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Speaker 1: The views, information, or opinions express during this podcast are

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Speaker 1: solely those of the individuals involved and do not represent

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Speaker 1: those of Intout, QuickBooks or any of its cornerstone brands

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Speaker 1: or employees. This podcast does not constitute financial, legal, or

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Speaker 1: other professional advice or services. No assurance is given that

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Speaker 1: the info is comprehensive, accurate, or free of errors, and

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Speaker 1: the information presented is for general information purposes only. Into

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Speaker 1: It QuickBooks does not have any responsibility for updating or

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Speaker 1: revising any information presented. Listeners should verify statements before relying

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Speaker 1: on them. QuickBooks Money is a standalone Into It offering

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Speaker 1: banking services provided by Green Dot Bank member FDIC.

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Speaker 2: Hey everyone, I'm Austin Henkwitz.

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Speaker 1: And I'm Jennise Torres. Welcome to Mind the Business Small

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Speaker 1: Business Success Stories, a podcast brought to you by Into

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Speaker 1: It QuickBooks and iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio. In each episode, Austin

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Speaker 1: and I chat with small business owners as they share

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Speaker 1: their stories about the ups and downs of owning a

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Speaker 1: small business. Plus, we'll learn from their experience about how

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Speaker 1: you can help fortify and strengthen your own business. Now, Austin,

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Speaker 1: we both have our own small businesses. Of course, but

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Speaker 1: to every business we patronize, we are the customers. What's

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Speaker 1: something that makes you feel appreciated as a consumer and

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Speaker 1: makes you want to go back to that business again

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Speaker 1: in the future.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this is such a good question. You know,

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Speaker 2: being personable definitely helps. But no matter how nice a

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Speaker 2: business is to their customers, people will always remember if

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Speaker 2: their site or store is hard to navigate. That's why

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Speaker 2: keeping things simple is key. There's a number of user

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Speaker 2: friendly strategies businesses can use, like QuickBooks Money that make

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Speaker 2: it easier to send invoices or request payments with just

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Speaker 2: a link so they can navigate that process as a

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Speaker 2: paying customer very very simply, they can pay online right

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Speaker 2: away or however they feel like paying. Another thing I

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Speaker 2: do specifically is on time communication. If I get an email,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to try my absolute best to get back

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Speaker 2: to that customer as soon as possible, because I mean,

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Speaker 2: think about it, if I'm reached out to someone with

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Speaker 2: trouble and I need some help, I want to know

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Speaker 2: that they're trying to help me out as well.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think that feeling like you're more than just

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Speaker 1: a number is the thing that makes me want to

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Speaker 1: continue to come back to a business. It's just feeling acknowledged.

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Speaker 1: When there's an issue it being addressed quickly. And I

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Speaker 1: think I need a reminder too sometimes as a consumer

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Speaker 1: to keep coming back to a business. So if they

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Speaker 1: have like loyalty programs, or I can sign up for

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Speaker 1: some sort of mailing list or a text message and

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Speaker 1: get a discount, I'm definitely coming back.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'll tell you what genise. If a business emails

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Speaker 2: me or texts me on my birthday, which should be

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Speaker 2: Happy Birthday, is gam over. I'm a customer for life.

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Speaker 3: I love that.

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Speaker 2: So I know what I'm doing to try and keep

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Speaker 2: my customers engaged, right, I'm emailing them back quickly. I'm

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Speaker 2: always trying to be helpful. What sort of practices have

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Speaker 2: you implemented to make sure customer service is always in

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Speaker 2: the forefront.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think a lot of people would be

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Speaker 1: surprised to know that I still do handle the customer

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Speaker 1: service aspect of my business because for me, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to be so are removed from my customer that

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Speaker 1: I kind of forget that they're a human being. So

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Speaker 1: I am the support at you know whatever dot com

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Speaker 1: when someone has an issue, if it requires giving a

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Speaker 1: refund if it requires kind of just offering something extra.

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Speaker 1: I like being the one that is responding to people

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Speaker 1: and people are always shocked, like, oh my god, it's

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Speaker 1: you actually answering emails. And I think that goes a

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Speaker 1: long way just for folks to realize, oh wow, I'm

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Speaker 1: being acknowledged by the person who is running this business,

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Speaker 1: and that means a lot. And so I have to

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Speaker 1: say I have a really good refund rate, like it's

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Speaker 1: just not really a thing for me, just because people

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Speaker 1: feel like they're getting their money's worth and when something

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Speaker 1: does go wrong, I'm right there to resolve it as

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Speaker 1: quickly as possible.

