Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Keeping Your Business Finances Strong with Nicole Snow

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Keeping Your Business Finances Strong with Nicole Snow · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small Biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small Biz lady, and welcome them to small biz chat live.
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  Now small biz chat live is a peer to peer interview show that gives small business owners
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  a way to get and share enviable business advice.
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  The mission of small business chat is to end small business failure.
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  And we've been doing this thing 11 years, and we're not gonna stop anytime soon.
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  We all know right now we are living in perilous times, and we need motivation, inspiration, and
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  good ideas.
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  And that is what we have for you tonight.
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  You know, our goal at small business chat is to give you information Sage advice that's gonna
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  take your business to the next level.
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  With that, let me introduce my very first yes Nicole Snow.
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  And I wanna just in full disclosure, you guys, she is one of my favorite small business owners
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  I've ever coached, and I'm so excited to have her back on the show.
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  So Nicole, we're here.
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  We're gonna be talking with her about how to keep your finances strong in your small
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  business, but let me tell you a little bit about her.
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  Nicole is the founder and CEO of darn Good yarn.
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  It is an e commerce business that serves the $44,000,000,000 craft market They sell
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  beautiful, luscious handmade yarns and clothing.
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  Nicole is an Air Force veteran who is driven to solve complex problems by leveraging the power
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  of the triple bottom line business framework.
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  Her company serves crafters all over the world and provides employment to more than 600 women
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  in India and Nepal and an additional eight people here in the US.
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  You guys have gotta go check her out.
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  If you're into knitting, you got to check out what they got going on over a darn good yarn.
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  I hook I hook my mom up with it.
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  And, hey, if you're crapper out there, they've got some great stuff.
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  Nicole, thank you so much for joining me on small business chat live.
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  Thanks so much, Melinda.
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  I am so stoked to see you again and be here with you right now.
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  Awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  Alright.
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  So tell us what is darn Goodyard?
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  I've been talking about your business for years.
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  I I don't think I do adjust this, so I need you to explain what darn good yarn is and tell us
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  what your inspiration was to launching the business.
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  You know, I I'm very much an accidental entrepreneur, and I always get a little shy
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  when people read my bio that I send off, and it's like, that's definitely not how I started.
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  I really wanted to learn how to knit and it came from a place of just being a very crafty
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  kid.
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  Even when I was at school, I went to a very engineering and business school, and I was
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  metal sculpting in my dorm room, which probably told me that I might not have been at the right
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  place necessarily.
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  So I've always been into the arts and textures and colors.
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  When I got to a certain point in my life after the air force, I said, you know, I want to take
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  my crafting into and turn it into a business.
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  So I started to use some of my contracting background from the government, and I was in
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  the Air Force, and I used sort of that supply chain management and the ideals there.
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  Pieced that together and found this really unique yarn that was coming out of Nepal, and
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  it was made from reclaimed material.
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  And so this is pretty cool.
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  It, like, saves the world and saves, you know, waste going to landfills.
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  And then here, boom, here's this yarn.
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  As I started to uncover this more as the business grew, and this was in the 1st couple
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  of months, I realized that it was actually supplying and creating sustainable jobs for
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  women in particular, and they were able to stay at home with their babies and make yarn for my
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  company.
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  And that was really it.
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  I realized very early on that My business could actually be a conduit to create sustainable
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  employment to sectors of people that generally get forgotten about within the global economy.
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  So that's really it was probably one of the biggest things from the start that we weren't
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  just a craft company.
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  It was really this concept of creating a conduit to do better in the world.
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  And very accidentally, but I just sort of do things like, what would my mom be proud of?
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  And that's how I sort of move forward in my business journey.
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  Alright.
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  Now I wanna get this straight for people.
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  Tell us how big your company is in terms of staff and revenues.
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  I'm like, ladies and gentlemen, she sells yard on the internet.
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  Tell them.
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  Tell them.
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  Okay.
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  So last year, last year, we closed out at 9,100,000, in revenue, and I started out of my
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  guest bedroom and out of just saving my money actually from the Air Force when I was there.
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  So It's totally possible.
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  And I actually here's, I think, one of the the biggest things that, you know, we're watching
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  small business owners watching right now.
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  I started my business during the last recession.
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  People were cocooning and I, like, again, very accidentally.
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  I was coming from a place of power.
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  I had savings and I just used what I had in my savings, and my husband had a good job.
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  So we weren't coming from a place of being totally desperate.
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  A lot of physical responsibility, and it was just kind of this really bizarre place that
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  intersected where people were staying at home.
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  If you remember back to 2008, people weren't going to the movies, and the movie theater were
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  freaking out.
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  Well, you know what they were doing doing this thing called cocooning and staying at home and
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  making their houses nice, and we're seeing that right now as well.
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  So that's, you know, it's it's all possible, and I think it's important to be very wary of
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  the news, and it can kind of freak you out if you pay too close of attention to it.
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  I think that's a really valid point.
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  Alright.
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  Now, okay.
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  So you're an axle entrepreneur.
