Launch Your Box Podcast with Sarah Williams | Start, Launch, and Grow Your Subscription Box

You’ve built your audience. You’re showing up consistently, posting on social media, going live, running giveaways, and doing all the things to get more eyes on your business.

Your waitlist is growing.

It feels like it’s time to launch, right?

Not so fast.

Rushing straight from building a waitlist to launching your subscription box is one of the biggest mistakes I see new subscription box owners make.

The Missing Step in Your Subscription Box Marketing Plan

Inside Launch Your Box, I teach a 5-step subscription box marketing plan:

Most subscription box owners understand the importance of building an audience and growing a waitlist. And they’re definitely focused on launching.

But that third step? Pre-launch?

It gets skipped far too often.

Your pre-launch period is when you turn the people who joined your waitlist into an engaged, excited audience ready to buy when you open the doors.

Before someone subscribes, they need to believe two things:

A hobby box might solve the problem of not knowing what supplies to buy or where to find inspiration. A self-care box gives someone permission to slow down. A pet subscription box makes it easy to spoil a much-loved pet.

Get clear on the problem your box solves before you start writing your pre-launch emails.

Then, over the two to three weeks leading up to your launch, send these six emails.

What Happens After?

Get these six emails written and scheduled, and you’ll walk into launch day with a warm, ready-to-buy audience instead of a cold list.

But your email marketing doesn’t stop when you launch. It simply shifts.

Once you have subscribers, your goal changes from convincing people to buy to keeping the people you already have excited, engaged, and looking forward to their next box.

That’s why I created a free swipe file with 5 emails you can send to your subscribers every single month.

You’ll get email templates for:

Click HERE  and enter your email address to have the swipe files sent straight to your inbox.

Join me for this episode as I walk you through the six emails to send before your subscription box launch, what each email needs to accomplish, and how they work together to build trust, create excitement, and get your audience ready to buy.

Join me in all the places:    

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today! 

Starting a Facebook business page from scratch is hard. Even growing an existing page can feel hard. But it’s a critical part of audience building. You create great content your ideal customer will love. And you want your ideal customer - lots of your ideal customers - to see it. That means gaining more followers. 

When I started my page, How to Start a Subscription Box, in early 2020. I knew who my ideal customer was. What I didn’t know was how I was going to get them to like my page. I spent six months spinning my wheels and not gaining a ton of followers. At the end of those six months, I took a step back and took a close look at what I was doing. And what I wasn’t doing. Then I came up with an action plan to get to 1000 followers before the end of the year. 

Getting to 1000 followers is possible. In this episode, I’m sharing four things you can do to reach - and pass - that 1000 follower mark.

I called these “4 Simple Steps to Gain Your First 1000 Facebook Followers.” Nothing I’ve recommended is complicated or difficult. Following these 4 steps helped me reach 1000 followers on my business Facebook page. Continuing to follow them led to reaching - and passing - 10,000 followers in less than two years. Let Facebook work for you! 

Join me for this episode where I share a simple, 4-part action plan for gaining your first 1,000 Facebook followers. 

Starting an audience from scratch can feel intimidating. It doesn't need to! I created an amazing resource to help you build an audience filled with your ideal customers. Grab it ⁠HERE⁠ for only $10! 

Join me in all the places: 

Are you ready for ⁠Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠Join ⁠today! 

A few weeks ago, one of our Launch Your Box members, Leslie, made a post that stopped me in my tracks: she'd been running her subscription box for three years and still had zero subscribers. Zero.

I dug into her social media and website, because I knew there had to be a reason — and it wasn't the product. It was the offer.

We're Too Close to Our Own Business

A Great Product Isn't Enough

Product Pages Don't Sell Experiences

The Simpler the Offer, the Better

What You Can Learn From This

Sometimes the smallest tweaks create the biggest breakthroughs — and for Leslie, a little more clarity will make all the difference.

