Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Leveraging Outside Vendors to Boost Your Business with Sharie Hendricks

Transcript

Leveraging Outside Vendors to Boost Your Business with Sharie Hendricks · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  It took some discipline, but it was not okay for days to go by for someone not to get a
• 0:04
  callback.
• 0:07
  Hi.
• 0:07
  This is Melinda Emerson, the small bus lady host the small biz shot podcast.
• 0:11
  I want to serve you.
• 0:12
  This pandemic has been so hard on America's small businesses and on just America in general
• 0:18
  If you're ready to start your dream business, boy, do I have a great offer for you?
• 0:23
  I am giving away 1000 copies of my best selling book become your own boss in 12 months.
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  Over a hundred thousand people have this book.
• 0:31
  It has been printed in multiple languages around the world, and I wanted to find a way to
• 0:35
  serve America's small businesses in this pandemic.
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  And so I am giving away a 1000 copies of my book.
• 0:42
  All you have to do to get your copy is head over to begin my biz.com/freeoffer to, you
• 0:49
  know, sign up for your copy.
• 0:51
  All you have to do is pay shipping and we will mail one out to you.
• 0:54
  I am so excited about this.
• 0:56
  I wanna serve you.
• 0:58
  Grab your copy today.
• 0:59
  Ripped off.
• 1:01
  Ending small business failure.
• 1:04
  Welcome to the small biz chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
• 1:10
  Belinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
• 1:14
  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Everson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, America's number one small business expert, and
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  I am so excited to welcome you to another edition of small biz chat the goal of the small
• 1:36
  biz chat podcast is to give our small business audience an opportunity to hear stage advice
• 1:42
  from multiple angles so that you can take your small business to the next level.
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  Now it's time for me to introduce my first guest, Sherry Hendrick.
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  She is a passionate candle lover and entrepreneur.
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  And as the founder of Laguna Candles, she's built an award winning annual manufacturing
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  company that produces sustainable candles, and she's based in the coastal community of Laguna,
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  California.
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  Some of her past clients include home goods, the Ellen DeGenera show, and she produces
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  scandals for some famous people.
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  We all know, but she's not allowed to talk about that.
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  She's gonna share with us how she built her woman owned family company.
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  And her business, they utilize a proprietary coconut oil wax blend, and all of her candles
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  are lovingly hand poured and hand crafted.
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  They often feature local artisans, vessels, and they offer a way of home decor and wellness
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  products, including heirloom, artisan candles, corporate gifts, defusers, and they do private
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  label candles.
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  And if you're in Southern California, you might even be able to drop by and take one of her
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  candle making courses.
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  It's a great team building exercise for those corporate folks out there.
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  So without further ado, if you want more information, you can just go over to
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  lagoonacandals.com.
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  Sherry, thank you so much for being here with me today.
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  And you're so welcome.
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  It's very good to meet you, Melinda.
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  Well, I'm excited to meet you because I'm actually a customer of your business.
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  Actually been on your website and ordered your candle.
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  So it's actually a real treat for you to be here with me today.
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  So Tell me your origin story.
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  How did you start your business?
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  You know what?
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  I've, I always love candles.
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  And, actually, in 2003, with that love of candles, I would notice when I would burn my
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  candles, and I bought quite a few, I would see, like, you know, it it just didn't seem like a
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  clean burning experience.
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  And another thing at the time I had 3, I have 3 daughters, and, of course, they're adults now.
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  But at the time they were younger, And I really wanted them to be able to choose between
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  working for someone, of what themselves.
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  So I came from an entrepreneurial family.
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  My mom was an entrepreneur.
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  My grandfather was, and I just started to do research on better burning candles.
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  I know that may not make sense to others, but that was important to me because I saw the
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  difference.
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  And thus launch, Laguna Candles.
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  We're here in Laguna Beach, California.
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  And just based on the research, I saw that with there was an, you know, there was obviously a
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  need for that type of product, if you will.
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  And that's how I started it.
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  I started it just with basically those simple factors.
