During this episode, Priyanka Batra shares her love of fashion and how that influences her products, how growing up the daughter of immigrants influenced her career path, and she talks about overcoming imposter syndrome. We also talk about how she jumped into her first trade show too quickly with only 3 weeks to prepare and the lessons she learned the hard way in that experience.
Read MoreHey friends! I’m really excited for you to listen in on today’s episode with Jean Marie Sanchez of Little Feet’s Opus. The story behind Jean’s products is truly remarkable - each of them stems from personal stories of the strong women in her life and spreads joy, empowerment and relatable life moments.
Jean made an intentional goal to create products that are both inclusive and diverse. In our conversation, she talked about the ah-ha moment she had where she realized there was space in the market for a line of products.
She shares her experiences in the Emerging Artists section of NSS for two consecutive shows including the pros and cons of exhibiting as an emerging artist versus having your own booth. We also talked about how Jean defines success through the impact she makes on others.
Read MoreHey friends! Today I want to chat with you about the recent Faire Summer market and share both insights and concerns after leading hundreds of people through what is likely our first of many online trade shows.
I’m happy to report that our Paper Camp alumni community and LABS members had some strong sales during the show. Some received a handful of orders, while others secured more than 40 orders in a two day span. In addition to the cash influx, I was pleased to hear that many in our community received wholesale orders from new stores they had never worked with and many had reorders from past accounts who were reconnecting.
In this episode I’m walking you through pros and cons of these types of shows, why I’m not a fan of discounting your products to get sales and why you should continue your marketing post-show.
Read MoreHey friends! As more and more of you are dipping your toes into the world of virtual tradeshows I’ve been receiving questions on how to build out strategic marketing plans for these events.
That’s why today I am exploring the tactics you can implement to help reach more of your wholesale customers at a virtual tradeshow event. You’ll learn how you can determine if a virtual tradeshow is the right fit for you and your budget. I discuss using a tiered outreach system and all of the different avenues I recommend using (plus tips for optimizing each one!)
Hey friends! As we all continue to navigate through this pandemic it’s important that you continue to connect with your customers and build strong relationships with them.
Something as simple as checking in with your wholesale clients or retail customers can go a long way in making them feel cared for. That’s exactly what today’s guest, Kate Murray of Quick Brown Fox Letterpress has done to make sure she’s supporting her customers.
In this episode, Kate shares her story of how she got started in the printing industry. She talks about how she saved an old letterpress from the scrapyard and spent three months bringing it back to life. Kate and I talk about the various trade shows she’s done and her different revenue streams. She also discusses the biggest challenges she faces within her business and her plans for expanding her product line beyond just stationery.
Read MoreHey friends! We’re going to be switching things up a little for today’s episode. I’ve decided that once a month we’ll be airing a live coaching session with one of my coaching clients or a Paper Camp alumni on the podcast. It’ll be a short, hot seat format coaching session where the guest will talk about what they’re working on and what they need help with. I’ll be giving them my candid off the cuff advice, recommendations and even some homework because we’re all about taking action!
For our first live coaching episode, I was joined by Paper Camp alumni, Shirlee Fisher of Quiet Lines Design. She has a few hesitations and questions about the timing of her launch and the wholesale market. We work through the three things she needs to prepare and make ready before the launch so she can launch her products confidently.
In this episode, we chat about lining up your launch with the release cycles of the stationery industry, why having 40+ SKUs will help you get more customers and why sometimes you have to wait until things are ready.
Read MorePart 1: Last week I took a whirlwind trip to New York to visit with more than 40 of our Paper Camp alumni who were exhibiting at NY Now and the National Stationery Show. It was so exciting to see everyone’s hard work live and in person — their new products were innovative, their booths were beautiful and their confidence was shining through. It was awesome.
While I was there, I was able to grab some time with a handful of our alumni to talk shop about the show, goals they set and how they plan to follow-up after the show.
