Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jacqueline Snyder, Co-Owner of The Product Boss, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Our customers are product-based business owners. Typically small business owners, entrepreneurs, makers, and manufacturers that make custom, one-of-a-kind products. They might also be food makers, so bakers or food products. They are typically women who want to build a business that will support the life and dreams that they have always wanted. Many of them want to stop working for somebody else, leave their full-time job, and take their creative passion and turn that from an idea into a business that can thrive.

We are on a mission to help change 2,000 business owners' lives just this year by helping them generate consistent $2,000 in additional revenue, month over month for 12 months, and with that, we will help generate an additional $48 million worldwide for small product-based business owners.

The Product Boss is a podcast and educational company that creates programs and courses for product-based business owners. We are known worldwide for our signature program Multi-Stream Machine. That is where we really help small businesses scale with getting more sales and more visibility while streamlining their systems. This is a way that we've been able to help people 2x, 3x, or 4x their businesses.

We also have two shows a week on The Product Boss podcast and are part of the HubSpot Podcast Network. We have 4 million downloads and over 500 episodes, and we've been in the top 100 of Apple Business Podcasts and the Top 10 of Apple Marketing Podcasts.

And the reason I think that people would want to support our business or know about it is that our mission is to help small businesses worldwide generate revenue and make money for them so that they can improve their lives, they can create wealth, they can impact other people's lives through hiring and give back to their communities, and they can take their creativeness and make money on it. Really we are here to help build other people's businesses and, at the same time, help build ours. Minna and I are first-generation Americans, and we are generationally changing the legacy of our families to building wealth and changing things in one generation, which is unheard of.

Tell us about yourself

I first started as a fashion designer. I went to a prestigious school in Los Angeles and was hired directly out of school to basically run and take over to create a swimwear collection for a huge lingerie company. From there, I was hired to work for a celebrity line where I was able to run it all. I was under 25 years old, and we did TV shows, we had celebrities wearing the line, we were on The View, we were on the Tyra Banks Show, and we did runway shows all over the country. I was given a really big opportunity, for a second time, to really have creative control, but also this opportunity, even though I was new to the business, where I was able to design and take control of a lot of things as if it were my own.

In 2007, I launched my own business, which is Designer Consulting Co-Op, and since then, I've helped start, launch, and grow over 1,000 fashion apparel and accessory companies. I would conceive, design, develop, produce, and get to market these brands and be able to basically sell them, so I've started over 1000 startup brands for people as their consultant and as their designer.

From that point, I started my own line called Cuffs Couture, which is a wearable wrist wallet. I thought, if I could do this for other people, I could do this for myself. We ended up in People Magazine, celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Carrie Underwood wore my cuffs, and I was sold globally in over 60 countries. It really grew it into a really notable business. But now I was at this time in my life where I had two children, our phones got bigger, and people started to think, "Where can I put my phone in this wrist wallet"? I decided, at that point, to really focus on my consulting business and let go of the cuffs business.

While I was starting to liquidate that business, I found Minna through a podcast and through a community. I went to her because I asked if I could liquidate my cuffs on Amazon because she was an Amazon expert. She said you don't liquidate on Amazon rather, you build a business. In that, we became really fast friends. We launched The Product Boss together, which first started off as a side project. We did a mastermind which turned into the podcast, which then led to what it is now and really is our main revenue. What supports my family is The Product Boss more than even Designer Consulting Co-Op.

What motivates me and has always motivated me is that, as a woman, I always wanted to have freedom by building my own wealth. Where I could always have freedom and choice by making money and doing that as an entrepreneur, that has motivated me to go to college, motivated me to get a job, and make my own money. It motivated me to get my first job working at Baskin Robbins, for example.

I want to empower other women to be able to figure out how they can make money from nothing. I have the ability to make money from nothing, and I can come up with ideas, creatively market them and sell them. I want to inspire and help other women realize that they can take their passions, their creativity, and their ideas, and turn those into revenue-generating businesses that allow them to have freedom of choice, allow them to have freedom of time, allow them to do whatever they want with their lives but also feel empowered by the ability to make money. That really motivates me each day because of the impact that we've had on over 60,000 people around the world so far, and we continue to do that every day.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I would say that my biggest accomplishment as a business owner is growing The Product Boss to what it is today. In just five years, we've grown it to a multi-million dollar business. We're a part of the HubSpot Podcast Network, which is huge. We crossed the million-dollar mark within a couple of years of starting our business, which a very small percentage of women-owned businesses ever actually do. It's a business run by two women, first-generation women, who are in partnership and committed to each other and making sure each other succeeds and lives the lives that they hope to dream. I think the idea that we've built this community where we support and help other women thrive and other small businesses thrive. The impact that I've had globally on other people's lives and businesses is by far my biggest accomplishment ever.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

I think one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner is that as you grow and build wealth and a successful company, you are also responsible for your team, your family, and your business partner. We need to make sure we are generating revenue and that we are profitable while still supporting our team and supporting ourselves. I think that the financial aspect of keeping a business growing and thriving is the most challenging. Business owners go to bed with bills and taxes in their heads, but they also go to bed with the idea of the wins.

Learning along the way is also a huge challenge. Again, as limited, especially as first-generation Americans, I would say that Minna and I haven't been exposed to generational wealth or what multi-million dollar businesses look like, or how they're structured. We didn't have a seat at the table. We sometimes feel like we're building a rocket ship as we're flying, and every day is a new adventure.

I will also say one of the hardest things is going through a global pandemic and trying to keep other people's businesses afloat and alive, as well as ours, and stepping into a leadership role where people look to us for what to do and what to do next. I will say that we helped 1,000's businesses thrive during the pandemic. They were still able to generate income, continue to run their businesses, and keep their teams employed. That's one that is a huge accomplishment but an even greater responsibility.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Just start. If we wait for all conditions to be perfect, we'll never start. As you start growing, you'll start learning. Just start, conditions aren't going to be perfect. I make it very similar to the idea of when people are like when is the right time to have a child. There may never be a right time. You just have to get going.
  2. Hire the right people. Hire people to be a boss, hire people that have the same work ethic as you, that want to grow as fast or as slow as you do, and that are committed. I would say one of the hardest things about growing a business is actually learning to be a boss. Entrepreneurship is one thing, but being a boss and managing a team and a business is very hard. When you hire a team, if they're aligned with your values, you can teach them the skill.
  3. Take the lid off of your own glass ceiling. While, especially as women, we feel like there's a glass ceiling, especially when we work for other people. We actually create our own glass ceilings, and what happens there is that if we start to get curious. Say, "What if I grew my business to a million dollars? What if I grew my business to $10 million? What would that look like?" Get curious and don't put a cap on your growth because, as an entrepreneur, your growth is limitless, and that's one of the things I like the most about it.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.theproductboss.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theproductboss
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theproductboss/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theproductboss
Podcast: https://pod.link/theproductboss

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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