UPP 2024 Recap: My Takeaways from the Ultimate Product Party

In this episode of the Product Powerhouse Podcast,  host Erin Alexander reflects on attending the 'The Ultimate Product Party' business conference in Orange County, California. She shares her top takeaways and valuable lessons learned including the importance of attending in-person events, and the joy of connecting with fellow product-based business owners.

Highlights include meeting speakers, the importance of showing up authentically in your business, working smarter, not harder, and the philosophy of 'take what you need and leave the rest.' 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• The Ultimate Product Party 
• Find Your New Biz Bestie At The Ultimate Product Party podcast episode with Cat + Allison 
• Getting Your Small Business in Gift Guides with Allison Carter 
• Growing a Sustainable Product Business with Tracy Matthews

Transcript

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Hello there. Welcome to another episode of the product powerhouse podcast. I am. Coming at you today. With a little bit of a scratchy voice, but if I do not record this podcast, Today. I will never record it. I will just not get it done. I've been trying to do this. For two weeks now. And things just keep getting in my way and this cold will not go away. It's been over seven days. So we're just rolling with it. I have a cup of hot tea with honey, which is supposed to help like coat your throat. So we're just going to power through. And I appreciate you. Hopefully it's not so bad that it's annoying. For this episode, I really wanted to do like a recap or my main takeaways from the business conference I went to at the beginning of may, the ultimate product party. Which was in. Orange county. California. It was incredible. And so I just really want to dive in and I want to share with you my biggest takeaways and, things that I picked up from the event so that to share, but also Encourage you to maybe attend the next ultimate product party or attend any. In person. Conference because. They are totally different than virtual events. And. If you've been here a while, I've hosted. A lot of virtual summits, which is like a virtual. Conference and it doesn't even compare. To how awesome it is to be a real life. In person. Cause. I would say in real life, but like virtual and online is real life but an in-person event, especially surrounded by your people who get what you do. So if you are not familiar with the ultimate product party, let's start there. This is a conference for product based business owners. But it is. Not like a boring stuffy hotel room conference. It's like really fun. They always pick a really beautiful venue. They have lots of fun. Like there was a photo booth each time I've gone and they have beautiful backdrops and. It's it is a business conference in the content. And like all the sessions are very business heavy, but it feels fun. And there's a lot of energy and excitement around. Being there. It's hosted by cat and Alison. Cat is the owner of kitty Meow, which is a stationary business. And Alison runs a personal branding business called Alison Carter celebrates. And together they are cat and Alison. And I've actually had them on the podcast before. So if you scroll back. What's really weird is that. Although all of the episodes are numbered. They don't show up numbered when I look for past episodes. So I can't just tell you, oh, go to number, whatever. Even though they are numbered. The numbers don't show up anywhere. So I don't know why that is. But I had Kat and Alison on back in. February of 2023 and we talked about being at an in-person event, finding your new biz best friend an event like that, and it was a really fun conversation cat and Alison are so fun. They are just really great leaders. They're very open and honest and transparent. With everything going on. And they have both run product based businesses in the past. They're just really awesome. I've also had Alison on the podcast before in a separate episode, she was actually a speaker at my very first virtual summit. And then we turned that summit presentation into a podcast episode, all about getting your product based business into gift guides for the holidays. And that was back in October of 2022. Now I want to say that. You do not have to wait for the holidays to get into gift guide. So if you're like, oh, that sounds interesting. I want to listen to it now, because those types of things are like, I hate to say it, but we got to get the ball rolling, but also there are all kinds of gift guides. I mean it's may now, but you could have been in a Valentine's gift guide mother's day father's day, any of those things. So that's a great episode to listen to any time of year. To get yourself in that mindset for the holiday season. I know it's may don't come at me. I'm not telling you it's around the corner. I'm just saying as product based business owners, we know that is always in the back of our mind. Anyway. So last year UPP, which is what we call it was in Nashville. And I had applied to be a speaker and I had even put a picture on my vision board. I'm going to speak at this event in 2023 and I did, and it was awesome. And so I had so much fun in Nashville that I signed up or bought a ticket for the 2024 event while still in Nashville. Now they have not announced the 2025 events or anything like that. So I don't know like any details, but. I know that I will be going there's no doubt about it in my mind. I will always go to a UPP event. If at all possible it's like that. Good. I did not apply to be a speaker at this year. And now looking back, I realized that was just me playing small. And wanting to hide. Mostly because I was so self critical of my first. Time speaking. Which is so silly because it was literally my very first time speaking on a stage