In this conversation, Michelle interviews Bridget about her journey as a boutique owner and influencer marketer. Bridget shares her experience transitioning from storefronts to an online-only business, the challenges of managing employees, and the importance of prioritizing what you love in your business. They discuss the Wild West of influencer marketing and the strategic use of influencers as a marketing tool. Bridget emphasizes the need to build relationships with influencers and pay them for their work. They also touch on the importance of pivoting in business and getting out of your own way to find success.
00:00Transitioning from Storefronts to Online
08:16Prioritizing What You Love in Your Business
25:34Challenges and Considerations in Influencer Marketing
36:11Getting Out of Your Own Way and Embracing Change
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Okay, welcome to the podcast.
I am so excited today to be interviewingmy friend, Bridget.
This is a throwback to the first guestrecording podcast that I did when this
podcast launched.
So I thought for the relaunch, it would befun to have Bridget on as the first guest
(00:24):
and to kind of catch up with her and talkabout.
business and boutique-ing in the wild westof the influencer world.
So Bridget, welcome back to the show.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited for the relaunch.
I am so excited too.
We were just chatting about howrelaunching this has felt, felt like I
(00:46):
have no clue what I'm doing, that Ithought I could jump back in and it would
be so easy.
And it has, as anything is when you changein business, it's never what you think
it's going to be.
No, we'll go into my life every day.
So welcome, since that's what we'retalking about and you're like welcome to
my life every day.
(01:07):
When the listeners met you, you're abotiquing chicken farmer and you're still
a botiquing chicken farmer but it looks alittle bit different today before you had
two storefronts or one and at one pointyou had three.
and now you are just online.
(01:27):
So I thought you could maybe give a littleupdate on what it looked like to
transition from being in storefronts tonow just being online only.
Day to day is easier.
Storefronts, I was doing so many thingsthat I didn't like doing.
(01:49):
I didn't enjoy managing at all.
And obviously with three storefronts,that's like the majority of what my day
was.
And I enjoyed doing more of like thesocial media marketing and the like, I
wanted to learn how to do reels and Iwanted to learn how to do all these
things.
but the managing of that many employees,because we had 21 employees at the end of
(02:13):
2020.
So it was just constant.
just managing and honestly a lot of timesbabysitting.
And then as the employee shortage hit, itreally took a toll on me because these
three storefronts were in three cities.
So I was spending hours and hours in mycar and it was just really taking a toll
(02:40):
on me.
But I didn't want to admit it until I kindof started like tiptoeing around the...
I...
you know, like fully outwardly saying, Ihate this part of my business.
And then Devin recognized that I was,that's what I was like trying to say
without saying it.
(03:00):
And so he was the one that kind of said,like, what if we close the storefronts and
you go online only, which at that point,95% of my business was online anyway, so
the transition wasn't hard.
Um, it was just hard to like mentallygrasp.
making that change because I have put theentire identity of the stores into the
(03:23):
storefronts.
I think that how you were saying that youput your whole identity into it, that
sometimes as business owners or even justlike creatives and trying to create
something that we put everything that wehave into what we're creating.
(03:43):
Do you feel like part of you not wantingto close the stores was because you would
think that people thought that theboutique was failing or that you were
failing or was it more that you...
didn't want to close something that youthought that you were gonna love.
I think it was that.
So I think it was...
I never gave up about what anyone elsethought.
(04:05):
I knew like I was just at a point that Icouldn't do it anymore, but I think
because I had thought I could, it was likea defeat to myself because I wasn't able
to juggle it anymore.
And so that's where like I struggled.
(04:25):
Because I struggled really big then afterthe storefronts closed.
Like then I lost all passion forstatement, but I should have just like
taken a break.
But the world of social media does scareyou into like, well, if you take a break,
that's just the end of you.
And that would be my biggest piece ofadvice to a business owner is that's not
true at all.
(04:47):
So like last year, I just really didn'thit.
the marks like I had previously.
I was just out of steam completely.
But I think it ultimately boiled downinto, I just felt like I let myself down.
Like I couldn't balance it all anymore.
Um, I love that you said that you wishthat you could have just taken a break and
(05:15):
looking back.
I always think as I've been talking aboutburnout and stuff like that, sometimes as
I have been saying, like we're theconductor of our own trains and other
people can see our trains about to crash,but we're like, no, it's fine.
We'll just keep like going ahead and it'sfine.
And, and then the train's not going tocrash and I'll be just fine.
Um, so I think that is just.
(05:36):
refreshing and I think that that'ssomething that people need to hear in
general.
I know when you close the storefronts, youalso started doing markets though.
Do you feel like that was a shift, but itwas just only on you, but also changed
your time commitments?
And so, what did that pivot look like foryou?
(05:58):
So I started doing markets a year before Iclosed the stores.
And that was another huge reason when Iwas looking at everything I was balancing.
This might come as a shock to you.
I might be a little bit of a controlfreak.
I know, I know mouths are dropping rightnow.
(06:22):
But ultimately that's what it did boildown to when I was.
and numbers.
The storefronts, they were doing fine, butcompared to what markets were doing and
what online was doing, you know, relyingon 10 customers come in and fully purchase
is a lot harder than posting somethingonline or having these big markets that
(06:44):
people are going to dedicated to shopping.
But those two things fell on me.
Like I was the one doing them.
I was in control of them.
I was in control of the setup, all of thatstuff.
And so I just truly hated managing people.
And then it got harder and harder as theemployee shortage, we got further and
(07:05):
further into it because then I was closingstorefronts to go to these markets.
And it just, it wasn't all working andbalancing out anymore.
But.
If you...
Go ahead.
No, go ahead.
But then those markets were great becauseI was still getting statement out there.
(07:28):
I was still chatting with customers.
I was still out there.
This is the first, 2023 was kind of theyear that then I was like, you know what?
I don't even know if that's what I loveanymore.
I think I just truly want to be an onlineboutique because as my kids get older,
from September through mid December, we'renever home.
(07:49):
between Devon's busy farm season and myfourth quarter, it just got to where I was
like, I don't wanna keep missing all thisstuff for my kids.
And I had looked at one market and it'sgonna fall on Ava's birthday every year
till she's 17.
And I was like, I'm not gonna miss all ofher birthdays and celebrate early or late
(08:11):
just because there's a market.
But again,
those things, you kind of get caught inthe rat race when you are living in the
business and it feels like if you miss onemarket, you're just out.
You can't do it anymore.
And as you kind of slowly prioritize, thenyou do realize, no, I can say no to this.
(08:35):
I can say yes to this.
I can do the things I want to do and stillrun a successful business.
I love that you talked about how you canprioritize things and figuring out what
you love in your business andacknowledging that you no longer loved
parts of it that you thought that you weregoing to love or that you did used to
(08:59):
love.
I feel like when you started the markets,you loved getting to interact with the
people.
But I would love to hear what did you doto get out of that mindset?
Because I think a lot of times...
business owners get stuck in that rat raceand you feel like you can't get out, what
(09:19):
was one thing that you did that helped youchange your mindset or to help you kind of
get out of that state of fear that yourbusiness wasn't going to be successful if
you didn't keep doing those things?
I don't know exactly what it was inNovember though.
(09:39):
I kind of was in between this, it's likeyou're going down the interstate and you
can go left or you can go right.
And I felt like that's where I was, but Iwanted to go straight.
And since we've done the podcast the lasttime, I've started a page that I share my
(10:00):
life on and that's grown quite a bit.
And
So I kind of decided I'm going to put myfoot on the gas for both of these and a
year from now, what do I wanna be doing?
And that's what I did.
And it just made everything more clear.
Like I didn't get clear on one specificthing, I just got clear on I'm doing it.