We’re breaking this into a two-part series. The first part features several of our veteran exhibitors from the Paper Camp family including Rebekah from Wild Ink Press, Christina from Public School Paper Co, Beth from Little Goat Paper Co, Jeni from E. Frances Paper and Juliana from Good Juju Ink.
In Part 2 on Thursday, we’re sharing interviews with Paper Camp alumni who were exhibiting in the emerging artists’ section as well as first-time exhibitors! Today’s show features Rachel from Hazel & Dolly, Chandler from Joy Paper Co, Lisa from Rhino Parade, Janine from Kwohtations, Tammie from Tiger Pocket Press and Juana from Loteria Press.
Read MoreLast week I took a whirlwind trip to New York to visit with more than 40 of our Paper Camp alumni who were exhibiting at NY Now and the National Stationery Show. It was so exciting to see everyone’s hard work live and in person — their new products were innovative, their booths were beautiful and their confidence was shining through. It was awesome.
While I was there, I was able to grab some time with a handful of our alumni to talk shop about the show, goals they set and how they plan to follow-up after the show.
We’re breaking this into a two-part series. The first part features several of our veteran exhibitors from the Paper Camp family including Rebekah from Wild Ink Press, Christina from Public School Paper Co, Beth from Little Goat Paper Co, Jenn from E. Frances Paper and Juliana from Good Juju INk.
In Part 2 on Thursday, we’re sharing interviews with Paper Camp alumni who were exhibiting in the emerging artists’ section as well as first-time exhibitors! Today’s show features Racheal from Hazel & Dolly, Chandler from Joy Paper Co, Lisa from Rhino Parade, Janine from Kwohtations, Tammie from Tiger Pocket Press and Juanna from Loteria.
Read MoreFor Cecily Moore, her business, The Paper Curator, started as a blog and over time, transitioned into a product based business. She first began her journey while working at a job and trying to find the next step in her career. She thought, “why not start a blog?” From there she began to document the creative endeavors she pursued in her everyday life before launching her first products.
She gives us a breakdown of her first craft show experience, her Paper Camp journey and what she’s learned from attending the show. We chat about how putting ample effort into her research and development has helped her build a sustainable business.
Today’s episode dives deep into what it means to bootstrap your business and build everything from the ground up. She talks about how she decides whether to invest in equipment to help her create her products, how bootstrapping has integrated into her wholesale strategy and budget and what it’s been like scaling her handmade products into wholesale.
Read MoreHey friends, when you’re building your wholesale business there’s no doubt that you’ll be headed to trade shows to get your product out there and in front of the right buyers. The reality is, trade shows are expensive and you don’t want to waste a single minute while exhibiting.
In this episode, I reverse engineer what it really costs to exhibit at a trade show from an hourly rate perspective. This will help you to realize how much every hour counts while exhibiting and the importance of using your time to connect with others, write orders and doing market research. It’s not the time to be admiring other people’s products or talking to your booth neighbors (there’s plenty of time to do that during break down or set up or even after hours). I talk about why you need to know your numbers, how Paper Camp helps attendees to know where to save money and where to splurge during shows and the importance of preparation.
Read MoreHey Friends! Winter show season is kicking off so we thought we would re-run this episode from last year. We have alumni going to Atlanta, Japan, Las Vegas and of course NY Now and NSS in February. It is show season so we wanted to get this front and center for you so you could get ready for your show or just here what is going on at market. Enjoy!
Read MoreI’m recording this on a Sunday evening, just two short days after I finished hosting our 16th Paper Camp conference and I’m just now getting a chance to reflect on everything we did at Paper Camp and the amazing feedback we had from our students. In this episode, I want to share some of their key take-aways with you here on this episode.
But first I want to preface this conversation by saying we cover a lot of ground at Paper Camp. This is our signature program and we’ve helped over 1,000 small businesses on how to get their products on the shelves on their favorite retail shops. We talk about product development, sales tools for wholesale, sales strategies - working with reps and tech solutions like Faire, marketing to wholesale buyers and the nuts and bolts of exhibiting at shows.
