Alesha Brown Womens History Month Kapitus

Women’s History Month 2022: Publishing Entrepreneur Proves a Woman’s Pen is Mightier Than Her Sword

/in , /by

“Here’s to strong women – may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”

There are few industries in which the status and profiles of women need to be raised more than the publishing world. In the traditionally male-dominated industry, women have historically been paid less than men, even though women helped publish the first newspapers in the US. Studies have also shown that aspiring female authors also have not had the same opportunities in the publishing world as men. 

One woman in that industry is helping to change that. Alesha Brown, head of Alesha Brown LLC, which owns Fruition Publishing Concierge Services, a company that seeks to simplify the book publishing process – especially for new, female authors – is making strides to reshape the publishing business. 

‘Never Intended to be an Entrepreneur’

Alesha Brown Kapitus Women's History Month

Alesha Brown launched her own publishing company after being denied a well-deserved raise.

Brown launched Fruition in 2015 after being denied a raise at her old company, although she wasn’t intending to start her own business. But, she decided that this was the best way to pursue her dream of helping struggling authors publish their works.

“Believe it or not, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur or small business owner,” said Brown. “I launched into business after a salary adjustment denial resulted in me investing in my side hustle, which was birthed when I self-published my first book. The more I promoted my book, the more audiences sought advice on how to publish a book. 

“They wanted someone to give them information and walk alongside them in the process. The business grew so much in one year that I had to decide whether to resign from my government position or give up my growing business. The thought of quitting on myself seemed so egregious, especially for a company that was not invested in my growth and long-term success. The decision was easy to make, and I have not regretted it since, challenges and all.”

Navigating Scams, Legal Hurdles

Alesha Brown publishing Kapitus Women's History Monthh

Brown started Fruition Publishing to simplify the publishing process for aspiring authors.

One of the main reasons Brown launched Fruition is that she wanted to help aspiring authors avoid the many potential scams and legal pitfalls in the publishing world. There are many illegitimate companies out there that promise to publish books for large fees and never do, or companies that create contracts that give them most of the profits when a book does well.

“Fruition Publishing Concierge Services™, demystifies the book publishing process and shows clients how to profit and build income streams by monetizing their expertise,” said Brown.

“What is unique about this business is that I, as its founder & CEO, expose the legal pitfalls and scams prevalent in the industry. I do so boldly on the industry’s mainstream stages, associations, magazines, and journals to avoid the exploitation of women and underrepresented voices in the publishing industry.”

Overcoming Lack of Access, Funding

Kapitus Women's History Month Alesha Brown publishing

Fruition Publishing is thriving despite lack of access to capital early on.

Brown, who is African American, said a lack of funding and access to key decision makers at publishing companies is all too common in the publishing world, especially for women of color, and she aims to help change that. 

“As a double minority, I have had to overcome starting a business with no investors or large capital reserves in an industry where diversity, inclusion, and equity do not exist,” she said. “The publishing industry is one where minority leaders, writers, and authors are not revered and seldom have access to its key decision-makers and gatekeepers, which impacts their success and profitability. As important as continued education is, relationships with the industry’s gatekeepers have really made a difference for my business and the clients we represent, especially during the pandemic.”

Pandemic is Good for Business

The majority of small businesses continue to deal with a plethora of economic challenges, many of which have been brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown says that the publishing industry is no different.  Yet, while the publishing world is feeling the crunch of supply chain shortages and inflation, more people are seeking to write and publish books as they work from home and have more time to reflect on their lives. 

“Actually, the pandemic led to an influx in business because people felt a sense of urgency in ending procrastination and making sure they fulfilled their dream of becoming a published author,” Brown said. 

“Others saw the potential profitability at a time when the world was at a standstill, and audiences were reading at all-time high rates. However, the publishing industry is dealing with ongoing supply chain shortages affecting printing and production, such as paper and ink shortages, labor shortages, delayed delivery times, etc. This is where leveraging technology and digital products have served us well. 

Don’t Forget to Check Out All of our Women’s History Month Profiles!

Women's History Month Yum Health Ice Cream

NYC “Mompreneur” Combines Real Life Experience With Business Acumen to Create Sweet Experience

/in , /by

“Here’s to strong women – may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”

As Women’s History Month 2022 continues, it’s worth noting that there’s a distinct difference between a business that happens to be owned by a woman and a woman-owned business. Being a woman-owned business means that the owner has followed her dreams, passions, and experiences as a woman to thrive in a male-dominated world. Few business owners embody that spirit more than Nicole Frankel. 

Nicole is a mother in New York City, and, like most parents, struggled to get her four-year-old daughter to eat her fruits and vegetables. Like most kids, her daughter would shove aside healthy foods when she saw them on her plate, and Frankel began to worry that her daughter wasn’t getting the vitamins and nutrients that she needed. That’s when Frankel decided to combine her maternal instincts and business acumen that she learned from working at several startups in the past. 

Frankel would begin sneaking fruits and vegetables into the family’s homemade ice cream, and after two years of successfully getting her daughter to eat her fruits and veggies this way, Frankel decided to attend the Hudson Kitchen’s Food Business Bootcamp. Afterwards, Frankel launched Yum Actually, LLC, which specializes in crafting ice cream with nutritional foods as their main ingredients – Yummy Mango, Caramel Sweet Potato, Creamy Honey Banana, and Butternut Squash Butterscotch. The brand is now sold in 18 different food stores in Manhattan. 

Daughter Knows Best

Nicole Frankel began producing healthy ice cream for her daughter, and turned it into a thriving small business.

Frankel said that it was her daughter who came up with the name and the idea for Yum Actually when she first sampled ice cream with sweet potatoes in it. 

