you
hello hello am i the only one here you are it's a quiet monday today which is okay it's okay how
are you doing i'm doing okay it's um yeah i feel like today's been one of those days that
a lot of people are sick i've had some people cancel it's just been one of those days i don't
know where it's just like it almost makes me feel weird because it's just out of routine out of the
norm and i'm like okay what am i doing my calls are happening you had a very set plan that kind
of fits fizzling and you're like wait no what do i do yeah uh yeah it's definitely one of those
which is fine it just always makes me feel kind of weird and yeah i don't know but how are you
how was your weekend uh i'm doing really well today feeling a lot better i think i had i had
those two big events this weekend and now that they're in the rear view oh i feel good that it's
over and it's done how'd they go so i the event on saturday was for audrick and ann for my brand
and then the event on sunday was for westward so it was our big fountain of appreciation event
yeah um both events went great i mean i wish i was hoping for higher sales at the holiday bazaar
but i mean it was my best in-person sales event to date and actually during the event
an old poll worker contacted me because of the instagram post that i put up um so i was like
hey i'm at the event blah blah blah why they dm me and they said they wanted to buy six boxes
so that doubled my sales day that's awesome they haven't placed the order yet but if it goes through
then i mean it was just like one of those other little like bonus wins i was like oh man that's
awesome so yeah yeah she reached out to me and you know i told her i would give her um a bulk
discount for buying that many like i'm not sure exactly what that looks like yet but i'm not
gonna charge her full price and uh she was like yeah i don't want you to have to pay to ship them
like maybe we can get together she's like let's meet for a coffee or something so you know uh
a lunch date or a coffee date and a pretty good sale it feels pretty good
i'm hitting a lot of like whims because it's like we were talking about like friendships
it just comes out of like nowhere it didn't like it just happened i love it i'm the person who i
was next to at the event lovely gal we were like totally hit it off and most of the people there
were from wine country from that area because you know it's obviously up in the valley
and she's from portland she just started selling at this antique mall that's literally like behind
the distillery where i work so i was like oh you're at memory den she's like yeah i just moved
into memory den like three weeks ago so like okay i'm gonna come bug you at memory den when you're
done you know zhuzhing your little stall come see me for a cocktail so you know a potential
friend there as well which was exciting oh my gosh this is so cool what amazing opportunities
yeah sometimes i guess it just falls in your lap right it does i know which is like i mean i guess
sometimes we wish things would happen when we're trying to make them happen right but it is cool
still and they just happen without you trying but i think too it's like i'm starting to realize that
like i am making them happen even when i'm not you know because i'm yeah those things wouldn't
have happened had i not taken the you know made the effort to actually
a video and post something live at the event. That wouldn't have happened had I not, you know,
engaged with that person and chatted with them. And you know what I mean? Like, so even just being
there, like if I wasn't there, those things wouldn't have happened. So trying to give myself
like that little boost that I need of being like, Hey, no, I did make that happen. Even though in
my mind, I'm like, that just kind of fell in my lap, you know, but maybe it's like, maybe it
didn't. Maybe my efforts are working. Maybe my role. Yeah. I had advice from mentor one time,
a long time ago that has really stuck with me. Um, cause I've talked to you about human design.
I think it was, we were doing a coaching session in like my human design and just in my design,
she was talking about like, it was this phrase. She was like, linger longer.
It doesn't work for everybody, but she was like, for you, like there's power and just lingering
in situations, like with people, with whatever's going on and just kind of like to follow your
intuition of, or for me to follow my intuition of just like, I don't know who am I supposed to
impact, you know, but you have to linger long enough. Kind of similar here. Like you have to
have the opportunity to come, you know what I mean? So I don't know. I remember that,
that really struck me. That's actually really powerful. And like when you said linger longer,
like my first thought was like, you know, don't always go on to the next thing. Like kind of be
in that space a little longer, think about what happened or how you got, you know, and kind of
almost use that as an opportunity to kind of pause, to celebrate those little wins along the way
to like linger longer when rather than just go like, okay, that was cool. What's next? Like,
that's always my mentality, right? It's like, I'm always on to the next thing. So that's,
that's, and also actually Kirsten said something a few months ago that's really stuck with me
and it was drip, not drop. And I think she got it from like a Taylor Swift thing, but like,
it was one of those things where we always think we have to wait until we have like the big news
to do the big drop or the big launch. And it's like, no, just, just little drips along the way,
like tell the story. Like, and so I've been thinking about that a lot. And even on the
Mindset Monday call, actually Garima said a very similar thing. She's like, just do something small
every day, just one drop every day. And before you know it, the bucket's full. And it's again,
kind of that like drip, not drop. Like, okay, like these little teeny things,
these little teeny efforts actually do have impact. Absolutely. I'm so happy for you.
It's been a lot of ups and downs. It's wild. Like,
I mean, you had sales, which I feel like in this situation, it's just like, man,
what a cherry on top, you know? Yeah. And like, it was so funny because
there was a few lingering units that still hadn't been checked in at Amazon. And so I was like,
I was confused the other day because all of a sudden I had an FBA sale and I was like, well,
that's weird. I thought my product, I switched it to FBM. How am I getting an Amazon fulfilled sale?
And then I was like, oh, those 33 units are now available. So Amazon just automatically
switched the listing back to FBA. What do I do? Do I pull these last 30 units?
