133 – The Power of the Pivot with Ryann Gaspara of GasparaFlora
Ryann is the founder and designer behind GasparaFlora, a company that specializes in corporate gifting.
But it wasn’t always that way.
GasparaFlora originally launched in April of 2016 as a company focused on hotel welcome gifts for weddings. Very quickly Ryann recognized an opportunity and chose to pivot. Since that time, they’ve morphed into corporate gifting.
Ryann’s passion lies in branding, design and creating unique experiences for her clients and their recipients.
She uses intuition and personal style to design thoughtful gifts. Part of her customization skill lies in sourcing local artisans and small-batch companies.
Ryann enjoys making every day a special occasion. She says she has never met a glass of bubbly she didn’t like.
The GasparaFlora Story
Pivoting almost right from the start. [3:34]
The GasparaFlora customization strategy. [11:14]
Ryann’s first interaction with a potential client. [13:51]
Ryann describes one of her favorite designs to date. [21:10]
Ryann’s sales style [23:21]
Candle Flickering Moments
Why and how she switched out her entire website platform. [7:36]
The mindset of a pivot. [24:39]
Business Building Insights
The prep work before launching a business. [4:41]
What Ryann likes about corporate clients. [6:21]
Advice for website creation. [10:08]
The value of 100% contracted business. [17:19]
Why Ryann uses local artisans. [18:53]
Hear how cold calling is working! [25:23]
Social media thoughts. [27:40]
Ideas for customer followup [31:30]
Ryann’s approach to competition. [35:13]
A Final Piece of Advice
Interacting with your significant other as you grow your business. [39:38]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Ship Station – Fast and simple web-based shipping.
Dymo Label Printer – An efficient solution for your professional labeling, filing and mailing needs.
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 130th.
Speaker:I've already had to pivot to follow more of what my
Speaker:clients were telling me that they wanted and also really what
Speaker:my heart wanted.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to gifted biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Hi there it's Sue and thank you for joining me on
Speaker:the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:If you're a gifter Baker,
Speaker:crafter or maker,
Speaker:and you own a brick and mortar shop sell a mine
Speaker:or are just getting started here is where you'll find insights
Speaker:and advice develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And if you want even more gift biz motivation,
Speaker:I'd like to invite you to join our private Facebook group
Speaker:called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Pursuing your dreams should be fun,
Speaker:exciting, and rewarding,
Speaker:not stressful and scary.
Speaker:When you join the breeze.
Speaker:It's like sitting in the park with friends who bring you
Speaker:all the support and the answers that you need.
Speaker:You'll have access to a group of amazing creators along with
Speaker:tools and resources that can catapult your business,
Speaker:grow to join the group,
Speaker:just the over to gift biz,
Speaker:breeze.com. I look forward to seeing you over there,
Speaker:but for now,
Speaker:let's get onto the show today.
Speaker:I have the pleasure of introducing you to Ryan.<inaudible>.
Speaker:Ryan is the founder and designer Laura gifts,
Speaker:a company that specializes in corporate gifting,
Speaker:but this wasn't always that way.
Speaker:Yesper flora originally launched in April of 2016 as a company
Speaker:focusing on hotel,
Speaker:welcome gifts for weddings.
Speaker:Since that time they've morphed into corporate gifting.
Speaker:Ryan's passion lies in branding,
Speaker:designing and creating unique experiences for our clients and their recipients.
Speaker:She uses her intuition and personal style to design thoughtful gifts,
Speaker:utilizing artisans and small batch company,
Speaker:Ryan enjoys making every day,
Speaker:a special occasion and has never met a glass of bubbly.
Speaker:She didn't like,
Speaker:and Ryan,
Speaker:that makes me like you even more to the show.
Speaker:Oh, thank you so much for having me Sue.
Speaker:I am thrilled that we were able to get this together
Speaker:today, and I like to start off right straight from the
Speaker:beginning in a little bit of a different way.
Speaker:And that is by having you share with us a little
Speaker:bit more about yourself through what would be your ideal motivational
Speaker:candle. So if you were to tell us what color and
Speaker:a quote,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:I would have to say that my candle would be a
Speaker:sagey green because I really find comfort in nature.
Speaker:And I love that.
Speaker:Look, I'm just a really natural organic look.
Speaker:And also my quote would be from Steve jobs because I
Speaker:like to think really big and I love the formality of
Speaker:corporate, but also the artsy and creative side too.
Speaker:So my would be have the courage to follow your heart
Speaker:and intuition.
Speaker:They somehow know what you truly want to become Love it.
Speaker:And I think sometimes we look inside and we have this
Speaker:passion or the heart and the intuition for something,
Speaker:but it doesn't seem like maybe we should do it because
Speaker:it doesn't fit with what culture says to do in terms
Speaker:of your corporate life or money-making or something like that.
Speaker:Yes. And so that's what then led you,
Speaker:I'm thinking to your business,
Speaker:you're a brand new company.
Speaker:This is wonderful.
Speaker:Just a little over a year old,
Speaker:I guess we'd say.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:And I've already had to pivot to follow more of what
Speaker:my clients were telling me that they wanted or the clients
Speaker:that I was attracting and also really what my heart wanted.
Speaker:I started down the road,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:as hotel welcomes for weddings and I'm in San Diego.
Speaker:So there are lots of destination weddings here,
Speaker:but I wasn't really finding clients that I felt connected to,
Speaker:or even event planners for weddings that I felt super connected
Speaker:to. And so I actually would go in and try and
Speaker:pitch myself to hotels around the area to become a vendor
Speaker:for them or a preferred vendor.
Speaker:And they would ask me,
Speaker:Oh, that's great.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:This is beautiful.
Speaker:Can you do gifts for us?
Speaker:So it really presented itself to me that corporate was the
Speaker:way to go for my business When you first started.
Speaker:So the wedding focus.
Speaker:Okay. How much had you set up the company before you
Speaker:started going into trying to get feedback from people just to
Speaker:see if the product was going to work or start selling?
