This episode marks the one year anniversary of the launch of The Resilient Retail Game Plan podcast, and to all my guests and those that have tuned in over the last 47 episodes, I can’t thank you enough! I hope the podcast continues to entertain and educate you, and I look forward to sharing more of my product business knowledge with you in the episodes to come! In today's episode, I speak to Komal Pandya-Rao of The Design Palette, a self-taught designer making bright and bold luxury stationery....
Jul 01, 2021•35 min
With ever-improving engagement platforms and tools giving business owners so many different ways to reach potential customers, it’s important to diversify your marketing channels in order to get your products in front of the right people. Due to their cultural ubiquity, Facebook and Instagram might be some of the first platforms that come to mind when you’re thinking of where to advertise and even sell your products - but social media platforms users aren’t primarily scrolling for products, mean...
Jun 24, 2021•32 min
Between securing product placements and getting featured in gift guides, guest blogging isn’t perhaps the first thing you’d think of when it comes to possible PR opportunities, but it can be a powerful way to connect with your ideal clients and gain exposure. In today’s episode, I speak to PR specialist Colette Machado. From previously working as an online journalist for BBC News to helping entrepreneurs get in front of their target audience, Colette has 20 years of experience and a wealth of ti...
Jun 17, 2021•33 min
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, in simple terms, is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to your website, and with more small businesses adopting a digital-first business model than ever, creating the optimal conditions for being found organically through search results is incredibly important. Compared to the simple transactional nature of paid advertising, SEO can seem highly technical and when I speak to small business owners they often report finding it overwhelmin...
Jun 10, 2021•35 min
From marketplace apps like Depop to capitalist behemoths like Amazon, E-commerce comes in many shapes and forms but none often so critical as your own website. In this day and age, and especially in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, consumers expect your business, small or large, to have some form of online presence - fortunately, it’s easier than ever to set up a website. But how do you make sure that it’s working effectively, that it’s accurately conveying your range of products, and ...
Jun 03, 2021•28 min
Email has become as ubiquitous a form of communicating with customers as any of the traditional marketing mediums, and in an increasingly digital world, emails couldn’t be more valuable in helping customers to make a decision on what and what not to buy. It’s a powerful tool and really makes money when it works, but despite many small business reporting having an email list, email marketing is still hugely under-utilised. For this episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’ve enlisted email st...
May 27, 2021•33 min
From my long career in the retail sector to working one-to-one with large clients and hosting numerous courses I know first-hand how confusing and overwhelming running a business can be and decided last May that I wanted to create, and make available, helpful content around running creative product businesses. I quickly decided to start a membership program and the rest, as they say, is history! And now, celebrations are in order! It’s not only my birthday this week, but the Resilient Retail Clu...
May 26, 2021•30 min
Loyalty is absolutely key when it comes to selling creative products, but it’s something business owners often don’t prioritise. It’s easy to get distracted chasing new customers and with the prevalence of complicated legacy loyalty programs like Nectar and Tesco’s Clubcard, where consumers haven’t always seen the best return, it can be hard to know how best to entice, reward and retain your existing customer base. Loyalty, in traditional business terms, is ultimately about repeat purchases, but...
May 20, 2021•31 min
Way back in episode 28 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan I spoke about where to sell your creative products. Each of the better-known e-commerce platforms tend to have their own kind of community and fulfil a certain niche - but in today’s episode, I want to focus on the marketplace offering unique crafts, personalised products and DIY designs: Etsy. To help me better understand what makes Etsy so special I’ve enlisted the font of e-commerce knowledge that is Silvina De Vita - designer, paper ar...
May 13, 2021•34 min
The product business survey I conducted this march turned up a lot of interesting information as well as a few surprises, and in episode 36 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan I did a countdown of one of the collections of results that I found most fascinating - the things that contributors said made the most difference to their businesses. Answers ranged from establishing a stronger brand identity to cultivating consumer communities, but in this episode with the help of today’s guest, business me...
