Small Business Saturday Advice From Other Small Business Owners

[00:00:00] People always say, oh, you get what you paid for. Absolutely. There are circumstances where that absolutely rings true.

[00:00:07] Yeah, like gas station sushi.

[00:00:10] I was going to say, don't be coming for my gas station nachos. You know I love those things.

[00:00:14] I was coming for nachos all day long. Gas station nachos, yes. Gas station sushi, not a smart idea.

[00:00:21] Hey, everyone. Welcome to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast, where we celebrate the S.O.B. that you are.

[00:00:27] And if you haven't figured it out yet, we mean small owned business. We don't mean S.O.B.

[00:00:33] Listen, we know that as a small business owner, you are working hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it.

[00:00:42] And while some days it may feel like the business is owning you, if we're being honest with each other, I bet you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything.

[00:00:52] Our commitment here at the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing, promoting your business, and then what doesn't really work.

[00:01:03] And Chelsea and I promise to always keep the conversation real.

[00:01:07] Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the S.O.B. Marketing Podcast.

[00:01:11] S.O.B. as in small owned business. I promise we are not calling you guys names.

[00:01:15] Before we get started, just a little bit of housekeeping. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:01:19] If you are enjoying this podcast, please consider leaving us a review and consider sharing this with other small business owners.

[00:01:27] We want to help as many business owners as we can feel comfortable about handling their own marketing.

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[00:01:44] We want to answer all of your marketing questions.

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[00:01:52] Vivian, what are we talking about today?

[00:01:54] Okay, so today we are actually going to be sharing some real life advice from real life small business owners.

[00:02:02] Okay, y'all, this is not stuff we're making up.

[00:02:05] This is not advice that Chelsea and I have, but this is advice from some of our friends who happen to be small business owners.

[00:02:14] And so we are just excited to be able to share what they think is their best advice for small business.

[00:02:21] Saturday, Chelsea, just as a refresher, when is Small Business Saturday this year?

[00:02:25] So Small Business Saturday this year is November 30th.

[00:02:28] It is the day after Black Friday.

[00:02:31] Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving.

[00:02:32] I think we all know.

[00:02:35] And before you say, Vivian, Chelsea, it's way too early to start thinking about this.

[00:02:40] First off, we are at like the end of October.

[00:02:43] So no, it is not too early to be thinking about this.

[00:02:47] If anything, you should already have a good idea of what you're going to be doing for Small Business Saturday.

[00:02:54] Don't leave this to the last second.

[00:02:56] Yes, 100%.

[00:02:57] We want to encourage you guys, the sooner that you start planning for this, it means the less stress you are going to have whenever these dates sneak up on you as they have a good tendency of doing.

[00:03:10] Chelsea, which piece of advice do you want to share first?

[00:03:14] Okay.

[00:03:15] Okay.

[00:03:15] Well, I have a piece of advice from our wonderful friend Bray over at Sweet Rose Waxing Company.

[00:03:22] And I think this is the perfect opener for this conversation because she said, you do not have to participate.

[00:03:32] You don't have to do it.

[00:03:34] And that's the end of the episode, guys.

[00:03:38] Wait, she elaborated a little more.

[00:03:40] You know, if the idea of planning out sales and doing a big to-do for Small Business Saturday is just going to give you extra stress and you don't really feel like it's a good fit or it will benefit your small business, you don't have to do it.

[00:03:55] You became a small business owner because you wanted the freedom to do what you want.

[00:04:01] So just do what you want.

[00:04:02] You don't have to participate.

[00:04:05] Great reminder that peer pressure does exist because I think that is why she decided to have that be her piece of advice because so many small business owners do feel pressured to participate in these big holiday shopping days, right?

[00:04:23] So whether that be for Thanksgiving, Small Business Saturday, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, there are like a gajillion days now that everybody wants to pitch a sale or increase sales.

[00:04:40] And if it's not right for your small business or if you just don't have the bandwidth, okay, let's keep it real, you guys.

[00:04:46] The thing is, if you are a solopreneur, if you are going about this and you're a one-man show, one-woman show, and you just don't have the bandwidth or the wherewithal to be able to do every single, you know, shopping day out there, you don't have to.

[00:05:04] And you shouldn't feel pressured to have to do that.

[00:05:07] And if you hear me on social media saying, y'all, you need to figure out your small business Saturday.

[00:05:14] You need to figure out your holiday marketing plans, all of this right now.

[00:05:18] Now, I'm trying to be helpful.

[00:05:21] I want to make sure that you guys don't feel stressed about leaving it to the last minute.

[00:05:25] You can tell me in your mind.

[00:05:27] I mean, please don't message me saying this because it's just going to hurt my feelings.

[00:05:31] But you can tell me in your mind, Chelsea, I'm just not going to do it.

[00:05:35] So leave me alone.

