Show Notes
When your needs are met, the only thing that will continue to push you forward is passion.
In this week's episode we had the pleasure of chatting with Stephanie, owner of Ox & Pine
You're going to love her story because it's so relatable and authentic.
We’re talking about:
- Marketing a handmade products ecommerce store
- The uncomfortable decisions that Stephanie needed to make in her business to move the company forward.
- The one platform that Ox and Pine leverages to get over 500k visits per month
If you’re a local business owner who wants to generate more qualified appointments online we created a free training to show you our proven three step process. Watch the training
Connect with us
Transcript
Christian [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode. Today, we have Stephanie Brown from Ox and Pine. Today, we talk about starting and marketing a handmade products e-commerce store. We talk about the uncomfortable decisions that Stephanie needed to make to push her business forward. And that one platform you might be surprised that Ox and Pine leverage us to get over 500,000 visits per month.
Narrator [00:00:25] This is the Marketing Natives providing actionable ways to grow, improve and succeed in your business.
Narrator [00:00:33] And now your host Christian and Aaron.
Aaron [00:00:40] All right, Stephanie, welcome to the show.
Stephanie [00:00:44] Thanks for having me.
Christian [00:00:47] All right. So we're going to start with the quintessential question. Tell us about your business. So about your company.
Stephanie [00:00:57] Yes, totally. So do you want to know about my business? Do you know how it started or everything? All of the above.
Christian [00:01:04] All the above. Anything you can tell us. We'll go from there.
Stephanie [00:01:07] All right. You got it. So I had started. We'll going back to the very beginning. I used to make fun of my friends in college. They were taking this bookbinding class like hardcore in front of them.
Stephanie [00:01:20] And then fast forward to marriage. We have one child. We're in San Francisco doing an internship. My husband doing an internship for school. And I see this, like, really cool, like crew made leather journals on the street. I'm like, those are really cool. Like at this street vendor. And I was like, I bet I could figure that out. So I kind of got obsessed with leather working and bookbinding. And then I like to say that my geeky hobbies turned into a business. So one time it was just before it was in 2014, just before Thanksgiving. I'd worked really hard and gotten a bunch of letters that I had like hand picked out. And then I cut into leather journal covers and I was really picky about the paper that I got and the particular kind of thread that used to sew it in. I had really spent a lot on my product photography and had a friend who was key in helping me know what keywords to use and stuff on listings and put them up on Etsy. And also that says so. And you know, it wasn't a ton that I had at the time, but I was like, hey, maybe I'm onto something here that was really fun. Let me see what I can do with it. So from that point forward, I started being a lot more intentional about what I was doing with my business. And at one point, I was probably taking over like a third to a half of the square footage out of our house before we moved it out into a warehouse space. And since then, we've moved into a larger one, too. So. So that's kind of like the quick overview of everything.
Aaron [00:02:53] So you're in McKinney now. Where you from McKinney and then you guys moved to San Francisco for school? or how exactly did you get from there to here?
Stephanie [00:03:05] Yes. So I actually grew up in Washington State, went to school in Utah. And that's where I met my husband. And then once we had both finished school, he had gotten a job offer out here. So we moved to Texas. And this is where we've been ever since. We love it here.
Aaron [00:03:20] Awesome.
Aaron [00:03:22] And then whenever you were out in San Francisco, that's when you started to do stuff on Etsy. But now I mean, we'll show this with everybody later. You have an actual website. When did you make the transition to like a shopify site before, like leaving Etsy or if you still are on it.
Aaron [00:03:39] See I don't know.
Stephanie [00:03:41] Yeah, I'm still in Etsy, so I keep all my sales channels open, so I've got Etsy, Amazon handmade. And then also like our own Website. So I can't remember its probably about two years into it.
Stephanie [00:03:56] I think we created our first Website for that then.
Stephanie [00:03:59] And then then we've revamped it and you see what we have now, which is kind of always evolving.
Stephanie [00:04:06] But, yeah, probably took a few years to really get our own Website up and going.
Christian [00:04:13] I read somewhere.
Christian [00:04:14] I believe it was on your Website that you are very particular, right, about both the leather and also like the paper material as well. Right. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Stephanie [00:04:28] Yes. Yeah, totally. So I know about.
Stephanie [00:04:34] Probably more about leather than anybody you ever talk to.