And I was like thinking about it and I was like, you know what? I'm actually going to test this
out. It's only 30 units. And I opened 30 boxes the other night and not a single one of them was
broken. So I was like, okay, we're going to assume that all those 30 units are pristine
and I'm not going to get another bad review. And I just wanted to see if what the difference was
on my campaigns and PPC and things like that being FBM versus FBA. Because I know there's
some preferential treatment basically if you're getting fulfillment through that.
And so I was checking as we were kind of hopping onto Monday and we're doing the kind of the
greeting and the announcements. I was like, I wonder if I sold any units because I didn't get
notifications. I sold four units on Amazon yesterday. So I've never sold more than one
in a day. So I was like, hot damn. All right. Well, I guess I just hit the Benjamin Club
and sold more than I thought over the weekend because I thought I had zero sales on Amazon.
This is so mean. What a weekend.
I know. It was like, oh shit. Patience is actually a good thing. I just need to
keep doing little tweaks, keep pushing forward and with a positive attitude. I think that's
the biggest thing. And that's really what I took away from that experience in Colorado. It was like,
I'm getting in my own way. I'm stuck in my mind. I'm the one that's been more the naysayer and
pessimistic probably than anybody else. And so learning to let that go and kind of just
lean in with a more open mind. Which you did. I think back to a month ago, maybe now, was it
already? We were on
office hours with several other people and you're talking about figuring out that a bunch
of your units were damaged and you had, you did the removal order and it was like your
mindset then even like shifted, you know, it was just different in how you handled it.
It was like, it's upsetting, like it's annoying and disappointing, but I've got to, I want
to deal with it.
I want to handle it.
Yeah.
Danielle used the phrase today, responsive versus reactive.
And when she said that, I was like, that's exactly how it felt.
It was like, I wasn't reactive.
I didn't get upset.
I didn't freak out like I normally would.
I responded with, what are my options?
How do I fix this?
And you know, and I have, I had multiple options, right?
I could have left everything there and taken that risk.
But you know, for me it was like, at this point, this makes more sense for me right
now.
And getting the bill this month though, for what that costs, it doesn't feel good, but
you know, it is what it is.
And I was, I'm still kind of wondering based on like, if I see this kind of uptick now
that I have FBA for these 30 units, wondering if I do go back to FBA when, you know, once
I fix these units, do I send them back?
Cause that was, I was not planning on doing that at all.
I was like, there's no way I'm going to spend the money to get this back into Amazon centers.
And then, you know, I'd rather sell through my first bulk order.
And then on my second shipment, you know, potentially into FBA, but now I'm thinking
maybe I would reconsider that depending on the costs of, of, you know, building new cases
and all of that and sending them back in and what those shipping costs look like.
If there, if it is this, you know, going to be this much easier to make a sale on Amazon
under FBA versus FBM, but we'll see how it goes.
It's not that many units, so it's going to be hard to kind of make the call on that data.
But if, you know, if now that it's FBA, if I'm getting consistent sales every day and
multiple sales, then it might be worth it to consider that.
Yeah, I think so.
Shipping back in is not as expensive.
I mean, I know you had to like do the removal order, so there's already that.
So you've already incurred like extra costs than you wanted to originally, but it's not
too bad to ship in.
Yeah, I think, I mean, it's, it's all very doable.
The, what, it's interesting because the current case size I have is 16 units and my, my, the
brand development team was telling me that next time around we'd have to, we'll have
to adjust it because he said they're actually too heavy for Amazon's new requirements that
changed, like they were the right weight when they got there and now they're not.
So I don't know what, how, what changed and when, but I think that the weight requirement
is different.
So I would, I'll have to like figure out how, like, probably like, you know, go down to
14 units per case and then get boxes that would fit that, repack, redo all the, you
know, the labeling and stuff, which is all doable, but it's like, I guess we'll see how,
where, you know, if I'm not selling any in person and my Shopify sales are kind of, it
might make sense to, to put that effort in and to do that.
But if I'm kind of pushing along in both avenues and maybe I'll just wait till the next
order.
What do you feel like was different about this past, the one, the in-person event that
you just did this weekend?
Because I know you said there was going to be more people.
Yeah, there were definitely more people there.
And it was a, it's a, you know, it's their holiday bazaar.
So it's very much like it's a gifting retail type event where the other one wasn't like
there was certainly vendors there, but there was only four or five vendors and this one
had over a dozen.
And yeah, I just, the, the, I think the, the goal of the person going to that event was
different than the goal of the person going to the other event where it was more like,
let's get dressed up in costumes and bring the dog out.
And, you know.
There was a lot of buyer intent here.
There was more buyer intent.
That's exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
That makes a lot of sense.
I mean, it's good to know that it's good to know what you're going to perform well at.
Yeah.
And it's actually fun because it was at the same location.
There was a, you know, a few repeats like, Oh, I saw you at the Halloween event.
You know, Oh, Hey, good to see you again.
Kind of thing.
And so it's like, I'm already kind of feeling like I am building a little bit of
audience within this community.
And, you know, they're excited to have me back in the spring for their next sales event.
And they're, they're, they're looking to do more of these types of events.
And so I can see this being something that becomes part of like my normal annual plan.
Like, okay, I'm going to do the spring, the fall and the winter market, you know, at my
favorite winery and like, see the people that, you know, I've seen before.