Speaker:Did you have everything already established at that point?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So I actually started my company in August of the year,
Speaker:before April when we launched and we had done a whole,
Speaker:I had scouted all kinds of local vendors,
Speaker:really set everything up,
Speaker:had a website.
Speaker:And I did the holiday in between,
Speaker:and that was all corporate people that hired me.
Speaker:And then when I launched my businesses,
Speaker:when I really started outreaching to clients and it was by
Speaker:December that I had made the decision to do a full
Speaker:switch over from hotel welcomes to corporate clients.
Speaker:Even though you had established everything you saw pretty quickly,
Speaker:that that was going to be the direction that was going
Speaker:to be the end for you.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I couldn't deny it.
Speaker:It was literally one wedding client and everything else that year
Speaker:I did was corporate.
Speaker:It was incredible how much more corporate gifting I did and
Speaker:how much more of a pull that was for me even
Speaker:emotionally or following my intuition.
Speaker:I just really liked branding and all of the formality of
Speaker:that rather than the flow and the prettiness of weddings Well
Speaker:in the conversation,
Speaker:I think is totally different to when you're working with corporate.
Speaker:Cause you're working with different people at different levels than not
Speaker:to say that there's anything wrong,
Speaker:but the event planner,
Speaker:it's just a whole different vibe of what your business would
Speaker:be about.
Speaker:Exactly. Yes.
Speaker:Okay. So take us through,
Speaker:and I think this is really good for our listeners to
Speaker:see that you start with one idea,
Speaker:you test the market and then you see if you're getting
Speaker:any traction.
Speaker:You're see if people are receptive to your message and your
Speaker:product and what you have.
Speaker:And it's okay if you take feedback and feel like you
Speaker:have to pivot and in your case,
Speaker:really a total change in what you're doing.
Speaker:Yeah. I like consistency.
Speaker:I like contracts.
Speaker:I like knowing that my clients are going to stick around
Speaker:beyond just one event,
Speaker:which weddings are obviously one event.
Speaker:You could become a vendor for a particular wedding event planner
Speaker:and do multiple weddings for them a year.
Speaker:But it's not as guaranteed as locking yourself into a sales
Speaker:situation with a corporation.
Speaker:Right. One final question for you on the pivot you had
Speaker:platform set up already because you mentioned that you were planning
Speaker:and preparing and it had everything ready to go.
Speaker:So it sounds like you already had local artisans,
Speaker:like you were saying,
Speaker:or smaller companies you had product already identified.
Speaker:Were you able to continue using that and then also your
Speaker:website or talk through a little bit about what the mechanics
Speaker:were behind having to switch up.
Speaker:So as far as product goes,
Speaker:we were working on a custom basis for hotel welcomes.
Speaker:We had a minimum,
Speaker:so I wasn't holding a bunch of product.
Speaker:The most that I spent was on marketing materials as far
Speaker:as business cards and stationary and things of that nature.
Speaker:And we're a box business.
Speaker:So I had boxes that I would put product in that
Speaker:were kind of standard,
Speaker:but I didn't hold a bunch of merchandise.
Speaker:So that was good.
Speaker:But I will say that I spent quite a few thousand
Speaker:dollars on a custom website for the hotel welcomes and eventually
Speaker:had to have a meeting with myself that it was okay
Speaker:to let that go and go to a simpler platform.
Speaker:We use Squarespace now and I'm able to actually do all
Speaker:of that myself,
Speaker:which my other platform,
Speaker:I had to have a developer do things for me.
Speaker:So that was really the hard swallow of what I had
Speaker:to let go of.
Speaker:I had this beautiful website that costs me a lot of
Speaker:money and I had to go something completely simple so that
Speaker:I was able to do it myself.
Speaker:Yeah. I think there's a couple of things in there.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:you did spend all that money or it had to be
Speaker:heart-wrenching Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I just made this huge investment and now I'm not even
Speaker:going to use it,
Speaker:but along the way too,
Speaker:you saw that there were limitations with that because of you're
Speaker:not controlling your website.
Speaker:Like you can now every single thing you want to change,
Speaker:you have to make a phone call and you know how
Speaker:your contract is,
Speaker:have them make the adjustment,
Speaker:then you get charged for it.
Speaker:So way easier.
Speaker:I think the way you're doing it now,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:I started to feel like a bit of a money pit
Speaker:because I couldn't do anything,
Speaker:but I will say that all of that poking around and
Speaker:Googling and learning how this particular platform worked,
Speaker:made it so easy for me to the Squarespace.
Speaker:I felt completely comfortable.
Speaker:I popped it out in two weeks.
Speaker:Maybe it was super fast because I knew exactly what I
Speaker:wanted. I already had beautiful photos from my other work.
Speaker:And it was really interesting because I went back and I
Speaker:got to put down all of the times that I had
Speaker:pressed or custom gifting.
Speaker:And it was really nice to revisit all of that stuff
Speaker:and remind myself that I had come a long way.
Speaker:So all around it was heart-wrenching but it turned out for
Speaker:the best.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:I'll tell you why.
Speaker:When you were talking about your Sage green candle,
Speaker:your website looks beautiful.
Speaker:It's so clean.
Speaker:It's crisp.
Speaker:It's got some of the Sage green going on in there.
Speaker:You did a great job with it.
Speaker:It looks fabulous and give busy listeners.
Speaker:Of course you'll know that all the links are going to
Speaker:be there.
Speaker:So you can go ahead and see Ryan's website later after
Speaker:you've heard the whole story and all,
Speaker:but is there any advice you'd give since you've just mentioned
Speaker:how the learning that you had and all of that,
Speaker:and being able to put it together,
Speaker:pretty simply someone who's just listening now who is starting a
Speaker:website and didn't have the experience of working with someone else
Speaker:and having someone else do it first,
Speaker:but as jumping in cold to start their website,
Speaker:any comments for them?
