Launch Your Box Podcast with Sarah Williams | Start, Launch, and Grow Your Subscription Box

Do you think you’re too old to start a business? Do you worry it’s too late to pivot and do something you’re truly passionate about? Something that could make a huge difference in the lives of you and your family?  It’s not too late. It’s never too late. I say it often, but sometimes it takes hearing it from somebody else before it really sinks in.  Get ready to be inspired as I introduce you to B...

Can anyone start a subscription box business? Yes. I truly believe this.  I say it all of the time - I’m not special. And no, that doesn’t mean I don’t think I’m great or suffer from a lack of confidence. It just means I don’t have anything you don’t have.  I’m an ordinary person who doesn’t give up. And it’s that “not giving up” piece that matters. That’s the thing you need to have if you’re goin...

On March 5th at about 10:00 in the morning, Facebook went down. Instagram went down, too. The outage didn’t last long, but it had an impact on so many business owners, especially those who rely heavily on social media. That day, Meta was only down for a short while, but what if it was down for the day? The week? The month? What if it went away for good?  Do you have systems in place to reach your...

Today’s episode was inspired by a question from a member of Launch Your Box - and a former guest on the podcast. Betsy Goodman shared her sold-out launch story in episode 93. Betsy is a maker and a teacher - she teaches lettering and wax seal techniques. Her work is beautiful and her question is a common one among subscription box owners who make or teach as part of their subscription.  Betsy’s qu...

One of the biggest benefits of a subscription box business is recurring revenue. You can build ANOTHER recurring revenue stream in your business by adding a membership to your subscription box business.  In episode 145 of this podcast, I interviewed three of my Mastermind students, all of whom hit $1 million in revenue last year! They have different businesses and followed different paths to where...

Starting a Facebook business page from scratch is hard. Even growing an existing page can feel hard. But it’s a critical part of audience building. You create great content your ideal customer will love. And you want your ideal customer - lots of your ideal customers - to see it. That means gaining more followers.  When I started my page, How to Start a Subscription Box, in early 2020. I knew who...

Does it feel like you are making good sales, but nothing is left in your bank account at the end of each month? Are you bringing in enough revenue to cover your overhead and pay your employees but can’t pay yourself? I’ve been there. If you’re a small business owner, you’ve been there, too.  It’s time to change how we think about sales and profitability. And I’ve brought the perfect person to the...

What if you never had to pack and ship your subscription boxes again? How would that change your business… and your life?  Ryan Culver of Lessgistics joined me for this episode to talk all things subscription box fulfillment center. Not only does Ryan have more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, he’s also a former health & wellness subscription box owner and the current owner of a charcu...

You’ve curated a beautiful subscription box. Your website is nearly ready. But there’s one decision holding you back from actually launching. And it’s all about shipping. Should you offer free shipping or charge for shipping?  Of course, “free shipping” isn’t free. If you offer free shipping to your customers, you will adjust the prices of the items you sell to absorb those shipping costs and prot...

Is tech holding you back from launching your subscription box? There are so many decisions to make. One of the first is choosing the right platform for you and your business. There are hundreds to choose from. But not all of them are right for subscription box businesses.  So many people get stuck here, overthinking and over-researching. Decision paralysis sets in and they fail to make any progres...

Building an audience of people who are interested in your subscription box is crucial. You can’t have a successful launch - and a successful business - without an audience. But you don’t need a huge following with tens of thousands of followers if you have a small audience filled with the RIGHT people.  I’ve built two multi-million dollar businesses and neither one has a huge number of followers....

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” - Dwayne Johnson One of the healthiest habits we can build into our businesses is consistency. Consistency trumps everything else. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to be consistent.  I talk about consistency a LOT because it’s just that important. You can be an ex...

Finding people who are interested in your subscription box and collecting them on a waitlist is one of the most important things you can do to have a successful launch. But you can’t just collect them. What you do with that list leading up to your launch is just as important. The more work you do between the waitlist and the launch, the higher your conversion rates will be!   Inside Launch Your Bo...

