July 1, 2024 • 22 mins
In this episode, we had the honor of podcasting LIVE at Sub Summit 2024 in Dallas, TX. Yes, that means we had actual people in the audience while we chatted. SO fun! We decided to take a different approach with our topic, focusing on when things go wrong! As entrepreneurs, we must be resourceful, figure it out and have Plan B, C, and D ready to roll.Â
Listen in as our friend (and Subscription Box Bootcamp graduate) Katie Richardson from Year Cheer, tells her stories of bouncing back from the inevitable issues we face as subscription box entrepreneurs...things like product delays, product mistakes and packaging errors. Laugh with us and share our misery, but also learn how to right the ship!
- Year Cheer - a busy mom's secret weapon for creating holiday magic
- Year Cheer on IG
- Subscription Box Basics
- Subscription Box Basics on IG
- Sub Summit
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie (00:00):
Hey, guys.
(00:00):
Welcome to Subscription BoxBasics, the podcast.
We are broadcasting live fromthe Sub Summit Studio stage
sponsored by Bold Commerce.
I'm Julie Ball, head coach atSubscription Box Basics, and
this is Renee Gonzalez.
Hi, everyone.
And we have a guest with us.
This is Katie Richardson fromYear Chair.
(00:21):
We're going to start out withsome introductions, and then we
are going to talk about whenthings go wrong.
I know the topic of this entiresummit this year is creating a
frictionless experience for yourcustomers.
But what about us?
What about the box owners?
We need frictionless experiencesas well, but that's not the
(00:42):
reality.
Sometimes things go wrong.
And so a little bit ofbackground about me.
I am Julie Ball.
I launched a box in 2016.
Sparkle Hustle Grow was asubscription box for female
entrepreneurs.
I sold it in 2022 and have beencoaching since with Renee as my
(01:02):
podcast co host and you want todo a quick introduction to you?
Renae (01:05):
Yeah, like Julie said, my name is Renee.
I joined Julie in thesubscription box world in 2017.
I was her first my first hire.
Yeah, her first hire and thenhas have been on this journey
with her ever since.
Before that I owned a brick andmortar boutique but now has
transitioned into thesubscription box world and
absolutely loving it.
(01:26):
So I help small business ownerswith their marketing and that is
part of the reason how I becameco host and we're here today
with Katie.
Katie, you want to introduceyourself?
Katie (01:36):
I'm Katie Richardson, and I am the owner and founder of
Year Cheer.
We're a holiday subscription boxthat helps busy families
decorate, connect, and celebrateholidays throughout the year.
And I launched in 2019 with thehelp of Subscription Box Boot
Camp, which is what is Julie'sand Renee's business.
(01:57):
So they really helped me getstarted, and I'm so excited to
be here.
Julie (02:00):
Okay, real quick.
Tell them why you started yourbox.
Because I think that's a reallyfunny story.
We're all moms, and there's alot of pressure sometimes to
really show up for your kids tomake holidays really awesome.
You can take it from here.
Yeah, so
Katie (02:16):
I'm a mom of four kids.
Prior to starting mysubscription box, I worked in
the corporate world, corporateretail.
So, worked long hours, traveleda lot.
A lot of things on my to do listand with a boss often calling me
at all hours of the day, so Youknow, it would become time for
Valentine's Day and my daughterwould be like, Mom, you know
(02:36):
We're talking February 13th hereand she would be like, Mom, what
are we doing for Valentine'sDay?
Sophia's mom is making heartshaped pancakes and has the
house all decorated in red andpink and I'm like Oh, gosh, I
just got back from my businessmeeting.
I'm like, yeah, we're going todo something.
We're going to do something fun.
And I would run to the basementand, like, find anything red I
could.
One, one year I was re wrappingbooks I'd just given them for
(02:58):
Christmas, but in red paper.
And the younger kids didn'trealize, but she realized it.
She was like, Mom, you're reallygood at Christmas and our
birthdays, but you sort of stinkat these other holidays.
And, Occasionally my sister, myolder sister, would send me a
box and one year she sent me abox of like green things for St.
Patrick's Day.
And it totally saved the day.
Like, I just opened her box, Iput everything out, I was like a
(03:22):
hero on St.
Patrick's Day.
And then my mom sent me somestuff for Easter.
So it was like this idea ofhaving like a, I call it like a
fairy godmother to help me outas a busy mom that I wanted to
bring to other moms.
So now we celebrate nineholidays throughout the year and
really help deliver thatexperience of family connections
(03:42):
and feeling like that Pinterestmom and having fun without the
hassle of planning it.
So,
Julie (03:48):
so you can imagine she has very, very seasonal
products.
So just quick.
Raise of hands.
Who has a perfect business thathas no problems with products,
with shipping, with logistics?
Anyone?
Okay, good.
No, you're in the right place.
Yeah, you're in the right place.
(04:09):
No hands.
So we're going to talk about,Katie's going to share three
stories about some really, like,oh crap moments and how she
pushed through those.
And so, the idea here is toencourage you to be resourceful.
To figure it out to be solutionsoriented.
And of course, sometimesscrappy.
(04:29):
We are entrepreneurs, so we getscrappy.
So let's talk about the firstone, Katie, we're going to talk
about product delivery delays,but no one here has had that
problem, right?
Yeah.
Right.
Never.
Okay.
So tell us what happened, Katie.
Yeah.
So
Katie (04:44):
this was in probably 2021 and we had worked with a new
vendor to source this reallyadorable product of Shrinky
Dink.
Letters to Santa.
So it was like this cute thingand the kids were gonna do it.
