w/ Megan Smalley, Scarlet & Gold
Megan Smalley didn’t plan to build a powerhouse ecommerce brand. Scarlet & Gold started as a creative side project—until she got laid off.
Fast forward 12 years, and Scarlet & Gold is one of the only women-owned businesses licensed for NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) merch on Shopify. This March, their Shopify sales are up 74.2% year-over-year—with over 53.6% of those sales tied to March Madness merchandise.
And here’s the kicker: 69.5% of their basketball sales come from just two NIL deals.
So how did she do it? What makes NIL merch so powerful? And what’s it really like running an ecommerce business that lives and dies by game-day hype?
That’s what we’re talking about today.
👉 Read more from Shopify’s newsroom: shopify.com/news/march-madness-entrepreneurs
🔗 Check out Scarlet & Gold → scarletandgoldshop.com
🔗 Need custom merch? → scarletandgoldcustom.com
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This is a story about ecommerce, sports, and the weird world of NIL merch.
It’s about how one Shopify store turned athlete partnerships into real growth.
And it’s about what happens when you take a risk—and it actually works.
Kurt Elster
This episode is sponsored in part by Address Validator. Did you know incorrect addresses cost US businesses $20 billion every year? That's $216,000 on average per company, just gone thanks to failed deliveries. Think about that extra re-delivery fee, the handling costs, and worst of all, unhappy customers who might never return. But here's the good news. Address validator has your back. It integrates seamlessly with Shopify to catch and correct address errors before they become costly problems. Every day it validates over 300,000 orders. and prevents more than 11,000 failed deliveries for brands like Sennheiser, Heli Hansen, and even Kylie Cosmetics. And it's a no-brainer to try. You can validate shipping addresses on your first 100 orders for free, no strings attached. Plus you could track exactly how much you're saving in the address validator dashboard. So stop letting bad addresses drain your revenue. Head to the Shopify App Store and get address validator today. Today we're gonna be talking March Madness. Specifically, we're gonna be going behind the scenes of one Shopify store. That has been riding that wave like a pro. Megan Smalley is the founder of Scarlet and Gold, and they're one of the only female-led businesses that have an NIL license that's name, image. likeness. And so we're gonna get into that and discover how that's helped them grow tremendously year over year. I believe the exact number is 87. 6% growth. That's incredible. And so I want to hear more about it. I'm your host, Kurt Elster, and joining me now is Megan Smalley from Scarlet and Gold. Megan, how are you doing?
Megan Smalley
Hi, I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.
Kurt Elster
I am thrilled to have you here. Uh, and I I want to start at the beginning. How did Scarlet and Gold come to be?
Megan Smalley
I started this as a side hustle. I was in full-time pharmaceutical sales back in 2013 and I've always had an entrepreneur spirit and started different things and honestly never thought this would be more than a creative outlet for me. Um, and then fast forward three months later, I got laid off for my pharmaceutical job. And so in that time of severance, I was like, okay, I'm gonna try to grow this. I'm also gonna look for other jobs and see what happens. And in that time period, we had a partnership with a pretty large influencer and it helped put us on the map. And Fast forward 12 years later, and we're still here, and this is my full-time gig, and I have over 30 employees. So did not dream this is where it would be, but here we are. So has this store always been on Shopify? Always from the beginning, yes.
Kurt Elster
Why'd you go with Shopify?
Megan Smalley
The when I was doing my research back then and it's held true even today It's the most robust robust platform for e-commerce. It's user-friendly. If they don't offer it internally at Shopify, they can connect you with someone that does. So There's been times where we needed development on our actual website or an app to install and they are able to point us in the right direction. So that's why. Tell me about NIL merge. What's NIL? So it stands for name, image, and likeness. And now with the change over the last couple years, back back when, you know, I was in college and my brother was an athlete at Auburn. you c the athletes couldn't be gifted anything. But now with the change of the rules, um you can work you can gift players, businesses can gift players, you can partner with them to promote your product. Um, you can do partnerships with them. So it's it's using players image, name, image, and likeness in your business or for marketing in your business. And paying them in return.
