Boost Your Boutique With Emily Benson

5:28.0: So I want to talk about the big picture that I want to talk about industry and then I want to talk about you, how you're feeling.7:47.2: From being a boutique owner to you being a human in the world, right? We are managing a lot. 10:54.0: If you can get yourself to 12 to 15K, you're good. You're in good shape. You know, like you're good. You're rocking and rolling. 12:16.1: It does feel like hate and division and the wanting to pit sides against each other and all this kind of like, it just, it's happening again, kind of like during COVID.13:53.8: That is what we've also been revealed to us is we need to be aware of what's going on. 15:20.2: Your work is going to always affect not only your family. That's the obvious, but your work does have an effect on the world. 16:45.9: I believe so much in every single person who's on the other side of this microphone who is I'm in your ears right now. I believe in you so much.20:50.9: I want you to feel validated. I want you to feel safe. I w

2:03.7: What you're about to listen to is a group coaching call. We include group coaching calls with all of our programs. So, we have three levels of programs. This particular call is for our Boutique Basics Bootcamp course. 7:07.0: If you think you can sell everything to everyone and have something for everyone. I've been preaching this for years.  And you're going to see it come true in the next six months, like harder than ever, because you can't just sell something for everyone because everyone is no one. 13:20.5: I am Arianne Braverman. If you don't know who I am, um, I am one of the coaches here at Boutique Training Academy. Emily and I go way back. Uh, but I also have my own boutique. It's an online jewelry and accessories boutique called Arianne's Jewel Box. 15:00.6: The reason why I love fourth quarter so much is because I love the energy. I love the spirit, the hustle bustle. Like it just drives me. 16:15.1: If you ordered anything special for black friday Make sure you kno

2:16.5: There's no one path to success.3:13.3: There's been some quick fixes or people who've started businesses really quickly and maybe seen some success. But this is where the short and longterm thinking in my mind happens because you have to be on the pulse and you also have to be thinking longterm.4:37.4: Size inclusivity has been something that we have been fighting for from vendors, from brands for so long. This is something that, you know, we want more cute clothes and inclusive sizing period. 6:22.4: We're just kind of, again, reinforcing the fact that women fluctuate sizes no matter what.7:05.4: And while we don't want to take our eye off the ball with making sure brands and. Vendors have inclusive sizing, also watching our customer base, watching our size selling, seeing if we're like something's changing because this might not affect you at all.7:29.1: I think we have to recognize that as boutique owners, we have to start being really flexible. We have to start understanding that our demograp

5:32.0: You know, there's a lot of people that just step into entrepreneurship and it's like not their thing and no judgment.6:47.0: Because let's be honest. Most people that own a boutique and you know, I know I have my dudes out there and I also have mostly women I'm chatting with, right? And we know we are tired like we were tired.7:48.6: I think we have to all really, really be honest about when we start a boutique. Like, what's enough? What's enough for you? What's not enough? What's worth it? What's not? 9:24.2: It's money and numbers that we in a capitalistic, like, society have been raised to look to for success. And I don't really believe that that's true anymore.10:59.9: I really feel so strongly that you should be afforded a business that can make you money and give you a really nice life. Whatever that looks like to you.12:28.4: I think we focus on all the wrong things when we start businesses sometimes because we think we just have to do all the things and it's not true.13:29.3: Billionaires

8:35.0: I've been studying money and money mindset for a long time. I will preface all of this conversation. With a short legal disclaimer saying, I am not an accountant.9:33.1: I want to speak to this idea of debt because especially in the United States this is something that Basically, our society has decided is bad and I'm here to kind of flip the script on that for you boutique owners. 11:00.8: So often as women, we give away our power around money.11:48.3: Taking out a 300, 000 loan that's called a mortgage isn't considered debt. Like, FYI, that is debt, okay? It's the same as the credit card debt you use to invest in inventory for your business. 13:04.6: We also then look at someone who's spent money on a credit card to invest in their business and think that that's bad. Guess what? That business could actually grow. 13:51.8: Can we start switching our mindset around calling money we have used to invest in our business, actually an investment and not freaking debt. 16:08.3: You've go

