Speaker 1: 0:00

So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place. I'm Julie Ball and I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at Subscription Box Basics, a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun. Hey everybody, and welcome back to Subscription Box Basics. I'm Julie Ball, your head coach, and today I have a very special guest, someone I've known since 2016, when we were baby entrepreneurs in the subscription box space. So I want to introduce you to Antoinette Abrahamson, the founder of the Ring Boxes and the Belly Bundle. Antoinette, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Hi Julie. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to do this finally with you.

Speaker 1: 0:53

I know We've known each other for so long. We'll have to tell a little bit about our origin stories. But why don't we first start with a little bit of introduction, a little bit more about yourself, because a lot of people they're going to be meeting you for the first time, so tell us a little bit about Antoinette.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Okay, so I'm Antoinette Abrahamson. I founded two different subscription box companies over the past almost eight years. I am a mother of two and I started my first company, which is a bridal subscription box the ring boxes. That was started in 2016. And then, two years later, I launched the belly bundle which is a pregnancy subscription box.

Speaker 1: 1:39

Okay, and so we? What did we meet in a Facebook group? I think was that how we first.

Speaker 2: 1:41

I feel like it was because when I started my first company, I honestly had no idea anything about the subscription box world or really being an entrepreneur at all. I had followed subscription box school, yes, in Cratejoy, in Cratejoy, and there were basically all these like online webinars, and you kind of just like walked through them and they walked you through like how to start a subscription box, and I just followed every single thing like step by step. I feel like you were in a Facebook group related to that and that's how we connected.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Yes, and it's so funny too, because there's a lot of Facebook groups now for the subscription box industry and owners, but then there were there was only subscription school, which was run by Cratejoy, and then there was this little group called I think it was like Subbox Ladies or something, and there was maybe 30 of us in there and we just shared war stories, cheered each other on, did whatever we could, and it felt very tight and small and intimate. And I remember saying in that group that I was going to oh gosh, this had to have been 2017. I was going to the National Stationery Show in New York City and that is just what it sounds like. It is a show where all these stationery suppliers would show up. So it was like U Brands pop in and they had pens and stationery and cards and all these fun things. And I was like, okay, this is right up my alley, and stationery and cards and all these fun things. And I was like, okay, this is right up my alley, this is, I can go to this one stationery show, pick my vendors, pick my products. For the whole year I'm going.

Speaker 1: 3:11

And that was the same year that I believe you said you were going right 2017. Okay, and what were you going to source there?

Speaker 2: 3:22

So we were looking at the time for planners, for wedding planners, because at the time I only had the ring boxes and that was like a really staple item I wanted to make sure we had. So that's, that was like my main intentions of going there.

Speaker 1: 3:31

Just okay, under for that so we actually started messaging and we're like I'm here and you're like I'm here, let's meet up. So we have this picture of us at the national stationery show from 2017. As baby, I'll have to post it on social media like the then and now, because we got to meet again in person last year at some summit and I'm so excited you're going to be there again this year, so we'll get to spend some more time together.

Speaker 2: 3:54

Yes, I really can't wait.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Yay, okay, so tell us about your subscription boxes. You have two of them and you know who. You said that the ring boxes is bridal box, but what's the problem you solve with it and how did that idea even come about?

Speaker 2: 4:11

Okay. So kind of, like I mentioned, I wasn't. I didn't have any business background or intentions of becoming a business owner. It kind of I couldn't sell into it, I feel. So I used to do cardiovascular ultrasound and I was super passionate about what I was doing. I had an amazing job. I loved everything about it. I had gotten hurt at work it's a very physical job so I got hurt at work and I wasn't able to work because of the injury I had and I was out of work, for it had to be over six months and at that point obviously I had a lot of time to think about different things and I was 26.

Speaker 2: 4:46

All of my friends were starting to get engaged and I love, love.

Speaker 2: 4:50

So I was always creating these big gift baskets for them filled with all these things that I knew they were going to need as a newly engaged woman.

Speaker 2: 4:58

And it was very expensive to try to find all these different items and put them into a gift basket or a gift box, to try to find all these different items and put them into a gift basket or a gift box, and I just I started to slowly notice that I was always getting them similar items and I was like this there has to be an easier way for me to gift things to a newly engaged bride, or even for a bride to buy for themselves to celebrate their engagement with things that they need, without spending hundreds of dollars every single time.

