175: Drumroll, Please: Unveiling Flowerie—Our New Product Shop
See the show notes for this Episode here.
This transcript has been automatically generated.
Bonnie Christine [00:00:00]:
Oh my goodness. Today is such a special day. I'm beyond excited to finally be able to share something that has been growing behind the scenes over here for quite some time, Really, behind the scenes for months months months, we've been working on a brand new project that I have really kept under wraps, and I have been dying to share it with you. It is a all new product shop for Bonnie Christine. Now, I've been keeping this super close to my heart, and it feels really amazing to finally let you in on this project and, really, the heart behind it and what it's gonna be, and some really special kind of things that we're doing with it as well. You know, over the years, I've talked so much about creating products, and designing with intention, and sharing your art with the world through putting them on products. Well, now I'm walking that same path right alongside you with this brand new shop, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. So whether you've been with me for a really long time and you know all of my history with products or you're just jumping in, it's gonna be so exciting.
Bonnie Christine [00:01:15]:
I'm Bonnie Christine, and this is where all things creativity, design, business, and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi 7 figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set
Bonnie Christine [00:01:36]:
out to become an entrepreneur,
Bonnie Christine [00:01:38]:
I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today, I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.
Bonnie Christine [00:02:22]:
You know, I really got my start in handmade products. I started in an Etsy shop back in 2009, making handmade aprons and tea towels. And then I took a turn away from actual physical products and focused on licensing my artwork and letting other people produce the products. So this is my first love, is licensing and something that I still adore, pursue, and count on in my own business. Now a couple of years ago, I had a planner shop where I designed and developed an annual planner, and we sold it for a couple of years. We ended up closing that shop in 2021, Really just based on the bandwidth and what we were doing as a team, we just decided to close it at the time. And so really, ever since then, I felt like I had a place in the product world and just was waiting for the right opportunity and the right time to move on it. So let me start by really sharing the heart behind the new shop, and I'm gonna tell you the name here in just a minute.
Bonnie Christine [00:03:30]:
But for those of you who know me, you you know that my creativity is really fueled by nature. And so I started my journey years ago making these handmade products, and it was through those really early products that I discovered the joy of combining nature with also practical, everyday items. Over time, I began more and more drawn to the idea of creating products that could bring kind of this sense of creativity, of warmth, of being a homebody, and nature also into people's lives. And that's where this shop really comes in. The shop is about really creative pieces that will help inspire you and bring joy to your everyday routines, but also really reflect on our purpose here as a creative. Now at its core, the shop blends beauty with function. And so we're taking really small, simple moments in life and trying to make them really special. So whether it's wrapping a gift in beautiful paper, or sketching your ideas in a really useful notebook, or using, like, a hand woven blanket that feels cozy and looks beautiful as well.
Bonnie Christine [00:04:48]:
So every product we have designed to just bring a little bit of nature's magic into your home and into your creative life as well. It's also been a way for me to share my love for products and creativity and nature with all of you. So after months of planning and designing and working on the brand, I'm beyond excited to officially reveal the name of the brand new shop. The name of the shop is Flowere. Okay. So it's flowere, Flowerere. The name means so much to me because it really reflects everything that I love about nature. It's the flower garden brought to life.
Bonnie Christine [00:05:34]:
So Flowerie is a place where my passion for design and my love for gardening get to come together, and every detail of the shop has been crafted with that in mind. I cannot wait for you to see it. So let me share a little bit more about Flowerie's first collection. We've curated this incredible range of floral themed products that are meant to bring nature and beauty into your everyday life. So from sketchbooks that are really perfect for sketching and writing, to tea towels and aprons that add a touch of nature to your kitchen, Each and every item has been super thoughtfully designed, meticulously sourced, with both that beauty and experience and function in mind. Now, one of my favorite parts of the collection is the personal touch behind some of the items. For instance, my mom has been working on the line of handmade aprons using a pattern that I originally started with back in 2009. So these aprons are not only beautiful, but they're also so incredibly meaningful, and I'm so excited to share them with you.
Bonnie Christine [00:06:46]:
We've also created a line of puzzles, gift wrap, again, sketchbooks and notebooks, beautiful writing pencils. We also have some home decor, like a incredibly gorgeous, woven blanket and a custom candle. Every product in this collection is meant to really, not only wrap you in creativity, but also help you feel connected to the beautiful things in the world. So I'm really excited about this super special collection. So here's what's happening next. We are gonna be opening up a holiday sneak peek for Flowerie next month in November. So this sneak peek is going to feature a super small batch release of some of our absolutely favorite products, and we're keeping it limited to just 100 of every item. So it's a chance for us to really test the waters and gather feedback from you, and make sure that everything feels just right before we go into our full launch next year.
Bonnie Christine [00:07:51]:
So the sneak peek release is also a way to give you an early look at what we've been doing. We're really looking forward to hearing what you think about the products, what you love, what you're excited to see more of in the future. And so this is just the beginning. We suspect that the shop will probably sell out and move pretty quickly. And so our full launch will happen in late spring or early summer of 2025. So we're using this to really test test the products, and also test our shop and all of the inner workings of what has to really go into producing a shop at scale. And so I promise it's gonna be worth the wait. We're so, so excited, and I'll be sure to keep you up to date with all the sneak peeks along the way.
