Women Grow Business

Calling all would-be foodpreneurs!

Our own Lori Saitz has a great event coming up for foodie-preneurs in the West Palm Beach, Fla. area, called You Should Sell That.

I asked her to tell me what made her decide to do this, and she said:

“Over the years that I’ve been building Zen Rabbit and promoting The Gratitude Cookie™ and Zen Crunch, I’ve frequently gotten phone calls from people asking how I got started. Last year I put together a 3-hour workshop to share some basics and tips. The problem was, there’s so much to know that 3 hours wasn’t nearly enough time.

“For example:

“When you’re starting a food business, some states permit you to use your home kitchen and other states don’t. But there are reasons why, even if you are legally allowed, you still might want to find space in a commercial kitchen. For example, the equipment in a commercial kitchen is just so much more efficient and you’ll probably have more space.

“Or if you have a cat or dog, no matter how well behaved the animal, and how much you clean that kitchen, at some point, fur WILL get in the food.

“There’s hardly an industry in which it’s more important to incorporate and insure your business than the food industry.

Knock on wood, but what if someone gets sick from eating your product? Even if it’s not your fault (they left your salad dressing out overnight, despite the recommendation to refrigerate, and then ate it and got sick!). You absolutely must have liability insurance. And if you’re not incorporated, you could lose every personal asset you own, including your home.

“No matter how good your brownies, granola, or salsa are, your product will not sell itself. Thousands of new food products are introduced to the market every year. What makes yours so special?

“I recommend telling a story about your recipe or journey; something that differentiates your treats from the next item and endears your customers to you.

Think Nantucket Nectars or Endangered Species Chocolate.”

Lori recruited Tim Lymberopoulos, co-founder of Fooducopia and, between the two of them, they created a much more comprehensive road map for the Start Up Food Entrepreneur. It’s two full days, April 30-May 1 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

During this two day workshop, the would-be gourmet food entrepreneur (that’s you) will get answers to the confusing questions and challenges that come up when starting out in this industry. You’ll go on a step-by-step journey to establishing your own company, including:

• Setting up your business structure
• Funding your business & establishing a budget
• Locating a place to produce your product
• Buying ingredients
• Getting distribution
• Deciding on a target market
• Choosing a company name
• Determining pricing
• Formulating a marketing plan that works
• Implementing creative, fun tactics to get attention & customers

Plus, you’ll leave with actual plans in place for going forward (not just the knowledge), a binder of recommended resources, and a strong network of colleagues to call on for support and feedback.

Sounds pretty neat, huh? You can get more information and/or register here, or contact Lori if you have more questions.

And remember to share your bounty with the rest of us at Women Grow Business!

More from:

• Lori on how an entrepreneur overcame hurricanes and more
• Monika Jansen asks, “Are you an entrepreneur or a small business owner?” at Grow Smart Business
• Building a values-driven business from Inc.com

Image © Ed Bullinger Photography, used with permission

Shonali Burke is editor of Women Grow Business and one of the country’s leading business communicators, who was named to PRWeek’s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PR professionals. She specializes in creating and implementing integrated (online and off), results-based, measurable communication programs for clients both large and small at Shonali Burke Consulting. An accredited business communicator, she is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program and active in the local communications community as President of IABC/DC Metro. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical or Twitter.

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I am truly grateful for all the amazing relationships I’ve developed through social media!

I have met some of the most wonderful people, some of whom have become clients, others with whom I’ve built synergistic partnerships. It continues to astound me how strong these connections can be.

I would not be part of the Women Grow Business community were it not for Twitter!

And my encounters continue to reaffirm my belief that people in this world are all one – more similar than different.

Since first reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich
I had been interested in experiencing the power of a mastermind group. I am most grateful for the opportunity to participate in a mastermind facilitated by business coach and mentor Fabienne Fredrickson this year.

As part of this small, handpicked group of entrepreneurs
I was challenged to stretch my beliefs of what was possible for my business and personal life. Our “sacred circle” unconditionally supported and cheered for each other through all the struggles and accomplishments.

