WHERE THOUSANDS OF ENTREPRENEURS LEARN HOW TO GROW WEEKLY
How To Do Things That Don't Scale & Grow A $Multi-Million Business with Courtney Caldwell, Co-Founder & COO ShearShare
Learn from Courtney Caldwell, Co-Founder & COO of ShearShare.
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
Hey, It's Alex!
🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea
"Market to the people that it’s for first and let the rest of them find it." - Billy Porter
One of my favorite questions to ask founders is who is your "hell yes" customer? You’ve probably written down your ideal customer. Oftentimes, these are generic AF. For example - "Our customer is a millennial woman who is passionate about blah, blah, blah." These profiles are typically created to validate what a founder wants to believe. Unfortunately, this is a great way to run your business into the ground because you’re spending a ton of time and energy chasing after a generalization. Ain't nobody got time for that! Instead, figure out your "hell yes" customer. The people you don’t need to convince. They get it, they want it. What do they have in common? Find more of them and deliver the best possible experience. They will become walking billboards that will allow the rest of them to find you.
Let's get into your weekly briefing!
💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING
Founder: Courtney Caldwell | Company: ShearShare | Location: New York, NY
Receipts: Seasoned marketing exec, Courtney Caldwell has led demand generation for giants like Oracle and has spent more than 20 years as a B2B marketer. She's now a pioneer in her industry building a novel business and raising $5.6 million along the way.
Here's your traction playbook...
How To Stay The Course Especially When Things Get Difficult
Find Your Inner Tenaciousness - "Entrepreneurs just have this inner tenaciousness about them to see the cup as half full instead of half empty and to keep on going. And you need to have that internally. You have to have that positive mindset" - Courtney Caldwell. Cultivate a positive mindset. Sounds cliché, and you've probably heard it from every self help guru under the sun. However, as Courtney says, the entrepreneurs that get sh!t done are the ones who have built resilience by harnessing the power of a positive mindset. Optimism will be your competitive advantage.
🛠️ TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here's what traction looks like in early stage startups. Build Your Traction Strategy: Access our traction tracker that has increased revenues 5000% here. Finding The Right Product-Market Fit: Here's how Nicole Bassett found the right product-market fit and crafted a successful go-to-market strategy.
How to Slay Sales & Marketing In The Early Stages
Do Things That Don't Scale - Don't be afraid to do the hard things. ShearShare grew their business by doing the small things that did not necessarily make sense in the beginning. That included going door to door to different businesses, making those difficult cold calls, etc. A lot of these things are not scalable - but they are what matter. Today's market is focused on viral marketing but these little things are what builds relationships and build trust. Additionally, those personal conversations gave them insights and data into what their customers wanted and influenced their future paid marketing efforts.
🛠️ TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here's why doing things that don't scale is important. Focus On The People Who Matter: Learn here how Sarah Smith built by strategically focusing on the 1%.
How to Secure Investor Confidence
Get Your Skin In The Game - Investors are more inclined to back your business when they know you have a stake in its success. Yes, all founders want their businesses to succeed, but not many are willing to invest almost everything they have into their business. Courtney and her co-founder took money out of their own pockets and even drained their savings. While you might not have to take the same measures, you need to be able to show that you believe in your own idea.
🛠️ TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here's why having skin in the game matters. Bootstrap To 7 Figures: Stephanie Neale was able to bootstrap a consultancy to 7 figures using these money lessons.
Support Courtney in Scaling Impact: Tell your favorite nail technician, hair stylist, barber, microblading artist etc. about ShearShare! If they have space in their salon, they can list it on the app and make money even when they are not working!
🤓 ACCESS YOUR TRACTION LIBRARY: Whether you are struggling with a limited budget or don’t know what channels to focus on, the Get Sh!t Done Traction Library is here to support you. Access your library here.
🛠️ JOIN A COLLABORATION: Get it done together...
*There are limited spots to join our collaborations for non-members
November 10th @ 12pm EST | The Don't and Don't-You-Dares of Copywriting: Join copywriting expert Kate Bradley Chernis for a tactical, cliff-notes-style run-through of writing essentials that will make you lean forward and think DUH.. RSVP here.
November 18th @ 1pm EST | Founders Mental Health Circle: Debunking The Perfect Mindset Myth: There is no such thing as the perfect mindset. Take a break from all the expectations. RSVP here.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.
