Launch Your Box Podcast with Sarah Williams | Start, Launch, and Grow Your Subscription Box: Recent Episodes
Sarah Williams
5 years ago I had a dream to start a Subscription Box service full of goodies for women to treat themselves and nurture the importance of self care. It took me a full 18 months to make it happen! I was paralyzed by ‘all the things’ I had to figure out with no one to turn to for guidance.
That is why I created Launch Your Box!
Maybe you need some direction on how to begin, or you are ready to grow your subscriber base. Either way, it all starts with an idea that can turn into a constant reoccurring revenue, a raving fan base, and a business to love.
I will help you...
Take your first steps and know where to start. Figuring out the logistics: packing, shipping, boxes, oh my! Learn how to launch, from idea to sales. Scale that box to the next level, go big or go home!
I have a t-shirt subscription. Actually, I have two successful (and very profitable) t-shirt subscriptions: my T-Shirt Club and Tees 4 Teachers. And I’m not the only one growing thriving t-shirt subscriptions. LOTS of members of Launch Your Box are finding huge success with their own t-shirt subscriptions. With all this t-shirt subscription talk, you might be wondering if starting a t-shirt subscription is right for you. In this episode, I’m sharing six reasons why you should consider starting a t-shirt subscription. 1. A T-shirt subscription has low start-up costs compared to other products.
T-shirts range from $2-$7.
Printing can be done in-house or outsourced.
There is no need for expensive boxes - t-shirts can be shipped in poly mailers.
- T-shirts are a wardrobe staple.
Everyone wears t-shirts.
T-shirts are consumable - they are used (worn) for a while and then replaced.
T-shirts can be dressed up or worn casually.
- T-shirt subscriptions can be seasonal/holiday/theme-based.
Any niche can have a t-shirt subscription. Launch Your Box member t-shirt subscriptions include:
Career-focused tees
Inspirational/self-care tees
Tees for artists/crafters
Snarky tees
Animal/pet-themed tees
- T-shirt subscriptions provide recurring revenue and recurring brand exposure.
A t-shirt subscription is a consistent source of recurring revenue.
A t-shirt subscription can provide opportunities for recurring brand exposure.
Add your label or brand to every design.
Build customer loyalty and commitment by consistently delivering quality t-shirts and designs.
- T-shirt subscriptions foster a sense of community which can result in:
Increased loyalty
Higher engagement
Higher lifetime value (LTV) and retention rates
- T-shirt subscriptions are more affordable and accessible than many other subscriptions.
A t-shirt subscription can be a successful, standalone subscription. It can also be a complement to your existing subscription box. Mine started as a complement to my Monogram Box when my subscribers asked for more t-shirts! I’ve seen great success with my own t-shirt subscriptions and have helped SO MANY members of Launch Your Box build thriving t-shirt subscriptions. I’m well-known for my extensive knowledge of all things t-shirt. So much so that my students and peers have been asking for a standalone t-shirt subscription course for quite a while. My team and I have spent the last several months working on this course. How to Start a T-Shirt Subscription covers everything you need to know in 12 video lessons full of actionable steps, worksheets, and special bonuses. It’s the perfect way to get all your t-shirt subscription questions answered and get your t-shirt subscription started NOW! Learn more about How to Start a T-Shirt Subscription. Join me for this episode as I share my own t-shirt subscription experience and all the reasons you should start a t-shirt subscription.
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
You’ve launched your subscription box. Since that time, you’ve grown alongside your subscription box business. You’ve developed systems and processes and have built a firm foundation on which your business can continue to grow. But now you want to do more than just continue to grow slowly - now you want to scale your subscription box business. In this episode, I’m sharing 5 things you need to do to take your subscription box business to the next level - to scale your box. Develop a multi-channel marketing plan.
In order to keep growing, you need to get in front of more people.
Expand to additional social media channels - meet your people where they are.
Optimize your inventory.
Work on a plan to get the most out of your inventory - make it work for you, not against you.
Leverage your buying power and negotiate the best deals with your vendors, including things like payment terms and shipping discounts.
Streamline fulfillment.
Consider whether a fulfillment center is right for your business.
Design a process - and space to support that process - that allows you to be as efficient as possible on packing days.
Improve retention strategies.
Don’t get so concerned about gaining new subscribers that you neglect the ones you already have!
Identify one team member to focus on customer service and retention.
Know your numbers - aim for a retention rate of at least 90%.
Create raving fans!
Word of mouth is an important part of growing your business!
Engage with your subscribers in post comments and during LIVES.
Surprise and delight your subscribers. Text “SURPRISE” to me at 940-204-0023 to get my FREE resource “10 Ways to Surprise and Delight Your Customers.”
Prepare for the next step in your subscription box journey by planning for growth and putting strategies and processes into place that will allow you to scale! Join me for this episode as I share five things you can do to scale your subscription box business and take it to the next level.
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
Have you been struggling with your business this year? Maybe you’re not reaching your revenue goals or you haven’t launched that new idea, product, or subscription box yet. Many times, our businesses need one little tweak - a change in process, strategy, or just mindset - to change everything. In this episode, I’m sharing 10 truth bombs that will have you looking at your business differently. Take the time to sit with and think about each of these to see how they might apply to you and your business.
20% of your customer base generates 80% of your revenue!
Protect your peace and energy at all costs.
Fad marketing strategies are like fad diets. They will not last.
Companies that have heavily relied on paid traffic only will shift to more organic traffic.
Systems and processes will serve you.
Revenue does not mean profit.
Cheap is not creating value.
It’s more profitable to retain your subscribers than to constantly acquire new ones.
What gets you started may not get you to scale.
If you don’t challenge yourself, you won’t change yourself.
We focused all of the training this year inside Launch Your Box on these 10 things. I’m here to help you understand these 10 things and make progress with each of them. Remember, you are on a subscription box journey. This journey never ends. It’s always a work in progress. Just keep making progress!
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
Are your subscriber numbers dwindling? Do you need to do something to keep your numbers up but don’t have the capacity to do a full-blown launch? I found myself in this exact situation. My subscriber numbers for my “baby” subscription, Tees 4 Teachers, had been decreasing since the beginning of the year. I knew I needed to do something, but when I looked at my year, this is what I saw:
April - Monogram Box Launch
May - SubSummit
June - Big Coaching Week Launch for Launch Your Box
August - Launching a New Course
September - Launching a New Membership
That left July. July is right before back to school, making it the perfect time to launch Tees 4 Teachers. I knew I did not have the bandwidth to show up in a launch the way I’d need to. But I didn’t want to not launch. What could I do? Was there a way I could launch and make it EASY and less taxing on me? I knew I could drive a lot of traffic and sales through paid ads. (Listen to episode 130 to hear about how paid ads helped me have my biggest launch ever earlier this year). If I could use ads effectively to sell my teacher tee subscription, that would eliminate the need to do a lot of LIVEs, send a ton of emails, and do all my usual launch activities. So, what exactly would this “lazy launch” look like? I needed a plan.
Instead of an intense launch, I decided to run a two-week lazy launch.
I created an Early Bird Bonus/Launch Bonus but made it good for the entire two weeks.
Week One
Started ads and made an announcement post
Posted once a day.
Week Two
Did 1 LIVE
Sent 2 emails
Posted for the last 4 days
My results? I closed cart with 201 subscribers. I doubled my subscription with minimal effort! What did it take to double my subscriber count?
Launch Bonus
New, Cute T-Shirt Design
Ad Spend - $2000
When I looked at the data - and you should ALWAYS look at the data, I discovered some interesting things:
92% of the traffic I sent to the sales page came from Facebook Ads.
78% of all my new subscribers came directly from Facebook Ads.
For 82% of my subscribers, this was their first purchase from me.
The biggest eye-opener for me? On average, I get 200-300 views on my Tees 4 Teachers sales page. When I ran paid ads for this “lazy launch,” I 10X’d those views and my conversion rate was the same - 3%.
3% of 300 views is 9 new members.
3% of 3000 views is 90 new members.
My advice for you, especially if you’re facing a subscription with dwindling numbers?
When you NEED to launch, launch!
Figure out what you have the capacity for and make it work.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you do need to take action.
Don’t just wing it - create a plan and work that plan!
Join me for this episode as I walk you through how I doubled my dwindling subscription with a lazy launch! Want to learn more about paid ads? There is so much more inside Launch Your Box. We’ve got several different trainings, including a brand new training this month on how to set up a Page Like Ad so you can start growing your following. Look for it in the Training Library under Building Your Audience. I also cover my subscription box ads strategy in a brand new bonus lesson inside the Launch Your Box training library. You’ll go behind the scenes of my launch and see what I did, what I spent, and the actual ads I was running for that launch. Of course, I break down all my results in detail. Are you ready to join Launch Your Box? Text me the word LAUNCH to 940-204-0023 and I’ll send you a special invitation!
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
“If you don’t have an ads budget, you still have a hobby business.” - Sarah Williams Are paid ads part of your subscription box marketing strategy? If not, why not? You might be wondering if paid ads are worth it. Or you might be where I was in the early days of my business, worried about where you’re spending money and not understanding the value of running paid ads. Subscription box owners - especially new subscription box owners - hesitate to use paid ads for many reasons.
They don’t understand the ROI from paid ads. Successful ads don’t always result in sales.
They lack the knowledge to set up and run an ad campaign.
They’re focusing only on organic growth strategies like SEO, content, and word of mouth.
They fear failure - they may be uncertain of their goals or not know how to measure results.
I first used paid ads when I realized I needed to do something else to grow outside of my local area. Organic traffic wasn’t enough. I had a great local business and my subscription box had grown - to a point. But almost all of my business came from local customers. In order to grow, I needed to run ads. Within just six months, the 3,000 followers it had taken me 4-5 years to gain had grown to 7,000 and I was getting subscribers from all over the country. Paid ads are such an important part of launching and growing a subscription box business. If you want to grow, you need to continue to drive traffic - new traffic - to your content. I’m challenging you to consider running paid ads. And I’m sharing actual data from my three recent launches and paid ads strategy to help you understand why you need to run paid ads.
It’s time to take action. 1. Determine your budget.
No matter how small, you have to start somewhere!
If you’re currently selling products or services, use the 8-10% rule.
If you’re not selling products and are on a limited budget, start with $150/month ($5/day) and increase it as you start selling products.
- Create an Ads Strategy
Drive traffic to your site? Convert to subscribers? Build your list? Build your following?
You should have a solid ad strategy for the different stages and seasons of business you are in.
- Test and Try
Join me for this episode as we talk all about paid ads. Are they worth it? Do they really make a difference? I answer those questions and share my paid ads results from my recent launches. There’s a lot to talk about in this episode. Grab your earbuds and come join me!
Want to learn more about paid ads? There is so much more inside Launch Your Box. We’ve got several different trainings, including a brand new training this month on how to set up a Page Like Ad so you can start growing your following. And I cover my subscription box ads strategy in a brand new bonus lesson inside the Launch Your Box training library. You’ll go behind the scenes of my launch and see what I did, what I spent, and the actual ads I was running for that launch. Of course, I break down all my results in detail. Are you ready to join Launch Your Box? Text me the word LAUNCH to 940-204-0023 and I’ll send you a special invitation!
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
“You have to have one subscriber before you can have ten.” - Amy Green I’m excited to bring you this interview with a member of my Mastermind, Amy Green of Amy and Art. Amy’s journey to subscription box success has many twists and turns, wins and losses, and lessons learned. By never giving up, being open to trying new things, and finding the right coach and community to support her, Amy found the courage to do it her way. Amy Green is many things, among them a wife and special needs mom, a former teacher, and a lifelong entrepreneur. Amy’s past businesses included a seriously successful food blog with 190,000 social media followers and a dog-walking business with more than 400 clients! She also partnered with her husband to start a construction business. Amy knows how to get things done. Her oldest son’s special needs meant Amy needed to build a business that worked for her family. She turned to her love of art for the answer. Armed with a new laser cutter and an idea, Amy started a business creating wood cut-outs and tier tray decor. She sold them on Etsy until she realized Etsy didn’t let her do one very important thing - build her own email list. Amy had a large following from her days as a blogger. The problem? They weren’t the right followers for her new business. So, Amy moved her business over to Shopify and got serious about list building. When Amy decided to add a subscription box to her business, she found Launch Your Box and then also joined my Mastermind. She soaked in all the trainings and knew exactly how I teach my students to launch. There was only one problem… Amy simply didn’t have the capacity to do a launch exactly the way I teach it. Her family life didn’t allow for it. After we talked it through, Amy decided to launch anyway - to do what she could. What matters is getting it out there. Don’t wait for things to be perfect. Be willing to launch messy and then clean it up as you go. That’s what Amy did. That first launch she focused on sending emails and posting on social media. She wasn’t sure she could fit in going LIVE - but she did. Those LIVEs were short and sweet because that’s what she could do, but they allowed her to connect with her audience. That first launch - the one where Amy hoped for 10 subscribers - ended with 32 subscribers. The next time she launched, a few months later, Amy was able to put more of the launch pieces in place. That launch ended with 100 subscribers! Not only does Amy provide her subscribers with a curated DIY tier-tray box every month, she also provides them with a community to belong to. Amy’s community of subscribers allows them to feel seen, heard, and valued. It surprised Amy how much that means to them - and how much it has come to mean to her. Amy got out of her own way, launched her subscription box, and continues to grow. She did this by:
Taking actionable, measurable steps
Finding support and accountability inside Launch Your Box & my Mastermind
Focusing on list-building and audience-building efforts
Collaborating with other subscription box owners
Join me for this episode and let Amy’s story of doing things her way and building a true community of 100 subscribers inspire you to get out of your own way and take the next big step in your subscription box business journey. Find and follow Amy:
Amy and Art on Instagram
Amy and Art on Facebook
Amy and Art on TikTok
Amy and Art Website
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
Have you thought about adding affiliate marketing to your subscription box business but you’re not sure where to start? Are you wondering where to find good affiliates and how to manage them on the back end? This episode is for you! Today we’re diving into all things affiliate marketing for your subscription box business. I’ll explain how affiliate marketing can significantly boost your revenue, expand your customer base, and strengthen your subscription box brand. Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where brands reward individuals (affiliates) for marketing or driving traffic and sales to their services or products, including subscription boxes. This type of marketing is a win/win for both the brand and the affiliate. Wondering how affiliate marketing works? A subscription box owner creates an incentive (one-time or recurring) and generates specific links or codes for each affiliate to allow for accurate tracking. Each affiliate promotes that subscription box owner’s box on their own platforms to their own audiences. For every action taken (i.e., subscribing) the affiliate is paid the incentive. To get started:
Identify what makes a good affiliate for your brand
Clearly define your ideal customer and niche and use affiliates who have the same person in their audience.
Make sure any potential affiliate aligns with your beliefs and morals.
Finding potential affiliates
Start with your subscribers - do any of them already have a following?
Look at influencers who have the same ideal customer - bloggers, YouTubers, TikTokers, other content creators.
Follow them, like and comment on their content, start building a relationship before approaching them about being an affiliate.
Build an affiliate program that is a win/win for both parties
Define your commission structure. Options include:
Recurring revenue share - what % of your profit?
One time payment upon sign up.
Set up affiliate software - I use Affiliately - and set up a payment schedule.
Create assets for affiliates - make it easy for them to promote!
Email swipe files
Graphics with different formats
Social media captions
Schedules and timelines
Send links regularly
Affiliate marketing is an important part of my subscription box marketing strategy. In fact, in my recent launch (which happens to be my biggest launch ever), 22% of all sales came from my 5 affiliates! Join me for this episode as I walk you through how to use affiliate marketing in your subscription box business. Whether you’re a new subscription box entrepreneur or a seasoned pro, I have actionable takeaways for you!
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
I’m excited to bring you this interview with my good friend Cindy Manly of Art Shattered. Cindy has a successful membership with over 1200 members and has been selling one-time art supply kits for the past few years. If you’ve been selling one-time boxes and are wondering if a subscription is for you, you’re going to want to hear Cindy’s story! Cindy is an artist who specializes in glass and resin art. She makes beautiful, unique pieces of 3-D art that her followers LOVE. She also teaches her followers how to create their own art through her online membership. Cindy started her membership in 2018 and now has over 1200 members. When some of Cindy’s members started asking where to get the supplies they needed to create the pieces she was teaching - and others mentioned they were having a hard time finding the right supplies - she started selling one-off kits. Every time she offered up a kit for sale, she sold out. When she offered kits during her membership pre-launch, she sold 800 full kits and 500 partial kits. Cindy and I have been friends for several years and I’ve been telling her almost that long that she needed to start a subscription box. She resisted the idea for a long time. But after selling 1300 kits during her pre-launch, she was convinced. Armed with the launch plan she learned inside Launch Your Box and as a member of my Mastermind and backed by her audience of raving fans, Cindy launched her subscription box in June. The result? She sold out of all 500 available spots in her quarterly subscription! And she used four strategies to do it.
Urgency - Cindy opened the subscription only to her online membership for 48 hours.
Waitlist - Cindy then opened up to members of the waitlist she’d been growing for three weeks leading up to the launch.
Early Bird Bonus
Engaging her audience - on her last LIVE, Cindy added names on post-it notes to her wall of subscribers.
Cindy originally wanted to only plan for 200 boxes, but I convinced her she could absolutely do more. And she did! She’s also an absolute genius who packed her subscription boxes ahead of time and had them ready to ship BEFORE she launched! That meant when she was exhausted from her launch - and if you do it right, you will be exhausted - Cindy headed straight to the beach! 500 subscribers means additional financial security for Cindy, the satisfaction of knowing she is serving her loyal audience in yet another way, and steady employment for her team. I can’t wait to watch Cindy’s subscription box continue to grow. Join me for this episode as Cindy walks us through her journey of moving from offering one-time boxes to launching a subscription box and welcoming 500 new subscribers. Find and follow Cindy:
Art Shattered on Instagram
Art Shattered on Facebook
Art Shattered Website
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
Today’s episode is a little different. Instead of interviewing a subscription box owner from Launch Your Box or sharing tactics and strategies to help you make progress in your own subscription box business, I’m sharing a different kind of journey. The journey of becoming an author.
I never dreamed of writing a book. It wasn’t something that was on my bucket list. It really wasn’t something I’d ever given any thought to. So imagine my surprise when I found myself in the middle of a conversation with high-level people in the online entrepreneur space and best-selling authors telling me I should write a book. And then being offered a book deal by the CEO of a major publishing company.
I often tell my coaching students how important it is to put yourself in the room. To quiet self-doubt and believe they are worthy of opportunities. I still have to tell myself this. I did before walking into that room full of people more successful than I am. And I sure did have to tell myself this - over and over again - during the process of writing this book.
Writing a book isn’t easy. It’s actually really, really hard. Starting with putting together a solid book proposal all the way through working with the publisher’s art department to design a book cover I loved. All of it was hard.
This book isn’t about me. Not really. Instead, it’s a book about my business and my students. Because a book about starting a subscription box business wouldn’t be complete without the stories of my amazing students.
Each chapter focuses on a certain aspect of starting, launching, or growing a subscription box business. And each chapter has three parts:
My story
An action you need to take
One of my student’s stories
I didn’t write this book alone. I had a team supporting me and guiding me through this totally new world. Writers, editors, artists. We all worked together to produce a book I am SO proud of.
One Box at a Time is about building a business you can be proud of. And it’s scheduled to be published on November 14th. I can’t wait to share it with you soon.
Join me for this episode as I walk you through all that went into writing my first book and why I’m so excited to share it with all of you.
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
How many different ways do you do an unboxing for your subscription box every month? Would it surprise you to learn there are FIVE different ways you can do an unboxing… every month? My box opening checklist makes it easy! Building connections. Creating excitement and FOMO. Growing your waitlist. Gaining new subscribers. There are so many reasons you need to make a monthly unboxing part of your subscription box marketing strategy. You know the why, let’s talk about the how. How can you do a monthly unboxing FIVE different ways every month? Simply follow this checklist.
Live Unboxing - this is a MUST. Turn on the camera, invite your followers and subscribers, and take them through the box. Don’t overcomplicate it:
Set the date
Set the stage
State your hook
Encourage engagement early
Tell the story of the box (your curation process)
Show each piece and how it ties to the next
Give the audience a call to action (subscribe, join the waitlist, grab one of the extra pieces)
Email Unboxing - using the same content you just created for the LIVE.
Blog Unboxing - turn the email unboxing into a blog post.
Short Video Unboxing - while taking pictures for social media, the blog, and the email, shoot a boxing or unboxing video
Use on Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Pinterest, etc.
Story Slide Unboxing - create three-five slides to use in picture stories. If you’re not currently doing a monthly unboxing, don’t try to start doing all five. Instead, start with one or two - but the LIVE is a must do! If you are already doing a monthly LIVE unboxing, start layering in a couple more unboxings until you work your way up to doing all five. It’s not about being overwhelmed, it’s about making progress. And when you do these monthly unboxings, I have three tips for you to keep in mind: Always invite your subscribers - specifically to your LIVE unboxings.
It’s a connection point.
They provide instant social proof.
They’ll love to show up with you and share their excitement!
Always give a sneak peek of the next month’s box.
Create excitement and anticipation.
Give subscribers a reason to show up to the LIVE.
Always have a call to action.
Join now.
Get on the waitlist.
Join me for this episode as I walk you through five ways you can do a monthly unboxing - and connect with your audience - every month. Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
During this special episode, you’ll meet and be inspired by Launch Your Box member Michon Shaw. It’s not only her journey to starting and launching a subscription box that inspires, but her positive outlook and joy-filled dedication to her community. Michon has built a successful career around her passion for American Sign Language (ASL). She is an ASL interpreter herself as well as a professor who teaches ASL students to become interpreters. In addition to working a full-time corporate job, Michon also started a company dedicated to providing interpreting services and celebrating ASL interpreters: Interpret Educate Serve (IES). Michon has a special passion for increasing the number of underrepresented interpreters and celebrating Black and Brown ASL interpreters. This passion led to her designing her first t-shirt, which she brought to the National Black Deaf Advocates Conference. She sold out her stock in just five minutes. This experience opened Michon’s eyes to the fact that this niche was not being served. And that she could serve them by supporting and celebrating them. She added apparel and merchandise as the second part of her business. It was during Coaching Week of 2021 that Michon first saw the possibility of adding a subscription box to her business. She wanted to provide a special experience for ASL interpreters with items for them to use and wear to increase awareness of and celebrate their profession. Michon joined Launch Your Box, dug into the training, took what she learned, and implemented it. She launched with 12 subscribers and has slowly and steadily built her subscriber base. She added the TerpTee-shirt club and also offers a box specifically for interpreting students. Michon’s biggest challenge to growing her subscription box business is TIME. She is a seriously busy woman! But her passion for the community she serves means she makes the time. Join me for this episode to meet Michon and be inspired by her energy, passion, and positivity. Learn how she took her passion and turned it into a business and how you can, too. Find and follow Michon:
The Interpreter Box on Instagram
The Interpreter Box on Facebook
The Interpreter Box Website
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
I’m excited to bring you this interview with Kevin Tighe, co-founder and CEO of Beachly Brands recorded LIVE at SubSummit. Beachly Brands currently has three successful subscriptions, but I asked Kevin to take us back to the beginning of his subscription box journey. The first lesson Kevin wanted to share with you is that we all have failures. He did, I have, and you will. After Kevin experienced a failure, he spent some time in Hawaii reconnecting with what he loves - the beach and surfing. This love for the beach and outdoor life sparked what turned into an idea for a subscription box. Kevin’s first box was for men. The box went through some iterations as they refined their audience and the contents of the box. Over time, it grew into a successful subscription box. Then Kevin and his team decided to add another box, a beach apparel and accessories box for women. Kevin asked his friends to model the items and took the photos himself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than good enough. Kevin did what needed to be done to get that women’s box launched. The result? 1,000 subscribers in the first week! And today they have 25,000 subscribers! The third box came from a desire to add a lower-priced box that would not compete with the women’s box. A beauty product box featuring natural, cruelty-free products was the answer. Kevin and his team have learned a LOT through their subscription box journey. You don’t get to 25,000 subscribers without gaining knowledge, solving problems, and learning from failures. I asked Kevin to share some advice for subscription box owners, especially those in the early stages of business. His tips included:
Understand the core functions of your business. You may hire team members to take over certain tasks, but you need to have that knowledge.
Be strategic - look at where your time is best spent today. If you’re spending all of your time answering customer service emails or packing boxes, you don’t have the time to do the things that will make your business grow.
Understand your numbers. When it comes to your business, you need to be a numbers person.
Join me for this episode as Kevin and I talk about his journey from 300 to 25,000 subscribers, what’s next for Beachly Brands, and his advice for new subscription box owners. Find and follow Kevin:
Beachly on Instagram
Beachly on Facebook
Beachly Website
Kevin on Linked In
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” - Henry Ford. You’ve dreamed about starting a subscription box and now you’re ready to take action and start making those dreams come true. So where should you start? It’s easy to get caught up in the fun parts - products and packaging. And you absolutely need those in place, but spending too much time designing custom boxes or sourcing products for future boxes takes time away from what you need to be doing right now. If you’re just getting started, make sure to go through my FREE 6 in 60 Workshop where you’ll curate six months' worth of boxes for your ideal customer. This workshop guides you through getting clear about who your ideal customer is and the type of experience you want to provide for them. Then it’s time to move on to the four areas where you need to focus your time and energy now. Audience building - soooo important.
Start yesterday!
Serve before selling - Listen to episodes 33 and 45!!
Not easy, but necessary!
Create awareness of who you are and what you sell.
Emails, texts, posts, stories, short videos, LIVES, paid Ads
Marketing
Website
Payment processor
Shipping software
CRM - email platform
Tech - you need four things in place.
We tell ourselves we can’t do something more often than we tell ourselves we can.
Believe in abundance.
Embrace your imperfections.
Operate with a glass-half-full mentality.
Mindset - the MOST important! Are you ready to get started on turning your subscription box dreams into reality? In today’s episode, I talk about the four areas you need to focus your time and energy FIRST. Now is the time to “think you can!” Come listen! Important Links:
6 in 60 Workshop
Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 33
Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 45
Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
What would an extra $1000 every month mean to you and your family? Inflation. Waiting for a raise that might not happen. So many people are looking for ways to earn extra income right now. Today I’m talking about how a subscription box side hustle could bring an extra $1000 a month to your family - with only 50 subscribers. A subscription box business can be a full-time business. But it doesn’t have to be. Many members of Launch Your Box have full-time, 9-5 style jobs and successful subscription box side hustles. They are nurse practitioners, teachers, certified registered nurse anesthetists, hair stylists, realtors, dentists, and more. They’re also subscription box owners who bring in additional income with their side hustles. You can, too! Let’s do the math. If you have 50 subscribers and make $20 of profit per box, that’s an extra $1000 going into your bank account every month. Of course, it’s going to take time and effort to get there. But following these six steps will have you well on your way to a successful subscription box side hustle. Identify what you like or have an interest in.
Make sure it’s something you’re good at or have expertise in.
You have to be passionate about the subject matter or it won’t last!
Don’t try to be like anyone else - YOU will set your subscription box apart.
Ask yourself if there are other people around you with the same interest.
That’s the audience you need to build!
Where can you find more of those people?
Where do they hang out online?
Start a social media account(s) on the platforms where your people hang out.
Start sharing videos, posts, etc.
Ask your friends to like your page and share it with their friends.
Make sure you’re speaking the language of the person you are trying to attract. Messaging matters!
Run a giveaway.
Use Kingsumo (it’s FREE!)
The prize needs to be a box just like what you want to sell.
Capture emails for those who enter your giveaway and start building your email list.
Introduce the idea for the box to your audience.
Get their feedback and have them help you make decisions.
You want their buy-in to validate your concept.
Niche down if needed.
Set a launch date and a goal.
Create excitement and generate buzz.
Get your new audience excited about the upcoming box!
Engaging your audience is key at every stage of your subscription box journey, whether it’s your full-time gig or a side hustle. Continue to ask for feedback as you grow. Maintain an ongoing focus on audience building and keep serving your audience!
Join me for this episode as I talk about why a subscription box side hustle might be right for you and the six steps you need to take in order to make yours a success. The kind of success that means significant additional income - every month! Important Links:
6 in 60 Workshop - Sarah’s Method for Curating 6 Subscription Boxes in 60 Minutes Join me in all the places:
Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams
What one thing can you do in your business every single day that would help you be the most successful? Work to build and grow your email list!
