Hi! I’m Doone, your hype girl in business. This is your weekly source of inspiration & information on all things in the e-commerce and CPG space, read by like-minded Entrepreneurs - that happen to be women - like you. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or forward it to someone in your network. I love it when you do that!

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$1000 SMALL BIZ GRANT 🤑

You’ve probably heard that we kicked off our monthly $1000 cash giveaway to small business owners. And it’s in full swing… But there’s still plenty of time to get in on the action and put yourself (or a few friends) forward.

⭐ Thanks to our pals at Flowium - the best email marketing agency for eCommerce businesses - we’re giving away $1000 Cash to a Small Business Owner, + a handful of other SRSLY epic prizes to help Entrepreneurs win in business (total value $3000!) ⁠

Here’s the specifics on what's included in this round?:

• 1x $1000 Cash Giveaway for Small Biz Owners⁠

• 2x Annual Memberships to Hype Club ($499 each)⁠

• 4x Access to The Ads MBA Course ($169 each)⁠

• 3x FSC Hoodie ($109 each)⁠ ⁠

👀 How to be in with a chance? (or many, many chances...)

👉 Click this link to enter your email + website and send it to EVERY Entrepreneur and small business owner you know to increase your chances a million percent.

Go go go!

A Quick Recap on Industry News 🗞

Women’s health tech brand Elvie tops up Series C to $97M. Laura Mercier president becomes CEO of Function of Beauty. 6 Steps to Success as a female entrepreneur. Shopee enters Europe. Visit Reshape 2021: learn from 10,000 global C-suite leaders. Revaia closes Europe’s biggest female-founded venture fund. Cisco launch next phase of Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The all-in-1 biz planning kit you need.

🔑 Insights From This Week’s Episodes on the Female Startup Club Podcast

Directly from the women building the world’s most exciting businesses in the e-commerce and CPG space.

1. 3 Steps to Validating Your Biz Idea 💡

We’ve all been there. A lightbulb goes on… Why don’t I make this into a business? How do you know if your idea actually has legs?

EP208: Nichole Powell talks us through her 3-step-process of validating Kinfield, how she went from many ideas to actively building her brand.

Get real, and ask yourself…

1. Is this something I am deeply passionate about? ❤️‍🔥

If all goes well, you’re going to be doing this for many years. Longer than most jobs. Is this something you’re going to want to be thinking and talking about for the next 7 to 10 years at a minimum?

2. Is there a market for it? 🤔

You can be the best trombone oil maker in the world, but what is the market for trombone oil? Do people need that? Probably not. Test if there is a market there. An ample opportunity.

3. Do I need to be the person to build this? 🙋‍♀️

It doesn’t matter if you’re passionate. It doesn’t matter if there’s a market there. If any number of people can do this, why should it be you?

Once you choose to make that commitment, from there’s it’s just asking the questions and taking it one day at a time. What idea is sticking in your mind?

2. Recipe for Success 🍯

EP209: Everyone is buzzing about Carly Stein’s Beekeepers Naturals, the brand disrupting the wellness space. What does this certified B-Corp with a 370% year-over-year revenue growth attribute its success to?

- “We’re obsessive about products” 🤩

Product quality and efficacy. So important. You can only get so far with a company built on promises.

- “Market with strategic decisive messaging that people understand” 📝

Try to bring this down to everyone’s level. Understandable in a quick second. Educate the customer, and speak to their needs.

It’s really important to be specific and speak to the problem that the customer is going through. What is the problem they are still playing with? If you’re not your customer, get to know them.

Generally speaking, bee open-minded, bee flexible and keep growing with your customer base. 🐝

3. Golden Ticket to Campaign Success 🎟️

EP210: Launching with a 40,000 email subscriber database in your back pocket is certainly not a bad way to launch. Isabel Aagaard (LastObject) digs into the how-to.

It’s a really good prevalidation of your product. Isabel created a landing page, with a tempting 45% off if you sign up with your email. By the time launch came around, they had a list of 40,000 emails of people who were ready. People wanting to buy. But… How do you spread the word?

Ads! Facebook Ads that redirected to the landing page. Additionally, she reached out to around 1000 mini-influencers. Both to send samples and spread the word. These things co-created the email list that led to a majorly successful Kickstarter campaign and an impressive $1.3M in funding.

Biz Wins & Failz 🎢

Here are a few crackers straight from Hype Club.

We’ve got an ongoing Biz Wins & Fails chat going in HC. This is where we can learn and hopefully avoid in our own journeys, and what keeps us feeling like we are not in this alone. A lot of us are seeing a lot of highlights, but tbh there are also so many downs and things that go wrong.

You might remember Megan Broderick’s (Founder of a|dash) fail from a couple of weeks ago.

“The pallets arrived, with one severely damaged, meaning we have to file an insurance claim for 42% loss on that pallet. Cash flow is such a big issue for us.“

Well, it turns out there are happy endings in business too.

“The Insurance agreed to pay the full amount of the damaged freight claim and the cheque arrived yesterday! While a fail because we missed out on the revenue, I am chalking this up in the win category as we learned a lesson and have our compensation.”

So here for this attitude. 👊

If you’re in the CPG space, come join Hype Club where we discuss our weekly wins, fails, resources and everything in between. You’ll also hear from our resident experts and the guests featured on the show!

*Our pricing is currently $59 per month, cancel anytime. Come join us if you want to build your network and meet other women going through the journey.

What’s on this week? 👀

Let’s see what we have in store for you this week…

TUES: Lil Ahenkan (Flex Mami) from Flex Factory - showing people the power of deep connection 💭

THURS: Doone’s back - Part 6 of the non-alc wine brand journey 🍷

SAT: Brianna Bitton from FLO - the first-ever PMS gummy vitamin 💞

Click here to tune in! 🎧

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 The Success Experiment by Flex Mami (our very special guest this week): asking how our lives would change if we set our goals based on what would actually fulfil us, instead of what feels easy or achievable?

🎧 Still Processing, hosted by Wesley Morris & Jenna Wortham: a weekly show working out culture in the broadest sense.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool job listings on our radar:

LDN 🇬🇧

• Alva, the company helping women live longer in good health, is looking for a Head of Ops to take their operations from 0 to 1. Apply here.

Toronto 🦫

• Encircled, the brand making stylish & sustainable women’s clothing, is hiring for a number of fashion design roles. Connect directly with the Founder.

Copenhagen 🇩🇰

• NAKED Copenhagen, the world’s leading sneaker supplier for women, is searching for a Graphic Designer to strengthen its team. More info here.

PS:

Don’t forget to reply and A) tell me what you would do with that $1000USD CASH I’m giving way and B) apply by clicking here 👋