Stephanie [00:04:38] So which is unusual in the leather field, there's not a lot of women, to be honest. So most my interaction and the experience I've been with other guys that have gotten started in this and getting tips from them. Some of them have been like awesome, like old timers that have been doing like chaps and doing some extensive leather carving and stuff, really extensive designs in veg tan leather. So I wanted a leather. When I came to looking for leather that I wanted, I wanted one that was going to feel really great in your hand, but then hold up really well over time and then require really not a whole lot of maintenance, because the more you touch leather, the better it's going to feel, the better it's going to get. So we use an oil tanned leather and that means there's a lot more protections and stuff in it. And the more you handle it, like the edges will kind of darken up and get really beautiful and get this nice Catina on it. So I was really particular about what kind of leather. Just by trial and error at first and learning as much as I could and asking lots of questions and getting lots of samples, trying out different Hydes that way and kind settled on one. And I wanted there's what's called like a tempered to leather. It's how firm it feels and how much I like kind of folds and stuff. And I wanted when they kind of had a medium one, you know, I don't want to be real floppy like a upholstery leather, but I didn't want it to be super stiff, like a straight veg tan leather before it's been softened up. And so I can find this happy medium without one. And then my paper, I didn't want it to be like this thin, just like a computer paper, you know, in there. And so it's much thicker. And then I went so far as to be geeky and test out like deep calligraphy pens on it and all sorts of different mediums even to like really light watercolor that you can do on it. And it does wrinkle the page a little bit, but it works real because it's not specific watercolor paper, but it takes a lot of mediums really well. And it's a lot thicker and nicer feeling, too. So, yeah, I got a little obsessed with those things.
Aaron [00:06:40] Do you think that's what you know, you've gotten compliments on that from other people who have been like. I've been looking for something like this.
Aaron [00:06:48] It was, you know, a little bit more sophisticated or a little bit better quality like is that when people choose your brand over others for is it because you did pay attention to those, to those details?
Stephanie [00:06:59] Yeah, I think so. So it's that it comes down to the details and, you know, it's hard to show through just online pictures and stuff, too. And so trying to convey that to someone has always been a challenge for us. But just making sure that we stay. Yeah, we use the best materials and the best workmanship when we create each of these by hand. That's definitely been key. When I started my business, I decided two things that I'd use the same materials so I'd make the best product and I'd give the best customer service and I'd never be grumpy with the customer. So. So because I don't know about you guys, but I, I've had plenty of bad customer service experiences where, you know, it's my fault even when it wasn't and there was really not an easy way to fix it. And so my key there was to figure out how can I be nice to someone even when it's not my fault. And so I think that's been a huge thing, too, because people like to just be heard.
Aaron [00:07:54] Yes, I think that's true in every aspect of life. But that's definitely good for this.
Aaron [00:08:00] And going back to what you said earlier is you are one of the only women. So it's funny. It's not funny to me. Like it's your husband's very hands, is he hands off or and you're running this and he helps you a little bit or you. Is this just you? Do you have a team? What's his all part of the company right now?
Stephanie [00:08:19] Yeah. Good question. So my husband does help a lot, but he also has a full time job. So, you know, it's those little things about I need help with. We always run. I always run ideas by him and ask his opinion on things and stuff, too. So he's very much involved in it as much as he can be. And but they do have a team. So I have a team in my shop that helps with the production. And then I have a couple of people, too, that are not always in the shop, but sometimes in there that help about customer service and order management at this point. It just started to get too much for me to do all on my own. And to be honest, having a good team is the best way to grow any business. There's no way like as much as I'd like to tell you, it was me. It wasn't. So I've had really good team members and worked to, like, figure out how to build a good team. And that has been really key in helping grow it and also help support it, because there's a pretty big psychological load, I feel like with running your own business as well, that you have to have some help. You have to have some help. You have to have some ways that you can delegate and kind of offload some of that.
Christian [00:09:25] I want to ask this because I truly I love the name Ox and Pine. How did that come about? It was it just all you? Tell me about the name of the company.
Stephanie [00:09:36] Yeah, totally.
Stephanie [00:09:37] So it actually used to be named something different, which used to be called a cherry blossom like Cherry Cappy. But I had to explain that every time I said it was kind of like a funny plan words, but hard to explain. So I had come to a friend who did marketing and asked him to help with a rebrand. And we had spent a lot to a lot of time like figuring out, you know, a new name that would maybe be a little more general neutral or even a little bit more masculine because we are working with leather and trying to figure out something that was the one that really stuck out was the Ox and Pine because ox like a cow and and pine like a tree for paper. So that seemed to just pair perfectly. And then we were just able to like once, you know, I made that decision, we were able to really run with it. So and I've never looked back. That's been probably one of the key things that we've done that has really helped as well and helped me feel more settled about where the business was going and stuff to.
