How Independent Grocers Can Compete With Amazon

/in , /by

When Amazon acquired organic supermarket chain Whole Foods Markets in 2017 for just under $14 billion, the online retail giant put the grocery industry on notice that it was muscling its way in. Whole Foods has expanded to 500 stores from 468 since then, and in August 2020, Amazon launched its first Amazon Fresh hi-tech supermarket and has since then expanded to 13 stores. It is also reportedly planning to launch 28 more Fresh stores in the next few years.

Whole Foods, which is known for its healthier, organic food selections, is already an established brand that is always seeking to expand. So what can independent grocers do to survive the expansion plans of the online retail giant?

While Amazon’s expansion into the grocery industry casts a looming shadow over the 21,574 independent grocers operating in the US, grocers are still holding their own. According to the National Grocers Association, independent grocery stores (excluding convenience stores), contributed $255 billion to the US economy and were responsible for employing 1.1 million people in 2020. They also account for 33% of grocery sales in the US, and many operate in “food deserts” (low-income areas in which residents, on average, live more than one mile away from a supermarket) in which 23.5 million Americans live, according to the US Dept. of Agriculture.

What You’re Up Against

Before you devise a strategy to compete with Amazon, you should get to know the core strengths of the corporate giant. In a nutshell, Amazon’s entire schtick relies on three things: grocery delivery/pickup services, technology, and brand name. 

Amazon Fresh was created in 2007 to compete with Fresh Direct in the grocery delivery business and, in August 2020, opened a select number of brick-and-mortar stores that offer cashierless shopping experiences. Primarily, the stores are used as delivery hubs for local shoppers to let the public know where their groceries are coming from. 

Electronic shopping carts are one of the features of Amazon Fresh stores.

Fresh stores are smaller than the typical supermarket and offer hot-and-cold buffets, brand name items and organic foods. The biggest feature of the store is that shoppers can use electronic shopping carts that automatically itemize the goods being purchased, and they can use Amazon Alexa devices – which are placed around the store – to locate food items. They can also locate stores and order groceries through their regular Amazon accounts. 

Stellar Brand Name

Independent grocers also must deal with the stellar reputations enjoyed by Amazon and Whole Foods. The fact is that Whole Foods – which also offers grocery delivery and pickup services – is trusted for its healthy, organic brand options, while Amazon is the most popular online shopping brand in the world. 

Goliath Does Have Weaknesses!

If you see the challenge of competing with a giant like Amazon as impossible, consider that, despite its size, Amazon does have three distinct weaknesses you can exploit:

  1. Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods are among the most expensive grocery stores in America. While Amazon has made it a point to open Whole Foods stores in low-income neighborhoods such as Newark, NJ and Chicago’s Southside in recent years, they are still, on average, 10% to 20% more expensive than your typical grocery store, according to the Grocery Store Guy. By and large, it’s clear that Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods are for shoppers who have incomes that are above the national average. By offering regular sales or weekly discounts on popular items, you can gain a competitive edge.
  2. Amazon markets itself to the entire world, while you just need to market yourself to your neighborhood. Neither Amazon nor Whole Foods will change their brands with new marketing strategies or inventories for one particular neighborhood – but you can. As an independent grocer, you know the wants and needs of the customers in your community far better than Amazon. Therefore, it is doubtful that Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods will change its product line for your specific community. This is something you can definitely use to your advantage. 
  3. In a recent poll of American consumers by Avionos, almost two-thirds  (62%) of shoppers say they trust local businesses more than major retailers, so you already have that as an advantage.

Bridget Goldschmidt, managing editor of Progressive Shopper, said independent grocers must promote their local brands to compete with Amazon.

“The main way that independents can compete with Amazon would be to promote their own local brands and depend on the good will of area shoppers,” said Bridget Goldschmidt, managing editor of Progressive Shopper. 

“This they can do through various community efforts and philanthropic activities. That is to say, it isn’t just a brand campaign, but a long-term strategy to become an integral part of a community and win the trust and continuing loyalty of local shoppers.”

Meet Neighborhood Needs

Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh aren’t going to change to meet the specific needs of the community, but you’re small and nimble enough to. You can offer weekly discounts on food items that you know are popular with your particular community, or special food items that Amazon doesn’t sell. 

