Half Baked London is a beautiful sustainable swimwear brand and today on Start scale Succeed, Nicole is joined by founder Kim Fraser. Find out all about Kim’s story, how she pushes through her challenges, and what’s next for the brand.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Kim doesn’t have a background in fashion and decided to start the brand when she found that when she was travelling she was struggling to find swimwear that she could afford, was good quality, and made her feel good. She started from scratch doing all the research and trade shows, all of which took about two years.
• The biggest challenge Kim faced, especially in the beginning, was a lack of knowledge. She had a good cash flow but just didn’t know what the next step was. To overcome this Kim spent a long time doing research and discovered that when you make one contact, they can introduce you to someone else who can help you.
• Surrounding yourself with people who are on similar journeys to you really helps you feel supported while you’re taking each step.
• When setting up the brand, it was important to Kim to bring comfort first but not compromise on style.
• Instead of saying no to things, Kim has decided to say yes more and be open to opportunities even if they scare her, for example coming on this podcast isn’t something Kim’s super comfortable doing.

BEST MOMENTS

‘If you don’t believe that you’re smashing it, nobody else will’

‘I’m aware of when I’m self sabotaging and I snap out of it because it’s not helpful’

‘I wish that I’d released the fear a little bit sooner, then I’d be further along’

‘I wanted to make pieces that first and foremost make you feel good’

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://halfbakedlondon.com

www.instagram.com/halfbakedlondon

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

Have you thought about selling your brand on Amazon, or maybe you’re already on there but not getting the sales you want. With over 2 million brands listed on the platform, how can you stand out and make sure your products are visible and taking the sales that you want. This week's guest on Start Scale Succeed is going to be able to answer those questions and more. Vicki Weinberg is an expert on helping brands grow and sell on Amazon. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are some products which you cannot sell on Amazon, this list of items changes regularly. These can include things like CBD, cars, and used clothes. 
• Your product may not be right for Amazon for a number of reasons, for example an item with a small profit margin won’t make you any money when you take into account the Amazon fees. 
• With a free Amazon selling account you can’t do any advertising there and you have a cap of 35 sales per month, whereas with the professional account for £30 per month you can advertise and have unlimited sales. Both offer unlimited free listings. 
• If you’re selling a product with lots of competition, it can be hard to get onto the first page because Amazon promotes the ones with good sales and good reviews. 
• You might get more profit on sales from your own website, but you will get a much higher volume on Amazon. The customers are already there. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘You want to be on page one, we’re not going to page two, three, or four’

‘You need to have something that helps you stand out’

‘Once you’ve put your listing on Amazon you still have some hard work to do’

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.vickiweinberg.com

How to successfully launch a product on Amazon or rescue one that’s not selling: https://mailchi.mp/f213741a23ee/amazon_listing_optimisation

Selling on Amazon Checklist: https://mailchi.mp/0adac0163554/product_creation_steps

A podcast episode all about dealing with (and preventing) issues that might arise on Amazon (as per your last question): https://vickiweinberg.com/captivate-podcast/common-amazon-issues-and-how-to-resolve-them-with-vicki-weinberg/

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

Born from an idea whilst searching for the best mascara to use to an app now with 80,000 products and 17,000 brands. Beauty Buddy was created by two sisters Wendy & Tracy and today Nicole chats with co founder Wendy Slattery on how they have created what they call the “Trip advisor” for beauty products, where consumers who have used the brands whether they love it or hate it they rate it. Which allows consumers and brands to get real feedback from real people. They discuss the initial research they did and how they engaged with people that really made them see that they had an idea that was viable and useful. To a whirlwind trip to New York drawing on every and any connection to meet advisors and investors, creating a minimum viable product without spending millions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We’ve all been the overwhelmed customer going into a store. When Wendy and Tracy went into a store and asked the assistant if a makeup brush was worth the money, they were told “I don’t know, I only work here Saturdays”. The pair then went online and googled the item, all that came up was sites trying to sell the product, nothing about if it was good or not. So that’s when they thought wouldn’t it be great to just be able to scan a barcode and see relevant information on a product.
• From focus groups Wendy discovered that in terms of product reviews, people are least likely to trust reviews on the brands own website or store. When it comes to influencers reviews it was a balance between trusting some and not trusting others. The reviews that people trust the most are those given by a friend.
• The pair found success with their Facebook group for beauty product reviews but the problem was that it was impossible to keep track of. They found people asking the same questions weeks apart because the information they had got on the previous post was just too hard to find again.
• Never take no for an answer. You don’t open doors with one email, you need to be calling, LinkedIn messages, everything. Just be persistent.
• Beauty Buddy is currently valued at £3.6 million after the latest round of investment.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’ve said yes to dates…but it’s in America!’

