Big Things Podcast

Gaby Bayona On Building 5+ Businesses & What’s Next for the Bridal Industry

• Mitzi Payne & Mike Payne • Season 7 • Episode 10

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Gaby Bayona is a force in the bridal and modeling industries. The humble entrepreneur has been building her empire since her teens and is now the owner of multiple businesses. After starting out as a seamstress in her mom’s bridal business, Gaby discovered a passion for the industry. By the time she graduated high-school she knew she wanted to own her own business. Now, she owns 3 bridal dress brands and a boutique with multiple locations in Canada, as well as a modeling agency based out of Vancouver, BC. We talk with Gaby about what inspired her to take on such an ambitious lifestyle and what moves she’s making next. Gaby shares her career journey, explains the strategic reason behind why she created multiple dress brands, how she manages it all and what she thinks is next for the bridal industry. 

Learn more about Gaby and her companies:

Subscribe to Arcade’s Newsletter, SCAN 👀 CLUB: https://www.arcadearcade.ca/scan-club 

Show Notes - Gaby Bayona

  1. 01:00 - Gaby’s story of growing up in the bridal industry.
  2. 03:30 - Lessons Gaby learned from her mom’s business. 
  3. 09:00 - The rundown on Gaby’s businesses: Why start multiple businesses?
  4. 14:00 - How to keep a personal connection with your customers as your business scales. 
  5. 15:50 - Advice for someone looking to start a bridal business in today’s noisy digital environment.
  6. 17:40 - Digging in the branding and marketing side of Gaby’s businesses. How she was able to explode on Etsy and Pinterest early on and what is she doing now? 
  7. 19:00 - Building publicly from a place of vulnerability. 
  8. 26:40 - Has Gaby ever wanted to quit?
  9. 30:00 - How does Gaby manage her time and energy between the multiple brands and companies?
  10. 39:00 - Trends to watch for in the wedding and bridal industries. 
  11. 41:15 - Who is making Waves and why?

Mentioned in this episode:

  1. Sara Blakely, from Spanx: https://www.instagram.com/sarablakely/?hl=en 
  2. Boheme Goods: https://www.bohemegoods.com/ 
  3. Field & Social: https://www.fieldandsocial.com/ 
  4. Mirror Palais: https://www.instagram.com/mirrorpalais/?hl=en 
  5. House of CB: https://www.

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/

Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Waves powered by Arcade, a show for marketers, creators and entrepreneurs who want to stop chasing the tide and start making waves online. We're your hosts, mike and Mitzi, and today we're joined by Gabby Bayona.

Speaker 2:

Gabby is the founder of Western Canada's largest bridal company, with three wedding dress brands, truvel, la Day Aisling, three bridal shops and a gown manufacturing studio. In 2018, she launched Stranger Agency, a diversity-focused modeling agency, which has since become one of Western Canada's leading modeling agencies. I'm excited to learn about all that and more. Gabby, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Thanks so much for having me Excited to chat more Definitely yeah.

Speaker 1:

This is going to be fun. Can we just start off like setting the scene a little bit? Tell us about how you got started designing wedding dresses? Were you always interested in fashion and even specifically bridal, and then where did you go from there?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's a bit of a long story, but long story short. My mom is a bridal seamstress. She did alterations when I was growing up and I'm half Asian, my mom's Filipino, and in Asian culture you help your family with a family business no matter what. So I actually grew up helping her with these bridal alterations and helping her with wedding dresses. It's been forever. I've done it my entire life.

Speaker 3:

I started doing it professionally in like right after high school also a long story, but I helped her a lot with the business and a lot of the business was under my name, so I kind of also had no choice. A lot of my work is just like my mom making me do things and me going along with it. And when I first started I was actually custom-making grad dresses, not wedding dresses. I was 18 at the time. It just made more sense and I was really lucky to have that aha moment at such a young age because suddenly brides were asking for these prom dresses to be their wedding dresses. There was a shift happening in the industry and what was typical in weddings was starting to shift into like more color, a little bit more casual, frequent, uh applique, and it was something that I just happened to do with my prom dresses. Um yeah, I like. Her and I were in business together from 2010 to 2013. And then in 2013, when I was 20, I launched my first brand on Etsy.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. I love the story of how you got so much of that from your mom, whether you wanted to or not, um, but that's so fascinating to me because, um, mike and I the co-host we're married, we have kids and being like the parent of who runs a small business, and seeing your kids, you always wonder, like, are they going to look at this and think, like, oh, I hate this lifestyle and I. Or or are they going to be really interested in this and start to grow and figure out, like, what does it mean for them? Do I want to be involved in this or do I want to do something completely different? So I'm curious for you, like, as you were kind of thrown into this world, whether you liked it or not, you clearly had, you know, talent that you were able to nurture and then kind of make your own, like what was that like relationship to what your mom was doing when you were a kid? Was it something that you really liked or was it something you resented and then grew to really appreciate?