There are a lot of fantastic business mentors with mastermind programs; I highly recommend finding one that fits for everyone who’s working on creating a successful business and fulfilling life.

Image Aim High by Sean Rogers1, Creative Commons

It’s very difficult and there’s absolutely no reason to do it alone.
Before this next declaration I’m about to make…let me first say that my company as it is now is not going away. I am very grateful for the insight and foundation Zen Rabbit has provided. I needed the experience of running Zen Rabbit in order to gain the knowledge and make the connections necessary to pursue this new venture.

Sometimes what seems pointless or frustrating or without obvious purpose is really preparation for the next step. Once you realize this truth, a whole new horizon opens up and you – okay I – can hardly wait to get going!

Okay so now I’ll share!
I am creating information products and workshops to help start-up food entrepreneurs build wildly successful businesses. And I’m very excited about it!

How about you?
What business accomplishments or decisions are you most grateful for this year? What favorable outcomes developed – those desired and unexpected?

More from:

• Lori Saitz and her Women Grow Business series on customer service;
• Carla Briceno and 4 insights from 2009 as a small business owner;
• Gayle Laakmann and her popular three-tier approach post to entrepreneurship — with one suggestion to experiment often, carefully, and singly.

Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

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How long can someone with great customer service instincts work for a company that doesn’t value customer service?

I started thinking about this question the other day after an experience with Comcast involving the exchange of our old, regular cable box for an upgraded one with DVR, as part of the new contract negotiated by our homeowners association.

Letitia sets the customer service standard
A week after installation of the new box, I turned on the TV to see a message on the screen that said the cable box I had was not authorized and an 800 number to call for assistance. Ugh, really? I have to call Comcast for help? Past experience taught me to expect a long hold time. Lo and behold, I did not have a long wait time before Letitia kindly offered to help me.

Despite the fact that the paperwork on the exchange of boxes was never processed and our account was not properly set up to give us DVR access, Letitia spent almost an hour patiently working through things to get everything back online.

It was clear to me that Letitia was committed to helping me, the customer, in whatever way she could, not just because it was her job, but because she really wanted to do the right thing.

Within a large corporation, it seems the entrepreneurial spirit was alive.
I don’t know if company execs encourage this kind of customer service approach or if Letitia is one of those people, like many of us entrepreneurs, who can’t be any other way.

Now, she wouldn’t have been able to provide the service she did without a few essential tools. Employ these ideas and your people supporting your small business can deliver exemplary customer service too:

1. Proper training.
Letitia knew what questions to ask and what steps to take in response to my answers. Make sure your staff has an understanding of the business, the issues that customers might encounter, and the knowledge to fix them.

2. Freedom to do whatever it takes to resolve the situation.
Zappos is well known for giving it’s employees a lot of leeway to do whatever they need to do to make customers happy.

Company CEO Tony Hsieh has been quoted as saying he “doesn’t want to prescribe actions for employees that show how much Zappos cares about customers; (he) wants employees to do things because they genuinely care about customers.” And he gives them the ability to do that.

3. Personal initiative.
Tony’s quote leads directly to this third and most important point about personal initiative. It’s not something you can teach someone; you have to hire it already intact. And if someone doesn’t have it, giving him proper training and decision-making freedom isn’t going to be at all effective for your business.

So back to the original question
Which has now become — does the employee with personal initiative and a genuine desire to help customers stay around and help pull the company up, or does she get frustrated and leave?

The answer is now easy to see.

If you as the business owner are committed to providing an outstanding customer experience, hiring people like Letitia who care about customers and giving them training and freedom, then she’ll stay and contribute to creating an outstanding reputation for your business. And ideally in the process, she can set a great example for her co-workers and feel good about her job.

Valuing your great service agents (and a request)
Do you know of a company – a large or small business – committed to providing a less than remarkable encounter for your customers? If so, please help connect them to this post. Otherwise, if they disregard this advice, the great Letitias in customer service will leave their business soon and view their time there as a lesson in “how not to run a business.”