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  Your company is a family business.
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  Right?
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  Exactly.
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  We're a family business.
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  Originally, we started off.
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  I would purchase candles from other companies.
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  And then they would allow me to, rebrand it or or, private label it, and I would sell it.
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  And we did their for a few years, and then we decided what we wanted to do with start to
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  manufacture our own candles.
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  And my husband and my 3 daughters work within the company.
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  And a lot of the manufacturing basically is done by my youngest daughter's a production
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  manager.
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  My husband is marketing director.
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  And then the other 2 work within the company, you know, a sales manager and and then my other
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  daughter is CEO of the company.
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  That's really interesting to have your whole family working in a business.
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  That sounds like, a good and bad thing.
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  So, imagine there's, like, some stressful days of that.
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  Of course.
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  Of course.
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  And by the way, I didn't mention my son-in-law I I need to kill me if I did.
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  He just also worked for the but, yeah, there are, of course, stressful days.
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  And especially One of the things I noticed was when we first started, my goal was just to sell
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  candles online.
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  And so we, you know, got the website online sales, I noticed was not huge, but the business
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  started to take us into the in the direction of mostly spas and resorts reaching out to do
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  private label candles for their, for their hotel or spa.
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  And so it's just been a real interesting journey, but I'm very excited.
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  Now do you at times have the stresses, of course?
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  It's all about business.
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  Is not for the faint of heart, but I'm encouraged to see that it's been very
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  sustainable for our family.
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  So I know that you manufacture or candles, but what other things what other types of products
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  do you guys provide?
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  That's a good question because we've had one to want to handle, they love the custom fragrance,
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  and then they want either a hand motion or a bean soap.
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  And not only that, we also offer room sprays and diffuse
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  Okay.
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  So any kind of smell good kind of device you want, you guys can do it.
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  That's what you're telling me?
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  Yep.
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  And also some prefer unscented.
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  So, yeah, that that's what I'm saying.
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  Oh, that's interesting.
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  Okay.
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  I love the way candles smell myself.
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  The whole reason why I want a candle is the house smells, but I can guess there's people
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  that don't like well, I guess there's people that are allergic to perfume.
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  So that kinda makes sense.
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  So what when you think about your business and think about your value position.
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  What would you say that it is?
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  One of the things that I I feel that it is the first word that comes to mind is opportunity.
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  We've had, especially last year, we've had women or men, but our I'm the core of the
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  business is private label candles.
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  We've had many who were home and who may have had a goal of starting their own candle
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  business and what better timing.
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  We've had ones reach out to us.
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  They wanna launch a private label candle for their, for their brand, or either they wanted
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  to start their candle company And, we have that as an opportunity for many women who want to
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  start their business.
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  So I feel like that's an important factor of our brand.
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  So what would you say thinking about that?
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  What would you say is your top marketing channel?
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  Like, how do people find you and find Laguna candles?
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  You know, I've I've surprisingly, if is a very good marketing to marketing tool for us.
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  Many, because I generally will ask.
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  How'd you find that?
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  You know, when we get those calls or either of those emails.
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  And typically, they'll either say Google, but quite a bit of the times, they'll say,
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  Instagram.
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  And we've done that organically for years.
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  So I can see the benefit of, of doing Instagram ads and and and also Facebook ads.
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  Okay.
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  So how did the pandemic affect your business?
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  Did your biz was your business hurt, or do I mean, like, did you guys kind of innovate
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  through the pandemic?
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  Like, what happened to your business?
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  We, literally, we did have to pivot we originally, we were making our candles out of
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  our garage a couple of years ago.
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  And then we found just a great location downtown right by the art festival.
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  And we the size of the location gave us an opportunity to not only be able to have a small
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  retail store on the front.
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  And then we also had our showroom for the client who wants to come in and and do their
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  own private label or corporate if being item.
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  And in the very back, we were manufacturing.
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  And it was going somewhat well.
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  The retail store was not as busy I have to admit.
