130 | Balancing a Brick & Mortar Shop and Wholesale Line with Meg Sutton of Belle & Union
Are you ready for round two? Because we are! This is the second of two special episodes this week, featuring Paper Camp alumni who are taking us behind the scenes of what it’s like to run a manufacturing business and brick and mortar retail shops simultaneously. Tuesday, on Episode 129 we heard from the Los-Angeles based, Katie Wilson. Now today, on Episode 130, I’m sitting down with Meg Sutton, the founder of Belle & Union, based in San Antonio Texas.
Meg first shared her startup story back on Episode 7. If you’re curious about how Meg launched Belle & Union and the motivation behind her products, definitely head back to give that episode a listen. Today we’re diving even deeper into Meg’s business journey. We’re sitting down to talk about how Meg decided to open her brick & mortar shop, how she layered that into her existing business model, and how she keeps perspective through it all.
ON TODAY’S EPISODE:
How Meg balances time between wholesale and her shop
The importance of great employees
What Meg does to carve out time for creativity
Some misconceptions about stocking for retail vs wholesale
How Belle & Union has evolved over the years
What Meg wishes she knew before opening her shop
Choosing your location wisely
Advice on how to deal with the unexpected
How diversifying revenue streams has impacted neighborhood visibility
What’s up next for Meg and Belle & Union
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KEY TAKE AWAYS
“I need to be better about saying, "Okay, Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:00 to 1:00, that's my creative time. But as any creative knows, you can't really force it.” – Meg Sutton
“I'm not a great people manager. I can be a leader. But when it trickles down, like I kind of need somebody else to handle that.” – Meg Sutton
“Having a good support system truly helps, especially as you start to scale your business. You can't do it all. You shouldn't be doing it all.” – Katie Hunt
“I will be the first to admit I have not been the best about figuring out that balance with my time to the point that I know our product line has suffered because of it.” – Meg Sutton
“There are things we're not good at. There are things that drain us. There's things that just we shouldn't have our hands on, or we don't need to have our hands on.” – Katie Hunt
“No matter what your business is. Wholesale, retail, pantomiming on the sidewalk, whatever it is, know your numbers.” - Meg Sutton
“It's totally appropriate to keep something in the retail space, even if you're not selling it in the wholesale space. I think that's another misconception.” – Katie Hunt
“As hard as this last year has been in retail, I don't regret it. I love having the store.” - Meg Sutton
“I love the community that we've built, and I want to be able to expand on that even more.” – Meg Sutton
CONNECT WITH MEG SUTTON
Website: Belle&Union | Facebook: @Belle&Union | Instagram: @Belle&Union | Twitter: @BelleandUnionco | Pinterest: @BelleandUnion
LINKS
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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