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Speaker 2: I think something else that you do very well that

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Speaker 2: is very underrated is proper communication. You are so great

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Speaker 2: about descriptions the languages that you use, specifically as it

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Speaker 2: relates to products or services, to make sure that you

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Speaker 2: know if someone isn't going to be a good customer.

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Speaker 2: Aka I buy something and think, oh, I didn't get

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Speaker 2: my money's worth rate, like they're going to know because

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Speaker 2: of the way that you've done such a good job

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Speaker 2: of creating these descriptions in this languages that you use

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Speaker 2: if this product is right for them.

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Speaker 3: Or not.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's a really powerful strategy and tactic

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Speaker 2: that other solopreneurs really need to hone in on, because

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Speaker 2: to your point, I mean, your refund rate seems like

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Speaker 2: it's relatively very very low, and that I'm sure has

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Speaker 2: something to do with the language and description and just

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Speaker 2: making sure people have their expectations set. First and foremost,

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Speaker 2: Thanks Austin, I appreciate that. Bye, You're welcome, Janie. And

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Speaker 2: on that note, let's meet our guest. Jordan Rose is

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Speaker 2: an Etsy seller who operates her shop Fresh Prince of

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Speaker 2: SF out of her own home in San Francisco. As

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Speaker 2: a designer and illustrator, Jordan creates original designs for apparel, totes, posters, printables,

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Speaker 2: and more. As a neurodivergent individual, Jordan is inspired by

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Speaker 2: her own experiences with inclusion advocacy as well as the

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Speaker 2: latest trends. Jordan, Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 3: Hi, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: I'm so excited to dive in here. But first and foremost,

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Speaker 2: the name Fresh Prince of SF. What an incredible, awesome,

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Speaker 2: just title of a company gets me so excited. How

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Speaker 2: the heck did you come up with this name?

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Speaker 3: Honestly, I don't remember.

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Speaker 4: I think I was just probably browsing at Sea and

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Speaker 4: looking at all the different shops, and I think I

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Speaker 4: wanted to do something that was San Francisco specific, because

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Speaker 4: I'm actually originally from Chicago and moving to the West

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Speaker 4: Coast was the coolest thing I thought that I've ever done,

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Speaker 4: And as someone who has not always lived here, I

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Speaker 4: would really think like, oh, wow, this San Francisco shop,

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Speaker 4: that must be a very cool person and people love puns,

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Speaker 4: and Fresh Prince was where it's at, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, absolutely, So walk me through the actual company itself.

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Speaker 2: How did you come up with the idea for your

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Speaker 2: Fresh Prince of SF.

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Speaker 4: Honestly, it was all my sister. I wish she was

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Speaker 4: here with me right now. She got really excited about

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Speaker 4: Etsy and Principles, and she was like, I think we'd

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Speaker 4: both be really good at this. Do you want to

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Speaker 4: sit down and figure out how to open a shop

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Speaker 4: with me? And so we both sat down together and

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Speaker 4: came up with our own shops, and it just sort

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Speaker 4: of became like a bonding thing. We would like send

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Speaker 4: each other it back and forth, or maybe we'd sit

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Speaker 4: on FaceTime while making designs on our computers during our

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Speaker 4: free time and seeing who could make the most that

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Speaker 4: month or whatever it was. So yeah, we've had a

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Speaker 4: lot of fun with it, and she has taught me

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Speaker 4: so much. Her shop is called Gillian Ray Today, I

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Speaker 4: have to say it, I have to say it like

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Speaker 4: seventy times because it's a fabulous shop.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell us about the moment where you realized

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Speaker 1: how good you were making these designs and illustrations and

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Speaker 1: decided to sell them on Etsy.

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Speaker 4: So I was a librarian for six years previously, and

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Speaker 4: when you're a librarian, people think you just like sit

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Speaker 4: around and read books all day, but it's actually a

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Speaker 4: lot different. And I spent a lot of time creating

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Speaker 4: marketing materials for some of the libraries they worked at,

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Speaker 4: and it was a very large majority of librarians time

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Speaker 4: to be able to sit there and come up with

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Speaker 4: Instagram posts, to come up with flyers, to come up

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Speaker 4: with whatever that's going to appeal to your audience. So

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Speaker 4: I started practicing very very early in my librarian career,

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Speaker 4: not really thinking I was doing anything special, and having

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Speaker 4: my fellow staff and people around me being like, oh, Jordan,

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Speaker 4: will you do this for us because you're pretty good

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Speaker 4: at it?

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Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, you know, it's fun.