Kurt Elster
So how'd you stumble into that? How'd you get involved?
Megan Smalley
Well, I mean, essentially we've always been doing this n but not in the college player aspect. So I would say what put awesome on the map and like for my business, Scarlet and Gold, is gifting, influencer gifting. before it was even a thing. So we used to reach out to former bachelor winners or contestants and different people that had big social media platforms, bloggers Um and still do like gifting has always been a part of our business and partnering with different influencers. has been s hugely six like a a huge part of our growth. Um you used to not be able to do that with college athletes. And so now you can Um, it's called NIL, it's not called influencer gifting, but it essentially at its core is what it is. Um it's partnering with an influencer and paying them to use their platform.
Kurt Elster
So are we paying them in product or are we paying them paying them?
Megan Smalley
So every deal's different. We we have structured our deals that it's a percentage of sales. So we're not paying them unless the product sells so that they have a per uh an incentive to move merchandise too. But every deal that they do is different. So.
Kurt Elster
So does this start as product seeding? It's not like it starts at priv as product seeding where you just go, hey, you know, we like you, we like what you do, can we send you some stuff
Megan Smalley
Yes, I mean I would say so Auburn is our hometown school. So players on Auburn teams are much more aware of who we are because we're a local business and we've partnered, I mean we're the number 10, I think, licensee for Auburn. Um, however, at other schools, it would absolutely start as that because it's an intro. Like, hey Here's who we are. I want you to touch and feel our product. This is why we're different than everyone else who's reaching out to you. Here's what we can do for you. See what we did for this player. Um, so I think product seating is a great way to introduce yourself to any influencer, but specifically a player, because It has to be the NIL deals have to be a two-way street. Like we have to want them, they have to want us. And so they need to know who you are and why they should work with you to begin with.
Kurt Elster
And you know, I I foolishly I don't think I we have addressed what it is you sell.
Megan Smalley
Yeah, okay, so um at its core We create merch apparel and accessories that people actually want to wear. We do that in the game day space. So we are licensed by over 24 different universities. And then we also do custom merch too. So for organizations, businesses, um players, um, schools, we will create custom collections. We do bulk orders. for businesses and things like that too. So um what differentiates us in the market is, I mean, there's a lot of NIL platforms out there that create merge for players. in my opinion, most of it's ugly and not merch that people actually want to wear. So you're not gonna find design work. What sets us apart in the marketplace is our fresh ideas, our high quality products. and our design work. Um, and we print it all and and embroider it all in-house in Auburn, Alabama. So we're not outsourcing production. That's another differentiator because our quality control is top notch.
Kurt Elster
You've been at this over ten years now and there's always moments in business where you go, you know, this is working. Moments that where you feel validated that you should you should keep going, that encourage you. What is one of those moments for you?
Megan Smalley
There's been lots of these over the years. I would say I I kind of think about my business as, you know, pre-kids era and then post-kids era, but like before kids, we used to stock inventory. We used to outsource production and I'll never forget one of those early moments where we dropped a new collection. It was all sitting on the shelf, ready to ship, and we sold out in minutes. And I'm like, okay, there really isn't like I set out to change the game for women and kids in this space. And then doing it and it works and it sells out, you're like, oh, okay, this is working. This actually is a problem. This actually is a niche and a hole that needs to be filled. Um, and then you do it again and it works. And then you do it again and it works. It's like, okay, this that's the validation of whatever your niche is or whatever the problem you're trying to solve is Is it gaining traction? And over the years, it's just consistently gained traction. And we've had to pivot and do different things, but as a whole Um, people keep coming back and repeat customers and new customers and word of mouth and so um The product sales on a new launch, I think, is always gonna be evident of what's working and what's not working.
Kurt Elster
How often are you doing new product drops?
Megan Smalley
We do new design drops about two to three times a year. So one of the things that differentiate differentiates us in the collegiate space for merch is we do uh sports specific merchandise. So we have not just like Auburn general merchandise. So we have Auburn basketball, Auburn football, Auburn softball, even even sports like Auburn equestrian and gymnastics. And so it really like tops into those hardcore fans of the different sports. And then we do this for all of our schools, depending on what sports they have.