Speaker:I would say the open,
Speaker:I would kind of relate it to your wedding,
Speaker:where you plan all of this stuff and you have to
Speaker:be really open and flexible with how the actual day's going
Speaker:to turn out.
Speaker:Because with website stuff,
Speaker:I had a vision in my head and I wanted to
Speaker:be a certain way.
Speaker:And yes,
Speaker:I'm very close to what it is now with the closest
Speaker:that I've ever been more so than the custom website,
Speaker:but with,
Speaker:just with anything that big and that much emotional and time
Speaker:and money invested,
Speaker:you have to still be a little bit okay with it
Speaker:not being perfect or turning out exactly how you admissioned in
Speaker:your head,
Speaker:because it's probably not going to be If you're just waiting
Speaker:for it to be perfect,
Speaker:you're never going to turn it live.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:that will always be one more thing you want to do
Speaker:to fix it or that kind of thing.
Speaker:Exactly. Let's focus on what Gaspar floral is now.
Speaker:What was your strategy and planning in terms of the development
Speaker:of the product?
Speaker:Now I know it's all custom,
Speaker:but how did you work through that in your mind?
Speaker:So the hotel welcomes kind of platform for me helped out
Speaker:a lot because I just went and sourced all of the
Speaker:wonderful artisans that were in California because I wanted to originally
Speaker:stay all California.
Speaker:And so I'm a foodie at heart.
Speaker:I love farmer's markets and that feels so I just went
Speaker:out and found products that I truly believed in.
Speaker:And I'm not ordering them unless I have a custom order,
Speaker:but I have this memory bank of,
Speaker:I know this will go with this.
Speaker:I know this will go with this.
Speaker:And I'm easily able to contact them and ask them for,
Speaker:can I get a hundred of this or whatever it is.
Speaker:So really it's just me having this crazy memory for things
Speaker:and knowing what will go with what that's,
Speaker:how it's panned out as far as custom gifting goes.
Speaker:And that's how your style.
Speaker:And, and when you talk about intuition and the style and
Speaker:just your mind's eye of what it's going to look like,
Speaker:that's really your talent.
Speaker:Yeah. That's the part I can't really explain.
Speaker:I don't know when it'll come to me either.
Speaker:I usually find out from a client when their due date
Speaker:is. So that kind of gives me some idea of when
Speaker:I need to really nail my brain down,
Speaker:but it will be sometimes in the shower,
Speaker:the middle of the night that I aha.
Speaker:And it works itself out as far as that goes,
Speaker:but it's just been a lot of research.
Speaker:My friends call me Google Ryan,
Speaker:because I just love information.
Speaker:And so I can refer back to it pretty easily in
Speaker:my mind and know my products very well.
Speaker:And my vendors actually really well,
Speaker:who's quick at turning around because they are small or who
Speaker:takes a little bit more time who I can trust to
Speaker:get it to me in just a few days if I
Speaker:need it.
Speaker:So that's how I worked.
Speaker:So do you,
Speaker:You get samples to show them the customer,
Speaker:how it's going to turn out to do these corporations,
Speaker:distrust your style and let you do what you want.
Speaker:I've had a couple that actually have started to just trust
Speaker:my style,
Speaker:but generally I send out a design sheet.
Speaker:If I have products on hand,
Speaker:that could be a snapshot of like a flat lay and
Speaker:overlooking view of what I've selected for them to give them
Speaker:an idea of what it'll be like,
Speaker:or that could be a design sheet,
Speaker:as far as I'm pulling images and putting them into a
Speaker:PDF for them.
Speaker:So they can kind of see how everything goes together.
Speaker:Yeah, This is interesting.
Speaker:And we kind of jumped into the middle of this.
Speaker:So I want to take it from the beginning to understand
Speaker:a little bit about your structure and how you work with
Speaker:a client.
Speaker:So you find someone who's interested in the gifts.
Speaker:How do you talk with them to understand what their expectation
Speaker:is like?
Speaker:What's that conversation,
Speaker:the very first meeting you have with them?
Speaker:My very first question is what is your budget?
Speaker:Because to me,
Speaker:I can show you premium roses or I can show you
Speaker:carnations. That's how I related to them.
Speaker:I want to know as far as gifting,
Speaker:what is your budget per person?
Speaker:How many units are you trying to send out?
Speaker:When do you need it done?
Speaker:All of those really meaty details.
Speaker:And then we just sort of have a conversation.
Speaker:Often I'll look at their website or I try to meet
Speaker:in their space if possible,
Speaker:because I like to,
Speaker:and it all goes back to my intuition.
Speaker:I like to pull feelings from spaces and branding.
Speaker:So I don't necessarily need to put the logo on everything,
Speaker:but I want it to feel like that company,
Speaker:like the essence of that company.
Speaker:So it's just a really open conversation with them.
Speaker:It's not super formal.
Speaker:So you talk about,
Speaker:are you going to want edible products or are you gonna
Speaker:want pampering products or like,
Speaker:do you have something special that you're wanting to include?
Speaker:Like a,
Speaker:or I don't know what it might be.
Speaker:So you have all those conversations right?
Speaker:In the beginning.
Speaker:Yes. I want to know as much information as possible in
Speaker:the beginning,
Speaker:especially found with corporations.
Speaker:I don't want to have to keep going back to them.
Speaker:They don't have a lot of time for that stuff.
Speaker:So the most information that I can gather from the beginning,
Speaker:the better That's really good because you're sensitive to their timing,
Speaker:but it's also yours.
Speaker:Cause you don't want to have to be going back and
Speaker:forth and back and forth.
Speaker:Yeah. And I don't want to take the time to design
Speaker:and then have them say,
Speaker:Oh, we didn't want food.
Speaker:Okay. Wow.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you have your first meeting,
Speaker:you go back with the ideas,
Speaker:then you develop what the vision is and you put together
Speaker:the PDF and send that to them or bring it back.
