Empowering women to create 6-figure digital product businesses.
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Do you get subscription boxes sent to your house that you love? Have you ever thought about creating any physical products like a subscription box service?
Jessica Principe is the Founder of All Girl Shave Club, a women’s shaving subscription service and online boutique that serves thousands of women across the US and Canada each month, and she is joining me in this episode!
As a speaker, author, and subscription strategist, she loves to help business owners leverage the power of recurring revenue, and she does that by sharing what she’s learned about creating subscription boxes with other female entrepreneurs.
This is an awesome conversation about building something out of nothing, creating recurring revenue, leveraging physical products and helping others do the very same thing.
Jessica’s passion for her business and the impact that she creates for women is truly contagious!
We talked a lot about the Empowered Business Lab and how much it helped her create her ebook called Subscription Box Essentials. That made me so happy to hear! If you are interested in purchasing Subscription Box Essentials, use the code EMPOWERED for $20 off!
Don’t forget to join our free Digital Product Insiders Facebook community! It will be your new go-to community for creating and selling digital products!
Speaker2: [00:02:02] Oh, I am so excited to be here, Monica. Thanks for having me.
Speaker1: [00:02:05] Oh, you’re so very welcome. You’re one of my favorite people ever to talk to. And this is going to be such a great episode. I’m so excited. So before we get started, can you tell us about your entrepreneurial journey, like why you decided to be an entrepreneur? What your businesses what do you do?
Speaker2: [00:02:20] Yes, for sure. So I started working for a company right out of college that my mom had started. So she started it while I was in college. And then when I graduated, they came on and worked for her full time. But it was still very much like a startup. It was in health care, education. And so I got this like really valuable experience, really working for a company that was in its very infancy stage and learning how to build a business from the ground up. And my mom and I together were able to grow that company to seven figures within the first two years of me coming on full time. And it kind of just like lit this fire inside of me. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. I’m helping my mom achieve her dreams and building this business. And it’s making all of this impact and it’s just so cool. And I loved, love, love my work there. But after about 14 years working for her, I started to get the itch, like, I want to do this for myself. I want to build a business for myself and start building my own dream. And so that’s kind of where it started. I didn’t know what my business would look like. I didn’t know
Speaker1: [00:03:26] What I would
Speaker2: [00:03:27] Want to do. I just kind of had this desire and I just kind of remained open to different ideas. But the idea for my business really came to me completely out of nowhere in the shower. One day I was getting ready to shave and I was about to steal my husband’s razor. And I just kind of thought to myself, man,
Speaker1: [00:03:46] Cheating
Speaker2: [00:03:46] Kind of sucks. Like it’s just such a chore, like, what’s the deal? How can I make this better for myself? What would that look like? And I just started thinking about, like, fun products that maybe I would want to try or like how I could, you know, take advantage of this time that I have in the shower alone to, like, multitask. Right. Like shave and also have a little self care. And I just as I was thinking through this, thinking through this idea, I thought, you know what, this I can’t be the only woman who feels this way about shaving, like there are probably other women who feel the same way. And maybe this is something that I can build a business around. And it just felt so aligned. It felt I felt really excited, you know. So I left the shower that day with my idea and and really just got to work right away.
Speaker1: [00:04:32] So what year was that?
Speaker2: [00:04:34] That was twenty sixteen. It was May of twenty sixteen that I got the idea and then I just kind of started doing a lot of research. I had no experience in e-commerce, in a subscription, e-commerce, physical products. I just that was just totally foreign to me.
Speaker1: [00:04:50] Ok, so spoiler alert her. You’re the name of your subscription boxes. All Girl Shave Club.
Speaker2: [00:04:56] Yes.
Speaker1: [00:04:57] Ok, so the idea comes to you in the shower, which, by the way, I will say that all of the good ideas on the universe come because maybe that’s because we’re moms and like what else do we have unlimited time to think, you know, hopefully without being barged in on. I do like the shower door.
Speaker2: [00:05:11] This is good for you. But it is it’s totally the only quiet place that I ever had was in the shower.
Speaker1: [00:05:18] True story. My husband walks in on me almost every morning and I started locking the door and but he can reach the thing to, like, unlock the door because he’s six three. And I’m like, that’s not fair. Now I’m going to have to hide that this is my alone time.
Speaker2: [00:05:30] Yes.
Speaker1: [00:05:31] So, OK, I’ll go shave club. Like the concept comes to you in the shower. But when did the idea for a subscription box come to you.
