172 – Lobby Pop Ups for the Corporate Biz Win with Annette Pardun of Fill My Jar

This is gift biz unwrapped episode 172 it's always just so

great to realize that something you're doing makes people that happy

that they will buy 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.

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 thank you so much for spending part of

your day with me today.

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That helps us get more listeners and more people being able

to capture new ways to grow their business together.

We can help each other get bigger and better and Oh

my gosh,

you guys,

this is an episode.

I am just so excited to bring you.

I had no idea when I started talking with a net

the gold that she would be producing that could be key

to making your business greater this year than ever before.

Let's dive right in.

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a net

pardon of fill my jar and that started fill my jar

candy company three years ago.

Introducing to the world a unique line of handcrafted yet traditional

caramels, toffees and chocolate barks.

Oh yeah.

I cannot wait to talk about this.

Growing up in a large Italian family,

everything centered around the kitchen.

There was always good food and a large table to gather

around. Even when she was young.

Annette loved showing people she cared about them by making delicious

dishes and sweets.

When Annette started her own family,

she would make handmade treats and candy to give as gifts

for holidays or as a way to say thank you to

family, neighbors,

friends, teachers,

coaches and coworkers.

After raising her daughters a net decided it was time to

return to school and start on a path of making her

dream a reality.

Annette, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

Thanks. Happy to be here.

We start off in a little bit of a crazy way

and that is by having you share something a little different

about yourself through a motivational candle.

It gives us a different peek into who you are.

So if you were to create your very own motivational candle,

what color would it be and what would be the quote

on your candle?

Well, I gave that a lot of thought and I have

to tell you right away,

I can tell you my color is always been a very

warm kind of wine or cranberry red.

And I think that it's because to me,

warmth and that kind of red just signifies gathering and good

food and good times.

And so I would say that that would be my color

though. My daughters laugh and say,

how can you have a color when you burn your candle

at both ends all the time.

My quotes,

funny enough,

Julia child really resonates with me in the way she viewed

food and in the way she viewed life.

And so there's actually two quotes that I really think resonate

with me very well.

The first one is more about the strength to move forward

and pursue your dreams.

And this one is that the only real stumbling block is

fear of failure in cooking.

You've got to have a what the hell attitude.

So perfectly said,

I love it.

And the other one more resonates with me about life in

general, whether it's through my cooking or whether it's through my

confidence or pursuing and basically simply enough side by Julia.

It's with enough butter.

Anything is good and that is so true.

Oh my God.

Anyways, so true.

And I've just got to say this.

Do you know of the Bulletproof coffee where you throw in

butter into your coffee?

It's interesting you say that because one of my newest flavors,

the inspiration for that flavor,

which I call it coffee crunch,

is the idea that technically from what I understand,

Europeans were the people that started dropping butter into their coffee

and now here in America they call it the Bulletproof or

butter coffee.

I understand that there's a diet called the keto diet.

I believe that also has you put butter in things like

coffee and it is an amazing flavor and it made the

coffee crunch that I developed because of it really turned out

nice. It's buttery tossing mixed with a white chocolate and fused

with dark roast coffee.

All right,

so well we're going to talk about how you're going to

send some of that my way for sure.

So Julia,

I guess was ahead of her time,

right? With all the butter?

Always. Yes.

Although that is the staple of French cooking for sure.

Yes. All right,

well love,

love both of those quotes.

That is fabulous.

So Annette,

I am so excited to hear about this story.

What were you doing before you went back to school to

make your dream a reality?

Well, okay,

to start,

I was married very young and I was in marketing and

sales and everything in before I started my family.

But by my early twenties I had had my first two

daughters and made the decision quite early on.

I was going to take some time and I was blessed

with the opportunity to take some time to be home with

them and face them.

Good for you.

Yes, it was great.

And through that I was able to,

I think it without me even knowing,

nurtured even more,

my love for the kitchen and showing people how much I

cared about them through good food and learning about food.

Right. My mom was a huge inspiration to me growing up.

She was born in Sicily and when she came here she

carried over all that idea of the dishes that she bring

and the family and the cooking that she provided us.

And I think that that gave me an opportunity to carry

that forward and really learn from her more.

And so for the next 15 or so years though,

I worked a little part time here and there.

For the most part,

I was a stay at home mom and playing in the

kitchen. Like I said in that intro about making gifts that

were treats.

It's exactly where I really found my passion.

I would make handmade caramels or tophi.

I would do some peppermint barks at the holidays or whether

it was that,

or my mom's traditional cookies,

the Italian Easter cookies called pastor trophies.

I would always make trays of those to give to neighbors

or during the holidays and there's a fig cookie they call

GoDaddy's that are just amazing.

