
231 | Launching with a Coach and Knowledge from FB Groups | with Jennifer Lea
Entry Envy was founded in October 2021 by Jennifer Lea in Omaha, Nebraska, to help others create a welcoming entry with simplicity and convenience that also identified their home for their guests and delivery drivers.
Entry Envy custom signs with modern address numbers, last names and monograms feature a small planter box for their monthly faux floral holiday and seasonal decor refill kits.
Her inspiration came after a divorce and fully remodeling her home with outdated, hard-to-read house numbers and wanting something functional and fun.
Entry Envy was awarded Best New Subscription of the Year by the Subscription Trade Association in 2022. Before founding Entry Envy, Jennifer served as the Executive Director for two medium sized law firms in Omaha for 18 years.
She has a bachelor's degree in business with a marketing major, an Executive MBA, and is a contributing author of the book, "Wisdom Before Me."
She enjoys mentoring and sharing what she has learned about managing businesses and starting her own to help others.
She has two teenage daughters, a dog, and a tortoise. Her life purpose is to encourage more young women to consider the trades as a noble profession.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- [00:00] Intro
- [00:58] What are Entry Envy products?
- [02:27] Where the idea of Entry Envy came from
- [07:14] Validating the idea through an art fair
- [09:02] Hiring a coach to help launch the brand
- [10:19] What was the preparation before going public?
- [12:15] Getting help from overseas
- [13:58] Don’t cheap out but don’t overspend
- [14:39] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io/connect
- [15:36] Sponsor: JSON-LD For SEO jsonld.app
- [16:58] Showing appreciation to first supporters
- [17:41] Your friends and family aren’t your customers
- [18:20] Getting lucky on the time of launch
- [19:15] When should you quit your job
- [20:11] The turning point when Jeniffer finally quit
- [21:22] At some point, you have to go all in
- [22:08] Where to find Entry Envy products
- [23:41] Invest in yourself, but don’t do it by yourself
- [24:51] Don’t skip testing your MVP
- [25:31] Definite your success and set your deadlines
- [26:26] The best way to understand your product-market fit
- [28:05] Don’t outsource getting customer feedback
- [28:21] Customers providing their own niches
- [29:44] Always talk to your customers
- [30:35] Outro
Resources:
- Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
- Custom exterior & interior entry signs with house numbers, last names or monograms and faux floral refill decor kits entry-envy.com
Use code WELCOME at checkout to save 15% off your first order
- Follow Entry Envy on Instagram @entry_envy
- Connect with Jennifer linkedin.com/in/jenniferleafounder
- Schedule an intro call with one of our experts https://electriceye.io/connect
- Get your free structured data audit for your store https://jsonld.app
If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
Transcript
Jennifer Lea
It was a go big or go home [moment]. Anything that's worth doing is worth doing right.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce. I'm your host, Chase Clymer.
And today I'm welcoming to the show with Jennifer Lea.
Jennifer is the founder and CEO of Entry Envy, an exterior home identification signage company that specializes in monthly and quarterly holiday and seasonal refill decor kits.
Jennifer, welcome to the show.
Jennifer Lea
Thanks so much for having me.
Chase Clymer
Alright. I explained what it was in the words that I have. But can you go a little bit more in depth?
What are the products? How do people utilize them? What are we actually selling over there at Entry Envy?
Jennifer Lea
Yeah, absolutely. So basically, I came up with this concept --and I'll tell you about that here in just a minute-- but I wanted to make a way for women to identify their porch in an easy, fashionable, convenient style.
So our signs are either modern house numbers, last names, or monograms. They are vertical or horizontal. And they each feature a small planter box on the front that has a foam block in it. The foam block stays.
And either on a monthly basis or quarterly depending on what the customer chooses --and 75% of our customers do choose monthly-- we ship new both floral, holiday seasonal decor/accessories to basically make it super easy and convenient to celebrate all the holidays and all the seasons.
