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

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100: Year End Review with My Mastermind Ladies Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to the 100th episode of the Launch Your Box podcast!

I talk a lot about consistency on this podcast. And inside Launch Your Box. And on my social media accounts. It’s not because I don’t have anything else to talk about. If you’ve been around at all, you know I talk about all the things. But in so many of “the things,” consistency matters.

I’ve gotten to 100 episodes by showing up every week. That’s right, in 100 episodes - nearly two full years, I’ve never missed a week. And showing up consistently has paid off. We’ve gone from a few hundred downloads a month when we started to tens of thousands of downloads every single month. Consistently getting in front of more people and growing my audience.

Consistency matters. Be consistent in all that you do to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. From social media to email marketing to going LIVE, and more. Be consistent.

To celebrate our 100th episode, I have a special treat for you. I brought on FIVE special guests - all members of my Mastermind - for a little year-end wrap-up.

We’ve all had highs and lows this year. All of us. I have and each of these ladies has, too. They are all super successful subscription box business owners and they joined me to share their successes and challenges from 2022 and their plans and dreams for 2023.

You’re going to LOVE learning more about each of these ladies and their businesses. I know I love every opportunity I have to talk with each of them and having them all together was such a treat!

Join me for this special 100th episode to meet five of my Mastermind ladies and get a peek behind the scenes of their successful subscription box businesses, messy parts and all!

Find and follow Aimee:

Find and follow Whitney & Andrea:

Find and follow Pam:

Find and follow Tracy:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

099: Creating a One-Thing of the Month Subscription Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Have you considered starting with a one-thing of the month subscription? You should. Why do I say that? Well, my one-thing of the month subscription is easier to manage and more profitable than my fully curated subscription box. And my one-thing of the month subscription has almost double the number of subscribers as my larger, more expensive box.

When people start thinking about starting a subscription box, they think about a fully curated box. They dream about the experience they’ll provide their subscribers with all the little touches and a box filled with items that complement each other.

But soon, overwhelm sets in. Creating that fully curated experience with all the little touches takes a LOT of work. And all that work and all that overwhelm can turn into not making progress.

Instead of starting with a fully curated box, think about starting with one thing. There are several benefits to starting a one-thing of the month subscription. A one-thing of the month subscription:

Has the lowest barrier to getting started.
Fewer vendors to work with.
Lower start-up funds.
Packaging that is simple and the same each month!
Is easier to fulfill and ship.
Has the potential for higher profit margins.

Brainstorm what your one item could be by asking yourself:

What is your best-selling item?
What do people repeatedly buy?
What do people constantly ask you for more of?

Your one-thing of the month could be:

Something fun - a no-frills way for subscribers to treat themselves.
Something consumable - subscribers never run out!

So many Launch Your Box members have wildly successful one-thing of the month subscriptions. Some of the “one things” their happy subscribers receive include:

T-shirts
Candles
Pizzelles
Nail polish
Earrings
Door hangers
Washi tape

Start brainstorming what you can turn into a one-thing of the month subscription and move one step closer to launching your subscription.

How does a subscription that’s easier to manage and more profitable sound? Join me for this episode to learn more about why you should consider starting a one-thing of the month subscription.

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

098: Using Mystery Boxes to Reduce Inventory Before Year End Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

“Don’t bring that stale inventory into 2023!” - Sarah Williams

Inventory is one of the biggest challenges product-based businesses face. Too much, not enough… and what happens if it doesn’t sell? Now, during this buying season, is the perfect time to liquidate any old or stale inventory you have sitting on your shelves.

One of my favorite ways to move product and get old inventory off my shelves is by selling Mystery Boxes. They’re new, fresh, and fun for your customers and a GREAT way to reduce inventory without putting clearance tags all over everything.

Whether you made a bad buy (been there), overbought for your subscription box (yep, been there, too), or you’ve just had a slower year than last year and need to move some product quickly, Mystery Boxes are a great strategy.

The goal is to get your money back. Don’t focus on making a large profit or even a profit at all. Focus on getting the cash you spent on the items back in your bank account and getting space back on your shelves.

The excitement of a Mystery Box is not knowing what’s inside!

Mix items from past subscription boxes with items never in boxes.
Make subscribers aware they might receive something they already have.
These are not curated experiences like your subscription box. They are filled with items at a great value.
Create different price points. Choose different size boxes, fill them up, and price them.

These Mystery Boxes won’t all be the same. If you have 20 of one item and 30 of another, you can still make 50 boxes. Just make sure the items you’re putting in the boxes have a similar size and value.

