285 – Integrating Private Label Products into Your Small Business with Anne Mitchell of So El Paso

Gift biz unwrapped episode 285.

Someone needs to do this.

I'm fine.

I'm like,

Hey, why don't you do it?

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.

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

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Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there.

And I'm so happy that you're joining me here today for

stump. A quick announcement about the new Facebook shops.

I did a challenge in my Facebook group gift biz breeze

a few weeks ago now.

Well, maybe it's even been a month to get people up

and running on this new platform.

It was so exciting to see current business owners open another

channel for money to flow into their business,

and also new makers getting their first sales ever based on

all the feedback I received.

I've now turned this challenge into a mini chorus.

If you've been thinking about making money from your handmade products,

but haven't formally started a business yet you definitely want to

check this out.

The holidays are coming so it's the perfect time to have

some of those gifting dollars.

Come your way.

Get more details at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash Facebook shops.

I'm so excited to get you over to the show today.

You're going to hear from a retail store pro.

Remember those things,

brick and mortar shops and is on her third.

So I think we can call her a pro you'll hear

her journey from one shop to another.

And what she's learned along the way,

including how she identifies the products to carry in her store,

what led to private labeling of her own line of products

and the single strategy that led to getting into total wine,

whole foods and airport shops.

And she did this pretty easily.

Make sure to stay until the end when she shares,

where she's headed next.

Nope, not another store,

something even bigger stay tuned.

I am so excited to introduce you today to Ann Mitchell

of so El Paso after opening and selling one retail store

in Austin and then another in El Paso.

It's fair to say that Anne has a good grasp on

the retail landscape in Texas.

What she realized during that time was that there were no

available to represent El Paso.

You see she's a fourth generation El Paso Texan,

and takes great pride in having attended Texas a and M

during five successful football seasons in the Southwest conference.

Yay for that,

but not being able to stock products representing El Paso simply

wouldn't do enter.

So El Paso,

her current venture,

it's now grown into a retail wholesale and internet business,

offering a line of gourmet products,

including salsas jams,

nuts and more,

and welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

Wow, thank you.

That was a nice introduction.

You've got a lot going on in your intro and we're

going to get into some of that.

What you shared with me earlier,

we're going to talk about that,

cause I want to get to exactly how you got to

so El Paso,

but before we do that,

I know you're a listener to the show.

So, you know,

what's coming.

I do.

It's the candle question.

If you were to share with everybody,

a vision of you through a motivational candle,

what would it look like by color and quotes?

Well, I'm not very creative,

so I'd probably copy my favorite candle,

which is rewind out of Charleston,

South Carolina.

And they're made out of wine bottles,

recycled wine bottles,

and they have wine since.

So mine would probably be a Murlow and the motivational quote

would be,

which is my GoTo motivational quote is the view only changes

for the lead dog,

but then not add on the back because there's a one

candle I'd probably add work hard,

play hard,

Love the,

both. Tell me more about the view only changes for the

lead dog.

What does that mean?

Well, it was a family friend of ours,

mr. Gunny,

and I mean,

I must have been in sixth grade when I heard this

and I was like,

Holy cow,

that totally makes sense because the dog behind me is looking

at obviously my buttocks and who wants to go through life

doing that.

So to me,

the view only changes for the lead dog.

You got to keep pushing and keep going and make sure

that everything is new and exciting in front of you.

And not just the same old,

same old.

And I was thinking of that.

I was thinking,

well, when you're the lead dog,

there's no one in front of you.

So you're making your own way,

which I kind of liked too.

Yeah, that makes sense too.

I wasn't sure where you were going with that.

So you can look at it from both ways from both

sides. You don't want to be looking at someone else's rear

end, but much better to pave your own way in the

future, maybe.

Correct. I love it.

All right.

So super curious.

And because in your intro,

so GIF is listeners.

When I have a guest on the show,

I ask them to give me a little bit of an

intro, but then I'll improvise on it too.

But you have some interesting experience before you started into your

own businesses.

So share with us a little bit more about that.

was pretty much in the tank.

So I upped and moved the lead dog to Phoenix,

Arizona, and I was doing some temp work and they called

and said,

Hey, we have a job with Apple computer as a training

coordinator. And I'm like,

sure. Oh no,

I think I'll start with the education group.

And that was what I did.

I'm like,

sure. I think it was like six 50 an hour.

And I went there and just the whole,

it was the Phoenix sales office.

So it was just,

everyone was outgoing.

And I mean,

it was awesome,

great place to work.

And I was answering the phone here.

I'm with a finance degree,

I'm like so excited.

I'm making six 50 an hour.

Another position came open and they said,

the temp agency said,

usually when people go in as temps,

they end up going permanent because this office is really growing

quickly. So I'm like,

okay, whatever.

I was just happy to have a place to get up

and go,

right. Well in a nice business to be going to,

of course It was a great time during Apple.

So I started there and then I ended up getting a

permanent position within like two weeks and then it was Christmas

and I got two weeks paid vacation and I had health

insurance. I was like,

Holy cow,

this is looking really good right now.

But yeah,

because I didn't have that good a grades in college,

which my husband will laugh at.

So I just kind of landed at Apple and I just

worked hard and they had this huge copy machine and it

was brand new and no one knew how to use it.

And so I just became the copy queen.

I was like,

I know how to use the copier and everyone have to

come to me cause I knew how to use the copier.

So it was really a fun time.

And I had this great experience and we moved into a

big high rise and it was great time,

good money.

They would give bonuses every quarter because the company was doing

so well.

