Launch Your Box Podcast with Sarah Williams | Start, Launch, and Grow Your Subscription Box

Do you have a product-based business? Are you selling products via an Etsy store, in a pop-up shop or a retail store? Are you selling one-off products online? Adding a subscription box to your existing business is a no-brainer and can offer you so many benefits! Adding a subscription box provides: A stable, predictable revenue stream - recurring payments benefit your business in so many ways, including stabilizing your cash flow. Customer loyalty - subscribers have committed to regularly purchasing products from you. Increased lifetime value (LTV) - do you know the LTV of your customers? My subscribers stay for an average of 18 months, generating thousands of dollars of revenue each. Opportunities for cross-selling and upselling - pair your box items with additional one-off items from your shop. Scalability - packing and shipping 500 of the same thing is much more efficient than 500 different orders. Have I convinced you to add a subscription box to your business? I have 5 simple steps to follow to make it happen. Identify your best customers: Who are they? How often do they shop with you? Take a look at your top 20 customers and dial into who they are. Identify your best-sellers: What categories are your best sellers? What do people buy from you repeatedly? What are people asking for more of? Set your pricing structure: What is your average order value (AOV)? What is the AOV of your top 100 customers? Price your subscription box in that range. Create exclusivity and scarcity: What are the benefits of being a subscriber? Make items only available in the box. Make them only available by subscription. Create FOMO with your customer base - make them want to be part of something exclusive. Create a great user experience: Are your website and the checkout process clear and easy to follow? Make it easy for people to update or cancel their subscriptions. Provide a higher level of customer service - remember your subscribers are the VIPs of your business. A bonus piece of advice, which is really the best piece of advice, is to talk about your subscription box a LOT. If you want to create a business that is 75% recurring revenue instead of depending on one-off sales, you’ve got to make it the main thing in your business. And that means talking about it… a lot! Join me for this episode to learn how having a subscription box can change the game for your business. Predictable inventory, better cash flow, monthly recurring revenue, and more. Follow 5 simple steps to get started today! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Let’s start this year with a better plan, a plan to help you move forward because… It’s Time to Start Your Subscription Box! Now is the time to get started the right way. See, it’s hard to take steps forward with starting your subscription box if you can’t visualize who that box is for - your ideal customer. And if you already have a subscription box and you’re struggling with marketing, gaining subscribers, or retaining the subscribers you do have, take a closer look at your ideal customer. I want you to describe your ideal customer in 3-5 words. Are they a man or a woman? Are they an adult or a child? How old are they? Where do they live? Do they belong to a certain profession or faith group? Do they have a specific hobby or love for something? Answering these questions allows you to visualize that person. My ideal customer for my monogram box is a “Southern Busy Mom.” Can you picture her? I can! I curate subscription boxes for her every month. Ask yourself what your ideal customer is thinking, feeling, and doing each month of the year. It’s this knowledge that will help you plan themes for your boxes before you ever start looking for products. Once you’re able to visualize your ideal customer, it’s time to decide what kind of box to create. You have choices: Monthly Quarterly Bimonthly One Thing of the Month There are pros and cons to each type of box. Monthly boxes are easier to market and bring in regular, recurring revenue. They are also a LOT more work. Quarterly boxes can make marketing challenging but give you time to catch your breath between boxes and may allow you to curate a more expensive, luxurious box. A “One Thing of the Month” box is a great place to start! You’re simply providing one item each month. I have members inside Launch Your Box who have been very successful with their “one things.” T-shirts, candles, beef jerky, washi tape, door hangers, and more. Once you’ve decided who your ideal customer is and the type of box you’re going to offer, it’s time to curate some boxes! Join me for my FREE 6 in 60 Workshop where we’ll plan six months’ worth of subscription boxes in only an hour! Join me for this episode as I talk about how now IS the time to start your subscription box and go over the first TWO steps forward, helping you discover who your box is for and what kind of subscription box is the best choice for your business. Important Links: 6 in 60 Workshop Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

When you don’t know where to start, it’s easy to start in the wrong place. You have an idea. A dream. You want to start a subscription box. But you don’t know how. So you do what everyone does. You google. It. And you find out there are all kinds of people wanting to sell you all kinds of things to help you run your subscription box business. Software, packaging, marketing tools, and more. In the beginning, before you even get started, you don’t need any of those things. What you need is to Start The Right Way! If you’re just starting your subscription box journey, this episode is for you! Avoid the overwhelm and start where you need to start… the beginning. I call this first stage The Hopeful Entrepreneur because you’re full of hopes and dreams… and so many questions. There are things you need to do during this stage to start your subscription box journey off right. Complete the 6 in 60 Workshop (Post-It Note Challenge) - identify your ideal customer and plan out your first six boxes. Contact your local Small Business Adminstration Office - fulfill local requirements to legally set up your business. Establish social media pages for your business - focus audience building efforts on one platform to start. Secure a domain for your website - this will be your url. Explore options for your