Boost Your Boutique With Emily Benson

1:33.0 The thing about having a brick and mortar is you have automatic traffic If you pick a good location, so All the clients that I've ever had open a brick and mortar business, I'm always like pay for traffic, pay for good location, because that's something that you don't automatically get in a mobile business.1:56.1 If you're in a location that's really rural or has really specific zones where people go to shop, you want to exist in those places as a mobile shop. 2:10.2 I find that when people open mobile boutiques in the middle of nowhere, it's just really hard to find customers.2:16.1 If you're online now, I think the best way to think about whether or not it's more economical or not is what the traffic situation is.2:32.9 If you live in a place that's heavily dependent on brick and mortars and you could find a good location in a prime spot, honestly, opening a brick and mortar might be for you.2:47.2 Now I talked about mine being a 30 foot step van and that was huge. If I were to redo it, I would

0:24.0 I want to show you why your January negative self talk and your negative, in general, self talk about the economy is,  it's,  it's putting your boutique out of business.1:24.6 January is a trash month1:31.8 In the retail world, it is trash, which means you get to take time off. 2:24.9 No, the economy is not bad, your product sucks.  You have a bad product. No one wants it. People will buy products that they want.2:24.1 If there's something you want, you will figure out how to buy it. 2:47.1 So if you have bad product and you're complaining that you don't have sales, you have bad product. Okay. It's not the economy. It's not inflation. 2:55.0 Are people spending less? Yeah. Are they being more thoughtful about their spends? Yeah. Are they going to more events and doing more things outside that are more experience based? Yes. So your product based business has to be.3:13.3 Let's start to be more creative. Let's start to design our own stuff Let's get together with a friend a

4:09.0 January gets a bad rap. It really needs to be rebranded into January is rest, relaxation, rejuvenation. It's also like organizing, prepping, planning, and at a pace that feels gentle and tender and kind.8:27.8 So where I see retail and boutiques being really different is retail feels really big. 9:39.2 People that look like they're big time might not be making the money you think they might not have the influence you think, or they'll have the influence in the wrong space.11:29.5  And, you know, I do think if you are interested in doing white label product, beauty products, you want to go to a show that has like more stuff, maybe your general merchandise, maybe you have a gift store. This might be something that You want to come and look at, um, I will be on their podcast too, coming up soon here.12:37.0 I think one of the things that it's really nice to do in January is analyze your routines13:47.7 So we do talk about my plan and we do talk about Facebook ads, but we also talk about getting

1:30.1 This is one of the keys to, I think, the problems that happen among so many boutique owners is you just have so much space.1:45 But It allows you to overbuy and overbuying is one of the quickest ways to not scale your business to become very much unprofitable and to always be struggling to make the revenue that you want.1:56.9 So first and foremost, the conversation around assortment has to come from the fact that we don't want to overbuy.2:29.8 If something is really working in your store, you could bring something back in another color, in another print, in another material.3:31.3 Now as you start to grow and scale, you have to start to get comfortable with your assortment, understanding what is truly working and what is not.6:21.6 Now, value of items has been so diminished over the years because people are loving to give lots of discounts and have affordable pricing, which is fine, but like,  I just don't think it's going to work for much longer.8:50 The Gucci belt principle is that if you have

1:48.1 With seasonal change, the merchandise has to change. So whether you have clothes, whether you have garden goods, whether you have gifts, it's always going to shift based on the season, right? So that's why January and the J months have this bad rep because they're transition months.3:53.7 You see really weird activity in January. So you don't want to start your year off that like that. You want to know that January is an extension of the year before.4:45.2  If December 5th, December 6th, you're like, wow, I have extra money in my bank account. I should buy inventory for spring, for winter, whenever. No, don't do that. 5:07.2 Make sure you're selling down your inventory for the end of the year. You're getting prepped for January to be a bit of a hibernation period for your business.5:12.6 Do not think the world is ending because the first two weeks of January are slow.5:34.2 And these first two, three, four weeks in January in the new year to get grounded in what your plan is for the next year