I would make trays of those for my husband's coworkers or

neighbors and friends or again,

coaches and teachers for my kids.

And it really sparked a passion for loving how warmly everybody

accepted those guests and how much I enjoyed making them.

So I think by being a stay at home mom,

it really also helped me in a way to realize that

my dream and my goal in life was more about being

in the kitchen and designing things that allowed people to get

more out of life through food.

And you were really fortunate to be able to take those

precious years and be with your girls too.

And then in the kitchen in a way you were doing

some research and you didn't even know it.

Yes. Perfecting recipes yet you were doing it personally.

But I'm sure you use a lot of what you learned

there even now today.

Yeah. Oh absolutely.

And it was great because many times my girls were in

the kitchen making messes with me and so sometimes it was

great to see them put their inspiration or their imagination to

work in the kitchen with me.

And sometimes we came up with things just by sheer mistake.

It was a lot of fun and we really enjoy doing

it. And again,

I think that had I not been fortitude of that opportunity

to be a mom that could be home with our kids,

I don't think I ever would have had that time to

spend in the kitchen like that and to spend with my

imagination. So when you went back to school,

what did you go back to school for?

I actually went back to school thinking that I was going

to open a restaurant,

believe it or not.

So I went back and did restaurant management and all the

certificates that go along with opening a restaurant,

sanitation and things like that.

So it was very eyeopening.

I learned a lot and it really gave me a good

perspective. Even now with the candy business though,

it's not a restaurant and I don't have a store location,

it really did teach me a lot about food management and

all the different,

you don't realize how many little things you need to do,

whether it's health department codes or whether it's codes for different

products or different equipment you need,

how to go about getting them or through.

And so having gone through these classes was very,

very helpful.

In the end,

my husband was really encouraging me and he grew up in

a family that had a floral shop for over 80 years

in his family.

So he knew small business and he loved it and really

thought that I was going to end up opening a restaurant

now that my girls were older,

all college bound and on their own and in the end

it turned out to be candy,

which is amazing.

But learning what I had to learn through my classes,

thinking that I was going into this one direction really again,

it was something that prepared me for this end of my

adventure as well.

So what was the switch?

Where was the point where you realized,

no, it wasn't going to be a restaurant,

it was going to be something different?

Well that's interesting because we literally had a name to the

restaurant. It was going to be Tablo FreshCo,

which is fresh table.

I like that.

So you were really well down the road to that path?

Oh yeah.

We sat together and my husband's in business.

He's a an accountant who's actually a COO for a technology

firm in.

So I trust him with the money end of it,

which is great because imagination and numbers do not go like

I'm with a girlfriend.

I was like,

great, you can take your of these spreadsheets.

I'll take care of spreading the cats.

And so it was kind of interesting,

but I will say one night we were sitting down,

I actually drew my entire business plan.

I had to create an entire business plan to graduate my

management course.

And I used that as an opportunity to literally plan out

the restaurant that I had intended to so open.

And we were sitting down one night and I will say

my husband and I married again.

I was 21 years old when I got married.

So I had many years to help out at the floral

shop and to see a small business in action early on.

And I will say it's a wonderful adventure.

And my husband's grandparents and his mom,

they built an amazing business,

but it didn't go without sacrifice.

And that sacrifice a lot of times centered around family in

that you're not going to be home Christmas morning with your

kids around the Christmas tree because there are people that need

their flowers.

You're not going to be home for Easter until late at

night because people are coming into the flower shop all day.

So it's something I saw firsthand and I learned and we

had a very serious and long discussion about opening a physical

restaurant location that really it would take away that our time

together would be spent at the restaurant and my family,

my kids,

my brothers and sisters,

my mom and dad for the most,

even David's family,

we weren't used to that.

That's not how my girls grew up.

Mom being gone 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

And I think that that was more maybe a challenge to

me than it was to them.

But I had a hard time with the idea that this

was going to be all encompassing.

And I truly did believe,

and I still believe this to the state,

that to say,

Oh, you're going to hire a manager and let that manager

work it and all this.

I think you're setting yourself up for failure,

especially in the first five plus years.

Sure. Clearly what you're talking about here is that a lot

of your sore of pleasure and fulfillment in life revolves around

family. Absolutely.

I mean that's really the source of where you're starting the

film, my jar business anyway,

and give biz listeners.

I want you to think about this.

If you are in a place right now where you're thinking

of starting a business,

this is so important,

you need to,

just like a net was saying live in that dream,

whatever you think you're going to build,

put yourself there and work through what your day would be

like and see if it makes sense for you.