For example, if there is a concentration of a particular ethnic group in your neighborhood, you may want to make sure you have imported foods in stock from their native land.  

Organic food is typically very expensive and is something that Whole Foods and Fresh specialize in, so it’s probably not worth trying to compete with them in that area. You can, however, make yourself an expert on fresh produce and meat and make yourself readily available to customers to explain to them the nutritional benefits and preparation of foods. Doing this would make your customers’ shopping experience personable and keep them coming back.

Strengthen Your Digital Presence

If you don’t already have a website, you need to build one. Like every other small business, your business needs to show up in local Google searches and your digital storefront has to be attractive. While you’re not going to compete with Amazon and Fresh Foods in the eCommerce space, promoting weekly sales and discounts or offering recipe suggestions and touting the nutritional benefits of various foods on your site can go a long way in catering to your specific community.

Set up Limited eCommerce

As an independent grocer, you generally want to avoid playing to Amazon’s strength, which is the grocery delivery business. However, you can set up a rudimentary grocery pick up service for local shoppers, and you can even make a limited number of grocery deliveries to a select number of customers you know well, such as elderly customers. 

For pick up services, you would need to add payment software to your website and allow customers to shop for items directly from your site, and have the items ready for your customers to pick up at your store. 

Setting up an expansive grocery delivery service, on the other hand, will require resources such as a new software system, delivery trucks and extra employees that you might not be able to afford. So instead of trying to match Amazon’s delivery service and technology, you would probably be better served focusing on providing excellent customer relations – an area where you probably have an advantage since you know the neighborhood better than the corporate giant.

Get Involved in Your Community

Take advantage of your biggest edge over Amazon: you’re a fixture in your community and Amazon isn’t. Sponsor local charity events and get involved in local philanthropic activities, such as showing your support to the local police and fire departments and hospitals, or the local school sports teams. Set up a booth at your town’s seasonal festivals where people in the community can get to know you.

In all, if you’re an independent grocer and see that Amazon is pushing its way into your neighborhood, it may seem like you’re David and Goliath is staring you down. However, you do have some aforementioned slingshots you can take advantage of. Don’t try to compete with Amazon’s strengths, rather, elevate yours by working harder to cater to your specific community.

Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

/in , /by

Having an attractive storefront is a great start for your business, but how do you get potential customers to walk through your doors? More importantly, how do people even know you’re there? 

That’s the same challenge that small business owners face after they’ve taken the time, effort, and expense to build a website for their businesses: how to get potential customers to click onto their sites and stay there when they do.

Making your website easily searchable and marketing it to potential customers is a daunting challenge, but one that small business owners need to take on. After all, a well-crafted site won’t do you any good if no one is looking at it. 

Get to Know SEO

Over 60% of internet searches are done on Google, so it is crucial that you learn how to optimize your website so that it pops up in Google searches whenever someone searches for businesses such as yours. Optimizing your site can be tricky, however, and if you don’t have a lot of technical skill, there are plenty of companies that specialize in search engine optimization (SEO) services.  If you can’t afford one, there are steps you can take to do it yourself.

If you’ve already created a website, then you most likely are using a content management system. This is software that allows you to write, optimize and transfer text and artwork to your website, with the most common being WordPress. 

No matter which CMS software your choose, each one will have a feature that allows you to write in meta tags and titles – a short description of your content that is embedded in the underlying HTML of your page that makes your content more searchable online. It is important to have your meta tags and titles include keywords that you believe web browsers would naturally type into their search engines when searching for businesses such as yours. 

Show up in Local Searches

You should also set up a Google My Business account and fill your account with photos, descriptions, appropriate key words and up-to-date information about your business. This way, your business will show up in local searches. 

For example, if you own and operate a local Italian restaurant, you want your restaurant to appear in the “businesses near me” Google result when a resident in your community does an online search for “Italian restaurants.”

Use Sitemaps

Google Search Console will allow browsers to seamlessly sift through the pages of your website.

A sitemap is a list of the URLs of the subpages on your website that search engines can use to discover and index all of your content. One of the easiest ways to ensure Google can identify your most important pages is to create a file that meets Google’s standards and submit it through Google Search Console. This will help web browsers to follow a path to all of your website’s pages. 