2:17.6 This is the time to talk about it. This is the time to get people behind your cause.3:06.8 We've got to promote the promotions that we're doing, any sales, discounts, events. events we have to promote,  but we also can't forget that we have to educate our customers.3:36.8 What matters is how you show up for them. What matters is how you present your offer to them.4:39.6 ​​But the real truth is like we have to be more nuanced with our marketing. We have to be more  assertive, but make an offer.5:26.8  Be clear in your marketing. Be like so clear that it's like, duh.6:04.7 Let's really advertise what we're doing, what we're selling, making that offer for the product. 9:32.1 Remind people, you're a small business, you're a local business, you're a woman owned business, and with your inventory, reflect that. Talk about how you can't get it anywhere else.10:34.7 Because people need gifts. They want to shop small. They want to shop local. They want to shop minority, BIPOC, women owned. So

5:28.0: So I want to talk about the big picture that I want to talk about industry and then I want to talk about you, how you're feeling.7:47.2: From being a boutique owner to you being a human in the world, right? We are managing a lot. 10:54.0: If you can get yourself to 12 to 15K, you're good. You're in good shape. You know, like you're good. You're rocking and rolling. 12:16.1: It does feel like hate and division and the wanting to pit sides against each other and all this kind of like, it just, it's happening again, kind of like during COVID.13:53.8: That is what we've also been revealed to us is we need to be aware of what's going on. 15:20.2: Your work is going to always affect not only your family. That's the obvious, but your work does have an effect on the world. 16:45.9: I believe so much in every single person who's on the other side of this microphone who is I'm in your ears right now. I believe in you so much.20:50.9: I want you to feel validated. I want you to feel safe. I w

2:03.7: What you're about to listen to is a group coaching call. We include group coaching calls with all of our programs. So, we have three levels of programs. This particular call is for our Boutique Basics Bootcamp course. 7:07.0: If you think you can sell everything to everyone and have something for everyone. I've been preaching this for years.  And you're going to see it come true in the next six months, like harder than ever, because you can't just sell something for everyone because everyone is no one. 13:20.5: I am Arianne Braverman. If you don't know who I am, um, I am one of the coaches here at Boutique Training Academy. Emily and I go way back. Uh, but I also have my own boutique. It's an online jewelry and accessories boutique called Arianne's Jewel Box. 15:00.6: The reason why I love fourth quarter so much is because I love the energy. I love the spirit, the hustle bustle. Like it just drives me. 16:15.1: If you ordered anything special for black friday Make sure you kno

2:16.5: There's no one path to success.3:13.3: There's been some quick fixes or people who've started businesses really quickly and maybe seen some success. But this is where the short and longterm thinking in my mind happens because you have to be on the pulse and you also have to be thinking longterm.4:37.4: Size inclusivity has been something that we have been fighting for from vendors, from brands for so long. This is something that, you know, we want more cute clothes and inclusive sizing period. 6:22.4: We're just kind of, again, reinforcing the fact that women fluctuate sizes no matter what.7:05.4: And while we don't want to take our eye off the ball with making sure brands and. Vendors have inclusive sizing, also watching our customer base, watching our size selling, seeing if we're like something's changing because this might not affect you at all.7:29.1: I think we have to recognize that as boutique owners, we have to start being really flexible. We have to start understanding that our demograp

5:32.0: You know, there's a lot of people that just step into entrepreneurship and it's like not their thing and no judgment.6:47.0: Because let's be honest. Most people that own a boutique and you know, I know I have my dudes out there and I also have mostly women I'm chatting with, right? And we know we are tired like we were tired.7:48.6: I think we have to all really, really be honest about when we start a boutique. Like, what's enough? What's enough for you? What's not enough? What's worth it? What's not? 9:24.2: It's money and numbers that we in a capitalistic, like, society have been raised to look to for success. And I don't really believe that that's true anymore.10:59.9: I really feel so strongly that you should be afforded a business that can make you money and give you a really nice life. Whatever that looks like to you.12:28.4: I think we focus on all the wrong things when we start businesses sometimes because we think we just have to do all the things and it's not true.13:29.3: Billionaires