(10:26):
And then everything else got clear afterthat.
Yeah, I guess we haven't really touched onthe lovely farm life, which is now a whole
different account that you have where youshare your life and the chickens and
recipes and drinks and all of the thingsthat you love.
(10:46):
Do you feel like creating that accountbreathed some life back into you because
it gave you a place to just be yourselfoutside of your business?
Yes and no.
I do like the creative side of it, butagain, it's like anything.
People, you know, are telling you to nichedown or don't share this or don't share
(11:09):
that or this could get you in trouble.
So you kind of overthink it.
And you know me, obviously peoplelistening don't, but I'm not an over
thinker.
I'm kind of like, I make up my mind, I go.
And social media definitely has.
put the brakes on that a little bit,because you just kind of have to watch
everything you say and do.
(11:29):
And then, but again, when I decided, no,I'm gonna put my foot on the gas and I'm
gonna just go for both of these accounts,and like both of these businesses, I kind
of got clear on, I'm gonna post what Iwanna post.
If that means I have 25,000 followers,that means I have 25,000 followers.
(11:52):
And it's funny because when I was beingvery particular about life, I probably
shouldn't post this.
Well, I probably shouldn't post that.
My account hadn't grown for probably ayear, a year and a few months.
I was kind of just stuck at that twentysix thousand.
And the minute I got very like, I'm goingto post what I want to post.
(12:13):
I'm about to hit thirty two thousand.
So I think that's probably the biggestlesson is.
Generally, I would say most businessowners that are feeling lost, they're in
their own way.
So, they just need to decide what theywant and go for it and it kind of does
fall into place.
(12:34):
But, it's when you start kind of spiralingin your head that then all of a sudden you
aren't clear about anything and nothing'sworking either.
I feel like I can so relate to that factin even how I've been changing my account
and what I'm doing.
I literally just got to a place that'slike, I'm just gonna post the things that
(12:57):
make me happy and I'm gonna do the thingsthat make me happy and whatever comes from
it or whatever is the easiest flow pathfor me or like feels the least resistance
is what I'm gonna do.
And I've had people text me and they'relike, I don't really know what you're
doing, but it looks fun.
and I'm really happy for it.
And honestly, sometimes I'm like, I don'treally know what I'm doing either, but I
(13:22):
have this podcast and I felt called tocreate this retreat.
So we're going that way and we're justgonna see what happens as we go.
But there is something that happens thatis just so freeing when you allow yourself
just to create and to make the things thatyou wanna make because that's what makes
(13:42):
you happy.
And I think
that that's where social media kind ofstarted to get very, I almost wanna say
like salesy, or it just became peoplethought that they had to post these things
because that's what we thought thealgorithm was saying to do.
And we got away from the joy of justcreating what we love.
(14:05):
Yes, I 1,000% agree with that.
So as we kind of have talked aboutcreating in the things that you love, and
your account has grown substantially inthe last even like three months, I would
say six months, and you're kind ofpivoting into the influencer marketing and
(14:27):
even statement has always usedinfluencers, but now you're using them in
a different way.
I thought that we could kind of talk about
the Wild West of influencer marketing,because I feel like a lot of times people
think, oh, I'm just going to create anaccount and I'm going to be an influencer
and I'm going to make tons of money.
And really that is not the truth and nothow it translates.
(14:53):
So I would love, let's just kind of talkabout statement and your use of influencer
marketing.
I know that we have also chatted abouthow...
Sometimes people will say like, oh, well,you got lucky, but it's really not about
luck.
It's a very strategic choice on usinginfluencer marketing.
So I would love if you could kind of talkabout what does that look like in the
(15:17):
journey with statement and influencermarketing.
Um, yeah, so I started doing influencermarketing pretty much right out the gate
of statement.
I opened in May of 2018 and I used an Iowabased influencer by July.
She had reached out to me and I hadfollowed her on just my normal personal
(15:40):
account.
And I knew nothing about it.
I remember her saying it was $100 and Iwas like, Gosh, that seems really pricey.
Because I'm sending you clothes, but we'lltry it.
I got zero sales from it and I used herfor about three months.
But I...
(16:00):
saw no return.
And then there was another Iowa basedinfluencer that I started working with.
And I think I had like two sales from it.
And I was like, oh, okay.
And then as statement grew, I was, youknow, mainly focused on being a storefront
and my website was very much secondary.
(16:22):
And then I started following one of thelike bigger boutiques.
and she had like 45,000 followers, whichis still a lot now, but it was a lot in
2018.
And I kind of started following along withthings she was doing and saying, and
(16:42):
realized like they put a lot ofpersonality into their brand.
And so I kind of started doing some ofthat and showing up a little bit more, but
I was still like pretty distant in how Iwas showing up.
And then 20...
19, I started going a lot heavier withinfluencers and I was seeing a return with
(17:03):
that.
And then the pandemic hit and that wasprobably my best asset.
A lot of people got scared and shied awayfrom influencers because they didn't want
to spend any money.
And I hit the gas with influencers.
I think I had three influencers sharingevery week the entire pandemic.
(17:28):
And that really, I mean, I went from like,I think I had like 2,800 followers at the
beginning of the pandemic, and I was doingabout on average, like one online sale a
day.
And that totally changed the game for me.
So then I really saw like the value inhaving them as a marketing tool.
(17:52):
And so I kind of just always.
put my marketing dollars into influencers.
And it didn't work all the time, everytime, but for the most part, it just
seemed to really work for me.
So I kept doing it.
But that goes back to people saying you'reso lucky.
That wasn't luck during the pandemic.
(18:12):
That was me actually spending money ratherthan stifled by fear.
and like shutting down, buckling down,thinking I can do this all on my own,
knowing I couldn't.
And, you know, sure, if you looked at mefrom the start of the pandemic to the end
of it, it did look like luck.
(18:34):
But when you really break it down, I wasspending a ton of money per week using
these influencers to, you know, be a brandambassador.
Ah, go ahead.
I love how you said it's a marketing toolbecause I don't think that people always
(18:58):
look at it as a marketing tool or theythink, well, I just wanna give the
influencer some of my product and thatshould be enough.
And that is not the case because reallyyou are, the influencers are basically
sales, say it like almost you could callthem like sales associates or there's, I
(19:19):
don't know what the word I'm trying tothink of.
but they basically are salespeople foryou.
And so you have to pay them over just yourproduct.
And I think that that's one thing thatpeople struggle with in understanding.
100%.
And you know, it's like with anything.
(19:41):
Do you really want a plumber to come inand fix your toilet for free?
Probably not.
I mean, they're not going to do the bestjob.
They're not going to, you know, they'regoing to be in and out, do a very quick
thing.
Maybe it'll work.
Maybe it won't.
So I've never struggled with payinginfluencers.
And I don't even necessarily struggleinitially if they're not converting
(20:04):
because it takes a minute for theirfollowers to trust something brand new
they're sharing.
Now after a certain time if they're notconverting, you know, you got to decide
what's happening.
Where is that really worth the money tocontinue?
Like if you're growing in followers oryou're growing an email subscribers or
things like that, it might still be worthit to pay them.
(20:26):
But if the growth is kind of snagged.
stagnant, the sales aren't coming in, youknow, then at that point you have to
really decide what's best for yourbusiness like you do with any budget that
you're working with.
But yeah, I've never shied away frompaying an influencer and just now that I
am on the lovely farm life side of things,it's a lot of work to do those try-ons and
(20:50):
to make reels and
the time commitment that goes into it.
It looks so much, you know, you're seeinga 60 second video of them saying they're
obsessed, but there's a lot more that goesinto it that I don't mind paying them.
There's so much more that goes into it.
And I'm laughing to myself because I helpyou with some of your videos.