“I came up with the business idea about 3 years ago when I struggled to get my young daughter to eat sufficient fruits and vegetables,” said Frankel. “I resorted to turning them into something I knew she wouldn’t refuse, and that would be ice cream, of course! When she took her first bite, she yelled ‘it’s yum, actually!’ And the business name and concept were subsequently developed. Each snack cup of our ice cream contains a full serving of fruits & veggies and is loaded with nutrients. We launched the ice cream to market in early 2020 and are now sold in the majority of grocery stores in New York City. 

“Yum Actually makes a one-of-a-kind healthy ice cream for kids. In the crowded ice cream category, there are still very few healthy ice creams for kids, and we have changed that.” 

Success Despite Bad Timing

Frankel officially became a “mom-preneur” in 2019, the challenges were numerous, as the launch occurred right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Shortly after coming up with the idea for the business, Frankel was working part-time, but had no experience in the foodservice industry – most of her experience was in data analytics for financial investment firms. She worked hard at researching the food business and ice cream food science (yes, there is such a field), as well as carefully crafting a business plan and obtaining a license and trademark for her business. 

“There were too many challenges to mention them all!” she said. “But I’ll name a few: we launched right ahead of the Covid19 pandemic and therefore had to stop all in-store demos, deliveries, and meetings. I had to meet with grocery store managers over zoom, which was a sight to behold. We did however manage to get into 40 retailers in 2020. We’ve had significant manufacturing issues, which have included lost ingredients, packaging typos, broken equipment, and double-booked production runs as well.”

Like most small businesses, Frankel has had struggles pertaining to the pandemic, but has found success, nonetheless. “We have had to book our production runs well in advance of when we had to previously, and we have had to raise our prices, unfortunately,” she said. “Everyone has. Our suppliers have raised our wholesale prices by about 30% and we’ve in effect had to raise ours by about 8%.”

Overall, Frankel is happy with her decision to go out on her own. “Ice cream is so much more fun than financial technology,” she said.

Combining Creativity and Drive

Frankel said she started the business not only because she wanted to introduce a way to get children to eat healthier, but also to explore her creative side. 

“I’ve always been very independent as well as creative. And I believe that these are critical traits to have to launch a business. My background prior to founding Yum Actually included working at various tech startups and I think that experience helped thicken my skin and helped prepare me for starting my own.” 

Frankel advises aspiring small business owners to dive head first into launching their business, and not to get bogged down in honing their products or services. 

“Most entrepreneurs spend all their time trying to perfect their product, and what ends up happening is that they get so bogged down in those details that they just never launch,” she said. “I say, launch it! Even if it’s not perfect, get into the deep end. Start getting feedback from buyers and consumers, because, ultimately, that’s what matters. Your product will evolve once you get that feedback.”

Don’t forget to check out all of our Women’s History Month spotlights this month!

How Jill De Forest Found Success and Founded De Forest Search

TokStrategies Founder Overcomes Female StereoTypes to Help Small Businesses Reach Out on TikTok 

Women's History Month Katharina Kempf TokStrategies

TokStrategies Founder Overcomes Female StereoTypes to Help Small Businesses Reach Out on TikTok 

/in , /by

“Here’s to strong women – may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”

Getting to know strong women as inspirations for the next generation is paramount to the ongoing effort to advance the success of women-owned businesses. For Women’s History Month 2022, Kapitus had the honor of speaking with Katharina Kempf, founder of TokStrategies, the first and only agency that helps small businesses make public impressions on TikTok, the social media platform that last year surpassed Google as the most popular domain name in the world. 

Effectively marketing on TikTok has been somewhat enigmatic since traditional ads used on business-centric platforms such as LinkedIn would largely be ineffective on TikTok’s personable video platform. Kempf, a former internal communications executive at TikTok and one of its first European employees, specializes in helping businesses unravel the mysteries of the platform.

Filling a Need

Katharina Kempf, founder of TokStrategies, helps businesses get noticed on the oft confusing TikTok social media platform.

TikTok rose to more than 500 million monthly users during the pandemic and is now the world’s third-most-popular social media platform. Companies, however, are just in the early stages of finding out how to effectively use its popularity to their advantage. The platform’s approach to advertising is still in its experimental stages, and so is its early partnership with Shopify. Companies are also still learning what types of ads and videos TikTok users consider effective since most users are seeking something different from the platform than they would with other platforms, such as Facebook or Snapchat.

This is where TokStrategies comes into play. The firm helps businesses navigate through TikTok’s complicated paid ad choices, such as its influencer campaigns, as well as with content strategy and production.

“We are TokStrategies, a marketing agency with a dedicated focus on helping brands succeed on TikTok,” said Kempf. “Our agency is the first and only agency with a focus on TikTok that was founded by one of Europe’s first TikTok employees, who is also a creator on the platform with over half a million followers.”

Ditching the Corporate Environment

After working at TikTok for nearly two years, Kempf, who is fluent in five languages, said she realized she wanted to start her own firm after she realized that TikTok’s work environment had shifted from a start-up atmosphere to more of a corporate one in which a long-term career path became more circuitous than with a startup. She also said she became a pro at growing followers on her own TikTok account, and wanted to teach others how to do that.

TikTok ad example

Navigating through TikTok’s advertising platform can be confusing. Kempf helps companies navigate through that to get the most out of the platform.

“As one of the first employees of TikTok in Europe, I had the chance to work in an amazingly fast-growing start-up environment and be very hands-on with a lot of projects,” she said. “However, as the company grew and senior managers from other social media platforms started joining the company, the start-up environment turned into a more corporate workspace. I think wanting to move back into the start-up scene was one of the inspirations for building my own business.