Speaker 2: 5:23

So that's really how the idea came about, and at the time, subscription boxes were kind of just becoming a bigger thing this was 2016. So there were some out there, but I don't think it had really exploded yet and, as far as bridal boxes, there weren't any that I saw. So I was like all right, I'm going to do this, I'm going to try to figure this out and see if it's something I can do. And that's really where the idea came from. And, like I said, I started following all the different webinars online of how to get started and I started it in my husband's then he was my boyfriend his father's basement and it was. It's pretty wild that it went from there to where it is today.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Yes, so tell the story of the first month's shipment, because you grew incredibly fast and I remember you posting a picture of a I don't know was it UPS or FedEx or something like that truck that was filled completely.

Speaker 2: 6:22

FedEx or something like that truck that was filled completely. Yeah, so it was. I believe it was USPS, because we were so new, so we were doing it out of the basement and I had planned to ship like 250 boxes for our first shipment. That was my goal. I wanted to sell 250. That's what I planned for.

Speaker 2: 6:34

So we launched January 1st of 2017 and we sold out within three I don't even know if it was three days. I want to say it might have been like a day and then we're trying to get more products, because I was like, oh my God, we're sold out. I thought it would take me all month to even sell these. So I started calling all of our vendors and at the time, I was using all these small businesses like local Etsy shops. So I'm now calling them and asking them how much can you get me quickly? Basically? So I was able to get 650 more and then we sold out of that like nothing, but that was our second shipment was 650, because it's all I could get. Yeah, and then by our third month, I was able to do a thousand and we also sold out, and after our third month, we moved to a fulfillment company because we couldn't even package a thousand boxes in this basement and it was crazy.

Speaker 1: 7:28

That is so crazy. Okay, so what was your secret sauce at the beginning? Like, how did you grow your list and get all these people to know about what you were selling and then how did you convert them? Like, give us some hints on what your secret sauce was.

Speaker 2: 7:42

Okay. So back then again, it was 2016. So I don't need a ballgame. It's a different ballgame. Yes, I don't think influencer marketing was really a thing yet.

Speaker 2: 7:54

So I had studied, like how to pre-launch, what should I be doing, how to get my name out there, and I had reached out to a brand at the time Well, they're still here. It's called Wedding Chicks, and I felt like they really aligned with what I was creating. They were two women that owned this brand. They had a few hundred thousand followers, I think. Today they have like two million. I mean, they're huge, yeah. So I had reached out to them and explained to them what I was creating and, like, I mean, they're huge, yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:22

So I had reached out to them and explained to them what I was creating and, like I said, this didn't exist yet in our industry. So I think it was very exciting for them as well. And then we partnered. I sent them one of our boxes, like a sample box, and they did a whole unboxing experience. They posted about it and I think that was like the biggest, the biggest thing for us. We did that right in the beginning of December and then we launched in January, so we were able to like start building our list from that and then launch to those people in January. Love it Okay.

Speaker 1: 8:49

So fast forward. You become a bride this is a very personal project for you at this point and then fast forward later. Now you're a mom of two boys, and so I'm assuming that your own personal journey had to do with why you started the belly bundle?

Speaker 2: 9:05

Yeah, definitely. So I I mean I kind of quickly thought to myself that I wanted to continue the journey with our customers and with our brides, and obviously they're going to get married and there's not much more you could do after like the honeymoon for them and not for everybody, but most starting a family is that next stage of life, and I felt like, again, for pregnant women, this is such a great gift or it's so great for especially like a first time mom, you don't know what you need. You don't know, you don't know anything really. You're researching all these things online and it's just nice to be able to get a gift box in the mail that's literally created for you, tailored to your due date, by moms that have already been through it. They know what you need and it's just felt like the right direction. And yes to what you said. So after I got married, I was trying to start a family, so I was completely aligned with all these feelings and it just took off. So, 2018, I got married in 2018. I launched the Belt and Build.

