The Future of Fairface Washcloths - sink or swim?
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Fairface Podcast transcript / show notes
INTRO
Hello my friends! Welcome to the first Fairface podcast episode in 2023. Happy New Year! I'm so sorry, it's the end of January. So, can I still say that even though it's already January 30th today when I'm recording this? I hope you are doing great so far in this new year!
I have been hesitant to record this episode because of what I am going to share with you, because I'm not sure exactly how to say what I want to say. I have outlined it a couple of times and think yes, I'm going to share this. And then I rethink it and think no, I'm not recording this.
We've been taught to project ourselves how we want everything to be and how we want it to appear, much like the saying, "fake it 'til you make it." But if you take that facade down, for all of us, what's really happening on the other side?
It is a Pivotal Year for us
In a place of total honesty and vulnerability, this is a very pivotal year for us with our small business. It is the year I will decide, due to our current challenging economic times, whether or not I will be able to continue making and selling Fairface Washcloths.
I know there are a lot of small businesses out there who are facing these same challenges and every time I hear that another one of them has closed, it breaks my heart. I can also understand why they end up having to make those hard decisions when they just can't make it work anymore.
We are in a place where we need to be reaching more customers and bringing in more sales, in order to outweigh all the increasing costs of doing business.
And having to face the possibility that running this business might not work anymore if things don't change, is a huge deal for me. It's a life changing decision. I've been making and sharing Fairface Washcloths going on 12 years.
Fairface Washcloths have helped my skin in such a profound way
And I also know they are helping thousands of people with their sensitive skin too because they have told me they do. They have told me how grateful they are to have found our washcloths and how much they've helped their skin. And they keep coming back for more washcloths for themselves, and they give them as gifts to other people because they are "believers in Fairface Washcloths."
I believe, for the good of a healthy skin barrier, no matter what your skin type, everyone should be washing their face with our soft flannel washcloths because they won't harm your skin barrier like so many other textured washcloths can.
From the very first time I started making and using our soft flannel washcloths on my sensitive, newly-diagnosed Rosacea skin, all those years ago, they have helped my skin in such a profound way - I knew from that moment it was something I needed to share with other people who also have sensitive skin.
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It's hard to be a small business right now
All that aside, the fact is, it is getting so much more expensive just to make our washcloths AND also to sell our washcloths. From our fabrics, to our labels, to our thread and shipping costs to get all of the raw materials here. Everything has increased.
Even our packaging costs have doubled even though I keep our packaging simple *on purpose* so I can invest the most money into our fabrics and the making of our washcloths. I won't source cheaper materials because I will only turn out the very best quality.
And along with that, the costs and fees to sell our products online have also gone up.
Each platform is taking more from each seller and from each sale; and website hosting and maintenance, email, credit card processing fees, you name it, all the costs are rising.
I haven't raised our washcloth prices or our shipping prices, though the costs on our side have all gone up. I don't want to raise prices, but I don't know if I will have to in order to still be able to make and share our washcloths.
It's harder finding customers than it was a few years ago
It's also become harder to find new customers. I talked about this a few episodes ago, in 6 Ways to Help Your Favorite Small Businesses without Spending a Dime, so you can go back and listen to that if you haven't already.
Even with all the advances in the way we sell online and with social media, blogging, and so forth, for us, it's harder to find new customers than it used to be in year's past.
The only thing I can think of, is that it's because companies want you to pay for what used to come naturally for free.
As much as my heart would love to keep providing everyone with our amazing washcloths that have helped so many people and something I believe in so deeply, I am not able to just do it out of the goodness of my heart.
I need to help provide for our family and find extra money somewhere to save for our future so we're not still working our fingers to the bone when we're 85 years old.
I've considered, what if I kept this as a side-business? I used to do that several years ago when I also had another job. But there is just way too much time and effort and money that goes into running it, up against the limitations I've mentioned, for it to be something I could do along side a full-time job.
This weighs on me night and day and even wakes me up in the middle of the night.
So you can see how hard this is, and why this is such a pivotal year for us.
Will we be able to keep doing this business or not?
It's hard to buy from us if you don't know we're even here.
And the sad part is, like I said, it's not because the products aren't great. We've had thousands of sales and hundreds of gushing 5 star reviews and repeat customers.
We just need to grow our customer base and increase our sales in order to outgrow our costs.
It's hard to buy from us if you don't know we're even here.
I can't imagine a world without Fairface Washcloths
I imagine my customers who would no longer have our soft washcloths to help take care of their sensitive skin and it makes me feel horrible.
I imagine myself without our washcloths and I wouldn't know what to do without them.
Fairface Washcloths are a vital piece of my sensitive skin care routine. I can't use any other washcloths on my face. I've tried it! I've been stuck in a position where I had to use a random washcloth on my face and next to our soft washcloths, it felt like sandpaper on my skin and it did leave my skin red and irritated.
Our soft flannel washcloths are the only washcloths that keep my skin calm when I wash my face. How could I do without them? How could all the people who use them now do without them either?!
They have told me how grateful they are to have found us. I don't want to let them down.
