Shopping for wholesale inventory is one of the most essential (and fun) parts of owning an inventory based boutique.

But I also find that it’s one of the things that is holding a lot of people back from starting their boutique.

They’re afraid of sounding like a “newbie” and not knowing what they’re talking about, so those first steps of sourcing wholesale seem sooo scary.

Don’t let that imposter syndrome hold you back, girl!

💫If you’re thinking of starting an inventory based boutique – whether it’s online or brick + mortar) you MUST watch this video.

I go over the 3 questions that you need to ask a wholesale sales rep before you buy.

📌In this video you’ll learn:

👉The terminology frequently used by sales reps so you can understand what they’re talking about.

👉The 3 questions to ask to make sure you’re on track with your buying plan.

👉Why making a wholesale appointment isn’t as scary as it sounds.

This video is part of a series based on the top questions I received from my email “What boutique questions are you dying to know?” 

👉Have more questions? – Leave me a comment below!

In this week’s interview, I chat with Channell from Good Vibes Clothing Boutique. 

She started her online boutique about 2 years ago and is scaling up and opening a brick and mortar location in the coming months. (Dreams do come true!) 

This is a massive accomplishment and you don’t want to miss what she has to say!

1) What is the name of your boutique?

Good Vibes Clothing

2) What type of boutique do you own and where can we find you?

Women’s Clothing/Plus Size and Junior’s. Some Men’s clothing as well.

My business can be found on:

My website www.vibesclothing.net

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027638077358
Instagram : www.instagram.com/goodvibesboutique91

3) What inspired you to start your own boutique?

My love for being unique which translates to my clothing is what inspires me. My clothing is a part of my identity. It speaks for me. Whether I’m feeling pretty one day or maybe I feel more chill on other days….My clothing will express me as a person as well as my customers. I aim to make people become one with my clothing and feel good about themselves.

4) What resources have been most helpful to you as a new boutique owner?

Self research has been a huge help for my business. I’ve watched Youtube videos on how to market, shop for vendors, set budgets, etc….Also Facebook Marketplace has worked wonders for me. 

5) How did you feel when you made your first sale? What did you do to celebrate?

I felt accomplished. That moment made me feel as though I could do anything I set my mind to. Doesn’t matter if people know you, they will know my brand and that made me happy to know I can provide products that makes the people around me feel the same. I actually framed my first sale. That $20 changed my whole outlook on life. 

6) What was the final push to follow your dreams and start a boutique? What was the “aha” moment for you?

My ‘aha” moment was when I was informed of lay offs at my job. I knew I had always wanted to start my own business every since I graduated High School I just didn’t know how to start.  I was at a job that I really wanted to retire from but when the company fell into hard times I was let go without any remorse or compensation package. I was left to fend for myself. At that moment I realized I didn’t need to allow others to control my future I just needed my own will and determination. From that moment I registered by business name and never looked back. 

7) Tell us what a “day in the life” looks like for you now that you’re running your own boutique business!

OMG do the days even exist anymore!? My days consist of daily promoting! I make it a mission to post something everyday to keep customers engaged in my content. I am constantly looking for new items, finding new vendors, creating useful tools to help other aspiring entrepreneurs and help them pave their own way. I’m also busy finding new models and getting photo shoots done.  My life is busier than before and I LOVE it. I work for me and my business grows tremendously to do my hard work. 

8) What has been your biggest challenge as a boutique owner and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge was finding my target audience and getting the word out about my boutique. I started out thinking everyone needed to be a customer of mine but my range was too broad. Starting out I had no clue as to how I would get people to find out about my boutique. I tried talking to radio stations but their prices weren’t feasible for me just starting out so I had to use the old fashion ‘Word of mouth” technique. Placing business cards in every bag when a purchase was made…. Then I grew and started doing little ‘pop up shop” events! Worked wonders!

9) How do you stay inspired and motivated to run your boutique?