Speaker 3:

I feel like I didn't really question it, Like I had to help her, so I had to help her. There just wasn't like I was happy to do it. I would have been happy not doing it too. I was kind of yeah, it doesn't really answer well, but I think I was just like going with it.

Speaker 2:

And now, like that, as you've built your own brand and businesses, are there things that you've learned from your mom, like even in her craft, or how she did things that you've carried into your business today?

Speaker 3:

For sure. I mean, the fact that I know how to sew a wedding dress is incredibly niche. So all of my sewing skills from her, so so grateful. I learned a lot of business stuff from her too, but I actually learned a lot of like what not to do in business when I was 16, my mom actually declared bankruptcy and she at the time had a company and I was at such a young age able to really understand what happens when things fail, what happens when you don't have money, what happens when you don't have cash flow, and it's definitely influenced who I am as a business owner, being still taking grits but being conservative in certain ways, and I mean to have that experience at such a young age is something that I'm really grateful for.

Speaker 2:

Totally yeah, and so my experience is my parents. When I was a young age they immigrated from to Canada and they also declared bankruptcy. When I remembered that impact on our family and how it kind of like gives you a bit of grit and like understand, it kind of wakes you up a little bit of like the realities of financial decisions and the long-term impact it has, but I mean at least for me and it sounds like maybe for you too.

Speaker 2:

it's kind of like giving you a bit more like gas in your tank to like do things differently and like more conviction and maybe even at least for me like some drive to have a different story Totally.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

I'm curious. I love a good high school business too, and you were saying, like you were designing prom dresses when you're 18, you know, like talk to us a little bit about that and set the scene like where you did. You have the reputation already that, like Gabby just had that sense of style and the ability to like create a beautiful dress and everyone wanted to look like Gabby. Or were you out there kind of like yo, I got this crazy idea for a prom dress and it's like I can see it on you. Like were you selling it? You know what was it like?

Speaker 3:

Well, my first business was actually at my school. Like, I founded the school store. We just sold like stuff at lunch. So that was my high school business. That was what made me realize I enjoyed business so much. Yeah, I didn't actually start designing prom dresses until well, the first one that I did was my own prom dress. And then it's because I graduated when I was 17. So it was like right after I graduated I started doing these prom dresses.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it was kind of random. I mean, I went to school with a uniform. It wasn't like I was even super fashion. I just I think because I'd seen it for my entire life. I kind of just had like, and whether I, whether I knew it or not, I kind of had like a natural eye for what looks good and what didn't look good. I really didn't question it very much when I was younger. I kind of just did it and then people said I did a good job and I feel like, okay, cool, maybe I can do it more. I just kept on not questioning it. I think, even to this day, a lot of my business. I just trust my gut and it's gotten me pretty far. So I'm gone on. Just, I think this is a good idea, this is a great fit, this is a good new business venture. This is a good new market. I've always just I don't know. I think I've just had some good intuition. I've been really lucky over the years that it paid off.

Speaker 1:

Yeah for sure. It's obviously paid off. One question I have on top of that is just you mentioned that like you never really questioned it and people would tell you you did a great job, so you just kept going, and that's been similar in the new brands that you've started. What about when you face criticism or when someone complains, or when maybe it doesn't go as planned and isn't received as positively Like? Do you find that that affects you or like redirects you? Or is it just kind of like, just like not doesn't really matter, and you kind of you know your trajectory and you keep going?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean when I was younger, everything factored me Like I think I definitely people, please are. I don't like failing. It took many years before I stopped letting failures and criticism affect me so personally as a business owner. You have to separate it, or else you just fall into a pit of despair, not to sound dramatic, but yeah, over the years I mean whenever there's criticism, mistakes, whatever, I just see it as. Yeah, as learning is growth. I've got this motto now no problems, only solutions. So like, if something goes wrong, it's like I just don't focus on it. How do I solve it? How do you not have that happen next time? Acknowledge what the mistake was made but like, what are you going to do? The mistake was already made, move on and be better next time, totally.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that you're the way you approach. It sounds so simple, but I think it's something that people get like hung up on. A lot is amplifying their problems rather than just like making a decision and moving on and even if you make the wrong decision, you can course correct, like nothing's not fixable. So it's really cool. It seems like that mindset just like is a natural thing for you, and I'm sure it's a accumulation of all these like years of doing this. And also, I think what's interesting about your story is you have so many businesses, so maybe talk to us about how that happened. Like, why do you have three dress brands and you know multiple locations and this other agency? Like, is it just cause you love starting creating businesses or was there more like that kind of contributed to the decision of making multiple businesses?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean there's lots of contributing factors. Speaking personally, if I get bored, I'm really good at finding something new to do and I mean you look at the history of my businesses, like I've always figured out new things to do. Another contributing factor to all of these businesses is giving opportunity to my team. Like I've been able to retain a really, really incredible team. But the way that I was able to do it was by growth. Like I wouldn't have people that have been working me for 10 years if they're still doing the same thing. So chatting with a team, figuring out how I can grow them, is definitely something that keeps me quite motivated.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I feel like people get confused by the bridal companies. Why I've got three? Why don't I just have one bridal company with like a really big collection? So that was actually solving a problem. So not many people know this, but in the wedding industry they've got these things called exclusivity zones. So, yes, I have my three stores, but the bulk of my company is actually wholesaling dresses to stores worldwide. I've got I mean, my main brand's got 60 retailers. My second one maybe has 40. My third one maybe has 30.

Speaker 3:

And I was finding that I was reaching a peak in how many retailers I could be in, because there's an exclusivity in my case of 100 kilometers around the city. So there are only so many big enough cities in Canada, in the States, where I'm able to which would allow me to keep growing. So when I launched my second brand, it was a way to A be able to sell to more stores, because I can suddenly sell in one, in two stores in one city, because one store would have one brand, the other store would have a second brand or I could sell to the same store twice. So it was just a way to grow the company and each brand is different. Trubelle is very romantic, a-line, pretty low days, more sexy, a-line's, very sophisticated, very modern. Yeah, so there are differences, but the main reason why is to be able to have more sales.

Speaker 1:

There you go. That's it. At the end of the day, you need to have more sales. You mentioned that you have people that have worked for you for 10 years. Can you talk about that Like? What does it look like for you aside from building a brand and a business and making more sales, but then also on the other side of making it a great place to work and finding people that you wanna work with for a long time and helping them manage their growth within the brands that you're building?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean I've been really lucky. If we look at my very first staff member, the St Joseph St Mary, I actually knew her from when I was a kid, so she's an incredible sewer. She's probably one of the best in Vancouver and we have a pretty personal connection just because she's seen me since I was younger and she's been there from the beginning. I let her know all the time how grateful I am and she's been able to grow with the business over time. I think she recognizes that she feels like a personal connection to me and the brands to see it go well. Yeah, I mean other staff members like two of my other long-term staff members used to work with me when I was doing the custom dresses, like with my mom, and they've since grown alongside me. Yeah, I mean I think it's probably a mixture, like given growth opportunity.

Speaker 3:

I mean I try to be a good boss. I've definitely made mistakes, but I think I've always truly done things with the intention of what's best for the business in mind. But I also think what's best for the business is also what's best for the staff members. So I've really tried to do what's good by my staff. Yeah, and involving people in the process, like I mean, when I first started my company, it was like in my apartment people were like checking dresses in my bedroom and it was just a really personal and I feel like With my staff, even with my marketing people love that personal connection and love being part of something and I've been able to give that to them. Yeah, I do write by them over the years. Hopefully they stay with me for another 20 or another 10 years. I'm really really happy with my team.