This is windows was just starting to come out and the

training department and what we called windows,

Tammy Faye dos,

because it was just dust just with bad makeup.

So it was kind of a cocky time at Apple,

which is,

they're still cocky.

But Sue,

I'm sad to say that I had Apple stock at $50

back then.

Oh my,

I sold it.

You did it.

Oh, Because it started tanking and Oh,

I thought I needed some money at the time,

which, Oh,

well don't look back.

Only look forward.

Right. It was a great time where I first real manager

lived. He was in orange County and his advice to me

was it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission and just

let me go.

So I did what I did and just moved on and

it was a great company to work for.

What kind of skills do you feel you picked up from

there? It was really just make it happen.

I mean,

there was not a lot of micromanaging.

There was a lot of trust put in the employees and

it was just do it until we tell you you're doing

it wrong.

And that was great for me because we were kind of

creating this little training department and giveaways and how we we're

catering. And no one really was looking over my shoulder.

I was just doing it.

And I thrived in that environment because that's just what it

did. But I think that's probably the biggest thing I got

and then they treated their employees so well,

we would go to basketball games and we,

there was always something going on.

There was a tee shirt for every occasion.

It was just,

they treated the employees well and do your job.

Well, that's a great mindset to start acquiring.

I think right as you're starting out too in the workforce

is not being afraid of trying things and just being able

to be free and what you're going to work because so

many people,

they have people who are hovering over them,

micromanaging 7,000

layers of approval for anything,

but for you to be able to have that freewheeling,

let's try it.

Let's see it.

Let's create things and move forward without a lot of limitations

is kind of a great mindset as you move forward,

as I'm just observing where you went from here.

And I asked that question because there are a lot of

people who are listening,

who are in corporate jobs right now,

or some type of work.

And I keep wanting to drill down to the point that

there are things that you can be learning that can help

you as you grow later with what you're doing right now.

Sure. So there was that,

and there was some more computer experience within your realm.

Right. But let's just jump forward.

Cause I know there's so much to talk about with,

so El Paso,

where was the turning point or how was it that you

decided that you were going to jump ship and working for

somebody else and create something for yourself?

They lived in Austin.

I was working for a software company.

I was traveling all over and it was just really exhausting.

And my mom gave me this quote that said,

don't sacrifice yourself on the altar of someone else's success.

That really hit me hard in the gut because I was

like, gosh,

I'm working so hard for someone else.

And it was good,

but it just was not really that fulfilling.

So I just quit.

I said,

I'm done.

And I had taken a Johnson O'Connor test when I was

16. It's like an aptitude test and tells you what you're

good at.

And they had told me,

Oh, you like big picture.

So you used to stay in the big picture,

but you're also good with numbers.

So you could have your own business and do your finances.

And I'm like,

Oh, okay.

So that was always in the back of my mind because

I had worked at a Papa Gallo shop back in my

high school days and I really liked retail.

So I thought,

you know,

what the heck I'm going to go for it.

And we had a family friend here in El Paso that

was making furniture at a tobacco barn wood from Tennessee.

And I fell in love with it.

And I thought I'm an open a store outside of Austin

and sell this furniture.

So that's where it all started was with this tobacco barn

furniture and home accessories.

And it kind of grew into the typical Texas cow skin

rugs and horns and limestone lamps and that kind of thing.

That sounds amazing.

Yeah. It was fun.

It was a lot of fun.

And then my husband,

actually, we got engaged and married and he actually quit his

job and we ran the store together and it was really

a lot of fun until the guy who made the furniture

wanted to retire.

So we bought the furniture manufacturing company that was in El

Paso and we moved to El Paso right.

At the same time I was pregnant and we thought we

would do both the manufacturing and the retail store and that

just didn't work.

So we ended up selling the retail store in Sausalito,

Texas, and then doing just the manufacturing.

So then I stayed home for a little bit.

I got bored.

I'm like,

Oh, so bored.

And there was not a full service maybe store in town.

So I opened that called duck duck goose.

And that was a ton of fun.

I mean,

everyone was happy and,

Oh, it's my first grand baby.

Or I finally have a girl or it was just a

really, really fun shop,

really upbeat and registries.

And it was a of fun.

And then I ended up selling that I had a hard

time getting pregnant and I finally got pregnant with my daughter

through in vitro.

And at the same time,

my 15 year old niece had died of cancer.

And so here,

I'm working this business and I'm like,

why am I working?

I tried so hard for this baby.

And I have her and my niece died.

A life is short.

I just decided to close up the store.

I'm like,

I'm done.

My lease was up.

I'm done.

There's gotta be more of the life than this.

And I ended up selling it.

So that turned out to be a nice thing.

It's amazing how you're so driven towards one thing and life

events then can re allocate priorities.

Cause it's so easy to just focus so much on something

that you're building.

Absolutely. Take me back or try.

And remember when you were first getting into retail,

you had experienced because you'd worked at another shop,

but not owning your own retail store.

What types of things for somebody who might be thinking of

starting up?

It might sound crazy in this time to even be asking

this question,

but I do see people seeing an opportunity in brick and

mortar, retail shops today.

What types of things do you wish you would have known

before you got started or advice you would give to somebody

today? Who's thinking of opening a retail shop?

Well, all three of my stores are very different.

I'll just take so El Paso,

I mean trade shows are key and I know it's COVID

and all that,

but I mean just going and really knowing that when you're

buying product,

that's the most important thing buying good product is a number

one, right?

And trying to do research on the internet and all that.

It's not as effective as going in person,

meeting your vendors.