“The true ‘aha-moment’ however, came when me and my manager discussed my future career path with the company. I argued that being fluent in 5 languages, one of which being Mandarin Chinese, I was hoping to be put in a position where I could use these skills. At this point I had also used lots of our company’s products, many of which were only available in Mandarin, and had grown my Douyin (the Chinese sister app of TikTok) account to over half a million followers. Instead of being rewarded for all this, I was simply told that these skills weren’t needed in my current position, and that I wouldn’t be considered for either a promotion or a pay rise. This is when I finally decided to leave, build my own business, and live up to my potential.”

A Softer Approach to Business

Kempf said that women in business are often stereotyped as being super aggressive and dominant, and one of her early challenges was to overcome that image.

“I think that most of the obstacles I had to overcome in the early stages of my business weren’t necessarily gender-specific,” said Kempf. “However, one of the difficulties I faced was being confronted with certain stereotypes around women in business. Women in business and female entrepreneurs are often described with predominantly male character traits, such as dominance and aggression. And even though I was fighting not to portray this classical stereotype, I soon realized that it was almost expected from me to fit this image to the point where sometimes I wouldn’t be taken seriously if I didn’t.”

Overcoming Current Challenges

Almost all small businesses suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermaths, such as high inflation and worker shortages, and women-owned businesses were no exception. Kempf said that in the past year, she’s had to become more creative in hiring employees and has had to rely on networking to fill open positions.

“As a business, we needed to find new methods to find suitable candidates to fill our open positions,” said Kempf. “We had to move away from just posting on various job portals and are now actively searching and recruiting for new candidates by joining networking events in our area, relying on our network and direct referrals and even started working with universities to offer new graduates internship opportunities as well as part- and full-time positions with our company.” 

Don’t forget to check out all of our Women’s History Month spotlightsWH this month!
How Jill De Forest Found Success and Founded De Forest Search

Woman standing in front of her store wearing an apron.

Ways Female Entrepreneurs Can Recover After the Pandemic (updated 3/30/2022)

/in , , , , /by

Woman-owned businesses – especially those owned by women of color – bore the brunt of the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and need help to claw their way back.

The reason women-owned businesses in the U.S. were hit harder than most is because, according to a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, many of the businesses are run by “mompreneurs” – in fact, 90% of them have no employees other than the business owner and involve selling merchandise over the internet. Additionally, many women started their own business during the pandemic because they got furloughed or laid off, and childcare centers closed.

Access to Funding Curtailed

This made getting loans from the Paycheck Protection Program or SBA impossible for them, as those loans require years in business and a certain number of employees. A number of grant programs exist for women-owned businesses, but according to a study of nearly 1,200 women-owned businesses by Gusto, the ones that are out there are not enough to help sustain the number of women-owned businesses. 

According to Gusto’s survey, the vast majority of women-owned businesses (68%) funded their business through their own personal savings.

“Women are disproportionately owners of foot-traffic-based companies,” said Sarah Gustafson, lead data scientist at Gusto. “What we saw is that female-owned businesses have had larger net losses in their headcounts [during the ongoing pandemic] than male-owned businesses.”

Shouldering the Burden

While women-owned businesses face the same challenges as any small business owner, they also face unique challenges such as childcare. In particular, minority women drove business creation during the pandemic, according to Gusto’s study. Nearly half (47%) of businesses started in the past year are minority-owned. 

Their reasons for starting a new business were overwhelmingly driven by financial imperatives. Minority women were more than twice as likely (35% vs. 17% for others) to start a new business because they were laid off or worried about their financial situation. Almost a third (29%) of these women are the sole providers of income for their family. 

The main reasons given listed by Gusto for women to start their own businesses are:

  • 58% of women want more control over their work schedule;
  • 24% wanted to start a business that they could pass on to their families;
  • 37% were looking to improve their financial opportunities;
  • 19% lost their jobs, and
  • 9% didn’t have any other job opportunities. 

Steps Towards Economic Recovery

Obviously, not all women-owned businesses are the same, but whether you own a retail store, catering service, an office-based company or beauty supply shop, there are still uniform steps you can take, as well as apply for grant programs that are available to you.

The first step you may want to take as a woman business owner is to certify yourself as such with the Small Business Administration so that you can compete for lucrative contracts:

  1. Officially certify yourself as a woman-owned business with the SBA. This will qualify your business for the SBA 8(a) Business Development Program – a program that allows women-owned businesses to:
  • Compete for set-aside and sole-source contracts in the program;
  • Get a Business Opportunity Specialist to help navigate federal contracting;
  • Form joint ventures with established businesses through the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program;
  • Receive management and technical assistance, including business training, counseling, marketing assistance, and high-level executive development;

You can compete for contract awards under multiple socio-economic programs, as they apply. To qualify for the program, you must have a personal net worth of $750,000 or less and a gross income of $350,000 or less. 

Grants for Women-Owned Businesses

There are also several private grants, many of which are specific to women-owned businesses, that you can apply for as the economy slowly recovers from the pandemic:

The Small Business Builders Grant Program

Private equity giant KKR has launched the seventh round of its Small Business Builders Grant program aimed at women-owned businesses. The program will give away $10,000 grants to businesses that are at least 51% owned by women. Qualified businesses also must have had $7 million or less in gross revenue in 2021 and have somewhere between five and 50 employees.

The Eileen-Fisher Women-Owned Business Grant

The Eileen-Fisher Women-Owned Business Grant awards five grants up to $120,000 per year to woman-owned companies that promote social and environmental change. Your business must have existed for at least three years, and you cannot have earned more than $1 million in annual profits.

Visa’s She’s Next program

The Visa She’s Next grant is awarded to African-American women-owned businesses. In order to apply, you must have been in business for at least two years, be a B2C company, and have a minimum revenue of at least $24,000.