So [we] deliver to their door, they just take out the old stuff, they put the new stuff, and it's 2 minutes. And they look like they're Suzy Homemaker from down the street.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Awesome. So this is really helping homeowners make their front porch something to be proud of and just...
Jennifer Lea
Yeah.
Chase Clymer
...make it unique and then own it themselves.
Jennifer Lea
Yeah. And it helps delivery drivers. There's so many deliveries today. Where are you going?
We also have a smaller, lightweight interior version that can hang on a hook or over a door with a ribbon for apartments and assisted living facilities.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Awesome.
So take me back in time, where did this idea come from?
Jennifer Lea
Yeah. So January of 2020 is where it started because I left my marriage I've been in for about 15 years. And I ended up moving in with my parents for a couple of months. And I had two girls at the time: 8 and 10 [years old].
COVID hits in March and I am all of a sudden managing a fairly sized --large-sized-- law firm, virtually. We got through the pandemic...Well, not really.
We're 8 months, I guess, into the year. About 6 months into the pandemic and I go to buy a house. And I've been looking but as...
If anybody listening has been through divorce, they know that trying to buy a home during the middle of the divorce is challenging. And then you add COVID and the crazy real estate market and it was just one of those "beggars couldn't be choosers."
I knew the school district I wanted to get my kids into. And beyond that, I was going to have to take whatever I could get my hands on and afford.
And so I moved into what I'm gonna call a "fixer-upper", because that's just what it was. And it was...
It had good bones, but it needed a lot of work. And so my dad was a carpenter for 40 years. And I just started working on the house room by room by room.
And I had about 1800 hours of time in my house over the course of 9 months. I blogged the whole thing called cheaperthanwine.com if you ever want late night reading material.
And it had a bunch of YouTube videos of me really passionate about helping women understand that "This is not hard. It's just time consuming. It's a little dirty. But there's nothing that men are doing that women can't do in terms of their own home improvement updates."
But when I got to the outside of the house, I was out of time, energy, and money, and I was trying to figure out a way to add curb appeal without spending a lot of any of that.
I came home -- [I'm] a huge person of first impressions-- and the underlying subconscious level that you have with just...
Wherever you enter a space, whether it's your own home, whether it's going to somebody else's home, whether it's walking into an office, what does that vibe give you right off the bat?
And I was coming home every day to a house that was bittersweet about what I have left. And I wanted what I was coming home to and I wanted to be more proud of that, as you said in the beginning.
So I decided to paint the garage door, paint the front door, replace the light fixture and find a modern house number sign because the style of...
Numbers... As [with] many homes as mine, [it] was built in the 70s. They put them above the garage door. So there... You can't see them. They're too small. They're crooked. They're fallen off.
And so when I started Googling modern house number signs, there weren't very many on the market. The one that I found had this cute planter box on the front.
And I was like, "Well, okay, I'm inspired. But I live in Nebraska. What am I going to possibly plant in this box that's even going to live be on 3 or 5 months of the year."
“I'm gonna have to water twice a day. And then I'm gonna have water all over my front porch then it's gonna rot the wood."
And I'm like, objecting to all of the reasons why I'm thinking about this. And so anyway, I ended up making it anyway. Go to the garage, have extra stuff, and make it. It's cute. I go to the craft store.
[The] first craft store I went to didn't have the faux floral stuff on sale that week. So then I drove to the other one.
And I spent almost an hour in the store --it was right before Easter of 2021-- trying to figure out "What was I going to put in this and how was I gonna make this cute?"
I got home. I now have to find my wire cutters. I've got an entire bag of Spanish moss that I had to buy all over the garage because it's a mess. And I just...
I purchased so much stuff that I wasn't ever going to use again and it was so much work to get this done.
And then I realized, "Wait a second. I'm gonna have to do this every month? Are you kidding? I don't have time for this."
And so I started looking for "Who ships holiday and seasonal faux floral decor?" Somebody surely had to do that there's a subscription box for everything, right? And I looked, and I looked, and there wasn't.