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  You you start this business selling yard, but what has been the real secret to your business
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  success, Nicole?
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  So I gotten larger, I think the one of the biggest things, it's like, yes, we have
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  marketing and we have all these things, but it's this kind of old school tactic of going
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  back to why a business is in business.
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  So a lot of people think that we are a non for profit.
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  We're not.
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  I am a for profit company.
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  And hiring on, I think one of the most critical hires I've made, in the past year is my CFO.
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  And gosh, I wish I did that from day 1.
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  Even if it was for an hour a month because they tend to be, you know, a little bit more than a
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  lot of people on your staff initially, but she's helped me go into every single purchase,
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  every single thing I'm doing and say, okay, Nicole, is sending that email at that cost
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  really worth it to the company?
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  And how does that flow down?
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  And does it make sense?
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  Are you going to be profitable?
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  I have a a friend of mine.
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  He's run many successful businesses, and he says, Nicole, no margin, no mission.
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  And you think about that, like, I'm where our company is very mission driven.
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  And if you don't have that margin built in and someone who's helping you be fiscally
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  responsible within your business landscape, you're not gonna be successful and you're not
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  gonna be serve that greater mission, which is why you might have been put on this earth for.
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  Awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  I think that's really important.
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  So, you know, so you're saying just how many years have you been in business?
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  12 years.
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  Okay.
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  So you're 11.
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  You hired a CFO.
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  Yeah.
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  Alright.
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  So how what were you doing before that?
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  Like, what how
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  are you managing stuff before that?
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  I I started off with my accountant.
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  I think that's like everyone's like, oh, here's my taxes.
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  Can you help me with a little bit of projecting?
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  And then I wound up driving him absolutely crazy during taxis at one time when he told me
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  I had to produce a balance sheet.
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  And I'm like, I don't know how to do this.
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  And then I wound up hiring on a bookkeeper.
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  He was sort of like a come to Jesus with Nicole.
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  It's like, Nicole, you might need to hire a bookkeeper.
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  I'm like, okay.
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  Let me go figure this out.
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  And then as we kept growing, my questions were getting more complex.
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  How to time inventory purchases?
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  And we have, in terms of our supply chain, it's complex.
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  And our complexity comes from having to pay a lot of our vendors a 100% upfront.
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  So I'm now without that money for sometimes up to 6 months.
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  So that's it.
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  You know, being cash strapped like that for a while can have impact.
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  So making that jump to a CFO, and then now getting into a place of being strategic with
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  how we're deploying our money and even helping me, like, make banking relationships.
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  And I'm sure James will probably talk about this.
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  I'm excited to hear his segment but really being able to now have this person who's in on
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  your team to help you really work through contracts, making sure fair to you.
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  I think a lot of business owners think that they have to do all of this themselves, and
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  this is actually what a CFO does, and a good CFO pays for themselves every single month.
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  You don't you're not even gonna feel the hit.
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  And people used to tell me that.
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  And I was like, I don't think so, but a, it I wish I listened sooner, honestly.
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  Well, I think that's a very honest story to tell, but, hey.
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  You know, you did pretty well before you got there, but I'm glad you got there.
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  So So let's talk about, you know, you are a social entrepreneur, and there was a very
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  strategic decision for you to do that.
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  So you know, you fell in love with this yarn and you found out how it was made, but, I mean,
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  how do you go from that to employing 600 women in India?
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  I mean, that like a big, big major strategic commitment.
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  It it absolutely is.
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  And I'm glad you bring bring that up because it is commitment.
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  It's exactly that.
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  This is not just a charitable.
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  We're gonna go inject a couple $1000 somewhere.
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  I mean, donations and nonprofits all have their place, but when you look at true sustainable
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  change within global economies and in, like, remote villages in the middle of India, which
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  is where we're dealing a lot in, you have to be there for the long haul and have the stomach
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  for that.
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  And for me, it meant, and it still does to make sure that we're growing very methodically.
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  So in the world of shark tanks and having hyper growth, even though we've grown very quickly,
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  we were named the fastest growing company in the capital region in New York 2 years ago, We
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  still had that going on for ourselves, but I was methodical about not letting the growth get
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  away from us.
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  So people said, Cole, why don't you go, like, pitch in front of, Michaels or one of the big
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  box craft stores?
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  And I was like, we are not ready for that.
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  I said, I will blow away what we've built because these these are still individuals.
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  These are still humans, and they're working with, like, really basic materials and tools So
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  you have to be really respectful of where you're working, and it can you can get into the
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  place of too, too much growth, too fast.
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  And then it depletes everything.
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  And then you wind up setting them back even further in terms of trying to help people get
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  out of generational poverty.
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  Well, listen.
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  I am riveted by this conversation, but you are an expert in selling online.
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  So when we come back on small fish chat live, We're gonna talk about the best ways to sell
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  your wares online.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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  You are watching small biz chat live, and we will be right back.
• 10:52
  Hi.
• 10:53
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady.
• 10:55
  I know you might be thinking about quitting your business and going back into corporate
• 10:58
  America, but wait.