Aaron [00:10:38] When was that transition like, I guess when did the company start and then when did you make that transition? Like how far into the company?
Stephanie [00:10:45] Yeah. So we started in 2014 and I believe it is 2017 that we switched over the names on that. So that was right when we were kind of going through. I mean, there's plenty of different transitions, I'm sure, as you know, where you make jumps in growth and stuff, too. But I feel like that really helped to clarify who we were too. Instead of being this other name that didn't really say anything about what we were. Ox and Pine Leather Goods Co. definitely describes exactly what we are.
Aaron [00:11:15] Awesome. And for your customers that you have currently, are most of them coming from Etsy? I think you said earlier that you have like all your platform, like your on Amazon, you're on Etsy. And then your own Website. Where did the majority of your customers? Like how did they find out about you and where do they purchase?
Stephanie [00:11:33] Yeah, totally. So are the majority of our business customers from Etsy. And then a good portion, depending on the time of year it comes from Amazon. And then also our own Website has been growing steadily over the last few years, which we use a lot of Pinterest ads and drive a lot of traffic that way.
Stephanie [00:11:52] And Pinterest has a longer sales cycle, so sometimes you don't see it right away. But that's a really good way to go because we are visual. People need to see the product as if they're holding it. And that's a perfect way. People can save the pins and come back later.
Christian [00:12:07] You said you started with the journals. Have you always had the other products or was that added afterwards?
Stephanie [00:12:14] They were that their products were added after. So I started with the journals and then I was looking for other products that would be useful. At first we didn't actually personalize the journals, which is a huge part of the business. I'd say, you know, 90 percent of what we sent out the door, maybe even higher, is personalized. And so we didn't personalize it first. But once we started getting into that, we started looking at other things and the luggage tags and the cord reps were the two products that came next quarter up. Keep your headphones and computer cords, organize. The luggage tags were cool because you quit anything from, like your initials to all the way up to the name, phone number, address on there, which we still do. And we got a lot of companies to do that put their logos on him to, too. We have corporate orders that way. And those are a lot of fun. So, yeah. So we are looking for ways to, you know, other products that would add value because we feel like our customers are very sentimental. They feel very much a part of the process with creating their gift. It's usually a gift that they're given to themselves or to someone that they really care about. And so being able to put something meaningful on there, even if it's as simple as like initials, has really gone a long way. So we keep looking for other ways, other products that add a lot of value that they can personalize, too.
Aaron [00:13:29] So I have a request because I haven't seen it on the Website. I really love. I mean, I love leather goods anyway. Like, I have a like a travel bag and duff bag and all that stuff, which I saw that you do have a duff bag. You guys need to make a backpack.
Stephanie [00:13:44] I mean, the backpack would be so cool. We have we've played around with a few designs of that, too.
Stephanie [00:13:52] One of my team members, she's really key and my sewing pieces of everything and her and I will sometimes make up some fun prototypes. So we have a lot of fun, too. We'll make up some random stuff like.
Christian [00:14:03] That's cool.
Stephanie [00:14:04] Like the backpacks. One time she made one even since the top, but also like a little chapstick holder, if you like your keychain or even a little holder for it, like your hand sanitizer to hook onto your keychain too. So yeah, we have a lot of fun with that. But backpacks will be really cool. Those and those will take a little more time to figure out because like I said, we do make everything in our shop. And so figuring out every piece, I'm a stickler for details, too. And so I do not put something out to sell unless I feel like it's very much a finished goods and it's ready to go. The backpacks will be really cool.
Aaron [00:14:37] All right. Well, I'll just keep notes on the website. Just checking back and forth.
Stephanie [00:14:41] Totally.
Aaron [00:14:42] Whenever that happens.
Aaron [00:14:46] What's been like something like it's transitioned within the business, so the name changed and your business has continued to grow. But what's like a transition that you guys have made, like as you've learned? So you add team members. But like, has there been any, like, focus or anything that you're, like, really working on right now that's helped you move to a different part of the business? Like, I know that you guys, like Christian said, you guys started with the journals, but you've expanded. But is there anything else that's new that's coming up with that?