Then when you have a question,

you call them when you want to reorder,

they know you.

I mean,

to me,

trade shows,

whether I'd go the Dallas market or I go to the

Las Vegas souvenir trade show or the debit Quintana's gift basket,

convention, trade shows and meeting people.

And your vendors is key.

I think.

And key because you understand the product better,

you get more deals.

Like why do you feel that that's important?

Well, I think all of the above,

I think you go and they'll give you a shipping deal.

If this show special,

which is anytime you can save money on shipping,

I am like,

I hate paying for shipping.

It's a lot of money.

You're right.

That's my pain points.

And I think just making those connections,

seeing what the trends are seeing what's coming down the pike.

I mean,

those people,

they're professionals,

they're there to help you.

And you're not at first,

I'd be like,

Oh, I have to take three days off and go to

the show and it's expensive and blah,

blah, blah.

But once you change your mindset of like,

look, this is everything,

it's your product.

So if you don't have a good product on the shelf,

it's not going to sell it.

Didn't matter how pretty you make it.

Look on the shelf,

you got to have the product.

So once I kinda got into the mindset of,

alright, I need to really take time.

And this is step one.

You can't miss step one.

You can't miss step one.

You're right.

I'm also thinking,

cause I do trade shows a lot as well.

That that connection that you get allows you to really understand

what's behind a product from a way deeper level,

just like you and I,

how we're talking right now about your products,

you understand the story and the history,

and you can talk to it with people who are in

the shop and you know them more intimately,

which makes a customer more interested in buying Well,

it's part of the experience of buying.

If you know the guy who made it or the gal

who made it or this person does this,

or they came from forever.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean,

and that's what brick and mortar is all about the experience,

right? I mean,

you don't get that online in our store here.

It's an experience.

It's not just when I hire people.

I'm like,

we're not seven 11.

We don't just check people out.

We greet them and we welcomed them and we're glad they're

here and ask them about why they're here or whatever.

So brick and mortar should be an experience.

Right. Alright.

So let's move into,

so El Paso,

did you start the store before you started the so El

Paso brand?

No. Okay.

So you tell the story.

Well, there was a company called a Pesa chili company and

they had salsas and kind of same thing I'm doing.

And they went bankrupt in like,

Oh eight.

And there was nothing that represented El Paso.

And as you mentioned in our intro,

I'll passes in the mountain standard time.

We're not really Texas.

We're not really New Mexico.

We're not really Mexico.

I mean,

we are our own little weird,

unique redheaded stepchild over here in the West,

Texas. It drove me crazy that there was nothing that really

represented El Paso.

You know,

my friend was getting married and I wanted to give him

something from his wife or his fiance,

something from El Paso.

And I couldn't,

I couldn't find anything.

I'm like,

someone needs to do this.

And finally I'm like,

Hey, why don't you do it?

Who's that someone,

Hey Jeremy,

why don't you do it?

So I ended up,

I thought I was working for a personnel agency doing their

marketing. And so I was only working 20 hours a week

for them.

So I started on the side and I went to the

Dallas market and learned all I could about private labeling,

which is whole nother thing.

And the health department and doing it legally,

I already had my LLC lined up.

So I was good there.

But then I had to come up with a logo and

a name and a brand.

And I had had my 30 year high school reunion and

we kept laughing about things like going over to Mexico and

drinking beer at age 15 or whatever.

And we'd say,

Oh my gosh,

that's so El Paso or going to the levy and having

a bonfire that's so El Paso and we'd laugh because these

people came from all over back to El Paso and they're

like, that doesn't happen anywhere else.

That's so El Pesa.

So it just kind of stuck to me that there is

something unique about it.

And I liked the name.

So El Paso,

so started doing that.

So the name came easy for the most part.

Okay. Pretty easy.

And then the logo that was June,

and then by December,

I was kind of ready.

And then March,

I got a call from this local business newspaper,

the El Paso ink.

And they're like,

Hey, you want to just story on your products?

I'm like,

well, I'm not really ready,

but I really didn't want another retail store because it's a

lot of hours and duck,

duck goose.

I was the one.

So like,

Oh, I went to your store and you weren't there.

And I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

are you kidding me?

I'm there like 23 out of 24 hours a day.

So I really didn't want another retail store,

but I just was going to do corporate gifts.

And that kind of,

how did you get Into product development and actually figuring out

what was going to be different apart from the wording and

the branding and all of that.

What about the product?

Well, that's kind of the funny thing of my whole career.

When I was talking to someone the other day,

I was like,

I did really didn't know how to use an Apple computer.

When I got a job there,

I was dragging stuff to the trash,

but it was just not in the trash can.

It was all around the trashcan.

And someone said,

why is this stuff all around in the trashcan?

I'm like,

Oh, I'm sorry.

In a way,

no, you have to have thing light up.

I'm like,

Oh, I really didn't know how to use computer.

And I went to the next computer company and then I

worked for a software programming company.

Well, I don't know how to program a computer.

I don't know how to do my product anywhere.

I'm just more sales and marketing.

So you can take already recipes that are already made and

just private label them.

Or you can take that and you can tweak them a

little bit.

There's different ways to do it.

I haven't come up with anything all 100% my own.

That's not my strong suit.

So I know you have a lot of bakers and crafters

and all that,

and I'm sure they could do it,

but that's just not my strong suit.

Are you private labeling?

Is that what you're doing?

You're taking existing product and private labeling them,

but it's all product then that still represents and has the

feel and the vibe of El Paso.

Right. Got it.

And so what types of legal requirements are there?