1:28.3: It's going to cost you some money, obviously, to have a point-of-sale system, meaning you need somewhere to sell it and accept credit cards.2:13.8: If you're going to start a boutique, uh, whether it's home decor, gifts, children's, women's, men's, you've got to think about what are the things that people buy most often? What are the categories that they're buying? 3:55.7: Now people always say like, Oh, I should have something for everyone. No, you should have. Lots of things for one person or maybe two people that are kind of similar. That's the way to go. 4:40.8: You can't just sell graphic tees. I'm sorry. You can't just sell Stanley Cup dupes. I'm sorry. You can't just sell a bunch of junk and think you're going to make money. It doesn't work like that anymore. And if you think that, then you're on the wrong channel.5:31.8: You've got to start somewhere. And the more focused you can be, and I hope that's what I'm getting across to you now, but the more focused you can be, the more succe

Click here to see more about Boutique Basics Bootcamp. Enroll in Boutique Basics Bootcamp now for the lowest price and over $3200 of bonus material!This episode has not been edited for ums or gaps! Enjoy!Emily on IG: @stylishandsuccessful or @boutiquetrainingacademyMentioned in this episode:Overbought WebinarOVERBOUGHT: A FREE Webinar for {Boutique Owners} Who Know They Have Too Much Inventory Sales have slowed. You don't have the right styles. It's almost Fall and your boutique's revenue growth feels like it needs a jolt. What if I told you if you start now, you can end this year with low stock, high bank balances and maybe even a tropical vacation in January. If you're making $10k or more per month consistently, I'm talking to you! The solution to your inefficiency with inventory is NOT adding dropshipping or print on demand. Let's just analyze your sales, adjust your buys and make you more money the old fashioned way. It's literally worked for hundreds of years and when it's done well, can be incredibly

00:07.1: Let's talk about what jobs or where we see most people come from in boutique land to start their boutique.1:01.8: First and foremost, it's stay at home moms, it's mothers, it's women, people with uteruses that have had children that want to start a business. 1:49.2: You're going to need support with your business and with your child or children. The more kids you have, I think the harder it's going to be. 2:03.1: If you have kids and you're really good at managing your time and you feel like you have these pockets of time to work, then yeah, having a boutique is going to be awesome for you.2:31.6: Now, the one downside about being a stay at home parent and starting this business is summer. 3:29.5: If you have the time and you have good skills to manage lots of things, like as most stay at home parents do, then having a boutique is a great business for you.3:45.1: Believe it or not, nursing and teaching, listen, you're in a power position in those places. You're in a position of power a

46.6: I worked for seven years in corporate retail merchandising in New York City, uh, for big brands that, you know, then I started my own boutique.2:08.0: If you are not committed to either finding cheaper wholesale items or marking things up appropriately, and I'm talking like three times markup, you will not be successful.2:46.4: And the amount of money we make is dependent on the difference between the wholesale cost and the retail price of that item. So the bigger that gap, the more money you're going to make.3:28.4: Because if you want to join Boutique Land and you don't have a clear vision of who you are and who your customer is, you also will fail. 4:49.9: You are allowed to have a strong point of view and that's what actually makes you stand out from the crowd.6:10.5: Sell your own stuff. Sell your own style. If you can go to LA and you can go to some markets and you can shop other places other than just Fashion Go fair and online spots, you're going to have a better go at it because you'll be

1:42.4: Having a mobile boutique was really fun for me. I loved all four years that I did it, and I want more people to start the business. And I want you to start a mobile boutique if it's something you're excited about. 2:18.8: The obvious first thing is you need a truck, a trailer, a whatever, an RV, a bus, before you even get into buying that vehicle, you really want to think about what you want to do with your boutique business.3:39.6: I actually would keep back stock while I was at events in the front seat, and that like really helped me carry more things, and it just kept me more organized.4:17.2: Now the downside to that is that every repair, every mechanical issue became a business issue because I couldn't just swap out a different truck or a different vehicle to tow it. 4:56.3: If you go the route of a trailer, again, you see... You still have to think about how big it is. You still have to think about the interior height. And this is a spot where you would want to think about adding some

