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Vanessa Gifford

Bunny Milkshake

Vanessa Gifford


Gabriel Flores  0:01  

Hello everyone and welcome to the shades of entrepreneurship. This is your host, Mr. Gabriel Flores. Today I am here with the owner of bunny milkshake. Very unique name. Do you guys actually make milkshakes


Vanessa Gifford  0:16  

at? Well, I do sort of make little tabletop milkshakes.


Gabriel Flores  0:20  

Okay. Vanessa Gillis, let's, let's get into this. Really, really cool what you're doing. I've been checking out your website. But first before we can get into the bunny milkshake, let's introduce the world to Vanessa, who is Vanessa.


Vanessa Gifford  0:34  

Oh, man. Well, I'm a mom. I'm an east coaster living in Portland. I've been here for 10 years, but still an east coaster. I don't know. You know, I went to school on the East Coast. I grew up there. I went to RISD. I lived in New York for 10 years. And now I'm a mom in Portland making recycled upcycled art.


Gabriel Flores  0:57  

But you didn't start making let's, let's talk about what would you do before you did the recycling art?


Vanessa Gifford  1:04  

Like right out of school? Yeah. My first job actually out of school was at the Christmas windows in New York. I was doing the posing of the animatronic people. And then I well, I guess, you know, I had interned before that though, actually at Sesame at Muppets, the Muppet workshop on a bear in the Big Blue House. I was like doing all the little cutting of the fur and all that stuff. And then I went to Sesame Street. I mean, I freelance kind of all over the place. So I did Sesame Street and bear in the Big Blue House and blues room. And the longest stint I had was at Avenue Q. So it was all this kind of puppets. I went from like, props and costumes to puppets to kind of like a mishmash of all of that. And then yeah, and then I was at Avenue Q for a really long time. And then I decided I was just like, over puppets like so bored. So I went on to textiles for like this little blip like right when the right when everyone was getting laid off. So it's like 2008. So we kind of get hired and then laid off and then hired than laid off. And then it went back to puppets for like, my last year, and I worked at puppet heat, which is in New Jersey, which is kind of where the Muppets went. Because the Muppets when I joined was like, getting all split into pieces. It was getting sold, like Disney had some Children's Television Workshop, and it was just kind of all over the place. So a lot of the core people kind of made their own businesses. So I ended up at one of those working for Sesame Street and the Muppets kind of right before I moved here.


Gabriel Flores  2:39  

So what exactly were you doing with puppets? Were you at the hand, or were you actually,


Vanessa Gifford  2:45  

I'm not a performer, I definitely am a behind the scenes girl. I do not like to be in front of the camera. It's not my favorite. So I make puppets, the costumes for puppets, the props for puppets. I mean, it's funny because I went to school and I graduated in 2001, for industrial design, and so we were like one of the last classes that was still doing it more by hand, like the class below us had those shiny colored Mac. And we didn't have those, like, we were literally the last class. So everything was like, you know, if you're doing we didn't have 3d printers, so if you were going to make something for a project, you would sculpt it and was supposed to look real. So that kind of led naturally into this kind of props thing. And then that kind of led into the puppet thing. And then yeah, so I basically, when I used to freelance, I freelance my shtick was I could make anything and if I can't make it, I know someone who can make that, you know, I can always get anything done. That was always my thing. So but I'd say fabric and kind of, I don't know, I figure it out. My scale is like, kind of, you know, puppet sized, you know, nothing too big because I started off in in apparel design in school, and it was just the wrong scale in the wrong industry. And I think a lot of it's just like figuring out what scale you want to work at.


Gabriel Flores  3:59  

Now for the listeners, what when you're, when you're saying scale, kind of describe that.


Vanessa Gifford  4:03  

It's like how big it's like some people like to work miniatures, right? Like, I came here and worked at like a fair bit, and that's miniatures, and the teeniest things, and that's like, emotionally, like too small for me. People size things when I had to do costumes for real people, it was like, that's too big. So it's like, you know, it's like three bears. And so kind of this middle ground, like, you know, two to three feet is the zone I want to be working in for basically everything. You know, it's when things get too small. It just stresses me out.


