“If you don’t have an ads budget, you still have a hobby business.” - Sarah Williams Are paid ads part of your subscription box marketing strategy? If not, why not? You might be wondering if paid ads are worth it. Or you might be where I was in the early days of my business, worried about where you’re spending money and not understanding the value of running paid ads. Subscription box owners - especially new subscription box owners - hesitate to use paid ads for many reasons. They don’t understa...
Aug 09, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 130
“You have to have one subscriber before you can have ten.” - Amy Green I’m excited to bring you this interview with a member of my Mastermind, Amy Green of Amy and Art. Amy’s journey to subscription box success has many twists and turns, wins and losses, and lessons learned. By never giving up, being open to trying new things, and finding the right coach and community to support her, Amy found the courage to do it her way. Amy Green is many things, among them a wife and special needs mom, a form...
Aug 02, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Have you thought about adding affiliate marketing to your subscription box business but you’re not sure where to start? Are you wondering where to find good affiliates and how to manage them on the back end? This episode is for you! Today we’re diving into all things affiliate marketing for your subscription box business. I’ll explain how affiliate marketing can significantly boost your revenue, expand your customer base, and strengthen your subscription box brand. Affiliate marketing is a perfo...
Jul 26, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 128
I’m excited to bring you this interview with my good friend Cindy Manly of Art Shattered. Cindy has a successful membership with over 1200 members and has been selling one-time art supply kits for the past few years. If you’ve been selling one-time boxes and are wondering if a subscription is for you, you’re going to want to hear Cindy’s story! Cindy is an artist who specializes in glass and resin art. She makes beautiful, unique pieces of 3-D art that her followers LOVE. She also teaches her fo...
Jul 19, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Today’s episode is a little different. Instead of interviewing a subscription box owner from Launch Your Box or sharing tactics and strategies to help you make progress in your own subscription box business, I’m sharing a different kind of journey. The journey of becoming an author. I never dreamed of writing a book. It wasn’t something that was on my bucket list. It really wasn’t something I’d ever given any thought to. So imagine my surprise when I found myself in the middle of a conversation ...
Jul 12, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 126
How many different ways do you do an unboxing for your subscription box every month? Would it surprise you to learn there are FIVE different ways you can do an unboxing… every month? My box opening checklist makes it easy! Building connections. Creating excitement and FOMO. Growing your waitlist. Gaining new subscribers. There are so many reasons you need to make a monthly unboxing part of your subscription box marketing strategy. You know the why, let’s talk about the how. How can you do a mont...
Jul 05, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 125
During this special episode, you’ll meet and be inspired by Launch Your Box member Michon Shaw. It’s not only her journey to starting and launching a subscription box that inspires, but her positive outlook and joy-filled dedication to her community. Michon has built a successful career around her passion for American Sign Language (ASL). She is an ASL interpreter herself as well as a professor who teaches ASL students to become interpreters. In addition to working a full-time corporate job, Mic...
Jun 28, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 124
I’m excited to bring you this interview with Kevin Tighe, co-founder and CEO of Beachly Brands recorded LIVE at SubSummit. Beachly Brands currently has three successful subscriptions, but I asked Kevin to take us back to the beginning of his subscription box journey. The first lesson Kevin wanted to share with you is that we all have failures. He did, I have, and you will. After Kevin experienced a failure, he spent some time in Hawaii reconnecting with what he loves - the beach and surfing. Thi...
Jun 21, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 123
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” - Henry Ford. You’ve dreamed about starting a subscription box and now you’re ready to take action and start making those dreams come true. So where should you start? It’s easy to get caught up in the fun parts - products and packaging. And you absolutely need those in place, but spending too much time designing custom boxes or sourcing products for future boxes takes time away from what you need to be doing right now. If you’re...
Jun 14, 2023•25 min
What would an extra $1000 every month mean to you and your family? Inflation. Waiting for a raise that might not happen. So many people are looking for ways to earn extra income right now. Today I’m talking about how a subscription box side hustle could bring an extra $1000 a month to your family - with only 50 subscribers. A subscription box business can be a full-time business. But it doesn’t have to be. Many members of Launch Your Box have full-time, 9-5 style jobs and successful subscription...