Yes, because a net,

so many people don't do what you just are talking about

where you're actually looking at it and then putting that layer

of reality on top of it and saying,

okay, it looks all good from the outside,

but when you're actually in there doing it,

are you still gonna like it?

Is it really what you want to do?

And you were so wise to see before you even got

started, look you had invested now money and classes and all

of that and still you put the brakes on and said

wait not in this way.

Yeah. And at that time I didn't even realize that it

was going to be candy that was going to be where

I ended.

You had your business plan on paper and the model and

everything all set up so easily could have been where you

just continued on the path,

right? Cause everyone had bought in et cetera.

How did you make the switch and then how did you

identify that it was candy?

Let's pick up from there.

Well, we put the brakes on the restaurant and during this

period, so kind of in between all of this while I

was going to school and that I had actually interviewed and

gotten a position to become a cake and pastry decorator for

will. And it was great.

It was freelance.

I can schedule my own hours.

So that was a wonderful experience.

And again,

it gave me more practice as to things I love and

I was there for at least three or four years.

While again,

I was doing that and working through all this,

my opening a restaurant,

finishing school school took me two solid semesters.

And so that technically a whole school year,

and as I was doing this and as I was making

candy for the holidays and stuff,

so many times people would ask me,

Oh my gosh,

where did you get this?

I would love to buy some.

And I would say,

Oh no,

I hand make it.

And they'd say,

can I buy it from you?

And I would traditionally say,

I really wish I had time make more,

but I don't.

I'm in the middle of school.

I'm in the middle of working at Wilton.

I'm in the middle of working on my next project,

possibly opening a restaurant.

And it was interesting cause one night I am also,

I love jarring and canning.

And every year in the fall I Jaren can tomatoes and

tomato sauce with my entire family.

We do about six,

700 pounds of tomatoes every fall.

And we all share in the fun of getting a couple

of cases of fresh homemade tomato sauce,

chard. Well,

that led me to having tons of jars in the house.

And one holiday season I usually ran out to Joanne's and

bought tins to put my candy in and my different treats.

And I ran out and I needed more.

And I had a couple of cases of new jars in

my closet and I grabbed him out and I filled them

up. And I was like,

well that looks kind of boring.

So I added a bow and then I said,

well, that looks even a little more boring.

So I added a lid,

a little topper to the lid,

and the next thing you know,

they turned out to be adorable.

Gifts and people just love the idea that they can reuse

the jar and that the candy States so fresh in there

and I all of a sudden felt like,

let me see what would happen if I could sell this.

And I started with craft shows and that's really where it

all started.

It became fill my jar because the jar became a signature

piece for me.

Oh my gosh.

Your story is like perfection,

right? Because you were very open to the fact and recognize

that people were interested in buying already something you weren't even

selling. So that was kind of like on your radar then

and then step-by-step with the jars in your house you created

and put something together.

So that is so perfect in terms of walking down the

road to product development and craft shows.

Let's continue with that because that's a great place for you

to really demonstrate to yourself if the product has a market,

what the price points should be,

what the flavors are.

Let's talk a little bit about how did those first few

shows go in terms of which shows did you select to

do and what did your setup look like because you're brand

new, so I think this would be really valuable for some

of our listeners to hear.

Yeah, well the setup was as basic as as basic could

be. Craft shows.

The interesting thing about them,

pretty much I didn't select them.

I grabbed anything that was local to me.

The ads had,

for example around me at the time I was living in

Naperville, out in Western suburbs and so Cod college held spring

and fall craft shows,

and again there were farmer's markets,

lots of farmer's markets,

so I started looking up different holiday events and how do

I apply and all that and got myself involved in a

couple of them.

I would have to say it was always like what a

thrill it was to see how much candy I actually sold

in an event and I'm still this day always shocked when

I come home as to how much candy I sell,

no matter what I'm doing.

It's always just so great to realize that something you're doing

makes people that happy that they will buy it.

To me,

I think that says so much and so I started with

the craft shows and the setup literally,

and to this day,

my setup is still very simple because I'm still working on

building the business.

It is six foot tables that I throw in my car.

It is totes filled with all the different flavors I'm offering

and I have all my bows ready to go and pretty

much I have four different sized jars that I bring to

a show.

There's your large and then there's kind of like a middle,

large, and then a little smaller medium and then a small,

I actually recently in the last year or two,

added what I call snack bags.

Realizing that there were people that just wanted to buy the

candy to enjoy,

but not necessarily looking for a jar or a gift.

Oh, that's smart because they might've wanted to have it just

while they're walking the shows.

Exactly. Or just to bring home or if I'm in an

office building,

they want to bring it to their office and put it

in their desk,

that kind of thing.

