How Retail by Design Helped a Founder Fall Back in Love With Her Business with Katie Glickman

Catherine Erdly: [00:00:00] What do you do when the business is growing? You are hitting great milestones, but you start to feel like the shine is fading, and perhaps you’re not enjoying it as much as you once did. That is the case with Katie Glickman, the founder of Bibbilyboo Bibs, who is joining us today on the podcast.

Rejoining us, I should say. Katie was originally on the podcast many years ago talking about how she successfully has used awards to grow her business, and today she joins us to tell us more about her Amazing story with Bibbilyboo Bibs, where it’s been going over the last couple of years, and what her experience has been like being part of my mastermind, also known as Retail by Design.

Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan, a podcast for anyone wanting to start, grow or scale a profitable creative product business with me, Catherine Erdly. The Resilient Retail Game Plan is a podcast dedicated to one thing, breaking down the concepts and tools that I’ve gathered from 20 years in the retail [00:01:00] industry and showing you how you can use them in your business.

This is the real nuts and bolts of running a successful product business, broken down in an easy, accessible way. This is not a podcast about learning how to make your business look good. It’s the tools and techniques that will make you and your business feel good. Confidently plan, launch, and manage your products, and feel in control of your sales numbers and cash flow to help you build a resilient retail business.

The everyday parenting struggle that sparked a business idea

Catherine Erdly: Katie, welcome back to the podcast. As we’ve just discussed, this is your second time being on the podcast, but the first time was many years ago. So do you want to reintroduce yourself to everybody?

Katie: Absolutely. It’s so good to be back, Catherine. You know I always love talking to you. I’m Katie Glickman. I’m the founder of Bibbilyboo. We specialize in waterproof dribble bibs for babies mostly. But we do also expand our [00:02:00] range to older ages for disability. And more recently we’ve added feeding bibs to our range.

And there is nothing like our dribble bibs on the market, and that’s why we’ve had such great success with them.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, and fantastic. And how many years have you been going now?

Katie: Six years now. Yeah, which has absolutely flown.

Catherine Erdly: Wow. And gone from strength to strength. So do you wanna tell us a little bit about how you got started?

Katie: I think, as I’m hearing from most businesses, it was an idea that came about because I was a parent with a problem and my second child to be born was also a super dribble. And having gone through it the first time, I decided we didn’t wanna go through it again. So when I say super dribble, we were changing bibs 20 times a day. I had 60 different brands of bib that we had on rotation, and nothing was lasting.

Wet clothes constantly, dribble rashes all the time, and a lot of frustration on my part. So, with absolutely zero experience in sewing, or fabrics even. I put my research head on and came up with a solution for a bib [00:03:00] that I believe would work. Bought a sewing machine. Well, actually my mum gifted me a sewing machine, made the ugliest bib you’ve ever seen because I didn’t know how to sew. But the composition of the layers worked.

So the waterproof backing and the absorbent core and the shape that we created was completely unique. And we saw the dribble rash eradicated in three days. Never had to change the bib all day, which meant I could put her in that beautiful outfit that we were buying and it would last the whole day. That changed my life, but it never was my intention to set up a business.

Catherine Erdly: Hmm.

Katie: But like all good ideas, people hear about them and ask for them. And that snowballed for friends.

And before I knew it, I was in a shop one day and my mom overheard another lady saying that, she was struggling with the same problem. And she shouted, “My daughter makes bibs!” I was mortified because I was like, I don’t make bibs. They’re really not that attractive at this point. So that spurred me on because the lady was absolutely begging me for me to make some for her.

So I went home. Did a lot of sewing. [00:04:00] Perfected the shape. And over the years we did continue to tweak it and now we have a perfect design. And we said, “Well, if we’re gonna start a business, let’s set it up on my daughter’s first birthday as a tribute to her.”

