Breaking Taboos: Building A $1.5M/Year Business Around Pleasure Products
This is a follow up story for Betty's Toy Box. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 3 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello! I’m Carolyn Eagle, founder, and CEO of Betty’s Toy Box, Naughty North, and the soon-to-launch Pleasure Curve, three successful e-commerce platforms selling high-quality adult pleasure products. You can read the original Starter Story as a refresher because we have had some significant and exciting changes over the last two years.
In March of 2023, I became the sole owner of all three websites and launched Viola Media Inc (website coming soon) as the corporation where I plan to grow the brands, pursuing my dream of offering quality sexual health products along with education and advocacy.
I have been able to build the business to a point where we have received multiple industry award nominations and sales have remained steady even as the economy struggles, with a 5% increase in sales over the previous year.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
With the exit of two of the founders, Viola Media Inc is now a completely women-run business with an all-female staff, a fact that I am very proud of. I will continue to bring on more staff as I launch Pleasure Curve in June of 2023, which is a pleasure product e-commerce platform focussing on the plus-sized body.
When it comes to hiring, enthusiasm for the job has always been my number one requirement. When hiring from outside of the industry, I am always completely honest in my job postings. I always state that we are in the pleasure product industry and that we are a female-led team with feminist principles. I find that quickly weeds out the spam applications from the ones who read the posting and want to work for us.
From there, I conduct Zoom interviews with leading candidates and we have an honest discussion about their comfort level with the industry, product, and our messaging.
There is still a lot of stigma and controversy in terms of the products we sell and the messages we send.
Over the last two years, our sales have remained steady, and we have not experienced the post-pandemic dip that many of our competitors have. I attribute this to our focus on information and education as well as strong SEO and presence on social media. Our return customer rate has also increased by about 10%
Our SEO strategy focuses on several things. Keywords are key in terms of product titles and descriptions. We are always looking for new keywords and trends that others in our industry may not be filling. We also have an active blog with timely articles, videos, and information. And lastly, link building. We have a thriving affiliate program that allows us to grow our inbound links.
Betty’s Toy Box has a presence on all major social media networks. Our Youtube channel boasts over 21,400 subscribers, about a 20% increase in the last 2 years. We have also launched a TikTok account that has been growing quickly. Naughty North has also been growing its return customer rate significantly.
Our social media strategy has been one of education and building community since there are such strong regulations around the products we sell being marketed on most platforms. Our marketing on Facebook and Instagram is strictly regulated to stay clear of the censors, while we can take a different approach on Twitter, showing products and speaking more plainly.
At Betty’s Toy Box, we have implemented two forms of loyalty programs which have been doing extremely well. The first, Betty’s Bucks, runs through a Shopify app called Rise.ai, allowing us to create a points accumulation system where customers earn store credit per dollar spent, as well as by referring others with a unique code.
In addition, we have created the Betty’s Boudoir VIP Program with a yearly membership of $75 that grants members a 15% discount on every order, a gift with every order, and several other perks. Customers have been extremely responsive to this program.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
My biggest personal challenge has been taking on the role of running a corporation and all that entails. The paperwork lawyers, accountants, and staffing all fall to me but I am extremely lucky that I have a strong Assistant Manager who knows the ins and outs of running the business.
Learn as much as you can about the field you’re in. You need to be an expert on your products and know what your competitors are doing in your field.
Choosing to open another e-commerce platform with Pleasure Curve has been a goal for some time and with the stability of the other two sites, we feel the time is right. This will be the first time I do not take a key role in the day-to-day running of a business and leave it in the hands of my assistant which is going to be a learning curve for both of us.
As a female entrepreneur, I am very fortunate to work within an industry that has many strong female leaders and other entrepreneurs. On the other hand, in the world at large, there is still a lot of stigma and controversy in terms of the products we sell and the messages we send. Being a woman in this industry, I experience more judgment and misogyny.
Still, knowing who I am and what I stand for makes all the difference when these challenges arise. When you love what you do and truly believe in it, there are always ways to overcome challenges. In all of our company messaging, we are honest and approachable, and that resonates with our customers.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
With the exit of the two other founders, I feel like we are in a new era with the company and every day brings a new lesson to be learned. One of the biggest has been to work smarter, not harder. That means aligning more closely with brands and wholesalers who support what we do by creating marketing materials or providing review samples for us.
It means saying no to partnerships that will drain our resources and bring little return. And it means outsourcing some projects instead of bogging down my staff or myself with them.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
This year the focus will be on launching the new website Pleasure Curve as a platform for plus-sized people to feel seen and heard and where they can get education and information specific to their needs. We are all very excited about building the community around this brand on our social media as well.
With Betty’s Toy Box, our goal is to create more educational video content, which seems to resonate with our customers. We are also launching a major customer survey in June to see what our customers think about what we’re doing and what they would like to see in the future.
The long-term plan for all of the sites is to build a community made of educators, customers, product manufacturers, and healthcare professionals with the shared goal to destigmatize and normalize pleasure products.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
I loved Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. As female entrepreneur, I think we face a unique set of challenges when it comes to leadership. Although my industry is far from the corporate world, female leaders are still in the minority and I am embracing my role as a spokesperson and leader within my industry. Particularly when it comes to pleasure products and sexual health, women’s voices need to be heard and Lean In has helped me find my voice.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their businesses?
Content is king! Make sure you have fantastic product descriptions, compelling headlines, and interesting blog articles. If you’re not a writer, bring on a freelancer who can write for you. And don’t forget to copy-edit! There is no excuse for typos or terrible grammar and it will make you look unprofessional.
Learn as much as you can about the field you’re in. You need to be an expert on your products and know what your competitors are doing in your field.
You also need to listen to your customers and see what they want rather than what you think they want. Customers can be your best source for new ideas.
Where can we go to learn more?
- Betty’s Toy Box website
- Betty’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok, Pinterest, Vimeo
- Naughty North website
- Naughty North Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- Pleasure Curve website (launching June 2023)
- Pleasure Curve Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
- My email [email protected]
- General business inquiries [email protected]
- Pleasure Curve
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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