Turn Down The Hustle: Empowering Online T-Shirt Sellers

25 | From Tee Parties to a Storefront with Ashley Brown Boutique 540

• Sun Kissed Virtual Assistant • Episode 25

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From the heat of a firefighter's blaze to the warmth of a welcoming boutique, Ashley Brown's journey is as unconventional as it is inspiring. Our chat this week peeks behind the curtain of Boutique 540, where Ashley has turned a passion for vinyl decals into a bustling hub of fashion and community. Her story isn't just one of change, but of the audacious pursuit of a dream, revealing how a side gig can ignite the entrepreneurial spirit and push us toward uncharted success.

Picture a Tee Party, but not as you know it. Ashley's innovation has brewed a fresh twist on the classic social gathering, turning Tee Parties into a thriving cornerstone of her business. These aren't your grandmother's affairs; they're dynamic, digital extravaganzas that blend tradition with technology. Join us as we traverse the ins and outs of these events, from the first sip of strategy to the sweet taste of a growing nationwide customer base, proving that even the most time-honored concepts can be reinvented for the modern market.

Lastly, Ashley doesn't hold back on spilling the leaves on the realities of entrepreneurship. She's candid about the tenacity needed to keep a business blooming and the agility to adapt in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned pro, there's a steep learning curve that Ashley helps flatten with her insights. If you've ever pondered bridging your passion with your profession, this episode is a blend of encouragement, strategy, and real-world lessons steeped in the experience of a businesswoman who's done just that.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Turn Down the Hustle podcast. Today I am interviewing my very first guest here on the show. We have Ashley Brown from Boutique 540 with us tonight and we're going to be talking all about Tea Party. So she's pretty well versed in quite a bit of areas in the small business world from Tea Party to subscription boxes to launching her very own storefront. But I'll let her share more.

Speaker 2:

You're listening to Turn Down the Hustle, the podcast dedicated to transforming how you run your creative online t-shirt business by working smarter, not harder, so you can spend more time with your why, people and passions that matter most in your life. So throw on your favorite graphic tee and turn up the heat. Press, because it's time to turn down the hustle. Here's your host digital marketer. Cold brew lover, t-shirt maker, freckled hype girl and owner of Sunkist Virtual Assistant, amy.

Speaker 1:

I want to welcome Ashley. Thank you for joining and coming on the show as my very first guest, so tell us a little bit more about Ashley.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for having me. First of all, I am so excited to be here. I'm Ashley Brown. I am from Stanton, Virginia. I started kind of started my life as an adult as a firefighter paramedic where I met my husband and I'm mom to four boys. So very busy in my personal life, never a dull moment there.

Speaker 1:

You got a lot going on, so I do. Yeah, why four boys? That's not four girls, four boys, yeah, that's a lot to keep up with, so all right and then okay. So that's a little bit about Ashley. What about boutique five, four zero. When did it start? And tell us more about that.

Speaker 3:

So I had dabbled in some MLMs for a little while and was mildly successful in one of those about 2016. I had my first son and at the time was able to stay home, but I was honestly bored. I hate to say that as a stay-at-home mom, I was blessed to do that, but I was bored. I needed like a creative outlet, a way to express myself and make a little side income.

Speaker 3:

So I bought one of the very original silhouette cameos and a whole bunch of vinyl literally a roll of vinyl in every color and just started making decals for friends and family and it slowly well rapidly I guess expanded and I added a sublimation printer and that kind of just took off. And then I decided that I was going to dabble in some embroidery. So I bought a single needle embroidery machine and was just kind of literally playing in my basement making things for friends and family, just kind of here and there for some extra income. And then 2020, covid happened and everything kind of changed. I also experienced some major life changes at that point Rebranded my business, I got married and I moved back home to Stanton, kind of where I grew up, and my super supportive husband painted our entire upstairs warehouse for my office.

Speaker 3:

He painted it bright pink to match my brand yeah, it was. He was just so supportive and I said I think I'm going to buy another embroidery machine. And he said go for it. So we did and it just kind of has taken off from there. I love that. I added a DTF printer, which has really been a game changer for my tea parties and the printing side of my business.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, and is that the pink room that he painted?