Speaker 2:

Love it. As you've scaled your business, how have you found ways to keep that personal touch with your customers? Like you mentioned at the beginning, you were so hands-on and you knew people coming to your house and looking at dresses in your room. How has that? Of course it's not the way now, but how do you keep that personal touch?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, one thing that I will say is before, when it was just me, I feel like people didn't really take it as seriously. For example, people would come and they knew it was me, so they would probably ask me things that you wouldn't ask an average person, because they thought they could get something else out of me. I think like the business started seeming, to the average person's eye, a lot more legit when I had other people working for me. That being said, I do think a personal touch is really important to company. Now I still make a point of visiting all of my shops, like meeting with my customers. I'm still the ones doing. I'm still part of the annual bridal markets, meeting my retailers, chatting with them.

Speaker 3:

Now, how I'm able to just share my story on a bigger scale is through social media. I often share my story on TikTok and it's garnered millions of views. At this point, where it's basically my what I do is, I'll do like me, wearing dresses and then in tax, sharing my story Starting from the very beginning. People love hearing how I started when I was in my 20s and this is where I've come. I think it's really inspiring, especially now that I'm on TikTok, for somebody who are in their 20s to hear that with time and effort you can eventually get to the place that you want to be. Yeah, people definitely feel connected to me by the story of how I started.

Speaker 2:

I love it. I love your TikTok and I love following it. What kind of advice would you give to someone who aspires to start a bridal business? Maybe today it sounds like TikTok and sharing your story would be one of those pieces of advice, but anything else you would share for them?

Speaker 3:

I have to say I was really fortunate when I started my bridal company, because it was when all of these new waves of bridal stories were coming in that were non-traditional. There is an element of timing just being perfect for when I started. However, if I were to do it now definitely especially like I didn't have any marketing money, I didn't have money to travel I garnered a lot of my following through Etsy, which that's a bit of storytelling too, because it's all about individual makers. I got really big on Pinterest. Yeah, nowadays I would just go on TikTok share a lot about yourself, share a lot about the design process, be really consistent, garner a following and then use that to convert to sales. Use that to have awareness with brides and the retailers and hopefully somebody will take a chance on you.

Speaker 3:

Getting your first few clients is always the most difficult, because it's a big risk for a retailer to take a chance with somebody who's brand new, like even myself. I'm taking a risk on somebody who's brand new. It's like oh, I'm going to have to educate them along the way and they're going to make mistakes and that's going to be costly for me. Garnering somebody that's going to trust you and then doing right by them is yeah, I would say, all three of those things would probably be the recipe for success Garnering a following, gaining trust and not losing that trust. Huge yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:

Can you talk a little bit about the branding and marketing side of things? From when you got started? I know you mentioned that some of the channels like Pinterest and Etsy but from my understanding, from what you've been saying so far, you came into this really focused on a product because you grew up designing dresses and working with your mom and that was your expertise. You didn't have any marketing money, you didn't have the budgets to travel and stuff like that. Beyond thinking about how can I gain a following, what were you doing? Were you literally designing pins yourself on Pinterest? And who were you working with for photo shoots? And how are you thinking about the brand outside of just the product itself and selling it to a customer?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think it was really helpful that I was 20 years old when I started this. Everything just came really naturally and I think because it came so naturally, it came across as authentic. I mean, the first channel that I got on was Etsy. I was personally on Etsy. I thought it was a really cool platform. I think that started that built me at the very beginning with no budget because I didn't have any money. Etsy's got its marketing channels. People are on there. People are already using weddings, using that to find wedding inspiration and find wedding items. That was like. I mean, etsy is all about individual makers.

Speaker 3:

I started off gaining a following because of me being an individual maker. Then, through Etsy, I got kind of interest, famous, but that was just lucky Enough. People saw my stuff on Etsy and then it kind of blew up. It helped that the product was interesting. I was working with this one teacher once. They said that you can't roll a turd in glitter, meaning you can put a lot of marketing product behind, like a lot of marketing dollars behind something, but if the item itself isn't very good, it doesn't matter, whereas if your product is really good, then the following will come because it's interesting. I mean that helped too, because the product was good. It was interesting In terms of my first photo shoots. Again, I got lucky. I'll tell you about my very first photo shoot, because I didn't actually have money to do it.