Speaker:However you would do that,
Speaker:right? Correct.
Speaker:What happens then?
Speaker:Usually with a corporation or with corporate gifting it's does it
Speaker:fit the budget?
Speaker:Does it fit their vision?
Speaker:It'll probably work.
Speaker:And so it just usually depends on if it's hit those
Speaker:points and then based on a contract and they book with
Speaker:me and my send them an invoice and then I do
Speaker:all the wrapping.
Speaker:Sometimes I'll do handwritten notes for them,
Speaker:drop shipping or delivering straight to their office.
Speaker:All of those details then happen.
Speaker:Perfect. And are you doing that all from your own location?
Speaker:Just you,
Speaker:do you have other people helping you as well?
Speaker:People that come in and out to help?
Speaker:I don't have an employee right now,
Speaker:but we're gearing up for we've actually already started booking holiday
Speaker:people. And so I feel that this year we'll probably need
Speaker:a regular employee.
Speaker:So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker:I'm open Staff.
Speaker:Like that is absolutely the way to go at your phase
Speaker:because you don't want to hire someone who you don't have
Speaker:the hours for,
Speaker:but it sounds like you might have a couple of people
Speaker:that you can call upon to bring in.
Speaker:And if they've come in for past jobs,
Speaker:they're already experienced in terms of your style or the way
Speaker:you'd want to work together.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Plus if you see the,
Speaker:for some reason they're not working out,
Speaker:if it's kind of job by job basis,
Speaker:then it's really easy.
Speaker:Just not to select them for the next ones,
Speaker:if it's not working.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:How much of your business is contracted?
Speaker:All of it.
Speaker:A hundred percent.
Speaker:Yeah. I have a collection that is like a handful of
Speaker:things that are kind of one-offs that we keep stock of
Speaker:it's for gifts.
Speaker:It's nothing major,
Speaker:but it gives people a great idea of our style.
Speaker:And then I have had some people ordered those,
Speaker:but honestly it's mostly contract jobs.
Speaker:So we need 200 of these sent out by this time
Speaker:or it's an ongoing basis.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And to your point that you'd made earlier,
Speaker:you don't need to carry then inventory,
Speaker:which is such a nice thing in terms of your cash
Speaker:flow, do you don't have to have it on site?
Speaker:What kind of turnaround,
Speaker:if someone needed something pretty quickly,
Speaker:how quickly can you turn things around?
Speaker:I would say it just depends on what it is.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:some of my vendors,
Speaker:they still work.
Speaker:Full-time jobs.
Speaker:They're a little bit slower and smaller.
Speaker:So I keep that in the back of my mind when
Speaker:I book a client,
Speaker:but about two weeks,
Speaker:I would say at least,
Speaker:but with corporate people are contacting for six,
Speaker:eight weeks ahead of time.
Speaker:It's great.
Speaker:They know what's coming up.
Speaker:They know what they need to do.
Speaker:And so it works out nicely for me.
Speaker:Right? Because in corporate they're much more in a planning mode
Speaker:versus I need this for something that's tomorrow.
Speaker:Exactly. Got it.
Speaker:Okay. The other thing I really like is how much you're
Speaker:utilizing artisans,
Speaker:which implies handmade and more local.
Speaker:And you've just referenced that they're smaller quantities.
Speaker:They may be doing things on the side,
Speaker:which gift biz listeners,
Speaker:some of that could be you.
Speaker:So look at opportunities,
Speaker:not necessarily Ryan,
Speaker:but in terms of other things in your area over and
Speaker:above to selling directly to the customer,
Speaker:other places where you may be able to work with someone,
Speaker:with your products,
Speaker:talk with us a little bit about why you went that
Speaker:direction, right?
Speaker:Yeah. It's where I identify.
Speaker:I like that style.
Speaker:Like I said before,
Speaker:I like the farmer's market feel.
Speaker:I like things to feel handmade and fresh.
Speaker:So I really steered clear of major brands.
Speaker:I get a lot of business in San Diego.
Speaker:They really appreciate the fact that it's all local.
Speaker:Yeah. And I'm thinking people can't copy you as easily either
Speaker:because you're not using things that people are going to just
Speaker:see in their local stores.
Speaker:Yeah. It works out nicely.
Speaker:I've also with my business.
Speaker:I don't know if you can tell,
Speaker:but I am heavily branded and I don't mean that my
Speaker:logo stuck everywhere.
Speaker:If you look at my guests,
Speaker:they are all the same.
Speaker:You can tell that it's my gift.
Speaker:You can tell them my photos are all similar in color
Speaker:or texture or mood.
Speaker:And so I find that clients come to me and they
Speaker:know what to expect.
Speaker:So I have way less resistance on it being a local
Speaker:product. So there's not as much in the box.
Speaker:I think that being really true with who I am in
Speaker:presenting that they don't question because those are some products can
Speaker:cost a lot more than mainstream brands.
Speaker:Sure. What would you do if someone came in,
Speaker:wanted something dramatically,
Speaker:not your style,
Speaker:like they said to you,
Speaker:Ryan, I'm going to do a fifties feel.
Speaker:It sounds to me even like you're cringing even over the
Speaker:mic right now.
Speaker:It just depends on,
Speaker:I have found,
Speaker:especially with the pivot that I need to be really true
Speaker:to myself and my brand.
Speaker:And I have turned away clients that I feel like aren't
Speaker:in line with what I want to do.
Speaker:And I'm not saying that to be snooty or I have
Speaker:so much business.
Speaker:I can do that.
Speaker:It's just that my brand is important too.
Speaker:And I want to attract the clients that I really want.
Speaker:Now, if it's a fifties theme that they're open to my
Speaker:I'm sure that I could do something.
Speaker:It just wouldn't be so overtly 57 Chevies and jukeboxes.
Speaker:Right. That does not seem like your thing at all.
Speaker:Okay. So in your mind,
Speaker:as you think back to all the gifts that you've done,
Speaker:is there one that was like a favorite of yours that
Speaker:you could describe to us?
