1:08

Welcome back to Turn Down the Hustle

1:10

podcast . Today I am interviewing

1:12

my very first guest here

1:14

on the show . We have Ashley

1:17

Brown from Boutique 540

1:19

with us tonight and we're going to be talking all

1:22

about Tea Party . So she's pretty well

1:24

versed in quite a bit of

1:26

areas in the small business world from

1:29

Tea Party to subscription boxes to

1:31

launching her very own storefront . But

1:33

I'll let her share more .

1:36

You're listening to Turn Down the Hustle

1:38

, the podcast dedicated to transforming

1:40

how you run your creative online t-shirt

1:42

business by working smarter , not harder

1:45

, so you can spend more time with your why , people

1:47

and passions that matter most in your life

1:49

. So throw on your favorite graphic tee

1:52

and turn up the heat . Press , because it's

1:54

time to turn down the hustle . Here's

1:56

your host digital marketer . Cold brew

1:58

lover , t-shirt maker , freckled hype girl

2:00

and owner of Sunkist Virtual Assistant , amy

2:03

.

2:05

I want to welcome Ashley . Thank you for joining

2:07

and coming on the show as my very first

2:09

guest , so tell us a little

2:11

bit more about Ashley .

2:14

Thank you for having me . First of all , I am

2:16

so excited to be here . I'm

2:19

Ashley Brown . I am from Stanton

2:21

, Virginia . I started

2:23

kind of started my life as an adult

2:25

as a firefighter paramedic where

2:28

I met my husband and I'm mom

2:30

to four boys . So very

2:32

busy in my personal life , never a dull

2:34

moment there .

2:39

You got a lot going on , so I do

2:41

. Yeah , why four boys

2:44

? That's not four girls , four

2:47

boys , yeah , that's a lot to keep

2:49

up with , so all right and then okay

2:51

. So that's a little bit about Ashley . What about boutique

2:54

five , four zero . When did it start ? And

2:56

tell us more about that .

2:58

So I had dabbled in some

3:00

MLMs for a little while and

3:03

was mildly successful in one of those about

3:06

2016 . I had my first son and

3:09

at the time was able to stay

3:11

home , but I was honestly

3:13

bored . I hate to say that as a stay-at-home mom , I was

3:15

blessed to do that , but I was bored . I needed like a

3:17

creative outlet , a way to express

3:19

myself and make a little side income

3:22

. So I bought one of the very

3:24

original silhouette cameos and

3:26

a whole bunch of vinyl literally a roll of

3:28

vinyl in every color and just started

3:30

making decals for friends and family and

3:33

it slowly well rapidly

3:35

I guess expanded and

3:37

I added a sublimation printer and

3:40

that kind of just took off . And then I decided

3:42

that I was going to dabble in some embroidery . So

3:45

I bought a single needle embroidery machine

3:47

and was just kind of literally

3:50

playing in my basement making things

3:52

for friends and family

3:54

, just kind of here and there for some extra income . And

3:57

then 2020 , covid happened

4:00

and everything kind of changed . I

4:02

also experienced some major life changes at

4:04

that point Rebranded

4:07

my business , I got married and

4:09

I moved back home to Stanton , kind

4:12

of where I grew up , and my

4:14

super supportive husband painted

4:16

our entire upstairs warehouse for

4:18

my office . He painted it bright pink to

4:20

match my brand yeah

4:23

, it was . He was just so supportive and

4:26

I said I think I'm going to buy another embroidery

4:28

machine . And he said go for it . So

4:30

we did and it just kind

4:32

of has taken off from there . I

4:35

love that . I added a DTF

4:37

printer , which has really been a game changer for

4:40

my tea parties and the

4:42

printing side of my business .

4:44

Awesome , and is that the pink room that he painted

4:46

?

4:47

Actually this is my storefront , oh

4:50

, this is your .

4:51

Oh okay , and you said you moved

4:53

back to Stanton Virginia , so it's

4:55

just all full circle . And

4:58

then what did you do in Stanton Virginia just

5:00

recently ?

