Start Scale Succeed

Today's episode of Start Scale Succeed  is a recording of an instagram with Louisa Tidy, the founder of Floragy, a natural skincare brand founded in 2019. Louisa started the company looking to rebalance her life after an exhausting retail career travelling and working too many hours. After a few years of testing and developing formulas, she launched Floragy with the ethos that ‘less is more’ keeping their ingredients to a minimum and using only key botanicals.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Louisa suffered from dry skin but as she got older she found she needed extra protection during the colder months. After some extensive research and experimenting, Louisa created recipes for skincare products which her skin reacted well to and she preferred over her usual products. 
• As a smaller brand you don’t have the buying power to source the products and work with suppliers that fit into your standards and ethics at a price you can afford. 
• Etsy charges a percentage of your total sales but one of the advantages to using it is that there are no contracts between you and the website so you’re free to sell elsewhere too. 
• The biggest challenge Louisa has faced is not knowing where to spend money. Does she spend more on the website or on photography, what is going to give her the best return for her investment. 
• Make sure you have confidence in what you’re doing, your product, and your service. Don’t be tempted to get lost in what your competitors are doing, if you’re getting good feedback then keep focused on your brand ideals. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘There’s always more we can do to work with local suppliers’
‘Putting your brand out there is like putting yourself out there personally’
‘I’m not as much of a risk taker as I’d like to think’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES
Floragy Skincare

ABOUT THE GUEST
"I was exhausted after a full on career travelling and working too many hours and wanted to take some time to rebalance my life. I’d always suffered from dry skin but as I’ve got older I’ve found I need extra protection during the colder months. After some extensive research and experimenting I created a few recipes for skincare products which my skin reacted well to, and I preferred over my usual products. I noticed how expensive natural skincare could be to buy and wanted to create a range of products which were accessible to everyone while maintaining a natural ingredient list which was easy to understand."

ABOUT THE HOST
Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. She now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses.
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall
GET IN TOUCH HERE https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/instagram/
Newsletter: https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is centred around giving you advice on growing your business with ChatGPT. To do that Nicole is joined on Start Scale Succeed by founder of Mother Cuppa Tea, Candice Mason. If you’re new to AI, then this is the perfect place to start as we’ll be discussing what ChatGPT is, what it can do for your business, how to use it, and what its limitations are. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When Candice launched Mother Cuppa Tea she was aware that she had to build an audience through a pre-launch strategy. This led her to doing the social media marketing including the planning, captioning, editing. She had help from two other people writing blogs and writing content for the website. That is a lot of hours of work for three people to do, which could have been reduced with AI.
• ChatGPT is a website powered by artificial intelligence that can write content for you on almost any subject for any format you need. It is popular above other similar services because you can add a tone or style to the pieces it creates. 
• Candice personally likes to use Jasper, rather than ChatGPT because it suits her needs and personal style. There are so many companies doing AI generated content now, even Canva. 
• You can use services like ChatGPT to generate keywords for you and do research into your potential audience in the pre-launch phase of your business. You can literally go on there and type ‘what do people who like herbal tea also like’ and it will give you information you can use. 
• You can spend anywhere from £25 to £300 for someone to write a blog for you, but by using AI and then editing in her own personality, Candice publishes two blog posts a week taking a fraction of the time at no cost. 
• Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I knew nothing about keywords before I started this business’

‘Even though it is creating a lot of the content, I’m going back and adding in my own personality’

‘I’m using this to give Google as much information as possible to boost my rankings’

‘Don’t be scared of AI, it’s not going away it’s just getting better’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Mother Cuppa Tea

https://www.instagram.com/mother_cuppatea/

AI links 

https://www.jasper.ai/

https://chatgpt.com/#/

https://www.canva.com/magic-write/

https://answerthepublic.com/

https://search.google.com/search-console/about

ABOUT THE GUEST 

“I am Candice, founder of Mother Cuppa - and yes, it’s an intentional play on words! I am mother to a stroppy but adorable teen and wife to James, a husband who has yet to fully learn how to turn the washing machine on and whose idea of cooking dinner is re-heating something I made the night before! 