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  But on another note, the manufacturing was really coming along well, and then COVID hit.
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  So we were told that we had to not only shut down the retail store, but we also had to no
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  longer have our corporate clients or private label clients come in to sit down and go with
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  their custom fragrances and things of that sort.
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  So everything kinda changed from that standpoint.
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  But thank goodness for online sales, you know, and people wanting home and and wanting to buy
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  a candle, I'm so grateful we did continue with our marketing efforts, and I feel that and I'm
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  so grateful for it.
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  I know I mentioned women, a lot of men, but I am so grateful for that woman who decided,
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  gosh, I really wanna go on and and start this, start my candle business.
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  And then for them to come back, and they said, oh, I stole my I've sold 100 of them.
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  I'm ready to come back and do another, and it's just so encouraging.
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  And so that's actually, it did allow us to to scale, if you will.
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  We saw the foot row, but then we also saw a meet for a second location.
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  And so our second location is about 15 minutes away.
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  And it's a much larger manufacturing facility, and now we can offer warehousing.
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  And so even though it was challenging last year, and I'm sure for everybody.
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  I still came into 2021 with a lot of gratitude.
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  Awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  That's great.
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  So it sounds like the pandemic was a was was a setback to a flash forward.
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  So that sounds really, really good.
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  So I imagine with all the leads coming in from folks wanting to do their own candle business
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  and private label candles and stuff, you have a pretty small team.
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  So how did you guys kinda manage all the leads that were coming in?
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  You know, we were fortunate and that, I had a very dear friend.
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  I shared with her this challenge.
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  You know, when we're in the middle of making candles, we're getting phone calls.
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  And oddly enough, it was we did get emails, but it was more so calls.
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  This, friend of mine, she'd mentioned this company called, she referred to as Rubyvale.
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  I believe it's called Ruby.
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  And, she'd mentioned that how they'd helped her her company.
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  And so, therefore, I reached out to them, and they were very professional, extremely helpful,
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  and help hearing me out and hearing what our challenge was and coming up with a plan.
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  And that, that was a tremendous help for us.
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  Because you can imagine customer service is huge.
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  You don't want anyone waiting days to get a callback or things of that sort.
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  The way it helped strengthen our brand and really did help with our customer service also.
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  What was going on?
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  Like, how big of a bottleneck was it for you guys?
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  Gosh.
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  I don't have all this.
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  That's with me.
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  But I know on an average, we were getting, I'd say, approximately I'd I'd say maybe about 50
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  calls a day or maybe a little bit more.
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  And as these calls are coming in, you cannot just I didn't feel comfortable with them just
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  going to voicemail.
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  It wasn't personable on that.
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  I really wanted someone to be able to I wanted them to get a live voice.
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  This was not the time for someone who's already home and dealing with whatever to have to get
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  on our voicemail.
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  And so the idea of a live voice, someone getting on that line and really hearing what,
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  what the call is about, of course, help.
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  And so just that in it, self made me feel a lot better about the process.
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  So did I answer your question?
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  No.
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  You definite you definitely I felt like you definitely answered my question, but I guess my
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  my follow-up question to that is, so what happened?
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  So you engaged Ruby and then what happened?
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  What happened was they did they kept their promise.
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  You know, they they spoke with the the client.
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  They found out what the need was.
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  We would typically get many emails from them, and they'd let us know.
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  You know, John Doe reached out He's wanting to include a thousand candles in his, his hotel.
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  And he'd like you to follow-up with the phone call because he's really kind of wondering what
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  fragrances to go with.
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  So they were very specific.
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  I liked the idea of they didn't have the the, lead the client, the potential client hanging
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  and we were able to get that lead.
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  And so, therefore, I was able to increase my team, you know, by a couple of people, and we
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  were able to follow-up as we got those leads in.
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  So it sounds like that that really that really kinda catapulted you guys to realizing that you
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  needed a manufacturing.
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  Like, you needed a bigger manufacturing space because of all these all the I mean, 50 calls a
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  day is a lot of calls.
