The And She Looked Up Podcast
Every other week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Your host, Melissa Hartfiel, left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, community co-founder and has owned and operated a multi-six figure a year creative content business. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
The And She Looked Up Podcast
Prep For the Holidays EP 4: Packaging & Shipping Materials
You know what you're going to be making and selling for the holiday season - but do you know how you're going to package it up for selling and shipping?
In this week's Prep for the Holiday's episode, Melissa walks you through the process of figuring out your delivery systems. If you're a creative services provider or content creator, you still need to get your "product" into the hands or in front of the eyeballs of your customer. If you're a maker or artist, you need to package your product for markets, wholesale platforms like Fair and your Etsy shop or website. And then, you have to pack it up for shipping via Canada Post or a courier.
We discuss the difference between packaging materials and shipping materials as well as some places to start sourcing out your supplies - including environmentally responsible options. If you act now, you have time to order samples and make informed decisions before ordering larger quantities!
Tune in and gear up for a successful holiday season.
This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout
You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.
You can connect with the podcast on:
- Instagram at @andshelookedup
- YouTube
- Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp
For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast
Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.
Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
Welcome to the and she Looked Up podcast. Each week, we sit down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. I'm your host, melissa Hartfield, and after leaving a 20-year career in corporate retail, I've been happily self-employed for 12 years. I'm a graphic designer, an illustrator and a multi-six-figure-a-year entrepreneur in the digital content space. This podcast is for the artists, the makers and the creatives who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.
Speaker 1:Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new episode of the and she Looked Up podcast. As always, I am your host, melissa, and this week we have another prep for the holidays episode. In fact, it's episode four in this mini-sode series. I think it will show up in your podcast players as episode 163 of the show, but it is number four in the series and, if you are not familiar with this series, it's a very short mini-sode series that we are running through the summer and into the fall to help working creatives prep for the holiday season, which, for most of us, is where we generate the majority of our revenue. So the episodes are short. Each one covers one particular task that we need to work on to get ready for the season, and it is designed so that when an episode airs, that task is one that you should be working on in that moment. We're trying to make this as accessible as possible to all working creatives. So whether you're an artist, a maker, a content creator ie a blogger or a YouTuber, or a creative services provider like a graphic designer, a fashion designer, photographer, you will find some relevant information in this series. So, on that note, for today's task, we are going to be talking about shipping and packing materials. So I know that probably the content creators and the creative service providers are. So I know that probably the content creators and the creative service providers are thinking this is not an episode for them, but we are actually going to try and make this relevant to you as well. And I'm going to start with you, because I know these are the ones that maybe don't seem like they would fit into this episode.
Speaker 1:But even if you are a content creator or a creative services provider, you still need to have a mechanism to get your product into the hands of your customer. So if you are a content creator. You are creating content and, for most of you, q4 is when you get the most traffic and it is when your ad revenue dollars are the most I was going to say the most valuable, but it's when your CPMs and RPMs tend to be the highest. And because you're getting more traffic, you are generating more ad revenue. So, for you, your mechanism to earning revenue is getting that content up, getting it SEO ready, promoting it on your various social media channels and on places like Pinterest. And one of the things you want to do because you're going to be having all this new traffic coming to you is you want to make sure that your website is prepped and ready to handle it and that you are providing those users with a good user experience. So, for this, this means taking a look at your website with fresh eyes, not as yourself as a content creator, but as the user, the person who is landing on your site for the first time. What is the experience like? And I know, as a blogger myself, that finding that balance between generating ad revenue and having a good user experience is very tricky to maneuver. So what I'd like you all to do is to go and make sure that your website is ready. Make sure that your ad placement is ready, that your ad placement is not ready but optimized, and make sure that it's easy for people to sign up for your email list all those things. And talk to your ad company, ask them if there's anything you could be doing to increase your CPMs or RPMs and if they have any suggestions, take them with a grain of salt, though, because ad revenue companies earn money when you earn money, so it's in their best interest to sometimes prioritize earnings over user experience, and that's a bit of a short-term game. So you want to make sure that you're balancing those two things.
Speaker 1:So that is a task for you, because your website is your delivery mechanism. So for those of you who are creative services providers, so you probably already have a system in place to deliver your services to your clients, and for most of you, you're probably doing a pretty straightforward. They come to you, you provide the service, you send them an invoice, they pay you and you're done. But if you are deciding that this year is the year that you'd like to start selling eBooks or guides or courses or one-on-one coaching sessions or anything like that, where they are going to be paying upfront and something needs to be delivered to them, whether it's a course, a PDF, a digital file, anything like that. You need to have a mechanism to get it to them. That is your shipping. So if this is something you're already doing, then you probably have a system set up and maybe this is a great time to review it and see if it's working in a way that makes it a smooth process for your customer.
Speaker 1:If this is the first time that you have done this, then you're going to need to think about where you're going to sell this item, and there's a lot of different options out there for you. You could sell it on a third-party platform. These would be places like Gumroad, I think. Thrivecart is another one. You may even sell on Etsy, depending on what it is. There are a lot of digital file sales on Etsy. You might want to be selling on Amazon through Amazon KDP. Those are all things you need to start researching now. It's not something you want to figure out the week before Black Friday.
Speaker 1:If you want to have sell via your own website, then you're going to have to think about how you're going to manage payment, and there's a lot of different ways you can do this. If you're on WordPress, you could use WooCommerce, which is WordPress's e-commerce solution. You could start a Shopify store. You can even Shopify has a feature where you can use the Shopify checkout system on your own website without actually paying for a full-blown Shopify store. So if you've just got one product that you're trying to sell this way, you might want to use a third-party system. You might not want to go full-blown e-commerce just for one item, especially if you've never done this before, because you want to test the premise and see if it's worth it.
Speaker 1:I sell one product through my services business. I use Gumroad because I just I don't want to go through the hassle of setting all of that up on my services website for one product. If I start launching more products, then I will probably look at another solution, but that's the kind of thing you want to be taking a look at right now and doing a little research on. So those are all things that you need to be doing. You need to have a mechanism to get whatever it is that you're selling to your customer. If you're selling a course, a lot of course platforms will have a payment system included so you can piggyback on that. But those are all things you need to research and it can take a bit of time if this is new to you. So you wanna check those things out.
Speaker 1:Now, for those of you who are makers and artists, who are selling a physical product, so something that you have made that you can hold in your hands, and maybe you're selling it through your own website or through Etsy, or you're just going to be selling at markets this holiday season, or you might be considering wholesale, so using a platform like FAIR, or actually reaching out to local shops and boutiques to see if they would like to carry your product. So in that case, you want to look at two different things. You want to look at packaging materials and you want to look at shipping materials. What's the difference? So packing materials are what you put your product in to sell it directly to the consumer. Shipping materials are what you put your product in to send it through the shipping system.
Speaker 1:So, whether that is Canada Post, through the shipping system, so whether that is Canada Post, usps, fedex, ups, whoever you're going to be using, you need to package it in something a little heftier. So a good way to look at this is when you're at the grocery store and you're walking through, let's say, the cereal aisle, a box of Cheerios it comes in. The Cheerios are packaged in that kind of wax papery bag and then that bag is put inside a box. A cardboard box with the Cheerios are packaged in that kind of wax papery bag and then that bag is put inside a box, a cardboard box, with the Cheerios branding on it. That is consumer packaging. When the Cheerios are shipped to the store, they are put into cases inside larger shipping boxes or on pallets that are wrapped in like a cellophane type thing. That's the shipping materials.
Speaker 1:So they're two different things and you need to be prepared to use or to purchase and source out both of those, depending on how you're going to be selling. If you're only going to be selling at markets, you probably don't need to worry about shipping materials. If you're going to be doing markets and Etsy, you need to worry about both. When it comes to packaging, there's different ways that you might want to package the same product, depending again on where you're selling it and who you're selling it to. So, for instance, I sell greeting cards. Let's use that as an example.
Speaker 1:So when I am at markets, all my greeting cards are individually packaged in clear sleeves, and the reason for this is because they get handled a lot at a market. People pick them up, they want to look at what the paper is, they want to flip it over and see the back, they want to know if there's anything written inside. And all of those hands and fingerprint oils on my paper greeting cards can cause a lot of wear and tear on the cards, to the point that some of them may become unsellable after a market, and so I package them in clear sleeves to protect them so that I can sell them again. If they don't sell at that particular market, I can still sell them at the next one.
Speaker 1:However, when I am working out of my studio and I'm filling Etsy orders or Shopify orders, all my cards are naked, for lack of a better word. They're not pre-packed in their cellophane sleeves, they are just in file boxes and I pick out what cards the customer has ordered, and if they're ordering four cards, all four will go in the same clear plastic sleeve. So I'm not using as much packaging. It's a little more environmentally friendly and it saves me money. Frankly, as the business owner, it saves me money.
Speaker 1:I'm not paying for packaging on every single order, so you want to think about those things. What kind of packaging do you need for what you make and where are you going to source it? And then you need to think about if you are sending those parcels in the mail or through a courier. How do you need to package it for that and where are you going to get those shipping supplies? So let's talk a little bit about where you can find these items. So one thing I will just want to say is that here in Canada our options are a little bit fewer. They're fewer, we have fewer options, and there are a lot of US companies that we can order from as well. I do just want to caution you when you do that.