And so I looked at the people who are making signs or some of the manufacturers out there that were off of Etsy, there wasn't anything going out with the signs that have the planters boxes. And I just...
It was one of those, I don't know, I can have with god moment.
It was like I built this entire business in my head in about 48 hours and just felt like, "Hmm. Okay, do I want it or not?" But I didn't pull the trigger for several months.
That was like "I don't have time for this. I've got too many things going on in my world: Trying to manage a law firm, we're still in the middle of a pandemic, I'm a single mom with 2 kids. I'm not entirely done with my remodel yet. I can't start a business yet."
But eventually I did. (laughs)
Chase Clymer
That's an amazing story. So you do this yourself.
Jennifer Lea
Yep.
Chase Clymer
You realize that there's a gap in the market for this potential product.
How do you validate this idea? What did you do to make sure it was worth investing more time into?
Jennifer Lea
Yeah. So I went to a craft show. We launched in October of 2021. So I come up with this concept in April of 2021. And in May, there is a local art fair that's been around forever in Omaha.
And I called the organizer --who I did not know. I just found who she was.-- and I said, "Listen, I have an idea and I don't have company yet, but I would really like to come and sort of do some market research. Could I get an exhibit space?"
And she said, "Well, yes. You have to pay for it. And your booth has to look nice."
I said "I understand."
And she said "Send me a couple of pictures of his samples of whatever you're in a shlepping. And let me get back to you."
So she calls me back and she goes, "Okay, no problem. It's, next weekend, from 9 AM to 3PM." And in 6 hours I collected...
I took 5 samples. And the reason I was taking different colors, I was debating on which one would sell better and a vertical versus horizontal and handpainted versus doing the numbers. And anyway, everybody loved them.
And in 6 hours, I had 250 email addresses from prospective customers that said, "Let us know as soon as you start selling. We'd love to buy it."
And I was like, "Huh, I can have something here." But I've managed law firms for $10 million businesses for 20 years. I had never started company. And it was the most daunting...
I know everything there is about business, I thought. I had an MBA. But when it comes to like a startup and creating a company from dirt, from scratch, I just was like, "Oh my god. I can't do this by myself. How's this gonna work?"
And so I actually ended up hiring a coach that I had been connected to through a coach of a coach during my MBA program almost 10 years earlier. And she was the sales systems process person. Great gal who just was like...
[She] could help me connect the dots of "Here's the basics. Here's how you paddle this in gear." And I attribute so much of the success to her because I don't think I would have...
It's hard when you're by yourself, and you're a solo founder, and you've got to be 100% accountable, and you don't even know the answers. You don't even know the questions to ask let alone find the answers.
And so I worked with her and worked out the back end for 4 or 5 months before we launched, and really wanted to make sure that we were ready. And I'm one of those people...
My number one strength is strategic so I'm always like, lay the foundation before...
Lay that strong foundation before you build the house, before you build the business, before you do anything. And so I think that's worked.
Chase Clymer
So what was that back-end? That foundation? You don't have to...
Jennifer Lea
Yeah.
Chase Clymer
...tell us everything. But what were some of the key components that you got going before you really took this thing public?
Jennifer Lea
Some of it was just the basics.I had to buy a URL. "Am I buying one? Am I buying more than one? What's the platform that I want to use?" I was not in the world of Ecom.
I had a marketing degree from '99 that was obsolete at this point. I don't know.
"Shopify, WooCommerce... What are all these things?"
So connecting with the Facebook groups, like Boss-Moms and Women Entrepreneurs Helping Women, and so many resources that I just didn't even know about.
I got connected at the Subscription Trade Association, which then unlocked a whole another world.
I was like, "Oh, I wish I would have found this first." But I just... I'm a knowledge person. So I just start diving in.
And I'm like, "I need to be a sponge. I need to learn everything that I possibly can before I launch a company." because I knew this was a big deal.
