- 18 hours ago
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00It's one thing to make money, but if you're not pricing it right, you're just going to be barely making your bills.
00:05Correct. Yes. Correct. You got it?
00:08But to be clear, I talk about money every day. Yes.
00:12It's something that's very comfortable for me. Yes.
00:14And the more you talk about it with your family, your friends, your customers, your clients, yes, the more intelligent, the more worldly, the more experienced, the more exposed you'll become.
00:25And even if it's uncomfortable, I can promise you the money will start to flow if you make it more comfortable, if you normalize it.
00:34You know, one of my mentors, she gave me a practice.
00:37She says, when you get done with the day, write a letter to money and make money your friend.
00:43Make it somebody that you know.
00:45Make it something that you're comfortable with, because many times we say, I don't want to check.
00:48Like, I've been, you had a good weekend at Essence Festival.
00:51You don't want to check your account.
00:52You're afraid to see how much money you spent.
00:54But if you have a relationship with money, it's your homie.
00:57It's like, girl, I may have did too much.
00:58What do I need to do to get back in your good graces?
01:00So now, your relationship with money changes, because that's your good girlfriend.
01:04So you always call your friend to gossip.
01:06So when you check your account, you're not afraid, because you have a relationship with money.
01:10So if you don't do nothing else today, after this weekend, you check your account, write a letter to money, and become comfortable with what's in your bank account.
01:17And if you want more, you need to do more.
01:19Sure.
01:20I'm just going to say, you can tell by our outfits that we have different approaches to the money philosophy.
01:27But I spend my money on what I make.
01:32So instead of buying all designer this weekend, I spent money on samples.
01:36So not only am I wearing what I made, I can now sell what I made.
01:39So I make my money back.
01:41I will be buying.
01:42Listen.
01:43Listen.
01:46Not everyone.
01:48For those that making money your friend speaks to, roll with it.
01:54Oh, my gosh.
01:55Roll with it.
01:56You are not in your head.
01:57So I want you to roll with it, baby.
01:59Now, some of you are like, no, money is not my friend.
02:02That's cool.
02:03Money is not my friend either.
02:05Money is my bitch.
02:08Money is a tool.
02:09Money is a tool for me to achieve what I really want in life.
02:14And that's so my three young, beautiful teenage boys understand that money is a tool for their education.
02:23Because I value education, not money.
02:25I want them to know that money is a tool that they can use to house their families, to feed themselves, to pursue their dreams, and to change the world.
02:37Money is not my friend.
02:39Money is a resource for things that matter more.
02:44Both philosophies are winning.
02:47Pick the one that vibes with you.
02:49Exactly.
02:50And so now I'm going to hand it over to Miss Melly.
02:53So she's going to bring some amazing entrepreneurs up to talk about pricing and make sure that their money is their tool or their friend or whatever works for them.
03:01So I'll give it up to my good sis in color.
03:03Bye, baby.
03:06She really does look good.
03:08All right.
03:09So, folks, people have traveled from all over the world to be here and to answer your questions, to show up for you.
03:20So in order for them to do that, I need you to be present for them as well.
03:27Is that too big of an ask?
03:31It's not?
03:34This is where we get to just pick it apart.
03:36So, if I could have a round of applause or these kind of applause or these kind of applause for Rochelle Ivory, the owner of On The Edge Baby Hair, and Brittany Golden, IGL Nails.
04:00You may have a seat, ladies.
04:05I'll sit in the middle.
04:05How about that?
04:06Testing, testing.
04:11Hello, hello.
04:12Testing.
04:13Now, these two beautiful resources that we have in front of you are here to spill the tea.
04:20Truth.
04:21No shade, no cap, whatever everybody says right now.
04:24I just call it, they're not going to lie to you.
04:26We're going to tell you the truth and help your business soar.
04:33So, ladies, may I have you introduce yourself?
04:34My name is Brittany Golden.
04:37I'm the founder of IGL Nails.
04:39We are the first nail bed size inclusive press on nail brand.
04:43So, if you have petite nail beds, wide nail beds or standard nail beds, we have a set for you.
04:48And we just launched in 130 Hot Topic stores across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
04:54Can I circulate your product?
04:56Yes, you can.
04:56Anybody want to look?
04:58I mean, we'll buy it, but do you want to take a look?
05:01And I'll be presenting tomorrow for an hour if you guys want to come by and check them out yourself.
05:04Love, Brittany.
05:07Hi, everybody.