Like many of you I seem to be in a state of semi-midlife crisis, when children are growing, hormones are changing and yet the pace of life appears to get busier. 

I wanted to use my knowledge from training as a tea sommelier and my interest in plant power to help other women, just like me and to establish something for myself, that inspires me, fits with my values and that I 100% believe in!”

ABOUT THE HOST
Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. She now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses.
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall
GET IN TOUCH HERE https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/instagram/
Newsletter: https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, host Nicole is joined by Nicole Giordano, founder of StartUp FASHION, an online community and business resource helping independent startup fashion designers around the world to take action, make progress, and reach their entrepreneurial goals. Nicole Giordano is on Start Scale Succeed this week to talk all about your pre-launch content strategy.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• One of Nicole Giordano’s top tips for your pre-launch strategy is to embrace the idea that you have to start the marketing process way before you have anything to sell. She sees people with their heads down in product development and then wondering why their launch failed. 
• Any content strategy has to begin with a very clear understanding of your ideal customer. Really zoom in on the word ‘ideal’ because this is where you decide who to serve with your product and who your content should be greed towards. 
• Get clear on your pre-launch goals and develop content specifically for achieving those goals. The three goals Nicole develops with her clients are racing people, converting people, and finally nurturing people. 
• One of the most effective ways Nicole has seen recently of business owners actually getting potential customers to sign up to their mailing list pre-launch is to create a quiz. Make sure the title is clear and that you’re actually making a quiz that they care about. 
• Ask yourself these questions about your ideal customer and then use that information to make content for them. What do they value, how do they spend their time, what do they care about, etc. 
• Six months before your product launches you should be out there building a community. There is no such thing as too soon and if you’re waiting until 3 months before launch you might have waited too long. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘When you launch they should feel like they know you and you know them’

‘Give them a reason to be on your mailing list’ 

‘Ask yourself what is the brand I’m building’

‘Your superpower in the the pre-launch phase is that you’re not trying to sell them anything’

‘You don’t have to post every day, just bring them on the journey’

EPISODE RESOURCES
https://startupfashion.com/
StartUp FASHION® • Nicole, Fashion Business Coach (@startupfashion) • Instagram photos and videos

ABOUT THE GUEST
Hey, I’m Nicole. I’m the founder of StartUp FASHION. I began this business because I wanted to create a place for designers who cared more about building a business than creating a fashion label. And by that I mean, those designers who have entrepreneurial dreams and the determination to bring them to life.

ABOUT THE HOST
Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. She now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses.
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall
GET IN TOUCH HERE https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/instagram/
Newsletter: https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you planning on selling your product business in the future? Do you want to have a better understanding of how it could be valued, what you should have in place, and what you need to know? If so you’re in luck because today Nicole is joined by Mark Fitzgerald Cooke, MD of Intelligent Business Partners, a UK based company who act as a broker for businesses that want to buy and sell companies from startups to multi million pound brands. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The top things Mark looks at when valuing a business are turnover, gross and net profit, and the ownership structure. The reason that last point is so important is because the more valuable an owner is to the business, the less valuable that business is. 
• As a business owner looking to sell, you should make sure your business can run without you by having the right key staff in place. If you are the one doing a large part of the work, then whoever buys your business will have to replace you, making it a riskier investment. 
• The value of the brand has to stand on its own and not be attached to you as an individual when you’re looking to sell your business. In cases where this does happen, there may be a period of time that the owner stays with the business after the sale. 
• Before selling your business you need to make sure the following are addressed. Firstly your mindset, take a step back because it will be a huge change in your life. Secondly, make sure you know your finances, get them in order before looking to sell. Thirdly, look at your contracts, make sure your staff, HR, compliance, GDPR, client contracts, etc are all secure and up to date. 
• Broadly speaking you’re looking at a timescale of six to eighteen months for your business to sell. This can obviously vary depending on industry, size of business, etc. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘They will want to know the finances before they even meet the owner’