It's gonna shrink up.
Well We get to the middle ofNovember and all of my other
product has arrived But theshrinky dinks have not yet
(05:06):
arrived and I'm starting to belike I'm contacting this new
vendor I was working with and hewas like, sorry, I can't tell
you where it is.
And I'm like, what do you mean?
What do you mean tell it is I'mlike the time is ticking like,
you know The holidays Christmasis coming like that.
We need to change that datedoesn't change exactly so This
product like still wasn'tarriving at me.
(05:26):
I had no visibility to when itwas going to come, but I knew
that my boxes needed to go out.
So I had to really start comingup with a contingency plan.
So the first thing that we didis we packed all of the boxes
except for this item and justsort of like stacked them up,
you know, without the tissuepaper clothes, just waiting for
this item to stop.
Ready.
So you can slap ready to go.
(05:47):
Then the second thing is becauseI didn't know if this item was
going to arrive or not.
I had to come up with acontingency plan.
So I figured out a way that youcould actually buy, like, shrink
eating paper on Amazon.
And I figured out a way that itneeded an inkjet printer to
print it.
So I went to Walmart and boughtsix inkjet printers.
(06:07):
And, and, you know, bought,because I had to make over a
thousand inkjet printers.
And so I found a way to likeprint it myself and I didn't
start the mass printing.
I started, I sort of had startedit.
I was prepared.
I figured out a solution.
I knew what I was going to do.
I'd done new instructions.
Like I figured out how I wasgoing to package it.
(06:28):
And then my husband and I weresupposed to go out on a date
night one night.
My husband's in the audience.
Yes, who's actually right here.
He reminded me of this part ofthe story.
And then the UPS driver who likeis on speed dial in my phone,
Joshua, calls me and he's like,They've arrived.
You can come get them.
So I literally like, I was like,date night is off.
We're going to UPS.
We're picking up the productsand we're like brought a bunch
(06:51):
of friends in to help me like aChristmas miracle, pack the
boxes and get them out the nextday.
But the reason why I bring thatup is like, I did have a
solution.
I was able to return all theinkjet printers, except for one.
I have kept that one.
But it's just an example of howcan I learn from that?
One is to make sure that like,it was a good example of being
(07:13):
solution oriented.
I didn't panic, I just went intohow are we going to fix this?
Where there's a will, there's away.
Yes, I'm like, there's gotta bea way we can do this.
And then the second thing is, Ireally had to take a good look
at myself and say, Are youleaving enough time when you're
working with new vendors?
So I really took a look at myproduct development calendar and
moved everything back at least amonth, month and a half so that
(07:34):
I could give myself more cushionif things were to happen again.
Just
Julie (07:37):
extended that buffer.
Katie (07:38):
Yeah.
Julie (07:39):
I mean, anything can happen.
We had a product that was a verytime sensitive product.
It was a planner.
I mean, you can't use a plannerlate.
And it was in California, whereRenee lives, And I packed the
boxes in the Carolinas.
There was a wildfire.
Trucks physically could notleave the state.
(08:01):
So it's not like, that wasn'tsomething that I did wrong, but
I had to react to it.
And so you just never know.
Worldwide pandemics can impactdelays.
You know, that, you just neverknow.
So I love that you had yourcontingency plan ready, like
queued up.
A.
I.
out.
Luckily, he didn't need it, butit was there.
Katie (08:21):
Yes, it was going to be a lot of long hours of a very slow
inkjet printer.
Can you
Renae (08:25):
imagine?
And then your next story is alsoone, I think, as business
owners, something we can allrelate from and something that
has probably happened to us, butyou have a story for us.
Let's talk when things arriveddamaged and you have to do
quantity control.
Katie (08:42):
Yes.
I mean, every month it feelslike there's something, you
know, there's somethingunexpected that goes wrong.
So if you're dealing with this,no, you're not alone.
And these things happen to allof us.
So, you know, we've had a coupleof things happen where either
packaging got crushed on, youknow, in shipping for us or,
(09:02):
something, just the qualitywasn't what we expected when we
ordered our sample from thevendor.
So we have had to do things likeDo repacking.
Print a new insert.
our goal is always to not letthe customer see.
what is happening to stillprovide the customer with the
best experience possible.
(09:23):
I said, you want to be like aduck, but we're on the water.
Everything looks smooth andeverything's going right.
But underneath you're like, Ohno, we gotta, we gotta really
figure this out.
We're going to have to see thatpackaging that has a spelling
mistake on it.
Rip it all out of that, throwthat away.
And like, we're going to figureit out.
So I think it's all about justlike sometimes, especially when
you're a smaller startupbusiness, which you know, we
(09:45):
still are, but it's.
Sometimes you just have to grindthrough it and make it happen
and, and figure it out so thatyou don't disappoint your
customers.
Because I've found when I havesent something out that I don't
feel great about.
My anxiety level is so high thatit's almost not worth it.
I'd rather do the work to fix itthan send it out and worry about
(10:06):
like, have I ruined, what have Iruined?
Right, you're
Julie (10:09):
just bracing for impact.
Because if someone doesn't likesomething, they're much more
likely to tell people about iton social media or reviews or
whatever.
So, I can relate to that.
Let's talk a little bit abouthow you remedied some of those
things.
So, I'll tell a quick story.
I I had bought about a thousandbooks that were white covers.
(10:29):
And these white covers got dirtyas they were in transit from
warehouse to warehouse to myhouse.
And so, I couldn't send dirtybooks.
Like, they just looked reallybad.
And so, myself, my husband, anda couple of friends, we got
those white art erasers, and wejust cleaned them.