Catherine Erdly: Mm. We had our first sale 

Katie: within 27 minutes of launching the website from a complete stranger, which was brilliant ’cause we’d been doing lots of buildup on Instagram to share the story and the process. It just kind of snowballed, really. 18 months later, I gave up my career in the NHS because we were so busy. I had to make a choice, which one. Then not long after that, we had covid and most people found with an online shop, sales rocketed, thankfully. We didn’t see a dip after Covid, which was great.

And business continued to grow and that’s kind of led us to where we are now.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, which is fantastic. I mean, it’s such a great story and it’s almost like the quintessential small business story, isn’t it? Like the creating something because you had a need yourself and then making something that’s really made a huge difference to people’s lives and that’s what gets people coming back and also has [00:05:00] helped you win a lot of awards.

‘Cause actually we were just saying that the first time you came on, you were talking about winning awards. Or entering awards and how that was a big part of your strategy. So that has continued to be a strategy over the last few years, right.

Katie: It absolutely has. And we’ve just won another couple awards recently, so that’s taken us to 30 awards in the last six years, which is absolutely incredible. Because one of my first goals when I started the business was like aim high with something that you maybe think is a bit, probably unrealistic. For somebody who’s just learn to sew. But I wanted to win a Gold Mother and baby award. We won that in, I think, 2022.

Catherine Erdly: Wow.

Katie: So that was quite quickly ticked off having launched in 2019, that that was a big achievement, yeah. And here we are with 30.

Catherine Erdly: And you’ve won Theo And you’ve been Paphitis’ small business. Yes.

Katie: The Award with Theo Paphitis from Dragons Den. And I won that at two weeks before his annual conference. So I got to go meet him just literally a couple weeks after.

 [00:06:00] And that was just a real privilege to be in the room with all these other entrepreneurs. Really inspiring as well to just hear how many people on stage had come from where I was starting and now sitting where they were.

It’s nice to see that small ideas can turn into big dreams.

Catherine Erdly: Yes, I love that. Oh also I should say over the years, I’m always amazed at this number. So, tell me how many bibs you’ve sewn. 

Katie: 64,000. Which obviously, I now am in the position that we have a factory supporting us. Because that was fast becoming very overwhelming to, obviously, run all the elements of the business on top of the manufacturing.

Which in the beginning obviously there were hardly any orders and it was very manageable. And I would batch make, and it would last me a while. But even with batch making, ’cause it was only last year that we got the factory. So at the beginning of last year, I was still making, and it was endless evenings, weekends, during the days, just [00:07:00] great to be busy. But I was ready for the factory after 64,000.

It just doesn’t compute.

Catherine Erdly: I know that. That number just completely boggles my mind and it’s one of those things if you’d known when you made your very first one.

Katie: I’d have said no.

Catherine Erdly: You are like, no, thank you.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely not. Like I just can’t comprehend the process. Like the amount of time, on average, it takes me about two minutes to make a bib. Once I’d got the skills in place. that’s a lot of time spent making bibs on top of all of the other day-to-day jobs. And I still do make some now in the bigger sizes ’cause we haven’t yet taken that to our manufacturer to scale those sizes.

So there is a little bit of making that still goes on, but I’m glad it’s not in that quantity.

The biggest pinch-me moments in business

Catherine Erdly: So we talked about a couple of the kind of big moments winning the awards and winning the Small Business Sunday. But what are some of the other sort of biggest achievements or pinch me [00:08:00] moments that you’ve had since you’ve started?

Katie: I mentioned then about the factory and for me, aside from the mother and baby award, which was kind of like the first big win, the factory was a moment where I’d spent absolutely years trying to find someone who could replicate the quality and the same standard of bib that I was making.

And I’d had real failures. When we finally found one and we had all the samples back, and we tweaked them and the order went in. I literally cried because it was just such an amazing moment to think firstly, that we have enough of a customer interest to warrant the MOQ that was needed for that order.

But also to know that all this extra work I was doing with sewing was going to come to an end, and I could start to actually focus on the things that I was really more suited to do and more passionate about behind the scenes.

 And it made such a difference to our business. Because having the factory then led on to being able to attend all of the baby shows in the country, which we were only doing one or two a year before that.[00:09:00] 

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: I could also start wholesaling, which was a real dream of mine, which we have now achieved. So that was the other big pinch me moment, really, was when we got our first stockist. 

We’re now stocked in 14 shops, which we only started sort of autumn last year. And I will admit it’s something that’s kind of fallen on the back of the to-do list at the moment to pursue. But being able to go to the trade shows last year and also now being stocked in the UK’s biggest baby store, which is incredible.

Catherine Erdly: Mm. 

Katie: That’s such a massive pinch me moment to know we are in that huge shop. And we’ve had great feedback from them as well.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely fantastic. I’m as well, you were able to do more of the consumer baby shows. And you said before that you have people who come up to you who tell you how the bib has changed their lives, right.

Katie: Yeah. Regularly every show now we get people come up and say it’s been a game changer or a lifesaver. Those are the two phrases I hear over and over again. And I think if you haven’t had a dribble [00:10:00] baby, that probably sounds a bit overly dramatic. But if you have, and you can relate to the stress of constantly having to change full outfits and everything, or the rashes and never resolving those problems.

A simple solution like this just means that you can get on with your day and you’re not having to constantly remember that extra job of checking under the bib and keeping baby dry. It’s just so nice to know that we’re helping parents. And the fact that they come back to see us like this. We’ve just done a show and this happens at every show, but people say, we came specifically for you.

Catherine Erdly: Oh.

Katie: I had a customer drive four hours to come just for me. I think that’s incredible that they’re such super fans. Or as soon as they find out they’re having another baby, I had to come and buy Bibbilyboo. I knew it we needed.

Aww. It’s brilliant.

Why joining Retail By Design felt like the right next step

Catherine Erdly: Yeah. That must be so, so gratifying, for sure. And to think that you’ve taken that idea all this far. So I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the Mastermind or Retail By Design. So you joined last year and I’d [00:11:00] love for you to just share a little bit about what was kind of behind your decision to join. Where were you at, at the time?

Katie: Well, so last year obviously was a big pivot point for me with the switching to the factory and I was sort of starting to lose the shine on the business. It was controlling me and not the other way around, and I was feeling like I really didn’t understand my stock management and when I should be ordering and how much? And had and less control over cashflow, and I just realized you can’t be an expert in everything.

However, I do know a very good expert, Catherine. And I’d toyed with the idea for a long time because every time you’d run a cohort. I’d inquired probably a few times.

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: It was something I knew I wanted, but it was just the worry about investing because money had become really tight for me again.

Catherine Erdly: Mm-hmm.

Katie: But this time I said, we’re doing it. We’re going all in. Catherine’s the one with all the knowledge. And I just knew because I’ve already been a member of the Resilient Retail Club for, [00:12:00] well, the whole of my business.

 I knew that you would be able to help and it was kind of a case of if Catherine can’t help me get back on track and find the love for it, then maybe this is where draw the line.

Anyway, I’m pleased to say I definitely did find the love for it. Again, massively help. So yeah, so understanding that I wasn’t an expert, and just coming to you for that help. But I just really needed to get an understanding of pull together some spreadsheets and have things that I could lean on every month to get a clear picture of how the business was performing. 

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, well absolutely. And I think that there’s such a, you know, I always love the phrase, new level, new devil. And I think that there is, when you go from manufacturing. Well, effectively, you were, man, I mean absolutely a hundred percent you were manufacturing, you made 64,000 bibs.

But there’s that flexibility, right? When you are the one making. Obviously yes, you had to place your orders on fabric. So it wasn’t exactly print on demand, right. You had to pre-order your fabric. But other than that, and also fabric’s a much smaller cost component [00:13:00] compared to everything else.

So, you go from that situation there where you are you are kind of making to need, and then you take that step up to working with the factory. And also you’ve got a great relationship with your factory and they’ve been good partners, right?