Kurt Elster
So um yeah it it's Yeah, you're really drilling down into into those you know individual niches.
Megan Smalley
Equestrian Yeah, I know and like our uh the Auburn equestrian team is number one And so we have the cutest, we one of the things that we do too is mascot illustration. So for the schools that have mascots. It's really fun. So like we have a equestrian, Auburn Equestrian design of Abi, our beloved mascot, riding a horse, and it's sold like crazy. So it's it's cool to just tap into what makes each school unique, whether that's traditions, la campus landmarks, um fight song, uh a creed, and then specific sports. Like we want to bring the school to life. Through merchandise.
Kurt Elster
You know, what's funny is I asked you, I'm like, well, you know what, what are the big ones that validated you? And you're like, hey, customers buying, right? Yeah. But you've been on the Today Show, haven't you?
Megan Smalley
Yes. Yes. Yeah, and that that's been validating too. Like we've been in c had big features, big press features like Glamour Magazine and The Today Show, and we've been on back when Kathy Lee and Hoda were doing their segment on their favorite things multiple times and had a lot of huge influencers posting about our stuff. Um and that's very validating because They're they get sent so many things, and the fact that it stood out enough to be chosen and featured in these different publications. We've been in Us magazine, like it it's it's cool. It's really cool. But I will say that like so many business owners, like talking to a business owner that's new and and wants those press features, like it is so cool invalidating. However, as a business, we care the most about revenue and sales. And those big press features never drove sales in the volume that you would think. on mass publication.
Kurt Elster
There's there's no HODO bump?
Megan Smalley
I mean there is a bump, but it's not what you would I guess I just expected it to be like Oh my goodness, like wow. But it there was definitely a bump. But I d I don't want anybody new in business to think if I can just get on the Today Show, this business is gonna make it. Like Why we are still in business twelve years later is the daily grind, staying fresh, being able to pivot, change when things are not working, and persevere when things are working.
Kurt Elster
You know, that it is really is is candid and fantastic advice from someone who's been there. Yeah. Now you have seen a a pretty big bump in sales, almost ninety percent year over year. What's driving that if it's not HOTA?
Megan Smalley
I would say this year specifically, and that that is that that number is not year over year. It's well it is, but just for March specifically. Um we've seen massive growth growth this year over last year because of our NIL partnership with um Jennai Broom and Dylan Cardwell and I will say so much of that is tied to We the Jennai Broom is the number one player on what was the number one team. I think we're now ranked number three. But there is so much excitement. within the Auburn fan base about Auburn basketball. And so being in this space, it is a roller coaster ride. I mean, the high highs and the low lows are 100% dependent on the success of the teams. People are not buying game day merch. If the teams are not doing well, they're not going to games, if they're not good. And so we have years where sales are super high for a certain school because their team is super successful. And then in the flip of a switch, sales are down because the next season or the next sport isn't very good. So um I would attribute though that growth to our partnerships um with two of the most exciting players on the Auburn basketball team But also because the team as a whole is doing so well. People are very excited about Auburn basketball right now.
Kurt Elster
I mean, do you follow follow tournaments and then figure out like what it and then that drives merchandising strategy?
Megan Smalley
It does. I mean, we obviously aren't gonna put a new collection together for a team that isn't doing well. Um, but our teams like we have twenty-four different licenses and so we will put a new like hot market type basketball collection together for the schools that are doing well. So it is really important to follow that if you're in this space.
Kurt Elster
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Megan Smalley
It's print on demand. So one of the things, a huge business pivot we made about three years ago is we brought production in-house. We used to outsource production. And when you asked about like when things stop working, um, outsourcing production stopped working for me because the quality we worked with so many different print shops and the quality just continued to decline. And I had no idea what I was doing, but I was done outsourcing production and I was like, we are bringing this in-house. We got a space, went from an online only business. to a physical space. We hired about 20 employees. Um we ordered machines. We learned how to produce products in-house. Um and then a year later we brought all of our print on demand business. We used to outsource print on demand to massive companies. and were consistently frustrated. Like when Auburn Navy is printing purple, it just doesn't work. Like you've got when you're in this space, you've got to get the school colors right. And so we ended up bringing print on demand in-house too. So we produce all of our online orders on demand in-house in Auburn and then ship them to our customers all over the United States. Um, which is really fun. Like we get to see what everyone's ordering. We get to touch and feel and package their orders. Um, so yeah, we do have some items that are sitting produced in stock. But everything else is printed on demand, meaning when you go on our site and order, then we have a fulfillment software that goes and orders your garment, ships it to us, we produce it, and then ship it out to you.