05:09Can you guys hear me okay?
05:10Okay.
05:11My name is Rochelle Ivory.
05:12I'm the founder and CEO of On The Edge Baby Hair.
05:15So, we are all things edges.
05:17We're the first brand dedicated solely to edge care.
05:20I just wanted to preserve the ritual of edge styling while providing innovative and culturally rooted products.
05:27And I came all the way from Compton, California.
05:30Woo!
05:31Do we have any other California folks in the room?
05:33Any other LA natives?
05:34Yeah!
05:35Yeah, okay.
05:37Not clippers, though.
05:38You want me to pass it around?
05:39Oh, yeah.
05:40Take a look at our edge brushes.
05:42That's a patented edge brush.
05:44I designed the edge brush to reduce the shedding of our edges.
05:48And you just came out with a new product.
05:49Oh, yes.
05:50And I just launched a new product.
05:51And the first ever on the market edge brush cleaning solution.
05:58So, you know, your edge brushes are sitting there looking all crusty and hard.
06:01I developed, fully developed a solution to clean it, degrease it, and sanitize your edge brushes.
06:08Woo!
06:09And me and Rochelle are our business besties.
06:11Yes.
06:13Compton and Long Beach.
06:15I have to tell you, when I went to hand around the edge brush, she got so excited.
06:20Like, she thought she got to keep it.
06:21I'm sorry.
06:22But thank you for showing your genuine pleasure for a bomb edge brush.
06:25Come see us in BeautyCon.
06:26We're over in BeautyCon.
06:28All right.
06:29So, these XRs that we have on stage, we do not want to waste them as a resource.
06:35So, I'd like to open it up for questions.
06:37And I'm going to come to you, if that's okay.
06:46Oh, that's right.
06:47We got them down there.
06:48All right.
06:52I see you right over here.
06:55Hi, ladies.
06:56Thank you for talking with us today.
06:58This year has been crazy with tariffs and price changes and all of that stuff.
07:03And given you both have products, right, that have suppliers, et cetera.
07:06Has your pricing been impacted by any of the tariffs or any of the changes in the economy
07:11today?
07:13Yeah.
07:13Go ahead.
07:14So, my pricing was definitely impacted by tariffs.
07:18My products are manufactured overseas.
07:22So, you have to have a certain quantity to get a certain pricing.
07:26And as a small, fully self-funded business, I'm paying for everything.
07:30We don't have the luxury of scaling just yet.
07:33So, like, if you, you know, if you manufacture from zero to 1,000 units, you get a certain
07:39price.
07:391,000 and up, you get a lot smaller pricing.
07:43Because I'm still in that small stage, I have to pay the higher pricing.
07:47And with the tariffs, that just added another layer of fees that we have.
07:52So, I've had to raise my prices by just, like, $1, like, per product, which isn't so bad because
07:57I still want to keep in mind, I don't want to price out my core customers, right?
08:01That young black girl who's probably using her allowance money to buy an edge brush.
08:06And so, I just, I'm very conscious of that when I'm raising or looking at my pricing
08:10because I don't want to price them out.
08:12I really like that you said you take into consideration your target market, what their
08:17affordability range is.
08:19And how do you make sure that you get your products to the people that you design them
08:23for?
08:24Yeah.
08:25Did you have something you want to add to that question?
08:27Yeah.
08:27So, I actually haven't raised my prices yet.
08:30And that's because when I first started, I made sure to have a little bit of cushion just
08:36in case I needed to raise prices throughout the years.
08:39However, with tariffs happening right now, what I did was I did a large order before a certain
08:44someone got in office because I knew that something like this could happen.
08:48So, I'm okay for the year, but that doesn't guarantee that I won't have to raise my prices
08:53next year.
08:53But as of right now, I don't have to because I took that into account and had it to cushion
08:58already.
08:59I love that.
09:00What you are, what I believe I'm hearing you say is you had a plan, a worst case scenario
09:07plan, and factored in risk of tariffs into your pricing model.
09:14Absolutely.
09:15Is anybody else curious on what other factors impact the way that these ladies, these entrepreneurs
09:22price their products?
09:23You are?
09:25Or do you have a question?
09:27Yes.
09:28Yes, please.
09:29What else affects your pricing model?
09:31I can tell you some of the things.
09:32So, I'll give you a story.
09:34Like, when I first started, my pricing was, I think, substantially low.
09:38And it was because I was, I really wanted customers.
09:41Like, I didn't want to, I sell press-on nails.