Speaker:I did a gift for one of my favorite and actually
Speaker:one of my best clients,
Speaker:which is a local boutique resort here in San Diego called
Speaker:the Rancho Valencia.
Speaker:It's very luxury,
Speaker:very high-end.
Speaker:And they were having VIP come stay with them.
Speaker:And we did this gift that I wanted.
Speaker:One of my own,
Speaker:their colors are like that really beautiful,
Speaker:Tiffany teal and then a darker blue and an orange.
Speaker:I ordered these breakfast at Tiffany's sleep masks,
Speaker:the ones with the little eyes on them.
Speaker:I don't know if you remember from the movie.
Speaker:Yeah. So we did that and then a hand dyed lavender
Speaker:stash with their logo on it.
Speaker:T nighttime tea.
Speaker:It just was so pretty.
Speaker:I really loved that one and I was really glad that
Speaker:they were happy with it.
Speaker:Talk about personal and customization and all that.
Speaker:Yeah. That's really what my specialty or what I enjoy the
Speaker:most is figuring out what is the mood that you're trying
Speaker:to create more so than what points are you trying to
Speaker:hit as far as products or things of that nature?
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Something that occurs to me as we're talking here,
Speaker:which I think is really important is making some of these
Speaker:very custom,
Speaker:one of a kind gifts.
Speaker:If that was all you did,
Speaker:makes it very difficult to grow a business because every single
Speaker:gift needs so much thought resourcing,
Speaker:design the back and forth type things.
Speaker:So to do that,
Speaker:and then also to do 200 corporate gifts for a business
Speaker:that they're going to be giving out to customer,
Speaker:you'd like,
Speaker:however they're using it,
Speaker:that kind of balance allows you.
Speaker:I'm thinking,
Speaker:this is a question for you,
Speaker:Ryan, but I'm thinking to be able to do some of
Speaker:those really individual gifts like you're doing,
Speaker:but also bring in the revenue where you design a very
Speaker:custom gift,
Speaker:but there's a volume to that gift.
Speaker:Yes. That is exactly what it is.
Speaker:Obviously, even with the hotel welcomes,
Speaker:I was always interested in volume or monetizing from the very
Speaker:beginning. I knew that I couldn't just sell one over and
Speaker:over and over again.
Speaker:Yeah. It's just how my brain works.
Speaker:I'm not really interested in being a sales woman.
Speaker:I like to share my business with people and let it
Speaker:be a little bit more organic.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I do cold emails to my corporations and then get clients
Speaker:that way.
Speaker:But you're right.
Speaker:That's how we make the money.
Speaker:I'm going to do 200 of this very beautifully curated hand
Speaker:wrapped handwritten note type gift.
Speaker:Let's talk now about something that was challenging to you.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:this is so interesting because you are so new,
Speaker:but you're really doing well.
Speaker:Look within,
Speaker:let's even call it two years from your initial planning to
Speaker:going out and really focusing wedding to making a pivot.
Speaker:Now having built two websites to now having corporate clients contracting
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:It sounds so great.
Speaker:Has there been a challenge along the way?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what's not a challenge.
Speaker:I feel like the whole thing has been a challenge from
Speaker:the moment that I decided to step out and do it
Speaker:and actually make something of it or I guess realize my
Speaker:dream. So to speak and move forward to today,
Speaker:getting on the phone with you,
Speaker:everything about it is challenging,
Speaker:but it feels really good at the same time.
Speaker:So I would say like the hardest emotionally was pivoting because
Speaker:you do think this is what I wanted to do.
Speaker:It's almost that,
Speaker:what are people going to think?
Speaker:No one really noticed to be honest with you,
Speaker:I just sorta switched it over and started targeting different people.
Speaker:So I would say that was the hardest part And you're
Speaker:right, exactly what you just said because your product was in
Speaker:a way similar,
Speaker:not totally,
Speaker:but in a way similar,
Speaker:you just changed the audience that you were going to be
Speaker:a protein.
Speaker:Exactly. What types of things are you finding work for you
Speaker:in terms of attracting sales?
Speaker:And I'm thinking for you specifically,
Speaker:because a lot of things start with an initial face-to-face meeting.
Speaker:How are you finding people and getting an appointment?
Speaker:I actually do a lot of cold emailing or cold calling,
Speaker:sending out marketing materials.
Speaker:I have an advantage because as you've mentioned,
Speaker:I have a very specific field to mind gifting and it
Speaker:does feel very thoughtful and the fact that they can get
Speaker:multiples out of that and that have that same feeling is
Speaker:really interesting and attractive to them.
Speaker:So if I can get someone to answer me,
Speaker:at least once,
Speaker:usually I can get a meeting with them.
Speaker:I always felt the same way.
Speaker:If I can just get someone on the phone or see
Speaker:them in person that pretty much sets the stage and get
Speaker:to, Yeah,
Speaker:I will say also though that we just made it sound
Speaker:a lot easier than it actually is sometimes or emailing or
Speaker:calling those people five times before they pay attention to you
Speaker:as somebody working in any sort of company,
Speaker:do you have time to answer all the emails?
Speaker:So there is a lot of perseverance that goes with that
Speaker:and just mustering it up and making sure that you keep
Speaker:going for it And don't give up after the first call
Speaker:is what You're saying.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Because it doesn't always happen after the first or the second
Speaker:or the fourth.
Speaker:I've had also people come to me six months later after
Speaker:not answering me and say,
Speaker:I've been meaning to reach out to you here I am.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:So I'm quite sure because I've seen the style of your
Speaker:website and the products that you produce,
Speaker:that all of your materials are top-notch in terms of quality
Speaker:of photography,
Speaker:paper, all of that,
Speaker:because it needs to be on line with the product that
Speaker:you're going to be producing.
Speaker:Exactly. Yes.