5:02

I opened my storefront in September , September

5:06

, middle of September this year

5:08

. We had kind of just expanded

5:10

and I outgrew my upstairs

5:12

, my house , and I had shirts

5:14

and thread and stuff everywhere

5:16

. And I went to my husband

5:18

one day and I said I think I'm going to open a store and

5:21

he said okay , and

5:24

I went and looked at some properties a few

5:26

weeks later and then about

5:28

two months after that , here we are in

5:30

our storefront .

5:32

So exciting , I love that

5:34

and so okay , so you were

5:36

, were you doing

5:39

the side hustle , were you full-time storefront

5:41

or how did that transition kind of happen

5:43

?

5:44

So when I opened my storefront thankfully

5:46

my customers were really understanding of like hey

5:49

, I'm going to post a calendar and these are the days I'm

5:51

going to be here , because I was still working 24

5:53

hour shifts at the fire department and

5:55

I was pretty much here at the store every

5:57

day . I wasn't at the fire department , which

6:00

was kind of chaotic and hectic , but

6:02

in the end it has completely paid

6:04

off . In February I was able

6:06

to take this full time and kind of flip-flop

6:09

roles . I stayed on part-time

6:11

as a firefighter , paramedic and now spend

6:13

the most of my time here at my store .

6:15

That is amazing and I don't think I really realized

6:17

that part . I knew you were still working full-time

6:19

and then you opened a storefront , but

6:22

I guess I never really thought into the logistics . So I

6:24

love that that you said , hey , here's some

6:26

of the times I'm going to be here . And then did you

6:28

use that as like a deciding factor

6:30

, Like , hey , people are coming to

6:33

make that leap and leave your full-time

6:35

job .

6:36

Yeah . So I had people being like , when

6:38

are you open ? Because at the fire department

6:40

we worked every third day . So it was really

6:42

random the days that I was here and

6:44

it was really tough if I was up all night there

6:46

, you know , running calls . Then

6:49

I was coming here and I was just kind of dragging

6:51

and I had a friend that offered to help me out

6:53

some so actually

6:55

kind of all at once brought her

6:57

on as a part-time employee and said

6:59

you know what I want to do this

7:01

, let's do it . And I

7:03

just made the leap to

7:05

do this full time .

7:07

I love that , and I love that you stair-stepped it too

7:09

, because I think some people are

7:11

ready to make a lot of changes

7:13

all at once , like hey , I need to leave my job

7:15

, I want to open a storefront . And you did it with baby

7:18

steps , you know , and gradually approached

7:20

, and it worked out .

7:22

I did . It was super scary and I

7:24

had a million questions . But

7:27

again I'm so thankful that my husband

7:29

I have all the things to him he had a

7:31

solution for all of them . He

7:33

said just do it .

7:34

Just do it . You know , and it makes all the

7:36

difference to have somebody that is supportive and

7:38

encouraging you just when you want to doubt , like no

7:40

, we're doing it , we're painting the walls pink , we're

7:43

doing it .

7:45

And I had , you know , friends and family

7:47

that helped me move everything in . And

7:52

, yeah it's , it's been a crazy journey , but it's definitely been worth it .

7:54

I am jealous all of those that get to visit . So I

7:56

have been a customer of yours on

7:58

the receiving end , and I loved

8:01

my product with you , which was

8:04

your subscription box . So when did you start

8:06

your subscription box ? I know we're talking about tea parties

8:08

today , but you just have so many fascinating

8:10

things about your business . I got to do it

8:12

just as to give a little bit of light to those subscription

8:15

boxes . So tell us more about

8:17

that .