website - we recommend Shopify or WordPress/WooCommerce. Getting your subscription box business off the ground takes a lot of work. Following a step-by-step process helps you stay on track. Join me for this episode as I walk you through this first stage of your subscription box journey, sharing tips, strategies, and resources to help you get a strong start. Don’t miss my tips about naming your business - and your subscription box. It matters! Important Links: Subscription Box Blueprint eBook FREE 6 in 60 Workshop Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Do you think you’re too old to start a business? Do you worry it’s too late to pivot and do something you’re truly passionate about? Something that could make a huge difference in the lives of you and your family? It’s not too late. It’s never too late. I say it often, but sometimes it takes hearing it from somebody else before it really sinks in. Get ready to be inspired as I introduce you to Bev Schweigert, owner of Blessed Be Boutique and member of Launch Your Box. Bev “retired” more than six years ago and spent six months wondering what to do next. Her Christian faith is central to her life and part of living that for Bev was going on a mission trip to Peru. Bev needed to raise some money to fund that trip and ended up selling Christian jewelry to do so. Soon after, the pandemic hit and Bev’s online jewelry sales skyrocketed. But, once life started to get back to normal, sales started to slow way down. Bev knew that if she wanted to keep growing her business, she needed to find ways to bring more of her target customers into her world - that meant attracting more Christian women. Bev had been journaling and started a Facebook group for women to reflect on scripture and journal along with her. She went Live in the group 5 days a week and just spent time serving her audience. Soon they started asking her to sell the products she was using - her journal and journaling supplies. Bev did even more. She developed a creative devotional that includes crafts, poetry, songs to listen to, and more. She turned the idea of a devotional or journal into a true experience for Christian women. And it was a hit! Soon, Bev started creating one-time devotional boxes - the first was inspired by her memories of summer camp. It included crafts to go along with the devotionals and all the supplies her customers needed to complete them. These boxes sold very well, inspiring Bev to create additional one-time boxes for holidays. Before long, Bev started thinking about starting a subscription box. A friend and fellow business owner happened to be a member of Launch Your Box and encouraged Bev to join. The results? Bev sold out her first launch with 80 subscribers! And when she opened back up in time for the next box, she sold out again, adding 45 more subscribers for a total of 130. That’s right - Bev passed the 100 subscriber mark on only her second box! She’ll open back up for box number three very soon and hopes to add 45 more subscribers. There is so much about Bev’s story that inspired me and will inspire you. And part of that is her age. See, Bev is 61. She started her business when she was 55. A lot of people think they’re “too old” to start a subscription box business or any type of small business. If that sounds like you, Bev has a message for you. “It’s never too late to get started!” Bev has big goals for 2024. She wants to double what she did last year in sales, and she’s already off to a strong start. Bev is having so much fun with her business - including her subscription box - that she can’t imagine not working. Which is a good thing, since her husband hopes to retire soon thanks to the success of Blessed Be! It doesn’t matter if you are in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or beyond….it’s never too late to start your subscription box business. This episode is going to inspire the heck out of you. Find and follow Bev: Blessed Be Boutique on Facebook Blessed Intentions Facebook Group Blessed Be Boutique on Instagram Blessed Be Boutique Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Can anyone start a subscription box business? Yes. I truly believe this. I say it all of the time - I’m not special. And no, that doesn’t mean I don’t think I’m great or suffer from a lack of confidence. It just means I don’t have anything you don’t have. I’m an ordinary person who doesn’t give up. And it’s that “not giving up” piece that matters. That’s the thing you need to have if you’re going to not just start a subscription box, but launch and grow one into a successful, sustainable business. And we all have the ability to not give up. It’s about being consistent - in anything. You don’t have to be the best… you just have to be consistent. That’s what I’ve done, that’s what so many of my students have done, and - if a subscription box business is what you want - that’s what you need to do, too. My beginning looked like a lot of you: I was a solopreneur - and a mom - working from my kitchen table while my kids slept. I schlepped my products to craft shows and pop-up shops all over Texas (and Texas is BIG, y’all!) I found the courage to rent a tiny, 600-square-foot space and called it my first retail location. I dreamed of starting a subscription box for years. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I had a fire burning inside of me that meant I had to try. I want you to know it takes just one action. Just one that leads to another and another. Before you know it? You’re running a legit business that gives you a paycheck and freedom you’ve never felt. So, the answer to, “Can anyone do this? Can anyone start a subscription box?” is yes! Anyone can start a subscription box. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never sold products before. In episode 3 of this podcast, I talked with Anne Stuccio. Anne is a practicing dentist who had only ever purchased supplies for her office. It didn’t matter because Anne was also passionate about providing a subscription box experience for female dentists. So she figured it out. She took one action and then the next and the next. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Next week on the podcast, I’m talking with Bev Schweigert. Bev started her business when she was 55 after being retired for six months. And last year? She brought in a quarter of a million dollars in sales! It doesn’t matter if you’ve got kids at home. Stop waiting. In episode 29 of the podcast, I chat with Amy Green, mother of three including a son with special needs. This is her time to do something for herself and she’s thriving with her subscription box business - the business she built around her life and her son’s needs. I want you to understand that whatever reason you think you can’t doesn’t matter. We can all do this. I’ve been doing this for a long time and most days, I’m winging it. Today, during a LIVE, I tripped over my mannequin and my entire backdrop fell down! I’m not special. But I know anyone can rinse and repeat my success. So many of my students have done just that! The first step is to lay it out and visualize what this could look like for you. I have a free workshop that helps you do exactly that. It’s called the 6 in 60 workshop and you can find it at 6in60workshop.com. Grab a pen and some post-it notes and let’s lay it out together. Once you can see it, you’ll know it is possible for you. Join me for this episode and discover why I believe anyone can start a subscription box and how you can take the first steps toward making your subscription box dreams come true. Growing Your Community! with Sarah Williams & Tony Durso Episode 3 - How one LYB Member Hit $10K Monthly with Her Subscription Box Business Episode 129 - Getting Out of Your Own Way and Gaining 100 Subscribers 6 in 60 Workshop Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

On March 5th at about 10:00 in the morning, Facebook went down. Instagram went down, too. The outage didn’t last long, but it had an impact on so many business owners, especially those who rely heavily on social media. That day, Meta was only down for a short while, but what if it was down for the day? The week? The month? What if it went away for good? Do you have systems in place to reach your audience outside of social media? Be ready for the next social media outage - and it’s a near certainty there will be one - by making sure you have three things in place. Diversified platforms Are you only on Meta? Do you only engage with your audience on Facebook and Instagram? You need to have a presence somewhere else - TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Actively engage and build your followings there. Email list Email doesn’t depend on social media. You own your email list! It is SO EASY to send an email when you’ve been building your list all year. Are you working to build your email list? Listen to episode 109 for 10 ways to build your email list. Add a pop-up on your website. Create an opt-in on your website with a way to serve your audience. Run a giveaway. Post a lead magnet on social media and run ads to it. Add an email opt-in at checkout. Create a fun quiz that requires an email address to get results. Offer a discount or free gift. Host an event or workshop. Tease sneak peeks or exclusive behind-the-scenes content with opt-ins. Get in front of new audiences. Text/SMS Are you actively building your text list every month? When Meta went down, I was able to reach my students immediately! Klaviyo allows you to build your SMS list right alongside your email list. Things like Meta going down open our eyes to weaknesses in our businesses. It’s important to build your business to weather whatever storms that come our way! Join me for this episode and learn how to create strong, healthy marketing channels that sustain your business… no matter what. Episode 109 - 10 Ways to Build Your List - Every Month Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Today’s episode was inspired by a question from a member of Launch Your Box - and a former guest on the podcast. Betsy Goodman shared her sold-out launch story in episode 93. Betsy is a maker and a teacher - she teaches lettering and wax seal techniques. Her work is beautiful and her question is a common one among subscription box owners who make or teach as part of their subscription. Betsy’s question? How to balance what she gives away for free and what she reserves for her paid subscribers. If your subscription box includes any type of teaching component, you probably struggle with that same push and pull. You want to share enough content to create interest and excitement but don’t want to give away the valuable content your paying subscribers receive. The goal is to have balance. Give your audience a taste of what it’s like to be a subscriber, but provide value and exclusivity to your subscribers. These strategies can help you keep your public content engaging while still protecting your paid content. Share the what - not the how. Publicly share the box opening and what your subscribers are receiving. This is also a great time to show what can be made from supplies in the box, but not how to do it. Potential subscribers can see the value. They still need to join the subscription to learn how. Do this in a LIVE unboxing or an unboxing post, posts of finished products with supplies laying next to them. Give them “incomplete” information - they need/want to know more. Share small sections of the how, but don’t put it all together for them. Use sped-up videos so people can see the process but not the exact techniques and how-tos. Share smaller projects that can be made with the same supplies - acts as a bonus for subscribers, too! Connect, don’t teach. Go LIVE and use items from the box to create the projects. But… instead of teaching, simply talk to and connect with your audience as you create. As questions come up, explain what you’re doing and that subscribers have access to the instructional video that takes them through the project step-by-step. Your audience will see the value of your products, connect with you on a personal level, and see just how much they will get by subscribing. Find a balance. If you hide all your content behind closed doors, nobody other than your subscribers sees what you’re giving. You lose the opportunity to nurture your audience and show them what it’s like to be a subscriber. Doing more public-facing content creates more engagement from your subscribers - and drives more interest from those people who aren’t yet subscribers. Join me for this episode as I talk about why it’s so important to share content publicly and how to balance public-facing and subscriber-only content. Important Links: Launch Your Box Episode 93 6 in 60 Workshop Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join Launch Your Box today!

