Intro (00:01):
Pixie Dust and Profits is a podcast for small business owners who love Disney and want to sprinkle some of that magic onto their own businesses. Join your host, Nicole Boucher, and Yasmine Spencer. As they explore the mouse’s $12.6 billion operation and break down exactly how you can apply these big scale concepts to your own business.

Yasmine (00:26):
Hey Nicole, I have what might be an unpopular opinion here. So I wanna say that if you’re an annual passholder, this might not apply, but I truly truly believe that you cannot have a good time at Disney. If you don’t plan your trip before you go, and I’m not talking about your hotel room, I’m not talking about like your flights and all of those, like mandatory to physically get to Disney. But like, if you show up to Disney with your family thinking you’re gonna have an incredible vacation and you haven’t done all of what frankly is pre-work before your trip, it’s probably not gonna be the magical experience that you’re hoping for. What do you Think, Nicole?

Nicole (01:05):
It’s certainly not going to be easy or breezy. like, it’s not going to be easy and breezy. You know, there’s a lot of things about Disney. We’ve talked in so many episodes about having to have your food reservations well beforehand, but even if you’re not doing reservations for your dining, which Yasin and I don’t always do because we visit enough that we don’t need to. We know that there’s a mobile order system in which restaurants allow for mobile ordering and what time you should order your food to get it at the 12 o’clock slot, which is, you know, prime time. And everyone’s trying to get their food at the same, same time. Those are all tips and tricks that we’ve learned going there so much. And if you’re taking your one and only trip you, you don’t know, you don’t have that knowledge. And it’s a lot of work to go discover it all. And so today’s episode is all about doing the pre-work yes. On your Disney trips, but also in the different projects, your business.

Yasmine (02:04):
Yeah. I think like very frequently we have this incredible idea and we’re like, okay, we’re gonna work on it, then we’re gonna launch it. And then people will come. And unless you have like an established audience, sometimes there’s crickets, you know, you, you might even have done some pre-work. You might have start teasing things on social media, but if you don’t map out all of, not just the operational touch points of your project, but the marketing touch points, it’s gonna impact your launch. And similar to showing up to Disney without a plan, it’s not gonna be a magical experience.

Nicole (02:37):
Yeah. So, you know, before we get into like the business stuff, I just wanna like go into, like, how do you go about goal editing for your Disney trips? Yaman

Yasmine (02:46):
Ooh. Okay. So I feel like my answer might be similar to people who don’t go to Disney as often, simply because I’ve just been held back because of the pandemic a little bit. But first of all, I look at like, what’s new, there’s always something new at Disney, whether it’s like a new attraction, a new restaurant, or sometimes just even new and seasonal snack offerings that they have or food offerings at the various places. There’s always something to check out. So right off the bat, I like to figure out what do I want to see? What’s important to me, the second thing, and maybe this should be the first, but who am I going with? If I’m going with someone who is attending for the first time, I’m not going to take them on like a Yasin Disney trip. I’m gonna take them on a first time or Disney, triple requires even more planning cuz you wanna make sure that they are like getting on all of the key rides in each park. They’re going to all the re experiences. And you know, you’re doing like the full Disney trip. If I’m going with you, Nicole, maybe be a little bit more relaxed. You know, we, we know when to roll up to whole bur up to Loha aisle to get her doll whips, which Nicole isn’t, I think as big of a fan of, but she goes along with it just because I’m obsessed and the

Nicole (03:58):
Idea of doll whips, but I just don’t like ice cream. So you can have your doll whip and I’ll get my Mickey shaped pretzel. All good.

Yasmine (04:05):
Yeah. That’s how we, that’s how we do it. So like who I’m going with is another like huge factor. And the third thing is like, just time again, if you’re there for a short period, you might wanna hit up like the key parks. If you are going with someone like match a I’m like that’s a must do, but if I’m going like by myself or like with Nicole, I’m gonna go to Hollywood studios and just go on all of like the amazing new rides, because that’s the experience that I want to have. So there’s different parameters around goal setting. But those are like the three things that I definitely consider when I’m planning my goals. What about you?