And so I started making the snack bags.

And so basically to this day my setup is almost the

same as it was from the beginning.

And that is black tablecloths and the jars all lined up.

And one thing I did do quite quickly,

cause I started the shows,

I would say the first time I actually put a show

neighbors. I hadn't really done any shows at that point.

I started with craft shows and French market or the yeah,

outdoor French markets.

And it was again six foot tables,

black tablecloths,

putting my product out,

making some nice signs,

which today I find it will go to Walgreens and go

to their photo shop and find a sale and pick up

a really nice banner for $15 and it makes you look

professional. So it was designing my own banners.

I went to Vista print,

made a box of 500 business cards to make sure there

was somebody there that can take my information if they wanted

it. And pretty much that was it.

I got out there and decided let's figure this out.

Soon after that I found out that French markets were really

challenging cause they're always done in the nice weather and with

nice weather becomes heat and heat and chocolate don't mix right.

But you kind of start narrowing it down what works for

you and that.

And the crash shows were a staple for a very,

very long time getting my name out there.

So going back to the first shows that you did,

were there any surprises or anything that you weren't expecting to

happen that you could let our listeners know about?

In case they're thinking of going to their first shows.

I would say I think that'd be in your mind,

you're thinking,

you walk in,

you set up,

you're there.

You need to realize it's,

I found myself setting up the night before when my situation,

and I would imagine anybody that's setting up a booth,

regardless of what it is,

is going to have things to login,

tote. You have to be ready and make sure that you

know that you're going to have to do a little bit

of sweat equity to make sure that it all goes together

well and you're giving up again.

For as much as I realized that the restaurant was maybe

too much of a reach for me,

knowing how much I like to spend time with my family.

I also realized that if you're doing craft shows,

and trust me,

there are tons of them out there.

You could literally be busy every weekend if you really want

it to.

Oh my gosh.

And there are people who are,

I mean I talk to people who do 60 70 craft

shows in a year.

Absolutely. And they come in.

The people I've met,

amazing people,

Minnesota, Indiana.

I mean they drive and they come in and they set

up, but this is their livelihood and I think that that

was the first time I realized that there was a point

where I guess I thought,

is this me doing a hobby or is this me doing

a business?

Like I was a little confused at one point and I

think it was because you're trying to figure it out.

But I think the turning point for me was meeting so

many people who've not only been do 60 and 70 craft

shows a year,

but they've been doing it for 15 and 20 years and

this is their livelihood and they own homes because of it.

They feed their families because of it.

So realize that this can be a business.

Did I meet people that it felt more like a little

bit of a hobby to them?

Yeah, I did.

And I also think that they could have been very much

in my spot where it was trying it out,

seeing what happens and maybe it does or doesn't work.

I don't know.

It's so funny.

I mean,

I picture you like sitting there and all of a sudden

having the realization like,

Oh my gosh,

I have a business.

I didn't even know I did this,

and here it is.

It's a real business.

Yeah. There was a couple of times where I was like,

look what's going on here?

Oh my gosh.

That's so funny.

Okay. So I want to spin this off a little bit

in terms of more concrete and specific as you started your

business. So you have your product,

we've been talking about the product and getting the product out

there in the craft shows and all of that.

Let's back up a little bit.

What did you do to actually formally start the business?

So formally,

signed fill my jar.

I got my licensing through the state of Illinois and I

owned the name.

So my jar,

I bought the domain name.

So my jar,

I opened a website that I feel is constantly in progress.

And did you do your website by yourself?

Did you have someone help?

No, no,

no, no.

Yeah. I am the most technology challenged person in the world

and so I took some time and I did have a

hand in,

I got an Etsy shop going before the website and so

that meant photography.

Again, something that I never deemed myself a photographer,

but a kitchen table and some fun little accessories from Michaels

depending on what in my world.

I was trying to depict something a little bit rustic and

fun. So it was get some rustic boards and that,

and I started taking some pictures to throw up on Etsy

and that wasn't very interesting to point too because I would

say I kind of thought,

well, I'm on Etsy now.

Come on,

everybody start ordering.

And it just sat there.

Yeah. You're not unique in that,

that you think that just because you put something up,

people will just happen to find you.

It doesn't work that way.

Yes, and I was blessed with the idea and my oldest

daughter, she is in marketing and strategy and does all this.

I really wish I could tell you more what she does.

She works for an advertising agency and she does a lot

of this for big companies like Pepsi and Quaker.

So she would come to me and she'd laugh and she'd

say, no,

no, no ma'am,

you've got to make sure you do the work to get

people to go to you and you can pay for it

or you can just work for it.