(21:17):
And it is true of what is the 60 secondvideo.
Takes so long to make to get all of theangles.
And I think that that's what people don'tunderstand.
That they're like, oh, well, they're justgonna share in their story and it's no big
deal.
But when you're paying somebody who doesthat as their job, they're gonna make sure
that your
(21:37):
product is shown just how you want it andthat it will sell.
Right.
And that's where also it is important tocreate a relationship with those
influencers too because I've had manytimes where like I something didn't go
well and I will say like, hey, this didn'tgo well at all.
(21:59):
Do you mind just like wearing itthroughout the day or doing this or that?
And if you've built those relationships,they're much more likely to, you know, say
yes.
But if you're just going straight to them,trying to negotiate out a
not really respecting what they do, you'regoing, it's not gonna work as well.
(22:19):
Or if you think of it as a way to make aquick buck, it's not gonna go well.
Yeah.
Another thing I think that people thinkabout doing, or I know that people ask me
when we talk about doing influencers andsponsorships is people talk about
affiliate programs.
(22:39):
And can you speak a little bit to theinfluencer side of why influencers do not
wanna do affiliate programs?
because they're not getting paid upfront.
They're getting paid on the back end.
And again, it basically, you're tellingthat influencer, you don't see value in
(23:00):
what they do.
You only see value in them getting sales.
So they're putting all this work andeffort into it.
And then you could have an off day.
Instagram could shut down like it's donebefore and they don't see the sales, but
they put the work in.
So maybe normally they could have sold$2,000 worth, but they also only got a
(23:25):
couple of sales because it was a bad day,and now they're making 60 bucks, but they
put all of this into it.
And generally their rates are higher thanwhat a commission rate would be.
So they're taking a hit in what they'regetting paid through an affiliate link.
But I think ultimately it boils down to.
(23:48):
Um, there's like a misfire between thebusiness and the influencer.
The business is looking at it from a termof, I want to see how you can perform
before I pay you.
And an influencer is looking at it as thisis my business.
This is how I perform.
This is how I create.
And you don't want to pay me.
(24:11):
Yeah, I also think I always tellbusinesses to think how, if influencers
joined everybody's affiliate program, howmany platforms it would be to go cash out
your money.
That's also just a time thing of, itdoesn't make sense for them.
But I love how you said that theinfluencers, that it's also their
(24:32):
business.
Because it's like you have the boutique,but you also have lovely farm life, is its
whole own.
living entity pretty much with what you'resharing.
I would love for us to kind of touch onhow you know if someone is going to be a
converting influencer or not.
(24:55):
Like what are the few things that likewhen you go to an account that you look at
and you know like, oh, this person's gonnaconvert.
That's hard because I've also made somereally bad mistakes Not This is a hard one
and I get caught up in it too But to notalways get caught up in the numbers like
(25:18):
there are there is a value in microinfluencers even nano influencers But it
is very easy to look at somebody'sfollower account and think oh my god, they
have hundreds of thousands
Um, and their price reflects that, butthen their conversion does not at all.
(25:40):
So I had an influencer I worked with in2020 and I thought for sure she was going
to convert cause she had more followersthan anybody had ever worked with in the
past and I was going off of kind of thesetwo other influencers I worked with and
thinking, okay, if they bring in this muchin a share, she has like double what they
(26:03):
have.
And I thought for sure this was like theend-all be-all and it was $6,000 to work
with her.
And I don't think I made $2,500 on thatshare.
So...
which that's a lot in today's influencerdollars too.
Yes, and it was a lot a lot then and youhave to think when you're doing this how
(26:23):
much inventory has to sell just to makeyour 6,000 back plus how much needs to
sell to actually profit and I didn't comeclose so I mean I've definitely made my
fair share of mistakes but um yeah I thinkoverall just kind of like going into their
(26:43):
comments is it a bunch of influencerscommenting on it that's not gonna really
get you anywhere.
Are they growing?
Even if they're growing a small amount,it's still growth, but if you're not
seeing any growth on their page, that'sprobably something to consider.
(27:06):
Now with the many chats that is theplatform that you can say, type pink to
get the full link to everything.
You can see how many people are commentingon that.
That's always a good gauge now that I useof, well, how many people actually want
their links.
(27:29):
But and then also to see what they share.
Like if they're only sharing Amazon stuff,probably not the best thing for a boutique
then to swoop in and do it because peopleare going to be so used to Amazon that
then when they see a little bit higherprice or you're not as fast shipping or
you don't have free returns or, you know,the things you can't offer because you're
(27:50):
a small business, you've paid them.
But now your sales will not reflect thatat all.
I love how you touched on if you have beenwatching them and to know if they're
growing.
Because I think that with businesses thatI have worked with that want to work with
influencers or there's certain people orthey send accounts to me and say like,
(28:13):
what do you think of working with thisperson?
I love how you touched on that becauseit's not just a, oh, I think I wanna work
with this person and it's like anautomatic like jump into bed with them.
that you have to kind of watch them andsee what they're doing.
And I also think it's really important howyou had touched on like if they're Amazon,
if they only share Amazon or what theyshare, I think it's really important to
(28:37):
also see have they shared something that'ssimilar to your product.
And if they have, then like your businessmay convert better.
But if it's something that is so far offthat their audience has never seen before,
and has no clue like what that is, or it'sa really high ticket priced item, it's
(28:59):
probably not going to convert because thatis not what their audience is used to.
And I think that what you touched on issuch a key important piece for businesses
to be looking at as they're deciding whothey want to work with.
Yes, I think that if you have a reallyhigh ticket item that is going to require
(29:22):
a lot of thought or even like discussionwith your spouse because you would never
just go spend that much money, you know,without talking it and going over pros and
cons, you cannot look at an influencer asa sales but more as like,
(29:45):
an avenue of getting your product outthere and getting awareness out there.
And at that point, you're probably goingto have to invest in that influencer for
months on end, because people are going toneed to see that multiple times before
they just, you know, click.
Yes, I want that.
And I think that's really important forbusinesses to know is you can't if you're
(30:08):
selling, you know.
even boutique clothing, it might notconvert the first time.
But if you're selling really like highticket items, you have to invest in that.
Like that influencer is an investment atthat point, that's not just a quick
turnaround, let me make a couple of bucksoff this and onto the next thing.
(30:29):
And I think people think of influencing asthat, and it's not.
Yeah, I totally agree of that.
It's more brand awareness at that pointtoo.
And then it's up to you to funnel it.
And I mean, I have done a great job atfunneling on statements page and I've done
(30:50):
a not so great job and just didn't havethe energy and I just wanted the
influencer to be the start and finish ofthe sale.
But then I've also had it where you cometo my page and you are seeing on my page
exactly what the influencer is sharing,but more in depth or more, you know, this
or that.
So you just have to know though,
If it's a high ticket item and you'reputting that investment into an
(31:13):
influencer, you also have to be ready toclose the deal.
You can't just completely rely on them.
Yeah, I would love for us to kind of pivotand talk about, you've talked about the
investment.
And I think this is where I always saythat influencing is the Wild West because
there's really no, there's not a rule ofthumb of what an influencer charge is or
(31:40):
how do you, or anything like that.
How do you know if an influencer's pricesfeel too high?
or how do you gauge if it's like a correctamount?
Do you have a way that you do that withyour business?
Um, not 100% because most of theinfluencers I've worked with, I've worked
(32:03):
with them forever.
So like, we've grown together.
So every time they have a price increase,I'm not shocked by any means.
And I'm not, I've had some where they takelike a bigger price increase than I what I
was expecting.
Um, and then that's where it's up to me,you know, to really sit down and say like,
(32:24):
is this worth it or not?