>>>CLICK NOW TO BUY FAIRFACE WASHCLOTHS<<<
How I'm going to try and save our business
So, what am I going to do this year, to try to save our business?
I decided to call 2023 a Year of Discovery, because I'm moving forward with what I call, "a positive curiosity" to see if I can make our small business more sustainable by focusing on 4 specific goals.
By pursuing these goals, it will either take us to the end of this year and beyond, or it will take us to the end of the year, as our last year for sharing Fairface Washcloths.
So here is my game plan to see if I can increase our reach and increase our sales so I can keep Fairface Washcloths going.
My Top 4 Goals for saving our small business this year
1. Getting in front of more people's eyes
There are 3 ways I'm going to try to get in front of other people who may not have seen us before:
- 1st with our customers
- 2nd with our Podcast
- 3rd with other skin care professionals
1st Our Customers
When you share about our products on your social media to your followers it puts us in front of a whole bunch of new people who may not otherwise have found us.
With so many limitations on social media, our reach alone, unfortunately, is very small.
- Every share helps.
- Every mention helps.
- Every one of your posts about us helps.
- Every time you give Fairface Washcloths as a gift, it helps
- Or any time you talk about us with your friends and family it helps so much and we are so grateful. Many of you are already doing this and it means so much to me.
The only thing I can do is ask for you to keep sharing and keep posting and keep gifting.
Another way I'm going to try getting in front of other people's eyes is by inviting guests on my podcast.
2nd Podcast Guests
I know I've been talking about this for a long time, but I hadn't done it because, frankly it's intimidating and scary because it was something I hadn't done before...until this past Friday.
If you follow me on social media, you know I finally recorded my 1st guest podcast episode about tween and teen skin care with Patti Robinson, a dear Fairface Washcloths customer and esthetician in Portland, OR.
Podcasting Jitters
It was funny, I slept kind of fitfully the night before, worrying about what random things could happen - the main thing was, what if this doesn't record? What if I push record and after all of our conversation I go back and for some reason it glitched and didn't actually record, so that was my main worry...what if it doesn't record, what if the audio has problems, what if I sound stupid, what if I don't know how to make the conversation flow...blah, blah, blah, all those things were just flying around in my head the night before.
And the next morning I was telling my husband about all my worries and he said, whatever happens is going to happen. Which really was not helpful, but then he added, what if you have to go to the bathroom really bad during the middle of it?
Well, that's one I hadn't thought of yet. Thank you so much, now I have another worry on the list.
But anyway, it went so well. The audio did record and she was so easy to talk to and so gracious to answer all my questions about a good skin care routine for tweens and teens as well as answering other skin care questions relevant to that age group.
It went so well. It will take some time to get the episode ready to publish, but I will let you know when the release date will be, some time in February.
But it went so well that it doesn't feel quite as intimidating to invite another guest on my podcast.
My hope is by inviting skin care professionals that help and support sensitive skin, on my podcast, it will not only provide you with helpful information, but the professionals I bring on will be introduced to our customers and we will be introduced to theirs as well.
There are many great sensitive skin care brands and estheticians with customers and clients who may not have ever heard of Fairface Washcloths, but who could absolutely benefit from adding them to their sensitive skin care routine.
The last way I'm going to hopefully increase our reach, is by:
3rd Asking for Professional Reviews
from estheticians, dermatologists, and sensitive skin care brands.
This is also a tough one for me and pushes me way outside my comfort zone because I'm not sure what the etiquette is around something like this.
It's intimidating to ask (they could definitely say no) and it makes me uncomfortable imposing on them because they are very busy professionals.
I don't know whether it's more realistic to get a supportive quote for our products and websites, or if they would be willing to do a public review in exchange for product? I'm not sure. Some of them may require payment in exchange for a review.
I'm just going to try and gather information, brace myself for rejection, and see what happens.
The 2nd part of my game plan to see if I can increase our reach and sales so I can keep Fairface Washcloths going is to:
2. Market to new customers
I'm really excited about this and have been working on something the last few weeks.
I have been told many, many times by our customers that the washcloths on the market, currently available for babies, just aren't soft enough. So they come to us and use our soft flannel washcloths for their babies.
Traditional baby washcloths are often made with textured fabrics, like "baby terry cloth", with smaller loops than traditional terrycloth, but the texture can still be rough against a baby's skin.
Texture isn't necessary for a baby's skin, and it can even be harmful to their delicate skin barrier.
Our double-sided soft flannel washcloths are the perfect washcloths for a baby's tender, sensitive skin. The soft double-brushed flannel glides across the skin without any texture and it is much more gentle to the skin barrier.
My niece said she uses our soft flannel washcloths on her little boy and said she even used them to wipe his nose when he had a cold. The soft flannel didn't leave his nose red and tender like tissue did.
Up to this point, we have had many customers buy our washcloths for their babies, but we haven't specifically marketed our washcloths as baby washcloths.
So in an effort to reach a wider range of customers who can benefit from our soft washcloths and I KNOW they will love our washcloths and so will their babies...
