Proof to Product

Yes, friend, you can be successful with wholesale without exhibiting at trade shows. This is a question that I frequently hear from our Paper Camp students and today's guest is a shining example of how slow, intentional growth without trade shows leads to success. Today's guest is Paper Camp Alum & Advisory Board member, Katie Hart of Odd Daughter Paper Co. Katie launched Odd Daughter in 2013...

Opening a retail storefront is no joke. It's a whole lot of work and a completely different business model than selling products online or to the wholesale market. Brick-and-mortar retail requires different strategies, operational systems, and of course staffing needs. I know there are many of you who dream of someday opening a shop, in fact, we have many product brands that also have brick-and-mo...

While we're on a short break for the summer, we're re-airing some of your favorite Proof to Product episodes, including this one with Brittany O'Brien! Deciding to sell wholesale is the first step to scaling your business, but what are the next steps to being successful in it? Brittany O'Brien of Brittany Paige joins us to share the top three contributors to her wholesale success, how she overcame...

While we're on a short break for the summer, we're re-airing some of your favorite Proof to Product episodes, including this one with Beth Roszkowski and Tiffany Grimes! As a product creator, it's common to feel that success means building your own storefront and selling retail to earn the most profit for your business. While that's a great goal to strive for it doesn't mean you should let other s...

The Proof to Product podcast team and I are practicing what we preach and the podcast is taking a summer break! We will be back with a new podcast episode on Tuesday, July 25th, and we have some incredible things lined up for you! While we're on hiatus, be sure you dip back into the archives of over 300 incredible episodes to help you streamline and scale your business. Plus, we'll even be sharing...

Today we're gonna talk about paid advertising. I have spent years searching for someone that has extensive experience in the e-commerce space, and who understands the unique challenges and needs of micro-businesses, solo entrepreneurs, and small businesses, particularly with paid advertising. What I found in my search was that there were a lot of people who were focused on paid ads, but for servic...

"You are your number one resource." This is a direct quote from today's guest, Michelle Angenent. Michelle is a Paper Camp alum, LABS member, and the fierce founder behind 417 Press, an award-winning letterpress greeting card company and paper goods brand based in Montreal, Canada. Always observing life with a dash of humor. Michelle's product line is a direct reflection of the personal challenges...

I am incredibly proud to share our 300th episode of the Proof to Product podcast! It's just incredible to me that we started this show in May of 2017 with one single goal in mind—to become an invaluable business resource for those starting and scaling product based businesses. I think it's safe to say that we have certainly hit that goal. We have produced and published over 150 hours of audio cont...

Supply chain issues, paper shortages, production problems, shipping delays, and increased labor costs; these are just some of the issues that our community of product-based business owners have faced over the last few years. The problems extend well beyond our community of makers in that they also affect our manufacturing partners, suppliers, and vendors that we work with. Today, Ronnie Williams f...

I completely remember what it was like in the early days of selling wholesale. I felt like I was winging every single decision. I questioned everything I was reading on the internet. And, I was craving a community of other product makers that I could tap into for answers and to share resources. Way back in 2008, that community didn't exist so I eventually created it. Since 2011, we have helped tho...

Just follow your instincts that seems to be the thread throughout today's podcast episode. Paper Camp alum, Ashleigh Evans of InBooze , joins me to talk about how she started a handmade, locally sourced food and beverage brand from her home in 2018. Her company has since expanded into a team working out of a commercial kitchen, warehouse, and a retail space, and they ship products to stores nation...

I recently spent the day with many of our Proof to Product students at the * Noted & SF Now trade show in San Francisco, CA. Seventy-four of our Proof to Product LABS members and Paper Camp alumni were exhibiting at this show - which means our community accounted for 62% of all exhibitors. Pretty incredible! Our community members won awards, secured major orders with key accounts, launched new...

Welcome part two of my interview with Sam Kramer of Near Modern Disaster! If you have not yet listened to part one, make sure to check out episode 294 first! Sam gave us an update on her business and shared four things that have been critical to her business growth. In this episode, Sam and I are talking about how mental health is essential to being a smart and intentional business owner, and why...

You have heard me talk about this time and time again, but there is no singular pathway in business! Even though we may all be running physical product-based businesses, we each embark on a different journey working towards different goals and making different choices along the way. One of my favorite parts about the work I do is seeing the transformation as folks continue their entrepreneurial jo...

As you're getting ready for upcoming trade shows, I want to share how you can create a simple, but effective way to turn your trade show leads (people you meet at the shows) into new wholesale customers. Spoiler alert: the success of what I'm teaching you hinges on one singular thing: the follow-through. You have to do the work to see results. In this episode, I'm sharing what you should do while...

We all have big goals, dreams, and plans for our businesses. In order to meet those milestones, we need to take action. What do you do when you look at your to-do list and everything starts to feel really overwhelming? Today's guest is Ashley Brown of Routines and Things and this episode is an excerpt from a recent Coffee Chat that she led inside of our Proof to Product LABS program on time manage...

Many entrepreneurs are high achievers! We work hard. We go above and beyond. We care deeply about the work we do, whether it's for ourselves or for others. So when things don't go as planned or are even outside of our control, we can sometimes feel like we're failing. Today's guest is Paper Camp Alum Alyssa Manoleas, who makes and sells hand illustrated greeting cards and gifts through her brand G...

Think back to when you started your business. Was choosing a name an easy or difficult task for you? I'm terrible at naming things—particularly my own projects, so this is something I labored over for too long. In today's episode I'm replying to a question from Tiffany, one of our community members who is struggling with naming her business. She's unsure whether to name it after her personal name...

Way back in 2008, when I had my stationery brand I purchased a light box off of Amazon, borrowed my sister's DSLR camera and spent hours reading photography tutorials on blogs to learn how to use the camera and to get ideas for what my shot list should include! When I say hours, I literally mean dozens of hours were spent trying to learn how to take product photos that would make my brand look pol...

Research has shown that you have about 8 seconds to capture people's attention when they come to your website. That's the average attention span for your website visitors, and that's not a lot of time! If you fail to articulate what you sell, who those products are for and how you're different from your competitors, you may have lost your chance to convert that potential customer. We have to be in...

Does the economy have you worried? I know that the words inflation and recession have been hot topics in several small business groups that I'm in, and I know that people are worried. Today, Jess Van Den of Create and Thrive joins me to talk about how small businesses, particularly in the handmade space, can prepare for and survive through these types of economic downturns. Jess is the founder of...

When I talk to people about their business, they often say they "fell into business" or became an "entrepreneur by accident." It's a common story, especially in the creative online space that we all work in. These people solved a problem, likely for themselves, and then that solution led to something greater… whether it be a new business, new product or revenue stream. One thing I always like to r...

I'm back from a whirlwind trip to New York where over 50 of our Paper Camp alumni were exhibiting at NY Now and Shoppe Object - two wholesale trade shows. It was such a treat to visit with everyone and to see their new products on display. Both shows were buzzing with buyers, press and brands looking to collaborate. The energy was high and orders were being written. You know… at Paper Camp we like...

How did you decide that it was time to start wholesaling for your business? This is one of my favorite questions to ask my coaching clients, our Paper Camp students, and even our guests here on the podcast, because even though there are a lot of similarities between our stories, everyone's journey is so different. In some cases like mine, deciding to sell wholesale was a very intentional and delib...

How well do you know your customers and I'm not talking just their demographics or their buying preferences; I'm talking about their lifestyle, their desires, and why they make the choices that they make. Our guest today is Monica Sharma-Patnekar from Business with Monica. She is walking us through her three part framework for getting to know our customers better, so that e-commerce brands can bui...