June 5, 2025 • 37 mins
In today's episode, I share 3 hard lessons I've learned over the past 25 years running my own businesses. My hope is that you learn from me so you can avoid costly mistakes as you start & grow your business. READ MORE HERE>
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love to.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started Now
(00:24):
we're going to have some fun, solet's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, hello friends, it's episode 295, and I am so
thankful that you are here todaybecause you are about to learn
some awesome business lessons.
You can learn from my mistakes,mishaps, things that have gone
wrong in my business, and youcan learn from them.
Today.
It's just like we tell ourchildren and maybe if you don't
have children here today, maybeit's nieces, nephews or people
that are younger than you youshare with them things that have
happened to you and you're likeDon't do this, watch out for
this.
Right Today, you get to listenfrom someone who has gone before
(00:55):
you.
Oh yes, 25 years running my ownbusinesses, I've learned a lot,
but today I'm touching on 3 biglessons that I've learned, in
hopes that you can gleaninsights from them and not make
the same mistakes.
If you are new here, welcome.
I'm so glad that you found thispodcast.
I have no doubt it's going tohelp you along your business
journey.
Whether you're in the idea stage, starting or growing, whether
(01:16):
you're starting a podcast, thisis for you.
Maybe you're starting a newcoaching business, service
business or online businessselling products, physical
products, digital products,whatever it is.
I'm so happy that you're hereand I'm so glad that you're
pursuing your dream.
You can scroll down right nowin the show notes.
So if you're an Apple podcast,for example, you can scroll down
(01:36):
there in the notes.
I have links to freebies foryou.
Oh yes, I have free goodiesthat I know are going to help
you.
I've got a 16-step checklistthat goes through everything you
need to do to start yourbusiness effectively.
My clients love it because theyliterally keep it out on their
desk and they work through it,and if you're in the idea stage,
I even have a free guide foryou.
If you're starting a podcast,there's a free workshop for you.
(01:58):
So just check it all out andsee what stage you're in and
what can help you today, whatstage you're in and what could
help you today.
Snag it, print it, do whateverit is so that you can get moving
.
That's the goal here to geteveryone moving forward, and I'm
so thankful that you are hereand also if you've been
listening a while.
Thank you so much to all myloyal listeners.
Thank you for the reviews, theDMs, the emails, the messages.
It means so much to me.
(02:19):
I show up every week for you tohelp you.
I want you to be able to enjoya career doing what you love as
an entrepreneur, and you can doit.
If I can do it, you can do it,and I'm just so thankful for you
, for being grateful for thispodcast and for listening each
week.
It means so much to me, and ifyou've been listening a while
(02:40):
and you have never rated thispodcast, would you do that super
quick.
All you have to do is hit thefive-star rating if you're in
Spotify, if you are in ApplePodcasts, and just leave a
five-star rating, and if youhave 30 seconds to write a
written review.
It means so much to me.
It really does.
I read all of them and I can'thelp but think that it tells
(03:02):
Apple and all the players outthere that this is a valuable
podcast and to show it to morepeople like you who just want to
pursue their dream, and it justmeans so much to me.
So, if you have time to do that, thank you, thank you, thank
you from the bottom of my heart.
Okay, that's it.
On to the episode.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Well, hello friends, how are you?
What is going?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
on right now in your life, in your business.
I need to know the scoop, Ineed to know, I need to know
what's happening.
I need updates, I need theupdates on your business.
If you're not in the Facebookgroup already, make sure you get
in that Women StartingBusinesses and Podcasts Doing
what we Love Facebook group.
The link is down below.
I'd love to have you in there.
(03:46):
We have fun posts each week andyou can keep me updated on
what's going on and share aboutyour business.
I just love it y'all.
I get so excited when I get onclient calls and just to see the
joy on your faces when you'remaking progress, when you're
getting past those roadblocks,it just is awesome.
And when you're making yourfirst sales and you start making
(04:08):
your best months ever, yourbest years ever.
I've got many clients that havebeen with me for several years
in various versions of myprograms whether it was a group
program, a course, one-on-onecoaching and I've seen many of
you recently saying I have justhad my biggest profit year yet,
(04:30):
my biggest profit month.
You keep updating me and it'sjust so exciting, so
congratulations.
I'm so, so happy for you.
Today we're talking about hardlessons that I've learned over
the past 25 years.
I could share a lot more thanthis, but today I just thought I
would give you three.
I think that's good enough foryou to chew on today and to take
(04:50):
with you and to remember Now.
I know a lot of times,especially when we were
teenagers, we didn't want tolisten to people that had gone
before us.
We're like, no, I can do this.
You know, we even acted liketoddlers when we were teenagers.
Like I do it by myself, I do itby myself, I can do this right.
We all think that we can dothis by ourselves, and you know
(05:12):
what the fact is.
We shouldn't.
We never should.
You could do it by yourself,you could, but you're missing
out on all the lessons andwisdom from those who've gone
before you.
I'm not saying I'm the mostwise or anything like that, so
don't get me wrong.
I'm just a normal person likeyou, making mistakes, trying to
find my way, trying to pursuesomething greater for my life
and make more impact with thegifts that God has given me.
(05:34):
I'm just like you and I makemistakes, but today I want to
share with you some lessons thatI know can help you and protect
you and help you build an evenmore meaningful and fulfilling
business.
So let's start out with these.
Let's get into it and you'regoing to be different after
hearing these.
You're going to realize sometruths and move forward more
(05:57):
effectively with your business.
So the first one is this Ifyou've been listening to me
since the beginning, you'veprobably heard this story.
I think I've shared it on thispodcast.
I'm almost positive.
I've shared it in GrowGettersand my other programs.
Y'all know this that inventory,if you're a product-based
business and I know some of youare service-based business or
(06:18):
coaching, and you're like thisdoesn't apply to me.
It actually does.
I'm going to share it with youin just a minute.
But inventory can cause youmuch headache.
My friend Is that a Chineseproverb Watch out for inventory.
Inventory can come back andbite you.
I just made up a Chineseproverb.
It should be in a fortunecookie, it should be in
something on your desk.
(06:38):
Watch out for inventory, myfriend.
Inventory can end up being thebane of your existence.
I'm not even kidding.
So, y'all, I started my firstbusiness online in 2003.
It had the business before witha friend.
For a few years we had beendoing pop-up shows in Austin,
(06:59):
texas, with home accessories andgifts.
I took it online in 2003 andstarted selling online when no
one was selling online and Istarted building up inventory.
I had to start, you know,having products physically in my
house to be able to ship out topeople.
Now businesses wholesalebusinesses were not dropshipping
(07:22):
yet.
Do y'all know what dropshippingis?
Dropshipping is when you're abusiness owner, you don't
actually inventory the product.
You notify the manufacturer,the wholesaler, that you got an
order and they ship it for you,and so you never see it, but it
actually gets shipped to theclient.
I loved dropshipping.
To me, that was the mostefficient way.
However, most of thewholesalers and manufacturers
(07:46):
that I work with again, becauseI didn't make anything myself, I
was reselling everything Mostof the wholesalers and
manufacturers that I worked withdid not dropship, so I had to
stock it.
So, luckily, we had an extrastorage room upstairs in our
house at the time and I startedhaving shelves put in there and
stocking all the blankets andhome accessories and everything
and shipping every day from myhome.
(08:09):
Well, as things were selling, Iwas buying more inventory and as
I was going to market andbuying products, I would be like
that's cute.
Oh wait, this is cute too.
We need blue, we need pink, weneed white, we need green, we
need all the colors.
We need all the flavors.
I need all of it and I wouldget inventory and I would build
(08:32):
up inventory, which would begreat because I would have stuff
in stock when people ordered.
The problem was not everyflavor, color, style would sell
and I would end up withinventory.
Okay, it would end up withextra inventory that then I
would have to manage and try tomarket more because I needed to
get rid of this old inventoryand then I would need to put it
(08:56):
on sale and I would keep runningit on sale and the items would
stay on my sales page becausethey wouldn't sell out like some
products and I ended up with alot of extra inventory.