Growing your subscription box business with paid traffic is great… Until it isn’t.   One great way to choose a subscription box niche is to identify a gap in the market and fill it. An even better way is to identify a gap in a market you are passionate about. Launch Your Box member Bridget Young of Lunar Maven did both. And it paid off. She saw her subscription box grow from an initial launch of 1...

“Take that one next step.” - Megan Hoiosen Have you ever read an entire book in one day? Has a book ever given you exactly what you needed exactly when you needed it? When Megan Hoiosen of Sweet Tea Living got her hands on my book, One Box at a Time, she took the day off and read it straight through. And three weeks later, she had a sold-out launch of her brand-new subscription box.  A former teac...

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It takes a lot of physical, mental, and emotional energy to start a business. It takes even more energy to continue to grow a successful business. And it seems every day brings challenges, obstacles, and issues that threaten to deplete that energy. Energy we need to keep moving forward.  In this episode, we’re talking about things in your business that threaten your...

An online marketplace that connects buyers with sellers with a HUGE reach and the potential to sell a lot of products without having to spend time or money building your own audience? Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? And for thousands of sellers on Jane.com it ended up being exactly that. The collapse of Jane.com highlights important lessons all small business owners need to learn. ...

Can you imagine bringing in over $1 Million in revenue in one year? What if I told you anyone can do it? Anyone who is willing to work hard, to never give up. Anyone who is willing to get up every day, hustle, and implement.  In this episode, I’m joined by three members of my Elevate Mastermind. All three have wildly successful businesses. And all three hit $1 Million in revenue this year! All thr...

2023 has been a rollercoaster year for e-commerce businesses. Yes, there have been ups, but wow, have there ever been downs, too. And there were certainly times this year that left all of us scratching our heads and wondering, “What’s working now?”  In this episode, I’m going to do my best to answer that question along with one of my biz besties, Susan Bradley of the E-Commerce Roadmap podcast. We...

Every month I do a LIVE unboxing video for my audience. It’s one of my favorite things to do and one of the best ways to engage with my audience, subscribers and non-subscribers. I teach members of Launch Your Box to do a LIVE unboxing every month as part of their marketing plan. It is SUCH a great way to connect with your subscribers and build community. It’s also an opportunity to create FOMO -...

Have you launched your subscription box but found yourself struggling to grow? Launching your subscription box is a HUGE milestone. Celebrate that! The next HUGE milestone for so many of my members is reaching 100 subscribers. Some - those with large, engaged audiences - do this during their first launch. Most don’t. I didn’t.  Growing your subscription box to 100 subscribers and beyond takes time...

“You can’t just put it out there and expect it to work.” - Pam Rogers    This is a special episode. It’s a replay of our 50th episode! Thank you to all of you who’ve listened and shared - and special thanks for all your 5 Star Reviews! It means so much to me!    I compiled the top ten episodes for the year and found something interesting. All ten of them had a common theme - audience building.   ...

“When you listen to your mentor, things will work.” - Cathy Schwartz Collecting people, finding your hottest leads, building a foundation for your subscription box launch… It’s all part of the Waitlist Plan I teach inside Launch Your Box. And by following that Waitlist Plan, Cathy Schwartz of Decorator Crafts sold out the launch of her Luxury Loops subscription box in only 24 hours.  Cathy’s subsc...

If you’re a small business owner, you are probably experiencing some degree of overwhelm in your business or personal life. Probably both. Because when you’re a small business owner, business and personal overlap and intertwine. A lot.  Overwhelm can become a major obstacle to success. It can affect your business growth and your personal growth. Personal overwhelm affects your business and busines...

Have you gotten stuck trying to decide what to include in your subscription box? You want to give your subscribers everything they could possibly want - but you know it’s not possible to do that and stay profitable. It is so easy for new subscription box owners to overthink everything and end up overwhelmed. One subscription box owner decided to keep things simple - really simple - and now has mor...