Katie: They’ve been really helpful with it being my first time working with a factory. You know, I could say, I really don’t know how we should do this, or what’s your advice? And they took the time to really understand my brand values and have come back every time with suggestions that feel really fit my brand. Which has been great and obviously why we’ve ended up achieving such a great quality product that I do feel fits seamlessly alongside what I was already doing. 

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, yeah. And I also love that you discover, you’re doing this at home, and then you discover actually what you’ve been doing is pretty sophisticated.

Katie: Yeah, I know that ‘s the thing. I’d obviously created a really refined system and not really given it much thought. And realistically, I, I had only a two week turnaround [00:14:00] between ordering fabric. So if we were out stock of something, I could get it quite quickly. Yes, I had to order a certain amount, but that was usually fine. And again, if we’d bring out a print that just for whatever reason you think was gonna be a great seller and wasn’t.

 Mm. 

It’s fine. I wouldn’t order large quantities. We can move on and I can move on to the next thing. Whereas moving to a factory, it’s a case of, you’re committing to larger quantities. You are also committing ahead of season to where I am right now. And that was a massive learning curve for me because I’d never had to think that far ahead.

Catherine Erdly: Mm. Mm-hmm.

What it looks like to grow and evolve in your business

Katie: It’s a real risk to go with a new fabric, a new pattern, and then think, is anyone gonna like this? Is it gonna be an investment? I’ve quickly learned over this last year where to be more cautious because you do find you made mistakes. But that’s fine. It’s all a learning curve.

Catherine Erdly: Yes, for sure. But it’s also that shift and it’s that kind of pivot point, isn’t it? You know, you get to a certain point in your business and the way you get there is because you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and make the bibs. Very [00:15:00] determined, very driven, very organized, and so that gets you to a certain point.

Then you kind of just get to the point where you can’t make any more bibs and so you outsource. It’s like that shifting point between, okay, this is what got me here. And then it’s like, okay, but if I’m gonna go past that, you almost have to let you say develop those new set of skills.

And I think that’s what’s so great about the Mastermind is that you can work through that so that you kind of almost like transition. It’s like a transition point and there may be multiple transition points in the business’s growth. But I think yeah, it’s understanding that and working through it. And definitely going to work with a factory is a real pivot point because, like you say, it’s a whole different kettle of fish.

Katie: Absolutely. And in hindsight, I wish timing wise, I’d started the mastermind with you just before I’d placed the order because I’d just placed it when I joined. And almost immediately, I remember our first conversation, like an alarm bell going off. I’ve ordered the wrong [00:16:00] things there because remember, I thought it was a really clever idea to order all the patterned bibs and then continue to make the plain fabric bibs.

‘Cause I could source those easily from within England. And then that quickly caused a lot of problems, didn’t it? Fulfilling all my bundles with an empty bib. Yeah.

so 

bib 

Catherine Erdly: Yeah, y ou just have to look at things differently. And I think it’s really, I mean, I find it fascinating because you know, so many people when you talk to them and they’re first starting out, everybody believes what they need is more sales, which obviously we all need more sales.

Like no one’s denying that. But it gets to the point where actually people have this belief that all you need to do is get more sales and then everything will be fine. But then as you get bigger, it’s like the numbers get bigger, right? The sort of invoices you have to pay get bigger.

It can bring that sort of level of uncertainty that you may not even have had before. You may have felt very set and then all of a sudden get to that point where you’re like, oh, hang [00:17:00] on This a minute.

Katie: Come to that realization recently. So prior to having a factory, I was quite proud of the fact that everything that we invested in the business came from what the business had generated revenue.

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: And then last year, I had to take out a loan to be able to order from the factory just ’cause of the MOQ size. But I created a plan before I came to you that was wrong. I’m now realizing, which was that we’ll invest this amount into stock. And then by next year we’ll have sold all of that stock and I’ll have.

The money back to then invest again. But what you forget is along the way in order to sell the stock, exactly as you said, I’ve paid out for much more baby shows than I’d ever done before. You know, I was now on Amazon as well, which I suppose is another big milestone.

How Katie stopped second-guessing her stock decisions

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: You know, they take their commissions and before you know it, those extra profits have gone.