Okay, so over the years you canimagine from 2003 to 2019, when
(09:17):
I closed my online businessesyou can imagine that I had added
a little extra inventory.
Think about your closet in yourhouse.
Over the years, have you addeda little extra inventory in your
closet?
Personal inventory, yourclothes, your shoes, your bags,
anything have you been adding toit over the years?
(09:39):
You get rid of some, but youalways seem to bring in more
than you get rid of, rightAnyone?
Am I the only one who's hadextra clothing inventory in my
home added over the years?
So you can only imagine with abusiness Y'all what can happen.
You absolutely have to watchout for your inventory because
(09:59):
what's happening is it's takingup space not only physically in
your home or in a storage unit,or even if you have a store or
some kind of booth or something.
You are storing this.
That is extra space.
Okay, it's physical space, butit's also taking up mental space
, because you have it on yourmind that you've got extra
(10:20):
inventory and you're figuringout how do I get rid of this?
I have talked to so many productsellers that this happens where
you're like what do I do?
I keep putting this on sale, Ikeep posting it on social media,
I keep trying to share it withpeople and I'm I'm putting it on
sale all the time and I'malways promoting this and people
are sick of it and they're notbuying it, and what happens is
(10:41):
it's also taking resources awayfrom your marketing, because you
could be marketing the stuffthat's more applicable to the
people who, I'm sorry, moreapplicable to what people
actually want to buy right now,because when something gets old
or outdated or it's constantlyon sale, people get sick of
seeing it and they don't want it.
And I know y'all are shakingyour head.
If you've had a productbusiness, you know exactly what
(11:02):
I'm talking about.
You have the cutest blankets orcutest shirts or cutest jewelry
and no one is buying it.
You don't understand why.
Okay, it's just becomeirrelevant somehow.
And you don't understand itbecause you love it and you
think it's the cutest thing.
Right, that was me.
I had pride in every singlething I bought for my business
and it shocked me over the yearswhen stuff that I thought was
(11:24):
cute wouldn't sell.
Here's my lesson for youInventory can crush you
Literally Physical space andmental space and marketing space
.
I won't go into all the details, but you'll know what I'm
talking about.
It can crush you.
Make sure you are being verysmart about what you reorder and
order for your business, thatit's actually based on data.
(11:45):
Okay, I think that's what Ididn't do.
I let it be based on my emotionbecause I got excited.
I mean, we love to shop,shopping is fun.
We love that thrill of buying,and the same will go for you as
a business owner.
You will love the thrill ofbuying for your business.
It's a blast.
Okay, I'm not even going to lie, it's a rush, it's a blast.
(12:07):
And you think you're the heroand everyone's going to buy all
of it.
And they're not.
So be very smart about yourinventory.
Buy low inventory.
You would rather sell out, sellout immediately and have a
waitlist and create scarcitythan to have too much that ends
up bogging you down over time.
You have to keep marketing thatkeeps taking up space and
eventually you have to marketdown solo or do what I did when
(12:30):
I closed my businesses.
I could not get rid of it.
I ended up donating nap mats,backpacks and backpacks and
pillows and blankets that wereboutique bougie, super cute to a
women's shelter at my church.
Okay, my church helped out at awomen's shelter and they took
my inventory.
I had to bring carloads of it.
(12:51):
I'm not even kidding.
I know y'all are like aghastand you're like what it went to?
A great cause.
I'm very grateful.
There were some items that werenot fit for the places I was
donating.
I did donate backpacks andstuff to organizations that were
giving kids backpacks thatneeded them, some stuff in the
very end that was maybe brokenor not in perfect condition.
(13:13):
I had to give to Goodwill Okay,inventory is not good.
And then my grow-getters knowthis because I know I've told
this.
I can't remember if I've toldy'all on this podcast.
When I closed my businesses Ihad the inventory at another
location.
It wasn't here at my home so Ididn't physically see it, I only
saw it on a spreadsheet.
But it had to get shipped herebecause I was closing my
(13:35):
business.
I was stopping business withthe warehouse companies that
were shipping it for me thefulfillment centers and I had it
here in my garage and it gotshipped in.
It was so much.
It was boxes piled up, three,four boxes high, taking up a
whole section.
You could have fit a car whereI had this inventory.
(13:55):
And I was literally dumbfounded.
I was like what in the world?
Because this had not been in myline of sight, it had just been
on a spreadsheet.
It was numbers and, yes, Ishould have been evaluating it
better.
I failed at that.
Now I profited in my businessand did well, so y'all don't get
(14:17):
me wrong.
But at the end, when I wasclosing, I realized how I had
mismanaged my inventory liketotally mismanaged, that it was
not done from a strategic level.
It was done from more emotional, what I thought it was cute and
I kept reordering, and thencertain things I let linger and
linger and linger and linger.
So watch out, people, forinventory.
(14:37):
It can be the bane of yourexistence.
It can cost you time, money,energy, all of it Wasted
marketing resources becauseyou're trying to get rid of
stuff that's irrelevant.
I don't want this happening toyou.
Please be smart about theinventory that you're buying.
That's lesson number one frommy screw-up book.
Okay, number two.
(15:00):
This one's not fun.
I hate to break it to you.
Oh, oh, oh, let me go back.
Number one.
Y'all I said for serviceproviders.
I think that let me clarifythis really quick Inventory can
be too much and you can alsohave inventory of digital
products.
I just wanna say this for thoseof you that are coaches, that
(15:21):
are service providers and youcreate courses, workshops,
anything that you create, y'allyou can create too much In the
beginning of your business.
Please do not waste your timeand resources creating so many
offerings.
I tell my one-on-one clientsthis we want to keep it as
simple as possible, maybe one ortwo things that you are
(15:41):
promoting.
Once you start diluting youroffers.
You have so many that peoplesometimes don't know what to
pick.
Even at times, in my businessnow I feel like I have too many,
and I actually don't think I do, because they hit a certain
niche in your idea stage.
Right, planning your business,starting your business, growing
your business, starting apodcast those are the five
things I have.
(16:02):
They actually fit a specificniche.
That's it.
I'm maxed out.
I'm not doing any more thanthat in terms of things that I'm
trying to target for people.
Right, I may be coming out withsomething else very soon, but
it's not a course and it's not aworkshop.
It's something else which I'mreally excited about.
I'm teasing it.
Hopefully this does come tofruition here very soon.
(16:24):
I'm putting all the piecestogether, but it will be kind of
a conglomeration of all ofthose things.
But we'll talk about that later.
But my point is if you have toomany workshops, courses, mini
courses, big courses, coachingprograms, consulting offers, all
this stuff, y'all, it gets toomuch.
It's too much to manage.
(16:44):
Again, it's diluting yourmarketing resources and your
time.
Okay.
So this can go for you too, ifyou have a service business or a
coaching business, consultingbusiness, etc.
Okay.
So, number one we said too muchinventory, too many things that
you're offering.
Number two here's a tough one.
Here's a tough one foreverybody that and I hate to
even say this, I don't even likethe word hate, but I just said
(17:05):
it there are criminals, thereare criminals.
I've had people rip me off andit stinks really bad.
I'll give you an example andanother example that happened to
my son recently.
So I sold kids products nap mats, sleeping bags, other kids'
(17:28):
stuff, right, and I got an orderone day that was a rush order
and it was actually to Hawaii.
It wasn't even to here and, bythe way, y'all just shipped to
the United States.
I would be very careful aboutAlaska and Hawaii, not because
they are criminals by any means,I'm just saying because you're
shipping overseas or you'reshipping farther right, and that
(17:50):
means higher costs foreverything, for your shipping,
your products, and just a littleless control.
I would just watch out.
And even to Puerto Rico I knowthat that's controversial, but I
would just be careful.
I would stick to the contiguousUnited States.
That's me.
You can do whatever you want,but it becomes complicated when
(18:11):
you go outside of the contiguousUnited States.