And I know the more times I'm putting my products in front of them, the more likely
they are to eventually buy.
I mean, even I saw that at this event, right.
Someone who I ran into last time who didn't purchase bought one.
So.
Absolutely.
Oh, so good.
So amazing.
I'm so excited.
Uh, Lisa, I see you there.
I don't know if you're able to come on at all.
If you're kind of lurking in the background, but I see ya.
Hey Lisa! Hi guys! I'm just multitasking and didn't hit high except yet. How's it going?
How are you? How was your weekend? It was good. I had like a surgery on Friday so I was kind of
like in recovery all weekend but sales were great so that was nice and Danielle mentioned that
there is like an accelerator office hours tomorrow? Um no. Okay I was like because that's something
like I would actually really like. So the office hours on Tuesdays are for members. Oh okay.
Okay so we just have our workshops? Yes. Okay that's all we that's all we get until we graduate.
Precisely. Exactly. Got it. Got it. I'll make it. Yeah just hanging in there
trying to do what I can do. I made my what did I make my seventh fall quarter. I did that deposit
yesterday so that was good. I saw your comment on Mindset Monday Lisa. What's going on with
that made you so mad? This stupid guy with 40 businesses wants a freaking million dollar loan
in five minutes and like you know your loan's going to take three days to freaking underwrite
and then like half the businesses are like yeah it's just like the normal stuff and the like
just over it. Angry and I'm like I'm like dude like I like I literally like each business I have
to email her for something that's missing so I'm like yeah like maybe your loan sucks.
I wanted to call out today but at least I work from home.
So that's all that's going on. You should call that you had surgery on Friday.
Yeah I'm not I'm not gonna have a period anymore.
That is a surgery you had and you're working today?
Well I had a I had a uterine ablation so it's not like a hysterectomy but like I was like goodbye.
Okay I'll bring you to that. I was gonna be like you had a hysterectomy and you're somehow
No no no yeah they were like I was like wait I can do this? I was like heck yeah sign me up.
So yeah can I ask how was it? It wasn't well like it wouldn't have been that bad except I
got not like I threw up during anesthesia so that was like not cool because I woke up and I was like
oh what's wrong with me? I was like oh we had to shove a tube down your throat. I was like oh
great so you wouldn't die so I think it would have been better. I'm just super like I'm I'm
just crampy. It just feels like I'm having like a really bad period today but all in all
I'm really excited for the future.
I I'm just interested. I've been having a lot of struggles with TMDD this year
and so like um can we not do this anymore? Yeah yeah I didn't even know it was an option
and then a girlfriend of mine got it done and I was like and she was just like always
raving about it. I was like I was like okay let me let me look into this because
I might have to look into it then. Definitely don't need this in my life anymore and insurance
covered it so I was pretty stoked. Okay that's pretty good. Yeah like she put it in as like
I needed it and I was like okay.
Oh great. Periods in 2026. Yeah um I was gonna ask a second ago so you put in your seventh
bulk order. I want to ask how does that feel to put in bulk orders now versus when you did it
like the first or second time? I mean now it's just like we're jamming you know it's like and
even offered me a 15% deposit she's like we trust you it's cool. I was like
yeah so it's just like it's like really smooth like even today I woke up and like I get up and
I like do my little exercises and I put on YouTube and I was like I put on like travel to China like
things you need to know and I was like okay this is like the next step like I'm gonna go to China
this year and like meet my manufacturer and that's awesome you know or like or just like
like I was like I don't know anything about going to China like I travel all the time but China
seems like its own you know thing different yeah so I was like I was like I was like yeah man like
where would I go and I was like if I go anywhere I should go to China so um I might as well start
like researching traveling to China and making that my my
mindset and, you know, so yeah, the seventh bulk order, it was,
it was pretty like smooth. It was like, okay, I don't need to
do this. I don't need to do that. No one checks my food
surface test. I don't think I need one. She's like, you don't
know. So yeah, just so much more relaxed. Especially, especially
now that I found a manufacturer, Lauren, I don't know how you're
doing with your quality stuff. But like, having like a
manufacturer that I actually frickin trust now is a it's so
like, it's like, okay, let's go. Like, yeah. But you know,
without all the growing pains, I wouldn't be where I am now. So I
guess it's right.
I have to imagine too, that like, I don't know, when I
placed my bulk order that there was this like, underlying fear
of like, what do I do if this doesn't sell? You know what I
mean? And I still have that a little bit, right? Because sales
have been really slow. But I think at this point, now you're
like, we're jamming, we're plugging along.
And one of the things that was kind of scary, too, is like, so
I just ordered 1000 more of my variation, and I haven't even
launched it yet. But it was like, we kind of have like solid
data, because I, the variation is designed around one of my top
competitors. So to take their market share, and then we
figure it's going to cannibalize 30% of my current sales. So we
even think that it might like outperform the current one. And
like, we'll just switch all the ads to that. So it's like, it
was kind of like scary, like, wow, I'm ordering, you know, but
then it was like, I was like, worst case, if it doesn't sell,
it just I just pay some storage fees, like, or it takes longer
to sell. Like, it's not the end.
You know, like, it's like, it's gonna sell.
Yeah.
That's kind of like, I know, eventually, I'm gonna sell.
