Proof To Product

Hey friends, when you’re building your wholesale business there’s no doubt that you’ll be headed to trade shows to get your product out there and in front of the right buyers. The reality is, trade shows are expensive and you don’t want to waste a single minute while exhibiting.  In this episode, I reverse engineer what it really costs to exhibit at a trade show from an hourly rate perspective. This will help you to realize how much every hour counts while exhibiting and the importance of using your time to connect with others, write orders and doing market research. It’s not the time to be admiring other people’s products or talking to your booth neighbors (there’s plenty of time to do that during break down or set up or even after hours). I talk about why you need to know your numbers, how Paper Camp helps attendees to know where to save money and where to splurge during shows and the importance of preparation. ON TODAY’S EPISODE:  Thinking about trade show expenses from an hourly rate perspective A breakd

Today on Proof to Product we’re welcoming Paper Camp Alum, and founder of Chez Gagne, Alex Gagne! Alex attended our Paper Camp Conference back in February of 2015 before debuting her wholesale line at the National Stationery Show. Since then, Alex has gone on to expand her product offering, add new team members, and achieve her vision for the Chez Gagne brand. Chez Gagne is a paper and gift brand that offers greeting cards, wine and spirit tags, mugs, wine glasses, candles, and rocks glasses. Alex currently sells to 1,500 stores throughout the world, works with sales reps nationally, and exhibited at six trade shows this winter alone. With more than 93% of Alex’s annual revenue coming from wholesale, much of her time is spent planning, prepping and traveling across the country for trade shows. On today’s episode, Alex is sharing with us how she does it all. We talk about how greeting cards became more than just her creative outlet and how Alex made the jump from paper goods to other products. We also how Alex

Dream with me for a moment: what could happen if you committed to posting daily on TikTok for 2 months straight? Could you perhaps significantly grow your visibility, traffic to your website and even sales? On this episode, I’m talking to Kyle Sommer of Sommer Letter Co. She's someone who did exactly that and her results were pretty incredible. Kyle and I dive deep into her TikTok growth including how she’s grown her website traffic by 30%, and increased daily sales by 15%.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: What Kyle creates at Sommer Letter Co Which marketing platforms she focused on pre-TikTok What drew her to TikTok and how she got started  Her experience of TikTok before using it for her business Kyle’s first TikTok video  Content that has worked well for her TikTok strategy Why she creates longer videos opposed to shorter ones  Concerns she had before starting her TikTok journey  How she’s found her community on the platform  Her strategy for including a call to action and leading people to her store  Kyle’s though

Are in-person trade shows worth it right now? This is a question that came up in my community recently in my LABS group coaching call. Jodi, a member of Proof to Product LABS was feeling unsure of where to focus her efforts: trade shows? A big marketing push? In this episode, I am going over my 4 ideas for this client to help her meet her goals within her budget. As more things begin to reopen it’s no surprise that many are wondering where they should invest their time and energy. You’ll hear why you should first get clear on your bigger picture goals. I also go over my ideas for the suggested opportunities she could pursue along with the pros and cons of each.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Why you should keep your goals top of mind when investing in your business [2:05] Should I invest in an-in person trade show as the world starts to open up after Covid? [2:29] My 4 ideas for Jodi meet her goals while staying within her budget [3:58] The pros of doing a trade show [4:26] Questions and cons to consider for trade sho

Think back for a minute to April of 2020. We’re all on lockdown from the pandemic and figuring out new routines and ways of life. Now, imagine that you’re launching a business for the first time all while homeschooling your children and your business is taking off very quickly… This was the reality for Tiffany Grimes, founder of Posterity Paper. After winning the Minority Business Women’s Grant her business accelerated - she was able to collaborate with brands like A Beautiful Mess and Kids Made Modern.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: What products she sells and her primary customers [3:25] What it was like starting her business in the midst of April 2020 [4:37] Challenges she faced when she launched her business [6:32] How adopting creative practices and making meaningful connections has supported her growth [7:29] How Tiffany incorporates “heart drops” into her life [10:22] Her experience of being selected for the  Minority Business Women’s Grant [11:55] What’s surprised her about herself as a business owner [13:58]