‘97% of people will never buy or sell a business and most will only do it once’

‘Remember that you can only sell what you can evidence’

‘One individual doesn't scale’ 

‘The number one killer of deals is time’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Company website  https://www.intelligent.co.uk/

Email Mark [email protected]

Linked in https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-fitzgerald-cooke-a693662/

ABOUT THE HOST
Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. She now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses.
Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD
Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall
GET IN TOUCH HERE https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/instagram/
Newsletter: https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Nicole is joined by Laura Chambers, founder of Laura Chambers Cashmere. The two are going to be discussing her brand, why she set it up, and all the background and advice she can give to help you when it comes to starting and scaling your business. Listen in to find out the best advice Laura has ever received and the challenges she faced in the fashion industry. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Laura Chambers Cashmere began when Laura started casually knitting for herself after she closed her womenswear boutique, Tulle, Dublin, back in 2008. Laura ordered some yarn and started making pieces for herself on her knitting machine, which was last used when Laura was studying for a BA in fashion in NCAD in Dublin. This grew to knitting for family and friends and in 2016 she decided to take it to the next level and Laura Chambers the brand was born.
• Laura uses the finest quality Scottish Cashmere from Todd & Duncan in all of her pieces. Todd and Duncan is a long-established mill that dates back to 1867 and they were among the first to start spinning fine cashmere fibre. The cashmere they use originates from mountain dwelling goats that have adapted to the extreme temperatures of the Gobi Desert.
• Colour is really important to Laura and to her customers so she picks the most flattering and vibrant colours she can find. She gets inspiration from themes like glam rock or colours she sees out in nature. Green sells really well especially in the Irish market. 
• Because Laura Chambers Cashmere knit locally, they can actually adjust things for their customers, giving them a more bespoke premium experience and maximising customer satisfaction. It’s about 50/50 made to order. 
• The best piece of business advice Laura ever received was to do the Sive O’Brien three step brand magic course. Her advice really helped Laura take her business to the next level through Identifying her ideal customers. 
• When it comes to influencers and gifting, you have to target the right people whose followers align with your brand. Just because someone has more followers that doesn’t mean it will generate more or even any sales. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘If you can hear the knitting machine then don’t come in’ 

‘I don’t over think the business side because I’ve been around long enough’

‘It’s a beautiful quality and I wouldn’t compromise on that at all’ 

‘You need to find out who your customer is, what she likes and what she wants’

‘Your business isn’t viable if you’re not selling’

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.laura-chambers.com/

Instagram laurachambers_cashmere 

SIVE OB Brand Marketing And Communications Consultant

ABOUT LAURA CHAMBERS CASHMERE

“Laura Chambers - feel good cashmere, hand loomed in Dublin using the highest quality Scottish and Italian cashmere to elevate and colour your everyday.

With a focus on beautiful, relaxed knitwear designed in sublime cashmere, in  a spectrum  of colours with incredible depth and vibrancy that will lift your spirits and inject bold colour into your wardrobe.

Our designs are classic in shape with a casual but modern design aesthetic. Each garment is given a twist with unusual block colour combinations and small but individual details on cuffs or necklines. Because each piece is hand loomed and hand finished the feel of the finished garment is one that is not the same as a factory produced cashmere.”