Speaker 3:

Actually this is my storefront, oh, this is your.

Speaker 1:

Oh okay, and you said you moved back to Stanton Virginia, so it's just all full circle. And then what did you do in Stanton Virginia just recently?

Speaker 3:

I opened my storefront in September, September, middle of September this year. We had kind of just expanded and I outgrew my upstairs, my house, and I had shirts and thread and stuff everywhere. And I went to my husband one day and I said I think I'm going to open a store and he said okay, and I went and looked at some properties a few weeks later and then about two months after that, here we are in our storefront.

Speaker 1:

So exciting, I love that and so okay, so you were, were you doing the side hustle, were you full-time storefront or how did that transition kind of happen?

Speaker 3:

So when I opened my storefront thankfully my customers were really understanding of like hey, I'm going to post a calendar and these are the days I'm going to be here, because I was still working 24 hour shifts at the fire department and I was pretty much here at the store every day. I wasn't at the fire department, which was kind of chaotic and hectic, but in the end it has completely paid off. In February I was able to take this full time and kind of flip-flop roles. I stayed on part-time as a firefighter, paramedic and now spend the most of my time here at my store.

Speaker 1:

That is amazing and I don't think I really realized that part. I knew you were still working full-time and then you opened a storefront, but I guess I never really thought into the logistics. So I love that that you said, hey, here's some of the times I'm going to be here. And then did you use that as like a deciding factor, Like, hey, people are coming to make that leap and leave your full-time job.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So I had people being like, when are you open? Because at the fire department we worked every third day. So it was really random the days that I was here and it was really tough if I was up all night there, you know, running calls. Then I was coming here and I was just kind of dragging and I had a friend that offered to help me out some so actually kind of all at once brought her on as a part-time employee and said you know what I want to do this, let's do it. And I just made the leap to do this full time.

Speaker 1:

I love that, and I love that you stair-stepped it too, because I think some people are ready to make a lot of changes all at once, like hey, I need to leave my job, I want to open a storefront. And you did it with baby steps, you know, and gradually approached, and it worked out.

Speaker 3:

I did. It was super scary and I had a million questions. But again I'm so thankful that my husband I have all the things to him he had a solution for all of them. He said just do it.

Speaker 1:

Just do it. You know, and it makes all the difference to have somebody that is supportive and encouraging you just when you want to doubt, like no, we're doing it, we're painting the walls pink, we're doing it.

Speaker 3:

And I had, you know, friends and family that helped me move everything in. And, yeah it's, it's been a crazy journey, but it's definitely been worth it.

Speaker 1:

I am jealous all of those that get to visit. So I have been a customer of yours on the receiving end, and I loved my product with you, which was your subscription box. So when did you start your subscription box? I know we're talking about tea parties today, but you just have so many fascinating things about your business. I got to do it just as to give a little bit of light to those subscription boxes. So tell us more about that.

Speaker 3:

Sure. So I kind of started dabbling in subscription boxes in 2020 and just kind of didn't really know much and just said, hey, I'm going to offer these monogram boxes each month. And I had five to 10 people kind of each month at first. We're just, we're like, yeah, sure, we'll, we'll do it. And they started and we just put together a box of three to five items each month. One of them is personalized, each month has like a different theme. Everything kind of coordinates together. Since then it's grown I'm up to about 50 subscribers now and we've added a few other subscriptions kind of coordinates together. Since then it's grown. I'm up to about 50 subscribers now and we've added a few other subscriptions kind of branched off of that. We have a kids club and a sticker club and a t-shirt club and all kinds of fun things.

Speaker 1:

You are living the creative dream. Like people listening are like oh my gosh, a storefront, I would kill for that. Oh my gosh, not going to a nine to five, I would kill for that. But a lot in subscription box, more than like two people. Like you know, like you have found what is working. You have found the right audience. You have found what they want, what they like, versus. You know, I'm sure you've tried things and it just didn't work out, which we might be talking about a little bit later on tea parties and pivoting just a bit. Um, but you found what works and you continue to do that well, and I just admire you and I admire your customer base and how you engage with them, like they love you, they love your products, and so I guess, with that, we'll just transition on into tea parties, what we came here for. But yeah, so for tea parties. So tell us more about when you got. Well, actually, let me back up some. So for the listeners, what are Tea Parties?

