230 episodes

Looking to start or grow your boutique business? Tune in to Emily Benson's podcast! With 18 years of retail experience and a no-nonsense teaching style, Emily shares strategies and interviews experts to help you succeed. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar, online, pop-up, or mobile boutique, this podcast provides valuable insights to boost your business. From owning a mobile boutique called The Fashion Truck to being Associate Merchant for Girls' Accessories at Abercrombie & Fitch, Emily has turned her success into your success. Don't miss out on the secrets, tips, and best practices to grow a 7 or 8 figure boutique business.

Boost Your Boutique with Emily Benson Boost Your Boutique with Emily Benson

    • Business
    • 4.9 • 290 Ratings

Looking to start or grow your boutique business? Tune in to Emily Benson's podcast! With 18 years of retail experience and a no-nonsense teaching style, Emily shares strategies and interviews experts to help you succeed. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar, online, pop-up, or mobile boutique, this podcast provides valuable insights to boost your business. From owning a mobile boutique called The Fashion Truck to being Associate Merchant for Girls' Accessories at Abercrombie & Fitch, Emily has turned her success into your success. Don't miss out on the secrets, tips, and best practices to grow a 7 or 8 figure boutique business.

    Creating a Legacy Retail Boutique Business with Darlene Mitchell

    Creating a Legacy Retail Boutique Business with Darlene Mitchell

    1:04.0 My name is Darlene Mitchell and I am a retail business strategist. And my strength really is around inventory and profitability. So I help business boutique owners. Understanding inventory strategies so they can have legacy, not just so they can have a business, but they can have a legacy business, a business that stays around. 
    1:32.8 I was in corporate retail for 25 plus years. And what I do now is exactly what I did in corporate retail
    1:51.4 I'm teaching my clients what I learned in big retail and fortune 500 retail.
    2:12.7 There's a lot of money. There's a lot of trajectory. Like it's a great career, I think for anyone interested in fashion or selling or like how products get to the floor.
    2:29.8 You are not born with this knowledge. Retail math is very different math than math. 
    5:43.5 So like a buyer or a merchant, like depending on what the company kind of called it, that's like the lead business person now who I think is like the most similar to like a boutique owner.
    11:06.2 I don't care what your markup is. Any of that, you're pricing yourself out of the business.  If you don't get that, what are you doing to get that track again?
    12:17.3 We planned out every promotion. We knew post promotions would happen. They rarely were reactionary.
    12:45.5 I think that a lot of people in the  boutique space think that it's okay. To constantly run reactive sales because they're like, well, they're running it. The big companies are running it, but we're not seeing again behind the scenes, the look that Darlene and I are always going to give you is like, that is planned.
    13:39.7  It's heavy duty math. And a lot of people are just not getting that. And to your point, they're running these reactionary sales. I'm like, well, you plan to run that sale? Do you need to run that sale? Or are you just doing it because someone else is doing it? Does your business require that?
    15:25.4 We let a competitor dictate our business.  No, that's  awful. Yeah, that was awful. It was awful. And imagine the buyers and everyone who put all this work in to develop this product line and we were discounting it like crazy  because we were watching what a competitor was doing.
    16:13.8  I think most boutique owners, most, you know, I wouldn't say retail businesses doing under 5 million.  They're a little messy behind the scenes. They're a little weird. Like I think until people start to make real money, do they think of investing in someone like a planner?
    17:04.8 financial planning and your profit and loss statement is really different from your inventory management.
    17:33.2 Every quarter we look at what's our intention for this next quarter. What's our sales intention? What's our profit intention? Before we place product before we buy product, what's our intention first?
    18:03.0 Understand how you show value to that customer.
    18:22.4 There are a couple of things you do before you even get to the product.  Because all those things, everything has to mix for your product mix and your position, right? Because if you just go in and buy products at the right, wrong margin, and it's, and by the way, everyone, it's not find a cost times four to get a four times markup. That is not, that's not a strategy. That's just, that's reckless, right? That's a little reckless. So you want to do all those other things to understand before you buy the product.  Yeah. Right. I love it. So position. Person. Pricing. Product.  And then the fifth and bonus is...

