May 27, 2020
“Sometimes the secret to your life is hidden withinunsolicited advice.” – Sarah Shaw, Founder and CEO,Sarah Shaw Consulting
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Listen to the podcast or watch the interview videos onYouTube:
Sarah Shaw, CEO SarahShaw Consulting (full discussion)
Marketing Products Duringand After COVID (highlight video)
Benefit From UnexpectedOpportunities and Advice (highlight video)
Subscribe to the Foundersand Startups YouTube Channel to see future videos as they'rereleased!
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This podcast was recorded on May 8, 2020 while quarantinedduring the COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you ever seen the product you’d dreamed about developing instores and on TV and thought, “Why didn’t I do that?” The reasonis, most likely, that you didn’t have the information andconnections to do it. Celebrity designer Sarah Shaw, CEO of SarahShaw Consulting and product launching expert, shares how shecreated six businesses and now helps others position themselves forsuccess.
A fourth-generation entrepreneur, Sarah’s original career planwas to be a French-English translator. However, she discovered thatshe loved costume design and working in the film business. Thiseventually led to her current business working with entrepreneurdesigners who create products sold online and in retailstores.
Key takeaways:
- A growth area for Sarah’s clients is offering drop-shipping foronline stores where the product owner fulfills the order and sendsit directly to the customer. This eliminates the retailer having toinvest in inventory and manage shipping logistics.
- Department stories and retail chains such as Neiman Marcus, J.Crew, Nordstrom’s, are trying to liquidate inventory, some aredeclaring bankruptcy and others are permanently closing stores.
- When an item is sold on Amazon, the product owner does not getthe contact information for future marketing purposes.
- Some boutiques didn’t have an online presence prior toCOVID-19. They are now creating online stores and are creatingonline stores.
- Sarah recommend sending items to magazine editors and tocelebrities to generate mentions. This tends to be morecost-effective than Facebook ads.
- Sarah is working with showrooms to develop online platforms forselling products.
- The opportunity to distribute products to celebrities stoppedfor several weeks due to COVID. Celebrity gatekeepers are now opento accepting new products.
- Opportunities to sell and promote products:
- Promote directly to past clients by developing your own emaillist
- Find out if your credit card processor captured an email witheach transaction
- Experiment with Facebook ads
- Establish partnerships with boutiques and offer todrop-ship
- Create your own e-commerce platform
- She started her businesses because someone challenged her to doso.
- Sarah created her first business in 1994 which involvedbrokering deals between a clothing designer/manufacturer andtheatrical productions such as movies and operas. She was firstintroduced to the manufacturer while outfitting Danny DeVito for amovie. She next helped a friend who was creating costumes for anopera. This was followed by helping a friend who was outfittingactors for Forrest Gump.
- Sarah and the costume creator split the profits for theseopportunities and created outfits for movies such as MatrixReloaded, Oceans 11, Out of Sight, The Postman, Windtalkersand others.
- Sarah’s second business also involved movies. For about 15years she purchased and outfitted semi-trailer trucks to be used byactors as wardrobe trailers while movies were being filmed. Duringthis time she also had a full-time job.
- If you have good credit and need to invest in your business,research using credit cards with zero percent balance transferoffers.
- Sarah’s third business was designing and manufacturinghandbags. She quite her full-time job after getting her first bigorder from Anthropologie. Her handbags were in over 1,200 stores,were carried by celebrities and frequently featured in movies andmagazines. After 9/11 her investors pulled out and in 2002 sheclosed the business.
- Sarah’s fourth business was a local website where she soldproducts for people who didn’t have an online store.
- Her fifth business involved designing, manufacturing andselling a closet organizer for handbags. It was in over 400 stores.She also licensed the patent to a closet organizing company.
- In 2009, Sarah began consulting to help others achieve successusing the knowledge that she had gained through her many ventures.She invested $25,000 in working with a sales coach / consultant tohelp develop her business.
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Learn more about Sarah Shaw’s work atsarahshawconsulting.com
Sarah Shaw Consulting on: YouTube |LinkedIn |Instagram |Facebook
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How would it feel to elevate your business while creating a morefulfilling life? If you’d like to discuss possibilities, send me anote at Lisa (at) EverBetterU.com. Learn more about working withme, Lisa Conners Vogt, at EverBetterU.com.
Here's what a recent client said:
"Lisa offers a holistic approach to coaching business owners.Her unique approach allowed me to articulate goals involving myemployees, investors, family, community, customers and myself. Shedraws out the entire spectrum of the entrepreneur's objectives andbrings them into a manageable and livable perspective."
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Special Thanks To:
+ Josh at Podcastguymedia.com for his patient editing andguidance.
+ Darko at darkokriznik.com for his stellar video editing andgraphic design.
