Gift biz unwrapped episode 44.
Just keep moving forward.
As long as you're putting one foot in front of the
other, you're going to get somewhere.
Hi, this is John Lee,
Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped in now it's time
to light it up.
Welcome to gift biz,
unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
and grow your business.
And now here's your host,
Sue Monheit.
Hi there.
I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast,
whether you own a brick and mortar store Online,
or are just getting started,
you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
business. And today I am so excited to introduce to you,
Karen rans out.
Karen is the owner of little pink lady bug.
The company sells templates that allow crafters to create multi loop
and layered custom bows that are used for hair accessories and
numerous other applications.
Karen started making bows about 11 years ago and in 2008,
after the creation of this template,
bow making system,
little pink lady bug as a business was born.
In addition to running the business,
Karen homeschools,
her daughter,
volunteers at her son's school is a comfort dog handler for
her church and a leader for a troop of American heritage
girls. She is the perfect example of how you can integrate
a successful business into an active family life.
And did I mention she has a wonderful husband,
Robert and two dogs all the while.
Her love for crafty creative endeavors somehow finds its way to
shine through each and every day.
Karen, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
I'm excited to be here.
Is there anything you would like to include like another activity
that you do before we get started?
No, I,
I try and make time for my family as well.
Really. It's just a matter of priorities.
So figure out how to get it all done.
There you go.
Well, I'm excited to hear your story for our listeners.
Karen and I have known each other for boy.
I don't know,
six, seven years already.
At least.
Yeah. We met at a trade show way back when,
and she,
and I saw each other again,
just this past January and we've been talking about our business.
I've always loved her product and she agreed to come on
and share her journey with all of you.
So I'm really excited about that.
Are you ready to light it up,
Karen? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Very fun.
Wonderful. As our listeners know,
we like to align the conversation around the life of a
motivational candle.
The light shines on you while you share your stories and
experiences. And it gives us kind of a little bit of
an indirect understanding of what you're all about.
If you were sitting and you're making your bows,
I'm envisioning you doing some demos that you always do on
YouTube, et cetera.
And just for ambiance in your workspace,
you a candle glowing there,
what color would the candle be?
Candle is absolutely going to be a light pink color and
why light pink,
you know,
has been my favorite color.
I was the first grandchild on both sides of the family.
So everything I had my entire life was pink.
So, you know,
I was just fortunate that I liked the color.
So it's just kind of in my color with everything I
even named my company after it.
So definitely pink.
And what would be the motivational quote on that candidate?
I really couldn't come up with just one,
but I have two that are pretty similar and one of
them is from Walt Disney.
It's keep moving forward.
They mentioned it at the end of the movie,
meet the Robinsons.
Just keep moving forward.
As long as you're putting one foot in front of the
other, you're going to get somewhere.
Yeah. Taking action every day.
And the other one,
I'm sure everyone's familiar with finding Nemo.
Dory's little mantra of just keep swimming,
that kind of aligns with the keep moving forward.
So as long as you keep going forward and you just
keep going,
can make anything happen.
I totally agree with you.
Well, let's talk a little bit now about little pink lady
bug and how you got started,
how the whole thing evolved,
but bring us back way to the beginning.
That point in time where you said,
yeah, I can,
I'm going to turn this into a business.
My daughter was not quite a year old and she was
wearing all of her brothers hand me downs and we were
really strapped financially.
We were not in a good place,
so I couldn't afford any hair bows or cute clothing.
Everybody thought I had two boys and finally I'd had enough.
And I said,
I'm going to make a bow for my daughter.
And I went and I,
I spent $12 on ribbon and I prayed that my husband
did not notice that I spent $12,
cause that was straight out of our grocery fund.
And I made a couple of those for,
I had a great time.
And then I still had all these rolls of ribbon.
So I made a few more bows and sold them at
a garage sale.
Now there was no information on these boats,
no business card,
nothing. And all these people came back and asked and said,
Hey, can we get a few more?
And I was like,
well, Hey,
this is great.
I sold some I'm going to go buy some more ribbon.
And it slowly grew from there.
Now I have rheumatoid arthritis.
So working with all the handmade crafts can sometimes be a
slow process for me.
But this business of making Haribos grew until I had 11
stores locally that were all carrying my bows.