In This Episode:

Join me for this episode to hear the full coaching session and see how a few simple changes can completely transform the way customers respond to your offer.

Where to find Leslie: 

The Tea Experience on Facebook

The Tea Experience on Instagram

The Tea Experience Website

Join me in all the places:    

Facebook

Instagram

Launch Your Box with Sarah Website 

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

In this episode, we’re talking with Denise Parkes of The Crafty DIYer. Denise and I know each other well. She’s a member of Launch Your Box, Scale Your Box, and my Elevate Mastermind. As one of my Mastermind Ladies, I get to see Denise in person 3 times a year! Her strength and the story of the last year in her business inspire me and the other members of our Mastermind. It will inspire you, too. 

Denise is an artist and a crafter. She is passionate about teaching others to enjoy crafting. Denise serves mainly women over the age of 60 and, by going LIVE six days a week for a long time, had built up a devoted following. 

When Denise learned about me and my annual Subscription Box Week, she joined right away. During that week, Denise got to know me and my teaching style as well as what she could expect inside Launch Your Box.

Denise was convinced a subscription box was the right next step for her. She actually launched during Subscription Box Week (remember she already had a large audience) and got 120 subscribers! 

Denise’s subscription box grew quickly and soon she needed to rent warehouse space to handle inventory and fulfillment. But all was not well inside Denise’s business. Denise and her business reside in Canada where shipping costs are prohibitive. She simply couldn’t afford to ship to her largely US based subscribers, or even those in her own country. Shipping costs were eating up all of her profits. 

Denise was also dealing with health issues and found herself stressed and unhappy. Her business in its current form was no longer serving her. She knew she still needed to make an income, but couldn’t go on as she was.  

But Denise is someone who gets back up and figures things out. And during our September 2023 Mastermind Retreat, she did just that. There is power in being in a room with other smart, like-minded businesswomen who want the best for you. 

Denise realized the way forward was with printables – no shipping required! She’d had a super successful printable lead magnet in place to grow her list and further proved the viability of her idea by selling one-off printables. When she was able to get out of her warehouse lease,

Denise felt able to start from scratch again… even though doing so was scary. 

Starting from scratch for Denise meant “doing everything Sarah teaches.” 

The Digital Print Clubhouse launch was a big success – 150 subscribers big. And it has continued to grow. Denise now has more than 400 subscribers and celebrated hitting 6-figures only 10 months after making this major pivot. 

So what’s different now? 

Denise talks about the importance of being around women who support and understand her – like the ones found inside Launch Your Box. She also reminds us of the importance of not worrying about what anyone else thinks and resisting the urge to compare yourself to anyone else. 

Pivoting was necessary for Denise’s business to survive. And now she’s not only surviving, she’s thriving… and celebrating hitting six-figures in less than a year! 

Join me for this episode as Denise and I talk about realizing when it's time to pivot, working through the fear, and coming out stronger… oh, and reaching six-figures in revenue in less than a year! 

Find and follow Denise: 

Join me in all the places:  

Are you ready for ⁠Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠Join the waitlist ⁠today!

In this episode of the Launch Your Box Podcast, I’m walking you through the 7-step roadmap to turn your product-based business into a subscription in 90 days or less. These are the same steps I used when I launched my first subscription. And the same steps I teach inside Launch Your Box.

Step 1: Simplify Your Subscription Box Tech

You need:

A way to sell online

A way to collect recurring payments

That’s it.

Step 2: Choose What Goes in Your Subscription Box

Start with what your customers already love. What are your top 3-4 best-selling items or categories? Those best sellers are the perfect foundation for your subscription. Think scalable, repeatable, and easy to ship. 

Always ask yourself: Can I source this monthly? Will it ship well? Does it deliver high perceived value?

Step 3: Price It Before You Plan It

Don’t plan your box and then figure out what to charge. Instead, set your price first, then curate around that number.

Use your average order value as a guide. Keep an eye on your profit every step of the way. 

Step 4: Map Out 6 Months of Boxes

Want to feel ahead in your business? Plan six months of boxes now.

You don’t need every detail figured out. Just sketch out your themes or categories using customer behavior patterns and seasonal trends.

For help doing this in just one hour, take my FREE⁠ 6 in 60 Workshop⁠.

Step 5: Choose (and Commit to) Your Subscription Box Launch Date

Mark your launch date on the calendar. Ideally, 45–60 days out. That becomes your anchor point. It tells you when to:

Finalize tech

Order product

Build your waitlist

Start marketing

Tell someone your date. Accountability works.

Step 6: Build a Waitlist + Create Launch Momentum

Your waitlist isn’t just a place to collect emails. It’s your launch engine.

Build a simple opt-in page that shares:

Who your box is for

What’s inside

Why it’s special

Then nurture that list with weekly updates. Even a small waitlist can convert like crazy when you keep them engaged.

Step 7: Prep, Test, and Launch

Test your tech. Write your emails. Plan your social content. Then go LIVE and get that first box out into the world.

Take Action

You already have a business. You already have customers. Now it’s time to turn that into a recurring revenue stream you can count on.

You’ve got the plan. Now go launch the dang thing.

Want to turn your product business into recurring revenue? This episode gives you the action plan. Start listening now.

Join me in all the places:    

⁠Facebook⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠Launch Your Box with Sarah Website⁠ 

Are you ready for ⁠Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠Join the waitlist ⁠today! 

Do you think growing your subscription means spending tons of money on ads? It doesn’t need to be that way! There are so many low and even no-cost ways to market and grow your subscription box business.  

The bottom line? You can’t rely on just one marketing channel or strategy. You need to build a multi-channel marketing plan, layering one type of marketing on top of another. Don’t worry - building this plan doesn’t have to be time-consuming or costly. 

I’m sharing seven cost-effective ways to market your subscription box business. But I don’t want you to try to implement all of them at the same time! If you’re just getting started, choose one, get consistent with it and then layer on another. If you’re already doing one or more of these, choose another one to add to your marketing plan. 

Take one of these ideas and build it into your routine. Get comfortable and consistent with it. Then layer in another strategy. Continue to grow your audience, reach more of the right people, and ultimately gain new subscribers. 

You can’t rely on one marketing channel or strategy. And you don’t need to spend a lot of money on ads to market effectively. Join me for this episode as I take you through seven cost-effective ways to market your subscription box. 

Join me in all the places: 

Are you ready for ⁠ Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠ Join the waitlist⁠ today! 

What do you do when your first subscription box launch falls completely flat?

If you’re Jennifer of Becoming Box, you go back to the drawing board, figure out what went wrong, and come back with a launch that generates a six-thousand-person waitlist in just five weeks.

This week on the Launch Your Box podcast, I sat down with Jennifer, a twenty-year real estate broker turned subscription box owner, to talk about her incredible journey from launching to crickets ten days before Christmas to building one of the most targeted, passionate audiences I’ve seen from a brand-new box owner.

Before Becoming Box, Jennifer had another idea entirely. She raised show goats and wanted to bring that experience to families through a subscription. She worked on it for months, then launched ten days before Christmas.

She got crickets. But Jennifer didn’t walk away. She started researching. And that’s when she found Launch Your Box.

The Workshop That Changed Everything

One of the first things Jennifer did after joining Launch Your Box was go through my 6 in 60 Workshop, a free workshop you can access at 6in60workshop.com.

She realized she had nothing in common with the ideal customer of her original box.

Without that connection, she couldn’t truly serve them. So she started asking herself: What am I actually passionate about? What do I know inside and out because I’m living it?

A Niche Born from Personal Experience

Jennifer had started taking GLP-1 medication in October of 2025. What she found when she went looking for community was a lot of women struggling in silence.