8:35.0: I've been studying money and money mindset for a long time. I will preface all of this conversation. With a short legal disclaimer saying, I am not an accountant.9:33.1: I want to speak to this idea of debt because especially in the United States this is something that Basically, our society has decided is bad and I'm here to kind of flip the script on that for you boutique owners. 11:00.8: So often as women, we give away our power around money.11:48.3: Taking out a 300, 000 loan that's called a mortgage isn't considered debt. Like, FYI, that is debt, okay? It's the same as the credit card debt you use to invest in inventory for your business. 13:04.6: We also then look at someone who's spent money on a credit card to invest in their business and think that that's bad. Guess what? That business could actually grow. 13:51.8: Can we start switching our mindset around calling money we have used to invest in our business, actually an investment and not freaking debt. 16:08.3: You've go

1:28.3: It's going to cost you some money, obviously, to have a point-of-sale system, meaning you need somewhere to sell it and accept credit cards.2:13.8: If you're going to start a boutique, uh, whether it's home decor, gifts, children's, women's, men's, you've got to think about what are the things that people buy most often? What are the categories that they're buying? 3:55.7: Now people always say like, Oh, I should have something for everyone. No, you should have. Lots of things for one person or maybe two people that are kind of similar. That's the way to go. 4:40.8: You can't just sell graphic tees. I'm sorry. You can't just sell Stanley Cup dupes. I'm sorry. You can't just sell a bunch of junk and think you're going to make money. It doesn't work like that anymore. And if you think that, then you're on the wrong channel.5:31.8: You've got to start somewhere. And the more focused you can be, and I hope that's what I'm getting across to you now, but the more focused you can be, the more succe

Click here to see more about Boutique Basics Bootcamp. Enroll in Boutique Basics Bootcamp now for the lowest price and over $3200 of bonus material!This episode has not been edited for ums or gaps! Enjoy!Emily on IG: @stylishandsuccessful or @boutiquetrainingacademyMentioned in this episode:How To Start A Clothing Boutique Business - Free On-Demand WebinarHere is the link to register for the free, on-demand training:How To Start A Clothing Boutique BusinessWork on Your Shop Event- September 21, 2025Work|on your|shop is a one-day, in-person experience designed to reset your mindset and give you the exact steps to grow your boutique with more ease and clarity. You’ll leave with: ✅ A complete Fall/Winter (or Spring/Summer) buying and marketing plan ✅ A fresh perspective on your numbers and goals ✅ The energy and confidence to move forwardWork on Your Shop Event- September 21, 2025

00:07.1: Let's talk about what jobs or where we see most people come from in boutique land to start their boutique.1:01.8: First and foremost, it's stay at home moms, it's mothers, it's women, people with uteruses that have had children that want to start a business. 1:49.2: You're going to need support with your business and with your child or children. The more kids you have, I think the harder it's going to be. 2:03.1: If you have kids and you're really good at managing your time and you feel like you have these pockets of time to work, then yeah, having a boutique is going to be awesome for you.2:31.6: Now, the one downside about being a stay at home parent and starting this business is summer. 3:29.5: If you have the time and you have good skills to manage lots of things, like as most stay at home parents do, then having a boutique is a great business for you.3:45.1: Believe it or not, nursing and teaching, listen, you're in a power position in those places. You're in a position of power a

46.6: I worked for seven years in corporate retail merchandising in New York City for big brands that, you know, then I started my own boutique.2:08.0: If you are not committed to either finding cheaper wholesale items or marking things up appropriately, and I'm talking like three times markup, you will not be successful.2:46.4: And the amount of money we make is dependent on the difference between the wholesale cost and the retail price of that item. So the bigger that gap, the more money you're going to make.3:28.4: Because if you want to join Boutique Land and you don't have a clear vision of who you are and who your customer is, you also will fail. 4:49.9: You are allowed to have a strong point of view and that's what actually makes you stand out from the crowd.6:10.5: Sell your own stuff. Sell your own style. If you can go to LA and you can go to some markets and you can shop other places other than just Fashion Go fair and online spots, you're going to have a better go at it because you'll be able