And I was putting my own job as the executive director of a law firm with a 6-figure corporate income and a single mom with two kids on the line to start this company.
And I didn't quit my job right away. But I wasn't going to be able to keep the secret. I had so many people who were like, "Just tell them it's a hobby. It's a part time job."
I'm like, "Are you kidding me? The Board of Directors knows everything about how I think and operate. They will not believe in a heartbeat 'This is like a hobby.' That's not how I roll."
So it was a big, deep breath of "Am I really gonna do this?" And then of course, you know, we all worry about failure.
So I invested about $10,000, between the time that I came up with the idea for the company and launching to get it off the ground, and then included my coaching fees. So that was tech, that was help.
Through her, my coach, I learned about how to hire a VA in the Philippines, how to use Upwork and Fiverr to hire help overseas.
And literally why I did all of this overseas was number one, it cost me a fraction of what it would have had I used US dollars and US staff.
But the main reason was because I literally was building this business overnight while the rest of the United States was sleeping.
So I managed a law firm all day long, bed my kids, usually still had a couple of hours of my remodel, the work I didn't get done until the middle of July. And then I was done with that.
And then I worked until 2 or 3 in the morning, every single night and then got up at 6:00 in the morning again and did it and that's still pretty much my schedule.
Apple tells me I'm sleeping I think 4 and a half hours a night now, which is an improvement. But it's just a ton of work.
And so really being able to work with her understand how to effectively utilize and hire overseas assistants.
They would work with me all night long, because that was their day and get the infrastructure for the subscription management software, the platform we were selling on, lead magnets... All of these things I didn't even know what they were. Klaviyo and our CRM systems.
And I built everything. And of course it's gone through... I call that Entry Envy 1.0. We've done a lot of iterations.
Last summer, I would say we were at 2.0. This summer, we're overhauling everything again and we'll be at 3.0. So you're never done. But that's what I think the keys were in making sure that I didn't try and do it...
I was fiscally responsible but I didn't try and do this cheap from the beginning. I didn't try and just do it on a free website and just think that, "Oh, I'll just put this out there and just see how it goes."
No. It was a go big or go home [moment]. If anything [is] worth doing, it's worth doing it right.
Chase Clymer
Oh, absolutely. That's something that I bring up every once in a while on the show. It's not necessarily that you have to overspend or overpay. It's buy the best you can afford at the moment.
Jennifer Lea
Mm-hmm.
Chase Clymer
Or what makes the most sense for the moment. And obviously when you're working on an MVP, you still have to be scrappy but you can still be smart with your money at that stage.
Jennifer Lea
Mm-hmm. Agreed. That's what I tried to do.
Sponsor: Electric Eye
Hey there, merchant.
Are you tired of trying to navigate the wild world of ecommerce on your own?
Are you looking for a partner to help you achieve your goals?
Look no further than the Shopify Plus agency, Electric Eye. Our team has a proven track record of helping our clients make millions with strategic design and development.
Whether you're migrating from a legacy platform to Shopify, designing a new theme for your store, or just looking to optimize what you have, Electric Eye is the perfect partner for you.
Electric Eye are true Shopify experts.
Not only is our Shopify knowledge unparalleled, but we have partnerships with all the best tech in the Shopify ecosystem.
And don't worry, we're easy to get a hold of. Our clients rave about our fast communication.
So here's the deal, if your ecommerce business is doing over $1 million dollars a year you can receive a complimentary Shopify Diagnostic from our team of experts.
That's free, personalized, strategic recommendations to improve your store and grow your business.
To get started, head on over to electriceye.io/connect to schedule an intro call with one of our experts.
That’s electriceye.io/connect.
Sponsor: JSON-LD for SEO
Hey there, merchants.
Are you struggling to get your Merchant Center ads approved by keeping running into a price mismatching error?
Wondering how your competitors are showing reviews, price, delivery, and product availability directly in search results?