Proof to Product takes you behind the scenes of growing a product-based business. Join us each week as our Paper Camp alumni, speakers and friends share their successes, struggles and how they’ve made difficult but important transitions in their business to continue growing. You’ll gather inspiration, learn about new resources, and hear new ways of scaling your creative business. Proof to Product is hosted by founder, Katie Hunt. Since 2011, Proof to Product has helped thousands of product based business owners get their products on the shelves of retail shops big and small. Find show notes and additional resources at prooftoproduct.com.

Closing one chapter and deciding to put an end to things is never easy. Whether that’s discontinuing a product line that was close to your heart or even shutting down your business entirely. In this episode, I had a conversation with Tammie Bennett of Show Up Society. Tammie is a creative entrepreneur and mindset coach who closed down her business at the height of its success. In fact, during the pandemic, her business, Tiger Pocket Press tripled and had tremendous growth but that success didn’t change her mind about where she was headed next. She followed her intuition and decided to close her product based business so she could help people through coaching.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: All about her business she closed, Tiger Pocket Press What made her come to the decision to close her product based business Why she started her podcast,  How she told her customers about closing and her process for getting rid of inventory What she did on the coaching side to prepare for this transition Her plan for services to of

How often do you take a step back to look at and soak in the goodness of how far you’ve come? That’s exactly what guest, Morgan Harper Nichols encourages us all to do as she joined me to chat about the inspiration behind her new book, How Far You Have Come.  Morgan and I also dive into setting boundaries and upholding them, how she maintains being true to herself on Instagram and why she’s a big advocate for collaboration.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE:   What inspired Morgan to write How Far You Have Come How it felt to go back and relive experiences as she wrote about them Her experience getting diagnosed with autism How she sets and holds healthy professional boundaries  What project she’s most proud of How she keeps her Instagram authentic to her The heaviness of social media and its impact on people’s mental health Her advice for creatives working to make their big goals a reality FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRIPT, HEAD TO BIT.LY/PTPEP206 SLOW STEADY GROWTH ARE HOW STRONG BUSINESSES ARE BUILT Build

Are you wearing all of the hats and juggling all of the balls in your business? That might be a sign that it’s time to hire help and bring on support. Your time as an entrepreneur is so valuable and you want to make sure that you are focusing on what you do best. Recently, my mastermind retreat clients and I got together virtually for a retreat and one of the big topics that came up was hiring. This has also been a hot topic within my Labs community so I wanted to create an episode to chat about it. In this episode I talk about the pain points that lead to reactive hiring, why you need to shift your mindset about hiring and the 3 key areas you should hire for first in your product based business.     ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Pain points that cause entrepreneurs to do reactive hiring  Fears that people have about hiring help What 3 key areas you should hire for first FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRIPT, HEAD TO BIT.LY/PTPEP205 SLOW STEADY GROWTH ARE HOW STRONG BUSINESSES ARE BUILT If you want support fr

Have you ever taken a look at bigger brands or household products and considered, what are they doing that I could implement in my own business?  In this episode, I was joined by brand growth strategist and founder of Startward Consulting, Maureen Mwangi. She shares how big brands are humanizing their marketing and what data points we should (and shouldn’t) be paying attention to. Spoiler alert: you can stop worrying about the number of followers you have on Instagram. Maureen and I also chat about tech tools to use for measuring the ROI on your marketing, how you can leverage data and her tips on optimizing your brand! ON TODAY’S EPISODE: What bigger brands are doing that smaller brands should pay attention to Why big brands are “humanizing” their marketing efforts Data you should be tracking and how you leverage that in your marketing strategy Why you need to be ruthless when looking at your numbers and data What data points seasoned business owners should look at How to leverage data for positive change in

