673: Boost Your Sales With Problem-Aware Content Creation

0:01Today's episode is sponsored in part by Revolve and Spectrum. Revolve is my all time favorite place to shop for my dream wardrobe. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Spectrum business keeps your business connected with reliable service you can count on. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. As always, you can find all of our amazing deals in the show notes. Now let's get into it. okay I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing like if I haven't reached for it in months it's gotta go I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use revolve just gets it though I'm literally wearing my brown autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse it fits my laptop in it so it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything.

1:02I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life. Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. And it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger fast two-day shipping easy returns it's literally the only place you need to shop from that's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger offer available for a limited time so happy shopping not only are we this small company that started in the garage but we're also now at a place where we're taking that money and we're risking it and investing it on a luxurious brand trip.

2:01We see these big companies doing it, but just because they're doing it doesn't mean we can't do it. We don't know how to do it, but we're going to figure it out. Hey, my name is Jenna Kutcher and I am obsessed with all things business, marketing numbers, and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life. I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven-figure online business. I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here.

2:35Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. What if you are just one post away from skyrocketing your sales and achieving your wildest dreams? I know you're probably like, well, a girl can dream, but that is exactly what happened to my guest today. After she spent years taking the padding out of her sports bras and placing it into her tanks and bodysuits, she finally decided to design her first product. Before she knew it, her first Brammy bra and cammy design went viral on TikTok in 2020 and showed her what's possible for her small business.

3:17That's right. Today, I am chatting with an innovative fashion designer who has gained a reputation for her stylish Brammy tops. However, she's not just a designer. She's also a very savvy entrepreneur who understands the power of social media and building a successful business. Now she still uses platforms like Instagram and TikTok to share styling inspiration and behind the scenes of her journey as an entrepreneur. And of course, to market her growing fashion brand. In fact, you may have seen her business classy network featured in BuzzFeed, InStyle Magazine, and more. And her success all started with her viral TikTok just three years ago.

3:54Today, she's going to share with us how to use social media to sell inventory, what it's really like working with family, how she knew it when it was time to level up, and so much more. And I am positive that you do not need to be in the fashion industry to learn from her advice. So without further ado, get ready to be inspired, educated, and empowered to use the power of social media to grow your business. Natalie, welcome to the show. If you love Gold Digger, then you'll love the Side Hustle Pro podcast hosted by Nikala Matthews Okome, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

4:33Side Hustle Pro showcases diverse entrepreneurs who have scaled from a humble side hustle to a full-blown profitable business. Every week, you'll learn actionable strategies to start small and get going wherever and whoever you are. In Nikala's recent episode titled How to Make Content for Your Business in Less Than One Hour a Week, I learned so much about how to optimize recording sessions to get content done quicker, as well as new content creation tech and tools. You have to tune in. Listen to Side Hustle Pro wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Natalie. So I am so excited to have you on the show.

5:12I'm so excited for this conversation. So welcome to the Gold Digger podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited. As I mentioned before, we were just chatting. Definitely a big fan of Jenna Kutcher. And you just have created such a great space for entrepreneurs in the online space and marketing. And I'm just excited to be here. So thank you for having me. Oh my gosh, of course. Okay. So I need to know about how everything began. And we're going to explain what everything means. But you went from dreaming about something that's maybe a little interesting, like stylish, braless clothing.

5:47Yes. And you went from taking it as this dream and making it into a reality, which by the way, for everyone working at home, like bra, I mean, not even working at home, but braless. Let's talk about this. Talk to me about how this came to be. Yes. So this has always been like my dream wardrobe. And I just remember even growing up in high school, I used to take the cute body suits that had the low backs and I would take padding from like my swimsuit and I would just put it in front of my boobs because I did not want to wear a bra because obviously you can't when you have like a back this moment.

6:20And for me, like I definitely need coverage and need to feel like I have that support in the front. So I always used to take padding and I would just stick it in front of my bras and kind of just like push it up against my chest and hope that it wouldn't show slip out or fall. That was me all throughout high school going into adulthood. And one day, well, me and my husband wanted to start an e-commerce product-based company. And we were talking about getting into the space. And for me, what was on my heart always has been fashion. I love fashion. I was that girl who would try to dress cute at school and pick out the cute, fun outfits and just come to school looking cute.

6:56I loved that. And so fashion was something that I always loved. and so I knew I wanted to go in that direction. But for me, if I'm going to create a brand and I'm going to stand out in the industry, I have to ask myself, how am I going to do things differently? How am I going to market myself, especially when I have no followers and people don't know who I am? So immediately I was like, oh my gosh, it would be such a dream for me if I could create this product where I don't have to wear a bra, but it's cute. It's not for working out because all the bra tops out there are like athletic tops and they have those built-in shelf bras.