09:44And people can go to CVS and things like that and get press-on nails for $6.
09:50But after I started testing those products, I was like, well, I see why they're $6.
09:53Because they're not lasting.
09:55And so, I decided that I wasn't going to just price based on what was in store.
10:01I mean, I did keep that in mind.
10:02But I was going to price on the value of my product.
10:05So, not only am I maybe raising my price a little bit, but you're getting a lot more
10:10tools in my box.
10:11You're getting things that are going to make your nails last longer.
10:14So, instead of paying $6 once a week because your nails are falling off, you're paying
10:19$15 and your nails are lasting for three weeks.
10:22So, really, you're saving money in the end.
10:24But I do think it's important to price for the value.
10:28And keep in mind the sweat equity that you're putting into your business.
10:31When you go to a job, you can get paid by the hour.
10:33They're giving you a salary.
10:34They're taking your time into account.
10:36So, I think it's important when you have a product-based business, don't just take into
10:40account what you see on the market.
10:42But also take into account the value of what you're offering.
10:46And also take into account the time that you're putting into making sure you're getting your
10:50product out there.
10:50Because a lot of the times, as small business owners, we're taking on every single role.
10:56Excellent.
10:58One more person, please.
10:59Do you have a question?
11:03Hi.
11:04Thank you, ladies, for being here and sharing your stories.
11:06I have to agree with you.
11:09And that's one of the things I wanted to speak upon is don't under your value.
11:14Because what we don't realize is that we're quick to go out and spend money on food and
11:20cars and houses and all these different things.
11:23So, make it where you're going to make that profit for your value and enjoy the fruits of
11:30your labor.
11:30You know, they're going to pay it.
11:32A dollar, two more, it's not going to be a problem.
11:35How has marketing affected your bottom line in terms of, you know, your pricing?
11:43Yeah.
11:43So, that's a great question.
11:45Because marketing is like one of the biggest expenses that we can have as a small business.
11:51You know, we don't have the luxury of being able to hire like a huge marketing firm or PR
11:55firm.
11:55We're generally running those ads ourselves.
11:58And everything right now is pretty much social media based, right?
12:02So, TikTok ads, Facebook ads.
12:04And there are brands that are paying $5,000 to $10,000 a month on ads.
12:11And so, speaking for myself, I'm probably on the lower end of that, right?
12:14If I can spend $1,000 on ads a month, that's a great month for me.
12:19I don't got to like that.
12:20You know what I mean?
12:21And so, sometimes we have to factor in the cost of marketing into, hey, how much we're
12:25actually marketing, which kind of lowers our brand awareness, right?
12:28So, we're not hitting your algorithm.
12:30You don't know we exist.
12:31You would have never known that there is a black girl out there from Compton, California
12:35that created her own edge brush line to, you know, to reduce the shedding of our edges.
12:39You won't know because I'm probably not hitting your algorithm yet, right?
12:42I'm not paying to hit your algorithm.
12:43And so, when I start thinking about how much money I can and will invest in marketing,
12:48that will have to factor into how much I'm pricing my products.
12:53That was an excellent question.
12:54May I dive a little deeper in that question and ask you if marketing is a percentage of
13:00your overall budget?
13:02Marketing should be a percentage of your overall budget.
13:05It should be 10%, right?
13:07But right now, I'm probably at like 2%, 5%.
13:10But what I'm hearing you say is it's under 10%.
13:13Under 10%, yes.
13:15Is that industry-based?
13:16It is industry-based for me, yes.
13:20We have another question right over here, please.
13:22Yeah, it's actually segwaying from marketing, especially as a self-funded business, innovating
13:29new ideas.
13:30How did you protect your idea while still trying to expose it and gain awareness?
13:37What did that look like kind of navigating the space as, you know, like you said, self-funded,
13:41marketing, but also wanting to protect your innovation?
13:45That's such a great idea.
13:46So, I am essentially creating a new category, right?
13:52There's edge brushes out there, but there is not one brand that is like I'm centering
13:57around just solely edges.
13:58So, creating a new category in itself is a marketing giant or should be a marketing juggernaut,
14:04right?
14:05I am sitting here as a black girl with a patent.
14:09I have the patent for my edge brush.
14:11So, that was probably one of the first things that I did when I drew that edge brush design.
14:17I said, I don't want nobody else to steal this design.
14:20That was my first investment.
14:22I found a black attorney from Houston.