If you’re not replenishing the pool of people you’re selling to, you won’t be able to grow your business the way you want to. Growing your email list gets new, fresh eyes on your stuff. It allows you to present your offer to new people. And that allows you to grow.
One of my main goals for my business in 2023 is to double the size of my email list. I challenged the ladies in my Elevate Mastermind to make growing their lists one of their goals for 2023 and now I’m challenging you to do the same thing.
List-building activities need to be at work in your business every day. I’m sharing ten different ways you can build your email list. And no, you don’t need to do all of them at once.
- Add a pop-up on your website - have a pop-up at work on your site at all times capturing email addresses.
- Create an opt-in on your website with a way to serve your audience - give them more information about something (box opening with a freebie or additional information like a style guide, a free printable to go with your home decor box, a checklist to go with a beach themed box, tips about caring for your pet for a pet box, etc.) Think about the industry you’re in and what you can provide to serve your audience.
- Run a giveaway - a great way to build your list when you’re new and as a quarterly list-building strategy for seasoned box owners.
- Post a lead magnet on social media and run ads to it - pulling people in and onto your list. (ebooks, checklists, gift with purchase, etc.)
- Add an email opt-in at checkout - capture people who buy from you but may not be on your list.
- Create a fun quiz that requires an email address to get results - make it something your audience will want to share!
- Offer a discount or free gift - use this carefully to prevent training people to only shop with you when there is a sale or a discount.
- Host an event or workshop - free or low-dollar offer. Works great for DIYers or crafters.
- Tease sneak peeks or exclusive behind the scenes content with opt-ins - early access gives feelings of fun and exclusivity.
- Get in front of new audiences - collaborate with other brands, businesses, and influences who have the same customer but sell different items for a joint giveaway or a way to serve each other’s audiences.
Note: Make it clear to people that they will be receiving emails from you when they provide their email addresses.
Pick one thing to work on right now. Get that going and then add in another strategy. The more of these you do, the more people you’ll reach and the more people you’ll add to your email list.
Join me for this episode where I challenge you to grow your business by growing your email list this year and give you 10 simple ways to do it!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Email marketing needs to be part of your audience building strategy.” - Sarah Williams
You know social media is an important part of audience building. You’re showing up consistently, creating engaging posts and reels, connecting with your followers. But… How often are you sending emails to your email list?
Just as important as your social media (and maybe even more important) is your email list. You own your email list. Unlike your social media accounts, you can’t get locked out or hacked. Your email list won’t suddenly disappear.
It’s time to treat your email list like the valuable asset it is and talk to the people on it. They’ve opted in, they’ve told you they want to learn more about you and what you offer. Give them what they want!
You should be emailing your list at least once a week. But what should you put in those emails?
Don’t let not knowing what to say in those emails get in the way of connecting with and nurturing your email list. Here are FIVE types of emails all subscription box owners can send to their lists:
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Monthly Unboxing - connect with subscribers, create excitement for them and FOMO for non-subscribers!
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Subscriber Shares - create excitement and FOMO when you share pictures, messages, and comments from subscribers telling you how much they loved this month’s box.
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5 Ways to Use Your Box - encourage subscribers to consume the contents of the box. So important!
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Sneak Peek - get your subscribers excited about the next box and let non-subscribers see what they’re missing out on - more FOMO!
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Behind the Scenes - your audience LOVES getting a peek behind the scenes of your business! Take them along as you design or make products or even pack boxes.
Choose one of these emails to send to your email list each week. I’ve given you five - that means most months, you’ll even have a spare. Put your email list to work for you - connect with your audience and nurture them.
Join me for this episode where I talk to you about the importance of emailing your list once a week and answer the question every subscription box owner asks, “But what do I put in those weekly emails?”
Resources from this episode:
Grab my swipe files of ALL five types of emails HERE!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“SEO doesn’t have any fuel without content.” - Sarah Williams
How do you get your stuff in front of people right when they’re looking for it? The answer, in part, is SEO. I brought a special guest to the podcast to talk about how and why to create SEO content for our subscription box businesses.
Crystal Waddell is an e-commerce seller and content creator. She’s also one of the hosts of The Smart and Simple SEO Show, a podcast that does its best to make SEO easy for online entrepreneurs to understand and implement.
We discussed the importance of not just creating content, but creating good, relevant content. Content that serves your audience.
Get clear on your answer to the question, “What do I want to be known for?” and then create content that allows you to be your own best advocate. Your goal is to create content for your ideal customer before they need you so that when they’re ready to buy, you’re the obvious choice.
So what kind of content do you need to create in order to optimize SEO on your website? Blogs are a great way to establish your authority and serve your customer. But they’re not the only way. Other types of SEO friendly content include:
- YouTube Videos
- How to Guides or Tutorials
- Checklists
- Customer Testimonials or Reviews
- Product Descriptions
- Image File Names
Remember, when it comes to SEO, every word counts. Make sure you’re using words that make it clear who you are, what you sell, and who you’re for!
The smartest place to put your content is on your own website - after all, that’s where you want your audience to end up - followed by evergreen platforms like Pinterest. Did you know that Pinterest is my #2 source of traffic for my retail business?
Join me for this episode where Crystal and I talk about how you can use content to drive SEO traffic to your website and she reveals which keyword planner is her favorite.
Tools and Resources Crystal Mentioned:
Surfer SEO
Find and follow Crystal:
- The Simple and Smart SEO Podcast
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Do you think growing your subscription means spending tons of money on ads? It doesn’t need to be that way! There are so many low and even no-cost ways to market and grow your subscription box business.
The bottom line? You can’t rely on just one marketing channel or strategy. You need to build a multi-channel marketing plan, layering one type of marketing on top of another. Don’t worry - building this plan doesn’t have to be time-consuming or costly.
I’m sharing seven cost-effective ways to market your subscription box business. But I don’t want you to try to implement all of them at the same time! If you’re just getting started, choose one, get consistent with it and then layer on another. If you’re already doing one or more of these, choose another one to add to your marketing plan.
- Leverage social media.
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- These accounts are FREE.
- Figure out where your ideal customer is and start there.
- Have FUN with it. Get social - serve and engage with your audience.
- Partner with micro-influencers in your space.
- Offering affiliate commissions is super cost-effective - you don’t pay them unless they sell something for you.
- Influencer or affiliate marketing.
- Very inexpensive.
- Still a very effective way to reach your audience.
- How will you get people onto your email list?
- How will you market to them once they’re on your list?
- Email marketing.
- Create valuable content to attract your ideal person.
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- Blogs, videos, eBooks, etc.
- Content marketing.
- Word of mouth is so powerful!
- Customer reviews.
- Where does your ideal customer go? Farmers Markets, expos, shopping events, etc.
- In person events.
- It’s not about the stuff - it’s about the people.
- A strong community creates raving fans - the kind that market your subscription for you!
- Build an online community.
Take one of these ideas and build it into your routine. Get comfortable and consistent with it. Then layer in another strategy. Continue to grow your audience, reach more of the right people, and ultimately gain new subscribers.
You can’t rely on one marketing channel or strategy. And you don’t need to spend a lot of money on ads to market effectively. Join me for this episode as I take you through seven cost-effective ways to market your subscription box.
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I have a special episode for you today! Cheryl Ham is a long-time member of Launch Your Box, an OG member of Scale Your Box, and the founder of the wildly successful Yarnable subscription box. She’s here today to catch us up on all that’s happened in her business since her last visit to the podcast almost two years ago.
Cheryl’s business started as more of a hobby. She had a full-time career and a love for all things knitting and yarn, especially hand-dyed yarn. She became an independent yarn dyer with no formal training and no business training. Cheryl launched her subscription in 2019 but struggled to grow. Then she found and joined Launch Your Box.
When Cheryl launched again, following the teachings inside Launch Your Box, she doubled the size of her business within days. And it just kept growing. It exploded, really. Cheryl’s next launch saw her gain 400 subscribers in only 24 hours. She blew past the 1,000 subscriber mark and ended that launch at 1,100 subscribers!
Cheryl’s challenge quickly became how to manage the incredible growth of her business. How to scale in a way that was manageable. She needed to hire and she needed space - badly. But it took so much of her time and effort just to keep up with her subscriptions that she couldn’t seem to make the changes that needed to be made. This is right about the time Cheryl joined the beta version of my Scale Your Box course. She knew she needed help - and she knew where to go to get it!
I’m happy and Cheryl’s happy to share that she did make those necessary changes. Cheryl now has a team of people working with her - and that team makes it possible for her to work only four days a week and to end those days by 2:30 in the afternoon. Oh, and they’re doing all this work in a new space. A space that allows them to be efficient.
Cheryl shared the challenges and opportunities of 2021 and the very different challenges and opportunities of 2022. She and her family have moved into their dream house and are living their dream life, so much of which is thanks to Cheryl’s subscription box business.
Cheryl credits Scale Your Box with helping her see which pieces of her business strategy were lacking, how to beef them up, and how all the moving parts need to work together as she scales! Cheryl is joining me again this year for another round of Scale Your Box and I can’t wait to see where she’s going to take her business next!
Join me for this episode as Cheryl shares her journey, the ups and downs of amazing business growth, and why she’s coming back for another round of Scale Your Box.
Catch the early parts of Cheryl’s story on episode 16 of the Launch Your Box podcast.
Find and follow Cheryl:
- Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram
- Hypnotic Yarn on Facebook
- Hypnotic Yarn on YouTube
- Hypnotic Yarn Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“20% of your customer base generates 80% of your revenue.” - Sarah Williams
Identifying your ideal customer is not something you do once. It’s something you need to tweak and get clearer about in your business on a daily basis. In this episode, I’m talking about how to figure out who the 20% of your customers are who are responsible for 80% of your revenue and why you should focus all of your efforts on them. Oh… and one other thing. Stop trying to please everyone!
When you try to please everyone, you dilute your focus. Instead of spending your time and energy on what you know works for your most loyal customers - the ones who buy from you every day - you spend time, energy, and money trying to satisfy one-off requests from customers who are not your ideal person.
If you’re just getting started and even if you’ve been in business for a while, you might have an idea of who your ideal customer is, but you’re probably not sure. Start by asking yourself questions about your ideal customer and get as specific as possible with your answers.
- Who is your ideal customer? Start with the basics.
- Where does your ideal customer live?
- What are your ideal customer’s interests?
- What are your ideal customer’s challenges or pain points?
Nail down the basics and then get more specific. Is your ideal customer “a mom” or “a mom of preschoolers who works outside the home and wants to provide quick, easy, and healthy meals to her family?” It is much easier for me to speak to “a mom” when I know who she is and what her pain points are!
Once you get a good picture of who your ideal customer is, it’s time to talk about how to get them into your world and build the know-like-trust factor that makes them want to buy from you. Get to know your ideal customer and let them get to know you by:
- Hanging out in common Facebook groups offering advice and engaging in conversations.
- Speak their language in your posts, videos, and emails.
- Target their interests in your social media advertising.
- Serve before you sell. This is SO important. Provide value without asking for money.
This month inside Launch Your Box, we’re talking all about SEO and how it can help your subscription box business grow. The purpose of SEO is to help the right people find you online. The more we can niche down, the more completely we define who our ideal customer is, the better we can be at messaging, copy, and SEO.
Join me for this episode as I talk about how and why niching down your ideal customer can improve your visibility and increase your revenue!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’ve got some star power for you on this episode of the Launch Your Box podcast! Lauren Jacobs, a.k.a The Cheerful Baker, is a member of Launch Your Box and the creator and curator of a successful cookie decorating subscription box. She’s also one of the stars of a recent episode of The Christmas Cookie Challenge on The Food Network!
There is so much to love about Lauren’s story and how she went from being a mom and art teacher who loved to bake cookies for her children’s classmates and friends to a full-time entrepreneur who designs and produces her own cookie cutters, an online and in-person cookie decorating instructor, and a successful subscription box owner. Oh, and there’s the whole competing on a cookie decorating competition on The Food Network thing, which is of course the holy grail of any cook or baker.
I talk a lot about the importance of knowing your why, keeping your why in mind as you start, launch, and grow your subscription box business, and sharing your why with your audience. Lauren does all of that. Her why is part of what makes her story special and it will speak to the heart of any parent who has had a child who struggles in school.
Lauren also shared how she used short videos to build and engage with her audience. She understood early the power video would have in helping her stand out from all the other cookie decorators on Instagram. By maintaining a strong focus on her why and the needs of her audience, Lauren’s subscription box business grew quickly and continues to grow.
I wanted to know all the things about her Food Network experience. How she got chosen, behind the scenes secrets, and how being on the Food Network affected her business. You’ll be as fascinated as I was by how it all came to be - and you’ll laugh as hard as I did about what Lauren shared during her initial interview.
Lauren’s plans for 2023 include continuing to grow her subscription - her goal is to double her current number of subscribers and I have no doubt she’ll do that and more!
Join me for this episode as Lauren shares her inspirational journey from mom and art teacher to successful entrepreneur with a quick stop off at the Food Network!
Find and follow Lauren:
- The Cheerful Baker on Instagram
- The Cheerful Baker on Facebook
- The Cheerful Baker Website
- The Cheerful Baker on YouTube
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you launched your subscription box but found yourself struggling to grow? Launching your subscription box is a HUGE milestone. Celebrate that! The next HUGE milestone for so many of my members is reaching 100 subscribers. Some - those with large, engaged audiences - do this during their first launch. Most don’t. I didn’t.
Growing your subscription box to 100 subscribers and beyond takes time. It’s important to give yourself grace and time to get there while still staying focused and holding yourself accountable.
Inside Launch Your Box, I walk my members through what it takes to get their subscription boxes launched. But the launch is not the end. There is more work to do to keep it going - and growing - each month. Which is why we talk about much more than just launching inside LYB.
- It’s constant curation. Keeping up with trends and what your subscribers want.
- It’s constant marketing. Getting yourself out there and in front of new people consistently.
- It’s constant retention. So many subscription box owners make the mistake of focusing only on the acquisition of new subscribers, losing sight of the subscribers they already have.
Focusing on these three things should drive your business and create long-term recurring revenue.
So, what got me to my first 100 subscribers and what should you do to get to yours?
- Don’t stop talking about your subscription box.
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- You think everyone has seen it. They haven’t.
- You think you’re talking about it enough. You’re not.
- Inside the Launch Your Box Training Library - in the Marketing Module - you’ll find a Subscription Box Social Media resource with posting ideas for EVERY day of the month!
-
- Not an LYB member yet? Text LAUNCH to 940-204-0023 for a link to join!
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Engage. Consistently.
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- Be social before and after the sale.
- Retention is a HUGE part of growth - make sure you’re engaging with your subscribers, letting them know how much you appreciate them.
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- Your excitement is contagious.
- Create FOMO for those not signed up!
- Create connections with and for your subscribers.
- I don’t recommend private Facebook groups for our subscriptions - you lose a valuable opportunity to create FOMO.
- Create value - it’s not always about the stuff.
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- What makes you different and unique?
- Why should someone buy from you and not a big box store?
- Curate the experience your subscribers are looking for - the experience they can’t get from big box stores or even big box subscriptions.
Everyone can do these simple things to grow their subscriptions. Your launch is only the beginning.
When you’re ready to take your subscription box to the next level, when you’re ready to go deeper… you’re ready for my Scale Your Box course. There’s so much to scaling your box - so many things you can do to grow your business in a manageable, profitable way.
Join me for this episode where I talk you through what it takes to get you to your first 100 subscribers and beyond!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Did you know the subscription box industry reached 22.7 Billion dollars in revenue at the end of 2021? And it’s expected to more than triple that number by 2027! Why am I telling you this?
Because there IS room for you and your subscription box. If you’ve had your subscription idea for a while, dreaming but not yet doing, make 2023 the year you get it started.
It’s time to stop sitting on the sidelines and start taking action. You CAN get your subscription box up and running this year. And in this episode, I give you five reasons you SHOULD start a subscription box in 2023.
- You don’t have to constantly sell.
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- When I had a physical store, I didn't make any income if I didn’t open my shop and sell things.
- With a subscription, you sell to a subscriber one time and receive payment from them every month.
- Your subscribers will become your biggest fans and will buy most anything you sell.
- With a subscription box, you can create loyal, raving fans!
- This relieves the stress and pressure of buying products you may have to mark down later.
- The product you’re investing in is already sold.
- You get to LOVE what you do. You aren’t just selling stuff, you’re treating people to a carefully curated experience.
- Being passionate about your business helps you continue to show up.
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You get to create a box and subscriber experience you are passionate about.
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You get consistent revenue in your bank account.
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Each month, subscriber payments arrive in your bank account whether or not you show up and sell.
Don’t put your subscription box idea on hold any longer. Learn from Debbie, Launch Your Box member and past guest on the podcast, who let fear hold her back for a long time. When she finally launched her subscription box, magic happened.
It’s time to stop sitting on the sidelines. Join me for this episode and get ready to take action to get your subscription box up and running this year.
Listen to Debbie’s story on episode 22 of the Launch Your Box podcast.
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to the 100th episode of the Launch Your Box podcast!
I talk a lot about consistency on this podcast. And inside Launch Your Box. And on my social media accounts. It’s not because I don’t have anything else to talk about. If you’ve been around at all, you know I talk about all the things. But in so many of “the things,” consistency matters.
I’ve gotten to 100 episodes by showing up every week. That’s right, in 100 episodes - nearly two full years, I’ve never missed a week. And showing up consistently has paid off. We’ve gone from a few hundred downloads a month when we started to tens of thousands of downloads every single month. Consistently getting in front of more people and growing my audience.
Consistency matters. Be consistent in all that you do to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. From social media to email marketing to going LIVE, and more. Be consistent.
To celebrate our 100th episode, I have a special treat for you. I brought on FIVE special guests - all members of my Mastermind - for a little year-end wrap-up.
We’ve all had highs and lows this year. All of us. I have and each of these ladies has, too. They are all super successful subscription box business owners and they joined me to share their successes and challenges from 2022 and their plans and dreams for 2023.
You’re going to LOVE learning more about each of these ladies and their businesses. I know I love every opportunity I have to talk with each of them and having them all together was such a treat!
Join me for this special 100th episode to meet five of my Mastermind ladies and get a peek behind the scenes of their successful subscription box businesses, messy parts and all!
Find and follow Aimee:
- The Snoozzze Box on Instagram
- The Snoozzze Box on Facebook
- The Snoozzze Box Website
Find and follow Whitney & Andrea:
- Cotton Chaos on Instagram
- Cotton Chaos on Facebook
- Cotton Chaos Website
Find and follow Pam:
- From the Heart Art on Instagram
- From the Heart Art on Facebook
- From the Heart Art Website
Find and follow Tracy:
- Miss Tracy Creates on Instagram
- Miss Tracy Creates on Facebook
- Miss Tracy Creates Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you considered starting with a one-thing of the month subscription? You should. Why do I say that? Well, my one-thing of the month subscription is easier to manage and more profitable than my fully curated subscription box. And my one-thing of the month subscription has almost double the number of subscribers as my larger, more expensive box.
When people start thinking about starting a subscription box, they think about a fully curated box. They dream about the experience they’ll provide their subscribers with all the little touches and a box filled with items that complement each other.
But soon, overwhelm sets in. Creating that fully curated experience with all the little touches takes a LOT of work. And all that work and all that overwhelm can turn into not making progress.
Instead of starting with a fully curated box, think about starting with one thing. There are several benefits to starting a one-thing of the month subscription. A one-thing of the month subscription:
- Has the lowest barrier to getting started.
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- Fewer vendors to work with.
- Lower start-up funds.
- Packaging that is simple and the same each month!
- Is easier to fulfill and ship.
- Has the potential for higher profit margins.
Brainstorm what your one item could be by asking yourself:
- What is your best-selling item?
- What do people repeatedly buy?
- What do people constantly ask you for more of?
Your one-thing of the month could be:
- Something fun - a no-frills way for subscribers to treat themselves.
- Something consumable - subscribers never run out!
So many Launch Your Box members have wildly successful one-thing of the month subscriptions. Some of the “one things” their happy subscribers receive include:
- T-shirts
- Candles
- Pizzelles
- Nail polish
- Earrings
- Door hangers
- Washi tape
Start brainstorming what you can turn into a one-thing of the month subscription and move one step closer to launching your subscription.
How does a subscription that’s easier to manage and more profitable sound? Join me for this episode to learn more about why you should consider starting a one-thing of the month subscription.
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Don’t bring that stale inventory into 2023!” - Sarah Williams
Inventory is one of the biggest challenges product-based businesses face. Too much, not enough… and what happens if it doesn’t sell? Now, during this buying season, is the perfect time to liquidate any old or stale inventory you have sitting on your shelves.
One of my favorite ways to move product and get old inventory off my shelves is by selling Mystery Boxes. They’re new, fresh, and fun for your customers and a GREAT way to reduce inventory without putting clearance tags all over everything.
Whether you made a bad buy (been there), overbought for your subscription box (yep, been there, too), or you’ve just had a slower year than last year and need to move some product quickly, Mystery Boxes are a great strategy.
The goal is to get your money back. Don’t focus on making a large profit or even a profit at all. Focus on getting the cash you spent on the items back in your bank account and getting space back on your shelves.
The excitement of a Mystery Box is not knowing what’s inside!
- Mix items from past subscription boxes with items never in boxes.
- Make subscribers aware they might receive something they already have.
- These are not curated experiences like your subscription box. They are filled with items at a great value.
- Create different price points. Choose different size boxes, fill them up, and price them.
These Mystery Boxes won’t all be the same. If you have 20 of one item and 30 of another, you can still make 50 boxes. Just make sure the items you’re putting in the boxes have a similar size and value.
Get excited about these Mystery Boxes and start teasing your audience about a week before you’ll start selling them. Go LIVE, let your audience see how excited you are, and show them one of the boxes and how FULL it is! Talk about the value!
Do you have inventory you need to liquidate? It’s time to let go of old product and start fresh in the new year. Join me for this episode to learn how to create your own Mystery Boxes and start liquidating!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’m so excited to have Katie Eney of The Literary Book Club back on the podcast. I invited her back so she could bring us up to date on the big things that have been happening in her subscription box businesses.
Katie’s quarterly luxury box, The Literary Book Club, focuses on collectible editions of classic books and wrapped page-numbered gifts that accompany the books. She also sells one-time specialty boxes, especially for holidays like Christmas and Halloween. Katie provides a truly incredible experience to her subscribers!
When we first talked, Katie had around 200 subscribers and had hit a point where she didn’t know if she could grow much more because she was doing it all on her own. I encouraged her to try to hire despite job market challenges in her area. That was seven months ago.
Recently, Katie popped into the Launch Your Box group to celebrate hitting 500 subscribers! She more than doubled her subscriber numbers in only seven months! This incredible growth wasn’t due to just one thing. Katie is a learner - and she brings that learner’s mentality to all she does. She is an absolute sponge and takes in all the training I put out - inside Launch Your Box, on this podcast, and more - and then puts it to work in her business.
In order to solve her challenges and grow her business, Katie:
- Hired two team members.
- Signed a lease on a space, getting her business out of her house.
- Focused on social media and generating more content.
- Used influencers to help with word of mouth marketing.
- Offered a one-time, summer box.
Katie had a goal of hitting 400 subscribers in 2022. She met her goal - and then passed it, reaching 500 subscribers in October! Katie’s willingness to try a series of different things led to an overall increase in traffic to her business which led to growth not only in her subscription box but in one-time sales as well.
Join me for this episode as Katie shares the moment she knew she either needed to scale or quit and what she did to grow her business and more than double her subscriber numbers in only seven months.
Learn more about how Katie’s Literary Book Club got started in episode 64 of the Launch Your Box podcast!
Find and follow Katie:
- The Literary Book Club on Instagram
- The Literary Book Club on Facebook
- The Literary Book Club Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Julie Harkin of the Pilot Wives Club on the podcast! Julie is an experienced, successful subscription box owner who decided to find out if something I say all the time is true, “The riches are in the niches.”
Pilot Wives Club wasn’t Julie’s first subscription box. She had a tea towel subscription and 100 subscribers. The subscription was successful - her subscribers loved their towels (they are adorable!) and it was generating recurring revenue. But, it wasn’t growing. It seemed stuck at that 100-subscriber mark. Julie kept thinking about what I often say inside Launch Your Box. The riches are in the niches. Julie realized that as a pilot's wife, she was part of a specific niche. She wondered if that niche might be the answer.
Julie had started a Facebook Group for pilot wives nine years ago. The purpose of the group was simply to offer support and friendship. Over the years, she has served this group and built a community of more than 6,000 members. It was this group Julie decided to curate a subscription box for. She surveyed them and found the interest was there!
Julie launched and sold out her initial 100 spots very quickly. She grew organically for several months before deciding to do a “real launch,” following the process I teach inside Launch Your Box. The result? 140 new subscribers in less than 5 days, bringing her to just under 400 total subscribers!
By niching down and serving people whose needs and wants she understands, Julie has been able to quadruple the subscriber count of her tea towel subscription - in only nine months!
Julie did so many things right in order to get to this level of success so quickly!
- She niched down, choosing a niche she deeply understood and was passionate about serving.
- She surveyed her ICA before she started planning her box.
- After initial success and organic, controlled growth, she planned a “real” launch, showed up, and followed the plan.
Join me for this episode as Julie shares more about what happened when she decided to find out if the riches really are in the niches.
Find and follow Julie:
- Pilot Wives Club on Instagram
- Pilot Wives Club on Facebook
- Pilot Wives Club Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“More emails equals more sales!” - Sarah Williams
We’re more than halfway through the 4th quarter. For product sellers, it’s the busiest time of the year. It’s also our best chance to make some serious revenue. You’re probably feeling tired and maybe even overwhelmed. I’m tired, too. Rest when you can and then get to work. There are some things you can do now that will give your 4th quarter sales a major boost.
We create different types of email content during the first three quarters of the year. Email opt-ins with welcome sequences, weekly newsletters, and emails to share blog posts or podcast episodes. We’re serving our audience by providing value.
The 4th quarter is different. During the 4th quarter, we SERVE our audiences by SELLING. We help them shop. Your customers want to shop — it’s your job to get your products in front of them.
How can you leverage that email list you’ve spent all year building?
- Increase the frequency of your emails.
-
- If you’ve been emailing once a week, send two or three each week. If once a month, send at least one email a week.
- Bestseller of the week
- Top three gifts for teens, moms, dog lovers, etc.
- New items of the week
- Restock alerts
- Facebook LIVE recaps (where you’ve promoted a product)
- Make sure all of your emails are product focused. Serve your customers by solving their “what to get” problem by sharing:
- Eliminate decision fatigue.
- Make it easy for them to buy.
- Don’t give your customers too many options.
- Who is this product for?
- Take an everyday item and make it giftable
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- Show an image of it folded neatly with a bow around it
- Show an image of the product peeking out of a box with a gift tag
- Create gift sets or bundles
- Focus each email on its giftability.
The key to success is not to overthink it. These emails should be short on copy and get right to the point. Include great images and a clear call to action. Follow up your email with social media posts to match and send a text to your text list!
Join me for this episode as I share four simple ways you can leverage email marketing to bring more revenue into your business during the 4th quarter. More emails equals more sales. It’s time to get to work!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Every year for the last five years I’ve sold a Holiday Gift Box. This year was no different. What was different was that my Holiday Gift Box sold out in only four days! And it brought $20,000 in extra revenue into my business.
Should you offer a Holiday Gift Box to your audience? Yes! If you already have a subscription box, you should absolutely offer a Holiday Gift Box. And if you have an audience but haven’t launched your subscription box yet, you should also offer a Holiday Gift Box.
Many members of Launch Your Box have used a Holiday Gift Box for proof of concept before launching. Members like Nicole who launched a one-time holiday box for guinea pig owners. When it was a HUGE hit, she knew she could launch her subscription box with confidence. She now has hundreds and hundreds of monthly subscribers and won a major subscription box industry award earlier this year.
My process for launching a one-time Holiday Gift Box was simple and it started before I had any idea what I was going to put in the box:
- I set up a waitlist page in September.
- I set up a waitlist in my text app in September.
- I built up excitement that my Holiday Gift Box was coming and drove people to the waitlist.
-
- LIVES
- Social posts
- One day before the launch I sent one email to the waitlist and one text to the text waitlist offering them first dibs.
- Launch day started with a LIVE during which I generated feelings of:
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- Scarcity
- Exclusivity
- Urgency
- I started running ads on launch day.
- I sent one email to my entire email list.
