Latest / Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals / How to Grow a Product-Based Business Without a Storefront - Ep. 201 w/ Latoya Simpson

Transcript

How to Grow a Product-Based Business Without a Storefront - Ep. 201 w/ Latoya Simpson · Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals

0:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Around year like 20 Incorporate I was like this can be it.
0:05
[SPEAKER_02]: This just can't be you know the way that I'm going to live the rest of my life and during a pandemic I was like
0:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this time for me to start this greeting card company.
0:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you go out for funding, you know, people say, well, you know, the people behind the money, you know, they may feel like it doesn't include them or, you know, they may feel excluded from it.
0:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And for like a new entrepreneur, that could be alarming, like,
0:36
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do I say true to?
0:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Do I say true to my brand and what is I'm trying to accomplish?
0:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Or do I now go back to pretending to get a head?
0:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Trust your good.
0:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Trust your good and do not play with yourself.
1:12
[SPEAKER_01]: work and professionals, creators, entrepreneurs, I need you out of tap the air.
1:15
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1:25
[SPEAKER_01]: In addition to having flexible meeting rooms and event space, they if got a community to actually support you.
1:31
[SPEAKER_01]: while you're in the building.
1:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're ready to like and some space right now, guess what?
1:36
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1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You get 20% off any of your rental bookings.
1:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't waste any more time head over to bamboocoar.com and take care of that.
1:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Use that promo code.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be seeing you at a bamboo location sometime soon.
1:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Now let's go ahead and get back into the episode.
1:56
[SPEAKER_01]: What up, though, Black Friday's family.
1:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to another installment of the Black Friday's podcast.
2:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we get into today's episode, go ahead and hit that like button, subscribe, drop a comment, send some videos to family friends and love ones and then we keep this thing going.
2:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Now that we got that business out of the way, I wanna introduce you all to someone who has turned creativity and inclusivity into their own small business, Ms. Latoya Simpson, how you doing today?
2:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Good, how are you?
2:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing pretty well.
2:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for having me.
2:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm excited to be here.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
2:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Long time in the making.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
2:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Latoya is the owner of it.
2:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a greeting card company.
2:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also you have other products as well that we'll talk about.
2:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So before we get into the background, maybe you could talk a little bit more about all of the products and services that you have.
2:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the candidly speak is a greeting card company.
2:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I also provide gift wrap and stationary.
3:03
[SPEAKER_02]: The goal is for the candidly speaking to be all things gifts.
3:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So that'll be all my way to this party.
3:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to get a gift bag, I need tissue paper, I need the greeting card.
3:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Or I can put a journal in here as well.
3:14
[SPEAKER_02]: So my goal is to have the candidly speaking be all things gifts.
3:18
[SPEAKER_01]: How can we get better as a community in terms of the get not getting gifts at last minute?
3:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't know.
3:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
3:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I do what best not to do it, but I still do it to this day.
3:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Listen, I do it too.
3:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's so funny because when I started the brand, I started with like 12 cards.
3:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I have over 50, but there's always a scenario where I'm like, Oh, you know what?
3:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to create that card on a handy.
3:39
[SPEAKER_02]: And I find myself having to stop at the store and I'm on an arm was signing the name and can you then envelope so it's just about preparation and I actually think that ties to a lot of the way that we consume is just being prepared you know it's the okay I need to find a black business or how do I do it
3:59
[SPEAKER_02]: If we are prepared enough, if we look enough in advance, you can definitely find that business to suit your needs.
4:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That's good to know.
4:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what I was going to mention is that Kennelly speaking started at the blog.
4:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what led you into the blog space?
4:12
[SPEAKER_02]: OK, so this is a long story.
4:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Long but short.
4:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm a 80's baby through.
4:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Raise my single mother.
4:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Her goal was always finish school.
4:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Get your good job.
4:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm the oldest.
4:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I have two younger brothers.
4:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so an oldest girl, responsible, take care everybody, um, so finish school.
4:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
4:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me get in the corporate and I have been working since I was a teenager, but I got in the corporate around 1920 and
4:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Matt really good friends.
4:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Always did a great job.
4:47
[SPEAKER_02]: But around year like 20 in corporate, I was like, this can't be it.
4:53
[SPEAKER_02]: This just can't be the way that I'm gonna live the rest of my life.
4:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And I had never had interest in entrepreneurship.
5:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it just wasn't an idea of stability to me, just because I had never seen it.
5:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, okay, how can I kind of get out what I'm thinking?
5:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I can't,
5:13
[SPEAKER_02]: We call switching their work, you know, I got to do this at work to get bad and, you know, kind of flattened the radar, but still do a good job, but how can I, you know, kind of get myself out?
5:24
[SPEAKER_02]: How can I get out what I'm thinking?
5:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So I started the blog.
5:26
[SPEAKER_02]: So I started the business in like 2016 or 2017 and it was a blog and I wrote a few and they were like, really funny, like, I missed a few that stand out like one was you can stay all day.
5:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And in that one, I was talking about like the corporate hierarchy where if you're a fave, you kind of get more benefits and you get more promotions than the people who are actually qualified and being a black woman in corporate.
5:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It was definitely, we started to see like those microaggressions kind of peek through during that time.
6:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So the, um, you can say, ah, that was kind of a play on a color purple when Miss Millie told Sofia.
6:08
[SPEAKER_02]: She could stay all day with her family.
6:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Like she was doing her favor that she could stay all day when really miss Sofia had no business being with Miss Millie.
6:16
[SPEAKER_02]: So I talked about that.
6:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I had another one, um,
6:20
[SPEAKER_02]: which talked about knowing when to wait for a turn and how to be happy for other people and it was I use the picture of I don't know if you remember the video it was a little girl.
6:31
[SPEAKER_02]: it was her birthday and she was getting ready to blow her candles and her sister blew the candles out.
6:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And she like smashed her up out here.
6:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was like home girl, you got a birthday comment too.
6:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Like let your sister blow her candles.
6:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was, I just kind of took those types of events or experiences and tied it to something that was going on at the moment.
6:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So I did that for a little while.
6:53
[SPEAKER_02]: But that is still wasn't enough.
6:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it just still didn't feel like I was,
6:59
[SPEAKER_02]: being creative enough, and then I just stopped doing it.
7:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And during a pandemic, I was like, I think this time for me to start this greeting card company.
7:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And I worked at a greeting car company when I was like 19.
7:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And I always remembered, it would be so many cards in the store.
7:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Just so many, and it was like this one little section of my hobby that looks like me.
7:23
[SPEAKER_02]: It didn't sound like me.
7:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And that was actually my first experience with kind of coast which, because the imagery,
7:33
[SPEAKER_02]: pulled you in but the wording you still kind of had to settle for because it didn't sound like you right.
7:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So I've always kind of had it in my back pocket of something I wanted to do.
7:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I just didn't know how to do it.
7:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And during a pandemic, I was like, you know, let's just start it.
7:47
[SPEAKER_02]: So I said down and I just started writing them out.
7:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I kind of got in my way because I'm like, well, you can't draw.
7:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So you can't do it because you can't draw and I was just scrolling on Instagram and I met an illustrator that lived in Atlanta.
8:02
[SPEAKER_02]: She may have been 22 or 23 at the time.
8:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Young black and white men had just graduated from college and I reached out to her and I'm like, Hey, do you do like commission work and she's like, what's that?
8:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And we talked and we've been working together ever since.
8:15
[SPEAKER_02]: She's now done stuff with like all Navy.
8:18
[SPEAKER_02]: She's pretty pretty popular,
8:20
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just a blessing for me to me here at that time and for her to be able to provide the service for me.
8:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's one thing I really love about the innovativeness of the products that you come up with, especially like the greeting cards because they look like us.
8:33
[SPEAKER_01]: They sound like us.
8:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a brand built around it, working with the designer that you have found to be able to find that staple look.
8:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it doesn't feel like typically what you would get from the greeting cards.
8:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I brought myself on, like, giving people good, greeting cars, I try to be intentional about doing that and not just giving, like, the running the meal, or whatever unless I'm, you know, throwing some money and then just whatever, like, that's it.
8:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But I like the fact that they are very inclusive of, like, our culture and how we talk and how we move about life.
9:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's definitely intentional, and it's been, you know, when you go out for funding, you know, people say, well, you know, the people behind the money, you know, they may feel like it doesn't include them or, you know, they may feel excluded from it.
9:33
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do I say true to?
9:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Do I say true to my brand and what is I'm trying to accomplish?
9:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Or do I now go back to pretending to get a hit?
9:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember I did an event, it was like a Juneteenth event in an arbor.
9:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was the first event they had did since, it was like a few years they had put it on hold and then they started it back up.
10:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So I went up to Ann Arbor, set up, Juncie Thieveh was a beautiful event.
10:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's when I really started to pay attention to demographics.
10:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And Ann Arbor is the college child.
10:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Very liberal.
10:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And I can remember, there were so many non black women.
10:19
[SPEAKER_02]: By greeting cards for their family members.
10:22
[SPEAKER_02]: So like I have one birthday card.
10:24
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a black man on the front and it says happy birthday my king When I say this is why lady bought that card and it tickled me and I'm like you can't tell me that I have to
10:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, calls which this product, we don't live in a world where we are excluded from people.
10:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody, you know somebody that doesn't look like you.
10:44
[SPEAKER_02]: You work with them, you may see them at the gym.
10:47
[SPEAKER_02]: You know someone who doesn't look like you.
10:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And she bought that crush.
10:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, my husband is going to love this.
10:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And then it was another one.
10:53
[SPEAKER_02]: She bought for like her.
10:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Like can you go?
10:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, her black hair was at home.
10:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And then she bought one for like her son-in-law.
11:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Because her daughter was married to a black man.
11:02
[SPEAKER_02]: OK.
11:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I may not get everybody, but it's enough where I don't have to switch this product to make it more inclusive for selling reasons.
11:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and then I see you got the box over there which you do have something that we could take a look at real quick.
11:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I do show the people watching.
11:22
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm sure some people have seen this box because I give them out.
11:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I wanted to bring so this is my Detroit card and I did this one around 313 day and I worked with the local artist here like I told him what I wanted on the front of the card.
11:44
[SPEAKER_02]: He drafted it.
11:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I absolutely love it and on the inside it has from when it's hard to keep from 94 to the lodge from Cody to Cass from Northland Skating Ring to Skating Land from Stardust to Kapers from Mason in the morning to Bushman from East to West we are rep to Simon City what up though.
12:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm a Wesiders, so I had to throw this on about the Wes at first.
12:06
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, this is one, this is a very popular card.
12:09
[SPEAKER_02]: People who are from here and have moved away or people say, oh, I have family who have moved to Atlanta.
12:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a send them, you know, send us to them.
12:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a reminder of home.
12:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So, this is a really popular one.
12:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
12:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, let's see, so I'm a cusser.
12:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I love to cuss.
12:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
12:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
12:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
12:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
12:30
[SPEAKER_01]: We like people cuss on it.
12:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel free.
12:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It's funny because I'm like, I don't think I've heard people cuss on here.
12:34
[SPEAKER_01]: They do.
12:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's just you got it.
12:36
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to dig through some episodes.
12:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, you are allowed to curse.
12:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
12:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Just don't just don't go too crazy.
12:41
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all.
12:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's all.
12:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is one of, this is my favorite car, this one has to be like four years old, but it's to my favorite, and it's, I know you've been stressed, on the inside it says, fuck that man, fuck that job, fuck those kids, let's brunch.
13:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You wouldn't have expected looking at the car.
13:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You wouldn't have to get that and that's the reaction that people have when I'm in like Vendor events.
13:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they're like, oh my god.
13:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Even people laugh at it.
13:13
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I've had people be like I'll give me 10 because I'm sending them to my friend.
13:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
13:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Or I've had people who are like, oh, I'm a fendi by And I get it.
13:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's not for everybody, but it is my favorite car because there are times where I'm like
13:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Fuck these kids in this job, I don't care.
13:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Somebody's like me to get a muscle.
13:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And then this is an anniversary card.
13:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I'm a little worried, but this is a beautiful card, I love it.
13:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And it has is more than a piece of paper.