What’s been your experience in this area?
Have you ever been the one picking up the slack and what eventually happened? Post a comment and let me know.

More from:

• Get Elastic and an example of Zappos customer service in action;
• Freakonomics and entrepreneurial initiative in customer service;
• Flying Solo and a great example of Tweet This Post
  
  

What’s the most professional way to answer the phone at your place of business? Do you have a standard that you’ve implemented for yourself and the people who work with you? Many successful entrepreneurs have created systems for running every aspect of their business, but handling phone calls seems frequently overlooked. And yet the phone is the gateway into your company, the first point of contact for many customers.

What kind of impression are you giving?

Gateway vs intrusion
Too many people view a ringing phone as an interruption. If you can’t talk right now, don’t answer. And if you do answer, be pleasant. Does this sound like basic phone etiquette? Because it seems like a lot of companies haven’t figured this out yet and in case they’re wondering why business isn’t so good, this could be the reason.

Demeanor of a troll
I was given a referral the other day and called her company’s main number to be greeted by someone I will kindly describe as having the demeanor of a troll. I was then told, “She’s not available.” Okay, do I get any options here? Can you transfer me to voicemail, take a message, suggest a better time to reach her?

I’m already thinking, do I even want to do business with a company that treats its callers this way?

Think differentiation
How you answer your phone is one more opportunity to distinguish your company from the rest. I once worked with a company that had everyone cheerfully answering their phones with “It’s a great day here at Office Furniture Company. This is Christine. How can I make it a great day for you?” (Okay, well, they didn’t all say “this is Christine,” they each used their own names!)

This greeting worked well for a few reasons.

One:
It was different, so it would catch people off guard, in a good way. Wow, the person answering the phone sounds positive!

Two:
Since they identified themselves, you knew who you were talking with, which in my book always increases a caller’s comfort level. From a marketing standpoint, it personalizes your company and allows the start of a relationship. From a practical standpoint, if you got disconnected or needed to call back for any reason, you knew whom to ask for. Even if you are the only one answering your business phone, not everyone knows that and knows who you are, so identify yourself.

Three:
Asking that question of ‘How can I help…” immediately set the stage for an interaction that promised to be helpful to the caller. It also allowed the caller to get creative, if they were so inclined, which also led to a lot of humorous conversation starts.

And we all know that fun and laughter is good for business!

Take a look at your customer service phone etiquette.
What can you do to help callers feel good about contacting your company? How can you start conversations on a friendly note and differentiate your business at the same time? Or what good phone greetings have you heard lately?

I want to know. Post your comments and share!

More from:

• Lori Saitz and her customer service series at Women Grow Business;
• Seth Godin and the value of ‘who answers’ your business lines;
• Freshbooks and human customer support, small business, and the phone;
• Pro Edge Skills and (3) steps to great phone greetings for your business.



Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

(Image Ring Ring Ring by Define23, Creative Commons)

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Thanking great service and the positive consequence
It all started on a Friday afternoon, several weeks ago, when I gave a box of Gratitude Cookies to my FedEx driver. He does a great job of collecting and delivering all the packages my business sends day in and day out and he has a great attitude. So I gave him a box of cookies to enjoy, as an expression of my thankfulness.

And then I posted my good deed on Twitter.
My reasoning was more to share an example of how you can make someone’s day with a simple act than to pat myself on the back.

But short time later, I got a tweet from @FedexRobin thanking me for “tipping our driver with cookies” and for my business.

Wow, they were paying attention to what’s being said about them on Twitter? Furthermore they’re engaging in conversation with their customers in this arena? I was surprised.

Yes, …still, on this day in 2009!
I’m often asked by colleagues what the point of Twitter or Facebook is. A lot of business people still think Facebook is only for teenagers or for reconnecting with long lost high school friends. Even more don’t understand that Twitter can be a useful business communication tool (or they assume everyone is tweeting about what they had for breakfast).