Women were joining Facebook groups to talk about their experiences because they couldn’t talk about it anywhere else. They were being shamed. They were getting inconsistent information. And many of them were also navigating perimenopause and menopause at the same time.

Jennifer also noticed something else. These women were mostly Gen X. That insight became the foundation of everything.

Three Boxes. One Clear Mission.

Becoming Box launched with three distinct subscription options, each one named with intention.

Reclaim is for women on GLP-1 who are reclaiming pieces of themselves they set aside for years.

Reckoning is for women in perimenopause. Not a box that treats that season as just a transition to get through.

Unfiltered is for women who are doing both, living the GLP-1 journey while navigating perimenopause at the same time. It’s about taking the filter completely off and just being yourself.

Unfiltered turned out to be the most popular box by nearly double. And it’s also the most expensive, at eighty-nine dollars a month.

The Content That Built a Six-Thousand-Person Waitlist in Five Weeks

Jennifer didn’t have an existing audience. She started from scratch. She put up a simple waitlist page. No freebies. No giveaways. Just an invitation.

Then she created a video that spoke directly to Gen X women in the language they actually use. That video resonated so strongly that people weren't just watching it, they were sharing it.

She started with five to ten dollars a day in paid ads. The cost per waitlist signup was around forty-five cents.

Over five weeks, her waitlist grew to six thousand people. That’s what happens when you know your customer, speak their language, and make them feel seen.

A Launch That Actually Worked

When Jennifer was ready to launch, she did a soft launch to her waitlist only with a seventy-two hour window.

She finished her first launch with forty-six subscribers. These were people who invested in something entirely new, without full product photos, without a long track record. They bought because they trusted her and they believed in what she was building.

The Details That Made the Difference

Jennifer wanted tools that women could use every day. Things that actually supported the GLP-1 and perimenopause journey. One month she included a heat wrap for the aches and body changes that come with this season. Another item was custom lounge pants with the monthly theme printed on them.

And Jennifer is now adding a custom magazine to each box, filled with real information about GLP-1 updates, hair shedding, hormone health, and the questions her community has been asking everywhere else but struggling to find straight answers to.

What's Next for Becoming Box

Jennifer has her eyes on five hundred subscribers by the end of the year.

Jennifer’s message is simple: “Know your ideal customer. Not just who they are, but how to talk to them. Know what they need and want and look for how you can provide that. When you do that, they will come.”

Where to find Jennifer:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

What happens when you combine creativity, recurring revenue, and the courage to let go of control?

You get a story like Joanne’s.

On this episode of the Launch Your Box Podcast, I sat down with Launch Your Box and Scale Your Box member Joanne, founder of Down Memory Lane, to talk about how she grew her scrapbooking subscription box from 47 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers and the big decision that made that growth possible.

Joanne started her business back in 2007 as a brick-and-mortar scrapbook store.

Her customers loved scrapbooking, but many of them struggled with the same things:

They didn’t have enough time.

They didn’t feel creative.

They bought supplies but never used them.

So Joanne created a solution. She designed ready-to-assemble scrapbook kits with everything customers needed to complete a two-page scrapbook layout.

And customers loved them.

In 2021, Joanne came across an ad for Subscription Box Week and decided to check it out.

At the time, subscription boxes weren’t even on her radar, but one thing caught her attention immediately: Recurring revenue.

She joined Launch Your Box during Subscription Box Week, mapped out six months of box ideas using the 6 in 60 framework, and launched her subscription in June 2021.

Her original goal? Twenty-five subscribers.

She sold those in two days.

And after scrambling to increase inventory, she shipped 47 boxes her very first month.

Over the next year and a half, Joanne steadily grew her subscription to 500 monthly subscribers.

But growth came with challenges.

Joanne was operating out of a small facility in Wisconsin with five employees and no loading dock. Every month, pallets of heavy scrapbook paper and supplies arrived outside the building and had to be carried in by hand, even during freezing Wisconsin winters.

