#058 - In this episode, Julie chats with one of her students from Subscription Box Bootcamp, LaTonya Williams of Renew Box. LaTonya tells us all about her box and her experience in launching it.
Summary:
Links:
https://www.sparklehustlegrow.com
https://myrenewbox.com
https://facebook.com/myrenewbox
https://www.instagram.com/myrenewbox
Get all the details and your ticket at SubSummit.com, THE conference for sub box businesses. We'll see you in Dallas this June!
#058 - In this episode, Julie chats with one of her students from Subscription Box Bootcamp, LaTonya Williams of Renew Box. LaTonya tells us all about her box and her experience in launching it.
Summary:
Links:
https://www.sparklehustlegrow.com
https://myrenewbox.com
https://facebook.com/myrenewbox
https://www.instagram.com/myrenewbox
Get all the details and your ticket at SubSummit.com, THE conference for sub box businesses. We'll see you in Dallas this June!
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, a subscription box coach and your host here at Subscription Box Basics, a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs that want to avoid overwhelm. So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun! Hi everybody and welcome back to Subscription Box Basics. Thank you so much for joining us today. I have a guest on the podcast today. Her name is LaTonya Williams and not only is she an amazing human because of the box that she puts together and tries to help with what she curates in the box, but she's just like a good person inside and out. And you'll see that when you follow her and we'll give you all the information on where to follow her. She's going to tell us all about her box and her experience in launching it. And she was featured in Subscription Box Basics, the book. And let me go to the page real quick. She's in page 88 in the chapter called Be the Solution and she shares her inspiring story and you are about to hear it. So I would officially like to welcome LaTonya Williams, the founder of Renew Box. Welcome to the podcast!
LaTonya:Thank you so much, Julie. I'm so excited to be here and I'm so excited to be in your book. I have to say when I, you know, perusing through it, I'm just excited because I'm like,"Ooh, I know published author." And I sit with my page and I'm,"Aaah!"
Julie:That makes me so happy. It is such a joy to share a book that has success stories of so many other women, because I tell my story all the time and people are going to get tired of hearing it from me. They want to hear it from other people that they can relate to and they can say,"Oh my gosh, yes, I feel you girl, tell me more." So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to dish it all. And we are going to talk about your launch story. And so well, let's just start about telling everyone a little bit about yourself and your background.
LaTonya:Sure! So again, I'm LaTonya Williams. I'm the owner of Renew Box. Outside of that, I'm a wife. I'm a mom, I'm a dance mom, not like the moms when that TV show, but I'm a bonus mom. And we recently joined the grandparents clubs.
Julie:I thought so, you said you were a GG, right?
LaTonya:I'm a GG. Don't call me grandma.
Julie:I love it.
LaTonya:Oh, so we have the cute little girl it's turned a year old. Working, you know, corporate America managing analytics team. And so I'm really active in that space. I participate in a lot of diversity and inclusion initiatives through my corporate job. I'm also a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters. So I've done that for a long time. I started when my little sister, she was in kindergarten and she is a sophomore looking for jobs now. So that's been an amazing experience. Local, you know, my local really active there. I participate in a couple of philanthropic organizations, so have a lot going on. I'm located in the Midwest. So the St. Louis area, but I'm from the East coast where East coast through and through, love seafood, you know, there's nothing like seafood when you live on the East coast. That's a little bit about me.
Julie:Awesome. Well, clearly you have a lot on your plate and I think that's so interesting because of the box that you created. It's all about self care and avoiding that burnout. So tell everyone about the Renew Box and you specifically who you serve and what problem you solve with the Renew Box.
LaTonya:So again, it's, it's Renew Box and it's is a seasonal subscription, right? So it's a seasonal delivery of self-care products to help women recharge and renew. So often, you know, we talked to women and you listened to them, they're killing it with their careers, their families, their non-profits or other things that they're doing with their taking care of everybody else. And yet they continue to put themselves on the back burner. I'm guilty of it. So many that I've talked to are guilty of it. And so that's what I want to do. I want to help people realize that it's okay to, you know, put yourself first. I know we hear it on the airplane, but it's really true, right? You put the oxygen on yourself first and then you can better serve those around you. And it's something that I, you know, continue to work on. It was a big struggle for me. The notion of self-care, kinda has this negative connotation too, right? Sometimes people feel like that's selfish. And I want to help change the narrative. Now definitely in 2020, I do feel like self care got quite a bit of a glow up, right. Everybody started talking about self care in 2020. But one of the things I've observed though, is that as people talk about it, they talk about, you know, manicure pedicure spots. And so while that is self-care, for me self-care is broader than that, right? And so when I think about self care, it's really about doing any or any activities that are truly going to help you with your wellness, your wellbeing. Self-love, right? And so sometimes that's hard, right? So while I love a good mania petty, I really want people to think about the hard stuff. So for example, let's say finances is stressing you out and you're avoiding looking at your numbers. Self-care is sitting down and doing your budget. So is not a glamorous activity. It may be hard, it's painful, but if that's going to take some of that pressure off and relieve the stress, that is self-care. And so that's what makes I think Renew Box a little different from some of the other self care boxes is that I really want people to think about self care, more broadly, think about it in a holistic manner. And so I focus on what I call five pillars of a psyche. So it's spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, and social. And so every season, when you get your box, you're going to get one or more goodies that can be used for an activity to align with one of those pillars.
Julie:I love that. That's such an interesting perspective when it comes to self care because you're right. When you talk about self care a lot of times where like, did I shower today? You know, and if I'm lucky enough to go get a Manny petty, you know, those are part of it, but you're looking at a holistic view of it. And I think that's so cool. And from a customer perspective, I can see how that can fill so many buckets. I call them buckets. Cause that's how we explained it to our daughter. She's nine. And we try to explain things like the friendship bucket, like it can feel empty if you're not investing time into your friendships, the family bucket, you know, the play bucket. And so for us, it sounds like you've created almost like these buckets that you are going to help us fill every single month. So as a customer, that is awesome. Cause just like, just do these things, but as a subscription box owner, I can imagine that thatmakes it easier for you when you're curating things. Cause you're like, okay, what am I going to use for the spiritual area? Or, you know, what am I going to use for these different areas? So, I would imagine that that makes it easier to source things. You have to stay organized.
LaTonya:It does. And it makes it easy because I can include a wide variety. There are so many cool products but sometimes it really forces me to think cause I've, and I've recently launched. So I've only done two seasons so far. And I realized that a lot of my social activities are focused on food which is fine, but it forces me to try to figure out what else, what else can we do from a social perspective that doesn't involve snacks. So it's just, you know, different ways to think about all those different pillars. But one of the things you mentioned too, that's a big piece of it is when you talk about the time, right? Some days I'm like, did I even shower? So what I want people to think about is self care moments. Don't think about trying to make some big grand self-care activity once a month or every week, it doesn't have to be that complicated. So a big tagline is self-care made simple. It can be simple. And I know you talk about that too. Right? Just ease and keep it simple, sweetie. Right?
Julie:Yes.
LaTonya:It can be simple things. And so if you think about our schedule, so there are going to be days when you only have five or 10 minutes, fine read a quick affirmation statement. That's your self-care moment for the day and move on. And then there are other days where you might have, you can say once a month, I'm going to take two hours to really, you know, do something for me. And that's when you can do, you know, the spa day or something, a little more elaborate. And so a big component of Renew boxes, you get this booklet. And so in the booklet, I have activities that are grouped by time. So they're list of things that you can move where you only have 15 minutes or less, but there are other lists activities when you do have, you know, an hour or maybe you have two or more hours. So again, you can take the pressure off. And it's like, I know I only have a few minutes to today. So I'm just going to listen to this quick Ted talk that's eight minutes and just, you know, listen to it while I'm commuting to work. That's my self-care moment for the day. And I've taken that time for myself.
Julie:You really have made it simple. It's kind of like you, you're taking out that decision paralysis that we all get stuck in and then we don't even do anything because we're too busy thinking about, well, what should I do? So, okay. So tell us kind of about your launch story. Like how did you come up with the idea and you, you said you're only two seasons in, so when did you launch, what did that all look like and feel like as you were putting your idea out there?
LaTonya:So it's interesting because back in 2018, I know there's some people who are like,"I always wanted to do, you know, a subscription box or something like that." It wasn't that way for me. So back in 2018 I was having another bout of grief, right. And so my mom passed away when I was 13. And so certain holidays were really, really tough and it's been like that for years. So when you think about mother's day, my mom's birthday and Christmas, those are just holidays are really tough, but for years I could put on a good face, right? So except for my husband and my dad, nobody knew about this. But it was like in 2018, it was Christmas time, which is a jolly season, but I kept crying. Like every little thing was making me cry. I was snappy. My patience was thin and I'm like, you know, I have got to do something about this. And it's like, you know, I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer, but I had been praying for years, right. And it's like, I need more, I have to get some help. And so I really consider therapy. And so I started doing some research and I'm looking for therapist and I only found one that felt like she would be a good fit for me, right. So I go in for sessions. Great. I talked all the things I'm going to want to talk about, you know, over the next few weeks, go in for the second week, I'm ready, got my tissue. I'm like, I know it's gonna be hard. Let's talk about grief. And she gives me this sheet of paper and it's a will. And it has, and she calls it a wellness wheel and it has these buckets or categories, right. And they're very similar to the categories that I include in Renew Box. And she said, lists 10 activities for each bucket. And I looked at her like she was nuts. Like, how am I supposed to do that? And so asking me questions and she, I mean, literally we spent the whole session. I had to do it. And so she says every day, this week, I want you to do one thing from one of these buckets. And so I just looked at her, it would probably be worst that I ever, and I'm like, yo, okay. You know, and I'm thinking like, how am I going to do this? I already told you, that I'm a mom, I have a full-time job. I have all these things. When am I going to do have time for this? So I just accepted it and went on about my day, right. Little did I know that she was going to check on me. So she started texting.
Julie:Ooh accountability.
LaTonya:So she's texting me. So now I'm being accountable, right. So I'm telling her I'm forced to do it before I can respond. So that was going, okay. So the next week, we talked about that again for the next couple of sessions, we kept talking about this wellness wheel. And then I started getting frustrated because I'm like, I want to talk about grief. That's wh I camey, that's what I want to talk about. That's what I need help with. Why are we still talking about this wellness wheel? It was that session where it really clicked because you say, you know, you want to talk about something hard and heavy. If you don't know how to recharge yourself, I'm not going to help you, right? It's not going to really help you. It's only going to make you feel worse. So you got to know what feels good to you or for you when you're having those tough moments in the middle of the week, to be able to bring yourself back, bounce back. It's that moment where it just really, Oh my gosh, it just clicked. It was like, that's why self care is really important, right?
Julie:Don't you love those moments?
LaTonya:Yes. Yes. It really clicked. So that's kind of how it started. So then I started talking to other friends and in other women in my circle and I just started hearing these things, right. Everybody was doing the same thing, killing it with work, killing it with their non-profits, you know, all this stuff, taking care of their family, nobody was taking care of themselves. And I'm like, I'm not the only one. Everybody else is struggling with this. What can I do about it, right? So I had that thought then, you know, put a whole lot of thought into it, but I just noticed that theme. And then one morning it just came to me like a subscription box of items to help will be fantastic. And I'm like, well, how do I do that? And I literally went on Google in the midst of showering and getting dressed for work and google how to create the subscription box and all these resources came up and that's how it started.
Julie:Yup. We all started there. We all start with an idea in a Google search. I swear all of us have that story. Okay. So you came up with your idea, you started doing your research. What were some of the challenges that you faced during that time? Because I know there's a lot of information out there and how'd you overcome those challenges?
LaTonya:Oh my gosh. So many challenges. So for one, I am a learner. I love learning, but the process of learning. So I typically learn stuff and do nothing with it and kind of joke in our household because my husband's like,"How do you know that?" So I know all these random, just random things, because I just like reading and researching just for the sake of doing it. And so over the years I've come up with other ideas and I do the research and I, I do nothing. And so I got so excited about this whole ideas on research and all these, you know, Google and doing all the stuff that people typically do. And of course you get so much information that it's overwhelming. And so I'm trying to get my thoughts together because I'm like, well, what happens first? Do you get the website first? You know, do you get the products first? And it's completely overwhelming. And especially for someone who tends to analyze stuff, you know, like I said, my corporate job is an analytic manager looking at all this information and getting way down into the weeds. And somehow I don't even know how, but probably in one of those Google searches, somehow I found Subscription Box Basics. And I'm a big believer in, because everybody's, you know, says they're coach and they're consultant, all these things. But I like to look at people's free content first and all honesty, you know, and I'm like, I need to see what you offer for free. And I saw some of your PDFs and I'm like,"Oh, this is good. Like, these are real actionable things." And so when I realized that you had a paid program, I'm like, okay, if she gives the goods for free, then I'm going to do this program. And when I was reading through it and it was self paced, I'm like,"Yep, that's for me because I do have a lot going on. And I knew I have a little buckets of time that I could devote to it. So that was one of the, the biggest challenges, right. Is just really getting my arms around all of this information that was available. So definitely Subscription Box Basics, who can't really help me, you know, just organize everything. Yeah. That was a challenge. The other challenge is I'm extremely introverted. And so the idea of trying to sell something literally would make me shape. Like that is a very scary thing. And some like this might be a good idea, but I don't know who's going to sell it.
Julie:Who's going to show up to tell everybody about it. Well, you're showing up here on the podcast today. That's amazing for someone who's introverted. It is hard to show up and I'm very extroverted and it's even hard for me to show up now, especially because, you know, the there's so much going on in the world, we can't turn a blind eye to what's going on, but like, we still want to show up for our people. Not only, you know, if you're a coach or if you're a product based business. And honestly, one of my favorite quotes is"you got to show up to be seen". And if you're not showing up, they're not going to see this amazing stuff that you're doing.
LaTonya:So true. And, you know, like I said, I'm an introverted. And when I think about going to therapy, I know that that's something that's kinda taboo. People are starting to talk about it, but now I do it. And it's amazing. I don't know why we don't talk about it.
Julie:Oh yeah. I do. I use Talkspace, which is an app, so I can communicate via text, via audio message or via video with my therapist. And it's kind of like on demand. It's not like where I schedule a time at where I should probably be carving out time and put it as a non-negotiable in my calendar now that I think about it. But a lot of times, you know, when I'm in the moment or when I feel like I have some free time I'm having these conversations with her and I always get these aha moments where I'm like,"Oh, that's why that happens." Or honestly I used to deal with a lot of, and I still deal with some chronic pain, but I used to deal with this one very specific pain in my body. It was my lower right back. And after I started doing talk therapy, that pain went away.
LaTonya:Wow.
Julie:It was, it was because I was holding in resentment and you know, I'm a very positive person and I'm like, you, like, I, a lot of times will, even if I'm hurting on the inside or tired on the inside, I'll try to show up and not burden anybody else from it. But when I started talk therapy, the physical pain that I felt decreased so much, so I'm all for it.
LaTonya:It's huge. And it's like I was talking to a friend once and she really helped me because I'm like,"I don't want to talk about any of this. I don't want to sell this." You know? And she's like,"don't think about it as selling you're just sharing your story."
Julie:Yeah.
LaTonya:She was like, people will really understand that. And she's like, who'd ever thought you getting healing would help other people heal. That's a good way to look at it. I can, I can do that. Then I didn't feel like selling.
Julie:I feel like, And I've, I learned this in a marketing seminar one time that you always lead with the transformation. So when you talk about the impact of your own healing and how that might help someone else, it doesn't feel salesy anymore, you know? So. Okay. So you had some challenges, you overcame them. Now you are launched, you are sending boxes. Do you send four of them them for a year then?
LaTonya:Yes. Yep. Four per year. So winter, spring, summer, fall. And then as far as my launch. So it did take me a little longer than I think, you know, others.
Julie:And that's okay. It's not a race.
LaTonya:Yeah, exactly. That's one of my big, you know, like affirmations or things that I tell myself. So run your own race, right?
Julie:Yes.