Speaker 1:

So, if you are listening and you don't know what a Tea Party is, it's an online party. It's where you either can have a host or not have a host. You invite them, the party's all about them, which would be for a hosted party. You play games, you have fun, themed engagement. They can pick out their engagement for their party that they want to have. There's a lot of engagement questions. They're inviting their friends.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to be curious to hear when you got started with tea parties. I got started with tea parties in the height of COVID, so it was kind of like a fun way to get people in a virtual gathering and then they're shopping products and what's unique is that coming to a handmade product party. So a tea party is that whenever you're, the more you shop, you're actually supporting me in that I'm creating the products for you. It's not like I'm, you know, not doing that. So it's pretty exciting to have someone support you in that manner. And then the host won some awards. So if you want to learn more about tea parties um, that explanation did not do it justice Uh, go to episode nine. You can go to wwwsunkisscom, forward slash nine and you can listen to the tea party one-on-one episode. So with that, now that we've laid the foundation for tea parties, ashley, when did you get started with tea parties?

Speaker 3:

So I found you with Sunkissed VA, in April of 2022. I bought my very first tea party planner, which I didn't really remember off the top of my head what it was. I went back and looked it was the Summer Beach Tea Party, which I still actively use with hostesses. They still love it. And with that I also found Brittany and ended up purchasing her lifetime drive, which I absolutely can't say enough amazing things about. The two of you together have really truly changed my business, the way I do tea parties. I use the graphics and the product drop organizer and everything pretty much in my everyday business, but as far as tea parties, I bought that content calendar, that tea party planner, in April of 2022, which is crazy to think. That was almost two years ago and I've probably hosted I was trying to count probably well over a hundred tea parties Since then.

Speaker 1:

Some of them have been wildly successful and some of them have been crickets and everywhere in between and that's kind of just the nature of tea parties Like you never know what you're going to get, like it could not go well to start, and then you're discouraged and it's like no, just try again. Or you get that wildly successful one up front and then you get that first dead and you're like ready to quit. You know so it's a balance. But wow, over a hundred. I'm just thinking about the amount of members you've had to remove. Do you delete your groups or do you keep them?

Speaker 3:

So I've kind of dabbled with both and, honestly, I just kind of keep them, and usually they just kind of go by the wayside. I had an issue with some spam in one and things got. I deleted all of that appropriate content and whatnot. So I've I feel like I've literally experienced all the highs and lows and the crazy things that could happen with them, but overall I usually just leave them put.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I was thinking if you were deleting them. I'm just thinking about all the members. You had to delete all the members. You had to cancel the invites and then delete. Delete the group. Like that's a lot of work.

Speaker 3:

If you've done 100, that's great yeah, I typically just leave them and I don't know what happens in Facebook land with them, but they just, I guess, stay there yeah.

Speaker 1:

So with those tea parties that you've done, how have you seen those help you like? What success have you had with tea parties and what? How has that shaped or morphed the business that you have today?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think it's been super helpful for the business that I have now. I started out with my very first hostess that happened to be a friend and a good customer and just said, hey, would you be willing to have this tea party? She also was involved in some MLM so she was a little familiar but had never done a tea party with like a handmade seller. And I think having a hostess that kind of understood how it worked for my very first one, she was very much engaged. She was very active and tagging friends and commenting and encouraging people of things that she thought that they might would like. I think all of that was wildly helpful.

Speaker 1:

And then she invites someone or he, then they invite their friends, and then someone else wants to host and it kind of just catches on from there, like it really just starts with one. And that's what I always try to encourage people with, like just getting started, like I don't have all of these people, it's okay, you just need one like that one friend, that one you know, sister, that thinks everything you do is just great. You know, like those people in our lives that no matter what you do, like, they just think it's amazing and they're going to support it. You know that's where we want to start and then go from there. So so that was a little bit ago that you started, so just almost two years ago.