GET YOUR FREE 5-MIN WEEKLY GROWTH PLAYBOOKS
How To Successfully Raise $4.9 Million and Build Beneficial Partnerships with Jordan Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO Medley
Learn from Jordan Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO of Medley.
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
Hey, It's Alex!
🍵 Here's Your Weekly Tea
The business world can be exhausting AF. It can be a big ol’ sh!t show of blanketed statements and advice often coming from people who have never built anything themselves. It’s so easy for founders to get wrapped up in the angst of it all by trying to follow generalizations that send you down a doom spiral. When I started my first company in college, I spent time reading articles on the "habits of highly successful people" and felt like a failure. These habits typically entailed waking up at 4AM, running a marathon, tackling your to-do list, and all before 7AM before the rest of the world got up because "that’s what winners did!" Quite frankly - f**k those lists, f**k blanketed advice, and f**k this exhausting "entrepreneurship in a box" culture we’ve created that's killing us. Here’s what I want you to do - Do you boo. If you’re like me, you’re not waking up before 8 AM unless it’s a cheap flight. If you are a morning person, that’s great too. All that matters is that you show up and work in the way you’re designed. Why follow someone else’s blueprint when you have your own?
Let's get into your weekly briefing!
💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING
Founder: Jordan Taylor | Company: Medley | Location: New York, NY
Receipts: From successful consultant to entrepreneurial Queen, Jordan has successfully built a community-based business that has so far raised $4.9 Million by leveraging relationships and building a strong community.
Here's your traction playbook...
How To Successfully Raise Money At The Pre-seed Stage
Gain Traction - Raising money is hard as hell, and seeking funding is not for the faint at heart. One of the best way to improve your odds is by gaining as much traction as possible in the early stages. Medley's first few investor meetings were met with several no's. Despite their combined successes in business, few believed in their vision. They were able to successfully get pre-seed funding by showing traction in the form of customer growth. Here's how they showed continuous growth.
🛠️ TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here's what traction looks like in early stage startups. Build Your Traction Strategy: Access our traction tracker that has increased revenues 5000% here. Finding The Right Product-Market Fit: Here's how Nicole Bassett found the right product-market fit and crafted a successful go-to-market strategy.
How to Create Successful Partnerships
Don't Be Afraid To Be Vulnerable - "It is scary to put yourself out there. There’s a vulnerability in that." -Jordan Taylor. Building partnerships is a lot like sales, expect several no's along the way. The fact is, not everyone will believe in what you're doing, and not every partnership will be the right fit. The more rejections you get, the closer you are to closing deals that will grow your business. So don't be afraid of putting your business out there!
🛠️ TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
Here are the 5 key components of a successful strategic business alliance. Master Partnerships: Learn how SaLisa Berrien used partnerships to build a customer-base and scale growth here.
How to Build Successful Influencer Programs
Focus on Experiences and Not Promotion - The Medley Maker Program is a sort after program with hundreds of people on their waitlist at any given moment. Jordan and her co-founder achieved this success by focusing on improving their customer's experiences on the platform and not on promotion. In exchange for being on the program, users share their feedback. This gives Medley useful insight on how they can improve their services and attract and retain even more customers.
Support Jordan in Scaling Impact: If you are interested in joining Medley, sign up for their waitlist here and use getsh!tdone as your referral code to get a $50 discount!
🛠️ JOIN A COLLABORATION: Get it done together...
*There are limited spots to join our collaborations for non-members
November 10th @ 12pm EST | The Don't and Don't-You-Dares of Copywriting: Join copywriting expert Kate Bradley Chernis for a tactical, cliff-notes-style run-through of writing essentials that will make you lean forward and think DUH.. RSVP here.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join our community membership waitlist here.
GET YOUR FREE 5-MIN WEEKLY GROWTH PLAYBOOKS
How She Built A Billion Dollar AND Multi-Million Dollar Brands; Tap Into Your Customers' Needs; Building an Authentic Brand with Elyce Arons, Founder Frances Valentine & Co-founder Kate Spade
Learn from Elyce Arons, Founder & CEO of Frances Valentine and Co-Founder of Kate Spade.
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
Hey, It's Alex! 💛
Welcome to your Weekly Traction Briefing - your 5-min weekly growth playbook where we break down what's happening in business, how to Get Sh!t Done, and how to grow. If this briefing is helpful to you, share it with your friends so they can grow with you & thousands of other entrepreneurs.
