7 Lessons From 7 Years of Supporting Growing Retail Brands
Happy anniversary Boon! We all work remotely, so try to get together twice per year to celebrate in-person. This is a quick snap from our summer get-together.
Reflecting on seven years of helping product-based brands scale sustainably through better inventory planning, smarter forecasting, and human-centered business growth.
Phew! It feels like just yesterday we were getting Boon off the ground—but here we are: 7 years, 16 team members, 60+ happy clients, and countless demand plans, forecasting tools, and spreadsheets later.
In honor of this milestone (and our brand-new rebrand!), we’ve been reflecting on the lessons we’ve learned while helping retail and DTC brands strengthen their inventory planning, improve cash flow, and grow sustainably.
Here are seven lessons from seven years of building Boon—and building up our clients.
You must to create goals (Yup, seriously).
Boon started as a dream—a place where experts could grow professionally without sacrificing the rest of their lives. But dreams become businesses only when they’re translated into direction.
Every year, before diving into another cycle of retail calendars and demand planning, we sit down and review:
What worked
What didn’t
What to improve
What to add or eliminate
How we want to grow
This started with Mary alone in her solopreneur era, and eventually evolved into multi-day strategy sessions with our VP of Solutions.
Why?
Because every “yes” to something unimportant becomes a “no” to something that matters.
Creating goals is foundational—for Boon, for our clients, and for any brand that wants to scale sustainably rather than reactively.
2. “Hope is not a strategy.”
Hope is an essential part of life—but it’s certainly not a strategy to rely upon when it comes to work. That’s why this little phrase has become a favorite catchphrase among our team. At Boon, strategizing ties into everything we do—from creating goals, to forecasting, to working with experts. When we create our yearly goals, identify an area that could improve upon, or have a new idea, the VERY NEXT STEP is creating a strategy for implementation. If your goal is to get across the river, you need to first figure out a way to do it without just diving in head first.
We put strategy behind everything we do at Boon—from new client acquisition and satisfaction to team engagement. Developing strategy has enabled Boon to continuously grow year over year—and not just when it comes to headcount, but in a dollars in the bank kind of way! Strategies need to continually be refined, so stay hungry because what worked last year won’t necessarily work this year—and that’s just as true for our client approach as it is for our team internally.
3. Even the forecasters have to forecast.
We preach forecasting… because it works. And because we use it ourselves.
Internally, we forecast:
Labor needs
Revenue scenarios
Client retention and growth
Upside and downside risk
Hiring timelines
Workload balancing
Forecasting isn’t about perfection—it’s about preparedness.
Knowing your high and low thresholds gives you the confidence to:
Hire at the right time
Say yes to growth opportunities
Navigate uncertainty
Avoid emergency-mode decision-making
Forecasting + strategy + clear timelines = a roadmap for scalable success.
4. Even experts need help sometimes.
Yes—even us.
Just like our clients benefit from outsourcing inventory planning, demand forecasting, and sales analysis, we’ve learned that Boon grows best when we outsource too.
Over the years, we’ve partnered with:
CPAs & accountants
Legal teams
Branding & marketing agencies
Copywriters
Fractional executives
IT specialists
External expertise accelerates growth. It reduces risk. It eliminates trial-and-error. It lifts the burden off your internal team.
The same way Boon upgrades our clients’ planning processes, experts upgrade ours.
5. It’s OK to be scared—do it anyway (and quickly).
Starting a business is scary. Hiring is scary. Launching new initiatives is scary.
But waiting until you’re 100% certain?
That’s how businesses stall.
In our experience:
You set the goal
Build the strategy
Understand the risk
And then… you go
Because “perfect” is the opposite of “done.”
In retail, waiting often means missing the window completely.
Progress beats perfection every time.
6. Empower your team to be intrapreneurs—and then step back.
One of the most intentional parts of Boon’s culture is trust.
Every Boon consultant:
Sets their own schedule
Manages their own workload
Works directly with clients
Creates tools, analysis, and recommendations independently
Brings new ideas to leadership
Helps innovate the business
We don’t micromanage.
Because autonomy helps people thrive—and when people thrive, clients win.
This intrapreneurial model is why our team is deeply engaged, invested, and innovative. It’s also why our clients receive work that goes above and beyond a typical “consultant output.”
7. Take the time to celebrate—because entrepreneurs rarely do.
As business owners, we’re constantly moving the goal posts. There is always another initiative, another fire, another opportunity.
Celebrating can feel… irresponsible. Or inefficient. Or indulgent.
But here’s the truth:
Celebration is fuel.
It:
Boosts morale
Anchors your progress
Prevents burnout
Strengthens your team
Helps you remember why you’re doing this
Your business is here because of the effort you’ve poured into it. Taking time to acknowledge how far you’ve come isn’t frivolous—it’s necessary.
It has truly been our pleasure.
Whether you’ve partnered with Boon before or we haven’t met yet—we’re grateful for every brand that’s let us play a role in their growth.
The past seven years have been filled with lessons, laughter, spreadsheets, breakthroughs, and big wins. And we’re just getting started.
Here’s to the next seven years of:
Smarter demand planning
More confident inventory decisions
Fewer stockouts
Less dead stock
Better cash flow
More empowered founders
And sustainable, scalable growth for every brand we touch
✨ Cheers to seven years—and to many more.
If you want Boon in your corner for the next chapter of your growth, we’d love to meet you.