May 06, 2021•28 min
There's been a massive sea change in recent years when it comes to consumers and the relationships that they have, and maintain, with the people, companies and even industries that they buy from. We've seen this in the advent of conscious consumerism and through the more recent drive to support small businesses in the wake of COVID-19. Part of this shift in consumer mindset can be attributed to the access and visibility created by social media - never before have we, as customers, had such unbri...
Apr 29, 2021•29 min
From our favourite classic adverts to the advent of celebrity Youtubers, can you think of a more powerful, versatile, or memorable way to promote a brand, business or product than through video? With the incredible reach afforded by social media and the digital wonders that are smartphones, video has become an indispensable tool for any business. So, for my second-ever interview on The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I thought I’d dig a little deeper into the subject and get in touch with video crea...
Apr 22, 2021•44 min
After what seems like an eternity, lockdown has finally been lifted! Non-essential retail can now re-open, and I couldn’t be happier for all you creative product business owners out there - here’s to some healthy sales numbers and growing profits. I’m also very happy and excited to introduce my first ever guest on The Resilient Retail Game Plan, Katie Glickman! Katie is the owner and creator of the award-winning waterproof ‘Bibbily Boo’ bib, which launched in 2019. Inspired by her own dribbly ba...
Apr 15, 2021•29 min
Welcome back to the final episode of my three-part analysis of the 2021 Resilient Retail Product Business Survey. In the previous two episodes, we’ve had a look at the numbers that the 300 plus respondents submitted, in an effort to find some realistic benchmarks to work against, and we also reviewed how those business owners used marketing to help build their brands and increase their sales. In episode 36 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan I’ll be counting down the top 11 results for each of the...
Apr 08, 2021•31 min
Welcome back to my analysis of the 2021 Resilient Retail Product Business Survey. Last weeks episode was all about the numbers, and hopefully, you were able to draw inspiration from some of my key takeaways and use the statistics I shared to help you benchmark whereabouts your business currently stands and what you can do to help it grow. In today’s episode, we take a look at one of the most important elements of running a small product business - marketing! Marketing is a subject that I’ve disc...
Apr 01, 2021•23 min
I’m excited to announce that this episode marks the start of my deep-dive into the long-awaited results of my recent product business survey. There’s a number of reasons I wanted to run a survey, partly to see whether certain patterns had changed since my 2019 study, but namely, it’s because there aren’t many benchmarks out there that convey the true reality of running a product business. It’s easy to get disheartened, or misled, by a lot of the messaging aimed at small businesses, so it’s with ...
Mar 25, 2021•29 min
Today’s episode was requested by one of our listeners, and the challenges it speaks to are something we’ve touched on in previous episodes - it’s a question that I’ve heard many times from Small Business Owners - to paraphrase - “How do you make life easier for yourself when you’re wearing so many different hats?” I’ve had many conversations with creatives, makers and retailers, just like you, that are actually scared of promoting their businesses because of the impact a flurry of sales, and the...
Mar 18, 2021•27 min
Finally, the roadmap for lifting the current (and hopefully final) lockdown in England has been laid out and there’s plenty to review, analyse and dissect. With non-essential businesses being given the green light to reopen on April 12th there’s a lot of things to consider - whether that’s pivoting from online sales to shifting your focus back to your physical store or trying to get your head around the new post-Brexit EU shipping regulations. It’s been a tough start to the year in general for r...
Mar 11, 2021•31 min
A Break-Even Analysis is an indispensable tool for businesses of every shape and size, and reaping its benefits only requires inputting a few simple figures, pulled from your outgoings and income, to help you better understand where your business is and what you need to do to take it forward. I know going over the numbers may not be the most exhilarating part of running your business, but it’s imperative that you know what it takes to keep everything running and what your levels of profitability...
Mar 04, 2021•25 min
Firstly, a quick PSA - The Resilient Retail Game Plan has hit 10,000 downloads! Thank you so much to all of you that have, and continue to tune in - your listenership is hugely appreciated! Now, as I discussed back in episode 12, I’m a passionate advocate when it comes to the subject of paying yourself from your creative product business. Whether it’s a monthly allowance, an annual bonus or something as simple as buying yourself a delicious cup of coffee, I believe you should be committing yours...