Seeing the positive feedback from my customers is what really drives me. Knowing that I’m not just providing clothing I’m providing an experience, a sense of hope for people that are scared to jump out on faith and do what makes them happy. 

10) What’s the best part about being your own boss?

Creating memories with my customers and having the freedom to control how my life/business succeeds. I don’t have to depend on someone else to get me to where I want to be. I know own that power and I won’t allow myself to fail. 

11) What’s your go-to favorite podcasts or blogs that you’d recommend to other girl boutique bosses?

I don’t really listen to podcast but I do follow a few blogs one being Sorella Boutique. She has a very similar story as mine and gives great advice and REAL advice to business owners. I also follow Jance Chartae very informative lady and so willing to help. 

12) What is your number one piece of advice for aspiring boutique owners?

Do your research! Research clothing material, research the market in your area and see if there is a growing need for your business. Learn to invest in YOURSELF! Take classes, attend conferences. Put in adequate time and don’t rush. The more you know the more you’ll grow. 

Questions about Channell’s boutique? Comment below!

Today, I’m thrilled to share with you an interview with Sharon from Your Style Your Story online boutique in Ireland.

She is an accountant and a mom to two young boys in addition to running her boutique and is incredibly inspiring.

If you’re looking for some motivation to get your boutique started, you’ll definitely want to read and watch my interview with Sharon below.

1) What is the name of your boutique?

Your Style Your Story

2) What type of boutique do you own and where can we find you?

My boutique sells women’s clothing, jewellery and handbags.
Our clothing collections are handpicked to help women find something a little different to wear to work.

I chose quality brands as I strongly believe in “buy better , buy less” and I want my boutique to have a positive effect on the environment.  Some of our ranges include knits that are created from seawool and each knit is made from 15 recycled plastic bottles that are pulled out of the ocean.  The jumper is so luxurious and soft but has a positive impact on the environment with each purchase.

Our handbags are from the Shona Easton collection and I chose that brand as all of the handbags are handmade in an ethical rural farm in India.  The handbags directly support the income of 200 women there in this rural village who otherwise would have to leave their families and children to work in the big cities.

My boutique is only online www.yourstyleyourstory.com It is based in Ireland but we deliver globally.

Facebook : www.facebook.com/yourstyleyourstoryonline
Instagram : www.instagram.com/yourstyleyourstory
Twitter : www.twitter.com/ysysboutique

3) What inspired you to start your own boutique?

I am actually an accountant and as a working mum with two young children I find it impossible to go to physical boutiques to purchase my clothes for work and weekend smart casual wear.  My job involves a lot of presentations and I am always at my most confident when I am wearing the right clothes for me.  Mornings can be hectic with organising the school run but once I dress into the right work wear I immediately feel back in control and the chaos of family life is eased.  I am free to just get on with delivering my work.

A lot of online shops have a huge product range and it is difficult to quickly pick just what you need.

I was inspired to set up a boutique style webshop online with beautiful collections but with only a limited product range so customers can quickly see online and pick what they need.  Orders are despatched that day and in Ireland most of our customers our wearing their purchase the very next day.

Being a working mum can be tough sometimes and we always put our needs to the bottom of the list.  So I decided to wrap all orders in beautiful gold wrapping and deliver in a box so each purchase feels like a little to gift to our customers for everything they juggle in life.

4) What resources have been most helpful to you as a new boutique owner?

I am a member of an online network of women – Women’s Inspire Network which has been a fantastic support.  We sponsored and showcased recently at one of their events. I have sourced social media experts and my photographer also from this group.  Plus they actively cheer other members on and consistently share and retweet each other’s’ posts.

All of the models on my boutique are my friends.  I asked them to be my models as they are beautiful and all different shapes and sizes and I wanted women to be able to relate to my models and see how our clothes will really fit.  These friends have been such a support as the photoshoots were a brand new experience for me to have to co-ordinate and get right and it was great to be able to do it in such a supportive environment with all my friends around me.