Joanne realized she had reached a capacity ceiling. She couldn’t grow any further without changing something.

Inside Scale Your Box, Joanne heard an interview with Ryan from Lessgistics, a third-party logistics company that specializes in subscription box fulfillment.

At first, the idea of handing over fulfillment to strangers felt scary.

But once she ran the numbers, everything changed. She realized:

The cost of fulfillment was less than the combined cost of payroll, rent, and labor required to pack the boxes herself.

Her employees could spend more time creating products instead of unloading pallets and packing shipments.

Most importantly she could finally grow again.

So she made the leap.

In January, her fulfillment center officially began shipping her subscription boxes.

And while there were a few small bumps in the beginning, Joanne says it was one of the best decisions she’s ever made for her business.

And within six months she doubled her subscription from 500 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers.

No huge launch.No complicated funnel.No massive promotion strategy.

She focused primarily on Facebook ads and steady, intentional monthly growth.

Her goal was simple: Add 100 subscribers each month.

And month after month, she hit that goal.

Joanne’s story is such a powerful reminder that growth often requires a different version of you.

The systems that get you to 50 subscribers won’t necessarily get you to 500.And the systems that get you to 500 may not support 1,000.

At some point, scaling requires:

better systems,

stronger support,

and the willingness to let go of doing everything yourself.

And while outsourcing fulfillment felt terrifying at first, it ultimately gave Joanne:

more freedom,

more time,

less physical stress on her team,

and the ability to continue growing her business.

Join me for this episode as Joanne shares how she turned a longtime creative business into a thriving subscription box, grew from 47 to 1,000 subscribers, and made the scary-but-game-changing decision to move to a fulfillment center so she could finally scale without burning out. 

Where to find Joanne: 

⁠Down Memory Lane on Facebook⁠

⁠Down Memory Lane on Instagram⁠

⁠Down Memory Lane Website⁠

Join me in all the places:    

⁠Facebook⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠Launch Your Box with Sarah Website⁠ 

Are you ready for ⁠Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠Join the waitlist ⁠today! 

“Lean into what your people are loving and asking for. And if there’s a digital option, go for it!” - Stacey Collins

Subscriptions aren’t always physical items showing up on your doorstep. Think Netflix, Disney +, or an online newspaper. After today’s episode, you’ll also think about Stacey Collins and her Printable Club. 

Stacey is a member of Launch Your Box and a self-proclaimed lover of all things decorating, crafting, and shopping. She has spent years building a wildly loyal audience through her blog and social media. Stacey is creative, energetic, and FUN! She’s also a very smart businesswoman. 

Stacey serves her audience. She served them for a long time before selling to them. When 2020 hit and we were all stuck at home, looking for things to do and people to connect with, Stacey went online and served her audience by crafting with them a LOT. She was coming up with new ideas for crafts to meet the demand and got the idea to craft using her custom-designed printables. Her audience LOVED it and asked for more. And more. And more. 

Stacey’s Printable Club was born. The first launch brought in 800 subscribers! And it has continued to grow. Now, two years in, Stacey has more than 2,000 monthly subscribers. And the best part - other than more than $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue - is this subscription requires no packing or shipping. It’s 100% digital. She’s not sending anything physical. Instead, her subscribers use digital items to create something physical. 

Stacey’s subscription came out of a desire to serve her audience by offering them what they wanted in a way that saved them money. 

Join me for this episode as we dive into digital subscriptions. We’ll talk about the ways they’re different from physical subscriptions and the ways they’re the same. You might even discover a digital subscription would work for your business! 

Important Links: 

Find and follow Stacey: 

Join me in all the places: 

Are you ready for ⁠ Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠ Join the waitlist⁠ today! 

What happens when you combine creativity, consistency, and the courage to start before you feel ready?

