Gift Biz Unwrapped | Women Entrepreneurs | Bakers, Crafters, Makers | Startup

Debbie is the Owner and Certified Gift Designer at My Daddy’s House of Gifts located in Magnolia, Texas. She has been in the gifting industry since 2014, originally with a business under a different company name. After the passing of her dad in 2015, the company name was changed to My Daddy’s House of Gifts to honor his memory. Prior to being in the gifting industry, Debbie had a lengthy career working as an Account Executive and Regional Sales Manager in the heavyweight air cargo logistics industry, including 10 years at UPS. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, traveling and spending time with her husband Richard, and giving lots of hugs and kisses to her grand baby, Isaac. Business Building InsightsEveryday is a new day. A chance for a fresh start and new beginnings. Location is important for a brick and mortar shop. Having events in your store attracts customers. Detailed communication ensures you and your client are on the same page. Have a set budget for charitable donations. Educate yourself in you

Lynne Somerman of Lynne Somerman Financial Coaching helps entrepreneurs feel less stupid and sad about their money through practical skill building, habit change and mindset work. She speaks about budgeting as radical self-care and loves coaching clients and seeing them light up, realizing that they’re not doomed, after all. Lynne lives in South Portland, Maine with her feisty daughter, snaggle-toothed dog, and chickens named after strong women. Business Building InsightsYou don’t need to be a finance expert. You just need systems so the financial part of your life is taken cared of. Keeping records can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet. Bookkeeping is simply what money comes in, what money goes out and why. Money is the life blood of your business. That’s what allows your business to keep going. You definitely want to keep your business finances separate from your personal finances. Invest in software that will automatically create reports for you. They save you time and are directly linked to your bank a

Jeanette Andersen is a passionate and multi-talented creator. She’s already the author of 5 books. But she also has skills in photography, a talent with designing soft goods products and is considering motivational speaking. This is a common challenge for creative women. When it comes down to starting a business, there are so many options. How do you possibly choose? It becomes confusing and leads to lots of activity with little result because there’s just too much going on at one time. Additionally, customers are confused because they can’t clearly define what you do. In our call, Jeanette narrows in on a product grouping that is cohesive and clear. We work through ideas for name recognition and branding. Now it’s time to test the market and we talk through next steps for this phase. Jeanette walks away with a focused plan that she’s excited about and dare I say, I think The Denim Blues is going to be a big hit! Business Building InsightsThings change all the time. Be flexible. If you have doubts just push t

Brit Kolo is the Creator of the Marketing Personality Type Framework and the Host of the Marketing Personalities Podcast. Her framework is designed to match you with your best marketing strategy based on your Myers-Briggs Personality Type. She’s here to shake up your approach to marketing and inspire you to grow your business in a “feel good” way. Get ready to go deep, find your true self, and grow that business of yours WITHOUT feeling fake and salesy. Business Building InsightsYou should not feel fake and salesy to grow your business. Take the personality assessment at your best time of the day. Go with your first gut reaction to the question and answer them as honestly as you can. Regardless of what you think you are, it really depends on where you gain energy. There is no one right or wrong to your Marketing Personality. There’s just a right for you and what you naturally prefer. You are who you are. If you feel good, your audience is going to pick up on that energy and they’ll be attracted to that. Your

After more than a decade in the New York City public relations world, Amanda Berlin now uses her pitch powers for good. She helps entrepreneurs step into their presence, create a story that inspires others, and spread their message in the media. Amanda has created a library of template guides and trainings. She works one on one with clients to assist them with strategic story-telling and media relations. Her knowledge and skills are based on 12 years of experience guiding strategy for major brands in the corporate world. Amanda and her clients have been featured in all types of media from Business Insider to Entrepreneur on Fire and from WNYW Fox 5 to Bustle.com. She’s the host of The Empowered Publicity Podcast. She loves arming soul-powered business owners with the ideas and the skillset they need to go from hidden industry gem to recognizable trusted expert. Business Building InsightsCultivate the ability to listen to your gut instincts and trust yourself. By creating a story around your product, you’ll pr

