The world of advertisement has truly changed. Consumers are now savvy and smart – they know if the advertiser is genuine or not. In addition, the channels in which you can connect to your customers are continuously expanding. As a product-based business owner, you may wonder, how can I make my business a success?
Well, worry no more because, in this episode, we have the experts and the combined force behind The Product Boss Podcast -- Minna Khounlo-Sithep and Jacqueline Snyder, who will help you make your dreams come true! Join me as we learn everything you need to build a successful product-based business - and the importance that you need to always place on relationships.
Key Highlights
[01:28] Introduction of Podcast Guest, The Product Boss -- Minna Khounlo-Sithep and Jacqueline Snyder
[02:26] Who Are The Product Boss?
[03:42] How "The Product Boss" Started
[05:42] How Marketing Products Changed in the Age of Social Media
[08:46] The Most Effective Way of Connecting with Your Customer
[10:13] Will Product-Based Business Work on a Team?
[14:15] Curating the Right People to Talk About Your Brand
[17:49] Most Successful Ways to Grow a Product-Based Business Today
[21:12] The Things I Should Pay Attention as A Product-Based Business Owner
[22:46] Mistakes to Avoid When Running a Product-Based Business
[25:03] The Product Boss' Advice
[29:03] Connect with Jacqueline and Mina
Notable Quotes
Guest Links:
Learn More:
The world of advertisement has truly changed. Consumers are now savvy and smart – they know if the advertiser is genuine or not. In addition, the channels in which you can connect to your customers are continuously expanding. As a product-based business owner, you may wonder, how can I make my business a success?
Well, worry no more because, in this episode, we have the experts and the combined force behind The Product Boss Podcast -- Minna Khounlo-Sithep and Jacqueline Snyder, who will help you make your dreams come true! Join me as we learn everything you need to build a successful product-based business - and the importance that you need to always place on relationships.
Key Highlights
[01:28] Introduction of Podcast Guest, The Product Boss -- Minna Khounlo-Sithep and Jacqueline Snyder
[02:26] Who Are The Product Boss?
[03:42] How "The Product Boss" Started
[05:42] How Marketing Products Changed in the Age of Social Media
[08:46] The Most Effective Way of Connecting with Your Customer
[10:13] Will Product-Based Business Work on a Team?
[14:15] Curating the Right People to Talk About Your Brand
[17:49] Most Successful Ways to Grow a Product-Based Business Today
[21:12] The Things I Should Pay Attention as A Product-Based Business Owner
[22:46] Mistakes to Avoid When Running a Product-Based Business
[25:03] The Product Boss' Advice
[29:03] Connect with Jacqueline and Mina
Notable Quotes
Guest Links:
Learn More:
So influencers are capitalizing on the communities that they've built and their social media influence, and they're creating their own products. Well, if influencers can do it, why aren't those businesses that are already creating their own products? Why aren't they trying to become more influential on social media? We are going to find out the why and the how your business can show up and yield influence in social media. In this next episode of your digital marketing coach, podcast, digital social media content influencer marketing, blogging, podcasting, blogging, tick tocking, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SEO, sem, PPC, email marketing, who there's a lot to cover, whether you're a marketing professional entrepreneur, or business owner, you need someone you can rely on For expert advice. Good thing you've got Neil, on your side, because Neal Schaffer is your digital digital marketing marketing coach, helping you grow your business with digital first marketing one episode at a time. This is your digital marketing coach. And this is Neal Schaffer. everybody. My name is Neal Schaffer. I am your digital marketing coach. And welcome to episode number 226 of the podcast. As a reminder, if you think you're tuning into the maximize your social influence podcast, it is the same it was three episodes ago, Episode Number 224 that I rebranded. So if you're in doubt, please go back to that episode. And I think it will all make sense. I want to thank you all for continuing to come along the journey with me. My name is Neal Schaffer. And I help businesses spark growth through uniquely innovative data driven and a digital first approach to marketing, which I do as both a fractional cmo marketing consultant on a one to one basis with companies or trying to help as many marketers, business owners and entrepreneurs that I can through my digital first group coaching membership community, well, we always have a very special interview. And today is just the same, we have an interview with a pair, that's two people that call themselves the product boss. Now their focus obviously, is on product based businesses and how to digitally market them. And as we dive in and sort of uncover the truths about how they're helping businesses, a lot of it at the end of the day comes down to human relationships or influence. However, their advice, I believe, is and they would agree, equally applicable for service based businesses. In other words, whether your product or service based business, I think you're going to get a lot out of this interview. So if you're looking for a new way to generate new revenue, leverage social influence, or both, this interview is for you. So without further ado, here are the product boss. You're listening to your digital marketing coach, this is Neal Schaffer. All right, I'd like to welcome Jacqueline and Mina, otherwise known as the product boss, to the your digital marketing coach, podcast, Jacqueline Mino, welcome. Hi, thanks so much for having us. The product boss. That's anytime there's a brand name of a podcast with Boston it, that's a really sort of ballsy move. So I'd like to understand about your history and sort of what you know, what is who are the product boss,
