Proof to Product

When we have our eyes set on a specific business goal, something like selling wholesale, it is incredibly beneficial to hear from people who are a few steps ahead of us in the process, which is why we close out every round of our Paper Camp program with an alumni panel. I want our students to hear from their peers. In today's podcast episode, we're sharing a portion of our alumni roundtable with all of you. 

It is officially trade show season, so today we are diving into a question that I hear all the time. It's how do I know if I'm ready to exhibit at a wholesale trade show? This is one of the biggest topics that we cover inside of Paper Camp. Paper Camp is our coaching program for product-based business owners who want to see their products on the shelves of independent stores in their neighborhood or big box stores all ...

I'm excited for today's episode because we've got Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income. Pat is a father, a husband, a lifelong learner, and, honestly, one of the most generous teachers out there when it comes to business and entrepreneurship. He has built several successful companies, launched best-selling books, and invented products like the SwitchPod. He's created communities around smart passive income, and somehow...

This week's podcast topic has been highly requested, and so I'm happy to bring it to you today. I invited Skye Watterson who is an ADHD strategist, coach, and the founder of Unconventional Organisation. She helps business owners stay focused, build consistent revenue, and scale without feeling burnt out. 

Skye was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and it completely changed her entire approach to her career,...

We are back with part two of my conversation with Jessica Totillo Coster, covering the State of the Product Industry survey. You can listen to part 1 by heading to prooftoproduct.com/394. 

During part two of my interview with Jessica, we cover how product-based businesses are making money in their businesses, including the percentages of those that are selling wholesale vs retail vs licensing. We talk abou...

I’m loving all the feedback that we're getting about the State of the Product Industry survey. Last week, we released two podcast episodes. One was an overview of what the report was saying, what the different stats were, and then the second episode I covered 10 opportunities that all of you should be harnessing as we continue into 2025. 

Because we got such great feedback, we're going to keep this going. ...

Today’s episode continues the conversation about the State of the Product Industry survey that we did. Last episode, I summarized what we learned when 400 product-based business owners shared intimate details about their income, profit, how much they pay themselves, their product line, their team, their sales and marketing strategies. If you have not listened to that one yet, I would suggest starting there, that’s epis...

Every founder I know has been wondering at some point or another how much other brands are making, what tech they're using, and how big their teams are. Everyone wants to see what other brands are doing and how they are successful. 

Even though we know that every business journey looks different, it's natural to be curious. The product world is shifting so fast. Right now, we're seeing rising costs. We're ...

Do you have excess inventory that you have no idea how to move? On today's podcast, we have Melodie van der Baan, cofounder of Max Retail. It's a platform designed to help independent retailers and brands easily sell their excess inventory online. 

During our conversation, Melodie shares how she started out as a sales rep, and then how she owned her own retail store in Palm Beach and how the challenges she...

Today's episode is an important and timely one. It is a conversation about resilience as small business owners and what we can do or how we navigate things when we are backed into a corner by forces outside of our control. 

Our guest this week is Emily Ley. She is the founder of Simplified®, a wildly successful brand of planners and organizational tools that many of you know and love. She also happens to ...

With everything going on in the global economy right now, there have been a lot of discussions about price increases. It's been a hot topic in Paper Camp, in our LABS community, and even in my Advisory Board mastermind. 

People are asking about how to raise their prices, if they should raise their prices, and also how to communicate those price increases with your customers, whether you're selling retail o...

Let's talk money. Money is a necessity in business, but it can also be a pain point, particularly for product-based business owners because our investments, overhead, and risks are generally heightened compared to service-based businesses. 

We not only need to make money, but we also need to spend money for future expansion and growth. But where does that money come from? How are people doing this? We get ...

It has been almost one year since we conducted our 2024 State of the Product Industry survey, and we are back doing it again. So from now until April 11, our 2025 State of the Product Industry Survey is open, and we wanna hear from you and all of your physical product-based business owner friends. 

You can head to prooftoproduct.com/2025survey to share your responses with us, and I encourage you to do it s...

When should I release new products to the wholesale market, and how do I align my release cycles with wholesale buying seasons? 

I get these questions and more about product release cycles all of the time. In fact, this has been a hot topic in this round of Paper Camp, our coaching program about wholesale. 

If our Paper Camp students are asking about release cycles, I know that many of you hav...

It's been a minute since we've talked about Pinterest marketing here on the podcast, so I thought it was time that we revisit this topic. 

A lot has changed over the years with Pinterest, especially given the explosion of AI. So this week, Heather Farris is joining me on the podcast. She runs a Pinterest agency and education company. Heather has helped hundreds of creators on Pinterest grow their traffic a...

When you think of public relations or PR, what first comes to mind? Is it holiday gift guides, being on the Today Show? What if I told you that PR can often be more effective than social media or paid ads for boosting a business's credibility and visibility? That's exactly what today's guest is sharing. 

Gloria Chou is an award-winning PR strategist and the host of the top-rated Small Business PR Podcast....

Today's guest is LABS member, Sarah Hart, the founder and creative director of Simply Curated, a home fragrance brand that has been in business for twelve years. Sarah also recently launched a sister brand called Hart and Co. 

In this episode, Sarah shares the origins of her candle and home fragrance business, including the pivotal moments and challenges that she faced along the way. She provides insight i...

I know we've been talking a lot about our wholesale coaching program, Paper Camp, which is where we are going to teach you everything you need to successfully sell wholesale. 

But today, I want to hand the mic over to four of our Paper Camp alumni to share their experiences. I'm calling this our “Before and After Paper Camp” series, where you can hear from real people who took our program. 

Th...

To successfully sell wholesale, you must focus on your product line first. If you do not have a product line that has a unique point of view, is priced right, and has strong profit margins, you'll have a difficult time when you start doing sales and marketing, particularly on the wholesale side. 

A strong product line is the foundation of a strong wholesale revenue stream, which is why we start every round...