Here's a long overdue update on what's new in both the personal and business life of Julie & Renae, two years after selling Sparkle Hustle Grow.
Resources mentioned:
Here's a long overdue update on what's new in both the personal and business life of Julie & Renae, two years after selling Sparkle Hustle Grow.
Resources mentioned:
So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start, girl, you are in the right place. I'm Julie ball and I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at subscription box basics, a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper, and let's have some fun.
Julie:Hey, everybody. And welcome back to subscription box basics. I'm Julie ball, your head coach, and I'm joined by Rene Gonzalez, your marketing coach. We are going to just do like this really casual chit chat today. I feel like that's what we've been doing a lot lately and we've really been enjoying it. And today we're going to just tell you what we've been up to because We are both multi passionate entrepreneurs and we have got a lot of neat things going on in the background. We just thought we'd pull back the curtain and let you know what we've been up to beyond subscription box basics we have ventured into some other things. So Renee, how are you doing? Are you excited for this chat? I am. I'm excited to chat and we've got a lot going on, both personal and business. So a lot to talk about. We do. And it's so funny because I know this because I've been working with you for what, like seven years now, but everybody, Renee goes like, Radio silent in May, because I, and I'm sure so many people listening can relate, but the end of the school year and, and I'll get more into it, but this year, even more so, but the end of the school year is like, yeah, I just put my head down and, and pray. Yeah, exactly. Right. Okay. So let's dive into it. I'm gonna first start with what I've been up to, then we'll transition to what Renee has been up to, and then we'll talk a little bit about some changes here at Subscription Box Basics. So for those of you who don't know, I sold my box business, Sparkle Hustle Grow, back in 2022. It was August 1st, and we are approaching the two year anniversary of selling that box business, which just blows my mind. Renee, I see you shaking your head too, like. It feels like yesterday. It is so, it's just a testament to how fast time goes by, but I can't believe it's. Yeah, we're months away from it being two years. That's crazy. It is wild to me, and I love what the new owners have been doing with it. I've been following along, and it just like, it just makes me so happy inside. And for those of you who don't know the story, I didn't start my box To sell it. Some people start a business to sell it. I just got to a point where I felt like we were ready for our next season and I wanted to pour more into coaching and try some other things. And so I ended up selling the business and what a blessing it was. To my family. So after the sale of that business, Renee and I kind of doubled down on coaching. we updated Subscription box bootcamp. We I brought her on as the co-host to this podcast. We have been homeschooling as a family since the pandemic and so. My husband previously was in charge of that, but now, after I sold the box business, he started a new career. He was formerly a middle school teacher, which was perfect for homeschooling. And so I was like, oh man, so he's not our homeschool lead anymore. Guess who is? You're looking at her. So I have transitioned to be kind of the homeschool lead here. We do a combination of some hands on things with some workbooks and, and reading out loud and stuff like that. So McKenna is in seventh grade right now. And then she does some online stuff. We are members of this program called Me Academy. Which Carmen Vermilion told me about, who is a brilliant graphic designer for subscription boxes. So she, McKenna does MeAcademy. And then on Fridays, we do a home, a local homeschool co op. It is the highlight of her week. She goes from like 9am to 3pm, and last week was our last week for the semester. And so of course there was a lot of like hoopla around the last day. There was an art show. There were the little ballerina girls. They have, there's like a preschool ballerina class. They did a little dance for everyone. And then everyone went to, one of the families. Properties. And we just had this picnic. It was great. All the kids got together. There was a pond there. They could canoe and swim. And we just had such a good time. So I've been doing this homeschool lead and somehow ended up now as the yearbook editor in normal fashion, really diving in. I know. Right. So at the co op, the co op has been running for, I think, almost 20 years now. And we're what? Three, I think three years in. And they've always had a yearbook and usually they did it as a class. Well, they didn't have a yearbook class this year. And so over the last couple of months, I heard a couple of people saying, Oh, we're so bummed there's not going to be a yearbook. So naturally, McKenna and I are like, we'll do it. Not realizing what we were getting into. So there's about 150 kids. We scheduled a photo day. So we took, you know, a backdrop paper to put up. We had a little Stool for them to sit on and a, and a ring camera for the light. It was, it was like a full on production and now we