Female Founders

From Taking the Leap from Adoption Journey to Business Growth with Erin Port of Simple Purposeful Living

Our female founder this week is Erin Port, the founder of Simple Purposeful Living, and one of our masterminders. We highly encourage you to listen to her amazing story so that you can learn from her, and take her story forward with you.

“My family is my personal why.” - Erin Port, Simple Purposeful Living

Erin took her engaged readers as a blogger, and her informed background as a teacher, and created a product that would give her audience value, turning her own personal story into easy-to-apply lessons that people could take and apply to their own lives.

Like most of us, she’s had past businesses and brands that didn't work out, so she knows all about self-doubt. She candidly shares with us the thoughts she had before launching Simple Purposeful Living, and how an encouraging bedtime nudge from her husband lit a fire in her that’s yet to burn out.

It’s moments like that that truly drive her. Her voice glows as she describes her family as her why, how launching the brand and driving to financial success was all meant to fund the adoption of her son, and so much more. It’s clear her heart is in the most beautiful place.

We talk about her humble origins, selling via Amazon, and overcoming those creeping thoughts of imposter syndrome. One of the most inspiring messages to take away from this episode is the impact joining the Mastermind has had on Erin, and how much benefit she saw from implementing the Best Sellers Secret Challenge and Multi-Stream Machine in her business. She believes (and we agree) that sharing ideas with others is one of the best things we can do to learn and grow as entrepreneurs. 

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From Self-Doubt to Queen of Crowns with Kevlyn Walsh of Festive Gal

In this episode, we are bringing back Kevlyn Walsh, founder of Festive Gal, who you may remember from episode 155 of our Pivot & Sell series back in May of 2020. We have had the honor of working with Kevlyn, for almost a year now, in our Mastermind program and she is going to share with us where her business is at now (hint: it's multiple six figures!)

“Learn to Take a Win — Then, Keep Winning!” - The Product Boss Podcast

At the start of her journey, Kevlyn was a school teacher who knew she wanted to leave the the education field when her school went on strike in 2019. Since Festive Gal was making about the equivalent of her teacher's salary, she knew it was time to leave her old life behind to become a full-time entrepreneur. Now, Festive Gal brings in multiple six figures!

Kevlyn’s major growth during the pandemic had her worried that her success was a total fluke and that it wouldn't last in 2021.  She was able to strategically implement and lean into some new things which has allowed her business to continue growing and scaling to new levels.

As a result of these actions, Festive Gal brought in even more sales in 2021 than 2020! Thanks to wholesale, Festive Gal is now in 200 stores, and has a permanent showroom space. 

Early on, Kevlyn realized that she needed to clone herself three times to continue to be able to operate the company at its new levels – so that’s what she did. She hired two more people just like herself to take on the workload. Since then, Festive Gal has expanded to a team of eight! 

Continuing an established pattern with our guests, she points to participating in Masterminds, specifically The Product Boss Mastermind,  with likeminded people as a catalyst that helped her handle each new step of her entrepreneurial journey. 

Kevlyn's growth and success of Festive Gal over the past couple of years is an excellent example of how surrounding yourself with fellow product based business owners, who are at the same level as you, can make all the difference in your business journey.

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

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Female Founders: Ann Williams of Yearly Co.

Happy holidays! We’re excited to be re-airing one of our favorite episodes of the Female Founders series to, once again, highlight the amazing work of Ann Williams of Yearly Co. Hear the amazing story of how she went from making jewelry in her garage to running a successful brick-and-mortar shop – just the kind of inspirational story that’s perfect for this time of year.

“When I finally trusted my employees, things got done.” - Ann Williams, Yearly Co.

Ann is someone we’d known for a long time before having her on the podcast. She was famous in our world after starting an amazing business based on a family tradition where her grandfather would gift her grandmother a gold bangle every year that they were married.

Eventually it became clear that they needed a reliable place to buy gold bangles. Different jewelers charged different amounts for products of varying quality. Ann decided she would start making these high-quality bangles herself.

One thing led to another and soon she was bringing on an intern, and then hiring full-time staff. It can be daunting to put people on your payroll, but Ann says it was something she had to learn to be comfortable with because, ultimately, they were better at some jobs than she was. The right choices are always what’s best for the product, the customers, and the business – even if they’re hard to make at first

Her experience has pushed her away from diversifying, as she instead prioritizes the improvement of their current products and serving the niche they now dominate. As Ann says, she learned to “grow forward, not in 10 directions.” Serving loyal customers is always the right choice as opposed to pushing to an expanded audience that may bring with it a diluted interest in your project. 

Brought to you by the Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge! Commit to making 1 in 5 of your purchases from a small business, whether online or offline. The Shop 1 in 5™ Pledge is a way to make an impact together when (and where) it matters most. Join us and take the pledge today!

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  • Yearlyco.com

  • Yearly on Instagram

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