8:18

Sure . So I kind of started

8:20

dabbling in subscription boxes in 2020 and

8:24

just kind of didn't really know much and

8:26

just said , hey , I'm going to offer these

8:28

monogram boxes each month

8:30

. And I had five to 10

8:32

people kind of each month at first . We're just

8:34

, we're like , yeah , sure , we'll , we'll do it . And

8:36

they started and

8:39

we just put together a box of three

8:41

to five items each month . One of them is

8:44

personalized , each month

8:46

has like a different theme . Everything kind of

8:48

coordinates together . Since then

8:50

it's grown I'm up to about 50 subscribers now and we've added a few other subscriptions kind of coordinates

8:52

together . Since then it's grown . I'm up to about 50 subscribers now and we've added

8:54

a few other subscriptions kind of branched

8:57

off of that . We have a kids club and a sticker

8:59

club and a t-shirt club and all kinds

9:01

of fun things .

9:02

You are living the creative dream . Like

9:04

people listening are like oh my gosh , a storefront

9:06

, I would kill for that . Oh my gosh , not going to a nine

9:08

to five , I would kill for that . But a lot in

9:11

subscription box , more than like two people . Like

9:13

you know , like you have found

9:15

what is working . You have found the right audience

9:17

. You have found what they want , what they like

9:19

, versus . You know , I'm sure you've tried things

9:21

and it just didn't work out , which we might be talking

9:23

about a little bit later on tea parties and pivoting

9:25

just a bit . Um , but you

9:27

found what works and you continue to do that

9:29

well , and I just admire

9:31

you and I admire your customer

9:34

base and how you engage with them , like they love

9:36

you , they love your products , and

9:39

so I guess , with that , we'll just transition

9:41

on into tea parties , what we came here for . But

9:44

yeah , so for tea

9:46

parties . So tell us more about when

9:48

you got . Well , actually , let me back

9:51

up some . So for the listeners , what

9:53

are Tea Parties ? So , if you

9:55

are listening and you don't know what a Tea

9:58

Party is , it's an online party . It's

10:00

where you either can have a host or

10:02

not have a host . You invite

10:04

them , the party's all about them

10:07

, which would be for a hosted party . You

10:09

play games , you have fun

10:12

, themed engagement . They

10:14

can pick out their engagement for their party that they

10:16

want to have . There's

10:18

a lot of engagement questions

10:20

. They're inviting their friends

10:22

. I'm going to be curious

10:24

to hear when you got started with tea parties . I got

10:26

started with tea parties in the height of COVID , so

10:29

it was kind of like a fun way to get people in

10:31

a virtual gathering and then

10:33

they're shopping products and what's unique is

10:35

that coming to

10:37

a handmade product party . So a tea

10:39

party is that whenever you're , the

10:41

more you shop , you're actually supporting

10:43

me in that I'm creating the products

10:46

for you . It's not like I'm , you know

10:48

, not doing that . So it's

10:51

pretty exciting to have someone support you

10:53

in that manner . And then the host won some awards

10:55

. So if you want to learn more about tea parties

10:57

um , that explanation

11:00

did not do it justice Uh , go to

11:02

episode nine . You can go to wwwsunkisscom

11:05

, forward slash nine and

11:07

you can listen to the tea party one-on-one episode

11:09

. So with that , now that we've laid the foundation

11:12

for tea parties , ashley , when

11:14

did you get started with tea parties ?

11:17

So I found you with Sunkissed VA

11:20

, in April of 2022 . I

11:22

bought my very first tea party planner , which

11:25

I didn't really remember off the top of my head what it was

11:27

. I went back and looked it was the Summer Beach Tea

11:29

Party , which I still actively

11:31

use with hostesses . They still love it . And

11:34

with that I also found Brittany and

11:37

ended up purchasing her lifetime drive

11:39

, which I absolutely can't say enough amazing

11:42

things about . The two of you together

11:44

have really truly changed my business , the

11:47

way I do tea parties . I use

11:49

the graphics and the product

11:51

drop organizer and everything pretty

11:53

much in my everyday business , but as

11:55

far as tea parties , I bought

11:58

that content calendar , that tea party planner

12:00

, in April of 2022

12:02

, which is crazy to think . That was almost two years

12:05

ago and I've probably

12:07

hosted I was trying to count probably

12:09

well over a hundred tea parties Since

12:12

then .

