

All gift baskets.

Okay, So it was strictly gift baskets?

Correct. And As you mentioned in the intro in June of

25 the day before father's day,

I lost my dad due to complications of ALS and I

was very close to him.

Very sorry to hear that.

Oh, thank you.

And I wanted STEM thing to honor his name,

honor his memory,

keep his memory alive,

so I went ahead and changed it to my daddy's house

of gifts,

have any challenges with changing the name in terms of people

are understanding what you were doing or did you feel like

you lost any sales or any visibility and making a switch?

I think there was a little bit of a challenge and

changing the name and re-educating my customers in that process.

So what I did before I changed the name,

I emailed my customers,

let them know of the name,

change that in 30 days I was changing the name from

a Dame's gifts to my daddy's house of gifts.

The biggest challenge also was the website,

changing the website to a new name.

Going through that whole process of resetting everything up with the

website and some of my clients still didn't quite know that

I had changed company names,

so it was a whole reeducating process for my clients.

I think I may have lost a couple of them for

a short,

brief time,

but once I go back in and visit them and tell

them, you know,

they understood And the reason is so endearing too.

It's part of the whole story.

So that made sense.

It was my daddy's house of gifts.

Then the same type of company as a Dame's gift to

start with.

Yes. To start with.

It was So only a name change.

Yes, exactly.

So it was still doing the gift baskets,

I had the opportunity to open up a brick and mortar

gift shop.

When I had the gift shop,

I still did the gift basket,

but I also expanded into actual gifts so people could come

in and shop and buy different gifts for birthdays,

et cetera.

That expanded into more than just the gift baskets.

Gotcha. And what was your reasoning for going brick and mortar?

It was just an opportunity that had come about.

I had actually tossed around the idea for quite some time.

I thought it would be a way to get my name

out there and the company known and to interact with more

people and it was very educating for me so I learned

a lot more.

It's a lot different when you have a home based business

versus a brick and mortar business.

Talk to us about that a little bit.

Sure. So having the brick and mortar it for me,

what was the challenge is having product that I thought my

customers would be interested in and buying and what I would

do is I would ask my customers occasionally what would you

like to see in the gift shop?

So I would get some feedback that way.

Keeping moving.

Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge when you have the

brick and mortar,

especially if you have food products,

you don't want it sitting on your shelves too long.

And I did have some food products like candy gifts and

things like that.

So that was some of the challenges that I had.

But on the other hand meeting just wonderful people that would

come in.

I had one lady that really touched my heart.

It just sticks out to me as an experience that I'll

never forget.

She came in and she was just kind of looking around

the gift shop and I knew there was something up,

but I wasn't quite sure.

And then she came up to me and she said,

I'm looking for something for my sister in law because I

just lost my brother in law.

And then she just broke down in tears.

And all I could do was just hug her and tell

her, you know,

I'm sorry and everything's gonna be okay.

And I helped her selected a special gift for her sister

in law.

And by the time she left,

she actually had a smile on her face.

So to me it was more than just a gift.

It was a way of communicating on a human level to

somebody. And it touched me so deeply to be able to

have a shoulder that she could feel like she could cry

on, number one,

but also to have a little bit of comfort For sure.

And I think gifts overall,

what are they?

They're further deepening a relationship between people.

Yes. That was a real intense wine and impactful,

but even someone who would have come in and just bought

even more of a routine gift,

maybe it was a hostess gift or something like that.

Your still then an indirect party to helping someone deepen a

relationship. Right.

I kind of feel like that's the value behind the gifting

industry overall.

Absolutely and that's why I'm so blessed to be in this

industry because that's how I feel.

I feel that I'm putting a smile on somebody's face and

I love to do that.

Yup, agreed.

Okay. I have a question here for you and when you

were home-based,

we're going to do a little comparison and contrast here.

When you were home-based,

how were you finding customers?

I would do a lot of networking,

so I would go to chamber of commerce events.