Speaker2: [00:05:42] Yeah, so that actually kind of came after I left the shower. Right. As I started thinking about creating products that would be feminine and fun and unique and just enjoyable to use. I started thinking about, oh, you know, subscription is something that I loved as a as a consumer. I had a ton of different subscriptions myself, and I just loved the model, the convenience that it added. And so that’s kind of when I adopted that was right in the beginning, I knew that it was going to be a subscription based business almost immediately.
Speaker1: [00:06:14] And with some of that based on automatically knowing you were going to need that recurring revenue for this to work.
Speaker2: [00:06:22] You know, honestly, I didn’t know the power of recurring revenue at that time. I really didn’t. It was just kind of like this idea of convenience. I was coming at it from a consumer standpoint, like I liked having things delivered to me. It was easy. It made it mindless. And then as I started learning more about the model and learning more about the business, I realized, OK, this is going to be very, very important. And it has served us really well over the years.
Speaker1: [00:06:49] I can imagine. OK, so you have limited experience of none in sourcing products at this.
Speaker2: [00:06:57] Oh, girl, none.
Speaker1: [00:07:00] Where did you meet? I honestly, aside from going to Google, which I’m assuming maybe that is where you went, like, how did this and how fast did it come together?
Speaker2: [00:07:09] Yeah, that’s a great question. So the idea came in May and I didn’t actually launch until December twenty eighth of that year. So it took almost that full year to get everything lined up and working and all that. So I think that we often underestimate the power of Google. Like when we’re thinking about starting something new, we think, well, where do we start? But literally, Google was my best friend. I started there. I just I found a site where you could find different manufacturers that create different types of products or you could put out like request requests for proposals for different products that you’re looking for. And so I just started there and it was like a rabbit hole of like manufacturer from manufacturer from manufacturer. Like I was testing so many different shaving systems and razor burning my legs to shreds and just going through the motions of trying to find the really right fit for us. What I was looking for.
Speaker1: [00:08:05] You know, that kind of reminds me of Sara Blakely from Sphinx’s story, because I watched her master class, which is master class dot com. You know, very fascinating things are on there, by the way. I was interested and I did binge her whole her. And I will say, like master class, it’s like if you’re used to consuming online courses, well, maybe I’m biased because my online courses are very detailed classes like the high level experience. And she talks about when she started, like, you know, Spanx didn’t exist. She had to, like, try different manufacturers and material and be meticulous. And and it wasn’t just like it’s not like she knew how to create it. She had to go source it. And where, you know, trial and error.
Speaker2: [00:08:49] No, nobody teaches really these things. And especially if they already have, like a competing company, they’re not trying to share that information with you. So it’s definitely just figuring it out as you go. And I think that we underestimate ourselves and
Speaker1: [00:09:05] It is possible. Yeah. OK, so when you launched at the end of 2016, did you launch with like one like how many different variations of the of shaving and like the products that go with it? Did you launch with.
Speaker2: [00:09:19] So we had we had quite a few different options and I have since scaled that way back. But, you know, you live in your learn. So when I first launched, I launched with multiple different types of razors. So we had a flat five blade system, a three blade system. And then in addition to that, we had the traditional subscription box where we were sending like curated goodies and shaving products to try and that kind of thing. And so we were just kind of throwing it all out there. And what I learned was really to listen to our customer and to provide what it is that they’re truly seeking. Like our ideas might be what we might think. They’re really awesome, but it’s really about what people are going to want to buy. And so we have since scaled that way back. Now we have a new razor system that is a six blade system, and we have our own line of shaved butter. And then we also do add ons and things like that.
Speaker1: [00:10:14] Ok, are you still shipping out of your house?
Speaker2: [00:10:17] Yes, ma’am, we sure are. We transitioned. My basement is unfinished. It was pretty large, about two thousand square feet and transitioned into a warehouse. It had all the industrial shelves and it’s own entrance and that kind of thing. So I do I have people come in, my my helpers, my packing fulfillment team will just come in and ship the orders and it’s amazing.
Speaker1: [00:10:38] How big did you get? How many subscribers did you have before you hired help to put these boxes together?
Speaker2: [00:10:45] That’s a great question. So my husband has helped me almost since the beginning. He’s a firefighter, so he has like three days off in between his shifts. So he helped me almost immediately from the beginning. But I would say we hired somebody once. We got to about five hundred subscribers probably around there. Five to six hundred. Yeah. Now we’re not shipping like in in one big batch every month, worshiping in in like an anniversary style shipping. So as soon as somebody renews, we ship within three days. So it kind of makes it a little easier where we can ship smaller batches each day versus having to ship thousands at once.