Jun 07, 2023•22 min
Launching a subscription box is only one piece of the puzzle. After you’ve launched, your focus shifts to growth. But what happens if months go by and you’re just not growing? That’s what happened to Kimberly of the Frosted Cakery. After growing up learning to bake from her grandmother, the OG Cake Lady, this Iowa farmgirl and military spouse started a home-based baking business that became famous within the military community. Kimberly tells stories of getting orders before she’d even had a cha...
May 31, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Do you have extra subscription box product laying around? Product that you’d like to get rid of because it’s taking up space on your shelves and tying up your cash flow? Then this episode is for you! Last month, I was talking with my Mastermind Group on our Voxer channel. One of the many perks of my Mastermind is the members have daily access to me and to each other via this walkie-talkie-style app. We have SUCH great conversations - a ton of knowledge is shared and some seriously valuable relat...
May 24, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 121
Every month, I go LIVE inside my coaching membership, Launch Your Box, to open members’ subscription boxes and provide feedback. Last month, I opened some incredible boxes. I was so impressed with the creativity and care these members put into curating an experience for their subscribers, just like I taught them. What I wasn’t impressed with was how low their subscriber numbers were. With boxes that good, their numbers should have been much higher. It was time to dig into what was holding them b...
May 17, 2023•32 min
Do you go LIVE on social media to talk about your subscription box consistently? Or does the very idea of going LIVE fill you with dread? Almost every subscription box owner understands how important making regular, live connections with their audience is. But so many avoid connecting with their followers this way. Why? For a lot of people, going LIVE on social media brings up major feelings of anxiety. I get it. I used to feel exactly the same way. But here’s the thing. People need to know you ...
May 10, 2023•22 min
What are you doing to add value to your subscription box and increase the lifetime value of your subscribers? By thinking creatively and strategically - in other words, thinking outside of the box - you can uplevel your subscribers’ experience and bring more revenue and higher profit margins into your business. In this episode, I catch up with Paul Chamber, co-founder of the Gentleman’s Box, on ways they added value and increased LTV with their subscription box. Paul is also the co-founder of Su...
May 03, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 120
This episode answers two questions I get asked a LOT. Should your subscription box be on a separate page from the rest of your business? Should you create a private Facebook Group for your subscribers? The answer to both questions is, “It depends.” Whether you need a separate page for your subscription box is determined by your answer to the question, “Is your subscription box for the same ideal customer as your regular business page?” If yes, there’s no need for a separate page. When you make y...
Apr 26, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 119
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 question? How to balance what she gives away for free and what she reserves for her paid subscribers. I...
Apr 19, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Are you relying solely on automations to recover failed payments? If so, you are losing money and experiencing unnecessary churn in your subscription box business. Business is personal. Recovering failed payments needs more than just automation - it needs a personal touch. Your personal touch. Think about how much time, energy, and money you spend getting new subscribers. How much time and energy are you willing to spend to keep them? In my subscription business, we use a combination of automati...
Apr 12, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 117
Is your subscription box missing something that would increase its value in the eyes of your subscribers? Maybe things are feeling a little monotonous or routine. Or maybe some months you feel like you need “a little something extra” to make your subscription box feel like the complete experience you want it to be. But, how can you add value without blowing your budget? Remember, you need to stay profitable to stay in business. In today’s episode, we’re talking about increasing the perceived val...
Apr 05, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 116
When you’re just getting started on your subscription box journey, it can be hard to imagine yourself successfully managing a thriving subscription. That’s when you need to seek inspiration from someone just a few steps ahead of you. Kathy Strahs from The Awayday Box is just that person. Kathy was inspired to provide moms like her - burnt out and depleted from all the past few years have thrown at them - with a truly special, self-care experience. She had no subscription box experience and no au...