Speaker:And so then do you have some type of a structured
Speaker:system where you've targeted the business is you would like or
Speaker:think would do business with you and have a routine set
Speaker:up where you send out a certain amount a week,
Speaker:you call up a certain amount of people in terms of
Speaker:followup a week.
Speaker:Yeah. Yes.
Speaker:I have my little sales funnel that I do.
Speaker:And I look for businesses that I'm interested in,
Speaker:that I want to do business with that I think would
Speaker:be a good match for me that I would be interested
Speaker:in designing for them.
Speaker:Because when you reach out to those people,
Speaker:you're already passionate about what they're doing and you're more likely
Speaker:to let that shine to them.
Speaker:And it's just that energy that's coming through and they get
Speaker:excited about you because you're excited about them.
Speaker:And I think that works the best.
Speaker:What role does social media play for you?
Speaker:My biggest social media platform is Instagram.
Speaker:I will say I'm pretty bad about all that stuff.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:my ideal client doesn't live on Instagram.
Speaker:Maybe they are on it,
Speaker:but they are not looking for me per se.
Speaker:They might stumble across me,
Speaker:but I'm not trying to sell to individuals.
Speaker:So I've had kind of a little trying to figure myself
Speaker:out on social media.
Speaker:But I would say that having a presence there,
Speaker:like even if someone received a brochure of yours or mailing,
Speaker:whatever, it looks like lots of times they'll check you out
Speaker:first before they're going to place a call.
Speaker:Like how legit is this business really?
Speaker:And part of that is going on social media and seeing
Speaker:what type of presence there is.
Speaker:So you have to have some type of presence.
Speaker:Yeah. And I would say my advice is to be as
Speaker:professional as possible on that.
Speaker:I have a separate personal account.
Speaker:Now that doesn't mean that all my business account,
Speaker:I don't talk about what's going on with me every once
Speaker:in a while,
Speaker:or sometimes on stories,
Speaker:Instagram stories,
Speaker:I'll do a little mini review of one of my artisans
Speaker:or a place that I'm at,
Speaker:but I'm still,
Speaker:I'm not talking about political views.
Speaker:I'm not taking pictures of my cat,
Speaker:things like that.
Speaker:I'm so with you on that,
Speaker:I've pretty much taken the stance that even if it's a
Speaker:personal page,
Speaker:because so many clients also want to connect with you,
Speaker:like on a personal Facebook page or a personal Instagram account.
Speaker:So they want to see you on personal and your business
Speaker:account. And I kind of have the stands that I put
Speaker:out things that only,
Speaker:I wouldn't care who saw anybody can see my stuff and
Speaker:I'm fine with it.
Speaker:No matter what platform at time,
Speaker:one is more personal.
Speaker:One is more business,
Speaker:but still it's all of a level that I'm fine.
Speaker:If anyone sees it,
Speaker:That's exactly how I operate also.
Speaker:And I think it's important.
Speaker:Like my profile picture,
Speaker:even on my personal account is of me.
Speaker:It's a business photo.
Speaker:So although it's my personal account,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:I don't talk about politics.
Speaker:Am I talking about my cat or my family on that
Speaker:one? But it's all very business type.
Speaker:I'm not going to just rant or rave or talk about
Speaker:things like that because you're right.
Speaker:You don't know who's looking at you.
Speaker:And although my account is private,
Speaker:I found even that my Facebook friends that are personal,
Speaker:they have jobs,
Speaker:they work at companies.
Speaker:They recommended me.
Speaker:So if I'm being all crazy on my personal account,
Speaker:why would they recommend me to their company?
Speaker:I'm really glad you brought that up.
Speaker:That was a really good point.
Speaker:Gift is listeners.
Speaker:Ryan's talking about a couple of things that are less traditional.
Speaker:I would say now they used to be very traditional.
Speaker:Now they're less traditional in the way we do business and
Speaker:it's working for her.
Speaker:Some of it is cold calling.
Speaker:So many people say cold calling is dead.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I'm a proponent of networking and warm leads and all of
Speaker:that, but it's working.
Speaker:So something to consider for your businesses,
Speaker:if it's an approach that you're in a position where you
Speaker:want to try something new.
Speaker:So I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker:The other thing is social media.
Speaker:So many of us now rely on social media as the
Speaker:do all end all because we're going to do Facebook ads
Speaker:or we're putting our products out there.
Speaker:Ryan's a great example that that isn't necessarily what you have
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:And certainly don't put all your eggs in that basket.
Speaker:So you are under contracts,
Speaker:which is awesome because then that guarantees for the most part
Speaker:in a legal sense that you'll get the full extent of
Speaker:the contract,
Speaker:whatever the volume is,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:What do you do to make sure that a customer is
Speaker:going to resign?
Speaker:What types of customer service or interaction do you have to
Speaker:make sure they really stay happy?
Speaker:And they want to continue with you.
Speaker:If I've had clients that have booked a few jobs with
Speaker:me, or maybe even just one and they don't have an
Speaker:ongoing contract,
Speaker:I think this is a better example.
Speaker:I just check in with them every once in a while.
Speaker:And I say,
Speaker:just as you would in any networking situation,
Speaker:Hey, this made me think of you or,
Speaker:Hey, I saw all your company in the news,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:I'm not saying every day,
Speaker:but sometimes even that reminder is them going,
Speaker:Oh shoot,
Speaker:I need to order from you.
Speaker:I totally forgot.
Speaker:So it's not calling and saying,
Speaker:Hey, we're done with this.
Speaker:What else do you think you'll need in the future?
Speaker:It's just keeping in touch on a friendly basis.
Speaker:Exactly. And that's what I do with my vendors too.
Speaker:That's how I know how quickly they work or how stressed
Speaker:out they get about something or if they do it all.
Speaker:And some of them are just very business like,
Speaker:and I would never know if they were stressed out about
Speaker:a project.
Speaker:So I just try to keep an open dialogue with everyone
Speaker:as much as possible.
