Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tracey Aivaz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tracey, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?

Balancing between growing revenue and cutting costs is essential for any business’s success. While both are crucial, relying solely on one can lead to imbalance. Personally, I allocate my time evenly between the two, but I’m always conscious of where my focus leans.

Regularly monitoring financials helps me identify areas where costs need trimming and revenue can be enhanced. For instance, in 2023, I noticed a significant increase in costs due to outsourcing various functions like fulfillment and advertising. Despite this, my revenue streams hadn’t grown enough to support these expenses, leading to a decline in profit margins.

To address this, I made tough decisions, such as bringing fulfillment and advertising in-house to regain control over costs. However, I continued to outsource legal and accounting tasks due to their complexity. Additionally, I diversified my revenue streams in 2024 by exploring wholesale partnerships, collaborating with music festivals, leveraging TikTok affiliates, and developing new advertising content based on customer feedback.

This experience underscores the importance of striking a balance between revenue growth and cost control, adapting strategies as needed to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability.

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

My name is Tracey Aivaz and I am the founder and owner at Smunchys. My journey to entrepreneurship began unexpectedly during the Covid shutdown in 2020. With a background in Film and TV Production (B.A.) from USC, I had a promising career path ahead until the film industry came to a halt for months. I took this opportunity to start a business, since I always had a passion for it, but was never able to double major or take courses in it. So I read a few books on business and money theory such as “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and the “4-Hour Work Week” and decided to jump in because I had nothing to lose.

I started Smunchys in September of 2020 and more than 3 years later, I am still running it. Smunchys is a certified woman-owned accessories brand and has grown to sell products in over 20 countries and has been featured in media such as Good Morning America, Today show, and BuzzFeed.

Smunchys is committed to making high quality women’s accessories that all come with zipper pockets inside that doubles them up as discreet mini purses. This allows the customer to carry their most important essentials, such as cash, keys, jewelry, AirPods, lipstick and more with them where they do not want to carry a bag. We are focused on bringing safety, comfort, and hands-free fashion to women’s lives.

Smunchys products are loved and used most commonly for music festivals, summer traveling, hiking and running, working out, and Holiday gifting. They have perfect hold and are suitable for curly, straight, thick, and thin hair and are versatile enough for everyday wear.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on multiple ecommerce platforms to increase my brand presence and capture as many sales as possible. Every customer has their preferred choice of platform so it is important to be present on as many platforms as you can successfully manage in order to meet your customer at their favorite online website.

I sell primarily on my Shopify website, but I also sell on Amazon, Etsy, Walmart.com, the Grommet, 40Boxes (occasionally), and UncommonGoods. I used to sell on Macys.com and Free People as well. I also do flash sales sometimes with Good Morning America.

The pros of being on all platforms is increased reach and revenue. The cons are that you do not own your customer information on platforms besides Shopify and cannot as easily check in with them, offer promotions, or create customer loyalty through email/text marketing.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I initially invested only about $600 of my 2020 Covid unemployment income and have since reinvested most profits back into the company.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.smunchys.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smunchys_scrunchies
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smunchys
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smunchys%E2%84%A2