‘We know where we’re going. Either you’re interested in being on the journey with us or you’re not’

‘When you’re that small, you need to find investors who are passionate about the industry’

‘You will always make mistakes as a startup’

‘The worst you can do is fail’

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.thebeautybuddy.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebeautybuddyapp

Tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeautybuddy

https://proto.io/

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

How can you create that connection with your customer that will help sales? On today's Start Scale Succeed podcast, Nicole is joined by copywriter Emma Griffin, who is going to share her top tips for creating copy that connects and converts. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Emma works with coaches, consultants and small business owners, she specialises in website copy, sales and launch copy, email marketing, and tone of voice support. 
• Emma’s top five tips for creating good copy are: Make it about your customer. Do your research. Keep it brief, but vary your sentence length. Drop the jargon. Build authority through things other than just expertise.
• In your copy make sure you’re using the word ‘you’ far more than you use the words ‘I’ or ‘we’. 
• Your headline is the first opportunity you have to connect with your customer. It could be a question that will hook your customer and make it about them and not you or the product. 
• Read the bad reviews for other people offering a similar service to yours, this is the best way to really understand what a potential customer is looking for and where you can go wrong.
• If users can’t imagine what you’re saying, they won’t buy your product. Use words that create a clear picture in users’ minds instead of being vague. Always remember, people buy what they want, not what they need.
• Dedicate more time to editing what you’ve written than you’ve spent on writing it in the first place. Leave a night's sleep between the writing stage and the edit stage. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Copywriters are marketers who help you to sell through compelling words that connect you to customers’ 

‘When you know a lot about your customer that’s when you can write really good copy’ 

‘70% of a copywriters job is research’ 

‘Be brutal with what you’ve written’

EPISODE RESOURCES

Emmagriffinwrites.co.uk

@emmagriffinwrites

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

As consumers we’re all trying to be more conscious and buy and shop in a more sustainable way. An increased number of brands are looking at products in a more innovative way, one of those brands is Billi London the world's first biodegradable hosiery brand. Today Nicole is joined by Billi London co-founder Sophie to find out more about this eco-friendly brand. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• After ripping a pair of tights while she was getting ready for work, Sophie threw the old pair in the bin and went to get new ones. It was then that she started thinking about how wasteful it was to have a one use product that couldn’t be recycled into another pair, they would just end up in landfill. 
• Every year in the UK alone there is over 7000 tonnes of waste just from tights in landfill. Globally that’s 8 billion pairs of tights being produced just to be thrown away. They will take over 100 years to decompose. 
• Sophie needed to surround herself with people who know about sustainability. Her co-worker Marie came on board to be the other co-founder bringing her background in sustainability in fashion and biodegradability. They were both trying to solve the same problem at the same time.
• Billi London tights biodegrade in around 5 years when in landfill, compared to up to 100 years for other hosiery brands. 
• Sophie is also very passionate about changing the way in which we buy tights. Instead of just grabbing them in the supermarket, she wanted to walk people through the journey, let them try them on, feel the material, and most importantly understand the sustainability of the product. In the first pop up in London they had a conversion rate of about 90%. The traffic wasn’t huge but almost everyone who went in bought one of their products. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘There was no way I was going to create a brand with a negative impact’

‘There was no way we were going to sacrifice quality or sustainability’ 

‘Biodegradability is a harder thing to explain than recycling’ 

‘Know your values and what you’re not prepared to compromise on’