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Speaker 4: I actually really enjoy it, and I never really thought

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Speaker 4: that it was going to be something I would ever pursue,

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Speaker 4: but it's worked out pretty lovely.

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Speaker 2: So it sounds like you've never formally worked as an

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Speaker 2: illustrator or designer in the past. It was more of

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Speaker 2: a kind of inspiration side thing that just sort of

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Speaker 2: began to blossom.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was definitely a side hustle to start, So

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Speaker 4: I was doing it while I was still a librarian,

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Speaker 4: and then I decided to leave libraries and work as

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Speaker 4: an Etsy shop owner, as an illustrator and as a

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Speaker 4: fitness professional. And I still work in the library a

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Speaker 4: little bit, but now I do illustration as well as

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Speaker 4: a full blown career, which is fulfilling in different ways,

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Speaker 4: all of these different careers, which is why it's like

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Speaker 4: I can't pick one thing because it can't seem to

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Speaker 4: get one job to fill my entire cup up. I

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Speaker 4: have to do a bunch of little things in order

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Speaker 4: to feel like the human I want to feel like.

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Speaker 1: I love that, and I want to transition to some

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Speaker 1: of the products you offer on your Etsy store, so

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Speaker 1: you've listed them as being for teachers, fitness lovers, kids,

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Speaker 1: How do you see your audience or your can sumer base,

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Speaker 1: and who do you focus on making these products for.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 4: At first, I think I had probably started with teachers.

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Speaker 4: The teacher thing felt like a really easy niche for

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Speaker 4: me to step into because I grew up with my

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Speaker 4: mom who was constantly designing her classroom and constantly grading

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Speaker 4: papers and talking about the kids, and my sister was

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Speaker 4: an art teacher for a.

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Speaker 3: Really long time, my cousins, everybody.

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Speaker 4: I felt like I could really be in the mind

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Speaker 4: of the education individual and it was an easy niche

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Speaker 4: that I could fill. And I knew that teachers were

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Speaker 4: already on Etsy, so it was kind of a strategic thing.

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Speaker 4: And I know how hard teachers work, and they're willing

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Speaker 4: to pay two bucks to be able to not have

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Speaker 4: to spend an hour and a half on a flyer

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Speaker 4: or a poster for their classroom, and so it's like

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Speaker 4: I could help them out. I can also create stuff

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Speaker 4: that feels good, and I think ultimately like that's a

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Speaker 4: really big part of the Etsy shop in general, is

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Speaker 4: like being able to create inclusive designs, and at the

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Speaker 4: end of the day, like that's really a really large

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Speaker 4: part of why I do anything.

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Speaker 1: I love how your experience as a librarian has now

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Speaker 1: it seems like it ties into how customers experience your company,

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Speaker 1: and so let's dive into that customer experience that you've

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Speaker 1: built within your company. First off, can you tell me

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Speaker 1: what does customer service mean to you?

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Speaker 4: Well, if you would have asked me ten years ago,

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Speaker 4: customer service would have meant doing everything in my power

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Speaker 4: to make sure that person walks out happy. But it's

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Speaker 4: different now because I have a little bit more experience

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Speaker 4: in life and I know that when you behave that way,

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Speaker 4: you burn.

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Speaker 3: Out really, really, really quickly.

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Speaker 4: So customer service, I would say, doing what you can

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Speaker 4: in the moment to make someone feel heard, understood, and

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Speaker 4: doing what you can within you know, like the amount

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Speaker 4: of time you have, the amount of money you have

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Speaker 4: to be able to help them get to whatever they need,

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Speaker 4: because at the end of the day, I do want

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Speaker 4: everyone to have a positive experience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I think what you're narrowing in on is

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Speaker 1: just you communicate so that people can understand expectations. So

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Speaker 1: you let folks know that you are running this business

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Speaker 1: out of your home. This is something you're very transparent about.

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Speaker 1: So how do you think that plays into the relationship

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Speaker 1: that your customers have with you. Do you think it

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Speaker 1: helps kind of set expectations versus them, you know, working

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Speaker 1: with a big warehouse based company or somebody who's got

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Speaker 1: like a you know, conglomerate.

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Speaker 3: I think to a degree yes.

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Speaker 4: I mean for me personally, I've not had a negative

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Speaker 4: at sea experience thus far, and I'm sure that plays

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Speaker 4: into it. Like I really am just someone sitting at

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Speaker 4: home creating designs that I think are cool and if

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Speaker 4: you like them, then fabulous and I'll help you out.

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Speaker 4: But for the most part, people understand. I think that

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Speaker 4: Etsy is not a huge warehouse situation, Like it's not target.