    • 54 min
    From Homeless to $1M Wholesale Company: Molly Trumpler's Story

    From Homeless to $1M Wholesale Company: Molly Trumpler's Story

    1:22.0 I use retail as a sort of the stepping stone to gain awareness about myself and to build capital.
    2:58.1 It's very important that I feel that the clothes that we make are just made for a woman's body, not a specific woman's body, but like just the woman's body. So I pay a lot of attention to where themes are and how long certain sleeves are to make it to make everybody feel like they can wear it and not be self conscious.
    4:06.1 I do think that the clothes you put on your body have a lot to do with how you leave your house.
    4:22.6 it's really hard for boutique owners to find  Quote unquote, cute clothes in curvy sizes.
    9:03.0  no matter how big or small can they know, well, hopefully they know, or are starting to at least learn what sizes sell best for their particular demographics. 
    11:01.3 We're not going to sacrifice style quality or anything like that, but I am willing to  kind of do what needs to be done to stay relevant in whatever changing market is happening or doesn't happen.
    13:10.7 That's all I think most boutique owners want. They want to know that like someone cares about them from the wholesale side
    19:10.6 There's a big piece of feeling represented in clothing and clothing manufacturing.
    26:15.3 The best way, in my opinion, to get started is two things. Reach out to a vendor that you trust and ask if they would be willing to work with you, um, with custom designs.
    26:43.4 that is a great way to get your feet wet in my opinion is go to someone that you like their style already You've already built a relationship with them Ask them if they'd be willing to do custom pieces for you um and  Kind of learn about the process that way, not asking them, you know, and taking all their trade secrets, but just getting your feet wet into that.
    30:01.8  that is a great way to get your feet wet in my opinion is go to someone that you like their style already You've already built a relationship with them Ask them if they'd be willing to do custom pieces for you um and  Kind of learn about the process that way, not asking them, you know, and taking all their trade secrets, but just getting your feet wet into that.
    35:08.2 you're talking about building more income because you have that unique stuff.
    37:24.4  in the course that I took with you, when we worked one on one and looked at  Um, the timing of when I was launching things and we learned that I was kind of a step behind.
    So when I, it wasn't that what I was launching wasn't good and people didn't want it. It's just that I was bringing them in a little too late, which made me not sell as much as I could because for a lot of my customers, the time had already passed for them to successfully bring in that style.
    44:21.2 you want to be basic, but you don't want to be too basic. I think that's a big piece of it.  And at the same time, the hardest part about being a fashion forward,  bold dresser is. The basics always sell. That's why I'm like, how much, you know, if someone says, Oh, I did a t- shirt and it did so well in, in black, I'm like, did you do it in white? 
    46:26.9 If you're starting in April, you're going to want to be working out winter, for sure, as someone who's just starting, because there's no way in hell that your first samples are going to come and you'd be like, yep, perfect, love it.
    50:03.4 You probably aren't seeing fully or like making the connections and you know, I just remember our calls, like I would get on and I was just like, Oh, this is the...

    • 1 hr 8 min
    Email Segmenting for Boutique Growth

    Email Segmenting for Boutique Growth

    1:27.0 So when should you start an email list? Like Day one. Okay. If you don't have an email list or you only have a list of people who purchase from your boutique business, that's fine.
    1:38.4 Even if it's 20 people on your list, even if it's five, get signed up with an email service and get going.
    1:54.7 What are we doing with email? Why are we doing it? One, we're staying top of mind with customers.
    2:01.5 Email has the highest return on investment, somewhere like 38 for every email you have, like you get in return every time you send an email.
    2:20.0 Most people aren't going to unsubscribe. So don't feel ashamed or bad or whatever about sending emails.
    2:26.8 They signed up with you. Okay. And you're just communicating with them. You're saying, Hey, this is what's going on in my store. This is what you should know about.
    2:43.4 Now, how often should you be sending? I say at least once a week and please don't call this a newsletter. 
    3:15.5  Can't tell you how many emails I've gotten that have this title that I'm so excited about and then I open the email and it's like, it's not even in the email
    3:24.2 I'm sure that increases their click rate, but it doesn't actually make me click. It makes me annoyed.
    3:47.5 So at the baseline, we're sending one email a week. At the most, we're sending three to four
    3:52.3 On a busy sale week, on a Black Friday weekend, like any big promotion weekends, we're probably sending a lot more
    3:59.8 Also, what time of day is best? It doesn't matter. Test all the different times.
    4:17.9 So even just that your name pops up, whether or not they open it, You're there, you're in their inbox. That's what's most important.
    4:42.2 You want to make sure that you have a general list with everybody on it. Then you want to separate into three different categories.
    4:48.4 You want abandoned cart emails. You want. customers like people that have actually bought because you're going to have people on your list that haven't bought. And that's going to be the third one never purchased or haven't purchased within the past 30 to 60, 90 days.
    5:31.1 If they haven't purchased yet, the best way to communicate with them about you and, and warm them up to a purchase is going to be. Informative things. So how to shop with us? Why we started? Um, what are great styling tips? 
    5:50.6 It is part of your content strategy So you should and could have an email Sequence where when new people sign up for your list, they go through a sequence.
    6:40.2 ​​Next, we're going to talk about how to shop with you, uh, where can they shop, what nights do you launch, like what credit cards do you take, the questions that people have.
    9:21.5 You release it to them and it's like everything's 5 off automatically applied. Something like that. That's going to give you number one, a quick boost in sales. Number two, an urgency to buy because their discount goes away at noon, let's say, right? And then when it's released to the public, it's a full price item.
    10:16.6 Social media is great and we love it and it's great and it's going to get us out there. It's going to help build that email list.
    Resources:
    Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey...