I am creating some new packaging specifically for baby washcloths and hope to reach and help a larger range of people.
My 3rd goal this year is to:
3. Email my customers more
I have not been good at this because a) I don't have a good email system to reach all my customers, and b) most of all, I don't like bothering people with a bunch of emails.
However, if I think of it in a different way, I do love being in contact with our customers because they are awesome and I have gotten to know many of them through social media and emailing each other. AND I would love a way to share things that could benefit them.
There are lots of email marketing companies out there and I'm trying to find the right one. This is an added expense, but in the end, if it helps me reach more people and help grow our business, so we can keep making and sharing our washcloths, then it's definitely worth the investment.
A 4th goal is to (and yes, I'm cringing a little bit):
4. Make more videos for social media
If you know me, you know I don't like being in front of a camera. I am a pretty private person.
I don't like how it feels to put myself out there and to be vulnerable in this way. And as you know, social media can be a lovely place and an awful place.
My customers and followers are always wonderful but if I put myself out there even more, to the masses, there will be plenty of room for criticism. So it's not easy, but I know I need to do more of this to extend our reach.
I know more exposure means more likely reaching people who can benefit from our washcloths.
I was shocked to find one of my YouTube videos has reached 28,000 views as of this morning. What? I know. It was the one about me using Olay's Retinol 24 on my rosacea-prone sensitive skin.
I don't know how many orders have been a result of that, but I can tell you the only other video that reached any kind of views on YouTube or Instagram, was about 6,000 views and all others were anywhere from like 3 people saw it to 400 or more. 28k views is shocking.
If there really is value in making more videos, as much as I would like to avoid it, I will do it if it means saving our business.
Please help us spread the word
Well, that's what's real.
I really want to keep running my small business and I'm going to be very intentional about these top 4 things I just shared with you, and really hope that from these things, I will see our business grow. I will keep you posted on how things are going throughout the year.
And if you are willing to help us spread the word about our washcloths, with the people in your circles, we would be extremely grateful!!
And if you need some tips on ways to help us and your other favorite small businesses, because I know we can all use it right now, you can go back and listen to: 6 Ways to Help Your Favorite Small Businesses without Spending a Dime. You can also read the show notes for this episode on our blog, FairfaceWashcloths.blogspot.com.
We would be incredibly grateful for your help!
>>>Shop here for Fairface Washcloths<<<
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Just as a side note,
in addition to the top 4 things I shared, I am also reviewing a few other areas of our business to see if changes would help us moving forward.
These are things like:
- Whether to discontinue our Dual Washcloths with the flannel and terrycloth, even though they are a lot of people's favorite. I reach for those at night when I'm taking off my makeup. But they are a high cost washcloth to make in both time and materials. So that's something I'm considering.
- I'm also looking into considering whether having our washcloths made by a local manufacturer instead of by me and our seamstresses, so I could focus on sales instead of production.
- Also to review our online sales platforms and review costs and decide what to keep and focus on.
- Lastly, and this is more of a bonus side note, that kind of feels a bit self-indulgent, really. And this will probably have to be on the back burner at the moment, in order to focus on my top 4 goals for the year. I've mentioned before, wanting to write a book. I actually have several book ideas and some I've already started writing.
- It's something I've been wanting to do for a while, and have felt very drawn to. But it also feels like I shouldn't take the time to write, when I have more pressing matters for our business right now.
- But there are books I plan on finishing and publishing in the future. I plan on recording a podcast episode talking about what books have inspired me.
So, there you have it!
The truth of what is.
This truly is a pivotal year for us and one with a lot of decision making and a lot of hard work.
Some days I want to do whatever it takes to make our business work.
Some days it gets me down. I feel scared, I feel uncertain, I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel and I want to stay in bed and just feel all the fear.
But the very fact that I'm sharing this with you today, is because I'm fighting for it. For myself and for you.
I won't just walk away without doing everything I can, even if it's way out of my comfort zone, because I believe our washcloths are absolutely worth it, for each person they help.
It would mean a lot to me if you would share our posts on social media, and if you're willing, share your own posts about our washcloths and how much they've helped you.
If you tag us @fairfacewashcloths then we can find you and thank you!!
Every way you help means the world to us!
We are so grateful to those of you who already share about us online and with your friends and family, and those of you who already buy from us and who have also gifted our washcloths to others!! It fills my heart with so much gratitude and we appreciate it so much!
Thank you so much for being here and for listening! We are so grateful to you for supporting our podcast! Please share it with anyone you think can benefit from it.
I wish you all the best with your dreams, and your hopes and goals in 2023!
I'll keep you posted on our progress, as I do the hard things to step out of my comfort zone. Wish me luck! Your support means so much to me!
Be sure to stay tuned for our next podcast episode All about Tween and Teen Skincare with, as I said, my very first podcast guest, Patti Robinson! She is so lovely and it is full of helpful information. So stay tuned for that in February!
Take care and I will see you next time!
The Fairface Podcast is brought to you by the founder of Fairface Washcloths, Shannon Sorensen. Thank you so much for listening and reading! Stay tuned for another episode soon!
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