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Alesha Brown Womens History Month Kapitus

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

March 29, 2022/in Featured Stories, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Vince Calio

“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!

  • How Jill De Forest Found Success and Founded De Forest Search
  • TokStrategies Founder Overcomes Female StereoTypes to Help Small Businesses Reach Out on TikTok 
  • NYC “Mompreneur” Combines Real Life Experience With Business Acumen to Create Sweet Experience
  • How Kristin Wallace is Changing the World of Freight with Atlantic Freight LLC
https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Alesha-Brown-Profile-feature-image.jpg 1909 2000 Vince Calio https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Vince Calio2022-03-29 14:54:532022-03-29 14:54:53Women’s History Month 2022: Publishing Entrepreneur Proves a Woman’s Pen is Mightier Than Her Sword
Women's History Month Yum Health Ice Cream

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

March 11, 2022/in Featured Stories, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Vince Calio

“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 

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Yum-Healthy-Ice-Cream-Feture-Photo.jpeg 513 1024 Vince Calio https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Vince Calio2022-03-11 14:57:482022-08-02 19:08:03NYC “Mompreneur” Combines Real Life Experience With Business Acumen to Create Sweet Experience
Women's History Month Katharina Kempf TokStrategies

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

March 8, 2022/in Featured Stories, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Vince Calio

“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

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Katherine-Kempf-inside-photo.jpg 500 1000 Vince Calio https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Vince Calio2022-03-08 16:00:572022-03-25 20:25:49TokStrategies Founder Overcomes Female StereoTypes to Help Small Businesses Reach Out on TikTok 
Woman standing in front of her store wearing an apron.

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

August 16, 2021/in Featured Stories, Financing, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners, Operations, Sales and Marketing/by Vince Calio

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.

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Women-owned-business-8.6.21.jpg 1427 2100 Vince Calio https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Vince Calio2021-08-16 08:00:152022-03-30 19:43:23Ways Female Entrepreneurs Can Recover After the Pandemic (updated 3/30/2022)
mallory ottariano kind apparel

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

March 16, 2020/in Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners, Uncategorized/by Ben Gran

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.

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/kind-apparel-mallory-ottariano-1-1.jpg 584 633 Ben Gran https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Ben Gran2020-03-16 10:32:132022-01-27 19:08:19Kind Apparel: How This Business Owner is Overcoming Challenges With a Fast-Growing Business
Photo of Ash Ambirge

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

February 11, 2020/in Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Erin Ollila

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

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ash-ambirge_credit-heidi-hapanowicz-scaled.jpg 1823 2560 Erin Ollila https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Erin Ollila2020-02-11 14:26:202022-01-27 19:00:54The Middle Finger Project: How Ash Ambirge Found Success and You Can Too
jen griswold starts a business mission entrepreneur

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

November 13, 2019/in Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Erin Ollila

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.

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/bookjen-1-2800x1580-1-scaled.jpg 1445 2560 Erin Ollila https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Erin Ollila2019-11-13 12:48:412021-10-09 02:10:10Mission: Entrepreneur: Jen Griswold’s Pursuit to Help Veterans become Entrepreneurs
Kaitlyn Pierce Creator of Binka Bear

How Kaitlyn Pierce Transitioned from a High School Dropout to Biz Owner and Product Inventor

October 14, 2019/in Featured Stories, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Erin Ollila

Entrepreneurs are a hearty bunch. They need drive, determination, and moxie to handle the learning curves and setbacks most business owners deal with. But does that mean that entrepreneurs Kaitlyn Pierce, Creator of Binka Bearneed not worry about their mental health? Far from it! According to a recent study done at the Universities of California (Berkeley and San Francisco), 72% of the entrepreneur respondents self-reported concerns with their own mental health.

Should these mental health issues hold individuals back from building a business or inventing a product? Absolutely not.

Meet Kaitlyn Pierce, mom of two, founder of Pierce Social, a social media agency, and inventor of Binka Bear, a toy which helps toddlers and young children wean from their pacifiers. When Pierce was 16 years old, dropped out of school to ease the extreme anxiety she was experiencing.

The Decision to Quit School

“At the time, I didn’t totally understand what I was feeling or why, I just knew I did not want to be in rooms full of people, no matter what,” says Pierce. “To this day the sound of an alarm clock triggers severe panic in me because to me it was the beginning of my struggle to get through the day.”

As a high school student, Kaitlyn Pierce missed over 100 days of school in only two years. She says, “I was non-functional in school and basically in life. I couldn’t go to class or participate.”