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

Link to my blog https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/blog/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Nicole is joined by Rachel Waring, a creative consultant to talk all about Pinterest and how to make it work for you. Listen in for some really useful tips on what you can be doing differently on Pinterest, how the strategy differs from Instagrams, content repurposing, and most importantly how you can use it to grow your product business. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The first place you should start when using Pinterest is knowing why people are there. Stop treating it like Instagram and start treating it like Google. It has social elements but is also a search engine. 
• Imagine you’ve had a party and you’re likely to share photos and videos of the party on Instagram, Tik Tok, or Facebook. Pinterest is where you go to plan the party in the first place, it’s a future planning tool. 
• Think about what your ideal customer is searching for on Pinterest and aim to meet them there. You can then take them from whatever thing in common that might be to your page where your content is already targeted to what they like. 
• Remember that Pinterest likes fresh original content from their creators and that is what it will push or promote the most. 
• Think strategically about what words you’re using. Every word you use will help Pinterest put you in the right categories for people's searches. We want to avoid keywords and to use real sentences instead. 
• One of the things that is so amazing about Pinterest is that your pins are evergreen. One optimised pin could bring you traffic for years to come. Rachel is still getting 200,000 monthly views on a wedding pin from 2019.  

BEST MOMENTS

‘My business could survive without Instagram but would struggle without Pinterest’

‘Pinterest is your vision board’

‘Make sure all of your boards are relevant to your ideal customer’ 

‘You don’t have to be on Pinterest all the time to get results’

‘You have to be patient with Pinterest’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Pinterest free challenge: https://rachel-emma-waring.ck.page/the-spark

1-1 packages: https://www.rachelemmawaring.com/creative-consultancy

Ignite Your Pinterest Strategy: https://www.rachelemmawaring.com/ignite-your-pinterest-strategy 

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a small business owner, you need to build those know, like, and trust factors with your audience. It's important that you are visible and show up in your business and to do that you are going to want imagery that's on brand and represents you. Today Nicole is chatting with Rosie Parsons, a personal branding photographer on why you should have personal branding photography, why it's important and how to prepare for a shoot.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Showing up to a client meeting or even creating your website with magazine-worthy photos will reinforce your personal brand and make an unforgettable impact. You'll give off a professional and legitimate vibe right from the start, unlike with those low-quality DIY shots, and stand out against your competitors.
• Rosie has 7 tips for preparing for a personal branding photoshoot, they are as follows. Reconnect with your brand. You can't afford to invest in a personal branding shoot without first being clear about your brand's purpose. How do you want to come across? What are your values? How would you describe your brand in three words? Your photographer will need to know all this so they can shoot your photos in a way that truly represents your one-of-a-kind brand.
• Be clear on the purpose of the shoot and prepare a shot list. do a proper brainstorm, and figure out exactly what type of pictures you need. Research your industry and the kinds of shots other people are doing, things like behind the scenes shots are always useful.
• Pick the right outfits and colours. Rosie tells her clients to bring eight or nine outfits so they can achieve a variety of looks and avoid a repetitive feel. Not just any outfits, though, Choose clothes that include your brand colours and that would pop against your preferred background. Avoid large or noticeable logos. Wear what you'd meet your ideal clients in. After all, your photos will be meeting them virtually 24/7.
• Choose some relevant props and a location that's on brand. You'll be the star of the show, but what's around you matters, too. You can't afford to leave it to chance. To reinforce your brand, run an inventory of all the props you'll need for specific shots. Discuss them with your photographer too, as they might already have a few in their studio.
• Put your best self forward (but stay authentic). Look your best but in a way that wouldn't shock your audience if they were to bump into you on the street.
• Relax and get some rest. You don't want to show up all wired and on edge after a massive caffeine fix. For the entire week leading up to your shoot, try and get plenty of sleep and drink lots of water. That way, your skin will be glowing, you'll be full of energy and you won't start stressing over those new bags under your eyes.
• Communicate with your photographer. Share everything with yours before the shoot, from your brand colours to the poses you need.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Get your face in the photos, you are your brand and part of the USP’

‘You can’t sell the fact you’re a family person if you’re not highlighting that with your photos’

‘If you’ve got a fun brand then play with what you can do with that’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Rosie Parsons Photography

Rosie Parsons | Personal Brand Photographer (@rosieparsonsphotography) • Instagram

HIYA MARIANNE - Rosie’s recommended photographer

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line.