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Speaker 4: You can't just return it, like, it's not that simple.

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Speaker 4: And I also think it speaks to like I'm selling

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Speaker 4: inclusive things to the disability community, to stuff to the

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Speaker 4: fitness community. Those tend to be pretty like loving kind humans.

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Speaker 4: I would like to imagine that the people that I'm

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Speaker 4: selling to are like happy to receive the stuff.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think your community reflects kind of that energy

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Speaker 1: that you put out. So yeah, let's talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about the communication process that you have, just

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Speaker 1: so that folks do have that you know, expectation of

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Speaker 1: when to expect their items and things like that.

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Speaker 4: It's the most simple thing in the world, and I

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Speaker 4: think at Sea really does take care of a lot

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Speaker 4: of that for you. Like once you set up your product,

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Speaker 4: it's sort of just like a plug in play, like

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Speaker 4: from ordering, it'll take this amount of time to send something,

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Speaker 4: and then it truly does so they'll get an update

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Speaker 4: with the shipping as soon as the item is sent.

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Speaker 4: But I go based on items, so I use Printify

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Speaker 4: to print all of my stuff and they coordinate. There's like,

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Speaker 4: you know, software integration between Printify and Etsy that makes

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Speaker 4: that super super simple.

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Speaker 1: I love that. So obviously mistakes happen. How do you

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Speaker 1: handle that if you were in a situation where a

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Speaker 1: customer was unsatisfied with the product or you know, things

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Speaker 1: got delayed, it got lost in the mail, you know,

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Speaker 1: how do you manage those challenges or issues if they

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Speaker 1: would arise.

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Speaker 4: It definitely depends on the situation. If it's like something

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Speaker 4: that's lost in the mail, then usually I would reach

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Speaker 4: out to Printify. That would be like the first step.

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Speaker 4: And I think it's only happened one time and they

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Speaker 4: were able to replace it immediately. It was like same

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Speaker 4: day they sent out a new one. So if it's

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Speaker 4: something small like that, then yes. If they're just like

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Speaker 4: this shirt is ugly, I don't want it, I would

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Speaker 4: be like, all right, well that's what it's like when

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Speaker 4: you buy something, you know, whatever. And then if it

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Speaker 4: was like damaged or something, I would reach out to printify.

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Speaker 4: If they weren't willing to eat the cost, which I

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Speaker 4: think usually that is the case, then it would come

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Speaker 4: out of my pocket and I would be happy to

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Speaker 4: do that, especially with the community that I am serving.

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Speaker 1: Right And you know, a happy customer is a loyal

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Speaker 1: customer and is usually a repeat customer. So once you

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Speaker 1: do have that happy customer, are you doing anything to

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Speaker 1: kind of nurture them to come back order more stuff?

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Speaker 3: How does that work?

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Speaker 4: There's automated emails that you're able to set up through Etsy.

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Speaker 4: It's a whole system where it's like, if someone has

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Speaker 4: favored in something, I'm going to send them a coupon

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Speaker 4: and this message.

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Speaker 3: If someone has.

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Speaker 4: Purchased something and then they have something else in their cart,

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Speaker 4: You're going to send them this kind of message. And

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Speaker 4: Etsy sort of has it set up for you already,

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Speaker 4: and if you want them to be different.

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Speaker 3: It's a different message for everyone, click a different drop down. Wow.

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Speaker 3: They do a good job setting.

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Speaker 4: All that up.

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Speaker 2: How do you attract new customers to your at sea store?

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Speaker 4: It's like a a lot of stuff in the background,

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Speaker 4: so it's getting seen in the algorithm.

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Speaker 2: Interesting.

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Speaker 4: That's sort of how I have approached it because I

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Speaker 4: know I'm so bad at social media. I'm like, I

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Speaker 4: knew that social media was never going to be the

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Speaker 4: way I was going to.

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Speaker 3: Like hook people in.

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Speaker 4: So I thought, like, Okay, my boyfriend works in tech.

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Speaker 4: That's how I landed in San Francisco, and overhearing all

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Speaker 4: their conversations about how stuff works, I'm able to surmise

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Speaker 4: that SEO matters, and I work on that for my shop,

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Speaker 4: and I think that's really what helped. And I sort

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Speaker 4: of hit it big for my little shop with one

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Speaker 4: poster print and that sort of got me into it.

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Speaker 4: And if you asked me to recreate it, I could not.

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Speaker 4: But the language I used within the description and the

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Speaker 4: tags I used behind the scenes and how I categorized

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Speaker 4: it seemed to be some kind of secret sauce and

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Speaker 4: it worked. I haven't hit it quite as big with

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Speaker 4: some of my other products, but other products are able

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Speaker 4: to be seen because that first product is seen.