[00:05:36] Your big sister is going to remind you that you need to get a little bit of tough skin, girly.

[00:05:43] For what?

[00:05:44] I mean, okay.

[00:05:46] There's no reason for you to have to physically tell me that you're not going to do it.

[00:05:52] But I mean, you know what?

[00:05:53] I'm sorry.

[00:05:54] I take it back.

[00:05:54] If you want to message us and say, actually, we're not doing small business Saturday, so

[00:06:00] I don't need your advice.

[00:06:01] Fine.

[00:06:03] Do it.

[00:06:04] Yeah.

[00:06:05] All right.

[00:06:05] So we're starting off, I think, with a really great number one, which is from Ray over at

[00:06:13] Sweet Rose Waxing Company.

[00:06:16] And basically, she's saying you don't have to participate.

[00:06:20] She's giving you permission straight up.

[00:06:22] If you don't want to do small business Saturday, just don't do it.

[00:06:26] I also want to say your business might not be the right business for small business Saturday.

[00:06:35] Yes, you're a small business, but let's think about this from Bray's perspective.

[00:06:38] She's a salon, right?

[00:06:40] She's a waxing salon.

[00:06:42] Yes, there are ways that she could incorporate small business Saturday, but she's probably

[00:06:47] going to have to get real creative with it.

[00:06:49] And that's just not a business that would come to mind specifically for small business

[00:06:56] Saturday.

[00:06:57] So I can completely understand why she's not even going to do it, not even going to worry

[00:07:02] about it.

[00:07:02] She doesn't feel like getting creative and giving herself the extra stress of having

[00:07:07] to come up with a way to make this work.

[00:07:10] So also think if you are a business, that small business Saturday might be a little more

[00:07:18] difficult for you and you're already at the end of your bandwidth.

[00:07:21] Just take a second and really consider, do I even want to consider this?

[00:07:26] And we are big proponents for just reminding you guys to always, you know, weigh out the

[00:07:32] advantages and disadvantages or also figure out if I don't participate in small business

[00:07:41] Saturday, can I use my time in a different area of my business?

[00:07:45] Can I instead use that time to plan out my Christmas?

[00:07:49] Yeah.

[00:07:49] Right.

[00:07:51] Can not Christmas in general, but I mean, as it relates to your sales for your business.

[00:07:57] But you could be putting effort into something different.

[00:08:00] So it's not necessarily that like you just don't do anything, but maybe your time is better

[00:08:06] spent focusing on something else as opposed to just a flash and pan small business Saturday

[00:08:13] deal.

[00:08:13] Okay.

[00:08:15] So the next piece of advice that I want to jump into, we're kind of still following the

[00:08:22] same mindset.

[00:08:24] So Jesse from, I'm sorry, Jessica, he called me out in a previous episode.

[00:08:33] If you guys don't remember in a previous episode when Chelsea called Jessica, Jesse, I was like,

[00:08:39] oh, now you're BFFs.

[00:08:40] You're calling her by little cutesy nicknames.

[00:08:43] So Jessica from Southern Curiosities, she says, don't be afraid to keep it small.

[00:08:49] Like you don't have to go all out for the holidays doing something small, like just offering free

[00:08:55] shipping, online orders.

[00:08:57] That's enough.

[00:08:58] There are no rules and you can do what you want and what you can.

[00:09:03] And I think this is a really good piece of advice.

[00:09:06] Let's think about Jessica, her business, Southern Curiosities.

[00:09:11] It's fun, whimsical text journey, right?

[00:09:14] All of her pieces are a little pricier.

[00:09:18] She's not going to do a big discount on them.

[00:09:22] Like that's hours, days of work.

[00:09:25] She cannot reasonably discount her products.

[00:09:28] But just doing free shipping for small business Saturday, like that's her little bit.

[00:09:34] And that's completely reasonable.

[00:09:37] Yeah.

[00:09:37] And I also think that sometimes we kind of get strong armed into thinking that we have to

[00:09:45] keep up with the Joneses.

[00:09:47] And the Joneses in this case is going to be the big box, like, you know, world markets or

[00:09:53] Kohl's or whatever, because they are discounting so heavily and they are promoting so much.

[00:10:00] The thing is, as a small business owner, you have a different set of resources than those

[00:10:06] larger companies.

[00:10:06] They can definitely absorb a heftier discount on their, you know, their margins are different

[00:10:14] than exactly what you're saying, Jessica.

[00:10:16] She knows her numbers very, very well.

[00:10:19] And she's priced her products to be a reflection of the amount of time and care and attention

[00:10:25] in her craft that she's actually put into it.

[00:10:29] And so I do think that's where it varies a little more.

[00:10:32] I love that she is saying, you know, get creative with it.

[00:10:36] And it doesn't necessarily have to be a discount on the product or the service.

[00:10:40] It can be an added bonus and added value in a different way.

