“People want to be your advocate. They want to be your helper,” assures Elizabeth Rees, Founder of Chasing Paper, a company that pioneered removable wallpaper. As the third-generation in a family printing business, Elizabeth saw a need for peel-and-stick wallpaper made of traditional materials, designed with original imagery. Without a PR or marketing team, she networked relentlessly, attending every dinner and coffee meeting she could. She researched the top 50 women’s magazines and personalized her communication with editors and reporters. Most importantly, Elizabeth sent an email introducing her product and explaining her vision to everyone she knew. This network quickly spread the word, which ultimately led to a writeup in a major design blog, and a huge surge in sales early on.

So much press at once can be overwhelming if a new business isn’t prepared to meet the response. But as Elizabeth explains, no business is perfect right away. Receiving the same questions or complaints repeatedly from new customers presents an opportunity to address issues you’ve overlooked. Always to listen to your customers, and to be consistent in all of your efforts.

At the end of the day, one of the best ways to launch your business is to spread the word. Meet Elizabeth and learn how she deals with supply chain issues, the value of keeping your team lean, and the myth of overnight success.

Quotes

• “With those two things, a thoughtful design and a high quality product, we were off to the races.” (6:35-6:43 | Elizabeth)

• “Truly, sending an email is probably the most important thing you do.” (16:24-16:27 | Elizabeth)

• “There’s just no way that you can build a perfect business right away. Once you can get over that, you can recognize that what it’s about in the beginning is how quickly you can shift, how quickly you can pivot, how quickly you can make small adjustments to be more in line with what your customer is asking you to do.” (20:26-20:45 | Elizabeth)

• “You have to share your story over and over again, because when you share it, other people will start sharing it for you.” (26:33-26:40 | Lindsay)

• “Business is hard 70% of the time. I think people like to think that it’s the opposite, that it’s easy and fun and whatever. But when you have those successes and you have those days where something is really good, really memorialize them.” (47:40-47:58 | Elizabeth)

Connect with Elizabeth Rees:

Instagram | http://www.instagram.com/chasingpaper

Website | http://www.chasingpaper.com

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You can now work with Lindsay 1:1 to build the community for your personal brand or company through the same method she used to grow and scale her business. Fill out the form here and set up a FREE 30-minute consultation.

You can also:

• Take Lindsay's FREE 7-Day Social Media Challenge

• 5 Tips and Tools to Set Up Your Business

• Follow Lindsay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaypinchuk

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