Jacqueline Snyder:you can tell what year we named named the podcast, right? That boss, the boss name had me not
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:sure. I think when we started naming the podcast, we really started in a way where we saw that product business owners really did not know how to level themselves up, they were always stuck with this loop in their head at this limiting belief that I'm just not good at business. And we really wanted to draw those people out that raise their hand of I want to be better at business, I want to know my numbers, I want to create an income for my family, and to really build a business on and the way that I want. So that's kind of how we landed on the product boss. But we really started off as two friends that hit it off very well with a love language of business. And and we also were both product business owner. So we knew about inventory, shipping manufacturing words that service base people don't have to worry about at all, but it lives in the world of product. And that's kind of started at the very beginning.
Neal Schaffer:Gotcha. So at the heart of it, the product boss, and well I have a cheat sheet right in front of me. But you're all about helping product based businesses, product based business owners basically grow their business. Is that a cash assumption?
Jacqueline Snyder:Yeah, so that's you could look out at the podcast world and digital marketing and so much of it is geared towards service based businesses or coaches service base and I am a fashion designer by trade. I've launched over 1000 brands and startup brands where my consulting business was very much a service business. But old school, it was pre, you know, courses and digital marketing. It was, I had an office and people came to me and I built their brands. And so what I was looking for at that point, when podcasting was sort of coming up, before we kind of started, this was a community out there a digital online community and coaches that understood the coaching world, right. And so that's what I found. And then I found me now because she had also gone to a similar podcasting coach, and was also looking for help. But there, there weren't the experts out there that were talking about a product base. And so we saw that gap in the market where, you know, there are podcasts about Amazon and Etsy. And they're very nation specific to certain sales channels and platforms. But what we thought was like, who's out there speaking to the small business owner, the person who wants to build this empire in their living room, like Nina said, and, and I think sometimes it's hard for them to to relate to the word CEO, for example. So that word boss, because ultimately, they don't want to work for other people, they don't want to boss they want to be their own boss, the boss their own business. And so it was really giving them permission, but also this access to education where they could level up their physical product based businesses.
Neal Schaffer:Okay, so disclaimer, if you're listening to so far, and you're like, well, I'm a service based business, I'm out of here, don't go away. Because I mean, the advice is going to be even though it's focused on product based, the the advice is really going to be universal. So stick around. So let's start to uncover this, you mentioned like Etsy, and very, very simple way of thinking about a product based business, I have digital downloads, I can go to Etsy, and I can download my Canva templates or, and, and I am someone who's bought something like that before. But and we talked about this, before we started the podcast, I would always gravitate towards not the brand name, but the person name behind the product. Can you explain how marketing products has really changed in the age of social media? You talked about this hybrid, you know, person business approach? I'd like you to go deeper into that for audience.
Jacqueline Snyder:Yeah, I think this is great for everyone, whether you're a digital product or physical product is that what we've seen is people buy from people. So so many times I see people who are coaches, digital marketers, they're comfortable being on camera, typically are comfortable with their voice being heard comfortable standing on stage, or they have to work to get there. What we face businesses is that a lot of times the business owner wanted to be behind the scenes of their product, the product was word facing, that's what they sold. But what we've seen is people buy from people. So no matter what you're doing, if you're building a business right now, it really is about that relationship. And I think we saw this in 2020, it was very much about the relationship you created with your customers, with your community, with your followers, we showed up for each other, and they they came to us for that. So and I'll have me now elaborate a bit more. But some of our biggest product based business owners are actually influencers, but by default, so they will have started a product business. And let's say they're using social media as their main sort of marketing platform, they bring it people see their face, they understand it, they trust them, they answer questions, they show, you know their life and lifestyle. And that's the thing that I find customers are hooking on to, because if you are not a Nike, or you know, a, I don't know, anthropology, or some big, big brand that has millions of dollars of ad budget, sometimes your products don't stand alone on their own. So it's the story behind it. And a lot of times that story is the business owner, or the story of why you started it and what your product does for your customers.