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Speaker 2: So I'm hearing language tags and categories for the fellow

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Speaker 2: ets sellers out there listening right now. Do you have

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Speaker 2: any piece of advice to help them get seen by

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Speaker 2: the algorithm.

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Speaker 4: So there's a tool called everb and it's very useful.

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Speaker 4: So it's like a plugin that you add on to

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Speaker 4: your browser and then whenever you look up an Etsy shop,

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Speaker 4: you can see the bones of the Etsy shop. So

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Speaker 4: if I search, like, I made a shirt that says

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Speaker 4: bad bitch on it and it has a set of

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Speaker 4: several walking canes like a mobility aid cane. If I

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Speaker 4: was like, oh, I'm making a shop and I want

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Speaker 4: to make a shirt that looks like that. Does this

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Speaker 4: shirt sell it all? I would open up my ever

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Speaker 4: be plug in and I would do like a product

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Speaker 4: analysis or a shop analysis, and ever be would give

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Speaker 4: me how many of those sweatshirts or shirts have sold

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Speaker 4: in its lifetime when it was posted, how many shirts

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Speaker 4: sell a month, how many.

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Speaker 3: People see it like? It'll just give you a ton

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Speaker 3: a ton of data.

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Speaker 4: So tools like that can be super super valuable and

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Speaker 4: go look at mid range shops. Do not go look

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Speaker 4: at the most successful shop that has two million sales overall, Like,

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Speaker 4: go look at a person who's right in the middle.

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Speaker 3: My dad used to always say, you never want to

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Speaker 3: be the person at the top, and you never want

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Speaker 3: to be the person at the bottom. Stay right in

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Speaker 3: the middle. Can you tell him from the Midwest?

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Speaker 4: I love it, Yes, So go look at the middle

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Speaker 4: shop and look at their tags. Because if the person

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Speaker 4: in the middle is popping up in the algorithm, they're

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Speaker 4: popping up with hard work and you're gonna mirror their

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Speaker 4: hard work. The person at the top is probably been

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Speaker 4: there for a long while and the algorithm favors them,

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Speaker 4: so it doesn't matter what they post like once you

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Speaker 4: get to a certain level, like they'll stay at the top.

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Speaker 4: And if you don't know where the tags are, you

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Speaker 4: scroll down to the bottom and you'll.

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Speaker 3: See related searches. Those are their tags.

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Speaker 2: Gotcha? Gotcha? And you know, speaking of this T shirt

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Speaker 2: design with the mobility Kane on it, you know you've

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Speaker 2: done a very good job of having inclusion be a

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Speaker 2: major theme with their shop. So what inspired you to

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Speaker 2: create products for people who may have difficulties seeing themselves

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Speaker 2: in the designs of other companies.

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Speaker 3: People want to be seen.

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Speaker 4: I think over the last couple of years we see

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Speaker 4: that more and more in every type of media, Like

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Speaker 4: people want their stories to be heard. They want to

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Speaker 4: see themselves reflected back in the media they're consuming, and

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Speaker 4: it's the same thing with clothing. Like Truly, that's why

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Speaker 4: I got into libraries. I wanted to be the person

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Speaker 4: that saw kids after school and was like, you had

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Speaker 4: a bad day, I see you, You're okay, We're okay,

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Speaker 4: It's all.

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Speaker 3: Going to be fine.

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Speaker 4: And I come from a family of neurodivergent individuals. I'm

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Speaker 4: a neurodivergent individual. I have two twin nieces that are autistic,

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Speaker 4: and when they were diagnosed with autism, it was a

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Speaker 4: world of learning about autism that I just hadn't experienced before.

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Speaker 4: And with that comes an entire universe that just sort

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Speaker 4: of opens up and you realize there's a lot of

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Speaker 4: people who are not being seen, heard, recognized, or celebrated.

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Speaker 1: Coming up after the break.

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Speaker 4: Honestly, I gave up perfectionism not that long ago, and

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Speaker 4: it was so freeing when I did.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with mine the business. Welcome back

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Speaker 1: to mind the business. Small business success stories from iHeartMedia's

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Speaker 1: Room studio and into It quick Books, Jordan, how do

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Speaker 1: you let customer feedback inspire what you create?

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Speaker 3: Next?

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Speaker 4: So my sister's chop. She had the cutest little boy

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Speaker 4: and his mom posted a picture of him in the

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Speaker 4: shirt that my sister had designed as a little kid

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Speaker 4: with ear protectors on.