This week on the Launch Your Box podcast, I sat down with Kelli Blouin, founder of Minutes of Zen, to talk about her incredible journey from elementary school teacher to subscription box owner with more than 425 subscribers, all in just a few short months.

But what makes Kelli’s story especially powerful is how she got there.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “ready” to launch your subscription box, this episode is one you need to hear.

How a Cancer Diagnosis Changed Everything

Kelli spent 25 years as an elementary school teacher, balancing work, family life, and all the responsibilities that come with both. But after a breast cancer diagnosis forced her to slow down and reevaluate what mattered most, she began leaning into creativity and calming activities that helped her heal and reconnect with herself.

That journey eventually led her to become certified in the Zentangle Method, a meditative style of drawing designed to promote relaxation and mindfulness.

Like so many people during COVID, Kelli started sharing what she loved online. She taught calming drawing sessions virtually, created YouTube videos at her audience’s request, and slowly built a community of people who connected with both her creativity and her calming presence.

At first, she wasn’t trying to build a business.

She was simply serving people.

And that’s exactly where so many successful subscription box businesses begin.

The “Accidental” Business That Wasn’t Really an Accident

As Kelli’s audience grew, people started asking questions.

So Kelli began putting together small seasonal kits a few times a year, selling 20 or 30 at a time to her growing audience.

Without realizing it, Kelli was listening to her audience and creating offers based on what they were already asking for.

The Moment Everything Shifted

Then Kelli discovered Launch Your Box.

After listening to this podcast, reading my book, One Box at a Time, and attending Subscription Box Week, Kelli started asking herself a question she’d never seriously considered before:

What if this could become more than a side hustle?

Eventually, with support from her husband, she decided to take a year and truly treat Minutes of Zen like a business instead of a hobby.

Why “Do It Messy” Matters

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is Kelli’s honesty about how imperfect everything still is.

And yet, she has over 425 subscribers.

That’s the reminder so many aspiring subscription box owners need.

You do not have to have everything perfectly figured out before you launch.

Building a Subscription Box Around Experience

Kelli intentionally wanted the box to feel calming, supportive, and immersive, not just like another box of “stuff.”

That experience-first mindset helped her create something subscribers genuinely connect with.

It’s also a great reminder that your subscription box doesn’t have to be complicated to be valuable.

Sometimes the simplest ideas become the most meaningful.

Her First Launch Brought in 300 Subscribers

Kelli originally hoped for 100 subscribers during her first launch.

She ended up with 300.

She focused on:

Building an email list

Growing a waitlist

Showing up consistently

Talking about the box repeatedly

Serving her audience long before selling to them

And perhaps most importantly, she stopped worrying about “bothering” people by talking about her offer too much.

A Business That’s Changing Her Life

Kelli shared that her early side-hustle income paid for an Alaskan cruise for her and her husband’s 30th anniversary.

Now, her business is helping support her family even more.

And perhaps most importantly, she’s created something that gives her freedom.

The Advice Every Aspiring Subscription Box Owner Needs to Hear

At the end of the episode, Kelli shares the advice she would give anyone feeling stuck or afraid to start:

“Show up. And then show up again.”

That consistency is what changed everything for her.

Not perfection, expensive tools, or having it all figured out.

Just continuing to show up, serve people, and keep going.

Kelli’s story is proof that you don’t need a perfect website, perfect branding, or perfect confidence to begin.

You just need the willingness to start.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Launch Your Box podcast and get inspired by Kelli’s incredible journey from teacher to thriving subscription box owner.

Where to find Kelli:

⁠Minutes of Zen on Facebook⁠

⁠Inventory Genius on Instagram⁠

⁠Minutes of Zen Website⁠

⁠Minutes of Zen on YouTube⁠

Join me in all the places:

⁠Facebook⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠Launch Your Box with Sarah Website ⁠

Are you ready for ⁠Launch Your Box⁠? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. ⁠Join the waitlist⁠ today!