Supply Chain Transparency – with Nadia Hussain – Hair Loving

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:08

Welcome to The Bring Your Product Ideas To Life podcast, practical advice, and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products. Here's your host Vicki Weinberg. Hi today I am talking to Nadia Hussain from a Hair Loving. Hair Loving produces hair product for, all stages of life. They specialize in promoting hair growth and health and childhood to postpartum and menopause. Um, so I've been working with Nadia for a while now as you'll hear in this podcast episode. She is the second haircare company I've had on the podcast recently. And as I said, then I was really keen to share both episodes. If you haven't already go back and listen to the episode with Laurie Quinnell from Leonora Haircare. I was really keen to talk to two ladies running businesses, selling similar products, but we've come as you'd expect some completely different businesses and, um, yeah, completely different stories. Because I just think that was a great way to illustrate that while of course there were similarities. There's also so many differences as well. And um, and that's a good thing because not everything as we know works for everyone. So I am really excited to introduce you all to Nadia. So hi Nadia. Thank you so much for being here to talk to me today.

Nadia Hussain: 00:01:24

Thank you for having me.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:26

Oh, you're welcome. So can we start with you, please give an introduction to yourself, your business and your products.

Nadia Hussain: 00:01:32

Yep. So I'm Nadia and I have been a hair and makeup artist for the last 12, 13 years now. I've also got a hair and makeup training academy where students come and join and learn how to do hair and makeup on others and have a career in hair and makeup artistry. Um, in as much as that I've been to clients and over the decade or so that I've been working with clients and students I've had the same age, old question about people's hair woes. And that's where my journey of my business started. Um, which is, hair growth products.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:11

Amazing. So, can you talk to us a little bit about your products and what inspired you to create them please?

Nadia Hussain: 00:02:17

Yes. So my products um, are hair oils predominantly they've started. I started off with the best seller, which was the hair hydration and growth oil, which promotes hair growth. Um, later I launched the product for postpartum hair loss for new mums post-pregnancy and the third one was the hair oil to promote growth and reduce brittleness and thin ends on, um, uh, menopausal and perimenopausal women. So the inspiration behind this was, my clients from my hair and makeup, my students, and obviously my friends and family and, and, and the school mums that I used to speak to about hair loss. Having done sort of 10 years or so of hair and makeup and hair styling, face-to-face speaking to customers and clients, um, about their hair woes. That really inspired me to try and help them in um producing and developing a product that would promote hair growth and help them feel good about themselves.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:03:24

That's amazing and such a big undertaking as well. Because I imagine that formulating products is not simple. Um, so we talk a little bit about that Nadia. So you, you decided that there was a need and you wanted to create something to address that. So where did you go from there?

Nadia Hussain: 00:03:40

So from there, I formulated a product without knowing where I was heading, where I was going and how to formulate and develop. I literally sold a hundred units to just customers, clients, friends, and family, literally from the back of my car, when I was on my rounds, uh, as a, as a mobile hairstylis. Then I thought, well, we're onto something very natural here in terms of the ingredients. Um, so I sought about to look out, uh, anything that would need to be developed sort of legally or any paperwork that needed doing. And I went on to do a formulation course in haircare and skincare. And from there I realized that a lot of my original formulation and the develop, uh, the developed product itself was pretty much okay. With a few tweaks here and there with the essential oils. Um, I then registered the product and registered the trademark as well. And here we are today, with more products.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:39

That's amazing. First product, did you literally formulate it yourself?

Nadia Hussain: 00:04:43

Yeah, the first one I did that without, without much knowledge. And then moving forward, of course I had to have that developed and formulated and passed by the by credible authorities. Um, And then, then the other two were also developed.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:00

Oh, wow. But I think that's amazing because, I mean, I think you're really underplaying that you just formulated a product yourself. How did you even know where to start and where do you source ingredients and things like that?