🍵 THIS WEEK'S TEA
We need women in the semiconductor space! There’s a shortage and government shmoney is flowing freely to solve the problem. The Biden administration is providing $40B in subsidies to manufacturers. Why? Taiwan currently produces 90%. You can learn more and apply here. Another FTX founder pled guilty to fraud. Yet, the main a**hole still has not Suprise, Suprise! Clearly, this speaks to the audacity and further proof that he's a fraud. In other privileged news, some dude tested how pattern matching is cat nip for investors using an AI-generated white male face with some other benchmarks like "Stanford dropout", "Going through YC". Homeboy's fake profile got VC outreach in 24 hours ready to invest. The eye-roll I have ready for any VC's that say they don't do pattern matching is probably not good for my health. My eyes damn near roll out of my head
🤗BECOME A MEMBER: Ready to grow your business? Join a powerful, hyper-connected, and supportive community helping you grow your business, reduce overwhelm, and teaching you how to hit goals consistently. Explore our membership HERE. Accepting New Members for Q1 2023 until March 31st.
👑 Founder: Elyce Arons | Company: Frances Valentine & Kate Spade | Location: New York, NY
🧾 Receipts: From Kate Spade to Frances Valentine, Elyce Arons is a 35-year fashion veteran. She has successfully launched a wholesale apparel business with majors and specialty accounts and has so far opened 6 extremely successfully retail locations across the country..
💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING
What She Learned from Kate Spade that She Brought to Frances Valentine
Be As Scrappy As Possible - "Don’t spend any money unless it’s on product development. Be as scrappy as you can." - Elyce Arons. Elyce's biggest take away from helping run two multi-million dollar fashion brands is to be scrappy - especially in the beginning when funding is scarce and money is tight. Your product or service is the foundation of your company, and it should be your top priority. Every dollar you spend should go toward improving your product, adding features, or testing and validating your idea. Learn how she's done it twice HERE.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how she bootstrapped an e-commerce business to 20X growth HERE.
How to Stay On Top Of Your Customers' Needs
Keep Your Ears On The Ground - "Be in touch with your customer. I try to go to the stores as often as I can and hang out in the stores because customers will come and tell you exactly what they want." - Elyce Arons. If you want to build a business that customers love, you need to tune in and listen to their needs. By putting your ears to the ground and staying connected with your customers, you'll be able to anticipate their needs, improve your offerings, and build a loyal customer base. HERE's how Elyce does this.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn 7 effective methods to identify and meet your customers' needs HERE.
How to Grow A Multi-Million Dollar Brand In A Difficult Economy
Stay True To Your Brand - "We have been true to our brand. We aim to be unique, different and fun. It’s product, product, product - I think that makes all the difference in the world " - Elyce Arons. In a world where there is increasing competition for the same products and services - being authentic and sticking to their core values has helped Frances Valentine consistently grow. By being true to their brand identity, they have been able to attract a loyal customer base that values your unique offering and is willing to invest in your business. Learn more HERE.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE :Learn how to build brand authenticity (+ why it's important) HERE.
RSVP TO THIS MONTH'S TRACTION TRAINING
Thursday, March 9th @ 6pm EST: Make Sh!t Funny: How to Use Humor In Business & Get More Done Happy Hour with Gold Comedy Club. RSVP
Wednesday, March 15th @ 1pm EST: How to NOT Suck at Pitching Your Startup. RSVP
Thursday, March 23rd @ 1pm EST: Q2 2023 Planning Party: Create Your Growth Strategy, Plan & KPIs. RSVP
Wednesday, March 29th @ 1pm EST: Ethical Storytelling for Founders: How to Sell Your Vision with Confidence. RSVP
Thursday, March 30th @ 7pm EST: Tea & Town Hall ☕. RSVP
THIS WEEK'S GROWTH GUIDE
Learn how to find, pitch & secure the bag from investors.
Learn how to scale by mastering different growth channels in the Traction Library.
🤗 BECOME A MEMBER: Ready to grow you? Join a powerful, hyper-connected, and supportive network helping you grow your business, reduce overwhelm, and teaching you how to hit goals consistently. Explore our membership HERE.
WANNA SUBSCRIBE?