There were several networking groups in the area,

specifically for women's,

such as Montgomery County association of business women.

That was one that was specifically for women.

So I would look mostly at networking groups,

chamber of commerce events and things like that.

And I would go online and research a lot of those

out and also do some presentations at realtor offices.

Also, I would donate a lot of baskets for charitable events

to get my name out there as well.

So some fundraising events I would volunteer,

Hey, I will gladly donate a basket for that.

And they would put out my information and cards to get

attention to my business.

And so your networking events might've been then through all different

parts of the day?

Exactly. Okay.

So then by contrast,

how did you get customers when you were then in a

brick and mortar shop And the brick and mortar shop?

Core signage out in the front.

Also posting on social media,

there was a lot of word of mouth and when I

had the brick and mortar shop,

I was connected to a salon.

So it worked out really well because we shared a hallway

between our two businesses.

So as the ladies would come in for a hair service,

for example,

they were putting color on their hair.

Well, they could come walk through the hallway and come over

to the gift shop and do shopping while they still had

color processing on their hair.

Oh, that's so funny.

Oh yeah,

I love that.

So it worked out really well and so I would get

a lot of business that way from the ladies that would

come in and do hair services.

There was also an aesthetician and people that would come in

and the lady so would come in for their services through

the aesthetician.

They would have to walk through the gift shop.

So I got a lot of traffic that way as well.

And there's also other ladies in the salon that they cut

hair for men and so they would come through the shop

as well.

So I got a lot of traffic that way.

It's a really good point because if somebody is looking for

a brick and mortar shop,

location can be so important because who are you next to?

Who's going to attract another audience who might also come to

you and vice versa.

You bring value then to other people around you as well.

So that's something to look at if you're looking at a

physical location.

So were you still then also networking?

No, I wasn't at that time because I was the sole

proprietor so I did not really have the opportunity to do

the networking.

Okay. Can I just tell you here very smart because although

I'm a proponent of networking,

anytime you can be now at face to face,

I've seen so many businesses where somebody will just shut down

the shop and go to a networking event thinking that that's

a good idea,

which it is because you're out in front of people,

but then people start to realize that well as a shop

it's not necessarily reliable because you never know when you're open

or not.

Right. And that is a downfall to any business.

I think we're on like the fourth best practice that you're

sharing with us study,

but really smart idea,

you kind of substituted different ways,

switching out,

being heavily reliant on networking events with more visibility.

And just by nature of foot traffic,

capturing customers in a different way.

Right, and another thing I used to do when I had

the brick and mortar shop was I would have monthly events.

So I would have,

say at the holidays I would have a sip and shop.

The ladies could come in and they could have maybe a

glass of wine and some cheese and do a little shopping.

Then I may do another event.

We did a back to school event one time in conjunction.

I did it in conjunction with the ladies at the shop

because back to school was a busy time for them,

for haircuts,

for the kids.

So I had a little special going on while they had

the special for the kids for the haircuts going on.

So we would do events in conjunction with each other to

bring to both businesses.

Beautiful. Love that.

Yeah, really good.

What type of challenges?

I mean I think for a lot of people the ultimate

success is having a store of your own.

Having that store on main street,

at least that's the old traditional thinking of being a success.

What types of challenges,

now that you've done that you've done it both ways.

What types of challenges does a store bring you?

Well, the challenge that I had with the store was,

and this is in hindsight,

the location,

even though I did get the foot traffic from the salon,

the location where it was located was just off a main

bridge right over a Lake.

It was a Lake community,

so even though there's a lot of traffic that would go

by if they didn't know that there was an actual little

strip center there,

they would whiz right past it in order to turn around,

they'd have to go like a mile down the road.

So that was a drawback because a lot of people didn't

want to turn around and come back.

That was one of the challenges that I had there and

just maintaining the customer base,

a new customer base to come in.

I mean,

I had my regular customers that would come in,

but getting new customers sometimes was a challenge to come in.