Nadia Hussain: 00:05:12

In order to start I did my own research and it took a number of months to do the research in itself as with anything that you do, which is going to be going out, um, and being used topically. Even topically, uh, on, on, on people you have a massive risk and a massive undertaking to be answerable to people in case something was to happen. If there were any adverse reactions and all of this, I learned through my own research and through doing my diplomas. Um, so, so as to protect myself and my customers.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:53

Wow. I still think that's amazing that you just went ahead and did that because yeah, I do think that is huge. And it's amazing that you went through these diplomas because I guess that's a step you could have avoided, you know, you didn't have to do that, but I think it's great that you've got so much knowledge about your products and what's in them and what the benefits are. Um, you're yeah, you're definitely really close to it all, which is great.

Nadia Hussain: 00:06:14

Yeah. I mean, moving forward in order to produce and develop more products I have the understanding already there, but I also know how to speak to developers and organizations that would be able to undertake such a huge task for, from now on for, uh, for Hair Loving. So I think it's definitely helped a great deal to have gone through you know, the hard slog of going through the exams and I'm literally, you know, lab having a home lab and understanding and learning different percentages and maths, and I'm weighing scales all over the place.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:55

Yeah, I think that's really good and as you say, when you're developing new products and your you, or your new products, are you getting people to develop those for you now?

Nadia Hussain: 00:07:03

Absolutely. A hundred percent. Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:06

And so that like you say having that background means that you can have really informed conversations with them, I guess.

Nadia Hussain: 00:07:11

Absolutely. Because if you go, at the beginning I did go to a couple of events. Um, and it was actually really funny where I didn't have the knowledge. Um, so, you know, you get caught out when you don't understand what's going on, but yeah, having done my research, now I know what I'm looking for in terms of developing the brand further into new products. So fingers crossed watch this space.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:34

It's exciting. And did you, um, so the first batch of products you made yourself the first 100, is that right? That's right. Yeah. Are you still making them yourself now, yourself now or are they being outsourced?

Nadia Hussain: 00:07:47

It's being outsourced now to labs and, um, formulated outside of my kitchen lab. So it's, it's exciting, but obviously I miss doing all of that formulating at home, which is perfectly legal actually. Um, but yeah, I do miss that, but I do visit the lab and I do go and check on everybody and have a quick smell of what's going on in the formulas as well sometimes.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:13

Oh, it's good you found somewhere where you're able to do that. Where you're able to actually still go and see what's going on.

Nadia Hussain: 00:08:19

Yeah, absolutely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:21

And I can definitely see why you'd miss it, but I guess in terms of your time, um, there's probably, yeah, there probably are better ways you could be spending it than actualy doing the creation yourself.

Nadia Hussain: 00:08:31

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot that goes into a business, even if there are only four or five products to offer on within that small business. There's tons of things, which obviously this is how me and you met in terms of the whole Amazon, um, side of things. That's a very, very tiny percentage. And I think that sometimes we can work so super hard and when people can then see that you're on Amazon, or you you're doing certain things on Facebook, like ads, et cetera, it's almost like when somebody turns around and says, that's amazing, you're an Amazon, or that's amazing that you're getting, I don't know, wholesale orders. Um, that's when the penny drops and you realize actually your efforts daily are being recognized and people are taken aback, and that's when you feel the most appreciated. And the most lifted of course, as much as you know, making sales is absolutely number one, however, the appreciation side is, is absolutely amazing aswell.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:44

Yeah. And, and you're right as well that you can't do all of those things yourself, but everything that's involved in running a business, I think it's really smart, outsource what you can when you can, you know, assuming that, um, you can afford to outsource certain things and not everyone can right at the beginning, but various stages I think it is good to start looking at, okay, what do I not need to be doing mysel. Because there is so much isn't there and you definitely can't be an expert in everything.

Nadia Hussain: 00:10:10

No, you can't, no way, you know, you've got to have a good work-life balance as well. You've got to remember, you know, you've got to raise children or whatever you, your, your background life is. You've got to keep remembering that, you know, we are here for a purpose, which is to enjoy, enjoy those quiet times as well. Not, you know, when you start a new business in the first couple of years, it can become an obsession, an absolute obsession and day in, day out, even last night. Uh, I was awake from 4:30 in the morning and my mind was ticking away with what I can do. What's been successful? Sometimes it's not healthy. However, on the flip side, you've got to recognize if there's an issue and you need to have that work life balance, then you know, you, you have to address that. And I'm trying to do that right now.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:05

That's good. And I'm pleased that you are doing that. Before we move on and talk about a bit more about your business. I know that something that's really important to you is, um, supply, supply chain transparency. And so while we're on the subject of formulating, you know, talking a bit about formulating new products, can we talk a bit about like, what that means to you and why it's important and how you've ensured that it's in place?

Nadia Hussain: 00:11:26

So supply chain transparency is really important for me because I have come across through my research. Uh, sources where the oils are produced or the seeds for those oils for example are produced and they are not actually from where they claim to be for example. Um, on the other hand, there's also projects that are in place. Um, so my suppliers source from source the oils from where seeds are grown or the oil is brought out where farmers are paid a fair wage. So they have a fair trade in place where such as in Rwanda, where there's a lot of, uh, especially women working in farm land, where they are, we dose, for example, and they are given a fair wage. And I think that is a great project and a great set of people to be funding or to be sourcing products and produce from, in order to help the greater world and the greater community. Um, they've been struck by war decades and decades of war, um, you know, war as well as famine because of drought. Um, and it's really important to help those people and even on a political front there's, I'm not going to become very political here on this podcast, but there are places where the, there are oils. For example, the post-pregnancy oil. There is an ingredient within there where they do claim to, um, have taken the oil from a particular place, which I don't agree with it being on the map at all. Um, and many, many millions of people also don't agree as, as same as me basically. So I, I, I changed my, my source and supplier based on my personal views and how I feel about how people are treated. Uh, And literally taken off those thrown off those farms, their homes are destroyed and a different stamp is put on the map. Um, and I just don't agree unfortunately, with, with, um, some of those practices. So based on those views, I souce very carefully and the supply chain, uh, clarity and cleanness is very important to me on the, on all of those sort of fronts.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:14:02

Thank you for that explanation. I think that's, I think that's amazing and I think it's great that you are again, so across your products and, um, just have so much knowledge about exactly what goes into them, where and where they're from. Um, and I think that's really good as well for consumers because it's such, it's, it makes it such an ethical purchase because you've done all of the hard work to make sure that it is.

Nadia Hussain: 00:14:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's definitely, um, a point which I do underplay and which, uh, I mean, it's, it's kind of mentioned on our website. However, we probably need to promote that more. So people take heed in what other products and suppliers or brands that they purchase from. I think it's very important for people to understand what they're buying, where they're buying from, how ethical it is. Um, we consume so much from different countries and different places and the more we do to sort of help the wider world, uh, and then the little person out there who's, who's, you know, even from whatever you buy from a supermarket to eat, um, I think it's very important to know where your suppliers are coming from.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:13

Definitely. And that's the reason I wanted to ask you about it as it really stood out to me, that as you say on your website, it's quite a small thing. You could definitely be shouting about this more and that's why I wanted to ask you. So, so why don't we go back a little bit, if that's okay. So once you realize that you had a need, you know, you were seeing the need for people who are having these issues with their hair, and you decided to develop the oil and you mentioned that you sold the first 100 bottles. At what point did you realize, actually this is a business, this isn't just something I'm doing on the side while I'm sort of going around doing people's hair. This actually could be a business in its own right. What point did you realize that? And then what came next?