Get excited about these Mystery Boxes and start teasing your audience about a week before you’ll start selling them. Go LIVE, let your audience see how excited you are, and show them one of the boxes and how FULL it is! Talk about the value!

Do you have inventory you need to liquidate? It’s time to let go of old product and start fresh in the new year. Join me for this episode to learn how to create your own Mystery Boxes and start liquidating!

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

097: Busting Through Challenges and Doubling Her Subscription in the Last Six Months with The Literary Book Club Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

I’m so excited to have Katie Eney of The Literary Book Club back on the podcast. I invited her back so she could bring us up to date on the big things that have been happening in her subscription box businesses.

Katie’s quarterly luxury box, The Literary Book Club, focuses on collectible editions of classic books and wrapped page-numbered gifts that accompany the books. She also sells one-time specialty boxes, especially for holidays like Christmas and Halloween. Katie provides a truly incredible experience to her subscribers!

When we first talked, Katie had around 200 subscribers and had hit a point where she didn’t know if she could grow much more because she was doing it all on her own. I encouraged her to try to hire despite job market challenges in her area. That was seven months ago.

Recently, Katie popped into the Launch Your Box group to celebrate hitting 500 subscribers! She more than doubled her subscriber numbers in only seven months! This incredible growth wasn’t due to just one thing. Katie is a learner - and she brings that learner’s mentality to all she does. She is an absolute sponge and takes in all the training I put out - inside Launch Your Box, on this podcast, and more - and then puts it to work in her business.

In order to solve her challenges and grow her business, Katie:

Hired two team members.
Signed a lease on a space, getting her business out of her house.
Focused on social media and generating more content.
Used influencers to help with word of mouth marketing.
Offered a one-time, summer box.

Katie had a goal of hitting 400 subscribers in 2022. She met her goal - and then passed it, reaching 500 subscribers in October! Katie’s willingness to try a series of different things led to an overall increase in traffic to her business which led to growth not only in her subscription box but in one-time sales as well.

Join me for this episode as Katie shares the moment she knew she either needed to scale or quit and what she did to grow her business and more than double her subscriber numbers in only seven months.

Learn more about how Katie’s Literary Book Club got started in episode 64 of the Launch Your Box podcast!

Find and follow Katie:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

096: Changing Direction and Niching Down Generates 400 New Subscribers Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Julie Harkin of the Pilot Wives Club on the podcast! Julie is an experienced, successful subscription box owner who decided to find out if something I say all the time is true, “The riches are in the niches.”

Pilot Wives Club wasn’t Julie’s first subscription box. She had a tea towel subscription and 100 subscribers. The subscription was successful - her subscribers loved their towels (they are adorable!) and it was generating recurring revenue. But, it wasn’t growing. It seemed stuck at that 100-subscriber mark. Julie kept thinking about what I often say inside Launch Your Box. The riches are in the niches. Julie realized that as a pilot's wife, she was part of a specific niche. She wondered if that niche might be the answer.

Julie had started a Facebook Group for pilot wives nine years ago. The purpose of the group was simply to offer support and friendship. Over the years, she has served this group and built a community of more than 6,000 members. It was this group Julie decided to curate a subscription box for. She surveyed them and found the interest was there!

Julie launched and sold out her initial 100 spots very quickly. She grew organically for several months before deciding to do a “real launch,” following the process I teach inside Launch Your Box. The result? 140 new subscribers in less than 5 days, bringing her to just under 400 total subscribers!

By niching down and serving people whose needs and wants she understands, Julie has been able to quadruple the subscriber count of her tea towel subscription - in only nine months!

Julie did so many things right in order to get to this level of success so quickly!

She niched down, choosing a niche she deeply understood and was passionate about serving.
She surveyed her ICA before she started planning her box.
After initial success and organic, controlled growth, she planned a “real” launch, showed up, and followed the plan.

Join me for this episode as Julie shares more about what happened when she decided to find out if the riches really are in the niches.

Find and follow Julie:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

095: Leveraging Email Marketing to Make the Most out of Q4 Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

“More emails equals more sales!” - Sarah Williams

We’re more than halfway through the 4th quarter. For product sellers, it’s the busiest time of the year. It’s also our best chance to make some serious revenue. You’re probably feeling tired and maybe even overwhelmed. I’m tired, too. Rest when you can and then get to work. There are some things you can do now that will give your 4th quarter sales a major boost.

We create different types of email content during the first three quarters of the year. Email opt-ins with welcome sequences, weekly newsletters, and emails to share blog posts or podcast episodes. We’re serving our audience by providing value.