Read MoreThis past week I traveled from Los Angeles to New York for two trade shows — the National Stationery Show and New York Now. We had just over 35 alumni exhibiting between the two shows, and while I was there, I had the chance to catch up with them about their exhibiting experiences.
Today’s compilation episode features interviews with 8 of our Paper Camp alumni. We talk about why each chose to exhibit where they did, they walk us through their decision-making process, what their goals were for the show and… tips they want to share with you all! Hope you enjoy!
Read MoreScholarship applications for our Paper Camp conference opened today, July 5th and will stay open until July 12th so I wanted to hop on here and share 5 tips for how to put your best foot forward when applying for scholarship opportunities, like ours.
A little background first…. Giving back is an important piece of the Proof to Product mission and we offer one full tuition scholarship to each and every Paper Camp conference and e-course that we offer.
Since 2011, I’ve awarded over $100,000 dollars worth of scholarship funds to our students. And, in that time my husband and I have reviewed tons of scholarship applications.
Here are our 5 ways to stand out in your scholarship application.
Read MoreHey friends, welcome back to Proof to Product! Today’s guest is Ginger Lyons, a serial entrepreneur who believes positive attitude, abundance mindset, and perseverance are the keys to a successful business model. A military veteran, Ginger is the creator behind Buffalo Girls Salvage, a jewelry design company that transforms salvaged copper, metal and bullet casings into beautiful, handmade pieces.
Since 2012, Ginger’s company has been inspiring women and honoring law enforcement officials through creative designs. She is also passionate about investing in mainstreet America, supporting small businesses and coaching female entrepreneurs.
On today's episode, Ginger and I talk about her incredible “backward” business journey. She shares what it was like to have a storefront, employees, national manufacturing network and the opportunity to appear on Shark Tank, and why she pivoted her business to stay true to her ‘why’. We talk about how our definition of success often changes over the course of time, how entrepreneurship is always a choice, and the importance of sharing our journey to help others.
I hope you enjoy Ginger's story of growth, strategic pivoting, and the lessons she learned along the way!
Read MoreWelcome back to Proof to Product, all you small business hustlers, and creative entrepreneurs! Today we have a great episode in store for you with guest Jeanetta Gonzales, a Los Angeles-based graphic designer, and illustrator. Jeanetta began her career as a graphic designer working for corporate companies such as WedMD, Mattel and The Disney Store. She later parlayed her digital and fine art skills into surface design working as a textile designer and style guide designer for consumer products and creating illustrations and art that she licenses to manufacturers for products sold online and in major retail stores. On top of all of this, Jeanetta also runs her own online store where she sells her art on print items, mugs, fabric, home decor items and more.
On today’s episode, Jeanetta shares her experience with licensing and tells us why you have to be in it for the long game. We talk about why relationships are so important in business, why it’s necessary to create art and products with a unique point of view, and her goal to spread joy through a variety of creative means.
Read MoreToday we’re back with Part 2 of our NY Now and National Stationery Show recap!
As you may have heard, NSS which was previously held in May, moved to February this year to co-locate with NY Now. 39 of our Tradeshow Bootcamp alumni were exhibiting at the two shows and one of the main questions I had for them was — how have the shows merging affected you?
It was interesting to see the different responses.
If you listen to Part 1 of this series, you’ll hear the that the NSS exhibitors mentioned specific pros and cons of the shows co-locating. But, when I asked the NY Now exhibitors about the effects, they didn’t notice much of a difference.
Many of our NY Now exhibitors have been exhibiting at NY Now for several shows, doing both the summer and winter show. Most used to also do the National Stationery Show when t was in May — so three large NY shows a year. In these interviews you’ll also hear how they are branching out to other shows, and they’ll talk about the difference in these shows and why they ultimately chose NY Now over NSS.
Today’s episode features interviews with Lindsay Henry of Inklings Paperie, Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress, Erika Caskey of Chez Gagne, Danelle Bliss of Wishbone Letterpress, Rebekah Tennis of Wild Ink Press, and Victoria Venturi of Paper Epiphanies.
I hope you enjoy this special series!
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