Nadia Hussain: 00:15:52

So I think it was just literally a case of every other person that I spoke to about the hair oil, the original hair oil, um, which is our bestselle, still, the hair growth and hydration oil. If every other person was buying it, that was when the penny literally dropped. I just produced this for friends, family, and customers. I then went on after selling those units to doing, I think I did a very small, um, stall at my son's Christmas, not Christmas, summer fair. And even there there was so many people asking me questions about what's in it will it, I, you know, people seem to very desperate. Literally. It sounds like a very strange word, but women especially seemed very desperate to buy the product and to make a change in their hair, um, to promote hair growth. Reduce their children's dandruf, for example. So they were asking all sorts of questions. And this is something that, um, I guess I realize the penny kind of dropped when I was talking to people face to face, obviously, because there wasn't even a website at that point. Um, so yeah, when, when people were asking all sorts of questions and then I was questioning myself, in terms of what's in it. What does it do even further? That's when I thought there's definitely a massive demand in the market for this product.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:16

And so that was at the point that Hair Loving became a business?

Nadia Hussain: 00:17:20

Absolutely. Yes. So then, um, I launched the website, uh, with a lot of help. Um, and I, there was a further story actually. So I, this was literally all ready and set up before the first lock down. Um, and I was told not to actually launch the website and promote the product. Um, the, I think the Instagram was all up and running almost as well. Um, but I did go ahead. After having spoken to somebody who had no idea about the product. But she said, I'm just literally gonna, we're going into lock down and I'm going to focus on myself and I'm going to just look after my skin, look after my hair and forget everything else. And this is going to be time for me. And I just thought, that's it. I'm going to launch this because this is what people are asking for right now. And it could be a make break and literally the, uh, the first lock down, uh, was absolutely amazing for via Instagram, for the sales.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:26

Oh, that is amazing. And I was, when you said you got the advice not to launch, I was actually really surprised at that because, I mean, I guess, you know, this is two years later, we've got the benefit of hindsight, but online sales just went up massively across so many different sectors.

Nadia Hussain: 00:18:42

Um, yeah. I don't think anybody was prepared because the person that gave me that advice was almost a specialist, actually a small business specialist, um, and a non official mentor of mine. So, um, yeah, I think it took everybody by surprise this whole lockdown.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:02

Yeah. And I guess at that point, I'm thinking two years back, we didn't really know what was going to happen, how long it was going to last. Um, but yeah, we've definitely seen the online sales to be just massive. And especially, I think in a sector like health and beauty and haircare, because one of the things we could do was take care of ourselves. That's something that. Yeah, the very few things we could do, but I think when people are at home, that's one of the things that perhaps people were focused on.

Nadia Hussain: 00:19:29

Yeah, absolutely. You know, nobody was really going to go out. Then they were getting ready for, you know, in fact people were doing further courses and bettering their, their themselves and increasing their chances of when lock down was going to sort of, you know, we were going to break free from the lockdown. Um, and, and in as much as that not going out, of course they would look after themselves. Doing treatments where you could leave them into the hair. Um, and then wash 12 hours later, like, like my products. So yea.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:20:00

It's such a great time for products like that. I, um, because I've actually got, you can see I've naturally curly hair and it was actually during the lockdown, I decided I was going to completely change my haircare routine and not use any products with chemicals, which does mean for the first couple of weeks your hair does look pretty bad if I'm honest, but I was like, well, we're home anyway. So yeah, it was a great time for doing, yeah. I can imagine that people have hair masks and face masks on because no one could see what you were doing.

Nadia Hussain: 00:20:31

And there was the whole TikTok and Instagram wheels trend where people were, were creating their own concoctions. So a lot of people were actually feeding back to me that they would mix the oil with yoghurt when it was really hot, because I think one of the, in fact, even the first lock down, it was super hot. Um, so they'd mix the yoghurt with the oil and put it on their hair that would reduce or eliminate their sun stroke and headache, um, mashing, all sorts of products like bananas from there. Uh, and avocados that were going off from their fridge into the hair oil or vice versa, the oil into it and using it as masks and doing TikTok videos

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:12

that's amazing. So when lockdown started to lift and we could get out a bit more, did that change where you were selling your products? I mean, I know that you continue to do well on your website and Instagram. Um, but at that point, did you start looking into wholesaling?