Amber Grants

The Amber Grant is one of the easiest grants to apply to. It is geared towards female entrepreneurs who are planning to launch small, local businesses and awards $10,000 every month. At the end of the year, one of the monthly winners is selected for a $25,000 grant. To apply, all you need to do is go to the website and explain the purpose of your business.

Cartier Women’s Initiative Award

The Cartier Women’s Initiative awards 21 female entrepreneurs every year with one-on-one expert coaching, business workshops, media coverage for the entrepreneur and their business, and prizes ranging from $30,000 to $100,000.

IFundWomen Universal Grant program

The IFundWomen Universal Grant Program  partners with several different organizations to bring grant opportunities to women-owned small businesses which has a grant pool of over $8M. Grants are available to many different types of women-owned businesses.

GrantsforWomen.org

GrantsForWomen.org  is a versatile program that is a database of grants specifically for women-owned businesses. Not all grants are specifically for women-owned business owners, but they offer funding options in a wide range of industries. 

37 Angels 

37 Angels is a great program for women entrepreneurs who are seeking start up capital for their respective businesses, as it is made up of female angel investors that invest only in women-owned small businesses. The organization is dedicated to assisting female entrepreneurs who do not qualify for traditional lending, and offers grants as large as $150,000. 

Belle Capital 

Belle Capital is a private equity firm focused solely on women-owned businesses, and is ideal for female entrepreneurs who plan to take their company public or have a big exit strategy planned over the next few years. Some of their criteria include the feasibility of the business reaching $20 million in revenues over the next five years, and high capital proficiency. 

Going Forward

While there are grants available to women-owned businesses, female entrepreneurs also need help from the government. According to Gusto’s survey, most women-owned businesses favor President Biden’s proposed infrastructure plan that aims to increase broadband access across the nation, as the number one concern for women-owned businesses is having greater access to the internet. 

Hiring concerns and the need for more training, particularly in the eCommerce space, also represent the greatest need for women-owned businesses, as well as expanded access to capital, both in the traditional lending space and the private equity market.  

You can find training courses online (and some of them are free!) on how to use eCommerce for your business and how to best navigate your way through social media.

mallory ottariano kind apparel

Kind Apparel: How This Business Owner is Overcoming Challenges With a Fast-Growing Business

/in , /by

One of the biggest business challenges is having a business that is growing “too fast,” but rapid growth can bring a surprising level of complexity. Sounds silly, right? Mallory Ottariano, the founder and CEO of Kind Apparel, a women’s adventure clothing company, makes unique, colorful, versatile outdoor wear dedicated to “gals who get after it.”

In the past 3 years, Kind Apparel has doubled year-over-year in organic growth. Running a fast-growing business presented Mallory with some new challenges and learning experiences along the way.

Fortunately, Mallory overcomes the challenges of growing and scaling production for her business in great strides. She has an open-minded approach to management and is learning as she goes. They demonstrate the grit, hustle, smarts and creativity that the customers display when they’re out hiking, climbing and skiing.

Mallory Ottariano and Kind Apparel’s story offers several key insights and lessons on overcoming business challenges.

Growing Without Traditional Capital

Many new businesses find it difficult qualifying for small business loans from traditional lenders. Even if your business has strong revenue and growth, banks might be reluctant to lend you money. They might think you don’t fit into their conventional loan application guidelines.

“As a young company with few assets aside from inventory, we’re not attractive to banks, although we have impressive revenues,” Mallory Ottariano said. “I have been rejected for lines of credit and loans by eight banks, and the biggest reasons for rejection are that I don’t have enough capital to put up against the loan, that our fast growth is scary to them, and that funding retail and inventory is scary to them. Every single bank said ‘your revenues are good, but it’s just too risky.'”

Another challenge for Mallory’s business is that the company is on a long buying cycle. It takes Kind Apparel a long time to produce their high-quality specialty clothing. Banks typically want to see a shorter accounts receivable cycle.

“We’re on a 9-month buying cycle with our wholesale accounts, so we collect orders, produce and deliver well before we’ll ever get paid,” Mallory said. “For this fall, we have more orders on the books than we’ve ever had, which means more capital needed to manufacture the products. But the banks feel this is too far out. They want to see accounts receivable of 30-60 days, which just isn’t possible for us because it takes up to 6 months to make our products.”

Developing Personal Relationships

Mallory has adapted by developing a personal relationship with a nearby bank. “I have a small line of credit that I’ve been able to make a little less small through good relationships with the bank who happen to own the building our office is in,” Mallory said.

“Because we’re unable to get the amount of capital we need from banks, we have had to scale back on our wholesale goals and sell more direct-to-consumer where we have less lead times,” Mallory said. “This has actually been a really exciting thing for us, because we’re able to offer smaller, regular product releases which keep our customers engaged and excited about what’s next.”

The lesson: sometimes a business challenge can be the opportunity you need to change your business model.

Adapting to Problems With Vendors

The quality of your product and the reputation of your business often depends on the quality of your vendors. If one of your vendors fails to deliver, that can leave your business in a bad situation.

Mallory Ottariano knows how challenging it is to find the right long-term factory partners. One of her factory partners didn’t deliver on quality when she needed it most.

“It’s been incredibly hard to find long-term factory partners that can scale with us and still maintain quality,” Mallory said. “Last year, in the middle of our production season, we had to terminate our factory because we were seeing major quality issues and late deliveries. We had seams popping and unraveling, legs that were different lengths, and overall messiness.”

Kind Apparel’s brand is based on being a reliable supplier of durable outdoor clothing, and they charge a premium price. The company cannot accept bad production from a factory.

Protect Your Brand’s Reputation

“Our price point is fairly high, around $100 for a pair of leggings, and the quality of the product we were getting didn’t merit this price tag,” Mallory said. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to cut ties with a partner. Mallory had to make a tough decision.

