We were lucky to catch up with Brooke Santos recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brooke, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I was fortunate to work for Target for years and it taught me how to be really operationally efficient. I then was recruited to Tiffany & Co as a Sales Executive where I learned how to cater to niche markets. Next I went to Ann Taylor and Loft to run Stores and enjoyed all of the day-to-day routines and crazy-fun-filled holidays for years. And then I finished my career with Macy’s as a Regional Director where I learned how to manage tons of priorities in tons of markets across the USA. Those 25 years in National Retailing gave me amazing learning experiences and training that has set me up for success for my entire life. Back in 2017 when I started I Speak Boutique, my goal was to help women owned boutiques grow and thrive. Since then, I have worked with over 600 small businesses and I have been able to share my knowledge, expertise and examples from my 30 years of working in this industry.
Having a regular job for 24 years, and now having my own business for 6 years, I know there is no harder job than being a business owner! The hours are longer, the pay is a lot less and you don’t have health benefits, plus you have to find your customers and clients and it can be super lonely! But the satisfaction from creating something from nothing, the ability to keep going, and the ability to build your own business and your own community is the greatest career I could ever choose!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello Friends, my name is Brooke Santos and I own a boutique retail consulting company called I Speak Boutique. I use the training and experiences I received while working at Target, Tiffany & Co, Ann Inc, and Macy’s to help boutique owners grow and thrive.

Many of our customers have been in the boutique business for years and they are doing pretty well, but they know they could improve on a few things and that is when they contact me. We dig into their business and figure out what obstacles they have. Then we work through several real-world experiences I have had in fixing that type of issue, and then we put a plan into place and get it fixed!
Most of our clients issues revolve around hiring, people issues, excess inventory or slow sales and all of these can be fixed with small tweaks.

Once a Business Owner begins to move past the sales plateau and they are making more money, then they reach back out and ask for more help and that’s the part I love because then we get to dig deep into understanding the different customer tiers and the different promotions that result in different outcomes. Just this week I got to help a Business Owner realize how 3 small changes on a clearance rack, a swimsuit rack and a dress rack would give her the potential to make an additional $8600 over the next month!

So for the Canvas Readers, I want to encourage you to contact me so we can talk about your business. The first hour long chat is free and we will work through as much as we possibly can during that time together. Then you get to decide if you want more. so reach out to me at [email protected] or on FB or IG @iSpeakBoutique

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I love to pick up business books written by women! I loved #GirlBoss by Sophia Amoruso, and Back in Black by Cathy Black because both books took us on her journey and learning curve in business. But the most transformative books I have ever read are the One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, by Ken Blanchard because that taught me how to not take “on” peoples problems, but instead help them solve the issue themselves. That book is written in quick read sections that make it easy to fit into your day. In fact, I used a similar concept when I wrote my book, I Speak Boutique Run Your Business Like a Boss. My book is set up with easy to read sections that allow you to get the information you need to move past the obstacle. Over the course of just a few pages I teach you exactly who to hire, what questions to ask, how to onboard them and how to make them an amazing Brand Ambassador for you. The book does the same with finances, and solving problems, plus presentations, theft and damages and so many more issues that Boutique Owners face. I give real world examples, explanation and ways for you to overcome the issue and get moving quickly.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before the pandemic hit, we had 6 locations inside the Houston Galleria Mall and hosted 87 small businesses at one time. My thought process was that if I have great locations, and host lots of small businesses within the collective, then I would be helping lots and lots of businesses grow and thrive. But once the pandemic happened I knew I needed to re-evaluate because going big was not a smart financial decision when the world is shutting down. So I decided to pivot to “tiny and shiny” and we let our leases expire on 5 of those locations and kept the one location next to Nordstrom.

During that journey I realized that bigger and better growth comes from doing a few things really well. My niche is seeing large complicated things and being able to break it down into easy to understand tactics for businesses to understand. I can easily see the macro-economic trends and understand what things need to happen in our shops and the businesses we support, in order to use the trend to make the sales happen and grow businesses.

By pivoting to a smaller strategy I have been able to help businesses double, triple or even 8x growth year over year. Focusing on a few businesses, instead of 87 at a time, has created more growth and better understanding for all of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ispeakboutique.com
• Instagram: ISpeakBoutique
• Facebook: ISpeakBoutique
• Linkedin: ISpeakBoutique