Carol Cox is the founder of Speaking Your Brand, which helps high-performing, purpose-driven women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks (keynote, TEDx, business presentation) to grow their business and become recognized as influencers in their fields. Carol is host of the Speaking Your Brand podcast and a sought-after speaker and trainer on public speaking, business storytelling, and women’s leadership. Carol teaches business and marketing classes at Full Sail University and during election seasons serves as a political analyst on TV news. Business Building InsightsFind people who motivate you and see your potential. Speaking in person allows you to be seen as an expert and authority. The more you do it, the easier it gets. As a speaker it’s not about you, it’s about the audience. It’s the message that you bring to the audience that makes the impact. The benefits of public speaking are brand awareness, personal branding, lead generation & marketing. Stick to one to three ideas for

Katie is the founder of Tradeshow Bootcamp, host of the Proof to Product podcast, a business strategist, and mentor to creative entrepreneurs. She’s helped more than 850 brands get their products on the shelves of retail stores big and small. Her clients’ products can be found in Target, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, The Container Store and independent boutiques around the world. Katie is a firm believer in professional development, surrounding yourself with community and pushing ‘go’ even when you might not feel 100% ready. Business Building InsightsFocus on your product first. Make sure everything is in place and you are prepared if you decide to pursue wholesale. As you learn about wholesale, start with small independent shops. Initial contact can be through an email that is brief, to the point and includes a link to your catalog. Being professional at all levels will call attention to your business and help you get repeat orders. This includes order accuracy, timeliness and following up with requests. Buildin

Megan Auman is a jewelry designer, metalsmith and educator with over a decade of experience in selling art through a variety of channels. She designs for women who want to be effortlessly bold. She says, “You need jewelry that makes a statement but is easy enough to wear every day. You need pieces that make you feel fantastic every time you put them on. Something that reflects your confidence and strength. A kind of armor that helps you tackle your day, every day.” Currently, Megan is running her eponymous jewelry line and the online community Artists & Profit Makers for fellow creatives who sell high-end products. Megan has seen talented makers walk away from creating because they are given one-size-fits-all marketing advice that just doesn’t translate to the world of selling art. A best-selling CreativeLive instructor, her designs have been featured in Elle Decor, Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking Light and on top-rated blogs like Design*Sponge. Business Building InsightsThe beauty of w

A natural-born artist, Marilyn thrives on combining her well-honed sculpture and painting skills with her talent and passion for baking and edible creations. As the Owner and Creative Director of Unique Cakes, she specializes in non-traditional wedding cakes, three dimensional sculpted cakes and blown & pulled sugar amenities. Her constant experimentation with different products and processes eventually led to her discovery of a unique edible fabric-like compound called Flexique® which has been receiving international acclaim for its unique variety of uses. As a co-owner of Unique Flexique, LLC, Marilyn has pioneered new techniques in cake decorating, and is the leading authority on all applications of the Flexique® line of products. She continues her exploration and development of unique edible accents, and shares product combinations and innovative uses with the community. Joe has been instrumental in running the operations of Marilyn’s cake business since he understands the cake community so well. He i

Salome Schillack is a Facebook Ads Strategist who helps coaches, online course creators, and personal brands scale, automate and grow their businesses faster with clever Facebook and Instagram ads strategies. Through her fast-growing agency, Salome has been able to build a global team of amazing people that work flexibly and independently allowing them to balance doing work they love with caring for people they love. Her clients say that the best thing about working with her is that she cares as much about their businesses as she does about her own. She says the best thing about working with clients is that she gets to help them implement proven marketing strategies that help them create more streamlined marketing funnels and get them to more profit sooner. Salome was born and raised in South Africa and lives in beautiful Perth in Western Australia with her husband Emil, two daughters Milla and Elle and their dog, Odie. Business Building InsightsWe all have a unique fingerprint in this world. Facebook has an