Mar 29, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 115
In this episode, I’m going deeper into lead magnets and showing you how to build a lead magnet funnel. Top of the funnel -this is the largest part of the funnel. Your goal is to collect as many leads as possible. Start with a free offer, giving your audience something of value. Freebie or low-dollar lead magnet. Ads to targeted interests going to cold and warm audiences. Make sure your lead magnet is niched down so you don’t waste time and money on unqualified leads. The goal is to capture leads...
Mar 22, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 114
Have you ever set a really big goal for your business? A goal that made you feel a little dizzy at the thought of trying to reach it, but you got brave and made it anyway? That’s what Whitney and Andrea, the dynamic duo behind Cotton Chaos did at the beginning of 2022. Cotton Chaos is a graphic t-shirt business that sells retail and wholesale tees. They also have a t-shirt subscription that launched in January 2021 with 35 subscribers. After that initial launch, they found Launch Your Box and la...
Mar 15, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Are you struggling to build your audience or find the right people for your offer? Do you have a plan in place to get some traction and start making progress toward starting and growing a successful, sustainable subscription box business? Inside Launch Your Box, I work with thousands of subscription box owners. Many of them are starting their businesses from scratch. And so many of them come to me not knowing where or how to start. I know exactly how they feel. When I started my second business ...
Mar 08, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 112
“It takes money to grow.” - Sarah Williams Is it time to raise your prices? After all, costs are up on absolutely everything. Your costs are up - on products, packaging, shipping, and more. Your costs going up means your profit margins are going down. If you don’t raise your prices, you’ll keep chipping away at your profit margin - and your business won’t be sustainable long term. It takes money to grow your business. A lower profit margin means less money to invest back into your business which...
Mar 01, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Have you ever felt the pull to change what you’re offering? Sometimes, pivoting and offering something different to your audience results in success in the form of a growing, thriving subscription box. That’s exactly what happened with Launch Your Box member Joanne Jurica of Rustic Glitter. There are so many things I love about Joanne’s story. A former lash stylist, Joanne was forced to close her salon during the pandemic and lean on her hobby, Rustic Glitter, to bring in some income. Joanne had...
Feb 22, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 110
What one thing can you do in your business every single day that would help you be the most successful? Work to build and grow your email list! If you’re not replenishing the pool of people you’re selling to, you won’t be able to grow your business the way you want to. Growing your email list gets new, fresh eyes on your stuff. It allows you to present your offer to new people. And that allows you to grow. One of my main goals for my business in 2023 is to double the size of my email list. I cha...
Feb 15, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 109
“Email marketing needs to be part of your audience building strategy.” - Sarah Williams You know social media is an important part of audience building. You’re showing up consistently, creating engaging posts and reels, connecting with your followers. But… How often are you sending emails to your email list? Just as important as your social media (and maybe even more important) is your email list. You own your email list. Unlike your social media accounts, you can’t get locked out or hacked. You...
Feb 08, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 108
“SEO doesn’t have any fuel without content.” - Sarah Williams How do you get your stuff in front of people right when they’re looking for it? The answer, in part, is SEO. I brought a special guest to the podcast to talk about how and why to create SEO content for our subscription box businesses. Crystal Waddell is an e-commerce seller and content creator. She’s also one of the hosts of The Smart and Simple SEO Show, a podcast that does its best to make SEO easy for online entrepreneurs to unders...
Feb 01, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Do you think growing your subscription means spending tons of money on ads? It doesn’t need to be that way! There are so many low and even no-cost ways to market and grow your subscription box business. The bottom line? You can’t rely on just one marketing channel or strategy. You need to build a multi-channel marketing plan, layering one type of marketing on top of another. Don’t worry - building this plan doesn’t have to be time-consuming or costly. I’m sharing seven cost-effective ways to mar...
Jan 25, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 106
I have a special episode for you today! Cheryl Ham is a long-time member of Launch Your Box, an OG member of Scale Your Box, and the founder of the wildly successful Yarnable subscription box. She’s here today to catch us up on all that’s happened in her business since her last visit to the podcast almost two years ago. Cheryl’s business started as more of a hobby. She had a full-time career and a love for all things knitting and yarn, especially hand-dyed yarn. She became an independent yarn dy...
Jan 18, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 105