Small businesses missing out
Those who don’t get it are missing out on making valuable connections with their audiences. A few days later, I found an article by ZDNet social media reporter Jennifer Leggio on the social media efforts of FedEx – part of her series on the “top 10 Fortune 500 companies doing social media right.”

Since most of us are used to hearing stories of how smaller companies use innovative technology better, here’s an opportunity for David to learn from Goliath.

Top 4 ways social media can help a small business’ customer relations:

1.) Humanizing the company i.e. remember sense of humor!
Often the bigger the company, the less friendly it seems. But smaller companies can be impersonal too. How many web sites have you been to where there isn’t any information about the people behind the organization?

Social media is a great outlet to connect with customers, vendors and other constituents on a more personalized level. Here is where you can showcase humor and entertain, as well as educate.

2.) Listening i.e. partner with customers
Unlike traditional media, through which companies talk AT their audiences, social media is a two-way conversation. You can tap into the ideas and input of people using your products. You get immediate feedback. Plus customers like to know that you value what they have to say and want to feel more like a partner. That a company seems to value my business and engage in conversation with me kind of gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

3.) Handling issues i.e. show your responsiveness
By participating in conversations with customers, you hear about issues before they become big problems. You become known for being responsive when you address dissatisfaction in public and win points from everyone watching when you handle it properly.

4.) Building loyalty i.e. the know, like, trust factors
If you’re showcasing your company’s personality and listening to your customers, you’re building the know, like, and trust factors that contribute to people doing business with you. Developing and strengthening relationships leads to customer loyalty.

When I believe a business actually cares about working with me, I’m going to be more forgiving next time something goes wrong and more willing to recommend them to others.

Companies large and small can use social media strategically and proactively.

Face to face and building community through other channels
Since we don’t necessarily know many of our clients from personal, face-to-face interactions anymore, we have to rely on holding conversations and developing relationships with them through other channels. And social media is a most efficient way to accomplish that.

Are you as connected to your customers and vendors as you could be?

More from:

• Lori Saitz and her customer service series on Women Grow Business;
• Check out other companies profiled in Jennifer’s series and how they’re using social media with their customer communities;
• Businesses get a hand with Twitter, Facebook;
• A good ‘how-to’ for using Twitter for customer service;
• 7 Impressive Twitter customer service/brand management cases

Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

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The email, the intro, and some annoyance
The person on the other end of the phone introduced himself and asked if I recalled seeing emails from his company, as they’d sent me a few over the past couple of months. I said I’d seen some from companies with similar offerings, but I wasn’t sure if any were specifically from his business.

We exchanged questions and answers for about seven minutes and then he kind of slipped in an “Oh by the way, we charge $199 to set up.”

That he waited until he thought he had me interested to throw that tidbit out there annoyed me a little, especially since his competitors do not charge a set up fee at all and we’d already gone through pricing.

The tip off
We talked a minute more and then he said something that tipped me off to the fact that he hadn’t been to my web site yet. I made an admonishing, but lighthearted comment about how could he think about calling me without at least going to my site first. Then he said something else that revealed he didn’t even know exactly what kind of gourmet product my company sells. Which is when I chastised him even more seriously.

He offered to email some information to me and I accepted.
Then he realized that he in fact did not have my email address. Interesting, since at the beginning of the call he was almost questioning how I could have ignored all those emails they sent me. Two days later, I still haven’t looked at what he sent and he’s going to think I’m not working with him because of that set up fee, which is not the case.

This guy clearly doesn’t realize customer service starts long before someone becomes a customer.

What’s that old saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”? So true! If he can’t be honest and up front with me when I’m a prospect, that doesn’t bode well for my experience after I hand over my money.

Since I fashion myself a customer service expert …
Allow me to share with you what I would change about how this guy approached our call.

First: Before picking up the phone, I would recommend he glance over my web site to get a feel for what my company does. There’s no excuse for not doing this!

Next: Before asking me if I’d received his emails, he might want to verify that he even HAS my email address in his file. If, for some crazy reason, he didn’t manage to check before calling, then he could at least acknowledge his oversight. Personally, I would inject some humor, and say something like, “well, I guess that explains why you haven’t gotten our emails then.”