- I sent one text to my entire text list.
- I posted twice on social media about the box.
- I changed my Facebook header.
By the end of day one, I had sold over half the boxes.
- On day two, I resent the email to non openers and posted about the boxes on social media twice.
- By day three, I only had 100 boxes left. I sent a last chance email to any non openers who hadn’t purchased and posted on social media once.
- On day four - the last day of the launch - I mentioned the Holiday Gift Box on a LIVE and posted about it once.
I sold out of all my Holiday Gift Boxes on day four! Oh, and I did all of this without having any product in hand.
Join me for this episode as I share what a Holiday Gift Box can do for your business and walk you through my simple, four-day Holiday Gift Box launch plan.
Join me in all the places:
“Record everything!” - Betsy Goodman
I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Betsy Goodman of B Goods Lettering back on the podcast! Betsy was here just about a year ago when she was in the middle of launching her subscription box. A lot has changed since then and Betsy is here today to teach all of us - including me - about one simple thing she did to crush it on Instagram.
Betsy started lettering in 2017. After attending a workshop and having her eyes opened to the possibilities of lettering, Betsy was hooked! She fell in love with all things lettering and started teaching in person and online lettering classes.
Betsy loved the practical applications of lettering and decided to start teaching with an end product in mind instead of just practicing for the sake of practicing. She took this practical approach and turned it into a quarterly subscription box that teaches subscribers lettering while they create something they can use or gift. She launched The Lettering Box in the fall of 2021 with 18 subscribers. A year later, her subscription box has grown to 118 subscribers!
I keep up with my students and check in on their social media from time to time. I did this with Betsy a while ago and was intrigued by what I saw. In a time where everyone is struggling with engagement and growing audiences on social media, Betsy was crushing it on Instagram. Her secret? Her content is exclusively videos. No static posts. None.
Betsy’s videos are beautiful. The majority are very short. Many are simply snippets of her lettering or creating wax seals. Betsy’s face does not appear in her videos - instead, they are focused on what she is creating. Some of these videos get attention in the form of thousands of views and likes. Betsy has even had videos go viral.
Don’t think all your videos need to be carefully curated. Betsy’s best advice is to record everything, even if you think it’s boring. Record yourself packing your boxes or making something. People LOVE getting a peek behind the scenes.
After Betsy gave ME some tips to use in making videos for my own business, we talked about what’s next for her. We brainstormed and came up with some great ways to increase her revenue based on what her audience is asking for.
Join me for this episode as Betsy shares how her video-exclusive strategy has allowed her to be so successful on Instagram and how you can apply her strategy to your own business.
If you missed Betsy’s first time on the podcast, listen to episode 39.
Find and follow Betsy:
- B Goods Lettering on Instagram
- B Goods Lettering on Facebook
- B Goods Lettering Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Jane Wild of Jane’s Agenda join me to share her subscription box journey and to talk about what she did to bust through when she hit a plateau with her subscription.
Jane wasn’t always a subscription box owner or even an entrepreneur. In 2013, she found herself busier than ever with a demanding corporate job and a new baby. As Jane struggled to organize the different facets of her life, she was unable to find a planner that met her needs. She decided to create her own and Jane’s Agenda was born!
For several years, Jane ran her business via an Etsy shop. The gorgeous - and highly functional - planner pages and planner accessories she designed sold very well. There were challenges - planners by their nature have a high sales season and low sales seasons. And then there was the pandemic.
When 2020 hit, people suddenly had nothing to plan. They were at home and all the “busy” that had filled their lives was canceled. Jane found herself needing to get creative about using planners in order to keep her business afloat. That’s when she decided to launch a subscription box. It was all about helping her customers love planning again. The items were beautiful and functional. They were things planners could use even without events and appointments to plan.
Jane and her team had a goal of 50 subscribers for that first launch. Well, in an hour they hit 100 subscribers and quickly hit 250 total subscribers! They were amazed and quickly made the necessary changes to staff and processes to meet the demand. As Jane shares, the launch was NOT fancy - they launched simply and just got the thing out there.
When Jane realized they were hitting a plateau with the subscription box, she and her team got creative. After listening to me talk about offering a lower-tier subscription, Jane decided to do just that. And what a difference it made! Making that ONE change resulted in doubling their monthly subscription income! And… Jane recently celebrated crossing the 500 subscriber mark!
Join me for this episode as Jane takes us through her journey from selling planner pages on Etsy to managing a thriving online store and 500+ member subscription box business.
Find and follow Jane:
- Jane’s Agenda on Instagram
- Jane’s Agenda on Facebook
- Jane’s Agenda Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Nicola Bird of The Floral Project join me all the way from the UK for today’s episode to share her subscription box journey and the story of her recent, wildly successful live launch.
An entrepreneur for more than 20 years and a lifelong lover of flowers, Nicola started The Floral Project in order to bring cheer and connection during the pandemic to people who were alone and lonely. Her big vision for The Floral Project is a million posies of flowers given every year to people in local communities who need a smile. These are people who don't have regular visitors and may feel isolated or lonely. People who are unable to grow their own flowers or afford them.
I can’t wait for you to hear how Nicola jumped into Launch Your Box with both feet and smashed her live launch. Nicola almost didn’t join Launch Your Box because she had already launched her subscription box business. Once she realized I also teach people how to grow their existing subscription box businesses, Nicola joined and started consuming the content quickly.
When it was time for her launch, Nicola followed the launch training inside Launch Your Box to a tee. And she was smart about every step of the process. Nicola not only produced all the social media and email content I recommend, she wrote and scheduled it ahead of time before she was in the midst of the stress and excitement of her launch. She went LIVE, she talked about the benefits of the subscription, and she spoke to her people in their language.
The result? In ONE live launch, Nicola gained 232 subscribers, smashing her goal of 130 new subscribers. Nicola described herself as “gobsmacked” by the results. The truth? She did everything right. She did the work and did all the things. And now Nicola is excited to turn her energy toward nurturing her more than 700 members, loving on them and continuing to teach them how to impact the lives of others with the gorgeous flowers they’ll grow and give away!
Join me for this episode as Nicola walks us through each day of her live launch and what she did in the days leading up to her launch that led to growing her subscription by 50% in just five days!
Find and follow Nicola:
- The Floral Project on Instagram
- The Floral Project on Facebook
- The Floral Project Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
You’ve curated a beautiful subscription box. Your website is nearly ready. But there’s one decision holding you back from actually launching. And it’s all about shipping. Should you offer free shipping or charge for shipping?
Of course, “free shipping” isn’t free. If you offer free shipping to your customers, you will adjust the prices of the items you sell to absorb those shipping costs and protect your profit margins.
In this episode, I go deep on all things shipping. The truth is, there’s no easy answer to the free shipping or charging for shipping question. There is no one-size fits all strategy when it comes to shipping charges. There may even be more than one answer for your business.
Think about your own buying behavior. What matters more to you when you’re shopping online? What matters to your customers?
- Shippo, a shipping software company, conducted a survey where they found:
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- 49% of customers prefer to pay a lower price for items and pay for shipping.
- 40% of customers want free shipping.
- 11% of customers want their items fast and are willing to pay expedited shipping charges.
- Another report showed:
-
- People prefer paying for low-cost shipping when purchasing lower-priced items.
- 93% of shoppers will add to their carts to reach a certain threshold to receive free shipping if it’s offered.
For one-off online sales, offering free shipping once a customer reaches a purchase threshold is smart for a few reasons.
- It can increase your average order value.
- It incentivizes customers to order more items at once instead of placing multiple one-item orders, reducing your overall shipping charges.
- It allows for lower pricing of items because you don’t have to account for as much of the cost of shipping in the price of each item.
Answering this question for your subscription box is more difficult. Do you only ship or do you offer local pickup as well? Does the perceived value of your subscription box allow you to include shipping in the cost of the box or would that make the price “too high?” Don’t be afraid to test options with your audience to help you make this decision.
Join me for this episode as I talk about what you need to consider when deciding whether to charge for shipping or offer free shipping to your customers and why you may end up choosing one strategy for your one-off sales and the other for your subscription box.
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I’m so excited to have Dana Bowling of Show Up on Video join me today to talk about practical strategies to create content in a way that is doable and effective as well as ways to conquer feelings around showing up on video.
Dana brings her background as a casting director and acting coach to her current business where she helps ambitious entrepreneurs learn how to own being the face of their businesses. Dana is a speaker, a coach, and a podcast host. Her podcast, Show Up on Video, helps motivate business owners to create valuable content and share it with their audiences. As she likes to say, “It’s all content.”
Content creation is all about showing up and serving your audience. Don’t be afraid of giving too much away. Serving your audience by sharing valuable content with them builds your authority and your know/like/trust factor. In other words, when they’re ready to buy, you’ve made yourself the obvious choice.
Dana took me through her content creation framework which could work for any subscription box owner. This framework starts with brainstorming content ideas and puts you where you belong - at the center.
- Identify four content pillars. For example, if I used this framework, my pillars might be:
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- Subscription boxes
- Crazy, busy mom life
- Monograms
- Behind the scenes
- Instead of focusing on the outcome, focus on the process
- Identify three content ideas for each pillar.
- Face to camera
- Time-lapse
- Trending sound
- For each idea, come up with 1-2 ways you can talk about it.
Yes, one of those ways to talk about your content is face to camera. Dana knows just like I know that this causes anxiety in so many of you. So she has three great tips to make being on camera easier.
- Get more comfortable talking on camera when the purpose is not to create content.
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- Send video messages to friends or customers.
- Create social media stories - they only last for 24 hours!
- Hop on video chats with friends.
- Record without the intention to post. This takes the pressure off and sometimes you’ll surprise yourself by coming up with something good!
- Good lighting, hair, makeup, clothes you feel good in, even using a subtle filter.
- Do whatever makes you feel better about being on camera.
- Think about who you serve and how your content can help them have a better day.
- Remember that your audience is much more interested in and worried about themselves than about you!
Join me for this episode as Dana shares valuable strategies for creating content and feeling more comfortable showing up on video. Don’t miss this chance to learn how to serve your audience and your business with your content.
Find and follow Dana:
- Dana Bowling on Instagram
- Show Up on Video Podcast
- Dana Bowling’s Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit around a table, geeking out about your business with other people who just “get it?” Have you dreamed of digging in and talking about the parts of being an entrepreneur that are hard? And the parts that are amazing? And all the in-between parts, too? It is incredibly valuable to spend time with like-minded people in person and get real - get personal even - about what it takes to keep growing as a business and as a business owner.
In this episode, I’m sharing what a Mastermind is and what it can do for you and your business. I wouldn’t be where I am today without being challenged, nurtured, and held accountable… and that’s what a Mastermind is all about.
Masterminds can seem mysterious - like they’re an exclusive group of people getting together and having top secret conversations. But that’s not what they’re meant to be, and it’s certainly not what any Mastermind I’ve been involved with has been. Good Masterminds are about connection, accountability, implementation, scaling, and creating the life you want. All with like minded people and a facilitator you align with.
I’ve been a part of Masterminds for five years. I’ve gotten so much from those experiences - and given so much to them as well. It’s important to realize that being an active participant in a Mastermind means you’re giving just as much as you’re getting. That’s where the connections and relationships are formed. Through sharing, encouraging, supporting, and challenging each other in a safe, supportive space.
After being a part of Masterminds and guest teaching in Masterminds, it finally struck me that it was time for me to have my own Mastermind for my community.
I started with a weekend. And it was incredible. We went to the beach (my official happy place) and spent two days going deep with 16 incredible subscription box owners. The weekend changed each of them and their businesses and it changed me, too. I went from wondering if a Mastermind was something I wanted to offer to deciding I was 100% in on creating a year-long Mastermind of my own - the Elevate Mastermind.
This Mastermind is for people in my community - people who have subscription boxes, memberships, or product based businesses. A Mastermind is not for someone just getting started. It might be for you if you’re ready to scale your business and dig into how to make that happen.
Join me for this episode as I share my Mastermind experiences, my vision for my Elevate Mastermind, and how to know when you’re ready for a Mastermind.
Email me if you're interested in applying for or learning more about my Elevate Mastermind at sarah@framedbysarah.com. Spots are going fast!
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Hire the help.” - Tiffany Hill
I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Tiffany Hill of Queen of My Castle Designs join me for today’s episode to share her journey from Registered Nurse to successful subscription box owner.
A dedicated RN, Tiffany started painting door hangers as a hobby more than a decade ago. What started as something to satisfy her crafty side grew into a business that allowed her to work less hours as a nurse and spend more time at home with her husband and their three sons. Earlier this year, Tiffany made the decision to retire from nursing altogether and focus solely on her family and her business. Tiffany has two digital teaching subscriptions and an Etsy shop where she sells one-off products, but it was her monthly door hanger subscription that gave her the confidence and peace of mind to “retire” from nursing, and never look back.
Handmade subscription boxes like Tiffany’s come with their own set of challenges. Planning for her launch, Tiffany decided to limit the number of subscribers to 30 because she wanted to make sure she didn’t outsell what she was capable of making. When those spots sold out in mere hours, Tiffany had not only launched strong, she had also created scarcity, exclusivity, and urgency. There were a lot more than 30 members of her audience who wanted to join her door hanger of the month subscription.
Tiffany knew the only way she could grow and scale her business was by hiring help. She hired carefully and well, slowly building a small team who is as dedicated to producing quality products as she is. With careful planning and the help of her amazing team, Tiffany’s monthly subscription has grown steadily to where it is now at 175 subscribers.
Join me for this episode as Tiffany shares what she learned as she grew her Door Hanger of the Month subscription and why growing and scaling a handmade business is not possible without building a team.
Find and follow Tiffany:
- Queen of My Castle on Instagram
- Queen of My Castle on Facebook
- Queen of My Castle Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Launch Your Box member Amanda Stucky of Mandy Lynn Plans joined me for today’s episode to catch us up on what’s been happening since her last visit almost exactly one year ago. You might remember Amanda from episode 33 where we talked about audience building and the incredible response she had to her launch despite having a small audience of only 600 people. Amanda has gone from strength to strength over this past year and continues to grow.
Amanda’s early success was due in no small part to her dedication to serving her audience. She went deep into the planner niche, producing stickers and planner accessories for the specific planner she loves using, the Hobonichi. She found an audience of people just like her, connected with them, and sold them one-off products. Soon, they were begging her for a subscription box. That’s right, they asked her to add a subscription box to her business. Amanda continues to focus on the needs and wants of her audience, expanding her product lines and adding a one-thing-of-the-month box to her offerings.
Another exciting development came when Amanda’s husband was able to quit his full-time job to work full-time in Mandy Lynn Plans. He brings tech skills that allow Amanda to produce more designs and a larger variety of designs quickly. This arrangement also means more family time with their young children.
As a subscription box business grows, at some point every subscription box owner needs to hire. This can be a big hurdle, worrying about who to hire and what to have them do. Amanda was no different. When she did hire, she started with one part-time employee and slowly added to her team as needed. She learned lessons along the way that all subscription box owners can learn from:
- Start with one job/responsibility and let your team member (and you) get comfortable with that before adding more.
- Don’t worry about keeping them busy - you’ll find more than enough tasks they can help with.
- Hiring takes things off your plate that hinder your creativity. Adding team members allows for time and space to create which results in a better product.
- The first hire more than doubles what you can produce.
Hiring team members, bringing her husband home to work in the business, maintaining her connection to her audience, and focusing on serving them have led to a year of significant growth in subscription numbers and one-time sales. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings!
Join me for this episode as Amanda shares what happens in the year after the launch of a subscription box. She talks about serving her audience, giving them what they want, and how hiring team members has helped her business - and her creativity - grow.
Important Links:
- Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 33 - Small Audience, No Problem! How Amanda Built 100+ Subscribers from an Audience of 600
Find and follow Amanda:
- Mandy Lynn Plans on YouTube
- Mandy Lynn Plans on Instagram
- Mandy Lynn Plans on Facebook
- Mandy Lynn Plan Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“If you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, now is the perfect time.” - Sarah Heeter.
My podcast editor, Sarah Heeter, joined me for today’s episode to talk about all things podcast. We talked about the benefits of podcasting and why starting a niche-specific podcast could be a valuable part of your audience-building strategy. Sarah knows a LOT about podcasts. After all, she helped me start this podcast and grow it to more than 200,000 downloads in 18 months and a ranking in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally. She’s also a member of Launch Your Box.
If you’re wondering if podcasts can be a valuable part of an audience-building strategy for subscription box owners, the answer is yes! I mentioned I have more than 200,000 episode downloads in only 18 months. Compare that to my social media audience. It has taken me years to grow my Facebook and IG followers to a combined 20,000. And if you’re wondering if there’s room for another podcast - for your podcast - the answer is also yes. Studies show more than half of people over 12 listen to podcasts and, on average, each listens to 7 podcasts!
There are several benefits to podcasts when it comes to connecting with your audience.
- Podcasts meet people where they are. They lend themselves to being interrupted - it’s easy to stop a podcast when needed and get right back to where you left off.
- Podcasts allow listeners to multitask. They listen while driving, cleaning, exercising, and more.
- A podcast mimics the intimacy of a phone call - you’re talking to your audience for 25-40 minutes per week.
- Unlike social media posts, reels, and videos, podcast episodes live forever!
It can be daunting to think about what you would talk to your audience about each week. Many people worry they’ll run out of things to say. If you’re serving your niche, and know your audience well, that shouldn’t be a problem. Sarah suggests brainstorming a list of possible topics by asking yourself:
- What keeps my ideal customer up at night?
- What answers are they searching for on Google?
- What is their support system like?
- What is their value system?
- What are their highest priorities?
Use what you learned about your ideal customer in my FREE 6 in 60 Workshop to help you get started.
Join me for this episode as Sarah shares so much knowledge about why subscription box owners should consider starting a podcast, how to decide what to talk about, and why it’s very possible to DIY your podcast.
Important Links: * 6 in 60 Workshop
Find and follow Sarah Heeter:
- Sarah Heeter on Instagram
- Sarah Heeter’s Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Listen to your people.” - Damon Oates
Damon Oates of DecoExchange joined me for today’s episode. Damon serves people who make and sell decorative wreaths, so his customers are themselves businesspeople. Damon started a subscription box several years ago and hated it. He found it to be incredibly stressful and had difficulty planning the boxes and getting the needed supplies each month. That was before he met me! LOL
Damon’s first subscription had as many as 900 subscribers, but he had let it dwindle down to just over 300 when he came into my world. After we talked about what he didn’t like about his subscription box, a few things became clear, the biggest of which was Damon and his business partner needed to learn how to plan. After joining Launch Your Box and gaining that knowledge and more, they decided to launch another subscription box with some changes.
During the pre-launch period, Damon leaned into what he does best - building and engaging with his audience. He asked them what they wanted, which it turns out wasn’t what he thought they wanted or what he wanted to give them. But he listened. He also spent that time building a waitlist. By consistently posting, texting, and going LIVE with a CTA to join the waitlist, Damon grew a list of more than 3,000 people in less than two months. That waitlist currently has 14,000 people on it!
The launch of the new subscription box resulted in 350 subscribers. That number continued to grow each month for the next 1 ½ years at which point there were 3,200 subscribers. They decided to hold steady at 3,200 for now and the only way to become a subscriber is to get on the waitlist and hope for someone to cancel. Damon has generated major FOMO by employing three things I teach every subscription box owner to create - scarcity, urgency, and exclusivity.
Damon shared his advice for other subscription box owners whether you’re new to the game or looking to grow.
- Listen to your people and give them what they want.
- Start with 10-20 boxes or even a one-time box to try it out and see what works.
- Pick one social media platform, be consistent, and show up. (You’ll find Damon on Facebook!)
- Pick your niche and go deep.
- Serve before you sell.
Join me for this episode as Damon shares how he went from hoping his subscription box business would die off to nurturing an excited, vibrant community of more than 3,200 monthly subscribers with thousands more waiting to get in.
Important Links: Find and follow Damon:
- DecoExchange on Facebook
- DecoExchange on Instagram
- DecoExchange Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Social media is a place to find our people, gather them up, and then focus only on them.” - Susan Bradley.
My biz bestie Susan Bradley of The Social Sales Girls joined me for today’s episode to talk all things video view ads. Susan shared how using video and supplementing the organic reach you get with video with some ad dollars is the fastest, most effective way to grow a great big, warm audience of people without spending a lot of money.
Facebook and Instagram ads don’t work like they used to. Costs have gone up and the ROI has changed. The way you use Facebook and Instagram ads needs to change, too. Instead of running ads to directly sell, you need to run ads to collect people to retarget and nurture them. Then you’ll sell to them.
Videos, especially short videos, are how we reach “non-followers,” those people who would be interested in what we offer but who aren’t yet part of our world. With video ads, you’re taking what’s already working for you on Instagram and Facebook and amplifying it by putting a few dollars a day of ad spend behind it.
Join me for this episode as Susan shares so much valuable information about why and how to use video view ads to grow a warm audience and the two things you need to measure to determine if those ads are working. There has never been a better opportunity to find our people and Susan is here to show us how.
Susan’s Ads Made Easy Coaching Week starts August 21st! Sign up HERE.
Important Links: Find and follow Susan:
- The Social Sales Girls on Instagram
- The Social Sales Girls on Facebook
- The Social Sales Girls Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Lean into what your people are loving and asking for. And if there’s a digital option, go for it!” - Stacey Collins
Subscriptions aren’t always physical items showing up on your doorstep. Think Netflix, Disney +, or an online newspaper. After today’s episode, you’ll also think about Stacey Collins and her Printable Club.
Stacey is a member of Launch Your Box and a self-proclaimed lover of all things decorating, crafting, and shopping. She has spent years building a wildly loyal audience through her blog and social media. Stacey is creative, energetic, and FUN! She’s also a very smart businesswoman.
Stacey serves her audience. She served them for a long time before selling to them. When 2020 hit and we were all stuck at home, looking for things to do and people to connect with, Stacey went online and served her audience by crafting with them a LOT. She was coming up with new ideas for crafts to meet the demand and got the idea to craft using her custom-designed printables. Her audience LOVED it and asked for more. And more. And more.
Stacey’s Printable Club was born. The first launch brought in 800 subscribers! And it has continued to grow. Now, two years in, Stacey has more than 2,000 monthly subscribers. And the best part - other than more than $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue - is this subscription requires no packing or shipping. It’s 100% digital. She’s not sending anything physical. Instead, her subscribers use digital items to create something physical.
Stacey’s subscription came out of a desire to serve her audience by offering them what they wanted in a way that saved them money.
Join me for this episode as we dive into digital subscriptions. We’ll talk about the ways they’re different from physical subscriptions and the ways they’re the same. You might even discover a digital subscription would work for your business!
Important Links: Find and follow Stacey:
- Wilshire Collections on Instagram
- Wilshire Collections on Facebook
- Wilshire Collections Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Audience building should always be on your to-do list. Whether you already have a subscription box or you’re just getting started, consistently work to reach and engage new people.
One audience building strategy I teach inside Launch Your Box is to run a giveaway on social media. I use a free, easy-to-use software called Kingsumo to run my giveaways a couple of times a year. My last giveaway added 1500 people to my email list!
When you run a giveaway, follow four simple steps
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Determine your goal - why are you running a giveaway?
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To grow your following.
- To build your email or text list.
- To gauge interest in your potential box.
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All of the above!
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Determine your prize.
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Your prize needs to be “worth it” - what would make you enter a contest?
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Consider offering a box or a 3-6 month subscription.
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Create your timeline.
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Your giveaway should run for 7-14 days.
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Share, share, share!
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Send an email to your list - remember, some of them may not follow you on social media yet.
- Social posts - videos, stories, etc.
- Keep talking about it throughout the 7-14 days to keep the excitement going.
There are rules for running giveaways on social media. You need to be aware of these rules and follow them.
- The contest must be free to enter - it cannot be combined with a purchase.
- The winner must be chosen randomly.
- The winner must be announced publicly.
- You must state clearly (in posts and your contest rules) that your giveaway has no affiliation with the platform.
Every week inside Launch Your Box, members are setting up and running giveaways. It’s one of the best things you can do to jump-start your audience building no matter where you are in your subscription box journey.
Join me for this episode as I talk about why you should run a giveaway as part of your audience building strategy, the steps to follow to make it a success, and the important rules you need to follow!
Important Links: * 6 in 60 Workshop - Sarah’s Method for Curating 6 Subscription Boxes in 60 Minutes * Kingsumo
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
What if you were launching your subscription box in 30 days?
Maybe you’re launching for the first time or you could be operating under a closed model and you’re launching to new subscribers. In order to be ready to launch - and for your audience to be ready for you to launch - there are five things you need to be doing or start doing right now.
Before I go through those five things, I do want to say I’m recommending you launch in 30 days only if you’ve already spent time building an audience and you’ve got your tech figured out and in place. If not, you’ll need longer than 30 days. But if you’ve been audience building and you’ve got your tech ready to go, I want you to plan to launch in the next 30 days.
Will it be perfect? No. Will it seem messy? Yes. Will putting it off make your launch more perfect or less messy when it finally does happen? No. Putting it off will simply delay you from taking the next step toward subscription box success.
Back to those five things I want you to start doing right now:
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Set the date - be specific.
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Email your list more frequently.
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Unboxings
- Subscriber shares
- Different ways to use items in your box
- Sneak peeks for your upcoming launch
- Behind the scenes
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Talk about your why
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Increase video views.
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Drive people to your waitlist and start emailing them right away.
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Generate leads with opt-ins.
The truth is you should be doing all of these things all year long in order to continuously feed the top of your funnel. So even if you’re not launching in 30 days, start focusing on these five areas now. That way, the next time you plan a launch - whether it’s your first or your fifth - you’ll be ready!
Join me for this episode as I talk about why you should consider launching in the next 30 days and the five things you need to start doing right now to help make your launch a success.
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
What would an extra $1000 every month mean to you and your family?
Inflation. Waiting for a raise that might not happen. So many people are looking for ways to earn extra income right now. Today I’m talking about how a subscription box side hustle could bring an extra $1000 a month to your family - with only 50 subscribers.
A subscription box business can be a full-time business. But it doesn’t have to be. Many members of Launch Your Box have full-time, 9-5 style jobs and successful subscription box side hustles. They are nurse practitioners, teachers, certified registered nurse anesthetists, hair stylists, realtors, dentists, and more. They’re also subscription box owners who bring in additional income with their side hustles.
You can, too! Let’s do the math. If you have 50 subscribers and make $20 of profit per box, that’s an extra $1000 going into your bank account every month.
Of course, it’s going to take time and effort to get there. But following these six steps will have you well on your way to a successful subscription box side hustle.
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Identify what you like or have an interest in.
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Make sure it’s something you’re good at or have expertise in.
- You have to be passionate about the subject matter or it won’t last!
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Don’t try to be like anyone else - YOU will set your subscription box apart.
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Ask yourself if there are other people around you with the same interest.
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That’s the audience you need to build!
- Where can you find more of those people?
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Where do they hang out online?
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Start a social media account(s) on the platforms where your people hang out.
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Start sharing videos, posts, etc.
- Ask your friends to like your page and share it with their friends.
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Make sure you’re speaking the language of the person you are trying to attract. Messaging matters!
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Run a giveaway.
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Use Kingsumo (it’s FREE!)
- The prize needs to be a box just like what you want to sell.
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Capture emails for those who enter your giveaway and start building your email list.
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Introduce the idea for the box to your audience.
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Get their feedback and have them help you make decisions.
- You want their buy-in to validate your concept.
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Niche down if needed.
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Set a launch date and a goal.
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Create excitement and generate buzz.
- Get your new audience excited about the upcoming box!
Engaging your audience is key at every stage of your subscription box journey, whether it’s your full-time gig or a side hustle. Continue to ask for feedback as you grow. Maintain an ongoing focus on audience building and keep serving your audience!
Join me for this episode as I talk about why a subscription box side hustle might be right for you and the six steps you need to take in order to make yours a success. The kind of success that means significant additional income - every month!
Important Links: * 6 in 60 Workshop - Sarah’s Method for Curating 6 Subscription Boxes in 60 Minutes
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
In today’s episode, I’m talking about things you can do to make your subscription box business recession ready.
While it’s not possible to “recession-proof” your business, it is possible to be recession ready. Now is not a time to panic. If we made it through a pandemic, we can make it through economic uncertainty. There are practical, actionable steps you can take to make managing this time less stressful. I walk you through seven of them in today’s episode.
