Katie, Jen, and I talked about the importance of clear communication between vendors and shop owners, zip code protection, and how these two shop owners are utilizing Faire to place orders with existing wholesale accounts.

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In today’s episode, we’re talking about their summer 2023 sales season, how they are preparing for the Q4 holiday season, how the current economic climate is affecting their businesses and what’s on the minds of shopkeepers right now.

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The idea of finding your people and creating community is a common theme in today's episode. We also discuss why his products and yours are not for everyone and how finding his people positively impacted his business. 

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News recently broke that Shopify was closing Handshake, its wholesale sales platform and investing as a shareholder in Faire. Today’s episode is bringing you the news mixed in with a few of my thoughts on the topic.

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Tuning in, you’ll hear all about Sonia’s career, how you can diversify your products and circle of influence, how to audit your customer experience to be more inclusive, the importance of considering how different people are and making them feel seen and heard, why you must stay true to your values, and much more! 

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In this conversation, Betsy shares how she first got into licensing, how her partnership with Recycled Paper Greetings came together, how she hired a full-time employee and moved their studio, and why her experience has been overwhelmingly positive. 

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In this episode, Lauren te Velde recounts the rollercoaster of experiencing a 4000% increase in wholesale orders, and why she believes your brand story is crucial to your success. She expresses her thoughts on prioritizing relationships, why you can’t just jump into wholesale, and the difference between pursuing wealth versus money.

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Katie is answering some frequently asked questions often heard at Paper Camp, regarding creating and utilizing SKU systems. Listen in to hear tips on setting up your SKU system early on in your wholesaling journey and why you shouldn’t overcomplicate your SKU systems. 

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Bridiga shares the journey of starting her business, while still pursuing her teaching career. She dives into what it was like venturing into wholesale, how she has experienced rapid growth, and describes what happened after deciding to leave social media. 

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There’s no “easy mode” in business. Selling physical products is a lot of work and being a product entrepreneur requires grit, tenacity, and courage. 

Today’s episode is for seasoned wholesalers who might be experiencing a slower sales season. If your sales have stalled, there are two metrics that you can tap into to build stronger relationships with your current accounts and sustainably scale your revenue for wholesale. 

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There’s no “easy mode” in business. Selling physical products is a lot of work and being a product entrepreneur requires grit, tenacity, and courage. 

Today’s episode is for seasoned wholesalers who might be experiencing a slower sales season. If your sales have stalled, there are two metrics that you can tap into to build stronger relationships with your current accounts and sustainably scale your revenue for wholesale. 

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You have heard me say it before, and I'm gonna remind you again, strong businesses are built through slow, steady, intentional growth. Today's guest is proof of that. Jill Shephard is the owner of Ruff House Print Shop. She started her business in 2009, initially specializing in custom wedding invitations. She then spent 14 years prioritizing professional development, refining her business model, expanding her team, and strengthening her customer experience. In the process, she built a profitable and sustainable company that she is proud of. 

Today, Jill and I are talking about her entrepreneurial journey from custom wedding invitations to a brick and mortar retail shop to selling wholesale to over 3,000 shops around the world. Jill also reveals her strategies for maintaining a thriving business, the importance of continuous learning, and the impact of participating in programs like Paper Camp, even as a seasoned entrepreneur.

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Today we are continuing our conversation with Katie Hart of Odd Daughter Paper Co. If you missed the first part of our conversation, head back and listen to episode 304. In that episode, Katie and I talk about how she got started with her product-based business, and why you don't necessarily need to exhibit at trade shows to be successful with selling wholesale. Katie waited 10 years to do her first show, and we're talking about it in episode 304. 

For today's episode, which is part two of our conversation, Katie is taking us behind the scenes of her business and what it is like running this business with her sister by her side. We also talk about setting boundaries in business and how the best lessons truly come from just years of experience. 

Katie Hart is a self-taught illustrator and the founder of a stationery brand called Odd Daughter Paper Co. She founded that company in 2013 and it began as a side hustle that she ran on the weekends and during her lunch hours; it evolved into a full-time brand that both Katie and her sister now work at. Michelle helped on the side for years and finally joined the team full-time in 2022. Katie does all the illustrating and hand lettering while Michelle handles operations, wholesale, and sales and marketing. They both love brainstorming sentiments for cards and their goal is to sound like a real friend in their products, whether that's clever, sincere, encouraging, or empathetic. Odd Daughter is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and draws a great deal of creative inspiration from the desert.

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Yes, friend, you can be successful with wholesale without exhibiting at trade shows. This is a question that I frequently hear from our Paper Camp students and today’s guest is a shining example of how slow, intentional growth without trade shows leads to success.

Today’s guest is Paper Camp Alum & Advisory Board member, Katie Hart of Odd Daughter Paper Co. Katie launched Odd Daughter in 2013 as a side hustle. The brand evolved into a thriving product brand whose revenue primarily comes from wholesale and her products are sold in stores throughout the world.

This was such an inspiring conversation that I decided to break it up into two parts.  On today’s episode, which is part 1, Katie shares how Odd Daughter got started, the intentional decisions she’s made along the way to make her business growth more sustainable, and we talk about her decision to exhibit at her first wholesale trade show in 2023—after 10 years of successfully scaling wholesale.

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Opening a retail storefront is no joke. It's a whole lot of work and a completely different business model than selling products online or to the wholesale market. Brick-and-mortar retail requires different strategies, operational systems, and of course staffing needs. I know there are many of you who dream of someday opening a shop, in fact, we have many product brands that also have brick-and-mortar shops in our Proof to Product community. 