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:Right. And before when people were starting up in digital marketing, it really was about getting as much attention as you could attention was the currency that everybody wanted. But really, as we've gone through 2020, bonded with our customers shown our faces more the currency is trust. It's really about getting customers to be obsessed with you. And it's harder for them to be obsessed with you trust you feel like they're part of your life or that you resonate, or they resonate with your part of life, when it's a product that's forward facing versus a person that's telling you why the product matters to you, and why it matters to them. Right? So there's a bond that happens. And so really what 2020 it really amplified the fact that the small business is the hero. And we're really seeing a lot of people take what they have the courage that they had to even become entrepreneur, entrepreneur in the first place. And do it in a way where they show up on social media, showing their faces more and more perhaps, their voices, you know, if they're not as comfortable, they're showing the process of their makers of making something behind the scenes or even sharing a little bit of their story. There's a little bit of fear of being seen when it comes to being a product based business because you didn't start thinking that you would have to go there. You didn't start thinking that I have to show up on camera. I am very much an introvert. And before I and I have a product business too. I rarely shown my face there but I know that in order to take it to a really quick you know way of connecting with my customer the know like and trust, the best and fastest and most effective way. Also long lasting way is to show up with my face and to do it with probably video audio, something to do with the senses. So then people understand that I'm a genuine person selling a genuine product, and that I truly want them to enjoy it and live it have it in their life.
Neal Schaffer:Okay, there were a lot of quotable takeaways there. So I'm gonna take a deep breath. But the two of you speak to so many trends and conclusions that I've come to as well about digital marketing that it comes down to relationships comes down to storytelling. And I've always thought that branding also came down to this emotional attachment, I will always buy Tylenol, always, I will never buy generic brand, I have an emotional attachment that that brand has created over time. And although some brands can do that, on another podcast of mine, the school of influence, we interviewed the CMO of mas rotti. And she said we don't use influent the car is the influencer. So if you get to that product Nirvana where your product is the everyone wants to take a picture together with the product like Starbucks. That's awesome. Right. But for 99% of businesses, that's not the point. So as every business talks about humanizing themselves, well, the best way to do it is to get out there. Right? So I'm curious, when it's your business, and you're a solopreneur? It's easy. What about when you build a team? Are you finding product based businesses having success showing all their team out there on social media? What would be your suggestion there?
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:I think that they have if they've hired the right people, so whenever we coach people to hire on for their team, its values based. So you hire for values before you hire for skill, because you can always teach skill. So when you start to double up your team, and develop your business, people can start to really acquire the sense of talking about your story, their brand, in a kind of like a more like it's alive, alive brands, you know, like I living, evolving, changing thing. And so when you have the right team members, sometimes they're able to show that, you know, even when you think of influencers and spokespeople, you know, back in the day, we call them spokespeople, right? So influencers nowadays, they really have to genuinely resonate with the brand, they have to talk about their own stories, they have to show in use and showing an action. So even with a team, it's very similar in that way to the person has to have that ability to speak in a way to speak about it in a way that feels genuine to the audience, the customer, so they will stick around, otherwise, they won't stick around. They might you might attract them from the very beginning, like grab their attention, but they won't continue to follow you buy from you and stick with you.