Bonnie Christine [00:08:39]:
In fact, there's a couple of really unique things that we're doing with the shop. Let me tell you about both of them. The first one is called The Secret Garden. And so this is something really special that we've created for anyone who wants to sign up and join The Secret Garden. This is really our VIP list. And so by joining The Secret Garden, you'll have the chance to see products before anyone else, get sneak peeks of new collections, and receive early access to shop before the doors officially open. So for instance, when we launch the Sneaked Peak shop in November, members of The Secret Garden are gonna get a 2 hour head start to shop the limited holiday collection. So that means you get first dibs on all the goodies that you wanna get your hands on.
Bonnie Christine [00:09:27]:
Plus, there will be a bunch of perks and surprises along the way for our Secret Garden members, and, of course, it's free to sign up. So you can do that over at shopflowerie.com. I'm gonna spell that for you. It's just shop, s h o p, flowerie f l o w e r i e.com. So sign up for The Secret Garden to get first shopping access, a 2 hour head start, when we open the shop on Tuesday, November 19th. So you're gonna wanna set the date, Tuesday, November 19th, and go over and sign up for The Secret Garden so that you get early access to shop. We are so, so excited. Now the other thing that we're doing, and this was a really big decision, is something that I am calling growing in public.
Bonnie Christine [00:10:19]:
So I've decided that this shop is really purposefully meant to help my students and other artists and designers and surface pattern designers see what's possible and understand the inner workings of what it really takes to bring a product shop to life. So this means that we are committed to being fully transparent and really pulling back the curtain to share with you exclusive insights into our journey. From struggles to successes, we want to be real and raw and really invite you or anyone who's interested to kind of follow along. So I'm really excited to introduce this. I'm calling it the greenhouse. So if you can imagine, a greenhouse is all glass, and you can see and watch things grow looking inside. So there are two levels to the greenhouse. The first one is completely free, Come Peek Through the Glass.
Bonnie Christine [00:11:18]:
We're gonna be publicly showing, behind the scenes glimpses, inviting people to see our process and our product sketches, our stories on how we develop products. We're also gonna be sharing some business insights. So we'll reflect on what we're learning, whether it's about marketing or connecting with customers or creating something new for the first time. We wanna share growth milestones, so we'll publicly kinda bring you into key moments from launches, to major business decisions, and just offer you more insights into the whole entire journey. Now, we'll also do Q and As and freebies. We want to hear from our community. We wanna answer your questions, we also wanna share resources, and we also wanna hear what you love about the shop, and what ideas you have about it, and, you know, have you vote on different products and things like that as well. Now, the second level is an invitation to step inside the greenhouse.
Bonnie Christine [00:12:17]:
And this is really where I'm inviting you to kind of come see the dirt under our nails. Now, I'm going way back to my roots for those of you who remember my very first membership was $5 a month. And so I did that in 2,012, and I'm going back to the same concept here. The greenhouse is a paid monthly newsletter for $5 a month. It's just a little investment and a huge invitation to come see what we're doing. So every month, we're gonna be sharing more insights into the strategic decisions that we're making. We'll explain the reasoning behind the business moves that we have. We're also gonna be doing more market research and share the trends, the data that we're following.
Bonnie Christine [00:13:04]:
We're gonna give you access to our team meetings. So all of the takeaways from our internal SHOP meetings, where we discuss key decisions and challenges and pivots and really what's happening. We're gonna give you any templates or tools or resources that we're using and we're finding helpful. We're gonna give you in-depth case studies about different things that we're figuring out that worked or maybe didn't work. We're gonna include in-depth reports on our marketing campaigns and our product launches, our business strategies, our profit margins, where our expenses are going, what our cost of goods are, and all of those things. We're gonna give quarterly detailed financial reports. So we'll be sharing the exact figures of our revenue, our expenses, our profit margins, and more. Again, I want to just invite people to come see what we're doing.
Bonnie Christine [00:13:59]:
The heart of this really is because we've already uncovered so much incredible stuff, like all the research that we've done, all of the learning curve that we've started to flatten out. And so we're really, really excited to just offer that up in a really simple format, a monthly paid newsletter and quarterly financial reports so that you can really see what the inside of a shop like this looks like, whether you want to have your own shop or you're just interested in seeing a company grow. So we're really excited about it. You can also join the greenhouse. Again, a lot of it is absolutely free. And if you want the monthly newsletter and financial reports, you can grab those for the greenhouse cost of $5 a month over at shopflowerie.com. So as I wrap up today's episode, I just wanna say how grateful I am for all of your support, for all of your excitement around this new project. Launching Flowerie is truly a dream come true, and I'm so excited to share this journey with you.
Bonnie Christine [00:15:08]:
Every product, every detail, every learning curve, every success, every failure, every step has been just an incredible ride and journey already, and I can't wait for you to experience every part of it. So don't forget, head over to shopflowerie.com. Sign up for the Secret Garden to get first access and the latest updates so that you can shop early because, again, this is a super small batch of products that we're launching on Tuesday, November 19th. That's Tuesday, November 19th. We can't wait. We cannot wait. Thank you so much. Thank you for being a part of this.
Bonnie Christine [00:15:45]:
My friends, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world, and remember, there's room for you. Bye for now.
