147 | Expanding Products Enhanced Her Brand with Rebecca Townsend, Seaside Designs

Have you ever considered how building a strong brand can make you stand out and ultimately help your business stand the test of time? Today's guest is Paper Camp alumni Rebecca Townsend. Rebecca is the owner and creative director of Seaside Designs. She literally built her whole business around her love for the beach and sea. Pretty fascinating, right?

The business didn't always come easy and she's had to overcome many ups and downs through her entrepreneurial journey. She rode the rocky tides of being a business owner and now she's riding the waves of success. In this episode, she shares her story of navigating a huge rough patch that made her shut down her business and the story of her resurrecting it and bringing it back to life.

We talk about her experience of overcoming burnout and figuring out a way to work smarter, not harder. She shares her research and development process for products and how she balances the financial risks of expansion (you might be surprised to hear how she does it). Rebecca gives her advice for other business owners who want to expand into new product categories and shares what's next for Seaside Designs including why she's decided to focus on sustainable packaging.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• Why Rebecca has kept her brand identity the same throughout the years in her business
• How she's built her brand based on her vision
• The evolution of her product mix
• How she got into wholesale after being discovered by local retailers at craft shows
• Going through a rough patch, being burnt out and closing her business
• Making a plan to bring her business back in a more sustainable way
• How Paper Camp helped her to streamline processes for inventory and production
• Bringing more products back into the mix and designing her products to be a cohesive line
• Her process for research and development of products
• How she balances the financial risk of expansion
• The benefits she's seen with widening her product mix
• Tactics she uses to leverage social media as a marketing tool
• Using social media to connect with both retail and wholesale customers
• Rebecca's advice for business owners considering new product categories
• What Rebecca has coming up for her business, Seaside Designs

For full show notes and resources, head to http://bit.ly/PTPEp147

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, Proof to Product has worked with thousands 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!