365 | Her Embroidery Kits Sold Out in 3 Days on Faire with Riki Inge, Rikrack

Have you ever sold out of your inventory in a few days? Today's guest did that when they were launching their embroidery kits to the wholesale market through Faire.  Riki Inge of Rikrack had stocked up inventory. She'd prepped her Faire shop. She went live, and everything completely sold out in just a few days. While most people would see this as a good problem, it highlighted a lot of issues with Riki's packaging, her product details, and even her fulfillment workflow. And she's here today to share her story with us, how she navigated that situation and came out ahead.    Rikrack Embroidery creates kits that are not only beautiful and unique, but also fun and simple to stitch, as well as embroidery-inspired gifts that she's recently expanded into. Riki created embroidery art in college but stopped stitching while working as an in-house artist for more than 18 years. Rikrack combines the love of art making with the fun of embroidery to design kits that allow anyone to create their own special piece of art.  On today's episode, Riki shares why she felt like she was starting over when she moved from selling direct to consumer to selling wholesale. We talk about the challenges she faced and the solutions that she implemented when she sold out of all of her inventory in just a few days when launching wholesale. And we talk about why slow, steady, and intentional outsourcing have served Riki well in growing her business. Today’s episode is brought to you by our Proof to Product LABS coaching program. This is a coaching program specifically built for product-based business owners, with members from across industries and across the globe. If you have ever wanted to pick my brain or get my eyes and ears on your business, our LABS coaching program is the place to do that. One of our founding members, Cedric Victor of Special Orbit, said it best. He said: if you don't want to find out months or years down the line that there was a better way to run your business, get in LABS. We are constantly talking, figuring things out together, and sharing hard-won insights.  Cedric, thank you so much for this. I could not agree with you more. LABS is a special community that includes a wide range of product makers like Riki, our guest today. We have member-only events inside of LABS, so request your invitation to join below!  REQUEST YOUR INVITATION You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/365  Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp  

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Ranked in the top 1% of ALL podcasts, the Proof to Product podcast is your trusted resource for sustainable business growth - especially if you make and sell physical products! Join Katie Hunt, each week as she shares strategies & solutions to enhance your sales & marketing so that you’re building a business that supports your best life. If you’ve ever asked yourself can I make money selling physical products? Am I ready to sell my products wholesale to stores like Target, Anthropologie, Nordstrom or Barnes & Noble? When should I consider hiring a sales team or sales reps? Can I really turn my passion into profits? Whether you’re a just starting out on your business journey or you’ve been at it a while growing an empire, this show is for you. Proof to Product is like on-demand business school for product sellers spanning a wide range of industries. Whether you’re in home decor, apparel, beauty, food & beverage, hand-made items, jewelry, consumer gifts or the stationery world, you’ll gather new ideas each week to help you grow your profit, build your team and lead with integrity. Host Katie Hunt and her guests bring you actionable ways to expand your product line, manufacturing overseas, optimize your e-commrce websites on Shopify, Faire, Etsy, Abound, Tundra, Squarespace or in brick & mortar locations. How to start or scale wholesale sales including pitching stores, wholesale outreach, trade show exhibition, working with sales reps, managing inventory, warehousing product, sales systems, wholesale follow-up strategies and working with key accounts. Marketing strategies for small businesses including content creation, leveraging tik tok and instagram tactics without feeling burned out, why you can’t rely solely on social media for sales and why email marketing systems on platforms like Klaviyo, Flodesk and Active Campaign are so powerful. Listen in as Katie and our guest experts help you strategize and tackle your biggest business goals. Host Katie Hunt brings a unique perspective to entrepreneurship. Since 2011, she’s helped thousands of product brands get their products on the shelves of their favorite retail stores through her Paper Camp program (www.prooftoproduct.com/papercamp). Prior to that she worked in the corporate world for over a decade leading business development and marketing teams. She has two MBAs - one in finance and one in marketing. And, she owned & operated her own product based business for over 8 years, selling her products to stores throughout the world from her garage. Katie knows the struggles you face as a product based business and she’s here to pull back the curtain and share her best kept secrets so that you don’t have to learn things the hard way. Find our free trainings & resources for product based business owners at www.prooftoproduct.com/resources