Hey friends! Considering additional revenue streams for your business? Ever thought about licensing? It’s true that most of the seasoned product based businesses have multiple arms of their business: they might sell wholesale, retail, license art, have a brick & mortar shop or offer drop shipping….. there are a lot of ways to build a profitable, sustainable business.   That’s why I brought on Stacie Bloomfield. Stace has an abundance of experience in licensing and has been creating artwork for brands and products since 2009. Her brand, Gingiber, has products sold in more than 800 stores. In 2020, Stacy began educating the creative community about licensing through her course Leverage Your Art AND she published her first book!   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: How she didn’t always envision the business she runs today Her path of starting her business How she stumbled across her first licensing deal Why you have to think of pitching as a numbers game What artists need to prepare prior to pitching licensing deals How S

Hey friends! The doors to Proof to Product LABS are wide open.  We are welcoming a new class to our community so on the podcast this week we wanted to highlight the growth of our community and how we’ve enhanced the program throughout its first year.    In this episode, I am joined by two people you might recognize if you’re a longtime listener of the show, Janine Kwoh of Kwohtations and Christy Asper of Paper Baristas. Both of these ladies are founding members of our LABS program and have been active participants in our monthly masterclasses, group coaching calls and our peer masterminds and coffee chats.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: What Janine loves most about LABS Her favorite and most impactful masterclass An aha moment Janine has had since joining LABS The benefits of LABs she’s enjoyed most Why she enjoys the community aspect of being in the program Christy’s favorite class in LABS Her aha moment that she had from LABS The benefits that Christy’s noticed from the community and coaching FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, R

Hey friends! This episode is a little different today. The roles were reversed and I was in the passenger seat as I was joined by my daughter, Madeline for an interview. Madeline asks me some of the most commonly asked questions I get about the Proof to Product LABS as we head toward the one year anniversary of the program. Take a listen to get a peek inside of what we do inside of LABS.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Why Katie started Proof to Product LABS When she started thinking about creating LABS Her favorite part about LABS What 3 things she’s added to the program since it started How LABS is different from Paper Camp FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRIPT, HEAD TO BIT.LY/PTPEP201 SLOW STEADY GROWTH ARE HOW STRONG BUSINESSES ARE BUILT Building a business is a long game, won with patience, fortitude, intentional decisions and passion.​ Inside Proof to Product LABS, you’ll receive the support, education and accountability to move your business towards your goals.   ​Join Proof to Product Labs, our 12-mo

Hey friends! Can you believe that it’s the 200th episode of the Proof to Product podcast? Quick confession: I’ve been stewing over this episode and what I’d cover for weeks to celebrate this landmark 200th episode.  After grappling with this thought for a while, something happened at home that really put it all into perspective and brought me a lightbulb moment. In this episode, I share that story with you and reveal the one common thread that ties all entrepreneurs together (and it might even surprise you!).     ON TODAY’S EPISODE: The common thread that ties all entrepreneurs together A personal story that demonstrates this skill Some of the stories we’ve shared over 200 episodes FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRIPT, HEAD TO BIT.LY/PTPEP200 SLOW STEADY GROWTH ARE HOW STRONG BUSINESSES ARE BUILT If you want support from our community, coaching with me and resources to help you continue thriving as you grow your business, be sure to check out my Proof to Product LABS program. ​It’s my 12-month grou

Hey friends! In 2020, conversations around diversity, inclusion and equity rose to the forefront of conversations around how we’re conducting business. Many entrepreneurs in the online space took time to reassess their company values to include more diverse images and copy while weaving more inclusivity into their brand, marketing and customer experience.  In this episode, I had on Myrna Daramy. Myrna is a friend of mine and a tech-savvy Digital Media Optimization Specialist who came on to talk about what has been missing from this conversation: technology.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Misconceptions about accessible and inclusive websites What an inclusive website looks like The risks of not having a diverse, inclusive and accessible website How your customer experience can improve by having a more diverse, inclusive and accessible website How she helps online business owners  Downsides to overlay technologies How sites like Shopify are affected by accessibility overlay FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRI

Hey friends! Are you ready to start getting more results from your Pinterest strategy? Then you’ll love this conversation with guest, Kate Ahl. Kate is the owner and CEO of Simple Pin Media, a Pinterest management and marketing agency. Kate and her team have worked with over 600 Pinterest accounts and consulted with thousands of people about how to best use Pinterest for their business or brand. In this episode, she talks about some of the upcoming trends she’s seeing for Pinterest and how to rethink your Pinterest strategy to inspire and inform pinners.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Mistakes ecommerce businesses make on Pinterest How to start building traction on Pinterest when starting out How Pinterest has changed their ecosystem  Why you want pins to be evergreen How much time you need to invest to get results from Pinterest Why people have hang ups with Pinterest Which analytics you need to pay attention to How you can use UTM codes to track pins that lead to sales When you should consider outsourcing Pinterest

Hey friends! I recently sat down and had a conversation with Micala Quinn on her show, the Live Free Podcast to have a conversation about how virtual support professionals could support e-commerce and product based businesses.  I wanted to bring a piece of that conversion to my podcast. In this episode, I am exploring the 4 areas of your business where virtual, freelance support could make a positive impact for you. If you’ve been wondering how you can get some remote, flexible, rockstar team members to support you while you grow your business then tune in!   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: 4 areas in your business that would benefit from help Hiring help dependent on your business model and needs A mistake I’ve seen from business owners when hiring for a virtual role FOR FULL SHOW NOTES AND RESOURCES, HEAD TO BIT.LY/PTPEP197 SLOW STEADY GROWTH ARE HOW STRONG BUSINESSES ARE BUILT If you want support from our community, coaching with me and resources to help you continue thriving as you grow your business, be sure to chec

Hey friends! How are you feeling about social media these days? Is it lighting you up? Does it leave you feeling heavy? I personally have been on both sides of the pendulum and thought my guest in this episode would be perfect to help you determine if it’s time to outsource social. I had on Andréa Jone of OnlineDrea to walk us through everything we need to know. She explains the pros and cons of hiring a social media agency versus hiring a VA or freelance social strategist. We chat about what you need to know before you hire and how she tests potential hires with paid projects!   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: The biggest mistakes ecommerce brands make on social media Signs it might be time to outsource your social media The pros and cons of hiring an agency vs. a freelancer How her agency helps clients formulate KPIs How to make your hiring knowledgeable people What a test project looks like when hiring someone for a role Her onboarding process and how she gets to know clients and their brands FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESO

Hey friends! By now, you probably know that email marketing is very near and dear to my heart. It’s a stronger marketing tool than any social media platform, it’s less risky than paid advertising and it gives you a chance to speak human to human to your customers. In this episode, I was joined by Jessica Totillo Coster of eCommerce Badassery. Jessica is an ecommerce and email marketing strategist that works with boutique owners and product based entrepreneurs. She helps scrappy female entrepreneurs take actionable steps and strategies to scale their business.  You’re going to want a notebook handy as you listen today because Jessica shares some great tips and insightful examples that you can leverage as a part of your strategy. We covered a lot: everything from how email marketing fits into your customer journey to attracting the right people, nurturing those customers and engaging current customers so they continue to purchase from you.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Boundaries they’ve had to learn from using Clubho

I see how hard you have been working, but are not alone!  Today’s episode is all about how to prepare for hiring help for your business. In this episode, I talk about some of the strategies that I use in my own business before bringing on new team members. As you explore the idea of bringing on help later this year, this quarter or even this month you’ll want to make sure you are hiring right. Whether you are hiring your first team member or your tenth, whether you’re planning to hire employees or contractors — today’s episode includes pre-work — so things you’re going to do before you even advertise the job you’re hiring for.  Flag it, come back to it, take notes and be sure to use the four T’s framework to guide you along the way.    ON TODAY’S EPISODE: Different forms that help comes in Pre-work you need to be doing before hiring The four T’s framework from Adrienne Dorison & Mike Michalowicz  Next steps after using the four T’s framework   FOR FULL SHOW NOTES, RESOURCES AND A TRANSCRIPT, HEAD TO BIT.L