From farmer’s market to an 8 figure online business with Jamie Cross

Your Dream Business

English - October 05, 2020 00:00 - 54 minutes - 99.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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Previous Episode: How and why you should be charging more for your products or services

Next Episode: How to find a mentor for your business and why you need one

In this week’s podcast, I have the lovely Jamie Cross who is a wife, mother of four small boys as well as one on the way, and an 8 figure entrepreneur who runs an organic skincare company – MIG Living and an international movement – the HER effect. We talk all about how Jamie grew her business from the bottom to the top and the story of how Jamie’s business plan came to her.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCASTA successful business is built on solving problems for people.It takes a long time to get your product/service right, it is not just an overnight process.You may have to go back to the drawing board numerous times before you perfect your product.Listen to feedback and what your customers say to make sure your product is right.You have to keep going and push through the hard parts.It is important to know which phase of your business you are at.Understand who you are and what you stand for in your brand.You have to know who your target customer is so you can speak to them through your marketing and online presence.You don’t have to have amazing packaging/website/labels/logo when you first start out, it is a process.Your fortune is in your follow up – repeat purchases are very profitable.In order to get yourself out of your business, you’re going to need to hire.It takes a lot of work to run a successful business.You have to learn, develop and change through your life to progress.Action creates clarity and action cures fear.If results don’t happen, take it as a learning opportunity.You may fail at first, it is natural.Look at which areas are draining you as an entrepreneur – those are things you want to eliminate.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…Being a business owner is hard, it takes a lot of work and you have to be patient, but it will all be worth it.HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN’T MISSAn introduction to Jamie – 08:09Following your business dream – 11:20Starting a business – 15:53Buying patterns of customers – 26:40Replacing yourself in your business – 28:18Believing in yourself as an entrepreneur – 35:52Hitting 8 figures in business – 38:40Growing and running a successful business – 44:35
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

Check out MIG Living

Transcript below

Teresa: Well, hello there and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. As always I am your host Teresa Heath-Wareing. I used to say that a lot at the beginning, and I didn't say it it's all now, which is funny because surely there's people that are new to the podcast.

Check out MIG Living

Transcript below

Maybe they don't know that I'm the host. Anyway, if that was you, you do now know I'm the host one odd way to start my podcast. But if you are a regular listener you know that you could just be expecting anything, I feel like I wing this most of the time, which I think we do in life. Generally, if I'm honest, I had a call with one of my 90 day people and she was talking about the factors, you know, I don't really know what I'm doing. And I said, I don't know any of us, really do. We just do the best job that we can at winging it. So, uh, yeah, that was a bit of nod start but anyway, how are things, how are you doing? So this week I've got an interview for you, but before we get going, and I tell you about that, I want to tell you about a new free training that I am going to be doing. Which if you followed me for a while, if you've been on any of my master classes or webinars, you know, I love this stuff. I get very excited. I take a huge amount of energy from it, and I love the question and answer a bit at the end. So for me, any kind of free training, any webinar, any master class whatever we wanna call it, it's effectively the same thing.

The thing I love the most is the fact that you get to ask me a question about your business. Cause I find it fascinating seriously. I've worked with some amazing, crazy, brilliant, wonderful businesses over the many years in marketing. And I just love hearing about people's businesses and what they do and how they do it and why they do it.

So for me, that's the best bit. And also that's like again, when my brain comes live is in the fact that I have to think fast and I have to come up with ideas quickly. And I think my brain quite likes that. So I am running a free training, which is going to be the five things that you must know to successfully market your small business and get more customers. That isn't the most catchy subject title in the world. However, I might have tweaked it by the time that this episode actually comes out. Cause I was always, I'm a little bit of ahead. So that's what it's basically going to be about. I'm going to tell you the five things that you need to know and be doing in your business in order to really successfully market your small business.

And these aren't going to be crazy, amazing. Hire a marketing team. If only these are gonna be things that you can do. And again, if you've ever been to my stuff, you know that I do not waste your time. This is going to be an hour's training. I'm going to be live in my office, in my home as I always am. And I'm going to be sharing with you stuff that you can take away and do that very moment or that next day and things that will make a difference to your business. So this isn't going to be an hour of me chatting away. This is going to be an hour of me giving you good, good free training, which is awesome. And then I've got some other exciting things to tell you, which I won't be telling you until that free training.

If you join me for that free training, I'll be telling you about something that's happening in November, which you will get a chance to be part of, which would be really, really cool. Okay. So if you want to join me for that. Probably good idea. If I give you the link, the link is teresaheathwareing.com/freetraining, all one word.

So if you go there, you will see a lovely landing page. You just have to put your details in and you can register for that training and you can join me live on, actually, it'd be a good idea if I gave you the date. October the 15th. There we go. Okay. So, like I said, that's going to be a great hour. Well, worth your time at free training.