Like, we just erased all thedirt right off of it.
(10:50):
Not one complaint came inbecause they didn't know that at
one point, they were dirty,dusty covers.
That's the type of thing thatcan really make a difference.
Because if I had sent those out,it I know that I would have
gotten more cancellations.
We would have, customer serviceinbox would have been blowing
up.
I don't, I'd rather put in thatextra grunt work to get scrappy
(11:13):
and clean them up myself.
Now you can do that, if you'rein a warehouse, like if you have
a third party fulfillmentcenter, that can be handled
through special projects.
So maybe they have a staff thatwould do that for you and you
just have to budget for it.
But, It's it's well worth thetime.
So tell us some stories abouthow you might have remedied some
things.
I think you mentioned somestickers
Katie (11:34):
This one is a little embarrassing.
I'm gonna tell this story.
We have we make leprechauntraps.
Okay, and What's a leprechauntrap?
A leprechaun trap is, if youdon't know, a leprechaun trap is
something that you set up thenight before St.
Patrick's Day so that you cancatch the leprechaun when it
comes to your house.
Often times he might make a messand torn your toilet water
(11:55):
cream.
Just in case, you know, youdon't have a leprechaun in your
house, that's what he does.
And so, we had a leprechaun trapstickers come in and there was a
spelling mistake.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, howdid I, it was my fault.
I missed it in the proof fromthe vendor.
But I was like, what are wegoing to do?
Like, I can't send these outwith a spelling mistake.
And it was
Julie (12:14):
borderline inappropriate.
So it could not be sent.
Katie (12:17):
It was borderline.
Ask us after the recording.
And so we had to go and buy justlike shamrock stickers to
sticker over the sticker.
Because it was like another oneof these things where it's like,
it's not worth sending outsomething that you In your mind,
you're like, is somebody goingto take this as like a double
and, you know, like a, you know,something inappropriate.
So that was an example of likewhere we just had to get scrappy
(12:40):
and make it happen.
Julie (12:41):
Yeah.
And so packaging too.
You had mentioned sometimespackaging might arrive.
Damaged, ripped, whatever.
And so, have you in the past hadto repackage things?
Katie (12:52):
Yes, we've definitely had to repackage things a few times.
So, whether it was, you know,that it was damaged, or whether
it was just not exactly what youexpected.
We've had a vendor, like,literally put the wrong
packaging on.
So, we've had these really cute,again, St.
Patrick's Day seems to not be mylucky holiday.
Seriously.
We have these really cuterainbows and they came in with
like a picture of a baby onthem.
(13:14):
This is not a baby toy.
Ted calling my vendor, Jack,what is this?
This is not at all what wediscussed.
How did he respond?
He was like, Oh, well that'sanother story.
But I was like, we cannot sendthis out.
We'll be like a baby toy this isa St.
Patrick's day celebration,magical rainbow, not a baby toy.
(13:34):
And so we literally, my team andI, my team was busy like,
Pulling them all out.
Luckily they were packagedunderneath, but.
Sometimes
Julie (13:42):
we've had to get a little scrappy.
Can anyone relate?
Has anyone had to do any of thistype of stuff yet?
I see a couple of yeses.
Yeah,
Katie (13:49):
but the good news is like having learned these lessons and
having made some of thesemistakes when we were at a
smaller scale definitely taughtme like You have to, of course
you know this, but sometimes Ilearn things the hard way.
Like, you have to always makesure you're double checking.
You know, check for everyspelling mistake.
Double check the packaging.
If you're at all worried, like,ask that question one more time.
(14:12):
Make sure you, they send you thesample with final packaging.
A
Julie (14:14):
physical sample too.
Not just a picture sample.
And if you're ordering fromoverseas, You need to make sure
you're speaking in the samesize.
Like, you might think that youordered something that was like
a 6x9x3 inch box, which is, youknow, yoga block sized, but it
might arrive in like centimetersor millimeters.
(14:34):
Like, cause you have, you mighthave not communicated that.
I've seen that happen.
That didn't happen to me, but.
Oh, gosh, it was so painful tosee it happen.
Renae (14:43):
Okay, the marketer and me is going off script a little
bit.
But hearing you talk and youtell your stories and thinking
of how you can use this to youradvantage from a marketing
perspective and with yourcustomers.
Can you tell us?
I know we were talking before alittle bit of how you're turning
this into an opportunity whereyou then come clean to your
customers after it's allResolved and you're paddling
(15:07):
under the water, but it's smoothand how you come clean and let
them know like hey this happenedBut here is something that Let
letting them know that you'rehuman
Katie (15:16):
Well, I think a good example of that is that in that
first example with the shrinkydinks like We weren't going to
make, even if I had to make itmyself, we weren't going to make
our original shipping date.
So I was really upfront andclear and proactive with my
customers that said, you knowwhat?
You said we were going to shipon the 20th, but it's looking
like it's going to be the 25th.
And so I think just making surethat we're proactive in that
(15:39):
communication is reallyimportant.
So that's sort of a way that weturned, you know, depending on
the situation, sometimes I'll,I'll let them in on things a
little bit more.
I think I have another storyabout that, but Other times
it's, try to keep it prettystraightforward.
Yeah.
Julie (15:53):
Having some of that transparency and it shows that
you're a human, that you're asmall business owner, and I
think that people really respondwell to that.
How did you communicate that?
Is that emails, social mediaprimarily?
Katie (16:06):
Email.
Yeah, primarily email.
Julie (16:08):
Yeah.