Speaker1: [00:11:28] Gotcha. How does shipping work? Like did you negotiate like different rates? Like how does that even work?
Speaker2: [00:11:35] Yes, that’s such a good question. So there is this software that we use called Pirate Ship, and they look like they use the power of aggregate buying to be able to offer small businesses like mine the lowest USPS commercial rates available. So all of us small businesses are buying product or buying shipping right from them. And so they’re able to pull us all. Together to give us the very best shipping rates, I wouldn’t
Speaker1: [00:12:00] Have known any of this like this is completely new to me. When do you think so? You want at the end of twenty. Sixteen? When do you think you really had it down to a smooth machine?
Speaker2: [00:12:12] So I think I talk about this a lot, actually. I really poured the first probably four or five months into building out my systems and my foundation. I was not at that stage trying to acquire like a madman. I really wasn’t trying to grow the subscriptions. I was really trying to figure out how to run the business because it was brand new for us. And I think that that served us really well. So I bought about four or five months and I felt like we were really efficient in what we were doing. But that has obviously since improved time and time again over the years.
Speaker1: [00:12:48] Ok, there’s I’m I took one of the things you said when I said how long from conception to when you actually launch and you’re like, oh, you know, made in December. So about a year. And I’m thinking, no, like seven months. That’s incredible. I feel like it would take me so much longer. So first of all, like that is absurd. And especially for someone who didn’t know anything about, like, saucing, because think about it. I’ve asked you about postage, how you actually know, package it all up, where you package it all up and then the packaging itself, then the actual products, which you had a test. I mean, that is an astronomical amount stuff that you put together in a very quick timeline also because I know your brain so well. You have an amazing website. So we’re like, did you build that? Did you hire someone? Where did that come from?
Speaker2: [00:13:38] Oh, my gosh, thank you. I do love it, too. I have a wonderful designer who worked really closely with me. I kind of shared my vision of how I wanted it to function, like the flow, the process that I wanted to take, the journey, I guess, if you will. And she just made it so beautiful and so spectacular. And so she really gets all the credit for how it looks. But fun story is we were getting ready to launch December twenty eight and I had hired somebody in the beginning of December to start building our website. And man, it was a lesson that I needed to learn early on in firing fast. But I didn’t. He was showing red flags like the website wasn’t coming together. My launch date was approaching. There was still nothing to be seen. I was panicking. And finally, we were a week away from the launch date and I said, Are you really going to have this like you’re really going to have this done for me? And he was like, Yeah, it’s not going to happen. Here I am a week before I launch. The holidays are coming. What am I going to do? I literally had to find somebody and beg them to put together a website for me over Christmas for our launch date. So it was a terrible lesson in firing fast. As soon as you see these red flags with these types of things and not having contracts in place. Oh man. Big, big newbie mistake.
Speaker1: [00:14:56] You know what? I think everyone makes it. I thought, well, you know, and but that’s OK. That’s how we learn. And that’s, you know, and you probably like chances are we’ll still hire either a bad seed somewhere along the way again. And hopefully we just act faster than.
Speaker2: [00:15:15] That’s right.
Speaker1: [00:15:16] That happens. OK, so from here now you have your subscription box. How many members you have now?
Speaker2: [00:15:23] Several thousand.
Speaker1: [00:15:26] Incredible. That’s just I can’t even I mean, from nothing from a shower idea. Yeah, but think about that you built and what I love about physical products and I’ve said this many times because I don’t get the gratification of this, the manifestation of being able to hold your brain child in it. You know, like you don’t get to do that with digital products. And that is something I guess the closest I’ve gotten is I for photo shoots. I print out our workbooks and our ebooks and stuff. And that’s pretty cool. I will say that. Yeah. Just to see all the work. Like, I know my dad of course was eight hundred pages when you put it into a Google, don’t know why. And I had to do that for the copyright because we copyright all of our stuff and I thought wow, like that, you know, it’s hard to really see all that work and effort when it’s broken out over lessons. But when I put it in a Google doc and that didn’t even include the videos, it was like, whoa, like phenomenal. Yeah. Just to see it like you’re the box every month come out and I’m sure you do on boxing and stuff like people. I said to him, boxing’s like, doesn’t that isn’t that so rewarding to see that
Speaker2: [00:16:35] It really is it really there’s something about seeing other people holding your baby. Right. It’s just like, oh my gosh, this is a real thing and it’s happening. And like we’re serving these thousands of women all across the US and Canada, like it just it does blow my mind. And oftentimes, like if I’m having a bad day or if I’m feeling down on myself or whatever, I’ll run down to the fulfillment line and I’ll like. Pack a few orders and I’ll feel it and I’ll be like, this is going to Rachel in Pennsylvania and I’m putting this together for her and she trusted me with her dollars. And, you know, I just fills me with gratitude to be able to do that.
