Proof to Product
Katie Hunt
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
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
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 15, 2025 • 15min
389 | Communicating Price Increases to Your Retail and Wholesale Customers with Katie Hunt
With everything going on in the global economy right now, there have been a lot of discussions about price increases. It's been a hot topic in Paper Camp, in our LABS community, and even in my Advisory Board mastermind. People are asking about how to raise their prices, if they should raise their prices, and also how to communicate those price increases with your customers, whether you're selling retail or wholesale. And it's a great and valid question. I understand why people are asking it right now. So I'm bringing back an episode that we aired in 2022. It's called How to Communicate Price Increases with Your Customers, and this is honestly more relevant now than when I first aired this episode. With increasing tariffs and practically everything getting more expensive, a majority of you will need to increase your prices. I want your businesses to survive for the long haul. I want you to thrive. I want you to be building a profitable business that will continue for a long time. Understanding when it's time to raise your prices and how to do that is going to be a critical piece for you maintaining your business. I hope you find this episode helpful. 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. 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/389 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Apr 8, 2025 • 31min
388 | Leveraging Funding to Expand Your Business with Zeba Parkar, Treleaf
Zeba Parkar, the founder of Treleaf, shares her journey in crafting stunning laser-cut trellises while navigating the complexities of business funding. She discusses the pros and cons of leveraging debt for growth, highlighting strategic ways to use loans and grants. Zeba emphasizes the balance between spontaneity and planning when expanding through trade shows, and offers insights on effective cash flow management. This engaging chat reveals the importance of understanding financing options and the power of responsible borrowing for entrepreneurs.
Apr 1, 2025 • 7min
387 | 2025 State of Product Industry Survey Now Accepting Submissions
It has been almost one year since we conducted our 2024 State of the Product Industry survey, and we are back doing it again. So from now until April 11, our 2025 State of the Product Industry Survey is open, and we wanna hear from you and all of your physical product-based business owner friends. You can head to prooftoproduct.com/2025survey to share your responses with us, and I encourage you to do it sooner than later and then help to spread the word. As a recap, in last year's survey, we found out a lot of information. We asked about annual revenue, take home pay, the revenue streams that people were utilizing, how much help people have within their business, tech tools that they use day in and day out, and so much more. Last year, we had 925 people respond, and this year, our goal is over 1,000 participants. We're going to dive into many of the same questions and topics that we tackled last year, and I want to do a year-over-year comparison of how things have shifted. We have also added new topics and questions based on some of your feedback, including how many people are full-time in their business or whether it's a side gig. We're also asking whether the business is the primary source of revenue for the owner, how businesses are adjusting for tariffs and current economic conditions, whether sales are up or down compared to last year, plus future plans for sales, marketing, and operational strategies. Head to prooftoproduct.com/2025survey to take the 10-minute survey and please share with any other product-business owner friends! Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Mar 25, 2025 • 9min
386 | How Do I Align My Product Release Cycles with Wholesale Buying Seasons with Katie Hunt
When should I release new products to the wholesale market, and how do I align my release cycles with wholesale buying seasons? I get these questions and more about product release cycles all of the time. In fact, this has been a hot topic in this round of Paper Camp, our coaching program about wholesale. If our Paper Camp students are asking about release cycles, I know that many of you have similar questions too. So we're going to talk about wholesale release cycles today on the podcast. Before we dive in, if you missed this round of Paper Camp, I highly recommend that you join the waitlist for the next round, which will run later this year. You can get on that waitlist at prooftoproduct.com/papercamp. Paper Camp is our wholesale coaching program where we teach you our four-part framework for building a profitable and sustainable wholesale business. Over the course of four weeks, we will ensure that you have your wholesale foundations in place, and we'll tackle growth strategies for your product line, your sales tools, wholesale marketing, and even trade shows. Every week's lessons build upon the next, and we lay out clear milestones so that you know where to focus first, second, and third. Plus, we do weekly coaching calls, and you get to connect with other product creators in our class community. It's an incredible combination of coursework, coaching, and community that's truly built to help you thrive with wholesale. SIGN UP FOR THE WAITLIST You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/386 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Mar 18, 2025 • 28min
385 | How E-Commerce Brands Are Using Pinterest Trends To Get More Sales with Heather Farris, Heather Farris Co
Heather Farris, founder of a Pinterest agency, shares her expertise in leveraging Pinterest for e-commerce growth. She delves into utilizing the Pinterest Trends tool for keyword insights and highlights common pitfalls brands encounter. The discussion taps into the impact of AI on user engagement and marketing strategies. Heather emphasizes the importance of blending organic and paid approaches, optimizing video content, and understanding audience behavior. She also offers actionable tips for maximizing Pinterest's potential to drive sales.