Katie (16:08):
And so there was another situation that we had that was
sort of out of our control, Andthis was again, right around the
pandemic time, not to use thatas an example again.
We have, you know, we ship NewYear's Eve boxes and, you know,
we'd ship them out and what wefound is that like 20 percent of
them were not moving.
Like we were tracking everythingand we're like, we're stuck.
(16:30):
What is going on?
Why we ship out of Maryland?
Like what is going on with theLinthicum,,Maryland like hub?
Like things are going there andstaying.
And so we were watching it.
We were watching it.
I was calling USPS.
Somebody told me you could calla congressman.
I even wrote him.
Like, I was doing everything totry to figure out, like, what
(16:50):
the, what I could do to helpsolve this problem.
But the truth was, it was out ofmy hands.
So what I really had to do wascommunicate honestly and
transparently and openly to mycustomers.
Now, what I didn't want to dowas tell everyone that we were
having a problem.
I wanted to really, you know,download that report, upload
that into my email server, likereally focus on that percent
(17:12):
that was having the issue andstart communicating with them.
So, you know, we were reallyproactive.
We would give, like, you know,feedback.
Weekly updates and you know,there was a few people who were
very angry, but we dideventually win them over.
I think because we were soproactive.
Some people did not get theirNew Year's E Box till the end of
(17:34):
January.
And so, we did, you know, compthem another box, but one lady,
one of our customers was sogreat.
She was like, I knew this wasgoing to happen.
She goes, Luckily, my kids likefive and they don't know what
the date is.
So we just celebrated New Year'son the 24th of January.
So, you know, some people reallymade the best of it.
And a lot of those customersthat have that happened to many
(17:55):
of them are still our customerstoday or because I think we
were, you know, honest and clearin our communication.
Julie (18:03):
Yeah.
So having the honesty, thattransparent and proactive
communication can help withretention then because they feel
like they're being taken care ofeven though their box is late.
And man, that's so frustratingtoo when you just see the
tracking stuck and there'snothing you can do.
What I found is sometimes, youknow, yeah, you might give them
(18:26):
a call or whatever, butsometimes things are moving
through the system so fast.
No matter what.
Postal service you're usingsometimes they're moving through
the system so fast that theydon't get scanned and I'll look
at the same tracking Two dayslater, and it's already across
the country and delivered whereI thought it was stuck
somewhere.
And so don't yeah But it's stillgood to have that proactive Kind
(18:48):
of conversation when you donotice it.
Yeah So what, let's recap someof the things that we've learned
through learning the hard way.
Katie (18:58):
I promise we have a lot of things that go right as well.
This was a really topic aboutlike just being transparent
about things that go wrong.
Because you're not a lot,sometimes I'm like, am I the
only one this way?
Like you can feel really alonewhen this is happening.
You have to be really brave, Ithink, is a thing and really
build up that resilience becauseI feel like as business owners,
(19:18):
we're always trying to have thatperfect experience for our
customers and you know, makesure that they're unboxing and
their experience in their box isreally just top notch and you
don't want to disappoint them.
It's really hard to write thatemail of like, I'm sorry to let
you know, like, this is what'shappening.
So, I think, the thing I'velearned is it has gotten easier
(19:39):
with time.
Like, the first time that thesethings happen is always the
worst.
And when you're gonna panic andbe the most scared.
But, the more you practice it,the more you really try to stay
solution oriented.
You know, the better it's goingto be.
Julie (19:52):
I used to keep swipe files of like when something
like that would happen.
So I wouldn't get superemotional about like, Oh gosh,
I'm really sorry.
I already had this written.
I would just copy and paste itand then give it a little
personal.
Touch to it.
But that helped me manage myemotions because that's why I
hired Renee for customer servicebecause I get way too emotional
in the inbox.
Renae (20:13):
Yeah, I can deal with it and send it off when you're
like, Because it was mybusiness, baby.
And that's another thing, ifyou're listening, it is, It's
overwhelming.
You are not alone.
But also if you're proactive,like you said, you can have
these solutions.
So it is more transactionalrather than emotional and you're
able to deal with it and thenbless it and release it and move
(20:35):
on.
Because as business owners, wedo have these things thrown at
us that if you're going to haveto pivot, you're going to have
to.
Find solution B C D and justkeep rolling with it and you're
not alone and you can you canalways come chat with us to
we're here the people right nextto you if you're here live are
here for you.
If you're listening, we're we'rehere for you.
(20:57):
I feel like so many times.
So many people talk about what'sgoing right and you feel
overwhelmed because it may notbe going right for you.
So we thought we would jump uphere and let you know it doesn't
always go right, but thatdoesn't mean you're not doing a
good job, right?
And I think the great thingabout these
Katie (21:13):
happening as you are growing your business is like
learning some of these thingsearly is actually an advantage
because it's much, much easierproblem to fix when something is
small.
And when it's a really big,really expensive, it might be
expensive to you now, right?
When I'm three times the size ofsome of these things happen like
I need to be prepared and bethinking ahead and if some Of
(21:34):
these things haven't happened.
I Wouldn't even know thequestions to ask me the things
to look out for so when thesethings happen definitely like
Make sure you learn from themand course correct
Renae (21:45):
and train your brain to really just like have that
always plan B and another thingsince a lot of these boxes are
product based, if you alwayshave like that product on hand
that in case something doesn'tcome in, you can throw into the
box.
Maybe product.
There's all these things thatyou'll learn as you go on.
But if you hear it first, thenit's like you said, a little, a
(22:05):
little easier to learn a littlefaster.
Julie (22:07):
Exactly.