1:19.7: We need more boutiques to open because we need more perspectives. We need your point of view. 1:50.4: So first and foremost, no, you cannot buy samples. I know it sucks. You just can't. Okay. The way that the wholesale piece of the industry works. 2:57.3: This is why I always say you should go to market or try to go to LA or New York or wherever these people are so you can see samples and you can see what's going on.3:43.2: So now when you're on a wholesale website or you're looking at a wholesaler's line sheet, what you're actually going to see is the wholesale cost per unit.4:18.5: You are going to get great prices on styles that you didn't even realize you could get such low prices on.5:48.3: You're going to have to ask that vendor, what are their packs? What are their minimums? How are their packs broken down by size?6:41.3: Now, when you go to buy from a vendor, they're going to tell you what their minimum order is. That minimum order is for an order. That's not for a style. That's not

1:14.6: We're talking about growing our assortment today. And to me, that's a really important topic because I've seen so many people do it incorrectly. They end up with lots of inventory sitting in a back room or sitting in a warehouse or in a storage unit or whatever.1:47.2: If you're in a spot where you're like, I'm making all these mistakes that I'm like, talk about great. You see your mistakes. You can fix it. 3:59.3: What it really is, is money being spent that shouldn't be spent there. That's the problem.4:07.5: The wrong way to add more inventory to your assortment is to willy nilly expand in sort of breadth of like, I'm going to carry more different stuff. That's wrong. 6:00.8: So there's sometimes where it is just a bad product, a bad product idea, a bad concept. Move on. move on to the next. Be like, I made a mistake. 6:24.5: The best way to grow your inventory and your assortment is to double down on what's working.6:57.9: How can I also entice the person who already bought it to bu

0:56.8: I always say focus on one store first, grow that, and then add. 2:39.1: They do local pickups, things like that. That's actually, I think the best-case scenario for opening a brick-and-mortar because you already have this built-in customer base locally. And then they're going to say to their friends, Hey, let's go to this store. I think it's really different.3:10.8: Let's say you have been selling online and you're sending orders all over the country, you do want to be sure that this location is going to have your people at it. Like, do demographic research on the area.4:42.9: So if you are focused on building a brick-and-mortar boutique, the online business is going to suffer. Unless you have an online boutique manager who is going to continue to maintain that business.6:46.7: The hope is that obviously they follow you and you are still selling to the same customer that you sold to online. Now, will they buy the same things? Yes and no. 7:29.7:  Just because you open a brick-and-mortar

1:30.5: If you are someone who feels overwhelmed often, or you can't handle lots of people, then going to market or a show might not be for you.5:48.2: So the intention of going to a show would be to hopefully place orders, but to touch and feel and try on and meet the vendors and maybe meet new vendors that, you know, every vendor isn't on Fashion Go.6:47.1: You'll find is generally organized in a way where the buyers that are coming to that show are all buying for the same kind of customer. 8:37.4: If you're online, you are never going to like touch and feel things. You're taking a gamble every time you place an order. And that's okay. It's an educated risk. 11:38.6: Each show is going to be a little bit different. The off-price show tends to sell things that are, they would call the margin builders. So they're lower-cost items.12:05.2: So it's a good thing to go through the vendor list before you sign up for one of these events.12:30.9: For someone who is neurodivergent or maybe has trouble with

1:12.3: 20% is a lot of money for a business. But it's also not that hard. So let's think about what 20% would look like in the next 30 days for you.1:51.3: You need to make sure that you have inventory. Okay. If you don't have inventory, then that's okay.2:32.6: If your customer is already bought into something that's really working, then you're in a position where you have the opportunity to buy more in a different color and a different print and a bit of a different style and potentially charge a little bit more for it.3:34.5: But when you're pricing products, I find more often than not, people are pricing too low. 4:22.6: So many people don't want to charge more for like an everyday item when someone's going to get way more wear out of it. They think, oh, well, I'll charge more for like a nice dress that someone would wear to a wedding.5:00.9: I think that's the craziest thing because what you're doing is you're saying that the cost per wear of that item is going to be way better because someone migh