Nadia Hussain: 00:21:28

Absolutely. Absolutely. I actually, I actually, um, did a mentoring course, a huge mentoring course. Um, and I, and that was literally specifically on retail business. So I started off on, um, online wholesale, um, reaching out online to wholesalers internationally. Um, so sales do come through, um, for interesting sort of boutiques actually massage places internationally, as well as salons, internationally. Um, gift boutiques as well. Um, we've been in Fenwick over Christmas for a week. We're going into John Lewis twice from June. So John Lewis, uh, Westfield London, White City, and then John Lewis, Oxford Circus, Oxford Street in, uh, again in June as well. So. Yeah, absolutely. Um, but I think it's been important for Hair Loving to be able to spread our wings or put our fingers in different pies. So online as well as offline, as well as wholesale, so exhibitions, which are very, very private, small events where you'll have a hundred to 500 people attending, which has been amazing because then you can, um, speak face-to-face with people and customers and potential customers and understand their hair problems as well as, um, wholesaling wholesale and at stores such as Fenwick and department stores. Um, and hopefully John Lewis coming up in June.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:12

That's all amazing. I have a few follow-up questions if that's okay. So the exhibition exhibitions you mentioned, are they for customers or the trade or, or both?

Nadia Hussain: 00:23:22

So they're B to C. So they are for customers. Um, we are actually going into Salon International in October. Hopefully there won't be any issues with this COVID scenario. Um, and that's all ready to go. As well, so focusing more on wholesale at the end of the year, because there's a lot of work to do at the moment.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:46

And how did you get the slots in John Lewis? I think that's amazing.

Nadia Hussain: 00:23:51

Um, so again, that was through some contacts that I had via my, um, retail coaching, but I've been, uh, I've, I've sought and, um, yeah, Fenwick was okay. It wasn't great. I'm not going to lie. Um, but you have to be very specific in what you reach out for. You've got to know your target market. Will they be shopping in those places? Is that the right shelf space? Is that the right location for a popup for you or not? Because that can be the make or break of you selling literally at any event, any exhibition, any outlet. That would be my advice and I, and you know, we've all had our fingers burnt. Um, but yeah, you've got to eliminate as much damage as can be done moving forward from your experiences. And hopefully that's where we're at at the moment.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:47

That's really interesting. And so when you get a space in Fenwick or John Lewis, how much say, do you get on where you are on the shelf, from what materials, display materials out and that kind of thing. Do you get any input into that?

Nadia Hussain: 00:25:00

Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Sometimes if you have a popup, you can control what it looks like. Whereas with John Lewis, they have their own merchandisers that comes to come in and they'll do it without you even being there. So when you go in, um, I've been believed, obviously I've not done it yet, but I believe when you go in, it's all done for you, but you have to have everything checked and passed through their management. Um, first but shelf space wise, again, you have to negotiate everything.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:25:35

Oh, that's really interesting. And so that's, so this is a pop-up in John Lewis, so you'll be amazing. And actually this episode is going to go out in June and I know we are recording a bit ahead. So by the time this episode goes out, people should be able to go into it. It was John Lewis, Westfield and John Lewis Oxford Circuis.

Nadia Hussain: 00:25:52

That's right. So I believe it's the first week of June, um, which is Westfield London, White City, and the 23rd, seven days from the 23rd of June in Oxford Street John Lewis. Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:10

If you're listening in realtime, then definitely go and take a look.

Nadia Hussain: 00:26:14

That'd be amazing. I'd love to meet everybody. Um, and see if there's anything else that I can help with, if there's any other products that they would like to see, um, um, in the Hair Loving line, that's something that I'd be really eager to speak to people about face-to-face or even, you know, drop me an email.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:36

Amazing. And I know that you've launched your, as well as your individual products you have your gift boxes as well. Um, did they come based on sort of input from feedback from customers?