Gabriel Flores  4:35  

Interesting. Okay. Yeah,


Vanessa Gifford  4:36  

I don't know. Just just me, maybe i like it now. So let's,


Gabriel Flores  4:39  

let's give the folks at home a little bit of understanding what is bunny milkshake and what does it do?


Vanessa Gifford  4:45  

Well, I make home decor and party things and basically whatever I think of and I make it only out of reuse. So it's like whatever I find it and I've stopped caring about what it is. So I can put anything I want on whatever I want before I was kind of worried about things not being like classy enough or is this nice enough? And I'm like, No, if a ping pong ball like fits there, like put the ping pong ball like right there. So it's like wreaths and garlands and centerpieces and party favors and ornaments. And who knows? Like I never quite know, I started making chandeliers that don't light up, which then I like, is that a chandelier? If it doesn't light up? I'm not sure. But yeah, just just whatever. But things to decorate your house one of a kind that's strictly just reuse like nothing.


Gabriel Flores  5:36  

Did I also see earrings? Did you see earrings? I don't know, I can't remember


Vanessa Gifford  5:41  

things. So although people have wanted to make earrings out of my ornaments, so that's been on the way now, and not recently. I mean, maybe back in the day, I feel like I've made so many things. But


Gabriel Flores  5:55  

how did your experience you know, working with the Muppet tears and Sesame Street and all those other things kind of help? Kind of get you to this moment?


Vanessa Gifford  6:03  

Well, because you use like every kind of material. And it's the same kind of thing where you it's like you don't know, you don't care what it's made out of, like, you know, those those things made the puppets made completely out of a hat someone had, you know, like, and then they remake that puppet and have to remake the hat. Like it's like, it's you just make things like gluing and sewing? And how are you going to attach this metal bit to this fabric bit like it's going to have to be a different way than last time because it has to move. I mean, my thing was always it has to everything had to be durable. Like it had to be usable, it had to hold up and it couldn't fall apart. So that's always kind of like, how to make it strong and, and then also attach weird things to


Gabriel Flores  6:44  

love it. Now, why did you decide to kind of pivot out of, you know, going through that kind of structure that job to being an independent entrepreneur?


Vanessa Gifford  6:55  

Well, it's the kids, you know, I've got two kids, and there's a limited time. So I'm The Stay At Home person. And so, you know, I was dealing with like, one kid at home, and then one kids at school for three hours, like, you know, just have these little bits of time. And so, I mean, it all feels like kind of like it just sort of happened. You know, it started with a little crafting project. And then, you know, I applied to the Garden Home rec sale, because I was like, I don't know, like, I have all these bits, maybe I can make something and then they let me in. And they had like three weeks to me. And I was like, that booth was very confusing for all people. Like, they're like, is this for sale? I'm like, I don't know, like this, maybe I


Gabriel Flores  7:40  

don't know, you're gonna offer me something for


Vanessa Gifford  7:43  

like, just total chaos. But it was it's a timing and then being stuck at home with the pandemic was like, what else can I do? And I'm the type that will go insane if I don't work. So it's like, it's not really an option for me to just, you know, so my house is a mess. But


Gabriel Flores  8:01  

so how did how did the business end up? Did it start during the pandemic?


