083 | Danni Hong, oh hello friend on exhibiting at craft shows, owning a brick & mortar store and her journey of scaling up & down to make her business fit her life

Danni Hong is a designer, business owner, and lover of all things paper. She started oh, hello friend in 2008 and has been hustling ever since at craft shows and trade shows worldwide! Her ultimate goal thru her business is to convey joy thru oh hello friend products and brighten someone's day.

Danni attended Tradeshow Bootcamp's Paper Camp prior to exhibiting at her first wholesale show, but she has a lot of experience exhibiting at craft shows near and far which she talks about in today's episode. We also talked about Danni's journey of scaling up and scaling down. She shares her experiences exhibiting at craft shows near and far. She also talked about her experience opening a brick and mortar shop and how she decided which products to carry in her store. Danni also discussed what it was like operating three different arms of her business.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• The types of products oh, hello friend offers
• The steps she took after opening her Etsy shop to grow her business
• Danni's experience with craft shows & how they benefited her business
• Her tips & tricks on streamlining processes to be able to do shows
• How she determines how much product to bring to craft shows
• Danni's experience opening a brick and mortar shop
• How she decided which products to carry in her store
• Her experience managing multiple arms of her business at once
• The way that owning a store impacted her customer service & the way she develops her product line
• What she would go back and change about her business if she could
• What's next for oh, hello friend

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"There's potentially thousands of people coming through these shows, and even if a small percentage is taking your business card, that's still your business card going into the hands of potential customers, and them telling their friends." - Danni Hong

"I think there's so much value in going to other cities if you can." - Danni Hong

"I always wanted to open a store." - Danni Hong

"I had been doing craft shows for a few years and I was able to save up enough money to not have to take out any loans or really go into any debt to open the store." - Danni Hong

"When making a decision of what to carry, we carried a lot of brands that are actually friends from the industry, they're all made locally, or letterpressed, hand-lettered, all supporting small artists." - Danni Hong

"I just get a lot of joy from finding something and then bringing it back into the store and then seeing other people's reaction or responses to it." - Danni Hong

"Nothing can really truly succeed when you're just being pulled in so many directions." - Danni Hong

"Take a step back and really examine things that bring you joy, and do more of those things. I'm not saying you can't work hard, I think it's so admirable to work hard, but I just think I just really lost myself in it." - Danni Hong

"Hard work is how we build these businesses and it's how we become successful, but you don't need to be in a constant state of hustle." - Danni Hong

"I think at the end of the day, I just want to be creating products that bring people encouragement or joy." - Danni Hong

CONNECT WITH DANNI HONG

Website: http://ohhellofriend.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/ohhellofriend

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ohhellofriend

SPECIAL OFFER:

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What if you could sit in a room with 30 other product makers who are doing exactly what you're doing -- building a business they love! You could share resources, leverage each other's experiences and learn from those who are where you want to be. Imagine the growth potential!

Join us March 14-15th in Los Angeles for our Paper Camp Conference.

Over 800 brands have attended Paper Camp. Brands that sell to stores like Target, Paper Source, Container Store, Anthropologie and independent boutiques internationally.

This program is for you if you're a stationery or gift company interested in selling wholesale, exhibiting at trade shows or looking to expand your outreach to wholesale customers.

We believe in the power of community, collaboration and sharing everything we know. Get all the details and register at www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!