One of the biggest benefits of a subscription box business is recurring revenue. You can build ANOTHER recurring revenue stream in your business by adding a membership to your subscription box business. In episode 145 of this podcast, I interviewed three of my Mastermind students, all of whom hit $1 million in revenue last year! They have different businesses and followed different paths to where they are now, but one thing they have in common - they all have both a physical subscription and a digital membership. When I knew I wanted to talk to you about memberships, there was one person who had to be part of the conversation - my long-time mentor and membership guru, Stu McLaren. Stu and I talked about 4 categories of memberships: Product-based memberships Ie., a subscription box Service-based memberships I.e., a massage therapist, blow-out bar, car wash Knowledge or information-based membership Solving an ongoing problem - i.e., dog training, relationship coach Learning a skill - i.e., Launch Your Box Convenience - i.e., teacher lesson plans, templates, social media scripts, checklists Community-based memberships A gathering place for people with shared interests Can be a standalone or an add-on There are so many examples inside Launch Your Box of members who added memberships to fill a need their audience has. Ask yourself how you can use your expertise to create a membership. What questions are people asking you? What problems can you solve for your audience? Stu and I talked about membership ideas for some popular industries: Pet industry Training Dog spa business owner coaching Equestrian riding Fashion and beauty Styling tips & tricks Crafting Lettering, sewing, crafting, etc. If you worry that your business doesn’t lend itself to a membership, Stu shares a story that might convince you otherwise. One of his students has a membership of thousands of people - all there to learn how to make balloon animals! Yes, you can create a membership! So… how can YOU use your expertise to serve your ideal customer with a membership? Stu is hosting a FREE 3-part workshop in April. Learn more about Stu McLaren’s FREE workshop HERE! Join me and Stu McLaren, my long-time mentor and membership expert, as we talk about why you should consider building a membership alongside your subscription box business. Find and follow Stu: Stu McLaren on Facebook Stu McLaren on Instagram The Membership Workshop Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Starting a Facebook business page from scratch is hard. Even growing an existing page can feel hard. But it’s a critical part of audience building. You create great content your ideal customer will love. And you want your ideal customer - lots of your ideal customers - to see it. That means gaining more followers. When I started my page, How to Start a Subscription Box, in early 2020. I knew who my ideal customer was. What I didn’t know was how I was going to get them to like my page. I spent six months spinning my wheels and not gaining a ton of followers. At the end of those six months, I took a step back and took a close look at what I was doing. And what I wasn’t doing. Then I came up with an action plan to get to 1000 followers before the end of the year. Getting to 1000 followers is possible. In this episode, I’m sharing four things you can do to reach - and pass - that 1000 follower mark. I called these “4 Simple Steps to Gain Your First 1000 Facebook Followers.” Nothing I’ve recommended is complicated or difficult. Following these 4 steps helped me reach 1000 followers on my business Facebook page. Continuing to follow them led to reaching - and passing - 10,000 followers in less than two years. Let Facebook work for you! Join me for this episode where I share a simple, 4-part action plan for gaining your first 1,000 Facebook followers. Starting an audience from scratch can feel intimidating. It doesn't need to! I created an amazing resource to help you build an audience filled with your ideal customers. Grab it HERE for only $10! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Does it feel like you are making good sales, but nothing is left in your bank account at the end of each month? Are you bringing in enough revenue to cover your overhead and pay your employees but can’t pay yourself? I’ve been there. If you’re a small business owner, you’ve been there, too. It’s time to change how we think about sales and profitability. And I’ve brought the perfect person to the podcast to help us do just that. In this episode, Ciara Stockeland, fractional CFO and inventory genius, joins me as we get to the simple truth about inventory, margins, and profitability. Ciara is a 3rd generation entrepreneur from North Dakota. She opened her first retail store in 2006 and built it into a franchise before selling it. She also started a subscription box for retailers, grew it, and sold that, too. It was Ciara’s love for all things numbers that led her to her current role where she works with business owners to identify and fix their inventory, cash flow, and profitability issues. Ciara has met so many inventory-based business owners who all ask the same questions: Where is all my money going? What do I do with all this debt? How much inventory should I really own? Ciara responded to a need and built her Inventory Genius course where she teaches business owners how to focus on the right things in order to create more profit and keep more cash. Set profit goals using Ciara’s framework - the same framework she uses regardless of the size of the business. I want you to understand that subscription box businesses can be profitable from month one - but you have to be disciplined about operating expenses. If you don’t fix a problem with operating expenses, gaining more subscribers won’t solve the problem. The cost will grow right along with the subscriber numbers. When you get diligent about knowing your numbers, it gets easier. Get Ciara’s book Inventory Genius for an explanation of the numbers in your business. What is profit and loss? What is a balance sheet? How does inventory play into what’s happening with my cash? Problems with inventory, cash flow, and profitability will not solve themselves. But they ARE solvable! It starts with understanding the numbers in your business. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the better decision you can make. We want you to love your business and to make decisions from a place of certainty, not panic. Don’t forget to grab Ciara’s FREE eBook HERE! Join me and Ciara Stockeland, inventory genius, as we get to the simple truth about inventory, margins, and profitability. Grab your earbuds and notebooks, and join us! Find and follow Ciara: Inventory Genius on Facebook Inventory Genius on Instagram Ciara’s FREE eBook Ciara’s Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