Vanessa Gifford  8:05  

No, it started a little before that, like I it was, I think it was about was it two Christmases before the pandemic was the one that I got into the garden home. And then I kind of built it slowly. You know, I'm like a, I'm like a thrift shopper. I love to gather you know, you have the bins here. Yeah, Goodwill outlet, which is like, kind of like the cause of all this. Because I would go there and I would see all these magical bits of things that had no more purpose and nobody wanted anymore. But they weren't going to go anywhere. Like like just even empty REITs I like which is what I'd picked up the first time but like a pile of empty REITs and I was like oh well craft with the kids. And, um, but to me, it's just like tragic. So I started to gather up like the most special weird things I would find and but I don't know how I get off on this tangent. But goodwill. Well, the goodwill bins, right, which is its own world in itself. But that was kind of how it started. And so I had access to all this and I didn't you don't have access to stuff like that in New York like you don't, you don't have access to cheap things, you have access to cheap supplies. There's just no way there's no way I could have done this in the city. With the space required and the just it wouldn't have happened. Because here there's like I used to say that Portland is where like everything I've ever owned came to die. I like showed up here and in every thrift store. Like everything I've ever owned is here. Like every doll I've ever had is worn, you know, things that I would like pay 60 or $70 for an eBay is just it's all here and there's like 10 of them and I don't understand it, but it's like it's very plentiful, inexpensive, cool, vintage and just craft stuff.


Gabriel Flores  9:50  

Oh, and you know, I gotta admit, I you know, I've been in New York, went to Syracuse at school over there and I never really thought about it but yeah, there are no Goodwill's out there.


Vanessa Gifford  9:57  

I mean, there's like a couple of sad tragic ones. But you know, after all of this started I did talk to a friend who says that there is a goodwill bands in Jersey. And she went and it was like a whole different experience because it was more about the fashion Oh, Jersey. I guess. I didn't work in Jersey for a while. I've worked in a few places in Jersey. But I have a fondness for Jersey now that I have some distance I kind of missed


Gabriel Flores  10:22  

the distance. So so um, you know, how did you financially? Did you just start just kind of organically just kind of grassroots it?


Vanessa Gifford  10:32  

Yeah. I mean, I just would just buy stuff. And it was like a hobby. And it was kind of like, an excuse to buy more fun crafts. Because like, it's like everyone who likes to make things like to buy things. I mean, that's the like, one of the best parts is like, people would go to Michael's and they're like, yes. But so I just kind of like because I would go there shopping for stuff for the kids. And I would grab stuff for me. So it's it's still very much kind of like that. Except now. The shopping is like more part of my work day where I'm like, Oh, I haven't been to the Value Village. I better go check out the Easter and it's interesting, but yeah, and so it's just been like that. And it's in my house. It's just I had a studio that was kind of my stay at home mom request was that I had a studio so when we bought the house like I have a room for me, which is now spilling out into the living room. It's everywhere. Currently, it's just everywhere. So I'm getting a shed.


Gabriel Flores  11:26  

Oh nice.


Vanessa Gifford  11:27  

My big excitement nice work in but to just get everything out of my house into


Gabriel Flores  11:33  

I'm I admit I'm yeah, I'm looking forward to hopefully this summer to get a shed.


Vanessa Gifford  11:36  

That's exciting. It's gonna I'm just picturing these like, rows of bins. Like it's just it sounds so soothing.


Gabriel Flores  11:44  

I'm actually now picturing the she shed commercials. Yeah.


Vanessa Gifford  11:48  

Work out there. It's like once you turn into a shisha then it's like, it's just it's sounds cold. Sounds very, like, how am I gonna be warm and like, damp? Like so. Are


Gabriel Flores  11:57  

you just going to primarily for storage? Yeah, just for storage. Okay, yeah. Now, is this your first business?


Vanessa Gifford  12:04  

Yeah, I mean, I think so I tried to start a bunny milkshake like the name, I started, I'd say around 2009, maybe, maybe 2009. And I was doing textiles. So I did a couple of big events like the Renegade, East Coast and West Coast doing woven textiles. Because I was, you know, I also weave. And I'm trying to make housewares with that. I mean, that the hard part about all of this is like your hours. It's like, it's like when you go from working at a place where you can bill your hours, to not being able to bill your hours. And people say oh, like you figure out your prices by how many hours and I'm like, that's not how this works. Yeah, at all, like, know that. It'd be like, you know, $6,000 for those pencil topper. But ya know, it's so sad. But it's true. Because it's like, you can't even calculate, especially if you have something like shopping involved. It's like, I don't know how long that like,


Gabriel Flores  12:54  

yeah, it's a basket point. And your drive time and you taking the miles and the gas and you start Yeah,


Vanessa Gifford  13:00  

yeah. And just like the sorting of like, that's part of it is I'd go and get all these supplies. And I have to like sort them out to where they need to go. So I can put them all together. And that's a whole that's a whole situation.