Speaker 1: 10:05

Nice. Oh, I love that and so often so many of our listeners they are their own target audience as well. So when you're in it it's so exciting and it's easy Like for me as a female entrepreneur when I was running Sparkle Hustle Grow, it was easy because I knew what I needed. I might not know everything about everything, but I'm like I know I need to learn about this. So let's bring that guest expert in or whatever. So okay, so you've got the two boxes running. They can play to each other. So do you do marketing from you know one box to the other box, do you kind of overlap like that?

Speaker 2: 10:42

Yes. So both of the boxes are tailored to either their wedding date for the brides, or they're tailored to their due date. So we know when they're getting married, you know when they're having their babies. So it made it easy for us to be able to basically retarget our brides because you know when they're getting married. We can ideally envision when they're going to be trying to start a family and then we'll start retargeting them for the belly bundle and hopefully, if they're pregnant then they can subscribe, or if they're, friends are, because a lot of people will go through these stages of life together.

Speaker 2: 11:12

You know Totally, and I mean I think that's like a chain reaction, like I said, for me, one friend gets engaged and then it's all of my friends got engaged, and that's why you see people that are like I have 12 weddings this year. Look at everyone kind of aligned, and the pregnancy too, yeah, so it's pretty awesome.

Speaker 1: 11:28

So we've talked a little bit about the launch story, about launching the second box and how it was a different ballgame in 2016, 2017. So what are some of your biggest challenges? Throughout pick anywhere? Throughout the journey, what are some of your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Speaker 2: 11:47

I really think the biggest challenge is adapting, Just like I've had to grow with it Every time your business was changing. I needed to change to keep up with really so when we were growing like that.

Speaker 2: 12:00

I didn't expect to grow like that, so obviously I had to immediately start to learn more and educate myself on like, well, what are these next steps? And then also when we started and we were smaller and then growing so quickly like we couldn't even use the vendors we were using, so we also had to go and figure that out. Supply chain, you know, are we going to still be able to source here in the US? Do we need to go overseas due to the quantity demand? So all of that, I would say, are more challenging in the beginning, but it's just something you need to adapt with and just take time to get through it.

Speaker 1: 12:35

That's really good advice and I know one of the challenges you told me about. We were chatting a little bit before the podcast and you had mentioned something about operating agreements and vendors and that you had a challenge with a vendor. So you want to tell that juicy story.

Speaker 2: 12:52

Yeah, yeah. So this was a very dramatic story years ago, but it's been so long that now it feels a little more juicy.

Speaker 1: 12:59

Yes, we won't share any names, but you tell the story and we can learn the lesson from it.

Speaker 2: 13:03

Yes, yes, so years ago, when I had first started my business this was probably a couple of years in so 2018, I had both companies. One of my largest vendors was fulfilling for us, for both companies. I mean, it was a very large amount of our inventory was coming from this one person who was based here in the US, and I was working with her, you know, for a long time, and I just I've always felt, like you know, I assume people have the same moral compass that I have Like they have the same good intentions. They're going to treat me the way I would treat somebody, and that was a very hard lesson I had to learn. I didn't have specific contracts in place with her, like non-competes and non-disclosures. These are things you need to have with anyone who is going to be working with you on your company, especially at that quantity level, yeah, and especially if you're growing, because they're going to see the growth and it's going to. It's hard to not want to be a part of that right or to have it for yourself, I guess.

Speaker 2: 14:07

So we were working together for years and I had discovered that she had actually gone and launched a competing business and I kind of stumbled upon it. I had reached out to her because the designs were very similar, so and it just made sense that it was. I felt like it was her. She had obviously said I have nothing to do with this business, like it's not me, and I trusted that. I was like okay. And then time went on and I was I don't know. It just feels like like maybe she's not telling me the truth. So I ended up looking up the LLC information, because she lived in the same state as me and I know that's public information.

Speaker 1: 14:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Public information. Yeah, public information. Sure enough, it was her name on the LLC as the owner and I just remember being mortified and I was hysterical because I just couldn't believe someone would do that to me, because I would never do that to somebody else, and it was a very hard lesson to learn and then to have to pivot. I needed to find a new vendor immediately. I couldn't continue to work with her, obviously.

Speaker 1: 15:00

It was a lot. Did you share with her? Say, I know that this is you and our business together is over? Or like, how did you even handle?