I can't wait to see there and get to meet some of you. When I say me, I mean, virtually through a training, but we get to chats. That's cool. You get to ask me questions. So I'm really, really looking forward to that. Okay. On with today's episode. Now, this is a really interesting episode. And sometimes when say interesting, it doesn't mean good.

I don't mean that's all. I mean, this was fascinating. I got to interview the very lovely Jamie Cross who talked to me about her business and how she grew it literally from the bottom up. So let me read you this bio, Jamie Cross as a wife of 20 years and a mother of four small boys with the fifth on the way.

And she is an eight figure entrepreneur, eight figures. Like when I read that, I was like, Oh my goodness like that is a big business. So she founded her organic skincare company, MIG living after seeing a business plan in a dream 10 years ago. Last year, Jamie also started the Her Effect as a global movement to mobilize and empower women towards action and vision for impact.

Giving them all that is necessary to be successful in their families, their business, and in life. Jamie's being featured on top morning shows such as NBC, Fox, ABC, CPS, all the letters as well was in Lifestyle magazines, Forbes, US Today, Red Tricycle and more. Now first off running a business is a lot of work. Running a business that is an eight figure business I can imagine is a whole host of work.

And then she is a mum to four boys and has one on the way, like I have one daughter and that is hard enough. And a grownup stepson who pretty much looks off to himself. So honestly, I don't know where this lady gets her energy from, because it feels to me like she is some kind of superpower. Also her story about how the business plan came to her, blew my mind.

And I just kept having to ask questions about it. Cause it just couldn't. When I said, I couldn't believe that I don't mean it didn't believe her. I just mean it was just an amazing story. So I don't want to say anymore, cause I want you to go and listen to her and listen how she came up with this amazing business idea, and then succeeded in this idea in probably one of the most competitive industries. And you know, skincare there got huge marketing budgets. Huge, huge, huge. So the fact that she's taking it from literally an idea to an eight figure business is mindblowing. Anyway, I hope you're going to enjoy her story and enjoy all that she has to tell us. So it's my great pleasure today to welcome the very lovely Jamie Cross to the podcast.

Welcome Jamie, how are you?

Jamie: Thank you. Good. How are you doing? Thank you for having me.

Teresa: We were just chatting about the weather, cause it is one of the most British things to do that wherever we speak to anybody in the world that we're talking about, the weather and yours has been particularly exciting that you've had crazy hot weather and now you've got snow.

Jamie: Yes, Colorado at its finest.

Teresa: So yeah, that's a little bit different from where we are in the UK at the moment where it's just probably dull. Um so Jamie, just so my audience can get a feel for who you are and how you got to do what you're doing. If you could just give us a brief overview of your history, that would be awesome.

Jamie: For sure. Yes. So I got out of corporate banking, actually 12 and a half years ago and two and a half years into full time motherhood. I just knew I had to build something knew I wanted to do better than struggling financially. So, I, um, ask God for a billion dollar idea, how to dream and started a skincare, your company in 2010.

And we've just blown past the eight figure mark in the last two and a half years scaling online. So we have been in business for 10 years and, um, And it's been amazing and hard and all those things.

Teresa: That is just like, I love the way it's really casually go. I was in banking, ask for an idea. And I created skincare.

Like I couldn't imagine a more difficult thing to try and create. So was it that you had a particular interest? I mean, we've all gone there. You can trust anyway, haven't we, but what was it? Something in particular, where does that come from?

Jamie: Yeah, well, I had, um, I had a dream and I saw myself doing what I'm doing now, but I, it was like a roadmap.

Um, and to this day, 10 years later, I can literally close my eyes and see it as if I had been watching a movie. So it was like, here you go. Here's an idea. And I didn't know how to formulate. I mean, my whole background was finance and banking. And so I spent a year on my own just studying herbal alchemy and chemistry and naturopathic healing and herbal medicine. And so formulated our first product after about a year of studying. And, um, and then it's, you know, and then it was just, and I don't know what kind of questions or how deep you want me to go at this point, but you know, it was like take the product. I hit the streets of Denver and Colorado Springs just started walking into stores and talking to owners and buyers and just hustling and selling product.

Um, in the beginning.

Teresa: Because again, you're going into like one of the most difficult industry to go into. Yeah. One's with humongous budgets. Like, again, it was literally like, do you want to make it hard to run yourself? You could have gotten like a whole different route, but it's super easy, but now we're going to make it really, really difficult.

So I'm really interested in the dream and cause I like. You know, I like it better spirit stuff. I like kind of, you know, I, I try and manifest things, not sure I success land, but I give it a go. But like, was it, that is a hell of a jump that is a real step. Like I dreamt something I'm going to do it. So did it kind of say, or did you feel like you could see the route you needed to go and you follow that route?

Or did you just start and then. Follow the path that you were making on your own, or how did that come about?

Jamie: Yeah, that's a really good question because a lot of times I think people think when they start a business, I mean, it's good to have a vision. It's, I mean, it's necessary to have a vision. It's good to have a plan, but most of the time when you start something, the idea is.

Okay. I have an idea now, a skincare company. And so then you have to ask the right questions. What, um, what's for me being in a consumable product market, you know, started with what's the best product to start with and formulate. What are people gonna buy over and over? What's a product that everybody needs.

And so it just started with what kind of problems can I solve for people? I think every successful business. I know every successful business is built on solving problems. Well, for the, market. And so, um, so it started with a bar of soap and I know it's so like counterintuitive cause you, people think, you know, success and Oh, you started with all this knowledge and you must have started with all this capital, but I had nothing.

I had no knowledge. I had no capital. As a matter of fact, I was the girl standing at the grocery checkout, like my debit card declining. You know, we were struck, my husband was teaching full time coaching wrestling, and I'd given up a huge salary as a banker. So that was where, like just the pure bootstrapping grit of okay.

I can't, I can't afford to build a pretty website or make a really pretty logo. I just have to make a really good product. And so, um, well that's where the hustle came in. Like I took my product after formulating and just was walking into stores all over the state of Colorado. Um, and we grew from there, but, um, the billion dollar business starts with the smallest taking the smallest action and.

And, um, for me, it started with a bar of soap.

Teresa: That is just unbelievable. Like, you know, to know where you are today. Did you ever for one moment think that's where I'm aiming to get to, or that's what I'm trying to, or was it literally like, let's just get to the next bit of the next bit to the next bit.

Jamie: Well, there's, there's both, there's, you know, there's two parts to that. There's being the visionary of like, yes, I can see. And for me, I, I've always been, you know, having come out of a banking career and not struggling financially to all of a sudden having these like real problems, like our utility companies are calling saying like, when are you going to make your payment?

And me thinking, this is not how I'm gonna live my life. You know? And so there was the day to day of. How do we separate ourselves in a saturated market? How do I create something that's going to solve problems for people in a unique way? What do people really want and what do they really need? And then there was the vision of like, there's two prices to pay.

I can pay the price of mediocrity and stay in this financial struggle for the rest of my existence, or I can pay the price of figuring this thing out and going for it. And so I, I could, I mean, I, when I started it, it started with this just cry of God, show me a billion dollar idea so that I can change the world and leave a legacy for my family.

So the vision, the seed of vision was there. But how you get there is just a matter of. That's where that's where the rubber meets the road. And that's where I think a lot of people either they quit too soon or they never really ever get started because people don't understand, I think they think success you're born into success, which is not the case.

And so I had to do a lot of mindset, like work on just am I worthy of wealth? Well, can I do this? Can I, can I be successful? Can I do something that's going to work? And then keep working, you know. But when the rubber hits the road, it really is, is just a matter of doing the work. And I think that's where people fail.

Teresa: And I think you're entirely correct. I think sometimes people look at a story like yours and rightly so it motivates them, which is wonderful. It should do. But also because they're not living it every single day, it sounds so easy. It's like make a product, learn something, make a product, put it out there, work your bum off a little bit, boom.

You got an eight figure business, which is just insane. And obviously that they weren't there for every single day, those 10 years, where oh, man. I bet. So in those early days, right, you've got your product. You're really proud of it. You're really like, yeah. I love this. I know. It's really good. I was that experience of going and trying to sell it, like almost like a door to door salesperson type thing.

Jamie: Yeah, exactly. Well, in the beginning, the bar soap was a huge hit. I mean, I. I didn't skimp in my research. I didn't just try to get a product out there. I took my time. I, I really gained a keen knowledge of the human body and I really developed, my formulation strategy around the fact that your bodies able to heal itself, it's designed to heal itself and so natural.

And what really ticked me off in the beginning was all the good marketing out there of like pure and natural and clean. And then when you actually look at the ingredient profiles, you're like, this stuff is garbage. And so just developing that philosophy and, um, and then being able to get out there. But the truth is I started off with a bar soap and did wholesale retail for a year.

Well, then I did farmer's markets. And that was like in the first year of doing markets, you talk to thousands of people and you realize how picky people are. You realize really what kind of problems are out there. Like I would have people come to my table, say I've spent so much money on lotions and potions.

I've tried everything I've been to every expert nothing's worked. Can you help me? And so I had to go back. To the drawing board in that first year. Cause I started to create follow on products and sometimes it was a slap in the face, but you can't take that process personally....