[00:10:45] I know for Chelsea, we have a client that's an elderberry company.

[00:10:51] Sometimes what she'll do is sometimes she looks at the bundles that she's, you know, putting

[00:10:57] out there, right?

[00:10:58] So maybe she'll change the bundle up.

[00:10:59] Maybe she'll do a buy one, get one free or a express shipping, you know, but it's got

[00:11:06] to hit like a certain amount.

[00:11:07] You have to buy like $40 worth of product in order for you to get free shipping or whatnot.

[00:11:11] So it can look, there are various different ways that you can incorporate this into your

[00:11:17] small business.

[00:11:18] I'm really glad that you brought up the fact that small business owners, you, let's be

[00:11:24] reasonable.

[00:11:24] You're not competing with those big box brand stores.

[00:11:29] Like it's, you guys, it's like comparing apples to oranges.

[00:11:32] You guys are so different.

[00:11:33] What you provide to your consumer is so different.

[00:11:37] You're providing something more personal.

[00:11:39] You're providing, maybe it's a handmade product.

[00:11:44] You're providing a story, you know, like it's a different feel.

[00:11:49] So don't be afraid to stand up for yourself and say, no, I'm not going to be able to do

[00:11:55] like a 75% discount for small business Saturday.

[00:11:59] But you know what?

[00:12:00] I can provide you with a beautiful handmade product.

[00:12:05] One of the things that is most often overlooked too is the fact that you guys, um, I'm going

[00:12:12] to try to put this in a, I don't mean this derogatory when I say this.

[00:12:16] Okay.

[00:12:17] Okay.

[00:12:19] You train your customers.

[00:12:22] And what I mean by that is let's say that this small business Saturday, you want to go

[00:12:28] all out in your, let's use the example you just gave Chelsea, you're doing 75% off of

[00:12:34] your product.

[00:12:35] What do you think that customer is going to expect come 2025 small business Saturday?

[00:12:40] All right.

[00:12:41] And so maybe think of it in the container of you want to be not just on brand.

[00:12:48] You don't want to be competing with everybody.

[00:12:50] You want to make the decisions that are right for you and your small business and be sure

[00:12:56] that those decisions are going to be decisions that you could carry with you potentially into

[00:13:00] next year.

[00:13:01] So not to say that you can't run different, um, you know, sales or just do different things

[00:13:08] year to year.

[00:13:09] You absolutely can.

[00:13:10] And we encourage you to do that, to just try things out and experiment.

[00:13:15] However, if you are heavily discounting one year and then the next year you decide to forego

[00:13:21] it, I think it kind of sometimes gets people a little, I don't know, it kind of gets their

[00:13:26] panties on a little wad.

[00:13:27] So like, just be sure that you're, you know, you're cognizant of that.

[00:13:31] How do you want to train your customers to expect or what do you want to train them to

[00:13:38] expect in these, you know, holiday, um, seasonal promotions?

[00:13:45] Jessica was also very nice and she provided us with some general advice for small business

[00:13:52] owners just starting out that I would love to share just because she is, you know, a seasoned

[00:13:57] small business owner or small owned business.

[00:14:00] I'm sorry, SOB of course.

[00:14:02] So she says general advice, stay consistent and use your free resources.

[00:14:10] Stay consistent with your branding as well, because being consistent with showing up and

[00:14:15] branding is going to help you become recognizable for your audience.

[00:14:20] Such a good piece of advice.

[00:14:23] Great, great tips.

[00:14:24] I love all of that.

[00:14:25] And I mean, spoken like a true marketer, I think that is definitely the free resources.

[00:14:32] I hope that people, I think a lot of times there's this weird, um, association with something

[00:14:39] being free and something not being good.

[00:14:42] Yes.

[00:14:43] Okay.

[00:14:43] So people always say, oh, you get what you paid for.

[00:14:45] Absolutely.

[00:14:46] Absolutely.

[00:14:46] That there is, there are circumstances where that absolutely rings true, but.

[00:14:51] Yeah.

[00:14:51] Like gas station sushi.

[00:14:54] I was going to say, you don't be coming for my gas station nachos.

[00:14:57] You know, I love those things.

[00:14:58] I was coming for nachos all day long.

[00:15:00] Gas station nachos.

[00:15:01] Yes.

[00:15:01] Gas station sushi.

[00:15:03] Not a smart idea.

[00:15:04] Questionable.

[00:15:05] Yeah.

[00:15:05] I do think that because of where we're at with social media and just the internet interwebs

[00:15:14] in general in 2024, there are a lot of great free resources out there.

[00:15:20] And I hope that as a small business owner, you guys know where you can find free resources

[00:15:28] for your particular industry, for your particular product or service that can help you just either

[00:15:35] cut down the amount of time that you're trying to figure something out, or it can introduce

[00:15:39] a new tool for you to be able to do to help you save time in one area of your daily, you

[00:15:46] know, business operations.