Speaker:Wonderful. Let's talk a little bit now back of shop,
Speaker:how things work just particularly for listeners who are just setting
Speaker:up or they're feeling like they're all over the place.
Speaker:Sometimes there are tools and things that people use that can
Speaker:really be helpful to everybody.
Speaker:Is there some type of resource or tool you're using,
Speaker:that's helping you stay productive.
Speaker:And maybe even with the followup that you're doing in terms
Speaker:of both your sales approach and your customer continuity plans,
Speaker:I keep a lot of spreadsheets.
Speaker:Although I've thought about getting a CRM,
Speaker:a client relationship management software so that it will remind me
Speaker:to follow up.
Speaker:But I would say honestly,
Speaker:the best tool that I ever purchased for myself ever was
Speaker:I use shipstation.com,
Speaker:which is a shipping program.
Speaker:And they work through FedEx ups and stamps.com.
Speaker:So you're able to keep track of what you're shipping.
Speaker:You can put it all in from home.
Speaker:I just have a little scale.
Speaker:You put in the measurements you put in the address.
Speaker:And then I purchased a dynamo label printer.
Speaker:After last Christmas almost killed me with printing out labels and
Speaker:trying to take them on.
Speaker:And it has made my life so much easier.
Speaker:So the printer connects up to your computer and ship station
Speaker:is a program that's on the computer,
Speaker:correct? Correct.
Speaker:Yes. So you enter in the information,
Speaker:you press print and then instead of it printing out of
Speaker:a paper printer,
Speaker:it prints onto a paper you can peel off and stick
Speaker:on. It's so much more professional too.
Speaker:Yeah, for me doing corporate gifting,
Speaker:I requests from my clients an Excel spreadsheet and I can
Speaker:upload that into ShipStation and it populates.
Speaker:So instead of having to hand type 50 addresses and names
Speaker:and whatever,
Speaker:I can do it all from an Excel and then batch
Speaker:the measurements and what type of shipping I want to do
Speaker:all at the same time.
Speaker:So it just prints out all at the it's so fast.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It takes so much time off of all of that stuff.
Speaker:Yeah. It's efficiency for you.
Speaker:Plus it covers you in terms of entering in the wrong
Speaker:address because whatever they've put on the spreadsheet and shared with
Speaker:you then,
Speaker:but still an issue if it goes to the wrong place,
Speaker:even if it was their address,
Speaker:but still it takes off the possibility that you're going to
Speaker:make a mistake on your end.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:And we all know what it's like trying to type in
Speaker:addresses late at night.
Speaker:And you've had a long day,
Speaker:it's the best tool I've ever purchased for myself.
Speaker:What do you do in terms of staying current within the
Speaker:industry or learning new techniques or new things that can help
Speaker:enhance your business?
Speaker:I actually have a couple of friends that are gifters also,
Speaker:so we share tips with each other we're across the country.
Speaker:So that helps a little bit.
Speaker:But to be honest with you,
Speaker:I try and stay away from what other gifters are doing,
Speaker:because it's like that competition evil thing that happens to you
Speaker:where you start looking at other people's work and then that
Speaker:voice in your head starts telling you that you could never
Speaker:be that good or you're not measuring up or they have
Speaker:more, or they have more of this or more of that.
Speaker:So there's a famous quote and are not sure who it's
Speaker:by, but it has something to do with,
Speaker:there's a reason why race horses have blinders it's so they
Speaker:can't see their competition.
Speaker:Yeah. So we all want to be like,
Speaker:I'm looking for inspiration,
Speaker:but you can only do it so much.
Speaker:And then it starts to get in your head and actually
Speaker:tear you down instead of build you up.
Speaker:You know what I totally agree with you.
Speaker:I do a lot of trade shows and very rarely is
Speaker:a competitor anymore at a show that I'm at.
Speaker:But it used to be,
Speaker:I didn't even want to walk by or know what they
Speaker:were doing because it would totally take me off my game
Speaker:because I'd feel intimidated or whatever it was.
Speaker:And same even now,
Speaker:I don't really go and look that often because I'm focused
Speaker:on my customers because I'm pretty much feeling like first off,
Speaker:everyone has a kind of a different makeup of a customer
Speaker:base. So you really want to be looking at them anyway,
Speaker:to understand what you should do in the future.
Speaker:But I would much prefer making sure that I'm fulfilling their
Speaker:needs then going in and adding other things just because a
Speaker:competitor does.
Speaker:Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Speaker:I don't want to take someone else's idea or I don't
Speaker:want my company to feel like someone else's.
Speaker:So I look more at corporate industry type articles and things
Speaker:like that to see what they're wanting,
Speaker:instead of all the pretty stuff on Pinterest and Instagram,
Speaker:it's just terrible.
Speaker:It's good.
Speaker:But it's terrible.
Speaker:This is a good point that you just said,
Speaker:Ryan, is that you are looking at what you think your
Speaker:customers would be looking at and getting more in tune with
Speaker:what their trending is versus a competitor's Trend date.
Speaker:Exactly. You know,
Speaker:this is a pet peeve of mine too.
Speaker:And it happens to me unfortunately frequently is that a competitor
Speaker:comes over,
Speaker:looks at my website and starts copying things that I'm doing.
Speaker:Have you had that happen to you yet?
Speaker:Yeah. How do you handle it?
Speaker:This isn't even for the podcast.
Speaker:I just want to know from you and me,
Speaker:what do you do?
Speaker:It's annoying,
Speaker:but it's also,
Speaker:there's only one me and there's only one that person.
Speaker:And I have to keep reminding myself that my ideal client
Speaker:is not who their ideal client is and we're all different.
Speaker:And I do a lot of secret stuff that I don't
Speaker:share. And so I don't share all my clients.
Speaker:I don't share all this stuff that I'm doing on social
Speaker:media for the fact that that's what I want to do.
Speaker:That's the way I want to conduct myself.
Speaker:So I'm not necessarily an open book so they can take
Speaker:my tagline.