The 4th quarter is different. During the 4th quarter, we SERVE our audiences by SELLING. We help them shop. Your customers want to shop — it’s your job to get your products in front of them.

How can you leverage that email list you’ve spent all year building?

Increase the frequency of your emails.
If you’ve been emailing once a week, send two or three each week. If once a month, send at least one email a week.
Bestseller of the week
Top three gifts for teens, moms, dog lovers, etc.
New items of the week
Restock alerts
Facebook LIVE recaps (where you’ve promoted a product)
Make sure all of your emails are product focused. Serve your customers by solving their “what to get” problem by sharing:
Eliminate decision fatigue.
Make it easy for them to buy.
Don’t give your customers too many options.
Who is this product for?
Take an everyday item and make it giftable
Show an image of it folded neatly with a bow around it
Show an image of the product peeking out of a box with a gift tag
Create gift sets or bundles
Focus each email on its giftability.

The key to success is not to overthink it. These emails should be short on copy and get right to the point. Include great images and a clear call to action. Follow up your email with social media posts to match and send a text to your text list!

Join me for this episode as I share four simple ways you can leverage email marketing to bring more revenue into your business during the 4th quarter. More emails equals more sales. It’s time to get to work!

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

094: How I Generated $20k in Extra Revenue with a Holiday Gift Box Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

Every year for the last five years I’ve sold a Holiday Gift Box. This year was no different. What was different was that my Holiday Gift Box sold out in only four days! And it brought $20,000 in extra revenue into my business.

Should you offer a Holiday Gift Box to your audience? Yes! If you already have a subscription box, you should absolutely offer a Holiday Gift Box. And if you have an audience but haven’t launched your subscription box yet, you should also offer a Holiday Gift Box.

Many members of Launch Your Box have used a Holiday Gift Box for proof of concept before launching. Members like Nicole who launched a one-time holiday box for guinea pig owners. When it was a HUGE hit, she knew she could launch her subscription box with confidence. She now has hundreds and hundreds of monthly subscribers and won a major subscription box industry award earlier this year.

My process for launching a one-time Holiday Gift Box was simple and it started before I had any idea what I was going to put in the box:

I set up a waitlist page in September.
I set up a waitlist in my text app in September.
I built up excitement that my Holiday Gift Box was coming and drove people to the waitlist.
LIVES
Social posts
One day before the launch I sent one email to the waitlist and one text to the text waitlist offering them first dibs.
Launch day started with a LIVE during which I generated feelings of:
Scarcity
Exclusivity
Urgency
I started running ads on launch day.
I sent one email to my entire email list.
I sent one text to my entire text list.
I posted twice on social media about the box.
I changed my Facebook header.

By the end of day one, I had sold over half the boxes.

On day two, I resent the email to non openers and posted about the boxes on social media twice.
By day three, I only had 100 boxes left. I sent a last chance email to any non openers who hadn’t purchased and posted on social media once.
On day four - the last day of the launch - I mentioned the Holiday Gift Box on a LIVE and posted about it once.

I sold out of all my Holiday Gift Boxes on day four! Oh, and I did all of this without having any product in hand.

Join me for this episode as I share what a Holiday Gift Box can do for your business and walk you through my simple, four-day Holiday Gift Box launch plan.

Join me in all the places:

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

093: Crushing It on Instagram with One Simple Strategy with B Goods Lettering Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

“Record everything!” - Betsy Goodman

I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Betsy Goodman of B Goods Lettering back on the podcast! Betsy was here just about a year ago when she was in the middle of launching her subscription box. A lot has changed since then and Betsy is here today to teach all of us - including me - about one simple thing she did to crush it on Instagram.

Betsy started lettering in 2017. After attending a workshop and having her eyes opened to the possibilities of lettering, Betsy was hooked! She fell in love with all things lettering and started teaching in person and online lettering classes.

Betsy loved the practical applications of lettering and decided to start teaching with an end product in mind instead of just practicing for the sake of practicing. She took this practical approach and turned it into a quarterly subscription box that teaches subscribers lettering while they create something they can use or gift. She launched The Lettering Box in the fall of 2021 with 18 subscribers. A year later, her subscription box has grown to 118 subscribers!

I keep up with my students and check in on their social media from time to time. I did this with Betsy a while ago and was intrigued by what I saw. In a time where everyone is struggling with engagement and growing audiences on social media, Betsy was crushing it on Instagram. Her secret? Her content is exclusively videos. No static posts. None.