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM)

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme: thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk

Email [email protected]

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's podcast Nicole is joined by one of the cofounders of By Sarah London, a UK based B Corp skincare brand that was founded by Sarah and today’s guest Lauren to help stressed and sensitive skins, an idea that was born on the back of Laurens cancer diagnosis and subsequent own personal skincare difficulties. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Sarah first developed natural skincare to restore and repair her sister's sensitive, fragile skin when she was recovering from an aggressive form of leukaemia, with only a 20% chance of survival.
• After a life-saving stem cell transplant from Sarah, the sisters teamed up to launch By Sarah London with the purpose of transforming emotional wellbeing for sensitive, stressed skin.
• By Sarah London makes natural, science-led formulations strengthen the skin barrier and support the skin's microbiome to repair, regenerate and regain balance, through innovative plant oil formulas that deliver vital nutrients, enzymes, and lipids. 
• They are handmade in the UK and developed with the highest quality, cold-pressed organic and upcycled plant oils, every drop is there for your skin to deliver long-lasting results. They avoid synthetic fragrances, essential oils and ingredients known to irritate sensitive skin. 
• By Sarah London is a certified B Corp, meaning they are committed to safeguarding the planet and minimising their environmental impact.
• Top tip for By Sarah London’s hero facial oil is to apply to slightly damp skin to get the best results.  

BEST MOMENTS

‘It’s great to see how the brand went from such an authentic place to other people’s lives’

‘At the time I didn't have the vocabulary for manifestation, it was just an intuitive step’ 

‘It’s like a superfood smoothie for your skin, that’s what put us on the map’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Bysarahlondon.com

Lauren Murrell - University of Oxford - London, England, United Kingdom | LinkedIn

BY SARAH LONDON (@bysarahlondon) • Instagram photos and videos

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s Start Scale Succeed is a solo episode from Nicole where she tells you everything you need to know about wholesale. She’ll be discussing the four main questions you need to be asking yourself, the why, the where, the how, and the when. So if you’re looking to get into wholesale but have no idea what to expect when it comes to profit margins, trade fairs, and finding the right resellers, then this is the episode for you. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A wider audience means increased sales and increased volume of orders and more exposure for your brand. So with that increased volume of orders, you could then hopefully renegotiate your cost prices from your supplier and make more margin. Increased exposure also leads to increased sales, but also you can leverage off new audiences who then may go directly to your own website to see what else you've got on offer rather than buying from that retailer.
• Some of the cons of wholesaling, you have less control of your stocks and your retail prices. You can give a suggested retail price, but if an item isn't working for a certain retailer and they need to mark it down, then they can do it. You'll make less margin.
• Another thing to be aware of is non-payment. Some smaller brands may have experienced in the past not being paid by a retailer. So if that retailer went into administration or liquidation, then they wouldn't have been paid. This was a big risk during the pandemic. 
• Make sure that you're partnering with those that you know are secure financially. Nobody has a crystal ball, but you need to make sure that you've done your own bit of research and due diligence in terms of what's their past behaviour.
• Before you decide to wholesale, one of the key things that you need to look at is how you're setting your prices and what kind of margin you make. Do your research and see where your competitors are setting their prices and who are their stockists. How in demand is your product? How unique is it to the market? And what makes you different?
• Take into consideration not just your cost of goods, but the time it takes you to do everything and pack the products. This is all time and money. If you are making the products yourself, what time does that take? As your business scales, you would need to pay someone to do that. Make sure that you're building in those kinds of costs from the beginning.
• If you’re considering selling at a trade fair, make sure you go to it beforehand to make sure it’s the right place for your brand.
• Keep a wholesale tracker of who you contacted when you contacted them, what the outcome was, and then, diarize when you're going to contact them again so that you can refer to that weekly and keep that updated.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Everyone needs to make a piece of the pie’ 