12:12

Some of them have been wildly successful and

12:15

some of them have been crickets

12:17

and everywhere in between and

12:20

that's kind of just the nature of tea parties Like you never

12:22

know what you're going to get , like it could not go

12:24

well to start , and then you're discouraged and it's like

12:26

no , just try again . Or you get that wildly

12:28

successful one up front and then you get that first dead

12:30

and you're like ready to quit . You know so it's a balance

12:32

. But wow , over a hundred . I'm

12:35

just thinking about the amount of members you've had to remove

12:37

. Do you delete your groups or do you keep them

12:39

?

12:40

So I've kind of dabbled with both

12:43

and , honestly , I just kind of keep them , and

12:45

usually they just kind of go

12:47

by the wayside . I had an issue with some

12:49

spam in one and things got . I deleted

12:52

all of that appropriate content

12:54

and whatnot . So I've I feel like I've

12:56

literally experienced all the highs and lows

12:58

and the crazy things that could happen with

13:00

them , but overall I usually just leave

13:02

them put .

13:04

Okay , I was thinking if you were deleting them . I'm

13:06

just thinking about all the members . You had to delete all

13:09

the members . You had to cancel the invites and

13:11

then delete . Delete the group . Like that's a lot of work

13:13

.

13:13

If you've done 100 , that's great yeah , I

13:15

typically just leave them and

13:17

I don't know what happens in

13:19

Facebook land with them , but they just

13:21

, I guess , stay there yeah

13:23

.

13:24

So with those tea parties that you've done

13:26

, how have you seen

13:28

those help you like

13:30

? What success have you had with tea parties and what

13:32

? How has that shaped or morphed the business

13:35

that you have today ?

13:38

Yeah , I think it's been super helpful

13:40

for the business that I have now . I

13:44

started out with my very first hostess

13:46

that happened to be a friend and a good customer and

13:48

just said , hey , would you be willing to have

13:50

this tea party ? She also was

13:53

involved in some MLM so

13:55

she was a little familiar but had never done a

13:57

tea party with like a handmade seller . And

13:59

I think having a hostess

14:02

that kind of understood

14:04

how it worked for my very first

14:06

one , she was very much engaged . She

14:08

was very active and tagging friends

14:11

and commenting and encouraging

14:13

people of things that she thought that

14:15

they might would like . I think

14:17

all of that was wildly helpful .

14:20

And then she invites someone or he , then

14:23

they invite their friends , and then someone else wants to

14:25

host and it kind of just catches on from there

14:27

, like it really just starts with one

14:29

. And that's what I always try to encourage

14:31

people with , like just getting started , like

14:34

I don't have all of these people , it's okay , you just need

14:36

one like that one friend , that

14:38

one you know , sister

14:40

, that thinks everything you do is just great . You

14:42

know , like those people in our lives that no matter

14:45

what you do , like , they just think it's amazing and

14:47

they're going to support it . You know that's where

14:49

we want to start and then go from there . So so

14:51

that was a little bit ago that you started , so just almost

14:54

two years ago . Like you mentioned , I

15:03

would say , the platform in which we host tea parties on Facebook . It's ever changing . Just

15:05

when you got a good system down , they either added a group tool , removed a group

15:07

tool algorithm has either plummeted

15:09

or it's going well , it's

15:12

always changing . So since you

15:14

first started , thinking back to then

15:16

, how have you kind of seen tea

15:18

parties evolve ? Like , is there something you used

15:20

to do for tea parties

15:23

that maybe is no longer working , or you

15:25

didn't try before that , now you

15:27

are and it is working . So how have you

15:29

kind of evolved your business with tea parties ?