So you're not actually cooking in a kitchen or anything either.

No, at first I thought it might be a weakness,

but I watch they ever watched the show,

the profit with Marcus.

Limonus love him.

Yeah. Actually,

you know,

he's from my area.

He's right here.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

I love that show.

Yeah. I'm not into manufacturing.

I'm more sales and marketing and branding and that kind of

thing. Okay.

This is really smart.

So you took where you knew your skills already were matched

it with an opportunity that you saw in the market and

something that you had been looking for.

And I think that's a really good key to all of

our listeners too.

When you said somebody should,

anytime those words come out,

you should turn the mirror and be like,

Hm, is this an opportunity for me?

Right, right.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I love this.

So because then you're not dividing all of your attention then

on production and all of that,

you can really do sales and marketing where you already know

that you Excel was your first product,

then salsa.

It was,

it was salsa.

And then also a line of cons.

And when I went to Dallas to try to find some

people, I got some really good advice.

There was this guy,

he makes it's come mojo something I can't remember,

but he wears this funny hat.

And he was like,

so nice.

The whole cottage law doesn't work for me because I don't

manufacture it.

He's like,

you got to do this,

you got to do this.

He like gave me like a roadmap of how to private

label stuff and how to not to get in trouble with

the health department,

that kind of thing.

And I mean,

I was just soaking it all in speaking of trade shows,

it was at a trade show.

People are very willing to help you.

So yeah,

that's where it kind of started with the pecans.

And then I had a tortilla soup and then I had

the salsas,

which is obviously El Paso.

And then it's kind of grown from there and I've added

new things and Oh,

should have this and this year,

we're going to add a chicken case.

So a jarred case,

which I'm really excited about.

Ooh, yeah.

That one I tweaked.

Cause it wasn't hot enough.

I'm like,

we need more spice here.

Come on.

Let's spice it up.

Right. But you're still not making that.

Then the,

whoever was your base for that is adding it in for

you as your special brand.

Correct. And then the other side of that also is that

probably is not fun,

but I have to have liability insurance.

So I have to make sure whoever's manufacturing has liability insurance

and I have to have liability insurance because if it comes

back and someone gets sick or something,

we both are responsible.

Interesting. I didn't know that.

So even if you're not actually making it,

you still need to have liability insurance as well.

That makes sense though.

Cause it's your label on the product,

correct? We're the first call,

but I'm thinking the way you did this,

then allowed you to build products within your brand much faster.

Oh, absolutely.

Of course.

Yeah. And I mean,

most people do private label.

I mean,

there's very few people who create something in a big way.

And then when I order,

like I'm going to order this salsa or the case though,

and it's going to be three pallets of CAISO,

but it's like,

I don't have a manufacturing facility that could do all that.

So I didn't want to retail store.

And then I realized Christmas is coming and I needed someone

to do a popup shop.

Well, that's a lot of work.

So I thought,

okay, well let me just open a small store as like

a showroom.

And then we opened the small store,

1300 square feet in this old part of the neighborhood of

El Paso,

current place.

And people came in and they start asking for souvenirs.

I'm like,

what do you have a snow globe?

And then do you have a thimble?

And do you have a T shirt?

And everyday we'd laugh.

Like my manager.

And I would just laugh like,

Oh my gosh.

I said,

start writing this stuff down.

So we started writing it down and then I went to

the souvenir trade show in Las Vegas.

So now we're a souvenir store with also food items,

which really wasn't ever the idea,

but that's what we're doing well,

but you got to listen to what people want.

Right? Yeah.

And we meet people from all over the world.

It's really a lot of fun to be kind of the

ambassadors for El Paso.

And so now we have a store.

So what was the craziest thing?

Cause you certainly just because one person comes in and says

they want something doesn't automatically mean you turn around and have

it. Then what was the absolute,

craziest thing that was asked for?

I'm going to say the thimble because I didn't think people

still collected symbols.

And then on the back of that is the spoon.

I'm like people really doing that stuff.

Shot glasses.

Yes. Then bowls and spoons.

I don't know.

Shot glasses.

Yeah. All day long.

And then snow Globes.

I'm like,

Oh good God.

We live in the desert.

People. You don't need a snow globe.

Oh, good point.

And let me tell you,

we have all three.

You do.

Oh, that's fun.

So you ended up getting your small shop.

Is your retail portion still that initial shop actually.

When did you start the shop?

Right? So that's only six years ago or five years ago

at this point.

So when did you start retail?

the holiday shoppers That very first holiday season.

Okay. So you've been there for like five years.

So you're in the same location that you started in.

And so when you started your retail shop,

how did you get the word out?

Cause now remember you're the sales and marketing person here.

Right? So how did you get people to know that you

were there?

Okay. More conversation about selling through a brick and mortar shop.

Come in your way after this quick break.

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I had a little hiccup there.

I hurt my hip.

I tore my labrum in my hip.

So I was on a Walker from like April to August

for my surgery.

And then I moved into my store in September.

And so I was on pain meds set up for six

weeks. So I had a little hiccup there.

I'd say Basically word of mouth and like Facebook.

I mean,

at the time I was not in any position to be

really fired up about doing anything Like the worst time to

do it.

Really. You could have so easily said,

you know what,

holidays, it would be a good idea,

but this just can't happen this year,

given that you weren't very mobile and in pain,

I ended up taking meds Pain meds.

Well maybe that's what led to the dosage then I'm not

sure. Yeah.

It was not the ideal situation,

but Pretty incredible that you made the decision and just still

did it.

I think that's awesome.