Speaker1: [00:17:10] And you’re helping them. You’re helping women, something we do every day to like. It’s actually benefiting the person who’s buying it in real time, almost. It’s not like they’re just I’ve gotten many subscription boxes where I put it on the shelf, you know, and I don’t open it. And I’m like, oh, I should probably cancel that thing because, you know, but this is like a practical thing. And you make it so pretty, too.
Speaker2: [00:17:35] Yeah, I try to do very.
Speaker1: [00:17:38] You do. I always I know you think it’s funny, too, because you have boys, right? Yeah, I have girls and I’m like, I feel like your business is the manifestation of the girls you did not have.
Speaker2: [00:17:47] Oh my gosh. You just said that so perfectly. I always joke about that. Like, I never I never had the girl. So this is like my baby girl. Like it’s the way I can pour all of that girly vibe into something physical.
Speaker1: [00:18:01] You do really well with that. Like my daughter, who at the time was seven, a box full of really awesome stuff. I forgot why. Oh, because I signed up, which I still have to get back to. I still have some refills because I had I had bought in bulk with the rates. I used a different razor from the store for a long time. I’m still trying to get through my bulk. So you stocked
Speaker2: [00:18:23] Up for covid, right? You were like, I’m running out of razors.
Speaker1: [00:18:28] Sure. Sorry, I did. So I’m slogging through my backlog. But my you said her so many. Like we sent you a video on Voxer because she was so excited. There was like she still has like a little makeup things and hair ties. And like, I could just tell I’m like, I think you’re more girly than I am. And I’m a little girl. So she was so excited about it. Oh, so sweet. What are the things you did that I think is ingenious and this is going to lead into? We are going to tie this into digital products in so many ways to tie it in. But before we do that, you launched a secondary box, which I think as having a daughter who will be entering her pre teen years sooner than I’d like to it. Oh, so my mom just kind of gets you right, right in the heart. It’s like when did that she was just a baby. What just happened? I don’t know. I, I don’t understand how that happens. I’m still in denial. But you you have come up with something that I think sorely needed. And Serb’s, it’s not just a product. It really does serve. And that is.
Speaker2: [00:19:31] Yes, it’s called Shine Girl, and it’s a first aid kit for beginning Shaver’s. It was like truly a product from my heart. Like it just was something that came to me. I really wanted to be able to make her first shave experience magical and special and take out the awkward and take out those you know, those feelings, you know, that they might be going through of being uncomfortable or having to feel like they have to hide it or something like that. So I did
Speaker1: [00:20:00] I hit it has seen I have an older sister and I actually vividly recall we were in Florida, so we went on an annual trip every year. And we live in the northeast. Right. So most of the time we are not wearing shorts. Yeah, yeah. So here on Easter, we go down every year to Florida. And so I remember feeling very self-conscious that year when I put on shorts because my legs were hairy and I knew my sister shaved and I knew her, her friend was with us and she shaved. I know my mom shaved and I’m like, oh, I feel like this should not be the case. And I didn’t want to wear shorts. And my mom was like on me because it was so hot down there. I don’t like heat as it is. And she’s like, Monica, you can’t wear long pants to the parks. You’re going to you’re going to be so hot. And I wouldn’t tell her why. I wouldn’t tell her why. And I remember trying shaving by myself with one of their razors in the shower very vividly. And I thought, you know, why didn’t I just tell her? I don’t know. But like, I have to imagine a lot of girls maybe don’t know to ask or parents don’t even think about broaching it with them. Like, I don’t think it even occurred to my mom to broach it to me, even though we talked about other female things for some reason that just wasn’t one of them. And so I love this idea. I think, you know, I plan on buying one when we see. What age would you say that most moms are investing in this for their daughters?
Speaker2: [00:21:21] Yeah. So we actually pull them because I wanted to know and we’re we find that the most common time period is between nine and 11 years old. And so she’s going to be nice. I know it breaks your heart to think of it, but a lot of moms say that they’re keeping it in the closet just because they want to have it ready for when she is ready. You know, they’re just kind of like keeping it on stand by.