15:32

Sure , so when I first started tea parties

15:34

, I posted everything to the group manually

15:37

, one by one . It took

15:39

a long time because I didn't really

15:41

understand all the tools . Honestly , I didn't

15:43

really know what I was doing , so I posted everything , had

15:46

them comment to claim . Since

15:48

then I've learned about SentShare

15:50

through you . Thankfully , that's been a

15:52

lifesaver . As we know that's

15:54

about to change , but that has been incredibly

15:57

helpful . I've also shifted

15:59

from comment to claim

16:01

to adding everything , moving everything to my website

16:03

to make it a lot more automated . There

16:06

are some weeks that I run two and three tea parties at a

16:08

time , so it just makes it a lot easier

16:10

with everything being on my

16:12

website . I recently

16:14

participated in your training about

16:17

using switching from page

16:19

parties , so I'm going to try

16:21

out some of those things . I have a couple of parties

16:23

scheduled . I may try and

16:26

do a page party and at

16:28

the same time , also do a party where

16:30

I kind of schedule everything manually through meta just

16:32

to see if there's a difference and

16:35

compare those to how long things take

16:37

.

16:38

I am really interested to see because

16:40

I have definitely noticed a turn

16:43

in the algorithm , and it wasn't even the

16:45

start of this year , it was the start of last year , 2023

16:47

. So I'm really curious

16:49

to see how page parties function , if

16:51

those are the new thing , if that's helpful or

16:54

if it's not . We're sticking with it because Facebook groups

16:56

offer a lot of value for tea parties , right

16:58

? The private like this is your party

17:01

, like there is an exclusivity

17:03

aspect that I do love about

17:05

tea parties , so that'll be interesting . So

17:07

, with all the parties that you host

17:09

, I'm curious do you usually

17:12

throw a party a week or

17:14

do you like double up so you can give yourself

17:16

a week off ? How do you balance all

17:18

of the tea parties that you're trying to throw

17:20

?

17:21

Most weeks . I typically do two

17:23

tea parties a week . I

17:26

kind of just set everything up one Sunday

17:28

and run the party throughout the week and

17:31

I try and actively engage in both of those

17:33

throughout the week . I typically don't

17:35

give myself a break . I took a break from

17:37

opening my storefront in September through

17:39

the end of the year and then I just

17:42

started back up hosting tea parties again

17:44

mid February and I'm already

17:46

booked through kind of early May

17:48

.

17:49

I love that . So with

17:52

that , I am just really curious about a lot of the stuff . So

17:54

, with the parties that you're

17:56

getting , do

17:58

you have like a wait list for hosts or you usually

18:00

just book them as far out , like if you have a host

18:02

, you try to get them on the calendar .

18:04

So I actually just

18:06

recently , when I picked back up doing tea parties , I

18:08

created a signup genius form with

18:10

just kind of like my availability and added

18:13

two slots to each week and

18:15

I posted it in my VIP group . Since

18:17

a lot of those customers know me

18:19

, trust me , have shopped with me , have maybe

18:22

hosted parties before or wanted to

18:24

or were curious , so I just kind of gave

18:26

those people first , first shot

18:28

at claiming a date and

18:30

I just it took kind of the I hate

18:33

to say the begging , but the asking for hostesses

18:35

out of it . I just posted it and said

18:37

here's the link sign up to host your party . I'll

18:39

be in touch as it gets closer to work out all the

18:41

details . And then I also

18:44

post that link in my tea parties

18:46

now to search for

18:48

new hostesses and say I

18:50

know , you know , we post the graphic of this party's

18:52

ending host your own party . This has been so

18:54

much fun . And then I usually

18:56

throw something in there of hey , my calendar's

18:58

filling up . Here's the link Go ahead and

19:00

claim your spot before , before

19:03

it's too late and you miss out .

19:04

I love that and so are those , would you say

19:06

. Are those new people signing up or are

19:09

those repeat hostess ? Like what is

19:11

, like the demographic of those ?

19:12

I would say it's honestly well

19:15

, since I kind of took the break from September

19:17

through , I took probably

19:19

about a four or five month break and honestly I

19:21

I needed that break with opening the storefront

19:24

and everything . So I think that it's probably probably

19:26

60 , 40 previous hosts and new

19:29

hosts . New

19:31

hosts of people that haven't hosted with me , but

19:33

maybe my current customers or shop

19:35

in my store , not necessarily

19:37

new hosts that I've obtained from other tea

19:39

parties , which I'm still trying

19:42

very hard to work on .