Speaker 1:

Like you mentioned, I would say, the platform in which we host tea parties on Facebook. It's ever changing. Just when you got a good system down, they either added a group tool, removed a group tool algorithm has either plummeted or it's going well, it's always changing. So since you first started, thinking back to then, how have you kind of seen tea parties evolve? Like, is there something you used to do for tea parties that maybe is no longer working, or you didn't try before that, now you are and it is working. So how have you kind of evolved your business with tea parties?

Speaker 3:

Sure, so when I first started tea parties, I posted everything to the group manually, one by one. It took a long time because I didn't really understand all the tools. Honestly, I didn't really know what I was doing, so I posted everything, had them comment to claim. Since then I've learned about SentShare through you. Thankfully, that's been a lifesaver. As we know that's about to change, but that has been incredibly helpful. I've also shifted from comment to claim to adding everything, moving everything to my website to make it a lot more automated. There are some weeks that I run two and three tea parties at a time, so it just makes it a lot easier with everything being on my website. I recently participated in your training about using switching from page parties, so I'm going to try out some of those things. I have a couple of parties scheduled. I may try and do a page party and at the same time, also do a party where I kind of schedule everything manually through meta just to see if there's a difference and compare those to how long things take.

Speaker 1:

I am really interested to see because I have definitely noticed a turn in the algorithm, and it wasn't even the start of this year, it was the start of last year, 2023. So I'm really curious to see how page parties function, if those are the new thing, if that's helpful or if it's not. We're sticking with it because Facebook groups offer a lot of value for tea parties, right? The private like this is your party, like there is an exclusivity aspect that I do love about tea parties, so that'll be interesting. So, with all the parties that you host, I'm curious do you usually throw a party a week or do you like double up so you can give yourself a week off? How do you balance all of the tea parties that you're trying to throw?

Speaker 3:

Most weeks. I typically do two tea parties a week. I kind of just set everything up one Sunday and run the party throughout the week and I try and actively engage in both of those throughout the week. I typically don't give myself a break. I took a break from opening my storefront in September through the end of the year and then I just started back up hosting tea parties again mid February and I'm already booked through kind of early May.

Speaker 1:

I love that. So with that, I am just really curious about a lot of the stuff. So, with the parties that you're getting, do you have like a wait list for hosts or you usually just book them as far out, like if you have a host, you try to get them on the calendar.

Speaker 3:

So I actually just recently, when I picked back up doing tea parties, I created a signup genius form with just kind of like my availability and added two slots to each week and I posted it in my VIP group.

Speaker 3:

Since a lot of those customers know me, trust me, have shopped with me, have maybe hosted parties before or wanted to or were curious, so I just kind of gave those people first, first shot at claiming a date and I just it took kind of the I hate to say the begging, but the asking for hostesses out of it. I just posted it and said here's the link sign up to host your party. I'll be in touch as it gets closer to work out all the details. And then I also post that link in my tea parties now to search for new hostesses and say I know, you know, we post the graphic of this party's ending host your own party. This has been so much fun. And then I usually throw something in there of hey, my calendar's filling up. Here's the link Go ahead and claim your spot before, before it's too late and you miss out.

Speaker 1:

I love that and so are those, would you say. Are those new people signing up or are those repeat hostess? Like what is, like the demographic of those?

Speaker 3:

I would say it's honestly well, since I kind of took the break from September through, I took probably about a four or five month break and honestly I I needed that break with opening the storefront and everything. So I think that it's probably probably 60, 40 previous hosts and new hosts. New hosts of people that haven't hosted with me, but maybe my current customers or shop in my store, not necessarily new hosts that I've obtained from other tea parties, which I'm still trying very hard to work on.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, which I got asked the question doing it for two years like I know a slight break so you could go work hard on something else. Sure, that's a break. That's the creative entrepreneurs. We are sick, but okay, so like burnout. Do you ever feel like, oh my gosh I've seen this content again and again like I am just not feeling it Like, have you hit those ruts? And if you have, like, how did you come back from that, when you're just like you know it's working for your business tea parties, but it's just like the feeling the motivation is kind of starting to leave you.