And there’s me thinking I’m paying that loan back this year. But actually it’s just gone straight back into the next [00:18:00] round stock. And so I’ve come to the fast realization that are always going to have to have a certain amount of money tied up in stock. And one of the things that we did in the mastermind was work out what my stock threshold should be.

Catherine Erdly: Mm-hmm.

Katie: I use that spreadsheet religiously now every month to make sure that I’m meeting those thresholds.

We’re not gonna fall below, you know, when we forecast in events that are coming. So that’s been a hard thing to learn is that money isn’t necessarily coming back. But it’s an investment that keep growing, but as we grow, there are more costs.

Catherine Erdly: Yeah. Yeah, it’s just you have to watch it really carefully, like make sure you don’t fall below and make sure you are not stockpiling. Also, because that’s the other thing as well, is that it can get to a real sticky situation sometimes when you are manufacturing.

It is sometimes necessary to take that capital to get the manufacturing done, but it’s just making sure that it’s not like one of those snowball things where then your loan repayments start to [00:19:00] become really, really heavy as well. So it’s always that balancing act. All part of the learning curve, as you said.

Katie: Definitely. And one of your piece of pieces of advice was to see every stock item on your shelf as a, you know, a note. A cash note and its value.

And I’ll look at it every month. And I’ll think, right. Well, you are not turning fast enough and how much cash that is.

Catherine Erdly: Mm. 

Katie: Whereas previously I might have felt forced to do a sale because everyone was doing Black Friday or everyone’s doing a summer sale. Now I will only join in, a sale if stock isn’t turning as fast as it should.

Catherine Erdly: Mm

Katie: And it would benefit me. You know, or even if I know something in a three pack of bibs, like this is a three pack.

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: I know it’s selling as a single. I’ve got the freedom to take that apart and sell them as singles if that’s shifting.

So it’s just great having an understanding of how we’re actually performing every month, and I just wouldn’t have had that if I didn’t come on the mastermind.

How she reconnected with the parts of the business that bring her joy

Catherine Erdly: Fantastic. And how have you found that that’s helped [00:20:00] you as the founder. Like for your kind of peace of mind as it were and you said the way that you feel about the business.

Katie: So when you’re, when you’re in the Mastermind, you also get the coaching calls with Annabel as well.

Catherine Erdly: Mm. Yes.

Katie: And to begin with, I found that really uncomfortable because I had this very negative view of myself. I was quite self-critical, didn’t feel, you know, I never celebrated the achievements of the business.

Catherine Erdly: Mm.

Katie: But having worked through the course with you and then the coaching sessions with Annabel, now I have a lot of pride for the business and a lot of respect for what I’ve achieved so far.

And I’ve gained so much more clarity about why I do what I do and where I want the business to go, and really understanding now what the strengths of the business are and how to lean into those more for investing in stock and the new patterns we design.

But also, we know that baby shows work for us and that’s also a great way for us to acquire new customers. But it’s also something that really validates me because [00:21:00] by coming out of these four walls and seeings.

Catherine Erdly: Yes.

Katie: So I have like a massive clarity of my strengths and appreciation of my achievements now. And obviously, like I said, I’ve set up all these systems which give me so much more in growing the business. Because, so I’m doing some new product development at the moment and I can logically look at that and say, well, I know what we need to reorder.

I know what’s working, so that’s that budget spent. So that leaves me with the following budget and I can invest more confidently now as well. And just being able to enjoy it every day again, because that’s how it always was before.

And I think every business goes through a sticky patch where probably you’ve had a period of fast growth. 

Catherine Erdly: Hmm. 

Katie: Especially when you’re a solo business owner, it feels very overwhelming and not many other people understand it around your close circle of friends and family.[00:22:00] 

Catherine Erdly: Yes.

Katie: being in the Mastermind, obviously you’re amongst other people in the cohort who. I’m probably going through exactly the same things I know lots of us were, and it doesn’t take the problem away, but it makes it easier to manage.

Catherine Erdly: Yes.