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Speaker 3: Like noise canceling had phones.

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Speaker 4: Often people with autism or ADHD you wear them to

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Speaker 4: help cancel out the noise around them because sensory wise

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Speaker 4: it can be too much. And he is featured in

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Speaker 4: this feedback photo wearing the shirt with his ear protectors on,

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Speaker 4: in the coolest sweater I have ever seen in my life.

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Speaker 3: It's so adorable.

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Speaker 4: And the mom was talking on the review about how

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Speaker 4: her son absolutely loves wearing the shirt and he's super

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Speaker 4: proud of it, and it's exactly why my sister and

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Speaker 4: I do this, and like why we get joy out

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Speaker 4: of doing this, and why I keep coming back and

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Speaker 4: making designs even if nobody sees the shirt that I

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Speaker 4: spent six hours on, Like I was like, Oh, this

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Speaker 4: one's going to be a good one, and nobody ends

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Speaker 4: up seeing that one, why do I come back and

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Speaker 4: do another one? Because there's adorable little boy feeling seen

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Speaker 4: and being excited to wear something I made, and that's

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Speaker 4: pretty freaking cool.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, your story is so inspiring, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: love the fact that you know, as a solopreneur, many

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Speaker 1: of us have to wear many hats, even some that

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Speaker 1: we did not anticipate. So how do you balance the

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Speaker 1: zone of genius that you have with creating these new

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Speaker 1: products and you know, finding opportunities to serve your clients,

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Speaker 1: and then the less fun parts of business like invoicing

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Speaker 1: and taxes and all of that stuff. How do you

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Speaker 1: balance the not so fun stuff with the fun stuff.

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Speaker 4: I'm really bad at it, to be honest with you,

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Speaker 4: I'm just really bad at it. And I think it's

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Speaker 4: okay to be a flawed human, you know, like we're

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Speaker 4: not going to be perfect at everything. Honestly, I gave

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Speaker 4: up perfectionism not that long ago, and it was so

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Speaker 4: freeing when I did, to be able to be like,

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Speaker 4: I'm gonna make mistakes, I'm gonna skip some days. I

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Speaker 4: used to live a very rigid life where it was

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Speaker 4: like this deadline needs to be done six days in advance,

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Speaker 4: so that way I never get to the point where

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Speaker 4: I'm running around so stressed out in pure panic and

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Speaker 4: having to work ten million miles a minute. So I

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Speaker 4: used to complete all my projects. I mean this is

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Speaker 4: from the time I was like in first grade. I

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Speaker 4: would complete all my projects at least a week before

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Speaker 4: they were actually due. And that's just not feasible as

441
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 4: a human being. And so being able to say, like,

442
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,800
Speaker 4: I'm gonna do some boring stuff sometimes great, and on

443
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 4: the days where I don't feel like it, it's okay

444
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 4: to just like take that day and only do the

445
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:01,880
Speaker 4: fun stuff.

446
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 3: Humans have to take selfish time.

447
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 4: So yes, I have to do the boring stuff, but

448
00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 4: I also give myself a break when I don't always

449
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:12,359
Speaker 4: want to do the boring stuff.

450
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: You know what, We're all human.

451
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, Jordan, can you walk us through the process

452
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 2: of starting an Etsy store if we wanted to do

453
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 2: that as a side hustle now in twenty twenty four.

454
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:28,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think just open a shop like it will

455
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 4: be very very simple.

456
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 3: It's a lot simpler than you think it is.

457
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 4: Etsy walks you through it, and then there are one

458
00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 4: thousand people on YouTube talking about how they made their

459
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 4: shop successfully. There's one person in particular that I often

460
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:47,440
Speaker 4: referred to. Her name is Cassie Johnson and she has

461
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 4: very straightforward YouTube videos where she talks about how to

462
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 4: build an Etsy shop from the ground up and if

463
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 4: you don't know what SEO is at all, she also

464
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,159
Speaker 4: has videos that explain that and video on how to

465
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 4: save time and I felt like she was very clear

466
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 4: cut and forward with her information.

467
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 1: Very cool and for you, what has been the most

468
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: rewarding part of being a solopreneur?

469
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 3: That's a long list. You need like another hour.

470
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 4: There's a lot of rewarding aspects of this give us

471
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 4: the top. I think finding my own voice has been

472
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 4: one of the most rewarding things because in the space

473
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 4: I was in before I had to put on I

474
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:32,439
Speaker 4: mean I would even use like.

475
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 3: A different voice. Hi, I'm Jordan.

476
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 4: Let me show you around instead of just talking like myself.