[00:15:47] Can we go back to branding?

[00:15:50] Because I recently on our Instagram, the season marketer Instagram, I had shared a reel from,

[00:15:58] I'll tell you right here.

[00:16:00] I'm sorry.

[00:16:01] From Palmetto Pup Co.

[00:16:04] And she was talking about how it's so important for her as a clothing brand, because she does

[00:16:11] like sweatshirts and stuff like that.

[00:16:13] She embroiders them.

[00:16:14] Um, how important it is for her to add that label with her logo on it, because that just

[00:16:23] gives you that extra bit of validity.

[00:16:29] That's what I'm thinking of.

[00:16:31] Does that make sense?

[00:16:32] Do you, do you understand what I'm saying?

[00:16:34] Like the, the logo on the merch or on the tag?

[00:16:40] On, on the, like, you know how you have a tag on your shirt?

[00:16:46] Well, and so in both cases, yeah, it's the one little extra that you're doing to brand

[00:16:53] date, right?

[00:16:54] To say like, Hey, this is, this is the source.

[00:16:56] This is where I bought it from.

[00:16:58] Are you a small business owner feeling overwhelmed by marketing?

[00:17:02] We understand.

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[00:17:07] Imagine having access to expert marketing advice every week through our interactive Zoom calls.

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[00:17:34] All right.

[00:17:35] So the next piece of advice we have from Erin over at Paper Daisy Press.

[00:17:41] And she said, don't be afraid to take risks and make mistakes.

[00:17:45] You'll never grow if you never reach for something.

[00:17:48] And try to remember to be kind to yourself.

[00:17:51] I think a lot of small business owners, myself included, put a ton of pressure on themselves

[00:17:57] and it can be really detrimental, not only to their business, but to our creativity.

[00:18:03] Can we just give her a round of applause for that one?

[00:18:09] Erin, we agree with everything that you said.

[00:18:12] I mean, here's the thing.

[00:18:14] And I'm saying this as a fellow small business owner, you guys.

[00:18:18] Okay.

[00:18:18] So I get it.

[00:18:20] It is hard and it is uncomfortable to lose money.

[00:18:25] Okay.

[00:18:25] Okay.

[00:18:26] And we all shield ourselves in some way.

[00:18:29] And that's what kind of keeps us stuck in this little rut because we're not willing to

[00:18:34] try new things because we don't want to make those mistakes because those mistakes are often

[00:18:39] tied to some type of money.

[00:18:42] Right.

[00:18:42] So, or it's tied to us spending a ton of time doing something that then doesn't benefit us

[00:18:49] and doesn't move the needle forward.

[00:18:50] And then we feel bad because we're like, man, I just spent a whole day doing something that

[00:18:55] I, where I could have been doing something else.

[00:18:57] Right.

[00:18:57] So I get it.

[00:18:59] But the truth is that if you're not experimenting and if you're not able to kind of check some

[00:19:05] of that stuff off the list, then you're not really, you know, I think able to try new

[00:19:13] things when it comes to your marketing.

[00:19:15] Yeah.

[00:19:15] And we talked about this a little bit last week with analysis paralysis.

[00:19:20] And I distinctly remember saying, because I was like, wow, Chelsea, that's so smart.

[00:19:25] Um, I had said, if you never take the risk and if you never try to do something, it'll

[00:19:34] never work because you've just never done anything.

[00:19:37] Yeah, that's true.

[00:19:38] I do think it helps to shift your mindset a little bit.

[00:19:43] If you struggle with this, if you just constantly beat yourself up, like Aaron said, you know,

[00:19:49] um, the thing is we do put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

[00:19:52] If you're one of those people that feels like when you make a mistake, you just mull on it

[00:19:58] quite a bit.

[00:19:59] I'm a little guilty of that, right?

[00:20:01] Like I'm like, oh, if I had just made a different decision, right?

[00:20:04] Or if I just handled that a little differently, or if I had just pulled out sooner, you know,

[00:20:09] I wouldn't have wasted as much resources.

[00:20:12] The thing is, if that's you, the best shift that you can make in your thinking is to just

[00:20:20] consider it all data.

[00:20:22] Success is data.

[00:20:24] Failure is data, right?

[00:20:27] At every point, anything that you were trying or that you were doing, you are getting some

[00:20:32] form of data back to you.

[00:20:34] And your responsibility as a small business owner is to look at it for what it is and then

[00:20:40] decide, moving forward, do you want to continue doing this?

[00:20:45] Sometimes the only blessing in making a big, big, big mistake is that you know for a fact

[00:20:51] you're not going to do it again, right?

[00:20:53] You're like, ooh, that's not ever happening to me again.

[00:20:56] I learned the hard way.

[00:20:57] I'm not going to do it.

[00:20:59] But it's all information that you can use to move forward in your business.

