Proof to Product 082 | Part 2 - Sarah Parrott Bianculli, Parrott Design on hiring a team, managing multiple businesses and defining success
Sarah Parrott is the founder of Parrott Design Studio and this is Part 2 of her interview. If you missed Part 1 which was Episode 81, I recommend you head back and listen to that one first.
Here on Part 2, Sarah talks about hiring a team, how she started slowly delegating and fears she had around letting go of things in her business, we talked about her multiple revenue streams and the pros / cons of having multiple businesses, navigating tough seasons in life while owning a business and how Sarah's definition of success for her business has changed over the years.
As background, Parrott Design Studio is a letterpress studio in Sebago, a lake town in Western Maine. The studio was established in 2007 by Sarah Parrott with a small Print Gocco, an inexpensive and easy to use screen printing tool that originated in Japan. That same year she took her first course in letterpress, learning to use a Vandercook press.
In 2008 she purchased her own press, an 1898 Golding Jobber platen press. At the time there were no courses to learn on that type of press, and she spent a year teaching herself how to use it. She fell in love with the centuries-old artisinal printing technique and the process of feeding the press one piece at a time, one color at a time. In 2010 she left her job as an event planner to pursue Parrott Design Studio full time. Sarah is one of our original Tradeshow Bootcamp alumni. She attended our very first round of Tradeshow Bootcamp classes in 2011 before exhibiting at the National Stationery Show in 2012.
ON TODAY'S EPISODE:
- How her team has shifted during different seasons
- The event space Sarah & her husband opened
- How her multiple revenue streams are intertwined
- The pros and cons of running three businesses at one time
- How she managed her businesses through a difficult season in her personal life
- Sarah's definition of success and how it has changed over the years
- Her advice for someone just starting out in a product-based business
KEY TAKE-AWAYS:
"There's a lot of benefit to hiring people that already understand your business or have followed you for a while." - Katie Hunt
"I always love weddings, no matter what I'm doing, and still doing wedding-related things." - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
"It's so funny because we never set out to be in weddings or even to be entrepreneurs, and it all seemed very natural. Nothing's been forced. It just worked." - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
"They kind of all have different times where they are busy, so I'm not depending on just one of them as my main source of income." - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
"It's okay to say no and it's okay if something doesn't work or it's okay to walk away from something because it's your business and you can make that decision for what works the best, because if you don't, why are you doing it?" - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
"One person's startup story is not the same as another person's story, and neither one is right or wrong. It's whatever works for you." - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
"When you're first starting, you're looking to a lot of people because they're your inspiration, and you just have to know that how they did it might not work for you. It might, but it probably won't." - Sarah Parrott Bianculli
CONNECT WITH SARAH PARROTT BIANCULLI
Website: http://parrottdesignstudio.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Parrott-Design-Studio-245078337090/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parrottdesign/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/parrottdesign/
SPECIAL OFFER:
Proof to Product listeners get 3 free months of Gusto when they run their first payroll. Go to www.gusto.com/proof for more information
What if you could sit in a room with 30 other product makers who are doing exactly what you're doing -- building a business they love! You could share resources, leverage each other's experiences and learn from those who are where you want to be. Imagine the growth potential!
Join us March 14-15th in Los Angeles for our Paper Camp Conference.
Over 800 brands have attended Paper Camp. Brands that sell to stores like Target, Paper Source, Container Store, Anthropologie and independent boutiques internationally.
This program is for you if you're a stationery or gift company interested in selling wholesale, exhibiting at trade shows or looking to expand your outreach to wholesale customers.
We believe in the power of community, collaboration and sharing everything we know. Get all the details and register at www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp
SUBSCRIBE
To subscribe on iOS, go to the iTunes page and subscribe to Proof to Product. On Android, you can listen using your favorite podcast app.
WRITE A REVIEWWriting a review on iTunes will help other product based business owners find Proof to Product as they are working to up level, scale, and build profitable and sustainable companies.
FOLLOW PROOF TO PRODUCTFollow Proof to Product on Instagram for the latest updates.
JOIN OUR EMAIL LISTIf you'd like to receive more information about our upcoming episodes of Proof to Product including show notes and information about our guests, head over to www.prooftoproduct.com and sign up for our email list.
SHAREBe sure to share Proof to Product with all of the product based business owners that you know!
ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:
Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!