477
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 4: And in the neurodivergent community we call that masking, like

478
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,960
Speaker 4: when you put on a mask and you make other

479
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 4: people feel comfortable while you remain very uncomfortable and not

480
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,479
Speaker 4: you're not able to be yourself. And it was as

481
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 4: simple as like the voice I was using, but it

482
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 4: was also like talking about stuff I'm not interested in

483
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,879
Speaker 4: and now I can be honest about what I like

484
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 4: and what I don't like, and I don't have to

485
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 4: use a silly voice, and when someone makes me angry

486
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 4: or disagrees with something I'm doing, I can say like, no,

487
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 4: I'm actually in charge of what I'm doing here, and

488
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 4: if you're having a hard time with it, like maybe.

489
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 3: We don't work well together, and that's okay.

490
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 4: And I think that was like a really big piece

491
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 4: of it was being confident enough to use the voice

492
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 4: I have, and like also knowing what I want to say.

493
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,480
Speaker 4: I mean, I didn't know what I wanted to say

494
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,480
Speaker 4: when I was young, so I let other people speak

495
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,400
Speaker 4: for me. And then it's like it gets even more

496
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 4: confusing because you're like, do I believe in this thing

497
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,399
Speaker 4: I've been pretending to believe in forever?

498
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 3: Is that me? Or is that me? I don't know?

499
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,919
Speaker 4: And yeah, I feel like I have a clearer idea

500
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 4: of who I am as a human and I was

501
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 4: able to build a way to make money around that, which.

502
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: Is Yeah, that self discovery process that comes with entrepreneurship.

503
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 1: I don't think it's something that most of us understand

504
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: is a part of it, but it's something that every

505
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 1: entrepreneur that I've talked to has talked about how much

506
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: that personal development aspect impacts them.

507
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely correct, genius and Jordan, you know, do

508
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 2: you really find yourself? You find your voice, you find

509
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 2: your passions, you find everything that makes you you. And

510
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the most rewarding parts about

511
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,200
Speaker 2: my solopreneurship journey. It sounds like Jordan is just loving

512
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,200
Speaker 2: that part of the journey as well, finding her voice,

513
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,760
Speaker 2: finding what makes her her. But what does the future

514
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:37,680
Speaker 2: look like for the company. What are some big things

515
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 2: you're excited about, anything you're working on behind the scenes

516
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 2: right now?

517
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:46,000
Speaker 4: So Fresh Princes of USV is doing great. We're Love

518
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 4: and where it's at. We're Love and where it's going.

519
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,960
Speaker 4: But I spend more of the majority of my time

520
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 4: when it comes to design on my freelance website, which

521
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 4: is Jordan roos art dot com. And that's also where

522
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 4: I have my social media for my art and my

523
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:07,359
Speaker 4: design stuff, which is Jordan Roe's illustrations with little spaces

524
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 4: in between I don't know what they call them underscores,

525
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 4: And that's where I do like my drawing stuff and

526
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 4: different storytelling things and different marketing things. Right now I'm

527
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,119
Speaker 4: actually working with the Peninsula Library System on their Summer

528
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 4: Learning Challenge for twenty twenty four. I'm designing all of

529
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 4: their materials, So I'll be designing the reading log for them,

530
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:32,199
Speaker 4: their posters, their bookmarks, so cool. Yeah, And because I

531
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 4: am coming from this space of like inclusivity and that's

532
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 4: just part of what I do, and people know that,

533
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,040
Speaker 4: and so they reached out to me specifically because of that.

534
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 4: So we have some super fun designs for them that

535
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:44,880
Speaker 4: I've been working on and I'm really proud of them.

536
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 2: What an incredible breakdown there, Jordan, Thank you so much

537
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 2: for joining us on this episode of Mind the Business

538
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 2: Small Business Success Stories. Everyone, go check out Fresh Prints

539
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 2: of SF on Etsy. You're going to see some incredible designs.

540
00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,400
Speaker 2: You're going to see some awesome T shirts. I am

541
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 2: super super excited to get one, am I on. Jordan

542
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 2: was an incredible guest. I cannot wait to go buy

543
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 2: some posters some T shirts over at her Etsy shop. Denise,

544
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:15,880
Speaker 2: what was your favorite part about our conversation today with Jordan.