Feb 25, 2021•25 min
The Trading Mentality is an approach that is prevalent within the inner workings of some of the worlds biggest retailers. It’s an ideology that harks back to the days of market stall trading, with the message at its core being to “always be dissatisfied”. This mantra has been used as a tool to motivate businesses to pursue relentless sales growth and to endlessly maximise their profits, which is why the concept has become somewhat synonymous with some of the more ruthless and cutthroat business ...
Feb 18, 2021•25 min
From eBay to Etsy and Stripe to Paypal, there are a hundred different options when it comes to selling your creative products online and getting paid, and it seems a new sales platform or marketplace pops up every week - so where do you start and how do you know which platform is right for you and your business? In episode 28 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I cover the benefits and pitfalls of some of the most popular third party selling services, the importance of having your own web presenc...
Feb 11, 2021•19 min
Postage and packaging is one of those funny issues that you don’t really have to grapple with until you have to do it yourself - but as a creative product business, receiving an item is probably the first experience a customer will have with you and your products, so ensuring that the delivery experience is good, and that you make a good first impression, is almost as important as the product itself. In episode 27 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to break down the nuts and bolts of P&am...
Feb 04, 2021•20 min
With a lot of people struggling to juggle life, work, homeschooling, side-hustles, relatives and self-care right now, I want to spend episode 26 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan on my six steps to being more productive. I’m a self-professed productivity nerd and am always looking at ways I can tweak and better manage the needs of my business as well as my own. The best place to start is to be realistic - being productive is as much about how you feel as it is about your business processes and y...
Jan 28, 2021•26 min
Facilitated by improvements in technology, we’re seeing a big rise in people starting creative product businesses. With digital services and the ever-increasing reach of the Internet making personal enterprises easier than ever to launch, and in creating an environment in which customers are more confident buying from small and local businesses online, how can you stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace and find success in 2021? In episode 25 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to...
Jan 21, 2021•26 min
With rolling lockdowns and forever changing pressures being placed on our time and availability, such as home-schooling and store closures, putting any sort of business plan in place right now might feel a bit hopeless. But, as one of my favourite sayings goes “Plans are useless, planning is priceless”. No matter what the outcome and how things may change, reviewing your goals and ambitions is imperative for you, at the very least, to get an idea of what you actually want for you and your busine...
Jan 14, 2021•30 min
Welcome to 2021! The festive period may have come and gone, but we’re not quite done with it yet. As Small Business Owners the Christmas sales season can be the busiest and most profitable time of the year for us, so it’s important to take a look at how things panned out throughout November and December, to review what went well, what added value, and what didn’t, and adapt and implement changes accordingly. In episode 23 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, we’ll use SWOT Analysis to identify you...
Jan 07, 2021•20 min
2020…what a mind-boggling year for retail! With a lot of this year’s news and headlines having focused on depressed sales, supply chain challenges, and the collapse of Goliaths such as Debenhams and the Arcadia Group, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this year has been an end-to-end disaster for creative product businesses. However, research shows that a huge number of small and independent businesses have had a good, if not great 2020, thanks to changing trends, evolving technology, and cons...
Dec 31, 2020•33 min
You may have only just recovered from the Christmas rush but after some well-deserved rest and relaxation, we need to click ‘reset’ on our seasonal sales strategies and ‘snap-back’ to business as normal so that we hit the ground running in January and make sure that our creative products align with the changing needs and desires of our customers as we enter a new year. In this episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to give you 5 areas of your business that you can review so that you’r...
Dec 24, 2020•18 min
The Christmas sales period, and the likely increase you’ve experienced both in traffic and purchases, might have offered you a brief taster of what it might be like to operate your business at a higher capacity - perhaps you’re now wondering how to take things to the next level? Whether you’ve been in business for a while, with dreams of multi-million-pound success, or are just getting started as an entrepreneurial hobbyist, it’s important to have an idea of how to manage greater demands on you ...
Dec 17, 2020•29 min