What if you never had to pack and ship your subscription boxes again? How would that change your business… and your life? Ryan Culver of Lessgistics joined me for this episode to talk all things subscription box fulfillment center. Not only does Ryan have more than 20 years of experience in supply chain, he’s also a former health & wellness subscription box owner and the current owner of a charcuterie subscription box. He joined me to talk about how fulfillment centers can help subscription box businesses, especially as you grow and scale. Ryan started Lessgistics in 2020 to help other subscription box owners. Inside their 60,000-square-foot facility, Ryan and his team support subscription box owners with businesses ranging from 250 subscription boxes to over 5,000 subscription boxes. They also fulfill special projects and one-time boxes. Lessgistics especially enjoys partnering with start-up subscription box businesses that are starting to show growth and have 250-300 subscribers. Other fulfillment centers require subscription box businesses to have 1,000 or more subscribers. Ryan talked about how important it is that you have time and experience fulfilling your subscription boxes yourself before outsourcing to a fulfillment center like Lessgistics. This allows you to understand your needs, your process, and what you’ll require of a fulfillment center. There are many benefits to working with a fulfillment center, including: Taking advantage of the economies of scale a fulfillment center brings. Getting your business out of your house. Getting access to better shipping rates - subscription box owners benefit from Lessgistics’s buying power with shipping companies. The volume discounts Lessgistics can get for its subscription box partners usually pay for the cost of the fulfillment center, making it a no brainer! Ryan recognizes that it can be difficult to let go of control and trust someone else to fulfill your subscription boxes. He understands and is dedicated to creating an experience that’s very subscription box owner-focused. As a subscription box owner himself, he understands the importance of providing an outstanding subscriber experience. Lessgistics can handle variations - size, color, quantities - with ease. They handle customer service issues promptly and stay in close contact with their subscription box owner partners. Ryan and I talked about one of my Mastermind students, Stacey Collins, and how Lessgistics has been such an important part of her latest subscription box’s success. If you’re in the hundreds of subscribers range, you need to be focused on growing and scaling - not on packing and shipping. It’s time to really think about what a 3rd party fulfillment center like Lessgistics could do for you. Contact Ryan to schedule a 30-minute call - he’ll talk with you about your subscription box and your needs and provide you with a same-day quote. Join me and Ryan from Lessgistics for this episode to learn what a 3rd party fulfillment center can do for your subscription box business and how the money you’ll save on shipping costs can just about pay for the fulfillment services! Find and follow Lessgistics: Lessgistics on Facebook Lessgistics Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

You’ve curated a beautiful subscription box. Your website is nearly ready. But there’s one decision holding you back from actually launching. And it’s all about shipping. Should you offer free shipping or charge for shipping? Of course, “free shipping” isn’t free. If you offer free shipping to your customers, you will adjust the prices of the items you sell to absorb those shipping costs and protect your profit margins. In this episode, I go deep on all things shipping. The truth is, there’s no easy answer to the free shipping or charging for shipping question. There is no one-size fits all strategy when it comes to shipping charges. There may even be more than one answer for your business. Think about your own buying behavior. What matters more to you when you’re shopping online? What matters to your customers? Shippo, a shipping software company, conducted a survey where they found: 49% of customers prefer to pay a lower price for items and pay for shipping. 40% of customers want free shipping. 11% of customers want their items fast and are willing to pay expedited shipping charges. Another report showed: People prefer paying for low-cost shipping when purchasing lower-priced items. 93% of shoppers will add to their carts to reach a certain threshold to receive free shipping if it’s offered. For one-off online sales, offering free shipping once a customer reaches a purchase threshold is smart for a few reasons. It can increase your average order value. It incentivizes customers to order more items at once instead of placing multiple one-item orders, reducing your overall shipping charges. It allows for lower pricing of items because you don’t have to account for as much of the cost of shipping in the price of each item. Answering this question for your subscription box is more difficult. Do you only ship or do you offer local pickup as well? Does the perceived value of your subscription box allow you to include shipping in the cost of the box or would that make the price “too high?” Don’t be afraid to test options with your audience to help you make this decision. Join me for this episode as I talk about what you need to consider when deciding whether to charge for shipping or offer free shipping to your customers and why you may end up choosing one strategy for your one-off sales and the other for your subscription box. Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join the waitlist today!