14:24She helped me out so much and it took two years, but we got a design patent for it,
14:29trademarked the name and everything.
14:31So, that was one of the first investments that I did make.
14:33And it was costly, but I knew that was going to be important because I didn't want anybody
14:37else to be able to make an edge brush like my, see it, make it, and then try to sell
14:41it for cheaper.
14:44Fantastic question.
14:45Fantastic answer.
14:46Did you have anything that you wanted to add to that before we go to the next question?
14:49Yes.
14:50So, say for example, you really don't have the funding to do a patent or anything like
14:54that.
14:55So, for me, like, I don't have a patent on my box.
14:57If you guys looked at my nail box, you can actually try the nails on, which is a new thing.
15:04So, what I've done was make sure you market, can I say H-E-Double Hockey Sticks?
15:10If you're asking me, the answer is yes, but I'm not in charge.
15:14Market the hell out of your brand.
15:15And, like, if you don't have money for marketing and ad spend, use your resources.
15:20So, like, for example, New Voices, they're an entrepreneur hub.
15:24They're a great resource to use because they have free learning sessions on how to build
15:30your own Facebook ads, how to utilize TikTok, and how to find influencers and maybe do gifting
15:36instead of money.
15:37There are different ways that you can market your brand.
15:39But if you have something that you're trying to protect, I definitely think it's important
15:43to make sure you get it out there because I believe that if you have something that was
15:49yours first and it's been presented to the world, you can use that in a lawsuit.
15:53Like, I have the dates.
15:53Well, I can develop that a little bit further.
15:55Please do.
15:56If you publicly leverage, sell, market, trade, or practice business under a certain trademark
16:06or brand mark, not a copyright, not like the detailed invention creation, but a brand or
16:16a product or a service.
16:17If you put that out there, from the date that you put it out there for the first round of
16:22six months, it will be essentially publicly noted.
16:26You will have a rights to that trademark or brand mark.
16:29I will say, though, it's just typically based on state.
16:32So if you're selling online and folks are buying from you and your brand is out there nationally
16:37or internationally, that protection is not going to cover you to that extent.
16:43So it's something to think about and I would advise being public about it as well as legal
16:51protection.
16:54I see another question.
16:56I do have a question.
16:57So my question is kind of two-pronged.
17:00How might your pricing strategy be different for different products and how might your pricing
17:05strategy be different throughout the life cycle of your business?
17:08So I can talk about, I have three products.
17:16I have cuticle oil, I have brush-on nail glue, and I have my nails.
17:20But I sell to wholesale partners and then I also sell to D2C, direct to customer.
17:27My wholesale, I charge them a little more because they have the money for it.
17:31So the pricing for them is a little bit different than my D2C customers.
17:35So I would say that that's something to keep in mind.
17:38And then as far as my other products, I think of them as add-ons, like add to cart to up
17:43my, you know, up the sales on my website.
17:46So I did that by thinking about, one, what was already out there, but making sure that
17:50I'm taking my value into consideration and taking the sweat equity.
17:54So I definitely consider that in all my product prices.
17:58But if you have two different clients, two different clientele, if you have wholesale partners,
18:03if it's a big chain, I think you add in a little bit of cushion there so that you can
18:07make sure that your D2C pricing is maybe more affordable for them, if that makes sense.
18:12It does.
18:13That was excellent.
18:14Can I tack on that real quick?
18:15You absolutely can.
18:16Can you leverage terms like B2B and B2C and help folks know what those mean?
18:20Yeah.
18:20So when we talk about D2C, direct to consumer, right?
18:23So you're buying directly from me.
18:25And so for me, with my pricing for like my edge brushes, edge control, I have these
18:29silk edge scars.
18:31I look at what everyone else is doing, right?
18:33So how much are you selling your edge brush for?
18:35How much are you selling your edge brush for?
18:36Okay, yours is whack.
18:37Okay, yours is nice.
18:39Mine's a little bit better.
18:40Kind of price it in the middle there.
18:41And then just thinking about who my customer is, right?
18:44Thinking about like my niece, who's like 10 years old and getting money from her mom,
18:47you know, how much they would be willing to pay.
18:49Or, you know, thinking about someone, you know, a grown woman who is looking for something
18:54luxurious, right?
18:55That looks pretty on her counter, but it's also in how much she's willing to pay.
18:58So I kind of factor those two things in.
19:00And then when we talk about B2B, like so business to business.