We hope that you've enjoyedhearing some of our mistakes,
our failures, the times we'vefallen and gotten back up.
If you guys have stories toshare about this too, we would
love to hear them.
So after the podcast is over,Come see us.
We're gonna be over here andwould love to meet you and would
love to hear about your screwups too.
Renae (22:28):
and thank you again for being here.
Thank you, Katie for joining usand you can find us at
subscription box Basics onInstagram and we will talk to
you all soon.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming.
Hey, guys.
(00:00):
Welcome to Subscription BoxBasics, the podcast.
We are broadcasting live fromthe Sub Summit Studio stage
sponsored by Bold Commerce.
I'm Julie Ball, head coach atSubscription Box Basics, and
this is Renee Gonzalez.
Hi, everyone.
And we have a guest with us.
This is Katie Richardson fromYear Chair.
(00:21):
We're going to start out withsome introductions, and then we
are going to talk about whenthings go wrong.
I know the topic of this entiresummit this year is creating a
frictionless experience for yourcustomers.
But what about us?
What about the box owners?
We need frictionless experiencesas well, but that's not the
(00:42):
reality.
Sometimes things go wrong.
And so a little bit ofbackground about me.
I am Julie Ball.
I launched a box in 2016.
Sparkle Hustle Grow was asubscription box for female
entrepreneurs.
I sold it in 2022 and have beencoaching since with Renee as my
(01:02):
podcast co host and you want todo a quick introduction to you?
Renae (01:05):
Yeah, like Julie said, my name is Renee.
I joined Julie in thesubscription box world in 2017.
I was her first my first hire.
Yeah, her first hire and thenhas have been on this journey
with her ever since.
Before that I owned a brick andmortar boutique but now has
transitioned into thesubscription box world and
absolutely loving it.
(01:26):
So I help small business ownerswith their marketing and that is
part of the reason how I becameco host and we're here today
with Katie.
Katie, you want to introduceyourself?
Katie (01:36):
I'm Katie Richardson, and I am the owner and founder of
Year Cheer.
We're a holiday subscription boxthat helps busy families
decorate, connect, and celebrateholidays throughout the year.
And I launched in 2019 with thehelp of Subscription Box Boot
Camp, which is what is Julie'sand Renee's business.
(01:57):
So they really helped me getstarted, and I'm so excited to
be here.
Julie (02:00):
Okay, real quick.
Tell them why you started yourbox.
Because I think that's a reallyfunny story.
We're all moms, and there's alot of pressure sometimes to
really show up for your kids tomake holidays really awesome.
You can take it from here.
Yeah, so
Katie (02:16):
I'm a mom of four kids.
Prior to starting mysubscription box, I worked in
the corporate world, corporateretail.
So, worked long hours, traveleda lot.
A lot of things on my to do listand with a boss often calling me
at all hours of the day, so Youknow, it would become time for
Valentine's Day and my daughterwould be like, Mom, you know
(02:36):
We're talking February 13th hereand she would be like, Mom, what
are we doing for Valentine'sDay?
Sophia's mom is making heartshaped pancakes and has the
house all decorated in red andpink and I'm like Oh, gosh, I
just got back from my businessmeeting.
I'm like, yeah, we're going todo something.
We're going to do something fun.
And I would run to the basementand, like, find anything red I
could.
One, one year I was re wrappingbooks I'd just given them for
(02:58):
Christmas, but in red paper.
And the younger kids didn'trealize, but she realized it.
She was like, Mom, you're reallygood at Christmas and our
birthdays, but you sort of stinkat these other holidays.
And, Occasionally my sister, myolder sister, would send me a
box and one year she sent me abox of like green things for St.
Patrick's Day.
And it totally saved the day.
Like, I just opened her box, Iput everything out, I was like a
(03:22):
hero on St.
Patrick's Day.
And then my mom sent me somestuff for Easter.
So it was like this idea ofhaving like a, I call it like a
fairy godmother to help me outas a busy mom that I wanted to
bring to other moms.
So now we celebrate nineholidays throughout the year and
really help deliver thatexperience of family connections
(03:42):
and feeling like that Pinterestmom and having fun without the
hassle of planning it.
So,
Julie (03:48):
so you can imagine she has very, very seasonal
products.
So just quick.
Raise of hands.
Who has a perfect business thathas no problems with products,
with shipping, with logistics?
Anyone?
Okay, good.
No, you're in the right place.
Yeah, you're in the right place.
(04:09):
No hands.
So we're going to talk about,Katie's going to share three
stories about some really, like,oh crap moments and how she
pushed through those.
And so, the idea here is toencourage you to be resourceful.
To figure it out to be solutionsoriented.
And of course, sometimesscrappy.
(04:29):
We are entrepreneurs, so we getscrappy.
So let's talk about the firstone, Katie, we're going to talk
about product delivery delays,but no one here has had that
problem, right?
Yeah.
Right.
Never.
Okay.
So tell us what happened, Katie.
Yeah.
So
Katie (04:44):
this was in probably 2021 and we had worked with a new
vendor to source this reallyadorable product of Shrinky
Dink.
Letters to Santa.
So it was like this cute thingand the kids were gonna do it.
It's gonna shrink up.
Well We get to the middle ofNovember and all of my other
product has arrived But theshrinky dinks have not yet
(05:06):
arrived and I'm starting to belike I'm contacting this new
vendor I was working with and hewas like, sorry, I can't tell
you where it is.
And I'm like, what do you mean?
What do you mean tell it is I'mlike the time is ticking like,
you know The holidays Christmasis coming like that.