“We were scaling so quickly, and right at the beginning of scaling was when this factory’s quality really started to slip,” Mallory said. “I only saw it getting worse with more volume, and I thought the best option was to terminate and deal with timeline recovery now, as opposed to when our volume gets to three times this size.”

“It was an absolute nightmare,” Mallory said. “We had to literally pack thousands of half-sewn pieces of clothing onto pallets to ship to a new factory that unpacked and picked up where the previous factory had left off. It resulted in huge delays and losing wholesale accounts.”

The lesson: protect your company’s reputation. Prepare to make a change – even if you have to incur added costs.

Embracing Curiosity and Unconventional Thinking

People from all kinds of careers and education backgrounds can be successful as entrepreneurs. Mallory believes that her unconventional background has helped her to think creatively in building her business. “Even though I’m the CEO, I have no formal business education or management experience; in fact, I have an art degree,” Mallory said. “Everything I’ve learned about business has been on-the-job, through trial and error and experimentation.”

“Just try things,” Mallory Ottariano said. “There’s a lot to be learned by making mistakes. If you’re not making mistakes and coming up against walls then you’re not risking enough.”

The lesson: Every business founder has their own life perspectives that they bring to the table. Don’t devalue your own skills and strengths. Keep learning and taking chances along the way.

Learn more about Kind Apparel on their website, or follow them on Instagram.

Crystal Harris On Being a Multipassionate "Hummingbird" Entrepreneur

Crystal Harris On Being a Multipassionate “Hummingbird” Entrepreneur

/in /by

Crystal Harris was born to be an entrepreneur. At age six, she decided that when she grew up she’d be both an ice cream seller and a dentist. This was a sign she understood the importance of supply and demand at a young age. Her first business was selling coffee-filter crafted angels to neighbors. This showed her that if she was passionate enough, she could find a way to monetize her interests. Not just for potential earnings, but also as a way to help others, or at least make them happy.

On Being Multi-passionate

Unlike many entrepreneurs, Crystal Harris didn’t force herself to stick to just one business. Harris learned how to set strong foundations and scale her businesses, leaving her free to chase after any of her interests. Throughout her careers, she’s sold art, pottery, t-shirts, cookies, crystals, and a bra attachment for breast-milk-pumping mothers. Also, she consults in the change management field.

Harris says, “I grew up like the rest of kids being fed this idea that you would find something that you love eventually and ‘passion’ would lead you to want to do it for the rest of your life. Maybe that’s true, but it’s not been true for me. I haven’t found anything that I feel I’ll be particularly passionate about over time. But I figured out that being passionate for a time is more than enough.”

And while being a multi-passionate entrepreneur comes with many perks, such as the ability to pivot or focus on building a business you’re actually excited about, finding the time to work on everything can prove to be quite a feat. For example, it’s tough enough to manage the marketing and messaging for just one business. Handling all the responsibilities for multiple businesses at once is overwhelming. “At this point I’ve accepted that what’s best for me is to work in bursts of energy toward whatever is calling me at the time,” says Crystal Harris. “It’s a really joyful way to build a life. I call it being a hummingbird entrepreneur.”

When an Idea Catches On

When you’re a “hummingbird entrepreneur” as Harris calls herself, it’s important to know how to sustain yourself — or else all that “wing flapping” would wear you out. Beyond working in “bursts of energy,” Crystal Harris learned how to set the groundwork for growth and scaling. If any of her ideas took off, she could meet the demand. And one idea, the Brauxiliary Band, took off in a very unexpected way.

Harris says, “I was actually at Moe’s with my family when my friend sent me a text message with the picture [of Rachel McAdams pumping during a photo shoot for girls. girls. girls. magazine and was like ‘Is this a Brauxiliary Band?’ People send me pictures all the time of moms using the product, so I looked at my phone, did a double take, and was like ‘It absolutely is, and that’s no ordinary mom!”

And just like that, an already successful venture became even more so.

Harris reports, “We sold out on Amazon within the hour and our website was flooded. I was really proud of myself because with any business I start I always think about growth and scaling, so we were ready. That was a giant win for a small business like ours, and I loved that it wasn’t paid PR, that Rachel McAdams went on Amazon and bought our product just like all the other moms we’re thankful for every day.” Are you wondering what Harris’s biggest lesson was from her moment of virality? She says, “It showed me that you never know who’s watching. And you genuinely never know who’s benefiting from you taking a risk and putting your innovation out into the market place.”

Sustaining the Excitement from a Viral Moment

Going viral is thrilling for any business. But, the excitement can die down just as quickly as it came. A smart multi-business owner knows how to sustain energy and channel it into other growth opportunities. Harris says, “I think the biggest thing is always being ready to leverage whatever comes your way. After the viral photo, we had one of our influencer moms recreate it to keep the conversation going. It also got us an opportunity to partner with additional influencers in the mom and baby space that originally didn’t give us the time of day.”

She continues, “And again — we were ready to take on the growth because from the very beginning I thought of this as something that could be really big and made sure I set up my supply chain to scale.”

[skyword_tracking /]

Photo of Ash Ambirge

The Middle Finger Project: How Ash Ambirge Found Success and You Can Too

/in /by

At the age of 21, Ash Ambirge found herself parentless, homeless and sleeping in a K-Mart parking lot with less than $26 to her name. Facing rock bottom – but refusing to admit defeat – Ambirge put out an offer to the email list she curated from running a blog. She makes the first $2,500 of what would eventually be over a million running her own business. She did all of this while working and living in the backseat of her car. Fast forward to 2020. Ash Ambirge runs The Middle Finger Project ®. It’s an award-winning company and blog encouraging budding entrepreneurs to get gutsy because success is possible–regardless of the circumstances.

