Making Big Moves in Alaska & Beyond with Jenny Tse of Sipping Streams Tea Company

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In this Small Biz Founder episodes, we’re highlighting the amazing work of Jenny Tse and her business, Sipping Streams Tea Company. She’s a certified tea specialist and Sipping Streams has won multiple prizes (including 1st place) at the North American Tea Championships. But how did she get there and how does she and her partner keep everything running?

Jenny Tse Tells Her Entrepreneurial Story & Reveals How The Multi-Stream Machine Community Helped Her Self-Evaluate 

Jenny was born in Hong Kong and raised in Alaska where she was active in the local community, selling her family’s vegetables at the local farmers market. After traveling to visit various Chinese tea farms, she was inspired to share the knowledge with her local community. 

With restaurateur parents, and after pursuing two previous careers – one of which was as a high school teacher who taught tea classes – Jenny decided to open her own tea room. From there, the rest is history. Jenny published a book filled with her knowledge, has won multiple awards, and was invited to speak at the World Tea Expo. Just this summer, she started the world’s Northernmost tea farm, which is also the only geothermal tea farm in the world. There’s no limit to what she can (and will) accomplish!

We talk about her experience launching and scaling Sipping Streams Tea Company, how it ties into her generational legacy, and how Multi-Stream Machine helped her on her exciting journey, even after she had been in business for several years.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. Be sure to join here.

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Makers Gotta Make Money

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We tend to hear the same limitations over and over, specifically from our makers, which is why in today's episode, we want to make sure that you are thinking about things in a way that will benefit you and serve your business. Oftentimes we see this idea of the starving artist mentality in the maker community, either "you don't want to charge too much for something" or "maybe you don't find that there's value in it" or the most common one we hear is "it has to be made by me."

As a handmade business, its really easy to allow this mentality to take over, but when it comes down to it, if you're getting stuck in the belief that other people can't do something the same way you can or people won't buy your product if it isn't made with your own two hands, then you'll eventually hit capacity and won't be able to scale. It's time to break some of these limitations down so that you can move forward with your business.

The most common story we hear is, “I have to make all of my products with my own two hands.” Maybe this is you. Maybe you’ve built your brand identity around the idea of your products being handmade and unique. But, set down the rolling pin for a second and ask yourself, did you ever promise that those hands would only ever be yours? Chances are, your customers don’t care who’s making your product so long as it’s still made with care and held to the same high standard

So, is it really still worth your time to make every last thing yourself, or can you start scaling?

This is only one example. At the end of the day, makers gotta make money! Your customers need and want your products, so it’s time to get over that starving artist mentality and step into a new mindset of being a true product boss. Tune in – let’s unpack why you shouldn’t let these common beliefs stand in your way.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. Be sure to join here

Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • Check out and shop from hundreds of small businesses from the Small Business Shopping Directory. It’s the go-to directory to discover, support, and shop small businesses all in one place.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!

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Why Wasting Time is Worse Than Wasting Money

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We know time is finite. It’s one of the scariest things people think about when they start leveling up their businesses. “How will I find time for the other important things in my life?” We’re here to give you a secret. (You can use money to buy your time back!)

Buy Back Your Invaluable Time By Spending on Efficiency Services, Automation Platforms, and Trusted Employees

A fear of success is completely normal and it’s something we’ve been talking a lot about on The Product Boss lately. There’s a reason for that! It’s very common. When we asked about it during our last Bosses and Breakfast, so many of you put your hands up. That shared experience has stuck with us.

The big reason we find it so scary is the worry that your priorities will shift so dramatically toward your work obligations that you won’t have time for anything else in life – especially important things like family, socializing, and self-care.

Think about pre-cut fruit and vegetables. Some of you may buy these in the supermarket already because you’ve decided your time is worth more than the few extra cents it costs to not have to chop them yourself. Running a business is exactly the same! At a certain point, your time is so valuable that it makes more sense to hire someone else to do some things for you. 

Laundry services, pool cleaning, grocery delivery – we shouldn’t be afraid to outsource business-related responsibilities just like we do at home.

That doesn’t mean you have to take yourself away from the things you enjoy most about your business. It’s all about establishing priorities. If, for example, you love fulfilling orders, you just need to figure out what someone else can handle for you that frees up your time to do that. Or maybe, you can find someone to assist you with fulfillment, so that you don’t have to take care of every single order yourself. 