Speaker 3:

And I think that was me last fall. After I had spent all summer, I took one week off the week I was on vacation with my family, but otherwise I probably hosted 40 some tea parties. Last fall or leading up to last fall, when I opened my store and I was, I was kind of mentally drained and I just needed that little bit of a break and to shift gears, but I knew that it was working. I knew that I was kind of mentally drained and I just needed that little bit of a break and to shift gears, but I knew that it was working. I knew that I enjoyed them, I knew my hostesses enjoyed them and I honestly knew that was a great way to bring in new customers.

Speaker 3:

I now have customers from all over the country because they've found me through tea parties. Some of my best customers in my store that I never knew before found me through a tea party. So at the end of the day I took that little mental break and said this is what's working. This is what my customers want. They love supporting me, a real person, somebody that they can follow and see. They follow my socials or they stop in my store or they see my kids on my Facebook lives or whatever, and I feel like building that, that no, like trust factor. They're going to come back and support me.

Speaker 1:

I agree a hundred percent and that word of mouth is so powerful, like it's different from like posting. Like, maybe seeing a stranger post a shirt or something like, okay, that's cool, we're seeing in your newsfeed, but when, like somebody you know is recommending somebody, it's like, of course, I trust their opinion, they wouldn't lead me astray. And that is what is so powerful and I think it's working really well for your business. Like you said, storefront and online. That's amazing. I love that and I wish that for everyone. Like your story, I wish I could just copy and paste it for everyone, but it comes with work.

Speaker 1:

It didn't just happen, you know, yeah, it has it. Yeah, I mean, you've been at it for quite a while.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. I, you know, I started this in my basement in 2016. So it's been eight years. So, while you know from the outside, looking in it's, I have all these things a successful storefront and website and subscription box but I've been working really hard at it and building my audience and niching down to my ideal customer for the last eight years.

Speaker 1:

I love it and I think, even at the beginning before, you saw a lot of this growth, because what you mentioned maybe around 2020 or so, that's when you pivoted was that just now, four years ago, which I mean well, four, already four years ago. But what were you doing in those years before? You were starting to perfect your craft. So you got the cameo, you got sublimation. We all know the hours that go into a sublimation printer.

Speaker 1:

It's grueling, grueling, um, but, like you were starting to figure out what works for you, honing in on your craft and, and I think, because you found your processes, you found your skill, like what your heat press, the sweet spot, all of that good stuff. Now you get to focus on growing your business, so not worrying about growing it too fast before you have a product that's worth scaling, and I think you got to that point and that's really exciting, especially in the storefront. Okay, so, yeah. So evolving with tea parties what about? Do you have any advice for those looking to start tea parties, or any advice you wish you would have done before you got started with tea parties?

Speaker 3:

I think you kind of hit on an earlier when you said just start. That is the biggest piece of advice I could give to someone. I didn't know anything about tea parties. I didn't really know anything about what I was doing. I ordered screen prints from multiple different vendors and have since refined that process. We've all been there. Uh, go get a tea party planner, find a host, ask your best friend, ask your best customer, ask you know whoever, your mom, your sister, just ask someone and do the first one. Once that first one is under your belt, it's, it's so easy. From there you can figure out what works. You can tweak it. Another thing that I kind of picked up, amy, from your group, is the hype team.

Speaker 3:

I didn't have that when I first started. But get your bestie. If that's not your host, get your bestie or your hostess bestie to hype up your tea party comment like share. You know, be engaged with that Building that excitement around it is awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And so do you rotate your hype team members? Do you have like a different one for each party, or is it not really set? Do you just kind of ask friends here and there?

Speaker 3:

I don't typically use hype team members. I have like once or twice when I've done you know, kind of traded hype teams with other people in your group. I don't typically use that, but I think that would be something that's incredibly helpful for someone just getting started, especially if you're doing, maybe, a mystery host or doing your first party in your VIP group and you don't want it to be crickets having, you know, one or two people join and reach out to me. I'm happy to join for you guys. I'll be your hype girl. Um, I love it Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Uh, for your host. Have you ever had where, like, a host is not not the ideal host? Do you try to coach them up, or do you get to a point in the party where you're kind of like, okay, this party is maybe not successful? I'm going to just try to write it out and now just focus on building the next week's party so I actually had a party probably the middle of last year.