It really got to a point where I was like,
I've got to hire some,
I've got to have someone help me.
Couldn't find anyone who could make the bows look just like
mine. They all look different.
We didn't have any consistency.
Now my background was as a structural designer and a packaging
company. So I said,
let me come up with some templates so that I can
hire people.
And all the bows are gonna look the same and be
the correct size.
Probably about a month after we started using the templates,
it was one of those light bulb moments where like we
should be selling the templates instead of the bows.
So from that point forward,
it was a lot of research development stumbling here and there.
And then just getting back up and keep going with it.
So we've really just grown from that point,
but that's kind of how I got into the boat business.
I never know.
I knew that Karen,
I never knew that.
That's how it actually started.
I love that because I like hearing about it all when
I'm doing a podcast too,
because that leads to so many questions.
Absolutely gift biz listeners.
There's two things I want to point out to you that
Karen did.
She found an opportunity in a situation of need two places
along the way with the journey that we've just talked about
so far,
she didn't have hair bows that she was going to be
able to purchase for her daughter.
So what did she do?
She saw an opportunity.
She went out and she made hair bows,
and then she saw the need to make things easier,
more consistent,
et cetera.
When she already had her product in all these stores and
she needed production to be smoother.
And that led to the template.
But how cool is that?
Because that is really what developed her whole business and what
she's working with today.
Point being,
make sure that you've got your eyes wide open.
You think you're going down one path?
Cause Karen,
you probably thought,
well, this is great.
I'm in 11 different stores.
You never thought it was going to necessarily evolve into this
whole template thing,
which is the basis of your whole business now.
Exactly. That's I mean,
that is our primary business.
And if I make bows at this point,
it's, it's really for fun.
Occasionally I'll do a craft show just because I love getting
out there and talking with people and being crafty myself and
my daughter can only wear so many at this point.
So, so I've got to do something with them.
There you go.
Let me ask you one more question about this story before
we move on.
You were saying that,
you know,
when from a garage sale,
people came back and wanted the bows and then how did
it all evolve into those 11 stores?
Walk us through.
Well, I really believe in quality if you're going to do
something, do it.
Well, that's another Walt Disney quote.
And so I made some really quality bows.
They were sturdy.
I guarantee them.
And so I went into one or two stores and I
noticed they didn't have a very small size that you would
put on a baby,
an infant.
And I said,
I don't want to take away from your other bowmakers you're
at the other business that you carry,
but would you be interested in carrying these?
And I had them on a nice backing card.
I had my logo in place and contact information and a
basic website going at that point.
And so they agreed to try that since it wasn't something
competing with what they already had.
Well, those little bows were so popular.
The people who were buying them as their children grew,
they kept going back to the store and say,
well, can we get the next size up?
You know,
we added some non-slip grip inside and we covered all the
clips and all the ends were sealed.
So a lot of attention to detail from that point,
we just took it slow.
I mean,
I didn't go out saying I'm going to go get all
these stores and all these orders and so forth.
It was every step of growth that we took was taken
because we didn't have any other choice we had to grow.
So we didn't try and make ourselves too big.
We just kept letting our cup overflow.
We were like,
okay, we got to get a bigger cup.
We got to get a bigger cup.
As you had the first two stores,
did you then go and approach more stores or did stores
start coming to you?
A little bit of both.
We had several consignment stores who were hearing kind of through
the grapevine that no,
we had a good product and they approached us.
But then there were some higher end stores that carry some
really nice boutique items and really beautiful clothing.
At that point,
we had some confidence.
So I went to him and said,
Hey, this is what I've got.
And this is what I can do for you.
And this is we're already carried.
And let me leave you with a few samples and I'll
call you next week.
And really it was that I didn't really give them a
chance to say yes or no.
It was kind of like,
this is all the great stuff I can do.
I'll come back and talk later.
It sounds like it was the quality of your product that
really got everything That really,
really played a key role.
You were in a number of stores,
then you have a credibility play as you approach other people.
Yeah. It's going to snowball from that point.
Once you get started,
if you're get your company and your business started on solid
footing, you will really be able to go places You safe,
solid footing.
If you had a couple of recommendations for the people who
might be listening,
who are just thinking of starting out,
what would be a couple of things that you're saying,
you need to do this and you need to do this
First and foremost,
finances are going to be the backbone of a business.