Betsy’s videos are beautiful. The majority are very short. Many are simply snippets of her lettering or creating wax seals. Betsy’s face does not appear in her videos - instead, they are focused on what she is creating. Some of these videos get attention in the form of thousands of views and likes. Betsy has even had videos go viral.

Don’t think all your videos need to be carefully curated. Betsy’s best advice is to record everything, even if you think it’s boring. Record yourself packing your boxes or making something. People LOVE getting a peek behind the scenes.

After Betsy gave ME some tips to use in making videos for my own business, we talked about what’s next for her. We brainstormed and came up with some great ways to increase her revenue based on what her audience is asking for.

Join me for this episode as Betsy shares how her video-exclusive strategy has allowed her to be so successful on Instagram and how you can apply her strategy to your own business.

If you missed Betsy’s first time on the podcast, listen to episode 39.

Find and follow Betsy:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

092: One Change Doubled Their Subscription Income with Jane's Agenda Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Jane Wild of Jane’s Agenda join me to share her subscription box journey and to talk about what she did to bust through when she hit a plateau with her subscription.

Jane wasn’t always a subscription box owner or even an entrepreneur. In 2013, she found herself busier than ever with a demanding corporate job and a new baby. As Jane struggled to organize the different facets of her life, she was unable to find a planner that met her needs. She decided to create her own and Jane’s Agenda was born!

For several years, Jane ran her business via an Etsy shop. The gorgeous - and highly functional - planner pages and planner accessories she designed sold very well. There were challenges - planners by their nature have a high sales season and low sales seasons. And then there was the pandemic.

When 2020 hit, people suddenly had nothing to plan. They were at home and all the “busy” that had filled their lives was canceled. Jane found herself needing to get creative about using planners in order to keep her business afloat. That’s when she decided to launch a subscription box. It was all about helping her customers love planning again. The items were beautiful and functional. They were things planners could use even without events and appointments to plan.

Jane and her team had a goal of 50 subscribers for that first launch. Well, in an hour they hit 100 subscribers and quickly hit 250 total subscribers! They were amazed and quickly made the necessary changes to staff and processes to meet the demand. As Jane shares, the launch was NOT fancy - they launched simply and just got the thing out there.

When Jane realized they were hitting a plateau with the subscription box, she and her team got creative. After listening to me talk about offering a lower-tier subscription, Jane decided to do just that. And what a difference it made! Making that ONE change resulted in doubling their monthly subscription income! And… Jane recently celebrated crossing the 500 subscriber mark!

Join me for this episode as Jane takes us through her journey from selling planner pages on Etsy to managing a thriving online store and 500+ member subscription box business.

Find and follow Jane:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

091: 50% Subscription Growth with One Live Launch w/ The Floral Project Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

I’m so excited to have Launch Your Box member Nicola Bird of The Floral Project join me all the way from the UK for today’s episode to share her subscription box journey and the story of her recent, wildly successful live launch.

An entrepreneur for more than 20 years and a lifelong lover of flowers, Nicola started The Floral Project in order to bring cheer and connection during the pandemic to people who were alone and lonely. Her big vision for The Floral Project is a million posies of flowers given every year to people in local communities who need a smile. These are people who don't have regular visitors and may feel isolated or lonely. People who are unable to grow their own flowers or afford them.

I can’t wait for you to hear how Nicola jumped into Launch Your Box with both feet and smashed her live launch. Nicola almost didn’t join Launch Your Box because she had already launched her subscription box business. Once she realized I also teach people how to grow their existing subscription box businesses, Nicola joined and started consuming the content quickly.

When it was time for her launch, Nicola followed the launch training inside Launch Your Box to a tee. And she was smart about every step of the process. Nicola not only produced all the social media and email content I recommend, she wrote and scheduled it ahead of time before she was in the midst of the stress and excitement of her launch. She went LIVE, she talked about the benefits of the subscription, and she spoke to her people in their language.

The result? In ONE live launch, Nicola gained 232 subscribers, smashing her goal of 130 new subscribers. Nicola described herself as “gobsmacked” by the results. The truth? She did everything right. She did the work and did all the things. And now Nicola is excited to turn her energy toward nurturing her more than 700 members, loving on them and continuing to teach them how to impact the lives of others with the gorgeous flowers they’ll grow and give away!

Join me for this episode as Nicola walks us through each day of her live launch and what she did in the days leading up to her launch that led to growing her subscription by 50% in just five days!

Find and follow Nicola:

Join me in all the places:

Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams

Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

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