SDH 167: Trusting Your Intuition & Going for It with Sarah Ashley Schiear, Founder of Salt House Mkt
How do you plan on submersing your audience with your brand? Is that even on the agenda?
When today's guest, Sarah Schiear, first started the e-commerce site Salt House Market in 2014, all she knew was that she loved throwing dinner parties and wanted to sell custom designed aprons. Now, Salt House Market includes kitchen and home products like fondue sets, cookware, coffee tables, stools, chandeliers, and so much more! Plus it acts as a lifestyle guide featuring cooking recipes like Coconut Eggnog Brulee French Toast and Sarah's morning coffee. Also, she has tips on entertaining with how-to's on throwing, 'The Ultimate Rose Dinner Party' and a 'DIY Soba Noodle Bar' party.
Her newest business venture includes translating her website into a brick-and-mortar store, but she desires to still include the site's interactive and lifestyle elements. Her plan is for her store to be a hybrid of a retail store, concept studio, and event space so it can connect consumers to influencers and brands. She plans to do so with in-house cooking classes, multiple demo sites, events centered around influencers in the home and food realm, and anything else that gives consumers a richer shopping experience and tells the stories behind brands and products.
Sarah's love for the food and entertainment industry began when she graduated college and started cooking for her then boyfriend and hosting dinner parties. Ignited by her innovative recipes, her friends and peers wanted to know how she put them to together and managed these large home events. She soon started a food blog that showcased these recipes and featured how-to videos on YouTube.
What took her to the next level in her food career was when she decided to apply for the ABC show, the Taste. The show was a cooking competition that had cooks across various experience levels proving who could cook the best tasting food. Sarah made it to third place in the finale, and from that experience, she learned how to work in a professional kitchen and where the food industry could take her.
From there, she opened a pop-up restaurant in New York with a fellow contestant that combined fine dining with a relaxed dinner party atmosphere. The restaurant was a success and through a contact of her partner's, she landed a job as a caterer for the Olson twins for various events, amongst other A-list clients.
Relax, and let Sarah tell you all about where she sees Salt House Market going in the future and how it all came to be!
In this episode you will...
Learn how to grow an e-commerce business
Know which area of your market fits you the most and how you could combine some fields with your brand
Figure out how to transition your brand from an e-commerce site to a brick and mortar
Learn to trust your gut and not be influenced by others
Understand how to balance and prioritize your ideas if you are a creative person
Find out how to allocate your energy so you don't wear yourself down
INSIGHTS
"Everybody's got opinions..[but] nobody actually knows anything. This is mostly true if you're doing something that is obviously new and never existed...Yes, these people can give you great advice. Yes, there's many things to learn from their breadth of experience...[but] the fake it 'til you make it is very much a thing." -Sarah Schiear
"If you're a creative or someone who's an idea person...you kind of have to say, these ideas are great and just because I'm not doing this one right now doesn't mean it's never going to happen...stick it in your idea parking lot for another time and just [be] really diligent about that." -Sarah Schiear
"If you happen to be an over achiever...which is great because you love what you do and you're passionate about it so it doesn't feel like work...then it's really easy to try and do too many things at once....you don't realize how much energy goes into all that stuff." -Sarah Schiear
RESOURCES