Speaker1: [00:21:43] Oh, I was like I was thinking maybe I have like two or three. OK, well, I should get one of the closet soon because knowing my daughters, you will be asking sooner rather than I. Hard, though hard before we start recording, we talked about how that box particularly has a lot of opportunity to pair digital assets, so digital product type things with it. And I had asked you, is this from an acquisition standpoint, meaning you develop digital assets to be able to acquire customers, or is it from being able to increase your profit margin? So one of the things that like Jessica and I have known each other for a long time and she and I like we have this interesting dialog about it’s just so different. Digital products are so different than physical products. And she’s like, man, your profit margins. I just I love your profit.
Speaker2: [00:22:41] Makes me so jealous.
Speaker1: [00:22:43] My profit margin, too. But then I’m like, I love the physical manifestation of what you get to do, but I don’t get to do it. So there’s like definitely pros and cons to both. So there’s this bigger conversation of being able to marry those two together. So tell us your ideas with that.
Speaker2: [00:23:01] I love it. I think I think, like you said, physical product sellers are always looking for ways to improve their margins. Like, that’s like the number one thing. So digital products just present a whole new opportunity to doing that. And so I started thinking, especially when you launched the lab, I was kind of like, OK, what can I do with an all girl shave club to kind of, you know, add some profit maybe, but also be able to reach different audiences that maybe I wouldn’t have been able to reach with my Shangrila box. And so I started thinking about that. And inside the Shangrila box, we have a little guidebook like it is a physical booklet, and it kind of is filled with like teaching tips, tutorials. There’s some journaling activities and affirmations. It’s all about, you know, enhancing the experience, but also promoting body positivity and self-confidence and like those types of things during those special years. And so I thought, how can I take this and make this a digital product? So we not only made it digital, but we also enhanced it. We added extra journaling activities, extra types of things that she might be able to experience because we knew that this would sell on its own, separate from the box. And so we kind of created a mini version at the box in digital form. And so this will be able to reach people that may not have been able to buy the box for whether that’s a financial reason or whether that’s because they live in a country we don’t ship to. You know, you can reach all sorts of different people with digital products.
Speaker1: [00:24:30] So, yes, it’s a great way to so it’s a great way for people to get to know your business, your region. So there’s that with digital, because that is another struggle besides going for Ekom, for physical products, besides going into running Facebook ads directly to the product. You know, digital products have a lot of opportunity outside of just going straight to sell. And eCom really hasn’t historically had that. I mean, when you look at Ekom ads, they generally go direct to sale and those can be higher cost ads. Plus your margins are already slimmer. So it’s like that’s where I feel like physical products really have like that’s the con to them. But to flip that around, then when you come up with these digital assets, it’s a way for someone to get to know you and your business and your mission and how you can help them. So there’s sadly your legion can be cheaper to bring people in to get to know you. But then on the flip side, it’s almost like so we have a mutual friend that recommended the American Girl books to me for my daughter about puberty because her daughter is a year older than mine. I was like, I think we’re entering some conversations that I need to, like, navigate here. And she recommended this book. So what did I do? I bought it and I was thinking and we were talking about earlier for shaving. Hmm. That can be a guide. That’s a digital product.
Speaker2: [00:25:49] Totally.
Speaker1: [00:25:50] And I love the idea of journaling. Actually, one of the school counselor mentioned to us for our daughter with just covid has brought up. I heard that 40 percent of children are in some sort of counseling now since just like to deal with. And we haven’t dealt with these ramifications in a decade. And even then, it was a different world, you know, so are now a decade I mean, a century now. Yeah, century. And so, you know, one of the things that they mentioned to us was journaling for her to help her express her feelings. Well, I have to imagine that’s the same about when they’re going through puberty. The first shave experience like these are things you can provide. Yes. To them annually. And then, like those digital products could also be physical products that you put in, you know, that you print off. And actually, like you said, you have the booklet. That can be the physical thing you put in. There can be a digital version that you sell for someone who like me, someone who’s like, OK, when do I talk about this topic with my daughter? Right. Maybe I’m not ready for the kit yet because I’m like maybe like a little bit of denial that that’s going to happen. And sooner than later, but I would totally buy the book like that and we can sit on our iPad like my daughter doesn’t even know how to, I asked her the other day, do you know that one mom searches on Google, she types, she types. And she’s like, you don’t talk to Google? I’m like, no, I type in a browser. And she’s like, What’s a browser? Search is changing it. It’s like if I put it, she is more likely to read it on an iPad and flip through it than she is to pick up a booklet that I give her. You know,
Speaker2: [00:27:31] Totally. That makes so much sense. I think that there is there’s just so much room for figuring out how you can reach customers on different modalities and that can go vice versa as well. Like, if you already have digital products, you know, you might be able to manifest your digital products into physical products in some way or some concept, you know? Yeah, I think there’s just opportunity for both.