- Get control of your inventory. It’s time to change your buying habits away from the panic buying we all practiced during the pandemic. I shifted my own buying behavior away from buying deep (fewer products in greater quantities) to buying wide (more products in lower quantities).
- Understand your cash flow. In order to build a long-term, sustainable business, you have to know and understand your numbers. Decreasing your inventory will increase your cash flow, but you still need to have products to sell. Understanding your rate of revenue vs. your rate of expenses allows you to make adjustments where necessary.
- Overhead
- Software
- Packaging & shipping
- Opportunities to buy in bulk
- Trim your expenses. Dig into your P&L to identify your biggest expenses and any you don’t realize you’re even paying for. Look for areas where you can trim costs.
- Try a new platform.
- Use email and SMS marketing to get in their text messages and inboxes.
- Experiment with your posts/videos to make things new, fresh, and fun!
- Get in front of new people. Now is not the time to pull back on your marketing efforts. How are you serving your audience? Focus on organic, free ways to attract new people.
- Create additional revenue streams. If you don’t yet have a subscription box as part of your product-based business, start one. If you have a subscription box, consider what complementary products you can offer your customers? Don’t forget to consider digital products!
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Offer customization and convenience for a premium price. What can you offer those customers who want the ultimate experience and are willing to pay for it?
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Wow your customers. There is so much you can do that won’t cost you much at all. Make exceptional customer service the standard. Say thank you and show appreciation to your customers. Look for ways to surprise and delight your subscribers.
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Get my resource “10 Ways to Surprise & Delight Your Subscribers” by texting SURPRISE to 940-204-0023.
Don’t be afraid to serve and to sell during these uncertain economic times. Realize people want to buy what you have to offer. Now is the time to gain a deeper understanding of the financials of your business and make educated decisions.
Join me for this episode as I talk about seven things you can start doing now to get your business recession ready. This is an episode to listen to with your notebook close by. You’re going to want to take a lot of notes!
Important Links: * 10 Ways to Surprise & Delight Your Subscribers - Text SURPRISE to 940-204-0023
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Launch Your Box member and dog mom times eight, Rhonda Conces.
Yes, I said eight! A true, dedicated lover of all things dog, Rhonda has eight pups of her own who help inspire her subscription box every month.
Rhonda is the CEO and Founder of Monogramme No. 29. Her business was not initially focused on dogs. In fact, her first career was as a labor and delivery nurse. When an injury sidelined Rhonda, she turned to her love of crafting and soon found herself selling monogrammed items. Monogrammed pajamas became her best seller, especially with brides and bridal parties.
When 2020 hit and the bridal industry shut down, Rhonda needed to pivot. She decided to focus on another customer favorite - personalized dog bandanas. Rhonda loved making them, her customers loved buying them, and their dogs looked too cute for words in them. Soon, Rhonda decided to offer her bandanas as a monthly subscription and Posh Puppies was born.
Rhonda found and joined Launch Your Box a couple months after she launched her subscription and quickly soaked in as much knowledge as possible. She is a fantastic student and makes sure she does all the things in order to grow her business.
Rhonda launched with 40 members in February of 2021 and now has 330 monthly subscribers! The recurring revenue her subscription brings into her business has changed her business and her life. So much is possible for Rhonda now, all because she leaned into one thing.
Join me for this episode as Rhonda and I talk about why you should consider leaning into what your customers love and the many benefits of offering a one thing of the month subscription.
Important Links: Find and follow Tamara:
- Monogramme No. 29 on Instagram
- Monogramme No. 29 on Facebook
- Monogramme No. 29 Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
On today’s episode, I’m joined by Tamara Bennett, one of my biz besties who also happens to be a member of Launch Your Box!
Tamara is the founder and CEO of Southern A-Door-nments Decor where she teaches women how to paint door hangers. Her business has grown over the years thanks in no small part to Tamara’s dedication to creating connections with her audience.
Tamara and I met at Stu McLaren’s Mastermind more than four years ago and hit it off right away. We talk all the time about all the things, including business. We had many discussions about her adding a subscription box to her business. So, when Tamara said she was joining Launch Your Box, I asked her why. She knew she could call me anytime to get answers to any questions she had.
In true Tamara fashion, she had a ready answer. Because she knew me and my business so well, Tamara knew how much training was inside my membership. She also knew how amazing the Launch Your Box community is. Her reason for joining was simple - she didn’t want to miss out!
Tamara is an excellent student who followed my instructions for having a successful launch to the letter. And it paid off. She launched her Big Box of Blanks and sold out all 200 spots in only 8 days! And she has plans to grow.
Join me for this episode as Tamara and I talk about the importance of audience building and connecting with that audience, why Tamara was a very early adopter of Facebook Lives, and what she did to go from 0-200 subscribers in only eight days!
Important Links: Find and follow Tamara:
- Southern A-Door-nments Decor on Tik Tok
- Southern A-Door-nments Decor on Facebook
- Southern A-Door-nments Decor Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“When people are part of the process, they buy in.” - Britney Brown
I’m so excited to introduce you to Britney Brown, Launch Your Box member and founder, CEO, and all the things of Imperfect Inspiration. Britney’s story and the incredible growth she’s seen in her company and her subscription box are actually perfectly inspirational!
In 2020, Britney was a full-time photographer and mom of five. When the pandemic hit, the photography industry shut down. Britney turned to Tik Tok to document her life during this time and also to document her new ADHD diagnosis. During this time, by sharing her experience, she built a large following on Tik Tok. Over 700,000 followers large!
Britney’s online business started with a planner she designed to meet the needs of ADHD humans like her. The planner was a HUGE success and led to additional products. That then led to a subscription box. As Britney put it, “It turns out people were into it.”
“Into it” is a bit of an understatement. Britney launched and sold out 150 boxes almost immediately. She quickly figured out just how many boxes she could get products for and reopened for three days. Her first box shipped to 466 subscribers! The following month she opened to new subscribers again and closed with 1,111! She plans to open again to new subscribers in July and already has 8,000 people on her waitlist.
What is the secret to Britney’s astonishing success? She listens to her audience. She built a community before she built her products. Britney believes in the absolute power of people feeling seen and heard. She carefully and intentionally built a community to let people know they are not the only one. Britney knows and truly understands that when people feel part of the process, they buy in.
Join me for this episode as Britney and I talk about what it means to truly serve your audience and how you just might succeed beyond your wildest dreams by building a community first, one that feels seen and heard.
Important Links: Find and follow Britney:
- Imperfect Inspiration on Tik Tok
- Imperfect Inspiration on Facebook
- Imperfect Inspiration Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Start with what you have and build up to what you want.”
Welcome to my first on-location podcast episode! Launch Your Box member Rachel Duguay joined me live onstage at SubSummit, the first and only conference exclusively for the subscription box industry.
Rachel and I met at last year’s SubSummit and she quickly became a member of Launch Your Box. At that time, Rachel and her husband’s business, MicroPuzzles, sold miniature puzzles as one-time purchases.
In business since 2018, MicroPuzzles took off in 2020 when the entire world turned to puzzles as a way to pass the time together. MicroPuzzles are 4”x6” when complete and are adorably packaged in test tubes. Demand for their puzzles went through the roof and customers clamored for more designs.
Rachel decided adding a subscription box to the business was the answer to giving her customers what they wanted. They launched what Rachel calls the 1.0 version and continued to improve and grow. A year later, they have 425 monthly subscribers and both she and her husband have turned a part-time side hustle into a full-time career.
Rachel doesn’t just put MicroPuzzles in her own subscription boxes, she partners with other subscription box owners, too. Many members of Launch Your Box have featured Rachel’s tiny puzzles in their own subscription boxes, customized to their themes and their audiences!
Part of Rachel’s success is due to her creative marketing, including an emphasis on product seeding. You’ll rarely find her without a stash of tiny puzzles on hand to use as “business cards.” She also does a fantastic job of building genuine connections with her audience which has contributed to her success.
Join me for this episode as Rachel and I talk about the importance of doing something before it’s perfect, the rapid growth of her subscription box, and what led to a cross-country move that included getting the keys to a 3,000-square-foot warehouse. Find out, too, what makes Brian in shipping their most talked about employee.
Important Links: Find and follow Rachel:
- MicroPuzzles on Facebook
- MicroPuzzles on Instagram
- MicroPuzzles Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to the last episode in my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I’ve answered a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week Beth Eaton of The Ruffled Daisy is here to talk about something we’re all facing right now. How to retain subscribers in a world where costs are rising.
Beth started her business 10 years ago selling completed home decor pieces. Soon, people wanted to learn how to make these pieces themselves and they wanted Beth to teach them. Beth started selling kits and building a community of crafters. She tried launching a subscription box a few years ago and it just didn’t stick with her community. When COVID struck and we all found ourselves at home, Beth tried again. This time her community was ready! She started with 23 subscribers and two years later has 330 monthly subscribers.
Beth came to me with a question that a lot of my members have right now. With the challenges the world is facing right now and the increasing cost of absolutely everything, Beth wanted to know what she can do to retain her subscribers when her box isn’t seen as a need.
The first question I asked Beth was about her retention rate. While she didn’t know the exact number (she was going to figure it out as soon as our interview ended), she did have valuable information. Beth knew the point in the life of their subscription at which many of her subscribers canceled.
Knowing when you start to lose subscribers allows you to put some things in place to keep them on track. Beth and I talked about what she can do to recapture the sense of togetherness inside her community and help subscribers consume the contents of her box.
We also talked about six important facets of the subscriber experience and identified some things Beth can do to make improvements.
- Reducing the length of time between payment and box in hand.
- Consistently communicating with subscribers.
- Having a cancellation survey in place and paying attention to the results.
- Getting personal - don’t just rely on automations.
- Focusing on customer service response time.
- Making customer reviews visible.
Join me for this episode as Beth and I talk about the challenges subscription box owners face right now and the practical, actionable things she can do to improve her subscriber experience, retain more subscribers and continue to grow.
Important Links: Find and follow Beth:
- The Ruffled Daisy on Facebook
- The Ruffled Daisy on Instagram
- The Ruffled Daisy Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to episode seven of my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I answer a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week Alivia Key of Light of the Lamb is here to talk about how to handle increasing the price of her subscription and whether it’s time to move from an open to a closed cart model.
Alivia has been a member of Launch Your Box for two years. During that time she has launched and grown two subscriptions - a monthly t-shirt subscription and a quarterly subscription box.
Like all business owners right now, Alivia has seen her cost of goods sold increase significantly this year which means her subscriptions aren’t as profitable as they were.
That increase in costs and decrease in profits led to Alivia bringing two related questions to me. The first is how to handle a price increase with her audience and the second is whether to move from an open to a closed subscription model.
Alivia and I talked through the reasons for the price increase. I reminded her that in order to continue to serve her subscribers, her business needs to stay strong. And that means staying profitable.
Moving to a closed cart is a perfect time to announce an upcoming price increase.
- It gives people a reason to BUY NOW!
- The upcoming price increase drives marketing for the closed cart - people need to get in now to be locked in at the current price.
- It creates urgency, scarcity, and FOMO!
The next question is when and how to move to a closed cart. I recommended Alivia identify a two-week period when she can go all-in on the closed cart launch. Her social posts, LIVES, and emails need to stay focused on the launch. In her content, she needs to:
- Be transparent. Explain to her audience why she’s raising prices and closing her cart.
- Bring members onto her LIVES. Host “Girl Talk” and talk about why her subscription is more than just a t-shirt to them.
- Have fun with ads. Shake things up and get creative.
- Send emails with links to her LIVES and explain the what and why behind the changes.
- During LIVES, show off past designs.
- Create a variety of ads and posts - some silly, some serious, some inspirational.
I recommended Alivia go into full launch mode for two weeks instead of the usual 4-5 days. This is because she’s making a big change and needs to give her audience time to see what she’s posting and react to it.
Join me for this episode as Alivia and I talk about making necessary changes to keep our businesses healthy and profitable. If you’re wondering how to handle a price increase or move to a closed cart subscription model, don’t miss this episode!
Important Links: Find and follow Alivia:
- Light of the Lamb on Facebook
- Light of the Lamb on Instagram
- Light of the Lamb Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to episode six of my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I answer a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week BreeAnna Holden of Holden Keepsakes is here to talk about how to introduce her subscription box to the audience she has built for her online product-based business.
BreeAnna is an OG member of Launch Your Box. That means she has been inside my coaching membership for almost two years. But, she hasn’t launched her subscription box yet. She’s stuck.
When she started her glitter tumbler business three years ago (and you HAVE to see the gorgeous tumblers she makes), BreeAnna was looking for a way to keep busy while her husband worked nights and to make a little extra income for her family. BreeAnna has dreamed of adding a subscription box for two years. She knows it will provide consistent, recurring revenue and allow her to plan her workload more effectively, allowing for more family time.
So what’s standing in BreeAnna’s way? She has a great product that her customers love. As an OG member of Launch Your Box, she has learned all the things. She has seen so many others start, launch, and grow their own subscription boxes. So why hasn’t BreeAnna taken action on her subscription box dreams? Self-doubt, indecision, and social media.
BreeAnna, like SO MANY women I talk to inside and outside my membership, struggles with self-doubt. She doubts herself and her ability to make this subscription box dream a reality. It’s important to realize that nearly everyone feels like this sometimes. I know I did.
BreeAnna is also stuck, unable to decide what kind of box to offer her audience. She keeps going back and forth between a one item of the month box and a curated box.
Social media engagement is a challenge for BreeAnna. She struggles to be consistent on social media and isn’t getting the engagement she needs. Without an actual box to share, she’s unsure how she should introduce the idea of a subscription box to her audience.
BreeAnna and I talked through the things that have been holding her back. After talking through her mindset issues, I got practical and gave BreeAnna practical solutions to:
- Re-engage her audience.
- Plan six months' worth of boxes.
- Choose a launch date and create a pre-launch plan.
Once we talked through everything and BreeAnna had a plan for moving forward, I could hear the lightness in her voice. She committed to a launch date of July 14th and has a plan to get there with an engaged, excited audience.
Join me for this episode as BreeAnna and I talk about what holds so many of us back from taking action - self-doubt. I know you’ll relate to BreeAnna’s story and take away inspiration and practical advice to help you take action toward achieving your own subscription box dreams.
Important Links: Find and follow BreeAnna:
- Holden Keepsakes on Facebook
- Holden Keepsakes on Instagram
- Holden Keepsakes Etsy Shop
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to episode five of my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I answer a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week Maria Riebe of Sunflower & Scout is here to talk about how to handle variations and personalization for her subscription box.
Like so many entrepreneurs, the pandemic forced Maria to pivot. A true antique-lover, she had been producing an outdoor vintage market, Rustapalooza. She had experienced a great deal of success and national recognition for this show. Covid caused the cancellation of the show and, after a time, Maria’s heart started pointing her in a new direction.
Maria is a member of an impassioned group of leather bag lovers - and they all love straps! So she decided to start an online shop focused specifically on bag straps and accessories. While setting up her online shop, Maria discovered Launch Your Box. She loved the idea of curating a monthly box for her customers that included a bag strap, as well as some kind of accessory, tee, or multiple items.
Maria wants to include some type of personalized item in her subscription box but is stumped by the tech it would involve. With a launch date of August 1st, it’s time to figure out these details!
Maria knows my team handles all kinds of variations and personalization - from six different sizes in my t-shirt subscriptions to the monogrammed items that go in the Monogram Box every month.
We talked through the challenges involved and I told Maria what she needs to do in order to successfully manage variations and personalization.
- Be prepared to scale. Realize that what can be done with 50 subscribers will need to be done with 500 subscribers.
- Outsource personalization as you grow or hire in-house help.
- Put systems and processes in place to manage subscriber details.
Now that we talked through what Maria needs to get in place to feel comfortable offering variations and personalization to her future subscribers, she is moving toward that August 1st launch date with confidence.
Join me for this episode as Maria and I talk about the systems and processes every subscription box owner needs to have in place, and why they are so important when your box includes variations and personalization.
Important Links: Find and follow Maria:
- Sunflower & Scout Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to episode four of my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I’ll be answering a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week Traci Gibson of Print Cut Craft and I tackled the question of how to grow a subscription past a plateau.
Traci started her business ten years ago, selling printables and teaching classes at scrapbooking conferences. When she (and her family) got tired of all the weekend travel, Traci took her scrapbook kits online. She pivoted and her business evolved as she listened to what her customers wanted and served their needs. In 2020, Traci started teaching LIVE workshops online and selling craft kits to go with them. This has been a huge boost to her business and led to a membership where members craft with Traci each month using their Cricut machines and her svg files.
Traci thought about starting a subscription box for a while. She joined Launch Your Box and watched and learned. When she decided to take action and launched her box, her membership was the perfect audience for her subscription, and it grew quickly. For a while. Then came the plateau. Traci’s growth slowed and then stopped. She has hit a plateau and reached out for my help to get past it.
We talked through some possible reasons Traci’s subscription box growth has slowed and recommended some steps for Traci to take to jumpstart her growth. She needs to:
- Shake things up - make it new and fresh for her audience.
- Reduce churn by increasing retention and decreasing involuntary churn.
- Up the exclusivity factor of her subscription.
- Get in front of new audiences.
With a clear plan and specific action steps to take, Traci feels confident her subscription will start to grow again. I can’t wait to hear about the growth she sees as a result of making these changes.
Join me for this episode as Traci and I talk about something nearly every subscription owner experiences - hitting a plateau. A plateau is a reminder that we need to constantly be learning and growing as subscription box owners. And that sometimes we need to change what we’re doing in order to continue to grow.
Important Links: Find and follow Traci:
- Print Cut Craft Boutique on Facebook
- Print Cut Craft on Instagram
- Print Cut Craft Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Welcome to the third installment of my eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I’ll be answering a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week Lexie Haubert of The Crafty Lady Boutique and I tackled the question of how to get people to engage with her content on social media.
Lexie’s online business came about when she was unable to find bridal party gifts she liked while planning her own wedding and instead created her own. When she received incredibly positive feedback about her creations, she decided to take them online. The result? Her Etsy store ranks in the top 1% of all bridal sellers in the world! In addition to one-time boxes and individual gifts, Lexie offers a monthly subscription box for brides who are planning a wedding.
Like all wedding-related businesses, The Crafty Lady Boutique was greatly impacted by the pandemic. Things are on a definite upswing and Lexie is focusing her efforts on regaining and further growing her business. But the lack of social media engagement is holding her back.
When someone is struggling to get engagement on social media, I am usually able to identify the cause easily. The problem might be:
- Lack of followers
- Lack of consistency
- An issue with the quality of photos or videos
- An issue with the product itself
In Lexie’s case, NONE of these is the problem. She has a good number of followers. She has been posting consistently for the past several months. Her images and videos are GREAT. And her products? Well, let’s just say there’s a reason she’s in the top 1% of her category!
So what is the issue? Why aren’t Lexie’s followers engaging with her content?
No one is seeing her stuff. She’s not getting in front of the RIGHT people - brides. When people don’t engage with your content, it hurts the algorithm and even fewer people see it. Lexie needs to find more of the right people. She needs to find more brides.
I asked more questions and came up with an action plan for Lexie that includes:
- Picking a day and time to go LIVE each week.
- Teasing something that’s coming up on the LIVE in a post and an email.
- Getting her friends to show up to her LIVES to ask questions that generate conversations.
- Boosting one post per week.
- Finding more brides by holding quarterly giveaways and getting active inside bridal groups.
- Serving her audience by creating content that establishes her as a wedding authority.
With this new plan in place, Lexie knows what she needs to do to find new brides and attract more of the right people. And once they discover the great products she’s offering, the rest will take care of itself!
Join me for this episode as Lexie and I dig deep into what really drives engagement on social media. It’s more than having pretty pictures of great products. Discover easy-to-implement strategies to attract the right followers and increase your engagement, too.
Important Links: Find and follow Lexie:
- Crafty Lady Boutique on Facebook
- Crafty Lady Boutique on Instagram
- Crafty Lady Boutique Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Messy Action is better than no action.” - Sarah Williams
Welcome to the second in my new eight-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I’ll be answering a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week’s question came from Gina Rich of Serendipity Lane. Gina’s question was simple. “Why am I stuck?”
Gina had a brick-and-mortar scrapbooking and card-making business for 15 years. She still runs occasional classes and scrapbooking retreats out of the space, but moved the majority of her business online due to the pandemic. Gina offered one-time “Happy Boxes” as products and also had a small, very casual card “subscription” with about 20 subscribers.
Gina found Launch Your Box and realized a card subscription box was what she wanted to do. She has a proven concept. She knows just what she wants to include and the experience she wants to provide her subscriber. But… she hasn’t launched. She’s not even close to launching yet. Why? What’s holding her back?
Gina’s first issue is shared by SO MANY people who want to start subscription boxes. She wants everything to be perfect before she starts.
The hard truth? Nothing will ever be perfect. And messy action is always better than no action. It’s time for Gina to give herself permission to not be perfect and commit to taking messy action. Every day.
Gina is also stuck because she can’t decide how to price her box. She wants to provide value to her subscribers but finds it takes a lot of her time to fulfill the box she wants to offer. I took Gina through the research I did on similar boxes that are already on the market. We discussed whether the price she had in mind was a good one and brainstormed ideas to add value that won’t require more of her time.
The last thing that has Gina stuck is social media. She’s not getting engagement because she’s not consistent. Gina needs to be consistent in order to build an audience to launch to! I gave her homework to complete and will be checking in 30 days from now.
Join me for this episode as Gina and I talk through what’s holding her back and how she can get unstuck and start making progress toward launching her box. I know you’ll learn as much as she did from this interview.
Important Links: Find and follow Gina:
- Serendipity Lane on Facebook
- Serendipity Lane Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“How do you balance everything?”
I’m kicking off a new six-part series on the podcast called, “Ask Sarah.” Each week, I’ll be answering a question from inside my Launch Your Box coaching membership.
This week’s question came from Mar. And when Mar told me all about her business and the many different roles she plays in her life, I understood exactly where the question came from.
Mar and her family run Windborne Farms where they raise bees, along with other animals and crops. Mar’s love for the bees turned into a side business when she discovered a passion for beeswax candles. And that passion grew further into a subscription box, the Bee Still Box.
In addition to being a business owner, Mar is a beekeeper, farmer, partner, and homeschooling mom of young children. Her question to me was, “How do you balance everything?”
The short answer - I don’t. None of us can. The idea that it’s possible for anyone, especially a woman, to keep the various parts of her life in balance is kind of ridiculous. But… there are things I’ve learned during my nine years as a business owner and five years as a subscription box owner that help me keep my life in better balance. Those are the things I shared with Mar - and with you.
When it comes to the actual logistics of juggling the kid stuff and the house stuff and the business stuff and the self stuff, I learned that I need systems and I need help. Some of my strategies included:
- Hiring help - and recognizing it’s okay.
- Asking my family members for help and delegating some tasks.
- Scheduling time with friends and family.
- Taking breaks when I need them.
- Creating structure in my days, weeks, and months.
- Removing distractions.
Join me for this episode as Mar shares her fascinating subscription box journey and we talk mom to mom and business owner to business owner about finding balance and juggling all the things.
Important Links: Find and follow Mar:
- Windborne Candles on Facebook
- Windborne Candles on Instagram
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
5 years. 60 boxes. Countless lessons learned.
Earlier this year, I celebrated the five-year anniversary of the subscription box side of my business. That’s 60 boxes! 60 boxes I poured my heart into to create amazing experiences for my subscribers.
The journey my business and I have been on over these five years has come with lots of failures (I like to call them lessons learned), wins, and personal growth. My business grew from five figures to six figures to where we are now - a multi-million dollar subscription box business with thousands of subscribers.
As my team and I get ready to ship out our 61st curated box, I’m reflecting on what it took to get here. Year one was all about excitement and uncertainty as I decided to start something new. I was nervous and wondered if it would actually work. There were ups in the form of a successful launch and growth beyond what I’d hoped for several months in a row. There were downs, like when my growth stopped. It stayed static for a few months and when my numbers started moving again, they were going in the wrong direction.
These years have been filled with learning and implementing that learning - over and over again. That learning and that implementation helped me discover what changes I needed to make to start growing again. And I did - I grew and grew to where I am now - 3000 subscribers strong.
It can be easy to look at someone who is already succeeding at what you are trying to do and not see all that came before. But all that came before matters - it’s what leads to growth and success.
Join me for this episode as I take you through the first five years of my subscription box business and the lessons I learned along the way. Lessons you can learn from and apply to your own subscription box business. I hope you’ll be inspired and encouraged by my journey!
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
A subscription box is so much more than just “stuff in a box.”
I teach this inside Launch Your Box every day. I’ve talked about it on this very podcast. And I LOVE watching subscription box owners take what they’ve learned and turn it into amazing experiences for their subscribers.
I invited Katie onto the podcast to talk about her subscription box journey and what inspired her to curate a truly incredible experience for the book-loving subscribers of her Literary Book Club Box.
The Literary Book Club Box is not Katie’s first subscription box. She came to Launch Your Box to learn how to launch a monthly box related to her eCommerce stationery and sticker business. Katie soaked up all the training, launched, and grew that subscription box to 100 subscribers. In other words, it was a success!
But it wasn’t her passion. Books - classic books specifically - are Katie’s passion. Because she was curious and because she’s a self-proclaimed “book nerd,” Katie started ordering book subscription boxes. And every time one arrived, she was disappointed. Inside she would find a book and some “cheap junk” that kind of related to the book. Nothing about those boxes was special.
Katie knew she could do it better. A LOT better. And it turns out… Katie was right. She niched down to classic books - because like I always say, the riches are in the niches. Katie carefully selects the books for her boxes - beautifully bound, collectible-quality editions of classic books.
But Katie doesn’t just send her subscribers a beautiful book. The book is just the beginning. Katie’s subscription box guides her subscribers through the actual reading of the book. She curates special “gifts” for her subscribers to open at certain points in the book. These gifts are beautifully packaged and make the reading of the book a true experience.
Katie’s subscribers LOVE what she’s doing and her subscription box continues to grow. She currently has more than 230 subscribers anxiously waiting for their next box!
Join me for this episode as Katie takes us through her subscription box journey, talking about turning a passion project into a successful business and why creating an incredible experience for your subscribers matters.
Important Links: Find and follow Katie:
- The Literary Book Club on Facebook
- The Literary Book Club on Instagram
- The Literary Book Club Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” - Henry Ford.
You’ve dreamed about starting a subscription box and now you’re ready to take action and start making those dreams come true. So where should you start?
It’s easy to get caught up in the fun parts - products and packaging. And you absolutely need those in place, but spending too much time designing custom boxes or sourcing products for future boxes takes time away from what you need to be doing right now.
If you’re just getting started, make sure to go through my FREE 6 in 60 Workshop where you’ll curate six months' worth of boxes for your ideal customer. This workshop guides you through getting clear about who your ideal customer is and the type of experience you want to provide for them.
Then it’s time to move on to the four areas where you need to focus your time and energy now.
- Audience building - soooo important.
-
- Start yesterday!
- Serve before selling - Listen to episodes 33 and 45!!
- Not easy, but necessary!
- Create awareness of who you are and what you sell.
- Emails, texts, posts, stories, short videos, LIVES, paid Ads
- Marketing
- Website
- Payment processor
- Shipping software
- CRM - email platform
- Tech - you need four things in place.
- We tell ourselves we can’t do something more often than we tell ourselves we can.
- Believe in abundance.
- Embrace your imperfections.
- Operate with a glass-half-full mentality.
- Mindset - the MOST important!
Are you ready to get started on turning your subscription box dreams into reality? In today’s episode, I talk about the four areas you need to focus your time and energy FIRST. Now is the time to “think you can!” Come listen!
Important Links: * 6 in 60 Workshop * Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 33 * Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 45
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Your subscription box business isn’t growing like you want it to. You’re not gaining subscribers at the rate you’d planned for and hoped for and you’re not sure what to do.
If you start looking around for advice, you’re likely to find people telling you the answer to your problem is Facebook Ads. I have a different opinion.
Facebook Ads will NOT grow your subscription box for you. Yep, I said it. I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but it’s one I feel very strongly about. Let’s dig in and talk about why.
It is rare in life that throwing money at a problem solves it. And it turns out, a subscription box business is a lot like life.
Facebook Ads are ONE tool in your multi-channel marketing plan. They aren’t the main tool and shouldn’t be weighted more heavily than the rest of your tools.