19:03So when I'm selling to like a beauty supplier, things like that, then we probably market up
19:07a little bit more because they're just going to resell it for the sale price.
19:10And we're giving them the wholesale price.
19:13And a lot of times you'll see businesses that have these smaller products because they're
19:18trying to bring up their average order value on their website.
19:21So it's important to have like the add-on things because it really, it helps you in
19:25the end make more money.
19:27I love this feedback.
19:28And I also want to point out the fact that these two tremendous entrepreneurs have a
19:33retail business.
19:34Now, businesses vary.
19:36Some are service-based, some are educators.
19:39There's a varied landscape of different types of businesses.
19:45And when you're looking at a pricing model, it's important to take into account.
19:48consideration who your target market is, what the research price point is from the market
19:55that you're looking to serve.
19:56Is it accessible?
19:58How it's being delivered, for example, you know, in-store, wholesale.
20:03And in addition to that, what the rest of the country in the world is doing, right?
20:08These are all factors.
20:10What we do not have represented here are retailers that provide something with a shelf life.
20:18Unless either of you have shelf lives for your product.
20:21How does that help with the pricing?
20:23That was the last question.
20:28Shelf life, I mean, my prices stay the same.
20:32So can one of you talk about what shelf life is?
20:35So I guess shelf life is just how long your product is going to be on the shelf and, you
20:41know, if it expires or whatnot.
20:42And then, like, at a certain point, okay, if nobody's buying it, then you might want to
20:47think about dropping your prices a little bit.
20:49And I have brushes in certain, because I, my brushes come in all different colors, patterns.
20:54And so I have some that have been kind of just sitting there that are not selling, right?
20:58A certain color, colorway that kind of nobody's want.
21:00So I do drop the price on those.
21:03But then we have our major sellers that stay the same the whole time.
21:07But also, getting creative, if you have something that you know, if you have something that has
21:11a shelf life and you know that it's on a time, it's on a clock, this is when retailers like
21:17TJ Maxx and Marshalls and Home Goods, this is when they come into account, because they're
21:22trying to make sure that they are buying as much stock as possible, but they're going to
21:27try and get you at a lower price.
21:29So you want to give them the stuff that you know is about to be out.
21:32Like, okay, let me sell y'all this and I'll keep my premium over here.
21:35Yes.
21:36Excellent.
21:37All right, ladies, we're going to wrap it up.
21:39Does anyone in the audience have any other questions before we close out?
21:43I want to make sure that your curiosities are addressed.
21:48Yes, ma'am.
21:49Can you please pass the mic to Rose Beck?
21:55Thank you for sharing.
21:58It's so important, because that's an issue in our community, people not being willing to
22:01share out of fear for competition, so thank you for coming here.
22:06You mentioned earlier that you work with overseas companies.
22:09I can't hear her.
22:09She said, you mentioned earlier that you work overseas.
22:13Okay, yes.
22:14In terms of the manufacturing, how did you go about making those contacts?
22:22Did you use a go-between person?
22:25Did you go there yourself?
22:26Like, I saw, on your leisure, the guys, they went there themselves and came in contact with people.
22:31How did I meet my manufacturer?
22:32I believe the question was, you've expanded overseas.
22:36How did you make those international contacts and build out your supply chain to meet those types of orders?
22:44Awesome.
22:44So, two ways I did that.
22:46When I first was creating my brush and I was getting a prototype, I work with a place called Prototype House.
22:51And they're based in Miami, Florida.
22:53And so, if you have a new product that you're wanting to get off the market, they can help you create it, get the prototype,
23:00but also source you to manufacturers that create those different types of products, right?
23:04So, they sent me a list of manufacturers that all manufacture brushes, and their contact information, so then I make contact.
23:12But then also, Brittany and I went to a, it's called Cosmoprof.
23:16Cosmoprof, and it's an event that happens twice, three times a year around the world.
23:23We went to the one in Las Vegas, and it is just manufacturers and suppliers and everything under the sun,
23:30if you have a product or service-based business under one roof.
23:34So, when you go there, you can meet every type of manufacturer, supplier, packaging, everything like that.
23:39But, you can meet them there, even, what's it called, to, not licensing, but when you, distribute, distributors.
23:50That's a word, distributors, yes.
23:52Thank you so much.
23:56Cosmoprof.
23:57We are out of time.
23:59And so, we're going to thank these ladies.
24:01Please join me in clapping your hands, and it's even more special if you stand up.
24:06I really like it.
24:07Thank you all so much.
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