3:13.8: I was raised middle class in a blue state. And I think that generationally, I'm like two generations away from the Great Depression. And I am one generation, not even, I'm 10 years away from women getting bank accounts. 4:09.2: I want to recognize that things are changing in the boutique industry, especially because it is a woman-led business, and I'm sorry, I'm a woman female-identifying.5:07.0: I think this is a big piece of it is when you are starting to make more money, you have more access to things. You have the ability to really affect change when you have that economic power, when you have wealth when you have money, and for so many of my scale girlies out there, my scale people out there for you, you have so many opportunities to build wealth.6:49.6: That's where this stuff, this Underlying retail mindset stuff starts to come up around us being wealthier than our spouse, wealthier than our parents, making more money than family members. 6:56.5: The boutique industry is definitely a

3:13.7: I'm worried that so many boutique owners think there's one way to do things. 3:44.7:  It's just so important to be your unique self and only do the things that you want to do.6:34.5: One of the biggest things I see across the board and boutique land is this turnover. 8:16.2: This is a good double-check on, do I really need to buy this? So many of you are overbought. Even working with people who are helping you with buying plans. I'm shocked to hear how many well-established companies are having people overbuy.11:57.5: It's an opportunity for you to re-examine your business. What days you're open, how it's structured, what you do in your business. Do you do more events, uh, and have fewer store hours open, right? Do you teach classes on something that you're interested in?12:32.8: I think you're going to have to have a multi-dimensional boutique business. You're going to have to be able to scale up to the point where the business can support you.14:49.6: We need to continue to challenge

3:31.1: I turned 40 a week after my daughter turned one. So I currently have a 19-month-old at age 40 which most people would say is super old. I actually love it.5:02.8: I honestly think that women's healthcare after having a baby is ridiculous. The fact that they talk about baby blues and postpartum depression and anxiety and rage and all of that, like only being up to eight weeks after 12 weeks after you give birth, like. Oh, no way.6:31.3: I think the motivation to want to work after you have a baby is also not always high for people. 9:29.4: Focus on how you wanna grow your family. Because growing your family could happen in a lot of different ways, and it's gonna happen how it's meant to happen. So just focus on growing your family and that really reframed my headspace.16:27.5: I didn't realize how tough recovering would be, regardless of how you choose to feed your baby.20:01.4: I am still running a business, and that business is the backbone of our family. Like this business financially supports

0:32.2: I really want to help you understand that starting a boutique is not for everyone and going into it with a full scope of understanding what could go wrong and what could go right is really important. 1:01.5: I think one of the things people think when they have a mobile boutique is that things are gonna be easy. Like, oh, I'm gonna just pull up and sell things. And that's not at all what happened.1:58.2: My perspective is totally unique and I'm gonna show that perspective in my retail store, and so I'm not gonna worry about competition. 2:40.9: I think one of the things that I would not do again, would be to get obsessed with having this beautiful website if I had a brick-and-mortar or a mobile boutique.3:52.1: I think too many people think, oh, I'm gonna open an online store and have a brick-and-mortar and it's gonna provide the same amount of revenue as my brick-and-mortar. And to be honest with you, that's just not really how it goes.4:33.9: If you're going to do one thing, don't feel lik

50.7: A lot of people are getting into this business now, and they're not realizing the impact that it's gonna have on their life and what they're gonna have to do to be successful.1:01.6:  An online business obviously requires a lot of technical stuff. 1:33.4: If you're not tech-savvy, that's okay. Just know going into it that you're going to have to at least be adaptable and open to learning all this new tech stuff because once you learn it, you can totally do it.1:49.4: You have to be willing to be a DIY person and go through the tech, the struggles, and the annoying little things that happen 2:24.4: You're gonna have to plan your product assortment. You're going to want to identify your ideal customer, and you're going to wanna have a point of view if you don't have a fashion point of view for the person that you're trying to sell to. 2:42.2: And I think it's important to know that the stronger your point of view is, the more you have a direction with your assortment and, and what you'