Speaker 1:Make sure that you do your price checking. So remember that when you buy from the US, you have to factor in the exchange rate. You also need to factor in any taxes, duty or brokerage fees and shipping costs, and if you are a newbie, brokerage fees can get you every time, because nobody tells you about these things until you actually have an order arrive and the UPS guy wants some money to give it to you, and it can be a bit of a shock. So those are all things you need to factor in to the cost, and very often I found that what happens when you do that is that the Canadian suppliers are very on par in terms of what it's going to cost. Sometimes they're cheaper, sometimes they're more expensive, but it tends to even out and it is worth doing a price comparison pretty regularly. If you don't need to order shipping and packaging supplies too often maybe you order them once a year or twice a year you definitely want to check your pricing when you do your reorder. If you're ordering them every month, then you probably have a pretty good idea of whether the prices are going up or down. So that is something to look for as you source these materials out.
Speaker 1:Another thing I just want to caution you all on is that some of the bigger companies in these areas have very they're very vocal about their political views, and if that is important to you as a business owner knowing who your suppliers and manufacturers align with you need to do some research on that, particularly depending on the customer niche that you yourself serve. So that's all I'm going to say about that. That is up to you to research and it is up to you to make those decisions based on where your values align and the values of your customer, but it is worth noting as you go down that road. So some of the places that you might want to look for these things in terms of shipping materials there are actually quite a few places in Canada where you can get really good deals on shipping materials.
Speaker 1:I use a company called Clear Bags out of Ontario. I find they have everything I need for the way that I ship and for the way that I package. There's very few things that I want that I can't get from them that they have very low minimum quantities. This is another thing to look for. Some companies will require you to order 500 or a thousand or something, which for a lot of us is a lot. We don't need 500 or a thousand, but some of the smaller companies out there will offer you minimum quantities for as low as five or 10 of something, which also makes it really great and really affordable to test things out. I have done that many times. I'll just order five of something to see if it works, if the sizing works, if things fit nicely, if it looks good, if I feel like it's going to stand up through the abuse that it's going to go through as it travels across the country. So I really like clear bags. I also it's very important to me to source out eco-friendly or environmentally responsible, sustainable type packaging for my business, and they are one of the companies that carries compostable clear sleeves for things like greeting cards. So that to me, is very important, and so you you'll want to check those types of things out.
Speaker 1:Do some research. There's lots of them out there. There are. There's two Canadian companies run, I believe, by, by Canadian moms. I can't. One is in Ontario, one is in Victoria, bc, and they are called Slotbox and Mini Mailer. I can never remember which one is at which end of the country, but these are two women who came up with these ingenious boxes that are skinny enough to fit in the letter mail slot for Canada Post. So if you're new to shipping, canada Post has a letter mail rate and then they have a parcel rate and there's a big jump in between the two and there's no real service that fits the middle. So if you are able to get things into a package that fits through the letter mail slot, it can go with letter mail. The downside of that is there's no tracking with letter mail. If you want tracking, you have to move up to the parcel size. So they came up with these little boxes. I think they come in three different sizes and they fit inside polybag mailers and you can toss them in the mailbox.
Speaker 1:I think it's a brilliant idea, especially if you sell small items like jewelry. Especially if you sell small items like jewelry notepads, notebooks, stickers, art prints or anything where you have an order where it's too big for a flat mailer but not big enough to go parcel. The one warning with this is that if you are shipping to the United States or anywhere overseas, you cannot use letter mail. For the vast, vast majority of items that you send. You have to do small packet because you have to fill out a customs declaration because you are selling goods. So that is something to keep in mind when you're doing that. So Slotbox Mini Mailer definitely, too, worth checking out.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people who swear by Staples Business and by Amazon for things like flat mailers, bubble mailers, poly bags. Again, I have found when I have looked that the pricing never really works for me. I think you have to catch them when they're having a good promotion or where there's a good sale going on, and then it can be really worth it, but that never seems to happen when I'm looking. But definitely worth checking out. I do look at Staples and Amazon every time I'm going to place an order for something that I know that they'll have.
Speaker 1:If you are looking for environmentally responsible or sustainable packaging, there has been an explosion in the marketplace of companies both in Canada and the US who are offering these types of products. Obviously, obviously, there is a demand for it. I know here on the West coast I don't know about the rest of Canada, but here on the West coast there are so many new rules for how takeout packaging can be done, and so a lot of companies have kind of stepped up to meet that demand and that's great for all of us as well, because it means there's more options for us when it comes to packaging and shipping. So some of these that I've got two that have been around for a long time and they're not Canadian, I don't think, but they do serve Canada is Eco-Enclose and no Issue. So no Issue does tissue paper, printed tissue paper, and I believe they also do bubble mailers.