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With Love & Impact,
Alex Batdorf
Chief Get Sh!t Done Officer
GET YOUR FREE 5-MIN WEEKLY GROWTH PLAYBOOKS
Alternative Funding Sources Available to Startups; Customer Service as a Key Differentiator; How to be Capital Efficient in a Tight Market with Melissa Widner, CEO Lighter Capital
Learn from Melissa Widner, CEO of Lighter Capital
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
Hey, It's Alex! 💛
Welcome to your Weekly Traction Briefing - your 5-min weekly growth playbook where we break down what's happening in business, how to Get Sh!t Done, and how to grow. If this briefing is helpful to you, share it with your friends so they can grow with you & thousands of other entrepreneurs.
🍵 THIS WEEK'S TEA
Bing is having a hot girl season and it looks like it's gonna last. Microsoft 10X'd the price of Bing's search API, and unlike Google which just lost $100B after rushing Bard to market, Microsoft can innovate because they don't rely on an ad model to thrive. ChaptGPT is a direct threat to the revenue models of search engines and news-based businesses that rely on ads. Think about it - if ChaptGPT summarizes everything, are you really going to pay for gated content or waste time going through search where the 1st page is basically 50% ads anyway? And ain't nobody looking through the 1 Billion search results Google offers up. Bing's new hot girl, Sydney, is supposedly Bing's "unhinged" side-chick but the crazy ones are who we typically desire - admit it. It's a reminder that tech is a product of the people behind it. OpenAI promises to fix the biases. Usually, I wouldn't hold my breath but the mastermind CTO behind ChatGPT is a QUEEN so I actually have hope.
❓ GET YOUR GROWTH QUESTIONS ANSWERED❓
Want your growth questions answered on the podcast?
We're answering your specific growth questions with our guests! If your question is selected, we'll give you and your company a shout out on the podcast and in our weekly emails 🙌🏾
👑 Founder: Melissa Widner | Company: Lighter Capital | Location: Sydney, Australia
🧾 Receipts: Melissa has led two companies to successful exits returning over a 10x return to her investors. She is now the CEO of Lighter Capital, the pioneer and leader in revenue based financing for tech start ups and scales ups and co-founder and Chairperson of Sydney based Heads Over Heels.
💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING
Revenue-Based Financing As An Alternative Funding Source
Retain Your Equity & Control - "One of the nice things we’re doing at Lighter Capital is allowing companies to grow without giving up any equity or control so when that exit does happen they are getting 100% of it or close to 100% of it." - Melissa Widner. Revenue-based financing (RBF) is a flexible alternative that provides startups with capital without giving up equity or control of the company. RBF also allows companies to avoid the dilution of ownership that comes with equity financing, and investors are motivated to help the business grow and succeed since they are invested in the company's revenue. HERE is Melissa's take on alternative funding sources.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how revenue-based financing works HERE.
🤗 JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Ready to grow your revenues consistently? Want access to the right people & expand your network? Tired of going at it alone? Join our community membership waitlist here.
How Founders Can Stay Afloat In The Current Market
Be Capital Efficient - We all know that the current market is tough. Funding sources are scarce, and cash is in short supply. Capital efficiency is about maximizing the value of your resources and minimizing unnecessary expenses. By being capital efficient, startups can stay lean and agile, adapting quickly to changing market conditions. This allows them to make strategic investments in areas that will generate the most return. HERE are more insights into how businesses can survive the current market.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how to create a capital efficient startup HERE.
Why Customer Service Is Your Business's Key Differentiator
Creates Brand Loyalty - "Customer service and customer relationship really is a competitive barrier to entry." - Melissa Widner. How often do you hear "Thank you for your great service" from your customers? If the answer is "not enough", then it's time to up your customer service game. Sure, having a great product or service is important, but it's not enough to differentiate your startup from competitors. In today's competitive landscape, excellent customer service is the key to creating a loyal customer base. HERE is how Melissa used quality service to differentiate her businesses.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE:Learn how to know which funding options are right for you HERE.
Elizabeth Carter ESQ walks you through alternative funding structures that you can tap into.
Learn how to scale by mastering different growth channels in the Traction Library.
🤗 BECOME A MEMBER: Ready to grow you? Join a powerful, hyper-connected, and supportive network helping you grow your business, reduce overwhelm, and teaching you how to hit goals consistently. Explore our membership HERE.
WANNA SUBSCRIBE?