5 Affirmations to Change Your Life this Year. The New Year is upon us, and for many, it’s a marker in time to make a change. It’s a time to start fresh and reset your ways and to jumpstart the dreams you’ve been thinking about and putting off over and over again. This all sounds amazing doesn’t it? A new future that aligns with what you want. It’s the chance to turn into reality the achievements and lifestyle you’ve had in your mind’s eye for a long time. The truth really is … you could make this change at any time … in any day or month of your life, but for some reason the rollover of the calendar year makes it all seem more possible. There’s newfound optimism and hope. You think things like, “This is the year! I’m going to do it this time!” Sound familiar? Unfortunately, you know what happens to New Year’s resolutions. Within a month or two they’re history and you’re back to your old ways. I see this at my health club every year and if you’re a member of any type of fitness organization, I bet you see

Merry Christmas! ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the store, employees were anxiously watching the door. Products sat neatly on the shelves with care, in hopes that a customer soon would be there. The shopkeeper was nestled all snug in her chair, while she envisioned wrapping up gifts with flair. The products were perfect and the prices were right, but would they all still be there when she locked up for the night? In Amanda’s mind there arose such a clatter, “Nobody’s coming in. What is the matter? People must not like the things that I make. I should have known this business was a mistake.” Glancing out the window seeing new-fallen snow, she watched shoppers bustling to and fro. When what to her wondering eyes did appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver, so lively and quick, she knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. Not down the chimney, but right through the door. He exclaimed, “Ho, ho, ho, let’s fix up this store.” “Look at the colors, the quality

Dr. Michelle Gowan is a retired educator who is using all her time not teaching school to teach people to bake and decorate cookies. In her first month of retirement, she founded The Cookie School which is a mobile, home party/class where a group of girlfriends gather in a kitchen for six hours and learn to bake and decorate cookies. After they “graduate,” they have homework to complete (3 recipes of cookies) and then they qualify for an advanced class (graduate school). Cookie Nip flavoring was born out of a desire to create a rich signature flavor profile for use in The Cookie School recipes but it has been embraced by bakers of cookies, cakes and treats as well as a delicious flavor additive to coffee and a replacement for vanilla in any sweet or savory recipe. Michelle now has trained 70 Cookie School instructors who help with the demand of teaching classes. Dr. Gowan continues to work at a charter school in teacher support as well as an adjunct professor of Education at Mercer University. Business Buildi

Minna is one busy woman owning two separate businesses, Lil’ Labels and The Product Boss Podcast. Lil’ Labels are writable, waterproof labels for baby items for daycare and is an Amazon bestseller. Minna also co-owns and co-hosts The Product Boss Podcast and coaches product-based business owners how to grow their businesses and connect with other product entrepreneurs through Masterminds. She lives in Iowa, is the mom of two little girls, and loves living her passion as mom and CEO. Business Building InsightsOne way to identify a product to create is to look for problems in your life that can be solved. Be okay with the slow months and use them strategically to build inventory and test new concepts. Push the busier months based on the results and learning from slow month testing. Focus on growing annual revenue and margin rather than the unit sold at a consistent rate throughout the year. On slow months, work on building an email list and waiting list so you’re primed when it’s your strong season. For product

Amy is a podcaster, educator and entrepreneur who has been selling online for almost 10 years. While she started on eBay, most of that time was focused on Amazon. In 2014, she and a friend/colleague started teaching others how to sell on Amazon. This has become her area of expertise. Now now co-hosts the Amazon Files show that you can catch live every Monday night at 9pm eastern. Replays are available on YouTube or a podcast of the same name. Amy’s goal to help others start and grow their Amazon businesses so they can build lives they love. Business Building InsightsIn business it’s best to have multiple places to sell your product. Having a website is essential because that’s where you want to steer people. If you want to broaden your audience, Amazon is a great way to do that. The search in Amazon is amazing as long as you optimize your listing with keywords that people are actively searching for. If you’re selling in Amazon be aware of the rules. Understand the platform well. Read the terms of service and