Don't grow too fast.
Yeah, of course I wanted a new computer and I wanted
a fancy desk and all these great tools and everything.
You can't mistake,
fancy equipment and great tools for determination and hard work.
We said,
you know what?
We can't afford to buy new desks and we don't need
to keep buying new scissors.
All the little tools that add up,
they might be two or $3 a piece.
But you know,
you can spend a couple of hundred dollars on little crafting
tools because it looks fun.
You got to keep your focus insight and stay true to
that focus,
Focus on the tasks of actually growing the business.
Not what's behind the business in terms of equipment.
Exactly. Yeah.
It's, you know,
I didn't need fancy signs or storage containers or any of
the little gadgets that go along with crafting was like,
what is my goal?
And is this action getting me closer to it?
Is this action getting me closer to it really important because
a lot of us will think if you know,
going out and selling your product,
puts you in a very vulnerable situation,
the way you sell,
you have a very low key approach,
but your product totally speaks for itself.
But so many people selling,
you know,
is not the fun part.
So it's really easy to stay back in your craft room
or, you know,
work studio.
And in your mind,
you're working because you're making more or your setting up your
office. But those aren't tasks that bring in the money to
keep a business going.
And particularly in the beginning,
when you need to get it started,
you need to be getting some revenue coming in.
Okay? So now you have these templates and you're recognizing that
this is going to be the business.
So was little pink lady bug ever the bow business.
And then it gravitated to the templates or did little pink
lady bugs start as templates,
Little pink lady bug was the bow business.
I didn't want my name attached to something that I thought
I might possibly join with a partner or maybe sell someday.
So I didn't want my name to be the business.
I didn't want to ever have to sell them my name.
So I started making bows.
We had a great time at craft shows and things like
that. And then once we developed the templates,
we came up with the name,
brilliant filmmaker.
And we just had that as a brand,
under little pink lady bug the company yeah.
Had the templates.
And these were probably just handmade templates.
Initially We're handmade.
We actually went and got those flexible binders,
that flexible plastic that you can get.
And we would buy all the ones on clearance at the
end of the back-to-school sales and come back and you know,
we'd print out picture of the template and tape it to
the binder.
And then we cut it out with an exact,
and that's what we started with.
It was quite tedious.
And so that's what you were selling initially.
That's what we were selling initially.
So there are a few people out there who have the
hand cut templates,
and then that probably lasted no more than two weeks.
And we realized this was going to kill us.
So we tried a couple different things.
I invested in one of those personal home dye,
cutting devices that people use for scrapbooking and a found one
that you could program in your own shape.
And we thought that would work.
And that would take 10 minutes to cut one template.
So that didn't work.
And that was one of those stumbling blocks.
You know,
we paid a couple hundred dollars for the machine and it
never used it again.
But we found a small dye cutter,
a couple States over that was willing to work with us.
And once we knew how much the dye and the materials
and so forth would cost,
we waited till we saved up.
I mean,
this was not a credit that business,
this was all built on cash.
And we went ahead and got those dye cut,
but we couldn't afford the printing.
So we still had to take a Sharpie and write the
name and the size stuff,
the envelopes.
And at the time we were selling just the printed books,
we couldn't afford the spiral bounding.
So we put them in these binders that we got on
clearance and those were our kids.
That's what we were selling.
And it spread like wildfire.
You know,
what I like about that is you didn't invest a ton
of money right away.
You kind of tested the concept,
whether you knew that that was what you were doing or
not. And you took some chances again with that machine that
you bought that ended up not working,
you've got to try different systems and you didn't stop.
You might say that buying that equipment was not a success.
It was a failure,
but that didn't stop you.
You looked for yet again,
a different option.
There's that just keeps swimming quote right there.
There you go.
And the other thing is that you built the business as
you could.
I mean,
if you see the kids now and we're going to get
to this with Karen in a second,
they are far beyond what you were just describing templates put
in a folder,
they are totally professional and you would never know the evolution
that got Karen to this point,
if you see her product today.
So as you're thinking about your own businesses in your own
products, remember that everything is a step along the way.
It's all right.
To take many steps as you get to your ultimate goal.
I guess that's really what I was trying to get across
there. How are you producing the templates today?