Shifting the pieces around will look different for every business, but there’s always room when you have a smart plan. If you’re still not sold yet, and even if you are, tune in to the episode! We explain why your time is so much more valuable than money and why you should do everything you can to avoid wasting it.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. The first workshop kicks off today so be sure to join here.

Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • Check out and shop from hundreds of small businesses from the Small Business Shopping Directory. It’s the go-to directory to discover, support, and shop small businesses all in one place.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!

Connect:

Five Simple Steps to Reach $100k

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Chances are, reaching $100k with your business is a lot more realistic than you think. You just need to start running things like a $100k business! Easier said than done, though, right? That’s why we’re laying out these five simple steps that can turn your business dreams into reality.

Follow These 5 Easy Steps To Unlock Your $100k Product Business

The first step is simple: can you identify the product that works best in your lineup? The second is a little bit trickier, but still easy: are there any holes you can plug in your systems and processes? Where can you improve things? Once you do both of these, it’s all about upleveling your messaging, which can be as basic as making sure your product photography is on point. Last of all – and you’ll hear us talk about this again because we believe this is your true path to profit – leverage other people’s platforms. Collaborate, partner, and make use of services like Amazon and Etsy. 

This isn’t just about pointing you in the right direction. You’re going to come back to these easy steps, time and time again. Especially if, like so many of our listeners, the only thing holding you back is fear or a lack of confidence in your ability to take your business to the next level. 

Trust us: you can do this!

Tune in to this episode to hear us break down each of these steps in detail, one by one. Follow these and your business will be reaching the next level in no time. 

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. The first workshop kicks off today so be sure to join here.


Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!


Connect:

Be Honest: Are You Afraid of Success?

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The second Friday of every year is National Quitters’ Day. Why? Because it’s the day that, statistically, most people give up on their new year’s resolutions. Why is it so difficult to make the changes we really want in life? We know the obvious answers, but have you ever considered that maybe you’re scared of change – of success? Let’s really dive into what that means and what you can do about it.

Leave Your Fears in 2021 to Embrace Your Potential & Unlock a Million-Dollar Mindset

Let’s compare your business resolutions to a resolution that a lot of people make at the beginning of the year: trying to lose weight. Losing weight couldn’t possibly be scary, right? Well, for many people, it can! There’s the fear of committing to a new way of life, the fear that your lifestyle changes will make you feel less comfortable, and the fear of failure, all of which can contribute to you being afraid to make that change. Business resolutions are no different!

Change is scary – especially when you are wanting to take that next step in your business to become successful. You may experience thoughts such as "I don't want to be successful because I won't have the time" or "I can't scale my handmade business because my customers expect me to be the one making the product." Ultimately, it comes down to your mindset and the limiting beliefs you have that can lead to you being the biggest obstacle on your path to success.

So how can you overcome this? It’s simple, really. It starts with daring to dream – and by trusting in your abilities. Listen for more.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. The first workshop kicks off on January 20th so be sure to join here.

Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Join the Shop 1 in 5 Small Business Shopping Directory. Get listed now!

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • Check out and shop from hundreds of small businesses from the Small Business Shopping Directory. It’s the go-to directory to discover, support, and shop small businesses all in one place.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!

Connect:

How to Get "Ready-to-Buy" Customers

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We often expect our customers to hit that “checkout” button without being prompted or convinced to do so. But that isn’t how people behave. They buy on desire, needs, and wants, and, as a product-based business owner, it's your responsibility to share with them the benefits that your products will bring to their life. Here’s how you can set yourself up for success with customers who are ready to buy.

For starters, you need to consider the "tried and true" foundational method of marketing, which is... know, like, and trust. Better known as… the customer journey! So how can you start building your customer base? First, you’ll want to curate a healthy mailing list – popular advice in our space, but so many of you don’t use it enough! One email a week should be the minimum for most product businesses because, remember, most of those emails won’t be opened or read. Your subscribers are fans, so they’re on your side. You’re not going to upset them by sending too many emails. 

Fill Your Sales Pipeline With Ready-to-Buy Customers Using These Tips

Instagram is another good option. It used to be one of the best tools for community building, whereas now, it comes with much more of a mixture of pros and cons. The platform is essentially becoming a selling platform, meaning you have to "pay-to-play" to find new customers. Rather than focusing on selling on Instagram (which you should still do at times!), try shifting your focus towards engaging with your followers and converting them over to joining your email list so that you can market to them.