And that goes.
more on convert how they convert for meand then on that note it is just based on
sales because it's I don't need more brandawareness for statement I mean yes of
course I love it but I don't need more sois it worth it at that point if that makes
(32:45):
sense.
But the influencers that I have likereached out to their marketing.
or their management, sorry, not marketing,their management, you get a full rundown
of like what they do and why their pricesare what they are.
So then that's just up to you if it's inyour budget or not.
(33:08):
Yeah, and that's like what you're talkingabout, that breakdown.
I think that people don't realize that youcan ask influencers for their pitch deck
or ask them to send you like currentscreenshots of their story views or where
their reach is.
Sometimes I think that people feel likeit's asking to see somebody's underwear
(33:32):
drawer to like get the screenshots, butit's...
really truly not.
That's part of the influencer's job is toshare those numbers and to show you their
reach and what their conversion is lookinglike.
Exactly.
Yeah, you're not asking them how muchmoney they make a year or how much they're
investing into their IRA.
(33:52):
You're just asking them for facts that youneed to make a decision for your business.
So I mean, I think as a follower,sometimes I think people get lost and
like, what can an influencer make?
And I think sometimes it's pretty obviousthat an influencer is making.
(34:12):
a ton of money just based on like howtheir lifestyle was compared to how it is
now.
And I don't think that's like appropriateto ask but as a business to say, hey, can
I have, you know, your story views, ascreenshot of yesterday's story views or
whatever, like that's not out of line.
(34:32):
Yeah.
So I would love to kind of pivot back tostatement and kind of as we close out, and
since the podcast is called Living YourCalling, and you have taken a lot of
pivots just in the last six months,whether people notice it online, but being
(34:53):
someone who kind of gets to be in thebackground with you of how you have
pivoted and where you see yourself.
going in this next year.
I would love for you to kind of share someof that.
Um...
Yeah, hang on, collecting thoughts.
(35:17):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I've only everpivoted with statement, which I think is
something business owners don't reallytalk about a lot is in order to be
successful, you're never not ready for thenext thing or changing something or
something works amazing one month and thenall of a sudden it doesn't.
(35:37):
And if you get stuck in that, like.
it probably isn't going to end well.
But yeah, I can't believe how much I'vepivoted from 2018 to now.
But yes, in the last year, I think thebiggest thing this year is I've kind of
been able to get out of my own way.
Like, I just, even pictures, they alwayssay, never use stock photos.
(36:06):
Never do this.
Never do that.
People don't care.
Like, I think that's the thing.
Most people are so quick to buy, theydon't care.
So if you use a stock photo, but you havesome really good stock photos, who cares?
Or if you can get out there and get somegreat pictures, great, but if that's
(36:28):
what's stopping you from keeping yourbusiness going, then do what the path of
least resistance, I think is probably thebiggest pivot that I have made.
where last year I was just in my own wayat every turn.
I love that you had said like the path ofleast resistance and how business owners,
(36:50):
like it is a constant pivot.
I think that people, it's one of thosethings that you think that businesses have
it all figured out and all things arerunning on like the perfect stream
cylinders behind the scenes.
And that that's really not the truth.
It is, okay, what was working and whatisn't working and how can we pivot and
(37:11):
make that better?
Because I know
Even I think in the last few months,you've had to make so many pivots with
working with influencers and the explosionof, you have these magic, they call them
the magic tank tops and magic shirts thatare now shipping in by the pallets full.
(37:33):
And you are getting up like in themornings way before the kids get up so
that you can ship.
And that was kind of a pivot that youweren't doing before.
that you're doing now because you alsostill have the chickens.
And we haven't even touched on thechickens.
That's a whole nother episode of.
age free now.
They weren't back in our first podcast.
(37:56):
Everything has changed.
that I just love how I think you aregiving people permission to just pivot and
do what's working for you in that moment.
And since you have done that, it hasreally accelerated your business.
Yep, and even shipping is a perfectexample.
(38:18):
Last year, I kind of played small in theworld of online because one, I was just
burnt out.
But two, I felt like I needed somebody inhere shipping and I needed somebody doing
this.
And like, I was still kind of caught up inwhat it was when I had storefronts.
(38:40):
And so I, it was like, well, I...
I haven't hired anybody.
I don't want to have to ship that much.
And then this year it's like, okay, so ifI get up at five and from five to seven
can ship out hundreds of orders, nothingis stopping me.
I can do it.
(39:01):
It's fine.
Would it be nice here and there if I hadsomeone to help?
Sure, but I can do it.
So again, I think it's just getting out ofyour own way.
Like right, almost.
I think like for me, I just decided I'mputting my foot on the gas.
We're going and that cleared everything upfor me.
But I think if you're a business owner andyou kind of are feeling like, well, this I
(39:24):
can't do it because of this.
Well, I can't do it because of that.
I can't do it because of this almost isright.
Everything out and then look at what isactually facts you cannot do because more
times than not, it's just you and yourown.
I love that.
And I think it's just a great thing forlisteners to hear of reminding yourself
(39:45):
that sometimes when the hard comes or thethings that you think you can't do, you
just cut and you just take a step back andtake a breath and realize, is it me being
in my own way of moving things forward?
And I think I loved how you said kind ofwriting this stuff down and looking at
that because I think even just in general,
(40:07):
it's a good practice to do of realizing,okay, here's all the things that I'm doing
and do I actually wanna do some of this?
And if you don't and it doesn't fit yourbusiness anymore, then you can give
yourself permission to say, I'm not gonnado that piece anymore, or to pivot or to
change your business because there's nopolice around how your business has to
(40:32):
look and has to run and function.
And I love that
you have adapted that in this last year inorder to have statement and the lovely
farm life and all of your chickens changeto being cage free and just that's a whole
other story in itself.
(40:53):
But it has just been really fun as yourfriend and as someone on the outside to
just watch you pivot and to watch youstepping into a place where you're
thriving.
thank you.
I think the biggest thing too that I wouldtell people is, one, I always heard this
and for a while I never understood it andthen I was living it in a different way so
(41:16):
it didn't make sense to me.
But when people say success isn't linear,that is absolutely true.
Like it is not just straight up.
or straight down, it is all over theplace.
And you can have the best year, well, evenmonth, you can have the best month of your
business.
And the next month you can literally belike, how am I gonna pay for this?
(41:39):
And so I think to not like let yourselffall victim to, it's not working, so
nothing's working, so the whole businessisn't working.
Because like I said, last year I...
Definitely fell into that.
It was like I took out so many things thatI made statements identity but then I
(42:00):
didn't really know how to function andthen I got in my way so much trying to
Make it something that it didn't need tobe and Then as I would you know Everything
just felt like it was spiraling out ofcontrol I just felt like the business
itself was out of control and it like nowlooking back on it
(42:21):
Nothing was.
I just needed to remember success isn'tlinear.
I I'm getting more time with my family.
I'm getting this I'm getting that I'mtaking out the pieces.
I don't like It's fine if the salesnumbers don't match That because I know I
can get back to it
(42:41):
Hmm.
And I think it's also giving yourself backsome quality of life and like time with
your kids is important too.
Like if your sales look different, butyour family life is a lot better, I think
that that's a fair trade in my opinion.
Yeah, and I completely agree with that.
And I've said in the last year, time is byfar turning into like my most...
(43:10):
time is your currency.
Yes.
So like if I don't want to make time forit, I don't.
If I, you know, like if it's gonna affectmy time at all and I don't want to do it,
I'm not doing it.
And if that hurts your feelings, then I'msorry.
But I'm gonna do me.
Yeah.
(43:30):
Well, I love that.
And I have just loved seeing you pivot andthrive this last year.
And I'm so thankful for you coming back onthe show and sharing and just getting to
share a little bit about you andinfluencers.
If people want to follow you after thisepisode or just like drop in and say, hey,
(43:52):
thanks for sharing.
Where can they find you at?
I'm on Instagram at lovely.farmlife or atstatement.boutique.
Thanks so much for being on the showtoday.
Alright, thank you!
Okay, welcome to the podcast.
I am so excited today to be interviewingmy friend, Bridget.
This is a throwback to the first guestrecording podcast that I did when this
podcast launched.
So I thought for the relaunch, it would befun to have Bridget on as the first guest
(00:24):
and to kind of catch up with her and talkabout.
business and boutique-ing in the wild westof the influencer world.
So Bridget, welcome back to the show.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited for the relaunch.
I am so excited too.
We were just chatting about howrelaunching this has felt, felt like I
(00:46):
have no clue what I'm doing, that Ithought I could jump back in and it would
be so easy.
And it has, as anything is when you changein business, it's never what you think
it's going to be.
No, we'll go into my life every day.
So welcome, since that's what we'retalking about and you're like welcome to
my life every day.
(01:07):
When the listeners met you, you're abotiquing chicken farmer and you're still
a botiquing chicken farmer but it looks alittle bit different today before you had
two storefronts or one and at one pointyou had three.
and now you are just online.
(01:27):
So I thought you could maybe give a littleupdate on what it looked like to
transition from being in storefronts tonow just being online only.
Day to day is easier.
Storefronts, I was doing so many thingsthat I didn't like doing.
(01:49):
I didn't enjoy managing at all.
And obviously with three storefronts,that's like the majority of what my day
was.
And I enjoyed doing more of like thesocial media marketing and the like, I
wanted to learn how to do reels and Iwanted to learn how to do all these
things.
but the managing of that many employees,because we had 21 employees at the end of
(02:13):
2020.
So it was just constant.
just managing and honestly a lot of timesbabysitting.
And then as the employee shortage hit, itreally took a toll on me because these
three storefronts were in three cities.
So I was spending hours and hours in mycar and it was just really taking a toll
(02:40):
on me.
But I didn't want to admit it until I kindof started like tiptoeing around the...
I...
you know, like fully outwardly saying, Ihate this part of my business.
And then Devin recognized that I was,that's what I was like trying to say
without saying it.
(03:00):
And so he was the one that kind of said,like, what if we close the storefronts and
you go online only, which at that point,95% of my business was online anyway, so
the transition wasn't hard.
Um, it was just hard to like mentallygrasp.
making that change because I have put theentire identity of the stores into the
(03:23):
storefronts.
I think that how you were saying that youput your whole identity into it, that
sometimes as business owners or even justlike creatives and trying to create
something that we put everything that wehave into what we're creating.
(03:43):
Do you feel like part of you not wantingto close the stores was because you would
think that people thought that theboutique was failing or that you were
failing or was it more that you...
didn't want to close something that youthought that you were gonna love.
I think it was that.
So I think it was...
I never gave up about what anyone elsethought.
(04:05):
I knew like I was just at a point that Icouldn't do it anymore, but I think
because I had thought I could, it was likea defeat to myself because I wasn't able
to juggle it anymore.
And so that's where like I struggled.
(04:25):
Because I struggled really big then afterthe storefronts closed.
Like then I lost all passion forstatement, but I should have just like
taken a break.
But the world of social media does scareyou into like, well, if you take a break,
that's just the end of you.
And that would be my biggest piece ofadvice to a business owner is that's not
true at all.
(04:47):
So like last year, I just really didn'thit.
the marks like I had previously.
I was just out of steam completely.
But I think it ultimately boiled downinto, I just felt like I let myself down.
Like I couldn't balance it all anymore.
Um, I love that you said that you wishthat you could have just taken a break and
(05:15):
looking back.
I always think as I've been talking aboutburnout and stuff like that, sometimes as
I have been saying, like we're theconductor of our own trains and other
people can see our trains about to crash,but we're like, no, it's fine.
We'll just keep like going ahead and it'sfine.
And, and then the train's not going tocrash and I'll be just fine.
Um, so I think that is just.
(05:36):
refreshing and I think that that'ssomething that people need to hear in
general.
I know when you close the storefronts, youalso started doing markets though.
Do you feel like that was a shift, but itwas just only on you, but also changed
your time commitments?
And so, what did that pivot look like foryou?
(05:58):
So I started doing markets a year before Iclosed the stores.
And that was another huge reason when Iwas looking at everything I was balancing.
This might come as a shock to you.
I might be a little bit of a controlfreak.
I know, I know mouths are dropping rightnow.
(06:22):
But ultimately that's what it did boildown to when I was.
and numbers.
The storefronts, they were doing fine, butcompared to what markets were doing and
what online was doing, you know, relyingon 10 customers come in and fully purchase
is a lot harder than posting somethingonline or having these big markets that
(06:44):
people are going to dedicated to shopping.
But those two things fell on me.
Like I was the one doing them.
I was in control of them.
I was in control of the setup, all of thatstuff.
And so I just truly hated managing people.
And then it got harder and harder as theemployee shortage, we got further and
(07:05):
further into it because then I was closingstorefronts to go to these markets.
And it just, it wasn't all working andbalancing out anymore.
But.
If you...
Go ahead.
No, go ahead.
But then those markets were great becauseI was still getting statement out there.
(07:28):
I was still chatting with customers.
I was still out there.
This is the first, 2023 was kind of theyear that then I was like, you know what?
I don't even know if that's what I loveanymore.
I think I just truly want to be an onlineboutique because as my kids get older,
from September through mid December, we'renever home.
(07:49):
between Devon's busy farm season and myfourth quarter, it just got to where I was
like, I don't wanna keep missing all thisstuff for my kids.
And I had looked at one market and it'sgonna fall on Ava's birthday every year
till she's 17.
And I was like, I'm not gonna miss all ofher birthdays and celebrate early or late
(08:11):
just because there's a market.
But again,
those things, you kind of get caught inthe rat race when you are living in the
business and it feels like if you miss onemarket, you're just out.
You can't do it anymore.
And as you kind of slowly prioritize, thenyou do realize, no, I can say no to this.
(08:35):
I can say yes to this.
I can do the things I want to do and stillrun a successful business.
I love that you talked about how you canprioritize things and figuring out what
you love in your business andacknowledging that you no longer loved
parts of it that you thought that you weregoing to love or that you did used to
(08:59):
love.
I feel like when you started the markets,you loved getting to interact with the
people.
But I would love to hear what did you doto get out of that mindset?
Because I think a lot of times...
business owners get stuck in that rat raceand you feel like you can't get out, what
(09:19):
was one thing that you did that helped youchange your mindset or to help you kind of
get out of that state of fear that yourbusiness wasn't going to be successful if
you didn't keep doing those things?
I don't know exactly what it was inNovember though.
(09:39):
I kind of was in between this, it's likeyou're going down the interstate and you
can go left or you can go right.
And I felt like that's where I was, but Iwanted to go straight.
And since we've done the podcast the lasttime, I've started a page that I share my
(10:00):
life on and that's grown quite a bit.
And
So I kind of decided I'm going to put myfoot on the gas for both of these and a
year from now, what do I wanna be doing?
And that's what I did.
And it just made everything more clear.
Like I didn't get clear on one specificthing, I just got clear on I'm doing it.
(10:26):
And then everything else got clear afterthat.
Yeah, I guess we haven't really touched onthe lovely farm life, which is now a whole
different account that you have where youshare your life and the chickens and
recipes and drinks and all of the thingsthat you love.
(10:46):
Do you feel like creating that accountbreathed some life back into you because
it gave you a place to just be yourselfoutside of your business?
Yes and no.
I do like the creative side of it, butagain, it's like anything.
People, you know, are telling you to nichedown or don't share this or don't share
(11:09):
that or this could get you in trouble.
So you kind of overthink it.
And you know me, obviously peoplelistening don't, but I'm not an over
thinker.
I'm kind of like, I make up my mind, I go.
And social media definitely has.
put the brakes on that a little bit,because you just kind of have to watch
everything you say and do.
(11:29):
And then, but again, when I decided, no,I'm gonna put my foot on the gas and I'm
gonna just go for both of these accounts,and like both of these businesses, I kind
of got clear on, I'm gonna post what Iwanna post.
If that means I have 25,000 followers,that means I have 25,000 followers.
(11:52):
And it's funny because when I was beingvery particular about life, I probably
shouldn't post this.
Well, I probably shouldn't post that.
My account hadn't grown for probably ayear, a year and a few months.
I was kind of just stuck at that twentysix thousand.
And the minute I got very like, I'm goingto post what I want to post.
(12:13):
I'm about to hit thirty two thousand.
So I think that's probably the biggestlesson is.
Generally, I would say most businessowners that are feeling lost, they're in
their own way.
So, they just need to decide what theywant and go for it and it kind of does
fall into place.
(12:34):
But, it's when you start kind of spiralingin your head that then all of a sudden you
aren't clear about anything and nothing'sworking either.
I feel like I can so relate to that factin even how I've been changing my account
and what I'm doing.
I literally just got to a place that'slike, I'm just gonna post the things that
(12:57):
make me happy and I'm gonna do the thingsthat make me happy and whatever comes from
it or whatever is the easiest flow pathfor me or like feels the least resistance
is what I'm gonna do.
And I've had people text me and they'relike, I don't really know what you're
doing, but it looks fun.
and I'm really happy for it.
And honestly, sometimes I'm like, I don'treally know what I'm doing either, but I
(13:22):
have this podcast and I felt called tocreate this retreat.
So we're going that way and we're justgonna see what happens as we go.
But there is something that happens thatis just so freeing when you allow yourself
just to create and to make the things thatyou wanna make because that's what makes
(13:42):
you happy.
And I think
that that's where social media kind ofstarted to get very, I almost wanna say
like salesy, or it just became peoplethought that they had to post these things
because that's what we thought thealgorithm was saying to do.
And we got away from the joy of justcreating what we love.
(14:05):
Yes, I 1,000% agree with that.
So as we kind of have talked aboutcreating in the things that you love, and
your account has grown substantially inthe last even like three months, I would
say six months, and you're kind ofpivoting into the influencer marketing and
(14:27):
even statement has always usedinfluencers, but now you're using them in
a different way.
I thought that we could kind of talk about
the Wild West of influencer marketing,because I feel like a lot of times people
think, oh, I'm just going to create anaccount and I'm going to be an influencer
and I'm going to make tons of money.
And really that is not the truth and nothow it translates.
(14:53):
So I would love, let's just kind of talkabout statement and your use of influencer
marketing.
I know that we have also chatted abouthow...
Sometimes people will say like, oh, well,you got lucky, but it's really not about
luck.
It's a very strategic choice on usinginfluencer marketing.
So I would love if you could kind of talkabout what does that look like in the
(15:17):
journey with statement and influencermarketing.
Um, yeah, so I started doing influencermarketing pretty much right out the gate
of statement.
I opened in May of 2018 and I used an Iowabased influencer by July.
She had reached out to me and I hadfollowed her on just my normal personal
(15:40):
account.
And I knew nothing about it.
I remember her saying it was $100 and Iwas like, Gosh, that seems really pricey.
Because I'm sending you clothes, but we'lltry it.
I got zero sales from it and I used herfor about three months.
But I...
(16:00):
saw no return.
And then there was another Iowa basedinfluencer that I started working with.
And I think I had like two sales from it.
And I was like, oh, okay.
And then as statement grew, I was, youknow, mainly focused on being a storefront
and my website was very much secondary.
(16:22):
And then I started following one of thelike bigger boutiques.
and she had like 45,000 followers, whichis still a lot now, but it was a lot in
2018.
And I kind of started following along withthings she was doing and saying, and
(16:42):
realized like they put a lot ofpersonality into their brand.
And so I kind of started doing some ofthat and showing up a little bit more, but
I was still like pretty distant in how Iwas showing up.
And then 20...
19, I started going a lot heavier withinfluencers and I was seeing a return with
(17:03):
that.
And then the pandemic hit and that wasprobably my best asset.
A lot of people got scared and shied awayfrom influencers because they didn't want
to spend any money.
And I hit the gas with influencers.
I think I had three influencers sharingevery week the entire pandemic.
(17:28):
And that really, I mean, I went from like,I think I had like 2,800 followers at the
beginning of the pandemic, and I was doingabout on average, like one online sale a
day.
And that totally changed the game for me.
So then I really saw like the value inhaving them as a marketing tool.
(17:52):
And so I kind of just always.
put my marketing dollars into influencers.
And it didn't work all the time, everytime, but for the most part, it just
seemed to really work for me.
So I kept doing it.
But that goes back to people saying you'reso lucky.
That wasn't luck during the pandemic.
(18:12):
That was me actually spending money ratherthan stifled by fear.
and like shutting down, buckling down,thinking I can do this all on my own,
knowing I couldn't.
And, you know, sure, if you looked at mefrom the start of the pandemic to the end
of it, it did look like luck.
(18:34):
But when you really break it down, I wasspending a ton of money per week using
these influencers to, you know, be a brandambassador.
Ah, go ahead.
I love how you said it's a marketing toolbecause I don't think that people always
(18:58):
look at it as a marketing tool or theythink, well, I just wanna give the
influencer some of my product and thatshould be enough.
And that is not the case because reallyyou are, the influencers are basically
sales, say it like almost you could callthem like sales associates or there's, I
(19:19):
don't know what the word I'm trying tothink of.
but they basically are salespeople foryou.
And so you have to pay them over just yourproduct.
And I think that that's one thing thatpeople struggle with in understanding.
100%.
And you know, it's like with anything.
(19:41):
Do you really want a plumber to come inand fix your toilet for free?
Probably not.
I mean, they're not going to do the bestjob.
They're not going to, you know, they'regoing to be in and out, do a very quick
thing.
Maybe it'll work.
Maybe it won't.
So I've never struggled with payinginfluencers.
And I don't even necessarily struggleinitially if they're not converting
(20:04):
because it takes a minute for theirfollowers to trust something brand new
they're sharing.
Now after a certain time if they're notconverting, you know, you got to decide
what's happening.
Where is that really worth the money tocontinue?
Like if you're growing in followers oryou're growing an email subscribers or
things like that, it might still be worthit to pay them.
(20:26):
But if the growth is kind of snagged.
stagnant, the sales aren't coming in, youknow, then at that point you have to
really decide what's best for yourbusiness like you do with any budget that
you're working with.
But yeah, I've never shied away frompaying an influencer and just now that I
am on the lovely farm life side of things,it's a lot of work to do those try-ons and
(20:50):
to make reels and
the time commitment that goes into it.
It looks so much, you know, you're seeinga 60 second video of them saying they're
obsessed, but there's a lot more that goesinto it that I don't mind paying them.
There's so much more that goes into it.
And I'm laughing to myself because I helpyou with some of your videos.
(21:17):
And it is true of what is the 60 secondvideo.
Takes so long to make to get all of theangles.
And I think that that's what people don'tunderstand.
That they're like, oh, well, they're justgonna share in their story and it's no big
deal.
But when you're paying somebody who doesthat as their job, they're gonna make sure
that your
(21:37):
product is shown just how you want it andthat it will sell.