Mar 11, 2025 • 27min
384 | How to Find and Pitch Year-Round Gift Guides with Gloria Chou, Gloria Chou PR
In this episode, Gloria Chou, an award-winning PR strategist and host of the Small Business PR Podcast, shares her insights on the power of public relations for small businesses. She highlights how PR can outperform traditional advertising and offers tips for crafting compelling media pitches. Gloria discusses strategies for year-round gift guides, emphasizing the importance of aligning with trends. She also introduces the CPR pitching method and provides advice on building relationships with journalists to enhance brand visibility.
Mar 4, 2025 • 41min
383 | Navigating Seasonal Fluctuations in the Gift & Candle Industry with Sarah Hart, Simply Curated
Today's guest is LABS member, Sarah Hart, the founder and creative director of Simply Curated, a home fragrance brand that has been in business for twelve years. Sarah also recently launched a sister brand called Hart and Co. In this episode, Sarah shares the origins of her candle and home fragrance business, including the pivotal moments and challenges that she faced along the way. She provides insight into the nuances of the candle industry and the unique hurdles that it presents, like seasonal fluctuations in demand and the importance of in-person customer experiences. Sarah also shares what it was like to launch a sister brand that ventures into new territory with a different aesthetic appeal and product approach. Sarah shares how she balances managing two thriving brands to really harness the power of social media in supplementing her business. Today's episode is brought to you by Digital Lizard, who is a sponsor of our Paper Camp program. Digital Lizard is a leading marketing company that offers a wide range of print, procurement, and creative production solutions, including digital and offset printing, sourcing, and logistics. All of our Paper Camp and our LABS students get access to a private Proof to Product print portal with Digital Lizard, where they get discounted rates on print services and a dedicated sales rep to help us with all of our project management. Many of our community members use Digital Lizard to print products, do their packaging, their catalogs, marketing materials, and more. Digital Lizard offers low minimum quantities and quick turnaround times which our community loves. So if you're looking for a new print partner, our community has great experiences working with Digital Lizard. You can learn more about Digital Lizard's capabilities and services online at digitallizard.com. You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/383 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Feb 27, 2025 • 16min
382 | Alumni Spotlights: Before & After Paper Camp
I know we've been talking a lot about our wholesale coaching program, Paper Camp, which is where we are going to teach you everything you need to successfully sell wholesale. But today, I want to hand the mic over to four of our Paper Camp alumni to share their experiences. I'm calling this our "Before and After Paper Camp" series, where you can hear from real people who took our program. They came to Paper Camp. They actively participated, asked questions, and soaked up everything that there was to learn. Then they went home and did the hard work. And friends, their transformations are incredible. In this episode, you'll hear from: Janine Kwoh of Kwohtations | Follow on Instagram Jesse Regis of Virgins on Fire Candle Co | Follow on Instagram Carly Brenton of Paper Script | Follow on Instagram Amy Frazer of Keller Design Co | Follow on Instagram Today's episode is brought to you by our Paper Camp program, which is now open for enrollment. Paper Camp is our wholesale coaching program where we teach you everything you need to know to build strong wholesale foundations. Over the course of 4 weeks, we tackle your product line, sales tools, and marketing plan, and we even talk about how to exhibit at trade shows if that's what you want to do. We start with your product line and go into everything from how often you should be releasing new products to ensuring that your numbers are sustainable for the wholesale market and their price for profit. Then we move into sales tools you must have for selling wholesale so you make a strong first impression with buyers like catalogs and your terms and conditions. Then, we cover marketing strategies and ways to reach various store owners. Each week's teachings build on the previous week, and we host weekly live engaging coaching calls to answer all of your questions. ENROLL NOW You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/382 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Feb 25, 2025 • 16min
381 | Prep Your Product for Wholesale with Katie Hunt & Alex Gagné, Chez Gagné