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  So, I mean, that's a lot.
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  So so kudos to you that your marketing was working elsewhere.
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  Boy, you know, one of the biggest challenges that I think a lot of small businesses have is
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  with follow-up.
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  And I tell people all the time.
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  It's one thing to have a sales system, but if you don't have a follow-up system, what you're
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  gonna have is a a a leaky a leaky faucet.
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  Right?
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  So so those leads are gonna go, you know, right back down the drain to go find somebody else.
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  And that is not what you want if you spend all kinds of and money, driving traffic, driving
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  leads, and then you don't have a good follow-up system.
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  So I am so excited that you were able to leverage a service to help you.
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  And with that, I'm gonna go to commercial.
• 15:26
  When we come back, I wanna hear more about how Ruby helped you revolutionize your business.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, and we will be right back.
• 15:38
  People always ask me How can I become my own boss?
• 15:42
  With multiple features in the New York Times Forbes on ABC News, as America's number one
• 15:47
  small business expert, I know a thing or 2 about how to do it.
• 15:51
  Hi.
• 15:51
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady, and I've been coaching small business owners since 2008.
• 15:57
  That's right.
• 15:58
  I've been helping small business owners plan for success since the last recession, and I'm
• 16:03
  still here reaching over 3,000,000 small business owners a week online.
• 16:07
  I've spent the last 12 years compelling exactly what I did to become my own boss.
• 16:13
  I even broke it down into a 6 step system in my best selling book become your own boss in 12
• 16:18
  months.
• 16:19
  Over a hundred thousand people in multiple languages around the world have this book.
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  And due to the pandemic, I know people need help.
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  If you're ready to transition successfully from being an employee into your own business, I'm
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  here to help.
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  I'm giving away 1000 copies of becoming your own boss in 12 months for free.
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  All you need to do is pay for shipping.
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  That's right.
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  I'm giving away a 1000 copies for free.
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  If you've always wanted to start your dream business, let me give you a road map to
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  success.
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  This offer will only be available while supplies last And when they're gone, they're
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  gone.
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  Click on the button to grab your copy today.
• 17:02
  Welcome back to the small business chat podcast.
• 17:05
  We're talking with Sherry Hendricks, the CEO of Laguna Candles, and she's talking to us about
• 17:10
  how you can leverage outside vendors to boost sales in your business.
• 17:16
  Sherry, thank you so much for being with us.
• 17:18
  I wanna pick the story back up now.
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  Okay.
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  So So you got Ruby.
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  Ruby's answering the calls.
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  They're sending you emails every day with who who wants what and who this.
• 17:29
  And then so What did you learn?
• 17:32
  And, like, how did your business change once somebody else was answering the phone?
• 17:38
  By the way, I you'd mentioned the CEO I'm the founder.
• 17:41
  So I wanna be clear on that because I don't know if my daughter would like that.
• 17:46
  I wanted to be clear on that.
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  Okay.
• 17:48
  So what did I learn?
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  First of all, I learned about the consistency because sometimes you can miss cost.
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  I mean, you know, you take it for granted and, and all of a sudden, on a consistent level, had
• 18:01
  you not have had we not had someone kind of chiming in like Ruby and being able to give us
• 18:09
  an idea as far as the the amount.
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  I had no idea we were getting that in that many calls.
• 18:14
  Because keep in mind, before this, they were just going to my husband, well, I mean, we were
• 18:18
  manufacturing.
• 18:19
  So they would go to voice mail.
• 18:21
  Yes, sir.
• 18:21
  We took And then there with wanting to manufacture, I mean, to start your own candle
• 18:28
  business, there's a lot of questions involved.
• 18:30
  It's a lot more involved than just oh, let me go and grab that candle off the shelf, and then
• 18:35
  let me buy it.
• 18:36
  Because we're making something as customized for them and their vision and the fragrances
• 18:40
  they love and a lot of that information, even though Ruby didn't sell for us in no way, but
• 18:48
  what they did was they were able to glean information.
