After being laid off during the pandemic in 2020, Conor Lewis was bit by the entrepreneurial bug and decided to go for it with his toy product, FORT. Conor put his marketing expertise to use and built an email list of over 80,000 people before launching his Kickstarter campaign. His share focused and gamified marketing campaign helped him build his email list organically. Conor comes on the show today to share his journey of building his list, nurturing his interested customers, and ultimately funding a multi-million-dollar crowdfunding campaign in the first 24 hours.

This episode is packed with valuable, actionable advice featuring Marie Nastasi’s 5 Keys to a Successful Buyer Presentation. She brings a wealth of experience to you from her roles as both a buyer and a manufacturers’ representative.

Are you ready to pitch your product to retail buyers? Listen in now!

In celebration of Black History Month, The Toy Coach presents a mini-series: Getting To Know Black Women In Toys and Entertainment. In this mini-series, The Toy Coach asks four interviewees the same 10 questions, in an effort to celebrate their career achievements in toys and entertainment, connect on a personal level, reminisce about toys from their childhood, and share their valuable life lessons.

In today’s podcast episode, we talk about the grind of obtaining funding for your toy business. My guest is Terri Nichelle Bradley, the founder, and CEO of Brown Toy Box. Terri’s toy company, Brown Toy Box, makes STEAM culturally representative, accessible, and fun. She drops in to share her toy business journey. From failures to successes and everything in between, Terri shares tips and advice based on her personal experience.

As a toy inventor or entrepreneur, you know that there are about a hundred decisions you make on any given day. A decision to partner with a specific person or organization, a decision in how you interact with your customers, the factory you choose, the suggested retail price point you set. And at times it can seem overwhelming and challenging to continue to make the right decisions day in and day out.

In this episode, we’ll talk about developing the key to guiding the decision making in your toy business, and that key is your vision statement. We'll go through a few examples of vision statements from both toy companies and non-toy companies and then highlight the 4 big questions you should ask yourself to start defining a vision statement of your very own.

Are you thinking about starting your business in the toy industry but stumped about how to set it up the right way when it comes to taxes? Navigating tax protocols as a new business owner can be confusing and intimidating, but today’s special guest and tax guru Margie Montes will shed valuable light on what you need to know to set yourself up for tax success.

Have you ever watched a child engage with a push-button toy and couldn’t help but feel something was missing? Today we explore why the toy industry needs more toys designed for free play, experimentation, and discovery. Where do today’s push-button toys and arts-and-craft kits fall short, and how can negotiating for a little more free play in toy design benefit a child’s developing mind? Push play to find out!

How to protect not only your toy ideas but also your toy business? In today's episode the 3 most valuable contracts you need to have in your arsenal as a toy business owner, as well as what you need to look out for when you’re signing any work agreement as an employee.

With the Christmas season fast approaching and COVID-19 numbers rising, today’s episode focuses on what you need to do to adapt your toy business or toy career so that you can attract sales and clients in a seemingly cold virtual climate. This new virtual first world we’re living in, while efficient, lacks human connection and warmth.

Are you curious about how COVID-19 might impact toy sales this Christmas and beyond? Whether you're a corporate toy professional or an independent toy-preneur, this is the episode for you. To kick off today’s conversation, we jump into a year review of the impact that COVID-19, stay at home orders, remote learning, and working all made on the toy industry. The Toy Coach highlights the top growing toy categories and the reason they experienced double-digit growth. Get ready to dive into a really important conversation on what the toy industry needs to do to hold onto the growth gained this year.

Currently, the People of Play Young Inventors Challenge is in full swing. Kids from all over have submitted their toy inventions and game ideas for a chance to be named Young Inventor of The Year. Which makes this week the perfect week to celebrate young inventors. And what better way to do that than to have my first kid inventor on the podcast? I have two guests today, kid inventor Sebastian Flores, and his supportive mompreneur Melanie Flores, the creators of the patented line of greeting cards, OctoGifts. Octo Gifts offers DIY, 3 dimensional, functional greeting cards that dispense candy.

How do you tell your partner that you want to start a toy business? How do you overcome imposter syndrome together? Find the answers to these questions and many more. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy but being a supportive spouse can make the experience a whole lot lighter.

In today’s episode, Azhelle explains the type of personalities that thrive as Toy Entrepreneurs and mindsets they must have to be successful and, most importantly, happy. Get ready to listen to the best and most challenging parts of the so exciting life of a toy entrepreneur.

Have you ever wondered if you are a Toy Inventor or a Toy Entrepreneur? In today's episode, The Toy Coach is back to explain the differences between the two and point out why you might be both. Azhelle walks you through the meaning of there roles at both the corporate and independent levels and explains how your toy career could benefit from seeing yourself as both!

As of today you might not be in the toy business. You might be in advertising, you might be a school teacher, or you might be a waiter, and the idea of being a toy inventor or a game inventor may have never crossed your mind until this very moment. Today's guest on Making It in The Toy Industry is Rob Angel, the creator of the highly popular family board game of quick draw, Pictionary. At age 21, Rob worked waiting tables in Seattle when he dreamed up the word guessing game now known as Pictionary. With focus and passion Rob raised capital, built a team and figured out how to market and sell his game all over Seattle, and eventually the world.