To successfully sell wholesale, you must focus on your product line first. If you do not have a product line that has a unique point of view, is priced right, and has strong profit margins, you'll have a difficult time when you start doing sales and marketing, particularly on the wholesale side. A strong product line is the foundation of a strong wholesale revenue stream, which is why we start every round of Paper Camp, our wholesale coaching program, helping everyone audit their product line. We want to ensure that your products are priced for profit and they meet industry standards. For seasoned wholesalers, we want to ensure that you're releasing new products when the market is primed to buy and that any new product categories that you're offering will fold well into your primary offerings. Now more than ever, it is easy to start a product-based business, but strategically growing a product-based business and selling those products to the wholesale market requires unique strategies, which is what we focus on and teach you in Paper Camp. Today's episode is an excerpt from a Paper Camp coaching call with Alex Gagné of Chez Gagné, who is also a speaker for this round of Paper Camp. She talks about her wholesale growth, product expansion, and she speaks candidly about the challenges and successes she's faced along the way. Today's episode is brought to you by our Paper Camp program, which is now open for enrollment. Paper Camp is our wholesale coaching program where we teach you everything you need to know to build strong wholesale foundations. Over the course of 4 weeks, we tackle your product line, sales tools, and marketing plan, and we even talk about how to exhibit at trade shows if that's what you want to do. We start with your product line and go into everything from how often you should be releasing new products to ensuring that your numbers are sustainable for the wholesale market and their price for profit. Then we move into sales tools you must have for selling wholesale so you make a strong first impression with buyers like catalogs and your terms and conditions. Then, we cover marketing strategies and ways to reach various store owners. Each week's teachings build on the previous week, and we host weekly live engaging coaching calls to answer all of your questions. ENROLL NOW You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/381 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
Feb 20, 2025 • 14min
380 | 4 Common Wholesale Mistakes and How to Correct Them with Katie Hunt
How did you decide that it was time to start wholesaling for your business? This is one of my favorite questions to ask my coaching clients, our Paper Camp students, and even the guests here on this podcast. Even though there are a lot of similarities between our stories, everyone's journey is so incredibly different. In some cases, like mine, deciding to sell wholesale was a very intentional and deliberate choice. When I started my stationery business, I knew that wholesale would be the best business model for me and the life that I wanted to live. I had already dabbled in custom design, and I didn't really love it. I had an Etsy shop that was bringing in a decent volume of orders, but it felt like a slow grind, and they were smaller orders one by one. I was intrigued by wholesale, although I was also a little bit naive. The idea of selling in higher volume, building relationships with other business owners, that felt right for me, and it felt like that was right for the season of life that I was in at the time. Today on the podcast, I want to share some of the biggest mistakes that I see new brands making when they enter the wholesale market. I will also share our four-part wholesale framework that we teach during Paper Camp so that you can avoid making common mistakes and, ultimately, sell more of your products. Today's episode is brought to you by our Paper Camp program. The next round of Paper Camp is going to open for enrollment soon. Paper Camp is our wholesale coaching program where we teach you everything you need to know to build strong wholesale foundations. Over the course of 4 weeks, we tackle your product line, sales tools, and marketing plan, and we even talk about how to exhibit at trade shows if that's what you want to do. We start with your product line and go into everything from how often you should be releasing new products to ensuring that your numbers are sustainable for the wholesale market and their price for profit. Then we move into sales tools you must have for selling wholesale so you make a strong first impression with buyers like catalogs and your terms and conditions. Then, we cover marketing strategies and ways to reach various store owners. Each week's teachings build on the previous week, and we host weekly live engaging coaching calls to answer all of your questions. We will open enrollment for our next round of Paper Camp soon, and we sell this program out every time we run it. Join the wait list and you'll get early access to enroll. SIGN UP FOR THE WAITLIST You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/380 Quick Links: Free Wholesale Audio Series Free Resources Library Free Email Marketing for Product Makers PTP LABS Paper Camp