Well, my other bet my other big holiday. Yeah, my other big
holiday is Mother's Day. So it's obviously like, right now, we
want to kind of like, and I'm ranking well organically right
now to like my organic sale, like my a cross, like everything's
like, like, yeah, it's like, it's jamming, like the a cost
and my tacos were 9%.
Black. Wow, that's great.
Yeah, it was pretty sick. I was like, I don't want to jinx it.
Right around the corner is another disaster.
Um, but yeah, so I had like, yeah, super low, like a cost was
36.
That's great.
Yeah, it was really good. And and I, I had the Black Friday
deal. But since Black Friday, I've been full price. So I'm
making like $37 more. Yeah. Yeah. So it was like, well, like
man, I played the long game though. Like I kept my price
low in the beginning. And like one thing like so many
Rainmakers I've talked to it's like they they have in myself
included. I was like that too. It's like you want to make your
money back like right away. You want to like, know that the
investment was worth it. But like, man, it's a business like
you got to be ready to like, put some money into it and let it
let it
and learn. Like a lot of it's learning. It's like in getting
that data like this year, like my Shopify stuff's a disaster.
Like I haven't had any sales. And I invested like all that
money into building that email list and trying all these
different things with that. And it's you know, like, that's kind
of disappointing. But now we have a lot of data. Yeah.
I'm thankful that you're saying that because I think that's one
of the things I've been the most hesitant to do is lower my
price anymore on Amazon. Because I don't want to completely kill
my margins. But I do feel like maybe if I lowered it a little
bit, then you know, or more in line, I'm just I guess my
concern was like, if I lower it too much, then I'm just like,
that race for the bottom kind of like, okay, now I'm competing
with sellers who aren't in the same category at all, as far as
quality, just to get the price point where, you know, I guess I
don't know, try to launch right? Like, until you're almost three
or two and a half months ago. Yeah. I mean, like, until you
have 100 reviews, why would anybody pay more for your
product? Right. And that Yeah, like, just think you think of
yourself like when I go on Amazon, I'm looking for the
product with, you know, I'm looking at reviews, and I even
sort my reviews through most recent, you know, because like,
I know,
there could be a bad batch or it's like, what's happened?
Maybe they have all these good reviews,
but they've dropped their quality.
Years ago, yeah, exactly.
So it's like, I'm always looking at stuff like that.
So just think, put yourself in your,
like, honestly, like as soon as you have a hundred reviews,
like it shifts.
Okay, yeah, I'm far from that.
I'm not even here.
It really does shift.
And like, that's one of the things Bradley says too.
He's like, you gotta be in like,
and the lower your prices,
the more reviews you're gonna get.
And the better chance your reviews are gonna be good
because people are gonna have lower expectations
because they think.
Right, yeah.
So you're kind of like manipulating that.
Like I would even say, I mean, I know it's scary,
but like until you got a hundred reviews,
just move as much product as you can.
Yeah.
To get that review velocity up.
And then once you have a hundred reviews.
You're gonna pay for it one way or another,
it kind of sounds like.
Yeah, you're gonna end up paying more PPC
or you're gonna pay storage, you know,
like because you're moving your product slowly better
to just keep it moving, get some flow going.
Yeah.
And cash flow too.
I mean, maybe it's not the amount of money you want,
but at least it's money coming in.
Something, yeah.
It's really better than.
And you can be re-strategizing your debt on the back end.
You know?
Like my amount of debt is like, it's a lot.
Yeah.
I have it structured.
Like I paid off one credit card yesterday.
I'm gonna hack underway another one with this check.
But in the meantime, I just put bulk order number seven
on a new 0% credit card till 927.
We'll deal with that.
Yeah, you're right.
We'll deal with that later.
I'm bringing down my debt as I go.
I mean, I'm obviously tracking what I've spent.
And I think that's the number that scares me
is looking at what I've spent to date.
It was really scaring me for a while too.
But now I'm like, meh, it's okay.
Well, cause I'm selling.
And like, I'm getting maybe, yeah.
Maybe I have a big amount of debt,
but it's also like, you know, you think like,
look at our, you know, any business you gotta invest,
you know?
So the fact that at least if you can get your debt
in some sort of low interest vehicle or something,
like this is my nest egg that I'm building, you know?
Like, this is my retirement.
Like, of course I have to invest money into it.
And, you know, once you get to that place
where you have a hundred reviews
and you're making bulk orders
without even thinking about it,
like it's a cool spot to be,
but you're not gonna get there pinching pennies.
And you're not gonna have any fun pinching pennies either.
You wanna have fun with it.
Nobody's having fun on a budget.
No, that's very true.
I have to be more like my 20 year old self.
Like, let yourself have some money.
No, let yourself have some money.
Give me some money to spend it today.
Yeah, but like to,
but you wanna be able to try different things, you know?
Like, you wanna try to pull different levers
and see like what works, what doesn't,
and not have it be the end of the world
if it doesn't work out.
Like you need to give yourself
some budget to play with things.
But I don't have any children.
So I don't know.
My life is very different.
So I'm sure-
I've been having a conversation a lot
with people lately about price.
Like whenever we get to launch,
and it is, it's like,
all that matters is gaining as many reviews as possible.
Obviously, ideally good reviews,
but even if they're not good,
you have to troubleshoot through that
anyways at some point.
Might as well do it now.