Stephanie [00:15:17] Yes. So we just launched our wristlets. So, like holding your keys and stuff, fun, popular ways, you can stick your hand right through them. And those are really fun. And you could stamp personalization on that. Yeah. I don't know if there's been one key thing that would move the business forward. I think it's lots of little things. And I think it's lots of little things that a lot of times have come from teams too or, you know, they bring up something that's really important, something good to look at, to focus on, too. I'm trying to think if there's been any one big thing that's been like, yeah, that's push the business forward. I'm a slow and steady kind of growth person. So. I was going to say that's the way to go. Just because that's what I believe in. I bootstrapped to start the business so you know, sold a bunch my own crap and to to have the funds to do it and stuff. And and I've continued to run it completely debt free from the beginning. And so, you know, I wanted to make sure that it was, you know, a viable idea and it was a product that people wanted to buy. And then it was like a long term thing, not just like a fad or something. And so I think maybe doing your research and then always moving forward, I don't think that you're ever like, OK, I've arrived. That's it. You know, if you're at that point, then maybe you're burned out or maybe there's another reason you feel burned out, too, or what not. But yeah, I think that always pushing forward and looking for new ideas and ways to improve. I think that's probably been a big key factor in our growth is always looking for ways to improve. Not being afraid to shoot that sacred cow just because it's been done one way doesn't mean that it needs to be continued on that way. You know, we're OK changing processes and moving through different ideas to try out, too. And, you know, we have messed up along the way, too.
Stephanie [00:17:17] So.
Christian [00:17:18] Now that's I mean, I think that's a great answer. And congratulations on keeping the business debt free. I think that's something that I mean, we've done, too. And it's just been a blessing, right. Even through this.
Stephanie [00:17:30] Yes.
Christian [00:17:30] Pandemic as well. Having absolutely debt free business is a great thing.
Christian [00:17:35] Have you always, you think, wanted to own your own business, or was it something that sort of grew on as you sort of figured out, like, oh, wait a second.
Christian [00:17:45] I think I can make a living out of this?
Stephanie [00:17:48] Yeah, I think that, that's a great question.
Stephanie [00:17:51] I think that I've always wanted to own my own business, but didn't know what that actually meant. I don't know if you know what it actually means until you're like, oh, wow. That means that I'm, you know, the leader of this whole thing. And people look to me for the answers and to look for me for the decision a lot of times, too. But, you know, I think that it's a cool idea to be like, yes, I would want to have my own business. Like yeah I've always wanted to have my own business. I think it would be fine. I just didn't know what it was. And I never thought, yeah, that's what I'm going to be doing.
Stephanie [00:18:27] But when it kind of, you know, came forward, like there's here's this thing I really enjoy doing and I really care about. And then I started to kind of like make it into a business, too, that became really fun and also challenging at the same time. Stuff that you just never think is going to come up and stuff comes up all the time. I get questions from customers still all the time that I've never had before. You know, they come up with the weirdest questions. They are just picking things apart to make sure they understand what they're getting and stuff. And we definitely want to make sure they understand. And so we help everyone. But, yeah, I mean, you get questions all the time from team members and customers that you just never would anticipate.
Stephanie [00:19:05] And so, yeah, like I outlined to I always thought it'd be fun to have my own business. And I grew up with a dad who was very entrepreneurial minded, and I appreciated that a lot, too, but that everything I was going to? No, to be honest. But I love what it's turned into. And I think it's a good example to our family, to our kids, to see the hard work and to appreciate it.
Stephanie [00:19:32] Now, I don't think they always love it, you know, but I think they appreciate it and they like it. And hopefully it's helping teach them the value of hard work along with their chors, you know?
Aaron [00:19:42] Right.
Stephanie [00:19:43] So, yeah. So, yeah.
Aaron [00:19:48] What do you what do you most enjoy then or what? I guess, yeah. What are you most enjoying? What surprised you the most? That you did enjoy starting the business. So you're like, OK. I know what this is now. And I like the part of the business, but I, I enjoy this more than I thought that I ever would.
Stephanie [00:20:04] Yeah. Like, I already knew that I loved making things with my hands.
Stephanie [00:20:07] So I mean, I graduated in exercise science. This has nothing to do with leather working or anything, you know.
Aaron [00:20:14] Right.