Kurt Elster
Oh, that's clever. So you don't stock the blanks.
Megan Smalley
We don't, which has been really pivotal for our business because inventory is expensive.
Kurt Elster
Yeah, so this is uh it's a just-in-time manufacturing approach. Yeah. They place the order, you then automatically order the blanks, but then do the finishing. Like you go obviously like why manufacture the t-shirt? Right. But then you you know you've got I assume like silk screening or direct to garment or embroidery in house.
Megan Smalley
Yeah. Yeah. It's we do direct to garment in-house and embroidery in-house. Um and then direct to film transfers in-house. So Yeah, it's been really the number one reason we've been able to grow because I'm a small business. I'm a hundred percent owner. I don't have equity firms and a bunch of cash that I have access to. So we've had to grow in a sustainable way. And I there's no way I could stock the number of designs that we have for all these different schools if it was all in inventory on the shelf. Because you never know. Like being in the apparel space, like I remember back when we did pre-print and stock inventory We would like we produced this bestseller um is the Auburn Creed design and we did it on gray, like a gray V-neck t-shirt. And we had customers email and they're like, oh I love this so much, but I want it on navy. And I'm like, well, I have 50 orange gray sh I mean gray shirts that I have to sell before I can even print it on Navy. And so now we can offer all these different options. And we don't have to sit on the inventory. So it's been really game changing for us.
Kurt Elster
That is a really clever way to go about it. I just Yeah on Shop Shopify the apparel is a big vertical. You know, I don't know if it's still number one, but it always is huge. Yeah. And so a lot of Shopify's, you know, features, apps, etc. , are really geared toward apparel. I think life becomes easier on Shopify if you're doing apparel. Are there um Yeah, I don't know if you you feel the same way, but are there like tools, features, apps that are indispensable in those those day-to-day operations for Scarlet and Gold?
Megan Smalley
Definitely. Some of the ones that we use like consistently and they're not some of them are kind of tied to apparel, but not necessarily, but um the Better Reports app has been game changing for us because inherently in Shopify's reporting tools, it they're just limited. And so we through the Better Reporting app, we can run tag-based reports. So I can for everything that's tagged Auburn basketball, I can now run a report and know what our Auburn basketball specific sales are. um and or like Auburn baseball or Tennessee gymnastics, you know, whatever it is. Like w they uh like we can run granular reports to know like how much across all of our schools, what how much is sports specific merch selling? Like do Tennessee fans want Tennessee football stuff? Do Clemson fans want Clemson basketball stuff, or is it more just the generic stuff selling? So that app has been great. Um we have a z I think it's called Zapiet in-store pickup app. So we have a location, a retail store in Auburn. And so a lot of our Auburn-based customers don't want to pay shipping and want to pick up their order from our storefront. And so the in-store pickup app has been great because Shopify does have an in-store pickup option, but it's limited. And then the the one the next app that we use really consistently is called Stock S T O Q. We released that recently for our very specialty woven label collection. It's an in like in stock, ready to ship, um, sells out really quickly collection and it allow enables back in stock notifications. So if it sells out really quick Um, people can enter their email address to know when it will be back in stock. And then um we can do pre-orders through that too. I mean, we don't typically offer pre-orders because logistically it's a lot. Um, but yeah, those are apps that have been key for us.
Kurt Elster
What do you use for email out of curiosity?