Because it does all shift along the way,
different points of review shift,
but a big one is 100.
And, you know, people sometimes don't realize
how much you will end up paying more
if you're trying to hold on to a certain price point
in the beginning.
And most of those people don't last
because they just, it becomes,
the hole becomes deeper,
and there's not enough, you know,
coming in, not enough momentum.
We want to build as much momentum as possible.
So it is a big,
I appreciate Lisa you sharing that experience
because this is a very huge roadblock
for a lot of rate makers,
is price point in the beginning.
And a lot of our rate makers, you know,
want to come in and they want to sell
a more premium product
or a more premium version of a product.
I'm like, that's all well and good to call it premium,
but no one is looking at it,
thinking that necessarily until they experience it.
No, and like that-
This has been really helpful for me,
like seriously helpful.
Yeah, like I have kind of been,
like my PPC guy wanted me to lower my price
below 25 a couple of times,
and I like, I wasn't really good, willing to do it.
But now it's like, I've got over,
what do I have?
167.
and reviews now and like I'm holding firm,
like in my TSCRK, I'm the highest price best-selling.
Like there's a couple of ones that are selling more
that are priced cheaper, but.
What's your price at now, Lisa?
I'm at 33.
Okay, so you basically going down to like,
you said 25 was like really-
Yeah, like for Black Friday, I was 26.
Okay.
Cause I had to do a minimum 20% strike through.
That was another reason I didn't want to lower my price
ahead of time.
So that's another thing you have to watch out for,
is that-
Yeah, yeah.
I had to hold my price at 33 with,
so I was doing a coupon leading up to it,
which is more expensive than just doing a strike through
because for Prime Day and Black Friday,
Amazon's gonna go off your list price.
So if I had done a strike through on my list price,
I would have had to make my Black Friday price even lower.
Yeah.
So you do have to kind of, but like right now,
I could do a strike through
cause there's not another Prime Day for a while.
But I was like, I do not want to sell less than 26
for Black Friday.
So I have to kind of like hold on to this price
or any coupons.
But-
Yeah, cause I think I did a coupon,
but I was only able to do that
because obviously I don't have enough sales
at the retail price to allow me to do a strike through yet.
So like, I think what I'm feeling pretty confidently now
is I do need to lower the price at this point
so I can start selling at a higher velocity
and then be able to do a strike through
for a particular sale,
like Mother's Day or something like that.
And then slowly climb it back up
as I start to get some traction and some sales.
Like when I launched, I launched,
well, I launched in Q4,
but like my Black Friday price was $19.99,
you know, and now I'm up to $33.
Yeah.
So it's like, you know, and then I was under 20,
like once I got to 50 reviews, I bumped it up over 25.
And then it was like, once I was over a hundred reviews,
that's when I bumped it to 33.
Yeah.
But I've noticed like, obviously it's my products
that like not as popular in the summer
as it is in the fall and winter either.
So it's like the summer sales were rough
and I had that frequently returned badge as well, so.
Mine is similar where the summer is slower
and it's like fall and winter, it just goes up, so.
All right.
Yeah, I don't, obviously I don't have any of that data yet.
So like the only way I'm going to get it
is by being willing to-
Lauren, are you still happy with,
that you liquidated your inventory and fixed it all?
Are you, are you-
Well, I'm still working on fixing it.
So I'm not really sure how the problem is at this point,
tracking how many units I've actually had to do work on.
I'm happy with the decision because I feel like
it's given me so much more insight into the product
and things that I'm going to look out for on my next order
and my next inspection and things I want to tweak
and change and stuff like that.
So I do feel good about it.
But like I was telling Gabby,
like I opened 30 last night and fixed them
and all 30 not need, not one of them needed to be fixed.
And so the more I open that are just fine,
makes me think, mother fuck.
I know, yeah.
Like I just-
Isn't that what just happened in the beginning?
Because when I was, you know what I mean?
It was like, first two reviews, one star,
first 10 I opened, like six were damaged.
And I was like, oh, this is a huge problem.
And now that I'm kind of digging deeper into it
and probably about a hundred units in, I'm like, huh,
I haven't really seen that since that first
couple of cases that I opened.
So I guess better safe than sorry.
Like I liquidated those like 40 found units
and of them, like there was like 10 broken ones,
which was great that I got rid of those.
But the other ones that were from like newer batches
were really nice.
So that made me happy.
And, but I just got a three-star review the other day
from someone who got a broken one.
But now that I have 167 reviews,
it didn't even change my ranking.
Yeah.
So I was like, woohoo.
Well, it's surprising too that I have a lifetime guarantee
on my product and no one's redeemed it,
which I think is really surprising.
I mean, I haven't sold that many units,
but to have zero redemptions on that,
to have those people who, you know,
receive broken units or damaged units,
not redeem it, not request a replacement,
I find to be odd, but.
Yeah.
I have those 50% off coupons in a bunch of mine now too.
And like.
Not a lot of redemptions.
Three have been redeemed.
Yeah.
It's like, nobody wants to give you their email.
I'm like, this is like a thousand dollars in email
that's actually worth anything.
Cause even like I spent.
all that money on the giveaways
and like literally not one conversion from those.
When you're talking about giveaways,
are you talking about like when you-
So I did some giveaways on social media to get emails.
So I have like 700 people on my email list right now.