Jacqueline Snyder:But I'll add to that. So if you think about some of those places, we've all gone to where it's like behind the scenes factory tour, right? Like you've gone to Italy, and you do a factory tour of like a leather handbag company, or I live by, you know, like Hershey's in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where you can go in and see how the chocolate is made. So even if you don't want to bring one of your employees on as the face of a brand or even speaking, sometimes I think it'd be great like, Hey, here's our head maker, or here's a person who's shipping all your packages, but you can also show the how it's made. They love to see behind the scenes imagine like all the places we've ever been where we stopped mouth, oh, there's a factory tour, I'd love to see how it's made. Because I think that you could definitely incorporate that behind the scenes. Because again, so let's just say anyone that's out there is like I really don't want to be the face of my brand. That's okay, you can then just show behind the scenes, you can personify your products and ways you can send emails that are like a note from the the maker a note from I don't know, our creative director. And it can sound like it's from you, right? So they can relate to the creative director. And it could sound like it's from you. But you don't necessarily have to be the Face Face of the brand. So I think you can really think about it. But no matter what, like Nina said, there's somebody who's knocking her off on Amazon right now, right? And she's like, this is straight up a company from China that's copied everything that she says about her business and flipped it. So right. So the thing is, is if Mina can step forward, as these are the two girls that you help support, when you buy it from this brand, like this is the family that's packing and shipping all of your products, then all of a sudden they have this heart connection to it. And I think it does, you know, even if Nina never wanted to get on and say a single thing. She could show sort of the behind the scenes.
Neal Schaffer:And what's really interesting is it also allows you as the business owner to scale. I've seen this specifically in our world of podcasting. You know, I was at podcast movement last week and the keynote although john Lee Dumas was there the keynote was by Kate Erickson, right, it was his significant other but and she was talking to entrepreneurs and I've seen Pat Flynn do this and have a brand new podcast that's all run by his staff. Because as a business owner, time is a very, very precious asset. You may not have the time, that's another another reason why you want to include your staff. But I love me that that comment that it has to be the same value. It has to be they have to be ingrained in your culture for your work, right. So I'm curious, you know, I always want to get to like the influencer perspective on things as we talked about earlier. So If you don't want to be in front of your camera, you mentioned there's the storytelling the behind the scenes. I'm also curious, you know, when I see pictures of people posting together with product, and these are might be nano influencers, maybe maybe people I know, I think that that's that can also be pretty powerful is this part of the advice that you might give a business owner especially if they're a little bit shy or even if they're already on camera just to give multiple perspectives
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:100% I think that when you're a really shy, you might be great at curating the right people to talk about your brand, but really takes the time to get to know that person. So everybody's not going to be great at, you know, using your product. So a lot of it it's relationship building, so you have to kind of vet those people get on their radar check to see what their story is, because it really customers or consumers are so savvy, they're smarter than they've ever been before they can cut through the you know, they can cut through the in genuineness or dissing genuineness of a story told by an influencer. So the influencer has to be able to develop their own story, how they speak, how they talk, that's why their audience engages with them. And so it really is about the story and how it's told by the influencer, why they're using this particular vitamin regimen in the morning, why they're using this you know, hair product or whatever it is, it's more than just the product. It is really about the reason why that influencer is using it in their life. And then also why the customer would want to to they aspire to be like the influencer. And I've
Jacqueline Snyder:seen it so there's the influencer route which like you said nano influencers, micro influencers, we really see it effective that like 20 to 50,000 followers, I had a client, the Paris Hilton posted her pajamas, and it did zero like nothing for her. Right? I haven't the same client then had someone who people came to follow her for style and shopping. And she posted and then it made sense, right? Because the the following was there for what the influencer was posting. The other thing we really see people do so influencers have really changed some businesses that we've worked with, and in terms of like a really great hit. There's also ones that are duds, right, it doesn't do anything, but that's okay, because I think you get the content affiliates. So our non affiliates are brand ambassadors kind of same thing. But brand ambassadors where they can, they can ultimately make money on what they sell for you, or they can get discounts on the product from you. And then they're returned to that is that they get to talk about it, they get to be first to market with it. They get to you know, show how they use the product. And so we've really seen brand ambassador programs work well, because they are very much micro influencers. And they have their own pool of people that they look to them and say, Oh, I like that because like, for example, Amina. This woman doesn't even know this. But me and I followed her friend from high school, I think it was on Facebook or Instagram. And she was using an ice roller for her face. And she's not a true and
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:she won't get on an Amazon for $11. By the way.
Jacqueline Snyder:She's not a true influencer. But she influenced Mina by using this product and constant using the product. Well guess what? Now Mina uses it. So now she's influencing our fellow and aliens
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:and people out there buying ice rollers? Probably because we use this example quite a bit. Because we all have our sphere of influence, you know, and there's people that trust you to a certain level. So sometimes, you know, if that engagement is high, you'll be able to hit them with the right message.