7:29But for me, it was more about just being comfortable, but also stylish. And I didn't see anyone at the time doing that well in the market where that's what they specialize in. So that was for me, like I got this intuitive gut feeling where I was like, that would be amazing. And at the time, my husband actually didn't see it because I mean, he's a guy, he doesn't understand, like the pain point of bras. But he was very supportive. And he was like, well, let's just do just one round, try it out, kind of do it for yourself. And I did that. And then everything changed when I tried posting on TikTok for the first time.

8:05And I actually shared this product idea. And then one of my videos went viral and my whole life literally changed. Talk to me about this. So first off, I love husbands are like, wait, what? I actually was just messaging a bra company the other day. And I was like, does anyone actually make bras that work for people who have had children? Because my boobs are not where they used to be. And we were just like laughing because I'm like, it is a pain point. Like it is a legitimate pain point. And I feel like my body has changed so much in the last few years that like shopping for bras feels slightly traumatic.

8:38I think we've all had experiences that are very uncomfortable. So talk to me about how you had this idea. And did you start sharing about it before it was a real product? Like walk me through that because I feel like nowadays people want to wait until they have the big reveal. And I think sometimes there's missed opportunities in that. Yeah, definitely. I think for in the very beginning, I was that way. I was very much like, I'm not going to share it until it's here. Of course, I talked about it with my friends and my family because I wanted to make sure like, is this a good idea? And you know, it's my mom.

9:11My mom is like, she literally is like me. Like we are like twins, but she's a little, obviously she's older, but she was very supportive. She was like, this is amazing. Like you have to do this. So I didn't really share the process in the beginning. Looking back now, I wish I did. And I feel like a lot of people see that like once they've gone to where they are, they're like, I wish I documented more. I wish I would let people in on that process more. But I didn't really do that in the beginning. So talk to me about showing up on TikTok. What was the goal? What was the thought process? What was the post?

9:43Walk me through that. Yeah. So the reason I did it is because I had a few of my friends who were going on TikTok and their videos were just blowing up and they were building communities. And at the time, I didn't have a lot of followers. But I did have a product that I knew that if only I could find the people that could resonate with this product, I know that it would do good. And so at the time, we were already running our company, but it was very small. It was out of our garage, me and my husband every day just like hustling behind the computer and on social media trying our best. And one day, my husband just told me, he was like, I just want you today to focus on making TikTok videos.

10:20I'll do everything else and just make as many TikToks as you can and just try it. So I was like, okay, this is scary, but we're going to try it. And so I told my story about I was looking for this product on the market. I couldn't find it. And so I decided to design it myself. And I just talked and told my pain points and my struggles, my personal struggles. and that video, it was literally that day where my husband told me to just make as many videos. One of the videos we woke up the next day had 1.5 million views and we were just like, I can't believe that happened. Yeah. That's amazing. You know, it's so interesting.

10:57One, I love your husband for being like, I can pack the boxes, I can print the labels because I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we get so caught up in the things that we can do, but they're likely not the things we should be doing, the things that only we can do. And so in recognizing that, that probably was a huge breakthrough. So what happened from the views? Because a lot of times I think, okay, how do the views translate into results? And I think that there has to be a level of savviness in order to have that be reflected. Yeah, for sure. I think that it worked really well for us. Like that one video did sell out that round of inventory that we had, which was incredible.

11:37And that's why I say It's like so life-changing for an entrepreneur because you post that video, you get the reach, you find those people that can become loyal customers that stay with you forever. And that is kind of that this new business model that we just discovered that we figured out could work for us. So I think what really works to get those direct sales is to speak to people's pain points. And I think for me, all I had to do was talk about my personal struggle with trying to find something that could solve my problem. and because I did that, it did generate into sales. And I feel like that's something with other entrepreneurs out there.

12:13Sometimes they talk about the product, but they're just selling a product. But how can you get down to the emotion of it where you're like, this is why I hate this. Don't you hate having to come home after a long day and take off your bra? And that relief, that feeling, getting into those feelings that a lot of people can relate to and those pain points is really what makes people, it clicks in their head, they hear it And they're like, oh, yes, I need to try that. And then it can result into direct sales. I think you just hit on something that is so important. And when it comes to marketing, a lot of times as creators, we are so obsessed with the features because we nerded out over them, right?