And as far as I can tell,
none of them have bought like anything.
Oh, wow.
But I have 55 Etsy sales
and I haven't done anything over there.
I was also thinking about Steven's Free Stuff
because I didn't do that.
And I mean, I wasn't sure if it was even still a thing,
but then I got a few emails lately
of people continuing to do it.
So like now that's something I'm contemplating doing
just to hopefully boost views and move some units.
I would do it.
We still do it.
Yeah, but I was like,
I wouldn't be afraid of lowering your price, Lauren.
It's like, it's over here or over there.
You're either gonna end up paying storage or PPC.
Yeah.
Move some product, get some cash in your pocket.
Yeah, you're right.
You're absolutely right.
And you're not, you got a credit card for your PPC, right?
You're not having it come out of your check?
No, PPC, yeah, I'm putting on a credit card.
Good.
I need to switch the card that it's on
because I realized it's the card that has the worst rewards.
So I'm like, no, no,
I gotta be making some cash back on this.
I know, get some cash back.
I talked to a girl the other day on the phone
and she was having it come out of her check.
I was like, don't do that.
I'm still learning how to like figure out both Shopify
and Amazon invoicing and reporting.
I wish there was like, give me the line items,
like show me everything.
But like, I feel like it's like one line item on Shopify.
It's like shipping charges.
I'm like, okay.
And well, I guess I paid for the platform fees
for the full year.
So everything I'm being charged from Shopify
is just shipping.
But Amazon, I'm like, what is, you know,
Amazon fees versus-
Oh, good luck with that.
It's like a mess in there, man.
They love hiding everything.
They hide everything.
So every payment, just because like I'm an underwriter,
like that's my job is to like look at reports
and reconcile numbers.
And like, I can't ever make sense of this stuff.
Like-
Well, at least I had like an aha moment where I was like,
okay, so everything that's on this one card is advertising
because I've got it on that credit card.
And then I have the other fees coming out of these,
you know, the account, right?
The sales, whatever sales I generate.
And then if it doesn't cover that,
which obviously hasn't thus, you know, today,
it comes out of a different credit card.
So then I can kind of go, okay,
anything that's on this one credit card I know is ads
and everything on this other credit card
is other Amazon fees, so.
And have you like switched over
to QuickBooks yet or anything?
No, but I-
That was your circle?
Didn't you get like-
We got three months free
from Michelle's bookkeeping service.
But I worked with CapForge last year
to reconcile my books for my first year and file my taxes.
And then I felt really duped
because I paid a lot of money for them to file my taxes,
thinking that I would, you know,
be able to use my business startup expenses.
And they're like, no, we have to defer all of that to 2025
because you haven't made any revenue.
Which now I understand why and like makes sense.
But at the time,
I wish there would have been more clarity there.
Cause I was like, I could have just filed my own taxes.
I took all my expenses.
But basically what they were saying is like,
because I didn't have any sales,
it didn't make sense to, you know, look at-
I guess you're still working full time, right?
Yeah, like I took it all.
Yeah, so I don't know,
it makes it seem like they didn't have revenue.
So I don't know.
Like right now I'd rather take it off of my W-2,
like it, like, cause I basically,
I got everything I paid in tax back last year for my job
because of the business loss.
Oh, okay.
I see what you're saying.
Because I always get a return.
Like I never have to pay taxes.
And so that's why they were like,
well, if you're already getting a return,
like it doesn't-
I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
I see the point.
I see what they were saying.
I have a big thing with the IRS
is they don't need to hold any of my money
that they don't need to.
No, yeah.
Cause I've been audited three times and they like,
yeah, and they held all my money.
And then at the end of the day,
they were all no changes.
So they can keep as little of my money.
I feel like, I wish I understood all that more,
because I've even asked like other coaches and stuff,
like what do I do for tax season?
Because I don't want to spend a bunch of money
and get hired out.
I say find someone local.
Yeah.
Find someone local to you.
It's like usually a more affordable one.
Not usually, like always.
Like someone local to you.
It is great to find someone who can understand e-commerce,
but like I filed with someone this last year
who I could tell was like not familiar.
familiar with like, Amazon selling and stuff like that. And it ended up fine. Yeah, I have
an excellent Arizona based CPA. And she's like wonderful older woman that also sells
on Amazon. She only charged me like for two businesses in my personal last year. It was
like less than 1000 bucks. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Okay. Carol Smith. Like a like a cute. Yeah,
she sells some stuff on Amazon. Yeah, I'm sending me her contact via like the Rainmaker
app or something like that. Or even on here. Because I wanted somebody who can help me
with like the Arizona CP. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have my my books reconciled again, though,
because I feel like it's nice to have everything clean. And it's way cheaper to do it reconcile
than it is month to month. And so I'm definitely gonna do that. I just hired Michelle to do
my like monthly bookkeeping. Yeah, because CapForge quoted me 1100 to do the full year
of 2025. Yeah. 300 bucks a month. Reconcile. Reconcile everything. Yeah. That's about right.
That's about what I paid last year. And I'll do it again. Just like, yeah, just catch it all up.
Yep. There's all my stuff. I have all the numbers. You go ahead and make it nice little P&L.
Thank you. Also, let's do that tax prep. Thanks. Yeah.
Last year or this like file only filed in 2025 was the first year that I've hired someone to do it.