If a friend forwarded this to you, subscribe here to get in on the (Tr)Action 😉
With Love & Impact,
Alex Batdorf
Chief Get Sh!t Done Officer
GET YOUR FREE 5-MIN WEEKLY GROWTH PLAYBOOKS
How to Navigate Business Funding for Startups; Finding the Right Hire at Every Stage; Is Your Startup VC-Backable? with Barbara Clarke, co-founder The Impact Seat LLC
Learn from Barbara Clarke, co-founder of The Impact Seat LLC.
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
Hey, It's Alex! 💛
Welcome to your Weekly Traction Briefing, where we break down how to Get Sh!t Done and grow your business. If this briefing is helpful to you, share it with your friends so they can grow with you & thousands of other entrepreneurs.
🍵 THIS WEEK'S TEA
If I weren't my Valentine, Rihanna would be. Was that Superbowl performance my fave? Nah. But homegirl got up on a floating stage and basically said - since y'all are not going to get an album, you can watch me look fabulous and pregnant AND run up those streams 640% to my bank account. If that ain't queen behavior, I don't know what is. Office spaces are getting their a**es handed to them in places like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Workers are spending THOUSANDS of dollars less from not going into the office. TBH - I don't feel bad 🤷🏽♀️ People can barely afford to breathe in these cities. Save them coins and reinvest office rent back into your biz, babe. Speaking of real estate - "Adam Neumann is not interested in doing the hard work of building value" - Scott Galloway responded to Neumann's new company that is literally just apartment buildings re-packaged as "ownership". Boy oh boy, does "charisma" get ya far in life. JLO created a female empowerment cruise. What ya think? I don't know about you but, you can't pay me to be stuck in the middle of the ocean and seasick. But I ain't mad at it. Get that paper, Jenny. Get that paper 💸
❓ GET YOUR GROWTH QUESTIONS ANSWERED❓
Want your growth questions answered on the podcast?
We're answering your specific growth questions with our guests! If your question is selected, we'll give you and your company a shout out on the podcast and in our weekly emails 🙌🏾
👑 Founder: Barbara Clarke | Company: The Impact Seat LLC | Location: Boston, MA
🧾 Receipts: With a background in economics and helping businesses thrive, Barbara is an investor who has made most of her money the old fashioned way - buying low and selling high. She now mostly seeks capital efficient companies solving a big problem which may be undervalued.
💸 HERE'S YOUR TRACTION BRIEFING
How Founders Can Find The Right Hires
Hire for Your Company's Stage - "I really think the biggest hiring mistake entrepreneurs make is hiring that person from famous large company. They think that they’re going to get all that experience and they don’t realize that that person’s success was built upon a massive infrastructure at that company." - Barbara Clarke Finding the right people for your team means hiring for your company's current stage - whether you need a go-getter for a startup or a seasoned pro for an established enterprise! HERE is how Barbara recommends you do this.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how to scale hiring for an early-stage startup HERE.
🤗 JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Ready to grow your revenues consistently? Want access to the right people & expand your network? Tired of going at it alone? Join our community membership waitlist here.
How Founders Can Make Their Startups VC-Backable
Learn What Successful Players In Your Industry Have Done - By learning from successful players in your industry, you can gain a deeper understanding of what investors are looking for and what it takes to succeed in your market. Whether it's building a strong business model, developing a compelling value proposition, or cultivating relationships with key stakeholders, studying the successes of others can provide valuable insights and help you position your startup for success. HERE are more insights into how you can make your startup VC-Backable.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how funding works HERE.
Other Financing Options Available To Startups (Apart from VC).
Focus on Customer Funded Revenue - "It’s not one-size-fits-all. Taking that risk capital is not going to be the only source of capital you’ll need." Who needs VCs when you've got customers? By generating revenue from paying customers, startups can prove their business model, maintain greater control over their operations, and avoid the pressure to scale too quickly. Plus, since it doesn't involve giving up equity, customer-funded revenue lets founders keep more of their business and grow at their own pace. HERE are other financing options available to startups.
🛠️ MORE TOOLS TO GET IT DONE: Learn how to know which funding options are right for youHERE.
RSVP TO THIS MONTH'S TRACTION TRAINING
Thursday, Feb 16th @ 6pm: How to Tap Into The Power of Connection for Business Success. RSVP
Tuesday, Feb 21st @ 12pm EST: How to Develop Partnerships & Accelerate Revenues. RSVP
Wednesday, March 1st @ 6pm EST: How to Apply for Grants & NOT Waste Your Time. RSVP
THIS WEEK'S GROWTH GUIDE
The pros and cons of VC and if it is the right funding vehicle for your startup.