We spoke with Ambirge to talk about her new book, The Middle Finger Project, which publishes this week. We talked about how entrepreneurs and business owners – and those wishing to become one – need to trust in themselves and move through imposter syndrome to feel like the smartest and most successful person in the room. Here’s her advice for business owners of all levels.

The Middle Finger Project book

For the Budding Entrepreneurs

Sometimes the hardest part is starting. There are so many individuals with the skills and talent to start their own business, but fear or anxiety get in their way. Ambirge knows that feeling, but she has advice for people in this situation.

“Take a skill set that you have, any skill set, and figure out how to sell it to just one other person—without a website, without any fancy photos, without any official social media feeds. Forget all of that. None of that exists. So, how do you sell yourself now? Figure that out. Call someone. Approach a friend. Ask around. Network. Send an email that says, ‘Hey, do you know anyone who needs X?’ And make the most simple offer to the world: to help. You don’t need a degree to help. You don’t need resources. You don’t need fancy invoice software. All you need is a simple skill and the guts to say, ‘Here’s what I can do, and here’s how much it costs.’ Sell yourself to just one person, and you’ll soon find that you can sell yourself to the world. And that’s what you call having options.”

For Entrepreneurs Feeling Like Imposters

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business. Even with success under your belt, the crushing feeling of imposter syndrome can still hit at any time. And when it does strike, it can feel suffocating. In the Middle Finger Project, Ambirge address these very valid concerns. Here’s a visual Ambirge recommends for entrepreneurs suffering from imposter syndrome:

“Imagine yourself in court. There’s a judge sitting there with a gavel, and the case being decided is whether or not you are competent and capable and deserving of your success. And on one side, you’ve got you as the prosecution, arguing against yourself. ‘I’m not worthy! I don’t belong here! Soon they’re going to see that I got here by mistake!’ But then on the other side you have the defense. The defense is all of the existing evidence that shows, on paper, everything you have accomplished, how you’ve helped others, the brilliant ideas you’ve had. I guarantee you that in the case of YOU versus THE EVIDENCE, the judge is going to take one look and rule in the favor of the evidence. And that’s because we cannot see ourselves objectively—none of us can.”

Ambirge continues, “We’re subjective beings. But when you put it down on paper, you can’t argue with the evidence anymore. So, what evidence do you have? What things have you done really well? What are you proud of? Spend some time and write these things down for anytime you need a witness.”

For Entrepreneurs Feeling Stagnant and Bored With Work

Have you built a successful careers? If so, you might feel the weight of your work bearing down on you. The spark is out, and instead of work driving you forward, you’re wondering if it’s time to make a shift. Do you even want to do this anymore? If you’re questioning whether you should pivot away from your current work, Ambirge suggests making a bold move.

 

Featured image of Ash Ambirge by Heidi Hapanowicz

Nneka Brown-Massey, CEO of Innovative Supplies

How This Veteran Overcame a Military Injury to Launch Her Thriving Business

/in , /by

Launching a business means dealing with all kinds of adversity. But with enough effort and the right attitude, you can overcome nearly any challenge. Just ask Nneka Brown-Massey, CEO of Innovative Supplies. Brown-Massey suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) during her military service.

Despite her injury, Brown-Massey launched a successful business and created badly-needed jobs for her community. We spoke with Nneka to hear her inspirational story and find out what advice she has for other business owners dealing with their own struggles.

Serving Her Country

Brown-Massey has been connected to the military nearly her entire life–her parents were also service members. “My Mom was a supply specialist and my Dad was a cook. Growing up I knew I wanted to be in the army as well.” As Brown-Massey turned 18, her parents asked her what she wanted to do. She would likely go overseas.

Ultimately, Brown-Massey decided to join human resources and shipped out to Afghanistan at age 18. She worked in the military post office to process mail and help soldiers with their passport applications.

After her tour of duty, Brown-Massey enrolled in the Basic Leadership Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. For most people, this would already be enough. But, Brown-Massey kept pushing. “I wanted to pick up additional skills so I applied for Airborne School, an unusual move for someone in Human Resources.” It took her three tries, but she ultimately qualified.

An Unfortunate Injury

Airborne School training meant participating in parachute jumps. This is how Brown-Massey became injured–she banged her head on multiple jumps. She describes the aftermath of one accident. “I was walking down my hallway and something didn’t feel right. I waved my hand in front of my face and I just saw a trail of hands following that hand.”

From that point on, Brown-Massey began dealing with the long-term issues from her concussion: light and noise sensitivity, constant headaches and fatigue. “I was so used to having a fully charged battery at all times. Now it’s more like a four-hour window.”

Concerns Over the Future

Due to her Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Brown-Massey had to leave the military after nine years of service. She was concerned about what would come next for herself and her family. “When you get injured in the military, you qualify for disability income benefits. But for me, that’s only $550 a month and not much to live on with my 8-year-old daughter.”

She knew she needed to earn more. Brown-Massey worried about whether her TBI would get in the way of a regular 9-5 job. “I noticed that I have a lot of anxiety. What if my disability affects how I perform for someone else? Would I get let go earlier than other workers, even if I push myself?”

She was also concerned about whether employers would understand her condition and be able to accommodate her needs. “When we think dramatic brain injuries like concussions, we think of football players or veterans who got blown up in a vehicle with a roadside bomb. But we rarely talk about other ways veterans get hurt and how it affects them.”

Turning Adversity into an Opportunity

With these health concerns in-mind, Brown-Massey delayed taking a 9-5 job and instead returned to school to continue her studies. It’s during this time that she spotted a perfect opportunity. “I wanted some nice, artistic stationary to get ready for class, but I just couldn’t find anything at T.J. Maxx or Walmart. I figured there’s got to be something out there that I like, but there just wasn’t.”