1:42.4: Having a mobile boutique was really fun for me. I loved all four years that I did it, and I want more people to start the business. And I want you to start a mobile boutique if it's something you're excited about. 2:18.8: The obvious first thing is you need a truck, a trailer, a whatever, an RV, a bus, before you even get into buying that vehicle, you really want to think about what you want to do with your boutique business.3:39.6: I actually would keep back stock while I was at events in the front seat, and that like really helped me carry more things, and it just kept me more organized.4:17.2: Now the downside to that is that every repair, every mechanical issue became a business issue because I couldn't just swap out a different truck or a different vehicle to tow it. 4:56.3: If you go the route of a trailer, again, you see... You still have to think about how big it is. You still have to think about the interior height. And this is a spot where you would want to think about adding some

1:19.7: We need more boutiques to open because we need more perspectives. We need your point of view. 1:50.4: So first and foremost, no, you cannot buy samples. I know it sucks. You just can't. Okay. The way that the wholesale piece of the industry works. 2:57.3: This is why I always say you should go to market or try to go to LA or New York or wherever these people are so you can see samples and you can see what's going on.3:43.2: So now when you're on a wholesale website or you're looking at a wholesaler's line sheet, what you're actually going to see is the wholesale cost per unit.4:18.5: You are going to get great prices on styles that you didn't even realize you could get such low prices on.5:48.3: You're going to have to ask that vendor, what are their packs? What are their minimums? How are their packs broken down by size?6:41.3: Now, when you go to buy from a vendor, they're going to tell you what their minimum order is. That minimum order is for an order. That's not for a style. That's not

1:14.6: We're talking about growing our assortment today. And to me, that's a really important topic because I've seen so many people do it incorrectly. They end up with lots of inventory sitting in a back room or sitting in a warehouse or in a storage unit or whatever.1:47.2: If you're in a spot where you're like, I'm making all these mistakes that I'm like, talk about great. You see your mistakes. You can fix it. 3:59.3: What it really is, is money being spent that shouldn't be spent there. That's the problem.4:07.5: The wrong way to add more inventory to your assortment is to willy nilly expand in sort of breadth of like, I'm going to carry more different stuff. That's wrong. 6:00.8: So there's sometimes where it is just a bad product, a bad product idea, a bad concept. Move on. move on to the next. Be like, I made a mistake. 6:24.5: The best way to grow your inventory and your assortment is to double down on what's working.6:57.9: How can I also entice the person who already bought it to bu

0:56.8: I always say focus on one store first, grow that, and then add. 2:39.1: They do local pickups, things like that. That's actually, I think the best-case scenario for opening a brick-and-mortar because you already have this built-in customer base locally. And then they're going to say to their friends, Hey, let's go to this store. I think it's really different.3:10.8: Let's say you have been selling online and you're sending orders all over the country, you do want to be sure that this location is going to have your people at it. Like, do demographic research on the area.4:42.9: So if you are focused on building a brick-and-mortar boutique, the online business is going to suffer. Unless you have an online boutique manager who is going to continue to maintain that business.6:46.7: The hope is that obviously they follow you and you are still selling to the same customer that you sold to online. Now, will they buy the same things? Yes and no. 7:29.7:  Just because you open a brick-and-mortar

1:30.5: If you are someone who feels overwhelmed often, or you can't handle lots of people, then going to market or a show might not be for you.5:48.2: So the intention of going to a show would be to hopefully place orders, but to touch and feel and try on and meet the vendors and maybe meet new vendors that, you know, every vendor isn't on Fashion Go.6:47.1: You'll find is generally organized in a way where the buyers that are coming to that show are all buying for the same kind of customer. 8:37.4: If you're online, you are never going to like touch and feel things. You're taking a gamble every time you place an order. And that's okay. It's an educated risk. 11:38.6: Each show is going to be a little bit different. The off-price show tends to sell things that are, they would call the margin builders. So they're lower-cost items.12:05.2: So it's a good thing to go through the vendor list before you sign up for one of these events.12:30.9: For someone who is neurodivergent or maybe has trouble with