Appear in Image Searches

Image searches are also becoming increasingly popular as well and optimizing your images can drive further organic traffic to your website. This is especially important if your business sells physical products. 

Whenever you search for something on Google, you may notice that images also appear atop the search results. For example, if you own a small furniture company and someone is looking for a new sofa set for their living room and Googles “white sofa set,” you want images of your sofa sets to appear in the search results. 

Alt text (also referred to as alt tags) can be inserted into whatever CMS software that you are using when you post images. In order to come up with alt text, think about what potential customers would type when conducting a Google search for the type of products that you sell. For example, if you own a pet store, you may want to type in “cute dog toys” or “gourmet cat food” as the alt text for your images.

Marketing Your Website 

Everyone pretty much knows that their websites should be SEO optimized, but often, optimizing your site won’t be enough. Everyday small business owners shared some of their most successful tactics to get visitors to their websites, indicating that getting backlinks (getting other sites to link back to your website) is also crucial. 

They also emphasized marketing techniques such as offering weekly specials or discounts, appearing on podcasts applicable to your industry, writing guest blogs or columns, and promoting your site on social media as key steps to making sure your website gets noticed. 

Market Yourself in Podcasts

Ray Blakney, CEO of Live Lingua, says appearing in podcasts is a sure way of driving traffic to your website.

“You can get more website hits by being a guest on podcasts in your business niche, as this initiative will place you right in front of an audience of thousands, tens of thousands, or even more listeners who are in your consumer target market,” said Ray Blakney, CEO and co-founder of small business Live Lingua. 

“Capitalize on this by discussing your business offerings and sharing your website during your interviews. Also, every SEO guru knows the importance of getting backlinks for a website. Every time a new website domain links to an enterprise’s website, it can help boost that company’s ranking in search engines. This in itself will result in more clicks when people search for the products or services that that business offers.”

Maximize Social Media

Setting up pages for your website on as many pertinent social media channels as possible will go a long way towards getting to people to find your website. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are just some of the platforms to use to get your name out there. However, when you do set up a page for your business, don’t just describe your business – give readers a reason to visit your website. 

“Hashtag themes get great responses from customers, e.g. ‘#giveaway Monday,’ etc.,” said Avrind Patil, business developer at Selectra. “Add details of your business that catch the attention of the customers by giving them exciting offers and discounts. Include games and coupons for your loyal customers.” 

Connect With Influencers

One key step in getting your website (and business) noticed is to try to connect with influencers in your community. These people may be local news anchors or business owners in a community that are well known by residents. 

Summer Romasco, marketing director at Ad Hoc Labs, says connecting with influencers in your industry will get people to go to your website.

If you own a plumbing business, for example, and you know a bad rain storm will hit the area, you may try to get the local news station to instruct residents to make sure the sump pumps in their basements are working in case of flooding (while giving a plug for your business, of course). 

“The best way to find out if a particular influencer will effectively reach your target audience is by following them on social media,” said Summer Romasco, marketing director at Ad Hoc Labs. 

“Doing so will help you discover how that person interacts with their followers and if their voice and messaging resonate with your brand and your target audience. Once you determine that the influencer is a good fit, engage with them directly through a message or chat. Ask them if they’d be willing to share your content or even create content that will resonate with your desired audience,” she said. 

Write Guest Blogs

Another effective way to get backlinks is to find popular publications and blogging sites that write about your industry, and see if they will allow you to write a guest blog. This will help establish you as an authority in your industry, and create publicity for your website. 

“When we write [guest blogs], we make sure that they are relevant to the type of audience we want to bring. Moreover, we link from the guest blogs to our website, using relevant anchors and links,” said Snizhana Kolomiets, marketing manager at Better Proposals. “This ensures we get highly qualified, relevant traffic to the right pages.”

Engage in Email Marketing 

Email marketing involves emailing promotions or information about your business on your website to a bulk of potential customers. Of course, many of your emails may get tossed in people’s spam folders, but don’t get discouraged. According to the Data & Marketing Association in the U.K., email marketing on average yields a whopping 4300 percent ROI for businesses in the US. 