Stephanie [00:20:15] And so I knew that I loved to make stuff and do that kind of thing. But the thing that surprised me the most was I actually really love sales. So I love helping my customers, but my corporate clients as well. Find that exact thing that's going to meet their needs and be something a little bit different.
Stephanie [00:20:33] And a lot more meaningful for a gift or a promotional item, whatever that they're looking for.
Aaron [00:20:39] You mentioned corporate clients and yeah. That's a big part on the website, it looks like corporate gifts and wedding. Can you just kind of dive into both of those? Like, what are the options there? What do you what do you do for people who are having weddings or for corporate gifts? What do you offer for them?
Stephanie [00:20:58] Yeah. So by way of weddings are, you know, one of our biggest sellers by far is vow books.
Stephanie [00:21:06] We kind of found this little niche where people were looking for something a little bit nicer and we love helping them. It's so fun to hear their stories. And right now, it's been challenging for a lot of them because their dates have changed.
Stephanie [00:21:19] They've had to postpone. And so that's been hard. They've done that. We have wanted to help them as much as we could with that. So the vow books are really fun. We have a variety of different stamps. I don't know if I explain how we do our personalization, we have like little individual medal pieces or if it's like a logo or something, we have like a special metal stamping piece made up. We use heat and pressure to stamp in each character or the logo. And so it's just really beautiful and progression in the leather. Well, the vow books are fun because they were variety of stamps to choose from for the to say vows or his or hers or his vows and her vows and they can put like their name and their date or their initials. People have gotten really creative. You know, they've done, you know, just like like if it was you Aaron and it was like Aaron's vows, like they put their names on there and really personalized it and stuff, too. So there's been some really fun things for that. And then corporate clients, you know, we get people doing gifts for important clients that they have or all of their employees. We've worked with several different companies on hats Hats are really popular with that too, some leather patch hats. Those are really fun. And it's a cool, different way to to show some branding.
Stephanie [00:22:38] And I see your hat. And it made me think of that, too. And I was like, you need a leather patch hat, too, right? Is that leather on there or is it something else?
Aaron [00:22:45] No, it's leather. Yeah. That's what's I'm saying we love. We love the leather kind of stuff. This is before we knew you. So we're definitely need you.
Stephanie [00:22:54] That's awesome! Cool.
Stephanie [00:22:55] Yeah. Let me know. Yes. We we love the client.
Stephanie [00:22:59] That's fun to help them figure out what they need. And sometimes they'll do custom stuff. We did about a, I it was about a thousand menu covers, custom made the design and everything that was really fun to work on. And so we've done some cuts and stuff like that, you know. I mean, of course that takes longer because you got to nail down the design and everything and make sure the details are just where the customer wants. But yeah, those are a lot of fun, too. And help them get just exactly what they're looking for, that's going to be more meaningful than just, you know, a pen with their name on it.
Aaron [00:23:33] I'm thinking for myself anyway. It's kind of just personal for the wedding. So like that eventually. So I'm putting it in here like Christian is going to get married too. So he used the vow books. But I want to get the vow books as well. That may be a good anniversary gift. Because we wrote down our vows, but just I may rewrite it and put it in that book and give that to her like that maybe a good idea. So they could use it for people who have already written their vows and don't have something nearly as cool as this.
Stephanie [00:24:01] Yeah, absolutely, and it's a good way to preserve it, because, I mean, always that's gonna last forever. A leather book. And yeah, we'd had people do it, too, for renewing a vows and stuff, too. So it's really sweet to see what people do. And it makes it really personal for them. And that's really cool. And they share their story with us. So, you know, if you all end up doing that, let me know. I love hearing the stories.
Aaron [00:24:21] yeah, we have a little crazy story, but I'm curious now, what's the turnaround time for a personalized for people?
Stephanie [00:24:29] Yeah. So if they order for it's three to five days for it to ship out to them.
Aaron [00:24:34] Oh, wow.
Stephanie [00:24:35] We're pretty quick. Yeah,.
Aaron [00:24:36] Yeah. that's very quick.
Stephanie [00:24:39] And we usually keep about the same production time at Christmas, too, which is our busiest time. But.
Christian [00:24:43] Oh, wow.
Stephanie [00:24:44] I think it helps the people. We plan ahead. So the other people don't have to as much.