The kids today?
Well, once we found the dye cutter here,
a couple of States over,
like I was talking about when we really got that going,
we weren't making money.
We were not even really breaking even,
but we knew where we needed to get,
because we had gotten them priced overseas.
And unfortunately we weren't able to keep them here in this
country. It was about 19 times more expensive.
So we never would have had any chance of a wholesale
markup or being able to sell it to stores through a,
again, like a series of contacts.
One person led to the next person led to the next,
or we found a great little two person company.
And we've got someone overseas who works with us and gets
the parts from a couple of different countries and gets everything
produced and assembled.
And we've been really happy with this company.
They've helped us out.
Yeah. That again was a big step too,
because we had minimum orders larger than anything we'd ever ordered
before. So then we were talking about going to the family
and saying,
okay, this is our plan.
This is where we want to go financially and took it
from there.
Yeah. Get a little bit of help along the way.
But you've already proven the concept.
You're already seeing that there's a market out there that will
buy the product.
Yes. Really important because you saw that people will put their
money where their mouth is.
Like some people would just say,
Oh, those are such cool templates.
Or the bows are so pretty.
I'd love to have them,
but people are actually opening their wallets and buying.
And we had a really strong customer base at that point.
Cause I was involved in a couple of the online chat
groups. This was before Facebook really took a strong grip.
And so I had a community of people who had known
me for awhile and she saw my work.
And when I said I was coming out with these templates,
a few of them got that and vows for me and
I had credibility.
So we had our very first order was kind of a
series of comedic events looking back now.
But at the time we were just devastated.
It was our first overseas order.
We had invested everything we had.
I mean,
we put everything on the line.
It was truly a leap of faith.
At that point,
we were praying hard.
And then our first shipment,
it got delayed for a few reasons.
But then when it was shipping in,
we were brand new importer.
And our first shipment happened to come through into the country
over September 11th.
So we were flagged by customs,
Oh my gosh,
we had hundreds and hundreds of pre-orders for these kits,
from people that we had sold and given him a great
deal saying,
Hey, invest with us.
This is the kid kind of a GoFund me or Kickstarter
campaign before those were around.
We said,
this is our idea.
This is what we're going to do.
We need you to buy it in advance.
And it passed the date in PayPal when they could get
refunds. And we were just keeping people updated saying,
Hey, they flagged our stuff.
They are,
they're holding it.
And it took about two months longer than we had originally
estimated for getting that first shipment in every single day was
agony. Just knowing I had to go tell these people,
Hey, we're still waiting.
I'm still here.
Here's some ideas.
This is what I'm working on.
And yeah,
it was just being in touch with your customers,
just letting people see you as the person you are,
you know,
you've got to put yourself on the line.
I think that's really important because first of all,
I can't imagine that people wouldn't understand with nine 11.
I mean,
everyone at that time came to the aid of everybody else.
So I would be surprised.
I don't know if you have any stories about that that
you even want to talk about,
but I could only imagine that everybody who ordered was totally
understanding, but there's always the fear that,
you know,
people are going to take your money and run,
right? So by you staying in touch with them and just,
you know,
yeah, this is a bad problem.
We're trying to figure it out.
I'm sure everyone understood the problem,
but by just staying in touch with them and saying,
look, I'm not gone.
I am here.
This is you are going to get the product.
I promise probably helped you through that.
Well and gained loyal Customers.
It really did.
And they got to know us really well because over the
course of the two months,
60 days,
you run out of some crafty ideas at some point.
So we were posted pictures of the dogs and the kids.
And Hey,
I'm not doing any crafts today and doing laundry,
but we're still thinking about you guys.
We're still here waiting for our shipment.
And yeah,
every year,
since then over the anniversary of nine 11,
they still flag a few things.
But now that we've been doing this for several years,
we don't get flagged as often,
but we still have a couple of strips of that.
TSA, us customs tape that all the boxes came wrapped with.
We saved a few pieces of that and stuck them on
one of our drawers that we've got here in the office.
That's good Is to have some history of the development of
the business,
I think is great.
I remember when,
where we came from.
I mean,
you can't get too big for your britches.
You got to remember,
Hey, when it comes down to it,
I'm going to sit down and I'm going to do something
to make my business go forward today.