Nicole (04:40):
I’d say it’s pretty similar. It does start with who’s coming. So for example, we took a really big family trip in December of 2018. I think it was with people who were probably on their one and only Disney trip. And so we packed magic kingdom, all of the traditional rides and as much fun as we could have into that on the flip, know that when we went for the star wars 10 K, we didn’t wanna buy park tickets. We wanted to do the 10 K and then just kind of relax otherwise. So we did a backstage tour and had a blast. It was so much fun. I would highly recommend doing that whenever it reopens. And as of this recording, I will be in Disney next week for just two days with my family. We’re actually going to, okay, I’m gonna, like, I know this is a Disney podcast, but we’re actually gonna be going to universal for the rest of the week to try that out.

Nicole (05:32):
And I haven’t been to universal in 12 years. So maybe that will be some material when I come back. But you know, since we only have two park days next week, we’ve been talking about this in our house. Like what a rides that we feel like we have to do, or is this more of a, we just wanna get away from home and look at a different four walls. We are in Maine it’s winter. I am ready to be above zero for a few days. So our goals are completely different. It’s maybe we can get to the heated pool and maybe we can see the firework show at upcot and that’s about it. Hollywood studios. I would love to get an, every single ride, but realistically with my kid there, we’re probably going to try and ride to Romania as many times as possible. So we just make the goals about what we’re doing there.

Yasmine (06:16):
Okay. So let’s recap how we plan our Disney trip. We figure out who we’re with. We figure out how much time we have. And again, what are those overarching like, goals that we wanna hit? And I think that applies to your business, right? So every time

Nicole (06:31):
We lost, you’re saying that and I’m like, oh my gosh. Yes. That’s exactly it for Disney trips and your business.

Yasmine (06:37):
Yeah. So, well, again, let let’s recap it and look at this from a business standpoint. So first of all, what are your goals? Do you want to hit a certain revenue goal? Do you wanna hit a certain unit goal? Those are things that are important to you and that’s sort of the first step in determining, okay. Where do you want this to land? The second piece is who you’re with or your case probably who you’re talking to. Who’s your audience? What is their willingness to purchase? What is the maximum sort of amount that they’re willing to pay? How often are they willing to like purchase from you? That could be another consideration. Like if you’re doing like launch after launch, after launch, you might be tapping out your hot audience, you know

Nicole (07:18):
How hot or warm or cold your audience is right now. Like how much value you’ve been giving them in between. Those are all factors to consider. Exactly.

Yasmine (07:26):
And

Nicole (07:27):
Kind of like, have they been to Disney before or do they go weekly?

Yasmine (07:30):
exactly. And you know, if they have gone very frequently, you know you might need to, I either offer them more value or go after a colder audience because they might just be a little bit disced out, so to speak, you know, that can happen, believe it or not. And then the final piece is time. Like how long are you going to be pushing this product, this launch in terms of both marketing period, but also availability. What does that look like? And how much time do you have to in this whole thing? So it’s really important to map out these goals before you can go into it, cuz no matter how excited you get, you need a strategy in order to make something successful. Enthusiasm can work, you know, once, twice, maybe three times to get something off the ground. But if you want it’s stay exactly. I was gonna say, if you want a sustainable business, if you want some, a business that can scale and grow, you’re gonna have to put some planning into it.

Nicole (08:29):
Well, and, and not just from the standpoint of your customers and what they’re willing to buy and how much sales they’re willing to tolerate. It’s also in the, in context of your team. And so I’d say one of the pitfalls, I see entrepreneurs, digital business owners, even eCommerce, if they have a team is they think of these launches and these new products and they, you know, go all in to pursue that without a realistic picture of what it takes to make something happen. So even if you’re just tweaking an already existing product, it’s oh, that’s just an email tweak, but it’s not. There’s a lot of automations that go behind it. There’s rebuilding carts. There’s making sure that your customer service person knows how to answer all the questions that are about to come in. There’s a whole runway that needs to happen when a product is launched.