You have to have so many things dialed in with your business and your ideal customer BEFORE you start paying for Facebook Ads. If you don’t, you may bring people in by spending a lot of money on Facebook Ads, but they won’t stay. If you haven’t spent the time and effort building connections with your subscribers, building that incredibly important know/like/trust factor, they will not stay. They are not invested in you or in your business.
Facebook Ads can be incredibly effective as PART of an overall marketing strategy – not as a standalone strategy.
So, if it’s not Facebook Ads, what will make the biggest difference when it comes to growing your subscriber base?
- Clearly defining your niche: consider whether you can niche down further.
- Making sure your copy – all of it – is clear and conversational.
- Making sure you have an effective way to capture people once they get to your website: do you have a high converting pop-up or opt-in?
I also want you to think about other organic ways to drive traffic and get new subscribers. This is traffic you do not have to pay for!
- Pinterest – start using this FREE search engine/social media platform that is my #2 source of traffic!
- Blog on your website – write posts regularly (monthly, biweekly, weekly).
- YouTube
- TikTok
Are you counting on Facebook Ads alone to grow your subscriber base? In today’s episode, I talk about the negative sides of putting all your eggs in the Facebook Ads basket and what you need to do instead. Want to grow your subscription box? Come listen!
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Imagine what you could do with the time you saved if someone else handled the fulfillment of your subscription box.
As your subscription box business grows, you find yourself spending more and more time actually fulfilling those subscriptions. Packing and shipping the boxes takes time. Time you could be spending ON your business. Is there another option?
Ryan Culver of Lessgistics joined me for today’s episode to answer that question. Ryan is a wealth of information and did an amazing job explaining what a fulfillment center is, the costs involved, and whether a fulfillment center could be the right choice for your subscription box business.
Benefits of using a fulfillment center include:
- Getting time back - allowing you to work on your business instead of in your business.
- Not being responsible for managing a team - the people packing your boxes are managed by the fulfillment center.
- Not having to be there when shipments arrive - the fulfillment center receives shipments from your vendors.
- Taking advantage of the fulfillment center’s access to deeply discounted shipping charges - the money you’ll save on shipping offsets the cost of fulfillment.
- Someone else does the actual packing!
At Lessgistics, Ryan and his team work with subscription box owners as partners. A subscription box owner himself, Ryan understands the importance of providing your subscribers with a well-thought-out experience. He is dedicated to partnering and communicating closely with his subscription box owner clients. As he says, “You want someone you know and trust to touch your baby.”
Ryan and I talked about the costs of renting your own warehouse space vs. using a fulfillment center and the pros and cons of each. He walked me through the costs involved and what factors you should consider when deciding if a fulfillment center is right for your subscription box business.
Join me for this episode as Ryan guides us through the process of working with a fulfillment center and the surprising ways you can save money while letting someone else handle the packing and shipping each month!
Important Links: Find and follow Lessgistics:
- Lessgistics on Facebook
- Lessgistics Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
- 6 in 60 Workshop
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
It’s important to know yourself. To know what you love, what lights you up inside, what sets you apart. Ask Launch Your Box member Stephanie Russell of Bling Owl Creations what sets her apart and she’ll tell you… she’s extra!
See, Stephanie was a pageant mom. She’s also a baseball mom. You may think those two roles don’t have much in common. You’d be wrong. Because Stephanie isn’t your average baseball mom. She’s extra. She brings the bling she LOVES so much to the ballfield… every practice and every game.
It’s that love for bling AND baseball that led Stephanie to start a subscription box for baseball moms. Moms like her who want to show their love for their children and the sport they play with some seriously blinged-out baseball wear!
Stephanie joined me for today’s episode to talk about her journey to launching and growing her subscription box.
When I first met Stephanie inside my Coaching Week, her idea for a subscription box was broad. She knew her box would be for women and that it would be all about the bling. But she was hesitant to get more specific with her ideal customer.
We talked through that hesitation. I asked Stephanie the same three questions I ask so many new subscription box owners.
- What are you known for?
- What are you experienced with?
- What do you love?
The answers to those questions led Stephanie to realize that combining her loves for bling and being a baseball mom was the answer. That was her niche. And like I always say, the riches are in the niches. The fact that Stephanie realized success she didn’t even know was possible in the first year of having her subscription box proves just how true that is.
Stephanie and I talked about some things she can do to continue to grow her business. We talked about Facebook Ads - narrowing down her targets and running a different kind of ad, and how writing a blog can provide nearly endless opportunities for generating content and organic traffic.
Join me for this episode as Stephanie takes us through her subscription box journey. Get ready to find out what it takes to go from idea to launch to two successful, growing subscription boxes. And how much more fun everything can be when you add bling!
Important Links: Find and follow Stephanie:
- Bling Owl Creations on Facebook
- Bling Owl Creations on Instagram
- Bling Owl Creations Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
- 6 in 60 Workshop
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Imagine a box of incredibly delicious baked goods arriving on your doorstep every month. Baked goods that are the stuff of dreams…
That’s the experience Jonica Thompson provides to her subscribers. Carefully curated, impeccably packed and shipped, and OMG so, so good baked goods! Jonica sent me one of her boxes for a recent Box Opening inside Launch Your Box and let’s just say my Warehouse team and I were in heaven.
I invited Jonica to join me on the podcast to do more than just talk about mouthwatering baked goods. Rather, I wanted her to share her story and to be a source not only of inspiration but of information to you. We get a LOT of questions inside Launch Your Box about shipping perishable goods.
Our interview ended up being even more fantastic than I thought it would be. Jonica shared the story of her bakery. Her current bakery is not her first attempt at starting a bakery business. And it’s not her second attempt. No, Jonica faced adversity, life challenges, and self-doubt.
Jonica didn’t let setbacks put an end to her dreams. Instead, she kept baking and waited until the time was right. She has a thriving bakery business and now also has a growing subscription box.
When it was time to add a subscription box to her business, Jonica knew she could provide an outstanding product and an outstanding experience. The one thing she didn’t know was how to pack and ship her products so they would arrive fresh and undamaged.
Jonica did research. A LOT of research. And she conducted tests. The kind of tests where she shipped boxes around the country using various types of packing materials.
The result?
A subscription box that arrives on the doorsteps of her subscribers filled with fresh, undamaged, absolutely scrumptious baked goods.
If you’ve ever thought about including perishable items in your subscription box or if you’ve found yourself needing to start over, this is a can’t-miss episode.
Join me for this episode as Jonica takes us through her journey from self-doubt to thriving bakery and subscription box owner. Get ready to find out the answers to more questions than you’ve ever thought to ask about shipping perishable goods, and learn the value of research and testing, testing, testing when trying something new!
Important Links: Find and follow Jonica:
- Jonica’s Bakery on Facebook
- Jonica’s Bakery on Instagram
- Jonica’s Bakery Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
If you could create one piece of content that you could use at least six different ways, would you?
This question came up inside my high-level membership, Scale Your Box. We had a mini-mastermind and dug into all the things subscription box owners face when scaling their subscription box businesses. Many members admitted to struggling with “what to say” when it came to creating content.
My copywriter and I sat down with the group and talked about email marketing and the importance of nurturing your audience before and after they become subscribers.
Then, the conversation turned to blogs.
At first, my members were not excited about the idea of adding a blog to their websites or blogging regularly. But, when we started talking about how they could put one blog to work for them, they started listening. Pretty soon, heads were nodding and questions started coming quickly.
A blog can act as what we call your “hero piece of content.” That means it’s the main piece. Once you have that written, it’s all about repurposing and pulling pieces out to be used in all kinds of different ways inside your marketing strategy.
Here are six different pieces of content you can create from one hero piece of content:
- Emails
- LIVES
- Social media posts
- Pinterest pins
- Podcast episodes
- IG reels/TikTok videos
I challenged my members, and I challenge you, to start blogging if you haven’t. Start with one blog post a month. Once that’s going well, add a second.
Did you know a blog can help your subscription box business? In today’s episode, I walk you through creating a piece of hero content you can then repurpose in many different ways. Work smarter not harder at content creation and learn how to put your blog to work for you. Come listen!
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Don’t let the tech stop you like it stopped me for a long time.” - Sarah
I knew I wanted to start a subscription box. I dreamed about it every night. I planned out all the boxes, knowing exactly what I’d give my subscribers. And exactly how much they’d love it. Yet, it took me 18 months before I launched my subscription box. What held me back? The tech.
Tech holds SO MANY of us back. It’s the number one stumbling block for members inside Launch Your Box. And I get it. But I want to help you get past that roadblock. The best way to do that? Knowledge!
I brought Nicole onto the podcast today to talk to us about what you need from a tech standpoint to start your subscription box. Nicole is one of our tech gurus inside Launch Your Box. She does SUCH a great job breaking things down and making them simple. Today, Nicole is talking to us about Shopify.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform specifically created for selling products online. Shopify is Nicole’s number one choice for new subscription box owners for three reasons.
- It allows you to have your own platform - this means it will work for you NOW, when you’re new, and LATER when you’ve grown and are ready to scale.
- Shopify is built for e-commerce. You don’t have to patch things together or design workarounds. Shopify is already set up to do what you need it to do.
- Shopify integrates with subscription boxes with easy-to-use apps.
You will need to add an app to Shopify in order to run recurring payments. Nicole recommends Paywhirl. She raved about their customer service and new features that make it even easier to use.
Shopify is a budget-friendly option at only $29/month and is truly user-friendly. Many members of Launch Your Box have successfully created their subscription box websites using Shopify.
Because she believes in Shopify so strongly and is so dedicated to the members of Launch Your Box, Nicole developed a training course specifically for us called Shopify Simplified. This self-paced course guides you through everything you need to get the tech side of your subscription box up and running in only eight weeks. Note: you can - and people do - work through it faster!
Nicole and I also talked briefly about two other pieces of tech to have in place. You need a CRM or customer relationship management system. We recommend Klaviyo - it is the BEST for managing email lists and maintaining connections with your audience. Klaviyo also now offers SMS which allows you to take full advantage of all the benefits of text marketing. And for shipping? It’s Shipstation all the way. They make it sooo easy. My shipping process is streamlined and efficient. With one push of a button, all my shipping labels print out.
Join me for this episode as Nicole takes the fear and mystery out of tech. This is a part of your business that is too important not to pay attention to. And your subscription box dreams are too important to let tech slow you down or stop you from moving ahead. Nicole is here to help. Grab a notebook and get ready to learn!
Important Links: * Shopify Website * Paywhirl Subscriptions Website * Klaviyo Website * Shipstation Website
Find and follow Nicole:
- GPig Box on Facebook
- GPig Box on Instagram
- GPig Box Website
- Shopify Simplified Course
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Every month, I go LIVE inside my coaching membership, Launch Your Box, to open members’ subscription boxes and provide feedback. Last month, I opened some incredible boxes. I was so impressed with the creativity and care these members put into curating an experience for their subscribers, just like I taught them. What I wasn’t impressed with was how low their subscriber numbers were. With boxes that good, their numbers should have been much higher.
It was time to dig into what was holding them back. So I asked a question. And it got my members squirming. It wasn’t a difficult question, but it was an important one.
I asked them to look back at the past month and count how many times they’d talked about their subscription boxes on social media. Then, I gave them a grade based on their responses. The bad news? Many of them failed!
I know you may feel like you’re talking about your subscription box all the time, but I’m willing to bet you’re not talking about it enough. I want you to talk about it at least 2-3 times a week – 4-5 times a week is even better.
Does that sound like too much? It’s not. Trust me. Does this mean you’re posting the same post or sharing the same picture or saying the same thing 4-5 times a week? Of course not!
Here are five different posts you can create to generate excitement about your box:
- Sneak Peek
- Picture of the box with all the items inside
- Individual picture of each item by itself (3-5 pics)
- Individual picture of each item in a lifestyle image (used in its natural setting, i.e. desk, kitchen, closet, etc)
- Benefits of your product, what problem does it solve
And we’re just getting started. I want to see you posting style guides, reviews & testimonials, behind the scenes (your audience will love the chance to see what goes into getting a subscription box out the door), and past boxes (hello, FOMO!).
Then there’s video – short videos and going LIVE. It all needs to be part of your monthly marketing plan to get the word out about your subscription.
Are you talking about your subscription box enough? Odds are you aren’t. But how much is enough? In today’s episode, I walk you through how much you should be posting about your box and give you lots of examples to get you started. Come listen!
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Part-time work will get you part-time results.”
There’s nothing quite like sitting and talking business with someone who just “gets it.” And just gets you.
For this episode, I sat down with one of my biz besties, Susan Bradley. Susan is the founder of The Social Sales Girls as well as the past and current owner of successful online retail businesses.
Susan and I are at different stages in our businesses right now and we talked about the issues, challenges, and feelings that come with each of those stages. My business is established after years of working in it and on it full-time. Susan is in the early stages of her newest business and is only able to devote part-time hours to its growth.
We went deep. We got real. And we talked about five things we want all new entrepreneurs to know. Things you need to understand and get comfortable with in order to succeed.
- Manage your expectations.
- It takes time to build a profitable, sustainable business. You have to give it time.
- Part-time work will give you part-time results.
- The hockey stick effect - there is a point where you’ll pass the curve to catch up. (Susan is Canadian - there had to be a hockey reference in there somewhere).
- Find a friend who understands. Trust us on this one.
I always learn from my conversations with Susan. And I always laugh during them. I know you’ll learn from listening to us talk and I have a feeling you’ll get a laugh or two when we share our recent misadventures in California.
This episode is for any entrepreneur, including subscription box owners, who is starting, launching, or growing a business.
Find and follow Susan:
- The Social Sales Girls Podcast
- The Social Sales Girls on Instagram
- The Social Sales Girls on Facebook
- The Social Sales Girls Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Stand tall and own your buying power.”
Is this going to be the year you find new sources for products? Have you been curious about how to order products from overseas manufacturers? Are you wondering what Alibaba is and why so many subscription box owners use it to order products at great prices?
If any of those sound like you, this episode is for you. Marissa Sayers joined me to take us through the process of ordering products through Alibaba.
Marissa has a lot of experience sourcing products overseas and actually handles sourcing for my business. She does an incredible job because she is very detail-oriented and knows this process backward and forward.
Marissa gave us a detailed outline of the steps of sourcing products directly from a manufacturer.
- Search Alibab.com for products
- Narrow your search
- Further filter your search based on delivery options (find out why you should ONLY accept DDP shipping)
- Talk to several manufacturer representatives
- Order samples (they cost more than you think they should)
- Place order
- Receive shipment
Realize this process takes time. Plan for 90-120 days to work through it from start to finish. In other words - Alibaba is not for panic buying!
It’s important to remember that at the same time you’re vetting a manufacturer, they are vetting you. Coming to them from a place of knowledge will give you confidence.
Marissa also talked about how you can work with her if you need help sourcing products. She has limited spots available to work with her and gives priority to my people. Make sure you let her know if you’re a podcast listener or member of Launch Your Box.
As a subscription box owner, you order large quantities of products every month. When you decide to step into this world of overseas sourcing, stand tall and own your buying power!
Join me for this episode as Marissa takes us through her process of sourcing products through Alibaba, step by step. You’ll learn what to look for, what to ask for, and what to never, ever compromise on. If you’re ready to source products from overseas, this is a can’t-miss episode. Grab a notebook and pen - you’re going to take a LOT of notes.
Important Links: * Alibaba Website * Ali Express Website
Find and follow Marissa:
- Marissa Mae Sayers on Facebook
- Marissa Mae Sayers on Instagram
- Sayers Imports Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“This subscription has turned into so much more than a subscription to me.” - Jenny Hines
Jenny Hines designs gorgeous floral arrangements. Seriously beautiful bouquets anyone would love to give or receive.
It turns out Jenny’s talent for creating supportive communities just might be even greater than her talent for creating eye-popping bouquets.
Jenny took over the family floral business from her parents in 2018 and from the start, a subscription was something she wanted to do. She jumped right in and started the Celebration Subscription, where men chose three dates throughout the year to send flowers to their ladies and Jenny sent them on those dates. She describes that first experience in two words. Night Mare. Well, one word actually, but Jenny gives it enough weight to make it two!
Jenny put the idea of a subscription on the back burner for a while. And then COVID hit and she found herself needing to pivot. Jenny jumped in with both feet, figuring out how to run a subscription business and managing the complexities of shipping flowers.
A few months into her subscription business, Jenny found Launch Your Box and learned the way to greater growth was to move from an open to a closed subscription.
Jenny now has 86 subscribers - busy moms who forget to do something special for themselves to celebrate the small wins and beauty in their everyday lives.
But Jenny has so much more than a subscription. She has created a community of women who encourage each other, pray for each other, and walk through life together - the highs and the lows. It’s that community that is Jenny’s favorite part of her subscription box business.
Join me for this episode as Jenny takes us through the ups and downs of her subscription box journey, the time the color purple almost caused her to throw in the towel, and how building a truly special community led to a $10,000 flower order AND a family vacation when one of her members couldn’t imagine having anyone else do the flowers for her wedding.
Important Links: Find and follow Jenny:
- The Flower Momma on Facebook
- The Flower Momma on Instagram
- The Flower Momma Website
- The Flower Momma Podcast
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Let’s start this year with a better plan, a plan to help you move forward because… It’s Time to Start Your Subscription Box!
Now is the time to get started the right way.
See, it’s hard to take steps forward with starting your subscription box if you can’t visualize who that box is for - your ideal customer. And if you already have a subscription box and you’re struggling with marketing, gaining subscribers, or retaining the subscribers you do have, take a closer look at your ideal customer.
I want you to describe your ideal customer in 3-5 words.
- Are they a man or a woman?
- Are they an adult or a child?
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Do they belong to a certain profession or faith group?
- Do they have a specific hobby or love for something?
Answering these questions allows you to visualize that person. My ideal customer for my monogram box is a “Southern Busy Mom.” Can you picture her? I can! I curate subscription boxes for her every month.
Ask yourself what your ideal customer is thinking, feeling, and doing each month of the year. It’s this knowledge that will help you plan themes for your boxes before you ever start looking for products.
Once you’re able to visualize your ideal customer, it’s time to decide what kind of box to create. You have choices:
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Bimonthly
- One Thing of the Month
There are pros and cons to each type of box. Monthly boxes are easier to market and bring in regular, recurring revenue. They are also a LOT more work. Quarterly boxes can make marketing challenging but give you time to catch your breath between boxes and may allow you to curate a more expensive, luxurious box.
A “One Thing of the Month” box is a great place to start! You’re simply providing one item each month. I have members inside Launch Your Box who have been very successful with their “one things.” T-shirts, candles, beef jerky, washi tape, door hangers, and more.
Once you’ve decided who your ideal customer is and the type of box you’re going to offer, it’s time to curate some boxes! Join me for my FREE 6 in 60 Workshop where we’ll plan six months’ worth of subscription boxes in only an hour!
Join me for this episode as I talk about how now IS the time to start your subscription box and go over the first TWO steps forward, helping you discover who your box is for and what kind of subscription box is the best choice for your business.
Important Links: * 6 in 60 Workshop
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I heard a twist on the old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and thought it was perfect for subscription box business owners. It goes like this:
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Then sell the lemonade. With the profits, buy more lemons and make more lemonade. Sell that, too. Then buy a bigger lemonade stand!
Why am I talking about lemons and lemonade on today’s podcast episode?
I’m not, actually. The point is, as a business owner, you need to reinvest in your business. This doesn’t have to mean spending thousands of dollars. It does mean making smart purchases that will allow you to grow your business.
Reinvest some of your holiday profits in one (or more) of these four areas:
- Marketing - Consider paid ads, an affiliate program, or paying an influencer or blogger to review or promote your subscription box.
- Technology - Is it time to upgrade your website? An improved customer experience will deliver a big ROI!
- People - Hire your first VA or in-person help. Get someone to help with social media posts or give a deserved raise to a current employee.
- Equipment - My Rollo printer saves me SO MUCH time and money! From an industrial printer to a t-shirt folder, any equipment purchase that helps you gain efficiency and save time delivers major ROI.
Remember, we’re talking about reinvesting profits. After you’ve paid all your expenses AND paid yourself, take what’s left and invest it back into your business. A bonus? Any asset you buy also reduces the amount of tax you’ll pay!
Join me for this episode as I talk about how reinvesting in your subscription box business makes the GROW stage in Start, Launch, and Grow your Subscription Box possible - and how using “subscription box math” helps you figure out how much to invest.
Important Links: Links to Subscription Box Equipment:
- Rollo Printer
- Industrial Printer
- T-shirt Folder
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“You can’t just put it out there and expect it to work.” - Pam Rogers
This is a special episode. It’s our 50th episode and we’re celebrating reaching and passing 80,000 downloads! Thank you to all of you who’ve listened and shared - and special thanks for all your 5 Star Reviews! It means so much to me!
I compiled the top ten episodes for the year and found something interesting. All ten of them had a common theme - audience building.
Each of the top ten episodes - and so many others - shows us just how important audience building is. You can’t start your subscription box without an audience. And you can’t grow your subscription box business without continually growing your audience.
On today’s episode, I revisit these top ten episodes and review 5 ways my guests built their audiences.
- Episode 3 - The Riches are in the Niches: Anne went specific when she created a subscription box for women dentists. She knew her ideal customer because she was her ideal customer.
- Episode 14 - 4 Ways to Build Your Audience: Tiffany ran a giveaway, posted on social media consistently, made connections, and partnered with an influencer to build her audience.
- Episode 31 - From an Audience of Zero to 100 Subscribers in 60 Days: Claudia posted consistently on Facebook and Instagram, created IG reels and stories, and added an early bird bonus.
- Episode 33 - Small Audience, No Problem! How Amanda Built 100+ Subscribers from an Audience of 600: Amanda went very specific and served her audience before she sold.
- Episode 38 - From Nurse Practitioner to Subscription Box Owner: Pam set up social media accounts, followed colleagues, and did some very creative in-person marketing when she attended a conference.
Join me for this special episode as I revisit these top ten episodes and these wonderful subscription box owners. Each of these women shared her inspiring subscription box journey with us. Each of them also shared actionable tips and strategies - things they did to grow their audiences which in turn helped them grow their businesses.
Important Links: Links to Top-Ten episodes:
- Episode 3 - The Riches are in the Niches - How one LYB Member Hit $10K Monthly with Her Subscription Box Business
- Episode 5 - Who Will Buy My Box and How Do I Find Them? - Subscription Box Strategies with Damon Oates
- Episode 7 - Get Started Right Away with Fast and Messy Action
- Episode 9 - Why am I Scared to Show Up Live? | Build an Audience for Your Subscription Box
- Episode 14 - 4 Ways to Build Your Audience with Tiffany LeBaron
- Episode 39 - Launch Tips with The Lettering Box
- Episode 38 - From Nurse Practitioner to Subscription Box Owner
- Episode 31 - From an Audience of Zero to 100 Subscribers in 60 Days
- Episode 33 - Small Audience, No Problem! How Amanda Built 100+ Subscribers from an Audience of 600
- Episode 42 - Consistency Pays Off with Jamie Shahan of CRNA Swag
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I LOVE talking about all things subscription box. It’s what I do here on the podcast every week and all day every day inside my Launch Your Box membership. But today… today is special.
Today I got to sit down and talk to my friend Paul Chambers, the co-founder and CEO of SUBTA, the Subscription Trade Association. Not only does Paul bring 20+ years of subscription box knowledge and experience with him, he’s also a super nice guy who just happens to be a big fan of Launch Your Box.
I invited him to the podcast to share his predictions about what we can expect in the subscription box industry in 2022 as well as some subscription box best practices.
Paul’s subscription box journey started when he became a partner in Gentlemen's Box, a monthly subscription that provided accessories for well-dressed, professional men who lacked the time to shop for themselves. Paul learned valuable lessons along the way, grew the subscription into an extremely successful business, and then sold it.
It was during this time that Paul and his partners were seeking out knowledge and community within the subscription industry. To their surprise, they found there were no conferences or other large networking and learning opportunities. This led to the founding of the Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA) in 2017.
Paul shared his predictions for 2022. He expects to see continued growth in subscriptions as the need that drove incredible growth in 2020 settles into new habits driven by consumers’ ongoing desire for convenience and accessibility. He also wants us to keep our eyes on new trends in tech. Rather than being intimidated by technology, Paul encourages small business owners to consider the possibilities and look for opportunities to expand subscribers’ experiences.
For 2022 - and beyond - Paul encourages subscription box owners to:
- Add opt-in text messages as part of the customer journey.
- Take advantage of Tik Tok’s popularity to market your subscription.
- Use new technology for churn, upselling, data, and more.
- Establish strategic partnerships.
- Use first-party data to better understand your consumers’ behavior.
- Optimize your content creation.
- Use your data to personalize your subscription offering.
- Give more power to your consumers when it comes to managing their subscriptions.
- Focus on retaining your current subscribers.
We also talked expansion revenue and strategies to capitalize on current subscribers as a source of additional revenue. Your engaged audience has an appetite for more from you. Give it to them!
Consider:
- Creating limited edition or one-time boxes.
- Add an option to add complimentary pieces to a current subscription.
- Curate Mystery Boxes.
In June of 2022, Sub Summit - the incredible conference put on by Paul and the rest of the SUBTA team - is coming to Disneyworld! I’ll be there along with so many of my Launch Your Box members. I’d love to see you there! Learn more and register HERE.
There is so much to learn in this episode. Hear what works and what to expect from a true leader in the world of subscriptions. Grab a notebook and a pen and get ready to soak up what happens when two people who LOVE talking subscriptions share inside knowledge and tips that will help you continue to grow your own subscription box business.
Important Links: Find and follow Paul:
- SUBTA Website
- Sub Summit Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
When you don’t know where to start, it’s easy to start in the wrong place.
You have an idea. A dream. You want to start a subscription box. But you don’t know how. So you do what everyone does. You google. It. And you find out there are all kinds of people wanting to sell you all kinds of things to help you run your subscription box business. Software, packaging, marketing tools, and more.
In the beginning, before you even get started, you don’t need any of those things. What you need is to Start The Right Way!
If you’re just starting your subscription box journey, this episode is for you! Avoid the overwhelm and start where you need to start… the beginning.
I call this first stage The Hopeful Entrepreneur because you’re full of hopes and dreams… and so many questions. There are things you need to do during this stage to start your subscription box journey off right.
- Complete the 6 in 60 Workshop (Post-It Note Challenge) - identify your ideal customer and plan out your first six boxes.
- Contact your local Small Business Adminstration Office - fulfill local requirements to legally set up your business.
- Establish social media pages for your business - focus audience building efforts on one platform to start.
- Secure a domain for your website - this will be your url.
- Explore options for your website - we recommend Shopify or WordPress/WooCommerce.
Getting your subscription box business off the ground takes a lot of work. Following a step-by-step process helps you stay on track.
Join me for this episode as I walk you through this first stage of your subscription box journey, sharing tips, strategies, and resources to help you get a strong start. Don’t miss my tips about naming your business - and your subscription box. It matters!
Important Links: * Subscription Box Blueprint eBook * FREE 6 in 60 Workshop
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“When you try selling everything to everyone, you sell to no one.”
Today I’m excited to introduce you to Becca Slye, Launch Your Box member and co-owner of Isle Candle Co. I hope Becca’s story inspires you to keep going even when things get hard and to see mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth.
Isle Candle Co. is a family business started by Becca’s parents. They sell specialized soy candles that transform into incredibly nourishing lotions as they burn. How cool, right? Becca’s parents operate a brick and mortar shop in a beach town in South Carolina, capitalizing on tourist traffic.
Becca and her husband got involved in the family business and decided to develop an online presence as well as open a second brick and mortar in Virginia. As Becca noticed how many repeat customers they had, the idea for a subscription box was born.
Becca’s subscription launched big. As in 135 subscribers big! For a first-time launch, that is an amazing number of subscribers! You’re probably thinking that, with a launch like that, they continued to grow their subscriber base quickly, right?
That’s not what happened.
In this episode, Becca and I get real about why, 15 months in, they’ve only added another 35 subscribers. Not exactly the growth they hoped for.
There are reasons Isle Candle Co.’s subscription box hasn’t grown like they hoped it would. Reasons like too many offers, trying to be all things to all people, and going wider instead of deeper with their audience.
We ALL make mistakes and face challenges in business. And what you’ll hear from Becca is clarity about what went wrong and determination to move forward. She got creative about selling inventory that didn’t fit with their goals moving forward and got really clear about their offer. Becca also talks about the importance of hiring help - staying in your zone of genius and letting others handle the rest.
