346 | Tripling Revenue by Focusing on Wholesale with Rachel Kroh, Heartell Press
Jun 11, 2024
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Join Rachel Kroh, an accomplished illustrator and owner of Heartell Press, as she shares her journey of turning her remote business into a thriving success. Discover how she tripled her revenue by focusing on wholesale and enhancing her infrastructure. Rachel discusses the emotional power of her art, the challenges of managing a dispersed team, and her exciting plans for a special anniversary collection. Her story is a testament to perseverance and creative expression in the world of entrepreneurship.
Rachel Kroh achieved significant revenue growth by strategically focusing on wholesale sales and optimizing her business systems and infrastructure.
The importance of remote work and team autonomy in Rachel's business highlights a modern approach to balancing personal life with professional commitments.
Deep dives
Balancing Business and Family Life
Rachel Crow manages a successful business while living in Washington, where her remote team operates across the country. This setup emphasizes the importance of remote work in modern business models, allowing flexibility for creative entrepreneurs to balance personal and professional lives. Rachel's decision to live apart from her business operations has led to significant growth, showcasing her ability to maintain productivity and communication with her team. She leverages modern technology, fostering collaboration despite geographical distances, which has become increasingly vital for many businesses today.
Tripling Revenue Through Wholesale Focus
Rachel has tripled her revenue by concentrating on wholesale sales and optimizing her business systems and infrastructure. This strategic focus on selling predominantly greeting cards has proven effective, as she shares that around 85% of her sales now come from wholesale. Rachel highlights the need for strong profit margins and a well-structured approach in wholesale operations, which she coupled with significant market research and customer understanding. Her successes demonstrate how narrowing focus can yield substantial financial growth in a competitive market.
The Importance of Building a Trustworthy Team
The growth of Rachel's team from a few members to seven reflects her commitment to creating supportive work environments and fostering employee autonomy. She emphasizes the significance of delegating tasks and trusting her team to make decisions, which has improved both productivity and morale. Rachel's emphasis on profit-sharing and fair compensation aligns the interests of her employees with the business's success, creating a culture of shared responsibility. This collaborative approach has proven beneficial for both employee satisfaction and business performance.
Innovative Marketing Strategies for Growth
Rachel transformed her approach to marketing by focusing on customer needs rather than self-promotion, which has significantly enhanced her business outreach. Collaborating with marketing specialists helped her to refine messaging and create relevant content targeted at her customer base. Through initiatives like weekly emails and social media engagement, she effectively communicates with customers, fostering relationships that drive sales. Rachel's innovative marketing efforts encapsulate the necessity for modern businesses to adapt to changing consumer expectations to achieve growth.
What if you lived in a different state than your business? Meaning, all of your products, your inventory, your team, and your operations were in a completely different state.
For today's guest, Rachel Kroh of Heartell Press, this is her every day now. She lives in Washington with her family, while her team of 5 works remotely across the country. They're shipping cards and gifts to more than 1,000 stores worldwide.
In this episode, Rachel shares how she tripled her revenue by focusing on selling wholesale, strengthening her systems, and building the infrastructure of her business. Plus, Rachel reflects on the challenges of relocating her business, the impact of her art on emotional expression, and her exciting plans for the future, including a 10-year anniversary collection. She is one of our Paper Camp alumni and also one of our LABS members.
Today's episode is brought to you by our Is Wholesale Right for You private podcast! This free 12-part audio series will help you decide whether wholesale is a good next step for your specific business. After listening to this audio series (in less than an hour), two things will be true. You'll know whether you want to pursue wholesale for your product business, and you'll have the confidence and action steps to get started with wholesale. Sign up for the private podcast today!