We need to change that datedoesn't change exactly so This
product like still wasn'tarriving at me.
(05:26):
I had no visibility to when itwas going to come, but I knew
that my boxes needed to go out.
So I had to really start comingup with a contingency plan.
So the first thing that we didis we packed all of the boxes
except for this item and justsort of like stacked them up,
you know, without the tissuepaper clothes, just waiting for
this item to stop.
Ready.
So you can slap ready to go.
(05:47):
Then the second thing is becauseI didn't know if this item was
going to arrive or not.
I had to come up with acontingency plan.
So I figured out a way that youcould actually buy, like, shrink
eating paper on Amazon.
And I figured out a way that itneeded an inkjet printer to
print it.
So I went to Walmart and boughtsix inkjet printers.
(06:07):
And, and, you know, bought,because I had to make over a
thousand inkjet printers.
And so I found a way to likeprint it myself and I didn't
start the mass printing.
I started, I sort of had startedit.
I was prepared.
I figured out a solution.
I knew what I was going to do.
I'd done new instructions.
Like I figured out how I wasgoing to package it.
(06:28):
And then my husband and I weresupposed to go out on a date
night one night.
My husband's in the audience.
Yes, who's actually right here.
He reminded me of this part ofthe story.
And then the UPS driver who likeis on speed dial in my phone,
Joshua, calls me and he's like,They've arrived.
You can come get them.
So I literally like, I was like,date night is off.
We're going to UPS.
We're picking up the productsand we're like brought a bunch
(06:51):
of friends in to help me like aChristmas miracle, pack the
boxes and get them out the nextday.
But the reason why I bring thatup is like, I did have a
solution.
I was able to return all theinkjet printers, except for one.
I have kept that one.
But it's just an example of howcan I learn from that?
One is to make sure that like,it was a good example of being
(07:13):
solution oriented.
I didn't panic, I just went intohow are we going to fix this?
Where there's a will, there's away.
Yes, I'm like, there's gotta bea way we can do this.
And then the second thing is, Ireally had to take a good look
at myself and say, Are youleaving enough time when you're
working with new vendors?
So I really took a look at myproduct development calendar and
moved everything back at least amonth, month and a half so that
(07:34):
I could give myself more cushionif things were to happen again.
Just
Julie (07:37):
extended that buffer.
Katie (07:38):
Yeah.
Julie (07:39):
I mean, anything can happen.
We had a product that was a verytime sensitive product.
It was a planner.
I mean, you can't use a plannerlate.
And it was in California, whereRenee lives, And I packed the
boxes in the Carolinas.
There was a wildfire.
Trucks physically could notleave the state.
(08:01):
So it's not like, that wasn'tsomething that I did wrong, but
I had to react to it.
And so you just never know.
Worldwide pandemics can impactdelays.
You know, that, you just neverknow.
So I love that you had yourcontingency plan ready, like
queued up.
A.
I.
out.
Luckily, he didn't need it, butit was there.
Katie (08:21):
Yes, it was going to be a lot of long hours of a very slow
inkjet printer.
Can you
Renae (08:25):
imagine?
And then your next story is alsoone, I think, as business
owners, something we can allrelate from and something that
has probably happened to us, butyou have a story for us.
Let's talk when things arriveddamaged and you have to do
quantity control.
Katie (08:42):
Yes.
I mean, every month it feelslike there's something, you
know, there's somethingunexpected that goes wrong.
So if you're dealing with this,no, you're not alone.
And these things happen to allof us.
So, you know, we've had a coupleof things happen where either
packaging got crushed on, youknow, in shipping for us or,
(09:02):
something, just the qualitywasn't what we expected when we
ordered our sample from thevendor.
So we have had to do things likeDo repacking.
Print a new insert.
our goal is always to not letthe customer see.
what is happening to stillprovide the customer with the
best experience possible.
(09:23):
I said, you want to be like aduck, but we're on the water.
Everything looks smooth andeverything's going right.
But underneath you're like, Ohno, we gotta, we gotta really
figure this out.
We're going to have to see thatpackaging that has a spelling
mistake on it.
Rip it all out of that, throwthat away.
And like, we're going to figureit out.
So I think it's all about justlike sometimes, especially when
you're a smaller startupbusiness, which you know, we
(09:45):
still are, but it's.
Sometimes you just have to grindthrough it and make it happen
and, and figure it out so thatyou don't disappoint your
customers.
Because I've found when I havesent something out that I don't
feel great about.
My anxiety level is so high thatit's almost not worth it.
I'd rather do the work to fix itthan send it out and worry about
(10:06):
like, have I ruined, what have Iruined?
Right, you're
Julie (10:09):
just bracing for impact.
Because if someone doesn't likesomething, they're much more
likely to tell people about iton social media or reviews or
whatever.
So, I can relate to that.
Let's talk a little bit abouthow you remedied some of those
things.
So, I'll tell a quick story.
I I had bought about a thousandbooks that were white covers.
(10:29):
And these white covers got dirtyas they were in transit from
warehouse to warehouse to myhouse.
And so, I couldn't send dirtybooks.
Like, they just looked reallybad.
And so, myself, my husband, anda couple of friends, we got
those white art erasers, and wejust cleaned them.
Like, we just erased all thedirt right off of it.
(10:50):
Not one complaint came inbecause they didn't know that at
one point, they were dirty,dusty covers.
That's the type of thing thatcan really make a difference.
Because if I had sent those out,it I know that I would have
gotten more cancellations.
We would have, customer serviceinbox would have been blowing
up.
I don't, I'd rather put in thatextra grunt work to get scrappy
(11:13):
and clean them up myself.