Even though I would do some online advertising and I had

signage out there,

sometimes it was difficult to build the customer base And just

by nature of the costs,

you need more customers to maintain a brick and mortar business

than a home based business too.

So you're not just replacing what you already had.

You are having to,

I don't know,

triple, quadruple.

It depends on,

you know,

how the numbers were playing out.

This is,

It's a great example of an evolution of a business.

Debbie first started as a home based business under one company

name for a wonderful reason,

decided to change the company name,

then going into a brick and mortar shop.

And now right after a word from our sponsor,

we'll see what my daddy's house of gifts looks like today.

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Okay, and so what does my daddy's house of gifts look

like today?

Well, what I've done is I did end up closing the

brick and mortar store February of last year.

I did have it for about a year and a half,

and now I'm concentrating on the core of my business,

which is the gift baskets.

And actually that's my passion.

So I'm back as a home business,

but I've evolved into a little bit different than I was

previously. So now I'm specializing in areas.

So right now I'm specializing in the real estate industry.

I've educated myself to find out what kind of gifts they

would need,

such as referral gifts,

closing gifts,

pop by gifts,

so educated myself In that industry.

So that's where my concentration is right now.

And then my next concentration will be with the hotels and

in the hospitality industry.

So I'm able to stretch it and grow it into a

little different instead of just gifts for a birthday or gift

for a baby shower.

Now it's growing more into larger audiences such as the real

estate industry or the hospitality industry.

So I'm stretching and growing that way.

What I'm really liking about what you're doing.

And again,

for everybody's product it's a little bit different.

But in the gift basket industry,

you want repetitive business and accounts that aren't just going to

be for Christmas.

Like everyone thinks gift baskets.

Oh well Christmas or maybe Valentine's day and Easter,

but you want business that is going to level out your

year, both for production and sales and all that.

And so by going the corporate angle,

really smart and then even going further diving into specific industries,

and I'm saying this more,

I know you know this stubby cause,

that's why you're doing it.

But for our listeners,

just think about it.

If you're buying a gift basket and you're a realtor and

you're buying for your clients,

are you going to more likely buy from somebody who's a

gift basket generalists to all,

or someone who has unique knowledge of why you're buying gifts

and probably has product that more relates to what your intentions

are as a gift.

So you want someone who specializes in an industry where you're

already working,

right? So it's really smart to niche down like that.

And I also love that it's real estate and hospitality industries

because they're so conducive,

they just lead right into gift baskets.

Sure, definitely.

And I've even through the national gift basket association,

there was a class that was offered and I took the

class to get certified in the real estate gifting industry,

so it was an intensive course where we learned specifically for

the real estate industry.

So I received a certification in that as well as received

a certification.

I'm a certified gift designer,

so that shows my commitment to making sure the quality of

the gifts is where it needs to be and that as

a gift designer,

you know you're going to get quality products,

that it's not just going to be some general product that

you may see at your local grocery store.

That I'm committed to the quality of the gifts By product

and design.

Yes, my product and design.

Absolutely. Did you see a difference in the response with people

after you've had those credentials?

I did because I have one particular customer that she is

very, very,

yeah, I would say She's very white.

I would say she's kind of picky or particular in the

design of her gifts.

She's been a customer of mine for about three years,

but once I started improving a little more and took these

classes and all that,

it kind of opened her eyes a little more.

So now she's become a really regular,

but I think it's made a difference when people see that

on my business cards,

certified gift designers,

CGD, and then they ask,

well what is that?

And I explained to them and then they're like,

Oh well that's wonderful.

Kind of like a Florida designer when they get certified as

a floral designer.

In my mind I think,

well then you're paying attention to quality of your design and

quality of your product.

So I think it's an eye opener And it's no small

thing. I mean,

you take a class,

you have to do a test and then also go through

an interview,

right? Yes.

I mean there's a lot to it.

It's not just some little thing.