Is tech holding you back from launching your subscription box? There are so many decisions to make. One of the first is choosing the right platform for you and your business. There are hundreds to choose from. But not all of them are right for subscription box businesses. So many people get stuck here, overthinking and over-researching. Decision paralysis sets in and they fail to make any progress at all. But it doesn’t have to be that way - I’m here to help. In this episode, I break things down for you to make it as simple as possible. I talk you through my top three website platforms and the pros and cons of each. The truth is, no one platform is perfect for every subscription box business. But there is one that’s right for you! Option 1 - WordPress/Woocommerce WordPress is the platform and Woocommerce is the plug-in needed to sell products. Woocommerce Subscriptions is the plug-in needed to sell recurring products like a subscription box. Option 2 - Shopify Shopify is an eCommerce platform that allows you to create an online store and sell products. It offers a wide range of tools and features specifically for product-based businesses. Find more in-depth information about all of these platforms and a deep dive into the Subscription Apps on Shopify inside the Launch Your Box Training Library. Not a member yet? Joinlyb.com! Option 3 - Subbly Subbly is an all-in-one subscription box platform that provides tools for managing and launching a subscription-based business. My tips for choosing a website platform: Don’t get overwhelmed by your options - go with one of these three. If you already have one of these sites, don’t change it. Build your subscription on it. Decide which features as most important to YOUR business. Evaluate the costs. Just. Get. Started. Don’t let tech stop you from moving forward. Join me for this episode where I share my top three website platforms for subscription box businesses and the pros and cons of each. Don’t let tech stop you from moving forward. Join me and our AMAZING community inside Launch Your Box! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

Building an audience of people who are interested in your subscription box is crucial. You can’t have a successful launch - and a successful business - without an audience. But you don’t need a huge following with tens of thousands of followers if you have a small audience filled with the RIGHT people. I’ve built two multi-million dollar businesses and neither one has a huge number of followers. I don’t need hundreds of thousands of followers because the followers I do have are the right people for each of my businesses. They’re engaged, they’re interested in me and what I offer, and most of them buy from me. The secret to finding subscription box success with a smaller audience is to maximize the value of your audience, no matter the size. Subscription box success - or success in any online business - doesn’t come from having a large number of followers who don’t engage with you and your business and don’t buy anything. Instead, success comes from having an engaged audience filled with your ideal customers. Finding and building an audience filled with your right people starts with remembering your why. What drove you to start a subscription box in the first place? Those people who you wanted to serve with your subscription box? Those are the people you need to attract. Those are the people who will engage with you and your business. I have some practical ways you can attract and engage an audience filled with your right people: Be known for something. What are you the expert at? What makes you happy? Show up. Get in front of your audience and go LIVE consistently. Serve before you sell. What value are you providing to your audience? You don’t have to be everywhere, but you do need to be consistent. Don’t try to do all the things! Pick a few that you are good at and can be consistent with. Love on your people! Help your audience feel seen and heard, and they’ll keep coming back. Join me for this episode as we talk about why a large following isn’t necessary for subscription box success and how you can maximize the value of your small audience. Join me and our AMAZING community inside Launch Your Box! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today!

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” - Dwayne Johnson One of the healthiest habits we can build into our businesses is consistency. Consistency trumps everything else. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to be consistent. I talk about consistency a LOT because it’s just that important. You can be an expert, you can be the best at what you do, but without consistency, you won’t succeed. Someone with less expertise who is consistent will succeed because consistency trumps expertise. A lot of business owners struggle when they try to do “all the things” and end up doing them inconsistently. Instead, do a few things and do them consistently. Look at your business and ask yourself if you’re being consistent enough in 5 key areas: 1- Planning your boxes consistently 2- Go LIVE consistently 3- Email your list consistently 4- Post on social media consistently 5- Talk about your subscription box constantly Talking about your subscription box creates buzz and generates excitement! How consistent are you? Can you improve? If you’re not consistent in any of these 5 areas, choose one to start with. Get consistent with that one and then add in another. Join me for this episode as we talk about why it’s so important to be consistent in your business and the five areas you need to be consistent in to build a successful subscription box business. Resources: YouTube video - Weekly Emails for Your Subscription Box Business FREE 6 in 60 Workshop - Curate 6 Subscription Boxes in 60 Minutes Join me and our AMAZING community inside Launch Your Box! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