Speaker 3:

There was a photographer who borrowed my dresses for a style shoot and she sent me a message and was like hey, gabby, I love your stuff, hate your photos. Would you be willing I'll take your photos for free? I just want to help you, which was really kind of her. My very first e-com she just did for free because she believes in me. That also loops into the story. This young girl starting this company in her home, throwing everything herself People just really resonated with that. It all felt really authentic. My Instagram when I first logged into Instagram for my brand, I was personally running it. I was posting stuff about me. I was posting stuff about what I was eating. It was so, so personal and that really helped me grow my brand in the most authentic and also cost-efficient way possible. I also recognize that not everybody would be able to do that. It was because I was a young girl living in an aesthetic place doing wedding dresses. It depends on you as a person. This wouldn't be good marketing advice for everybody.

Speaker 2:

I almost wonder, though, if it is, it can be advice applied to everyone, because what you were doing is really building your business out loud, like in public.

Speaker 2:

You were open about your story and people got to journey with you, and I think you know some of those opportunities about like the photographer coming to you wanting to shoot your e-com like I don't think that would have happened if you weren't so open with your story and building your business publicly.

Speaker 2:

And I think, like even for like me myself too, I feel like I also was building publicly, and I remember when I first saw into my agency, my first customer was like my high school friend's mom, and she paid me real like good money and but she just saw it. You know she followed me and, like you never know like who's watching and how they're relating to you and what parts of your story are resonating with them. But so I think that is a really good advice that people who are listening should consider is, like a lot of people are maybe scared, but I think stories are so powerful and if you're building a business, you should be talking about it and talking about the challenges and showing people what you're doing and what you're learning, cause I think the more people can be bought into your story, the more they're going to cheer for you and want you to win.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, actually you know what you are right, if I even look at my TikTok, for example. So I'll get a video that has two million. I'll have two videos that have two million views. One of them is just me wearing a dress it's really pretty to aesthetic music. The other one is me wearing a dress to aesthetic music, but with texts about how I started my business and my history. And even though they both got two million views, I'll have 10 times as many new followers from the video where I share a bit about myself, then the video that's basically the same without sharing a bit about myself, and those followings are so much more powerful than the views.

Speaker 2:

Totally. Yeah, I think that's so cool and I think like that reminds me of when I followed you too, like seeing you build a business and you were young and going after an industry that's really tough, like I think that's inspiring, so that totally connects and I can see that working for anyone who's listening, like no matter what kind of business it is, it would be really cool to see more of those stories.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm curious. You mentioned in the beginning it was a lot of your own. You were managing Instagram, you were managing Pinterest. It was a lot of. It was what you're eating, it was your story, it was your experiences, it was your bedroom, you know, like all that kind of stuff. And it sounds like your personal TikTok is still kind of like that, like maybe more curated, but it's still very much you to your audience. But then as your brands kind of grew and separated themselves from your personal brand to be their own entities and you had teams working on them and you even mentioned like that made you more legit how did you feel your audience kind of reacted or evolved in that process? Like, do you feel like you went through a few different seasons of different types of audiences because of that process, or do you think people have kind of stuck with you all along the way and they've understood it all along the way?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean we like I say we change and discuss what we're gonna be doing on our Instagram, on our social medias, every year. So I think over the years it's just naturally changed because social media changes and trends change and you need to follow them. We're from seasons where it's been better than worse. I think probably what would be the most interesting thing that I've noticed as we've changed the brand over the years is so I want it to be a little bit more disconnected from my companies, just because it's like in terms of like being a public figure, because it is a lot of personal energy and like, especially when you bought so much else on your plate, it can be so taxing to then, after you're so tired, after you've had all these things happen, then have to go put your face out there. Like it's exhausting and I did take a break from like trying to be so on there personally.

Speaker 3:

But the past couple of years I've been putting myself back. I've like kind of gone back to my, to. Trudeau in particular has gone back to its roots, with me being more featured and it's been good Like. So we started with me being there, we removed me and then now you know, 10 years later we're putting me back in. So I think that says something about it's good to change with the times. But at the end of the day, we went back to. We went back to including me in there and including my story in there.

Speaker 1:

I think that's cool to hear. Maybe it might seem simple, but for a lot of people listening, I think either they are very much the face of their brand and they have a fear of removing themselves, that maybe their brand will fail because people are connected to them. So it's cool to see that it didn't for you, like you were still able to grow and fall.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but then you can also change your mind later and like become part of it again. So I think a lot of people just seem to put too much pressure on decisions like that, when really it's we're all kind of learning as we go. One question that I'm curious about just you're obviously an entrepreneur and you've done this a lot. You've done this for a long time. You've done this in various packages through different brands and businesses. Have you ever wanted to quit?