Megan Smalley
We use Flowdesk, and I am a big fan of Flowdesk because You don't pay per subscriber. A lot of these other email platforms are have a lot more capabilities, um, but you pay per subscriber and it is so expensive. I mean, we have a massive list. And I I just can't swing, you know, multiple thousand dollars a month for an email platform when I have something that will work just as as good for what we're using it for. So And we're very visual, like we're a very high design visual company. And so I I want our emails to be beautiful and they are. And so Flowdesk allows you to create beautiful emails easily. Um, very much recommend Flowdesk.
Kurt Elster
Going back to this big March Madness growth spike you've seen really has to be based on these athlete licenses. How do you even go about approaching those deals? Do they have agents or just like DM somebody? I wouldn't know where to begin.
Megan Smalley
Yeah. Well, i it everyone's different. So I can tell you like we right now we're working with Dylan Cardwell and Janai Broom. Um, Dylan does have an agent, but we typically just uh communicate directly through him. Janai has an agent and we're mostly communicating through him. So Um, I would say step one, look up the player. A lot of times if they have an agent, it's listed in their bio on Instagram or Twitter or whatever the social platform is, and then just reach out. Like We either reach out on Instagram, we have a a connection to them, or um we reach out to their agent and pitch ourselves. So I mean, you have to think they're probably like especially Auburn basketball players right now because of the hype of the season, they're getting reached out to by so many different brands. So um what differentiates yourself. Um we we pitch typically with a specific idea. Like we put together this um Jenni Broom Player of the Year design and shirt and concept. And so we pitched with that. Um and they loved it. And we're like, yes, this is an easy yes. You've already done all the work. Like, where do we sign? So I think that helps a lot. Like if you're putting all the work on the player to come up with the idea and all of that, um, they don't have time. So I think what is your idea? Pitch it and see what happens.
Kurt Elster
You know, when you phrase it, it sounds so straightforward. I'm like, well, why wouldn't I do that?
Megan Smalley
Totally. I mean it's it's more complicated too, and you The the one of the things that we have going for us that a lot of people don't is we're also licensed by the school. So we can do co-branded Jenai Broom. Auburn merch or Dylan Cardwell Auburn merch or for any of our 24 schools we could do player-specific merch. and the school. Um, if you're not licensed by the university, you couldn't do you you would just have to do player specific merch. And I think that's gonna hurt sales a lot because you know, the the school, the fan base wants the co-branded merch. They want the Clemson player merch or the Alabama player merch, not just like generic player specific. So that gives us a leg up and rules out a lot of people who are not don't have a license for these different schools.
Kurt Elster
And I think You know, for people who've not dealt with it, these licenses are big money and serious business and they don't mess around.
Megan Smalley
They do not mess around.
Kurt Elster
And and I watch it.
Megan Smalley
Yeah, I mean I would say my number one recommendation is don't toe the line and don't try to create merch and and profit off of a brand like Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee. Any of these schools are their own brands and you try to profit off of these brands um towing the line and you're gonna get your hand slapped and they they can take your merchandise. So uh go about it the right way. Um we've been licensed for thirteen years and just for Auburn and Alabama and then just started growing into other schools a couple years ago outside of the state. And It's a beast we employ a person on staff to handle all of our license applications, the admin side, the reporting. Um making sure all the boxes are checked. It's a lot, but it's a huge revenue stream for us. And As a licensee, I'm a huge advocate for people to be licensed and do things the right way. Um, and if you don't You're gonna get turned in. Like, I have no problem turning somebody in who's doing things illegally because You're like, look, I put in the effort. Yeah, I'm like, I I there are rules here. And I spend a lot of money to do this the right way and I pay out twenty percent of sales in in royalties to the school for student scholarships. Like you're gypping students of robbing students of scholarship money, cheating the system, and it's wrong. So Um yeah, I will turn people in. People send me stuff all the time and I will turn it into the school in two seconds, and then the school will handle it. So that's really nice. Like They have a a legal team that handles all of that.
Kurt Elster
Alright, so don't don't mess around when it comes to those. Get licensed. I've heard a lot about your success. It can't all be wins here. There has to be some oh no, some uh oh moments, right? I want to know, I wanna know one of your your biggest uh oh moments.