“Many businesses fail to attract more visits to their website because they never consider the importance of email marketing,” said Henry Davis, owner of Adept Golf. 

“Email marketing lets you reach your ideal visitors personally. If you do email marketing right, you not only boost your website hits, but you also attract customers that are high-quality.” 

Offer Promotional Games and Contests

“Organize contests and games where you give winners prizes, freebies, and giveaways. Hosting a contest is one of the simplest ways to boost website hits,” said Liam Johnson, CEO of The Hitch Store. 

“People fancy getting rewards and freebies, and they also enjoy competitions. Holding regular contests like trivia, raffles, and mini-games leads people to your website. It increases brand awareness, too.”

Next Up in the Claim Your Corner of the Internet Series – Become an Authority

Creating and marketing your website will go a long way in making your business more successful. However, you can compound that success by adding a blog to your site. Blogs (such as the one you’re reading right now) give you a way to intellectually and emotionally connect to your customers and become a leading authority in your industry.

How to Reduce Shipping Costs for Small Businesses

Shipping Unboxed: How to Reduce Shipping Costs

/in , /by

If your small business runs any kind of shipping operation in-house, you’re likely familiar with the common headaches that come along with order fulfillment: boxing sold items; taking several trips to the post office or UPS & FedEx stores, dealing with increasing rates, never having enough packing tape, and several more problems which sometimes lead businesses to abandon the process altogether or partner with a fulfillment company. There are, however, several modern methods business owners ought to try before giving up. In this introductory article to our series on shipping and ecommerce, we are laying out concrete strategies to keep shipping costs, and time commitments, low when fulfilling customers’ orders.

Over the past number of years, more and more storefronts began taking online orders and the COVID-19 pandemic forced those die-hard traditional brick-and-mortar shops to adopt shipping to survive. Running a shipping operation in tandem with a traditional storefront is near-Herculean for small teams, so for those teams where every dollar and every minute counts, these tips are for you:

 

Use Flat-Rate Boxes Provided by Carriers

USPS, UPS, and FedEx all have their own flat-rate shipping boxes you can use instead of your own boxes. Since these carriers all charge by your package’s dimensions, more often than not their flat-rate boxes will end up costing less per shipment. Even better, you can have flat-rate boxes shipped to your business in-bulk and often for free.

USPS in particular offers a near-unbeatable deal for their Small Flat Rate Box. If you are shipping objects smaller than 8 5/8″ x 5 3/8″ x 1 5/8″, you can use a Small Flat Rate box domestically for as low as $8.65 for a fully-insured delivery. The upper weight limit for USPS flat-rate boxes is 70 pounds per parcel.

One downside to using carrier packaging is, of course, the sometimes-aggressive branding covering the box. If you still want your own brand and business personality to shine through, you can simply place your own branded packaging within the box, but you can also do a number of other things inside your parcel to make the shipment memorable and personal. An example of this (and a great tip for small businesses still shipping in house) is to attach hand-written thank you notes to the inside of packages.

 

Take Advantage of Commercial Base Pricing

If you aren’t already using commercial base pricing to buy postage for your small business’ shipments, drop everything and start today. Commercial base pricing is a program from the USPS (also used by UPS) which discounts shipping rates when you buy postage from an online provider. Discounts for parcels can be lucrative with USPS First Class postage discounted 26% per parcel on stamps.com, one of the most well-known online postage providers.

There are no minimum or maximum postage limits on commercial base pricing, so businesses who ship parcels infrequently can benefit just as much as large ecommerce companies. All you need to take advantage of commercial base pricing is a computer and printer. Extra points if you are using a carrier’s flat-rate boxes! Making these two simple changes are important first steps to running a leaner shipping operation.

 

Weigh Packages Accurately to the Ounce

If you’ve chosen to take advantage of commercial base pricing postage and print your own shipping labels, it is essential that you use a digital postal scale to make sure you aren’t overpaying for shipping. Without a postal scale you are forced to estimate your parcel’s weight which can only lead to two things: overpaying for postage or getting the dreaded “return to sender due to insufficient postage” stamp. Underestimating postage is a headache for you and your customers but getting an ounce-perfect reading only takes one trip to Staples. Or better yet, new members to Stamps.com can snag a free digital scale for free when they make an account.