Speaker 3:

Yes, okay, yeah, I mean I think, especially in my early days, like I was 20, 21, 22, like my last job was at a host at a restaurant, like I've never really had experience working for other people and I always felt that that was something that would be able to make me a better boss is being able, like working for a bigger company and doing and I don't know just knowing what it feels like to be like a team member rather than the manager. So for years I wanted to stop. So I still read my company kind of passively, but stop and get better experience. With the idea of going back to my company with all of this, this knowledge of what it means to be a team member and what I like and what I don't like about a manager. I also had this like weird dream about like stopping everything and being like a bartender, just like no pressure, no eyes on me, nobody asking me for things, but yeah.

Speaker 3:

But at the end of the day, like I thought about it, I did toy with the idea, but I don't think I could have ever done it Like I. At this point all I know is running my company and it brings me so much happiness and I know I'm good at it and I feel like I would be doing myself and my team would deserve this if I wasn't doing this and being the owner of the company. So, yeah, I've thought about it, but like now I'm 10 years later, I'm glad that I didn't stop, I'm glad that I start things through and, yeah, I'm in it for the long haul, like I'm gonna be doing this forever. Like I do not want to retire. This is my forever job.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome, yeah, I mean. I think it's healthy. We talked about this a few times in a few other episodes. It's healthy to think about it and to ask yourself is this something we still really want to do? But, Mike, you always like to say those who don't quit win. So it's not always easy, but it's worth it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, totally. Someone once said that to me. It's the ones that don't quit that win. So, like whenever it gets hard for me and I'm thinking, man, is this something I still want to do, or can I get through this? That often is the thing that, like, maybe this is that moment you know, like where, if I decide to keep going, that like I'll break through whatever I'm trying to break through, and it will be easier, it'll be different, and so that often keeps me going when it feels pretty tricky.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. And I mean, like feeding on to that point, I mean, during the pandemic I ran a bridal company. During the pandemic it was really really tough for me. But then you have to remember I mean that was a global disaster but like, for example, 2008, during the financial crisis, like that was that would be a time that you would want to quit. That would be really tough. But the people that stuck it through there are all the other people that were having the same issues that were really tough for them, the ones that stuck it through. Suddenly they've got a bigger piece of the pie because they did stick it through and everybody was going through the same hardships.

Speaker 1:

Definitely.

Speaker 2:

So how do you balance your time between multiple brands, locations, the agency, how are you able to manage what you should be spending your energy on and what you shouldn't?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, I would not, like none of this would be possible, but it wasn't for the fact that I've got an incredible team. I directly manage like five or six people. I have monthly meetings with them. They tell me what's going on, they tell me how they solved it and I just say yes, yes, yes, yes. So I don't have to think about so many aspects of my company because I've got such a great team that are handling it for me.

Speaker 3:

I, of course, often if there's any issues, like we joke that I'm like disaster control, so if there's ever any issues like I step in. If they need help, they know they can come to me. But like I don't have to run so many aspects of my company because I've got people that I trust in those key positions. So I'd probably be the biggest thing. But also I'm just like a crazy person. Like I can handle so much, I can do so much. Like it's gotten to the point now where, like I think before, when I first started my company, I would sometimes feel frustrated that certain people weren't doing things as fast as me. But now that I'm a while, I realize that, like, I'm just a very fast, efficient person and that's just me.

Speaker 2:

Like I'm able to run all of my companies.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like I just am able to do all of it. But yeah, I'd be a mixture of like just who the business owner is, like what they're able to do, how they manage trust levels, how they manage time and also team.

Speaker 2:

When you were starting to build out your team, were there certain areas of your business that you're like oh, I just need someone else to do this because it's so draining and so hard for me. Like, what are the areas that you started to like build out first?

Speaker 3:

I mean the first thing that I built out was sewing because I mean, when I first started I was the one so like I was sewing people's wedding dresses myself and it's I knew that was the one that I wanted to give up first because that was what my mom did. I saw how much work my mom put into. Like it's classic, if you put yourself in the daily functionings of your business then you aren't running a business, you just created the job for yourself. And if I continued sewing it's so time consuming, it requires so much skill. Like there was no way I could have had the capacity to grow that, to grow my company. So yeah, for sewing.