‘Buyers need choice and variety’

‘Photography is key’

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

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Are you spending several hours packing boxes and shipping orders? Surrounded by boxes in your living room, your sitting room running out of space to store your inventory, or you need more time to grow your business so that you're not focused on packing and picking? Then this episode is going to be a great one for you because Nicole is talking to Dean Johnson, founder of The Hubb, which provides a variety of services from marketing and fulfilment to SMEs. They’ll be covering everything that you need to know from who would be the right partner, the questions that you need to ask, and if you're already using a fulfilment partner and you need to switch, what should you be looking out for?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you are focusing on the fulfilment and what to do with all these boxes, you're not focusing on growing the strategy that’s going to take your brand to that next level. 
• Dean works with startups who have never packed an order in their lives. A lot of the time the only real charge you'll come up against is storage, but Dean works with them to minimise their storage, maximise their replenishment rate, and really understand their inventory management. 
• Dean’s approach is to look at the founder and what they're trying to achieve and will produce a solution that fits around that. The Hubb has capacity allocated for people at all stages of their journey and that allows business owners to be flexible whether they are doing a handful of orders a month or  hundreds a day.
• One of the questions that is overlooked a lot of the time is one about insurance. It's assumed that their stock will be insured, however what you'll find with fulfilment partners is that it’s quite complex insuring somebody else’s stock. A lot of the time you are responsible for your own insurance. 
• Having someone that is delivering your postal experience the way you want it to be experienced is key. For example, if you were with a fulfilment centre like Amazon, it's coming in an Amazon box, that's it, that's all you are getting. But by having a more bespoke packing service you can dictate how it looks in and out of the box so you get the right unboxing experience for your customers. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I found my superpower really is very much around the operational side of things, I found a real passion for processes’

‘Some fulfilment companies are not accepting returns at all at the moment’

‘Something that you can't teach is obviously to care, people either do or they don't’

EPISODE RESOURCES

The Fulfilment Hub

https://www.instagram.com/the_hubb_uk/

ABOUT THE GUEST 

“Having started and scaled multiple e-commerce brands myself, I could clearly see that there was a gap in the market for a bespoke end to end e-commerce service that didn't cost the earth.

Fulfilment centres tend to fit into the old style pick and pack units, or the new fulfilment mega-houses which provide a pretty cookie cutter approach, with little room for flexibility. I knew that a new approach was needed, and so I set about creating it!

Being in e-commerce it’s impossible not to be involved in marketing as at the end of the day it’s the biggest part of the job!

Starting with our passion for systems and processes, we leveraged all our learnings from running our own e-commerce stores and combined it with trends we see through the clients we work with to create our customer lifecycle framework.

Using this framework we are able to design, create, and implement a tailored solution for each client's needs, delivering a bespoke service - without a bespoke price tag.

We pride ourselves on our industry-busting low error rate, high client satisfaction, and team happiness.”

ABOUT THE HOST

Buying & retail expert Nicole Higgins spent the last 18 years working for companies such as Primark, M&S, Debenhams and Asda, sourcing & developing products from all over the world, building strategies for blue chip businesses, and increasing bottom line sales and profit, adding over £40 million in incremental business to the bottom line. 

Nicole now uses that experience and works as a consultant and coach for entrepreneurs and small to medium sized business owners, helping them start and scale their product businesses as The Buyer And Retail Coach (TM) 

Join the Start Scale Succeed waitlist. How to start & scale a product business. A 12 Week programme:  thebuyerandretailcoach.com/startscalesucceedwaitlist

CONTACT METHOD 

Website http://www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

IG https://www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach/

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/nicolehigginsuk 

Email [email protected] 

Newsletter https://thebuyerandretailcoach.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Book a call with me https://thebuyerandretailcoachltd.as.me/discoverycall

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