Megan Smalley
Yeah. Um so I can tell you two. Um so back to when we decided to bring production in-house. Like sitting here today, I would consider it a win. But for the last three years, there was a lot of uh-oh moments. So I'll tell you about one of them. Um, we ordered these machines, we hired staff. And we had no clue what we were doing. Like literally no clue. They deliver these printers to us and this embroidery machine, and I'm like, how do you turn it on?
Kurt Elster
It's like industrial equipment, right?
Megan Smalley
Yes, yes. And so we're like watching all the videos and it's super complex and a multi-step process and It's like a a math equation. Like you have to spray a certain amount of pre treat to make sure the ink lays down right. And again, we have no clue. Like we're testing it and we're like, why are there ink puddles on the shirt? Why is this not working? Like, why, how come after we press it, it smears? And So we three months into producing in-house, we got a giant order from Bonnie Plants. They are a local business and a nation, but they're based locally, but they're not a national business. And When I tell you we were faking it till we made it, that I mean that in every sense of the word. So we get this order and we're like Okay, we gotta figure out how to produce this. And uh anytime our team who was there in the beginning sees the Bonnie Plants logo, we're like, ah, it takes us back. Because we had to damage out so many shirts as we tried to get the pre-treat amount right, the ink volume right. Um It was an uh oh moment big time. It's like we did figure it out, we produced the order, it was it was great. Um, but It was the heck in the process of figuring that out. And there's still moments like we had a huge order from this um nonprofit in Birmingham that we just did. And we didn't realize that our dryer that we run all like cure all the ink in was too hot. And we're we are having to damage out that entire order and replace it. And so um it was a huge uh oh moment for us and but at the same time longevity of our business if we make a mistake we're gonna replace it and we're gonna make it right. I would never tell a company who spent thousands of dollars with us, sorry Sorry, your shirts are damaged. Like, and that's that's I was on the receiving end of that by other print shops. They're like, oh, well, sorry, like it wasn't like that when we left the shop.
Kurt Elster
And I'm like grants.
Megan Smalley
Yeah. And so it's horrible customer service and we I refuse to be that. And so There's there's been a lot of uh oh moments, but in business ownership and entrepreneurship, it's all about how you recover. Like How do you learn from it? Don't beat yourself up. Is it a failure? I mean, you can call it that if you want it, want to, but it's a learning lesson more than that. And How you it's not about how many times you fall down. It's like what you learn from it and how you come back from that. Um We're not gonna have dryer setting issues anymore. And we now know what ink volume to use on body plans logos and Um, we've learned a lot and we've gotten we've gained so much more confidence in what we're doing. So yeah, there's a lot of wins and there's a lot of, oh no, this is a major whiff.
Kurt Elster
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Megan Smalley
One of the biggest assets I can recommend for any organization is doing the Clifton strengths test for everyone that works with you. So we just did it recently through a company called Strength to Summit. And they will come in and do the Clifton strengths test on everyone and train everybody on what your strengths are because everyone brings different strengths to the table. And one of one of the assets for me is that I'm a number one activator. That is like the number one strength for me. And I learn by doing. And so and I'm also like not emotional really at all. And so I I advise that. Like I think leading with emotion is very difficult because how you feel today is different than how you'll feel tomorrow and the next day and the next day. So it's not a firm foundation to stand on. And so you've got to separate these emotions. And for me, I learn by doing. So I'm gonna try a bunch of things. And if it fails, like there's no emotion tied to that. It's like it didn't work. Let's just move on. Let's try something else. Why didn't it work? I always want to evaluate like what worked, what didn't work. and why and then we try something else. And so the le the more you can have a disconnect between all those emotions And what actually happened, I think, is valuable to a business owner. Cause again, like if you wallow in your feelings and you're like Oh, I'm beating myself up. I'm a failure. You're not a failure. It just didn't work. What you tried didn't work. So try something else. Like there shouldn't be all this emotion attached to it.
Kurt Elster
I think there's a lot of people, myself included, who can relate and appreciate that advice. Yeah. As an entrepreneur, that is not a life skill. That's a life superpower.