Aaron [00:24:49] Yeah. Because most people, you know, we have clients that they do not like, our clients who are part of this like say you guys, they would probably not be planning ahead. They're like, oh, Christmas. It comes around every year. But for some reason it's just like december is here in like. Oh, dang! we better.
Stephanie [00:25:05] Yeah. We got to get something go in here. Yeah.
Stephanie [00:25:10] That's not uncommon. I dealth talked with huge. We've done like huge turnarounds, too, before. We did two hundred pocket journals to Canada and a one day turnaround time, one time because they were in a hurry. And so we've done some like crazy big orders and a quick turnaround time. I've always been of the opinion that, you know, my customer doesn't need to suffer because I didn't plan ahead. Now, of course, I have to give them realistic expectations. But like window, based on our production times, but we're usually pretty quick. And sometimes you can get an amount quicker when it's not a busy part of time. You know, busy time of the year for us.
Stephanie [00:25:55] I guess one thing I've been thinking about and wondering, too, because we haven't delved into a lot, we have been focusing a lot more on our social media. But, you know, its always hard to know where to focus all that energy. So, you know, if you going to spend time on social media, what do you guys feel is the most valuable way to spend your time on their Facebook or Instagram?
Stephanie [00:26:19] Any of those?
Aaron [00:26:24] I think our answer would change based off of your audience. I mean, you know who your audience is obviously for the wedding part of it. I think Pinterest wise, anyway, we're just doing some research, and you mentioned it, too. You have about a half a million people who visit every month. So the next thing is to say, OK, where is my audience on another platform. Are they on Instagram? Are they on Facebook? More than likely they are. And I guess when you can start to get like that second channel approach, that's really where you're going to be a lot more successful. Like, it just it doesn't just double it could be quadruple the amount of success you have just because you're already doing something with Pinterest. And so now just doubling down or tripling down on things like Instagram or Facebook ads would really like put a huge a lot of gasoline to the fire.
Stephanie [00:27:10] Awesome.
Stephanie [00:27:12] Yeah, I would definitely have to look into that more. That's what I keep hearing, is that you know, the Instagram and Facebook ads are a great way to go.
Aaron [00:27:20] Yeah. You have a little bit more options for, like, targeting and reaching people, too. Like, I see that somebody was smart and put a Facebook pixel or like a tracking piece of code on your website right now so that you can remarket to everybody who visits the Website. So that's smart at least.
Stephanie [00:27:38] Good, good. We're on the right track. And we keep moving little pieces at a time.
Stephanie [00:27:42] And we're looking for our business to grow that way. So that that's good to hear.
Christian [00:27:55] All right, so. To, what do you think you attribute your success that you've had with your company so far?
Stephanie [00:28:08] I am going to say to having a good product and our commitment to customer service.
Aaron [00:28:15] Awesome.
Aaron [00:28:16] Easy. All right. They'll get harder as I go. All right. So.
Stephanie [00:28:20] Sweet. Are they suppose to be just like short answer ones where you're just like.
Christian [00:28:23] Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron [00:28:24] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Aaron [00:28:28] So in the last five years, what's a new belief, behavior or habit that is most improved your life?
Stephanie [00:28:35] Let's I'm going to say.
Stephanie [00:28:43] A new belief that leadership is learned and you don't just understand it automatically.
Stephanie [00:28:52] Well, that's definitely good. Yeah,.
Aaron [00:28:55] That's deep. That's good. It's really good.
Stephanie [00:28:58] I know that one. That one there's a lot to unpack there, but there you go.
Christian [00:29:04] Let's see the next one. What purchase of one hundred dollars or less. Has most positively impacted your life?
Christian [00:29:13] Could be recent memory last six month.
Stephanie [00:29:16] Yeah, I am going to say.
Stephanie [00:29:21] Good leather shears. Because it's really crappy trying to cut through leather whip like some really crappy scissors.
Aaron [00:29:32] Which makes sense. It's like if we were trying to, like, run this whole company on, like computers from nineteen ninety five, like, it's just doesn't make it.
Stephanie [00:29:40] Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Aaron [00:29:46] What do you wish you would have known when you first started the company that you know today?
Stephanie [00:29:53] It's a good question. I don't know if there's anything.
Stephanie [00:29:58] I wish I would have known, because I think that it's a process like you don't know what you don't know and you kind of have to learn it along the way. So maybe, just maybe just the understanding, if I'd known the understanding that I don't know everything and it's going to be a lot of work to continue to move forward. That I probably would've had a paradigm shift, a paradigm shift sooner to where I could recognize. Yeah. I need to continually learn. I need to continually seek out resources and mentors that can help me answer my questions or point me in the right direction.