12:50Like we know exactly why we built things the way we did. But when our marketing becomes about the features, it's less relatable to the person. They don't know why that feature adds value to their life or changes their life. And so I love how you focus on the customer and the pain point because that is what they relate to. They might not care that you have a special seam or a special cup or things like that. They don't understand that, but they know the struggle. And I think that that's such a huge reminder for anyone who's doing marketing to not focus on the features. Yes, you care about them as the creator, but to always stay focused on the client.

13:26Is that something that you still continue to do with your marketing? Yes, for sure. I think one of my biggest things about if I'm trying to figure out what's another video that I can post, what can I create? I'm always looking at the comments. I'm always looking at what are my customers asking for? What do they want to see? What are they commenting saying like, oh, well, that's not going to work for me because I have a triple D chest size. You know what I'm always taking like the comments that they put and I'm just basically taking their comment and showing them how it can work for them or explaining to them why or saying, well, thank you for your feedback.

13:59Here's what I'm going to do to work on how it can be better. And all of those things get better engagement because this is actually what the customers want to see from you. So something that I really admire about Classy Network is how dedicated you are to showing all different body shapes, sizes, skin tones, ages, races. Like when I scroll through your feed, your website, like you are bound to see as a consumer, someone who looks like you or someone that you can relate to that is wearing your clothes, which I think is just so empowering and refreshing. Talk to me about that because I think that a lot of businesses lack that representation and also just lack the know-how in terms of finding how to provide a deeper level of representation that consumers are deeply desiring.

14:47Walk me through that. Yeah, that is so important to me, to us as a brand. Being a smaller company, it's crazy to me because if I can do it, the big brands can do it. And so it's very mind blowing to know that some brands out there only still carry to this day up to a size large. And it's like, how is that still happening? And so for me, it's just about, like I said, in the beginning, like listening to your customers and seeing the feedback that you get from them and realizing that people are people and they're not this perfect illusion that we paint them out to be. They care about the relatability and being able to relate to your brand and see themselves in that.

15:27It makes such a difference if you have someone that you can relate to on the website wearing the piece of clothing that you're trying to sell. And so for us, it's very important. Every single shoot, every single thing that we do, even if it's like a brand trip, we're always thinking about are we getting a variety of different sizes? We make sure we check that box. Are we getting as much variety of different skin tones and representation that we can? because we've realized how much of an impact that can make after we started to do it. Because then we would get comments of people telling us how much this is impacting them and how much they appreciate it.

16:03And to me, that just makes my heart explode. And I'm like, wow, you can see how much of a difference this is just making in the general public's lives. And it has just been something that I'm so passionate about now because I see how much of a difference it does make. And then I'm confused. I'm like, how is not everyone not doing this? I don't understand. So yeah. There was just an article published about a large company. And I don't even want to say the name because I'm not 100 % that I'm correct on it. But it was a very large, well-known clothing company that was using AI to generate more diversity in their models instead of actually hiring real people with real bodies.

16:41And I thought it was fascinating because you know they have the budget. You know they have the wherewithal. You know that they have the team to support this. And you know that there are real humans who would absolutely love the opportunity to be the representation. And I just thought, is this where we're going as a world? It's crazy. So seeing someone like you, Natalie, who's doing this is so refreshing. And I also want to say from a marketing standpoint, it is also very smart because I know as a woman, when I see something that looks really cute online and it comes to my house and it does not look how it looked on the model, I am disappointed and I want to send it back.

17:19And so when I can actually see something represented that I can relate to, it makes me a much more confident consumer. And that confidence likely ends in delight, right? Like, oh, that's exactly what I thought I was going to get. And so I love that you're focused on that. Yeah. And every aspect of it too. One of my favorite things to do is to just get someone who's maybe never tried our products before and just have them try it on. I love watching different body types trying on our Bramies and us trying to get that perfect fit because what's different about us as well is we can kind of customize the fit.

17:52So say you have a small frame, but you have like a triple D chest, we can take a small Bramie top and we can put in a 3XL pad insert. So you get full coverage, but you're still like supported and you look really good. And I just love seeing people feel confident in the clothing and comfortable because they're not wearing a bra. And so for me, every single time, that will be my favorite thing. So I just love taking just a regular person. And that's what we do a lot in our content as well. Any of the girls on the team at work, we'll make content with them. We'll be like, oh, today we need someone who's a medium, who's a medium here.

18:26We're gonna do some content together. And we just do it because that to me is what people really wanna see is just real people wearing these clothing and how are you solving problems? How are you making an impact and how and why do these people feel confident wearing it? Yes. Okay. So let's talk about the evolution of your team. So you work with your family, right? You've mentioned your husband, your mom is your lead fashion designer, and I'm pretty sure is it your sister and sister-in-law also help out with you too? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about this topic of working with family, because I think that at the beginning, especially, a lot of times you need support.

