Jane Hamill | Podcast

"I have a great product and a nice online store but I don't have enough customers. What am I doing wrong?"

This is probably the top question I get every single week from coaching members and students in my courses. You're working hard, you're getting some traffic to your site, but it's not enough (or not consistent enough) to make you really happy with your results.

And usually, you think the answer is the "right" ads, the "right" collaborations, the "right" new product launch – the "right" something if only you knew what it was…

Before you get to the specific marketing tactics to get more customers, I really want to make sure you understand why you don't ALREADY have the sales.

This episode is the basis of how to get more customers. Listen now!

www.janehamill.com/3reasons

"Sometimes people are really, truly insane. But you're in retail so you stay nice no matter what. Retail Lesson number one -- the magic is in being nice."

There's what you think it will be like to own a retail store and then there's the every day reality. I owned a women's boutique for 14 years and let me tell ya, it's not for wusses. It's more fun than you ever imagined and it's waaaaayyyyyy harder than you ever imagined.

My guest today tells us what it's really like to own and operate a boutique. Kirsten Skoglund owned a knitting shop with her sister for 10 years in Minnesota. Like most people who go into retail, she never thought she would. She's a former HR executive who had a passion for knitting - and a business was launched.

Kirsten is funny, smart, and honest in this interview. She's also the new accountability coach (woot!woot!) in my Imperfect Action membership. She ROCKS.

Some snippets from the interview:

• "It can be pretty lonely being a retail store owner because you really don't have a whole lot of people to talk to. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of loneliness with entrepreneurship in general."
• "Sometimes people are really, truly insane. But you're in retail so you stay nice. No matter what. Retail Lesson number one -- the magic is in being nice."
• "I didn't have any systems for that (hiring), and I'm kind of embarrassed about that. I was always looking for people who could sell. I would go to the drive through and someone would be really good at selling me a hamburger and I would ask them if they wanted to come work at my store."
• Planning became very, very important. I was pulled kicking and screaming to the planning process and really learned to embrace it. If I planned, I could sell more! And it really did help keep all of the craziness out of my brain. Well, not all of it."

Show Notes and Links:

www.janehamill.com/10things10years

We're diving back into our discussion with Zoe Hong on the 5 Ugly Truths about the Fashion Industry.

If you missed the first episode, you can listen as a podcast or watch the video interview at this link:

http://janehamill.com/zoehong/

In this episode, Zoe touches on the last 2 Truths.

4. It's About Who You Know

5. If You are Not Implementing Sustainability You are Already Behind.

These last two Truths are especially valuable and necessary to understand for those wishing to succeed in the Fashion Industry - or any industry really.

www.janehamill.com/zoehong2

My special guest is a fashion industry insider and breath of fresh air on the interwebs. I came across on of Zoe's videos on Facebook and immediately loved her. Zoe's YouTube channel has over 185,000 subscribers and in her videos she makes NO apologies and just tells it like it is.

Zoe doesn't mince words and today's episode is no different - 5 ugly truths about working in the fashion industry.

Show Notes and Links:

http://janehamill.com/zoehong/

People land on your site but they don't buy. Why not?

In today's episode, I'm giving you 9 more tips to increase your e-commerce conversion rate. My goal in life is to help you make money so you can support your family, pay your bills, pay yourself, go on vacation, and enjoy life. Let's turn thos lookers into buyer.

Show notes and links:

http://janehamill.com/conversions2/

Do you want a website that looks great to your eyes? Or do you want a website that MAKES YOU MONEY? I think I know the answer.

In today's episode, I'm going to teach you the 6 main things your site needs to do to increase your conversion rate. I want to help you to support your family, to pay your bills, pay yourself, go on vacation, and enjoy your life. Let's do it!

Show notes and links:

janehamill.com/conversionspodcast/

What would it be like to do something totally different? One day you're designing a clothing line and the next you decide you want to be a writer. Boom - business pivot.

A lot of us THINK about making a switch like that but my guest today is actually DOING it.

Adeline Olmer has owned a fashion business for quite a while, she's owned a retail store, worked as an artist. Her work is lovely. Her clothing line is architectural and fun. But she tells me about owning a fashion business...

"It was NOT easy." - Adeline Olmer

I'd say that's an understatement.

The business pivot started when she finally committed to writing her blog every week - no matter what. She's been blogging for years but never consistent with her content. She wanted more traffic to her site and I was always telling her that creating consistent content is a key component. I'm always telling everyone that.

She blogged weekly and things started happening. Her email list grew "without even trying", people reached out and thanked her for her blog stories, her posts became the topic of conversation at cocktail parties.

In other words, it was working. So she shifted from writing posts designed to help sell her apparel line to writing stories about her experiences, her past, and things happening in life - good and bad. And now, she's writing a book. A huge change in career.

"I started writing my blog every single week and it brought me so much pleasure and feedback. People were responding. It brought me such joy to write these stories. It changed everything."

Going from fashion design to being an author and a workshop leader has been...interesting.

"Easier than I imagined. And harder", she says.

Adeline's stories make me think about things in a slightly different way. I look forward to getting them every week.

I hope you enjoy this episode!

Jane

Show Notes and Links:

www.janehamill.com/frenchsecrets

My mission is for you to build a following for your brand and to let people get to know you, like you and trust you. When that happens, there's always a percentage of these people who will want to buy from you. It will be a natural progression and not something you'll need to worry about. You won't have to always be saying, where's my next sale coming from? What am I going to do? How will I get enough traffic to hit my sales goals? I truly believe any entrepreneur can build a following of people who want to buy their products ,can afford to pay for them and understand the value. This episode explains the "backwards" strategy of getting sales.

Enjoy! Jane

There's setting up your show booth to "look good" and then there's setting it up for maximum SALES. I certainly didn't know the difference when I first started doing shows.

This episode will tell you exactly what to do with your booth for a craft fair, art show, market, festival, wholesale trade show - any selling event.

My guest today is Amy Meadows and she's an absolute expert at visual merchandising with intent to sell. It doesn't matter if it's a B2B or B2C show, booth setup is a high level skill and there's no one better at it than Amy.

She understands the issues my clients face when doing trade shows. She gets down to the nitty gritty details and in this interview she tells how she worked with a clothing designer and...

"we were able to talk through some of those very same logistics issues that you just talked about. How many nails are you going to actually poke in that wall and what is the cost per square foot going to be and how long are you going to be there and how are you going to optimize all of your presentations so that you are blowing out sales?"

You're going to learn a lot in this episode.

Show Notes and Links:

https://janehamill.com/trade-show-booth-setup/

Having a content marketing strategy that consistently ATTRACTS people to your website is a life-changing thing. AS a creative entrepreneur, knowing you have a PLAN in place, and an actual calendar you can follow - it's nothing short of magical! Magical, I say.

Today, I'm going to share my process for getting started with a kick-ass badass BOSS holy moses it works content calendar.

And most importantly, a content marketing plan that results in...

• money $$ for you, and
• happiness :) :) for your customers

Let's do it together, people!! Get your marketing calendar together NOW before summer -- before the kids get out of school, before you head out on vacation, before you lay on your hammock & listen to the birds and drink wine...

Get your content plan together and you will feel IN CONTROL of your destiny, your business, and your bank balance.

Let's do it. :)

janehamill.com/calendar