I also have a similar situation when I'm bringing things in
from overseas,
because if you don't have mass mass mass product to take
up a whole container for yourself,
you're always in a container with other businesses and it might
not be,
you that's being flagged.
It might just be something in a container,
but the whole container has to be set aside.
So I've had that happen to me as well.
Just, you know,
pros and cons of doing business overseas,
right? Yeah.
Well, we learned a lot is what it is.
You learn to order early.
Yes. You learned to order before you're totally out.
Yes. And the holidays for other countries when things are shutting
down and you're not going to be able to get ahold
of anybody for a month.
It's, eye-opening all the fees and customs and legal work.
It can be intimidating at first.
But like I said,
just a step at a time.
You've told us already a couple of challenges that you've had
with the business.
Was there any other one that you wanted to bring up?
There's a couple,
I look back and they're kind of funny stories now.
They really weren't at the time when I said you really
had to just wait for the business to grow as you
needed it.
We were using our garage as our warehouse.
So our very first fitment,
we had six full pallets floor to ceiling pallets delivered.
We managed to fit them in the garage.
And you know,
we took it a step at a time.
Things started to grow.
And then one day I got a call from the shipping
company and they said,
well, we're going to deliver your shipment.
Where do you want it?
I was like,
you know,
just put it in the driveway as,
as usual,
put it in the front yard.
It's fine.
And the driver said,
you sure?
I was like,
yep, yep,
go ahead.
He said,
ma'am, do you understand that you have your own full container
this time?
And I had to stop him.
I said,
you know what,
please do not leave an entire shipping container in my front
yard. My homeowners association would go nuts.
And so it was at that point where like,
okay, I need to find a warehouse.
I don't know anything about warehousing.
Where am I going to go?
And I just look back through some of my contacts.
I started calling people and within an hour I had a
warehouse that not only was perfect for what we needed,
but it was also us custom station.
So if we ever got flagged again,
we could get flagged here in our hometown and at least
know that we still weren't waiting for cross country shipping to
happen. So that was,
you know,
it was a little bit of a challenge.
It's kind of funny to think about.
I was telling him to leave a full sized container in
our front yard.
I mean something that's on my truck.
It's a good thing.
He asked me that question.
Exactly. Some of the other we've had were a little more
heartbreaking, but we've really learned our lesson.
As far as when you're building a business,
you've got to love it.
And if you don't love it,
it's going to be challenged.
And because you are putting everything into it,
even sometimes above your children.
And you know,
I remember watching my kids play outside the backyard one summer,
never really getting to play with them cause I was building
this business.
But at the same time,
now I'm able to do all the activities that I've got
with them because the business doesn't require as much time.
And so a few years back we were exhausted.
I mean,
we spent a lot of nights going to bed crying.
We were tearing our hair out morning till night,
just really burnt getting burnt out Well.
And when you say,
say we you're talking about you and your daughter,
He was,
he was a great support.
He kind of saw the value in a couple of years
in and,
and really started supporting me with the paperwork side of things.
And we started working with a company who showed some remarkable
interest in either licensing or working with us or kind of
endorsing us.
And we talked with them quite a bit,
sent a lot of samples,
brainstorm some ideas.
And at that point we were still kind of naive and
trusting. We're like,
okay, great.
This is the answer to our prayers.
And we kind of just let go of the momentum and
the effort that we were putting into it because we were
just so ready to hand this over to somebody who already
had the distribution channels and the sales force in place.
And that was really our mistake because they took a few
of our ideas.
You know,
they didn't really steal anything,
but they decided to make their own product.
And they contact was immediately cut off.
We didn't hear from them.
And then shortly thereafter we saw them come out with their
own products and it was somewhat devastating because,
you know,
we had worked so hard and had put so much into
it. And we're just like,
where do you go from here?
And again,
we just,
you know,
our faith kind of got us through.
We just kept doing what we were doing,
what got us going in the first place,
just one foot in front of the other,
keep going with a small sales,
get our name out there,
work with people directly.
So we recovered and we're stronger for it.
We learned a good lesson there that you are ultimately in
charge. And until you're cashing a check at the bank,
nothing's a done deal.