So I had an order that was whiteand they were like we need a
rush order, we've got the kidsthat need sleeping bags and
blankets and we sold $100sleeping bags bougie, super cute
plush and we had nap mats andthey were probably $80 for the
nap mats and they said it waslike I'm going to make this up
(18:32):
now, but it was like foursleeping bags and five nap mats
and so it was a big order.
I think it was like $1,000.
They needed it like overnightedsecond day air and I was
emailing back and forth becauseI'm already cautious.
I'm very cautious about these.
I'd been doing it a long timeand this was towards the end of
my businesses, sort of.
Anyway, so I had had experienceand I knew and I was like, okay
(18:55):
, I'm putting insurance on theseand I believe I had signature
confirmation.
I cannot remember exactly.
I wish I remembered if I hadsignature confirmation.
I would always do signatureconfirmation.
If you have a large order, okay, I'll do this because there's
(19:15):
criminals.
Okay, so I think I did.
But if I'm rememberingcorrectly, this is what happened
.
So I had my sleeping bags andnap mats shipped directly from
my manufacturer.
So that was drop shipped.
I did not have them here.
My manufacturer shipped to them.
She shipped all the nap mats andbackpacks, did it overnighted.
(19:37):
I, you know, got the person'scredit card, charged the credit
card, did the whole thing.
Everything was good.
It got and she said we needthem.
She kept messaging me we needthem, we need them tomorrow or
whatever it is, in two days Ican't remember it was either
tomorrow or two days.
So it showed they weredelivered, all was good.
Then the next week, and that waslike a Thursday or Friday Then
the next week she calls, shegoes we never got them for the
(20:00):
trip.
We needed them for the tripthis week.
And I'm like it shows they weredelivered, you got them.
She goes well, actually we gotpart of them.
We got two sleeping bags andthree nap mats.
We didn't get all of them and Iwas like what?
And so she had called hercredit card company and put a
complaint in and so theyimmediately withdrew my funds
(20:20):
back.
Okay, so it's like a thousanddollars, took it all back and
the customer said she only gotlike two of the sleeping bags or
three of the nap mats.
So I contact my manufacturer.
I'm like did you ship?
She's saying she only got twosleeping bags and three nap mats
.
She goes well, that can't be,because we put all of the
sleeping bags in one box, we putall of the nap mats in the
(20:41):
other.
We had to get a certain sizebox to fit it.
Based on the weight, we weigheverything, each box, and we
create the shipping label.
So I'm like you're telling methat she actually got both boxes
(21:01):
but she's claiming that shedidn't and my manufacturer's
like yes, that's correct,no-transcript.
(21:31):
And I will tell you that thecredit card companies, 99% of
the time, will err on the sideof the buyer.
They will not err on your side.
You will lose, and I knew it,we lost.
They took our money and shetook the plush.
Knew it, we lost.
They took our money and shetook the plush nap mats.
No telling, she probably.
I don't know what she did withthem.
I'm not even going to speculate.
(21:51):
I have no idea who this personwas, but it was a criminal.
They knew what they were doing.
Y'all, there are criminals.
This happened to my son recentlyon eBay.
He was selling two AppleAwesome monitors Very expensive.
Two Apple awesome monitors veryexpensive.
I don't know how expensive theymight've been $2,000 monitors
they'd originally purchased.
And I told him I said Grayson,these are the most highly.
(22:13):
What's the word Criminalized?
What's the word Like?
These are?
Why can't I think of the word?
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go crazyLike scammers will get you on
these.
And I said so you have to watchout.
I said do signatureconfirmation.
You better insure them and dosignature confirmation because
(22:35):
these are high fraud itemsthat's kind of what I was trying
to say.
High fraudulent, like buyersand sellers.
And I go you're on eBay, soyou're just get ready.
So he gets buyers and I'm like,oh awesome, he ships them.
And he goes to the UPS store totry to ship and he realizes he
doesn't have good enough box andpadding.
He has to go over to some otherplace locally, find boxes, take
them, buy those boxes, takethem back over to the UPS store
(22:59):
because UPS store didn't haveboxes these big for these huge
monitors.
He paid for them, them to packthem.
He many paid for all theshipping, paid for insurance,
ships them.
Well, I didn't hear anythingabout it from my son for a while
and he didn't want to tell me,but one of them was fine.
The other one, the person saidI got it late and it was broken.
(23:24):
My doorman disposed of it andput in a claim to eBay and I
said, okay, so do you havesignature confirmation?
He goes, for some reason Ididn't do signature confirmation
and I was like what I told youto do signature confirmation.
It's the only way you canprotect yourself, because if
(23:47):
these companies show thesignature confirmation that they
got boxes, now again mysituation my nap mats is
different, because I think I didsignature and she is
acknowledging that she got twoboxes, but she's claiming that
what I said was in there wasn'tin there.
Okay, so Grayson's was.
We don't have signatureconfirmation that a doorman
actually signed for it oranything where it was signed for
(24:08):
.
We have nothing.
The show was delivered and I wasin Puerto Rico.
He shipped it to Puerto Rico.
I don't know if I told my sonfor sure, don't ship to Puerto
Rico, but he did anyways.
I think I usually say just doit in the United States.
And my son had sold the monitorfor $1,000.
And the guy said, no, it wasbroken.
My doorman got it and disposedof it.
(24:29):
I was out of town and hedisposed of it.
I'm like that's the biggestbunch of credit I've ever heard
in my entire life.
My son tried to go through thecredit card, tried to go through
shipping it the whole, tryingto get nothing.
Ebay said no, you didn't dosignature confirmation and
didn't give him his money.
So that's a criminal who justdid that to my son not long ago,
(24:52):
but like two or three weeks ago.
So y'all, there are criminals,people.
If you have a physical store,if you have a mobile booth,
people will try to steal fromyou.
They will try to do something.
And if they fight with a creditcard I'm just letting you know
you will lose.
So that's going to be part ofit and that's a hard lesson.
It makes you so mad.
I cannot tell you how mad I wasabout this lady just blatantly
(25:15):
stealing from me, from a smallbusiness, cute nap mats and
sleeping bags.
Who does that?
I mean really, who does that?
And it's baffling to me thatthere's people like this in the
world that will prey on smallbusinesses and other people.
But there are criminals.
They exist.
Don't be shocked when ithappens to you.
Don't be shocked, but doeverything to protect yourself.
(25:37):
So that's my lesson for you.
If you're shipping something, doyou know, signature
confirmation, insurance,whatever you need to do, and do
the United States If you are aservice provider.
I've heard this hasn't happenedto me but people buying their
horses and then going andpublishing them on some kind of
(25:58):
sites that are underground likepeople can.
Then they distribute them forfree or maybe for a price to
other people, not realizing thatthese are shady websites that
resell people's courses.
So I've heard of that Y'all.
This stuff exists.
This stuff exists and be ready,it's going to be part of it.
(26:18):
You're going to have to writeit off as an expense and it's
what happens, and I'm sorry.
I'm sorry now for the day thatyou get, you know, bamboozled by
somebody, for lack of a betterterm.
We're going to keep this PG orrated G right.
When someone does this to you,this is going to sting for you
(26:43):
and it makes you sad aboutpeople in this world, but I just
want you to let you know.
Otherwise, 99% of the peopleare amazing and clients are
awesome and customers areappreciative and lovely and
wonderful, like you are with me,and it's all good.
It's part of it, and so prepareyourself okay and protect
yourself.
So that's my lesson for numbertwo.
(27:04):
So number one was inventory.
Number two was protectingyourself and knowing that
there's criminals.
Here's number three you cannotplease everybody.
You cannot please everybody andI don't want you to try to.
I think that's what we try todo as business owners we want to
(27:25):
please everybody.
Now, of course, I don't likeconflict.
I'm sure you don't either, andI want to make people happy.
I'm going to be there.
If they're super unhappysomething's wrong.
Make sure that you arecommunicating with people
properly.
I think that's the lesson.