    • 12 min
    February Boutiqueland Updates & MAGIC Recap

    February Boutiqueland Updates & MAGIC Recap

    Mentioned in this episode:
    Sky's the Limit Boutique Business Accelerator in 2024
    Sky's Boutique Business Accelerator teaches a proven, professional level framework that has been revolutionizing how boutiques scale. What if in 3-4 months you could reduce your inventory liability, become more profitable and start making passive income?
    Sky's the Limit Boutique Business Accelerator

    • 38 min
    How to Start a Boutique with No Money

    How to Start a Boutique with No Money

    0:24.5 You don't need a lot of money to start a boutique business.
    0:36.6 Let's say that the first way is through dropshipping. There are lots of dropshippers that are now connected through Shopify. So all you have to do is have a Shopify website.

    0:55.4 You pay for the good as the person buys for it, but it's a really nice way to start a business with very little money. You will have to pay the Shopify fee and sometimes drop shippers do have initial setup.

    1:08.6 Then you don't have a whole shipping station in your house. You don't have to worry about getting inventory shipped to a warehouse or storing anything. 

    1:22.4 Another easy way to start a boutique business with almost no money is to do it with your own clothing.

    1:28.6 Start a consignment store. If you can source really beautiful stuff from your own closet, from other people's closets, and leverage that to start a business, then you can start to make money. 

    2:19.8 You do need to design the merchandise that you are selling and you actually really need to make it cute because everyone thinks they can do print on demand now, but you have to make sure it's great.

    2:31.6 The cool thing about print on demand is you can do apparel. You could do notebooks. You can do mugs. You can do. Bags. You can do so many different things now.

    2:53.6 It's a nice way to add income streams to your business and it's a great way to start. 


    Resources:
    Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey through Boutiqueland. 🛍️
    NEW BOOK #TheRetailMindset available on Amazon
    Let’s be friends! 😊
    Facebook 
    Instagram
    Have questions? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at hello@boutiquetrainingacademy.com.

    Mentioned in this episode:
    Sky's the Limit Boutique Business Accelerator in 2024
    Sky's Boutique Business Accelerator teaches a proven, professional level framework that has been revolutionizing how boutiques scale. What if in 3-4 months you could reduce your inventory liability, become more profitable and start making passive income?
    Sky's the Limit Boutique Business...

    • 6 min
    Boutique Retail Ins and Outs for 2024

    Boutique Retail Ins and Outs for 2024

    0:41.2 One of the things that I know for sure across all of my clients that I work with as a boutique consultant is I want them all to relax.
    1:18.4 I think we need to set much better boundaries than we have in the past. And I think a lot of people just were hustling and that's like how they were raised. And that's what patriarchy tells us to do.
    2:25.4 So every time you expand, every time you make more money, you're going to have to put more support systems in place.
    3:47.8 So in for 2024 is relaxing and out is hustle.
    4:32.4 You've got to have a basic plan for your business. 
    4:50.0 You need to be examining your business at a really granular level. 
    5:47.0 A plan safeguards you against these feelings of things aren't going well.
    6:28.6 If you've been in business for a few years, you've got to stop looking all over the place at what you should be doing.
    7:01.7 What is out right now is looking at anyone else in boutique land, anyone else, what they're doing and trying to copy it.
    7:39.5 We have to stop looking outside. We have to go within. 

    8:30.6 you're going to sell more when you are excited about the stuff that you're selling. 

    10:04.3 I've always internally had a problem with a dupe because you're just copying someone else you're literally copying and Selling it and then saying you're doing it like it's very strange to me that anyone would think that this is okay not to mention it's just like  It's not original.

    11:20.0 I think graphic tees are good on their way out I think everyone is doing them and I don't know who's wearing them 

    13:47.7 I think what's in this year for 2024 is being super specialized, like being a beach shop, being a really boho shop, being like really leaning in like to what makes you feel good.

    14:29.0 Your marketing will be that much easier and like you'll have something to be known for.


    Resources:
    Visit Boutique Training Academy - If you want to make more money in your boutique or retail business you're in the right place. We'll guide you step by step in your journey through Boutiqueland. 🛍️
    NEW BOOK #TheRetailMindset available on Amazon
    Let’s be friends! 😊
    Facebook 
    a...

    • 19 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
290 Ratings

290 Ratings

katyhommes ,

The best I have found!

This podcast ditches the fluff and puts everything in perspective! She give us the info we want to hear in a way that helps us actually understand what we need to do! She is relevant, seasoned and such a breath of fresh air!

jlbeudy ,

Be ready to take notes!!

I can’t listen and drive like I do with most podcasts because I have to take notes!!! Not sure which coaching I’m signing up for yet but definitely doing something with Emily! I think we could be besties. ;)

Faith Pigue ,

Fantastic podcast!

I love Emily’s podcast! I’ve learned so much from the weekly podcast. I even went back and listened to episodes from the beginning! Emily is informative and encouraging! You definitely want to listen weekly!!

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