Speaker 1:Eco Enclose, I think, does an entire range of packaging and shipping materials, including packing tape and lots of other things Definitely worth checking out. A few of the others that I found online that I have not used personally, but I have seen them online a few times now are Friendly Mailer. I believe they are Canadian, canada Brown Creative Bag Co, which is in Ontario. Impact, which is here in Vancouver. Impact does bubble and poly bag mailers, I think, and they do printed designs on them that are super cute. So if you want to send something that, if you want shipping materials that are a little bit more interesting than the usual brown or gray, they're worth checking out. They have some really cute stuff.
Speaker 1:But I did a Google before I started recording this episode. I just searched for environmentally friendly shipping materials for small business in Canada and tons of stuff came out. I didn't have time to check them all out or to look at pricing or to see what kind of minimum ship quantities you need to have, but lots of stuff is available that was not available a year ago. So it's definitely worth looking and, as I said, if you can order these things now, if you've done the first three tasks on our checklist, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you're going to be selling this year and who you're going to be selling it to and where you're going to be selling it.
Speaker 1:So now is the time to start thinking about how you're going to package those items up. What do you need to package them for markets? What do you need to package them if you're going to sell on fair? Because, remember, when you are selling on fair, you're selling to shops who are going to bring your product in, so they need the product to be able to stand up to shop wear and tear as well. So hands are going to be touching it. You need to think about the actual consumer packaging that your product is going to go in. So now is the time to sit down and start making lists, start thinking about what you're going to need and start figuring out how much you think you're going to need. And right now you still have lots of time to place some very small orders where you can test out different types of products. So if you are looking for something like a clear, compostable sleeve, or you need small jewelry boxes, or you want backer cards for earrings or any of those types of things, now's the time to start getting some samples or ordering one or two or five of something to see if it's going to work for you. And then you'll still have lots of time, once you've evaluated them, to place an order, have it come ground shipping, so you don't have to pay a fortune for shipping and have it well in advance of when you're actually going to need it.
Speaker 1:One thing if you are new to this, I will just remind you that packing materials so the consumer packaging, the cost of those should be factored into the cost of your product, so the item you're making. So when I sell a greeting card, the cost of those should be factored into the cost of your product, so the item you're making. So when I sell a greeting card, the cost of my greeting card has to factor in the clear plastic or cellophane or compostable sleeve that I'm packaging it. Your shipping materials, what you use to ship it out through Canada Post or through a courier those are not included in the price of your finished product. That's a different line item for most of us in our budgets and business, and I think don't quote me on this check with your accountant or your bookkeeper, but I think that shipping supplies are actually tax deductible or there is something like that. So that's something you will want to check out on. And again, I'm in Canada.
Speaker 1:This podcast is mostly for Canadians, so if you're in the US or elsewhere, you absolutely want to check that out with your state or federal laws when it comes to deductions and taxes and things like that. I am not a tax professional, so those are things you want to think about when you're making these decisions, because you do have to factor that in to how you're going to make a profit. It can be very easy when we're small business owners to get carried away with the packaging and wanting to do the pretty tissue paper and the cute stickers and the nice boxes and bags and things like that, and that's great. But just remember first of all, more and more people are becoming more sensitive to whether it's something they're going to have to toss or not, and so I'm definitely noticing from people that they want less packaging where possible. But we want to give our customers an experience, but you have to factor in the cost of that experience and make sure that your pricing reflects that. So if you're providing a premium experience, then you should have the premium price to go with it, because we need to eat right. We are not starving artists in this community.
Speaker 1:So that is it for this particular episode, this particular task. We'll be back in another week with task number five on the list, but in the meantime, if you would like to check out past episodes, you can head over to your favorite podcast app and find them there. You can also head over to our YouTube channel. We have a special playlist for prep for the holidays. If you have suggestions or places where you have ordered shipping or packaging materials and would like to share them, please head over to our YouTube channel, leave a comment there and let everyone know that this is a company you've used and you think they're great, particularly if they're Canadian, because that's what we're all about here. We want to help other Canadian small businesses too. So, yes, please let them know that and, as I said, we'll be back again in another week with another brand new episode. We'll talk to you all then.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining us for the and she Looked Up Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at andshelookedupcom Looked Up Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at andshelookedupcom. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more business tips, profiles of inspiring Canadian creative women and so much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the show via your podcast app of choice so you never miss an episode. We always love to hear from you, so we'd love it if you'd leave us a review through iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Drop us a note via our website at andshelookedupcom, or come say hi on Instagram at andshelookedup. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.