People are usually unhappybecause, when it comes down to
(27:46):
it, it's not that your productstinks or that you stink, it's
that maybe what was offered wasnot communicated properly.
You know I've made mistakeswhere I shipped somebody.
I've told this story.
People tell me they laughed allthe time that were from
Michigan, because when I had mykids or fans too it's like
collegiate gifts, baby gifts andI sent like it was either a
(28:09):
Michigan order of baby gifts toa Michigan state I mean I
misshipped.
So somebody ordered Michiganbaby items and I shipped
Michigan state, or they orderedMichigan state and I shipped
Michigan.
I can't remember.
But the recipient called us andwas berating me and telling me
is this a joke?
(28:29):
I can't believe you would shipus this other school.
They were so highly offendedBecause we all know if we're
football fans and you knowfootball fans in your life
they're very offended by theopposing team, right, they're
offended.
And so they were extremelyoffended and was screaming and
had talked to someone who workedfor me first and was making her
(28:51):
cry and then talked to me andit was just a big mess.
So this happens People will beunhappy.
If you're a coach or a serviceprovider, people may not like
what you offer, and that's okay.
You can't be all things to allpeople.
You are not going to be able toplease everyone.
Have a return policy, have agrace period, be kind, but make
(29:13):
sure, first of all, the onus ison you to communicate everything
properly.
Okay, like my son was doingsome work for someone a few
weeks back too and for hisbusiness, and the lady was
unhappy and she wanted her moneyback.
And my husband I mean myhusband, my son said you know, I
just went and refunded her like75% of it.
I put it on her front porch andI told her I'm so sorry, that
(29:35):
was my fault for notcommunicating correctly what was
expected of this job, and sothat's what you have to do.
If you know that you haven'tcommunicated it fully, then okay
.
So, whatever it is.
If you have a website,communicate fully about the
shipping times, about the delays, about the times it takes to
personalize, about the refundpolicy.
(29:57):
If it's a course or a workshop,whatever it is, just
communicate everything so thatthe people know.
That would be my lesson on thatCommunicate clearly everything,
because otherwise you're goingto have more upset people.
I know one time I had a coachingclient and I didn't do the like
first clarity calls or havethem contact me via email just
(30:21):
so I could make sure that Icould help them and that we were
a good fit, that it was amutual good fit.
I didn't do that.
I do that now.
I usually have a clarity callor I do, obviously,
communication over email just tomake sure.
And she booked coaching callswith me, got on and was wanting
me to help her structure herwhole store the inside, like the
(30:42):
shelves and where she was goingto put stuff and I was like
I've never had a store.
How did this happen?
Did I not communicate thiscorrectly?
So I gave her a refund becauseI was like, oh my gosh, this I
am not qualified for this right.
I could tell you, I've beeninto a lot of boutiques.
I love them.
I could tell you, probably, howto set it up, but would it be
the best?
(31:02):
No, because I have never had myown physical store and so you
know I had to give a refund.
So we can't please everybody, wecan't make everyone happy, and
you have to just make sureyou're communicating everything
clearly.
So these are lessons.
These are lessons I've learnedthrough my clients as well that
they try to please everyone andthey end up doing work out of
(31:24):
their scope.
Right that they that had one ofmy clients.
She was a consultant and peoplewould come to her and say can
you do this?
Ok, can we add this?
I know you said you didn't dothis, can you do this?
And she would say yes.
And she came to the meetingsand with me and she's like why
am I saying yes to these people?
I'm like, because you're tryingto people, please, like you
have to stop.
Like you have to say no, Ican't offer that, it's out of my
(31:46):
scope.
So do not be afraid to do that.
I tell people that I haveclients that are starting a
podcast or YouTube channel andthey want me to help them with
your YouTube channel and I say,no, I cannot help you with a
YouTube channel.
I have just started one myself.
Not that long ago, I guess notjust started, but last year.
I have just started one myself.
Not that long ago, I guess notjust started, but last year I
did just so.
I understood what YouTube wasabout, so I could understand
(32:08):
fully what it took to build aYouTube channel versus a podcast
, a successful podcast and I mymy zone of genius is podcasting.
I can tell you how to start aYouTube channel, I can get you
started, I can get you moving, Ican give you the tips, I can do
all that, but I am not yourexpert in a YouTube channel.
I'm just not, so I'm not goingto act like I am.
(32:31):
I can tell you how to getstarted and I can give you the
basics 100%, but am I yourexpert in that?
No, and so I think if you tellpeople that they appreciate the
honesty, they still say Well, Ithink you can help me get
started.
It's obviously very similar topodcasting, but we've got the
video element.
But just like the structure ofit, how we are, you know,
(32:51):
positioning ourselves, how we'reshowing up, how to show up
confidently, like, of course andthey will still want my help,
but they know straight up.
I'm not the expert on a YouTubechannel, and so I think you
have to do that.
You have to set expectations,you have to be very clear, you
have to communicate ahead oftime before they buy, before
they buy everything, returnpolicy, all of that.
(33:13):
I think a lot of us, asconsumers, are better at that
now.
We try to make sure weunderstand what we're buying.
But sometimes people getexcited and they buy your stuff
and they don't realize it's notexactly what they needed.
Okay, so do that for yourself,because if you don't communicate
clearly, you're gonna have toend up giving refunds, you're
gonna feel bad and it's justcausing everyone extra.
(33:34):
You know, wasted time andenergy when they could have been
on working with the rightperson, getting the right
product, all that good stuff.
Okay, so what are these threelessons that I've learned that
you can now keep in mind foryour business?
Number one watch out forinventory.
It can bite you in the booty Ifyou have too many and too much
too many offerings.
All that.
(33:55):
Don't do it.
Be smart, be strategic aboutwhat you're buying, what you're
creating for your business.
Number two there are criminals,so protect yourself.
Protect yourself, do what youcan but know that there's just
going to be a certain percentageof your business that a
criminal may get a hold of, andit's sad, but it's only going to
be like 0.1%.
(34:16):
So it's okay, you can deal withit You're an adult but it's
hard Nonetheless.
It's emotionally hard anddraining and I and I feel for
you when it happens because itmade me very upset, but it's
hard Nonetheless.
It's emotionally hard anddraining and I feel for you when
it happens because it made mevery upset, but it happens.
It's the reality of this world,right?
There's good and evil.
Number three you can't pleaseeverybody.
So communicate very well beforepeople buy.
Communicate, communicate,communicate.
(34:38):
Share everything on yourwebsite, on the label, whatever
it is, share it.
So that's it.
I hope these helped you.
You know y'all that I'm here Ifyou need help with your
business, whether you'restarting your business right now
, whether you're you've justlaunched and you're like okay,
wait, I have pieces.
But now I'm kind of stuck oncertain things.
I need to get moving.
What do I do?
How do I start growing?
How do I start showing up?
(34:58):
How do I funnel people in fromstrangers to buyers?
How do I start my podcast, like, how do I make sure I do this
right?
All those questions I can helpyou with in one-on-one coaching.
Did y'all know this?
I offer one-on-one coaching.
We can work together.
It's so much fun.
If you want to know for a fit,then contact me.
You can fill out a quick form.
Tell me what's going on withyour business real quick.
I'll reply back.
(35:18):
Maybe we can jump on a call andjust see if I can give you some
insight into how I could helpyou move forward.
Also, too, I've got independentstudy workshops and courses.
That just means you can do themon your own, on your own time,
and I have those.
If you're that type of personthat likes to work on your own
time, I've got that for you too.
Again, no matter what stageyou're in, and if you're
starting a podcast, I've got allthat down below.
(35:39):
Make sure you check it out.
I would be honored to work withyou.
So that's it.
Y'all have a great day Untilnext time.
Bye now.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Now this episode may be over, but our relationship
does not have to end here.
Head on over toKimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what.
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help you.
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
(36:12):
Bye.
Well, hello.
This is Kimberly Brock, and forover 20 years I've been running
my own businesses that have notonly been profitable but
personally fulfilling to me.