5) How did you feel when you made your first sale? What did you do to celebrate?

Well my website was due to go live on the Monday.  However I set it live over the weekend just to be sure that the payment facilities had plenty of time to set up.  When I woke on the Saturday before there was a message on my phone saying congratulations on my first sale.  I called my children in to show them and we jumped up and down on the bed for about 20 minutes screaming with excitement!

The feeling was amazing as it was just so unexpected and gave me the confidence to announce to everyone that day that my boutique was now live.

6) What was the final push to follow your dreams and start a boutique? What was the “aha” moment for you?

The final push was the day I met with another female colleague for a business lunch and we were both wearing the same shirt. The shirt was patterned and so it was very clearly the same and we looked like we had dressed ourselves in matching clothes in the restaurant.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened to me and I decided that Ireland needed to have some new clothing ranges online to give a bit more options to us women.

7) Tell us what a “day in the life” looks like for you now that you’re running your own boutique business!

It is great!!! I am so motivated each morning now.  Before I would hit the snooze button about five times.  Now I’m excited and do some yoga online (very simple movements) before getting my boys ready for school.

Every morning I try write out 3 aims I would like to achieve in the day to build my brand.  Depending on these I could be discussing radio or podcast interviews, meeting with my photographer or attending and showcasing at a network event.

I spend at least an hour of every day discussing with our social media team to plan our next posts, what is working, what do our customers want to know about and what is currently topical?

My afternoon is spent co-ordinating orders, talking to customers and researching for our next blog topics.

Depending on the time of year I could be meeting with the brands we stock and choosing our collections for the next season.  It is always so exciting to see what styles they have coming for our customers.

The end of the day is family time spent with my boys.  Followed by some more research in the evenings and then I wind down watching Working Moms on Netflix.

8) What has been your biggest challenge as a boutique owner and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge has been controlling my perfectionism.  My need to have my branding perfect, my packaging perfect, my website perfect, my collections chosen exactly right and so on and so on…

Then I realised I needed to look at what really mattered.  What did my customers really want and focus all my efforts into delivering that instead.  If I waited until everything was perfect would I ever really launch?  What if I missed something along the way? How would I have the ability to handle that unless I allowed for the fact that yes not everything would be perfect but I would adapt and fix and learn continuously along this journey.

Once the motivation for everything I was doing came from the right place then customers would forgive if my branding had a slight colour difference on social media platforms or if I missed a full stop somewhere on my descriptions.

Stopping aiming towards perfection has been liberating and helped me make decisions and move forward with my boutique so much more quicker.

9) How do you stay inspired and motivated to run your boutique?

The early days after the launch are hard.  You think if you build it everyone will come.  Some days there are no sales and it is disheartening.

Every day I wake with a positive attitude and remind myself this is a journey and not a destination and then you see the comments people are making on your social media posts about how they loved the products they bought, how your blog helped them and came just at the right time and it gives you that hug inside to know you are doing the right things and creating something that is positive in the world.

I have had customers send me messages to say that my boutique is just the distraction they need from their hectic life and is a great escape for them to just browse through or have a read on our blogs.

10) What’s the best part about being your own boss?

Being able to make a change to people’s lives.  Seeing how things can be improved, brainstorming ideas and then getting to see the positive contributions I can make to people’s lives – be it one customer or one hundred customers.

11) What’s your go-to favorite podcasts or blogs that you’d recommend to other girl boutique bosses?

Kirstendebouter.com.  I love her podcasts – The every year itch.  It’s about living life differently and she has interviewed some fantastic people who are showing how to live life outside the normal rules.  She recently interviewed me for her podcast which was very exciting.

12) What is your number one piece of advice for aspiring boutique owners?

Find a women’s in business community – online or offline and embrace all the support they can give you to promote your business, give advice or just be a friendly listening hear as we are all going through the same trials and uncertainties.