Learn how to scale by mastering different growth channels in the Traction Library.
WANNA SUBSCRIBE?
If a friend forwarded this to you, subscribe here to get in on the (Tr)Action 😉
With Love & Impact,
Alex Batdorf
Chief Get Sh!t Done Officer
GET YOUR FREE 5-MIN WEEKLY GROWTH PLAYBOOKS
The power of branding for product marketing; How to find alternative financing; Why testing is a must-have for your GTM strategy with Jacquelyn De Jesu Center, founder SHHHOWERCAP
Learn from Jacquelyn De Jesu Center, founder of SHHHOWERCAP
You're viewing an archive of Get Sh!t Done Weekly Email Traction Briefings. Join free to receive your weekly 5-minute growth playbooks & grow alongside thousands of entrepreneurs
"Know your audience, know your consumer, know your why- that’s basically your brand strategy." - Jacquelyn De Jesu Center
Hey, It's Alex!
Customers today are hella smart.
They see beyond gimmicks and thinly veiled attempts to "relate" and speak their language.
You need to have a clear why beyond selling stuff that resonates with your audience in a way that only you can.
Ready to learn how a solid brand strategy built an 8-figure empire?
Let's get into it...
P.S Enjoy our weekly traction briefings? Share with friends so we can support more womxn founders in breaking barriers to scale generational impact!
Founder: Jacquelyn De Jesu Center | Company: SHHHOWERCAP | Location: New York, NY
Receipts: She bootstrapped an 8-figure company by creating a strong brand, creating a high-quality product and seeking alternative financing.
Here's your traction playbook...
How To Build A Long-Lasting Brand
Effective Branding Builds Businesses: Branding is more than the colors and logos you pick for your company. Branding is your company's entire identity. From your customer interactions to the values within the company - everything speaks to your brand identity.
Lesson - "Everything is a branding decision." - Jacquelyn De Jesu Center
While for some businesses, branding is purely visual, Jacquelyn stands on the firm belief that branding is inescapable. Whether it's how your product functions or how your employees represent your company, all these little elements affect how people perceive your business. Make sure that all the decisions you make for your business positively reflects who you are. Learn here how branding helped SHHHOWERCAP grow to 8-figures.
Here's how branding can help you create trust with your customers and turn them to advocates.
How To Scale With Alternative Financing
VC Isn't The Only Route: Traditional VC isn't the only answer. Actually, it's not the answer for 99% of businesses. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to capitalizing your business so it's important that you know all of your options.
Lesson - There's more than one source of alternative financing. For SHHHOWERCAP, securing financing meant looking at all the options available to them. That meant creating factoring relationships with retailers and looking for founder-friendly capital solutions that fit her needs like Clearco to support her with cash infusions when needed.
Understand alternative financing here.
How Product-Testing Helped Her Create Products Her Customers Needed.
Spend Time In Development: You can't create a quality product without testing. Testing gives you the opportunity to find out if your product is something the market actually wants. Not only does it give proof of concept, but it can help you save a lot of coin.
Lesson - "My story is also unique in that, I did it right. I spent my time in development, which I think a lot of founders don’t, to make sure that my product really stunned. That I could claim everything that I wanted, and that I could back up what I wanted to patent." - Jacquelyn De Jesu
30,000 products are launched every year and about 95% of them fail. Rushing to market without testing the viability of your product is a recipe for failure. Learn here why spending time in testing and development was critical to SHHHOWERCAP's overall success.
TRACTION TOOLS: How to get it done...
How To Master An Omnichannel Retail Strategy: Building a retail business can be challenging. Find out here how using an omnichannel strategy helped our queen build a nationwide retail empire.
Alternative Funding Sources: Here are the top 8 types of funding options for small businesses.
Tell A Powerful Story: A key element of creating a winning brand strategy is learning how to tell your brand story. Learn here how Uncle Nearest did this.
Concept Test: Get a step-by-step guide on how to concept test for any new product you want to launch. Access here.
Use Grassroots Marketing To Grow Your Brand: Here's how a financial platform grew their customer-base using grassroot marketing strategies.
Is Branding Being Misused?: Find out what top designers and brand consultants feel about the subject here.