are in the process of designing it in Canva. So McKenna and I are doing that. It's really a great opportunity for her and I to work together on something. And there's a local. Family in our co op that runs a print shop. So we'll print through them. Everyone will get a free digital copy Okay, i'm going on a tangent, but i'm just telling you Like these are some of the things that i've had capacity to do and have volunteered to do lately with homeschooling. From my husband's perspective He just finished a project where I had said after we sold sparkle hustle grow He used some of the profits of that to buy an old cabin, this 100 year old cabin here in the Asheville area. And he's a, he has a general contracting license. So he and his dad and a couple guys that he hired renovated this 100 year old cabin. The idea Was, we're going to keep this, run it as an Airbnb, and this will be part of our retirement plan. Well, friends, plot twist. Over a year later, the project got longer than anticipated. It cost more than expected, because all renovations do, plus, you know, inflation on top of that. And it just became a little bit saturated in the Airbnb market where we live, and so we decided to flip it instead. And we just closed on that this Monday when the buyers signed the papers. Yes, I know, happy news! We can pay off all the debt that we incurred on that, but also use the leftovers as part of our income. And it was really a labor of love. There was a lot under the hood that we didn't know about, but as newbie, you know, renovators, home flippers, whatever you want to call us, we didn't know what we didn't know. And so there were some foundational things that he had to tackle, And, you know, in the end, it still is a 100 year old house, even though everything inside is brand new. All new electric, all new plumbing, all new appliances. We took down walls. It was an interesting project. Are we gonna do it again? Probably not for a while. I mean, you're doing the home renovation now. Yeah, you'll have to either in the show notes or on our Instagram page, you'll have to post a before and a couple of before and afters because it turned out the pictures, it turned out beautiful. So definitely, definitely a success looks wise. I know. I know it exhaled a lot more than you guys were ready or knew to begin with, but it gosh, it turned out gorgeous. So you'll have to, you'll have to post before and afters. I will. I'll definitely share that. And the, there's a family that just purchased it and we know that they were a growing family and they needed more space. And they said this was like their dream home. So that's very satisfying, you know, like the, the assignment is now complete, but it was I'll just say interesting. So that doesn't mean we'll never do it again. We may do something on a smaller scale in the future. We don't know. We do have like a rental house too that is in another city that we have been long term renting. So, you know, there's different options. So that's something we've been dabbling in. I also, since the sale of the business, dabbled in Amazon business. And so I mentioned it here and there on some podcasts, but essentially I had a handful of products that I wanted to learn the Amazon platform. And so there was two ways I did this. I did the Amazon influencer program, which I just checked my stats and it's been very passive income, but I've made almost a thousand dollars since I think I launched my influencer program in. Maybe October of last year? And the influencer program is I'm, I don't consider myself an influencer. I'm not on Instagram, like sharing all these things, but I create these little videos of products that I've used on Amazon and those videos live in the Amazon platform. If someone watches them, then proceeds to buy, then I get a small cut. And so Kathleen Coble has a course on that. I'll put the link in the show notes. If you're interested in checking that out, that's been a really cool thing. I haven't made a video since probably December and I'm still making, you know, maybe. 100 a month on, on those videos that I've already created. So that's super cool. And, and that's what I was going to point out. It's super passive. Cause I think a lot of times when people think influencer or especially Amazon influencer nowadays, you think of people who post and link in their stories and you're not doing that. And you're still making a little bit of income, which is awesome. Yeah. They have kind of two different platforms. It's like the influencer. You, you can influence people on to Amazon from your social media, for example, or your blog or whatever. But I'm just doing the on Amazon platform one. And I love that. So I, I need to set myself a goal to make maybe 20 more videos over the summer. I think it would be really impactful. The other side of the Amazon business that I've been working on was selling actual products. And y'all, it is not for the faint of heart. That is the, Most challenging platform that I've ever had to learn. There's a lot of opportunity. Trust me. There's a lot of opportunity, but to break through and get ranked and there's just a lot of competition and you need to have the right pricing. It's, it's not passive selling a product on Amazon. It's definitely not passive. I've enjoyed some parts of it. Some parts I haven't enjoyed and I probably won't pursue it after this year. I'm