• 18:51
  Oh, this person, they mentioned that they are really interested in a in a floral fragrance or
• 18:56
  things like that.
• 18:57
  So that help And I also learned the importance of I've always felt that follow-up was huge.
• 19:05
  To me, I've had people thank us for following up.
• 19:08
  That's how vital it is that you not, you know, drop the ball and, and that you are
• 19:13
  consistently following up.
• 19:15
  So I think that that part of it really enhance our overall message is for showing we care
• 19:22
  about that inquiry.
• 19:24
  Well, did you change anything about your business based on the insight that you were
• 19:29
  getting from the information that the Ruby receptionist was getting for you.
• 19:35
  Yeah.
• 19:35
  I I had to.
• 19:36
  I had to increase my, team.
• 19:39
  So, yeah, that's one thing.
• 19:41
  And also, I had to emphasize that it wasn't okay that the phone ring and or that you not
• 19:47
  follow-up.
• 19:48
  So there were certain things that we had to it was imperative.
• 19:52
  That we make sure we follow through, follow-up, and do it in a timely manner.
• 19:56
  You know?
• 19:57
  And so it took some discipline, but it was not okay for days go by for someone not to get a
• 20:03
  callback.
• 20:03
  But the overall business model, I wouldn't say we changed it from that standpoint, but we just
• 20:09
  put more thought and we really, worked well as far as our or did the best we could on working
• 20:15
  on customer service.
• 20:17
  Excellent.
• 20:17
  Excellent.
• 20:18
  I love it.
• 20:19
  So if you were talking to another small business that was, you know, a service
• 20:24
  business, you know, fielding sales inquiries.
• 20:28
  What advice would you give them about, you know, how to organize themselves or, you know,
• 20:32
  whether or not Ruby might work for them?
• 20:36
  Well, I would just suggest that they be mindful of the fact that if they're getting inquiries
• 20:44
  and they're getting leads in and they're falling to the wayside or if they're not able
• 20:49
  to handle it I think it takes humility, and it also takes trust to be able to delegate, reach
• 20:56
  out, and say, you know, I need a little help here.
• 21:00
  And then not only that, don't expect them to sell for you because they won't, but they can
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  help make the process easier.
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  And that's what we
• 21:08
  found.
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  So tell me this.
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  In all your years, you've been in business.
• 21:13
  You've been in business, what, 17, 18 years?
• 21:15
  Yeah.
• 21:16
  Since 2003.
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  What would you say is the best business advice anyone has ever given you?
• 21:24
  Two things.
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  Number 1, I was told early on, and I also encourage, I mention as to others who ask me,
• 21:32
  Sometimes people think it's so easy.
• 21:34
  And I think that one of the best advice is not for the fan to park.
• 21:39
  Be ready to be ready to hang on and hang on tight.
• 21:43
  So don't assume you're gonna be home and, oh, I have a biz.
• 21:46
  You know, it's it's a lot of work.
• 21:48
  And then the other thing, I can remember one, someone that and he's also a dear friend, but
• 21:54
  he said, no one, no one would ever spend $35 for a candle.
• 21:59
  And when you hear someone say, that would never happen.
• 22:04
  Let that inspire you.
• 22:06
  You know, don't don't let the and and I know he wasn't being negative, but to him, that was not
• 22:10
  real.
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  But to, to me, it was.
• 22:13
  And so don't let the naysayers not destroy your dream, but impact your dream.
• 22:19
  If it's real to you, keep at it.
• 22:21
  You know, it's not for the faint of heart.
• 22:23
  Be ready to to work.
• 22:25
  I love it.
• 22:26
  I love it.
• 22:27
  Sherry, thank you so much for your valuable insight What is your favorite podcast?
• 22:34
  Small business podcast.
• 22:38
  Oh, no.
• 22:40
  You're trying to be teacher's pet here.
• 22:42
  What are you doing?
• 22:43
  Listen.
• 22:44
  I thank you.
• 22:44
  I thank you for listening to my podcast, but you know, are there any others that you really
• 22:50
  like that you listen to?