Gabriel Flores  13:11  

Now you mentioned mentioned the name you use it? Where did where did buddy milkshake come from?


Vanessa Gifford  13:15  

I don't know. I mean, I've always liked bunnies. So I had bunnies at the time. I've always kind of had bunnies and then things as well as things. You know, when I went to school, they talk a lot about branding, if you're an industrial design and so, you know, even if you don't have a product, you usually have a logo and a name and like you know, you can just look like you have a business even though there's nothing behind there, right that they teach you that like you know, you need to have this like strong face going forward. So so they felt very important. So before I had anything I just sat and brainstorm like what funky little names I could have. But then like it was hard because it was like bunny milkshake. And then so the second half of it is concoctions which is like a really long word. So I have this really long company name. So when I make business cards, it's like just a kind of a mess. It's just so many words, but but nothing else sounded right is like funny milkshake ink though. That's boring, you know? Now I think maybe it would have stuck with just bunny milkshake.


Gabriel Flores  14:15  

So the full name is actually bunny milkshake


Vanessa Gifford  14:17  

concoction, Caucasians. Yeah. Which they are concoctions so it's appropriate. But it's long. Yeah. Yeah.


Gabriel Flores  14:25  

Yeah, I'm realizing that the shades of entrepreneurship is one very long. Yeah. And to entrepreneurs actually really hard to spell.


Vanessa Gifford  14:34  

Yeah. I typed it in and I kept switching the Yeah, I get in the you mix up. Yeah. Which one? I was like, we'll just let the computer decide. Yeah,


Gabriel Flores  14:42  

thank God for Google. Thank God. Now what has been difficult about this business or starting this business? I think it's


Vanessa Gifford  14:48  

time for me it's just gonna be time because I'm also parenting. And that's, I mean, you can fill I could fill all my time with the parenting and housework, or whatever. So it's like car giving away the time and then making it feel important. I think, you know, when things transition from like a hobby to a business, it's like, making it making the time for it and make it valid, you know, because you're like, Well, you know, I guess I could, because the first thing goes out the window is when a kid gets sick, or like, right now the kids have all these days off for school for whatever reason. Like it's making me nuts, and, but it's like, that's my schedule. So that's all all of a sudden, those are two days, I can't work this week, unless I pay someone or do something. But it feels different than if you go to a job. Or if you have set hours or something like that. So for me, my hours are complete chaos. Because I just squeeze in like little bits all over, you know, it just especially during the pandemic, it was like, every 20 minutes, I would get 20 minute work bursts to kids on computers, you know, and like, hook them up to the next class and go down like my glue gun was like, always on. If it wasn't I'd be so frustrated.


Gabriel Flores  15:55  

That's too funny. And that's I admit, you know, even with this podcast is as I was mentioned, I work a full time, you know, job. And so like right now it's a hey, let's let's let's do an interview during the kids naptime.


Vanessa Gifford  16:07  

But then if they decide they're not going to nap that day,


Gabriel Flores  16:11  

thank God for mom's home too. So she's helping out but yeah, it's it's kind of plug and play. Well, yeah,


Vanessa Gifford  16:17  

I mean, the kid like coughs and I'm like, no, no, like, not today. You can't cough today.


Gabriel Flores  16:22  

You can't get sick. No, has there been anything easy about this process?