Lastly: In regard to the set up fee and higher percentages that his company charges (when his competitors don’t), I would address that elephant in the room straight on. Say, “I know our competitors don’t charge this, or charge less than this, and here’s why.” Explain to me what extra value I get that justifies those charges. For most people, price is not the most important factor in purchasing decisions … but value is.

Start providing a truthful and authentic customer experience before someone is a customer and you’ll be right on track for creating and maintaining a strong customer relationship.

More from:

• Lori Saitz and her Women Grow Business series on great customer service;
• SCORE’s 60 Second Guide … to great customer service;
• Chrysty Beverley Fortner at Women On Business and her how-to for generating customer loyalty through committed service.

Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

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Anticipating that ‘last minute’ from customers
Even though smart business people express client or employee appreciation throughout the year, December remains, by far, the top month for sending gifts. Many of the larger companies make their decisions and place holiday orders in early September. The majority however seem to prefer waiting until the last minute.

Ah, the challenges of meeting client needs
…when you don’t know what they are ahead of time! The last minute rush might be easily managed by a large, well-known mail order company with a warehouse full of long-term shelf life products.

But for companies that are smaller, or that micro-produce, last minute orders make it difficult to schedule production and fulfillment. How do you know what kind of packaging to have on hand, and in what quantities? What will be popular this year? And it’s always different from last year!

Beautiful velvet foil: a story
A few years ago, I got a sample of a beautiful velvet and foil box I thought would make perfect holiday packaging. I conducted a bit of market research and everyone who saw it, loved it. This would be THE package of the season. I ordered 600 of them and three years later, I still have about 550 of them sitting in my garage!

What I’ve finally learned: ratios and top sellers
You can base your projections on what you did last year, and add in the percent increase you expect (or want) for this year.

Look at what’s done well for you throughout the year and figure that the sales ratios will remain about the same for the holidays too.

If cookies make up 70% and tea is 10% of sales, then you can guess that these numbers will likely hold true for November and December too – unless you have a special “holiday-time only” offering, which of course changes things. Then choose a few items, at different price points, and promote them as your top sellers.

Preparing customers for the holidays, gently
Even though most companies don’t even want to think about the holidays so early, it’s still important to put the idea in front of them in August and September. Educate them about their options. Give them reasons why it’s in their best interest to act sooner rather than later (because it’s easier for you does not so much matter to them!).

Think about what incentives you can use to encourage them to order earlier. I’m not a big fan of discounting, but I do like giving bonuses – order by September 30th and get an extra $30 worth of product, for example. Or order in the next three weeks and get this fabulous umbrella!

Then stay on top of potential clients and follow up, follow up, follow up.

As I mentioned earlier, most business people wait until the last minute. If you’re not in their awareness, they tend to do a Google search on November 27th and order from whatever mail order company pops up in the top of the list.

For businesses that have strong holiday demand, the last quarter of the year is always a great adventure (Image Adventure Lives On by Bredgur, Creative Commons). You can prepare as best as possible, and then make sure you’re flexible to handle whatever unforeseen opportunities crop up.

Oh, and make sure you schedule a massage, a vacation, or some downtime to start December 26th.

More from:

• Lori Saitz and her series on small business observations at Women Grow Business;

Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

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I do believe that everything happens for a reason.
But yesterday I struggled with that universal truth. A day earlier, I’d shipped an important package via overnight express. I was hoping to make a good impression on someone I’d like to do business with. We’d met Tuesday night at an event in Miami and I knew he’d be in Atlanta on Thursday. I prepared the label online, double-checking that I chose the “guaranteed next-day delivery by noon” option.

Handing the package over the counter
I asked the employee on the other side if it would indeed absolutely be delivered next day. “Because the recipient is only there for that day and then he’s off to his next destination,” I said to him. “Yes of course,” Lloyd assured me. I made him promise it would be there the next day (as if he had any personal control over such a thing).

