001 | Strategic product development with Jen Pham Corbett & Lisa Towns
Jen Pham-Corbett and Lisa Towns, the founders of Farewell Paperie attended Tradeshow Bootcamp’s very first Paper Camp conference in 2012, when it was just a handful of us sitting around on the living room floor of a bed and breakfast, and since then, they’ve had a ton of growth in their business. They’ve exhibited shows, expanded their product line. They’ve hired a team, and they’ve worked with sales reps. They’ve also been Paper Camp speakers for the last few years. These ladies are super smart business women and fantastic mentors to others in the creative field.
ON TODAY’S EPISODE:
Farewell Paperie’s story
Moving from custom work to off the shelf products
Launching to wholesale & reaching out to retailers
Exhibiting at their first trade show, SF Gift
Taking risks in business. When to jump and when to get to work
Product development strategies and deciding which ideas to move forward. Missteps made in the process
Expanding beyond paper products into party ware
Organic growth and creating a cohesive line
Tips for managing a team & how Jen & Lisa knew it was time to hire
Employee manuals & team systems
Benefits of having a business partner, leveraging each other’s strengths & splitting responsibilities
Exit strategies, legalities & business formation
Diversifying revenue streams
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KEY TAKE-AWAYS
“Jump in feet first, not head first.” – Lisa Towns
On product development consider “is this the right price point that we can sell this, do we have the margins that we need, how much inventory can we handle” – Lisa Towns
“There’s so much hesitation and fear of failure, that people hold themselves back.” – Jen Pham-Corbett
“When you delegate parts of your business, it opens up things that can provide a much bigger return for the business.” – Jen Pham-Corbett
“At the end of the day, each of our products passes through three or four sets of hands and we have to pay every single one of those sets of hands to do that, so we have to factor that into the costs. Looking at it that way has changed the way we develop our product completely.” – Jen Pham-Corbett
“Sometimes there’s stuff that we love to do and we totally want to do it but we just can’t do it because we can’t make the margins on it.” – Jen Pham-Corbett
“We probably should have hired a long time before we did, but we resisted because we thought about how we can afford to bring someone on?– Jen Pham-Corbett
On business partnerships: “You have to want the same goals and you have to want the same things for your brand.” – Jen Pham-Corbett
CONNECT WITH JEN & LISA
Facebook: farewellpaperie | Instagram: @farewellpaperie | Pinterest: farewellpaperie | Twitter: @farewellpaperie
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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