Vanessa Gifford  16:26  

I mean, for me, it's like, the work itself is easy. Like I, I've always had like a billion ideas. I like it never run out of ideas. So I can make if I feel like I just run out of the energy for it, but I can just make stuff. So for me, I just flow like I can just keep making stuff until I pass out like just like, what's next? What's next? What's next? So I think that's the easy part for me is like just the making of it. Like it seems to fit for whatever reason, this wreath thing which I've never had wreaths in my life. It just fits like I can just kind of focuses my energy, like the circle format or something.


Gabriel Flores  17:01  

Yeah. So why why wreath and why recycle? What how did the concept kind of


Vanessa Gifford  17:06  

when I was in school, I mean, I've always been obsessed with upcycling and reuse. And one of the reasons I didn't go into industrial design was because of the it was all about mass production. You know, we would we would go visit a pin factory and I'm like, oh my god, like so many pens, so many toothbrushes. Why are we doing in there like redesign the pen? I'm like, again, like, Why? Why are we doing this? You know, because it just creates so much garbage. And so it stresses me it's always stressed me out. It's always like, been a problem. So for me, it was important to to not create more, more garbage, like more things people are going to toss like, my hope is the things I make people will use again and again. You know, it's they can use it every year. They can do something with it. And then I make them out of things that people use once like gift ties, and I love Hawaiian leis like those cheap ones that people buy. Oh, yeah, get the dollar store. Yeah, I use those so so much. Yeah, yeah. But it's, I mean, that part was important. And the rethink was just random. Like I literally had just picked up some little wreaths at the store at the Goodwill and brought them home. And I had found this little box. It's like this little box is like my favorite thing. I was like someone's collection of little tiny bits. It was vintage had kind of like fancy cursive I envisioned there's like some fancy lady that had this. Inside the box was all these little tiny pins, and all these little plastic flowers, and all these glittery bits. And you could tell this was like her little craft box. And so I pulled that out. And I pulled these reeds out. And I started making reads for just fun one day. And that's still my favorite little box to dip into because I'm like, Oh, just a special thing. And but yeah, it's just random. I mean, everything is pretty. It's kind of like it just sort of happened. I think what motivates


Gabriel Flores  18:50  

you? Well, that's


Vanessa Gifford  18:52  

a good question. I don't know. I mean, I don't really know, I think, I think just the way my brain is, it's like the kind of dumping of ideas and designs all the time, because they're always there. So for me to have an outlet for that. And to just especially like the time frame, I can just keep making one and then the next one the next. It's just It's soothing, you know, and it's exciting. It's fun to watch people get excited about something that they're going to put in their house. And because two people get really excited and they're like, this is the one and I'm like, oh yay, that's great. You know, and, and that's fun. That's motivating.


Gabriel Flores  19:27  

Yeah, and you know, I gotta admit, I've I spent some time on the website looking at your page looking at some of your products. They're super cool. They're super cute. They're super creative. Give me give the audience a at home kind of describe it and verbally kind of what they're gonna get because it is going to be a wreath but there's, but there's more than just reads because you mentioned you had Christmas ornaments, which I think now I might have you gotten confused as earrings.


Vanessa Gifford  19:49  

That's sort of what people want to put on their ears. You're not wrong, you're totally not wrong. I use a lot of color. I don't shy away from color, but just unique little Things like I, I'm trying to think what I just mean, I just made one where I found a little yarn llama and I put it on with some kind of fancy yarn things that I've been gathering for probably two years. And then, you know, I tried to hit every kind of aesthetic, but always a little Wackadoodle. There's always some wackadoodle there. Some of them are kind of funny, sometimes there's a little situation happening on there. But just one of a kind, kind of unique, bright, sparkly things. I think, you know, I can do some darker things. I try. I tried this one with crows, and I called it the Moira wreath. Oh, nice. No, obviously Maura that was very had lots of blacks.


Gabriel Flores  20:41  

So how do you how do you market yourself? How do you brand bunny milkshake?