• 22:52
  I'm being totally honest.
• 22:54
  No.
• 22:57
  Alright.
• 22:57
  Well, I appreciate that.
• 22:58
  I'm your first foray into podcasting.
• 23:01
  Alright, Sherry.
• 23:02
  What is your favorite business at?
• 23:05
  You're not gonna believe this, but the one that I enjoy the most is calm because I really feel
• 23:11
  that self care is huge and taking just that moment to just get quiet.
• 23:17
  And so I feel it's an excellent business out, calm.
• 23:21
  Well, given that you're a Canoe manufacturer, I'm that's not that big of a reach for me.
• 23:25
  I can see why you would like that.
• 23:28
  Because I feel like you're in the self care business.
• 23:30
  Right?
• 23:31
  You want people to smell the candle and chill.
• 23:34
  So I I can see why calm would be a great app for you.
• 23:37
  And I actually really like that app a lot as well.
• 23:41
  But my favorite app I gotta tell you guys is Dropbox.
• 23:44
  I couldn't live without Dropbox because I have so many team members and people all over the
• 23:49
  country and one outside of the country.
• 23:51
  And if I didn't have Dropbox, our stuff would be a mess.
• 23:54
  So I'm a big, big, big fan of Dropbox.
• 23:58
  Sherry, what is your favorite old school marketing tip?
• 24:02
  I think that, marketing is the key.
• 24:05
  Don't let time go by without being consistently holding in and focusing on marketing.
• 24:11
  I think that's the primary key to business.
• 24:14
  I love it.
• 24:14
  I love it.
• 24:15
  And you're right.
• 24:16
  If you're not marketing, you will not have soon have no business.
• 24:19
  So I agree with you 100%.
• 24:21
  Always keep marketing.
• 24:23
  Good.
• 24:23
  Good stuff.
• 24:24
  What is the best business book you have ever read?
• 24:28
  This one book, it's called Black is the New Green.
• 24:32
  That was one of the best books I've ever read business books.
• 24:36
  Black is the new brain.
• 24:38
  Now why is that?
• 24:39
  What did you love about that book?
• 24:41
  I liked the data.
• 24:43
  I I thought it was very enlightening.
• 24:46
  I liked the idea that this was many years ago.
• 24:49
  But they had a pulse on being mindful of diversity and the power of just the power of of
• 24:57
  of what we spend.
• 24:58
  And not only that, who's spending it, and it was just a great book.
• 25:02
  I think it I wouldn't suggest it to anyone.
• 25:05
  Okay.
• 25:06
  I like that.
• 25:07
  I like that.
• 25:07
  And so with that, that's it, guys.
• 25:09
  So thank you so much for being my guest on this edition of the small bitch chat podcast.
• 25:15
  And thank you all for joining me for this episode of the small biz chat podcast.
• 25:20
  I've got a brand new book coming out.
• 25:21
  It's called Become Your Boss in 12 months.
• 25:24
  The revised and expanded edition.
• 25:27
  If you are interested in being one of my beta readers and getting your hands on that book and
• 25:31
  some other cool stuff early before everyone else, Head over to succeed as your own boss.com
• 25:38
  slash join the book team.
• 25:40
  If you do that, I'm gonna make sure that you have an opportunity to get in on what we're
• 25:45
  gonna call the book launch team.
• 25:48
  And so don't miss out for that.
• 25:50
  So thank you so much, everyone, for joining us on today's episode.
• 25:54
  If you want more information about how to start and grow your successful small business, head
• 25:58
  over to smallbizladyuniversity.com and sign up for my course, how to sell and market online,
• 26:05
  get your business going in the right direction.
• 26:07
  Thank you all.
• 26:08
  The mission of small fish chat is to end small business failure.
• 26:12
  I'm Melinda Emerson, small business lady, your host, and I'll leave you with this.
• 26:16
  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
• 26:20
  Good night, everybody.
• 26:23
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 26:28
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 26:35
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.