LaTonya:And so a couple of things that I did, you know, with bootcamp, it allowed me to really lay out actionable steps. Right. So it was like, don't keep just listening to all the lessons, like do some things. Last year, you know, early last year I did a focus group because they had, you know, what I thought was a phenomenal idea, but really like, let's make sure, you know, this is a good idea. And there were just little things I couldn't decide on, you know, does this box design make sense? You know, do people like tissue paper, do people like paper straight? You know, all those little details. I hadn't felt I held a focus group really small. There are only probably, maybe 10 of us and we had some beverages and snacks and I just showed them a couple of variations of that. We just talked, you know, and I said, you know, when's the last time you did something for yourself. And everybody's like, pondering, which is scary, right? Because again, we don't spend enough time focusing on ourselves, you know, and we broke into little small groups and they went through the boxes and a lot of the feedback that they shared, it really helped me refine the idea. Because the things that they mentioned are things that I truly incorporated. So I did that back in February of last year, I'm still kind of working through logistics and getting everything right. As a consumer, experience is really important to me, so I like customer service. And so that was important to me once I decided to launch it as a business to make sure it's a good customer experience. So I wanted to make sure the technology was in place. The systems were in place and that I can deliver everything. So it got down to it is ready to go last summer. And then I'm like, let me just really just do one more final push to make sure this makes sense, get some final feedback. And so I did like a pilot launch, so it wasn't a subscription. It was just really, you know, when people put their money behind this, because people had said it was great. And I'm like, but it it's so good that you want to buy it, right? Is it really good? I hope. And so I did this, you know, like pilot launch, put it in, you know, I sent it out to my email list and then I put it on like my personal social media and, you know, it was funny because I was like, praying like, Oh Lord, I hope I can sell these boxes in two weeks. Like that will be amazing in less than two days, they're all gone. So that was awesome. And so I took that moment and reached out to everyone who purchased, you know, and I'm like, complete this survey and answer these questions. And again, just getting that last feedback. And I learned a lot from that experience too. One thing that I hadn't thought about is I included this candle, smelled amazing. I loved it. And someone reached out, she lives in Virginia, right. So it had, you know, decent distance for shipping. And he was like her candle melted a little bit. And it never crossed my mind that the candle melted a little bit. And so that just made me think if there's something that could be impacted by temperature to not mail the boxes on a Friday, because they did, they're going to sit probably for a couple of days, right. So it's like maybe mail, you know, earlier in the week. So those were some of the logistical challenges that I had never thought about because I've never had to do retail businesses or anything like this. So those are just some of the little challenges, that I was able to, you know, just work through and overcome, um, just through feedback and just, you know, kind of doing that trial and error.
Julie:Oh yeah. I think those are really good points. One, getting validation is really, really important. It not only can give you the confidence, but it's going to give you the information you need to tweak it, to solve that pain point in the way that they want to have it solved. So I think that was really great that you did that. And we all learned the hard way with certain things with the melting candle. I did the same thing I sent chocolate before. I think I sent it in, I sent some chocolate in one of my first boxes, maybe my second box ever in November. And I would, I live in Western, North Carolina. You think that would be fine? And then I'm like, Oh, Florida, Hey, I forgot. You're hot all the time and California. And so I learned very quickly to really talk to my vendors. If I was going to include any sort of food item, I would ask them questions about, um, how it handles through the mail. And if it's going to melt things like that, and then make decisions based off of that, and then not include that type of thing in the future, or find timing that fits better. Yep. So like you said, not shipping on a Friday, so thank you so much for sharing all your story. I know this is going to inspire a lot of people there. There's probably a lot of people in a very similar situation where they are, um, running their own race. Like I say, I always say that that there's no race. Some people will launch in two months, but maybe they already have a following or maybe they already have a business that they're just adding their box as an additional stream of revenue. And some people are starting from scratch. So there is no hard and fast rule on how quickly that you should launch. So I appreciate you sharing that story that you didn't go at lightning speed because that's really going to inspire some people. So let me ask you this. What is one of your favorite things about working in the subscription box industry?