Was it the location?

You just really liked it and decided,

okay, if I'm doing it,

I've got to do it.

Cause I want this spot.

Well that,

and it's a neat old town part of El Paso.

It's kind of,

it's a cute little,

I used to buy.

I used to shop in the center when I was young

and buy my clothes.

It was just a cute little location and the price was

right. The landlord was willing to work with us and he's

a great guy.

And the other thing with private label is you have to

have an address.

You can't just private label and put PO box whatever.

So by law you had to have an address.

And I thought,

you know,

working out of like an office as my address,

you know,

it just wasn't right.

So I thought,

well, this is a good address,

a good location.

It was a three year lease,

which was very doable.

And you already knew retail.

So you really knew what you were getting into.

Yeah. Yeah.

It doesn't scare me.

So what was your experience that first year?

Holiday season?

I mean,

You know,

I kinda think we did the junior league fair that year

maybe. And we got some more exposure that way we did

pretty well.

I don't remember.

I wasn't really going after anybody.

That was the problem.

Cause like I said,

I was a little under the weather,

but to be honest,

I don't really remember.

Did you have people helping you,

given that you were alone?

I did.

I heard one person and she helped me out.

And then I think we might've hired some like a college

student to help part time.

Then what really has helped is people would Google souvenirs and

then they would come in so that when we started doing

souvenirs, like,

Oh, okay,

well this makes sense.

But honestly Sue,

I don't remember that first.

Okay. Well you get a pass cause you were on pain

meds. I give you kudos for just doing it because like

I was just saying so many people would say,

okay, it's not happening right now.

Like there's not a chance,

but to your point of always trying things and taking action

and seeing the big picture,

you just went for it.

So I think that's awesome.

How has the progression of the shop gone from that point

to today?

Well, The store at the time was divided kind of in

half long wise.

So half of it was the retail and half as a

back room and the retail store,

once we started doing souvenirs,

this was too small people couldn't get in and out and

around and about.

So we kind of had to bust out a little wall

and put part of our backroom as part of the retail

store, which gave us a little more breathing room and a

little more room to display things and that kind of thing.

And then we started realizing that a $20 t-shirts a lot

more fun to sell than a $5 shot glass.

So we started bringing in t-shirts and then Christmas ornaments and

all that stuff.

So we've really just been able to expand our souvenir section

part of it because we have more room.

Gotcha. And all this time you're also then doing wholesale,

Kind of fell into the wholesale that had a friend of

mine who's has been worked at the airport for parodies,

which runs the gift shops and like,

Hey, let's try your products.

And so I very quickly got into the airport here,

which is really cool.

And then when I was in my old place,

And they came by and loved the salsa and it's local

and whole foods is really good about promoting local.

So I got into the whole foods,

which I'm still in there and that's a fun account.

And then I've got into a total wine here in El

Paso, which is a big wine retailer.

I don't know if y'all have those in Chicago,

but there's like a hundred or 225 stores nationwide.

So I'm coming after you.

It's not a line.

And then,

because we're kind of souvenirs,

I got involved with the hotel,

they'll pass a hotel and lodging association and I've got my

products wholesaled into like the hotels here,

like the Indigo and the DoubleTree.

And so in their little or shops,

I wholesale there too,

which is also good exposure and good marketing.

And people are like,

who's this?

Or what's this?

So the wholesale side is kind of just been a kind

of fell into my lap,

thankfully, but it's been a fun part of the business as

well. I think wholesale would have happened as it has to

the extent it has,

if you didn't have that retail presence,

because so much of it,

you're saying they came to you,

they came to you.

Yeah, probably not probably right.

It all kind of,

and I do a lot of networking and that stuff too.

So that helps.

And then the other thing is,

which is really surprising,

which is probably a good thing for people to hear is

when total wine reached out to me about having my product

in their store here in El Paso,

because they were looking for local items and the guy was

very nice.

He says,

Hey, I called him back.

I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

this is a great opportunity.

You got to jump on this.

So I've called him back and I'm working with them.

And a couple of days into it,

he's like,

you know what,

you're the only person that called me back.

I was like,

really seriously.

Yeah. It's too bad for them.

Right. I mean,

I didn't know what it was.

I didn't know what I was getting into.

We never even had a total wine.

I mean,

I knew what total wine was,

but I was like,

what the heck?

It kind of goes back to that,

ask for forgiveness than permission thing.

Know it's like say yes and then figure it out,

which drives my husband crazy.

Cause he's the figure out person,

but I'm always like,

yes, sure.

Why not?

It turned out to be great.

I mean,

we're now in total wine and they let me do some

signage and that says local.

And of course I put my logo on it.

It has a great East side presence.

Cause I don't have an East side retail store over there.

So as opposed to the West side of El Paso,

if someone calls you,

call them back for crying out loud,

who cares?

Yeah. And even if it's a little over your knowledge level

at the time,

like you're not sure exactly how to do it.

There are so many ways to figure things out these days.

It's so much easier now to do.

And to your point,

networking, I'm sure networking.

That's how you got into the hotels and all that too

connections. Right?

Absolutely. Yeah.

So all of that is important for sure.

I'm also kind of thinking that a smaller footprint for your

retail shop makes you not as much a competitor first getting

into some of these stores too.

Yeah. And so I also priced the wholesale items where we

don't compete with each other.

They can double their money and I can make my money.

And we were at the same price point.

So it's not like I sell it for three to them

and I sell it in my store for five 95 and

they can do the same thing.

So I don't ever want to compete with my retailers at

all. Right.