Speaker1: [00:27:56] One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about is how I can do more physical product branding, you know, like brand awareness, because when you’re in the online world and you do summits and stuff and sometimes you get these branded boxes that will come and say, yes, so awesome. And I got one from Chelsea. She was on episode eight from Smart Mama Money. Smart Money, Mama. She sent me a box. I was in her summit and she sent me a box. And the sweatshirt is like the most comfortable sweater ever. And I was bringing it on planes and everything, and it had her branding on it, you know, very smart, so smart. Like one way for for a digital product creator to manifest the the branding and like that goes with brand recognition and all of that stuff, too.
Speaker2: [00:28:43] Oh, that is so smart.
Speaker1: [00:28:45] Yeah. I also like brand boxes to descend to like new clients for people who do like group coaching programs or mastermind’s.
Speaker2: [00:28:54] Yes. It just like elevates like that. Wow. Factor. Right. Like it just kind of cements the relationship. I was actually I just met a woman who has a digital business. She has a membership for nursing students, so she helps support them through nursing school by cutting through kind of the noise, I guess. And she is creating these study boxes that she can ship to her customers or to her members who want, like, physical tools to help them study. And I just think that’s just so smart because it just really establishes the relationship on a deeper level.
Speaker1: [00:29:28] Yes, I I heard someone say recently that they invested in a higher price program that wasn’t really all that great, but the welcome box was so amazing and wow that it made up for the investment like they were sold away by it, that it like changed their perception on the lack of while that they felt in the program when the box came in the low.
Speaker2: [00:29:52] That is fascinating. That is so fascinating. I wonder if, like, that could be a strategy, right? Like even even with Facebook ads, like, doesn’t it seem like intrinsically more valuable if you sign up for a program or something like that that has like a physical component? Right. Like even if it’s just a T-shirt.
Speaker1: [00:30:09] Yeah, it does. And I know a lot of mail marketers try that. And I have to say, I don’t necessarily resonate with the way they do it. It seems not just me. Yeah, but I think there’s a very like feel good way that you could implement it. And this is something we’re looking into. But OK, so it’s going to lead to the next my next thing about digital products with you, because someone like me, I don’t know, I source any of this. Like I get these boxes in the mail. I’m like, this is amazing. Who like made the actual packaging of the box and where do all this stuff come from? And that feels overwhelming to me. I don’t want to start. So we don’t and you know, and so now you have all of this knowledge that you have gained. And so when you joined the lab for the founders round, you joined earlier this year and you decided that you wanted to because digital products, one of the main types of digital products, are essentially simple products where you take your knowledge and you teach it to other people. So now you have all of this knowledge about subscription boxes. And I know because we’ve talked about this for years, that you wanted to impart this knowledge. I know. I know. But you but one of the struggles people have with digital products and I think you felt it as well as you’re like, but I know so much where do I even start? Because it’s just such a behemoth to even think about.
Speaker2: [00:31:28] Overwhelming. Yeah. And so then
Speaker1: [00:31:29] You’re like then and that’s not your main business. So you’re like, well, so you just never got started. And then you’re doing the lab and you said, I’m going to do this. So you did. And what did you create.
Speaker2: [00:31:42] Oh my gosh. Well, first I just have to say that the lab was amazing. It was exactly what I needed, because you’re right, we had been talking about this for so long and it is overwhelming. And you’re the lab gave me permission to just create a. A small piece I didn’t have to create a massive course are like this massive high ticket thing, it was like you can just create something beginner level. It’s OK to do that. So that was really amazing. And I really needed that. I created an e-book called Subscription Box Essentials, and it is like a comprehensive guide to getting started and creating a subscription box business, 16 chapters and a ton of worksheets and checklists and resource lists and just templates all the things that you’re going to need. So I’m super proud of it. And I’m just so grateful for you for helping me bring it to life.