LaTonya:Well, it's funny because like I said, I'm introverted, which is, I mean, I like one-on-one relationships, right. It doesn't mean I'm shy or anything like that, but I didn't expect that I will be so drawn to the people I truly did. And the people it's just been amazing and that's people from multiple ways. Right. So, um, the communities in the subscription box industry, Oh my gosh. It, it it's really mind blowing how supportive people have been. Um, I tell people, you know, I talk about bootcamp. The SBB community is by far just, it's just phenomenal. I mean, what you have cultivated is just amazing. Like, it's one of the positives, when you think about social media sometimes can really, it can take you down. It
Julie:Is the opposite of self care. Oftentimes
LaTonya:A lot of times I say my self care moment is not reading the comments because none of her Q bags, like just don't even go down that rabbit hole. Um, but just the level of encouragement, you know, when you have questions, when you confuse, you know, so, and, and I've met people who I feel like I know them like really well seeing them in person, but there are so many that, you know, we've met in your community and now we're like, you know, sending each other messages, we text each other, you know, we check on each other, like, Hey, you told me you're about to launch what's up, you know, that accountability. So just the people, um, it's been amazing. I know that there are, you know, stories around, you know, competitiveness and women can't work together and it's just, it's not true. Um, there, you know, over 2020, again, like I said, everybody's talking about self care. I've seen lots of new self care boxes come up. Somewhat recently that I saw in one of the communities launched a self-care box, we started having conversations. She actually sent me one of her vendors and she's like, I think this person would work so well with your box, you know? And it's just like, she didn't have to do that. Right. And so is that, that's just, it's just been phenomenal. So the community has been phenomenal. Um, the people in my, you know, my actual subscribers and people in my community has been, uh, it's just been great. Um, we did our first, like, so I have a Facebook group. Um, so once you actually thrive, you can join the group. That's one of the, you know, the perks of, of being in an actual subscriber. And so we did our first like challenge. We did a group gratitude challenge, um, over like the Thanksgiving period. And, um, some of the things people shared like really transparent things. It was, it was amazing. Like, you know, again, social media can be real surface. Sometimes people are afraid to share, but people were really transparent and people were encouraging each other. And that was amazing to see, you know, my subscribers helping each other and lifting each other up. It's just, that part has been, I think that, like I said, I didn't expect that to be this way, but I, I just, I love that part. Um, and then of course, I mean, I love products, you know, I love, I love on to shop. I like shopping. So that's really, really fun to write, um, sourcing products. And again, because, you know, I want people to think about self care in a more broad perspective and in a holistic way, it forces me to be creative. And so I really have a lot of fun, um, looking for, you know, products outside of what one may typically think about when they're considering self-care. So the product sourcing, that's a lot of fun too.
Julie:It is fun. It's one of the most time consuming parts of it, but it is fun. And what I would say, if you don't already do this and listeners, if you have products that might not be like the typical, whatever that you would think, train your customers, how to use them, train your customers, how to use your box. Um, whether it's, you know, you're doing a Facebook live or a video telling them, Hey, this is how we're doing it. Or ask them to share pictures of them using a product or whatever, when you teach them how to use the products in the box, they'll get more value out of it. And that experience.
LaTonya:Yes. And what's interesting too, is I've had cases where they're using the products in a way I hadn't thought about, so that's been amazing too, right? Because you know, people are so creative. And so to see that has been amazing. And, and I would say to anyone who is afraid of being on camera, because I'm kind of that way. I don't really like being on camera. You can always get other people to demo your products. Right. So my 12 year old daughter, she, and she is all about self care. Like her and her friends, they journaled, they have self care Sunday, they get on FaceTime and yeah, there, they do face masks all on FaceTime. So she's all about it. And so I wanted to demo the facial roller that I included in my fall box. And her name is London. I'm like, can you do a video for me? And so she does the video and I put it on, you know, out there and everybody loved it, of course, because there's a little girl and you know, they're excited and they feel like they know her now.
Julie:Yeah. I was just going to say that it's, you kind of pulled back a layer of you showing your family. And, um, I know what, when I do things like that, people, I always think nobody cares. Like nobody wants to know what I'm doing today or whatever. And then what I record those types of videos. And especially if McKenna, my daughter's in it, it gets so much engagement and people are like, they feel like they know you better because we're kind of letting them in one more layer, you know?
LaTonya:Oh yeah. And kids aren't memorable. They're just, they're just followed. Um, and they're not scared of video. That's how they were breezed. Right there is to it. I I'll never forget. At one point you were doing unboxing. I can't remember it was in bootcamp or for, you know, like your public platforms, but you were doing someone boxing and McKenna was there. And she was like, Ooh, those glasses are cool with all of the products. So yeah. It's fun to just allow them to participate. And they, like you said, they're not afraid of camera and they enjoy it. They have a lot of fun with it too. So anybody who's afraid of camera find your niece, your child, let them participate.