Megan Smalley
Yeah, it really is. And so the more you can disconnect. From like the toxic thoughts and the emotion tied to what worked and what didn't work. And same thing for the highs. Like there's high highs and high lows. Like Sometimes there's a lot of credit that should be taken for high highs, but sometimes it's just like a a happenstance. Like this, it just right time. And And so you can't ride the roller coaster of the highs and lows. Like the more you can be steady and unemotional and Just keep working hard and evaluate what's working and what's not working and pivoting based on that, the more you're gonna win in business.
Kurt Elster
Man, that is that's a good takeaway. We should end the interview right here. That is fantastic. But all right, you you've been at this th thirteen years. Yeah. You're bootstrapping it. You're not doing easy things. I want to know, looking to the future, are there trends, shifts, things you see happening that Shopify merchants should be aware of?
Megan Smalley
There's always things happening and changing, especially in the the merchandise business. I mean, you've got to stay ahead of the trends and be aware of what the trends are. um and and adapt. So within like the e-commerce space, I would say g gift Lifting influencers is still a trend. Um, I think there is still such like while we do print on demand, and that has become so much more of a trend for small businesses to take off. There I can't even express how much value there is in selling out. Um, I tell my team all the time we've brought on this this in like stocked, ready to ship collection and When it's gone, it's gone because with with print on demand it's always available available. There's really no selling out unless the blank sells out, which is rare. Um, but there is so much value in supply and demand. And when it's gone, it's gone. And we have created so much internal momentum and external momentum because of scarcity and the the idea of things are gonna sell out. And so I would say that's still a trend and and finding these apps like stock where you can have people subscribe when something is out of stock, then you know, should I reorder it or should you not? It's very valuable insight to make better decisions. So I I think that has been around for a long time, the whole idea of supply and demand and scarcity, um, but it's still incredibly relevant.
Kurt Elster
Yes, yeah, as long as it's authentic and genuine, it really it it is a motivating tactic. Especially when it's You could do a series of drops on products where you go like these are limited, we're only gonna do so many for this time.
Megan Smalley
Well, it has to be authentic. Like that's one of the things that I tell people all the time that I'm coaching is people if you're gonna lead in in any space people have to be able to trust you. And you have to mean what you say and you have to do what you say, and you have to be real and trustworthy and somebody that people want to follow and people don't want to follow a fraud. So yes, that is like absolutely number one essential. Like it has to be authentic in what you do. Like you lie to your customers or try to manipulate them, like it, they will see through it in two seconds.
Kurt Elster
Hopefully. You know, my my internal my internal benchmark is I call it MEL, is this moral, ethical, legal. All right, if we could pass those three benchmarks, now let's decide. Yeah. We should proceed with whatever the idea is. Totally. Totally. So where where do you see Scarlet and Gold going in the next year?
Megan Smalley
I would say like last year was a huge year of growth. For us, and we have completely maxed out our space. Like we really don't have any more room to add any equipment. Um, so I would love for the next two years to just be Not necessarily maintaining, but refining, refining our processes. Like while we've been in business for 13 years, we're still very new. To producing in-house. That's that's a baby side of our business. And I want to get even better and more confident. I want my team to be more confident and really grow and develop leaders within my team. Um, because I'm a mom and I'm a coach's wife. My h husband coaches high school basketball and I'm a mom of three boys, seven and under, and The more my team can rise up and lead, the more I can step back and and be present in life. Um, the last Three years especially have been a grind for me. And I've been incredibly hands-on in the business. And I never want to be hands-off, but I would love to be able to step away more than I do.
Kurt Elster
Um No, you're right. I think When I think of business growth, especially a bootstrap business, phase three is can we Can we have leaders who aren't the business owner? Can we get people, you know, to go from employee to leader so that yeah, you can confidently step back and take things off your plate. Yeah. I I think that that's a great way to go about it. Yeah. Um if you could go back, because you have learned so much. But I bet it it blows your mind what twenty thirteen Megan didn't know that she didn't know. What advice would you give yourself?