Right. Really good.

I'm going to put you a little bit on the spot

here. Debbie,

are you ready?

I'm ready.

Okay, so you are great at working with people and you've

done that through a home based business and brick and mortar

shop, et cetera,

but we know that people can be challenging to work with

and just just the way it is.

Yes. Can you recall a time when you had a challenging

situation with a client and how you've dealt with it?

Oh yes,

definitely. I had a client,

she was a realtor and I had gone to the office

and did a presentation to the whole group there and after

the presentation she did a couple of purchases and she had

placed an order with me on some special designed boxes.

I had sent her the proof for her to approve and

I didn't hear from her,

so I sent it again.

I didn't hear from her.

And then finally about three weeks out she said,

well, I'm going to have to cancel the order because we're

changing the design,

et cetera.

And I said,

okay, well I could assist you with that.

Well then I get a charge back from her for the

whole order for about a month.

I would call her every three or four days.

And I didn't hear back from her while I found out

that she was sick.

She had the flu and she was sick unfortunately.

So we talked about it and she explained to me that

she was a little bit confused and so we kind of

worked it out,

but we finally got a resolution to it and I did

partially refund her order and also she was still under the

weather. So I had mailed her a handwritten card.

Hope you're feeling better soon and all that just to make

sure things were smooth because I didn't want to have any

bad feelings or anything like that.

So we did get it resolved.

And what would be some learnings that you could advise our

listeners with a situation like that?

I would advise,

you know,

to make sure that both you and your client are clear

and on the same page.

So even though it was on an invoice and it was

clearly written out for her,

she didn't know that she was going to be changing their

logo or the design of the artwork.

So maybe if there was a little more communication where she

would have said,

well hold up,

we're changing the design,

let's not order it.

Maybe that might have kind of avoid a little bit of

that. Got it.

Okay. And you were talking a little bit earlier about doing

gifts for,

were You offering those at no charge?

Most of the occasions I would and it depended on who

the organization was and if it was in my budget.

And did you see your return?

Were you able to see a direct return that if you

gave a gift for,

let's say it was a golf outing or whatever it is,

that you would pick up client and you could connect client

sales directly to that?

I have on occasion,

I mean it doesn't work out all the time that way,

but on occasion I have,

for me,

I'm a giving person.

So to me it was something that I wanted to do

from my heart.

So I felt like it was helping the organization and it

was just my way of giving back to the community as

well. So even if I didn't see a return to me,

it made me feel good that at least I was giving

back to my community.

And the other thing you said around that,

which is important is if it was in your budget.

So that leads me to believe that you have a certain

dollar allocation each year of the amount of money you'll spend

towards gifts that are going to be donations.

Yes, yes.

Because I mean even though I would love to give to

every organization that asks,

we've got to be cognizant of what our expenses are too.

So I have to budget myself every year.

Okay, this is how much I'm going to budget for the

specific organizations and try to stay within that budget.

I think this is an interesting point because with gifts of

any sort,

whether it's gift baskets or candles or whatever,

we do get approached for charity a lot.

Donations or whatever,

just just by nature they're going to look at businesses in

the area and can you donate something,

et cetera.

Correct me if I'm wrong,

but I think going in with the approach that it is

a true donation because everyone says you're going to get so

much visibility and you're going to get customers from this and

all that.

I think for a business base you should go in and

think of it just as that as a donation.

Yes, I agree with you there because as I mentioned,

I've had a few returns,

but I would say a good percentage.

I have not.

So you just kind of have to look at who you're

donating to.

Is it really worth it for you and do you really

just want to go in there with the mindset,

well, I'll get business from this or I'm just doing it

as a gift,

as a donation.

Right. And let's talk a little bit about your customers today.

How do you ensure that they'll continue coming back for business?

Well, I love to spoil my customers.

I really love to spoil my customers because obviously that's why

I'm in business is because of my customers.

So I've done a couple of things to keep them interested

in coming back.