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://billi-london.com

https://www.instagram.com/billi_ldn/

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

How do you grow a beauty brand?  In today's podcast I am chatting with beauty expert Faye Speedie, founder of new platform The Brand Book and founder of  Beauty Bulb. The Brand Book is a trade show - without the show, where beauty brands can link with retailers and buyers and showcase their products digitally and make amazing connections. With several years in the industry Faye and I chat about: the issues both brands and beauty buyers are having right now. What brands can do to help them grow their business . What trends to focus on. And how to build relationships with buyers and much more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Beauty Bulb is a dynamic concept that was launched by Faye Speedie in 2017 to support beauty, personal care and wellness brands with their sales and business growth in a flexible way. Beauty Bulb has delivered substantial sales growth across numerous sales channels.
• They've opened dozens of new markets and made hundreds of beauty business introductions for over 40 brands since launch.
• They are experts driving sales growth through retail, online retail, international distributors, home shopping, The USA and China. Faye is passionate about working with founders, owners and their teams at all business levels.
• Faye’s team grew quickly and after just six months she had a team of herself and two others. The brand is now split in half between the Beauty Bulb and The Brand Book.
• If you’re a start up your brand, it’s about knowing where to invest your money. Is it going to stock, or product development, or marketing, or is it social media?
• Nail your USP. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, stay focused and know who you are. Your USP is what will get attention from your target market.
• Buddy up with partners who don’t work in your space, you’ll find you can learn from other business people who’ve been there and learned from their mistakes.

BEST MOMENTS

‘It was the biggest success story the Dragons didn’t invest in’

‘When the logistics guy was on holiday, we’d be there packing boxes’

‘There was no one size fits all’

‘The trade shows are amazing but so hard. Buyers often find it hard to choose’

‘Supercharging their sales is what we set out to do for them’

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.thebrandbook.co.uk

www.instagram.com/beautybulb

VALUABLE RESOURCES

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

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

Louise has been in the skin health and beauty industry for 26 years from a Saturday girl in a beauty salon to launching her own brand, Louise Thomas Skincare. Louise joins Nicole this week on Start Scale Succeed to talk about her journey from developing a skin condition, making skincare formulas for other people, to finally going out on her own and making her name a brand. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Louise is actually quite thankful that she developed bad acne. She thought it would be the end of her career before it even started but in fact it gave Louise the focus and passion for skin health as well as an empathy for understanding the psychological effects of skin conditions. 
• Quickly recognising that her own skin battles were making her fascinated about skin health, Louise’s column became dominated with clients that also had skin issues and facial treatments and it became what she was busiest with all day every day.
• Louise’s obsession with ingredient technology took over and she stepped away from the treatment side of things for a few years as a new career path led her to work for International skin care and device brands for five years. This took Louise all over the UK, developing and training other therapists, doctors and nurses in high level skin care products and machines and benefitting from an expanse of postgraduate skin health knowledge.
• Having her daughter made Louise not want to lose herself and her dream, it became a case of either she started her own business now or she never would. 
• Louise is so grateful that her business evolved organically from working in skin therapy, it meant that she knew her target market and was an expert before she even started. Her specifications for manufacturers were the most detailed they had ever seen. 
• When things were going bad during the pandemic Louise couldn’t launch in the way she wanted, she had everything done and empty bottles waiting to be filled. It was her daughter who gave Louise the determination and she didn’t want to set the example of giving up when it gets tough. She then went out and found a smaller manufacturer who could produce one product to put on sale instead of the five she originally wanted. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘My heart is in helping people getting over their skin conditions, and I think my heart is a little bit in business’ 

‘I had to find what was my message, what was I trying to get out there’ 

‘Because I had all this experience I knew exactly what it needed to be’ 

‘We had 25,000 bottles and jars ready to go, but suddenly we had no money to fill them’ 

‘Recognition drives me, being known for being good in the industry’