Now you can do that, if you'rein a warehouse, like if you have
a third party fulfillmentcenter, that can be handled
through special projects.
So maybe they have a staff thatwould do that for you and you
just have to budget for it.
But, It's it's well worth thetime.
So tell us some stories abouthow you might have remedied some
things.
I think you mentioned somestickers
Katie (11:34):
This one is a little embarrassing.
I'm gonna tell this story.
We have we make leprechauntraps.
Okay, and What's a leprechauntrap?
A leprechaun trap is, if youdon't know, a leprechaun trap is
something that you set up thenight before St.
Patrick's Day so that you cancatch the leprechaun when it
comes to your house.
Often times he might make a messand torn your toilet water
(11:55):
cream.
Just in case, you know, youdon't have a leprechaun in your
house, that's what he does.
And so, we had a leprechaun trapstickers come in and there was a
spelling mistake.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, howdid I, it was my fault.
I missed it in the proof fromthe vendor.
But I was like, what are wegoing to do?
Like, I can't send these outwith a spelling mistake.
And it was
Julie (12:14):
borderline inappropriate.
So it could not be sent.
Katie (12:17):
It was borderline.
Ask us after the recording.
And so we had to go and buy justlike shamrock stickers to
sticker over the sticker.
Because it was like another oneof these things where it's like,
it's not worth sending outsomething that you In your mind,
you're like, is somebody goingto take this as like a double
and, you know, like a, you know,something inappropriate.
So that was an example of likewhere we just had to get scrappy
(12:40):
and make it happen.
Julie (12:41):
Yeah.
And so packaging too.
You had mentioned sometimespackaging might arrive.
Damaged, ripped, whatever.
And so, have you in the past hadto repackage things?
Katie (12:52):
Yes, we've definitely had to repackage things a few times.
So, whether it was, you know,that it was damaged, or whether
it was just not exactly what youexpected.
We've had a vendor, like,literally put the wrong
packaging on.
So, we've had these really cute,again, St.
Patrick's Day seems to not be mylucky holiday.
Seriously.
We have these really cuterainbows and they came in with
like a picture of a baby onthem.
(13:14):
This is not a baby toy.
Ted calling my vendor, Jack,what is this?
This is not at all what wediscussed.
How did he respond?
He was like, Oh, well that'sanother story.
But I was like, we cannot sendthis out.
We'll be like a baby toy this isa St.
Patrick's day celebration,magical rainbow, not a baby toy.
(13:34):
And so we literally, my team andI, my team was busy like,
Pulling them all out.
Luckily they were packagedunderneath, but.
Sometimes
Julie (13:42):
we've had to get a little scrappy.
Can anyone relate?
Has anyone had to do any of thistype of stuff yet?
I see a couple of yeses.
Yeah,
Katie (13:49):
but the good news is like having learned these lessons and
having made some of thesemistakes when we were at a
smaller scale definitely taughtme like You have to, of course
you know this, but sometimes Ilearn things the hard way.
Like, you have to always makesure you're double checking.
You know, check for everyspelling mistake.
Double check the packaging.
If you're at all worried, like,ask that question one more time.
(14:12):
Make sure you, they send you thesample with final packaging.
A
Julie (14:14):
physical sample too.
Not just a picture sample.
And if you're ordering fromoverseas, You need to make sure
you're speaking in the samesize.
Like, you might think that youordered something that was like
a 6x9x3 inch box, which is, youknow, yoga block sized, but it
might arrive in like centimetersor millimeters.
(14:34):
Like, cause you have, you mighthave not communicated that.
I've seen that happen.
That didn't happen to me, but.
Oh, gosh, it was so painful tosee it happen.
Renae (14:43):
Okay, the marketer and me is going off script a little
bit.
But hearing you talk and youtell your stories and thinking
of how you can use this to youradvantage from a marketing
perspective and with yourcustomers.
Can you tell us?
I know we were talking before alittle bit of how you're turning
this into an opportunity whereyou then come clean to your
customers after it's allResolved and you're paddling
(15:07):
under the water, but it's smoothand how you come clean and let
them know like hey this happenedBut here is something that Let
letting them know that you'rehuman
Katie (15:16):
Well, I think a good example of that is that in that
first example with the shrinkydinks like We weren't going to
make, even if I had to make itmyself, we weren't going to make
our original shipping date.
So I was really upfront andclear and proactive with my
customers that said, you knowwhat?
You said we were going to shipon the 20th, but it's looking
like it's going to be the 25th.
And so I think just making surethat we're proactive in that
(15:39):
communication is reallyimportant.
So that's sort of a way that weturned, you know, depending on
the situation, sometimes I'll,I'll let them in on things a
little bit more.
I think I have another storyabout that, but Other times
it's, try to keep it prettystraightforward.
Yeah.
Julie (15:53):
Having some of that transparency and it shows that
you're a human, that you're asmall business owner, and I
think that people really respondwell to that.
How did you communicate that?
Is that emails, social mediaprimarily?
Katie (16:06):
Email.
Yeah, primarily email.
Julie (16:08):
Yeah.
Katie (16:08):
And so there was another situation that we had that was
sort of out of our control, Andthis was again, right around the
pandemic time, not to use thatas an example again.
We have, you know, we ship NewYear's Eve boxes and, you know,
we'd ship them out and what wefound is that like 20 percent of
them were not moving.
Like we were tracking everythingand we're like, we're stuck.
(16:30):
What is going on?
Why we ship out of Maryland?
Like what is going on with theLinthicum,,Maryland like hub?