Nicole (09:22):
Even if it’s an existing product, especially if it’s a new one. And so thinking about things upfront, doing the pre-work so that way you can have a successful, but also I don’t wanna say stress free. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through any stress free launches. There’s always something, but just a little more palatable. You know, something that you can handle with being able to pivot, make, make good decisions when you need to pivot because you are in arrested state because you had enough runway you’ve thought. And ahead enough. So, you know, in the case of Disney planning, if you’ve never been, I’d highly recommend you check out some of the resources from wish upon a planner, and then you can go ahead and get all of the information you need about having a successful Disney trip. Well ahead of the trip. So when you arrive, you are not paralyzed by the sign that says mobile orders. And wait, I thought we just walked up to the front and ordered our food. You can’t do that. And you’re trying to learn in the app on the fly while 10 other families around you are doing the same thing and everyone’s hangry, that’s not the experience you want. So do the pre-work

Yasmine (10:31):
A hundred percent Nicole, what other thing I think we forgot to mention that you sort of touch Japan is the capacity of you and your team when making these decisions. So, you know, a great example of this is I’ve started a new e-commerce project and I have so many ideas for things that I want to launch, but I also have a hundred outstanding orders that I need to ship. And as much as I want to like push out new things and bring in the revenue, it’s just not a good customer experience. If my customers have to have like a longer turnaround time, just cause I’m pushing out so many things. So as much as I’d love to move forward with it. And you know, a lot of you product based shops probably go through the same thing. Sometimes you just wanna catch up on all the outstanding orders that you have. So you can go into a launch stress free and not worrying about, oh gosh, I have to like pack all these other orders before I even get into these ones. So think about the capacity that you have and your team has, if they’re juggling a bunch of different other projects at once, whether execution or planning wise, you don’t wanna throw something else on your shoulders and theirs, because like Nicole said, it’s gonna be stressful and you’re not gonna be in a clear state of mind to make good decisions to pivot. I mean,

Nicole (11:44):
And that just brings it back to what we talked about in, I dunno if it was the last episode or the one before, but with the pillars, right? Goals don’t necessarily have to be, I want to make eggs dollars this year, or I want to sell this many widgets a month. They can be about your systems about your customer experience, like the example that ya gave about outstanding orders that need to be fulfilled before we start selling to new people your product development, your team development, your team dynamics, your growth in general, of all the different channels you have buying more inventory is growth. And then your reach and visibility, all of your marketing. So goals can fall under any of these categories. And if you are interested in joining us to understand more about those categories and find your focus, make sure you join us for our upcoming masterclass. It will help you to decipher all of this with visuals and magic and Yas. And I so definitely join us for that. It’s happening really soon. You can go to pixiedustandprofits.com/masterclass to get there.

Yasmine (12:45):
And just so you know, I saved all of my good Disney puns for that masterclass.

Nicole (12:50):
she’s really good at the Disney puns. If you to Disney pun in one of our emails, that’s Yasmine all right. Well, this was a short and sweet episode. We hope it got you thinking about why it’s so important to do the pre-work no matter what projects you’re looking at, no matter what goals you’re looking at, make sure you join us for that upcoming master class. And one thing I just realized we forgot to talk about was best practices with the pre-work and launching and making sure that your project is ready to go. We’re gonna talk about that over in our Patreon, which you can find pixiedustandprofits.Com/Patreon. And if you join it’s as little as $5 a month, you can get bonuses like this all the time. Ooh,

Yasmine (13:29):
I can’t wait to talk about that, Nicole. All right. Thank you again for joining us for another episode of Pixie Dust and Profits. If you’re not following us on Instagram, we are @pixiedustandprofits, and we’d love to hear what you think about this episode. Make sure you comment on the post where we share it. Thanks again. And we’ll see you real soon. Bye.