At the same time, Brown-Massey wanted to support her artist friends. “I always saw nice artists posting their work on Instagram and wondered how can I get that out to more people? That’s when I realized, stationary. People always need stationary.” The idea for Innovative Supplies was born.

Even though Brown-Massey had never launched a business before, she believed her military experience gave her the tools needed to succeed. “The military spends around $1 million training their soldiers. I wanted to use my leadership skills to help my community.” This would help her avoid the common mistakes new small business owners make.

Building a Business

She started by reaching out to one artist she really liked on Instagram and together they designed their first round of notebooks. They posted the design on Instagram–Innovative Supplies was an instant hit. “Our Instagram posts went viral and received millions of views. My artist friend earned $3,000 in commissions that first year alone.”

After proving her idea worked, Brown-Massey began hiring staff to expand. She hires a lot of teenagers for her business, especially those who are at-risk and would benefit from work experience. “I want them to develop real skills: communicating with one another, learning inventory management, how to respond to customer emails. I let them run the show and just supervise.”

In her first year of business in 2016, Brown-Massey hired 15 students part-time to manage Innovative Supplies. With her initial launch a success, Brown-Massey would like to grow her workforce even more and aims to hire at least 30 students throughout 2020.

Advice for Other Business Owners

Brown-Massey had to overcome her share of challenges and doubts. “When I face adversity, I think back to the good times I’ve had and that inspires me to keep going.” She reminds herself about the first 8,000 notebooks she sold within 24 hours and how that didn’t happen by chance. If you’re ever in a tough business stretch, she suggests thinking about your past positive results and feel confident that you can do it again.

Brown-Massey also turns to her internal motivation for launching the business in the first place. “I remind myself why I started, to give students a way to make an honest dollar. A lot of students in my community may not have the opportunity to make money in a legal manner. This keeps me going during tough times.”

She challenges other business owners to think the same way. If you find motivation beyond just making a profit, it can give you the strength to overcome adversity.

Success Prevails

Brown-Massey went from worrying about whether her military injury would prevent her from finding employment to becoming a successful business owner, and helping others in her community launch their careerss.

She hopes her story can inspire others dealing with adversity that they too can find the right opportunity, if they believe in themselves. We’d like to thank Brown-Massey for sharing her story and for her service to our country. We wish her the best of luck to continue growing Innovative Supplies.

[skyword_tracking /]

jen griswold starts a business mission entrepreneur

Mission: Entrepreneur: Jen Griswold’s Pursuit to Help Veterans become Entrepreneurs

/in /by

Jen Griswold is the author of Mission: Entrepreneur and CEO of a company with the same name. She grew up in a small town in Montana where her father owned a Cessna 172 small plane that her family always flew. So when Griswold was considering her post-secondary education, the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) seemed like a great option; she entered the academy. Griswold became an Aircraft Maintenance Officer and soon found that it suited her better than being a pilot.

“As an Aircraft Maintenance Officer, I was given a lot of responsibility at a very young age. At 22, I was managing a flight line full of 250 Airmen and highly specialized aircraft. And I loved it!” She met her husband who was a pilot in the Air Force Academy.

Her and her husband couldn’t start a family if they continued to serve. Griswold had to make a tough decision: Should she start having children or stay with her careers?

Griswold says, “It wasn’t a job that fit well with raising kids, since the work was 24/7. I knew both my husband and I would be faced with the very likely chance that we would both be deployed at the same time. At the time, 2005, the operations tempo in the Middle East was very busy and our airplanes were constantly overseas…so I left Active Duty after six years of service. I transitioned to the Air Force reserves, and I am in my 19th year of service at the Pentagon as a Lieutenant Colonel.”

Reentering the Workforce

Griswold had two children in two years. While she attempted to embrace stay-at-home motherhood, she found she missed working and began looking for a part-time job. She says, “With a Master’s degree and a lot of management experience, I was very disappointed to find that the part-time options for someone like me were low-paying and were not jobs that would travel well with our transient, military lifestyle.”

So Griswold, a child of two entrepreneurial parents, decided to start her own business. She says, “my bedroom was next door to [my parents’] office growing up, so I witnessed them build a life that allowed them the flexibility they needed. I figured I could do the same.”

Her first attempt at being an entrepreneur was successful! Griswold started a home staging and decorating business; this was the catalyst that would propel her from solopreneur to author, speaker, and founder of Mission Entrepreneur.

jen griswold mission entrepreneur

She says, “the empowerment I gained was priceless. I proved I could turn my hobby of decorating into a viable business, even with a busy husband and two very small children. And it got me thinking — how could I help other women empower themselves through entrepreneurship?”

Griswold’s family moved from the west coast to the east coast after four years of running her own business. That made it impossible to manage her business from far away. So, she sold her business. In closing that door, a new opportunity arose.

She says, “One of my best friends from growing up offered me the chance to partner with her in a new skincare direct selling business called Rodan + Fields. I didn’t know the first thing about skincare. But, I figured I could learn.  It excited me to share with other military spouses like me, who were in need of mobile, flexible jobs. By that time I had become aware that 90% of military spouses were under- or unemployed, and yet 90% reported they wanted to work.”

The Start of Mission Entrepreneur

For female veterans and military wives, there’s a big gap in employment opportunities. Griswold makes it her mission to change the mess of transitioning from transient military lifestyle to civilian life and work. Since 2010, her community’s grown to approximately ten thousand women. Griswold estimates two thousand of those budding entrepreneurs are in a military family.

But her wish to encourage female veterans and military wives didn’t stop with her direct selling business. In fact, it only motivated her to do more to help women with military ties to Cover of Mission Entrepreneurgrow and succeed. First, Griswold started a blog for military entrepreneurs. Later, she decided to turn those stories into a book — Mission Entrepreneur.