Katie: I think you just rationalize it a little better and people come up with other suggestions and there were so many things you would say that were so obvious. But to me, sat in the middle of it all. It was just too overwhelming. I couldn’t see the way out, so you helped me make that path, which was brilliant.

Catherine Erdly: Amazing. Well, that’s music to my ears. No, absolutely. And I think there’s a real human fundamental need to talk to other people who understand us. I think it’s like we just really crave that, I think. And I think to be able to find people who are also established product business owners.

As everybody is and be able to just like you say to someone just you be able to talk about something in specific that is, even if it’s a frustration or a win and other people actually genuinely understand it and can give you insight, I think that that can feel so such, such a relief almost when. [00:23:00] Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And it kind of brings me onto my next question, which is, you, you know, you said you got clear on the vision and what, where you want to take it. So what is next for Bibbilyboo?

Katie: Well, obviously having won so many awards for the bibs, we know they’re doing really well. And I’m gonna take your advice and stop trying to apply for all of them now. Because I think, however, we really, really wanna expand our size options all the way through to adults. Because more and more we’re hearing of plenty of people with additional needs and disabilities.

Catherine Erdly: Mm-hmm.

Katie: We desperately want your bibs. But I only do up to age 10 currently, and we’ve grown out of those. And every baby show that I go to, there’s always someone that comes who has a family member that needs one of our bibs. So I’m really pleased that we now have had the samples back for all of the sizes from the factory.

Catherine Erdly: Oh.

Katie: I’m hoping by the end of the year to be able to launch those. And it will be many collections for each because there’ll be several sizes. So to begin with, we’ll launch with that. and that is [00:24:00] exciting to be able to, again, help people who really need a problem solving. And I know it’s going to work because we’ve seen it work already in the smaller sizes.

So that’s definitely number one on my list. But then also, I’m planning a few new products that we’d like to launch because I’m realizing that the baby care industry, there are a couple of complimentary products that we can see working really well alongside what we already offer.

And we launched our feeding bibs, these ones here with the little pockets. And that was coveralls that was launched a few months ago on the back of all of our customer feedback at the baby shows. Because parents didn’t understand necessarily that our dribble bibs designed to wear all day aren’t ones that you would wear for feeding, because then you’d need to change them straight away.

And that made us realize if we offer the feeding bibs, were helping them in both aspects. But there’s a couple of complimentary products that we want to bring out to go alongside those. So, without sharing any details just yet, they are in development. I’ve had samples back and hoping to steadily launch those. I don’t want to [00:25:00] go too fast on everything, so that’s another thing I’ve definitely learned is to not put the foot on the gas too quickly.

Catherine Erdly: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of that. And do you want to finish off by telling everyone where they can find out more about bibblyboo?

Katie: Absolutely. So you can find us over on our website at bibblyboo.co.uk. We are Instagram at Bibbilyboo Bibs and on Facebook. and say hi. I always love to chat to everybody, so if you’re already a bibblyboo user, definitely send me some pictures to share as well. I love that.

Catherine Erdly: And do you list where you’re going to be, which shows you’re going to be at as well? Do you list that?

Katie: On our website we’ve got an events tab and you can see all the shows that we’re booked in for. So all the baby shows have just finished for the spring season now, but they’ll quickly resume again in September. That’ll be here before we know it, and then they’re all back to back again. And we do visit all the way across country.

We’ve just been to Scotland. We’ve been down south. We’ll be in Manchester, so all over. They’ll definitely be somewhere near [00:26:00] you. 

Catherine Erdly: Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. Why not head over to Instagram at Resilient Retail Club? Say hi. Let me know where you’re tuning in from. I absolutely love to see it when you share photos and if you have a moment to rate and review. The podcast in Spotify is super helpful in terms of getting it out there in front of other people.

I should say, you can rate it inside the Spotify app. You can write a review and rate it inside Apple Podcasts. And of course, if you like, follow or subscribe, you’ll be the first to know about each new episode when it comes out on a Thursday morning. See you next week. 

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