So now I'm on a mission to helpother new business owners, just
like you, make money doing whatyou love to.
Now we're going to have somefun, so let's get started Now
(00:24):
we're going to have some fun, solet's get started.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, hello friends, it's episode 295, and I am so
thankful that you are here todaybecause you are about to learn
some awesome business lessons.
You can learn from my mistakes,mishaps, things that have gone
wrong in my business, and youcan learn from them.
Today.
It's just like we tell ourchildren and maybe if you don't
have children here today, maybeit's nieces, nephews or people
that are younger than you youshare with them things that have
happened to you and you're likeDon't do this, watch out for
this.
Right Today, you get to listenfrom someone who has gone before
(00:55):
you.
Oh yes, 25 years running my ownbusinesses, I've learned a lot,
but today I'm touching on 3 biglessons that I've learned, in
hopes that you can gleaninsights from them and not make
the same mistakes.
If you are new here, welcome.
I'm so glad that you found thispodcast.
I have no doubt it's going tohelp you along your business
journey.
Whether you're in the idea stage, starting or growing, whether
(01:16):
you're starting a podcast, thisis for you.
Maybe you're starting a newcoaching business, service
business or online businessselling products, physical
products, digital products,whatever it is.
I'm so happy that you're hereand I'm so glad that you're
pursuing your dream.
You can scroll down right nowin the show notes.
So if you're an Apple podcast,for example, you can scroll down
(01:36):
there in the notes.
I have links to freebies foryou.
Oh yes, I have free goodiesthat I know are going to help
you.
I've got a 16-step checklistthat goes through everything you
need to do to start yourbusiness effectively.
My clients love it because theyliterally keep it out on their
desk and they work through it,and if you're in the idea stage,
I even have a free guide foryou.
If you're starting a podcast,there's a free workshop for you.
(01:58):
So just check it all out andsee what stage you're in and
what can help you today, whatstage you're in and what could
help you today.
Snag it, print it, do whateverit is so that you can get moving
.
That's the goal here to geteveryone moving forward, and I'm
so thankful that you are hereand also if you've been
listening a while.
Thank you so much to all myloyal listeners.
Thank you for the reviews, theDMs, the emails, the messages.
It means so much to me.
(02:19):
I show up every week for you tohelp you.
I want you to be able to enjoya career doing what you love as
an entrepreneur, and you can doit.
If I can do it, you can do it,and I'm just so thankful for you
, for being grateful for thispodcast and for listening each
week.
It means so much to me, and ifyou've been listening a while
(02:40):
and you have never rated thispodcast, would you do that super
quick.
All you have to do is hit thefive-star rating if you're in
Spotify, if you are in ApplePodcasts, and just leave a
five-star rating, and if youhave 30 seconds to write a
written review.
It means so much to me.
It really does.
I read all of them and I can'thelp but think that it tells
(03:02):
Apple and all the players outthere that this is a valuable
podcast and to show it to morepeople like you who just want to
pursue their dream, and it justmeans so much to me.
So, if you have time to do that, thank you, thank you, thank
you from the bottom of my heart.
Okay, that's it.
On to the episode.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Well, hello friends, how are you?
What is going?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
on right now in your life, in your business.
I need to know the scoop, Ineed to know, I need to know
what's happening.
I need updates, I need theupdates on your business.
If you're not in the Facebookgroup already, make sure you get
in that Women StartingBusinesses and Podcasts Doing
what we Love Facebook group.
The link is down below.
I'd love to have you in there.
(03:46):
We have fun posts each week andyou can keep me updated on
what's going on and share aboutyour business.
I just love it y'all.
I get so excited when I get onclient calls and just to see the
joy on your faces when you'remaking progress, when you're
getting past those roadblocks,it just is awesome.
And when you're making yourfirst sales and you start making
(04:08):
your best months ever, yourbest years ever.
I've got many clients that havebeen with me for several years
in various versions of myprograms whether it was a group
program, a course, one-on-onecoaching and I've seen many of
you recently saying I have justhad my biggest profit year yet,
(04:30):
my biggest profit month.
You keep updating me and it'sjust so exciting, so
congratulations.
I'm so, so happy for you.
Today we're talking about hardlessons that I've learned over
the past 25 years.
I could share a lot more thanthis, but today I just thought I
would give you three.
I think that's good enough foryou to chew on today and to take
(04:50):
with you and to remember Now.
I know a lot of times,especially when we were
teenagers, we didn't want tolisten to people that had gone
before us.
We're like, no, I can do this.
You know, we even acted liketoddlers when we were teenagers.
Like I do it by myself, I do itby myself, I can do this right.
We all think that we can dothis by ourselves, and you know
(05:12):
what the fact is.
We shouldn't.
We never should.
You could do it by yourself,you could, but you're missing
out on all the lessons andwisdom from those who've gone
before you.
I'm not saying I'm the mostwise or anything like that, so
don't get me wrong.
I'm just a normal person likeyou, making mistakes, trying to
find my way, trying to pursuesomething greater for my life
and make more impact with thegifts that God has given me.
(05:34):
I'm just like you and I makemistakes, but today I want to
share with you some lessons thatI know can help you and protect
you and help you build an evenmore meaningful and fulfilling
business.
So let's start out with these.
Let's get into it and you'regoing to be different after
hearing these.
You're going to realize sometruths and move forward more
(05:57):
effectively with your business.
So the first one is this Ifyou've been listening to me
since the beginning, you'veprobably heard this story.
I think I've shared it on thispodcast.
I'm almost positive.
I've shared it in GrowGettersand my other programs.
Y'all know this that inventory,if you're a product-based
business and I know some of youare service-based business or
(06:18):
coaching, and you're like thisdoesn't apply to me.
It actually does.
I'm going to share it with youin just a minute.
But inventory can cause youmuch headache.
My friend Is that a Chineseproverb Watch out for inventory.
Inventory can come back andbite you.
I just made up a Chineseproverb.
It should be in a fortunecookie, it should be in
something on your desk.
(06:38):
Watch out for inventory, myfriend.
Inventory can end up being thebane of your existence.
I'm not even kidding.
So, y'all, I started my firstbusiness online in 2003.
It had the business before witha friend.
For a few years we had beendoing pop-up shows in Austin,
(06:59):
texas, with home accessories andgifts.
I took it online in 2003 andstarted selling online when no
one was selling online and Istarted building up inventory.
I had to start, you know,having products physically in my
house to be able to ship out topeople.
Now businesses wholesalebusinesses were not dropshipping
(07:22):
yet.
Do y'all know what dropshippingis?
Dropshipping is when you're abusiness owner, you don't
actually inventory the product.
You notify the manufacturer,the wholesaler, that you got an
order and they ship it for you,and so you never see it, but it
actually gets shipped to theclient.
I loved dropshipping.
To me, that was the mostefficient way.
However, most of thewholesalers and manufacturers
(07:46):
that I work with again, becauseI didn't make anything myself, I
was reselling everything Mostof the wholesalers and
manufacturers that I worked withdid not dropship, so I had to
stock it.
So, luckily, we had an extrastorage room upstairs in our
house at the time and I startedhaving shelves put in there and
stocking all the blankets andhome accessories and everything
and shipping every day from myhome.
(08:09):
Well, as things were selling, Iwas buying more inventory and as
I was going to market andbuying products, I would be like
that's cute.
Oh wait, this is cute too.
We need blue, we need pink, weneed white, we need green, we
need all the colors.
We need all the flavors.
I need all of it and I wouldget inventory and I would build
(08:32):
up inventory, which would begreat because I would have stuff
in stock when people ordered.
The problem was not everyflavor, color, style would sell
and I would end up withinventory.
Okay, it would end up withextra inventory that then I
would have to manage and try tomarket more because I needed to
get rid of this old inventoryand then I would need to put it
(08:56):
on sale and I would keep runningit on sale and the items would
stay on my sales page becausethey wouldn't sell out like some
products and I ended up with alot of extra inventory.