Like I'm implemented to every Ward's program where they can earn

points towards rewards such as coupons for discounts.

I even have,

if they get so many points,

they get a free gift and I always try to go

above and beyond what they ask.

Like I have a customer that she'll order so many pop

by gifts every month,

so what I'll do is I may throw in a couple

of extra for her as a freebie just to say,

Hey, this is a free before you,

just as a thank you.

So you make sure to point out that you've done that

too. You don't just let her discover it?

Yes. Okay,

good, good,

good. Because I don't want her to come back and say,

did you make a mistake?

Like, no,

no, that's a freebie.

That's for you.

I think it's important sometimes if it's not obvious that you

don't have to brag about it or say,

Oh great me,

but just to kind of slip it in the conversation so

that they recognize you actually have done something special.

Yes, exactly.

In fact,

I had one situation where my mortgage lender,

client, I had done a pop Popeye program for her where

we order some chocolate keys for her and I ended up

with three extra for her.

So I just kind of in a casual conversation,

Oh by the way,

again, three freebies and she was like,

yay. Wonderful.

So above and beyond for sure.

Let me jump in here real quick for an explanation.

You've heard Debbie mentioned now a couple of times pop by

gifts and I recognize that a lot of you may have

no idea what she's talking about.

A Popeye gift is a relatively inexpensive gift that includes some

type of a message that people can use for prospecting or

to thank a customer for a referral.

So realtors or financial industries or anyone in our service industry

might purchase a number of these each month and then they

will in turn hand them out as reminders and thank you's,

et cetera to their customers.

And then what I do is with my custom gift baskets,

I always make sure that I take pictures and send them

to them before I finalize the gift.

To make sure it's exactly what they want because it's their

gift, it is customized and I want them to feel like

they're having a say in it.

So I always tell them,

this is your gift.

I want to make sure you're happy with it and that

your recipient will be just as happy with the gift as

well. Oh,

interesting. So do you let them make adjustments then after you

send the picture?

Yes I do.

So I won't wrap it and I'll send the pictures of

it unwrapped and I'll tell them,

okay, we could change something in there if you want.

I can change something out.

But I've been real fortunate that 99% of the time the

customers have been happy with it.

So I don't want to jinx myself.

But so far so good with that.

And I think they feel like they got a part in

customizing that gift.

Once they see the photos and they feel like they have

that freedom to make a change if they want.

Love it.

Yeah. Not only that,

but when you order a gift and specially if it's customized,

how do you ever know what's actually going out because it's

not coming to you.

It's going to whoever you're sending it to.

Yes, absolutely.

That's just added confidence that what you're sending looks beautiful,

contains great product and all of that.

So love that you do that and that is a big

extra step cause I'm sure that takes a lot of extra

time too.

Yeah it does.

But I'd rather have that extra step and that assurance that

they're seeing it and what they see in the picture is

exactly what either they're going to get to give to their

client or what their client's going to be receiving once I

send it out.

And you equate all of these things then to retaining customers

so that they come back over and over.

Yes, definitely.

Beautiful. Okay.

So if you were to think of,

I feel like I'm,

well we are doing an interview,

but I'm feeling like this is 20 questions.

If you think about as you go through your day,

is there any app or tool that you're using that you

think our listeners could benefit from knowing about?

Definitely for my website,

I do use big commerce,

which it's great.

I can update my website with new products,

et cetera,

but also the tool that I use in big commerce is

the tool that helps me keep up with my orders.

So once I receive an order,

especially if it's a custom order,

I can enter it into the system.

I can see the status if it's a waiting fulfillment,

if it's waiting for payment,

if it's waiting to be shipped.

So that's something that has become an invaluable tool for me

to help keep up with my orders.

Because in the past I was pinning him onto a bulletin

board and going through them.

So at least here it's a snapshot.

I could look at the computer and say,

okay, this is my orders,

these are the orders that I have for the day,

and that helps me keep up with that.