going to just sell through my inventory, but. It's also something that I can put on my resume, like that I have the Amazon platform experience and I can have a conversation about that. I can talk to a subscription box business owner or just a product based business owner and share my experience. And so we'll just chalk that one up to experience. And then lastly, from a business perspective, I have been working Kind of as a freelancer with our friends at BoxUp. So I'm super pumped about this. Hopefully I can get them back on the podcast. We'll definitely be seeing them at SubSummit. But if you haven't heard of them, they are a leading supplier of custom packaging solutions. So think, you know, the durable corrugated cardboard boxes that you can ship your subscription in. Those mailers, you can get them custom printed. And what I love about BoxUp is they're all about Like they're, they have low minimums, which means you can order as little as 12 boxes. So if you're ordering say 3000 or less boxes, you're going to get the best turnaround, the best product and the best pricing over at box up. So what am I doing with them? I am helping them with their strategic partners. So that's mostly in the affiliate world. So for example, If you are an influencer or if you're a coach or if you have an audience of entrepreneurs, then that would be a good fit for you. For example, if someone says, where can I get custom boxes? And you tell them box up, you use your affiliate link. Then you get a cut back. You get that commission. So I'm helping them grow that program. And I've worked on both sides of affiliates before. I've been an affiliate for a lot of things. And then we also have affiliate programs for subscription box boot camp. So it's really fun to Having been on both sides, be able to help them grow their business. So if you see me talking about BoxUp, that's what that's all about. And if you want to be an affiliate, if you want to share about BoxUp, then DM me. I'll get you set up with your unique tracking link and you can start earning. So that's what I've been up to. I feel like I just talked a lot and that sounds like a lot, but it's been a while since I've given an update like this. And it's really cool because we're next month we'll be going to SubSummit and that is where we first met BoxUp. We didn't even know they existed before SubSummit meeting them last year and, and I feel like right from the get kind of hit it off with their team. So this has been a very natural, I had them as a team. As someone we suggested for subscription box basics and you worked with them in that capacity. So this has been a very natural transition for you. Yeah, I agree. And they, their product is awesome. Like that was one of the first things when they, they came and chased us down and they're like, we want to chat with you guys. And so we went back to their setup at sub summit and we're like, let's see the boxes. They were really, really good quality. The print just popped. And so they became our preferred vendor. For custom boxes. So if you are looking for custom boxes, like that, there's your answer. We recommend BoxUp. They ship to the U. S. and Canada. And we'll put the, their details in the show notes if you want to check them out. And they actually gave us a code that we announced previously. It's SBB12, SBB12. And you can get 12 free custom printed boxes. You just have to pay the shipping if you use that code. So, Check out the show notes, we'll have all those details. But yeah, I'm really excited about the prospect of working, continuing to work in the subscription box industry, but in other capacities. And I, it's interesting as you and me this past two years now have been dabbling on like, what's next. We both have been toyed with like, Oh, maybe, maybe something else maybe. And Now, now that it's my turn to share a little bit about my update, it's funny how we're both still in, obviously with the podcast and subscription box basics, but, but even pursuing other things that are in the subscription box industry too. So yeah, we're like, we just love this industry. We don't want to leave. We can't leave. Yeah. So I'll, I'll give a little. Bit of an update about what's been going on with me. I'll start just like Julie did with the personal and then I'll jump into what I've been doing business wise too. So, I, as Julie mentioned, it's May when we're recording this podcast episode and not only am I in like many people who are probably listening in the crazy end of the year, hustle and bustle, but I have a fifth grader and an eighth grader. So I have. My younger one, my daughter is ending elementary school. And then I have my older daughter ending middle school. So I am getting ready to just have middle school and high school kids. And my brain can't handle it. I know. Cause you're only 25. I'm not getting older at all. And they want you to get older. I don't understand what's happening, but yeah. So we, so we have a couple extra. End of the year, a little, the fifth graders do a clap off and some extra end of the year, things that eighth grade dance and eighth grade promotion they do at, at Peyton school. So yeah, gearing up for the end of the school year. And then of course they, they both luckily gymnastics season is over, but my children like to, on top of it have spring heavy sports. So we're doing swim started softball