Proof to Product

I know you have a lot on your plate right now. You've got products to make, orders to ship, and about a hundred decisions that you're making every day. I do not take it lightly that you are spending time with me today and I want to thank you for being here. Today's episode is a short, focused, throwback episode designed to give you one thing that you can do today to move your business forward. No...

How do you decide what to make next, what to cut, and where to put your limited time and money? For Elizabeth Rees, founder of Chasing Paper , the answer has come from her customers for nearly 13 years. She shares how customer feedback shaped her product format, her materials, her wholesale approach, and her newest line, and why she checks every instinct against the data before acting on it. In th...

I know you have a lot on your plate right now. You've got products to make, orders to ship, and about a hundred decisions that you're making every day. I do not take it lightly that you are spending time with me today and I want to thank you for being here. Today's episode is a short, focused, throwback episode designed to give you one thing that you can do today to move your business forward. No...

Dorothy Belshaw has spent more than three decades in the gift, home, and trade show industries. She's led some of North America's biggest markets—from NY NOW to Atlanta Mart , and Las Vegas Market . Earlier this year, Dorothy partnered with industry veterans William Lacey and Karen Olson to acquire NY NOW through Rockview Management Group and bring the iconic 100+ year-old show into its next chapt...

Today's episode is a short excerpt from a conversation with one of our incredible Proof to Product community members. I love sharing these conversations because building a product brand doesn't follow a single pathway. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that works for everyone because no two businesses are the same. We learn so much by hearing how other people are making decisions, the ideas t...

Most product-based business owners do their strategic planning late at night or in the car with ten spare minutes. Or they make a big list of everything that needs fixing and try to work on all of it at once. Either way, a few months go by and it's hard to tell whether the business is headed where you want it to go. In this episode, I walk you through a five-day exercise, about 30 minutes a day, t...

I know you have a lot on your plate right now. You've got products to make, orders to ship, and about a hundred decisions that you're making every day. I do not take it lightly that you are spending time with me today and I want to thank you for being here. Today's episode is a short, focused, throwback episode designed to give you one thing that you can do today to move your business forward. No...

I've been having a lot of conversations lately, both private and public, about Faire. Some of you love the platform. Some of you hate it. And a lot of you are somewhere in the middle, trying to figure out your next move. Should I get on Faire? Should I get off? Should I let it run on cruise control? There's a lot of noise right now, and a lot of nuance to every situation. Here's the part that gets...

Today's episode is a short excerpt from a conversation with one of our incredible Proof to Product community members. I love sharing these conversations because building a product brand doesn't follow a single pathway. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that works for everyone because no two businesses are the same. We learn so much by hearing how other people are making decisions, the ideas t...

When you're deciding which products to add to your line, you probably think about sales data first. But that's only part of the story. Amita Nair has built Amicreative into a cohesive, intentional brand by making product decisions from four angles: financial performance, design aesthetic, what customers actually want, and whether the product fits her brand voice. In this episode, she walks through...

Over the years, we've had hundreds of conversations on this podcast about what it means to build a sustainable, profitable product brand. And some of those conversations are just too juicy. They're too good to live in the archives. Today, I'm bringing one back. What you're about to hear is a short clip from a past episode. It's a topic that has stuck with me and still feels very relevant today. Th...

Today I'm talking with someone I've admired for a long time— artist, author, illustrator, and creative entrepreneur Lisa Congdon . Lisa has been building businesses around her art for nearly 20 years, and in this conversation we talk about something that I think a lot of established brand owners will relate to, and that's what happens when you've built a successful business but you realize it's no...

Over the years, we've had hundreds of conversations on this podcast about what it means to build a sustainable, profitable product brand. And some of those conversations are just too juicy. They're too good to live in the archives. Today, I'm bringing one back. What you're about to hear is a short clip from a past episode. It's a topic that has stuck with me and still feels very relevant today. Th...

What happens when one client makes up 85% of your income, and then that client cancels the contract? For Melissa Hyatt , that moment became the reason she built a business with several ways to earn. Melissa shares her path from design director at Waverly Fabrics to running her own stationery and watercolor brand, and how a sketch on a piece of copy paper turned into a line of watercolor kits that...

Over the years, we've had hundreds of conversations on this podcast about what it means to build a sustainable, profitable product brand. And some of those conversations are just too juicy. They're too good to live in the archives. Today, I'm bringing one back. What you're about to hear is a short clip from a past episode. It's a topic that has stuck with me and still feels very relevant today. Th...

What did it cost you to not do Paper Camp last round? Not what it costs to join the program — we'll get to that. I'm talking about the other number. The invisible one. The wholesale orders you didn't land because your pricing wasn't dialed in. The reorders that never came through because you weren't sure how to follow up and you didn't know what to say, or when to send it. The stores that passed o...

Thirteen years in business. Nearly 700 wholesale accounts. And the biggest shift Rachel O'Neill of Loftipop made this year was admitting her wholesale business was being run like a D2C channel. If you started in direct-to-consumer and layered wholesale on top, this episode will feel familiar. Rachel came into Paper Camp with a thriving business at Loftipop and left with major enhancements: separat...

"My business is too young for this." If you've ever said that about wholesale, this episode is for you. Sherry Lam joined Paper Camp with fewer than 20 SKUs, a handful of inconsistent accounts, a full-time day job, and a brand-new baby — and decided that was exactly the right moment to build her wholesale foundation. She went from 3 shaky accounts to more than 50. This is her story, in her own wor...

You know that moment when your business starts asking more of you than your systems can deliver? A key account shows interest, your line is scaling, and you can feel the gap between where you are and what's coming. That's exactly where Charina Cabanayan was when she joined Paper Camp — 75 independent accounts, a sales rep group, and a growing pressed floral line at Orchid & Pine Studio. This e...

I know you have a lot on your plate right now. You've got products to make, orders to ship, and about a hundred decisions that you're making every day. I do not take it lightly that you are spending time with me today and I want to thank you for being here. Today's episode is a short, focused, throwback episode designed to give you one thing that you can do today to move your business forward. No...

Here it is, your long-awaited, highly anticipated Faire market recap for this summer season. I've been watching brands in our community have wildly different experiences during this Faire market, and I've also been studying a lot of what people outside of our community have experienced. Some walked away with 6-figure orders over 4 days, others didn't get a single order, and we're talking about the...

Today's episode is a short excerpt from a previous conversation I had with one of our amazing Paper Camp students. I really love using this podcast to spotlight the incredible things that our students are doing because there is so much value in hearing how other product brands are navigating wholesale in real time. These episodes are also a great reminder that there is no singular path to success...

Today's episode is going to be a little bit of tough love, but it is all in an effort to help you run your business more profitably and with more ease. Over the years, I have watched so many incredibly talented, hardworking product sellers that are underselling themselves. They're undercharging and they're underestimating what their business is actually capable of. Today, we're going to talk about...

Today's episode is a short excerpt from a previous conversation I had with one of our amazing Paper Camp students. I really love using this podcast to spotlight the incredible things that our students are doing because there is so much value in hearing how other product brands are navigating wholesale in real time. These episodes are also a great reminder that there is no singular path to success...

Today's conversation is all about growing your business intentionally, experimenting with new ideas, and building a brand that evolves alongside you. Today's guest is Kirstie Lee, the founder of A Jar of Pickles , a product company that creates playful gifts and accessories that celebrate Asian appetites. Kirstie's been in business for 12 years, starting as an Etsy hobby while she was in college,...