What if there's a way to get your ads approved for the first time and get more traffic without fighting for rankings?
That's where JSON-LD for SEO comes in.
It's an app that gets you more organic traffic to your Shopify store, qualifying you for over a dozen search enhancements, and provides all of the structure data you need for Merchant Center.
JSON-LD for SEO automatically adds the structured data needed, and it's updated regularly as the rules changed by Google.
It's a hands-off SEO app that you don't need to monkey around with to get working.
It's the safest, easiest and most effective way to stand out from your competitors in search results.
Contact us to get your free structured data audit for your store. Find JSON-LD for SEO in the Shopify app store to get started.
That's J-S-O-N-L-D for SEO, or go to J-S-O-N-L-D.A-P-P jsonld.app.
Chase Clymer
So we built a site, we're going to market, and we launched. What happens [next]?
Jennifer Lea
So I launched in October of 2021 and we had 25 subscribers that first month. And I coined them my "Founding Members." And I positioned the launch as that.
I said, "Anybody who joins this month, you're going to have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life because you believed in me." It wasn't the money. It was the fact...
There's so many people that will just cheer you on from the sidelines and say, "Oh my god, that's such a great idea. And I love that." and whatever.
But the people actually put their money where their mouth is. That is a different level of wow. That just means so much.
And I think all of us, as entrepreneurs, have had to learn somewhat the hard way that your friends and your family are not necessarily your customers.
And until you've started to sell to people that you don't know... It's hard enough to sell to the people that you do know.
But then you go to the next level and these are complete strangers that are willing to put money on the line for you. I was... It really hits home. It just does.
And so those 25 members, we celebrate, we recognize, we do fun things for them. They still mean a lot.
By the end of 2021 in December, we had 40 subscribers. Now, I knew nothing about the best time of the year to launch a subscription box, let alone the seasonality of our business.
And there was a little bit of luck involved with this, because October turned out to be the right month to launch. In a perfect world, I would have done it a month earlier or even 2 months, but I just wasn't ready yet. But it was a good time.
And [the] 4th quarter is always strong for retail type businesses/Ecom. And so it wasn't that at 40 customers I had enough money by any means to consider replacing my income but I had enough traction to know that I had something. It was working. And one of the coaches that I just love from the bottom my heart said...
And somebody asked a question on a call and it wasn't my question, actually. But they asked "When do you know to quit your day job?"
And he said "Don't quit your job when you've replaced your income. Quit your job when you know how to replace your income."
And I was at this pressure point of knowing that this was working and that I was going to have to make a decision.
It was only going to be so long that I could continue to run 2 companies at the same time. And it was not only physically exhausting, it was mentally exhausting because I literally was just...
Every waking hour, I had a law firm and I had Entry Envy. And there's just... There was no way I could separate those in my head and so it was... I just...
And it was easier before the company actually launched when it was just stuff that I was doing overnight.
But now I actually have real customers that have real questions, that were emailing me, and calling me, and texting me during the middle of the day. And that made it even more challenging.
We had an accounting intern in December that worked in a law firm to put his notice in. And he worked 10 hours a week. And to most people, that would have been like a blip on the radar. "Who cares? Just hire a new intern."
For me, though I ethically was torn because I needed to rearrange some staffing to accommodate that loss. And I kept thinking, "I have got to pull myself out of the mix. I'm not going to be here long term. And that's impacting bigger decisions that I was making."
And ultimately, at the end of the day, I just decided there was never going to be a good time to quit my job as a single mom ever.
So on December 30th of 2021, I went into our managing partners office and I said, "You got 5 minutes?"
And they looked at me and he goes, "This doesn't look good."
I said, "I know. I know."
And he's like, "It's time, isn't it?"
I said, "Yeah, it is."
And he's like, "Alright."
And I worked with them over the course of the next 3 months. I actually ended up hiring one of my best friends who was very well qualified for the job to replace me. And it was none too soon.