season. So. Let the, let the fun begin. Yeah. We're on modified year round school. My girls are in public school and we're in California. So we only have summer for like six, six and a half weeks. So May, June, July is our, our chaos. And we kind of put our head down and have some fun and get after it. And then they start back to school end of July. So it's super, super quick and short, but yes, that's, that is where I am currently in motherhood. And then and you're, so you're just an Uber in the summer. Oh, no. Hardcore. Yeah. And everything, everyone's like, Oh, more, more time in summer. Oh no. We, their, their activities move like swim and gymnastics is in the morning. So we are up and at them at seven 30 to go to the pool and then, yeah. So I'm just going to call you Ruber, Renee the Ruber. Yes, I am Mama Ruber. Yeah, so I'm gearing up for my Ruber busy stage. So that is what I, that is what I mostly do when I am not working the little bit I am working currently. And then this, this will be nothing compared to your big house reno. But we currently are. A one bathroom family because we decided to do jump into DIY a little bit. My husband and I, and we are redoing our bathroom. So that's, that's been fun. We have, how's that going? It's going, we as you know, but other people don't we, we were, have been sharing one bathroom for a while, but just haven't pulled the trigger on doing anything, but, but. Because it's May and we're like, Hey, let's add something else. The last few weeks last week we decided to tear everything up. So we currently have a clean slate in our primary bathroom. So it's our toilet, we haven't completely got rid of, but everything else is ready for tile. So it's been fun. My husband. Works in the elevator industry, elevator construction. So he is such a handyman, but doesn't give himself enough credit. So he's been a little, a little apprehensive to start with tile and all other things he's not used to, but he's, he's going to be so good. So, and he, and he's got his dad, my father in law helping him and one of our best friends. So they're getting after it. It's starting to take shape. It's it's looking, they haven't laid tile yet, but they've prepped everything and it's It's looking good. So, and we have, we live in a 90s house. So everything was 30 plus years old anyway. So I'm like, can't, knock on wood, can't, can't get much worse. We'll see, but it's been fun. The design part. I, I love that you got to do a whole house cause just the bathroom alone. Now, now I'm like, what can we do next? It's been fun picking out tiles and a new vanity and mirrors. I'm having fun designing it. Okay. I have one bit of advice. When we renovated our house, our primary house, we put in the vanities that have like a square sink instead of the rounded bowl. Do not ever do that if you have kids. After they brush their teeth, they're going to spit in there. And if it's not rounded, the spit does not go down. It just stays there. So it's funny because even McKenna at 12, almost 13, she's like, when I have a house, I am not getting these types of sinks. I want the round ones. And I was like, Oh, that's hilarious. Oh, good. So ours, ours, I haven't bought it yet, but it's, it looks like an oval. It has a slope. So we should be good. That's all you need. That is good to know. It's funny. I've never, like, I wouldn't think that purchasing myself, but when I go to hotels, we spend a lot of time in, in hotels, I know I'm always looking at the sink and we're always like, why would they do that? And the last one we were in it was, it was like a rectangular shaped and the water flow too was like splashing everywhere. I'm like, why, why would they do that? So, well, it just looked nice and it was a good deal. And then now here we are regretting it, but it is what it is. Now, now you can help not only me, but all our listeners. Exactly. You're welcome. You're welcome. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So we, we've got a little DIY going on. I'm already itching once this is done, what we'll do next, but yeah, it's, it's been fun because we've lived in our house now for seven years almost seven years. And I am the type of person who is hesitant to like, even hang something on the walls because I don't want to commit to it. So this is my first big commitment. I'm like, let's tear it up and it doesn't have to live forever. That's my new route. That's my new motto. Like if we don't like it, it's okay. So yeah, we're, we're having fun with it. So that's what's going on with me on the personal side and then business. I've been loving everything we've been doing, but I wasn't sure if I was going to say in subscriptions. I wasn't sure what's next. And now I'm diving in because I had a couple opportunities to be on launch teams. One with you, Julie, and one with Jessica of Yura Boxes. And I've helped launch a couple boxes worked with them the first few months into their launch. And, and As you know, and some of our listeners might know, I love a good launch. So it filled me up. It's been so fun. I think my favorite part is one of my favorite parts of subscriptions is the launch and just building the hype behind the scenes. So it's been really fun to be able to do that. And then that kind of spiraled into working with a couple of different subscription boxes. So now I have clients that I'm working for and I'm on their