Speaker1: [00:32:33] Well, we say in the lab and when I say lab for people who are in the business lab, it’s what it’s called. We say I always telling people one problem. One solution. Yes. Oh, yes. And don’t try to boil the ocean on your first product because. Because in the digital product world, one of the best ways to keep because we all know in business in general, acquiring a new customer costs more than keeping your customer right. And you know, that is a subscription box on our keeping. How long you can stretch someone being a customer cost you a lot less than going out and trying to acquire through cold channels like Facebook ads. Right. For sure. Same is true for digital products. So if you start out by putting everything into your first product, where do they go? Right. And you overwhelm them to top it off and you have to charge more for it. And then people don’t get to know you and how you teach. And so product letters are much more effective for for digital products. Now, when you have now that you have your e-book with the workbook, the worksheets and everything, people now get to understand, first of all, you’re not overwhelming them. So you’re giving them beginner steps like how to get started for someone like me who’s like I just want to create this box to send to my clients and customers don’t know where to start, you know, like I don’t know yet where would I start? And you’re solving a smaller scope. But then as people get to know you and like the way you teach and like, OK, now I’m up leveling with her your and then your product letter, what’s next? And oftentimes people think they have to have the end for the product letter. And sometimes that works for people. You know, sometimes people do work backwards. I would say with my Pinterest advertising course, I work backwards. I had the behemoth of a course and then I stepped it back and I was like, oh, I think I need like an entry point for this.
Speaker2: [00:34:22] Yes.
Speaker1: [00:34:22] And so I did work backwards in that regard. But that can be very overwhelming. And like for you, you’re running a whole separate business right now. So you didn’t have time for a whole, like, signature course yet before even validating that people were going to buy that entry point from, you know, the other thing people teachers like you could have and, you know, the whole let’s just do an opt in and collect collect email subscribers. But that’s not good unless you have something to sell them because that’s actually a waste. So we always want something to sell to them before we collect them.
Speaker2: [00:34:57] That is such good advice because I was doing that for a while, you know, just from being I guess on podcast or just like whatever disability efforts people were getting on my email list, but then I had nothing to offer them. So I love that you teach it that way. And I love that you give people permission to just do it in steps like, yeah, we don’t have to have it all figured out. It’s OK. It’s really OK.
Speaker1: [00:35:19] And you mentioned before we start recording that because it’s not your main your main business. You haven’t had a ton of time to attract cold leads to this, but you have sold your audience. It has been selling. And I know you have shared some screenshots of people who loved it.
Speaker2: [00:35:37] I know that is the best part when you hear from your customers that, like, it really made a difference in their life, like, oh, my gosh, it just literally gives me all the goosebumps. Like, I feel so, so proud. It’s about making an impact. I think I shared with you before. Like for me, I do. I make I make my my money and my income from all girl shave club. And this is great. And I do want to make income from this. We’re not working for free, of course, but for me it’s really about the impact and about providing an opportunity for women to follow their dreams and do the things that they want to do. My business has changed my life and if I can teach you how to build a business that that can change your life as well. Like, I’m so grateful for the opportunity.
Speaker1: [00:36:19] Yeah, that’s and that’s where I feel like digital products can really shine, too. If the scalability of how many people you can reach, like one of the reasons that one on one services, first of all, like you’re limited by time and all that stuff. But also if I worked like one on one building people’s funnels, let’s just say how many people can I work with in a right.
Speaker2: [00:36:41] Right.
Speaker1: [00:36:42] Versus how many people can I help in the lab and how. And then you saw like there is just so many cool digital products that people come out with feel like it’s like this web of like because I can help hundreds of people at one time, then they create private. That they then can help hundreds of people and like when you just go out like that and like you’re teaching other women how to build subscription boxes, so now they’re going to start businesses and it’s just like this impact is crazy.
Speaker2: [00:37:10] It is crazy. And then all the interpersonal connections that are happening, it’s just it’s wild. It’s kind of hard to wrap your brain around. It’s amazing.
Speaker1: [00:37:18] Yeah. And I love it. So now, in terms of where you’re going with digital products, like what’s what’s next for you?
Speaker2: [00:37:26] Oh, that’s a loaded question. I wasn’t ready for it. You just told me I could take baby steps. No, I’m just kidding. I do have some plans on the horizon. We’re actually looking to create a membership that can really serve those who already have a subscription box, who want to learn how to really scale it and build a business that doesn’t consume their life. Because a lot of times with subscription box or eCom businesses, we can get in the weeds and it’s really easy to, like, let your business just overtake your life. And so it’s been it’s been important to me to not just teach you how to start it, but also how to manage it so that it doesn’t take over your life. I, I work my business, you know, 20 hours a week at most. And so, you know, that can be for them, too.