We added 300 subscribers in 2022. And I am 100% certain that there is no way that that would have happened had I not have had the courage to quit my job and really go all in on Entry Envy.
And I think the other piece of what it is, is that I didn't have a plan B. When you have a backup plan, be that a spouse, be that a full-time job, you don't have the fire that you do when this is your livelihood, our children are depending on it, and you just have to make it work.
And you just gave it my all and that's how I run this company every day.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing. Now, we've talked so much about the company and a little bit about the products. If you know someone listening out there is curious about the products, where should they go to check them out and potentially become a new subscriber?
Jennifer Lea
Yeah, so entryenvy.com is where everything lives. Just as a note, we've tried to go through some other types of sites, but our conversion rate is so high on our website.
You don't have to buy a subscription with your purchase of your sign but 85% of our customers do when they go through our checkout process. And so we steer everybody there.
And they basically choose their custom product, we ship it for free within 3 to 5 days. We send proofs to everybody, for anything that's hand painted before we send it.
So we make sure we've got the spelling right or if they put a date on there, "Established in 2023" or whatever year they got married, we always prove that. And then we... Once they...
And then they sign up if they want their subscription at that time for either monthly or quarterly, and if they want modern or traditional.
And so once they've done that, they get their first kit with their sign so it doesn't ship empty.
And then we ship on the 22nd of each month thereafter. And as I said, 75% of our customers do monthly because they want Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day, and Easter, and all over the holidays, as opposed to just spring, summer, fall, winter.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Before we go, Is there anything I didn't ask you about that you think would resonate with our audience?
Jennifer Lea
I don't think so. I just feel like what I said is... I think there's three things:
You got to go all in.
You've got to just eat, breathe, live your company and believe in it.
You have to find a community of people that believe in what you're doing, but more so than what you think is possible.
And that for me has come through coaches. It certainly comes through the Subscription Trade Association. I am just...
You gotta invest in yourself. And don't do this by yourself.
Founders can be a lonely space. I'm a solo founder but I built a community of people that rally around me and I built a team earlier rather than later.
I was used to managing teams because I had managed companies all my life. And all of a sudden I started this company and I'm turning around looking like "Well, who's gonna do that?" And that was me.
So I hired early and I think that that [is] again, scrappy, but smart to utilize. And so just go in.
And I do think though, Chase, that the question you asked about testing that MVP, I think there's a lot of people who are skipping that step.
And you've got to make sure you really have a product that somebody that's not your mom or your friend will buy. Right? I love...
Sarah Williams always says “The riches are in the niches." And I agree with her, but you still have to make sure that that niche is going to buy your product.
Not everybody wants what I do and that's okay. But I think you also have to know where you're going.
And I said from the beginning, this was not a hobby. This was a "Go big or go home." And so knowing where you're trying to go... Because if you don't, any road will get you there. So how do you define success? What [is] the roadmap?
And when I turned my notice in for my job I gave myself one year. That's what I said. And I knew that I could go back and get another corporate job if it didn't work. But I looked at my finances.
And I thought "If I don't sell one more single thing, how long can I live? How long can I support my family? What was I willing to give up and do during that time period of one year."
And so I came and knew "We [need to be] operating a map."
So my goal this year is to have 1000 monthly subscribers by December. We'll hit it because that's what I've said is gonna happen, And that's just how I operate. So well, I just...
People need to just be clear, know what they want, go all in ,and just have the courage. Doesn't mean you won't be scared, but be scared and do it anyway, because it's worth it.
Chase Clymer
I'm so glad you brought that up again, because I was thinking about it and there wasn't a good time to bring it back up. But the one thing I always say about product-market fit is it's so hard to define.
But I think the best thing is when strangers on the internet are buying something from you that you do not know, that is such a telltale sign that you're onto something.
And I think that that is what any founder needs to strive for to really have the green light to go for it. But then obviously, before that testing stage, I think that going to...
What you did is a perfect example that I'm going to refer back to all the time talking to young entrepreneurs. "Here's a perfect example. Go where your customer is."