19:44

Oh yeah , which I got asked the question

19:46

doing it for two years like

19:48

I know a slight break so you could go work hard

19:50

on something else . Sure , that's a break . That's

19:53

the creative entrepreneurs . We are sick

19:55

, but okay , so like

19:58

burnout . Do you ever feel

20:00

like , oh my gosh I've seen

20:02

this content again and again

20:04

like I am just not feeling

20:06

it Like , have you hit those ruts

20:09

? And if you have , like , how did you come

20:11

back from that , when you're just like you

20:13

know it's working for your business tea parties , but it's

20:15

just like the feeling

20:17

the motivation is kind of starting to leave

20:20

you .

20:21

And I think that was me last fall . After

20:24

I had spent all summer , I

20:30

took one week off the week I was on vacation with my family , but otherwise I probably hosted

20:32

40 some tea parties . Last fall or leading up to last

20:35

fall , when I opened my store and I was

20:37

, I was kind of mentally drained and

20:39

I just needed that little bit of a break

20:41

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

20:43

I knew that it was working . I knew that

20:45

I enjoyed them , I knew my hostesses

20:47

enjoyed them and I honestly knew that was a great

20:49

way to bring in new customers

20:51

. I now have customers from all

20:53

over the country because they've found

20:55

me through tea parties . Some

20:57

of my best customers in my store that

20:59

I never knew before found me through

21:02

a tea party . So at the end of the day

21:04

I took that little mental break and

21:06

said this is what's working . This

21:08

is what my customers want . They love supporting

21:11

me , a real person , somebody

21:14

that they can follow and see

21:16

. They follow my socials or they stop

21:18

in my store or they see

21:20

my kids on my Facebook lives or whatever

21:23

, and I feel like building that , that

21:25

no , like trust factor . They're

21:28

going to come back and support me .

21:29

I agree a hundred percent and that word of

21:31

mouth is so powerful , like it's

21:33

different from like posting . Like

21:35

, maybe seeing a stranger

21:38

post a shirt or something like , okay , that's cool , we're

21:40

seeing in your newsfeed , but when , like somebody

21:42

you know is recommending somebody , it's

21:44

like , of course , I trust their opinion

21:46

, they wouldn't lead me astray . And that is what is

21:48

so powerful and I think it's working really

21:50

well for your business . Like you said , storefront

21:53

and online . That's amazing

21:55

. I love that and I wish that for everyone

21:57

. Like your story , I wish I could just copy

21:59

and paste it for everyone , but it comes

22:01

with work . It didn't just happen , you

22:03

know , yeah , it has

22:05

it . Yeah , I mean , you've been at it for quite a while .

22:08

Yeah , I was thinking about that the other day . I , you

22:11

know , I started this in my basement in 2016

22:14

. So it's been eight years . So , while

22:17

you know from the outside , looking in it's , I

22:19

have all these things a successful storefront

22:21

and website and subscription box but

22:23

I've been working really hard at

22:25

it and building my audience and niching

22:28

down to my ideal customer for the last

22:30

eight years .

22:32

I love it and I think , even at the beginning before

22:34

, you saw a lot of this growth , because what you mentioned maybe

22:36

around 2020 or so , that's when you

22:38

pivoted was that just now , four

22:40

years ago , which I mean well , four , already

22:43

four years ago . But what were you doing in those

22:45

years before ? You were starting to perfect your craft

22:47

. So you got the cameo , you got sublimation

22:49

. We all know the hours that go into a sublimation

22:51

printer . It's grueling , grueling

22:54

, um , but , like you were

22:56

starting to figure out what works for you , honing

22:58

in on your craft and , and I think , because you found

23:00

your processes , you found your

23:02

skill , like what your heat press

23:05

, the sweet spot , all of that good stuff . Now

23:07

you get to focus on growing your business

23:09

, so not worrying about growing

23:11

it too fast before you have a product that's worth

23:13

scaling , and I think you got to that point and that's

23:15

really exciting , especially in the storefront

23:18

. Okay , so

23:20

, yeah . So evolving with tea parties what

23:23

about ? Do you have

23:25

any advice for those looking to

23:27

start tea parties , or any advice

23:29

you wish you would have done before you

23:31

got started with tea parties ?