Speaker 3:

I reached out to the host to plan everything and got it all set up. I sent her the link to invite her friends and it was crickets like up until Wednesday or Thursday, and so I just kind of was like, well, I'm not going to be active if no one else is. There was no one had been even invited. Um, so I reached out to her Sunday night when the party closed and I said hey, you know, I'm really sorry, but there was no one invited to your party. And it was kind of disheartening when she reached back out and said oh, I'm really sorry, I hope I still get my free t-shirt for having a party. So I was mind blown.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's so awkward.

Speaker 3:

And I thought on it for a while, like how do I even handle this, um, and just kind of explained that we could try again or whatever. But I just couldn't imagine someone asking that when, oh my gosh, they didn't even invite a single person no, don't you get a shirt for hosting a party.

Speaker 1:

Is that what you would consider host? But I mean, everyone's definition is different. I see free tea and like okay, I just gotta sign up. My gosh. That is so defeating and frustrating.

Speaker 3:

But usually most of them are pretty good. I send them your hostess tips or the hostess tips guidelines that come kind of with the party graphics and just ask them if they have any questions. Most of my hostesses have done some kind of online party, especially now that most parties have shifted online. I actually don't know anyone that does at-home parties anymore. It might be a cool thing to get back into. But I feel like all my hostesses kind of understand hey, I just need to tag some friends or be engaged, comment like share, and they've usually gone pretty well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. Well, you are definitely one of the more seasoned tea partiers, and not just seasoned, but I would say, consistent with it, even though, like you mentioned, like if it's working, keep doing it. I mean there's a balance between, you know, burnout, making sure we're in it for the long haul, but, like you are just proof that, like, if something is working, continue to do it. We don't always need to try to switch it up, like we're always, you know, but I think that's the downfall of creative sellers we're always wanting to try something else, even if maybe it's just working and we just need to stay put. So I want to talk more about your storefront. So tell us more about your storefront, maybe some displays you have in there. I think you even have a tea bar in there, is that right? So tell us about the tea bar.

Speaker 3:

I do so. I have a two-story storefront. The downstairs is kind of home goods, trendy items, seasonal decor, things like that, and then upstairs I have a build-your-own tea bar, similar to like a Build-A-Bear. You come in, you pick a print out in. You come in, you pick a print out, and I have a ton of different blanks. We have teas and tanks and sweatshirts and hoodies and kids blanks and tie dyes, and so I mean you literally can build your own tea right there. We take them in the back, use the heat press, put it together and a minute later you're walking out the door with your tea.

Speaker 1:

Again, you are living the dream. A lot of sweat, maybe some blood and tears have gone into it, but that is so exciting, and just to see it play out and unfold in our group, I'm just so excited that you share with us as you're going along those steps. It's just been fun to watch your journey and I can't wait to see where else it takes you. So thank you so much. Yeah, with that. Um, so if anyone listening wants to shop with you or maybe stop in by your storefront, where can they follow you? Where can they shop at your website? Share all of your links with us.

Speaker 3:

So our storefront is in Stanton, Virginia. Uh, we finally made it to Google. That's exciting. Someone told me the other day you're on you're on Apple maps, you're on Google. Uh, so we're in Staten, Virginia. My website is boutique540.com. We are on Facebook and Instagram.

Speaker 1:

I love it Okay, and then, uh, they can also sign up for any of your subscription boxes, right?

Speaker 3:

Those are right on our website as well. It just says grab a box, there's a link, and it has all the information for all our boxes there.

Speaker 1:

It just says grab a box, there's a link and it has all the information for all our boxes there Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us, Ashley. This was really fun to interview you and just kind of pick your brains about some of the different things, some of the burning questions that I know people have, specifically about tea parties, and then just that added bonus of hearing how you left that nine to five. So if you want to check out Ashley, or if you are driving and you get a chance to get her links, they will be in the show notes. I'll put all of the links where you can find Ashley and shop with boutique 540. If you're learning, wanting to learn more about tea parties, you can head over to sunkistvacom forward slash nine and you can learn more about that tea party one-on-one episode. So thank you, Ashley, for joining us and that's all for this episode.

People on this episode

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Amy

Host
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Ashley Brown

Guest