Megan Smalley
Um, I would say growth, like growth looks very shiny when you look around and you look side to side. But 2013 Megan wasn't a mom. I one of the things that I've learned is I need to know what my life will look like attached to that kind of growth. And I need to make sure that I'm okay with that. Um, like making the jump to producing in-house, my life drastically changed. I went from working part-time, running an online managing an online-on team of five people to running an in-person organization, 25 plus employees. Massively high stress because we were trying to figure this out. And I was not prepared. Um, we've had a lot of growth. Even even last year, we had so much growth. We doubled our space. We went from like a 1900 square foot space to a 4,000 square foot space. We added about six to seven new machines, lots of employees. Um, there was a lot of days last year that like I came home with nothing left for my family. And that's not what I want for life. That's not the kind of mother that I want to be. It's not the kind of wife I want to be. And so growth is is great. Um, but you you can't growth at that level is not sustainable. um to be present in life too. Um and then also like growth is only as good as you can handle it well. Like I've seen a lot over the last 12 years, 13 years small businesses go under because they grew too big too fast. And it they can get enticed by this opportunity and take their business down a path that they never should have said yes to. And And I've made mistakes like that over the years. So just making sure that you can handle the growth well, um, because you you take all these orders and you can't fulfill them, then you have a massive PR issue on your hands. So um yeah, I mean, entrepreneurship is great. But it's not for the faint of heart. It's not easy. And it takes a lot of perseverance and and thick skin because I've had a lot of success and had been told yes a lot of times. But for every yes, I've been told no infinitely more times.
Kurt Elster
You know, that also uh sounds like good takeaways for our listeners.
Megan Smalley
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I hope so. Um it's this this life, being an entrepreneur, has provided a great life for my family. And I'm so grateful for the flexibility. I love working for myself. Um, I love being able to call the shots. Like I tell my team all the time, we make the rules. So if this is too much or this is too stressful, like I care deeply about our our organizational culture. And I think that matters. The culture that you create matters more than anything else. You can have great product, but if your employees hate working for you It's gonna show at some point. And to me, it goes back to building trust. Like, why should customers support you when you treat your employees terribly or you have a horrible work culture? Um, we have an amazing w work culture and I would not be where I am without my current team and the team that I've had along the way. Like they every person who's poured into this place. it has been such an asset. And so yeah, I mean, I would say takeaway entrepreneurship is an incredible thing. And It's so fun. It is a roller coaster. It is high highs and low lows, and you've got to figure out how to steady out the roller coaster and not ride the waves. Um and and grow in a way that you want to match up to the life that you want.
Kurt Elster
That is great advice. Megan, there well, I've done hundreds of these interviews. There are some stories that That f Nurture My Soul, you know, as an entrepreneur, they're chicken soup for my soul. This is one of them. I love it. So thank you for sharing it with us.
Megan Smalley
I'm so glad. I always want to leave people better than I found them.
Kurt Elster
So if people wanted to check out Scarlet and Gold or learn more about your story, where should they go?
Megan Smalley
So you can check out our custom site, ScarletandgoldCustom. com. That's where we do all of our custom merch. Or you can check out our shop site, scarletandgoldshop. com, and you can find both places on both sites. Um, and you can read about me and our history all there.
Kurt Elster
Beautiful. Scarletandgold. com. We'll check it out. Megan, thank you so much. Thank you. Crowdfunding campaigns are great. You can add social proof and urgency to your product pre-orders while reducing risk of failure. But with traditional crowdfunding platforms, you're paying high fees. and giving away control, all while your campaign is lost in a sea of similar offers. It can be frustrating. That's why we built Crowdfunder, the Shopify app that turns your Shopify product pages into your own independent crowdfunding campaigns. We originally created Crowdfunder for our private clients, and it was so successful we turned it into an app that anyone can use. Today, merchants using Crowdfunder have raised millions collectively. With Crowdfunder, you'll enjoy real-time tracking, full campaign control, and direct customer engagement. And it's part of the Built for Shopify program. so you know it's easy to use. So say goodbye to high fees and hello to successful store-based crowdfunding. Start your free trial and transform your Shopify store Into a pre-order powerhouse today. Search Crowdfunder in the Shopify App Store to get started. In