• 11:00
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• 11:22
  Welcome back to Small Bishop Live.
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  I'm here with my guest, Nicole Snow, And we are talking about all things ecommerce and her
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  business darngoodyarn.com.
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  I would be remiss if I didn't ask you How what are the best ways to drive sales to an online
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  business?
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  So you gotta look at your customer.
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  Right?
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  So for us, Facebook is really our sweet spot.
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  We, you know, persona generation.
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  You have to look at who you want your customer to be, and this is like basic marketing.
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  And it's one of these things that's really been highlights me, especially sitting back at home
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  and working home during COVID, is getting back to old school marketing.
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  I mean, yes, digital marketing is just one of the tools in your toolbox, but looking where
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  people are are shopping.
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  So for us, again, Facebook But then really, what are other ways people trying to engage?
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  So for our customer, community is where it's at.
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  We have a a couple of private Facebook groups and people are hardcore darn good yarners.
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  I love my customers if you're watching out there, mama, but we realize that how do we
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  create community, especially in, like, times when people can't go out, can't go shopping.
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  And we really double down on our Facebook live sales.
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  So, I mean, it's QVC style, and this really came from me having bad sales, like, about a
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  year ago.
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  And I'm like, we need to figure something out.
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  I have this skirt that's one of a kind, and it's made from reclaimed material Okay.
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  We're getting on camera.
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  We're just gonna turn it on and go for it, and we were really scrappy and authentic about it.
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  And there was something, again, going to being very authentic, I think, is really the key for
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  selling online, and I find being almost too polished, you can lose something that you might
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  miss connecting to that perfect customer base.
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  I got I got alright.
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  So using multiple channels or one channel?
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  Like, is your website enough or you need selling on Amazon, eBay?
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  What I mean, how do you do it?
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  We're we're do we're on Amazon as well.
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  We have a little bit of a brand, a little bit of a different brand going on but we are
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  selling there.
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  We also have some wholesale going on.
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  So we are multi channel, but during this time, we have doubled down mostly on direct to
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  consumer online through my website.
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  Okay.
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  Sometimes small business, like you only have so many resources.
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  So we could say, yeah, we can do a big, you know, ladder.
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  Across multiple channels, but sometimes you have to try to be as efficient and go for the
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  biggest, like, piece of fruit.
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  You can go pluck.
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  Alright.
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  And then what about online ads?
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  Do you have to do online ads, or is it like, you know, if you're selling online, do you
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  gotta do online ads?
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  Absolutely.
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  Absolutely.
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  And I think people get probably the first thing that people think about cutting, especially in
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  times of recession, is their marketing budget.
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  That is the last place I feel that you should be cutting.
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  You should be doubling down on those efforts, making them as efficient as possible, really
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  thinking about how you're making leads and what the real purpose of those ads are and making
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  them as efficient as possible.
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  That's the name of the game right now.
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  Alright.
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  Last question.
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  How has entering contest changed your business?
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  Well, you know, we met.
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  I, FedEx has a small business grant contest.
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  I was the first ever winner of oddly enough, and that's how we cross paths.
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  So for me, that was a great way to it's been important because I, you know, you got a cash
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  price of $25,000 at that time, which I really needed, but it's been not just about the money.
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  It's been a way have your core community of customers rally around you and go, we can do
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  this, and then you create your tribe.
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  And that's really what it's about to me.
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  It's not about actually winning.
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  Which sounds like a very poopy answer, but it really is the truth.
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  Good stuff.
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  Good stuff.
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  Well, thank you so much, Nicole.
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  Hang on.
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  We're gonna bring you back at the end of the show hit it or quit it panel, but thank you so
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  much for sharing this valuable information with us.
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  Alright, miss Nicole.
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  What is your favorite old school marketing tip?
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  James stole mine, but anyway, my my my rebound on that one is I really like to say around
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  here, what are we selling, and it's what's the products products, products.
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  So think about that for a little bit, but what are you selling?
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  What is that actually doing?
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  And then how is that getting down to a root need of what a human actually wants, and that's
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  actually what you're selling.
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  Alright.
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  I like that.
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  I did have to think about it, though.
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  I had to stop me, like, okay.
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  What is same.
• 15:29
  Well, that was good stuff.
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  So thank you for that.
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  Thank you for that.
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  Alright.
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  And here's our last question.
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  Alright, Mister Cole Snow, what is your favorite business book?
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  Finished big by Bo Burlington, and it finally gave me the confidence to know really where I
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  was going in business.
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  If you're gonna be married to it forever, like, oh, there might be life after a business and an
• 15:48
  exit.
• 15:49
  Yeah.
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  I I really like all of Volt Burlington's books, and and I like that book as well.
• 15:54
  And I would be remiss if I did not share with you guys that my favorite business book is the
• 15:59
  e myth revisited by Michael Gerber.
• 16:02
  Yeah.
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  Favorite one.
• 16:05
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 16:10
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 16:17
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
• 16:20
  And join us next Wednesday.