Neal Schaffer:Yeah, you're I mean, you're both speaking my language and the language that anybody that's been listening to this podcast or read the age of influence is very familiar with. And I also just anecdotally, the meet with so many successful product based business owners, and they base their success on just finding people, some are more influential than others, but social media users sending them product, making sure they find the right people. And it's normally the business owner, that's or someone very close to the business owner, that's that's sending a direct message, you know, telling the story very in a very authentic way, and seeing their business, you know, blow up from that. I'm just curious, is that you know, one of the most successful ways to grow a product based business today, would you think?
Jacqueline Snyder:It's a good question, and it goes back to what we said is that people buy from people, whether they're going to buy from you or they're going to buy from an influencer, they're buying from a person that they know, like, and trust. So I think no matter what it's thinking about that is absolutely a strategy that works. We've seen people do it, we don't ever recommend just like dropping a bomb into their, you know, dm and being like, Hey, I'm gonna give you all these things, you know? So we really we like to say like 10 points of contact, like you kind of circle them and you you comment, you respond to their stories you follow? Like you're just really truly authentic with them. And then they start to notice we've had some of the some of the biggest podcasters ever back when we were starting recognize us because we weren't really following them. And then we sent a DM and that started the conversation. So I think that it's absolutely a very good strategy. We have a course called multi stream machine, which is basically the concept is how I don't know if you've heard the saying that millionaires are millionaires because they have seven streams of income. So we believe the same problem based businesses where a product based business needs to have multiple streams of revenue in order to grow. One of them is on social media, let's say or with influence, because they're selling for you. And then other ways that we've seen people grow is by diversifying their sales platform. So it might be by getting wholesale orders like getting on wholesale or getting on Amazon. So it's really the idea of being in front of other people's audiences who say, oh, pp, but other people's audiences and influencers would be a really good organic strategy, that really the only cost usually is product, we don't necessarily recommend paying for that necessarily. But if
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:they get a cut, I feel like it is a really fair exchange, because any sales platform you go to, you know, Etsy takes 5%, Amazon takes 15%, you know, there is an exchange that happens that those become your partners. That's why it's really important when you find inlands influencers, that they become a relationship that you build upon, you know, when Jacqueline was saying, you know, that we recommend a 10 touch points, it's because you're gauging the relationship. So while you're seeing if they're a good fit for your business, and if you're a good fit for them, you're also seeing if they're genuinely interested in engaging in their audience, you know, at that point, you have no relationship with them. So if they're doing a back and forth with you, then they clearly have this skill to sell, they have this skill to engage. And so your you need to find the right people for representing your brand. And that's in even in the sales platforms that you're on the, you know, the influencers who work with the wholesalers that you work with, for example, all of it really is about relationship building, and an understanding that it is a partnership in a lot of ways, especially if they get a cut. When Jacqueline, I talk about digital marketing, we talk about three different buckets, one is paid. Second is organic, which we're huge fans of and the third is partner meaning they get a cut. So that's like, like I said, all those percentages and that sort of thing. It all is woven together into this marketing plan that happens for your business in order to scale.
Neal Schaffer:Yeah, amen. I love it. And I'm curious it, you know, we focused really on getting the person out there, you need to be a person based business, leveraging influencers, brand ambassadors, affiliates, what have you, of all the brands that you've you've helped build, or all the business owners that you teach, I'm assuming that these are some of the successful things that these business owners have done. Are there any other ones that you should point out that you need to be paying attention to? If you haven't been if you're a product based business owner listening
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:for product based business owners, people believe more is more. And so that really becomes their, the their demise in a lot of ways. Because when you're on social platforms, you're like, they want to hear about more thing is when you're on sales platforms, like let's even say Etsy, you think, Oh, I need to have more products. But really, it's the flip of that, it's really focusing on what you do well, and having even a single product A lot of times or a single collection or line, that you know how to speak about very well, you know how to sell very well, you know how to incorporate partners that can help you sell those very well. And it really is about going deep and not wide. And I think that's really hard for people to understand even service based people. So service based people, usually you're selling a service, that's you, but they're usually comes with like a package, hey, I'm selling this package that have, you know, graphic design that I'm going to do for you blah, blah, blah, that essentially is your product. But a lot of times people want to be everything to everybody. Oh, do you want me to do website? Do you want me to do you know? Yeah, everything and the kitchen sink? You know, do you want me to design your home. So a lot of times that it gets very confusing for both parties, you know, so a confused customer doesn't buy and they don't stick around either. So I think it's a really about that's one mistake that we see from a lot of people no matter what stage they're in, is that they tried to do too many things at once.