Counterpart to weight, measuring your parcels is good for accuracy but also opens another door for savings. USPS charges approximately $16.25 for packages measuring 11 1/4″ x 8 3/4″ x 6″ and then close to $22.65 for packages 12 1/4″ x 12 1/4″ x 6″ not accounting for weight. Meaning if you can shave only a few inches off your packaging, you can massively save on your per-parcel pricing.

 

See if Prepaid Shipping Works for Your Business

USPS, UPS, and FedEx all offer their own versions of prepaid shipping labels which offer a huge discount when bought in bulk. Prepaying for your postage is a great way to reduce headaches, but also can be quite the gamble for small businesses.

Prepaid postage is fantastic for small businesses that run subscription packages or any kind of item that is consistently sized and consistently shipped. For example, if you run a postal book club where you send the same book to a list of subscribers, prepaid shipping is likely a monstrous money-saver. Being that the company will know exactly how many parcels they will be sending, also since all the packages will be the same size, the company can confidently buy their postage upfront at the beginning of a month and likely save loads of money.

For companies that run more ad-hoc shipping, as in they only ship after orders are made, prepaid shipping may either leave them short or with too many labels at the end of the month. And, companies that sell several differently sized items may run into issues calculating prepaid shipping ahead of time.

 

Consider 3rd Party Shipping Insurance Companies

If you are still using major carriers’ insurance for your parcels, you’re likely missing out on savings. Parcel insurance is likely one of the last things on your mental checklist before a package goes out, so take this moment to reassess if you could be leaving money behind on each of your sales. Shipping insurance is often pennies on the dollar for smaller parcels, so small businesses with a healthy output of parcels would do well to see how they can save. The most well-known 3rd party shipping insurance company, Shipsurance, charges 90% less per sale than the USPS directly.

3rd party shipping services aren’t for every small business. If you are using base commercial pricing, for example, it is a near-certainty that the website you are using also maintains their own insurance system. A great example of when 3rd party parcel insurance may come into play is if you sell small, luxury items like jewelry. 3rd party parcel insurance companies generally are quicker to respond to claims and more directly reimburse for parcel contents compared to carriers like USPS. If you declare your items ahead of time, you can rest even easier.

 

Finding Your Dream Shipping System

Every small business is unique and so is every shipping solution. No matter if your small business ships one parcel a month or 1,000 there is a good chance there is still money to be saved. Do your research and get intimate with the details of your own shipping procedure. A few dollars savings becomes a boatload after a steady stream of parcels. The Internet and home printing were both revolutions for the shipping industry, but we are only enjoying the synergy of those several advantages right now. One thing is certain: small business owners have no excuse to wait in line at the post office anymore.

Should you be Using CRM Software?

/in , /by

It was only about 25 years ago that customer relations management (CRM) meant manually keeping up with key touchpoints with your customers throughout their buying experience. This meant having to keep a rolodex of current and prospective customers and having to physically mail or call regarding promotions or updates to your business. This also meant having to research consumer buying and industry trends.

Fast forward to today’s digital world where the bulk of consumers rely on their computers, smartphones, or tablets to purchase products and services. So, doesn’t it make sense to consider software that can automate most CRM functions for you and reach current and potential customers through the modern mediums they are using? Especially when – thanks to the dramatic rise of software-as-a-service (SaaS) – there are affordable tools out there that can not only save you hours of time, but can also  help you gain new customers and keep existing customers coming back.

What Should CRM Software do?

Good CRM software should allow your small business to do a variety of sales and marketing tasks all in one centralized location. The software should have the ability to:

  • Store customer and prospect information.
  • Identify sales opportunities.
  • Record Service Issues.
  • Keep track of buying trends and
  • Manage marketing campaigns.

Purchasing CRM software for your business can be expensive – the cost can range from $1,000 to nearly $5,000 per year, but the return on investment for your business will make it well worth it.  

Here are some of the most popular and best-reviewed CRM software packages out there, and what they can do for your business.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

SalesForce Sales Cloud is ranked by both Capterra and Business-Software.com  as one of the most popular and user-friendly CRM software. This software allows you to increase productivity by deploying industry-specific apps and best practice processes. It also gives you access to more than 150,000 sales organizations and a user-strong community of over 2 million of your peers.