Christian [00:30:40] I like that.
Aaron [00:30:41] Yeah, it's really good.
Christian [00:30:43] All right, so last question. Let's question?
Aaron [00:30:46] Let's do two more. She's good.
Christian [00:30:50] So I think I mean, we are. And I think we actually made a podcast about failure at some point. But we want to know, I guess, what's something that you think you failed at and has been like.
Christian [00:31:03] Probably one of your biggest, like lessons?
Stephanie [00:31:06] Yeah, totally. OK, first one I can think of. Can I give you two? Is that alright?So,.
Aaron [00:31:12] Yeah absolutely.
Stephanie [00:31:12] It's kind of like unrelated.
Stephanie [00:31:15] First one is I used to have these wooden boxes I would make that you could buy the journals like with the journals and stuff. Yeah. Those totally weren't worth it. So finally like mixing those.
Stephanie [00:31:29] Like, it was just better that way. Just get rid of them there. I mean, they're cool, but they're, you know, they're not worth it.
Stephanie [00:31:37] And they're very time consuming and that kind of thing. So knowing the knicks of product like that was that's hard. And I've done that with a couple other things, too, before. But that was the first one. The other thing is failing my team, like I like I said, I don't know everything. And so early on, there's some people that's moved on, you know, that I kept a good relationship with, like, we're still friends. But if I had known more, I probably would have been able to at least identify things that they that I would want them to do to be successful. So, you know, when one team member fails, it's really on me. And so that has been really hard because I take things very personally. And so learning what to do, to be clear has been really key. And it really just sets them up for success. It's really about them, it's not about me. And so that's definitely been a learning process. And I still mess up all the time. Luckily, people are forgiving.
Aaron [00:32:39] Yes. And the person who is not forgiving, let me know who they are because they may be perfect.
Aaron [00:32:44] And I need to meet this person,.
Stephanie [00:32:47] Right? Yes.
Aaron [00:32:49] So you are obviously married. You have four kids. You're running a successful business. This may be non-existent. But if you did have a Netflix binge or inserts Disney plus or anything, what is your current binge right now?
Stephanie [00:33:05] That's awesome.
Stephanie [00:33:06] OK, let me think. What did it. Well, sometimes, like my husband and I will sit and watch TV, but like work on our computers. That's probably terrible for us. You know, like I'll do the easy stuff.
Stephanie [00:33:17] I want to think about where I could do some artwork mockups or whatever. Let's see, what was the most recent thing we watched? I mean, I'm a big fan of Brooklyn 99. I don't know if y'all I've seen that, but.
Christian [00:33:29] Few episodes.
Stephanie [00:33:30] But that's a good one. Yeah.
Aaron [00:33:32] I need to checked that out. Is it comedy?
Stephanie [00:33:35] We we definitely binged that one. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And it's like fun light.
Stephanie [00:33:41] So, yeah, I love that one.
Christian [00:33:43] Andy Samberg I think.
Aaron [00:33:45] Oh okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah I am a fan of him.
Stephanie [00:33:49] The first season is a little rough.
Stephanie [00:33:51] He's a little over the top, but they're settling into their characters more. But if you get through dance is really good. It's funny it'll make you laugh.
Aaron [00:34:03] Awesome.
Aaron [00:34:04] Stephanie, thank you so much for coming on. This was, I mean, learned a ton and also will definitely be customers of yours, too. It's such an amazing product line and just cool thing that you do.
Stephanie [00:34:18] Well, we'd love to work with you guys, too. That'd be awesome.
Aaron [00:34:21] Yes. How can more people find out about about your business? How can I find out more about Ox and Pine leather goods?
Stephanie [00:34:29] Yes, they can visit our Website at Ox and Pine dot com or also check us out on Instagram, same handle. So Ox and Pine, we have a lot of info on there. We have a blog too, that explains more. And there's a little bit about me on there, but also like a lot about leather. So they can check it out there.
Aaron [00:34:47] Cool. Thanks so much, Stephanie. Really appreciate you coming on here. Learned a ton.
Stephanie [00:34:53] Thanks for having me.
Aaron [00:34:54] See yah!
Narrator [00:34:54] The Marketing Natives podcast is a production of BitBranding.