Sure, you might catch a person at the right moment, but more often than not, it’s not the right time for someone to make a purchase when they see your messaging. They might not open an email or buy anything, but if you’re constantly reminding them that you exist, they will remember you when it comes time to buy. Building an engaged following, a community, and increasing your visibility across multiple platforms is what this episode is all about. 

So many of you tell us that you want to turn your product into a six-figure business. Well, let’s do some math, because that goal is probably so much more realistic than you realize. Once you know your numbers, you can forecast your sales. Building up a following of “ready to buy” customers is one of the best things you can do to make sure you get there. 

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. The first workshop kicks off on January 20th so be sure to join here.

Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Join the Shop 1 in 5 Small Business Shopping Directory. Get listed now!

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • Check out and shop from hundreds of small businesses from the Small Business Shopping Directory. It’s the go-to directory to discover, support, and shop small businesses all in one place.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!

Connect:

Baking a Six-Figure Business with Suzanne Godbold of Three Best Bakery

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Our female founder this week is Suzanne Godbold of Three Best Bakery and one of our fellow Masterminders. She opened her bakery business just three months before the pandemic hit and pivoted her approach to secure a six-figure 2020! 

Suzanne decided to take the leap and turn her baking passion into a profession. Her products were flying off the shelves and tasted delicious, but she lacked the systems to scale long term. She ran out of ingredients every day and felt she couldn’t increase volume without sacrificing quality and brand authenticity. 

Get the Recipe to Success with Suzanne Godbold of Three Best Bakery 

We reflect on our transformational first session with Suzanne and the importance of mindset. With a bit of mindset work, Suzanne built the confidence to double her prices, which contributed to her success and ability to take bigger steps in hiring resulting in her being able to make more room for creative control and growth.

You can hear in her voice how her confidence is growing by the minute, and her sales are reflecting that mindset shift. She’s even created a solid work/life balance, clocking out at 5pm every day to spend time with her family. 

The impact joining Mastermind has had on Suzanne is extraordinary. By getting out of her own way and throwing herself into the community aspect of Multi-Stream Machine and the Mastermind, she has broken through her self-limiting ceiling and is ended 2021 as a multi six-figure business!

The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet is a FREE series of workshops where we share the biggest tips and tricks to creating financial momentum for the year ahead. The first workshop kicks off on January 20th so be sure to join here.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

Resources:

Connect:

How to Step Into the Role of Boss of Your Business

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Welcome to 2022 – we made it! Now, it’s time to take stock of where our businesses are and map out where we want to take them over the next year. That’s why we’re bringing you The Product Boss’s Guide to Your Best Year Yet. To prepare, we spend this episode exploring how you can step into the role of boss in your business, now matter who you are or how you feel about being a leader. 

Don’t Worry About What Anyone Else Thinks or Does. Do You and Own It! - The Product Boss Podcast

You might look at other people and wish you could be as forthright and self assured as they are. Rest assured, you can! It all comes down to confidence, and shifting your mindset about yourself and your business.

For example, there’s no need to worry about how everyone perceives what you’re doing because you’re not here for everyone. Your business has its own customers and it appeals to its own demographic. Spending time trying to please everybody or over analyzing what other businesses in the same space might be doing can be a real waste of time. Do you! And remember to own it.

To understand what that really means and more, listen to us break down how you can get out of your own way and step into the role of boss of your business!

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

Resources:

  • Product Biz Owners at $250k+ yearly revenue: Are you a product business owner that has built your business to a multi-6 figure to multi-million dollar business? If so, The Product Boss Mastermind has limited spots available open for consideration to applicants $250k and above, apply here.

  • Consistent content is key to getting more people to see and buy your products. If you want to create great content but you don’t know what to say, or you feel too busy, or you just don’t want to be the face of your brand, no worries – because we’ve got you covered with a year’s worth of consistent content that’s sure to resonate with your audience! If you want to see how easy this can be, visit A Year of Content.

  • Join the Shop 1 in 5 Small Business Shopping Directory. Get listed now!

  • Check out and shop from hundreds of small businesses from the Small Business Shopping Directory. It’s the go-to directory to discover, support, and shop small businesses all in one place.

  • If you’re interested in taking the lessons from this episode further, you’ll want to sign up for the waitlist to be part of Multi-Stream Machine, and as soon as enrollment opens, you’ll be the first to know!

Connect: