The art of your business niche: How to find your best business growth strategy with Lauren Carr

Learn the secret to valuing your work and setting boundaries with the remarkable Lauren of Fortuitous Felidae As someone who has navigated the tumultuous waters of entrepreneurship while welcoming twins into her life, Lauren's story is a testament to determination and self-worth. Together, we unravel the complexities that come with starting a business during a pandemic, the nuances of client retention, and the critical art of pricing that attracts clients and keeps you profitable.

Ever wondered how to make your nail art business stand out in a sea of sameness? This episode is rich with strategies to market your unique designs beyond your local area, employing ingenious methods to captivate clients who are hungry for your creativity. From leveraging the power of online platforms to penetrating global markets, I share my seasoned insights from the beauty industry, on how to gain an online presence that can take your nail art from a hidden gem to a shining beacon in the digital world.

Connect with Lauren
 https://fortuitousfelidae.com/
Instagram: fortuitousfelidae555 
YouTube: fortuitousfelidae 
Tiktok:fortuitousfelidae
 Etsy: fortuitousfelidae 
Facebook:fortuitousfelidae 
Business email: fortuitousfelidae@gmail.com 

Are you ready to say goodbye to fear, frustration, and overwhelm when it comes to growing and scaling your business? You’re in the right place. Welcome to  Beyond Common Business Secrets Podcast I’m your host, Tracey Watts Cirino

Chapters

• 0:00 Business Struggles and Self-Worth
• 16:09 Nail Art Marketing Strategy
• 22:16 Navigating Authenticity in Business Branding
• 34:56 Exploring New Business Opportunities

Transcript

Tracey Watts Cirino: 1:09

Hello and welcome to Beyond Common Business Secrets. I'm your host, Tracey Watts Cirino, and if you have been hanging out with us for a while, you know we've been having so much fun with this new segment, which is a deep dive behind the scenes, sort of like coaching the coaches. It has been an amazing journey and we are so excited that we are able to bring so many new up-and-coming entrepreneurs, just really sort of exposing the vulnerability of what female entrepreneurs are going through on a day-to-day basis. So I am so, so grateful to our guest, Lauren. .. Lauren, I'm so excited that you're here and I absolutely adore you. Lauren is the creator of Fortuitist Ville, and what I love is that Lauren combines so many elements of handcrafted luxury. She is such a visual artist and there's so many layers to everything you're doing in your business that makes it so unique. So can you share with our audience a little bit about all these amazing artistic creations that you work on?

Lauren Carr: 2:26

Sure, I'd love to, and thank you, tracey. I make a lot of different handcrafted goods, basically just inspired by anything like inspired by I could look outside the window and be inspired to make a painting or spiritual concepts and religious ideologies that are behind my art. I really tie in a lot of metaphysical and natural themes as well as things that just make me speak from my heart about it, about the art that I make. So yeah, that's what I do.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 3:02

I love that. I love, love, love that. You're like the epitome of what I talk about all the time. It's like do what you love, right, like find things you love and make that your business, like so really realizing that like hey, I have that, you have this amazing talent for art and you're taking it and hey, I can like look out the window and think of something. I love this Pretty much.

Lauren Carr: 3:25

So how long have you been?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 3:27

in business. I was just going to say how long have you been in business?

Lauren Carr: 3:30

I've actually started in 2019. So right when the pandemic hit, actually the same time that I started my business, I'd actually was just about to give birth to my two children, so I'd been practicing on my craft the whole time of pregnancy and it's like I guess my pregnancy gave me a spike of creative energy, so I utilize that to help initiate me to get started on business.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 3:54

Oh, I love that. That's a beautiful thing, right? Nothing like the arrival of two babies to get you like taking it in gear. That's like. That's like a strong female energy. I love that. So what currently have you been struggling with in your business?

Lauren Carr: 4:13

What I've been currently struggling with in my business. That's a good question. I have been struggling with, I probably would say, advertising as well as retaining clientele, and I learned along the way because, like during COVID, I started my business during a really precious time, especially financially and socially. So I was really I had to learn a lot about business boundaries because I wanted to make a lot of accommodations, especially being a new one, up and coming entrepreneur. I wanted to be accommodating to the fact that this is not really a necessity but it's a luxury. So I deducted my prices and I kind of low balled myself. So initially that was a big struggle for me that I had to learn from.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 5:02

And yeah, and having gone through that, what's like when you say that you had to learn from it? What has been your biggest takeaway?

Lauren Carr: 5:13

My biggest takeaway is that because, okay, I noticed that I'd made probably two major mistakes within this. So my biggest takeaway from it all was if you assert your price at the price rate that you want, people will pay for it if it's something that they value and that they like as well. As don't go too far out of your way to be accommodative to others, because you also have to meet yourself. So I had to learn to, because I would often leave things on the back burner for people to then get their finances in order and pay for it later, because I understand how things work.

Lauren Carr: 5:52

Yeah, of course, and so I had to learn not to do that, like at least don't go so out of my projected due date of when I was expecting them to pay before the transaction, because sometimes I would leave it months in advance.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 6:07

And yeah.

Lauren Carr: 6:08

I would leave it months for them, but I had to deduct that to about a week. I think that's pretty fair.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 6:14

Yeah, okay, I think I have some strong opinions about this. And here's the thing If you're providing a service, that you are going to do a service for someone, you may extend pricing parameters that come during that time. It has been my experience that when you are selling a good, so a piece of art, any of the things that you're selling, what's your top seller, what's the number one thing you sell the most?

Lauren Carr: 6:53

of my nail art is pretty much the top seller.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 6:56

Okay. So if you are selling nail art, if you are sending it, you're shipping it out, you're doing all the things and they're going to tangibly have it in their hand. There has to. You can do a payment plan to be accommodating, but there has to be enough of a front end payment to cover all of your expenses.

Lauren Carr: 7:18

Yeah, kind of like a deposit. Yeah, do you see?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 7:20

what I'm saying Because it's a hard good Now service. We can get a little bit more playful, generous, but I always say, don't do it for long, because the thing is is that it is a luxury item and people that want it they're going to, they're going to pay for it because they're into it. So that's the thing of like one of the number one things to think about, especially when it comes to being an artist and also an entrepreneur, is we have to separate who we are from what we're doing so we can attach a self-worth piece here. We have to separate Like I am worthy, I am amazing, I'm this great artist, this is the price.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 8:04

Because what happens when we're new in business and it can happen at various levels we get a little bit vulnerable and I mean I was very insecure and was attaching like, oh, they liked it, they liked it. Okay, I must be good. So it was very humbling to go through the transformation the first like five to 10 years in my career of like separating that and over the years of training a lot of staff members and then other people working in businesses. It's really interesting when anything's flares to the side of artistic. We attach it's a part of our soul to it, and that is where we wanna honor this in such a beautiful way, because the more that you give it this vibrant energy of honor, then that is what your potential customers will see and feel. Right, that's true.

Lauren Carr: 9:03

I agree with you. I actually had similar struggles myself as well.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 9:07

Yeah.

Lauren Carr: 9:08

With the self-worth yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 9:09

So, and that's the thing of like that's why we call this beyond common business secrets. This is all the mucky stuff that people don't always talk about.

Lauren Carr: 9:18

Like, oh, I just heard the business it's so exciting Cause it is and it's like it is, but there's so much that goes into it, there's like a whole psychological piece and everything.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 9:27

Yeah, and you're like oh, no one told me that, oh, no one told me that. And sometimes it's like you feel like you're just getting hit all the time, like at ping pong. You know, like, so I did feel like that, yeah, like, so that's where it's really amazing to talk with a lot of other entrepreneurs and business owners and understand that, like, this is just the phase that we all go through, and the more that you can say, okay, like, it's like setting your prices from the standpoint that you're profitable, okay, Out of the gate, and what this is. This is the huge, huge, huge piece in the very beginning of any business is what you know. It's like you have to look at all the things. What is the time I spent? What do I charge per hour for my time? What is the actual cost of goods? And yeah, it's almost like people always think you have to look at what are your competitors doing.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 10:26

I think that's a problem because you do not know what their expenses like. What, if you use the most expensive gold foil to make your art, that it's like the most expensive thing in the world. Your stuff cannot be compared to somebody that's using something that costs three cents. You say I'm saying as something to. So it's the same thing of like the housing market, right, like somebody might have this unique and beautiful home and the realtor is like I don't have anything to compare it to in the area because nothing is sold like this. There's all just spend little ranches, but this like a palace at the end of the street. You know you can't really have a starting, a starting price that is, by comparison, so-.

Lauren Carr: 11:15

It's like you're kind of trailblazing in a way.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 11:17

Yeah, and so you have to like right and so. But that also really in the luxury market, makes a lot more sense. People that are looking to stand out and want something that is, oh my goodness, this is 24 karat gold, this is the meat, you know. That type of person is never gonna say, they're not gonna bet an eyelash, they're just gonna be like here's my credit card, so that's. I think that's the biggest difference, because people that want a lower quality product, it's already available, so we don't have to put ourselves in that same container, right, like. So that's the thing of like really getting clear from a really mathematical sense how much do I charge per hour? How long does this take me? How? What are all of the supplies? Can it be profitable? How many can I produce? Really, putting it through the lens of your business, your numbers when you have that number, then yes, you can kind of look to see what everyone's doing. But most people look and just come up with a number, and that's not good in any business.

Lauren Carr: 12:29

Yeah, that's true, cause there's a lot more factors that go into it, right?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 12:33

And so if and this is why I'm saying this so if you follow the strategy of what is everyone else doing, okay, and you say, okay, well, this is the going rate, so my stuff is a little nicer, so I'm going to be a little bit more expensive, but you haven't done the math. What if you're already losing? What if you are bleeding money from the gate?

Lauren Carr: 12:57

And this is I agree with that.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 12:58

So that is so. This is the thing to look at, and this is true in so many businesses. This is so. This happens so often when there's a lot of cost associated with creating what you do, right, cause there is there's a lot of cost associated with it. You have to buy a lot of products you have you know what I mean, and the thing is it's just not. And then it's time, and then you have to be in the right mood and the right vibe to create. So there's a yeah, there's a lot of variables, and we have to kind of look through it, through that cycle. Right, and that would be the first area that I would look at. I would get all my stuff and really get clear there. And if you, if you look at your numbers and you're like, oh wow, I have been doing a disservice to myself and I need to change this, that's when you can come up with, like a rebranding for a luxury line within what you do, just seeing what I'm saying, like so we're on the exact same page.

Lauren Carr: 13:58

I actually I did meet that point within my business. I'm like, okay, I'm actually low balling myself because I semi agree with you the looking at your competitors, prices and product and products, because, you're right, you don't know all the factors that go into where it is that their standpoint is set. And I did, out of curiosity for a time, look at my competitors because I wanted to know like what are getting idea at least of the price range of this particular luxury items. And when it comes to nails and specifics, this is more so the cosmetic industry, this stuff can get really, really high up there.

Lauren Carr: 14:38

And so I would see people selling nail art that I had like similarly to mine, that was actually double the price of mine. And so I was, like you know, I'm over here like kind of setting my prices a little bit lower because of COVID and everything and just getting started just as like a gateway to step into, because I was afraid that people wouldn't pay for it if I were to set it at the exact price that I wanted to sell it. And I'm like yo, these people are over here selling it for like $100. The same length, the same amount of, probably, time to paint it, because, like, nail art is very intricate, it takes a lot of time to paint.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 15:14

Let me ask you this if nail art is your one one seller or primary client client that you're selling to, is it to a salon client or is it to a salon professional that would apply the nail art to the client?

Lauren Carr: 15:34

that's a good question. No, it's honestly just to an individual patron basically. So, whoever I teach them how to or I give them tips on how to apply it themselves, okay so that's what I was gonna say.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 15:48

So will they go, so they'll pay for it, and then will they apply it themselves, or will they pay for it and take it to a professional to have it applied?

Lauren Carr: 16:00

That's a good question. I actually. It's just more so listed for them to apply it themselves. But I mean, if they wanted to choose to, they could definitely take it to a professional.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 16:09

Okay, well, cause, I think it might do you some good to clarify that. And you know cause, if you're really, if you're really just looking at the individual person, like they have no background in nails or cosmetic industry whatsoever, so you're just looking for a client, then I would just be really clear about like your marketing can sometimes be. Like you can have this amazing nail art, you know, without having to sit at the salon. Like that, could you know what I'm saying. That could be your marketing angle, that. So, once you really know you know cause I I mean, I had a very successful salon company for a little over 20 years and had been in the beauty and cosmetic industry for 25 years before transitioning to coaching, speaking, you know, but I did all those things coaching, speaking, you know, all that stuff, teaching within the salon industry I just, you know, just wanted to spread my wings a little bit. But obviously the hair beauty industry, like it, has my heart. But I know when you're really clear about who the end client is in that, then it's going to be much easier to break through. So your marketing angle if you're finding that it's going to be mostly people that are really into the intricate art and want something amazing, then that could be your angle or a lot of clients.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 17:39

This is going on right now in this salon industry and you know I have a background so like I'm privy to this, a lot of clients are not happy that nail, that the nail professionals don't have the artistic skill set, but they love the salon they go to.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 17:57

So this is another really beautiful thing of like, hey, you love to go to your favorite salon to get your hair done and your, you know your color, all the things, and you know, maybe the nail service you're getting is basic.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 18:14

This you can take this with you to up level right, because they might already have this amazing place that they go in. The only complaint and they won't even tell you unless you know to ask Like, oh, I really wish somebody on this team knew how to do this like really amazing artistic nail art. So that's like another little packet I would really look at, because that was an area that you know it was hit or miss always. All the years I managed multiple slowns Because, like people either have, like I can train for the service, right, I can train for people to have an amazing experience, right, but the artistic piece that some people have and some people don't. So you're offering a solution that this is a huge thing that's going on in the salon industry across the globe. So you know people haven't put in enough time to develop the artistry of it and this can be that bridge.

Lauren Carr: 19:14

Yeah, that's true. Actually, for a time I did consider just like finding the salon that just needed a nail artist, because any personally I don't like the technical application. I'd prefer to just get straight into the art.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 19:28

Yeah, I guess there's somebody for everything. Well, and that's really interesting. I think that's a really amazing niche because I don't think anyone's really done that In my experience. When people don't like to do the, you know all the technical stuff lengthening the nails, the filing and all that leveling. It's like a lot of work. It's building a house on your little finger.

Lauren Carr: 19:48

It's a lot yeah, pretty much.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 19:51

So that foundation has to be said and everything. But if they find that they don't like that and they only like the artistry, they tend to leave the hair industry and the nail industry. So this, I think you found something so unique and really original and I think if you can really just make some strategic partnerships, referral connections, I think it can be huge.

Lauren Carr: 20:18

I agree, yeah it's something that I'll definitely consider.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 20:21

And you can ship all over the world. So I mean we're not even talking about just US. I mean like, think about it, like you can really globalize.

Lauren Carr: 20:30

Yeah, that's what I'm actually interested in. I would really like to go international, because I've only had clientele in the US, and more so in the Midwest mid-state, yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 20:42

So, did you get your nail license? No, not yet OK. So really you've just stuck to OK, just the artistry of it, that's OK. So that's another thing. So do you think that this would be helpful for you to kind of just kind of think about your marketing angle and those two different buckets and see what you can come up with there?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 21:05

Well, you're asking like if I go get the technical license or no, I'm saying, if you reach out to salons that already have the technical stuff but maybe don't have local in your area or something like that, it could provide a lot of photos, a lot of video of you in action, that kind of thing. So that's like another. You know what I mean. Plus, you can build some strategic relationships. And the other piece would be is the marketing angle of you know, when you're selling online in the social space, it's like maybe you're appealing to people that don't really like it was midnight and they don't have online booking, and so I really wish I could just do it myself. So that's that marketing angle of hey, you don't have to ditch having these amazing, gorgeous nails, I can provide them for you, and then you have training videos on how to do it themselves.

Lauren Carr: 22:03

So that's actually really good. That's a good idea. Those two points, yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 22:08

No, I mean, I feel like those are like really going to be strategic for you and I would focus my time there. But the first thing before anything and it's the boring part that nobody wants to do as a creative entrepreneur you have to do the numbers. You have to pull all your stuff and come up with some hard numbers, because if you're not clear about what that is before you go out and start pricing, you know you could be working for free. And then I always say if we are not profitable in business, we just have an expensive hobby.

Lauren Carr: 22:45

So that is not fun. I get it.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 22:48

I'm like oh, I'm done with that, let's create something new. So I'm no stranger to this. One time we found a $45,000 bleeding hole in our color department at my salon because we weren't double checking the minimums and maximums of what was coming in. As seasons change, you know, maybe like you had a shift in clients and it's just like over time it stacked up. So these are little things that seem like nothing, right Like oh, what is it if I give a $5 discount? Well, it could add up to.

Lauren Carr: 23:29

That yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 23:30

Yeah, when you see the number like that, you're like, oh wait, I could have, could get another car, like you see what I'm saying? So do the math, even though it's not as sexy. And Vaughn is creating the art. Yeah, that's true. Yes, right, it's like, oh so. So what other questions, like what else has been going on that I can help you with?

Lauren Carr: 23:57

I guess. Um, good question, I'm not really sure. More, maybe more so, the division of like, because a big thing for me when I started my business is I always had this thought that you can't combine your personal life with your business life, or your personal social media with your business social media, and, whereas I think that it is important to make differentiation, I was worrying about, like how to convey my like utmost authenticity within professionalism, and so I'd be open to, like listening to any insight that you may have on that.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 24:32

Yes, I that. That is. That is a great question. That's literally why I wrote Beyond Common the 12 Essentials to Success in Life and the Workplace. I'm the oh it's here, that book, right there I the reason. So the reason I wrote that is because there was this shift in we want to be professional and present ourselves as the best self that we can. However, we're not talking about stuffy, fake, and authentic professionalism. You know, you, you, you can't act like an orange at work and then you're going to be a grapefruit At home. It's

Tracey Watts Cirino: 25:09

Yeah, so, so, and I and I have to say that when I started my first business, you know everything was about the business and I totally took myself out of it, because I read all those leadership books, I attended all the seminars and I basically felt like, when I left, everything it was like don't be yourself at all, you're not cool enough to be here. So this is my takeaway Don't be yourself at all, you're not cool enough to be yourself. Just just be what everyone like, what everyone expects. And that was wrong. That was so wrong, and that was my interpretation of outsourcing my own skill set and truly being in alignment, right? So what?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 25:51

What I would suggest is figuring out, is it going to be that your name like Lauren Carr, are you the overarching brand and you're going to create a lot of different mini businesses underneath? That's what I ended up doing, but that was a shift, because I always had like here's a primary business and then I was like the tiniest dot under it, but then I had other businesses, right, yeah, so, if you so, think about it like this, like you, you need to, if you, if you look at what's happening in the world right now, people want to do business with who they know like in trust, even brands like their social, the people that are like major brands I'm just thinking of like. Think of a car company. If all they're doing on their social media is showing cars, they have their clients, don't? They're not having? They're not growing or cult following, so to speak. They're not. They would actually care, they're just like growing, like, oh, I'm going to go buy a car, duh, like it's. You see what I'm saying?

Lauren Carr: 26:56

Yeah, so it works. I see the difference between like the advertising where you see like the families and the cars, yeah, and they're like taking you in a story, right.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 27:04

So that's the thing you can be super professional, but maybe it's showing your nail art in action. Maybe, just like what we said, going and making those strategic connections. Maybe it's showing people how to apply this, because you might have I'm just thinking of this too. You might have half a dozen salons in your area that currently have clients that ask for nails but they don't even employ a nail tech. This could be a solution.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 27:29

Okay, yeah Just what I'm saying, so you could come in and demonstrate how easy it is as a retail item, you know, for the whatever, something like that, but you can demonstrate it in action that this luxury client and I have no idea if you actually have the 24 karat gold like that I created. So the thing is, if you had something like that, an idea is like show that person of luxury with a very expensive handbag and a very expensive car, because that's the person that's going to want that type of really extreme art, right, right, that's true. Like that's going to be like if you create something like that, for, oh my goodness, like Kim Kardashian. You see him saying like something yeah, yeah, I was thinking like that feeling of it.

Lauren Carr: 28:18

Yeah, I like the graphic arts on, like the big brands like Lou Vuitton and Coach. Yeah, those are pretty cool.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 28:25

Yeah, so , put it in action, like it's like what kind of woman would want to wear that and show her doing something. I mean like little things that could be like at the, at your desk, like you know, typing the keys on the computer, stirring tea, right, like chopping up veggies for your kids, and you can make it real life and really professional.

Lauren Carr: 28:47

That's a good idea because, like I was actually, I met a woman probably sometime in 2023, in November, a few months back. She had contacted me through a family friend and she said, like your art, their nail art, is like perfect for what it is that I'm interested in. She loved the colors. I incorporate a lot of, like you know, childlike and colorful themes, so she was really intrigued by that, like a lot of glitter, a lot of like unicorns. I could probably contact her to maybe advertise for me. That would be awesome.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 29:19

Yeah, that's a good idea, yeah, yeah. Or you could you just gave me another really good idea, another really cool idea for you could be to get that sort of tween age, the tweens that like to do fun parties. That's super cute.

Lauren Carr: 29:34

That is cool.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 29:36

Glitter unicorn, like that could be super fun. I'm like I would totally. I don't have any girls, I have boys, but like that's so fun, like so kind of like a party type of thing, like they buy X amount of them for they're going to have 10 friends, whatever, anyway. So that's like another bundle package you can look at.

Lauren Carr: 29:55

That's really smart. I did start off with the idea like I toyed with the idea of like bundle packages, but more so for like BFF nails, like I. You know the whole idea of like BFF charm bracelets and BFF. I think that would be cool where, like, one person's finger matches the other person's finger or they just have a matching set in general.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 30:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be fun for twins too, like for twins, like that would be really fun.

Lauren Carr: 30:22

That's true. That's a good idea. Also, I feel as if this might be a hit around. Like school age teachers like that teach like really little kids Because, like whenever I have my nails all decked out, my kids are always like, ooh, I like to paint food on my nails. I don't know why, but they one time when my child was teething, he chewed on it and he thought it was real.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 30:45

I thought it was like a watermelon.

Lauren Carr: 30:46

Yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 30:48

Like no, baby don't eat that. So cute, oh yeah. So the yeah the thing is is that there is so much potential because this is such clear niche and you already have your niche. You don't even have to think through that stuff, it's there, you're just finding the pockets where you would align the best

Lauren Carr: 31:10

Yeah, that's true and I guess, like for me right now, I really want to and like because I started off just predominantly nail art, just because I had the longstanding vision when I was six, I love nails and I would go to Claire's frequently and I would always like put on like a big part of like what made me happy at the end of a very long school day at the end of the week, would be going to Claire's and just getting the cutest press on nails to wear and so I started learning a lot about that, like the technical application of it all.

Lauren Carr: 31:40

I would told myself I'll take this information with me later. It's like my younger self was helping me like pave, like giving me a little picture.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 31:47

Yeah, yeah.

Lauren Carr: 31:49

And so I took that with me. But and I still love it and I'm glad I finally got the vision out of the way, because I really wanted to do this when I was 16, but 19 is also okay- However it's like I feel as if I got.

Lauren Carr: 32:05

It's something that I still would like to put energy and effort into, but it's more so something that I have already given birth to and kind of you know, gotten out of the way. But I want to start to bring in other areas of my artistry, like the portraits and like accessories. I actually tried selling some phone accessories and it's gone pretty well. Yeah, yeah, but it's just like I want to.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 32:31

That's the forefront. Yeah, I would say, like phone covers would be a great would be a great thing for you. I would buy one yeah.

Lauren Carr: 32:39

Yeah, it's the, what's it called. I haven't gotten to painting the cases yet, but do you know the little phone wallets that you've kind of like stick on the back of your phone?

Tracey Watts Cirino: 32:49

Like in a credit card. Yeah, my son is an artist, my little one, my 10 year old, and he does a lot of like painting cases. He just for fun, like he just does, and so that's why I just my brain initially went to the cases.

Lauren Carr: 33:03

That's really cool.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 33:04

I'd love to see some the other thing I was thinking like. So somebody like me who doesn't like I don't like acrylic nails, I have thin skin, it's like it's just never been my jam, but I have just been recently getting into the stickers.

Lauren Carr: 33:19

Okay, but you can design stickers.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 33:21

Do you see what I'm saying? So that's another way, since you already know, you know you gave birth and put that one division of your business out into the world, could you go to the idea of those little sticker things for people like me that want real convenience at this point, which is crazy because, you know, for owning slant. But I'm like I would have done the stickers then if they had them, because they used to have to chain me down to get me to get my nails done. Oh no, I mean I thought my team always wanted me to have my nails done because they would get lots of clients. So it was like I don't like that thing. I would be chained down for a minute, not to the nail, just to get nails on you.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 34:00

Yeah, because I was just too too active, right? So, yeah, so maybe, like looking at different accessories, yeah, there's, there's so many aspects, so I would go back to the clients that you've already served and survey them, like ask them what other products that they would prefer. Now you know, because, like, then you have like a built in you know audience. Like that's how you get retention built in. It's like you know what I mean, because when you're, when you're doing products that you know people don't buy, all the time you've got to come up with ways to get them to be repeat you know buyers and just asking, sometimes it's like a survey, you know what I mean. That's really that's a good idea, I think, yeah, because then you're making stuff like that you know you can. I mean you can also, of course, in stories on social like you can ask what people want.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 34:56

You can give up research maybe, yeah, and what the best selling things are right now, like they always. I mean, it's the start of the new year, but they do that a lot where it's like, okay, this is the hot sellers right now and maybe, if those are, if there's a real hot item that you know you can apply some of your art to and that that's no brainer.

Lauren Carr: 35:15

Yeah, yeah.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 35:17

Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah, yeah, it's exciting.

Lauren Carr: 35:22

Yeah, I'll probably try it and go ahead and do that, like I really want to go ahead and make a poll and see what people like, how people interact with and what they have to say. That'd be really cool.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 35:31

Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, I'm so excited for you, so was this helpful for you?

Lauren Carr: 35:39

This was really helpful. I'm sorry.

Tracey Watts Cirino: 35:42

No, hey, this is real life. Well, follow up with us and let us know what's working, and I'll include all in the show notes, all of your contact information, so that people can get in touch with you. Lauren and I just want to say to our audience thank you so much for being here with us on Beyond Common Business Secrets. We cannot wait to see all the amazing things that happen for Lauren, and she's going to follow up with us and let us know what's going on. So I really hope you are enjoying these segments and we hope that you are having the most beyond amazing kind of day.