Like things are going there andstaying.
And so we were watching it.
We were watching it.
I was calling USPS.
Somebody told me you could calla congressman.
I even wrote him.
Like, I was doing everything totry to figure out, like, what
(16:50):
the, what I could do to helpsolve this problem.
But the truth was, it was out ofmy hands.
So what I really had to do wascommunicate honestly and
transparently and openly to mycustomers.
Now, what I didn't want to dowas tell everyone that we were
having a problem.
I wanted to really, you know,download that report, upload
that into my email server, likereally focus on that percent
(17:12):
that was having the issue andstart communicating with them.
So, you know, we were reallyproactive.
We would give, like, you know,feedback.
Weekly updates and you know,there was a few people who were
very angry, but we dideventually win them over.
I think because we were soproactive.
Some people did not get theirNew Year's E Box till the end of
(17:34):
January.
And so, we did, you know, compthem another box, but one lady,
one of our customers was sogreat.
She was like, I knew this wasgoing to happen.
She goes, Luckily, my kids likefive and they don't know what
the date is.
So we just celebrated New Year'son the 24th of January.
So, you know, some people reallymade the best of it.
And a lot of those customersthat have that happened to many
(17:55):
of them are still our customerstoday or because I think we
were, you know, honest and clearin our communication.
Julie (18:03):
Yeah.
So having the honesty, thattransparent and proactive
communication can help withretention then because they feel
like they're being taken care ofeven though their box is late.
And man, that's so frustratingtoo when you just see the
tracking stuck and there'snothing you can do.
What I found is sometimes, youknow, yeah, you might give them
(18:26):
a call or whatever, butsometimes things are moving
through the system so fast.
No matter what.
Postal service you're usingsometimes they're moving through
the system so fast that theydon't get scanned and I'll look
at the same tracking Two dayslater, and it's already across
the country and delivered whereI thought it was stuck
somewhere.
And so don't yeah But it's stillgood to have that proactive Kind
(18:48):
of conversation when you donotice it.
Yeah So what, let's recap someof the things that we've learned
through learning the hard way.
Katie (18:58):
I promise we have a lot of things that go right as well.
This was a really topic aboutlike just being transparent
about things that go wrong.
Because you're not a lot,sometimes I'm like, am I the
only one this way?
Like you can feel really alonewhen this is happening.
You have to be really brave, Ithink, is a thing and really
build up that resilience becauseI feel like as business owners,
(19:18):
we're always trying to have thatperfect experience for our
customers and you know, makesure that they're unboxing and
their experience in their box isreally just top notch and you
don't want to disappoint them.
It's really hard to write thatemail of like, I'm sorry to let
you know, like, this is what'shappening.
So, I think, the thing I'velearned is it has gotten easier
(19:39):
with time.
Like, the first time that thesethings happen is always the
worst.
And when you're gonna panic andbe the most scared.
But, the more you practice it,the more you really try to stay
solution oriented.
You know, the better it's goingto be.
Julie (19:52):
I used to keep swipe files of like when something
like that would happen.
So I wouldn't get superemotional about like, Oh gosh,
I'm really sorry.
I already had this written.
I would just copy and paste itand then give it a little
personal.
Touch to it.
But that helped me manage myemotions because that's why I
hired Renee for customer servicebecause I get way too emotional
in the inbox.
Renae (20:13):
Yeah, I can deal with it and send it off when you're
like, Because it was mybusiness, baby.
And that's another thing, ifyou're listening, it is, It's
overwhelming.
You are not alone.
But also if you're proactive,like you said, you can have
these solutions.
So it is more transactionalrather than emotional and you're
able to deal with it and thenbless it and release it and move
(20:35):
on.
Because as business owners, wedo have these things thrown at
us that if you're going to haveto pivot, you're going to have
to.
Find solution B C D and justkeep rolling with it and you're
not alone and you can you canalways come chat with us to
we're here the people right nextto you if you're here live are
here for you.
If you're listening, we're we'rehere for you.
(20:57):
I feel like so many times.
So many people talk about what'sgoing right and you feel
overwhelmed because it may notbe going right for you.
So we thought we would jump uphere and let you know it doesn't
always go right, but thatdoesn't mean you're not doing a
good job, right?
And I think the great thingabout these
Katie (21:13):
happening as you are growing your business is like
learning some of these thingsearly is actually an advantage
because it's much, much easierproblem to fix when something is
small.
And when it's a really big,really expensive, it might be
expensive to you now, right?
When I'm three times the size ofsome of these things happen like
I need to be prepared and bethinking ahead and if some Of
(21:34):
these things haven't happened.
I Wouldn't even know thequestions to ask me the things
to look out for so when thesethings happen definitely like
Make sure you learn from themand course correct
Renae (21:45):
and train your brain to really just like have that
always plan B and another thingsince a lot of these boxes are
product based, if you alwayshave like that product on hand
that in case something doesn'tcome in, you can throw into the
box.
Maybe product.
There's all these things thatyou'll learn as you go on.
But if you hear it first, thenit's like you said, a little, a
(22:05):
little easier to learn a littlefaster.
Julie (22:07):
Exactly.
We hope that you've enjoyedhearing some of our mistakes,
our failures, the times we'vefallen and gotten back up.
If you guys have stories toshare about this too, we would
love to hear them.
So after the podcast is over,Come see us.
We're gonna be over here andwould love to meet you and would
love to hear about your screwups too.
Renae (22:28):
and thank you again for being here.
Thank you, Katie for joining usand you can find us at
subscription box Basics onInstagram and we will talk to
you all soon.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming.
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