Okay, so over the years you canimagine from 2003 to 2019, when
(09:17):
I closed my online businessesyou can imagine that I had added
a little extra inventory.
Think about your closet in yourhouse.
Over the years, have you addeda little extra inventory in your
closet?
Personal inventory, yourclothes, your shoes, your bags,
anything have you been adding toit over the years?
(09:39):
You get rid of some, but youalways seem to bring in more
than you get rid of, rightAnyone?
Am I the only one who's hadextra clothing inventory in my
home added over the years?
So you can only imagine with abusiness Y'all what can happen.
You absolutely have to watchout for your inventory because
(09:59):
what's happening is it's takingup space not only physically in
your home or in a storage unit,or even if you have a store or
some kind of booth or something.
You are storing this.
That is extra space.
Okay, it's physical space, butit's also taking up mental space
, because you have it on yourmind that you've got extra
(10:20):
inventory and you're figuringout how do I get rid of this?
I have talked to so many productsellers that this happens where
you're like what do I do?
I keep putting this on sale, Ikeep posting it on social media,
I keep trying to share it withpeople and I'm I'm putting it on
sale all the time and I'malways promoting this and people
are sick of it and they're notbuying it, and what happens is
(10:41):
it's also taking resources awayfrom your marketing, because you
could be marketing the stuffthat's more applicable to the
people who, I'm sorry, moreapplicable to what people
actually want to buy right now,because when something gets old
or outdated or it's constantlyon sale, people get sick of
seeing it and they don't want it.
And I know y'all are shakingyour head.
If you've had a productbusiness, you know exactly what
(11:02):
I'm talking about.
You have the cutest blankets orcutest shirts or cutest jewelry
and no one is buying it.
You don't understand why.
Okay, it's just becomeirrelevant somehow.
And you don't understand itbecause you love it and you
think it's the cutest thing.
Right, that was me.
I had pride in every singlething I bought for my business
and it shocked me over the yearswhen stuff that I thought was
(11:24):
cute wouldn't sell.
Here's my lesson for youInventory can crush you
Literally Physical space andmental space and marketing space
.
I won't go into all the details, but you'll know what I'm
talking about.
It can crush you.
Make sure you are being verysmart about what you reorder and
order for your business, thatit's actually based on data.
(11:45):
Okay, I think that's what Ididn't do.
I let it be based on my emotionbecause I got excited.
I mean, we love to shop,shopping is fun.
We love that thrill of buying,and the same will go for you as
a business owner.
You will love the thrill ofbuying for your business.
It's a blast.
Okay, I'm not even going to lie, it's a rush, it's a blast.
(12:07):
And you think you're the heroand everyone's going to buy all
of it.
And they're not.
So be very smart about yourinventory.
Buy low inventory.
You would rather sell out, sellout immediately and have a
waitlist and create scarcitythan to have too much that ends
up bogging you down over time.
You have to keep marketing thatkeeps taking up space and
eventually you have to marketdown solo or do what I did when
(12:30):
I closed my businesses.
I could not get rid of it.
I ended up donating nap mats,backpacks and backpacks and
pillows and blankets that wereboutique bougie, super cute to a
women's shelter at my church.
Okay, my church helped out at awomen's shelter and they took
my inventory.
I had to bring carloads of it.
(12:51):
I'm not even kidding.
I know y'all are like aghastand you're like what it went to?
A great cause.
I'm very grateful.
There were some items that werenot fit for the places I was
donating.
I did donate backpacks andstuff to organizations that were
giving kids backpacks thatneeded them, some stuff in the
very end that was maybe brokenor not in perfect condition.
(13:13):
I had to give to Goodwill Okay,inventory is not good.
And then my grow-getters knowthis because I know I've told
this.
I can't remember if I've toldy'all on this podcast.
When I closed my businesses Ihad the inventory at another
location.
It wasn't here at my home so Ididn't physically see it, I only
saw it on a spreadsheet.
But it had to get shipped herebecause I was closing my
(13:35):
business.
I was stopping business withthe warehouse companies that
were shipping it for me thefulfillment centers and I had it
here in my garage and it gotshipped in.
It was so much.
It was boxes piled up, three,four boxes high, taking up a
whole section.
You could have fit a car whereI had this inventory.
(13:55):
And I was literally dumbfounded.
I was like what in the world?
Because this had not been in myline of sight, it had just been
on a spreadsheet.
It was numbers and, yes, Ishould have been evaluating it
better.
I failed at that.
Now I profited in my businessand did well, so y'all don't get
(14:17):
me wrong.
But at the end, when I wasclosing, I realized how I had
mismanaged my inventory liketotally mismanaged, that it was
not done from a strategic level.
It was done from more emotional, what I thought it was cute and
I kept reordering, and thencertain things I let linger and
linger and linger and linger.
So watch out, people, forinventory.
(14:37):
It can be the bane of yourexistence.
It can cost you time, money,energy, all of it Wasted
marketing resources becauseyou're trying to get rid of
stuff that's irrelevant.
I don't want this happening toyou.
Please be smart about theinventory that you're buying.
That's lesson number one frommy screw-up book.
Okay, number two.
(15:00):
This one's not fun.
I hate to break it to you.
Oh, oh, oh, let me go back.
Number one.
Y'all I said for serviceproviders.
I think that let me clarifythis really quick Inventory can
be too much and you can alsohave inventory of digital
products.
I just wanna say this for thoseof you that are coaches, that
(15:21):
are service providers and youcreate courses, workshops,
anything that you create, y'allyou can create too much In the
beginning of your business.
Please do not waste your timeand resources creating so many
offerings.
I tell my one-on-one clientsthis we want to keep it as
simple as possible, maybe one ortwo things that you are
(15:41):
promoting.
Once you start diluting youroffers.
You have so many that peoplesometimes don't know what to
pick.
Even at times, in my businessnow I feel like I have too many,
and I actually don't think I do, because they hit a certain
niche in your idea stage.
Right, planning your business,starting your business, growing
your business, starting apodcast those are the five
things I have.
(16:02):
They actually fit a specificniche.
That's it.
I'm maxed out.
I'm not doing any more thanthat in terms of things that I'm
trying to target for people.
Right, I may be coming out withsomething else very soon, but
it's not a course and it's not aworkshop.
It's something else which I'mreally excited about.
I'm teasing it.
Hopefully this does come tofruition here very soon.
(16:24):
I'm putting all the piecestogether, but it will be kind of
a conglomeration of all ofthose things.
But we'll talk about that later.
But my point is if you have toomany workshops, courses, mini
courses, big courses, coachingprograms, consulting offers, all
this stuff, y'all, it gets toomuch.
It's too much to manage.
(16:44):
Again, it's diluting yourmarketing resources and your
time.
Okay.
So this can go for you too, ifyou have a service business or a
coaching business, consultingbusiness, etc.
Okay.
So, number one we said too muchinventory, too many things that
you're offering.
Number two here's a tough one.
Here's a tough one foreverybody that and I hate to
even say this, I don't even likethe word hate, but I just said
(17:05):
it there are criminals, thereare criminals.
I've had people rip me off andit stinks really bad.
I'll give you an example andanother example that happened to
my son recently.
So I sold kids products nap mats, sleeping bags, other kids'
(17:28):
stuff, right, and I got an orderone day that was a rush order
and it was actually to Hawaii.
It wasn't even to here and, bythe way, y'all just shipped to
the United States.
I would be very careful aboutAlaska and Hawaii, not because
they are criminals by any means,I'm just saying because you're
shipping overseas or you'reshipping farther right, and that
(17:50):
means higher costs foreverything, for your shipping,
your products, and just a littleless control.
I would just watch out.
And even to Puerto Rico I knowthat that's controversial, but I
would just be careful.
I would stick to the contiguousUnited States.
That's me.
You can do whatever you want,but it becomes complicated when
(18:11):
you go outside of the contiguousUnited States.