Griswold says, “I wrote the book as a handbook for any military spouses who were like me and wanted to solve their own employment problems through starting a business. When I was in the beginning stages of my business, I always wished I had a mentor to help me through all the scary decisions of starting up. And [I designed] this book to be a form of mentorship for the military spouse entrepreneurs — I call them ‘milpreneurs’ — that needed some support and encouragement.”

Griswold still wasn’t satisfied with the impact she was having on military families. She decided to do more and founded a company with the same name — Mission Entrepreneur — so she could help women create careerss that suit their lives.

Griswold says, “At Mission Entrepreneur, we are a one-stop shop to help busy women turn their passions into a business and achieve portable business success, through inspiration, education & training. We also love providing a community of support with a service mindset to help women thrive.”

Griswold never would’ve known she’d join the Air Force all those times she rode in her father’s plane. She couldn’t have imagined the difference she’d make in female veterans and military wives’ lives in the future.

alexa bigwarfe going from the army to founding a publishing company

From Veteran to Publisher: Alexa Bigwarfe on Founding Kat Biggie Press

/in /by

Alexa Bigwarfe, founder of Kat Biggie Press, grew up in a family of military veterans. Growing up, however, she never thought she would enlist. In an interview for this article, Bigwarfe says, “I always joked I would never join the military or marry a man in the military, and I wound up doing both.” After enlisting, Bigwarfe became an Intelligence Officer in the United States Air Force. She provided other service members with quality information so as to help protect them and enable them to do their jobs.

 

alexa bigwarfe air force

 

Bigwarfe’s careers as an Intelligence Officer was an exciting one. But Alexa and her husband wanted to have children. They worried her demanding careers would interfere with growing their family.

“I saw many service women have to deploy when their baby was only four to six months old. And I couldn’t fathom leaving behind an infant…So, my husband and I decided it was time for me to leave, and I separated from Active Duty in August of 2007 when my son was four months old.”

Bigwarfe knew she wanted a similarly demanding careers post-active duty — just one that wouldn’t force her away from her family.

Life After the Air Force

“I absolutely loved my careers and wanted to do something related, so I was able to find a position in my State Homeland Security Office. I continued to work in counter terrorism planning and emergency management for another three-and-a-half years, when I opted to try and see what life would be like raising my two small children. In April 2011, I became a stay-at-home mom with a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old,” say Bigwarfe.

Bigwarfe then jokes, “Ask me which job was harder!”

While one might think transitioning from counter terrorism planning to stay-at-home mom would be easy, that wasn’t the case. Bigwarfe learned that she was expecting again just a month after leaving her job. As soon as she understood she was having a third child, she found out she was actually pregnant with twins! Soon, she’d have four children under the age of five. Those emergency management skills would come in handy!

However, as Bigwarfe and her family came to terms with their new future, they learned devastating news. Her babies’ diagnosis was a fatal syndrome occurring in identical twins called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Bigwarfe spent the rest of the year on bed rest. Doctors monitored her as she went in and out of the hospital.

Bigwarfe says, “The girls were born at just over 30 weeks. Kathryn was very sick with a heart condition and undeveloped lungs, and little Charis was a one-pound, ten-ounce, micro preemie. Kathryn would live for two days. Charis spent 12 weeks in the NICU, and then we were finally able to bring her home in March 2012.”

alexa bigwarfe twins

Dealing with Grief

Bigwarfe started blogging under the pseudonym Kat Biggie to deal with her grief and stress of parenting a baby with specialized medical needs along with her other two young children. She needed a safe space to vent her frustrations, her angers, her fears. She found that space in writing. People wanted to hear her story.

“I found that the articles really resonated with people, and many people were searching about how to help someone who lost a baby or child, as well as the people who lost a twin.”

When her youngest daughter Charis was 18 months old, one of Bigwarfe’s friends experienced a stillbirth at 37 weeks. Bigwarfe says, “I was in a better place by then, but as I watched my friend, I remembered what those first few days, weeks, and months were like. I started kicking around the idea of trying to help other moms see that even though this is the worst thing that has ever happened, they will see sunshine again.”

The Start of Her Entrepreneurial Career

She knew she wanted to do more. So, Bigwarfe reached out to fellow bloggers, writers and other moms she knew had experienced loss. She wanted to create a book that would help other women who were also grieving. It was called Sunshine After the Storm: A Survival Guide for Grieving Mothers. On the experience, Bigwarfe says, “I self-published the book and really found I enjoyed the publishing process.”

Later, with her children older, Bigwarfe partnered with another mother to write about their experiences of motherhood in Lose the Cape: Realities from Busy Modern Moms & Strategies to Survive. Buzz for her new venture and a potential new business followed publication. Additionally, Bigwarfe created a Lose the Cape podcast and website.

alexa bigwarfe family

Bigwarfe says, “One thing led to another, and I started offering services to help people produce and publish their books. Write Publish Sell was born, and not long after that, I decided to launch my own publishing house, Kat Biggie Press. The business grew around my desire to help other people in pain do something good with it.”

And, she didn’t stop there. Bigwarfe also founded a nonprofit. She says, “I started donating copies of my book and sending books to grieving mothers, free of charge. First it was just a book, then I added comfort items. I decided that I needed to raise money to pay for this initiative, and I founded a nonprofit to support Grieving Mothers – Sunshine After the Storm.”

She continues, “I found myself running three businesses…but at the heart of all of it, I was serving mothers and trying to make a positive impact on the world.

Kat Biggie Press hasn’t yet published more female veterans But, Bigwarfe wants to work with some who want to share their story. She says, “I am very proud of my service and very proud of my status as a veteran, and I would love to be the publishing partner of other female veterans.”

[skyword_tracking /]

About Us

Products

Contact Us