And I didn't have the money so I was going to

work for it.

What I mean by work for it is working like crazy

to get my name out there and get my business cards

and anything I can out there so that people can go

to my Etsy shop or my website.

and I can maybe say less than 30 orders have come

through, but I've made some amazing contacts and it's great to

say that it's a place for people to go.

And the funny thing is,

is the people that I do get orders from 90% of

the time I've had people,

I've shipped candy out to England and mostly farther off places.

So these are people that are searching around at Etsy and

the way I understand it,

it's the more that you get reviews and the more that

you get people searching for things on Etsy,

you'll pop up more and more.

Right. My guess is is that something with time and then

my daughter was also clearly a huge help in helping me

put together a website,

the crash shows.

That's when my husband was like,

well, okay,

let's hook onto the name.

So he was very helpful in getting a tax ID and

an EIN number through the state of Illinois and we secured

the domain name and knowing that I'm talking to people that

are possibly looking at doing this,

please know none of that is very expensive.

I bought the domain name off of GoDaddy for $15 or

something like that and you have to renew it every year,

but once you own it,

you own it and now you can,

well, I could open the website,

just fill my jar.com

I have an email address address that's in that top part

on it.

Fill my jar.com

you own that name so nobody can take it away from

you. It's not expensive to become a legal license through the

state of Illinois.

So those things were just time and paperwork,

but expense wise,

not expensive just legitimizes you and that was helpful.

Right. I think there's one other thing I want to bring

up here that you did so right that I just,

since we're on this conversation for people who are just setting

up, a lot of times people will pass up the portion

of getting the domain and setting up a website.

Just to your point too,

they might not have a daughter who can help them actually

set it up.

The thing is though with an Etsy shop and even social

media sites,

those really aren't things that you own.

If something happened and changed with Etsy and let's say they

shut down your site for some reason,

your shop,

you lose everything so you still always want to have your

own website,

your own location online no matter what.

Even if it takes a little bit of time to set

it up.

And I use GoDaddy to a nut,

so I'm glad you brought that up,

but even if you don't set it up right in the

beginning, although you should make sure you grab that domain name

and in the.com

extension because yes,

there are a million different extensions these days,

but everybody still gravitates first to.com

you don't want someone to find someone else besides you.

Yes, You are absolutely right too because I forget that another

portion of it was getting on Facebook,

opening up a Facebook for fill my jar.

It doesn't take a lot of time and it's a place

where people can go or it's a place where you can

send messages out and have your friends share.

And share and so it's another great way of getting a

small business kind of off and running.

We're places where people can find you,

so if you are doing a craft show,

you have places that you can send them to.

So for a long time my business card had my Etsy

address on there.

It had my Facebook address on there because that's what I

had until I can go ahead and open a website.

And again,

the sooner you can do those things the better.

And a lot of them are not either no money at

all or not very expensive to start up and running.

It's just a little bit of time and a little bit

of patience,

a lot of reading,

but you get through them and it's well worth it because

then you have places that legitimize you as a business For

sure. I'm really glad that you are looking at,

as we're just talking about websites and social media platforms and

Etsy and all of that,

because let's face it,

not all of us go and look for things in the

same places.

And so as a business owner,

you want to be in all different areas because you need

to meet your customer where they like to go,

not where you want to be.

Correct. So when you're at Facebook or maybe you're doing Instagram

or it's an Etsy shop or Shopify or whatever,

you want to be in multiple places for that reason.

Yep. I go as far as knowing,

for example,

if you're going to be at craft fairs,

my biggest clientele were the older clients.

And what I wanted those older clients to do was not

only buy some candy and enjoy my candy,

but the hope was they have a daughter or a granddaughter

maybe getting married or having a baby shower.

These were things I wanted to cater to and so I

wanted to be sure that my business card,

I was perfectly fine giving my cell phone number and an

email address with these other ways of communication,

knowing that some of these older generations aren't with anything more

than a phone call or an email.

Right. And so it's just the little things that you do

and the more of them that you do that makes it

all the better because again,

like you said,

it's just Being easier to be found.

Okay. Gift biz listeners,

I have a huge treat coming up for you with a

net answer to my very next question.

So stay tuned.

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So is your biggest source of sale Still the craft toasts

nor physical sales?

Yeah, believe it or not,

it's really the tides turned.

doing my homework and I had been trying to figure out

a way of reaching clientele because another portion of my business

that I had decided was with the jars,

I can personalize the jars,

I can take the lids on the top,

I can create somebody's logo,

their own message,

whether it's a thank you or a holiday gift.