[00:21:05] I love it.

[00:21:06] Be little data analysts.

[00:21:08] I was going to say be little robots, but then I was like, no, we still want you to

[00:21:12] have emotions.

[00:21:13] So data analysts.

[00:21:16] I mean, sometimes I do think maybe not having emotions would be a good thing, but incorrect,

[00:21:21] but okay.

[00:21:23] Y'all, I'm going to be real honest with you guys.

[00:21:26] Before I came on with the season marketer, before Vivian was like, Chelsea, come work with

[00:21:31] me.

[00:21:32] It'll be fun.

[00:21:33] Don't worry.

[00:21:33] We're sisters.

[00:21:34] I'm like, oh, I trust you.

[00:21:35] Before all of that, I had a corporate marketing gig in healthcare and I was miserable.

[00:21:44] And I was also full of anxiety.

[00:21:47] I had undiagnosed anxiety at the time.

[00:21:50] And I would really, really kind of put too much pressure on myself, right?

[00:21:57] All of that pressure really impacted the type of content that I was creating.

[00:22:06] Now that I'm here at the season marketer, I am way more creative, way more creative.

[00:22:12] I have creative freedom for one, but two, I've given myself the opportunity to allow myself

[00:22:24] to grow, to allow myself to make mistakes.

[00:22:27] And because of that, I have noticed that I have come up with some really great ideas.

[00:22:33] You just crack me up the way that you say things.

[00:22:38] Listen, all I'm going to say is this, y'all.

[00:22:42] Chelsea and I grew up in the same family.

[00:22:43] We grew up with the same mom and dad.

[00:22:45] And I promise you, our mom gave us a healthy dose of self-esteem.

[00:22:53] Okay?

[00:22:54] She sure did.

[00:22:54] She gave us a healthy dose of self-esteem.

[00:22:57] I think dad is the one who sometimes gave us a little piece of humble pie.

[00:23:02] But Chelsea apparently could have had a little more humble pie.

[00:23:07] Incorrect.

[00:23:07] No, because here's the thing.

[00:23:09] Look, no one in my experience in my life, and I don't know if this is true for everyone,

[00:23:15] but we tend to be our hardest critics.

[00:23:19] We do.

[00:23:20] And I think maybe, I think our age difference kind of shows differently.

[00:23:24] Okay?

[00:23:25] Because I think in your, you're how old right now, Chelsea?

[00:23:29] 26?

[00:23:30] 26, yeah.

[00:23:31] Okay.

[00:23:31] When you're 26, that's exactly what it kind of feels like.

[00:23:35] When you're a 40 something like I am, I think you start to realize you're like,

[00:23:41] oh, I probably should have been way more humble about things.

[00:23:44] Life has a way of just reminding you that, hey, girl, hey, you are just one of 20 gajillion

[00:23:55] people on this planet.

[00:23:57] And so therefore, I agree with you.

[00:24:00] We are.

[00:24:01] And I think everything that Erin said is absolutely true.

[00:24:05] We are our toughest critics.

[00:24:07] And like you just said, by sharing that story, it does when you take that and

[00:24:14] you internalize it, it does show up in unexpected ways like your creative form.

[00:24:20] If you maybe have been feeling lately like you are not inspired to show up, right?

[00:24:29] Or some of the things that used to really get you excited, right?

[00:24:34] Like, hey, typically I would love painting.

[00:24:37] And right now I'm just kind of hashtag over it.

[00:24:39] Don't want anything to do with the paintbrush.

[00:24:41] You know, music.

[00:24:43] I typically love music if I really just don't feel like sitting down and writing anything

[00:24:48] or whatever.

[00:24:49] If you're finding that you're struggling with things that you do enjoy, then maybe that's

[00:24:54] a sign.

[00:24:55] Maybe it's a sign where, you know, you need to take a better, closer look at what am I

[00:25:02] doing to beat myself up?

[00:25:03] Like, where am I sitting there critiquing myself and where am I not giving myself enough grace

[00:25:09] to just let go of maybe some of the, you know, business mistakes I made in 2024?

[00:25:16] Or some of it, Chelsea, this is true for me.

[00:25:20] It's not so much that you make mistakes.

[00:25:22] It's maybe that you beat yourself up for not being further down the road.

[00:25:27] Okay.

[00:25:28] Okay.

[00:25:29] Because I have a tendency to over, um, I over glamorize how quickly I can grow something

[00:25:37] or do something.

[00:25:38] And I'm sorry, y'all, but sometimes, you know, mom and I had this conversation the other day.

[00:25:43] Mom was, she was talking about how small businesses, you know, they typically take anywhere from like

[00:25:50] seven to 10 years to really like get in their zone of genius.

[00:25:53] Yes.

[00:25:54] No.

[00:25:54] And so you could be, think about that.

[00:25:56] You could be working on a business for 10 years and feel like you are just in the growth

[00:26:02] stage of that business.