There is so much to learn from and be inspired by in this episode. Some business owners see mistakes and challenges as reasons to shut down or not move forward. Not Becca. She’s determined to find solutions to problems and continue to move forward and grow. I have no doubt that’s exactly what is going to happen!
Important Links: Find and follow Becca:
- Isle Candle Co. Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
What if I told you writing six simple emails once could bring ongoing revenue into your subscription box business?
There are three email automations (also called flows or sequences)every subscription box owner needs to have in place. Write these once and they’ll work for you for a long time.
If you’ve listened to my podcast, seen me on social media, or read my blog, you know I like to keep things simple but effective. That’s why I recommend that each automation needs to be only two emails.
The three types of email automations you need are:
- Waitlist flow.
- New subscriber flow.
- Abandoned cart flow.
Each email has a purpose. Each email contains a call to action. Each email needs to connect with your audience, engage them, and encourage them to take action.
These email automations - plus the bonus automation I tell you more about in this episode - account for a full 5% of my monthly revenue. 5%! That’s a lot of revenue coming into my business that requires no work from me. I wrote the emails once and they keep working for me… month after month.
Join me for this episode as I share more details about each of the three types of email automations you need to put in place right now. Learn what to put in each email and how to write subject lines that get noticed.
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you served your audience first?
Today I’m excited to introduce you to Kristy Bottle, Scale Your Box member and owner of Kristy’s Craft Room. I hope Kristy’s story inspires you to get creative, serve your audience with a generous heart, and have the courage to take chances.
Kristy is a dedicated crafter who decided to take the crafting parties she hosted in her home and move them online. The Kristy’s Craft Room page on Facebook was born and Kristy started crafting live a few times each week. Her audience grew quickly as she shared cute crafts, answered questions, and interacted with her audience.
Kristy spent time getting to know her audience and serving them by sharing her love of crafts and giving them a place to connect. Soon they started asking her to sell kits containing the supplies for the projects she was working on. They wanted Kristy to sell to them. So she did.
Kristy started with one-time boxes that her audience could purchase. Once she noticed the same people were buying multiple kits, the idea for a subscription was born. Despite not knowing how to do all the things, Kristy jumped in and had the courage to do it messy. She didn’t shy away from unfamiliar technology and used text message marketing to increase sales.
The subscription grew quickly, selling out each time more slots were added. Kristy wanted to see how far this could go and knew she needed help to continue to grow. It was right about then that we met and Kristy became one of the first members of my Scale Your Box group, where subscription box owners who already have successful subscriptions learn how to take them to the next level.
The Kristy’s Craft Box subscription has grown from just over 300 subscribers to more than 600 subscribers in the last four months! What she originally hoped would be a business that allowed her to quit her full-time job and spend more time with her family has grown into a business that supports her entire family. Kristy’s husband recently left his career to join the team full-time!
There is so much to learn from and be inspired by in this episode. We talk about what can happen when you serve your audience first. Kristy also shares how important the connections made inside her community are to her members - and to her. The rapid growth of Kristy’s subscription business has been exciting to see - I know you’ll be inspired when you hear her tell her story.
Important Links: Find and follow Kristy:
- Kristy’s Craft Room Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Do you think current supply chain issues only affect big corporations?
They don’t. All business owners are dealing with supply chain issues right now. And that includes subscription box owners.
I’ve heard some subscription box owners going down the road of doom and gloom. Wondering if it’s time to just give up and throw in the towel. Um, no. It’s absolutely NOT time to give up.
It is time to problem solve, to pivot, and to plan.
If you are a subscription box owner, you WILL run into product supply problems at some point. And if you have a large subscriber base (300 or more), you still need to work with overseas manufacturers.
When you run into an issue and something you’re planning to put into a future box simply isn’t going to get to you on time, it’s time to put your problem solving hat on and get to work.
Let’s talk about five things you can do to gain control over product and shipping delays.
- Work further out on buying and sourcing goods.
- Fill your immediate needs with “Ready to Ship” items. Overseas manufacturers often have US warehouses full of goods available for purchase.
- Connect with makers and other small businesses who can supply you with what you need.
- Don’t wait too long! Problem solve shipping delays before they happen. Have backup plans for your backup plans and get in front of problems whenever possible.
- If subscription boxes are late, surprise and delight your subscribers. Thank them for their patience and understanding.
The truth is, we don’t know when things are going to get better. As subscription box owners, we need to continue to get better at planning, pivoting, and problem solving.
Join me for this episode as I share practical tips and strategies you need to put in place NOW to deal with shipping and product delays. I also take you through some of my recent shipping challenges and how I solved them.
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you thought about taking your subscription box business from a side hustle to a full-time gig?
It’s absolutely possible. I did it and so have many members of Launch Your Box.
But…
Before you quit your full-time job or make any major changes to your business, you need to ask - and answer - some questions. And you need to get really comfortable with your financial details, business and personal.
Take your time and get real about what your goals are. Are you currently working 40/50/60 hours a week and want to work less? Do you want to make more income than you have been?
The truth is, you can get there. But you’ll need to make a plan and work that plan. Start by asking yourself these four questions:
- What is the income you need to replace?
- What is the survival income you need to cover your bare bones expenses every month?
- What portion of that survival income can be covered by someone else (spouse, parents, roommates)?
- What is the initial investment you’ll need for your business (products, supplies, packaging, tech)?
Understand that your business will need to be profitable before you can pay yourself. That takes time. It took me 9 months before I was able to pay myself a regular paycheck. 8 ½ years later, I pay myself a very nice salary and also pay the salaries of more than 20 employees.
Join me for this episode as I take you on my journey from tiny side hustle making $200 a month to where I am now, running two multi seven-figure businesses, answering those questions, knowing my numbers, and making careful decisions every step of the way.
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“Come up with a simple plan and work it!”
I am so excited to bring you my interview with Jamie Shahan, Launch Your Box member and owner of CRNA Swag. Jamie’s subscription box journey shows us what is possible when a plan, consistent engagement, and the willingness to “just do it” come together.
In addition to being a subscription box owner, Jamie is a wife, mother, proud grandmother, and a certified nurse practitioner anesthetist. In other words, she’s a busy woman!
Jamie started thinking about what she would do when she retired a few years down the road. Her mind turned to crafts and she learned how to make wreaths. The plan? To sell these wreaths. Jamie’s plan hit a snag when it took seven months to earn her first sale.
Unafraid of hard work, Jamie sought out coaches, masterminds, and all the things to figure out how to make her wreath business a success.
Then she came to my Subscription Box Coaching Week this past March. Jamie came in wanting to learn how to turn her wreath dreams into a subscription box business. But during Coaching Week, Jamie was inspired by Anne Stuccio, another Launch Your Box member. Anne is a dentist whose subscribers are female dentists. Don’t miss Anne’s interview on the podcast (listen to her episode here).
A lightbulb went off for Jamie. She realized her ideal customer for a subscription box was a female CRNA - just like her! Jamie joined Launch Your Box and was excited about starting a subscription box for hard-working female CRNAs who don’t take time for themselves.
The only problem? The only audience Jamie had was for her wreath business, and those were not female CRNAs. So, Jamie started building an audience from scratch.
She figured out where to find her ideal customer and started hanging out there with them and adding value. She slowly but steadily built connections and engagement. Jamie went through the Launch Your Box trainings, came up with a plan that fit into the time she had available, and followed that plan.
Jamie launched her box in late September. At that time she had 131 followers. Her goal was to sell out her inventory of 50 boxes. 50 boxes with only 131 followers sounds impossible. It wasn’t. Jamie planned for a three-day launch, but was sold out by the afternoon of day one! She’s now hard at work planning her next quarterly box - and this time she plans to add another 50 subscribers.
Jamie’s advice to anyone who wants to start a subscription box business is to come up with a plan, work that plan, and not be afraid to launch messy.
There is so much to learn from and be inspired by in this episode. We talk about the benefits of identifying a niche and where to find your ideal customer. We also talk about what to do once you’ve found them and the importance of being consistent AND being willing to just do it.
I know you’ll love hearing Jamie’s story!
Important Links: Find and follow Jamie:
- CRNA Swag Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“If you are waiting for the day you have everything perfect, you’ll never launch.”
I am so excited to bring you my interview with Cassandra Ross, Launch Your Box member and owner of Thread Crate. Cassandra’s story is full of inspiration with a side of “just do it.”
Cassandra always sewed as a hobby, getting most of her fabric and supplies from local fabric stores. When the pandemic hit and her local fabric stores had to close, Cassandra turned to online shopping. She got supplies from different vendors and quickly found herself with colors that didn’t quite match and trim pieces that didn’t quite fit.
As Cassandra thought about how to solve her own sewing challenges, she realized she could solve the same problems for many people just like her. And Thread Crate was born. Cassandra’s subscription box provides sewers with everything they need to sew a garment each month, from pattern to fabric to thread and trim. All in one box. All specially selected to go together perfectly.
It’s important to know that Cassandra started her subscription box business from scratch. As is, she didn’t have a business. She didn’t have a website. She didn’t have a social media presence or an existing audience of any kind.
What she did have was an idea and the desire to make this work. Cassandra did something I tell anyone who wants to start a subscription box business to do - she saw a need and she filled it!
Cassandra built her own website, created Facebook and Instagram accounts for her business, and got to work. She gathered email addresses via a pop-up on her website and started engaging with her audience as much as possible.
When Cassandra launched, a handful of people subscribed very quickly. Then... crickets. Her launch continued, but she wasn’t getting more subscribers. So she looked at how she was communicating with them and realized she was missing something important. Something I talk about inside Launch Your Box all the time.
Serve before you sell.
You need to provide value to your audience. Allow them to get to know you and trust you. Show them you understand their problem and have a solution. Talk about the benefits of your box and how it will change their lives.
Cassandra made some changes to her messages and ended her launch with 50 subscribers. Let’s be clear. Cassandra launched to a tiny audience. Tiny. And she ended up with 50 subscribers. That is HUGE.
But she didn’t stop there. Cassandra’s business has grown and grown over the past year. She now has 580 subscribers!
There is so much to learn from and be inspired by in this episode. We talk about getting brave and being willing to launch messy. We talk about learning from mistakes, listening to your customers, tweaking and pivoting in order to grow. Cassandra shares some challenges she’s faced along the way and we talk about continuing to scale her business and bringing in some help.
I know you’ll love hearing Cassandra’s story!
Important Links: Find and follow Cassandra:
- Thread Crate Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
Have you ever wondered what a typical week looks like for me?
I get that question a lot and truly, there is no such thing as typical. Every week brings its own set of challenges and surprises, but I have developed a schedule to help me meet one major goal.
Leaving work by 3 PM.
I have two teenagers. And in addition to driving them to all the places for all the things, I want to be home for them. They’re getting older and my years with them at home are growing short. So… I set up my weeks to give me the best chance at leaving every day by 3:00.
Here’s a quick peek inside this week.
Monday:
- Caught up from the weekend
- Responded to emails
- Answered questions in groups
- Warehouse team meeting - planned for the week
- Planned Launch Your Box schedule
- Reviewed content schedule
Tuesday (Got a lot done - yay!):
- Teacher subscription box went out
- Box prep for monogram subscription
- Started planning gift box launch
- Answered questions in groups
- Worked on blog content
- Ordered product
Wednesday (half day):
- Worked alone - creative time
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- Designed new teacher tee
- Designed November tee
- Self-care – got nails done!
Thursday:
- Continued monogramming t-shirts
- Looked at subscription timelines – adjusted work schedules
- Started organizing sizes and bagging t-shirt for subscriptions
Friday:
- LIVES! – got my hair done
- Continued preparing to launch Coaching Week
- Looked at hiring needs
Join me for this episode and walk with me through a week inside my subscription box business. You’ll come away with ideas about batching work, discovering your best time for deep work, and working with a team!
Important Links: Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. The membership is open for a short time - Join today!
Guest: Betsy Goodman - The Lettering Box Have you ever wanted to sit in on a one-on-one subscription box coaching session?
Well, you’re in luck. Today’s episode is an interview with Besty Goodman of B Goods Lettering - a Launch Your Box member who was in the middle of launching her subscription box when we talked.
Betsy has an existing stationery and wax seal shop and also teaches hand lettering online and through local workshops. She got the idea for a subscription box last year, when she realized the ongoing practice her hand lettering students needed would be more fun if they had actual projects to complete instead of just the standard practice sheets. She tried a one-time Valentine box and it was a success.
Betsy decided to start a subscription box, joined Launch Your Box, and made it happen. Three days into her launch, Betsy posted a question inside our private Launch Your Box Facebook group. She’d had 10 people subscribe so far and wanted to know how to keep the momentum going. I could have just answered her question inside the group. Instead, I invited her onto the podcast for an impromptu coaching session!
Betsy was already doing a number of things right - she’d built up a waitlist that she continued to drive people to and had done a giveaway. She posted regularly on Instagram - driving people to her waitlist with posts teasing about her box.
There was more Betsy could do, however. And that’s what I talked to her about.
1 - Be visible.
If you’re a subscription box owner, include the link to your business in your personal profile. Let the people in your life know about your business. They already know, like, and trust you. Chances are, some of them are your ideal customers, or have friends who are.
2 - Ramp up how often you go LIVE.
Betsy had done one Facebook Live. That’s not enough. I know it can be tough to go Live - it was for me at first. But it’s so important!
3 - Share your story.
Tell your audience why you started your business. Then share your customers’ stories - what your box means to them.
4 - Show the product - make it personal.
For Betsy, I suggested demonstrating her lettering skill during a Live. She can make it personal by lettering the names of the people who show up for the Live. This creates a feeling of inclusivity and FOMO for those catching the replay later.
5 - Offer a sign-up bonus.
Successful launches need to create three feelings in buyers: urgency, scarcity, and exclusivity. Offering a sign-up bonus with an expiration gives people a reason to sign up NOW!
There is so much goodness in this episode. You're going to want to take notes as you listen - the things I coach Betsy on apply to any subscription box launch.
I can’t wait to hear the results of Betsy’s launch and to watch her audience - and her subscribers - grow!
Important Links: Find and follow Betsy:
- B Goods Lettering Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
“You can’t just put it out there and it works.” - Pam Rodgers
Today’s episode is packed with so many golden nuggets!
I’m super excited to introduce you to a member of Launch Your Box!
Pam Rodgers is a Nurse Practitioner, which means her full-time job is absolutely nuts right now. Pam decided her career in medicine wasn’t keeping her busy enough and turned a love for nail polish into a home-based business.
As a child and again as a nursing student, Pam took her stress out on her fingernails. She found that by keeping her nails painted, she didn’t bite or pick at them. When Pam couldn’t find the unique colors she wanted, she started creating custom nail polish in her basement “lab.” Stella Chroma - her artisan nail lacquer and hand care company - was born.
Pam introduced a nail polish subscription - the Monthly Mystery Subscription. Subscribers received an exclusive nail polish color each month. She started with 14 subscribers and realized she needed to do something in order to grow.
Pam happened to learn about Launch Your Box right before we kicked off Coaching Week in March. She jumped into Coaching Week with both feet and joined Launch Your Box.
Pam quickly grew her Monthly Mystery Subscription to 85 subscribers! But that’s not all. During Coaching Week, Pam was inspired to create another subscription. One that had nothing to do with nail polish.
As a hard-working NP, Pam realized there were no subscription boxes just for her and her colleagues. There were boxes for nurses and boxes for doctors. But nothing for Nurse Practitioners.
The idea for The Nurse Practitioner Subscription Box was born. There was only one problem. Pam had no audience. Yet. She quickly created a presence on all the channels and got to work.
And when it came time to launch - Pam sold out her subscription in TWO HOURS!
You are going to want to hear the creative ways Pam built her audience, connecting with people just like her.
Important Links: JOIN COACHING WEEK - starts October 17th
Find and follow Pam:
- The Nurse Practitioner Subscription Box Facebook
- The Nurse Practitioner Subscription Box Instagram
- The Nurse Practitioner Subscription Box Website
- Stella Chroma Facebook
- Stella Chroma Instagram
- Stella Chroma Website
- Stella Chroma Monthly Mystery Subscription
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
I talk a lot about the importance of audience building for subscription box owners. You have to build your audience in order to build your subscription box business.
One of the best ways to build your audience is through the use of short videos you record and use on Instagram stories and reels or on Tik Tok. These videos can also be turned into Facebook video ads. All of which help you build your audience.
Today, I’m thrilled to have one of my biz besties - and someone who does short videos better than just about anyone - on to share her knowledge with us. Tamara Bennett of Southern Adornments Decor is here!
A lifelong crafter, Tamara turned in-home paint parties she hosted while her Marine husband was deployed into an incredible business where she teaches more than 1,000 women every month to paint online.
Tamara started recording Instagram stories more than four years ago. She continues to share stories with her followers but also uses Instagram reels and Tik Tok to grow her audience and make new connections.
Tamara explained the role each video types has in your audience building strategy:
- Use stories to engage with your current followers. You want to go deeper with these people who have already said, “Yes, I want to know more about you.”
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- Take them behind the scenes.
- Show them the making of your product.
- Share details of your daily life with them.
- Use reels to gather new customers. Your goal is to reach out and build a bigger community. Put out content that will attract your ideal customer.
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- Keep reels relatable - funny works!
- Build a connection - give the viewer a “that’s just like my life” moment.
- Invite the viewer into your world.
Tamara LOVES Tik Tok. And she’s really good at it. Tik Tok is a great way to get people to consume more of your video content quickly. Once a viewer likes one of your videos, they’re likely to consume more. The result? You’re able to build your Know-Like-Trust factor quickly. Tik Tok is great for:
- Behind the scenes
- Packing a box
- Product reveal
- Answering audience questions on camera
- Getting in on Tik Tok trends
You don’t need special video or audio equipment to do short video well. Tamara uses her phone - that’s it. She shares hints and tips about how to record videos as well as how easy it is to edit videos inside Instagram and Tik Tok.
Being on camera and going live can be intimidating. Short video is the perfect way to put yourself out there in a small way.
Tamara reminds us that we are here to serve. These videos aren’t about us. They’re about the people they will help!
Important Links: Find and follow Tamara:
- Tik Tok
- Southern Adornments Decor Website
Join me in all the places:
- Launch Your Box with Sarah Website
Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!
We’re subscription box entrepreneurs, which means when we’re not creating a unique box experience for our audience, we’re building that audience of subscribers for our box! We spend so much time getting in front of our audience and gaining those subscribers, it kind of hurts every time we lose one of those subscribers for whatever reason.
But let me ask you a question: are you also putting as much time and effort into keeping those subscribers that are in danger of leaving? This week I’m going over six ways that I’ve used to retain those subscribers who need just a little more TLC to stay satisfied customers.
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Keep Things Trendy or Seasonal: How often are you changing up your lineup of items offered in your box? For me, I’m always researching new trends and thinking ahead to what holidays or seasons are coming up to keep things fresh and exciting, and that excitement is going to keep your subscribers happy.
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Ask you Subscribers what they want: Simply including your audience in the decision making process can make a huge difference. Sending out questionnaires, survey’s, or however you can directly get their input can create buy-in to the whole experience that they’ll want to see through to execution.
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Engage with your Subscribers: Show them that they’re a part of something larger than themselves. If you have a private group for them or do like I do and have everyone on text, ask them for pictures of them enjoying your box that you can then put up in your public group. People love to feel included, so give them a truly great experience!
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Create Added Value: We always want our subscribers to feel like the VIPs of our business. Create an environment of added value that will make them feel special. You can send out subscriber only emails or add personal coupons to their box for items in your store. I find that a personal touch reaching out to my customers goes a long way.
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Offer a Lower-Priced tier in your Subscription Box: The number one reason people cancel their subscriptions is because of financial reasons. Offering a lower priced tier at the point of cancellation is one way you can try to address that pressure on your subscribers to try and retain them. Sometimes they’re happy just to have the option, and that way you can try to get them back to a full subscription when their situation changes for the better.
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Billing and Follow Up: It’s not the sexiest or most fun thing to do, but you’d be surprised at how keeping track of any billing issues or missed payments can make a huge difference in managing subscriber turnover. Sometimes payments are missed because of card changes, or changes in addresses, or whatever the case may be, and sometimes your subscribers get so caught up in the day-to-day that they forget to fix those issues. Reminders and follow-up can eliminate so much of that.
Make sure to always keep an eye on your retention rate. If it starts to slip and fall below 80%, that’s an issue you need to address quickly before things get out of hand. There’s no better time to start repairing things than right away!
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Everyone starts somewhere in this subscription box business. Sometimes you start with an audience ready and waiting for your box (if you’re already online), and sometimes you must build your business and audience from nothing. That’s where Donna Prudhomme started with her Plan, Lead, Educate box, but with a little Launch-Your-Box knowhow and some hard work, she was able to build her launch base to 65 subscribers! This week she joins me to tell the story of her first launch and how she put aside her fears and worked toward her success.
The Top can be Lonely
Donna works in education, but not at the teacher level but at the leadership level. She saw all the different boxes that were geared toward teachers and realized that there wasn’t as much of a support system for those women in leadership positions. She found her ‘why:’ an area for opportunity and a community that needed some good old-fashioned TLC.
“I (tried) to find something for leaders and public-school education. I really want to hone in on public school education because we face different challenges. And I didn't really find anything. So, I said, well, I need to create something. I don't know what I'm going to create. I just need to create something.” – Donna
Get Out of Your Own Way and Do It
Building an audience and getting to launch is one of the least-sexy things that we do but I can’t stress how crucial doing the work is to have a successful launch. Donna realized this and put in the work necessary to get her to where she wanted to be with subscribers. We’ve talked about doing a giveaway to build up your email list, being active on multiple social media platforms, and most important, going live and getting in front of your audience.
“I said, I have to do this, let me just jump on Facebook Live. (I told myself) I just have to do it because I tried to stay away from it. But I felt like if I actually showed myself in front of my brand, that people will relate. And so, once I jump(ed) on Facebook Live, putting myself out there, I received so much positive feedback from other educators like, ‘Yes, thank you for doing this, oh, we need this.’ That actually drove my momentum.” – Donna
One last thought from Donna that I thought everyone needs to hear:
“Your box will not be for everyone, but it will be for someone so give yourself grace.”
You can find Donna and her Plan, Lead, Educate box at: https://planleadeducate.com/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
The Fourth Quarter is coming, and you know what that means: the busiest shopping days of the year. If you haven’t started preparing, now is a great time to start. This week’s podcast is all about maximizing your selling potential for the holiday and really using the audience and subscriber base that you’ve already built to do it. I’m going to give you five ways to use the resources that you have to give more gift options for your subscription box.
- The Holiday Gift Box
This is not one of your regular subscription boxes, but a one-time box that your subscribers can buy either for someone else. A holiday box can be a great way to expand your subscription base by including ways for the person it was gifted to sign up to your regular service. These should be presold beginning in October or early November to pull in as many sales as you can as well as give you time to pull in as much inventory as need to get these shipped out.
- New Subscriber Launch – Special Promotion
This is another promotion that you’re going to want to do early in the October to November timeframe to pull in people who are still shopping for themselves before the end of the year. You want to start promoting this before the noise of the holidays drowns you out. This is meant to get your audience excited about your upcoming boxes and gives you a chance to offer some free gifts for subscription to snag some good subscriptions before the end of the year.
- Gift Subscriptions
This is one of the easiest things that you can do, and it’s one of my favorite things because it’s so easy! Gift subscriptions are a promotion I usually run around Black Friday and it’s the only time of year I offer either six month or 12-month subscription starting in January - you read that right! You can sell some subscriptions (with a free month for a 6-month subscription, or two for 12-months) and have the money up front as well as not having to move on it until the first of the year. This is great to have some piece of mind for the slow months after the holidays without having to move on them right away.
- Curated Boxes
Having excess inventory is the nature of the beast when you’re a subscription box owner. Time to put that inventory to use! You can mix and match those left-over items into new boxes for gift items for people looking for that extra gift set. Give these boxes new names and don’t be afraid to get creative but remember that you’re not building a brand-new box, but a specialized one from items that have come before.
- Mystery Boxes
What about the inventory from Christmas that was left over? Selling mystery boxes made up of that inventory is a great way to move it out to your audience. This isn’t about re-selling old boxes but using pieces from various boxes to create something new and exciting as a gift. It’s a great way to offer a clearance type item and send out whatever’s left after Christmas!
I don’t recommend doing all of these at once but putting together 2-3 options for the holidays can be a great way to really be efficient with your sales and generate that positive interest with your audience!
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
One of my favorite things that I’ve learned since starting the Launch Your Box group is how many unique kinds of subscription boxes are out there. This week I’m talking to Amanda Stucky, founder of the Mandy Lynn Plans Box, and her box is all about stickers made specially for Hobonichi Planners. What are Hobonichi Planners, you ask? That’s the same question I had coming into this week’s podcast, and Amanda was more than gracious enough to share with me what her niche was and how she started out the gate with 100 subscribers!
Riches are In the Niches
If you’re not in the know yet, Hobonichi Planners are a specific kind of planner from Japan that can be specialized by their owners in tons of different ways. Amanda is part of a community of creators who customize their planners and got her start on Youtube showing off her works. The seed of her subscripton box was born when she started modifying stickers to fit in her planner:
“I found this hobo Nietzsche, and I was watching all these planner videos of people using their stickers, but I couldn't find anybody using stickers and a Hobonichi cousin (planner). So, what I would do is I would take the stickers made for the Erin Condren (planner) and I would put them on my planner, and I would use an exacto-knife and a ruler and slice off the piece that I didn't like so it fit perfectly.”
This is exactly what I mean by “riches in the niches.” Amanda was able to build an audience of 600 followers, 100 of which have been subscribers to her M.L.P box from launch, just off of creating stickers for a certain kind of life planner! She has been so successful that her husband quit his job as an engineer to help her out!
“My husband has a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, and it means, first, that he won't have to work as many nights and weekends. He's been very involved with the business from the very beginning. And so, we're going to get our family time back. And that means a lot.”
Amanda and her family were able to change their lives over stickers! If that isn’t inspiration to get out there and start your own subscription box, well then I’ll just keep on bringing you more stories and tips and tricks every week anyway!
You can find Amanda and the Mandy Lynn Plans box at her Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDi2GP6S-SjtJa4Kih9hxIw or https://mandylynnplans.com/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
You have an idea for a subscription box and you’re excited to start building it for your audience. But where are you going to get all the items you need for a price that doesn’t break the bank? Or maybe you’re already sending your box out, but you’ve increased your subscriber base to the point that you need to start thinking about ordering in bulk. That’s the subject of this week’s episode, where I’m going to show you that there’s more than one way to fill a box.
Where to Source
Deciding what supplier to go with is really what kind of scale you’re looking for as well as your need to diversify your supply chain. When you start to scale up, having more options is going to be better for your schedule as well as your piece of mind to make sure you’re getting what you need for each shipment. Here is a list of sources you can use to help keep you stocked and ready to ship:
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Local Shops – The ability to support business owners in your own area is invaluable, especially when you’re starting out small.
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Facebook Wholesale Groups – There’s likely going to be a Facebook Wholesale group for whatever you’re looking for. It’s a good idea to look around and see what you can find, and it’s easy to join when you do find a group that might work.
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General Wholesale and Vendor Sites – These are sites that cater to buyers in need of wholesale and often carry many different brands. There is a need to prove that you are a business in need of wholesale, so take care to see what kind of requirements are needed to become a member of the site.
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Markets or Trade Shows – These are scheduled events that happen across the country where hundreds of vendors come to connect with buyers. These are great to get hands on with companies looking to supply all kinds of businesses and are a great place to network with other businesses as well. Here are some resources for details on shows:
https://nynow.com/
https://dallasmarketcenter.com/
https://www.lasvegasmarket.com/
https://www.americasmart.com/
http://www.greatrep.com/TradeShows.aspx
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White Label with a Private Lender – Partnering with a vendor to create custom products can be a huge way of getting unique products without having to do all of the sourcing and shipping yourself. Markets/Trade Shows are a great way to connect with vendors to partner with and start a white label line.
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Global Marketplace – Sites like Alibaba or Indiamart are a great way to lower costs for items. However, since the items are coming from overseas, you’ll need to give them more lead time when ordering, and it can be affected by global bottlenecks, but they are a great place for sourcing.
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Sourcing Services – Companies that specialize in sourcing supply for companies. These services can be great when you need a large volume of items as they can leverage their relationships with suppliers to get you what you need when you need it.