It wasn't easy to just be like, here you go. Yeah, it was a pain initially. And this is where I could
tell that they weren't familiar with just a lot of the questions they asked in the beginning. There's
a lot of questions and a lot of little bit this form and that form. I was like, Oh, this is like
not easier yet than it was. But then I was like, remembering that I was paying them to like
reconcile everything. I was like, No, good. Like, otherwise, I had a lot more time doing this. Yeah.
Yeah. With the pricing, should I just like, I'm trying to wonder, I'm kind of like now I'm
thinking like, go with my gut and just kind of like guess at what a number that I think is going
to have like based on some other competitor pricing. Or I'm wondering if I should maybe do
like an IntelliView poll or something, or if there's a way to assess pricing that way.
Because obviously, with setting the price, I looked at what my cost was, and then kind of where I felt
with what those margins look like, and then also comparing, right to other comps. But because,
you know, like the, my TSCRK, like the two, the two big ones that I use, kind of wildly different
price points in both of those categories. And then if I just look at like kind of the top performers
on Amazon in the kind of keepsake space, I mean, some of those products are priced way higher than
mine. And I mean, they're made out of cardboard or MDF, like they're not nice boxes. So that's
where I was like, trying to find that middle ground between that, like the $30 box that comes
with nothing. And then like the fancy kit with the labels on the files that's made of cardboard
that costs a hundred bucks, right? So it's like, I want to be somewhere in the middle.
I would look at, I don't think you need to IntelliView. What I would do is look at your
competitors and instead of looking at the quality of what they have, because people, again, they
don't care. If they're looking at the price, the review rating and the review count is the bulk,
is a bulk of what they're looking at. So if you look at your competitors and you just like,
kind of put them in categories based on like how many reviews they have. Like if the, all of the
ones that have over a hundred, 200 reviews are priced much higher, that's like, okay, I know
that I need to be lower than that. And kind of like, just put yourself somewhere, but also you're
testing like yourself individually. And so sometimes it's like, okay, this price is not
working as well as I would like, or I'm not getting the sales velocity I'm looking for.
Let me also just test independently of everybody else and drop it. But you know, especially when
you have like a wide range with your competitors, like there's a wide range of prices. Sometimes it
does take a little bit of guessing because you're just not sure how people are perceiving you.
But so what's your price at right now? So the first retail price that I have and what it's
listed on Shopify is 65. And on Amazon about a week ago, I took it down below 50. So I'm 49.95
on Amazon right now. And then on Shopify, I have a $10 off. So it brings it down to 55.
And then I've also been doing 20% off at events and like through my newsletter. So the lowest
sale price I do on Shopify right now is 52, basically with that 20% off and then 49.95 on Amazon.
is on. Okay. No, I like I felt like it was important to test
below 50, right? Like, because I know that that's like a
psychological threshold. So I'm thinking, you know, maybe take
it down a little bit more, maybe in that 4543 range and see if
that creates more sales velocity. You know, there's some
people that sell for like 3499 33, like, like in that kind of
that price point. But I just don't, I don't know, that's the
tough call. Because like I said, there's, there's other
ones that are over 100. There's one that's $120. And it's
cardboard. Yeah.
What and you have a coupon on or a factor? What do you have
right now?
No, I had a coupon, but it doesn't show that it's like a
discount on my listing. And so I don't understand why because I
had my guy set it up for me. And he's like, we agreed to do I
think a 15% discount when it was priced at 54. And then I looked
and it was like, oh, now it's just showing us $49.95. But
there's no indication that that's a coupon price or a lower
price.
Interesting. So like, you didn't have like the coupon badge or
anything?
No.
That seems a little weird. I feel like you should reach out
to support that happens again. But I mean, I would try doing it
with a coupon. If you're gonna lower your price, do it with a
coupon. Just looks nice. Takes up more space on the thumbnail.
Has a bright green button. Typically. That's my
preference. I like coupons a lot. I I feel like people like
psychologically just can't ignore a green coupon button.
Like the coupons are the fees are they really?
Normally you just write a coupon. It's like a $5 fee or a
$10 fee.
It's a $5. But they're getting rid of the other fee. Or there's
something else like the percentage. The only time I'm
out of the loop on it. Honestly. Yeah, because they started
charging that percentage of your sales.
Got it. Yeah.
That was like, not nice. But then I think they realized it's
not nice. So if you
Yeah.
There was something that changed with that recently.
Okay.
Good to know. Yeah, I need to talk to my development team a
little bit and ask them more about that. Because I did ask
them I was like, why is it not showing as a strikethrough? Why
am I not? Why is there an indication that this is a lower
like a sale price or a coupon? And they I don't know, I I think
I just need to have an in person meeting with them because the
WhatsApp conversation was not
Yeah. And I mean, also, you can go it's very easy to set up a
coupon. So like, it'd be faster if you just go in, click the
main menu, advertising coupon set up, bing, bing, boom, 10
seconds. They might have just changed your price. I don't
know, like if they
Because he showed me where then I could I went in there and
looked at Seller Central. And there was a he had to do a 5%
discount and then a 10% discount. So there was two
separate ones to equal the 15%. And I was like, this doesn't
make any sense. And so I questioned that and then
questioned why it wasn't reflecting on the listing or
looking any different. And so yeah, I need to just take that
that piece and like, I was talking to you about that
anyway, like deciding, you know, in the next couple of, like,
really the next 10 days, and decide, is this something I want
to continue to do? Or do I want to just put a pause on that
whole thing? And
that sounds like they did something funky. Yeah,
honestly, you can do a 15% coupon. No problem. You don't
need to do two separate.