Finding people who are interested in your subscription box and collecting them on a waitlist is one of the most important things you can do to have a successful launch. But you can’t just collect them. What you do with that list leading up to your launch is just as important. The more work you do between the waitlist and the launch, the higher your conversion rates will be! Inside Launch Your Box, I teach that there are 5 stages in a beginner Subscription Box Marketing Plan. Audience Building - building a following and an email list. Identifying Potential Subscribers - building a waitlist. Pre-Launch Campaign - building authority & expertise and nurturing your following and list. The Launch - actively selling your subscription. Post Launch Engagement - it’s a “feeling,” it’s not about the “stuff.” On this episode, we’re focusing on stages 2 and 3. A waitlist is an email opt-in form someone fills out to tell you they want to learn more about your subscription box. Filling out this form puts them on an email list that allows them to be the first to know when your subscription box launches, entitles them to early bird launch specials, and ensures they get an opportunity to subscribe before your boxes sell out! The goal of the waitlist strategy is to build a large list of warm leads who are interested in becoming subscribers. Every time you talk about your subscription box, your CTA is to join the waitlist. Start building your waitlist 30-90 out from your launch. Any longer, you risk the list becoming cold. Any shorter, you won’t have enough time to build a healthy list. The time between the waitlist and the launch is crucial. You can’t simply get people onto your waitlist and then 90 days later hit them with the launch. Use this time to get them to buy into who you are and what your box is about. Send weekly or bi-weekly emails, depending on how far out you are from your launch. Each of these emails should fall into one of three categories: Building credibility & your know, like, and trust factor. Talking about customer pain points and how your subscription box is a solution to these problems. Taking people behind the scenes of your subscription box. Bring your waitlist along on the process of starting your subscription box. These potential subscribers will feel like they’ve been part of the process all along, resulting in a much higher conversion rate when you do launch. Examples of 6 emails you can send between the waitlist and the launch: Introduce yourself and share your “why.” Take them behind the scenes - designing your logo, choosing packaging, etc. Get them involved. Talk about pain points and benefits. Take them behind the scenes - working on something for your subscription box. Connect you with the box. Talk about why they deserve to have your box. Build excitement - save the date, watch your email, exciting bonuses to come! Inside Launch Your Box we have FOUR brand new training lessons all about creating your waitlist, announcing your subscription box launch, driving traffic to your waitlist, and nurturing your waitlist before your launch. I’d love to have you join us. Just head over to joinLYB.com! Join me for this episode as we talk about what you need to do between building your waitlist and your launch to build your authority, nurture your prospective subscribers, and increase your conversion rate. Join me and our AMAZING community inside Launch Your Box! Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

Growing your subscription box business with paid traffic is great… Until it isn’t. One great way to choose a subscription box niche is to identify a gap in the market and fill it. An even better way is to identify a gap in a market you are passionate about. Launch Your Box member Bridget Young of Lunar Maven did both. And it paid off. She saw her subscription box grow from an initial launch of 15 subscribers to 200 subscribers in a little more than a year! The only problem was that growth was largely due to paid ads. And when the cost of paid ads continued to go up and subscriber numbers started to slip, Bridget needed a new strategy. Bridget’s Lunar Maven box is a monthly subscription box based on a subscriber’s zodiac sign. Bridget sent me a box to open during our Launch Your Box member box openings. It was customized for a Pisces - my sign. The care and attention that went into it was apparent in every detail - and my horoscope-loving heart LOVED it! Bridget’s subscription box journey started when she couldn’t find a subscription box that met her expectations of content and quality. Bridget has a passion for all things astrological and crystal. She also has a great deal of knowledge. She planned and curated a subscription box that is thoughtful, personalized, and filled with high-quality items. Items chosen based on what each sign will be experiencing during that month. Bridget focused on customer acquisition as her growth strategy, using paid Facebook Ads to get in front of the right people. The strategy worked well for the first year and Bridget’s subscription grew 5-15% per month, outpacing her monthly churn rates. Bridget was strategic with her ads. She spent time engaging in the comments, answering questions and adding value. In 2023, ads stopped performing as well for Bridget, and customer acquisition costs went way up. She had no choice but to scale back on her ad spend which had an immediate negative impact on her growth. Bridget needs a strategy to move forward and start gaining new subscribers again. I talked to her about the importance of a balanced strategy - one that counts on both paid and organic traffic. I recommended Bridget start running ads to a freebie opt-in. She has SO MUCH knowledge - creating a freebie for someone who wants to learn about crystals, zodiac signs, and more would be easy for her and valuable for her audience. Running ads to that freebie opt-in will get it in front of her ideal customer AND help her build her email list. And as you may have heard me say recently, your email is your ATM. When Bridget restarts her ads, I recommend she do things a little differently. I want her to build a nurturing email flow and nurture those people on her list, knowing they are likely to buy from her eventually. Bridget shared her goals for 2024. She wants to get to 500 subscribers. This isn’t an arbitrary number - getting to 500 subscribers would allow her to move her business out of her basement and into a separate space. It would also mean being able to hire. Both would make a big difference in balancing work and family life! With her new plan to grow using a combination of paid and organic traffic and her commitment to start consistently going LIVE on social media, I am confident Bridget will reach that goal! Join me for this episode to learn how Bridget grew her subscription box from 15 to 200 subscribers in a year and what changes she needs to make to continue to grow despite rising ad costs. Find and follow Bridget: Lunar Maven on Facebook Lunar Maven on Instagram Lunar Maven Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