There are so many resources available to subscription box owners to get your products at scale for a price to keep you in business. Don’t be afraid to diversify, because you’ll find that once you have many sources for the items you need, it’s going to be much easier to keep you piece of mind and your business in the positive.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
This week I’m speaking with Claudia Ramos, founder of Shabbyboxes.com, about her unique story: how she went from having a box, to shutting it down, to launching a brand-new box and building to 100 subscribers in 60 days. How’s that for an attention getting headline! We talked about what she did to achieve this and how engaging with your audience is so important to building your subscriber base.
From Zero to Subscription Hero
Claudia had initially started off with another box related to her work as an independent designer with a crafting company. By the time she was informed by corporate that she wasn’t allowed to have a box associated with the company, she had already gotten a taste of the recurring revenue that a subscription box is known for.
“It was two months of ‘Wow, this money hit my bank on the first of the month.’ And I know that this can be something great. So, I had to pivot, and I had to do it quickly because I didn't want to lose that momentum.”
Claudia acted quickly. She already had an idea for a new box, one geared toward teachers, and since it was June she was on a timeline to build an audience for the box and release it at the start of the school year.
So, I started with brand new social media, Facebook, Instagram. I'm not very Instagram savvy, my primary social media platform is Facebook, and I'm very comfortable with it. I'm going to start from zero and I'm going to start posting. I listened to your podcast and your training about reels, and I started doing them, and I felt silly. I felt like, this isn't gonna work. But what they did, you know, one of my reels got over 10,000 views.”
She trusted in herself and her brand enough to know that the audience would come to her if she was active with it. She stepped out of her comfort zone and worked hard to build her audience in time for her launch and was able to end up with over 100 subscribers by the time school started. It’s all about getting in front of your audience and really showing them you and what you’re an expert in and building those enthusiastic fans that’s going to push you towards wild success.
You can find Claudia and her Tee(Cher) Box on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/teecherbox/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
There is so much that can get in the way of our journey to success, but nothing stops us more than the doubt we put on ourselves. We all have pitfalls in our past and struggles in our present that threaten to make us think less of ourselves, especially when we’re trying to create something and share it with the world.
The truth is that all the parts of our past, the good and the bad, are just parts of the story that makes us unique and helps us to be successful, not only as entrepreneurs but also at living our lives to the fullest. That’s what Lo Hixson realized when she created her Passion & Growth box and she’s my guest this week to tell her story from self-doubt to success!
Living Our Stories
Lo’s story begins right at her birth when she was born with a tumor on the right side of her face. She came from a place where from the very start, the world seemed like it was ready to box her in with doubts about herself and who she was. “So, from a very young age, I felt like that was my story. My story was written, I felt like before I could even talk like I was this baby who had this tumor who had surgery and had a deformity from a very young age.”
It took her a long time and many procedures to finally come to grip with this side of herself, and when she finally was ready to move on she threw herself into it. “That was kind of a line in the sand that I drew that I was like, enough is enough. I've personally been through a lot with this, I am ready to start accepting that, this is okay. It's a part of me, and I've been through a lot. And there's a new journey that has to start here.”
She became a nurse, to help others through the same thing she had struggled with but continued and came up with the idea for a subscription box based on empowerment and self-love to share what she had learned from her own story. “I said, I’m made for more. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I know that I'm put here to do more than what I've been doing. I have struggled with so much and all of us have our struggles and our trauma, and the things that are holding us back.”
Lo’s story is about overcoming the obstacles life can set in the way for us and rising above them to accomplish great things. Your story is what makes you unique and that’s why you’re the perfect person to bring something new into the world, to create your own business that shows off what beautiful thing that makes you one of a kind.
You can find Lo and her Passion & Growth box at: https://passionandgrowth.com/ or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/passionandgrowth/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
When you’re just starting out your business, one of the things you dream about is getting followers and growing your audience. We get so stuck on the idea that only way to be successful is to have a huge following, that we’re not maximizing the following that we already have. Success doesn’t come from having a bunch of followers that just look at your posts and don’t buy anything, it comes from having an engaged audience and from having the right audience and not just any audience.
When We are For Anyone, We’re for No One
I want to do all the things all the time. It comes from being a creative person, and I’m sure if you’re reading this you sometimes feel the same way! But this is a trap we can fall into that spreads us too thin to really make the impact that we want. We need to concentrate on what makes us unique and experts at what we do. Think about what drove you to start your subscription box in the first place, what it’s all about. That’s what people are showing up for, and the more engaged you can make the audience that you have, the more that audience will be worth to your business.
Develop your Audience into the Right Audience
- Be Known for Something: What are you the expert at? What makes you happy?
- Show Up: Get in front of your audience with training and Live sessions.
- Serve Before You Sell: What value are you providing to your audience? Know what that is first.
- You Don’t Have to be Extreme; you Just Need to be Consistent: Don’t try to do all the things! Pick a few that you are good at and can be consistent with.
- Love on Your People! Help your audience feel seen and heard, and they’ll keep coming back.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we think about and plan for every possibility, something is going to go wrong. Don’t worry! It happens to all of us at one point or another. Being a business owner means that you need to be ready for when the worst happens, because how you deal with that situation can mean the difference between really stretching those problem-solving skills and becoming completely derailed.
Don’t Let it Break You, Let it Make You
The truth is that things are going to happen that are out of your control. My story this week about my boxes being scattered all across the road is definitely one of those situations. Murphy’s law has a way of striking when you’re least expecting, so we as business owners need to be ready to pick up the pieces and move forward. The important thing to remember is that this is your business. You built it from the ground up, and nothing is going to keep you from being successful. But you’re not in this alone!
One thing I love about the group we have, all of us subscription box owners, is to be able to fall back on each other to help us through those times when the problems seem overwhelming. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Take that time to breathe in and calm your nerves, because we all need that sometimes, but use it to right yourself and clear your head for the task in front of you. Don’t let the unexpected break you, let it make you and show you what you really are capable of.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box group at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Subscription Box owners come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of different products imaginable. The Creative Soul Box is no exception, with its owner Julianna “Jewel” Avelar not only curating a box with different jewel projects every month, but also creating and patenting the loom used to create the jewelry. She joined me this week to talk a little about her journey from working alongside creative people to developing her own creative business.
“The Mother of Invention”
Jewel herself learned how to use bead looms and worked in the crafting industry for years before coming up with the idea for the Jewel Loom. She went through the process of design, cataloging, and worked through the paperwork to properly copyright it, and was able to get it into crafting stores across the nation.
“I had all my ducks in a row, though. I had the CAD drawing that went to the patent attorney, and I knew I had to have a good patent attorney. So, I hired an attorney, and we went through all of his investigating, and he then said this is how I think we should approach this.”
Jewel started her journey thinking of a new way to do things that was more efficient. We talk frequently about being the expert in your field, someone who knows your product or craft inside and out. Coming up with a new way to do things is a surefire way of getting that credibility!
Expanding Her Line and Starting a Subscription Box
Jewel would go on to come up with further loom ideas, but also found that she could further engage with her audience by starting a subscription box. With the Creative Soul Box, she connects directly with her customer base and gives them new ideas on how to use her products. She’s also finding that the audience feedback has been so positive, and it’s that added boost that we as creative entrepreneurs can really affect the world around us and keep us positive through those highs and lows that life might throw at us.
“It's a blessing, and I'm so grateful. Every morning I wake up and see what people are creating on the Jewel Loom and I just flip out. It's super amazing to know that people take your product and express themselves with it, and I think that's just a huge gift. I don't take it for granted at all.”
You can find Julianna and her Creative Soul Box at: https://www.juliannaavelar.com/jewelloom
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
This episode: you’ve done it! You’ve come a long way since your first launch, and you’ve built the foundation of your business but now it feels like you’ve hit a plateau in growth. Well, let me first say Congratulations! Your business is a success, but now it’s time to smooth out the ragged edges of your business and scale up to the next level. Here are 5 things I’ve learned on how to scale your business and smooth things out.
- Develop a Multi-Channel Marketing Plan
First things first: you have to keep growing your customer base, and the best way to do that is build a multi-channel marketing plan. You may have found success on one social media platform, but now it’s time to expand to all the others. Having a plan to expand your online presence platforms will help you reach new people who may not have heard of you if you were only advertising on Facebook or Instagram. You need to keep the top of your customer funnel full so you can keep working toward them becoming a subscriber.
- Optimize your Inventory
Streamlining your inventory is so important. When you’re first starting out, you’re desperate to get your hands on enough inventory to send out. Now that you have established yourself, you need to work on a plan to get the most out of your inventory so it’s working for you and not against you. Leverage your buying power and work out the best deals with your vendors, things like net terms, or pay upon shipping. Take the time to work out the best plan for your particular situation.
- Streamline Fulfillment
Depending on the complexity of your box, you may want to consider using a fulfillment center to handle your packing and shipping needs. I considered using fulfillment with my box, but ultimately decided that there was too much customization involved in my Monogram box and that I needed more control in my own space. So building that space so it’s efficient for what I need is so important to getting those boxes out to my subscribers.
- Improve Retention Strategies
We are so concerned with getting new subscribers that sometimes we forget to keep the ones we already have. You’ve already invested so much to get them to be a subscriber, it’s only right to take care of that investment! Having someone on your team dedicated to retention can go a long way to improving your churn. Information is power in this regard, so knowing your retention rate is crucial to keeping it as high as possible. Click here to use my retention rate calculator.
- Create Raving Fans!
One of the best ways to grow is by word of mouth. Having fans that are totally invested in you and your business will go out and advocate for you to their friends and family, and so on and so on. They are your cheerleaders, and they love being part of your community. Make sure you’re still engaging with them by doing your live sessions, growing those affiliates, and getting in front of your audience and connecting with them.
Growth is not something to be afraid of as long as we’re prepared for the next step! Making your business run efficiently will help you to keep loving what you’re doing and become an even greater success with your own business.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
One of the hardest lessons that we as business owners have had to learn from 2020, it’s that business can change drastically in no time at all. A product that may have seen steady sales before can suddenly turn into dwindling subscriptions. That’s the situation that Sarah, founder of the Redheaded Camel, found herself in with one of her subscriptions, and it left her thinking that maybe it was the end of that part of her business. But that doesn’t need to be the end of the story! We’re going to talk about some ways to bring back those former customers and have a successful (re)launch of your shrinking line.
(Re)Generate Interest
The sad fact is that cancellations can happen for a number of reasons, ranging from the customer no longer finds value in your product to the possibility that they see their subscription as something they can cut when money is tight. In that case, there is still opportunity to win back their business, but it’s going to take some work on your end to get them excited for your product again. In that case, it’s time to go all in again and put your energy into generating interest to get those big results.
Cancellations are warm leads. They’ve already seen the value of your product, so to get them back you need to remind them of why they subscribed in the first place. A great way to start is with a concentrated email campaign to your list. That’s what Sarah did when she saw her sales decline, and pushed those customers to her waitlist:
“If people cancel their membership, they might still be on our email list so they might still see something. We had been growing the email list for about two years and then about four weeks before we opened the clubs to the public, we decided to really start to push that waitlist again…I can tell you that our conversion rate for the waitlist was significantly higher than usual. I think part of that was because of the excitement that we were generating.”
Always remember to leave off with a call to action. My favorite is the early bird special to keep your product at top of mind and create that urgency to get on the waitlist early to get a good deal. Be creative!
Affiliate (where you can!)
Work your network if you can! If you know of another influencer who has an audience that likes similar products to yours, you can reach out and see if you can send over some product and possible affiliate with them. Sarah was able to pick up a significant amount of new subscribers this way:
“I contacted a couple of people who I knew their followers and their people on their social media, loved graphic tees, they were already in that market. So, I contacted them and said, can I send you a free shirt? And maybe you share it, I'll give you a code where you get a certain percentage of every single sale for the life of that subscription. I figured I'll ask and the worst they could do is say no. And they said yes!”
Don’t be afraid to try something new, but don’t try to do all the things at once. Email, early bird specials, affiliates, all of these are things you can keep trying to generate interest and keep those sales going!
You can find Sarah and her T-shirt club and Door hangers at https://www.theredheadedcamel.com/ and on social media at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRedheadedCamel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theredheadedcamel/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
We’re subscription box entrepreneurs, which means we’re motivated by success and ready to take on new challenges as they arise. But we don’t need to take on these challenges alone! Behind the scenes we can have a support system to help us stay on track and even expand without getting overwhelmed. This week we’re talking about how Virtual Assistants can help take on some of those tasks and next level your business.
Virtual Assistants
Virtual Assistants are independent contractors who work flex schedules and have a negotiated set of hours they would commit to working on tasks that you would need from them. Being independent contractors means that while you are hiring them to help you with your business, you’re only taking them on for a set number of hours or specific tasks rather than hiring a full-time employee which can be more flexible to your budget and specialized for what your business needs are.
3 Task Buckets: Admin, Creative, and Tech
VA’s are best used when you have certain tasks in mind for them, and some VAs specialize in certain tasks over others. I like to break what a VA can do for you into three task buckets: admin, creative, and tech. With Admin, you can find VAs to help you with customer service work such as answering service emails, especially cancellations like we spoke about in a previous podcast. They can also help with billing issues and bookkeeping, or really any of the nuts and bolts of running a successful business.
On the Creative side, this can entail the designing of those customer facing marketing materials. Graphic design VAs can help build graphics for social media, custom emails, newsletters, worksheets, or e-books and make them look good to reflect how you feel about your business to your customers. They can help you brainstorm to figure out those ideas that you might have a blind spot to and having a professional for the creative side of business can go a long way.
Tech focus tasks are a huge help getting you up to date on the latest and greatest tools available to entrepreneurs. Maintaining the back end of your website, integrating waitlists to email lists, optimizing website-plugins and making sure they’re working properly... these can be hair pulling to learn if you’re not tech savvy, so why not get help with it?
Where to find a VA
Finding the right VA for your needs takes a little bit of footwork but pays off huge. Finding Facebook groups for what tasks you might need are a good place to start as VAs are in those groups soliciting for work. As with hiring anyone, make sure you interview with the person to see if your values match up and be ready to take that leap if things work out. You can also try to find a VA through Emily Reagan’s portal on her website, which we spoke about on the episode. Good Luck!
Hiring a VA through Emily Reagan: https://emilyreaganpr.com/virtual-assistant/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
We all have our reasons for starting our own businesses. Maybe we want a steady source of income, or a creative outlet and connections with a like-minded audience or breaking away from the corporate lifestyle. But I think the thing that connects us all is a want to do something meaningful with our lives and make true those dreams we’ve had about the independence of running a business for ourselves.
“I made a vow that I would not walk out of 2020 the same way I walked into it.” - Alyssa
My guest this week is Alyssa Scuderi, founder of the WANTA Reset box for women, to talk about how owning her own business has been a dream of hers since she was a little girl. “I remember my brother and I being young in mom and dad's kitchen, and we're squeezing orange juice and talking about how we can turn it into a business. So, we were coming up with business names and strategizing our business, as much as young kids can strategize.”
Fast forward to 2020: a year that changed everything for everyone. Like many of us, Alyssa found herself working from home and with her kids full time. Without her work commute and a ‘rushed life’, she ended up with extra time on her hands that she wanted to use to its full potential. “I made a vow that I would not walk out of 2020 the same way I walked into it.” With support from her friends and family, she decided to start her own business and see where it took her!
As entrepreneurs, we have a drive to make a difference in our community and the world around us through our ingenuity and know-how. The year 2020 was hard on us all and shook up the status quo. Alyssa saw this as an opportunity to reset and re-calibrate not only herself but her community, to change things for the better and seize the opportunity to realize the dream she’s had since she was little of owning her own business and being her own boss. So now I challenge you: what’s holding you back from realizing your dreams and how can you come out of this year different than you came into it?
You can find Alyssa and the WANTA Reset Box at:
https://thewantabox.com/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
This week my guest is LYB OG Debbie Poole, founder of the Create Happy Box, and we’re talking about fear. Starting your own subscription box business is a risk and taking on risk means having to deal with fear. Fear is that thing deep inside all of us that all entrepreneurs will need to be able to deal with, because that fear follows you through your whole business. We need to be able to identify that fear and to know it for what it is so that we can deal with it and move forward.
Know Your Fears
When it comes to starting your new business, launching a subscription box, or moving on to the next step, we’re going to have our doubts dancing around our heads trying to stop us from progressing. It’s not only at the beginning of our launch, but all through the process:
-Fear of Failing
-Fear of Not being good enough
-Fear of Disappointing others
-Fear of Cancellations
-Fear of Being Successful and Growing
As you can see, fear can follow you all the way through your business cycle, and even make you afraid to succeed too much! But if we know what fears we may encounter, we can be ready for them.
The first and best way to overcome and beat this fear is to do the steps. Build your audience, do the live videos and become an expert in the skill your box is going to be about. Once you have your audience, make sure you’re listening to what they want. Debbie asked her audience what they wanted in a box, and they were ready to tell her. “I began asking my ride or die customers what they wanted, questions like what kind of projects, paints or no paints…all the questions.”
Remember, don’t try to be all the things! Your audience will tell you what they want and if you listen, you can build a box that will fly off the shelves. But you need to also remember that you’re not going to please everybody all the time. There will be cancellations, but if you keep developing your business, there will be growth to replace those cancellations.
It can be easy to let fear stop your progress, but it can also help you keep your focus if you know it for what it is. Follow the steps and do the work to build your audience, listen to them when they tell you what they want, and be ready for the future of your business and remember, don’t let anything hold you back!
You can find Debbie and the Create Happy Box at:
https://www.paintandwood.com/pages/the-diy-tiered-tray-create-happy-box-waitlist
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
One of my favorite things that I get to do with my subscription box each month is a live unboxing video. It’s a super fun way to engage with your audience and show not only your subscribers but also potential subscribers what kind of products are coming in your box and why you personally selected them. It can be a great community event that everyone can be involved in through comments and questions.
If you’ve never done one before, hosting a live event can seem a little scary especially if you don’t know where to even begin. In today's episode, I’m going to share with you a step-by-step process on how to create an unboxing live event and take out the uncertainty so you can focus on having fun!
Prep Work:
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Set a Date: By setting a firm time for your live session it lets your audience know when to expect the event and allows you to set reminders to help build interest. I use a program called Stream Yard to pre-schedule my events through Facebook and helps me stay in contact with my followers through reminders, which you can also use to show sneak peaks of what to expect to help generate excitement for the event.
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Setting the Stage: Create an active background with good lighting for your video so that you’re not just broadcasting from a blank room. You can use stacks of your boxes or strategically placed products or really whatever you can to make your video interesting. If you have a shirt or clothing item in your box, wear it!
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Create a Hook: You should be able to tell your audience what the video is about and what to expect in the first 15 seconds of the video. The purpose of your hook is to stop your audience from scrolling past the video and pique their interest. Don’t try to wing it! Spend a little time writing it out so that you’re on point and the most effective you can be.
During the Video:
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Encourage Engagement with your Audience: As soon as you hit that live button and deliver your hook, start interacting with your audience even if there’s nobody in your chat. This is very important! Most of your views will come from replays, so don’t be afraid to ask some questions to the chat and have fun because that will help generate FOMO to get people to log on for the next live unboxing.
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Tell the Story of Your Box: Give the inspiration behind your subscription box, the story of how you put all these things together and why they all fit. Get your audience invested in the box before they see it.
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Show off Your Ultimate Box with all the things! If you have different levels of your subscription box, explain the differences between the boxes but lead with your ultimate box. Going with your top-level box lets you show off what you’re really capable of and gets people interested who might have gotten a lower-level box.
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Call to Action: Choose one call to action at the end of your video. You should be asking your audience to subscribe, sign up for a waitlist, or direct them to a freebie. Giving your audience something to do after the video keeps them engaged when they have the most goodwill toward you and your subscription box.
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Conclude and Follow Up with Everyone: Remember to put your items back in the box and to thank your audience for participating in the video. Use this time to go over what you talked about and restate your call to action. Your video should be at least 20 to 30 minutes long, but don’t be afraid to go a little longer if you have good engagement. Finally, as soon as you’re finished, make sure you put the video into an email and prepare to send it to your mailing list. This way, you can snag some of your audience that didn’t watch the live session and gives you another chance to push that call to action!
Follow these steps and remember to have fun with it! Remember, this is your chance to show off the box you’ve put so much time into and engage with your subscribers. This is what having a subscription box is all about, and the closer you are to your audience the better business you’ll have.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
A huge part of running a successful subscription box business is marketing yourself through effective online ads. Many of us turn to Facebook to run ads, but it can be frustrating to try and read through the data to see if those ads you paid for are actually working for you. On this week’s podcast joining me is my biz bestie Susan Bradley, owner of the Social Sales Girls, to help us figure out what works with ads and teach us that a successful ad doesn’t always equal a sale.
“You Need 3000 Web Visitors a Month to Get One Sale” - Susan
The whole point of running Facebook ads is not “run an ad, get a sale.” It’s to keep your brand and your business at the top of people’s minds and drive them to your store page. A successful ad is one that gets people to stop scrolling and read the copy that accompanies it and attracts them to click through and go to your store site.
There are three types of Ads that are the most important for product sellers, and each have a different role to play in attracting people to your product.
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Engagement Ads: These ads are successful when they build your audience and extend your reach with a cold audience. These ads help spread the word of your brand with those audiences that will potentially like or share the ad because it has piqued their interest.
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Conversion Ads: When you’re ready for people to take action on your product, like when your cart is open and you’re in the middle of building a sale, conversion ads should help drive those engaged customers to your site over and over and start looking at signing up for your list or start thinking hard about buying your product.
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Lead Ads: This is when your customers are at their warmest, they know about you, they’ve seen the product, and they’ve signed up for your email list. You want to be sending them content that will engage them with your product and your site, and really help them make that last leap and make them part of your audience that’s ready to subscribe.
It’s important to remember that not all ads are created equally, and success is more than an ad for a sale! They each have a purpose in getting potential customers to your website and warming them up to becoming a return subscriber. Having a strategy behind your ad buys is going to give you that peace of mind you need about the future of your business, and keep your audience growing and your sales increasing.
Traffic Bootcamp Live with Susan Bradley
Get your ideal audience excited & clicking on a budget that won’t break the bank.
Live Event Starts June 13th
Sign up at:https://classroom.thesocialsalesgirls.com/a/2147488425/zgW6HoFL
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
This week I’m joined by Amy Baughman, founder of the Power Serging Subscription Box, who was so kind to talk with me about her box and realizing that things don’t need to be perfect to launch. Sometimes we get into our own heads about when is the perfect time to launch, or that the box isn’t ready, or whatever reason you might come up with. With these things rolling around in our heads making us crazy, it might just be time to launch “ugly,” or to put yourself and your box out there and keep moving forward.
The Riches are In the Niches
Amy has been in business for 30 years and has been an expert in her industry for a long time. She saw a need in her community for Serger Machine education and materials and created her Power Serging box to help fill that need. “I did a little bit of research. There are tons of quilt quilting boxes out there or fabric boxes out there; even on the embroidery side, there's some powerful embroidery people out there that have a great online business that are now sending kits. And I thought, well, let's go where nobody else has gone.”
Amy identified a need and built a box around that need. She built an audience out of that and was able to leverage that into a waitlist that was eager to get started with her box. That’s an incredible amount of progress, but with that progress can come doubt on whether you’re really ready, or if there really is the demand out there that you think there is.
Perfection can be the Enemy of Progress
The need to have everything be perfect can almost be like a stop sign to the progress we’ve already made. It’s that drive for perfection that makes us the successful entrepreneurs we are, but the key is not to let it slow you down. Amy put herself out there not knowing how things might go and jumped from 150 subscribers in her first month to 250 in her second month. “I thought, well, let's just stick a landing page out there and see who wants to sign up. I thought it would just be my local people, but they posted to their Facebook groups, and all of a sudden, there was like 100 people, 120 people, 150 people.”
Remember, if you’ve done the legwork and built the audience, they’ll tell you what they’re interested in if you’re willing to listen. Even an “ugly” launch can be successful, so get moving on your own idea!
You can find Amy and the Power Serging Box at:
https://www.amybaughman.com/ and https://amysews.com/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
When running your own business, it’s a guarantee that you’re going to get cancellations and negative feedback. Unfortunately, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and some of those people are only more than willing to let you know how much they didn’t like your product, your service, or whatever might be on their mind at that moment. Managing these kinds of customer service issues can get inside your brain and make you doubt yourself and your business, sapping away the mental energy that you need to run your business successfully.
Looking for my Retention Rate Calculator? Access it here: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/blog/6-tips-to-navigate-cancellations-in-a-subscription-box-business
Managing Cancellations and Negative Feedback
As Business owners, it’s up to us to deal with things like cancellations and negative feedback professionally as well as take care of ourselves and our mental well-being. Here are some tips to managing negative feedback and protecting your energy to keep you positive:
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Give it to Someone Else. If you’re at the point in your business where you have a VA or assistant you can delegate responses to, do so. Putting a buffer between yourself and those kinds of customer service issues can help keep it impersonal but professional.
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Reset Yourself. If you feel that negativity getting to you mentally, step away from it physically. Take a walk, run a bath, do something that helps you disconnect from the stress of work. Sometimes we just need a moment away for our brain to reset and get us back to our best self.
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Remember: It’s Not about You, It’s about Them. You never know what a person is dealing with, especially in these situations. They might feel they need to cancel because of any number of reasons, and for those negative comments that get sent your way, you might just be an easy target for them to vent frustration that they otherwise feel they can’t express. Use that perspective to try not to take these issues personally.
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Keep Reminders of Positive Feedback Visible. Remember, for every negative review there are multiple satisfied customers who are excited to see what’s next. Keep those positive reviews where you can see them to help remind you about what’s important: delivering a VIP experience your subscribers appreciate.
Cancellations and negative feedback are a fact of life as a business owner, but they don’t need to be something that you dread getting. They always feel like there are more than there actually are, so keep focused on your growth, because that’s what’s going to make you successful. The reality is that if you are professional in your responses and positive in your outlook, there might be a good chance that those people might be return customers in the end.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Joining me on the podcast this week is Alexis with her Creative Indulgence Box to talk about the idea of progress over perfection. Have you heard the saying “you are your own worst critic?” When you’re building your first subscription box for launch, we want everything to be perfect. Part of the drive to create a box in the first place is to give your subscribers that VIP experience they’ve come to expect, and we want to make that experience as perfect as possible. But you shouldn’t let that drive for perfection stop you from launching in the first place!
Always Remember to Listen to Your Audience
One of the most important steps in starting a subscription box is generating interest and creating a subscriber base. You can’t send out a box if nobody knows about it! But once you’ve done this, you’ve curated an audience and are connecting with them and generating that interest, at that point it’s only a matter of letting them know that a box is on the way.
When Alexis was thinking about all the things she needed to do before she could launch her box, she was already engaging with her audience but still had doubts about how much interest there was for her box.
“I mentioned the subscription box here and there when I was live and in my membership group and just kind of like building the buzz, but not like any kind of commitment. I was nervous about the whole process.”
She knew she needed an extra push to get over that fear that not everything was perfect, so she put up the question to her audience: were they ready for her box? The response was overwhelmingly positive.
She created a text list to be informed of when the box would be available and told herself 30 responses would be an accomplishment. “We launched (the list) on April 8th and closed on April 12th at 142 members. I was blown away!”
Remember, there are always going to be challenges to getting your box out that make us doubt ourselves. The important thing to remember is to keep charging forward, problem solve those issues, keep the faith and focus on progress over perfection!
You can find Alexis and the Creative Indulgence box at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulindulgence
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purposefulindulgence/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
When you’re first starting out with your subscription box, you might feel like you’ll take all the subscribers you can get. But that feeling changes when you hit your first hundred and keeps growing. What might have worked for your business at 50 subscribers might not work at 250, let alone 700! Such tremendous and scary growth happened to Cheryl Ham, founder of yARnaBLE subscription box, who is my guest this week to talk about how to approach sudden growth and how to avoid getting overwhelmed by success.
Be Ready to be Caught Off Guard
Having rapid success may seem like a problem you would like to have but believe me when I say that even if you are happy when it happens, it can seem so overwhelming that you might want to try and stop the orders from coming in. That’s how Cheryl felt when more orders came in than she had prepared for, because she was afraid that she couldn’t maintain the type of service she wanted for her subscribers. “What I was really afraid of was letting my subscribers down. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to figure it out.”
