Episode 16: “Massively Scaling A Business" with the Founders of Book Beau (#ThisIsMyEra the Podcast)
Have you ever had a problem, discovered the perfect solution… and then turned that solution into a thriving business? When Benita Botello invented Book Beau, a book sleeve for book lovers who take their books on the go, demand was so high that she couldn’t sew them fast enough. Together, she and Arel Avellino turned her brilliant idea into a thriving business, scaling it from a one-woman operation on Etsy to a growing brand.
Listen to this episode of the #ThisIsMyEra podcast for a great conversation about scaling a business from the ground up, building a loyal fan base through social media, and the importance of giving back to your community. Benita’s story is hugely inspirational – in terms of both how she’s transformed her own life and built her business – so this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
Be open to new ideas.
When Arel first approach Benita to offer his help with her growing business, he brought her some ideas that hadn’t occurred to her before, like launching a Kickstarter to scale her business. Their Kickstarter was so successful that they were funded in only an hour and a half, and were able to reach a stretch goal far beyond what they had imagined! The success of the Kickstarter allowed Book Beau to go from being an Etsy-based shop to having an external manufacturer. Benita’s openness to new ideas allowed her to build her business far beyond what she had originally imagined.
To create a dream team, know your strengths and weaknesses.
As they discuss in this episode, Arel and Benita work well together as a team because they balance each other out. Benita is a visionary with a big-picture mindset, while Arel focuses on the hard numbers and tracking growth through metrics. Each of them are clearly aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and from the start of their partnership knew what they were able to bring to the table.
Recognize what you have to offer.
Benita claims to be a normal person, just like anyone else (although we beg to differ!) – but she’s succeeded in overcoming adversity in her life and building a business beyond her wildest dreams. She regularly gives speeches at local schools, because she knows how inspiring her story can be to other kids like her. In her words, “they need somebody like me, because I needed somebody like me.” Recognizing the gifts you can offer the world is a huge step towards declaring #ThisIsMyEra.
TAKE MASSIVE ACTION NOW
Deepen your connection with your audience.
One key to Book Beau’s success is that Benita and Arel have worked hard to build an audience through engaging content on social media, as well as retargeting campaigns on Facebook to keep their audience coming back. Where does your audience live, and how have you been connecting with them? Is there a social media channel where you could more deeply engage with your fans?
Identify opportunities for audience growth (this podcast has lots of ideas for where to seek out new people!), and sketch out a plan for growing and connecting authentically with your audience for the next week or month.
What are your key metrics?
Keeping an eye on the numbers can be overwhelming. Arel offers a solution for how to make metrics work for Book Beau’s growth: instead of tracking everything, he focuses on only two key metrics that provide the most insight. With this in mind, what are the key metrics that will give you insight into reaching your goals? Do you need to recommit to tracking these numbers, or do you need to streamline your process so that it takes less time?
If your metrics haven’t yielded enough insight, try implementing new systems and seeing how this helps guide you forward.
Episode Outline:
2:00: Introduction
2:50: How Benita got the idea for Book Beau
4:45: The hard work it took to get Book Beau off the ground while working a day job
7:45: What Benita’s daily schedule looks like now that she’s working full time on Book Beau
9:30: How Arel learned about Book Beau and came on board
14:00: How Book Beau got funded on Kickstarter within 90 minutes
16:30: How to gain visibility for a product on Kickstarter
Importance of small influencers
18:45: How scarcity creates demand over social media
20:30: Book Beau’s success using Facebook retargeting
21:30: How Arel captured Book Beau through a promotional video.
23:00: The numbers - how Book Beau is growing about $10k a month.
24:00: Where and how they’re looking to grow next.
24:30: Lessons learned from their Kickstarter campaign.
27:15: How balance makes for a great partnership.
29:20: The moment when they had to start paying for ads.
30:00: How preorders for Book Beau became a huge growth opportunity.
31:00: Why you need to double down on your strategies.
32:45: How Benita is inspiring young people in her community.
Episode Links:
Shop at BookBeau.com
Use the code ERA30 for 30% off your entire order!
Follow Book Beau on Instagram – @bookbeau
Connect with #ThisIsMyEra on Facebook (@thisismyeraofficial)
Connect with #ThisIsMyEra on Instagram (@thisismyeraofficial)
Join the conversation across all platforms with the hashtag #ThisIsMyEra
Pull quotes:
“They need somebody like me because I needed somebody like me.”
“This story is going to have a happy ending because we chose to do something about it."
