We recently connected with Steely Dipuccio and have shared our conversation below.
Steely, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you manage your own social media?
I chose this question because social media seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of owning a business for me these days. We are a very small company, so our social media is managed by myself and one other person on my team. We typically discuss and plan our posts each week but, more often than not, we get pulled away from it to take care of other priorities that come up. When I first started Bon Vivant in 2016, I absolutely LOVED posting on Instagram and it never really felt like a job. As it has evolved over the years, it’s become much more time-consuming and convoluted. Like a lot of other small business owners, I have a love/hate relationship with social media now and it’s one of my goals to get back to a comfortable place where it works for me. There is this growing pressure to create highly edited and staged content, and while that can be creatively exciting, it’s incredibly tedious. It is also becoming harder to reach your followers with so many ads and posts from accounts that you don’t follow, the ever-changing algorithm and trying to keep up with the latest trends. I know how amazing Instagram and so many other platforms are for creating brand awareness and ultimately growing your business and I’m so grateful that they exist, I just miss the days of being able to truly post in real time. I much prefer to see posts and stories that are not overly staged and filtered, so I strive to get back to that.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I started Bon Vivant in August 2016 after I realized a need for a gifting service in Austin. As a corporate recruiter, I found myself always looking for gifts for our clients with very little time to do so. I recognized a need to offer a service that made it easy to send personalized gifts that I felt proud of and knew my recipients would love and appreciate. I decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship and the rest is history. I am thankful for all of our wonderful customers that have supported us during this time.
Gifting is incredibly personal, and we will do everything in our power to make your gifting experience nothing less than amazing. Being based in Austin means we partner with so many local small-batch brands that truly take pride in what they do, but we don’t stop here. We offer a variety of the finest brands and products from all over the world that care about the environment and the sustainability of our planet.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I know I wasn’t alone in this, but the pandemic definitely forced us to pivot. When it first started, like everyone else, we didn’t know if we’d be able to sustain. We were in our 3rd year of business and had just signed a 5 year lease to move into a brand new space that was more than double the size of the space we had been in. The stress of trying to keep a business afloat that requires actual people to work in a warehouse in order to fulfill orders was so heavy. I quickly realized that because the world was essentially shut down, events were canceled and people weren’t able to see each other in person, they were turning to sending gifts instead. We were fortunate enough to see our business pick up significantly during the pandemic, which was amazing, but we had to make a lot of changes in order to keep up and do it as safely as possible. I didn’t hire any new employees because of the space and social distancing aspect. My small team and I just made a pact to commit to staying in our bubbles, wearing masks at work and doing the best we could to manage everything together. We never closed during the entire pandemic and we somehow managed to not have any cases of Covid at the workplace. We had to pivot our offerings as well since we were seeing a huge trend in virtual events/conferences, which was something we’d never done before. There were so many challenges with shipping delays, supply chain shortages, staffing shortages and the list goes on. I feel incredibly blessed to have had a team that was willing to stick with me and that was just as committed to our health and safety as I was because had they not been, we would have absolutely had to close and lose business and I can’t confidently say we’d still be here today.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Referrals! When I worked in corporate recruiting for 8 years, I learned the value of referrals very quickly and that’s something I built this business on. I started Bon Vivant with my own capital and that did not include a budget for marketing so I have relied heavily on referrals to grow. One thing that I am really thankful for is the fact that since we’re in the business of gifting, we are constantly being introduced to new people (the recipients), which has served to be the best built-in marketing ever! When we partner with companies for their corporate gifting, I always stay in touch and show my appreciation throughout the year. My team and I strive to give elevated service and make the process as seamless as possible for our clients. As I build relationships with clients and we prove that we will deliver the best service and product every time, I always ask if there is anyone else within their organization that might value us as a gifting resource. This has served as a great way to get new corporate clients as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bonvivantdelivered.com/
- Instagram: @bonvivantgiftboxes
- Facebook: @bonvivantgiftboxes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bonvivantgiftboxes/