For advertising,

social media advertising specifically,

I love the app called Canva.

I'm not sure if you use that or no.

Love Canva.

Oh it's,

I love it.

I'm so in love with it.

So I'll do a lot of social media promotional posts through

canvas. I'll put it on my Facebook and then I'll post

it on my Instagram.

So I love Canva and it's free.

So that's the good part.

That is free.

Yeah. And the other thing that's so great about canvas,

it sounds like you're doing exactly this,

is you can make a design once and then Canva will

resize it for the different platforms.

Yes. So I really enjoy that aspect of it.

And then what I'll do is I'll take those social media

posts and then once I get like a collection of them,

I'll go and convert it into my newsletter,

so to speak,

through MailChimp.

So they're nice looking posts and then I consolidate a few

of them.

If I'm doing a specific promotion.

For example,

I did one like a beach theme,

so I had some beach theme to posting.

So I put it together and send it out in my

newsletter and say I'm dreaming of the beach during this white

weather or something to that effect.

Just cold out there During the beautiful snow Debbie.

So like let's do a beach Saying,

you know,

get people out of the winter blues.

It was so do something like that.

And MailChimp has been great for that.

And you're also repurposing so you're not having to recreate images.

Yeah. So that saves some time there.

So anything to save some time.

So that's a big plus for that as well.

And another app that I use,

which ties in with big commerce,

it goes back to the rewards points program is called smile.

Oh. And it works through become worse and it keeps track

of my customer's points.

So when they order,

it'll keep track of their points so they'll know,

okay, I'm so many points away from say a $10 coupon.

So they could log into their account on the website and

see how far away they are from earning a coupon.

So that's another app that I really like to use.

Also Very nice.

And his smile.

Oh, just for big commerce.

I believe it's just for big commerce.

That's the integration that I use it for.

My guess is anybody who's on any type of a platform,

at least it's a way to research and you know that

type of functionality is out there.

It's a way to research and see.

It's not a way,

but it's,

you can research and see if there's something that's applicable to

whatever platform you're on.

Yes. And I think so much better than using,

you know how you'll see the little loyalty cards like in

a coffee shop or something where it's a punch.

You know,

how would you do that if you're home based and you're

not really seeing a customer cause they're calling in the order

or online orders.

Exactly. Just makes you look so much more professional.

And the customers love it because everybody likes to get a

coupon. I recently had a customer that she had so many

points that she had a $25 coupon off her order,

so that was a big deal to her.

We all love things like that,

you know,

rewards points and getting coupons and things like that.

So what would you say to somebody who's listening,

who's maybe just happened upon this show?

Maybe they've listened to a couple of podcasts,

I don't know,

and they're now starting to get serious and thinking,

okay, maybe I will start a business.

What would you say to that person?

I would say number one,

educate yourself in your chosen field as much as possible because

knowledge is power.

Do a lot of research with the internet.

There's a plethora of things that you could read and research

to learn.

Take online classes if your chamber of commerce offers any specific

classes, not necessarily related to your field,

but maybe just to running a business.

And there there's a small business association that some colleges,

I think our local college community college has a small business

center that they could go to and they could learn about

marketing and learn about actually running a business.

So those are some good resources.

Also, I would like we were talking about before about a

mentor. Try to find somebody who's been in the industry for

a while and talk to them and find out what they've

done and what helped them succeed and some of the battles

that they face because it's always important to find out from

people that have already been there and they can help you

with that.

So I would definitely try to find a mentor and if

you can work for free with them or for,

for them.

My friend Pat,

that's how I started with her is I would go to

her house.

She's got a huge studio.

So I would go and I would help her do her

projects. So she would have some big orders and I would

go there and actually help her with them.

And that helped to hone my skills And to learn to

put things together a certain way.

So if you can work with them All on the up

and up because she also knew you were looking at starting

your own business.

Yes, absolutely.

So you know,

so it helps me to practice my skills.