You're reading my mind.

Cause I was going to get into pricing because you started

retail. Were you already at that price and you just saw

that offering wholesale at that 50% approximately was going to work

or did you have to adjust your pricing at that point?

No, it worked.

And then however it doesn't work with all my products.

So I will tell,

I have a jalapeno bacon jam that I can't wholesale for.

I guess we sell it for 10 95 or something.

And I just say,

Hey, look,

this is the wholesale price.

I'm selling it for this.

Either you can match my price or if you want to

double, you're going to be more than me.

So I'm just very upfront with them about this is something

that either you don't make your margin and have the same

price or you Jack up the price and get your margin.

So most of the things or everything else I have,

they make their margin.

I make my margins and I do have people come to

me and say,

Hey, I want you to carry this thing.

And I said,

okay, well what is it?

I, so what's my price.

Well, your price is $10.

Well how much are you selling it for 15?

Well, I'm not going to take up room in my store

for $5 margin.

Right? I'd be more than happy to take it for $10

margin and people don't get that because just because you have

a store that every single space needs to be generating revenue,

right. Every single inch is what you want.

And so when they say that they get hurt,

they're like,

well, I can't sell it for 20.

I'm like,

well, how can I sell it for 20 You're right.

Not only that,

but when you are providing so much value to the products

that you're putting in your shop,

because people are coming into the store,

they're associated in it,

even if it's not a complete,

so El Paso brand for that it's related to your brand,

when all that you've built up in terms of what your

reputation is and all of that.

So it's more than just the price when they place their

product in your store.

Well, yes.

And then I have an employee,

are there every day.

I have my lights on every day I have in my

security system,

I have my software,

I have expenses.

And I want to make sure that if I put it

in my store,

it's going to sell and be at something that we believe

When you started doing wholesale,

because you're not producing.

You didn't really have an issue of being able to run

higher volume.

No. Did any of your vendors have that issue?

Did you come back to them?

Did you see any challenges on that side?

No lucky.

And I'm seeing you lucky on a bunch of points.

You set your pricing right from the beginning.

So it just was a natural,

nice flow.

You had no problem with being able to stack larger quantities.

So that's awesome.

Talk to me a little bit about where internet started fitting

in when that,

when you started having an online presence and how that fits

with everything else.

So Of course that was one of the first things you

have to do is make sure that that that's one of

the hardest things.

These days is having a website name that someone hasn't taken.

So before I even went forward with any of my branding,

I made sure www dot.

So El paso.com

was available.

Do you mean like at the very start at the very

start? Got it agreed.

And the.com

not dot anything else,

correct? Yeah.

You gotta be legit.

So I did everything pretty much on the internet right away

because I thought I was going to be doing corporate stuff

and people can get on the internet and shop that way.

And then I moved to Shopify for my store,

which is the point of sale.

And then Shopify makes it really easy to have the items,

just push a button.

It goes on your website.

However, since we're a souvenir store,

people don't buy a lot on our website because you don't

buy a Disneyland mug when you're at home.

You buy it when you're in Disneyland.

So our internet sales are not very big.

Usually I like to say that our internet is more like

a selling tool instead of a sales tool,

because people will go online and go,

Oh, look,

they have a symbol.

Hey, I'm going to go.

So it's more like a pre-selling,

it's almost like a selling tool for me.

Do you put all your products that are in the store

also online?

Then the majority of them,

we have some like Mexican,

Like pottery that comes red tone or Blacktown.

I don't do that.

I don't put all that stuff,

but anything that can be photographed,

I would say 90% of the stuff is online.

So yeah,

our internet has gone up because of COVID and we now

had to offer curbside pickup and we asked for a local

delivery now on our website.

So we had to do a little tweaking for COVID,

but Internet's not that big of a percentage of my sales.

Okay. So your audience is really local people who love the

products. And then also people who are coming into visit who

want to take back a souvenir.

Yeah. I would say that the 50% of my business is

the retail store,

which is tourist.

And then 50% is wholesale and local.

Got it.

But I could also see that people who really like the

salsas or those jams,

cause they're,

as you're describing them,

they're very unique flavors,

right? So people who get it as a gift or bring

it home,

then still have the opportunity where they can buy it again

online. So that kind of fills that need there.

Right? So we'll ship like our jalapeno pecan brittle,

which is one of our best sellers and we'll ship it

to Virginia for a client and then they'll call and say,

we need 12 more.

It's so good.

But we can't wait for our Christmas gift because it's so

different and ourselves is damn good.

So I'm going to send you some,

Okay. Do it,

not going to decline that offer for sure.

Where does gifting fit into everything here?

I've seen you at the gift basket show.

So clearly you're selling products to people who want to include

your products in gift baskets.

And you also have the hotel presence.

So I'm just wondering overall how that category looks within the

village. Well,

that's the category I'm trying to grow because obviously people aren't

traveling due to COVID and people aren't coming into our store

as much.

And I think there's a big push for El Paso being

put on the map.

There's a lot of great things happening actually had a bad

thing happened when last August we had the infamous Walmart shooter

and then we've had a bunch of immigration issues.

So we've been on the map for a lot of different

reasons. And of course that's our work.

So we're on the map,

but we just need to be a little more positive with

everything we're doing and make sure everyone knows exactly what El

Paso is all about.

And so the local companies here,

the local corporate clients I work with,

they're very El Paso proud.

So they want something that says El Paso,

which is I'm thankful for,

because that was the whole idea.

Right. And then I thought maybe,

well, maybe I need to give him some other options,

like charcuterie or that kind of thing.