Right.
And that's where also it is important tocreate a relationship with those
influencers too because I've had manytimes where like I something didn't go
well and I will say like, hey, this didn'tgo well at all.
(21:59):
Do you mind just like wearing itthroughout the day or doing this or that?
And if you've built those relationships,they're much more likely to, you know, say
yes.
But if you're just going straight to them,trying to negotiate out a
not really respecting what they do, you'regoing, it's not gonna work as well.
(22:19):
Or if you think of it as a way to make aquick buck, it's not gonna go well.
Yeah.
Another thing I think that people thinkabout doing, or I know that people ask me
when we talk about doing influencers andsponsorships is people talk about
affiliate programs.
(22:39):
And can you speak a little bit to theinfluencer side of why influencers do not
wanna do affiliate programs?
because they're not getting paid upfront.
They're getting paid on the back end.
And again, it basically, you're tellingthat influencer, you don't see value in
(23:00):
what they do.
You only see value in them getting sales.
So they're putting all this work andeffort into it.
And then you could have an off day.
Instagram could shut down like it's donebefore and they don't see the sales, but
they put the work in.
So maybe normally they could have sold$2,000 worth, but they also only got a
(23:25):
couple of sales because it was a bad day,and now they're making 60 bucks, but they
put all of this into it.
And generally their rates are higher thanwhat a commission rate would be.
So they're taking a hit in what they'regetting paid through an affiliate link.
But I think ultimately it boils down to.
(23:48):
Um, there's like a misfire between thebusiness and the influencer.
The business is looking at it from a termof, I want to see how you can perform
before I pay you.
And an influencer is looking at it as thisis my business.
This is how I perform.
This is how I create.
And you don't want to pay me.
(24:11):
Yeah, I also think I always tellbusinesses to think how, if influencers
joined everybody's affiliate program, howmany platforms it would be to go cash out
your money.
That's also just a time thing of, itdoesn't make sense for them.
But I love how you said that theinfluencers, that it's also their
(24:32):
business.
Because it's like you have the boutique,but you also have lovely farm life, is its
whole own.
living entity pretty much with what you'resharing.
I would love for us to kind of touch onhow you know if someone is going to be a
converting influencer or not.
(24:55):
Like what are the few things that likewhen you go to an account that you look at
and you know like, oh, this person's gonnaconvert.
That's hard because I've also made somereally bad mistakes Not This is a hard one
and I get caught up in it too But to notalways get caught up in the numbers like
(25:18):
there are there is a value in microinfluencers even nano influencers But it
is very easy to look at somebody'sfollower account and think oh my god, they
have hundreds of thousands
Um, and their price reflects that, butthen their conversion does not at all.
(25:40):
So I had an influencer I worked with in2020 and I thought for sure she was going
to convert cause she had more followersthan anybody had ever worked with in the
past and I was going off of kind of thesetwo other influencers I worked with and
thinking, okay, if they bring in this muchin a share, she has like double what they
(26:03):
have.
And I thought for sure this was like theend-all be-all and it was $6,000 to work
with her.
And I don't think I made $2,500 on thatshare.
So...
which that's a lot in today's influencerdollars too.
Yes, and it was a lot a lot then and youhave to think when you're doing this how
(26:23):
much inventory has to sell just to makeyour 6,000 back plus how much needs to
sell to actually profit and I didn't comeclose so I mean I've definitely made my
fair share of mistakes but um yeah I thinkoverall just kind of like going into their
(26:43):
comments is it a bunch of influencerscommenting on it that's not gonna really
get you anywhere.
Are they growing?
Even if they're growing a small amount,it's still growth, but if you're not
seeing any growth on their page, that'sprobably something to consider.
(27:06):
Now with the many chats that is theplatform that you can say, type pink to
get the full link to everything.
You can see how many people are commentingon that.
That's always a good gauge now that I useof, well, how many people actually want
their links.
(27:29):
But and then also to see what they share.
Like if they're only sharing Amazon stuff,probably not the best thing for a boutique
then to swoop in and do it because peopleare going to be so used to Amazon that
then when they see a little bit higherprice or you're not as fast shipping or
you don't have free returns or, you know,the things you can't offer because you're
(27:50):
a small business, you've paid them.
But now your sales will not reflect thatat all.
I love how you touched on if you have beenwatching them and to know if they're
growing.
Because I think that with businesses thatI have worked with that want to work with
influencers or there's certain people orthey send accounts to me and say like,
(28:13):
what do you think of working with thisperson?
I love how you touched on that becauseit's not just a, oh, I think I wanna work
with this person and it's like anautomatic like jump into bed with them.
that you have to kind of watch them andsee what they're doing.
And I also think it's really important howyou had touched on like if they're Amazon,
if they only share Amazon or what theyshare, I think it's really important to
(28:37):
also see have they shared something that'ssimilar to your product.
And if they have, then like your businessmay convert better.
But if it's something that is so far offthat their audience has never seen before,
and has no clue like what that is, or it'sa really high ticket priced item, it's
(28:59):
probably not going to convert because thatis not what their audience is used to.
And I think that what you touched on issuch a key important piece for businesses
to be looking at as they're deciding whothey want to work with.
Yes, I think that if you have a reallyhigh ticket item that is going to require
(29:22):
a lot of thought or even like discussionwith your spouse because you would never
just go spend that much money, you know,without talking it and going over pros and
cons, you cannot look at an influencer asa sales but more as like,
(29:45):
an avenue of getting your product outthere and getting awareness out there.
And at that point, you're probably goingto have to invest in that influencer for
months on end, because people are going toneed to see that multiple times before
they just, you know, click.
Yes, I want that.
And I think that's really important forbusinesses to know is you can't if you're
(30:08):
selling, you know.
even boutique clothing, it might notconvert the first time.
But if you're selling really like highticket items, you have to invest in that.
Like that influencer is an investment atthat point, that's not just a quick
turnaround, let me make a couple of bucksoff this and onto the next thing.
(30:29):
And I think people think of influencing asthat, and it's not.
Yeah, I totally agree of that.
It's more brand awareness at that pointtoo.
And then it's up to you to funnel it.
And I mean, I have done a great job atfunneling on statements page and I've done
(30:50):
a not so great job and just didn't havethe energy and I just wanted the
influencer to be the start and finish ofthe sale.
But then I've also had it where you cometo my page and you are seeing on my page
exactly what the influencer is sharing,but more in depth or more, you know, this
or that.
So you just have to know though,
If it's a high ticket item and you'reputting that investment into an
(31:13):
influencer, you also have to be ready toclose the deal.
You can't just completely rely on them.
Yeah, I would love for us to kind of pivotand talk about, you've talked about the
investment.
And I think this is where I always saythat influencing is the Wild West because
there's really no, there's not a rule ofthumb of what an influencer charge is or
(31:40):
how do you, or anything like that.
How do you know if an influencer's pricesfeel too high?
or how do you gauge if it's like a correctamount?
Do you have a way that you do that withyour business?
Um, not 100% because most of theinfluencers I've worked with, I've worked
(32:03):
with them forever.
So like, we've grown together.
So every time they have a price increase,I'm not shocked by any means.
And I'm not, I've had some where they takelike a bigger price increase than I what I
was expecting.
Um, and then that's where it's up to me,you know, to really sit down and say like,
(32:24):
is this worth it or not?
And that goes.
more on convert how they convert for meand then on that note it is just based on
sales because it's I don't need more brandawareness for statement I mean yes of
course I love it but I don't need more sois it worth it at that point if that makes
(32:45):
sense.
But the influencers that I have likereached out to their marketing.
or their management, sorry, not marketing,their management, you get a full rundown
of like what they do and why their pricesare what they are.