Speaker 2: 15:08

that, yeah. So I think I was very emotional about it. So I did reach out to her and I was trying to be very professional at the same time. But you know, we were both women, we lived in the same state, we had met in person, she knew my husband, it felt it felt personal too. So I did, I just reached out and I was direct, like I know this is you. This is the information that I have come across. I'm so disappointed that this has happened and we had to go through a lot of legal stuff as well that followed that. So the biggest takeaway there is have contracts in place with everybody and just expect the worst. Go in expecting the worst, because at least then you have everything there if the worst is to happen.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Yes, so have your legal contracts in place when you're working with vendors. Yes, and don't always assume that someone's going to have the same good intentions that you do. Oh, that's a hard lesson to learn. Yeah, it was, but you learned. I learned from it. Well, I'm so sorry that you went through that and thank you for sharing that story, because you sharing your story honestly could help other people from falling prey to that same situation. So let's take the conversation more positive. What are some of your favorite things about?

Speaker 2: 16:25

Honestly, I love the creativity that comes along with subscription boxes, because especially for both of our boxes. But we go with themed boxes so for our brides, like I said, they're tailored to their wedding date. So if you're newly engaged, the theme is all about planning and prepping and then, as you get closer to your actual wedding date, it's like we have a bachelorette theme, we have the night before the wedding, we have a big day, honeymoon. So being able to be so creative and design all these different themes and products and that's really my favorite part about it it's not like I guess our box is the product, but there's so many products inside that I get to design and be a part of that I would definitely say that's my favorite part.

Speaker 1: 17:04

I love that part too. It's like you get to go shopping for your friends as part of the job part too.

Speaker 2: 17:10

It's like you get to go shopping for your friends as part of your job. Yes, absolutely, and I always say that, especially for our moms, because my boys are two and four now. So anything that we're putting into our boxes for our moms, I want to make sure I'm going to use this. It's going to be a style. It's going to be high quality, the right style, on trend and useful. It's not going to be something you only can use. Maybe, you know, in the first three months you could use this for years with your baby as they become a toddler. It's very useful stuff, so I really love creating that as well.

Speaker 1: 17:37

And coming up with an idea of a product working with a manufacturer and then actually seeing that and holding that product and knowing that that was your idea. There's just something really special about it. I've tried so many different business models throughout my entrepreneurial life. I've been an entrepreneur since 2011. And I feel like the product-based businesses just keeps drawing me back in.

Speaker 2: 18:05

Yeah, no, it's definitely fun, I really, and I like to have that tangible item that I could see it, touch it and just know it's mine. Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1: 18:14

Okay, so what's one piece of advice you can share with new and aspiring subscription box business owners? Because I mean, here you are eight years in, you've learned a lot of lessons, so what kind of advice can you give us?

Speaker 2: 18:25

Okay, so I have a few things. I would say the biggest thing, if you are new and you're trying to launch a subscription box, is to start small. I think the worst thing you could do is to jump into high quantities because you're expecting or hoping for a lot of success right away, because if it doesn't happen, then you're going to be just more stressed out about the fact that you have all this inventory now and like the costs that are associated. So you can start small and then see where that goes and grow with it. That's the better way to go than just jumping into these larger quantities to get better costs. You can improve your costs as you grow. You don't need to come out the gate with the perfect cost right. That would be one of my biggest things, and my another one is masterminds.

Speaker 2: 19:11

I recently started to really dive into masterminds and mentorships and I think that has been so incredibly helpful for me, because being able to meet people, especially in our industry, that have been doing this for a long time so trying to meet someone in the industry that's a little bit ahead of you or somewhere that you're like aspiring to be. So if you're just starting out and you want to get to like a million in revenue, two million in revenue. Then you want to meet someone who's there or has been there recently, so that they can give you some advice that aligns with getting there. I definitely think that's a big one, and just being able to communicate with people in the industry as well for learning about what kind of apps they're using, what do they do, what are their strategies, what does their tech stack look like. All that kind of stuff is so useful.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Nice, nice, yeah. And going to the sub summit is a great thing too, because that's where you can meet the other people in the industry and actually shake hands and have coffee with, and sit down and chat with them. So that's what you know. I know, antoinette, you and I will both be there, and so if you're listening and you're going to be at SubSummit, come introduce yourself to us. We'd love to talk shop with you. And so, antoinette, one of the things you said was to talk to others about what's working for you right now. So I don't have this on our question list, but tell me one thing that's working for your business right now. That's helping you, specifically if you have any advice on new customer acquisition, because I know a lot of people are struggling with growing their email lists and getting new subscribers right now.