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.louisethomasskincare.co.uk

Louise Thomas Skincare on Instagram

Louise Thomas Skin Therapy on Instagram

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

How are you feeling about your social media? Should you be on Tik Tok, Instagram? Are you feeling a bit deflated and confused? What should you be doing? This week on Start Scale Succeed, Nicole is talking to Abby from Dirty Work Digital, a social media marketing expert. So if you want to know how to get visible on Instagram and engage with your audience then this episode is for you. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• After being made redundant during lockdown, Abby found people coming to her for social media and marketing advice. That’s when Dirty Work Digital was born, to help you stand out in a crowded online marketplace. 
• Some people have said that Instagram is dead, but it’s actually just changing. It’s not just photos now, it’s evolved to take on Tik Tok with more video based content. Abby see’s Instagram as a place to nurture the followers you already have. Reach is a lot lower than it used to be but original content is pushed more than it used to be. 
• To grow your audience or gain a new audience all together is to use Tik Tok, it has a huge reach. It should be at the top of your funnel. Think of Instagram as your shop front and Tik Tok as your behind the scenes with relatable funny content. Get them interested with Tik Tok, and then take them over to Instagram. 
• Keep Tik Tok at a very surface level, on Instagram you should be showing off the benefits of your products. 
• Since Covid, people want to connect with the person and the story more than just the product itself. That’s why you can be more yourself on Tik Tok than traditionally you needed to be on social media. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I love content that’s a bit original and that’s what caused my rapid growth’ 

‘Create content for the audience that’s there, because they’re there for a reason’ 

‘It’s about building a community of people who want to know the story’

‘Consistency shows up in so many different ways’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.instagram.com/dirtyworkdigital

https://www.tiktok.com/discover/dirtyworkdigital

https://linktr.ee/Dirtyworkdigital

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

Today Nicole is joined by Jen Fuller, founder of award winning childrenswear brand Etta Loves. The brand started off in 2017 with a range of muslins that stimulate the sensory development of babies visual and cognitive development. Etta Loves is now an award winning brand with stock in Selfridges among other retailers. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jen had the idea for Etta Loves when she noticed her daughter, Etta was feeding better and for longer when she was wearing certain clothes. This got her interested in what babies find visually interesting. 
• The first piece of outsourcing Jen did was fulfilment and warehousing. She found that she was spending all of her free time packing and it wasn’t something that would actually grow her business. She could spend her time being a mum and working on things that would add value to the business, rather than printing postage labels. 
• You never know who is watching your business, there might be a buyer who is a fan of what you do but they’re waiting for your brand to be ready. Keep in touch with people you make a connection with and if and when the time is right they will come to you with an answer. 
• Every review is hugely important, you can use them to show off your products on social media. 
• If you’re running a product business you need to work out what that minimum viable product is. The frills will just slow you down and there can be a benefit to getting speed to market. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘The great thing about our products is that they’re not use it once and throw it away’ 

‘Make things really clear for your buyers’ 

‘You went back and your negotiated and managed to get the win’ 

‘It’s a lonely journey so you need to find cheerleaders’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.ettaloves.com

www.instagram.com/ettaloves

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

www.thebuyerandretailcoach.com

www.instagram.com/thebuyerandretailcoach 

www.tiktok.com/@thebuyerandretailcoach

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

Pop up shops are one of the key ways to attract a new audience and increase the awareness and exposure to your brand.  Today Nicole is joined by David Blakely, business & store development director of Sooks, which provides access to flexible and affordable digitally connected spaces in the UK and around the world.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Have a clear objective – what are you trying to achieve with your pop-up shop?
• Budget – How much are you able or willing to spend on a pop-up shop in order achieve those goals? You need to be clear as to how much you are going to spend and what you are going to get back from it.
• Location – Which country, city and neighbourhood provides the best option for your business to achieve your goal? Consider footfall and foot traffic as well as branding and behaviour. Where is your ideal audience most likely to be? What kind of person are they?
• Venue – what does the space need to have in order for you to achieve your goals? What utilities do you need? (wi-fi, video equipment, or kitchen space, for example) and how will you use them? Most spaces include this in the price, but always double-check. Will you need storage? Will you need storage in the store or will you need storage elsewhere?
• Design – how do you want your pop-up store to look? What will most appeal to customers and foot traffic alike?
• Digital and offline synchronisation – understand how you’re going to couple your offline sales with your digital sales and ecommerce set up. Is it the same customer currently standing at the till who ordered something online last week?
• How are you going to promote it? Making people aware of your pop-up store is very important as you may not be able to rely solely on footfall (depending on where you’re located). Think about the social platforms your audience uses. 
• Success? You should have an understanding of what success will look like and what factors will affect it. Is it a revenue target? A customer engagement target? Number of social media likes or sales?

BEST MOMENTS

‘Pop ups are the best way to get your brand out there’ 

‘They give you a really easy way to test out your brand’ 

‘Understanding the area is key’

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.sookspace.com

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

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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

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