[00:26:04] So our wonderful friend, Ms. Ray from the Design Demon, who we've had multiple times now on

[00:26:11] the podcast and we'll bring her back again because she is so fun and she has so much knowledge

[00:26:15] to share with us.

[00:26:16] But she has, uh, two tips that she'd like to share for small business owners getting ready

[00:26:22] for small business Saturday.

[00:26:23] And the first one I think relates to the conversation we just had with Erin, with Erin's piece of

[00:26:31] advice, not with Erin.

[00:26:32] She's not here, but Erin probably just like looked over her shoulder like what?

[00:26:39] Was I somewhere and didn't know?

[00:26:42] No, right.

[00:26:42] But so Ray said, look, if you don't make any sales, it's okay.

[00:26:48] Well, your success is not measured to how well a single sale does.

[00:26:53] I think that is a huge one because we're saying, oh, Black Friday is a big event.

[00:27:00] Oh, small business Saturday is a big event.

[00:27:02] And then let's say you do the big event and you don't get any sales.

[00:27:09] I understand that that could hurt, but like she said, that's one single event.

[00:27:16] Right.

[00:27:16] It's all, what do we say?

[00:27:18] Data.

[00:27:19] It's all data, right?

[00:27:20] Like then you can look and see what, why didn't it work was, you know, maybe did I not start,

[00:27:25] start promoting it early enough?

[00:27:27] Was I, um, was it just a promotion that people really, you know, weren't into?

[00:27:34] There could be various reasons for it not going off without a hitch.

[00:27:40] But I do think the other part of it is, you know, Chelsea, one thing that we often overlook

[00:27:45] is also the fact that we're playing a game of percentages.

[00:27:51] All right.

[00:27:51] So the thing is that depending on where you are in your small business, a small business

[00:27:57] Saturday, uh, promotion could go extremely well.

[00:28:02] If let's say you've built up an audience and you have a solid email list and you've been

[00:28:08] showing up for that community for, you know, the entire year.

[00:28:12] And so therefore you have a product that they are looking forward to it being slightly discounted

[00:28:18] or, you know, whatever that promotion is or looks like it's going to be very different.

[00:28:24] That experience for that small business owners could be very different than the experience

[00:28:28] of a small business owner that literally just started their business.

[00:28:32] Let's say September 1st.

[00:28:33] Yeah.

[00:28:34] Okay.

[00:28:34] Because your, your timeframe for growing an audience is very different than the other

[00:28:39] person.

[00:28:40] So Ray actually also gave us a practical tip as well, since she has, you know, a couple

[00:28:47] of these under her bell and everything.

[00:28:50] She specifically focuses on stocking stuffers for small business Saturday because they're easier

[00:28:58] to assemble.

[00:28:59] They take less material and they sell at a cheaper price.

[00:29:03] So it's just a little bit easier to move that kind of product specifically for her.

[00:29:09] And again, stocking stuffers are great for this time of year.

[00:29:14] I love it.

[00:29:15] I love that she's figured out what works well for her.

[00:29:17] And the only way she probably has done that is through experimenting.

[00:29:21] So if you need another reason to experiment, there you go.

[00:29:24] Let Ray be your example.

[00:29:27] She probably has experimented with this stuff and she's now come to the conclusion that she

[00:29:31] knows exactly what works for her customers, what they are excited to purchase during that

[00:29:37] timeframe and something that is seasonal and relates to, you know, the upcoming holiday season.

[00:29:42] Yeah.

[00:29:43] Which can I, this is going to be like a random piece of this, but do you still get stocking

[00:29:51] stuffers?

[00:29:52] Yeah, actually my, my in-laws are big stocking people.

[00:29:59] So we get a huge.

[00:30:01] Well, then I have another question and I mean this in the sincerest way, y'all.

[00:30:07] Okay.

[00:30:08] We're, we are a Hispanic family, but Vivian and I are both in relationships with country

[00:30:14] boys.

[00:30:16] So both of Tim's grandmothers always do stocking stuffers and they always give us like, I have

[00:30:23] my own stocking.

[00:30:25] Oh yeah, me too.

[00:30:26] I've had, I mean, I've had one since I started, you know, since we've been married.

[00:30:30] But so what your, I guess your question, your curiosity is stemming from, is it a cultural

[00:30:35] thing?

[00:30:36] Is it a, yeah, is it a cultural thing?

[00:30:37] Because I know we had, we had stocking stuffers when we were children, but like that's not really

[00:30:43] a...

[00:30:44] Did we?

[00:30:45] Because I don't remember, like I know we had stockings.

[00:30:48] I don't remember there ever being stuff in the stockings, were there?

[00:30:53] I remember, okay.

[00:30:54] I only remember a very specific, a very specific instance because mom and dad had found bubblegum

[00:31:05] that looked like coal that was in a little like bag that was coal.