You found a trade show or an event in your market and you talked to potential customers.
And I'm sure all the feedback that you got there just iterated on the product.
Jennifer Lea
Yeah. It's a really interesting point. We did a lot of craft shows over the course of the first year.
And initially, we thought that that would be a great place to sell our signs. It wasn't. I'm going to tell you, we hardly sold anything at craft shows.
What it was, though, was the best way to understand our product-market fit.
Because when you are just talking about the internet, yeah, I can spy on you through Lucky Orange or whatever.
I can tell how long you sit on a page and I can see your mouse strokes, but I can't see your eyes.
I can't see what you are or how you are responding. You can't touch and feel the product. And when we did those in-person events, and I had...
I have talked to 1000s of prospective customers. And I didn't let it... I had other people there, but I did this. I didn't outsource this to anybody.
I needed to touch and feel and see how they were responding to these products and what they needed. And everything that came out of, I think, those events, I've incorporated.
For example, I didn't know we had a market for nursing homes. It was the first event when a lady was like, "Oh my god, my..."
I was thinking just apartments and she's like, "Oh, my mom's in a nursing home. She would love this."
And I was like, "Oh! Great! I wouldn't have gotten that feedback."
And the next lady goes by and she's like, "Oh, I'm a real estate agent. This is just make the perfect closing gift."
"Oh!"
The more ladies go by, "Oh, my daughter's getting married. What a great wedding gift!"
"Oh! Okay."
And it was all of those conversations over and over, that I could figure out what we need to do. People...
Another example is that in the little boxes... We make this look like you do you spend a lot of time.
But really, you spent literally 2 minutes: We ship it, it's done, it's ready, you swap it, you're good.
But learning that customers were like scared to touch it like there... I would have people say, "Oh, I can't do that. That's way too hard."
And I would take the thing out. And I would be like "You can't do that?"
And she would look at it. And she woulds [say] "[Gasp] It's all put together? All I have to do is put it in?"
"Yeah."
So I learned how to sell online. I learned all of those objections. And so I think that it was critical.
And I'm in an accelerator program right now. And we have talked to so many founders that have had really successful companies and the number one common…
The common trait that all of them say is that they continue to talk, each of them, to 5 to 10 customers a week. They have customers...
They have hundreds of thousands of customers in some of these companies, but they still want to talk to 5 to 10 customers a week and make sure they're still hitting the market.
They still have the product-market fit, they're still serving their needs. Their customer... What are they liking? What are they not liking?
And I was like, “Wow.”
And so I've gotten taken that page lately, because I did so much research in the beginning. And I do still have a really close relationship with a lot of our customers that have been with us, but not as much of our new ones.
And so I'm going back through that list of now saying, I need to connect with as many of these people as I can and continue to learn and never stop.
Chase Clymer
Oh, absolutely.
Jennifer, I feel like we barely scratched the surface here. I'm definitely going to have you back on in a year or so. We'll talk about all the major wins you've had.
And I know we haven't even really got into the depth of knowledge that you have about subscription and that whole positioning. So we'll definitely have you back.
Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Anyone that's listening, if you want to go check it out, it's entryenvy.com.
Jennifer, thank you so much.
Jennifer Lea
Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
You can subscribe to the newsletter at honestecommerce.co to get each episode delivered right to your inbox.
If you're enjoying this content, consider leaving a review on iTunes, that really helps us out.
Lastly, if you're a store owner looking for an amazing partner to help get your Shopify store to the next level, reach out to Electric Eye at electriceye.io/connect.
Until next time!
Read more

On this bonus episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Khierstyn from Launch and Scale™. We talk about how you validate your product, why Khierstyn recommends launching on Shopify 9 times out of 10, wh...

On this podcast, we talk about how Guava Family has excellent customer service despite having a very little team, their commitment to go all-in on D2C, the value of word-of-mouth in their industry,...