Wow. You know,
you always are surprised when big businesses and companies come in
and do that because you always wonder,
you know,
was that their intent all along and as small businesses,
especially in the homemade crafting industry,
the best thing you can do to insulate yourself against that
type of a situation is exactly what Karen did.
We were just talking about how she was communicating and talking
with her customers all through the nine 11 and the delay
of product situation.
Unfortunately, people can knock off products.
It just can happen.
And at this last show,
I actually was talking with someone who gave me the legality
behind it.
And the conclusion is that your no product is really ever
safe, no matter how much paperwork you have,
certainly you should have all of your paperwork,
patents or the licensing trademarking,
all of that.
But people who are really intentional do have a way around,
pretty much anything.
But the good news is.
And especially for smaller businesses,
when you develop relationships with your customer base and when you
are intimately involved in the product like Karen,
she makes a ton of YouTube videos to show people how
to use these bows and what to do and how to
additionally be creative.
She's at the shows.
So our customers get a chance to see her and work
with her personally,
with the templates and the products.
Those are things that larger companies don't think about.
You know,
they don't think about that personal interaction as people we gravitate
to those that make us feel good.
And by nature,
you want to support a business owner.
Who's made you feel good,
who, you know,
has a quality product.
And that's the way we all keep our business in situations
like this,
being in a relationship with your customers and communicating with them
on a regular basis pays way more reward than you might
initially think,
right from the start,
make sure you guys to be keeping customer lists and talking
to your customers on a regular basis.
You definitely want to stay accessible because I've,
I've run into a lot of people.
Who've come back and said,
Oh, Hey,
I bought this boat kit and I never opened it up
and I'll sit them down immediately and be like,
Hey, let's make sure you know what you're doing.
I let them understand a little bit about me that I'm
over committed.
I've got family,
I've got a messy craft room.
I've got piles of laundry.
And you know,
you just,
it's a matter of priorities.
It's like,
okay, you know what?
I'm going to spend 15 minutes decent crafting,
just have fun rejuvenate for a little bit and move on.
So I just want to make them feel,
Hey, you're not alone in this.
We're all running crazy these days.
So just to let them see that you're a real person
too, and you understand what they're going through.
That connection is going to solidify a bond,
whether it's just a friendship or a customer vendor relationship,
it makes a difference.
Totally. We agree.
Karen, good input.
Thank you for sharing that.
All right.
Moving on a little bit.
What have you found in terms of promotions or events that
you do that help move the needle that bring you in
new customers sell more product?
Any of that?
A lot of times what we found it's,
it's going to some of the larger shows are great,
but I'll tell you,
the city I live in now has a huge influx of
bowmakers because we've kind of inundated the area,
but being able to get out even to the next city
over or an hour away,
getting the attention of those new customers really makes a huge
difference because not only will you get the customers that are
there directly talking with you,
but you'll get their friends that when they go home and
tell their friends,
Hey, check this out with me.
This looks like fun.
Why don't we try it?
And it kind of causes these little explosions because then they'll
tell their family who may live across the country and you'll
see the,
a little bit of growth,
you know,
somewhere else.
Right? So it's really just staying in front of people and
on a personal level.
So we're definitely finding the videos are helping,
you know,
we found an opportunity at the state fair,
where if you did a demonstration on the stage,
you could have a booth for free,
which is a couple thousand dollars at the state fair.
So we took advantage of that.
You know,
we just took advantage of any chance we to get in
front of people,
which is probably why we were so exhausted,
any chance we had.
You just,
you jump on it and you move quickly.
That's being fast and flexible is going to help you maneuver
faster to your goals.
Wonderful. Yeah.
Seeing the opportunity and jumping on it,
taking action on the customer service end.
What do you do to make sure that your customers know
that you appreciate them and that they're valued?
Well, we really try to stay on top of the emails
and the contacts that we get.
So we email a lot of customers directly,
especially the ones who they don't see us as a big
company. They see us as,
Hey, this is my friend,
Karen, I'm going to email her back and be like,
Hey, can you show me how to use the templates?
So we really try and take the time to work with
each person as an individual as if they were,
you know,
my sister or my neighbor asking me for a little bit
of advice and take that time.
And it does take a little bit more time,
but we found we have such a great relationship and it
really builds from that point because word of mouth is huge.
I mean,
any business I've tried usually within two years of just word
of mouth with a good product and good customer service,
and you're just going to be exploding.