with a microphone in a room full of people. All the other times that I have spoken at events have been virtual. And The first speaking gig in person that I had booked. Fell through because of. 2020, so it was my first time speaking on stage last year, but I felt like I did such a terrible job that I didn't apply to be a speaker this year, which I regret that. I would have been an awesome speaker. And it would've been great. And new ways so this year's event, I was really excited to attend this year's event to connect with some of the other people. That we're speaking and the business owners that were there. The other thing is that sense in the fall of last year, I launched my own product based business, caffeine and carbs, which is my graphic tee shop. I run this with my bestie, Shayna, and we have like graphic tees and crew necks and tote bags for elder millennials. Anybody who likes coffee, reading, entrepreneurship eating carbs. Those are our people. So I had launched my own product based business and was really looking forward to learning and Thinking outside the box for that business also. What I really love about what I really loved about UPP this year. Is that I went into it, knowing other people, which is really difficult if you've never been to an event before. But since I was a speaker the year before I had made a conscious effort to get to know other speakers and people who said they were going to be there. But some of the speakers that were at this year's event have been on my podcast before, or I've asked them to be a speaker in the summit, or we've had some kind of connection that way, which I just think is so cool to get, to meet them in person and Talk about our lives. Talk about our businesses. Some of those people that were there this year was like Tracy Matthews who runs flourish and thrive. And I was a coach in her community for a couple of years, actually. And it was really nice to connect with her in person again. There was also Kelly Kempel from hidden path creative. Who does branding and package design, who has been a speaker in my summit. And I think we've recorded a podcast episode. As well, I know we have actually, I just need to edit it. And so it was really fun to connect with her in person and like talk and just get to know each other, like away from the screens. Kelly Morrison was there from create your affiliate program, which I love Kelly's program. I took her I don't exactly remember what it's called, but her like affiliate program. Bootcamp in January. So she helped me get an affiliate program up and running. And so that was really nice to get a connect with her. We also have a fun collaboration we're planning in the future. So I was really excited. To see her in person. We had a really great conversation. There was also Monica Liddell who I have been on her podcast. She has been on this show or she is coming up. And so it was really fun to connect with her too. Again, another person that was a speaker at my event. It's just so funny when you work primarily online. You don't I see the people that you're working with or that you're collaborating with, you don't. Run into them at the grocery store. You don't. You don't get to stop into their shop or anything like that. So getting to meet those people in person. And an event is just so much fun. It's a little less awkward than going and getting coffee. Just the two of you, because there's a lot going on. So it takes some of that awkwardness out of it. If you're like. An extroverted introvert or completely introverted. For me, I am definitely like a mix of both. And it can be awkward and then you can be like, oh, excuse me, I gotta use the restroom. Walk away, if you're feeling uncomfortable or like you need a moment of peace, a lot less pressure than like an in-person coffee date or anything like that. I was also really excited about some of the speakers whom I haven't met, but have followed in the online space for a while. Like Heather Crabtree was there. Heather Crabtree is a business coach. She works a lot with service providers, but she has been a business coach for forever. Like as long as I have been in business, she has been a business coach. She was like one of the very first memberships I ever joined. I think it was called. The savvy entrepreneur. I don't remember something savvy. But it was really nice to meet her. And she shared her daughter London story. If you haven't heard of Heather and her daughter, London. Definitely check the show notes because for all of these people that I've mentioned, I will link to like their Instagram or their website or something so that you can connect with these people. If you're interested. Another person who was there and speaking with Shannon from the social bungalow, who's all about using Instagram and selling on Instagram. And she's just fun and relatable. So that was a really fun session. I don't feel like it does mean a lot of good to just keep name-dropping people. That's not going to help you at all. So I'm going to stop there. But I did want to share with you like the three main themes that I felt were throughout the entire conference and like my biggest takeaways from most. The first one was be your authentic self. So there were several speakers. Talking about. Not just personal branding, but just being yourself. And how being yourself is really. Where the magic happens in your business. And I feel like this is so incredibly true for product based business owners, because the truth is that no matter what you sell, you are not the only one who sells it. I can buy. Thank you cards from anyone. I can buy soap from anyone. I can buy candles from anyone. At a much lower price and Likely the same quality, because there are lots of people doing that. And I don't mean that to be. Like say anything negative about your business? Because that's not the point is that what