Vanessa Gifford  20:47  

Hmm? Well, I just I really just talk about the reuse factor and the colors and just just kind of that like it's just kind of fun and good for the planet and hopefully makes you laugh or smile or something, you know, ya


Gabriel Flores  21:03  

know, me and you and I were actually before this. We started recording, we're talking about the good old social media, our love hate relationship. I don't think folks really at home understand. It's not easy to become a social media fan. And the amount of work that actually goes on the back end is pretty a mass, right?


Vanessa Gifford  21:28  

It is it is it's like there's like a baseline amount. I feel like I'm at the baseline of what I should be doing. You know, I try to post every day. But you know, for every post, you need to take the photos and you need to fix the photos. And you have to,


Gabriel Flores  21:43  

you know, think of the comments and think of the hashtags. And


Vanessa Gifford  21:46  

yes, I feel like I'm always missing the hashtags. Like there's some brilliant hashtags that I just haven't yet discovered. Yeah.


Gabriel Flores  21:52  

And so here's a little tip for the folks at home that are going through this plight of, you know, having to try to post something every other day or every day, few things that I've been doing one, but all your hashtags on like a Word document, so she'd copy and paste. I did that just copy and paste. So all my hashtags are on a word, Doc, copy and paste. Now what I also did is I actually went on Google and like, Hey, what are the most famous hashtags for you know, what gets the most raw, so So the hashtags I'm using are actually, you know, ones that are commonly used as well. So that's one to organically go and build relationships, you know, build and like, comment on other folks ideas, like their posts, I share a lot of community posts on my Instagram. So if like there's a local event coming up, gallery, go go anytime, you know, as we post something, I tend to post or any my past guests. How important has networking bid for you and kind of getting the business going? It's definitely important.


Vanessa Gifford  22:49  

I mean, and I think it is for any business I think it's like the most important thing so it's getting yourself out there. You know, I do these shows, I have a couple coming up like the night market and crafty Wonderland I finally got into which took 400 years but but it's like getting yourself in front of people to talk to them about it is I think the most important more than a lot of the social media because you can't get a lot of the information on the social media, you know, you can kind of get a picture and a little thing, but I think that's the best way, you know, an Azure AD. She's great at the gallery. Yeah, she's awesome. Yeah. So she's good at all that stuff. Yeah. She's helping me figure some of that out


Gabriel Flores  23:26  

and shout out to go gallery go go. They're doing some amazing things. I'm she's just the pieces of art that she's been kind of, and I think to the the community that she's creating right there. Yeah, that's really cool. She's so positive. Yes, yeah. Now, as a small business owner, what keeps you up at night?


Vanessa Gifford  23:43  

Oh, I don't know. Not too much. Well, the only thing that really stresses me out are deadlines. So that's really kind of it because there's, there's less pressure on my business for the money part of it. Like I need to make a certain amount of money, but it's not as high pressure as it would be if I was in New York or somewhere else. So I can I have room for some failure, which is relaxing, because a lot of people don't, you know, I don't have people that have given me money that I have to pay back or you know, any of that stuff. So there's that pressure is not on me. Otherwise, I think that would drive me crazy. But for me, it's just these kind of production deadlines, like producing how much because I didn't ever know what people are gonna buy. And everything I make is different. And then, you know, sometimes I have something that does so well at one sale, and then just crickets at the next sale. And so you have to figure out what you need to bring. And then I've learned there's like a physical limitation to how much you can make yourself like, oh, yeah, which I was my brain will keep going. But you know, eventually do you have to sleep? So make sense? That's hard.


Gabriel Flores  24:43  

I think that's hard has ever been a moment of self doubt.