Speaker:They can take my sort of what my visuals look like,
Speaker:but it's not me.
Speaker:And that's what I have to keep reminding myself,
Speaker:Because they're not going to be able to get the vision
Speaker:that you have for the products or the way you even
Speaker:talk on a phone call or in a meeting or your
Speaker:style or your overall vibe.
Speaker:That's not something that they can just go ahead and take.
Speaker:And if they try to,
Speaker:it's going to look artificial and fake because it's yours.
Speaker:It's not theirs.
Speaker:Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:Gift as listeners.
Speaker:Another thing that you can do in this realm,
Speaker:which is something else that I do,
Speaker:Ryan's talking about how she doesn't have everything out there for
Speaker:everybody to see private Facebook groups are also a good place.
Speaker:If you have communities that would be a good place.
Speaker:Cause that's behind the scenes.
Speaker:Only people who have access that you control get in and
Speaker:power of community is always good.
Speaker:So that's another way to approach it.
Speaker:Something again,
Speaker:not part of the public eye,
Speaker:but that builds more and brands with your vibe.
Speaker:Something that's just not out there.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:let's move on.
Speaker:And as we're closing up now,
Speaker:any advice for someone and again,
Speaker:your so in the beginning and you can relate still to
Speaker:those feelings of just starting out and all that scariness and
Speaker:excitement, all bubbled at the same time,
Speaker:what would you say to somebody who's thinking of going home
Speaker:tonight and saying to their husband by golly,
Speaker:I'm going to keep my full-time job,
Speaker:but I am going to start a business around whatever it
Speaker:is. What would you say to that person?
Speaker:I would say do it because you only have one life.
Speaker:And I will also say the conversation with my husband was
Speaker:interesting because in the very beginning he said,
Speaker:well, you can't craft for a living.
Speaker:And it kind of broke my heart a little bit.
Speaker:And I spent a couple of years trying to figure out
Speaker:what exactly that would look like,
Speaker:what my creative endeavor would be like.
Speaker:And I came back really strong to him and said,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:a few years later after really letting it marinate in my
Speaker:head, what I truly wanted to do,
Speaker:and he's an accountant.
Speaker:So he wanted to know what does this mean for us?
Speaker:And so when I came back with my idea,
Speaker:I actually heard him say a few months later at a
Speaker:cocktail party with friends,
Speaker:I started to worry more about what would happen if I
Speaker:didn't support her in this then if I did.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Because he felt like it was so strong inside of me
Speaker:that he was doing a disservice by not letting me get
Speaker:it out and not live in the what if.
Speaker:And so it was great to go from you.
Speaker:Can't crash for a living to,
Speaker:I fully support you.
Speaker:And he still fully supports me.
Speaker:So I would say,
Speaker:just do it,
Speaker:Just do it.
Speaker:And I guess in a situation like yours,
Speaker:if your spouse or partner isn't necessarily supportive,
Speaker:probably providing more of the image and what you're looking at
Speaker:doing like more of the vision,
Speaker:I guess I'd say so that they understand what you're trying
Speaker:to do and where you're going is helpful.
Speaker:The more information you can give them,
Speaker:so they understand the better,
Speaker:But you have to know that figuring out that information or
Speaker:being able to articulate it takes time and that's okay.
Speaker:But it was good for me that I had to figure
Speaker:out how to articulate it because it gave me a really
Speaker:strong vision on where I wanted to go.
Speaker:I kind of felt like it was pitching to an investor
Speaker:who would have laughed at me also that few years ago
Speaker:when I wanted to start something,
Speaker:I didn't really know what it was.
Speaker:And so it was better in the long run because it
Speaker:gave me a clear vision on what I wanted for the
Speaker:future. Good point.
Speaker:So Ryan,
Speaker:let's conclude here by me asking you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this may be your dream or your goal,
Speaker:but it has to be an unreachable Heights that you would
Speaker:wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside your box.
Speaker:It would definitely be having a national brand,
Speaker:not just a local brand,
Speaker:but local to regions throughout the us and get to be
Speaker:able to collaborate and work on projects that really fuel my
Speaker:fire. Sounds fabulous.
Speaker:And you have started on that path already.
Speaker:Yeah. Thank you so much.
Speaker:It takes a place to start,
Speaker:right? Exactly.
Speaker:How Can our listeners best get in touch with you So
Speaker:you can follow me on Instagram guests,
Speaker:Barra flora.
Speaker:I'm also on Facebook under the same handle.
Speaker:I do have a LinkedIn account,
Speaker:Ryan gas,
Speaker:FARA, and you can always email me at hello at gas,
Speaker:Barra, flora.com.
Speaker:Perfect. And you guys go check out the website that Ryan
Speaker:created herself just a few short months ago,
Speaker:actually within the last year or so.
Speaker:And see what I mean in terms of the consistency.
Speaker:And you'll see it right away.
Speaker:There's a nice,
Speaker:clean, crisp vibe that comes through totally professional and upscale.
Speaker:So I'd love for you guys to go check that out.
Speaker:If you're out walking the dog at the gym,
Speaker:not near a computer,
Speaker:remember there was a show notes page.
Speaker:I'll have all the links to all the different ways that
Speaker:you can see guest Barra floral.
Speaker:So you'll be able to check that out later.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Ryan. I mean,
Speaker:I love that we've caught you right in the beginning of
Speaker:this journey.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're established,
Speaker:you're grounded,
Speaker:you're moving forward,
Speaker:but it's still at the beginning.
Speaker:So I'm really excited to see how this progress is and
Speaker:how this grows.
Speaker:And my wish for you is that candle that we talked
Speaker:about way in the beginning continues and always burns bright.
Speaker:Well, thank you so much for having me Sue,
Speaker:it's been a pleasure and I'm excited to see where this
Speaker:goes. Us too.
Speaker:We're all rooting for you All the best today's show is
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Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing you help to increase
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Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,