And then I would say don't give up.

I mean,

I know there's going to be days,

it's going to be hard and you're going to feel like

giving up,

but don't give up.

And I have a cute little story about that.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a

career day presenter for some first graders at a local elementary

school and I had a cute little PowerPoint,

so it was very interactive with the kids and we had

a lot of fun with it.

And one of the slides of my presentation was about characteristics

and skills that an entrepreneur may have.

So after the slide I said,

okay, pop quiz.

What were some of the skills and characteristics that we just

mentioned? Of course,

you know,

they'd get a piece of candy as their prize.

So as the kids were giving their answers,

there was one young man and sitting in the center of

the class and I called on him and he just looked

at me and he said,

don't ever,

ever give up.

And it just amazed me.

That wasn't even on the slide.

And it just amazed me that really hit home for me.

Yeah. I mean,

no matter what,

just like I think in a nine to five where you

get frustrated and you're so angry,

those types of things don't go away.

When you have your own business,

right? You're still going to have days that are challenging and

you just,

like you said,

you don't give up.

And what is your candle say?

That's right.

My candle says that each day is a new day in

it and a chance for a fresh start.

A new beginnings.

There you go.

Do you notice how good we were?

We just tied it all together.

We tied it all together.

We did.

We did.

And now to you,

Debbie, a gift specialist,

I'd like to offer you a virtual gift.

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

So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable

Heights that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside your box?

Oh wow.

Well, a dream that I've had for many years is to

have a horse ranch where kids with cancer and their families

could come to spend a weekend free of charge and to

help them forget about the struggles of only for short time.

I love kids and I love horses and also the camp

would also be for women who are going through cancer cause

I'm actually a 10 year stage three breast cancer survivor.

This is something near and dear to my heart.

2008 going through this and on my road to recovery.

One of the things that really helped me was my daughter

and I were riding our horses together a lot and we'd

ride with our neighbors and that was so therapeutic for me

because horses are very therapeutic.

I mean there's a lot of writing schools,

therapeutic writing schools,

kids that are Sick or kids that have challenges and things

like that.

For me to have something like that,

it would just really be a dream for me.

It sounds beautiful.

I love it.

And you know the dreams always start with the thought at

first. Yes.

Just like that night when you were driving back to Georgia.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Oh my gosh.

Debbie, thank you so much.

This has been absolutely fabulous.

If people want to take a look at your website and

see what you're offering,

where would you send them?

Okay. I'd send them to my website,

which is my daddy's house of gifts.com.

Perfect. And they could shop online so you could actually order

online or if you prefer a customized gift,

there's a tab that you can also click on that says

order a custom gift basket.

So there are a couple of options.

Beautiful. Well,

thank you so much,

Debbie. I've gotten to know you a whole lot better during

this interview.

I am so impressed with what you're doing and I love

the fact that you've had a few stages like home-based,

then went brick and mortar,

so you got a feel for that for a little while.

Now you're back home based,

but not back to what you used to do.

You continue to evolve and develop and add additional levels of

professionalism, complexity,

upgrading, you know,

whatever you want to call it,

but you just keep advancing,

which is such a great example for our listeners,

so thank you so much for sharing everything today.

I really appreciate you being on the show.

Thank you,

Sue. I really appreciate it.

Okay, that's a wrap.

I have two things I want to share with you before

we sign off.

First off,

remember to go and watch that power of purpose and inspired

planner video.

You can see it@giftbizonunwrapped.com

forward slash.

Planner. There's no opt in.

You go directly to the video number two.

I have a real treat for you coming up next week.

This will be the second of my online coaching calls.

Each call that I've selected to do here brings a little

bit of a different twist,

a little different challenge that people are having with their business

so that you can see a wide array of solutions and

directions that you can take as you're just starting out,

or if you've been in business for a while and have

gotten stuck.

I can't wait to share with you next week's online coaching

call until then,

have a great productive week.