083 | Exhibiting at craft shows with Danni Hong, oh hello friend

Danni Hong is a designer, business owner, and lover of all things paper. She started oh, hello friend in 2008 and has been hustling ever since at craft shows and trade shows worldwide! Her ultimate goal thru her business is to convey joy thru oh hello friend products and brighten someone’s day.

Danni attended Proof to Product’s Paper Camp prior to exhibiting at her first wholesale show, but she has a lot of experience exhibiting at craft shows near and far which she talks about in today’s episode. We also talked about Danni’s journey of scaling up and scaling down. She shares her experiences exhibiting at craft shows near and far. She also talked about her experience opening a brick and mortar shop and how she decided which products to carry in her store. Danni also discussed what it was like operating three different arms of her business.

ON TODAY’S EPISODE:

The types of products oh, hello friend offers
The steps she took after opening her Etsy shop to grow her business
Danni’s experience with craft shows & how they benefited her business
Her tips & tricks on streamlining processes to be able to do shows
How she determines how much product to bring to craft shows
Danni’s experience opening a brick and mortar shop
How she decided which products to carry in her store
Her experience managing multiple arms of her business at once
The way that owning a store impacted her customer service & the way she develops her product line
What she would go back and change about her business if she could
What’s next for oh, hello friend

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KEY TAKE-AWAYS

“There’s potentially thousands of people coming through these shows, and even if a small percentage is taking your business card, that’s still your business card going into the hands of potential customers, and them telling their friends.” – Danni Hong

“I think there’s so much value in going to other cities if you can.” – Danni Hong

“I always wanted to open a store.” – Danni Hong

“I had been doing craft shows for a few years and I was able to save up enough money to not have to take out any loans or really go into any debt to open the store.” – Danni Hong

“When making a decision of what to carry, we carried a lot of brands that are actually friends from the industry, they’re all made locally, or letterpressed, hand-lettered, all supporting small artists.” – Danni Hong

“I just get a lot of joy from finding something and then bringing it back into the store and then seeing other people’s reaction or responses to it.”– Danni Hong

“Nothing can really truly succeed when you’re just being pulled in so many directions.” – Danni Hong

“Take a step back and really examine things that bring you joy, and do more of those things. I’m not saying you can’t work hard, I think it’s so admirable to work hard, but I just think I just really lost myself in it.” – Danni Hong

“Hard work is how we build these businesses and it’s how we become successful, but you don’t need to be in a constant state of hustle.” – Danni Hong

“I think at the end of the day, I just want to be creating products that bring people encouragement or joy.” – Danni Hong

CONNECT WITH DANNI HONG

Website: oh, hello friend | Instagram: @ohhellofriend | Facebook: @ohhellofriend

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