And I thought,

what a great way to send out a corporate gift or

to do,

again, as I mentioned,

we do party favors,

the party favors were kind of a given,

but the corporate gift kinda all of a sudden I realized,

well that's another whole genre of gift giving in this world

that I can tap into.

And it's funny because I kept thinking,

I don't know where this is going.

My husband would say to me,

well, do you think you want to open a candy shop?

And I'm like,

I don't necessarily know if having a shop is going to

be helpful because people would then have to come to me.

And I think I'm still in the stages that I have

to go to people.

And so again,

the craft fairs are a great way of going and getting

in front of people.

But I wanted to start targeting my audience more.

And believe it or not,

there are so many great ways and I think that so

many small businesses don't even know that they're out there.

And what I mean by that is,

for example,

the city of Chicago is just a mere gold mind for

opportunities. For example,

I was very persistent.

I started calling management companies downtown city of Chicago.

Uh, when I say management companies,

management for the high rise buildings,

close yours services.

And I got some,

my husband and some of my other family and friends to

help me out in the sense of can you get me

the name of your concierge?

Who does your,

who is the concierge in your building?

What concierge has do in high rise buildings is they're there

to help their tenants.

So if it's a building that hosts 500 different companies,

they're there to help them from anything,

from setting up a luncheon to helping them with their corporate

gift, giving to just a multitude of things.

It's amazing.

I didn't even realize that it was a thing.

When you think of a concierge,

I think it's somebody at a hotel.

It is not.

They are in every building in the city of Chicago for

the most part.

And if they're not,

they have a management company that acts as the concierge and

these people are there to make sure that their tenants are

happy. So I learned quickly and how I did this with,

cause I saw one,

I was downtown one afternoon and it was like what is

that? And there was a gal with jewelry in the lobby

of a high rise building and it was just an office

building. And I went up and I asked her,

what was this?

She said,

Oh, I'm doing a popup shop.

And I was like,

it looked exactly like my six foot table with candy on

it at a craft show and she was the only one

there. And she said,

Oh yeah,

the concierge is in the management love having little popups for

their tenants.

So I quickly started trying to learn more about how to

get in touch with these people.

Started asking people like my husband and other family members that

worked in the city,

if they had concierges,

could they get me in touch soon enough?

I got my first pop up shop in the city and

it was amazing.

It was just unbelievable.

First of all,

it's amazing how friendly the people are downtown,

but how receptive they are.

The tenants in the building just really appreciate having these little

conveniences and this fun little something to break up the monotony

of their day.

So did you set up in like the lobbies of the

buildings? Yes,

I would get invited.

I mean again,

it's all taking the time to make phone calls and send

emails and get the invitations.

And I finally had gotten an invitation to do a building.

My first building was one North Franklin.

I still remember it to this day and I remember pulling

up in my car filled with stuff and they were kind

enough. They were like,

don't worry,

we have a table for you.

But I brought everything else and there I was by myself

in this lobby and I thought,

okay, we'll see what happens.

And just the reception that I received from the tenants,

it was so wonderful.

I sampled my candy for them.

They got to taste it and purchase it and then quickly

I realized,

okay, start thinking of every holiday that's going to be wrapped

around that date,

whether it's mother's day and father's day or whether it's going

back to school or whether it's the end of the school

year or whether it's something like Christmas and Thanksgiving or anything

like every holiday you don't realize who finds it important Cinco

de Mayo or anything.

So I would start making little jar toppers that people could

just pick up to go on the gyres that would wish

somebody a happy Cinco de Mayo or happy mother's day.

And it was just amazing and I loved it because it

was indoors.

I was a solo audience,

so meaning I was the only person there and don't get

me wrong,

I've actually done many now where there are several of us

in there.

I actually have some buildings that actually do put on once

a month,

little farmers markets indoors in their lobby and it's like maybe

six or eight vendors.

Anything from fresh fruits and vegetables to handmade breads in that

to jewelry to jams and jellies.

Like I've pretty much seen quite a bit of everything and

some of them are small businesses like myself and some of

them are big chains,

like nothing Bundt cakes,

they still come out.

I would ask the girls like they still do these and

they're like,

yeah, the owner started this way.

Now it's a huge chain and they still to this day

come out and do individual popup events.

So Annette,

do you have to pay them anything to be there or

they just invite you and you show up and then you

just sell?

Yes. You make the connections,

you get the invitation,

but there is no cost to it from them.

Do you have to give them back any portion of your

sales? It depends on the concierge service or the management service

that you're working with.

Okay. So every building's a little different.

And when I say every building,

technically it's every like a concierge service.

Mike concierge,

20 buildings in the city of Chicago.