23:33

I think you kind of hit on an earlier when

23:35

you said just start . That is the

23:38

biggest piece of advice I could give to someone

23:40

. I didn't know anything about tea

23:42

parties . I didn't really know anything about what

23:44

I was doing . I

23:46

ordered screen prints from multiple different

23:48

vendors and have since refined

23:51

that process . We've

23:54

all been there . Uh

23:57

, go get a tea party planner

23:59

, find a host , ask your best

24:01

friend , ask your best customer , ask

24:03

you know whoever , your mom

24:06

, your sister , just ask someone

24:08

and do the first one . Once that first

24:10

one is under your belt , it's , it's

24:12

so easy . From there you can figure out what works

24:15

. You can tweak it . Another

24:17

thing that I kind of picked up , amy , from your

24:19

group , is the hype team . I didn't

24:21

have that when I first started . But

24:23

get your bestie . If that's not your host

24:25

, get your bestie or your hostess bestie

24:27

to hype up your tea party

24:30

comment like share . You

24:32

know , be engaged with that

24:35

Building that excitement around

24:37

it is awesome .

24:39

Yeah , absolutely . And

24:43

so do you rotate your hype team members ? Do you have like a different one for each party

24:45

, or is it not really set ? Do you just kind of ask friends here and there

24:47

?

24:49

I don't typically use hype team members

24:51

. I have like once or twice when I've

24:53

done you know , kind of traded hype teams with

24:55

other people in your group

24:57

. I don't typically use that , but

24:59

I think that would be something that's incredibly

25:01

helpful for someone just getting started , especially

25:04

if you're doing , maybe , a mystery host or doing

25:06

your first party in your VIP group and

25:09

you don't want it to be crickets having

25:11

, you know , one or two people join and reach

25:13

out to me . I'm happy to join for you guys . I'll

25:17

be your hype girl . Um , I

25:19

love it Absolutely .

25:21

Uh , for your host . Have you ever had

25:23

where , like , a host is not not

25:27

the ideal host ? Do you

25:29

try to coach them up , or do you get to

25:31

a point in the party where you're kind of like , okay , this party

25:33

is maybe not successful ? I'm going to just

25:36

try to write it out and now just focus on building

25:38

the next week's party so

25:41

I actually had a party probably

25:43

the middle of last year .

25:45

I reached out to the host to plan everything and got

25:47

it all set up . I sent her the link to invite

25:49

her friends and it

25:51

was crickets like up until Wednesday

25:53

or Thursday , and so I just kind of was

25:56

like , well , I'm not going to be active if no one else is

25:58

. There was no one had been even invited

26:00

. Um , so I reached out to her Sunday night

26:02

when the party closed and I said hey

26:04

, you know , I'm really sorry , but there was no

26:06

one invited to your party . And

26:09

it was kind of disheartening when she reached back out and

26:11

said oh , I'm really sorry , I hope I

26:13

still get my free t-shirt for having a party

26:15

. So I was mind

26:17

blown .

26:19

Oh , that's so awkward .

26:21

And I thought on it for a while , like how do I even

26:23

handle this , um , and

26:25

just kind of explained that we could try again

26:28

or whatever . But

26:30

I just couldn't imagine someone asking

26:33

that when , oh my gosh , they didn't even invite

26:35

a single person no , don't you

26:37

get a shirt for hosting a party .

26:39

Is that what you would consider host

26:41

? But I mean , everyone's definition is different

26:43

. I see free tea and like okay , I just gotta sign up

26:46

. My gosh . That is so defeating and frustrating .

