Eat Your Vegetables

  Weekly Dose of Aubrey: Eat Your Carrots from Paulette Piedad on Vimeo.

Small Business 101

I started Bows & Kites on a hot summer night (okay - not that hot, but San Francisco hot standards) in 2013. Honestly, I never thought B&K would get to where it is now. I came in to the market knowing that were a lot of competitors. I needed to set my shop and brand apart to attract customers and makes sales. Recently, I received a few emails from girls asking me for advice about opening up a new shop. It's not easy running a small business and everyday is a learning experience. I wanted to share a few tips. 

Marketing Using different social media channels (Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etc) is a great way to build your brand. My favorite way to market my products and interact with my customers is through Instagram. Take (good) photos of your products and share it with your intended audience by using hashtags. 
Branding Through Photography There are good product photos and there are bad product photos. Believe me, if you want to stand out, you do not want your photos categorized in the latter. You do not need a fancy-schmancy camera to take good photos. When shoppers are searching for products, they'll compare your products alongside products from another shop. In most situations, that shopper will pick the product with the better photo. 
Some shop owners use watermarks on their product photos. On the first few months, my products had a B&K logo. Recently, I took out my watermark and I really regret it. This weekend, I was searching on Etsy and Storenvy and I found out that another bow shop was using my pictures for their product photos. This is a big no-no. 
Testimonials  Use your customer testimonials to your advantage! Read what your customers are saying about your product and their suggestions. Reading my customers' reviews made me put out different options for hair clips. 
Got negative reviews? Don't sweat it! Every shop gets negative reviews. You are not alone. When I first had my dollar sale, I had a few customers leave me negative reviews because of the long turn around time. Circle back with those customers and ask them how you can improve and make their shop experience better. These customers were so glad that I checked back with them and because of this, they still purchase items from my shop. Here's another good lesson: Be clear about your production and shipping time so your customers know what to expect.
Set Goals Set goals for yourself and your business. Where do you see your business in five months? One year? Don't feel defeated if you don't make your sales goal. Even big businesses like Walmart or Target don't meet their daily sales goal. Set goals to make better products or interact with customers more. The sales will come when your customers see how passionate you are about your work. Be proud of your products! 
If you are a small business owner, what is one important lesson that you wished someone passed along to you?

Music Monday

I totally missed Friday's Weekly Round Up post. I'm going to two things on this post: I will post my (late) weekly round up and my music Monday post.
Weekly Round Up
This video made me laugh and think of college because I had a professor that also had this rule.
I'm going to try to put an avocado in my grilled cheese next time. Looks yummy!
I remember when every girl in my PE class in middle school smelled like Bath & Body's Cucumber Melon. 
I love this hot pink sequins hanger from MrsMarcieHandmade on Etsy.
Did anyone else watch the How I Met Your Mother series finale? Am I the only one that was disappointed with how things turned out? Barney + Robin forever.
Music Monday
Justin Timberlake - Lovestoned / I Think She Knows Interlude This song was on my work out play list this morning and I just can't get it out of my head. 
All Saints - I Know Where It's At Brings me back to the '90s. Good memories!
Solange - Losing You Watch out, Bey! This is my favorite song from Solange. It has such a great beat. Great song to dance to! 
Macklemore - White Walls I seriously need to get Macklemore's album on my iPhone. Love the summer feel on this song.
Bruno Mars - Treasure Bruno Mars will be coming to the Bay Area soon and I really want to go his concert. 

What I Learned From My Sorority Days

As most of you know, I joined a sorority during my time at UC Davis. I sang the silly songs (but I still loved them!), learned the secret handshake, went to frat parties, and came out of college with some of the best friends I could ever have. I learned a lot of valuable lessons that have shaped the person that I am today. 
Confidence & Demonstrating Courage I went into recruitment as a fairly shy person and that completely changed when I joined Theta. Running small meetings, making important decisions, and meeting new people everyday forced me to come out of my shell and be more confident in my choices and in myself. I never realized how being in a sorority prepared me for job interviews and the corporate world until I got hired in a big retail store. Going through recruitment is sort of like going through a job interview (except in cuter clothes!). Learning to be more confident during college has helped me manage and develop 250+ employees in my store. I'm in charge of the recruiting and onboarding process in the store and without the leadership lessons that I learned from my time at Theta, I think it would be difficult for me to run the store's weekly new team member orientation. Now, I am a voice for others who might be afraid to speak up for themselves.
Collaborating With Others It's not always easy to put 150 different ideas together, but it can be done. Recruitment is a crazy time and it's not always pretty. I've learned to listen to other people's ideas and collaborate with them. I blame my Sagittarius side, but usually, I like things my way and I am steadfast with my decisions. This is something that I continue to struggle with, but it is definitely something I can improve. I'm still learning that sometimes there is more than one correct answer and that is perfectly fine. Collaborating with others can bring out different options and ideas that you haven't thought of. At my job, I also run community events and donations. During the last few months, I've opened up and listened to suggestions from my peers on different fundraising ideas and volunteer events for the store. Together, we were able to raise money for local schools and get over 750 volunteer hours.
Dress For Success In both recruitment and job interviews, always dress for success. I've interviewed so many applicants that came in sweat pants and not received second interviews. Make sure you are presenting yourself in the best possible light. You cannot change the first impression! Take some time to think about how you want to present yourself to others. 

Looking back, I am truly grateful for the experiences and lessons. Theta gave me the opportunity to learn and grow as a sister and as a leader. After all, networking is just socializing but with a purpose! Right? 
Were you in a sorority in college? What is one thing that you have learned from your sorority?