When running your business, you’re going to run into situations like this from time to time. It could be a huge jump in subscribers, or it could be an item not being ready for a launch, or really any number of things! In these situations, it’s first important to stay calm and don’t stress yourself out. In her situation, Cheryl reached out to the Launch Your Box community and even chatted with me about what was happening. Seek out support where you can because we’re all ready to help!
Second, you’re going to have to stretch out those problem-solver muscles we’ve been talking about. The truth is that with success comes challenges, and the thing about challenges is that they’re only waiting for a creative solution. Be flexible with your operations, be ready to change things that aren’t working, and reach out to your community if you need that added support. And remember, communication with your subscribers is always a must!
“When things go wrong, and spoiler alert, that's probably a lot of the time! You know, it's never perfect, it's always a little bit messy, especially at the beginning. So, if you find people that want to go on the journey with you, it's the best thing you can do.” – Cheryl
You can find Cheryl and her yARNaBLE Box at https://www.instagram.com/hypnoticyarn/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
One of the main concerns for us in the subscription box business is product supply. Who we’re getting it from and on what kind of timeline can create a huge amount of stress when things don’t go according to plan. Things have only gotten crazier with the global pandemic showing us how fragile our product pipeline really is.
Let’s face it: we’re a product driven business with very little wiggle room for shortages. More than likely, even if you do have your shipping schedule figured out you’ll be working with tight deadlines to keep. With everything that’s going on, how can we as subscription box founders have more control over our product supply to avoid those shortages? Here are 3 ways I’ve learned to help manage those product headaches.
- Use Multiple Vendors
I want you to ask yourself: can I use multiple vendors for the products in my box so that you’re not relying on one company for your success? It may sound like extra work to seek out and build multiple relationships with vendors to create your box, but it’s more than worth it to avoid the heartache when one of those vendors can’t come through for you. I can almost guarantee that there will be a time when you’ve carefully curated a box but one of those unique items is either late or won’t be able to come in the quantities that you need. You’ll have to go into problem solving mode to reorganize that box, but sometimes that can lead to an even better outcome as long as you have the flexibility of not having to rely on just one vendor to complete your order.
- Work on Multiple Boxes at a Time
One of the benefits of having a schedule and having regular subscribers to your box is that you know you’ll have orders coming in months down the line. This gives you the freedom to be proactive and build multiple boxes ahead of time, and having multiple boxes gives you more flexibility when a product is held up. Being able to switch boxes if you need to will give you much more freedom and peace of mind if and when a product that just can’t be replaced is held up for whatever reason.
- Make Your Deadline Earlier Than You Actually Need
Finally, you won’t want to be creating your box right before it’s time to ship out. You should always have a deadline on when your boxes are built well in advance on the shipping date. There are a number of reasons why you would want to do this, but primarily because it will save you on having to delay a shipment because of a lack of product. For me, with the global pandemic slowing everything down, I try to have the deadline for all my product in on a box at least 30 days before I even think about shipping them. This saves me so much stress and gives me the breathing room to adapt to any problems that might happen.
Remember, it’s not if a problem is going to happen, it’s when, but when it does happen doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world! If you do have problems, remember to always be transparent with your subscribers. But having the right mindset will help you have the preparation needed to solve any problems that pop up. Multiple vendors, working on multiple boxes, and having early deadlines will help keep you on schedule and get those boxes out to your eager subscribers.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
You have the subscription box idea, now it’s time to build the audience who will actually subscribe to your box. Building an audience from the ground up can seem a little overwhelming. This week I’m speaking with Tiffany LeBaron Ray, founder of the Good Habit Box Co. with her good habits and practices she used to build her subscription audience from 6 at launch to 70 in a short amount of time!
When Tiffany decided to start the Good Habit Box, she was already having success with her other Etsy brands. But she realized that the audience that she had built for Etsy were not necessarily compatible with her new idea. This gave her the opportunity to try some new ways to build her audience, and she found 4 ways that helped her get to where she wanted to be quickly.
- Have a Giveaway
After creating a Facebook and Instagram page, she decided to pay for some ads to promote her box and drive people to her pages. “The very first thing I did was I made a mockup of my box: this is what my box would look like.” With her mockup she advertised a giveaway contest for people who liked her social media pages. Giveaways like this can build upon themselves and help generate interest in places you might not be able to reach through your personal or friends and family reshares. The way Tiffany did it does have a price tag attached to it, so make sure if you’re going to go this route to look for the results that you want before spending more money.
- Consistent Posting
It’s so important that when you start your new pages and start getting an audience you consistently post to your page’s multiple times per day. “I would post things that would help my target customers: someone that's motivated, that's inspired. I want to help someone that makes big goals and small goals; someone that cares about those things.” Tiffany posted at least 3 times a day to keep her engagement up and attract anyone who might want to like her pages and would reply to any comments that came her way.
- Make Connections
Chances are there are lots of other people out there with products you can either use in the future or who have similar ideas or values to yours. Making connections with those people can pay off when you feature their products on your page, or they feature yours on their pages. “When I would post a picture of my box and all the pretty things in it, I would take the time and tag all of those shops, I tag them I give them a shout out. And what that's done is some of those small shops even some of the bigger companies have in turn reached out to me and given me a shout out on their page.”
- Partner with an Influencer
A great way to reach an engaged audience is to partner with an Influencer for an unboxing. Finding an influencer who shares your values and caters to the same type of audience that you’re looking to build requires a little research and due diligence, but it can pay off in great ways. “I found this influencer on YouTube, and what caught my eye was that she would do these massive unboxings of boxes that she's never seen before. She also caught my eye because she was so friendly and had almost 100,000 followers on YouTube.” Tiffany sent her a box and a little while later she had people emailing her asking if she still had the box that she had sent to the influencer. She gained quite a few followers from that one box she sent out!
You can find Tiffany and her Good Habit Box at https://www.instagram.com/goodhabitbox/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
I love the whole community of Launch Your Box for many reasons, but one of the things that makes it so special is how unique some of the subscription boxes can be. This week I’m speaking with Nicole Jenney, founder of the GPig Box, a subscription box for guinea pigs and their owners. Her story on how she came to create a box for Guinea Pigs is so fun and such a great example of how the opportunity to create a box to fill a need can really be found anywhere.
— Find Your Passion and Build the Audience —
When Nicole first had the idea for a box, she did her due diligence researching what was already out there and saw that there was an opening for gifts for both guinea pigs and their owners. But even after she started, she listened to her audience when they told her that they wanted more from the box than she initially started with.
“We got all this feedback that people want to double the stuff and they wanted more. So, we created a whole other box and another line for them, and that's been just as successful.” – Nicole
Remember, your audience will tell you what they want and what they’re willing to pay for. As long as you’re listening, you can find areas to expand into and really create that exclusive experience for them.
— Managing Growth —
The GPig box has seen amazing growth from just one box when they launched to 500 subscriptions in four months! Nichole has learned quite a bit from that growth in being able to fulfill each subscription in a timely manner. At the beginning, her focus was on having no waste product, which is a good habit to have. But it did create some scheduling problems for her when scheduling out when to send boxes to her members.
“We call this growing pain of small business, but it's a good problem to have. And I think we wouldn't do it any other way. But now to be able to adapt and change is most important and have an open mind of ‘maybe this isn't working anymore.’ But we have to stay proactive and stay ahead of it.” – Nicole
Growth is a good thing to have, but it can present new challenges that can get out of hand if they’re not managed. Figuring out what works for you and what’s manageable for your business is key to being able to maintain the high level of customer service that’s going to make you stand out.
You can find Nicole and the GPig Box at: https://gpigbox.com/
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Hey everybody! This week I’m going over a question that gets asked every time people start to think about launching their own subscription box: how do I compete against the big box companies? I asked myself this same question when I started my box and thinking through it is what pushed me to finally start my box. Let’s dive in!
— Quality over Quantity —
Comparing yourself to a big box company is like staring into a black hole. They have the money and the people to handle thousands of orders from thousands of people. But think back to our previous episodes: that’s not what your box was about in the first place! We’re in the business of creating an exclusive VIP experience for our audience. That’s what we’re good at, and that’s what makes us stand out.
Think about McDonalds food compared to your favorite local restaurant: chances are there’s no comparison in quality of food and experience in dining. Comparing yourself to a big company is a losing game, so stop doing it. If you need to, unfollow those accounts that make you feel less than because we’re in the business of building real-life connections that they don’t have. Comparison is the thief of dreams, so don’t give it that power.
— Get in the Right Mindset —
- Stop Comparing Yourself. Opportunity is out there for your specialty box. Don’t let those other accounts stifle your spirit; if you need to, unfollow/hide/block those accounts that make you feel less than
- Create an Experience for Your Audience. Your personal connection with your audience is your greatest asset. Remember, they’ll tell you what they want so you can give them that VIP experience.
- Create Goals for yourself to remind you why you started. Crunch the numbers and figure out how many boxes you would need to send out to even out your expenses. Let your personal goals for your business remind you why you started in the first place.
Beginnings can be messy, but that’s ok! Every great thing has to start somewhere. The right time to start is right now. Get your mindset right and you’re on your way, one box at a time.
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Coaching week just ended and I’m not trying to brag, but I think it went fantastic! For those of you who weren’t able to take part, we did so many interviews with current and former students that really showed how many different ways you can go about doing a subscription box and become successful. For this week’s podcast, I wanted to share with everyone one of my favorite interviews with one of my Launch Your Box members, Tracy from Miss Tracy Creates, whose box is a perfect example of finding “riches in the niches.”
— All for One, or One for All? —
When considering what to make your box about, you might want to put as many things as you can into it but as we’ve talked about before, this can sometimes water down what your box is actually about. Miss Tracy really nailed that with her box, The Napkin Club. Miss Tracy and her members use paper napkins to create all kinds of different crafts and decorations, and her box helps supply her members with those curated napkins.
Instead of her members going out and buying packs of specialized paper napkins that they might only want to use a few of, they trust Miss Tracy to send them the few they need for crafting as well as belonging to a group that helps them create different projects every month. She identified a need in her crafting community that she could fill, and now she’s approaching 1000 members for her specialized business.
Miss Tracy and the Napkin Club are such a great example of how any idea can be turned into a business. There’s no limit of idea that I’ve found that, if thought about correctly, can’t be something that has tremendous opportunity. Think about how you can become the expert in your niche idea, and don’t be afraid to get creative, because the riches really are in the niches!
You can find Miss Tracy on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/misstracycreates
And on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/misstracycreates/
And as always, remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
This week I’m joined by Stacey Collins, owner of Wilshire Collections and founder of the Décor at your Door Seasonal Subscription box to talk about what release schedule works best for your box? Deciding how many boxes and how frequently you want to release them not only can help you manage your growth but can also fit into the VIP experience you want to create with your members.
— What Subscription Fits Your Box Idea? —
While we mostly talk about starting off on a monthly subscription schedule, it might not always be the best fit for your idea. Stacey started out sending the Décor at your Door box in one off sales per season to fit with what she was most well-known for: seasonal decoration. “So, I thought, let's try a Spring box, a Summer box, a Fall box, and a Christmas box. And I was selling those just as a one off not as a true subscription at that time.”
Keeping the same seasonal schedule when she did transition to a subscription allowed Stacey to maintain the same experience her members appreciated about her business. When considering what would be best for your idea, consider not only what you can reasonably take on, but also what might fit with the aesthetic of your business.
— Curate Demand to Create a Unique Experience —
The great thing about subscription boxes is how every part of them can be tailored to make a more exclusive experience for your members. Everything from the box, the packing, the wrapping, and everything inside can make for that VIP experience, and when the box arrives is no different. Remember to listen to what your customers love about your box, and don’t be afraid to try something new to make their experience memorable.
“I knew that my ladies wanted this. If you know that you have a good idea, that your customers want this, don't overthink it. Do it and you're going to figure out the rest.” - Stacey
You can find Stacey and her Décor at your Door box at https://www.wilshirecollections.com/.
Also, on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wilshirecollections
And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilshire_collections/
And as always, remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
Does the idea of pressing the button to go Live on social media make you sick to your stomach? Does the thought of being an influencer for your own business sound confusing and strange? This week’s podcast is all about how to overcome those feelings and use Live sessions to grow your subscription base.
People Need to Know You to Trust You
Social media allows us to reach people in a way never thought of before, and especially in the last year it’s become more and more important to people to be a part of something that they can be personal with. When you’re building your audience and signing up those subscribers to your box, you might find your numbers coming in waves until eventually it plateaus. That’s what I found when I tried to grow my subscriber base; people were following me but not signing up for the subscription commitment.
Going Live was the answer to getting more engagement with my page and my products. For most you, the idea of hosting a Live session on Facebook or Instagram may seem like something you’d much rather avoid because it’s embarrassing or because you don’t think you’re interesting enough. But the truth is in the numbers: without going Live and thereby creating a personal relationship with your audience, you’ll find growing your subscription base to be nearly impossible.
The Creating Connections Challenge
To help boost those engagement numbers, I want to pose a challenge to you: go to your Facebook Insights page and note your Post Reach and Engagements for the last 28 days. We’re going to use those numbers as a starting point. Next, schedule one Live session each week for the next 4 weeks. If you’re already doing Live sessions, I want you to do two.
Here are 5 strategies to help you get the most out of those Live sessions:
- Do something for yourself to help boost your confidence. Get new clothes, style your hair, anything that will help you get in front of the camera.
- Have some friends join you live session to help ask some important questions to get the conversation going, and to give you support while you’re Live.
- Write out some talking points that you want to get across to your audience. Having an outline on what you want to talk about can keep you on task and keep you from floundering.
- Engage with your audience. Whether it’s one person or a hundred, they’re there to be more personal with you because they like what you’re about.
- Set a time and a date for your live sessions and send it out so you’ll stick with it. Make it at a time and place when you are the most comfortable.
Before too long, going Live will be just another part of your business and who knows, it could end up being one of your favorite things to do with your audience. Have fun and keep with it!
Wondering if the subscription box is right for you? Join my $10 coaching week from March 21st through the 26th. I'm going to show you how to develop your idea into a plan. Sign up today at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
And as always, remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
Build your audience and they will come…
My guest this week is my friend Brooke Riley from the Re-Fabbed Boutique to talk about how building a solid online presence can give your subscription box the momentum it needs to keep having success month after month.
Brooke started Re-Fabbed Boutique from a blog she’s been running for six years now and has turned it into a place where her community could find more of the style items she showcased on her blog. She first had the idea of her subscription box, the Re-Fabulous Box, when we met at a mastermind a year ago. “I love a good thrifty find, but nobody could replicate what I had because it wasn’t available to them. So, the more questions I kept getting, the more I realized that there was a need in my community I could feel.”
Manage Demand with a Waitlist
Brooke took the ideas we talked about and started floating the idea of a monthly Re-Fabbed Box in her online community. From there, she was able to build interest and created a waitlist people could sign up for to build her launch off of. A Waitlist is a great way to see what kind of interest is among the community you’ve built as well as a way to set the number of boxes you launch with to an amount your comfortable with. It can also create demand for your box as an exclusive experience right from the outset.
Most importantly, having a waitlist that you can build off of can also offset retention losses. No matter how much we want it, we’re not going to be able to keep every customer month after month, and that’s just a fact of running a business. Having a waitlist can help you to replace those losses with a warmer customer while still providing a way for those lost customers to come back.
Remember, a huge benefit of starting a subscription box is that recurring revenue, money that is coming month to month that you can depend on. A waitlist is a great way of managing your demand to keep you in the positive without ups and downs in your sales numbers.
You can find Brooke and the Re-Fabulous Box at https://www.re-fabbedboutique.com/ and also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/refabbedboutique
Wondering if the subscription box is right for you? Join my $10 coaching week from March 21st through the 26th. I'm going to show you how to develop your idea into a plan. Sign up today at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
And as always, remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
Have you been wondering when the best time is to finally start your subscription box? This week I’m joined by Molly Young, founder of the Blue Lotus Intentions box to talk about how she followed her heart and launched as soon as it was possible.
When working up to launching your box, you need to have the essentials down. You can’t launch without having an idea, curated items for your box, and most of all, subscribers to send your box to. But after that, when is the right time to launch? You might be asking how many subscribers you should hold out for, or if launching on a holiday would have the most impact.
From a One-Time idea to a Full Subscription
Molly had an idea for a box, but at first envisioned it as a one-time thing. It wasn’t until she signed up for my $10 Coaching Week that she was able to see that not only was a subscription box a better fit for her idea, but that it was possible at all. It turned out that $10 commitment was just the boost that she needed. She started reaching out to suppliers and ordering in bulk, ready to boost her own estimates for how many boxes she would start out with.
By the end of Coaching Week, she had her first orders on the way, built her website and already had a waitlist of members to send boxes to. For her first launch, she decided on a one-time shipment to get her box out before Christmas and when all was said and done, she sent out 50 boxes with a further 18 subscribed for a January box as well! As we speak, going into March she’s been steadily increasing her numbers to 40 subscribers for her Blue Lotus Intentions box.
Molly story shows that there’s more than one way to start your subscription box. Once she had the basics taken care of, she shipped it out and started prepping for the next one. She had the confidence to get started once she was ready, and the willingness to build on that first launch to start her business.
“I think these things that are in our hearts, sometimes fear gets in the way of that. Just jump in and go for it, before your mind realizes this may or may not be possible, the wheels are already in motion.” – Molly
If you have an idea you feel passionate about, the perfect time to get started is right now. Take that idea and run with it, and just keep telling yourself it’s go time!
You can connect with Molly and Blue Lotus Holistic Wellness at: https://www.bluelotusholisticwellness.com/
and also on Instagram and Facebook at:
https://www.instagram.com/bluelotusholisticwellness/
https://www.facebook.com/BlueLotusHolisticWellnessLLC
Wondering if the subscription box is right for you? Join my $10 Coaching Week from March 21st through March 26th. I'm going to show you how to develop your idea into a plan. Sign up today at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/.
And as always, remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review
You have an idea for a subscription box, you have the items that are going in it, but what is the box going to look like? When your members get your box in the mail, how the box looks is going to make just as much as an impression as the items you’ve curated inside of it. Your box is your message carried across the country, almost like a travelling billboard. Let’s explore a few ways you can make the most impression with your box right out the gate.
Custom Decorated Box vs Basic Box (with a twist)
If we had all the money we needed to get started, we could create a custom branded box on the first launch. But if you’re like me, the money that would be needed to create a custom box was better spent on what came inside the box for my members. I started with a plain brown craft box that I would stamp my logo on. A custom stamp can be very cost effective and is something that can be used over and over again with just a little bit of ink. Another idea is using custom tape to seal your box, something that you’re going to be doing anyway to send it out, so why not make it work for you!
Use those custom stamps, tapes, and stickers to dress up your box and make it unique to you. I do want you to remember, don’t go too overboard or else you could end up spending the same you would on a custom box, and if that’s the case you might as well spend the money on that. But with moderation, a little bit can go a long way.
Things to consider: Box Sizes and Quantities
The higher the quantity of box that you can order at a time, the better the price is going to be. Keep in mind too that from month to month, you’ll have different items going out, so different size boxes make more sense than one size. One size does not fit all: it’s very important to make your boxes feel full for your members, and if your items don’t fill up the box the more packing, you’ll have to use. There are also shipping costs that come into play if you’re sending a box that has open space inside, so smaller boxes not only work better for your product but can also save you money.
Maybe a box doesn’t make sense for what you’re sending out? Don’t be afraid to use poly mailers as well, which you can also dress up with stamps and tape. At the beginning, being cost effective is going to help with your success as much as anything else.
Up-level as you grow
Remember, we’re building a business and we’re in it for the long haul. At the beginning, you’ll do what you need to do to get off the ground and at the beginning a basic box makes the most sense. But commit yourself to up leveling your packaging as you grow. Set goals for yourself in number of subscriptions or revenue when you can start working on a custom box that can help you send your message across the country!
I can’t wait to see your custom packaging! Remember leave a comment and to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
You can also check out the show website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
This week I’m joined by Damon Oates, founder of Deco Exchange and the Maker’s University to help us answer a very important question: where do we find subscribers for our box, and how do we make sure they’re the perfect fit?
So you have a great idea for a box. Your head is swimming with all the possibilities you could dream up for your members, and then it hits you: who will be subscribing to your box? If you haven’t given it a lot of thought, you might fall into a common trap that Damon says people often think themselves into: “People always feel like they’re selling to someone just like themselves. They think, I would never buy that because I could just make it myself.” But the reality is that your ideal customer might not be anything like you other than sharing a common interest.
Think about the box that you want to build. What kind of person would want to buy your box? The more specific you are, the better you’ll be able to target your ideal subscriber. No matter who you come up with, chances are there’s already a wealth of data about that particular demographic that’s been collected. A great place to start is with trade magazines and their Buyers Demographic Data that’s sometimes available online. Another great place to find info about potential customers is at https://www.facebook.com/ads/audience-insights which can be very helpful to narrow down your perfect customer.
Build a Social Media Presence
Once you have your ideal customer down, it’s time to build a social media presence. What this means is that you’ll need to start creating content online regularly to build your audience. This is going to take some time! Start with a platform you love being on already and focus on that. It will be much easier to create content when you’re comfortable posting.
“You’re there to create a relationship with your audience, no matter if it’s one person or a thousand. Chat with them, make sure you see them and just give it all you can.” – Damon
Finally, remember to listen to your audience. They’ll tell you exactly what they’ll buy from you so that when you’re finally ready to launch your box, you’ll have a truly memorable VIP experience that will keep them coming back for more!
Damon’s 5 Things to Consider
- Why do you want to do this?
- What is the purpose of it?
- What is the problem you want to serve?
- Who can you serve it to? Who needs it, who’s asking for it?
- Which platform do you love to play on?
You can find Damon’s mini-course Who is My Perfect Person Challenge link at:
https://members.themakersuniversity.com/~access/a5c5326f/
You can also find more of Damon at Deco Exchange on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decoexchange
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review! Let me know which episode is your favorite so far.
You can also check out the show website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
Today I’m joined by my friend Kasey Hope with P’zazz Art Studio. Kasey started with Whatever Letter Lettering membership, where she taught courses on how to hand letter, but had the idea to upgrade that service with a subscription box. In her box, she sends art supplies, traceable hand lettering, and different materials that can be used with her membership. We spoke about what got her started, what she learned from her first launch and how her box has grown since she started.
Her box took her membership to the next level
Kasey already had her membership going with online classes when she noticed that some people would buy the membership and not use it. Instead of letting that ride, she thought of ways that she could increase engagement among her members. “We wanted to create a kind of experience around the membership, and the box was a tangible little something they could open.”
By creating a box to go along with her membership, she could give her regulars a VIP experience with items related to her classes. The convenience of getting catered supplies that they didn’t have to go out and buy created more of a community for her membership.
Kasey had never shipped before, but that didn’t stop her!
When she launched, Kasey had 167 members and she was thrilled. They put together the boxes (which ironically were large envelopes), gathered them up, and took them right into their local Post Office. “We had a local art studio; we did not ship products. So, we were like, I guess we take them to the post office!”
For hours, one by one, they labeled and shipped them out. This was a learning experience with a little bit of embarrassment involved, but the point is that it got done and sent out. “It was hard and crazy and embarrassing, but we got the packages out. We had to start somewhere.”
Her success has built upon itself
Today, Kasey is shipping thousands of boxes out to her members and her numbers keep on growing. When Covid hit, her brick-and-mortar studio took a huge hit but because of the success of her subscription box and recurring revenue that comes with it, they were able to whether the changes and thrive.
“If you’re thinking about it and you’re worried you don’t have all the pieces, just start! It can be sloppy; it can be small. You’re going to learn the lessons.” – Kasey Hope
You can find Kasey and the Whatever Letter Box at: https://www.pzazzonline.com/whatever-letter
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
You can also check out the show website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
On today’s podcast I’m joined by my friend and Launch Your Box member Anne Stuccio, creator of the Brighter Life for Dentists subscription box! We had a great conversation about what inspired her to start a box with zero e-commerce experience, and how her experience relates to some of the things we’ve discussed in our previous podcasts.
Riches in the Niches
Anne has been a practicing dentist for the last 20 years. In that time, she’s noticed that in her community of women dentists, after a certain point they’d start to feel burned out from putting others before themselves and weren’t enjoying being dentists like they had when they started out. Anne saw the opportunity to develop gift ideas to help reignite their passion and remind them what they loved about their profession in the first place. By targeting this specific niche, Anne could bring the most impact she could with her product and service.
“You have to have faith in yourself, and you have to have faith that you know your client, then deliver, deliver, deliver.” – Anne
Anne is able to build her list of clients by being able to relate to them personally. She combines that with some planning and information gathering and builds a product specially curated for her customers. As such, she was able to charge a premium price starting off! “It comes down to knowing your customers; I knew that if I put a higher price point and sourced products that were higher-end they would be well received and appreciated.”
Anne came up with an idea, a specific market that was being underserved, and created something special. She is a successful dentist and still had her doubts about trying something new! But with planning and the right strategy, she’s been able to grow her box business into something that has a bright and lucrative future!
You can follow Anne at: https://www.facebook.com/thebrighterlifefordentists
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
You can also check out the show website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
Why should I start a subscription box? This might be a question that you’ve been asking yourself and today I’m going to give you a few reasons why you should!
On the last episode, I talked about my journey to starting my subscription box, which was mainly for two reasons. Number one, I wanted to create a VIP experience for my regular customers and number two, I wanted to create financial stability in this roller-coaster world we call the e-commerce industry.
Those were my reasons, but what about you? What are some upsides and benefits that you might not have considered when thinking about if starting a box is for you? Well, here are my top 5 reasons why you should start a subscription box.
- Subscription Boxes are Convenient, Trendy, and Fun
Research shows that households on average subscribe to at least three monthly or quarterly subscriptions. They do this so they can keep up with the latest trends and because it’s convenient to have them delivered instead of having to run out to the store.
- Riches are in the Niches
Find your area of expertise and run with it. Having a targeted niche that you can excel in can make you the go-to expert in that area and help you develop a following that builds upon itself.
- No investor? No problem!
You don’t need a lot of money to get started. If you’ve spent time developing your idea and building on pre-sales, you can use that to get your first launch out. The value you build is going to be in yourself and your idea, not in fancy boxes or rushed launches.
- Two words: Recurring Revenue
Y’all, there is no better revenue than recurring revenue. A business built off of subscription means having steady revenue coming in every month. Having the peace of mind that steady revenue can build is invaluable.
- The Product is already Sold!
With subscription boxes, there is no need to keep more inventory than you need. There’s no need to stress about what’s going to sell when buying inventory. The items you’ve chosen already have homes you’re sending them to!
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
You can also check out my website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
Launch Your Box Podcast Episode 1 Show Notes
Welcome to the first episode of the Launch Your Box Podcast! My name is Sarah Williams, founder of the Framed Monogram Box and new host of this podcast! I’m so excited to start sharing some of the things I’ve learned over the years and to help you learn some tips, tricks and strategies to help you get started on your own subscription box!
“The process doesn’t always start with a grand scale.”
All entrepreneurs have different stories of how they began their journey. When I started out, I left a corporate retail job to start my own retail space where I could have more freedom and opportunity to make success on my own. The one thing that is common, the thing that holds everyone back is fear: I was terrified of giving up my regular paycheck. I think that’s something we all fear!
“My mantra is: I’m not afraid of failing, I’m afraid of not trying.”
Ask yourself: what happens if I succeed? I set out to have a brick-and-mortar space that I could work out of. I didn’t even have an online store! Where I found my passion was with my regular customers and an idea of how I could create a VIP experience for them. Today, I ship thousands of subscription boxes to my customers across the country.
Being open to what it means to succeed can be just as important as taking that first step. What success means for you may not be what success means for everyone else. It takes putting yourself out there, doing it, and just keep getting better at it.
I can’t wait to share my story with all of you and ideas to help you get started on your own subscription box idea! Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review!
You can also check out the show website for some helpful freebies at: https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/
5 years ago I had a dream to start a Subscription Box service full of goodies for women to treat themselves and nurture the importance of self care. It took me a full 18 months to make it happen! I was paralyzed by ‘all the things’ I had to figure out with no one to turn to for guidance.
That is why I created Launch Your Box!
Maybe you need some direction on how to begin, or you are ready to grow your subscriber base. Either way, it all starts with an idea that can turn into a constant reoccurring revenue, a raving fan base, and a business to love.
I will help you...
Take your first steps and know where to start.
Figuring out the logistics: packing, shipping, boxes, oh my!
Learn how to launch, from idea to sales.
Scale that box to the next level, go big or go home!