So all 20 of those buildings will have the same agreement

with that concierge service.

Right? Right.

So it'd be work out that way.

I've never paid to be in a building cause you have

to remember the concierges are putting you in those buildings.

They want to promote and do nice things for their tenants.

So they're not looking to make money on this.

Right. Cause they want their tenants to stay.

So they want to continue to provide value for the people

who are there.

Yes. And this is took me a long time to learn

and sort through all of what this all means.

And I will tell you,

it's interesting,

I did a pop up this past end of April,

beginning of may in a food hall.

First time I had done one of those.

And here's what happens.

You start doing one or two and the next thing you

know, somebody goes,

this is amazing.

Would you be interested in coming to this place?

It happens.

I've gotten a lot of introductions that way,

but please don't misunderstand that.

I still spend hours on the computer combing through and finding

great places to be and connections to make.

But I have had much success as well with people coming

up to me going,

so-and-so placed us popups and you would do great.

They're great.

Could you give me the information and I'll contact them.

So you go home and you send emails,

make phone calls.

And so recently I did one in a food hall and

that was a completely new experience.

And again,

it was just a completely different set of clientele.

And I remember,

I'm looking at it from the perspective of serving the tenants

in the building,

but also they now know who I am.

And so when they're ready to send out their holiday gifts

or they have a convention coming up and they want to

give a little goody out,

they might think of me.

Sure. I mean you're making sales there,

but you're also prospecting for the future,

Correct? Yes.

And so,

and I will tell you when I was at the forum,

it was kind of crazy.

Didn't expect it,

but ABC news showed up there and I ended up getting

on just for a little blurb,

but the whole interview that they doing with the forum,

not just me,

I just happened to be the popup that was there that

day was around the fact that Rahm Emanuel and the city

of Chicago wants to promote these popups for small businesses.

So they're actually doing a whole pilot program to encourage popups

around the city.

So what would you say,

just circling back with and putting like a big bow around

this whole conversation of popups,

somebody who's listening,

who isn't in a big city,

whose town has never even considered this before,

how would they,

if they make a contact with a concierge,

how would they describe what they would like to do in

the simplest terms?

Just to give them direction of how they could possibly do

this in their own community.

If it were me and I wasn't local to a big

city, I will tell you,

I have not just done popups in the city of Chicago.

I have been invited in downers Grove while Naperville and how

I've done that.

Again, use your resources.

People you know that work in bigger buildings and ask them

have they ever done a popup or maybe you might even

have to explain to them what a popup is and they

may go,

Oh yeah,

there was a guy selling powers at Valentine's day.

That would be considered a pop up.

Okay. So use your resources in terms of family and friends

that you know that might work in these bigger buildings.

And see if you can get in touch with the management

or the concierge in that building.

Walk into the buildings yourself.

In the beginning I closed the popup shop.

Usually your popup shops,

they want you to kind of out of there by three

three 30 before the rush of everybody leaving is going on.

So I pack up and I then take a walk and

I'd walk around other buildings and I'd walk in and I'd

shake hands and ask if I could meet the concierge and

I would just introduce myself and say,

Hey, I was doing a popup down the street and I

was wondering if you ever do them,

here's my card and if for every 20 cards if I

got one call in yours that emailed me back,

it's just one more person to add to my calendar of

events. Absolutely.

So okay so done by three 30 is when did you

start, so what type of hours would you be?

Every building's a little different.

Yeah. It's interesting cause you kind of can set your own

hours to some degree and some want to tell you when

to come.

But what I have found too is that a lot of

these concierges are not,

I've actually helped guide them into understanding it a little bit

better in that.

So I try to generally say,

okay so I usually like to be set up by 10

30 11 o'clock in the morning.

So I usually tell them I'll get downtown by nine 30

that way I have enough time to unload.

So you're ready for the rush when people are coming up

and down for lunch,

for lunch,

right by 11 o'clock cause there's a lot of people in

these high rise buildings.

There's a mom that might try to get to work every

morning by six 37 so she can leave by three 30

not everybody is a nine to five so I try to

be ready by 11 and from 11 to three three 30

I'm open.

And then I usually start tearing down by somewhere between three

and three 30 when things slow down.

So I'm out of there by four o'clock the latest because

by four o'clock you start seeing a mad rush where people

are trying to get out of the building to head to

their trains or whatever and you want to be out of

their way.

Right. And it makes for a nice day and what I

love is is it's during the week,

so you can do this in regular business hours as well

so that if you're not able to always do just crash

shows, you can hook onto these lobby markets and events like

that and it will definitely do well as well.

And there during the week.

Oh my gosh,

I had no clue that we were going to get on

this topic,

but this is like golden.