So the one-on-one contact with the customers who email us,
you know,
sometimes we'll include a little note with someone if we've,
you know,
talked back and forth with them.
Or if they've mentioned something in a post on Facebook about
their family,
we just try and take notice.
And we'll put a little note in that says,
Hey, I hope you're feeling better,
have fun with the kit.
And just to recognize them as a person and not a
number, it goes back to relationships,
gets everything.
Everything is built on relationships.
Let's move now into the reflection section.
Kiran, what is one trait that you feel you've had kind
of for your whole life that you are really tapping into
now to build the business and really make you Successful?
Well, I'll admit this tray is a double-edged sword,
but I am a perfectionist.
And my husband can tell when I'm really tired because I
get worse,
a little more OCD on the details,
but just in a business sense,
the details can make or break.
You are selling the bows in the beginning,
it was the little details,
you know,
covering the clips.
Just not a huge thing,
but people didn't like the big metal clips showing when they
put a hair bow in a baby's hair,
making sure all the ends were sealed.
Just little things that you may not even notice when you're
looking at it.
You may not even be conscious about it,
but just in the back of your mind,
your mind is processing.
Does this product,
does it look clean and have smooth edges and just presents
an appealing visual to me?
You know?
So those,
those little attention to detail,
thank you.
Cards when people help you out consistency,
things like that.
Yeah. I think really going back to your product,
how many of us have bought one specific brand?
Because it has one little trait that the other one doesn't
have buy a car because it has a built-in baby seat,
or you buy a certain blouse because you like the style
of their buttons.
You know,
some of the little details that make all the difference,
as Karen's talking about,
she covered metal clips that differentiates her from everybody else and
people buy because of those special qualities of a product.
So as you're developing products,
think about that too.
We've talked a lot about how you have created now balance
in your life,
between all the things you're doing with your family and running
a successful business.
Do you have any tool or anything that you do so
that you do have that extra time to be able to
balance both of these?
I think I've mentioned it a couple of times,
but just to really point it out.
My sister was the one who made me focus on this.
Probably the best thing is a list,
not a list of things to do,
but a list of your priorities.
And she pointed out,
she was like,
first thing in the morning,
you know,
eat healthy,
make sure that you are mentally focused and energetic and you
have the energy take that time.
That 10 is for yourself in the morning.
You'll have the energy for the day after that.
What are your priorities?
Is it your business,
your kids,
your family,
your marriage,
you know,
taking care of your pets,
prioritize the top four or five things in your life and
make sure you pay attention to those each day.
I'm always going to have laundry and I'll admit it is
probably the last thing on my list.
Even now when I have time to do it,
good to grab life while you've got it and focus on
what is your top priority that day Is your priority lists
change each day,
or you just keep your overarching priorities and just keep an
eye on A little bit of both each day,
I might have a,
if I have one of my scout meetings or if my
daughter has dance or my son has archery or whatever,
that day's priorities are,
some of them I can say,
okay, I've got three hours of time for my business.
And I'm going to focus on that.
Others are,
you know what,
I'm not working on the business at all today because I've
got volunteer work and I'm going to be at school and
then I've gotta get home to homeschool my daughter,
and then she's got dance and he's got archery.
And then I've got a meeting.
And you know,
my priority on that day is getting,
is getting through the day and the prep work,
you know,
making sure lunch is their pack.
And I have all the clothes and outfit changes we need
for the day.
So it does change a little bit,
but you've always got to make time to take care of
yourself physically,
mentally, spiritually,
because if you don't have any more to give and you
are always giving to your customers and your clients,
you are going to slowly slip downhill and lose that attention
to detail wise words.
For sure.
You know,
as I think about my business,
probably about halfway through the process of getting it going,
I probably would have said,
it's not worth it.
If I'd known what I was in for,
I would not have kept going.
But now that we're through to the other side,
it was absolutely worth it.
It was worth every single late night,
every single difficult decision,
it was all worth it.
So you get in the middle of the journey and sometimes
you just need to dis carry through,
not worry about the bumps,
just keep going,
keep going.
And that's what you'd say at the end,
it's been worth it.
The end is really still the middle because I know you
keep going and keep it up.
Yeah. Just like Dory,
just keep swimming there.