Speaker 3:

And I mean there are certain things that like I didn't love doing because I just didn't know how to do it. Like bookkeeping I didn't really know much about but I mean should be told I like all of it. Like I liked the cutting, the production. So I'm a friendly, my least favorite. Like I love sales and design, but I mean I had to eventually let go of things to be able to grow.

Speaker 1:

And that's what I was going to ask is less like what were the things that you couldn't wait to get rid of, but more like what were the things that were harder for you to let go of as you were building your team and trust other people with.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the only things I can think of are like sewing and bookkeeping, everything else I genuinely loved doing, and I really did try to do as much of it myself until I got to the point where it's like so clear that I need to give this off to somebody because I was hurting the company by not doing it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it makes sense.

Speaker 3:

I feel like I'm glad that I took that route too, because, like when I started bringing in staff because I had done everything myself for so long, I was able to really train exactly how I wanted to manage with experience, rather than, oh, I think this is how we should be doing it, I could be like, no, you can do it this way, this is how you do it. These are the steps that helped me become a better manager and I think it also, even though I was so young, it helped my staff members trust me more, because when I was telling them to do things, it wasn't just like a 20-year-old telling them to do something, it was like 20-year-old with experience telling me to do something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's not. That's helpful for me. It's not like Google says to do it this way, it's like this is how I've been doing it, this is how it works. Now do it this way.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and I mean the other on the flip side too, because I had done it when they had an idea of how to do it differently, because I had done it, I had an understanding of how they got to that path. I just was able to understand a lot more than if I were to right away hire somebody into marketing. I'm glad I did all the marketing because I understand it. I'm glad I did all the sewing. I'm glad I did all the sales. I'm glad I did all the production.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I want to talk about sales a little bit because I think it's Personally that's a really tricky and hard skill to master. Sales is just so hard for me. But you mentioned that you liked it. Building a wholesale business that takes that skill. So I'm curious how did you approach that? You said no one ever taught you how to do this, but how did you start getting your first wholesale clients and approach sales? Was there a learning curve for you or did it just come natural?

Speaker 3:

I think at the end of the day it came pretty naturally. I actually quite like sales. I love like, because for me it's kind of problem solving when you want something, how can I deliver this to you? And I like to get a kick out of stuff like that. But yeah, I mean my first wholesaler. So I was really lucky with my very first wholesaler because they found me on Etsy and I was like okay, cool, yes, they asked me all these things, do you do these things? And I'm like, yes, I didn't have a size range. I didn't actually have anything built out. I was just like, yes, I'll figure it out later.

Speaker 3:

But then my retailers after that, I mean I just basically gave them, keep them in offer. They couldn't refuse. So my, my first, my stuff. Okay, first retailer, easy. Second retailer.

Speaker 3:

I emailed them and was like hi, I'm Gabby, I started this bridal company. I love your store. I'm willing to come to your store. I'll bring my dresses, I'll travel there. I mean it was just victorious, it wasn't that far. I'll travel there. I'll work your store over the weekend. I'll even sell other dresses. Please, just like, let me come to your store with my dresses and just see what I'm about. So like I mean, here's some random girl offering to work at your store for free for a weekend, I would say no and giving you product that maybe you can sell, but if not, it's not a huge deal, it was an offer they couldn't refuse. Yeah, I mean, I'm my personality, like I'm naturally pretty charismatic, so that's really helpful. And like I genuinely like my products, that's also really helpful, like it's genuine when I'm selling it. I love sales, though is a tricky thing. It's like there's a lot of psychology involved. Oh yeah, lots of like understanding your customer and also how you can sell to them. I love it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's definitely so fascinating. It's a skill that I want to improve on. But I think when it comes to like the ask, the final thing, like so, do we have a deal? That part to me I'm always like, ah, like, oh, I love it.

