Behind the Scenes of a Balanced Business with Andreea Ayers [Podcast]

Andreea Ayers joins the She Means Business podcast today and we are excited to talk about the behind the scenes of Andreea’s business – how she set up her own t-shirt business and sold out quickly!

The Beginning

Andreea has always had some sort of side business whether it was selling things on ebay or creating and selling items from her friends. When Andreea moved to Boulder, CO and was 4-5 months pregnant she had incredible difficulty getting hired. She decided to launch a business (which of course took some time to figure out what) Andreea decided on an online T-Shirt business. This was her initial transition to full-time entrepreneurialism. With her new venture came excitement and of course fear but her deep desire to learn and figure things out kept her on a forward trajectory.

Quickly figuring out that she would need sales after setting up her business, her ideal client was yoga studios. After reaching out to many of them, she was shocked to receive 5 orders in her first week. She didn’t even have enough shirts to fulfill her orders or even hand tags to put on them. Selling out of her t-shirts, she realized she was on to something. From here Andreea decided to start selling them online and had to focus and figure out how to drive traffic to her new business.

She started to learn and focus on PR for her business and building her email list via opt in’s with a discount as well as in person events where she allowed people to sign up on her email list. After working with a PR company she learned all she could with them and ended up moving on to doing the PR and pitching herself.

The Climax

By the time Andreea was having her third baby she realized that the business was not only taking a ton of time and energy but the cash flow aspect of it. She was getting emails along the way from other t shirt entrepreneurs or clothing businesses that wanted to know how she did it. This was Andreea’s initial jump into coaching 1:1. Andreea not only loved not having to spend money on inventory but she found she really loved teaching. Around this time she decided to sell out of her t-shirt business as there was just too much going on and coaching seemed to come easily. Andreea found, interviewed and selected an owner and transitioned out of her business. She started creating online courses as she trained this new owner to take over her company.

Starting very simply, Andreea created content based on what her coaching clients needed the most help with.

During the changes in her her business, there were many highs and lows. Andreea loved to do everything herself at first and seemed to get very frustrated with technology at times. She started to burn out at times and realized that she needed to bring on help to assist her with her business. Hiring other people instead of trying to do it all was a huge game changer.

Taking breaks at times in her business allowed her unplug and actually miss working. Having the time to refresh and have a fresh perspective helped keep her on track. Andreea also mentions switching up her offerings and what she created as a way to keep the business exciting as well as joining online communities and masterminds to feel supported.

The Ending

Living a life with a lot more balance is where Andreea is now. Gone are the days of constant work with nothing else going on. Andreea has started spending more time going to Yoga or visiting events in the middle of the day.

Deciding beforehand how much she wants to grow her business and how much balance she wants is a give and take relationship. Andreea states that she is happy with the growth of her business so far and the income it is bringing in right now, so she has made the choice to focus on balance and her health rather than pushing hugely for even more growth in her business. Expanding her team has allowed her to step away more from her business at times and outsourcing and trusting others have been key to her not working constantly.

Enjoying where she is, the process and the day today has helped her to create more fulfillment and ease in her life and business.
Get a chance to win Andreea Ayers course: Your Ultimate Online store, a course for those that sell an online digital product and help visitors convert into customers (a $599 value). For your chance to win share your biggest takeaway of this week’s episode in the comments below!

outlineof this episode

[1:13] Introducing Andrea Ayers, founder of LaunchGrowJoy.com.
[3:12] How difficulty finding employment solidified Andrea’s decision to start her own business.
[6:43] Andrea Ayers’ brave move to invite business through sending out over 3000 individual e-mails.
[9:45] How to handle it when people say “no.”
[10:21] How Andrea grew the online component of her business.
[12:50] Ways to motivate people to sign up on an email list for a physical product.
[14:16] Andrea’s decision to sell her business and how she went about it.
[18:07] How Andrea Ayers made the switch to developing online courses.
[20:12] Important lessons Andrea learned through the highs and lows of a developing business.
[25:51] Successfully creating balance between work and life.
[35:48] How to get a chance to win Andrea’s Your Ultimate Online Store, worth $519.