Nadia Hussain: 00:26:47

Yep. So, um, I think the best seller is still literally the individual oils and is actually the a hundred bill and the gift sets are really nice to have on display at events. Um, Mother's day, they, they do really well. Um, because there's like at the moment there's microfibre towel wrap with the hair oil, which is the large hair oil, the 100 ml. And also there are some with, um, some silk scrunches in there as well. So they do quite well. Um, and they look very, very nice as well displayed and on the website. But again, there's more that is coming. And again, your feedback would be amazing as to, to know what you would like. You'd all like to see in our line.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:33

OH, that's amazing. And it's, it's really good that you're able to take on that feedback. And I have to say, I think the gift boxes do look like they'd make a lovely gift.

Nadia Hussain: 00:27:41

Aw, thank you. Yeah they, they do make a brilliant gift. There's there's always, um, there's always events on. There is always, you know, for Christmas, we do really well with those gift boxes. Um, they're like combos.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:56

And so let's talk to us, but if you don't mind with me talking about where you're selling. So should we talk a little bit about Amazon? Because I know you haven't been on there long because I helped you. Well, when this episode goes out, you'd been on there a bit longer, but I know in the time of recording, It's probably under a month. It's still very new.

Nadia Hussain: 00:28:14

It's coming up to four weeks this Thursday. So in two days, three days.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:18

Okay. That wasn't a bad guess. So let's talk a little bit, if you don't mind about your experience at Amazon today, and anything that you've learned that you think would be useful for other listeners who are thinking of giving it a go, because I know it's very new, but that's actually great because you're, you know, you've just been through what is, in my opinion, the hardest bit, which is actually getting going.

Nadia Hussain: 00:28:40

So here's the thing. I am ashamed to say that I've the products have been on Amazon uh, for awhile, nothing's moved because they not, but they've had to be tweaked, which is why I reached out to you, Vicky, to tweak everything and to make sure everything's on there properly. The wording is amazing now. And the feedback I get from the captions and the descriptions that has to be spot on for any businesses out there that are looking to be on Amazon. Once you're ready with all of that. And you are looking at your own descriptions and the captions and the descriptions, um, from a customer's perspective and have it run past other people. Then I would suggest that you move on to, um, getting some help or doing some form of ad, uh, ad and running an ad campaign. At the moment um, we are heading towards prime, but not there yet. And I do feel like we're onto a bit of a winner. Um, there's so much though. There is so much to learn and once you've understood a lot of it and read up a little bit about Amazon, then getting out there and finding the right person to help you is definitely key for somebody like me, because I tend to have to wear so many hats that again, I can't manage Amazon as well as doing the descriptions as well as running ad campaigns, um, and helping the dispatch team and informing them what needs to go out because we're not on prime yet. So what I would say is advice from me is do all your research and try. and get some help in giving you at least advice on where you should go. Um, I did leave it quite awhile before I actually ran any ads and tweaked, uh, the images, et cetera, on my Amazon, um, listings. But now that I'm sort of, you know, things are sort of going. We are getting a lot of sales through just on that cusp of making profit right now. But again, it's literally been four weeks, but I'm really, really excited to be on it. And I would definitely recommend it.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:31:05

I think it's a great opportunity and thank you for sharing your insights. And I mean, I totally agree. And I think it's not uncommon for people to get themselves set up on Amazon and then realize at some point along the line, oh actually maybe it needs a bit of tweaking. Yeah. One. Yeah, definitely. That is a bit much. And then also that, um, something I talk about quite a lot is that your Amazon product listings really need to be really really good. And I'm not saying for a minute that yours wasn't good, or for anyone listening that your listings aren't good. It's more about, well, it's obviously they need to be really well written, but it's also, as we've discussed a lot about the actual words included what people are actually searching for. And then as you found out as well, and either you do have to do a bit of work to get people to those listings, because unfortunately it's just so hard to get found on Amazon now. And either you need to pay as you're doing, or you need to do something creative whether that's an email list or whatever, but it's really hard to get found organically now. And I do think that's something that not everyone realizes initially, um, because not everyone tells you that, which is why I like to tell people that because yeah.