13:45
[SPEAKER_02]: It's inside jokes that no one else gets.
13:47
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a permanent travel and partner.
13:49
[SPEAKER_02]: It's eye contact during a space game.
13:51
[SPEAKER_02]: is known that every fight won't end with resolution is known that you aren't always right.
13:55
[SPEAKER_02]: It's known that working together beats working alone any day.
13:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Happy anniversary.
13:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So, this is one of my favorites.
14:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I just had a few.
14:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm about to say, let me get that one, but then my wife watched the show.
14:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So, yeah, then I had to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.
14:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Beautiful message, no.
14:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I might have some more for you.
14:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, all right, so that was just a few of them that I brought just to kind of share with the audience.
14:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Very dope.
14:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in terms of the actual copy, are you writing all of the messages?
14:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I write every single one.
14:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
14:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, every single one.
14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
14:26
[SPEAKER_01]: When did you know that you were the writer?
14:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you grow like journaling or anything like that?
14:30
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's so funny.
14:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I had one of my girlfriend.
14:32
[SPEAKER_02]: She was like, you're an author.
14:34
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it was like, excuse me.
14:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me add author to my website.
14:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I've always enjoyed writing and high school ideas from writing and then once I graduated from OU and I had quite a few like creative writing classes there.
14:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So I've always enjoyed it, which kind of said,
14:54
[SPEAKER_02]: blogging, which I actually want to restart again, but I've always used worse to express myself.
15:03
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the best way to communicate your feelings or to just get out.
15:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes people shut down or
15:13
[SPEAKER_02]: They just don't know how to effectively I love words, I love words, so I've always enjoyed writing.
15:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.
15:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So speaking of which since you love words, I would love to introduce you to my favorite part of Black Friday, which is freestyle Friday.
15:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
15:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you don't mind, you can just go ahead and start a rap on whenever you're ready.
15:35
[SPEAKER_02]: So, because I've watched so many episodes and I've been preparing for this, I'm like, okay, because I'm not going freestyle.
15:43
[UNKNOWN]: I can't freestyle.
15:44
[SPEAKER_02]: But I know the rules are freestyle, or you can just wrap one of, you know, your favorite songs.
15:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
16:00
[SPEAKER_02]: You get in ready so I know we're gonna be here a while in the bathroom flat irons and nail files in the salon study or working on your hair styles or at the mall study reckoning up the air miles hit the gym step on the scale set the number say you're dropping 10 pounds per pan for summer and you don't do it for the man man never notice.
16:20
[SPEAKER_02]: You just do it for yourself, girl, you to code this.
16:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's my, like you fancy her.
16:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that is my, when I'm feeling down, you play.
16:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't gonna lie to anyone crazy on that song.
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That was so early in this career.
16:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So I argue with people all the time, like, no, that's my favorite drink album of all time.
16:37
[SPEAKER_02]: That first album is my favorite one.
16:39
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not it grew on me.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't care for it at first because I'm like I came from this I started with and so far gone I'm like this a master piece.
16:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like this is amazing and then the first album came on like us It's cool, but then like it's time went on.
16:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like it's better than what I gave her credit for yeah I that it's still my favorite one still my favorite one
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: My personal favorite drink out of them today is still the second album.
17:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Take care.
17:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Take care.
17:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like that's the best most complete album.
17:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
17:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And people can make a case for so far gone.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait, is it so far gone?
17:09
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the one after that?
17:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
17:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, ma, I forget.
17:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah, I forgot what the name of was.
17:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The one when he, it got the blue sky, I got his head on the cover.
17:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah.
17:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Do remember that one.
17:20
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not so far gone.
17:21
[SPEAKER_01]: This, um, uh, you know what I'm talking about.
17:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup
17:56
[SPEAKER_02]: The standard messages, it's like the standard messages are like the green light.
18:03
[SPEAKER_02]: It's almost like, oh, that's it.
18:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we'll just get it.
18:06
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like no creativity in the message.
18:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It's actually like no value in what a green card represents.
18:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Because a green card is actually a gift.
18:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it's a gift awards.
18:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a box of green cards that I've kept over like the past eight, nine years.
18:22
[SPEAKER_01]: OK.
18:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I love them.
18:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would say just that boredom of just trying to get something on the shelf.
18:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Like be creative with they think about the people you're giving it to and just really try to make an impact with what you're saying.
18:33
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your rule of thumb in terms of keeping green and cars because I'm I'm not no hoarder by any means.
18:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll be trying to get rid of stuff.
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes green and cars first thing to go, but I'm more so like if it's like sentimental and it got like some mean and buying it.
18:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Got some good words.
18:50
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot definitely will keep it.
18:51
[SPEAKER_01]: But if it's just kind of like running the meal.
18:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I had a house home in one time.
18:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I got like three four cars the same car.
18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it's like all right, this this can go.
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I got the message, but like we do have a rule of thumb because I'd be trying to figure out some stuff I'm going through a way, but then I might hold on to a little bit longer than I probably should so So a few one is does the person expect from me to keep it some people are like, oh, I just stopped their knowledge in a row But it's hard.
19:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's good the gift card in here at a minute, so that's why
19:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm definitely keeping the car with like embellishments on them.
19:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm always gonna flip it over and see how much it was.
19:27
[SPEAKER_02]: If I see you spend $9 and dollars on this car, baby is gonna be with me forever.
19:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you spent money on this car, so I'm gonna keep it.
19:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I would say like the person is from like now with like my mom is getting older.
19:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So I keep all of our cars.
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: She made by the same car two years in a row.
19:48
[SPEAKER_02]: It's okay, I keep it.
19:50
[SPEAKER_02]: So it just kind of depends on like who is from.
19:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Do they expect from me to keep it?
19:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And then how nice the card is.
19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's good to know.
20:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Just in case, my family friends love one is watching this.
20:03
[SPEAKER_01]: If you get a card for me, I have no expectations in keeping it unless you are my wife, unless you are Mrs. Turner then that might be a little bit different depending on what the card is for.
20:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't have no expectations you keep an old card for me.
20:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you don't have to say them
20:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there a green and card that you have thought of, but haven't just created it just yet?
20:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
20:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have like a zodiac line.
20:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
20:32
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have like six of them done.
20:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, I know what your creativity that's gonna go crazy.
20:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just have to finish the other six.
20:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I pretty much write my cards based off of my relationships.
20:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So like, birthday cards that you will give to your friends, it's based off of my relationships with my friends.
20:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Reading cards for like, like I have one that has black, it's talks about like black don't crack and I thought about my aunts with it.
21:01
[SPEAKER_02]: So when I'm doing a Zodiac card,
21:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, Libras do I know and then I started looking like, oh, I didn't mean it.
21:09
[SPEAKER_02]: They do got this trend together.
21:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm just kind of trying to get commonalities where it's not like a one-off, where people like the Libra, I know, don't act like that or the Scorpio, I know, don't act like that.
21:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Whereas now, like I have Sagittarius, I'm a Sagittarius.
21:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So, oh, really, what is your birthday?
21:29
[SPEAKER_01]: December 10th.
21:30
[SPEAKER_02]: November 28th.
21:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so you know, the number is saying okay.
21:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
21:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's easy for me to speak about being a Sagittarius because we are really honest about who we are like, I know my flaws.
21:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Nobody can tell me about them better than I can stand like Capacorns.
21:47
[SPEAKER_02]: My mind is a Capacorn.
21:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's easy for me to write about it and it's written like a like a satire way.
21:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like I knew you were a Capacorn when like you super responsible.
21:57
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you get mad, I ain't gonna talk
22:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't have to finish those.
22:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I don't have any cards for like little kids.
22:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So like I'll have them for maybe like seven, eight year olds, but I need something.
22:12
[SPEAKER_02]: One of my friends, her baby just turned like three.
22:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, you know what, I don't have a card for her.
22:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like when certain events come up, I go looking like, no, I don't have that I need to make it.
22:22
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's just, it's a big task.
22:24
[SPEAKER_02]: It's constantly creating.
22:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Something.
22:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and then last but not least, if you had to give a card to your 19 20 year old self You had mentioned like what you were doing around a time a little bit earlier.
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: What would that?
22:38
[SPEAKER_01]: What would you say in that card?
22:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And would you leave a little bit of money behind?
22:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Covered out.
22:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I would.
22:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, but she won't need it.
22:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, cuz she get it.
22:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I had 19 20.
22:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I was working like two, three jobs.
22:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay
23:00
[SPEAKER_02]: to trust, trust, oh good, trust, oh good, and do not play with yourself.
23:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's it.
23:10
[SPEAKER_02]: You like you go through so many different, like we all change, like we all evolve and if we could speak to our former selves, I'm sure there are things we all would say, especially like being a woman and you know, you have kids and you do all these things
23:29
[SPEAKER_02]: It takes you a minute to get to a certain edge and be like, wait a minute, I had to figure it out all along.
23:34
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, or I did know that I really just needed to go through these experiences to know what I, to find out that I already knew this.
23:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would just, I would definitely tell her like, you got it, you got it.
23:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's up.
23:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
23:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's up.
23:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank you for partaking in freestyle Fridays and gave us some Drake bars.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we got to learn a little bit more about you.
23:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So we appreciate it.
23:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would love to be able to talk business with you because I wanted to think that I noticed this that as far as you being able to build out this business and this brand.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have a brick and mortar.
24:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And primarily I've seen you at different events where there are opportunities to
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: pop up and or collaboration.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So could you talk about why that business model versus finding a brick and mortar or like being somewhere permanently in terms of your business?
24:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so again, I started the business earn a pandemic and because I've always worked like I still weren't.
24:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just remember all our offices are closed and because no one's coming into the building anymore.
24:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody is remote.
24:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So now everybody has these leases.
24:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And the bills still have to be paid there.
24:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And for me, being raised by a single parent, I'm always like, do those ones and zeroes add up.
24:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, and for it just hasn't the idea of having a brick and mortar from my brain, it doesn't make sense right now.
24:59
[SPEAKER_02]: It just doesn't make sense, it does not make sense.
25:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to do it.
25:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I know there are so many opportunities for people who are open and breaking mortars, where it's like, okay, I can get this funding.
25:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I can get it done, and that's awesome.
25:14
[SPEAKER_02]: But I don't, I wanna do it for the reasons that it's like, oh, everything is selling out.
25:18
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, people are coming in and it's actually impacting the business positively.
25:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And it just doesn't make sense for me at this moment, which is why don't pop-ups and vendor events.
25:30
[SPEAKER_02]: is definitely the key to success for me.
25:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Starting out doing them, oh my god, I signed up for everything.
25:41
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I signed up for every single thing that people presented to me.
25:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And it took me to like year three to be like nope.
25:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to list the questions before I agreed to do these things.
25:54
[SPEAKER_02]: But doing the pop-ups and vendor events and trade shows even outside of the state because I've had the opportunity to go outside of the state a few times has been the most beneficial for me.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So in terms of you being able to leverage that business model and being more mobile, have an opportunity to pop up, what are some of the tips that you've been able to learn over the years and being able to be prepared for those opportunities?
26:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I know you said you were pretty much applying for any and every day, I'm sure you're more selective nowadays, but what is kind of like the secret sauce to being an effective business that can pop up and be prepared for those opportunities?
26:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, definitely understanding who the curator is like if this is like when I do all things to trade.
26:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
26:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Jennifer is
26:43
[SPEAKER_02]: and expert curator at everything.
26:48
[SPEAKER_02]: So it is very easy for me to be like, okay, yeah, I'm a sign up a new digital Jennifer.
26:54
[SPEAKER_02]: But definitely being prepared and understanding who is the curator of that event, because it is a lot of times, people will put on events as a money grab.
27:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, oh, it's $125 or it's $25 for you to be a vendor here and then the vendor is just the people to pay for the space.
27:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
27:15
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't give a damn about the vendor, right?
27:17
[SPEAKER_02]: They like, oh, let me pay for this space and then have people come.
27:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They haven't promoted the vendor.
27:22
[SPEAKER_02]: That is going to even be vendors there.
27:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
27:25
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't even speak to the vendors and I know that may sound silly.
27:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
27:29
[SPEAKER_02]: To me, it's important.
27:31
[SPEAKER_02]: that people are using their heart or money to come and support, you know, something that you're putting on.
27:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it's an opportunity for me to make money as well, but it's kind of a two-way street.
27:42
[SPEAKER_02]: So I appreciate you providing me with the opportunity.
27:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You could come by say, hey, thank you guys for coming or making sure that
27:50
[SPEAKER_02]: the vendors actually have a voice here in this space.
27:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So making sure it's not a money grab for people because they don't care if you make money or not.
27:59
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't care if people know you there.
28:00
[SPEAKER_02]: They do not care.
28:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They just want to get many hundred twenty five dollars because they get, yeah.
28:04
[SPEAKER_02]: That's it.
28:05
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't care.
28:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I would say another thing for me was, what do I need to bring?
28:12
[SPEAKER_02]: If I'm paying 250 to come,
28:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I had to bring a table, I got to bring chairs.
28:17
[SPEAKER_02]: You want me to post this six times, join me, hold on.
28:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to do all of that.
28:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Now starting out, that may be something, you know, to start getting brand awareness for someone, but you want to be conscious of that, because I had a little frozen shoulder earlier this year.
28:33
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why weird is coming from up because I'm lugging around six to eight foot tables to different vendor events.
28:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's about what it is you want to do, and then what it is you want to get out of it, but I would definitely say,
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: understanding who the curator is, how committed they are to what they're doing.
28:49
[SPEAKER_02]: If this is just something they're doing, fly by night like
28:53
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't care about your success.
28:55
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't care.
28:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So you want to make sure that you are partnering with people who care about your success.
29:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And actually about what they're doing in their reputation here in the city.
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
29:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And do you feel like since you've been able, you've been in this space for six years now, do you feel like that you built up that rapport, which are audience or people who are familiarized or product fans or your products that you are able to generate your own traffic at this point no matter where you pop up it.
29:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it's funny because like all things to trade like I have a certain set group of customers And I'm like, y'all know y'all can order online and I like know we wanted to come see you and We wanted to get these cards and like they they purchase Like this box twice a year and it's like let me get all of my cards now Or let me get my cards for the first part of the year.
29:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me get my cards for the second part of the year Let me get the Christmas cards.
29:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me get the gift wrap
29:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I know a few years ago, I did, uh, things are trying.
29:55
[SPEAKER_02]: It was, I think it was the winter one, and with that event, I had actually did a spot on a news, and it was my first time having GIFRAP people were like lining up to come get GIFRAP because they're seeing you on a nose.
30:09
[SPEAKER_02]: So that again, that kind of piggybacks to the commitment that people have for their events, and how they want to see you succeed.
30:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Um,
30:19
[SPEAKER_02]: What I think I was at, oh, I did an event at BlackTex Saturdays.
30:23
[SPEAKER_02]: They did a pitch competition.
30:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe December before last.
30:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm a member of Michigan Black Business Alliance.
30:33
[SPEAKER_02]: So they reached out and they were like, BlackTex Saturdays is looking for vendors.
30:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you interested?
30:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, I'm like, because I really don't book a lot in December, so I'm like, oh, cool.
30:43
[SPEAKER_02]: We can do this last event, you know, in person here.
30:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, when it was probably one of the most successful events I had done and it was, it was an amazing experience.
30:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember it was so many people.
30:59
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just so many people there.
31:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody was really nice and his one guy came up.
31:03
[SPEAKER_02]: He was like,
31:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And he's taking his time, and he's like, okay, let me get this one this one.
31:10
[SPEAKER_02]: He got a bunch of cards.
31:11
[SPEAKER_02]: He took one of my cards, and he gave me one of his cards.
31:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't think anything else of it.
31:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe January rolls around, early January.
31:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Someone reaches out to me from four.
31:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And they're like, oh, one of our team members, met you at Blacksick Saturdays.
31:26
[SPEAKER_02]: He talked about your cards, and we want to know if you can do our Black History program with us.
31:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And I've done that event now twice.
31:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I like see the employees there out.
31:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Like they've invited me to different events.
31:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's just been a great way to meet people and network.
31:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Over the summer, I didn't even in Nordstroms and 12 Oaks and one of the four employees was there.
31:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And she was like, it's so good to see you what you got new.
31:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So like, I'm showing her everything new.
31:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And she's like, let me get all it is.
31:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's being at successful vendor and pop-up events.
31:59
[SPEAKER_02]: can really create some longevity for you.
32:03
[SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
32:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you, I know you're big on collaborations and being able to partner.
32:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I knew that you definitely had motion because I go to... You came motion.
32:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew you had motion when.
32:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been different places that I went to.
32:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Stores, nothing bunkage, and Alan Park.
32:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And I saw your car as I'm like, why do you look so familiar?
32:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized I'm like, I put two and two together.
32:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are yours.
32:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So how did that opportunity come about to be able to,
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Like have your cars there and then like what's kind of the logistics of how does that work out like do you sell wholesale or is it like what how does that partnership with absolutely wholesale like that wholesale is key.
32:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't make no money if I wholesale like it's just it's impossible to really I would need to be at an event two to three times a week.
32:52
[SPEAKER_02]: to really see some money.
32:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's not like that's not the goal that I've ever had.
32:57
[SPEAKER_02]: My goal has been I need to be wholesale.
33:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I need when you walk in the CBS, that you see the candidly speaking on the shelf.
33:03
[SPEAKER_02]: When you walk in the log range, you see the candidly speaking on the shelf.
33:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's always been my goal.
33:09
[SPEAKER_02]: A few years ago, MBBA did a Johnson TV at Eastern Market.
33:13
[SPEAKER_02]: It was the first one I'd be at.
33:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And I saw
33:17
[SPEAKER_02]: the owner of the nothing but cake for Allen Park.
33:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, which is black on by the way.
33:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Which is black on and it's so.
33:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me just give you a little backstory.
33:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So before that, I'm looking for a start again when you start a business, you think, oh, it's gonna be so easy for me to get in this store.
33:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And people are like, well, have you tried to get in Target?
33:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, no, I haven't tried it at all.
33:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, it just got a work like that.
33:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And you don't know how much red tape comes with, trying to get on store shelves.
33:47
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a lot of work.
33:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, you know what?
33:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me stop trying to get into all of these big box stores.
33:57
[SPEAKER_02]: They have 300 stores across the nation.
33:59
[SPEAKER_02]: How can I do this?
34:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So I went in the nothing but cake one, big beaver.
34:05
[SPEAKER_02]: At the time, they had a new owner.
34:08
[SPEAKER_02]: The new owner, it wasn't a black-owned store.
34:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So I went in, I took a box.
34:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I was giving me, again, I was giving these boxes out.
34:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, they so expensive, and I was just handing them out.
34:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And they weren't interested in them.
34:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, hmm, okay, let it go.
34:27
[SPEAKER_02]: and I see them nothing but cake, Trump pull in.
34:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Help me.
34:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if it would be white folks here for this event.
34:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I could be wrong, but I don't know.
34:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So sure enough, I see the nothing but cake table and I see Andrea, which is the owner, and I go up and I introduce myself.
34:49
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't be scared to introduce yourself to people.
34:51
[SPEAKER_02]: A no is just a not right now.
34:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I introduced myself to her.
34:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I told her what I had.
34:58
[SPEAKER_02]: What my product was.
34:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like if you want you can come over, take a look at it.
35:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to, you know, explore some household opportunities with you if you're able to.
35:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And we've been working together now.
35:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I think three years maybe.
35:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So it started with her three stores.
35:14
[SPEAKER_02]: She opened up a fourth one.
35:16
[SPEAKER_02]: She introduced me to
35:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, another one of her two other nothing but cake owners.
35:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I was able to pick up an additional two stores here in the end four in Maryland.
35:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like kind of slow and steady, but we've created such a positive relationship that I'm just like okay, it's a matter of time.
35:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's being at the right place, not being afraid to to ask and
35:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So because you wasn't afraid to open your mouth, you national now, in terms of the way you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going, you're going
36:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So, absolutely, my idea is, I'm gonna go with my customer ears, so that kind of introduced me to Atlanta.
36:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I have family that lives in Atlanta, and a few years ago, they had a store down there called the Sister Shop, and it was inside of like, I can't remember what it was, but it was like outside shopping, I can't remember, at LanX station.
36:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was like a consumer shop where they carried all black woman-owned products.
36:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So I had some family that lived down there and then we did like they did like a trick.
36:38
[SPEAKER_02]: I wasn't able to go But my cousin one of my cousins called me from the store like take a look at this store We just told the owner about you and we think you know your products will go good So I ended up applying and I was with them for like three years and then their store ended up closing But what it did was it introduced my brand to a market where my customer is
36:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And um, I was scrolling on Instagram.
37:01
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why I see a lot of different vendor events is on Instagram.
37:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And people are like, well, you see it.
37:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, because I scroll and I scroll and I'm actually looking for things.
37:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And I saw the black effect podcast festival.
37:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
37:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And this was I think three years ago.
37:16
[SPEAKER_02]: So like, okay, let me apply.
37:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Like all I can they can tell me they can tell me yes or yes.
37:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So let me apply I apply we flew down We had no idea how the logistics are gonna work like we just had no idea.
37:30
[SPEAKER_02]: We got down there and We thought we had time to like go set up and then go back to the hotel It was like no, we're gonna be here for like nine hours.
37:38
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not gonna say who was with me
37:40
[SPEAKER_02]: But they were like, we got to be here for nine hours.
37:44
[SPEAKER_02]: It was such a long day, but it was the most amazing experience.
37:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it was extremely successful and I've done it not three years in a row.
37:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, any opportunity where I can get in front of my customer, I'm going to take it.
38:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you hopped on the plane with all your stuff or you, I have to plan the first two times.
38:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
38:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, this year we went, the plane tickets were astronomical.
38:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was like, okay, how can we make this happen?
38:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's like such a small vendor fee.
38:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like $200.
38:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
38:20
[SPEAKER_02]: To be in front of, uh,
38:22
[SPEAKER_02]: all of these people with all of these platforms who actually like people come there to spend money.
38:28
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a, because I've done other events.
38:31
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been paying that ticket to be there.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: You got money or spend it.
38:34
[SPEAKER_02]: You got money to spend now.
38:36
[SPEAKER_02]: My first experience in Atlanta, I did a women's conference.
38:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It was $1500.
38:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Whoa.
38:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the highest or do we get higher than that?
38:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it gets higher than that.
38:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
38:46
[SPEAKER_02]: It was four a weekend.
38:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I spent $1,500, I think I made $700.
38:50
[SPEAKER_02]: When I was, somebody told you the rest of that money.
38:54
[SPEAKER_02]: When I told you I was sick, I was like, I'm about to knock everything off the table down here because it was over two days.
39:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So it wasn't even like, oh, I made this Saturday.
39:05
[SPEAKER_02]: It was over two days to the point.
39:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, I guess I can buy this dinner tonight.
39:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what is this?
39:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But that was a good experience for me because all people are coming in this for the name.
39:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a very popular conference because they have a lot of celebrities who come, but people want free things, and that was something, um, my, my friend line that she told me about we talked about essence because she had done essence with her brand.
39:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like I'm thinking about doing essence and she was like do it if you want to give out free stuff She was like people want free stuff And that's what people want with those and I don't have free cards.
39:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so it costs money to make them It costs money to make them and like I don't have a lotion or you know something that I can put in like a little travel size I don't have that
39:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So those are definitely other reasons or you know reasons why I would be like nope I'm not gonna do that one because it's just not been official for me But yeah the last time we drove to Atlanta It was a really good event, but we drove got our hotel It was like 10 hours to get down there and I was like my god like I need spirit
40:13
[SPEAKER_02]: to come back because we need some competition in a market again because the plane tickets the plane tickets was like five to $600 where we had spent I don't think no more than 200 to go down there before and that was on Delta so this year we were like okay how can we make this work so yeah so we did we drove the decisions of out for nourishing yeah yeah
40:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and then you got to drag people with you like you believe in me come with me.
40:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So Do you have a team and how did you kind of curate that team?
40:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So they are my team
40:48
[SPEAKER_02]: They know they're my team to the point last week.
40:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, hey, I meet you guys.
40:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Can one of you do blah, blah, blah.
40:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And I like it's a PTO day for me.
40:56
[SPEAKER_02]: It's another somebody else's life.
40:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm taking a mental health day.
41:03
[SPEAKER_02]: But no, everybody has been elected to.
41:09
[SPEAKER_02]: a function like one of my really good girlfriend she's really good with like communications so this year I went into like some real sale strategy instead of it just being on by for walk up to you and say this is like a way how can I actually
41:25
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, give somebody a heads up about the brand, let them read about it.
41:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have someone she does like sales strategy for me, and then I have my media person who does things for me, or for the brand.
41:41
[SPEAKER_02]: And then my partner who was normally there to set up and sell and
41:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Help me break down and talk to customers and explain bundles and things like that.
41:50
[SPEAKER_02]: So we have a good functioning team.
41:53
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you go from the sales aspect at these pop-ups?
41:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You had mentioned you can't expect people to just kind of walk up to you, which I think I see a lot at pop-ups or events like that.
42:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I've done it myself where I might be sitting down telling helpin' somebody and kind of expecting the traffic to roll by.
42:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I've seen you at all things that's right, you were engaged, you were standing up, talking to people, stuff like that.
42:16
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that something that came natural to you or is some muscle you had to build up over time?
42:21
[SPEAKER_02]: it was not natural at all.
42:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, I've worked in corporate for so long and I've never worked in sales.
42:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So, baby, I'm not gonna make you buy this car.
42:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, hey, have a good night's day and enjoy yourself.
42:35
[SPEAKER_02]: But it is something I didn't think about it as me trying to sell the product.
42:41
[SPEAKER_02]: It was, this is what I have, read it like, you can buy it or don't buy it.
42:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I know if you read it, you're going to love it.
42:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you're going to love it, you may buy it, or you might say, oh, my mother loves greeting cards.
42:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me take her, you know, this card, and we can check your website.
43:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you ship your local?
43:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, even just creating that conversation with people is brand awareness.
43:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to remember my logo.
43:11
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to remember me.
43:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to remember the card that said, fuck, fuck them kids.
43:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to remember the birthday bitch card.
43:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I want you to remember these things.
43:22
[SPEAKER_02]: So when I see you and probably another month at another event, you're gonna be like, oh yeah, I just met you here.
43:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So,
43:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Even if you're not buying for me this time, you might buy for me again Which has been extremely helpful for me just creating positive relationships with people.
43:41
[SPEAKER_02]: I know I did one event Was there all day
43:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And I get an email a few days later from a woman.
43:50
[SPEAKER_02]: She's like, oh, my mother met you on Sunday.
43:52
[SPEAKER_02]: She said, they were putting on an event.
43:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And she said, if you don't have anybody there, you need to have her there.
43:58
[SPEAKER_02]: She was amazing, and she has an amazing brand.
44:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, now imagine if I was having a bad day, or imagine if I didn't value people who stopped, to talk to me,
44:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't have had that opportunity.
44:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So I just go out, just be in mice.
44:13
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't know what kind of day people have in life.
44:15
[SPEAKER_02]: You just want to be nice and positive and leave a good impression on people.
44:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
44:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And then do you also take time could go and did other people, like boosters, stuff like that?
44:26
[SPEAKER_02]: So there are some events where I will go by myself like if it's like three or four hours, I don't like to ask people to come with me because people are also working.
44:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, you know what I got it.
44:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So on those days,
44:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It's hard for me to see everybody, but when it's somebody is there, no, let me get up and let me go walk around.
44:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
44:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Because at this point, I am, you know, at vendor events with people, I have done vendor events with.
44:55
[SPEAKER_02]: So,
44:56
[SPEAKER_02]: There aren't a lot of strangers And now it's like oh, you know, maybe just had a birthday how the birthday party go or oh I know you just did this bitch competition how did that go like you really have to create a community and entrepreneurship because even if it's somebody that doesn't do what you do
45:14
[SPEAKER_02]: They can say oh such as such got some money.
45:17
[SPEAKER_02]: You should go apply for this or did you hear about this vendor event that's coming up You should go apply for it or all I met this person and I told him about you here go day nine But you should reach out to them just really being authentically yourself and creating relationships is is last and power
45:35
[SPEAKER_01]: for sure.
45:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've noticed that and I've only done like help people with a couple of vendor events and like all things to trade or stuff like that.
45:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's been years since I've done it in that way, but I noticed that a lot of you see a lot of the same vendors and we'll see the events.
45:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I love what you said about being able to build community and entrepreneurship because it could be a lonely road and like feeling like nobody really understand kind of like what I'm
45:59
[SPEAKER_01]: navigate in or what I'm trying to do but like those people you pretty sure especially in the retail space like you probably know and then if we have similar products or our product flow is similar I'm sure you probably understand some of the same challenges I'm going through.
46:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah absolutely even um I have some of my friends they have a skincare brand.
46:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Luxury skincare brand.
46:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And we did a cohort together a few years ago and everybody kind of talked about some of the things like they regret or some of the things they were they they were happy they did and they said we took a year to create our brand like it took us a year we took the time we sat down we did this we did that and I was like
46:39
[SPEAKER_02]: You all really took a year, like I wish somebody had told me I didn't have to rush, you know, to do this.
46:46
[SPEAKER_02]: It, I kind of felt like, oh, I got this idea in October.
46:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I got to have something ready by March.
46:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was like, who are you racing?
46:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what is happening, but being in that space, it allowed me.
46:59
[SPEAKER_02]: to just hear other people's stories and, you know, take something from them and also offer something as well.
47:06
[SPEAKER_02]: But having that community is so, so vital, especially when it's, beginning of the year is normally slow and so many people with retail.
47:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, you know, um, consumer products.
47:19
[SPEAKER_02]: They can be like, uh, when you're selling that thing.
47:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, well, we'll be going to do this with this month.
47:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, we want to work on this month.
47:25
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's pretty slow.
47:26
[SPEAKER_02]: So just having those relationships can can be vital.
47:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you have mentioned developing a brand like the luxury skincare brand.
47:37
[SPEAKER_01]: They took a year to be able to invest in it.
47:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I've had guests that came on here that have a similar journey where it's like we did pretty much research and development and for an entire year before we
47:47
[SPEAKER_01]: launch anything or start selling anything.
47:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just want to do a quick PSA.
47:50
[SPEAKER_01]: If I can see this real quick, if you all can see this box right here, this is not chatGPT.
47:55
[SPEAKER_01]: This is an actual artist illustrator that had developed this and looked with spent time money resources in order to get it right and get it the way that you wanted to.
48:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I advise you to do the same.
48:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand entrepreneurship and as cutting dry and the budget don't be working the same, but you got to take time to spend money
48:14
[SPEAKER_01]: and the right energy on developing your brand.
48:17
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to do it the right way, and not just chasing the dog.
48:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
48:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I just had, I had to get that on my team.
48:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sick of the chat, GPT and stuff.
48:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Man, it's everywhere.
48:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, I don't want to judge.
48:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
48:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if people are at different stages, if any of the actual people use it as a, use it as a research tool, use it as like a first step or first draft, but that should not,
48:42
[SPEAKER_01]: AI should not be your brand.
48:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You can use it to help you figure out, okay?
48:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what things could look like?
48:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But go hire designer figure out how to get the resources to do it.
48:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's free resources out there where different organizations and incubators will work with you to be able to actually help put you in position or in contact with somebody who will do that stuff for free, pro bono.
49:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Slow down on the chat, GPTP, please, please, on the chat, save the water, save the water for making all them fly.
49:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, save all my guys.
49:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you need to see who your celebrity is.
49:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Look at what kids, what is going on.
49:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Cut it out.
49:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You need to know what you look like in the 80s.
49:21
[SPEAKER_02]: We know it looks like in the 80s.
49:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, maybe I won't bore you.
49:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
49:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So I get it.
49:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But you look like your mom and daddy.
49:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
49:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But we went to school together.
49:31
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what you look like in the 80s.
49:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It's cut it out.
49:37
[SPEAKER_01]: For sure.
49:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So, uh, Latoria, where do you see yourself going?
49:41
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't really speak in.
49:42
[SPEAKER_01]: What's on the writing for yourself for the business?
49:46
[SPEAKER_02]: So this my last quarter is definitely about strategy again getting those givebacks ready as well as tissue paper so that can prepare those and then we are headed into Christmas.
49:58
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I'm going to do a big push on Christmas and holiday cards and gift wrap.
50:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I actually just partnered with Liv 6 on 6 miles, which again, that was I did an event, a Black Friday event at Detroit City.
50:15
[SPEAKER_02]: One of the employees for Liv 6 was like, oh, I like this, and we had been working together for like a year and a half and so the store opened.
50:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so my gift my greeting cards are there my gift wrap is there to actually have a gift wrapping station there with my gift wrap Um, which I am very excited about so this last quarter again is about really pushing for
50:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, holiday, getting everything out.
50:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and then I have a lot of, um, like I need to sit down and get creative.
50:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I got a bunch of cards that I need to get done.
50:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, that was one thing like when I first started, oh my god, I was just like making cards, making cards, making cards, making cards, making cards, and it's like, okay, wait, wait.
50:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Now I'm like, what are your eight most popular cards?
50:58
[SPEAKER_02]: These are the cards you need to push for wholesale.
51:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's really just strategizing and getting ready for the new year.
51:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
51:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you have talked so technically this your second time on the podcast because the video, yeah, yeah, yeah.
51:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I put that out as a special episode.
51:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have mentioned how you cycle out to a card and when you decide to swap and do all that.
51:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So it seems like it's about that time right now.
51:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep, time to cycle in.
51:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I was looking at even so I like okay, I think we're ready For the year just getting more gift wrap and I'm excited about the sushi paper.
51:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I am and I know it seems like such a small thing But you know like at this point I like I had mentioned to you earlier.
51:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I ride around in the car with tissue paper Like that yeah, that's how trifling out and I think I got with it with the gift give it It's gonna be a nice gift, but I might put it together in the car
51:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's it matters like I have one little girl greeting car for birthdays.
51:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So I had the greeting card and I had the wrapping paper and one of my girlfriends gave it to her granddaughter for a birthday and her granddaughter was like, where did you get this from?
52:02
[SPEAKER_02]: She looks just like me.
52:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm just like, oh, the tissue paper about to go crazy.
52:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just really excited.
52:09
[SPEAKER_02]: about that because we just shouldn't have to settle for things that, you know, don't look like a sore.
52:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Let me just get it because it's here and I don't see anything else.
52:20
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you have an option to get something that looks like you, that sounds like you, and at the person that you give it to, it's going to be like, oh, you've really thought of me when you pick this up.
52:29
[SPEAKER_01]: for sure.
52:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And for the people who listen right now, they're like I'm in about a whole collection.
52:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to follow the journey.
52:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Work and they find you with the website, your social media links all that stuff.
52:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
52:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So website is thecandilyspeaking.com.
52:43
[SPEAKER_02]: social is at thecandily speaking.
52:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Literally everything is thecandily speaking.
52:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And then my personal's on handle is V car lady.
52:52
[SPEAKER_02]: T-H-E-E car lady.
52:54
[SPEAKER_01]: perfect well look what we appreciate you for coming on the podcast technically being on here a second time and grateful for the work that you do like I told you I love the intention I believe behind what it is that you do to include civility of it and making the green and car business like feel like us feel like home so we appreciate it
53:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for having me.
53:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I really appreciate all you do, having us black folks on here.
53:21
[SPEAKER_02]: It's talking about our businesses and all of our endeavors.
53:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I really do appreciate that.
53:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I was watching a brandy like cracking up and I'm like, okay, brandy, because like me.
53:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I just saw a big someone.
53:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I've done some work with bags.
53:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, absolutely her.
53:37
[SPEAKER_02]: We definitely appreciate all you do for us, too.
53:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
53:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
53:40
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what it's all about.
53:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And everybody watching listening, we're going to tap in which I'll soon.
53:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Peace.