makes it different? What makes your candles different or your thank you cards different is you and how you do things and how you show up in your business and how you infuse yourself and your personality and your core values and your beliefs into your business. And so throughout the whole conference, I just kept feeling like there was this this overarching theme that says. When you show up as your authentic self. That is when you will stop feeling like an imposter that is when you will stop feeling like. You want to give up? I mean within reason, I think that we're always going to have those feelings. It's just the nature of the game, but. When you are yourself and when you are all about what you do. And believe in yourself, that's when you're going to see the magic happen. That was like one of my main takeaways and just something I keep repeating to myself. The second theme that I really felt was present everywhere was. Let's work smarter, not harder. And this showed up in so many ways. And I feel if you listened to this podcast, this is something I'm all about. I love to be efficient. I love to find like the best way to do something. So working smarter, not harder. It can apply to so many things. So some of the ways that I saw showing up was like, when we were talking about how to use AI and the girls from duo collective, which I will link to again. They talked about using AI and treating it like an intern in your business because so many of us are thinking like AI is going to take over my job, but but they want you to think about it. Like how can AI help you do your job? Not, how can it take over your job, which I love. So that's one way to work smarter not harder. The, there was two different sessions on hiring. One was like hiring your, a team like that right-hand person. The other was on hiring a virtual assistant, like an overseas virtual assistant, which is a really interesting perspective. I've always been afraid to hire overseas because I didn't want to exploit people. But it was really interesting to just see the perspectives and different ways people can help you in your business. There was also a session on driving traffic to your store and Ways to drive traffic to your store more effectively. Which, coming from my background, I love talking about traffic. I thought that was a really great session. And just showing how to work smarter, not harder. For example, Pinterest is a great traffic source that can help you grow. Consistently without requiring as much work as like something like Instagram or you have to make reels and things like that. I just felt like that was a really important. Theme throughout the conference and it made me look at ways that I can Improve processes and systems in my business so that I am. Maybe taking more advantage of AI or maybe I look into hiring an assistant again, there's just a lot of different things. Or a lot of different ways you can make changes to work smarter, not harder. Okay. And the third takeaway that I felt was such a big one. Throughout the conference and multiple people said this and that is take what you need and leave the rest. And I think that is so important. And I have always lived by this kind of idea. Take what you need. Leave the rest. But I never said it in that way. A good example of this is in this online marketing space. There are hundreds thousands. I don't know. Of people telling you, oh, do this and your business will grow, do this. And your business will grow. Do it this way, focus on that. It's like a buffet. You're at the buffet and you're looking at all the options. And you're thinking to yourself I hate broccoli, so I'm not going to try that broccoli salad. But I love banana cream pudding. So I'm going to take a big heaping of that. This looks good. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it. So I'll take a little taste, There are so many ways two grow and scale an online business. No one way is perfect for every single person and no one way is going to be perfect for you. You have to find what works for you and you have to let go of the rest. And. Some of those things are going to be like in the back of your mind. You're like thinking maybe on my next pass to the buffet. Line or taste that, but not this time. So that's like prioritizing, right? So maybe. You are prioritizing Pinterest. And right now you're not prioritizing like learning a new platform. So I really just loved this repetitive message of take what you need and leave the rest. And I want you to take that here too. Like you do not have to listen to every episode of this podcast, you do not have to implement everything you hear, but maybe you hear one golden nugget that changes a perspective or one little tip that helps you figure out how Shopify works better. And you can totally forget the rest. That's business and that's what I love about the online. Business world and everything everywhere else, too. This is life. You get to decide what salads you put on your plate and what you leave at the buffet. And you don't have to think about that buffet again. All right. Thank you for letting me share my takeaways from UPP with you. I did share some behind the scenes and like pictures and things on Instagram. But I'm going to also add them to this blog post. So if you want to see some more behind the scenes, take a look at the venue, see some selfies. Visit the product powerhouse.co website and go to the podcast page and you'll see that there. I will also include a ton of links to different people I spoke about and some of the different speakers and the ultimate product party website, so that you can get on their email list and find out when the next ultimate product party is going to be, because you do not want to miss it. I will definitely be there as long as I don't have any major conflicts. Thank you so much. And I will see you on the next episode.