So then that's just up to you if it's inyour budget or not.
(33:08):
Yeah, and that's like what you're talkingabout, that breakdown.
I think that people don't realize that youcan ask influencers for their pitch deck
or ask them to send you like currentscreenshots of their story views or where
their reach is.
Sometimes I think that people feel likeit's asking to see somebody's underwear
(33:32):
drawer to like get the screenshots, butit's...
really truly not.
That's part of the influencer's job is toshare those numbers and to show you their
reach and what their conversion is lookinglike.
Exactly.
Yeah, you're not asking them how muchmoney they make a year or how much they're
investing into their IRA.
(33:52):
You're just asking them for facts that youneed to make a decision for your business.
So I mean, I think as a follower,sometimes I think people get lost and
like, what can an influencer make?
And I think sometimes it's pretty obviousthat an influencer is making.
(34:12):
a ton of money just based on like howtheir lifestyle was compared to how it is
now.
And I don't think that's like appropriateto ask but as a business to say, hey, can
I have, you know, your story views, ascreenshot of yesterday's story views or
whatever, like that's not out of line.
(34:32):
Yeah.
So I would love to kind of pivot back tostatement and kind of as we close out, and
since the podcast is called Living YourCalling, and you have taken a lot of
pivots just in the last six months,whether people notice it online, but being
(34:53):
someone who kind of gets to be in thebackground with you of how you have
pivoted and where you see yourself.
going in this next year.
I would love for you to kind of share someof that.
Um...
Yeah, hang on, collecting thoughts.
(35:17):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I've only everpivoted with statement, which I think is
something business owners don't reallytalk about a lot is in order to be
successful, you're never not ready for thenext thing or changing something or
something works amazing one month and thenall of a sudden it doesn't.
(35:37):
And if you get stuck in that, like.
it probably isn't going to end well.
But yeah, I can't believe how much I'vepivoted from 2018 to now.
But yes, in the last year, I think thebiggest thing this year is I've kind of
been able to get out of my own way.
Like, I just, even pictures, they alwayssay, never use stock photos.
(36:06):
Never do this.
Never do that.
People don't care.
Like, I think that's the thing.
Most people are so quick to buy, theydon't care.
So if you use a stock photo, but you havesome really good stock photos, who cares?
Or if you can get out there and get somegreat pictures, great, but if that's
(36:28):
what's stopping you from keeping yourbusiness going, then do what the path of
least resistance, I think is probably thebiggest pivot that I have made.
where last year I was just in my own wayat every turn.
I love that you had said like the path ofleast resistance and how business owners,
(36:50):
like it is a constant pivot.
I think that people, it's one of thosethings that you think that businesses have
it all figured out and all things arerunning on like the perfect stream
cylinders behind the scenes.
And that that's really not the truth.
It is, okay, what was working and whatisn't working and how can we pivot and
(37:11):
make that better?
Because I know
Even I think in the last few months,you've had to make so many pivots with
working with influencers and the explosionof, you have these magic, they call them
the magic tank tops and magic shirts thatare now shipping in by the pallets full.
(37:33):
And you are getting up like in themornings way before the kids get up so
that you can ship.
And that was kind of a pivot that youweren't doing before.
that you're doing now because you alsostill have the chickens.
And we haven't even touched on thechickens.
That's a whole nother episode of.
age free now.
They weren't back in our first podcast.
(37:56):
Everything has changed.
that I just love how I think you aregiving people permission to just pivot and
do what's working for you in that moment.
And since you have done that, it hasreally accelerated your business.
Yep, and even shipping is a perfectexample.
(38:18):
Last year, I kind of played small in theworld of online because one, I was just
burnt out.
But two, I felt like I needed somebody inhere shipping and I needed somebody doing
this.
And like, I was still kind of caught up inwhat it was when I had storefronts.
(38:40):
And so I, it was like, well, I...
I haven't hired anybody.
I don't want to have to ship that much.
And then this year it's like, okay, so ifI get up at five and from five to seven
can ship out hundreds of orders, nothingis stopping me.
I can do it.
(39:01):
It's fine.
Would it be nice here and there if I hadsomeone to help?
Sure, but I can do it.
So again, I think it's just getting out ofyour own way.
Like right, almost.
I think like for me, I just decided I'mputting my foot on the gas.
We're going and that cleared everything upfor me.
But I think if you're a business owner andyou kind of are feeling like, well, this I
(39:24):
can't do it because of this.
Well, I can't do it because of that.
I can't do it because of this almost isright.
Everything out and then look at what isactually facts you cannot do because more
times than not, it's just you and yourown.
I love that.
And I think it's just a great thing forlisteners to hear of reminding yourself
(39:45):
that sometimes when the hard comes or thethings that you think you can't do, you
just cut and you just take a step back andtake a breath and realize, is it me being
in my own way of moving things forward?
And I think I loved how you said kind ofwriting this stuff down and looking at
that because I think even just in general,
(40:07):
it's a good practice to do of realizing,okay, here's all the things that I'm doing
and do I actually wanna do some of this?
And if you don't and it doesn't fit yourbusiness anymore, then you can give
yourself permission to say, I'm not gonnado that piece anymore, or to pivot or to
change your business because there's nopolice around how your business has to
(40:32):
look and has to run and function.
And I love that
you have adapted that in this last year inorder to have statement and the lovely
farm life and all of your chickens changeto being cage free and just that's a whole
other story in itself.
(40:53):
But it has just been really fun as yourfriend and as someone on the outside to
just watch you pivot and to watch youstepping into a place where you're
thriving.
thank you.
I think the biggest thing too that I wouldtell people is, one, I always heard this
and for a while I never understood it andthen I was living it in a different way so
(41:16):
it didn't make sense to me.
But when people say success isn't linear,that is absolutely true.
Like it is not just straight up.
or straight down, it is all over theplace.
And you can have the best year, well, evenmonth, you can have the best month of your
business.
And the next month you can literally belike, how am I gonna pay for this?
(41:39):
And so I think to not like let yourselffall victim to, it's not working, so
nothing's working, so the whole businessisn't working.
Because like I said, last year I...
Definitely fell into that.
It was like I took out so many things thatI made statements identity but then I
(42:00):
didn't really know how to function andthen I got in my way so much trying to
Make it something that it didn't need tobe and Then as I would you know Everything
just felt like it was spiraling out ofcontrol I just felt like the business
itself was out of control and it like nowlooking back on it
(42:21):
Nothing was.
I just needed to remember success isn'tlinear.
I I'm getting more time with my family.
I'm getting this I'm getting that I'mtaking out the pieces.
I don't like It's fine if the salesnumbers don't match That because I know I
can get back to it
(42:41):
Hmm.
And I think it's also giving yourself backsome quality of life and like time with
your kids is important too.
Like if your sales look different, butyour family life is a lot better, I think
that that's a fair trade in my opinion.
Yeah, and I completely agree with that.
And I've said in the last year, time is byfar turning into like my most...
(43:10):
time is your currency.
Yes.
So like if I don't want to make time forit, I don't.
If I, you know, like if it's gonna affectmy time at all and I don't want to do it,
I'm not doing it.
And if that hurts your feelings, then I'msorry.
But I'm gonna do me.
Yeah.
(43:30):
Well, I love that.
And I have just loved seeing you pivot andthrive this last year.
And I'm so thankful for you coming back onthe show and sharing and just getting to
share a little bit about you andinfluencers.
If people want to follow you after thisepisode or just like drop in and say, hey,
(43:52):
thanks for sharing.
Where can they find you at?
I'm on Instagram at lovely.farmlife or atstatement.boutique.
Thanks so much for being on the showtoday.
Alright, thank you!
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