Kate Flynn is the founder and CEO of Sun and Swell Foods, a healthy snack food company based in Santa Barbara, California. Kate started her company two years ago with her husband, Bryan, after realizing that most packaged snack foods in stores are loaded with added sugars and preservatives. Her mission is to create on-the-go snack foods that are made with only the highest quality, whole food ingredients, so people don’t have to compromise their health when eating on-the-go. Business Building InsightsBelieve in yourself. You’re the one responsible for your success. Hold yourself accountable to the goals and promises you make to yourself. If something doesn’t work, look for another way to achieve the same result. Positive feedback keeps us going. Your product is not for everybody. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad product. It just means it’s not for them. It’s surprising what can happen when you say “yes” to things. Take a moment, pause, and celebrate your progress. Resources MentionedCheck out Jen Sincero’s f

Sal Frances is a branding and social media content specialist. Wait, let me back that up. Sal is my branding and social media content specialist. I’ve told her before that I want to keep her all to myself, but that’s not nice. Nor does that serve you at all. Plus, you have asked for direction in this area so I’m bringing you the best. Sal doesn’t call herself a graphic designer though, because branding is so much more! She escaped the corporate world in 2017 with the intention to sell digital products (ebooks and courses.) Sal never thought she’d be designing brands and social media graphics for clients. This came about completely unintentionally simply by sharing her work within her coaching group. To her surprise, everyone said, “I want that. Can you do this for me?” Sal found her place in the social media space organically by learning what she’s best at AND what people need. Today, Sal has a content “batching” service and does custom brand work for clients, which is what she’s doing for me. In fact, she’s

Sonya is a fine artist who has created her own highly recognized individual brand and pop art style of painting. In addition to fine art paintings, her products include Sonya Paz signature Limited Edition wristwear, watches, ceramics, apparel, clocks, jewelry, and framed prints. Sonya’s products are found in boutiques, museum shops, and wineries. Additionally, interior designers and decorators use Sonya Paz designs for modern home accents and original art. Sonya is also a marketing and branding wiz who has made a name for herself in the art world. She enjoys helping others who are developing their own brand and creative business. With her knowledge of expertise, marketing savvy and sassy tenacity, Sonya pays it forward as the host and creator of the Rockstar Mentor podcast and related services. Business Building InsightsWork hard to hone your sales skills. The power of asking a question can take you to destinations you can never imagine. If I had taken NO for an answer, I would not be who I am today. When you

Frances is in the process of starting her own business, Francesita by Frances, with the dream of making a living income with her art.  Frances works on canvas and also upcyles furniture. Actually, she’ll tackle just about anything that will take paint. Bright colors and whimsical themes are fundamental to her artwork as she has been influenced by having lived in Central America for several decades. Frances’ personal goal is to transmit sunshine through each piece she sells. Her journey to this point has been one of action, decisions and believing in herself. I’m thrilled to catch Frances right at this point in the development of her new business. As you’ll hear, her background and experience are putting her right in line for success. Business Building InsightsWhen faced with adversity, you have the opportunity to transform into something new. Art is a mindful practice. It keeps you in the present and focused on creating. Research how to make your business visible and begin to thrive. Focus on what your c

It’s fourth quarter and you know what that means. There is magic in the retail air. Credit cards are being swiped and Apple pay is in full swing. You want a piece of this holiday sales action, don’t you? I know you said, “yes.” If you’re really serious, what are you doing differently right now than during the rest of the year? What have you put in place to turn on the holiday cheer and light up your holiday sales? You see, if you only do the things you always do all year, your sales will be okay but not lighting up the bank account. Let’s kick that black coal to the side of the road and hang some glistening tinsel so you capture your joyful share of the holiday sales cheer. It’s lining up to be a great year for gifting sales. Make sure your pile of presents are stacked high. Okay, enough of the holiday metaphors, but it’s okay to be a little glittery. It’s the holiday season! Business Building InsightsYou have to take action and do things differently to magnify your 4th quarter sales There are 3 cat