“Take that one next step.” - Megan Hoiosen Have you ever read an entire book in one day? Has a book ever given you exactly what you needed exactly when you needed it? When Megan Hoiosen of Sweet Tea Living got her hands on my book, One Box at a Time, she took the day off and read it straight through. And three weeks later, she had a sold-out launch of her brand-new subscription box. A former teacher, Megan turned her love for home decor and vintage into a brick-and-mortar shop in Idaho called Sweet Tea Living. The name of Megan’s shop has almost nothing to do with tea (although she does sell it) and everything to do with creating a feeling of Southern hospitality. Megan thought about starting a subscription box for a long time. She even joined Launch Your Box a few months ago. And although she found all of the trainings - and the amazing community - a great source of knowledge, she struggled to find time to consume the information while working long days in her shop. When my book, One Box at a Time, came out late last year, Megan ordered a copy. And when it arrived, she had a feeling it might be just what she needed. She took the day off from work, sat down with a notebook, and read the book straight through. Three weeks later, Megan launched her subscription box. Oh, and she sold out! My goal when I wrote One Box at a Time was not only to tell my subscription box story but to provide readers with the knowledge and tactical action steps they need to actually launch their boxes. Megan launched and quickly hit 50 subscribers. Then 75 subscribers. And they just kept coming. She had her web designer shut things down when she hit 87 subscribers. She had sold out! Megan intended to follow the launch plan to a T but found herself overwhelmed. And that’s okay. I lay out a comprehensive launch plan inside my membership and in the chapters of One Box at a Time. That doesn’t mean you have to do all of the things every time. When you launch for the first time, take what you can and do what you can. Then the next time you launch, layer in more. Realize you can reuse the assets you built for that first launch - simply rinse and repeat. If you never start, you have nothing to build on. I give you the tools, it’s up to you to implement them. Megan has great advice for anyone dreaming about starting a subscription box inspired by the title of my book. She wants you to send the email, do the post, go LIVE, and they’ll come… One Box at a Time. When I asked Megan her goals for 2024, she said she was inspired by Episode 145 where I interviewed 3 of my Mastermind students who hit $1 million in revenue in 2023. Something tells me I’ll be doing a similar interview with Megan in the not-to-distant future. Join me for this episode to learn what can happen when you “take that one next step.” Spoiler alert - you just might end up with a sold-out subscription launch! One Box at a Time Find and follow Megan: Sweet Tea Living on Facebook Sweet Tea Living on Instagram Sweet Tea Living Website Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It takes a lot of physical, mental, and emotional energy to start a business. It takes even more energy to continue to grow a successful business. And it seems every day brings challenges, obstacles, and issues that threaten to deplete that energy. Energy we need to keep moving forward. In this episode, we’re talking about things in your business that threaten your energy. As a subscription box owner, you’re going to deal with cancellations. Every subscription box owner does. You may even deal with negative feedback. As entrepreneurs, our businesses are personal. We put our own blood, sweat, and tears into them. Managing these customer service issues can affect us. They can make us doubt ourselves and our businesses, draining us of the mental and emotional energy we need to run our businesses well. Protect your energy by puting these tips and strategies in place: Give customer service issues to someone else. If you have a VA you can delegate responses to, do so. Putting a buffer between yourself and customer service issues keeps it impersonal but still professional. Reset yourself. Take a walk, run a bath, or do something that helps you disconnect from the stress of work. Remember it’s not about you, it’s about them. You never know what a person is dealing with, especially in these situations. Cancellations happen for any number of reasons, most of which have nothing to do with the box itself. Use that perspective to try not to take these issues personally. Keep reminders of positive feedback visible. Keep positive comments and reviews where you can see them to help remind you what’s important: delivering a VIP experience to your subscribers. Cancellations and negative feedback are a fact of life as a business owner, but they don’t need to be something that robs you of precious time and energy. The longer you’re in business, the more you’ll see that if you are professional in your responses and positive in your outlook, there is a good chance many of those subscribers will come back! Join me for this episode to learn why protecting your energy is so important, especially for entrepreneurs. I’ll share strategies and tips to help you protect the energy you have and gain more! Get my Retention Rate Calculator HERE. Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order

An online marketplace that connects buyers with sellers with a HUGE reach and the potential to sell a lot of products without having to spend time or money building your own audience? Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? And for thousands of sellers on Jane.com it ended up being exactly that. The collapse of Jane.com highlights important lessons all small business owners need to learn. How did Jane.com work and why was it so attractive to so many sellers? To sell on Jane.com, small businesses had to submit an application and meet certain requirements. Sellers set their own shipping prices and were expected to pack and deliver items to customers within six days of purchase. Jane.com collected payment from the customer, kept 20-25% of sales and distributed the remaining funds to the seller. Jane.com had tens of thousands of sellers. There was always a good variety of products available to customers. A big part of what made Jane.com so attractive to buyers was their flash sales. Every three days, they ran 72 hour flash sales. Jane.com promoted these sales through multiple channels including email. Sellers would sell hundreds to thousands of products in only 72 hours. Small business owners who sold their products on Jane.com didn’t have to build an audience - they used Jane.com’s audience. All they needed to do was provide product at a great price and deliver it quickly. This feels like a huge win to small business owners who know how hard it is to build an audience. So what happened? Had there been signs of trouble? The fall of Jane.com and what it means to these sellers shines a bright light on three things all small business owners MUST do to ensure something like this doesn’t happen to them. Can you benefit from a platform with a built-in audience? Absolutely. But, realize you cannot take shortcuts in business. You cannot skip the work of building your audience yourself. You have control of your business. For much more about what is working now to build your business, listen to episode 144. Join me for this episode to find out what led to the fall of Jane.com, what it means for tens of thousands of small business owners, and what you can do to ensure something like this won’t happen to your business. Join me in all the places: Facebook Instagram Launch Your Box with Sarah Website Are you ready for Launch Your Box? Our complete training program walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. Join today! Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order