team for doing both customer service stuff and social media. So shout out to good guy, Jean and we craft a box because I get to be part of their team now and I'm helping them with their social and customer service. I love that. And if you guys haven't figured this out about us now, that we love the excitement of something new. And you guys are probably like that too. I mean, if you're starting a new business, there's just something very, very fun and exciting about that. And what we do here at Subscription Box Basics, I mean, it doesn't take that much time. You know what I mean? Like we're podcasting, we're posting and sending some emails here and there. But over these past six plus months, Rene and I have both been, you know, thinking about what's next for us. So it's really exciting to share these updates about what's next. And I love, Rene, that you're doing some of the same stuff that you did with me at Sparkle Hustle Grow, and you were so, so good at. I mean, We won a cube award that was chosen by the people, but it was a community choice award. And that just goes to show your work really was recognized. We, I think we got nominated too for best customer service or something like that. Customer experience. We showed it. Yes, customer experience. And so I know you're really good at that. It's been recognized publicly that you're really good at that type of stuff. And so I'm really excited that you get to. Use your skills in other boxes that needed your help. And I love what we do here, and I love the consulting part of it. I love dreaming up ideas with, with box owners. But I feel like, for me, I was really missing the content creation. And that has been really, really fun to be able to do for, both when I was helping a couple boxes launch and now being on social media teams for these boxes. And I feel like I love. Running with ideas and just being able to put things out there. So it's, yeah, it's, it's been fun. And then we craft box is children's craft box. And I, and before my subscription journey, I owned a children's boutique. So that hosted crafting things and I've worked for a preschool for a decade. So it's been really fun to like dip into, to go back to my roots and really dip into that sort of thing. And she's well established. So Betsy Wilde runs WeCraftBox, and we've been friends and colleagues with her for years. We've spent time with her at SubSummit before. I've spent a lot of time in a peer group with her, just like a peer led mastermind. And so, really good People over there. Great product. So I'm so excited for you with that. Yeah, it's, it's fun. I'm, I'm so happy. Both, both good hygiene and we craft box, but happy, happy to be on some teams with some amazing people so yeah, excited for My next venture into subscription box business is wherever it continues to take me, but I'm not going anywhere for the time being. Yeah. Yeah. And so as we've talked about my updates and your updates, you guys listening are probably like, what does this mean for subscription box basics? What does this mean for everything? Really, there's not a lot of changes over here. We'll give you some updates together here next. But you know, one, we're going to sub summit next month. We're super excited to meet some of you. Hug and fist bump and high five all, whoever's going to be there. We love meeting people in person. We're going to be doing a live podcast while we're there. So we're super excited about that. What else are we doing? We've got some really cool collaborations up our sleeves that are coming out later this year. I can't give you any details, but I'll drop some hints. We are in conversations with Liam over at Subscription Box Experts. We are in some conversations with Stefan at Subly, which is our favorite software to run your subscription box business on. In fact, when we're at SubSummit next month, we are going to be participating at their booth at the expo hall. And you're going to be getting some information. We'll, we'll be sure to share that via email, but they are essentially having like this genius bar, kind of like the Apple genius bar. They're going to have a Subli genius bar. So Renee and I will be spending some time there. You'll be able to book some time with us. If you want some one on one or two on one time with us to talk shop about any challenges that you're going through or. You know, ask some advice for, or if you need referrals to certain softwares or whatever. We're super excited to be a part of that. So shout out to Subly for having us there. And then we're also in conversations with Jess at A Year of Boxes. I'm going to be interviewing her at the end of May and so we'll be able to share all of that information. But I think you guys know Jess Principe. She's my Box Bestie. We met in 2016 when we were both first launching. She has been running All Girl Shave Club, but also does some mentorship and some coaching programs, and now is the owner of A Year of Boxes, which is a review site. So we're super excited to unveil all of that information as it comes out over the next, say, month or so. Oh, I love doing collabs and strategic partnerships. It is just so much fun, and it's always such a win win. And it's funny that we keep going back to what we'll Talk about doing one thing or we'll be go one direction with SBB. And then it always comes back to, to collabing with people and, and working