013 | Jen Gotch, Ban.do on building and leveraging a strong brand, the importance of self-reflection at all phases of business and how she built Ban.do into the lifestyle brand it is today.

Jen Gotch is the chief creative officer and fearless leader of Ban.do. Jen founded the company in 2008 with no prior business experience and was able to transform it from a small, vintage, one-of-a-kind hair accessory company into a million dollar brand within years. I had the pleasure of working with Jen when she was a speaker at our Tradeshow Bootcamp Business Camp conference. She not only offers a wealth of information, but she's passionate about helping creative entrepreneurs succeed. On today's episode, we're talking about how Ban.do evolved into the lifestyle brand it is today, why having a strong brand is the best thing you can do for your business and the importance of making time for self-reflection no matter how many years you've been in business.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• The evolution of Ban.do
• Selling to Lifeguard Press and how this enabled further growth
• Hard lessons Jen has learned in business
• Why having a strong brand is important and affects other aspects of business
• How and why Jen gives back to other entrepreneurs
• The importance of focusing on top level projects as the founder of your business
• Advice for entrepreneurs
• What's upcoming for Ban.do

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"I'm a problem solver by nature. I walk towards them, not away from them. But I have no business walking towards half the problems I do." - Jen Gotch

"Sheer will will not allow me to do it all and be great at everything." - Jen Gotch

"Being able to have a voice that stands outside of the product makes it easier for people to attach to your business and makes it easier for your business to pivot" - Jen Gotch

"People have questions that are different than the questions they used to have. They hold companies and brands accountable for things they never had to be accountable before. It's a very interesting time to be in business."- Jen Gotch

"Retailers were wanting newness more often." - Jen Gotch

"It is really easy to focus on medium level shit, because those things tend to have a beginning, middle and end and we can check it off our list. Hold yourself accountable to not get into the minutia" - Jen Gotch on focusing on high level shit

"The faster you can figure out where you add the most value and what you should be doing and what someone else should be doing, you'll grow and scale" - Jen Gotch.

MEET JEN:

Jen Gotch is a creative powerhouse who brakes for yard sales and unicorns. She founded ban.do with a friend in 2008, and with no prior business experience, was able to transform it from a small, vintage, one-of-a-kind hair accessories company into a multimillion dollar brand within years. After a long (and winding) road of jobs that led her to where she is today, she's now the chief creative officer and fearless leader of the ban.do team. She's passionate about continuing to grow ban.do while sharing the experience with her many Instagram followers (and anyone else who's interested), because she wholeheartedly believes that you don't get anywhere in life without the help and kindness of others.

CONNECT WITH JEN & BAN.DO:

Website: https://www.bando.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopbando

Ban.do's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopbando/

Jen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jengotch

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/shopbando/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shopbando

JOIN THE TSBC FAMILY:

Need help streamlining your business operations? Are you feeling a bit stuck in your business? Maybe you're worried about things like marketing, technology, or hiring a team. If so, you are not alone, and we've got a course for you. The Business Camp e-course includes lessons from Tara Gentile, Jen Gotch of Ban.do, Chelsea of Sugar Paper, as well as experts in public relations, websites, email marketing, and much, much more. This course includes eight hours of video content, and a 30 page work book. You will finish this course feeling confident, energized, and armed with concrete information to help you refine your business systems. Plus the on-demand format lets you jump around to topics that are most relevant to you when you need them most

As you guys know by now, I'm a firm believer in working smarter, not harder, and this course is gonna help you streamline your business, whether you're product-based, or service-based business. Head over to tsbcvizcamp.com. That's TSBCbizcamp.com for more information. And for a limited time, our proof to product listeners will receive $50 off with promo code prooftoproduct.

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.