Neal Schaffer:Any other now that we're covering mistakes, any other big mistakes you see happening out there today.
Jacqueline Snyder:And you know, the flip, I mean, I said to you, because what she's saying as a mistake, it's niching down, but also it's leaning into your bestseller, basically. So it's identifying what that is, I would say that probably the majority of the time. It's like product refinement, that's a huge mistake like me, and I said, we look at product lines, we're like what's selling and they keep trying to push all the things that aren't selling. And they do I think another thing is, is scaling too fast. So getting trying to get onto all the platforms at once trying to do all the things at once. There's no way you can build something with a stable foundation underneath it if you're trying too many things. So we're really very much about foundation and and scaling but then knowing that your business can keep up with it. One of the biggest things that we see that they deal with also is their pricing. They're not pricing correctly. They don't have the right inventory. They don't know what kind of inventory to have. Right. They're shipping and they're shipping all the time. So systems is a big issue as a mistake and I think it also pricing comes down to So, you know, we're we like to keep it simple. And I think this goes for service and product. Because both of us we own a service business, right? We're digital marketers, we could come up with 100 different ideas of courses, and coaching programs, and masterminds and all the things but we try and stay sort of within our niche, and make sure that we're kind of honing in and focusing on what our customers need. Yeah, sure, we can make everything but then we start to really water down what we're known for. And I think that's sort of the what encompasses what Mina said, as well.
Neal Schaffer:Yeah, that's really great advice. And I think for all those influencers, or one to the influencers, that are listening to this podcast, and saying, Oh, I'm going to create a product like everybody else, I'll go to Alibaba do drop, there's obviously a heck of a lot more. I mean, if it was that easy to make a million, obviously everyone would be doing it. And it isn't. And there's a lot that goes into it. So hopefully, just as a byproduct of listening to what Jacqueline just said, you understand that? So as we get to a close here, is there for you know, whether the what are the business owners product based or service based? Really? We're going into 2022, we've seen the effects of Coronavirus. We know that we are truly digital first now we need to be in everything that we do going into the you know, the New Year. Is there any you know, one or two bits of advice that you'd like to give our listeners that we haven't covered so far?
Jacqueline Snyder:Yeah, I can jump in first really seeing this like hybrid model of digital and in person, especially when it comes to you know, products but the you going to it? Was it social media? Where did you go last week?
Neal Schaffer:Oh, podcasts? Yeah,
Jacqueline Snyder:podcast? Yeah. So probably at some, I don't know, I haven't left my house. I feel like in years now. It's the idea of going to live events. But I think what's going to be involved now is people are going to be able to buy digital tickets as well, right? So they don't have to leave their home, they get to see it no matter what, which just really maximizes the opportunity of being able to reach more people. And then there's, it's no longer there Can I afford to travel can they get there Can I take off time for work. So that hybrid, you're seeing the same thing when it comes to product and ecommerce, I'll just give nordstroms for an example. nordstroms allows you to buy online and return in store. Which is amazing because before used to buy online, you had to return online, but you can also go between their different places. So you could buy something from Nordstrom and returned it at Nordstrom Rack, you can buy online, so you can return in in multiple places. Because ultimately, they do want to get the customer back to in person, they tend to buy, you know, buy differently when they're in person, they can kind of market to them in a different way. But they want to also create ease, which is also the same idea as like curbside pickup, or drop off, or the idea of instacart and how people you know, have really moved into that digital getting, you know, physical goods delivered to them. So I see the hybrid not going away, and rather increasing. And if anyone's out there, it's really thinking through if you're going to have an in person event, is there also a digital component to it. If you're going to sell a product, can they meet you online and in person? Or can you know what's the return policies and all that?