Vanessa Gifford  24:46  

Oh, yeah. All the time. Like, what am I doing? You know, sometimes you're like, just put on bins and like, go have a yard sale. Like who knows, you know? Yeah, definitely. And one of the things that's funny is I use a lot of items on my wreaths that are bare are expensive, or they were. And so that's kind of hurts a little bit. I've done some resale to kind of that's one thing I've done to kind of keep the money coming in for the business is like if I go to the bins or something, I'll pick up things I know I can resell on eBay or to consign, you know, like, cool vintage stuff, right? And I'll resell that, and that helps me fund my business. But so I'll get things that I know, are, they'll still have the price tags on it. And I'll be like, this $60 ornament is going on a wreath that costs $68, you know, and it's, I try not to think about it like that I try to think of every material is equal, like it's all equal. It's all just stuff, no matter what, you know, like Lord and Taylor price to that it's like doesn't matter, but, but sometimes you're tempted to just be like, Oh, if I just like nudge this over, over here, I could just sell it, you know, and it's there's a line there where I try to figure out what's what's what.


Gabriel Flores  25:48  

And for the folks that are buying $60 Christmas ornaments, there are a lot of small businesses out there you can support with instead of buying Christmas,


Vanessa Gifford  25:58  

Eve, but even the craft supplies alone, like I couldn't do what I was doing, if I had to buy new supplies, like I will put on like 30 flowers in each flower had a price tag of $5 on it. And you know, I just got it, someone had donated it to Goodwill, and then I bought it by weight, you know? So that's something that always makes me feel a little nutty is the volume of cost for someone else to do this. Like if someone's like, I want to do I want to make wreaths it's like, they couldn't if unless they charged like you know, $600 for a wreath, which, you know, that would be fine, I guess. But so so yeah.


Gabriel Flores  26:35  

So what advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or even thrift errs? Because that's the kind of an area you seem to be in what what kind of advice? You know, would you say, Hey, these are the pitfalls to avoid?


Vanessa Gifford  26:47  

Well, I mean, you know, I don't know, I don't feel like I've had too many pitfalls. I feel like it's been pretty, it's like kind of just been a slow climb. I think for Thrifter is it's like, you know, leave some of it at the store unless you have somewhere to put it because you can just amass so much especially in a place like Portland where there's so much that you can get I know a lot of people that have amassed a great pile of Thrift, and they don't have anything to do with it. So I think but you know, it's it's, it's been pretty good. I haven't had too much. Well, I mean, you know, just get sleep. Take a day off. That's like the best fight. Yeah, because I do not take days off. And that makes for exhaustion.


Gabriel Flores  27:30  

Yeah, I Yeah. Yeah. Rarely, yeah. No, I


Vanessa Gifford  27:34  

don't. So and I'm looking forward. My next day off, I think is May 1,


Gabriel Flores  27:39  

I was kind of funny. I was thinking about like, looking at the end of the calendar before you got here and like, Okay, I got, I got a presentation in Missouri, then I got to come back. And then I got fly to Mexico and come back and I got a presentation in Atlanta, and then I come back and then I gotta go to a wedding Missouri again. And then it's like, but in addition to that work, plus podcasting, plus, writing a newsletter, plus write a blog, plus,


Vanessa Gifford  28:03  

like your brain is going in 400 directions at once. Even with just my business, it's like even trying to think because it's not just the making, there's all these other things you have to do that I've learned to try to make time for, like, I try to have everything that I'm going to make for a sale done three days before, because I used to work right up till because then you still have to price everything, you have to pack everything, you have to have bags to give people you have to have price tags me like I make the price tags out of recycled paper, you know, it's like, all that little stuff is also and then you have to advertise on Instagram. And it's it's a lot it's a lot of extra stuff when I would just prefer to do the making really, what


Gabriel Flores  28:40  

what would you say are some of the little things that surprised you that kind of arose or like, Oh, I didn't think about that.


Vanessa Gifford  28:46  

I think it's the time stuff and just the how much it takes how much it takes other than making things and you know, in the advice they always give you at school it's like you find hire someone it's like you hire someone to do the things that you aren't good at or you don't have the time to do like free up your, your your good time. Like I'm good at making that's the best thing I'm good at. So I should in theory have people doing this other stuff for me but when you're a small business you can't afford that so I mean that's the dream. Yeah, and


Gabriel Flores  29:15  

that's that's the goal, right? The scalability have to get to that point.