Speaker 2: 20:44

Yeah, so okay, so something that I recently integrated with was Klaviyo, so we were on MailChimp when I had launched my boxes and we were with MailChimp for very long years.

Speaker 2: 20:55

We recently switched over to Klaviyo and that was because Klaviyo is another email software but they allow you to do so many different segmentations so you can really retarget these customers after they come to your site and even once they do become a subscriber, you can really nail down like a nurture campaign based on the actual customer and just align with them more. And it just is amazing. It's an amazing program that MailChimp just like didn't give that to us the way we needed that segmentation. So I definitely think Klaviyo is a huge one and it integrates with everything. So it's just seamless for me and I would say Gorgias as well.

Speaker 2: 21:30

We were on Zendesk for a long time and then we recently went into Gorgias for our customer support and that also has so many different integrations with all of our social networks. So you're getting people who are DMing your company, leaving comments for the company, and you have all these different employees that are trying to keep up with it. Gorgias lets it all integrate into one system where everything can be tagged and at least your support staff can just all be in this one hub basically figuring everything out and answering all your customers.

Speaker 1: 22:01

I love that those feel like almost like graduations, so like you were using MailChimp and you sort of graduated to Klaviyo, and I see that happen a lot. I don't recommend Klaviyo out of the gate because it can be a little bit intimidating and you don't need that much right at launch, but it's definitely something if you're in that scaling phase or you're working on your growth. And then we had used Help Scout in the past and it was just a really simple, probably very similar to Zendesk, but it sounds like then this gorgeous platform which I haven't heard of I'm totally gonna look that up is like a graduated version of that. So that's really cool. I'm gonna look those up and we'll make sure that we put links to all of that stuff in the show notes so, listener, you can think about okay, if that's me, if I'm in the scaling phase, maybe that's something I need to look at for my tech stack.

Speaker 2: 22:57

Yeah, and then back to MailChimp. For the beginners, I was on MailChimp for seven years, I mean, so that supported my company, even through scale as well. I just now that other technology is out there. We started moving more that way, but MailChimp still did it for a very long time.

Speaker 1: 23:06

Yeah, that's what we started on too with Sparkle Hustle Grow, and we used it for probably five years maybe. So you got to love that good old MailChimp.

Speaker 2: 23:15

Yeah, definitely Big piece of advice I would give for anyone like newer is putting yourself out there, especially with SubSummit. So if you sign up for SubSummit, they will actually send you a list of who's going to be there and you can start looking up who's going to be there, what kind of boxes do they own, and start kind of planning who do you want to connect with and meet. And then just try not to be nervous about putting yourself out there because people want to help. If somebody came up to me and told me they were just starting a subscription box and they wanted advice, I am here for it. I have so much advice I would love to help. So just keep that in mind. Everyone's there if they want to help, especially when you're in the same realm as us.

Speaker 1: 23:52

Yeah, and everyone there is so kind and giving and just like generous with their advice. All right, so where can people follow you? Where can they find both of your subscription boxes? Because I want to make sure I put those in the links in case anyone is a bride-to-be or a mom-to-be or has friends that are. So tell us where we can find you.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Okay, so we on all of our socials for the Ringboxes. We are at the Ringboxes and our website is theringboxescom. And then for the Belly Bundle same thing it's at the Belly Bundle on all of our socials and thebellybundlecom and the Belly Bundle on all of our socials and thebellybundlecom. And I also have a professional Instagram. It's Antoinette underscore Abrahamson.

Speaker 1: 24:34

We will put those all in the show notes so everyone can follow along. Antoinette, thank you so much. It was really fun catching up with you and it's hard to believe we've both been doing this since 2016.

Speaker 2: 24:45

I know it really it really is, but I love doing this. I'm so glad that we finally got to do it.

Speaker 1: 24:50

Yes, Thanks for agreeing to come on everyone. Thanks for listening today and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye, Bye.