Julie:That's right. And let people get to know you a little bit better. Okay. Last question. What's one piece of advice that you can share with new and aspiring subscription box business owners, because you just went through this in the past year. So what, what would be like one piece of advice that you could give them?
LaTonya:Definitely run your own race. I would say it again, run your own race. And it was, you know, funny because I, you know, had my little plan, I'm doing my content, you know, watching the videos. I would listen to the videos in the car, as I'm driving LinkedIn to dance, you know, dance classes, then I'd come home, do a little work, you know, so then a little bit at a time. And I literally experienced people in bootcamp start. Right. Because we do welcome. So I can see when they started. And they had launched like still trying to get through the content, but that's okay. That's okay. We'll look from side to side or behind to see what anyone else is doing, run your own race. That would be, you know, the one single piece of advice that I would give to, to anyone that started out, just run your own race, focused on what you're doing. One step at a time and it can get done.
Julie:I love it. And to add on to that, don't ever compare your day one to somebody else's day 100, because you don't know what they're dealing with. Maybe they have investors. Maybe they have a whole crew of people to help them. And that kind of success. Anyhow, doesn't happen overnight. Yeah. Run your own race. I love it. Latanya, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. You have been such a joy to have as part of this group. And I love watching you just bloom with your business. Where can people find you online and learn more about the renew box?
LaTonya:So I'm on, uh, you know, Facebook and Instagram. It's my renew box. So that's my hand on both of those platforms. I'm definitely, probably more active on Instagram from that perspective then, um, I also have, you know, my community, right? So my renew box insiders. And so you don't have to subscribe to the box per se, to, to be a part of that community, but I do self-care Sunday emails. And so if you just really want to get some different, again, different ideas and different ways to practice self-care then sign up, you know, to become a renew box insider. So my website similar to my handles is my renew box.com. So you can go on the site and become a part of the community. We love to have everyone join us. And again, just those self-care Sunday ideas. Um, and you know, we do the challenges and all those things. So you can participate in that. And then of course, if you want to subscribe, like it, it's a seasonal box. Um, so four times a year, and then we have our, you know, private community for those who subscribe. Um, so there's another way to kind of engage and meet new people as well. And, um, Oh, one thing I'll mention too. So around the end of last year, I created a calendar for myself, right. Because digital stuff, but I created a wall calendar to kind of inspire myself. Right. Um, and so I have some really cool quotes in there just, you know, stay focused on self-care for the whole year's nice imagery and I get it printed and really all this is cool. Right. Um, so now I just want everybody to have it, so I have it as a free download. So again, if you go to my, my website, you can, um, just download it for yourself. So there's a wall calendar. You can look at it, you know, on your computer, on your phone as a PDF of course, but, but print it out and, and, you know, just post it, um, you know, Thumbtack it on your wall or whatever. So every month, you know, you can see those quotes in it'll really help you remember that. It's okay to focus on you. Self-care is not selfish.
Julie:Oh, thank you so much for all those wonderful reminders. We'll make sure to put those links in the show notes too, so that everyone can access those Latanya. Thank you again for your time. I know this has been really inspiring for me, and I know that you'll be inspiring a lot of other people. So thank you.
LaTonya:Thank you so much for having me. This was a pleasure. I, um, and again, just thank you for all that you're doing, um, to help people in this industry. You are phenomenal. I just can't thank you enough for your program and what you've done. It has truly, truly, truly been a huge part of where I am today. Um, and get me out of just the research rabbit hole to actually execute. So I really thank you. Um, appreciate your community. And again, anybody in your community, if you do want to subscribe, um, SBB 15 special code just for your community. We'll get you 50 and off. So
Julie:Thank you. We'll make sure to include that in there as well. You just made my heart so happy you for your kind words. Y'all I hope this inspires you to not only work forward in your own box and run your own race. But if you're thinking about joining subscription box bootcamp, you're hearing it from not only Latanya, but you'll hear it from some other bootcampers over the next few episodes. We're featuring some of our success stories, which just as a coach makes my heart so happy. So don't miss those, make sure that you subscribe to the podcast so that you don't miss any episode. And when you're subscribing to it, make sure you rate and review us so that we can get in front of more and more people and help them start their own subscription box. Thanks again for listening everybody. And we'll see you in the next episode.
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