So I had an order that was whiteand they were like we need a
rush order, we've got the kidsthat need sleeping bags and
blankets and we sold $100sleeping bags bougie, super cute
plush and we had nap mats andthey were probably $80 for the
nap mats and they said it waslike I'm going to make this up
(18:32):
now, but it was like foursleeping bags and five nap mats
and so it was a big order.
I think it was like $1,000.
They needed it like overnightedsecond day air and I was
emailing back and forth becauseI'm already cautious.
I'm very cautious about these.
I'd been doing it a long timeand this was towards the end of
my businesses, sort of.
Anyway, so I had had experienceand I knew and I was like, okay
(18:55):
, I'm putting insurance on theseand I believe I had signature
confirmation.
I cannot remember exactly.
I wish I remembered if I hadsignature confirmation.
I would always do signatureconfirmation.
If you have a large order, okay, I'll do this because there's
(19:15):
criminals.
Okay, so I think I did.
But if I'm rememberingcorrectly, this is what happened
.
So I had my sleeping bags andnap mats shipped directly from
my manufacturer.
So that was drop shipped.
I did not have them here.
My manufacturer shipped to them.
She shipped all the nap mats andbackpacks, did it overnighted.
(19:37):
I, you know, got the person'scredit card, charged the credit
card, did the whole thing.
Everything was good.
It got and she said we needthem.
She kept messaging me we needthem, we need them tomorrow or
whatever it is, in two days Ican't remember it was either
tomorrow or two days.
So it showed they weredelivered, all was good.
Then the next week, and that waslike a Thursday or Friday Then
the next week she calls, shegoes we never got them for the
(20:00):
trip.
We needed them for the tripthis week.
And I'm like it shows they weredelivered, you got them.
She goes well, actually we gotpart of them.
We got two sleeping bags andthree nap mats.
We didn't get all of them and Iwas like what?
And so she had called hercredit card company and put a
complaint in and so theyimmediately withdrew my funds
(20:20):
back.
Okay, so it's like a thousanddollars, took it all back and
the customer said she only gotlike two of the sleeping bags or
three of the nap mats.
So I contact my manufacturer.
I'm like did you ship?
She's saying she only got twosleeping bags and three nap mats
.
She goes well, that can't be,because we put all of the
sleeping bags in one box, we putall of the nap mats in the
(20:41):
other.
We had to get a certain sizebox to fit it.
Based on the weight, we weigheverything, each box, and we
create the shipping label.
So I'm like you're telling methat she actually got both boxes
(21:01):
but she's claiming that shedidn't and my manufacturer's
like yes, that's correct,no-transcript.
(21:31):
And I will tell you that thecredit card companies, 99% of
the time, will err on the sideof the buyer.
They will not err on your side.
You will lose, and I knew it,we lost.
They took our money and shetook the plush.
Knew it, we lost.
They took our money and shetook the plush nap mats.
No telling, she probably.
I don't know what she did withthem.
I'm not even going to speculate.
(21:51):
I have no idea who this personwas, but it was a criminal.
They knew what they were doing.
Y'all, there are criminals.
This happened to my son recentlyon eBay.
He was selling two AppleAwesome monitors Very expensive.
Two Apple awesome monitors veryexpensive.
I don't know how expensive theymight've been $2,000 monitors
they'd originally purchased.
And I told him I said Grayson,these are the most highly.
(22:13):
What's the word Criminalized?
What's the word Like?
These are?
Why can't I think of the word?
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go crazyLike scammers will get you on
these.
And I said so you have to watchout.
I said do signatureconfirmation.
You better insure them and dosignature confirmation because
(22:35):
these are high fraud itemsthat's kind of what I was trying
to say.
High fraudulent, like buyersand sellers.
And I go you're on eBay, soyou're just get ready.
So he gets buyers and I'm like,oh awesome, he ships them.
And he goes to the UPS store totry to ship and he realizes he
doesn't have good enough box andpadding.
He has to go over to some otherplace locally, find boxes, take
them, buy those boxes, takethem back over to the UPS store
(22:59):
because UPS store didn't haveboxes these big for these huge
monitors.
He paid for them, them to packthem.
He many paid for all theshipping, paid for insurance,
ships them.
Well, I didn't hear anythingabout it from my son for a while
and he didn't want to tell me,but one of them was fine.
The other one, the person saidI got it late and it was broken.
(23:24):
My doorman disposed of it andput in a claim to eBay and I
said, okay, so do you havesignature confirmation?
He goes, for some reason Ididn't do signature confirmation
and I was like what I told youto do signature confirmation.
It's the only way you canprotect yourself, because if
(23:47):
these companies show thesignature confirmation that they
got boxes, now again mysituation my nap mats is
different, because I think I didsignature and she is
acknowledging that she got twoboxes, but she's claiming that
what I said was in there wasn'tin there.
Okay, so Grayson's was.
We don't have signatureconfirmation that a doorman
actually signed for it oranything where it was signed for
(24:08):
.
We have nothing.
The show was delivered and I wasin Puerto Rico.
He shipped it to Puerto Rico.
I don't know if I told my sonfor sure, don't ship to Puerto
Rico, but he did anyways.
I think I usually say just doit in the United States.
And my son had sold the monitorfor $1,000.
And the guy said, no, it wasbroken.
My doorman got it and disposedof it.
(24:29):
I was out of town and hedisposed of it.
I'm like that's the biggestbunch of credit I've ever heard
in my entire life.
My son tried to go through thecredit card, tried to go through
shipping it the whole, tryingto get nothing.
Ebay said no, you didn't dosignature confirmation and
didn't give him his money.
So that's a criminal who justdid that to my son not long ago,
(24:52):
but like two or three weeks ago.
So y'all, there are criminals,people.
If you have a physical store,if you have a mobile booth,
people will try to steal fromyou.
They will try to do something.
And if they fight with a creditcard I'm just letting you know
you will lose.
So that's going to be part ofit and that's a hard lesson.
It makes you so mad.
I cannot tell you how mad I wasabout this lady just blatantly
(25:15):
stealing from me, from a smallbusiness, cute nap mats and
sleeping bags.
Who does that?
I mean really, who does that?
And it's baffling to me thatthere's people like this in the
world that will prey on smallbusinesses and other people.
But there are criminals.
They exist.
Don't be shocked when ithappens to you.
Don't be shocked, but doeverything to protect yourself.
(25:37):
So that's my lesson for you.
If you're shipping something, doyou know, signature
confirmation, insurance,whatever you need to do, and do
the United States If you are aservice provider.
I've heard this hasn't happenedto me but people buying their
horses and then going andpublishing them on some kind of
(25:58):
sites that are underground likepeople can.
Then they distribute them forfree or maybe for a price to
other people, not realizing thatthese are shady websites that
resell people's courses.
So I've heard of that Y'all.
This stuff exists.
This stuff exists and be ready,it's going to be part of it.
(26:18):
You're going to have to writeit off as an expense and it's
what happens, and I'm sorry.
I'm sorry now for the day thatyou get, you know, bamboozled by
somebody, for lack of a betterterm.
We're going to keep this PG orrated G right.
When someone does this to you,this is going to sting for you
(26:43):
and it makes you sad aboutpeople in this world, but I just
want you to let you know.
Otherwise, 99% of the peopleare amazing and clients are
awesome and customers areappreciative and lovely and
wonderful, like you are with me,and it's all good.
It's part of it, and so prepareyourself okay and protect
yourself.
So that's my lesson for numbertwo.
(27:04):
So number one was inventory.
Number two was protectingyourself and knowing that
there's criminals.
Here's number three you cannotplease everybody.
You cannot please everybody andI don't want you to try to.
I think that's what we try todo as business owners we want to
(27:25):
please everybody.
Now, of course, I don't likeconflict.
I'm sure you don't either, andI want to make people happy.
I'm going to be there.
If they're super unhappysomething's wrong.
Make sure that you arecommunicating with people
properly.
I think that's the lesson.