19:04And a lot of times that support comes in hands that are ready to help. Walk me through what that's been like for you and how that has maybe evolved over time or stayed the same. Yeah. So in the very beginning, we had our family helping us. We're just so lucky that we have the best family that is super supportive. And I think the first person that started working with us full-time is my dad. He actually ended up retiring from his job early and coming to literally drive to my house 45 minutes from his house every single day to my garage to help me pack orders. Just early retirement, wanted to help out, wanted to support.

19:41And now he is our full-time logistics and warehouse manager. And he loves it. He's living out his end of his retirement, just helping us out and just working so hard. And we're able to do that now. And like, for me, it is, this is why we do it. You know, my dream always has been to take my parents out of their jobs, you know, that they complain about their whole life and just allow them to be able to help me and build this dream and all of us to be able to do it together. That is like, that's why we do it. We dreamed about it. And the fact that we can actually do it now is just a dream come true.

20:16It's mind blowing. So we have my dad there and And my mom, actually, we actually just shifted my mom's role. She's now our sourcing and our vendor manager. So she really deals with the production side of it. She takes the designs and she makes sure everything is communicated clearly, that there's no issues through production. And we actually did hire someone who actually went to school for fashion design. Yes. But my mom and I were doing that in the very beginning. And it's cool now to see the evolution of it and see where does this make sense and how can we shift and get someone who's even more of an expert than us in this field to get more value to the brand.

20:55So my mom's still there, though. She's killing it. We're working together every single day. We also have my husband's mom. So my mother-in-law, she's our operations manager because she has experience with being a teacher her whole life and HR. So we're just family everywhere. How has that been? And have you had to create different boundaries? Like, are you sitting around the dinner table talking about inventory? Like, what does that look like? I'm so curious. Yeah, it's definitely not easy for sure. I feel like sometimes it's the one thing that will make me want to just stop everything and just give up because it's so hard to work with your family.

21:33But then at times, it's the one thing that I'm the most grateful for. And I would never change because it's like, you know, that these people in your company care almost as much as you. You cannot find other people that are going to care as much as your family does. And I think the conversation that needs to happen with family and business and mixing that is, what is going to be best for the business? Are we all okay that sometimes this might not be the best for us individually, but can we all agree that we're doing this together? So we're always going to ask ourselves, is this what's best for the business?

22:07And so we all kind of take the company and treat it like a little baby. And we're all like, okay, maybe it's not my time to be selfish right now. Is this what's going to make the most sense for the company? And is this best for the company? And that's kind of like the question that whenever there is some type of issue, we always ask that question. And we're able to figure out what, how do we get on the same page? And it's really easy if you think about it that way. And I feel like that's the biggest boundary you have to set. Yes. Okay. I love that. I have at different times, my sister has worked for me, my mom has worked for me and it's, it's been such a beautiful honor, right?

22:44To like have built something that allows for that. And then at the same point too, there have been times where it's like, okay, like I'm going to go do my own thing. And it's like, yes, that's what I wanted for you too. Like, so it's just amazing to be women who have built something that can do that. One thing I would love to kind of go into and we'll dive a little bit deeper. We've already scratched on the surface is just a social media strategy. So can you talk to me about some of the strategies that you utilize to help move inventory? Because I think that there are people listening to this show that maybe are sitting on inventory or they don't have a process around it.

23:19And it sounds like you have more of like a formulaic type process. Walk me through that. Yeah. So every week We go into the office every Monday. We have our marketing meeting. So it'll be me and my husband and the marketing girls. And we ask my husband, we're like, okay, what products we have to move this week? So he kind of pulls a report and he's like, this is what we have heavy inventory of. And with that, we create a marketing strategy around it. So sometimes it'll be new products that we had just launched, or sometimes it's older products from a couple of seasons ago, but we do have a lot of it and we haven't talked about it in a while.

23:51So how can we talk about it? So we do that and we intentionally make videos around those products that we definitely need to move. So, yeah, that's amazing. Introducing your new Dell PC powered by the Intel Core Ultra Processor. It helps you handle a lot, even when your holiday to-do list gets to be a lot. Because it's built with an all-day battery plus powerful AI features that help you do it all with ease. from editing images to drafting emails to summarizing large documents to multitasking. So you can organize your holiday shopping and make custom holiday decor and search for great holiday deals and respond to holiday requests and customer questions and customers requesting custom things and plan the perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet.

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