Yeah. And I feel like there's a lot of like, things like that
where I'm like, Hey, why is this like this? Or like asking
questions? You know, like, what? Hey, I didn't approve this meta
ad? Why is it running? And they're like, well, we didn't we
don't it's not running. Like, it's a meta glitch. And I'm like,
no, like, take it down. Like, I don't like, so like, I'll go in
there and do it myself. And yeah, maybe I'm just like, I've
been trying to say to myself, like, I don't know enough about
this yet that I need the support of these people. But then at the
same time, my gut is saying, learn this, learn this, like
yesterday, so that you can take it over yourself. Because, yeah,
I'm not getting results from this company. Like they've helped
me out in a lot of different ways. And like, you know, help
me, you know, build my Shopify site to how I wanted it to be
and all this stuff. But ultimately, I'm not going to
continue to throw money at something where it's just not
effective. And I told them that, you know, like, show me results
or we're done.
Yeah. Um, I mean, will getting rid of them put a fire under your
butt to learn a thing?
I hope so. I think the part of it was like, okay, I'll have
them on retainer and like pay them while like, while I'm kind
of catching up, because I just didn't have the capacity to
start digging into the next phase of the Rainmaker courses.
And then as I was starting to do it, I felt like, oh my gosh,
like, this is so much and a lot of it is, it's not that it's
outdated, it's just things look differently. And so
It's a little bit takes a little longer to go in and kind of find the thing or what they've renamed it or whatever based on like the video content.
And so when I started to run into that inconvenience, it kind of like I was like, oh, this is I mean, I think it was like, oh, this is hard.
And this is going to take me a long time.
So, yeah, I think you're right. I think if they weren't there, that it would probably light a little more fire under my ass to, like, be forced to do it.
I just worry that it's the first thing I'm going to drop because I don't have bandwidth and then I'm not all then I'll be doing nothing.
You know what I mean? So, yeah, I understand you're saying I don't think you would drop it.
I mean, you're also all the things that they're doing.
You don't necessarily have to start doing all those things immediately as soon as they're not.
Yeah. So it's like you can stagger it.
It's like, oh, I'm going to start with this one thing. I'm going to start this thing, you know, PPC or whatever it is.
It just depends. But yeah, it's just questions to ask yourself.
The other question I thought would be helpful is with the price.
Like when you're going lower, I would ask yourself, like, OK, if I was selling 10 units a day consistently, would I be OK with it being this price?
That's right. I keep asking yourself that.
Then when you're getting lower price, like, all right.
Kind of like having your cut off, like, OK, I even if I was selling 10 a day, like it would not be worth it for it to be this price.
Right. That will help. Also, it's like deciding where you want to set it at.
But ultimately, you're testing anyway. It's all testing.
Right. And I think what would be helpful for my brain, too, is to kind of go, OK, if I'm selling one or two, you know, a week at this point, you know, that's what my profit is for a week.
If I drop the price and I start selling 10 a day, like you said, right, even though the margins last, the overall profit is much greater.
So looking at it, I think through that lens and then also to Lisa's point of like getting some sales velocity, getting some reviews, like using that lower price point to build the listing up opposed to spending money on ads that aren't converting and things like that.
Like, I'm going to spend that money one way or the other. Right. So.
Absolutely. How many reviews did you say you had?
I have 18.
18. Not bad, though. Good start.
I'm still waiting on a few Vine reviews because I ended up shutting or switching to FBM before all 30 were claimed.
So I think 26 or 27 were claimed.
And all of the reviews I have are Vine reviews.
So I have like, yeah, 18 out of 27.
All right.
Yeah. So that's why I was thinking something like Stephen's Free Stuff would help, hopefully, you know.
Yeah. Yeah, I'll definitely look into that.
Yeah. Or even like, I mean, I just like reached out to everyone I'd ever known ever.
Yeah, I remember.
They didn't live near me and I was like, hey, can you buy this?
Like and I offered to reimburse them, but nobody, nobody wanted me to reimburse them.
And I was like, please leave a review.
And I had to kind of like hound them to leave a review, too.
Yeah, I definitely like asked, you know, did the ask to all the people like in my contacts and through social like, hey, I've launched like here's a sample.
Here's a special like friends and family discount kind of thing and didn't get really any response to that.
So maybe, like you said, switching the ask instead of being like, here's the lowest, you know, here's this awesome deal that I'm giving you because you're, you know, a friend or a family member kind of thing to switch it to be like, hey, I need your support.
I will reimburse you.
Like, hey, like, I just launched this business and I really need no need to get some reviews to show some social proof.
Yeah.
Would you mind buying my product?
And I reimburse you.
It's technically not legal, but nobody knows.
And they don't really live near you like it's your old friend.
I don't know.
Yeah.
All right, ladies, I've got to head out.
But good conversation.
Yeah, I got a lot to say.
So thank you so much, both of you.
And enjoy the rest of your morning.
I sent you that in the messenger.
Hello.
Thanks so much, Lisa.
I appreciate that.
Take care, guys.