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 CASH GIVEAWAY 🤑

Quick q - what would you do with $1000 no strings attached (cash) money to spend however you like in your business?⁠

⁠If you listen to the Female Startup Club podcast you’ll very well know that I ask this question at the end of every episode. But I’ve had a secret agenda all along 😏 I’ve been waiting to kick off my own monthly cash giveaway where I give a Small Business Owner $1000 cash each month to do whatever they please! No strings attached.

Our mission with Female Startup Club has always been to impact women building businesses. If we can help more women successfully launch and scale their businesses, the world literally changes.

I started asking myself what would be impactful. Its money, duh. The problem we all seem to face at some point.

Sooo why not put a smile on someone’s face once a month and open up an opportunity to test something or give some breathing room or try something new… How cool would that be?

And so it’s finally here. As of this month it kicks off…

ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR CASH GIVEAWAYS

Wow. I feel proud about this one. Like, really bloody proud.

⭐ 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?⁠

• 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 🗞

Poppi raises $13M from some big names in pop culture. Nike is giving its head office staff a week’s break. Kendall Jenner becomes Creative Director at FWRD. Join Elvie CEO discussing the gender data gap on 06/09. Why female founders still live in the shadow of Elizabeth Holmes. Becoming the richest female musician on the planet. What it’s like to go through menopause at work.

🔑 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. Market That Thing ✨

EP205: I remember being so pumped to chat with Glamnetic’s Ann McFerran last year. It’s still one of my fave episodes to date. Her go-to magnetic lash company created 7-figures a month in sales within their first year. Phoar.

I had to know, what did Ann attribute that success to?

Without hesitation, marketing is the secret sauce.

🌟 Influencer Marketing 🌟

Those initial influencer deals were huge converters for Glamnetic. One YouTuber converted 30x what they paid her! (Yes, pls.) Be smart about who you pick, who your audience is, what your niche market is. Start small by finding partners that you can gift. If you can see they’re into the brand and truly loving it, they’re creating epic content for you or driving ROI from sales, dial into that and see how you can work together on a paid basis.

Our advice: We’ve heard some horror stories of founders doing a one off *huge* influencer shoutout for thousands of dollars only to realise that strategy totally didn’t work and it’s money down the drain. Either they hadn’t done enough of micro influencers, or they got swept up thinking one influencer would change everything and didn’t really ave enough money to burn. Remember that it’s relationship building, start small to test and when you see a glint of something that works - dive right in baby. Swim deeeeeep in those waters! Invest the money!

🪧 Ads - With a Touch 🪧

This is a biggie. Implement founder-first ads. Ann is the one in front of the camera, talking about her own product. Not a lot of founders do that. When you’re a founder, you’re the best person to sell your vision ad sell your products. No one else will ever care about your business with the same level of enthusiasm as you.

✔️ TOP 3 MARKETING TIPS TO NOTE: ✔️

• You have to be so good at content. The psychology behind the ads and content they post is all a-b tested. Produce a crazy amount.

• None of the stuff is rocket science if you break it down. It’s learning psychology in a way, understanding the customer, understanding what going to do well, and testing it. Everyone can figure it out. Show up for your audience and your customers.

• Don’t just use one channel: use every channel you can find, and then take gradual steps in maximizing and optimizing it.

And… Watch your business baby blossom 🌼

2. How to Raise an F&F Round💰

A Friends&Family round usually happens in the early stages of Founding a new biz. The idea is that people invest their personal finances because of some level of loyalty to you, or connection to their startup idea.

EP206: In Founding Ghia, Melanie Masarin raised her entire F&F round in just one week. I’d heard a lot about this way of financing but wanted to know more about how this looking in reality. How do you practically do this?

STEP 1: Tap into your network 🕸️

As you’re doing your research, tap into entrepreneurs from your network to get their advice: what did they think? How do you even vet an idea besides the gut feeling? Does it make any business sense?

STEP 2: Leverage Step 1 ⚓

Expand your horizons beyond your immediate circle. Step 1 is a great anchor to be able to go out to people that you don’t know as well - “we already have these investors on board, would you be interested?”…

STEP 3: Get real with it 📝

For the last push, Melanie put a deck together and reached out to people she’d known were actively investing in the space.

STEP 4: Legal backing

For the final step, the Ghia Founder hired a lawyer & opened a SAFE Note that both parties sign. People are great, but when it comes to $$$ don’t just take someone’s word. This is def the easiest and least pricey way in terms of legal fees. And before you know it, the money’s in the bank!

The key lesson here? Your network is your most valuable asset, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Get comfortable asking. Put yourself out there.

3. A Story of Persistence 👊

EP207: Maeva Heim launched Bread Beauty Supply exclusively with Sephora. Who doesn’t want that?

It turns out, you take a side door. Everyone wants to launch there. Going a traditional route is probably not going to get you through.

“I went to a conference in LA, knowing there would be a Sephora VP speaking there. I just semi-stalked her at this event. Waited for the right opportunity to introduce myself.”

Maeva gave the VP her samples and a brand deck along with the card, and the rest is history. Hopping on a flight to San Fran with the hope of being invited for a meeting, a Sephora buyer contacted Jen the very next Monday with a proposal to meet for 15 minutes. Thank god she went to San Francisco.

When we say to trust your gut, this is what we mean ✈️

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.

Siobhan McDonagh from Inclusip shared her rollercoaster this week:

“This one is both a win and a fail - we got our LLC paperwork in the mail so we are officially a registered company! However, they didn’t put my co-founders name on it anywhere; even though we filed it to be in both of our names. So… We need to check in on that and get it sorted out.

Another win, I went to a bachelorette party this weekend and got to recharge! Also had some interesting conversations with the girls about the brand and things I wanted to do and got some good feedback about things that they would like to see on the market.”

Love this for Siobhan. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster, and there’s nothing like having your (hype) girls around you to get through those downs.

*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? 👀

FSC’s Greatest Hits 🎵

For the next week, we’ll still be revisiting some of the most inspiring, wholesome, and educational conversations I’ve had in the last 1.5 years. Let’s see what we have in store for you this week…

TUES: Nichole Powell from Kinfield - clean skincare that works 🍃

THURS: Carly Stein from Beekeeper's Naturals - natural remedies that actually work 🐝

SAT: Isabel Aagaard from LastObject - reusable alternatives to single-use ♻️

Click here to tune in! 🎧

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0) by Jim Collins & Bill Lazier: Turning your business into an enduring great company.

🎧 Dare To Lead, hosted by Brené Brown: conversations with change-catalysts, culture-shifters, and more than a few troublemakers who are innovating, creating, and daring to lead.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool job listings on our radar:

USA 🇺🇸

• We’re still hiring! We're looking for a U.S based Tiktok creator. Said creator simply needs to be a Tiktok user that understands the platform, has fingers on the pulse of trends + pop culture, and has a keen interest in ExPeRiMeNtInG. No following required. Just hit reply.

NYC 🗽

• Chillhouse, THE destination for modern self-care, is looking for Chill Hosts with a passion for wellness and beauty to run the show. Apply here.

• Hero Cosmetics, crafted for all your skincare needs, is looking for a Brand Manager with an entrepreneurial drive. More info here.

Melbourne 🇦🇺

• Kendall and Molly-Mae don’t need to be the only ones trying their hand at Creative Directing. Frank Body is looking for a full-time Creative Director to fill a 10-month maternity leave. Check out the listing 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 👋