with this amazing subscription box community. Agreed. Agreed. Okay, so there is one small change with subscription box boot camp that we need to share with everyone. So as Renee and I are kind of dabbling in some other areas of the subscription box industry, we had to figure out a way to manage our time well. And so what we decided to do is we are, here on, moving forward, have switched subscription box boot camp to a self service one. And then we also have the subscription box boot camp study program. And so the framework is all the same. All that experience, you know, the, the templates and the swipe files, the video training, all of that information is all the same. The only difference really is that we will no longer be adding to the subscription box boot camp group. There's a Facebook group just for students that in the past has been really active and we've, that's been a way for us to share resources to connect with each other. But in order for us to be able to manage our time with all the personal and business things that we have our hands in, we're just going to be shutting the doors to that. Now, if you're already in it, we're going to keep it open. You can continue to interact in there, but we don't go in there as often. And so as a result of shifting subscription box boot camp to a self study, the great news is that we've also lowered the price. So this was not only because it no longer includes the community side of it, but also as a response to the current economic environment. We have talked to so many people that want to launch a subscription box business and they need the resources and so we have lowered the price of subscription box bootcamp. You can get all the details right on the website and we've also created, and you may have heard this from months past, we also created the framework into a printed workbook. And that workbook is available on Amazon, it's on print on demand, so if you order it, it's, I think it's prime delivery, I really, I think it's going to order, come to your house in like two to three days. So we will put all the links to that in the description. In the show notes, but what you need to know is the good news is that we are making it more affordable and we're making it self study. You'll still get lifetime access and, and access to all the resources, the swipe files, templates, and all the good stuff. It's really just, it's a win win for everyone. It is. I'm really excited about it. The framework is one of those frameworks too, that it will, it will last a long time. a long, long time. It's not going to get outdated because the basics of carving out your concept, you know, researching the competition and getting your box launched, like that kind of stuff doesn't change much. Marketing changes. And so that's, one thing you have to stay on top of. And we do cover a lot of marketing in there, but I feel super confident that the people who enroll in the self study are absolutely going to get what they need to get their box idea off the ground. And we have the self study, but you can also get the book on its own, but also get it as an add on too, right? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So whether you're a digital, an audio learner, or maybe you are a pen and paper kind of learner where you, you need to have the worksheets and stuff, we've got you covered either way. And we want to make sure that you get the resources. We're still going to check in with you with accountability emails. We're still gonna be available via email if you have a question that is really holding you up. So, I hope that if you've been on the fence about Subscription Box Boot Camp, then this might be just what you need to actually take action. And so if you have any questions about that, or if you want to learn more, You can email us, you can reach us in Instagram DMs, would love to share more information or help you figure out if it's the right fit. But I'm really excited about that direction so that we can not only fill our buckets, you know, Renee, you and I working with other people doing collabs but also still having this amazing framework, the subscription box bootcamp that we know is tried and true. It's helped over 550 boxes launch. And you might be next. Yeah, so definitely DM us too at our Instagram page at Subscription Box Basics because we want to know what you've been up to, if this episode was helpful at all, if you need any of those resources that Julie mentioned, like if you're looking for a new box so we can send you box up, if you have questions about some of the things we said, definitely reach out to us because we're both in there still all the time and we would love to chat with you and help you further if needed. Yeah, except if you're at swim practice, or gymnastics practice, or, or, broobering. If it's me, it might take a little longer to get back to you. I'm just joking. But Julie's really good. Well, this has been really fun. I hope you guys have enjoyed hearing what we've been up to, both personally and professionally. I think it's important to really get to know your coaches, to make sure that they're aligned with you. And, honestly I just don't show up on social media as much anymore, that's where I used to do my updates. So I felt like this was a long overdue update. And thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you on the next episode. Bye! Bye!