Think Inside the Subscription Box

Notes from Chris

Episode 1674

In 2016, Julie Ball was running a web agency. Since she could work from anywhere, she and her husband decided to move to Asheville, North Carolina the summer before their daughter started kindergarten. She loved their new home, but she found herself spending lots of time behind a screen and missing personal interaction.

On a whim, she decided to create Sparkle Hustle Grow, a subscription box that would serve the same audience she served with her agency, female entrepreneurs. She enjoyed getting subscription boxes herself, so she thought if she created one that had business tools and training that would help customers thrive, then it might be a good lead generation tool for her agency.

In choosing what to put in the box, Julie looked back at her own expense receipts to see where she was spending money. She read a lot of books, usually in the self-help and personal development categories. She also bought a lot of office supplies. In fact, she’s a self-described office supplies junkie, buying items that bring joy rather than basic blue or black pens. The contents of the boxes changed as she got feedback, but that was her initial vision.

Then Julie shared it with everyone she knew, posted in Facebook groups that were relevant to her audience, and asked others to share. During the pre-launch, she sent out emails each week to that list she’d been nurturing, showing off her progress and asking them questions. This way, she’d have an email list of interested buyers when she actually launched. She promised an exclusive item for "founding members" and created a sense of urgency with a deadline and a limited supply of 100 boxes.

When she finally opened the cart and got her first sale notification on her phone, Julie jumped up and did a little dance. As more sales came in, she colored in each state of her customers on a poster board print of the United States. She didn’t hit her goal of 100, but made 42 sales and ended up shipping 56 boxes that first month.

From there, she kept growing … a lot. In the space of two years, Sparkle Hustle Grow went from a dream to a much bigger business with annual revenue of $750,000 and a small team of contractors. How did it grow from 42 boxes to more than a thousand going out each month? Julie has used Facebook ads, a referral program, and sales funnels (basically, a discount in exchange for an email address, then an email sequence) to grow her subscriber base. She’s also built relationships with female entrepreneurs through Facebook groups and in-person events.

In fact, she’s become so good at the subscription box business that she launched an online course called Subscription Box Bootcamp as a side hustle to what is now her main hustle.

Subscription boxes have a lot of moving parts and Julie knows the information can be really scattered, so she considers this course (and community) to be like the Disney Fast Pass to success with launching. She also created a podcast called Subscription Box Basics.

You might say Sparkle Hustle Grow didn’t work very well towards Julie’s intended goal of being lead magnet, but it became something much better.

 

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Julie and how to start your own Subscription business at her website, SparkleHustleGrow.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Marketer Creates Six-Figure Subscription Box Success: He looked for a simple solution for a client, and didn’t find one—so he spent the next year building it.
• A Packed Closet Leads to Secondhand Subscription Boxes: A professional organizer finds a way to stitch her passion for thrift shopping into profits.
• Pastor Keeps the Faith with Clergy Subscription Boxes: A Lutheran pastor creates breathing room in her budget with a popular subscription box for fellow ministers.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,