Questions about Sharon’s boutique? Comment below!

Making sales is tough in your online boutique, am I right?

You put in all of this hard work to finally get your website up and running… and then nothing.

The reality of the situation is that you have to actively be advertising and marketing in an ever-changing online world, which makes things tough – I know!

Just when you think you have something figured out that’s working, an algorithm changes and there goes your winning ad – so what gives?

Today, we’ll focus on making online boutique sales from Pinterest. With a few tweaks to your profile, you will see an increase of traffic to your website.

And I’m not talking about Pinterest ads. These are all strategies that you can implement that are completely free and can significantly increase your traffic and in turn get you crazy sales in your online boutique.

1) Pinterest Profile

First and foremost, your Pinterest profile needs to be on point. You need to be able to attract your customer and make them want to click your beautiful pins and buy your product!

To do this, you’ll need a Pinterest Business account. You can switch to a business account by visiting business.pinterest.com.

This way you will have access to Pinterest analytics where you will have access to all types of important information about your pins like which ones are getting the most views and impressions.

You’ll also be able to get more insight on your audience. For example, what country they’re from, ages, and what other interests they have.

All of this information will be useful to you in marketing and advertising for your online boutique.

Next, you’ll want to apply for Rich Pins. Rich Pins provides more information from your website to Pinterest.

Rich Pins will also make your product pins shoppable. That means that a potential customer can shop your boutique right from Pinterest!

How to apply for Rich Pins will vary from site to site depending on who you host your website through. The best thing to do is to check to see if your website host has a tutorial on applying for Rich Pins.

Also, it may seem obvious, but I would add your logo as your profile picture and add a catchy bio to your profile. You want to make sure people know as soon as they come to your Pinterest page, what your brand is all about.

2) Pinterest Boards and Descriptions

Think of your Pinterest boards as categories. You’ll be creating boards to not only pin your content, but other people’s content as well that is relevant to your brand.

For example, with our organic baby clothing online boutique, I might create the following boards – Gender Neutral Baby Clothing, Organic Cotton Onesies, Boho Baby, etc. Don’t be afraid to be specific, but keep the names of your boards clear and to the point. You want them to be searchable, so think of what someone might type into Pinterest if they were looking for organic baby clothes.

I recommend adding between 15-20 boards. For each of your boards you will add a description. You want your description to include keywords related to your online boutique, but you want to do it in a way that isn’t just listing a bunch of keywords.

Pinterest could actually penalize you for that and you may not get as many views as you would if you wrote a compelling description for your board.

Display your best and most relevant boards as your featured boards so new visitors see these boards immediately when they visit your profile.

3) Building Your Brand

Building a cohesive brand is so important to your online boutique.

From colors, to fonts, to graphics and logos, you want your brand to stick out and people to be able to recognize your brand from these elements.

Using your brand colors and fonts over and over again, will help people recognize your brand and pins and know that these pins are coming from your online boutique.

Also, when creating pin images, you’ll want to create vertical images no bigger than 800 x 1200 pixels.

Not only do I recommend pinning your products, but I also recommend having a blog on your website and pinning related articles and blog posts as well. (All of your blog posts should be related to your online boutique with the intention of driving traffic and customers to your online boutique.)

Blog posts can really help drive traffic to your website and there’s no better way to promote them than to pin them on Pinterest.

When you pin your products or blog posts, make sure to pin from your actual website. This will help ensure that all the information like descriptions are transferred over correctly to Pinterest.

You can also use a few hashtags in your pin descriptions that help potential customers find you on Pinterest.

It’s so important to have multiple advertising and marketing channels for your online boutique and to constantly drive traffic to your website and convert viewers into buyers.

By implementing these few strategies on Pinterest, you should start to see an increase in not only traffic to your online boutique, but also an increase in sales.

Do you use Pinterest for your online boutique? How is Pinterest working for your business?