26:49

But usually most of them are pretty good . I send

26:51

them your hostess tips or the hostess

26:53

tips guidelines that come kind of with the party

26:56

graphics and just ask them if they have

26:58

any questions . Most of my hostesses

27:00

have done some kind of online party

27:02

, especially now that most

27:04

parties have shifted online . I

27:07

actually don't know anyone that does at-home parties

27:09

anymore . It might be a cool thing to get back into

27:11

. But I feel

27:13

like all my hostesses kind of understand

27:15

hey , I just need to tag some friends or be

27:18

engaged , comment like share , and

27:20

they've usually gone pretty well .

27:24

Yeah , I love that . Well , you are definitely

27:26

one of the more seasoned tea partiers , and

27:29

not just seasoned , but I would say , consistent

27:31

with it , even though , like you mentioned

27:33

, like if it's working

27:35

, keep doing it . I mean there's a balance

27:37

between , you know , burnout , making sure we're

27:39

in it for the long haul , but , like you are just

27:42

proof that , like , if something is working

27:44

, continue to do it . We don't always need to try to switch

27:46

it up , like we're always , you know , but I

27:48

think that's the downfall of creative sellers

27:50

we're always wanting to try something else , even

27:52

if maybe it's just working and we just need

27:54

to stay put . So I want

27:56

to talk more about your storefront . So

27:58

tell us more about your storefront , maybe

28:01

some displays you have in there . I think you

28:03

even have a tea bar in there , is that

28:05

right ? So tell us about the tea bar .

28:07

I do so . I have a two-story storefront . The

28:10

downstairs is kind of home goods , trendy

28:12

items , seasonal decor , things like that , and

28:14

then upstairs I have a build-your-own

28:16

tea bar , similar to like a

28:18

Build-A-Bear . You

28:21

come in , you pick a print

28:23

out in

28:28

. You come in , you pick a print out , and I have a ton of different blanks . We have teas

28:30

and tanks and sweatshirts and hoodies and kids blanks and tie

28:32

dyes , and so I mean you literally can build your own tea

28:34

right there . We take them in the back , use

28:37

the heat press , put it together and a

28:39

minute later you're walking out the door

28:41

with your tea .

28:43

Again , you are living the dream . A lot

28:45

of sweat , maybe some blood and

28:47

tears have gone into it , but that

28:49

is so exciting , and just to see it play out and

28:51

unfold in our group , I'm just so excited that

28:54

you share with us as you're going along

28:56

those steps . It's just been fun to watch your journey

28:58

and I can't wait to see where else it takes

29:00

you . So thank you so much

29:02

. Yeah , with that . Um , so if

29:05

anyone listening wants to shop with you

29:07

or maybe stop in by your storefront , where

29:09

can they follow you ? Where can

29:11

they shop at your website ? Share all

29:14

of your links with us .

29:16

So our storefront is in Stanton , Virginia

29:18

. Uh , we finally made it to Google

29:20

. That's exciting . Someone told me the other day you're

29:22

on you're on Apple maps , you're on Google . Uh

29:25

, so we're in Staten , Virginia . My website

29:27

is boutique540.com . We

29:29

are on Facebook and Instagram .

29:32

I love it Okay , and then , uh

29:34

, they can also sign up for any of your subscription

29:36

boxes , right ?

29:38

Those are right on our website as well . It

29:40

just says grab a box , there's a link , and it has

29:42

all the information for all our boxes there .

29:44

It just says grab a box , there's a link and it has all the information

29:46

for all our boxes there Awesome

29:51

. Well , thank you for joining us , Ashley . This was really fun to interview you and just kind of pick your brains about

29:53

some of the different things , some of the burning questions that I know people have , specifically

29:55

about tea parties , and then just that added

29:57

bonus of hearing how you left that nine to five . So

30:00

if you want to check out

30:02

Ashley , or if you are driving and

30:04

you get a chance to get her links , they

30:06

will be in the show notes . I'll put all of the links

30:08

where you can find Ashley and shop with boutique

30:10

540 . If you're learning , wanting

30:13

to learn more about tea parties , you can head over to

30:15

sunkistvacom

30:17

forward slash nine and you can

30:19

learn more about that tea

30:22

party one-on-one episode . So thank

30:24

you , Ashley , for joining us and that's

30:26

all for this episode .