And on the days she did attend, she spent most of her time crying in her guidance counselor’s office. Obvious that the traditional educational system wasn’t working, her guidance counselors and her mother urged Pierce to quit school, obtain a General Education Diploma (GED), and attend college, if possible. While her struggles with anxiety didn’t immediately disappear, a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. Pierce was now better able to take care of her mental health.

Of the decision, Pierce says, “I could have more freedom to make choices for myself. It should have been my first clue I would need to be my own boss one day.”

In fact, she was able to obtain her GED within a month or two after quitting school. She then began taking courses at her local community college.

Pierce says, “I really enjoyed learning. That was never my problem. I just needed to have more control over how and when it happened so I could learn the coping skills I needed to deal with the anxiety I had.” But attending school was still no easy feat for Pierce, and she needed to put in a lot of effort to manage her anxiety so she could move into this new chapter of her life.

She says, “I had no help getting to school. If I wanted to go to college, work, and start my life, I had to find a way to get there. I took the bus to campus every day for over a year before getting my first car at 18. I had to work to pay for it while I went to school and tried to figure out what I was even doing. Dropping out set me up to be the person I am now, the person who will find a way to make anything happen!” It also helped her understand how working through the anxiety offered greater rewards than simply letting it hold her back.

“My anxiety made it feel impossible at first to get on the phone with anyone, especially potential clients,” says Pierce. “I hated phone calls and without them I wouldn’t have the business I do now. I had to learn to have confidence in myself and how to move on when I am triggered.”

 

Educating Herself

Kaitlyn Pierce, Binka Bear and BookKaitlyn Pierce chose tenacity over anxiety. She still struggled with feelings of panic and overwhelm, but she worked through and didn’t allow the feelings to stand in her way. One thing that helped her was her self-taught interest in building websites and blogging.

She says, “I used to sit at my neighbor’s house and build websites on their computer until we got one of our own at home. My blog was focused on our community at the time, and I was using the new social media tools showing up to promote it. Because of that, I was approached by a local branding company and hired on the spot to help with social media and web development. I never finished my degree, but gained more experience doing the work than I could have dreamed of.”

After having her second child, Pierce was looking for more freedom and flexibility to be home with her children. She returned from maternity leave determined to make some life changes. Says Pierce, “I launched Pierce Social in July of 2016 and worked on it after bedtime and in the evenings until I was able to replace my income.”

Only four months after starting the company, she was able to give her notice.  And Pierce, officially, became a self-employed business owner.

 

Inventing a Product

Launching a business is a monumental feat, but Kaitlyn Pierce didn’t stop there. Just shortly after starting her social media agency, Pierce set the ball rolling to invent a product that she’s moved all the way through the manufacturing process. But, how does an individual take that large a leap? There’s a massive jump from owning your own business to also being a product inventor.

Pierce says, “Binka Bear is one of those things that I think I was just meant to do. The idea came to me when I was trying to wean my oldest from the pacifier. I had no idea how to get the pacifiers she loved so much away from her at almost 3 years old. We found a fun idea of putting them in a stuffed toy and the wheels began turning. It worked so well for us I knew if I could make it a process and a product it could help so many other families. ”

Though, while Kaitlyn Pierce knew how life changing Binka Bear could be for other families, she had absolutely no clue how to move from idea into manufacturing a real product.

She says, “I had no idea how to even begin so I didn’t. Not for another 18 months.” Then, on Thanksgiving night of 2017, she couldn’t keep the idea to rest any longer. Pierce says, “From there it never stopped growing and developing!” Now, Pierce has living proof of her idea.  Boxes of bears are sitting in her home, waiting to be matched with their future children. Her dream became a reality. Now, one small idea that helped her child is able to help children all over the country.

Regardless of the bumps in the road Pierce has faced, she’s still confident that dropping out of school to manage her anxiety was the best decision for her. “I’m grateful to not have the student debt so many of my friends have. Not having a degree has made certain things more challenging.  But, it’s been the path that was best for me.  And, I’ve spent a lot of time educating myself in other ways.”

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/KaitlynPierce_BinkaBear_1.jpg 960 960 Erin Ollila https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Erin Ollila2019-10-14 12:23:272022-01-27 19:08:38How Kaitlyn Pierce Transitioned from a High School Dropout to Biz Owner and Product Inventor

Making Her Mark – Influential Women Business Owners: Lauren Leblanc-Haydel

March 14, 2019/in Featured Stories, Making Her Mark - Influential Women Business Owners/by Bernadette Abel

Winning the Great T-Shirt Battle of 2010

making-her-move-inspirational-women-business-owners-fleurty-girl-lauren-leblanc-haydel

Source: bizneworleans.com

Lauren Leblanc-Haydel had something most single mothers with three young kids would love: job security. After six years as an on-air personality at a New Orleans radio station, she landed a position as the creative director of the Louisiana Farm Bureau, a solid job that provided her with benefits, a phone and even a company car.