Vanessa Gifford  29:18  

Yeah, like find the people who say find your people and do that. So


Gabriel Flores  29:22  

speaking of finding people, how can the listeners find you buddy milkshake how can they find your Instagram? What Where are you at?


Vanessa Gifford  29:29  

Okay, so I'm on most of the things I'm on Instagram, most of the things that's funny milkshake concoctions underscore concoctions bunny milkshake was taken already. Oh, those savage I dragged my feet so long because I'm just I'm not a tech savvy human. It's not my my thing. So I dragged and dragged and then finally it was gone when I wanted it and I'm still grumbly grumbling at her, but that's fine. Because you can see I'm like, Oh, you have a bunny named milkshake like oh, it's it's fine. Sonova but then I have a website bunny milkshake.com. And then I'm on Facebook, too. I have a page there. I don't do too much of the Facebook page. Mostly the stuff that pops up there just comes right from Instagram. Yeah, so a couple I have a couple of people that only look there, but mostly it's Instagram on my website.


Gabriel Flores  30:15  

Yeah, I'm kind of the same, although, statistically speaking, ROI is Facebook. Yeah, that's where the return on investment really is. Really? Yeah, like big time. Like, we're talking like, I think it's like 89% Return on value for advertising on Facebook. So never advertise on Facebook. I haven't either. I mean, I just do like, I'll do all my quotes are sweating. I haven't done like a big push, though. But yeah, the ROI on Facebook for it's pretty, pretty high. Because they recently fact actually had a converse, I did a I think one of my previous episodes talked about Facebook algorithms, and how they kind of switched over from focusing on just the spam from, you know, news and stuff. Right spamming, to now having a lot of stuff that you see is usually shared content from friends and families. Yeah, the reason they did that is because people are 16 times more likely to open up a link if it's shared by a friend or family, then it gets shared by the brand, right? So Xbox, basically like Oh, I see people more more inner interactive with friends and family sharing. And so he's kind of prioritize those in the algorithm. So folks that are listening, please feel free to share this but the buddy milkshake website or the shades of E website, so we can you know, the organic, organic growth


Vanessa Gifford  31:28  

right, the organic, and I'll be at some sales to coming up. So yeah, we're gonna be at night market. That's next weekend. Yes, I'll be there. I'm gonna see you. Okay. Yep, we'll be there. Nice. And then on the weekend after is crafty Wonderland are gonna be


Gabriel Flores  31:41  

there Friday or Saturday or both? Is it about this? Yeah, yeah, it's kind of all or nothing deal. Oh, perfect. So yeah, I'm not sure what day will probably I'm thinking Saturday is good.


Vanessa Gifford  31:49  

You gotta get tickets now. That's their deal. You have to buy you have to buy time slotted ticket the COVID thing Oh, shit. Well, good thing I talked to you. Yes, they're like $2 or something, but they're trying to limit the amount of people make sense. So that's good. Yeah, so get a ticket and calm I think that Friday nights like the I think it's more money. It's like the Preview Night. Okay, so it's you know, you get a drink cost like 20 bucks to get in. You get a free drink and you get access to all first dibs. People get very into first dibs at these. Oh, yeah, I think it's interesting.


Gabriel Flores  32:16  

I was just going to support the community. Yeah. To drink


Vanessa Gifford  32:18  

seat on your first drink. You can drink both days. I think. Maybe.


Gabriel Flores  32:23  

Yeah, winter. Perfect. Well, I'll see you. I'll see you here later on this week from the folks at home. Thank you so so much for listening. And please follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, please subscribe. Please check out the new website the shades of e.com I built it myself. Please tell me how you like it. Other than that, thank you and have a great night.


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