We've learned a lot along the way.
And we've got some bumps and bruises,
but every single thing we've gone through has made us stronger
and just we've kept our faith and work together and,
you know,
just follow your Karen.
What book have you read lately that you think our listeners
could find value in?
There's a couple that I refer back to and all of
them seem to be along the lines of selling techniques and
personal improvement.
I'm trying to think of a couple of the titles that
I've had,
but things like the seven secrets of success.
And I think there's one in the little red book of
selling and really all of them have kind of said the
same thing that I've been referring to today is just making
that personal relationship.
People love to be noticed.
They love to know that they're important and that they've made
a difference and all of us really want that acceptance and
that love.
And when you're around somebody,
I don't care if it's a waitress or someone checking you
out at the grocery store,
you'll notice that if you feel good around that person,
you're going to keep talking to them.
And that really makes a difference.
So gift biz listeners,
just as you're listening to the podcast today,
you can also listen to audio books with ease.
I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
get an audio book.
Just like one of the two Karen is recommending for free.
All you need to do is go to gift biz,
book.com and make a selection that's gift biz book.com.
So Karen,
we're going to be winding down to our final question in
a second,
but before we do that,
will you share with our listeners two things,
number one,
how they can get in touch with you.
And also if they wanted to look at your product and
possibly buy templates for bows,
where could they find those Fastest way to get ahold of
meeting, especially business-wise is going to be through my website,
which is www dot little pink lady,
bug.com. Because when we check email,
we get hundreds a day.
The first ones we check are the website comments.
We do check Facebook.
We try and get on there at least once a day,
but I'll be honest.
Sometimes that's not the top of my priority list.
Okay. And what stores are the,
are your products in that people could go out and take
a look We're actually carried by a lot of larger distributors.
So we do have access to a lot of the mom
and pop stores.
So if you don't see us in a smaller local craft,
or you can definitely ask because chances are the owner is
familiar with one of the distributors that carries us.
We're also,
we were picked up by hobby lobby.
They've been really,
really good to us.
As far as working with a small business.
We didn't know anything about order quantities and case packs and
barcodes and all kinds of little details.
And they've really been good to us and helped us out
quite a bit.
So those are some of the big ones.
And then I know there's quite a few online as well.
Wonderful. And they can also go directly to your website too.
Absolutely. Yeah.
They can go directly to our website and ask us questions
first and find links to some of the videos and get
information that way.
Perfect. And gift biz listeners.
If you're out walking your dog,
doing your laundry,
unlike Karen's doing,
remember, you can always go to the show notes page and
we'll have all the links there ready for you.
All right,
Karen, we are ending now with my dare to dream question
for you.
I'd like to present you with the virtual gift.
It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
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 virtual box?
Well, I think the first thing that I'm going to find
in that box is a gift certificate for someone to help
me organize my craft room and kind of keep my house
under control.
Because like I said,
that's not one of my priorities.
I don't enjoy doing it.
And you know,
it was just one of those things that has to be
done. If I could get that on the way I love
to craft and create,
I love doing demonstrations with people and the chance to travel.
Haven't really had a chance to just travel around,
but just to be able to travel and see the sites
and do some exploring that way.
But at the same time,
combining that with my business,
where I'm able to teach a few classes here and there
and meet with people,
one-on-one I absolutely love what I do.
I love sharing it with other people.
And then to be able to combine that with kind of
a world tour at the same time,
that would be amazing.
Yeah. Fabulous.
So what if you were envisioning one place in the world
where you could go,
what would it be?
You know,
I lived in North Carolina when I was younger and we
lived pretty close to the coast.
So I'd say probably,
definitely somewhere warm with the sand and some ocean.
That would probably be my top choice.
Wonderful. Well,
Karen, thank you so much.
This has been really enlightening and I think a really good
episode, particularly for people who are just starting out,
you know,
how to start the journey and how to capture the opportunities
along the way,
the way you've told your story and the insights that you've
given have been really,
really helpful.
I'd want to thank you for opening up sharing your story.
And I know that little pink lady bug is going to
continue to grow and grow.
So gift biz listeners,
let's watch Karen as she continues her journey.
And may your candle.
Karen always burned,
bright, Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your
business. Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your
business and life.
It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
slash tools.
Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
next episode.
Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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