Nadia Hussain: 00:32:17

Absolutely. It's good to be clear. Good to know where you've come from. Because like I said, Hair Loving was on Amazon for such a long time, but just not visible. Um, And now that, you know, it's been a couple of weeks since everything's up and running. I know exactly where we're heading. I know exactly what we need to do with her, with the Amazon account, to be able to hopefully fingers crossed, increase the sales, but it is one step at a time for a small business like mine. Um, can't really run before you can walk.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:32:53

No absolutely, you really can't. And, I think the most important thing which you have and which I recommend to anyone listening, who wants to get onto Amazon is get the fundamentals in place. Have a great listing, really good, well researched texts of all the keywords, really good images. And you're a lot of the way that if you've, if you've done that much and it is a bit of work, but I'm here to help if anyone actually requires any help with that. And, um, yeah, you definitely don't need to do it all alone. Because it can be quite daunting.

Nadia Hussain: 00:33:21

Definitely. Definitely. I think you have that. What is that syndrome, you know, when you just doubt yourself, because something's not going right for you for example, that was me on Amazon. But, um, I would definitely recommend that if you can't do things yourself and it does take a long time, I've even got friends that, um, have been on Amazon and they literally it's taken them time. They've been very down about not making the sales things, have fluctuated have been up and down. Um, They are now in a really, really good place with the, with their products and they've expanded their product lines. Um, and they're not necessarily people that produce their own products. They're people that that would Reese, uh, I guess, resellers. Um, they also do really, really well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:34:12

Yeah, I think there were lots of good opportunities, but as you said, it doesn't always happen over night. For some it does. I've definitely seen examples of people have, you know, got off to a start, you know, really great start like from the beginning. But I would say for 90% of sellers, that isn't the case and it takes a little bit of figuring out what's going to work best for you. And it just, yeah. And I'm, this isn't meant to be negative. It's just meant to be honest. And it does it isn't easy. Um, so I think, yeah, sort of a bit of patience and persistence is definitely required and I do think it pays off and I think you're going to see it pays off. I'm certain by the time this episode actually airs Nadia, you're going to be doing really well.

Nadia Hussain: 00:34:51

Oh, thank you. Thank you. You know, when you believe in something and you you're persistent with it, I think that's when you start seeing the, seeing the fruits.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:01

Definitely. So I have one final question, if that's okay. And obviously you have shared so much advice and insight with us today, but what was your number one piece of advice be for other product creators? What's one thing you'd like peopl.

Nadia Hussain: 00:35:15

My advice is don't give up. Be consistent, just don't give up. It's all too easy to give up on your hopes and dreams when it comes to your products. Um, if you're formulating themselves, if you are developing anything and if you're putting a brand together, whatever it might be, you do have a lot of, uh, doubts, a lot of financial issues as well. Um, but if you keep going and you keep doing your research, reading up on every aspect, um, networking as well. Um, you will, you will start to see success. You definitely will.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:54

Thank you. I think that's great advice and yeah, I think keeping going is actually quite underrated. Just sort of sticking at something and just keep working at it. Um, I think it's all too easy. Isn't it? When we all get disheartened, but I definitely agree. There's so much to be said for just keeping on going and if something doesn't work, then you can stop that or tweak it. Try something else. Yeah. That's brilliant.

Nadia Hussain: 00:36:16

It's all a learning game.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:18

Definitely. Well, thank you so much. Everything that you've shared today, I will include links to your website and your social media accounts in the show notes. People go and take a look and yeah. Thank you so much again.

Nadia Hussain: 00:36:29

Oh, brilliant. Thank you for having me. It was lovely. It's always lovely to talk to you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:34

Thank you. Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end of this. If you've enjoyed it, please do leave me a review. That really helps other people to find this podcast. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes and do tell your friends about it too if you think that they also might enjoy it. You can find me at vickiweinberg.com. There you'll find links to all of my social channels. You'll find lots more information on all of the past podcast, episodes and lots of free resources too. So again, that's vickiweinberg.com. Take care, have a good week and see you next time.