Thank you so much.

I mean this is a concept we haven't really talked about

on the show yet and going to the concierge is,

I think this is going to help a lot of people

for sure.

Yeah. Well I'm glad to help.

A lot of people might feel like,

well, don't give your secrets away.

It's not a secret to me.

The more people that can do this and help these concierges

out. You want variety.

I would never suggest to a concierge,

it's like having a craft show every week in the same

spot. You might get 5,000

people that comes once a year because they know that college

would you page or somebody like that is having a crash

show. But if you had it once a month,

it gets old.

Right. So nobody's going to really come around too much.

So you want a lot of people with a lot of

their imagination and their products coming in to give variety to

these. And to me,

the more that's there,

the merrier.

I think it's amazing for that.

Well, and it also helps grow the concept.

Yeah. Because then other buildings will see what they're doing and

then more and more people will come and let's face it,

you can't be everywhere for sure.

You know,

even if you had staff helping in other locations,

well that's a whole nother thing.

So, Oh my gosh.

And that we could talk forever.

I have like five different angles that we could take this

conversation, but I think we're going to have to circle it

and close it up now.

But before we do,

I would like to invite you to dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with 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 or should I say jar?

We can make it a jar.

You can make an attire.

In my case,

it's funny because I think if you were to ask me

that question a year ago,

I feel like I would have answered by saying,

Oh, I would love to just be in a place where

I can get orders from people.

But now this year,

knowing the doors that have opened for me and realizing that

the company has taken me to places that I never even

knew existed,

I do dream about now.

Is it possible for me to spend my days designing more

flavors and unique candies and having people go out and do

these popup events and corporate orders for me?

Yeah. That would be unbelievable if I could actually spend the

time in the kitchen doing what I love the most,

and getting to see people enjoy all the different flavors and

seeing the company grow and to develop into something that would

be something that I could be proud of and that the

city of Chicago could be proud of.

Yeah. Taking it to the next level.

Yeah. I think it would be amazing.

I mean,

I think it's very,

very far away,

but yeah,

if I had to dream,

wow, that would be really interesting to see it go that

big. I could see it.

I could see it in that.

I don't think that's that far out of reach,

to be quite honest in terms of the concept and the

ability to do it.

Yeah. Well,

I appreciate your confidence because I think and the good thing

is is that I have people,

my family,

my husband,

my kids,

and even my brothers and sisters and mom and dad and

them. It's funny because when you have support and you have

people that believe in what you're doing,

it makes a huge difference too.

They're always willing to help out.

If I need a last minute and trust me,

I've called for help many a times going,

okay, I bit off more than I could do here,

so SOS.

So it's always nice to have somebody come when you throw

the SOS out.

Yeah, for sure.

Well give biz listeners,

I know you're going to want to see a nuts product,

so just jump over to fill my jar.com

and you can take a look there.

I also on the show notes page,

we'll have links to her Etsy shop,

Facebook pages,

et cetera.

So if you're interested in seeing all of that,

jump on over to the show notes page.

Annette, thank you so much.

I am so glad we connected and I was able to

hear your story.

It's a lot that you told us.

That's going to be just golden advice for our listeners as

we move forward.

So for that,

thank you so much.

Anytime loved being on it was a lot of fun.

Wonderful. And gift biz listeners.

If you're ever in downtown Chicago and you pop into a

building and there are some little businesses set up,

go and find a net and say hello.

All right,

signing off now and add.

Have a great day.

You too.

Take care.

Okay. Gift biz listeners.

I am so excited about this lobby popup conversation.

I think the opportunity for you is so huge and perfect

timing if you're listening to this show right as it's going

live, so that's July.

The timing is perfect.

With the holiday season approaching,

if any of you,

or should I say when you take advantage of this concept

and start putting it into practice,

I would love to hear how it's going.

You can contact me directly@suatgiftbizonrapt.com

I personally read all the emails that come through on that

address and if you'd like even more gift biz motivation.

I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group

called a gift biz breeze.

You know,

pursuing your business should be fun,

exciting, and rewarding,

but so often it becomes stressful and honestly scary when you

join the breeze.

It's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you

all the support and the answers that you need and that

you've been looking for.

You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along with

tools and resources to catapult your business growth.

To join the breeze,

jump over to gift biz breeze.com

and I'll see you over there.

This episode is all wrapped up,

but fortunately,

your gift biz journey continues.

Are you eager to learn more?

Our gift biz gal has a free download just for you.

Head over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com/twelve steps to get your copy of the 12 steps to

starting a profitable gift biz.

Don't delay.

Head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/twelve

steps today and until next time,