[00:31:10] So they put it in our stockings.

[00:31:12] So they gifted us coal for Christmas.

[00:31:15] That is the only one I remember.

[00:31:18] So maybe that was also the only year they did it.

[00:31:20] I don't know.

[00:31:21] I mean, tracks.

[00:31:26] But yeah, to your point.

[00:31:28] So y'all let us know, is that a cultural thing?

[00:31:31] I mean, tell us, first of all, I guess if you're, if you're, you know, open to sharing

[00:31:36] with us where your family's from, tell us and then tell us if stockings were a big deal

[00:31:42] and if you actually got presents in those stockings.

[00:31:45] Because I'll tell you, my in-laws are huge on that stuff.

[00:31:48] Like my mother-in-law will specifically put like, if she puts like cute little jewelry

[00:31:53] and like, you know, fuzzy socks and all of that.

[00:31:55] Like, all right, Chelsea, what is the next piece of advice?

[00:31:59] So our last piece of advice is going to be from the Quarry Shop.

[00:32:04] So this doesn't necessarily focus on Small Business Saturday, but oh, also like, I'm

[00:32:11] not wearing all of my rings today, but like this red one, this is so hard to do.

[00:32:16] I'm always so bad at this, but this one's from the Quarry Shop.

[00:32:19] So she does vintage rings and stuff like that.

[00:32:22] Love her.

[00:32:23] Amazing.

[00:32:24] This isn't specific to Small Business Saturday, but she said,

[00:32:27] your attitude has a huge impact on your business.

[00:32:32] Adopting a can-do attitude, allowing yourself the grace to figure stuff out,

[00:32:37] and getting your feet wet in all aspects of your business.

[00:32:41] There's nothing wrong with asking for help and using your resources,

[00:32:45] but make sure that you can handle things on your own as well if need be.

[00:32:50] I love that little last bit because yes, we want you guys to use your resources.

[00:32:57] We want you guys to ask for help when you need it.

[00:33:01] You also kind of need to be able to do it on your own.

[00:33:05] It's kind of like changing a tire.

[00:33:11] If I can have Tim change my tire, perfect, because I don't want to change my tire.

[00:33:16] But I still need to be able to change my tire on my own if he's not there to help me.

[00:33:23] I think there's also a practical side to it where like, you know, a little bit of tough love,

[00:33:27] y'all.

[00:33:28] If you're a small business owner and you are employing people or utilizing resources

[00:33:34] to help you with some type of function in your business, but yet you are not familiar with

[00:33:41] that function and you don't know, how in the world are you able to keep up and to act appropriately

[00:33:50] gauge whether you are getting your values worth out of, you know, a position or out of a particular

[00:34:00] consultant or whatever you're utilizing.

[00:34:02] I mean, I just, it's smart from her perspective.

[00:34:06] I love that she also included that in there because at the end of the day, let's say you

[00:34:09] hire a social media manager, your social media manager quits.

[00:34:13] Does that mean you are just not going to show up on social media?

[00:34:16] Hopefully the answer is no, because you need to be able to get by and be able to do this

[00:34:21] stuff.

[00:34:21] The other thing is how do you gauge when you have a good social media manager and when

[00:34:25] you have a bad one?

[00:34:26] It's only if you know what duties and responsibilities they should be doing and how they should be doing

[00:34:32] that effectively.

[00:34:33] So I agree with everything she said.

[00:34:36] I agree with you too.

[00:34:38] It's exactly like changing a tire.

[00:34:40] If you own a car, you should be responsible and know how to change a tire on the off chance

[00:34:47] that Tim is not around and, you know, and you have to do it on your own.

[00:34:53] And I'm also really glad that she brings up attitude because, you know, attitude is so important.

[00:34:59] It's, it's the reason that Vivian thinks that I need humble pie because I am never going

[00:35:05] to bring myself down.

[00:35:08] I'm going to figure it out.

[00:35:09] I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing.

[00:35:12] And it's also the reason that in Chelsea's Christmas stocking this year, I am going to

[00:35:17] gift her humble pie.

[00:35:19] You're getting humble pie in your stocking stuffer.

[00:35:23] Okay.

[00:35:23] So just be prepared, Chelsea.

[00:35:25] But I have a can-do attitude.

[00:35:29] No, I love it.

[00:35:30] I do think attitude's extremely important.

[00:35:34] And it's also going to be, you know, Chelsea, sometimes it's funny that we're talking about

[00:35:39] your attitude today because usually you're the one that's telling me that I'm always super

[00:35:43] like optimistic about stuff.

[00:35:44] Like I'm just, I'm wired that way.

[00:35:47] My thing is my attitude is the one choice that I have every day when I wake up.

[00:35:52] Okay.

[00:35:53] And so I would rather not choose to be freaking miserable and, you know, sit there and run

[00:35:59] through all of the negative things that could possibly be happening in my small business.