And that's kind of what got me go to the,

go to the national gift basket convention.

But then the more I think about it,

we just need to push our own stuff.

I mean,

I like offering that other items,

especially to our clients are over and over.

But it's funny because I open it as a corporate gifting

this stuff and now I'm kind of like,

we need to get back there.

So gifting is huge.

And especially now,

when you can't see someone face to face to give someone

a gift,

either in the mail or delivered or whatever,

it's a big deal.

People aren't shaking people,

aren't going to networking events.

But how do you stay in front of these clients?

Or how do you think a referral,

Right. And seriously,

I mean,

when you bring up the Chakota rewards,

like all your products fit with that,

the salsas and the jams and not,

I could see like a box,

that's a solo El Paso box and you open it up

and you may even have it.

I don't know.

And then you have all that.

And what great holiday gifts for people,

even from El Paso to be Sunday.

I mean,

we're getting off of corporate gifts.

I get to that.

But lots of opportunity there,

I would imagine for you.

Yes, yes,

yes, yes.

How else?

Because you do have your skills in sales and marketing,

how else would you suggest somebody who's like,

this is my struggling point.

Like my product's awesome.

I see people liking it.

I'm just not getting in enough sales.

What would you tell that person?

I mean,

for us,

it's all about the experience when someone comes here,

because I think people,

they talk about it.

I have a great sales person up front now and not

even a salesperson.

She's a greeter.

She's not a seller.

She's just nice to everyone.

And people give us five star reviews on Google.

They've never been here.

They come in,

they leave and they have a good recommendation for Mexican restaurant

or they have a recommendation for a day trip or something.

We're more than just selling.

I kind of laugh because I'm like,

we don't just sling salsa here.

We're trying to create an experience and an El Paso centric

one. So I think just don't try to sell so hard,

just present your products and people will get it.

And you know,

the stories do is so important.

Always the story,

I mean,

ours is branded with El Paso.

So the story is pretty obvious,

but I mean,

for people that this is why I did it,

or this is how I did it.

I mean,

people love to hear that.

You're not going to get that on your computer,

in your pajamas,

shopping on Amazon.

You're just not right.

You got to differentiate yourself from that.

Amazon's always going to be there and target and all that.

But people want to know the story.

You look at that,

there's a picture and there's like a cup of coffee and

a white thing.

And there's a cup of coffee and Starbucks.

There's a cup of coffee,

it's a dollar 50.

And then Starbucks is $6 branding.

You got to find your brand and make it work because

no one's going to do it for you.

Your story is really important.

The story really makes you unique.

And people then will support you because of that,

because of whatever the story is.

But the trick is you can't make up a story.

Like it has to be real,

just like you were talking about at the beginning,

in terms of naming your name,

like the fact that you with girlfriends,

like you joke around it's so all pass out.

Like I could see you saying that.

And that leads directly into a fabulous brand.

That just makes so much sense.

You could do like promotional things like showing a product or

something like that.

That's so El Paso,

that could be like a whole thing.

Oh yeah.

Love it.

And it really sounds to me like when someone comes in

the store,

you're just being friendly.

You're not hovering.

You're not forcing a sale.

People are going to look around to see what they like.

You observe clearly what people are looking for,

interested in and you're listening.

And then you kind of,

not everybody I'm sure,

but you accommodate what you're stocking accordingly to what people are

looking for.

Yes. That's the thing.

When you have a souvenir store that you're always getting new

clients, so you can keep buying kind of the same thing

over and over because they're different clients every day.

Now, if you have a little retail store in a small

town, you're going to have to turn your items.

You can't,

if you sell six,

don't buy 27 more because people who come into a local

retail store want new and exciting.

They want to come and support you in a new and

exciting way.

So our store is a little different because like I said,

we are mostly tourists and every time they come,

it's their first time.

So I can go deep on items.

But if you have a local retail store,

you gotta turn your,

you know,

just cause it's so that's great,

but don't go too deep and tie up your money because

you want to give them another reason to come in.

And when they come in,

Oh, this is new or this is new.

So there's two different kind of retail ways to look at

it. Well,

and to the point of going to market and seeing what's

new and fresh too.

Cause that's where you're going to find the new products to

stock. Right.

And get free shipping And get free shipping.

We all know how you roll with that,

for sure.

Anyone who wants something within Ann's stores,

you gotta out for free shipping period.

Well, yeah.

And we get beat up on this and because shipping is

expensive and we don't put it into our price.

So people buy,

why is shipping so expensive?

I'm like,

well, we don't hide it in our pride Because it's expensive.

Yeah. Yeah.

And we don't make money on shipping.

It's just a pass through for us.

So that's one of the hardest things about being a small

vendor is that we can't compete.

It's like,

this is the prize.

And if you walk in,

that's the price.

We're not going to doctor it,

you know,

cook it with shipping.

Right. Do you ever offer sales on product?

Not very often.

I'm just not a big believer in that.

When I had my furniture store that the man,

his name's Jack Delaney,

he owns a company called El Paso import here.

He said,

don't ever discount.

He said,

give something free,

give something of value.

Add on.

Don't reduce your price.

Yeah. Because some guy might buy $10,000

with the furniture and you gave him a deal.

And the other guy buys,

went in table and wants a deal.

So we would say,

throw in,

Hey, why don't you pick a lamp that you like?

And this $90 lamp,

they value at $10,000

because, Oh my gosh,

this is such a great gift.

So I've always had his,

my words of wisdom in my back.

Like I'd rather add value than decrease the value of my

product. Right.