545
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 1: I mean, Jordan dropped so many different gems, but I

546
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: think a couple of them stood out to me first

547
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 1: as a blogger. When I heard her mention SEO, I

548
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: was like, you are speaking my love language. I think

549
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: search engine optimization is one of those things that everybody

550
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 1: hears they should be doing in business, But honestly, it's

551
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 1: just a great reminder that you are not beholden to

552
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 1: the social media apps of the world in order to

553
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: market your business. If you learn the principles of SEO

554
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: and apply it to whatever system you're using to advertise

555
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 1: your business, you're doing a lot more than you realize,

556
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: especially in protecting the work that you're creating from being

557
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 1: subject to the algorithm of a specific app, right because

558
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,479
Speaker 1: SEO applies to basic everything on the Internet. So I

559
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: loved that piece of advice of just kind of do

560
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 1: the thing that works for you and keep doing that,

561
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,440
Speaker 1: and then around the mindset. For me, I love hearing

562
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,479
Speaker 1: how she gives herself permission to assume whatever role that

563
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: day is speaking to her. Right when we're in corporate

564
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 1: jobs or even in school, a lot of the times

565
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 1: were kind of programmed to think a certain way or

566
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: just operate in one zone of genius, if you will.

567
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: And I think, especially as a solopreneur, we have to

568
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: be okay with the evolution that comes with what we

569
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: do and assuming all these different roles and being okay

570
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,600
Speaker 1: at some of them, being great at some of them,

571
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: and not being so good at some of them, and

572
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,800
Speaker 1: all of it just encompasses the journey that is entrepreneurship.

573
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 2: How about you, Austin, Yeah, to your point, we talk

574
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,239
Speaker 2: a lot about self awareness on this podcast, Denis, and

575
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 2: I'm right there with you regarding the mindset that Jordan

576
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 2: had to give herself permission to be the designer one

577
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 2: day and then the to do make her the next. Right,

578
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 2: So it's all encompassing as a solopreneur and it's okay

579
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 2: to have that. Now. The things that I really took

580
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,760
Speaker 2: away from this conversation Janie was the first one being

581
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 2: leaving perfection in the past, right, Jordan said, I used

582
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,240
Speaker 2: to be obsessed with perfection. Now. I don't know about you,

583
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 2: but whenever I try to perfect things, I slowed down

584
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,880
Speaker 2: a lot, right, And I think what Jordan realized is

585
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be perfect. And then second, which

586
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 2: I think might be the most important call out here

587
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 2: that we've had yet on an episode, just because I

588
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 2: know that there's a lot of solopreneurs listening right now

589
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 2: that might be intimidated by this is you do not

590
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,920
Speaker 2: need a full tech stack to be a successful solopreneur.

591
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 2: Jordan uses the normal simple automations that come with Etsy.

592
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 4: Right.

593
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 2: She doesn't have seven different integrations and fourteen different websites,

594
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 2: and I'm sure she has a plug in, but she's

595
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 2: not doing all of these different things with a massive

596
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 2: text stack subscription. You know, she is very lean and

597
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 2: she's successful being lean, and I think a lot of

598
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 2: solo preneur or is overcomplicate that, right. They get intimidated

599
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 2: by the seven different integrations they want to get with

600
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 2: their emails and the feedback or this, this, that and

601
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 2: the other. Jordan is proof that you just need to

602
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 2: start and stay lean and consistent and you will be successful.

603
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 1: And I think she's also proof that when you are

604
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 1: actually your ideal customer, you can provide the thing that

605
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 1: your customer wants.

606
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:24,000
Speaker 3: Right.

607
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: She leans from her own experience as someone who's neurodivergent,

608
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,680
Speaker 1: from someone who's had experience interacting with folks from all

609
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: different realms, and that is what inspires her. And so

610
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: I think any advice I would give to entrepreneurs that

611
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 1: kind of want to figure out What that secret sauce

612
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 1: is going to be for you is thinking about the

613
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 1: customer that you want to serve because they're probably you.

614
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely. She does such a great job of creating products, designs,

615
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 2: illustrations that reflect her own experiences.

616
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, that's it for today's episode. You can find

617
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: me on social media at phitto Deinto Podcast.

618
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 2: And you can find me at Austin Hankwitz. You can

619
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 2: follow Into It QuickBooks on all social media at QuickBooks.

620
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 2: To get the tools you need to start, run and

621
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,479
Speaker 2: grow your business, head to QuickBooks dot com today.

622
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: Don't forget to follow this show wherever you listen to

623
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: podcasts so you can stay up to date on future episodes.

624
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,000
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625
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 2: to leave us a rating and a review. See you

626
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 2: next time. This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio and

627
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Speaker 2: Into It QuickBooks. Our executive producer is Malay Sosha, Our

628
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Speaker 2: supervising producer is Nikia Swinton, and our writer is Eric Lijah.

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