 

Zendesk Sell 

Zendesk Sell is also highly ranked as one of the most user-friendly CRM software packages and has a strong focus on sales. It allows you to track all your customer interactions in one place. The company claims that 80% of customers say that the software has made their businesses more efficient and helped increase Sales. 

Oracle NetSuite

Oracle NetSuite CRM is among the most popular CRM software among both large and small businesses in the US, but is one of the more expensive out there. It offers a comprehensive front-office solution that gives you a complete overview of your customer histories, and integrates your CRM practices with accounting, eCommerce, warehousing and shipping applications, thus tracking your customers’ activities from sales order and fulfillment to renewals a cross-selling. 

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is one of the more affordable CRM packages out there. Like Oracle NetSuite, it also offers full histories of your customer relationships at a glance. Its features include contact management, sales funnels, pipeline management, workflow automation, AI-powered conversational assistant, task management, managing marketing campaigns, sales forecasting, customer support & service, inventory management, reporting & analytics, and seamless integration with 500 business apps in a single system. 

C2CRM

Produced by ClearC2, C2CRM is one of the cheaper yet most comprehensive CRM packages out there. It offers sales management that full overviews of all customer relationships, sales force automation and customer service that tracks post-sales activities. It also is capable of converting data files to Excel. 

Copper CRM

Copper CRM specializes in servicing small business owners who are overwhelmed by data entry. Its software packages is one of the most user-friendly. The CRM software integrates Gamil and other Google apps, thereby allowing it to log all your customer emails and other interactions to the right contact at your small business. It also allows you to easily see your customer relationship histories, including past transactions, from past email threads.

Infor CRM

Infor CRM offers standard open application programming interface and integration options, seamless integration with back office systems and advanced customization capabilities, as well as round-the-clock customer service. While it is custom made for small businesses, its clients include Amica Life Insurance, UniFirst and Meridian Bioscience.  

Sage CRM

Sage CRM offers software specifically tailored to small businesses seeking to integrate their sales and marketing records with Gmail or MS Exchange email accounts. Sage CRM offers customer relationship management graphs, customizable workflow graphs and marketing campaign tools for a cost that is cheaper than most. 

Nutshell

One of the less expensive options for CRM software, Nutshell is both a CRM package and email marketing platform that focuses on helping B2B companies work together to get more sales. With this software, you won’t have to juggle both sales and marketing tools, as it offers unlimited CRM contacts, data migration assistance and live support. 

Quickbase

Quickbase tracks leads, sales tasks and sales opportunities in real time using built-in mobile forms and workflows, automated reporting and trigger-based actions to help your sales team and stakeholders (even if the only stakeholder is you) informed on the progression of your company. 

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

A lot of investments go into successfully running a small business, and most business owners understandably wish to keep costs to a minimum. As a business owner, however, there are areas you shouldn’t skimp on, and CRM is one of them. Managing customer relationships can be an overwhelming task, but failure to do so can significantly cost your business. CRM software could make your life as a small business owner more time-efficient and ultimately lead to more success. Given the fact that there are free software options out there, it’s something you can’t afford not to do. 

Kapitus Celebrates Hispanic Small Business Owners

Celebrating Hispanic Small Business Owners

/in /by

From the Kapitus team, we wish the world over a happy Hispanic Heritage Month! As the world reminisces on and celebrates the world’s Hispanic icons, we at Kapitus are excited to recognize several Hispanic small business owners from across the country whose stories of trailblazing are sure to inspire. The beautiful Hispanic tradition runs deep in the veins of America and these small business owners are furthering that tradition of greatness through their own stories of perseverance.

Matthew Ramirez, Founder, Rephrase Media, McCallen, TX

“For the last eight years, I’ve worked on free and low-cost AI products to improve literacy in minority communities. The first product I developed, called WriteLab, gave automatic writing feedback to students, particularly in community colleges, where most do not have access to extensive tutoring or mentorship to help them develop into clear and effective communicators. My most recent product, Paraphrase Tool, provides writers with an opportunity to see multiple versions of their own thoughts, so they can optimize for clear, simple, diplomatic, or academic writing, to give a few examples of the fifteen free writing modes we offer. The question I’ve repeatedly gotten is why try to enact change through industry rather than through teaching, since I started as a writing instructor at UC Berkeley. My answer is very simple: the need to improve literacy at scale is urgent and complex, and the fastest way to iterate through complexity is to proceed in a bottoms-up fashion, listening to feedback to users, making changes, and working to better serve them.”