I priced it fairly.

Really. What I love about your whole business model is you

have revenue coming in from different places.

You have the retail shop,

you have wholesale,

multiple places,

not just one place.

And you do have internet,

albeit it's a smaller portion,

but all of them together as an overall package,

if you will makes everything stronger because people might buy in

your shop and then go into whole foods in three weeks

and be like,

Oh my gosh,

I can get it here too.

So you're able to play one off another and they all

become stronger for it.

Yeah. The products are marketing the products for me when I

put the product on,

I placed the products,

their marketing.

Exactly. So corporate is your future vision corporate gifts.

Yes. Yes,

yes. Yes.

Well that,

and also I've created another line called zero miles that I'd

like to do regionally specific local foods.

So I just pitched the airport.

So hopefully they'll come back with me because when you go

to an airport,

there's not a lot of local foods I'm working on that.

Okay. So back this up,

so my mind can wrap around this.

So zero miles,

is it going to be a new brand?

Yes. And say again,

what it is I have so El Paso and my vision

was always to do like so Midland,

so Dallas,

so Phoenix,

that was always my vision with the line.

But you can't really protect that name because you can't protect

the name of the city as far as the trademark goes.

So I've had this thought,

I'm like,

I needed to have a new brand.

And it's so it's like Houston is zero miles or Phoenix,

zero miles.

And it's a new brand and I can put product in

any area.

So I could put peanuts in Georgia or I could put

Cajun mix in Louisiana or I could put whatever.

So I could take that whole brand.

And I can also protect that as zero miles of God,

I'm working on doing the trademark for that.

And then that would be something that it's local,

it's regional,

but it's also got the flavors,

but it's also got the name.

So I'm actually working with someone in Nashville right now.

You might know her and we're going to do a line

of Nashville items for her so she can put them in

her gift baskets.

So people love they're visiting.

They want something for their dogs that are,

they want something for their mother-in-law and food is perfect because

food, no one needs any more symbols.

Well they do,

but no one really needs anymore.

They really don't like,

could we just say like no more thimbles.

I agree with you there.

Some of our needle point people though are not going to

be happy with us.

I know.

I'm sorry.

We can get you one,

but the thing that's so great about consumable products though,

is that's a gift that you can give over and over

again. Right?

Well, and our bags are resealable,

so you can pop it open and then you seal it

back up and throw it in your suitcase or whatever.

So that's the vision.

I love it.

Cause I could really see like zero miles in all different

locations with products that are from that location.

It makes so much sense to me.

And you become known as that.

And I mean,

think of how broad man that is huge.

I love that.

How did you get this idea?

Well, because the airport has well,

parody is,

is the name of the company.

And they have like 125 airport stores around the country.

And the buyer said,

Hey, can you do something for Midland?

I buy from the Midland airport.

So we changed it to so Midland and we put a

little Texas flag on it and a little oil rig and

it was the same product,

but it was so Midland.

And he was like,

Oh, the hard part is getting in these places.

So I'm already in,

how can I bring more of that into something bigger?

Makes so much sense.

So you'll still keep so El Paso,

but then you'll also have zero miles for other locations.

Correct? Got it.

Yeah, because how could you let go?

So El Paso,

like you just can't that's so great.

My child.

Oh my gosh.

This has been so much fun learning.

The overall observation here is you have ideas and then you

act, you put it into play.

When do you predict?

We'll see something,

zero miles out.

I'm ready.

I sent the email to the airport,

people Wednesday,

just two days ago.

So we'll see.

Okay. But if you really want to know,

you might be able to help me.

I want Marcus Limonus to put this in his camping world

locations. That could be awesome.

There you go.

Well, I've got my eye on him because secretly I would

love to interview him for the show.

If he'd be willing.

I mean,

we are kind of like hometown ish people,

but you never know.

So we put it out there and,

and see what happens.

I'm putting it out there and every day it's all the

law of attraction.

So let's go for it.

You and I both.

Okay. If you can Piggyback,

okay. Works for me.

Alright. Well,

and this has been so much fun.

So now all of us as listeners are going to be

on the lookout now for zero miles,

No pressure,

no pressure Coming to an airport near you.

We just all have to be flying again.

That's the thing Exactly.

Because I was ready to make this happen,

then COVID hit.

And I'm like,

Oh no.

So that was not good.

It'll happen.

We'll be there.

We'll be back soon.

I am really confident that that's true.

Yeah. No pressure.

Sue. I should put it up there.

I'm putting it out there,

Out there for sure.

All right.

Well, listen,

I'm so excited to track what you do.

Watch you grow.

You are a woman on the move without question.

Thanks so much for being on the show today.

Thank you Sam.

I really,

really appreciate it.

It's a lot of fun.

Wasn't an story inspiring apart from all the obvious information about

private labeling,

what I really want you to take away from this is

the power of connections they allowed and to get product placement

in stores.

She couldn't even believe it also led her to understanding specifically

what our customers wanted.

So she ensured that they would buy when they walked into

her store,

not just souvenirs,

but thimbles and spoons.

Talk to your customers,

listen to what they say.

I tend to networking meetings and make connections in all areas

of your life.

You just never know where they may lead.

Thanks for spending time with me here today.

If you'd like to show support for the podcast,

I'd love it.

If you would leave a rating and review,

that means so much and helps the show get seen by

more makers,

a great way to pay it forward and now be safe

and well.

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

I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook

group called gift is breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and our community to

support each other.

Got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week to get

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making my favorite post every single week,

without doubt.

Wait, what,

aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.