Minna Khounlo-Sithep:Yeah, I love that. We're seeing that so much. I think for me, the best advice I can give to you is that small businesses are the hero and is your time to shine. So shine, step into it. And don't be afraid. Never has there really been a time where everybody's like been so conscious of their dollar, that you went through 2020, which was like a crisis of its own. And people saved a lot of money because they didn't leave their house at a good amount of time. Right? So they're just starting to realize I have this money, what does it go towards. And people are just more conscious now because of everything that happened with 2020 social justice, the economy, the shift in working in a corporation and being in house, you know, and then working into your house, all those things kind of culminated and and now we have this purchasing power. And we're like, oh, what goes towards my spending now for the household. And so now small businesses are really the hero. So we know that we're the backbone of the economy, we know that we're the ones that account for over 40% of jobs in the economy. And we're coming together, Jacqueline and I actually founded the shop, one in five pledge, which is a commitment to shop one in five of your purchases from a small business. We aren't the only ones that are, you know, really trying to showcase small businesses, consumers and businesses alike are really coming together to make this matter more than it's ever mattered before, because we're coming out of squeaking out like very slowly rolling out of a pandemic. And we're starting to see that we have the power and control that we have is with our dollars. And so that's just been something really exciting. We've seen as we really seen people step forward and that they're really shining, we're really pushing them to show up as small business owners and support each other, become a community, support your local community as well as the online community of small businesses. And it'll be really exciting to see because it'll change what will happen for the future generations. You know, what goes in locally, what goes in online, all of that. So it's been really exciting to see just my best advice is to shine as bright as you can and think about where you're spending your money to, even if it's just one in five of your purchases. To a very big deal.
Neal Schaffer:Great advice. Mina. Jacqueline, thank you so much for bringing your experience in your wisdom and sharing it with our audience. Obviously, you have a podcast, you have a website, you have courses, you have the one in five, which might be on your website, give us a few places where our listeners can go to, to build a relationship with you and find out more about how you can help them how you can help their business.
Jacqueline Snyder:Amazing. Thank you. So we're anywhere you listen to podcast, which is the product class, there's also the product class.com. And we have our Signature Course, which is multi stream machine. So that's multi stream machine Comm. But really to lean into what Mina was saying, the shop one and five pledge. So that's shop one and five.com. And we actually created a small business shopping directory. So especially if you're listening to this in the fall, and around the holidays, we'd ask you to take the pledge and then check out the directory it is there's hundreds of small businesses on there that you can shop from for anything, whether it's the holidays, back to school, just day to day apparel, and you know that you're doing your part to commit to, you know, one in five of your purchases and also helping other small business owners.
Neal Schaffer:Awesome. Thank you so much. I enjoyed it. So I know that my listeners well, as well. And hopefully in the future we'll have you on again. And as things evolve, I'm sure what you're going to be teaching and coaching evolves as well. So thank you once again.
Jacqueline Snyder:Thank you.
Neal Schaffer:Yeah. All right. Wasn't that a fantastic interview, there were so many awesome sound bites there. And even as we finished the episode, we continue to talk and agree that we could have kept on going on and on and on what I love about their messages. It's authentic. It's passionate, it's on spot, and they have the experience to prove it's obviously, if that really resonated with you, please make sure you reach out to them, and access all the amazing information that they have. Well, obviously, they gave all their information away. But we do have this great website for this podcast. It's at podcast dot Neal schaffer.com. It includes all the show notes for all the episodes, including transcripts, and going back into all the old episodes one by one, uploading transcripts, really fleshing out the show notes to provide more service to you. So I hope that you'll check it out. There's also really cool search functionality on that website that will allow you to maybe discover a past episode that you might have missed during the pandemic or whatever, but might might still have value for you. And if you enjoyed this episode, I always appreciate the likes the subscribes every single one really does help expose this podcast to more and more people so that I can serve and help more and more people. Why because I am your digital marketing coach and I'm here to serve. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the podcast. I look forward to talking to you again. In the next one. This is your digital marketing coach signing out. You've been listening to your digital marketing coach, questions, comments, requests, links, go to podcast, Neal schaffer.com, get the show notes to this and 200 plus podcast episodes, and Neal Schaffer calm to tap into the 400 plus blog post that Neil has published to support your business. While you're there, check out Neil's digital first group coaching membership community if you or your business needs a little helping hand. See you next time on your digital marketing coach.