Speaker 3:

No, I love it. I'm literally like when I'm at the shop, I'm like this is perfect for you. Like this is your dress. I just this is the best one. Like this is yours. I feel like. I feel like I say it kind of funny, though, like yeah, it's not, it's. It's such a skill, like if you say that wrong, that just sounds so douchey, but if you say it with a smile on your face, you're like this is what that's this is great for sure I need to channel that energy.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna try that next time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think you hit on something important, like there's different, there's two different kinds of sales. There's the kind that we all think about with that negative connotation, where someone's really like asserting Something on you and really pushing you to just say yes, say yes, and they view you as a statistic and it's like if they assert their will on enough people, then like a percentage of those people are just gonna say yes, and that's a certain type of sales and I think we can all agree that that's not the kind of sales Any of us would like. And then they're to your point, gabby. There's like problem-solving and also just like relationship building, and for me that's the the kind of sales that is so enjoyable.

Speaker 1:

And more of my role at our, at our agency, is like Establishing trust, which is something you talked about earlier, like really putting yourself out there in a way that makes people trust you and actually having their best interest interest in mind to the psychological part of it too and being able to like provide them at something that meets their, their needs and Communicated in a way that makes it obvious to them that that's true, and I think that there is something so like fulfilling and exhilarating about that and then when you actually get to deliver the product or the service or whatever it is, you can see the light come on for them and they enjoy the experience and they want more of it and they tell their friends about it and that's the rest. Is history, right?

Speaker 1:

So I totally feel like there's charisma needed, but really it's like just being a good human and like caring about what people need and what they want and being able to speak their language, and that definitely feels good when you're able to do that for sure. Yeah totally curious if you have any predictions for the wedding and bridal industry where it's going like what kind of trends you see emerging? What are you excited about and watching right now?

Speaker 3:

well, during the pandemic it was very like Simple silhouettes, create satin, like minimalist, I think. I mean this was definitely. I saw, or we saw this past year and we're seeing again this year that people are Out and they want to be loud and proud about being out and about. So, yeah, definitely like Bateman fabrics, big skirts, dramatic slits we're seeing a lot of that. I Mean this has been a trend in the wedding industry ever since Pinterest. But people also just looking for new, for exciting, for something that their friends haven't already worn. Everybody can see what everybody's doing on social media these days that people are really really keen on something unique, different, cutting edge. I definitely see brides being more trend-forward than they used to be before. There was so much focus on Classic and timeless. Now people want to be exciting, which I love. I love seeing that.

Speaker 2:

I love it too. I am not and like I'm married. I've been married for a while but I get bridal content on my dick doc and just I'm like all these weddings are so beautiful and like brides not like I love the like really unique, different, like capes or like I don't know, like hair pieces, like it's just so fun. That's why you're always talking about doing a vow renewal I know we need to, because it would be fun to do something completely different, just like go away in another country and give me a budget for a cool dress by Gabby and let's call it a day.

Speaker 3:

I mean at the end of the day, it's just like a wedding, is just a celebration. It's a party you have with your nearest and dearest, like and then celebrating your love Like what. What better way to bring up all your friends and family together than something like that?

Speaker 1:

It's true, exactly let's. I'm cool with it. If it's a destination, say less yeah for sure.

Speaker 2:

Well, gabby, we're near in the end of our time together. Thank you so much for being so open and vulnerable with your, your answers and sharing your story. We like to ask every guest this final question, and that's who's making waves right now and why?

Speaker 3:

so I'm definitely drawn to Like female entrepreneurs. I can just relate. So I mean, on the bigger end, I love Sarah from Spanx, I love Rihanna, and then I mean I work with a lot of local companies through the, through my modeling agency, and I think Sarah Shabby and from row Hems as a great job. I love Barbara from Sundays. She also does field and social. I personally love for their salads. Yeah, I love following their stories In terms of like social media. I love it near mirror pales doing for Instagram and then how CD for TikTok. I reference them a lot for my own content.

Speaker 2:

Love it. Those are great, great references.

Speaker 1:

And where can our listeners connect with you after this?

Speaker 3:

Well, for me personally, on Instagram I'm at G a, b y ba, but that's more like Ravill and it's not personal, it's not like very businessy, but do you want to follow me? That'd be the best way to follow me. And then on TikTok, for more business wedding dress content, it would be Gabby dot Bayona. And then all of my brands are links on my personal pages so you can follow all of them.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, and we'll link them in the show notes too.

Speaker 3:

Okay, thanks so much, guys. Yeah, thanks for joining us. Yeah, I had so much fun. It was great to get to know you guys. It's a great break from the rest of my day. I'm gonna be back on my computer after this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's good, yeah, likewise, that's good.