But Haydel wanted more. “I had a belief that I could create a better life for my children,” she says. So when her 2009 tax refund arrived, she knew she wanted to start a business with the $2,000. Still, she was a little hazy on what the business would be. At first, she thought about selling makeup. Finally, she settled on making T-shirts, an idea her boss at the Farm Bureau thought was ridiculous, considering that there was a huge number of vendors selling T-shirts to tourists who flocked to the Big Easy. “Everyone thought I was crazy,” she says.

Getting ‘Fleurty’

Haydel, however, had a steadfast belief that she could stand out with V-neck shirts and other female-friendly cuts reflecting, as she puts it, “the culture of New Orleans.” It all came together when she was sitting on her porch and a name for her company came to her that embodied the spirit and zest she hoped to capture: Fleurty Girl.

influential-women-business-owners-fleurty-girl

Source: ClearWare

She rushed to her computer and registered the domain name. While the company didn’t have a business plan yet, it got off to a good start: After launching the company’s site, she sold out of her T-shirts within 30 days.

It wasn’t a quick rags-to-riches story, though. Haydel had to make plenty of compromises to pursue her dream, such as moving to a smaller house and having her children give up their individual bedrooms. She was working 14- to 18-hour days. But the biggest challenge came soon after she opened her first storefront six months later. Almost immediately, she found himself being sued by the National Football League. The New Orleans Saints were set to appear in the Superbowl. Haydel was one of a number of entrepreneurs who sold T-shirts emblazoned with the team’s slogan, “Who Dat?” The NFL rained cease-and-desist orders down on her.

“A woman who took a chance to make a better life for her and her kids by celebrating the city where she grew up” – Haydel has a chat with Harry Connick Jr.

Standing Her Ground

Haydel had no trouble with the idea of sending the NFL a royalty payment, but she was caught in a tug-of-war with another company which also claimed to own the phrase “Who Dat?” The origins of the phrase is debated in and around New Orleans, but it had been around for decades. For local football fans, it became a popular abbreviation of, “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints” when fans chanted for their team in the Superdome.

Haydel, who originally sold T-shirts from a building she rehabilitated after Hurricane Katrina, was something of a tornado herself. With her astute understanding of media, she managed to get an avalanche of publicity when the NFL came after her.

Stories appeared on the front page of the local newspaper, the Times Picayune. She appeared on national TV shows, which loved the David-and-Goliath story of the 4-foot-11 single mother standing up to one of the biggest sports league in the world.

Attorneys offered to represent her for free. Louisiana Senator David Vitter sent the NFL a letter telling them to back off. The NFL finally did, issuing Haydel an apology in the bargain.

Haydel says that people, especially independent-minded New Orleanians, admired the local who stood her ground. However, she bristled against the common belief that the controversy and publicity from the NFL lawsuit made her business. She says the suit hit her at a time when she had no money, and almost sunk her.

Onwards & Upwards

With steadfast determination, her business kept going — and growing. Today, the multi-million Fleurty Girl sells not only shirts, but also dresses, jewelry, books, wedding gifts, art and items for the home. Many have a unique, local flair, such as the “Mardi Gras Fan Tassel Earrings.”

influential-women-business-owners-lauren-leblanc-haydel

Source: fleurtygirl.net

Last year, Haydel opened her seventh location at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. At the same time, she bought fellow New Orleans T-shirt retailer Storyville. Storyville also got a cease-and-desist order from the NFL in the great T-shirt battle of 2010. In addition to purchasing the company’s line of T-shirt designs inspired by New Orleans, she hired her competitor’s three employees.

To top it off, the same year, Haydel married Ryan Haydel of Haydel’s Bakery.  Haydel’s Bakery is a three-generation Big Easy institution.  This union made them something of a power couple in the city. Haydel says her idea of being a power couple is both of them working 10-hour days — Ryan comes home smelling like king cake, and her arms are tired from folding T-shirts.


Editor’s Note: Megy’s story is one of a four-part series celebrating women business owners throughout the month of March.  Take a look at the other inspiring stories in the series: How I Built My Own Business After Cancer and Launching Your Own Business as a Working Mom

https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Fleurty-girl-street-view.jpg 538 960 Bernadette Abel https://kapitus.com/wp-content/uploads/Kapitus_Logo_white-2-300x81-1-e1615929624763.png Bernadette Abel2019-03-14 07:30:492019-03-14 07:30:49Making Her Mark – Influential Women Business Owners: Lauren Leblanc-Haydel

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