So today we're going to hear from Ginger Diaz, the owner of Feliz Modern and Rancho Diaz in San Antonio, Texas. Ginger Diaz came to retail to bring her favorite artists’ and makers’ works to a wider audience. What started as one brick-and-mortar shop in San Antonio has expanded to a second shop, as well as their online store at felizmodern.com, for those national customers that they service. All three shops are centered around products that bring joy and some cheeky fun to their customers. It's a small business full of hundreds of other small businesses and makers from around the globe. 

On today's episode, we're talking to Ginger about motivations for opening her stores, how relationships played a key role in their survival during the pandemic, and how Ginger's incredible staff has helped improve efficiencies in her business. We also talk a little bit about her buying preferences and red flags that she sees in manufacturers' pitches or outreach, and what she looks for when she's purchasing from smaller independent brands.

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Today we're gonna talk about paid advertising. I have spent years searching for someone that has extensive experience in the e-commerce space, and who understands the unique challenges and needs of micro-businesses, solo entrepreneurs, and small businesses, particularly with paid advertising. What I found in my search was that there were a lot of people who were focused on paid ads, but for service businesses or for larger brands with huge budgets. There were people that only focused on ads, but did not look at the holistic marketing strategy that the ads were pushing to. I also encountered a lot of people who just didn't understand the nuances of e-commerce sales. 

So this is a topic that our community has asked for over and over again, but I never felt like I could find the right expert to put in front of you. Until today—my guest today is Taylor Frame from Focus Funnels. Taylor is the co-founder of Focus Funnels, which is an e-commerce growth shop. He has consulted and worked with over 400 e-commerce companies including several from our Proof to Product community. Focused Funnels has launched and scaled over 100 brands to consistent six-figure months, finding creative solutions for bootstrap founders. 

In addition to the overall success, Taylor's team has managed over $45 million in performance ad spend across a variety of niches. Taylor and his team specialize in working with women-owned e-commerce brands on holistic marketing that ties together both organic and paid advertising efforts. This is key—this is critical to success. As you will soon hear he breaks down complex ideas and strategies into easy-to-understand solutions, which I love. On today's episode, we're talking about trends in the marketing space, how much money you'll need to spend to get started in paid ads, and how to leverage different ad platforms for different outcomes.

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"You are your number one resource." This is a direct quote from today's guest, Michelle Angenent. Michelle is a Paper Camp alum, LABS member, and the fierce founder behind 417 Press, an award-winning letterpress greeting card company and paper goods brand based in Montreal, Canada. 

Always observing life with a dash of humor. Michelle's product line is a direct reflection of the personal challenges she has faced from infertility to ADHD, midlife, divorce, and now midlife dating. Now in her fifties and a happily single mom to teen twins, Michelle is proof that everything is divinely timed for a reason and that it is never too late to pursue your passion. 

Today Michelle and I are talking about navigating divorce as a business owner, overcoming and continually working on our mindset, and what to say when someone asks you proprietary questions about your business.

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I am incredibly proud to share our 300th episode of the Proof to Product podcast! It's just incredible to me that we started this show in May of 2017 with one single goal in mind—to become an invaluable business resource for those starting and scaling product based businesses. I think it's safe to say that we have certainly hit that goal. 

We have produced and published over 150 hours of audio content through this show. Our podcast has been downloaded over 1.1 million times. The Proof to Product Podcast is ranked in the top 1% of all podcasts. Our podcast and programming have helped not only shape the businesses, but also the personal lives of our listeners and our students—and that is something to be proud of. 

We have used our platform to shine a spotlight on hundreds of our Proof to Product students to share their unique stories, products, and business perspectives, and today is no exception. On today's episode, you will hear from several of our Proof to Product students as they share lessons that they learned throughout their business journey, and more specifically, what they wish they had known when they were starting out. 

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Supply chain issues, paper shortages, production problems, shipping delays, and increased labor costs; these are just some of the issues that our community of product-based business owners have faced over the last few years. The problems extend well beyond our community of makers in that they also affect our manufacturing partners, suppliers, and vendors that we work with. 

Today, Ronnie Williams from DeFrance Printing is back on the podcast to share his insights. He and I chatted back in 2018 on episode 60 of Proof to Product about how to save money on printing costs and today he's back to give us an update on paper shortages, shifts in the printing industry, and what we can expect going forward. 

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I completely remember what it was like in the early days of selling wholesale. I felt like I was winging every single decision. I questioned everything I was reading on the internet. And, I was craving a community of other product makers that I could tap into for answers and to share resources.

Way back in 2008, that community didn’t exist so I eventually created it. Since 2011, we have helped thousands of brands across industries and across the globe, get their products on the shelves of stores big & small.  

Our Paper Camp alumni sell to big box stores like Anthropologie, Target, Macys and Barnes & Noble. But, our best customers are the independent brick & mortar retail shops located around the world.  Small businesses, just like all the manufacturers that we support in our Paper Camp and LABS programs.

I very intentionally point this out, because I’m going to be answering some questions I received in an email about the importance of following industry standards, having strong wholesale terms & conditions, and why I never ever want you fulfilling a $25 wholesale order.

I feel it is important for you to understand that our community focuses our energy and efforts on the indie shops, so my feedback is coming from that perspective!

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