 

Stefanie Juliano, MS, LPCC, Founder/Therapist, New Mexico Wellness Center & Stefanie Juliano Therapy, Rio Rancho, NM

“When I started my business about 4 1/2 years ago I was a mom of an almost one-year-old. I was working 40 to 60 hours a week as a therapist prior to maternity leave and that was not sustainable.

It was important to start my own business so that I could make my own hours and be there for anything that my daughter needed. I started my own private practice when my daughter was almost a year old and now – about four years later – [I own] a very successful mental health counseling agency called New Mexico wellness center and Stefanie Juliano Therapy. We have won numerous awards and we continue to do continuing education to best serve our communities. I went from myself as a sole owner to having over 10 contract offices and a biller and administrative assistant.

I really wanted to make healthcare-in particular, mental healthcare – more accessible to people in my community and throughout New Mexico (USA) which has an extremely high Hispanic population as well as Native American population.

Many times people were on a waitlist for a year or more so that they could receive mental health services. To have somebody suffering from postpartum depression, anxiety, ADHD, or other mental health issues for a year is just way too long to wait.

There have been many Hispanic lives lost and lives in general due to mental health disorders so it was my mission to have a group of therapists that could do in-person therapy as well as telehealth to reach rural communities.

I have had many challenges along the way, as I am a therapist and have no business background. I did not have any business mentors along the way and so I had to research and collaborate with other people to try to figure out what to do—from getting a business license to getting credentialed with insurance companies as many people in New Mexico (USA) are on Medicaid and cannot pay for any mental health services.

I was born and raised in a small New Mexican town close to the Texas border. I went to Eastern New Mexico University for my bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology. For several years I worked at different professional jobs and decided that I wanted to help others in a different way. I went back to school and became a therapist. I received my master’s of science degree in mental health counseling from University of Phoenix-Albuquerque based campus in 2013.”

Diana Rodriguez-Zaba, President of ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba, Chicago, IL

“I knew from an early age that I wanted to run my own business. I would imagine how I could make a positive difference for my employees and the people in our neighborhood. My family teased me about how authoritative I could be. My three brothers probably helped inspire that trait, and I say it with a big smile and wonderful memories.

My father encouraged me to follow my dreams. I was buying and rehabbing properties right out of high school. He taught me about the hands-on side of things, but his faith in me was just as important.

For several years, I also worked in Chicago city government. I was laid off in 2008 during a bad economic downturn. It was the middle of the Great Recession, but I took the leap. I opened my own restoration business.

As a woman entrepreneur in the restoration industry, I’ve overcome many challenges that made me stronger. On the business side, securing funding wasn’t easy. Hiring decisions didn’t always work out. The hardest part was being accepted in a male-dominated industry.

I often work shoulder to shoulder with my teams in the field. I remember wondering why I was surprised when a customer would look past me and talk to one of my technicians. It still happens. I just smile, connect with the customer and take the lead.

My employees are always looking for ways to do something extra for a customer. It’s part of our Random Acts of Kindness policy. Some of our best memories are about helping an elderly gentleman restore his home after a fire. A garden in front of the house had been destroyed.

We came to understand it had been planted by his wife, who had passed away a few years earlier. After we finished restoring his home, my team came back and replanted the customer’s garden. It’s one of my favorite examples of how every one of us can make a positive, lasting difference through the work we do every day.”

 

Even outside the 30 days designated for heritage recognition, Hispanic small business owners continue to thrive in the United States even in the face of their several unique challenges. No matter how you choose to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, regard the Hispanic small business owner with the same grandeur as any icon, as their stories are often profoundly inspiring. This Hispanic Heritage Month, make an effort to seek out your own local Hispanic small businesses. At the base of every small business success are clients, so you as a consumer have the opportunity to help build another story worth telling.

About Us

Products

Contact Us