[00:36:03] I choose to focus on the good, the headway that I've made, and also optimistically look

[00:36:12] forward to the goals that I'll be reaching within the next six months, 12 months.

[00:36:18] And, you know, I'll dare say it, but if you're a small business owner, I kind of feel like

[00:36:22] to some extent, you guys have to have your head in the clouds.

[00:36:25] I just feel like some extent, even the smallest little piece, you have to be optimistic in

[00:36:30] those ways.

[00:36:31] And I love that she did focus it back on the, um, Marie Forleo is a, she's a, uh, like internet

[00:36:41] business coach.

[00:36:42] And the one, she actually wrote a whole book called, uh, everything is figure outable.

[00:36:48] And that basis of her thing is basically, she's like, there's always a way to figure

[00:36:53] out how to accomplish something.

[00:36:56] And so if you're not quite there yet, it just means that you haven't stumbled, you know,

[00:37:02] upon the right way to do it or the way that you're going to do it.

[00:37:05] What I try to do is I just say it out loud.

[00:37:08] I'll figure it out.

[00:37:11] And Tim does it too.

[00:37:12] Just say it out loud.

[00:37:13] I'll figure it out because then you're one, you're speaking it into, you're kind of forcing

[00:37:18] yourself to be like, calm down, whatever's wrong.

[00:37:23] You'll figure it out.

[00:37:24] When, how many of us spend so much more time?

[00:37:26] It's almost like I, I do that too.

[00:37:28] However, I do allow myself, I will say this.

[00:37:31] I allow myself whenever I'm upset about something or I feel like I'm in a little bit

[00:37:34] of a pickle, I allow myself time to moan about it.

[00:37:39] Like, I feel like that's very therapeutic and cathargic for me.

[00:37:44] Like, I need to, if I'm upset about something, I give myself, you know, five, 10 minutes to

[00:37:51] be mad about it, cry about it, get upset about it.

[00:37:54] And then I'm done with it.

[00:37:55] Like, I'm like, okay, you've allowed yourself to express that emotion and it's a valid emotion,

[00:38:00] but now move on.

[00:38:01] Like now is the part where you're like, I'm, you know, I've, I'm feeling like a little sad

[00:38:06] sack of potatoes.

[00:38:07] I've allowed myself to do it.

[00:38:09] Now it's the get to work part.

[00:38:11] I have a problem.

[00:38:12] How am I going to fix it?

[00:38:13] I have, you know, my small business Saturday didn't go as planned.

[00:38:16] How am I going to do it different next year?

[00:38:19] I really loved all of the responses that we got when we asked, hey, you know, small business

[00:38:26] owners, give us advice.

[00:38:28] Give us things that you wish you had heard when you first started out, when you did your

[00:38:32] first small business Saturday.

[00:38:34] I thought these were great.

[00:38:35] If you are listening to this and you have a piece of advice that you didn't hear, that

[00:38:41] you're like, ooh, if you're doing your first small business Saturday, you need to hear this.

[00:38:44] Even if it's something, you know, actually practical, like right from the design demon,

[00:38:50] you know, focus on stocking stuffers.

[00:38:52] That's what she does.

[00:38:52] Any piece of advice, share it with us.

[00:38:55] Send us a DM, comment on YouTube, comment on Spotify, send us a DM.

[00:39:01] I think I said that already.

[00:39:03] Share with us your piece of advice so that we can get it out there in front of all small

[00:39:08] business owners.

[00:39:09] We want to harbor a community of learning.

[00:39:13] Notice that all of the advice that we got, none of it was like, get on Instagram five

[00:39:22] times a day and promote your small business Saturday, right?

[00:39:26] I think the thing that I most specifically loved about everything is the fact that a lot

[00:39:32] of it had to do with long term.

[00:39:35] Um, you know, it wasn't just small business Saturday, but it's advice that they've learned

[00:39:41] over the years.

[00:39:43] And they're telling you guys like, Hey, listen up.

[00:39:46] It's not as serious as you think, right?

[00:39:49] You don't make as many sales as you thought you were.

[00:39:51] That's fine.

[00:39:52] It's life goes on.

[00:39:54] Life as a small business owner moves on.

[00:39:57] Okay.

[00:39:57] We hope that you really enjoyed today's episode.

[00:40:00] We loved being able to hear from fellow small business owners and share that with you.

[00:40:06] As always, you guys, please go ahead and subscribe to the podcast or share this episode with a

[00:40:13] small business owner that you love or one that you don't love.

[00:40:16] Either way, uh, anybody can get good information from our podcast episodes.

[00:40:22] Also, please, please, please leave us a review because that does help to get this information

[00:40:28] in front of other people.

[00:40:30] Other small business owners are looking to grow their business.

[00:40:33] And as always go be the best SOB you can be.