Speaker1: [00:38:17] That’s a really good idea. Thank you. And now think about this. Now you have the guide in place to attract those leads, but you can attract those leads while making back the money because you have something to sell on the front end and then you can funnel them product letter into the membership. And it seems like knowing you that the membership would be great for your personality, like the way you love working with other women and stuff. I can just see like that being something that you enjoy.
Speaker2: [00:38:51] I do. I really do. I love seeing them win and like it click. You know, it’s just. Oh, there it is. Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker1: [00:38:59] I love that you have a timeline. Should I hold you accountable to
Speaker2: [00:39:04] You are my best accountability cheerleader. I will say so yeah. Actually now that I have a teammate who, who’s working on it with me, I feel like we’re going to get it done sooner. So I think we’re aiming to launch this fall.
Speaker1: [00:39:18] Oh. Oh my gosh. That is so exciting. I’m so happy for you. You know, in terms of all girls Shave Club, do you have anything on the horizon with that or are you just very happy with where you are right now?
Speaker2: [00:39:32] No, we are we are in such a good place right now. I was so concerned about covid and how that would impact our business. But, you know, having built the foundation the way that we did, we we were able to thrive during the pandemic. So right now we’re just kind of like growing and kind of growing slowly because I want to be able to manage it. Like I don’t want it to become this overwhelming beast that I have to, like, have all of these people and manage them to manage it.
Speaker1: [00:40:00] But what a lesson in the fact that one of the things we get to do is decide what we want our business to do and serve for our.
Speaker2: [00:40:08] Oh, yes. And that is something that I preach all the time. It’s like, do you really want to have a business that’s going to be, you know, multi-million dollar business that’s going to require a lot from you? Do you want a lifestyle business? What do you what do you do you really want to raise these funds like it’s OK? It’s OK that my goal is not to take over the razor market. It’s OK that this supports my family and some of the women that work for me. And I’m totally happy with that.
Speaker1: [00:40:35] I completely relate to that. My my goals seem to shift depending like I think I have it in me. I tell my husband all the time. I think I have it in me to create one hundred million dollar business like I used. I could do it.
Speaker2: [00:40:50] I believe you could do it.
Speaker1: [00:40:53] And you know what? Maybe one day I will. And I think my vision for what redefining mom, what I want it to be is that one hundred million dollar business. But I have a three year old and an eight year old. And one of the reasons I started the business to begin with was because when I was in corporate, I didn’t get to see my eight year old when she was my three year old age. Very much right. And so I don’t want to. Miss these years with my second child that, yes, I didn’t feel like I got to enjoy the first time. Yes. And so I’ve decided it’s like so crazy because I’m like, my goal this year is a million. And honestly, it’s a goal and I’m not totally married to it. Like, if we don’t hit it, I will be I would be happy if we hit it. I’ll be ecstatic. Yeah, but it’s like when in the world did I get to the point where I’m like, well, my goal is only a million, but, you know, like what one did. When was that ever going to be a goal? I need to, like, take the time to celebrate. Like, one day you were in the shower and dreamt up this box and now you have several thousands of people who use it every month, like, come on. Yes. Yeah, it’s incredible.
Speaker2: [00:42:02] It’s pretty amazing. You’re right. We do need to celebrate that joy truly is in the journey. It’s not about chasing the moving target because it changes all the time. So really, I meant yeah, that
Speaker1: [00:42:13] Is sound advice.
Speaker2: [00:42:15] You can thank my grandmother for that because she taught me that
Speaker1: [00:42:18] I love it. I love it. Grandmas do have great advice. Do so. Tell us now how people can find you both for your box and also if they want to learn how to create a subscription box.
Speaker2: [00:42:32] Yes, thank you. So my business is all girl save. They can find it all girl save club dot com. And if you’re interested in starting a subscription box business and you want to check out subscription box essentials, that’s Jessica Principi, dotcom slash essentials. And I have a coupon for twenty dollars off it. Is code empowered.
Speaker1: [00:42:53] Yes. We’re going to put all of this in the show notes, of course, including the coupon code. And thank you very much for extending that to us.
Speaker2: [00:42:59] Oh, you’re welcome. Happy to.
Speaker1: [00:43:02] This has been so fun talking to you. Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us.
Speaker2: [00:43:07] Oh, thank you for having me. This was so much fun.
Speaker1: [00:43:10] It was. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Empowered Business podcast. Let’s stay in Touch. I just opened a brand new Facebook group for digital product creators. Whether you are new to digital products or an existing digital product creator, our new Facebook group, Digital Product Insiders, is perfect for you. Head on over to Monica Fros Dotcom forGood Group to join for free. See you here again next week.