People are usually unhappybecause, when it comes down to
(27:46):
it, it's not that your productstinks or that you stink, it's
that maybe what was offered wasnot communicated properly.
You know I've made mistakeswhere I shipped somebody.
I've told this story.
People tell me they laughed allthe time that were from
Michigan, because when I had mykids or fans too it's like
collegiate gifts, baby gifts andI sent like it was either a
(28:09):
Michigan order of baby gifts toa Michigan state I mean I
misshipped.
So somebody ordered Michiganbaby items and I shipped
Michigan state, or they orderedMichigan state and I shipped
Michigan.
I can't remember.
But the recipient called us andwas berating me and telling me
is this a joke?
(28:29):
I can't believe you would shipus this other school.
They were so highly offendedBecause we all know if we're
football fans and you knowfootball fans in your life
they're very offended by theopposing team, right, they're
offended.
And so they were extremelyoffended and was screaming and
had talked to someone who workedfor me first and was making her
(28:51):
cry and then talked to me andit was just a big mess.
So this happens People will beunhappy.
If you're a coach or a serviceprovider, people may not like
what you offer, and that's okay.
You can't be all things to allpeople.
You are not going to be able toplease everyone.
Have a return policy, have agrace period, be kind, but make
(29:13):
sure, first of all, the onus ison you to communicate everything
properly.
Okay, like my son was doingsome work for someone a few
weeks back too and for hisbusiness, and the lady was
unhappy and she wanted her moneyback.
And my husband I mean myhusband, my son said you know, I
just went and refunded her like75% of it.
I put it on her front porch andI told her I'm so sorry, that
(29:35):
was my fault for notcommunicating correctly what was
expected of this job, and sothat's what you have to do.
If you know that you haven'tcommunicated it fully, then okay
.
So, whatever it is.
If you have a website,communicate fully about the
shipping times, about the delays, about the times it takes to
personalize, about the refundpolicy.
(29:57):
If it's a course or a workshop,whatever it is, just
communicate everything so thatthe people know.
That would be my lesson on thatCommunicate clearly everything,
because otherwise you're goingto have more upset people.
I know one time I had a coachingclient and I didn't do the like
first clarity calls or havethem contact me via email just
(30:21):
so I could make sure that Icould help them and that we were
a good fit, that it was amutual good fit.
I didn't do that.
I do that now.
I usually have a clarity callor I do, obviously,
communication over email just tomake sure.
And she booked coaching callswith me, got on and was wanting
me to help her structure herwhole store the inside, like the
(30:42):
shelves and where she was goingto put stuff and I was like
I've never had a store.
How did this happen?
Did I not communicate thiscorrectly?
So I gave her a refund becauseI was like, oh my gosh, this I
am not qualified for this right.
I could tell you, I've beeninto a lot of boutiques.
I love them.
I could tell you, probably, howto set it up, but would it be
the best?
(31:02):
No, because I have never had myown physical store and so you
know I had to give a refund.
So we can't please everybody, wecan't make everyone happy, and
you have to just make sureyou're communicating everything
clearly.
So these are lessons.
These are lessons I've learnedthrough my clients as well that
they try to please everyone andthey end up doing work out of
(31:24):
their scope.
Right that they that had one ofmy clients.
She was a consultant and peoplewould come to her and say can
you do this?
Ok, can we add this?
I know you said you didn't dothis, can you do this?
And she would say yes.
And she came to the meetingsand with me and she's like why
am I saying yes to these people?
I'm like, because you're tryingto people, please, like you
have to stop.
Like you have to say no, Ican't offer that, it's out of my
(31:46):
scope.
So do not be afraid to do that.
I tell people that I haveclients that are starting a
podcast or YouTube channel andthey want me to help them with
your YouTube channel and I say,no, I cannot help you with a
YouTube channel.
I have just started one myself.
Not that long ago, I guess notjust started, but last year.
I have just started one myself.
Not that long ago, I guess notjust started, but last year I
did just so.
I understood what YouTube wasabout, so I could understand
(32:08):
fully what it took to build aYouTube channel versus a podcast
, a successful podcast and I mymy zone of genius is podcasting.
I can tell you how to start aYouTube channel, I can get you
started, I can get you moving, Ican give you the tips, I can do
all that, but I am not yourexpert in a YouTube channel.
I'm just not, so I'm not goingto act like I am.
(32:31):
I can tell you how to getstarted and I can give you the
basics 100%, but am I yourexpert in that?
No, and so I think if you tellpeople that they appreciate the
honesty, they still say Well, Ithink you can help me get
started.
It's obviously very similar topodcasting, but we've got the
video element.
But just like the structure ofit, how we are, you know,
(32:51):
positioning ourselves, how we'reshowing up, how to show up
confidently, like, of course andthey will still want my help,
but they know straight up.
I'm not the expert on a YouTubechannel, and so I think you
have to do that.
You have to set expectations,you have to be very clear, you
have to communicate ahead oftime before they buy, before
they buy everything, returnpolicy, all of that.
(33:13):
I think a lot of us, asconsumers, are better at that
now.
We try to make sure weunderstand what we're buying.
But sometimes people getexcited and they buy your stuff
and they don't realize it's notexactly what they needed.
Okay, so do that for yourself,because if you don't communicate
clearly, you're gonna have toend up giving refunds, you're
gonna feel bad and it's justcausing everyone extra.
(33:34):
You know, wasted time andenergy when they could have been
on working with the rightperson, getting the right
product, all that good stuff.
Okay, so what are these threelessons that I've learned that
you can now keep in mind foryour business?
Number one watch out forinventory.
It can bite you in the booty Ifyou have too many and too much
too many offerings.
All that.
(33:55):
Don't do it.
Be smart, be strategic aboutwhat you're buying, what you're
creating for your business.
Number two there are criminals,so protect yourself.
Protect yourself, do what youcan but know that there's just
going to be a certain percentageof your business that a
criminal may get a hold of, andit's sad, but it's only going to
be like 0.1%.
(34:16):
So it's okay, you can deal withit You're an adult but it's
hard Nonetheless.
It's emotionally hard anddraining and I and I feel for
you when it happens because itmade me very upset, but it's
hard Nonetheless.
It's emotionally hard anddraining and I feel for you when
it happens because it made mevery upset, but it happens.
It's the reality of this world,right?
There's good and evil.
Number three you can't pleaseeverybody.
So communicate very well beforepeople buy.
Communicate, communicate,communicate.
(34:38):
Share everything on yourwebsite, on the label, whatever
it is, share it.
So that's it.
I hope these helped you.
You know y'all that I'm here Ifyou need help with your
business, whether you'restarting your business right now
, whether you're you've justlaunched and you're like okay,
wait, I have pieces.
But now I'm kind of stuck oncertain things.
I need to get moving.
What do I do?
How do I start growing?
How do I start showing up?
(34:58):
How do I funnel people in fromstrangers to buyers?
How do I start my podcast, like, how do I make sure I do this
right?
All those questions I can helpyou with in one-on-one coaching.
Did y'all know this?
I offer one-on-one coaching.
We can work together.
It's so much fun.
If you want to know for a fit,then contact me.
You can fill out a quick form.
Tell me what's going on withyour business real quick.
I'll reply back.
(35:18):
Maybe we can jump on a call andjust see if I can give you some
insight into how I could helpyou move forward.
Also, too, I've got independentstudy workshops and courses.
That just means you can do themon your own, on your own time,
and I have those.
If you're that type of personthat likes to work on your own
time, I've got that for you too.
Again, no matter what stageyou're in, and if you're
starting a podcast, I've got allthat down below.
(35:39):
Make sure you check it out.
I would be honored to work withyou.
So that's it.
Y'all have a great day Untilnext time.
Bye now.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Now this episode may be over, but our relationship
does not have to end here.
Head on over toKimberlyBrockcom and, yes, you
can get more valuableinformation for your journey and
you know what.
You don't need to go throughthis alone.
I would love to help you.
Thank you so much and have agreat day.
(36:12):
Bye.
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