You already know where this story is going.
Early afternoon, I checked tracking info to see the box had left West Palm the evening prior. But no further info was available. Ugh, I didn’t have a good feeling about this. At 4:30, I checked tracking info again; nothing had been updated.

Couldn’t tell me exactly …
The “customer service representative” at the 800 number confirmed the package had probably not been delivered and couldn’t tell me exactly where it was. She could however tell me how to get a refund.

Since that was the least of my concerns, I told her I wasn’t so much interested in a refund as I was in why my “guaranteed delivery” was not delivered. She hung up on me.

(Image Deafening Scream by Lizard911, Creative Commons)

The drama: ramifications for my business were huge
I called the hotel where a very nice man in the shipping department checked and double-checked that, no, they had no record of receipt of a package for this guest.
Now I was mad, even though I know that doesn’t make things any better and pretty much just makes them worse. Receipt in hand, I raced to where I’d dropped off the box the day before. I stood in line and when it was my turn, I launched into my story of how Lloyd had PROMISED that this would be delivered. And now that it wasn’t, the ramifications for my business were HUGE!

Okay, I admit, a little dramatic.

In tears and no ownership in sight
A call to the Atlanta distribution center revealed only that the package had supposedly not shown up yet. I was near tears, so the man who was helping me summoned his supervisor. She reiterated that there was nothing they could do. Besides, she defended, they can’t guarantee delivery by next day to ALL destinations. (That I can understand if it was going across the country or to a rural area, but c’mon, this was West Palm to downtown Atlanta!)

No one was accountable
So great, there was nothing anyone could do to get the package delivered in time to my recipient. Got it. But to add insult to injury, no one would take any responsibility for this mess. No one was accountable. The woman on the phone was rude. The people at the drop off location were apathetic. That’s what really upset me. And yes, I can say I’ll never use this particular service again. But the truth is, I’ve had similar experiences with all the major delivery services in the past.

Not to rant for nothing: the point

The intent of my story is that when things go wrong, even if you can’t fix them right away, show some empathy and take responsibility.

Follow through on the follow up. Those actions go a long way in saving a client relationship.

What observations do you have from customer service experience and taking ownership?

More from:

• Lori Saitz and conquering challenges (including hurricanes) as an entrepreneur;
• Shep Hyken, an expert in customer service;
• Bill Hogg and the cost of accountability;
• Laura Benjamin and her champion examples of great customer service.

Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

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Guest contributor Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She helps people show appreciation for and give recognition to others. The main (delicious!) tool her team uses to help accomplish this important feat is through The Gratitude Cookie(tm). A thin, crunchy cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, The Gratitude Cookie is so named because if you’re eating the cookies, you’re encouraged to think about something you are grateful for as you munch on each one.

Oh, my budding entrepreneurial student, are you in for a ride.
At the end of my “You Should Sell That-Creating a Wildly Successful Business from Your Family Recipe” workshop last weekend I was asked if there were ever times when I questioned myself and what I was doing. Were there ever any doubts? Hahahaha! Oh, my budding entrepreneurial student, are you in for a ride.

If I had known what I was in for when I started my business, it’s highly unlikely I would have continued on with the journey. On the other hand, persistence was already one of my strong suits.

Needing another place to bake…stat
Shortly after starting my business, I was subleasing space in a commercial kitchen. The holiday season was coming up and I was expecting to see an upturn in business as I began marketing to my corporate contacts.
Late summer and fall is hurricane season in Florida and that year the state got hit with Charlie, Frances and Jeanne. All in all, we spent a total of more than two weeks without power. That would have been tolerable, but then I discovered that my commercial kitchen space had been severely damaged and I was going to have to find another place to bake.

Fully loaded kitchen (and opportunity)
The health department doesn’t take kindly to businesses using their home kitchens, so I was going to need to find another facility quickly. Fortunately I was able to connect quickly with a local church and started using their kitchen for baking my holiday orders. It turned out to be a huge blessing because this kitchen was fully loaded, with 3 commercial ovens, a giant mixer, lots of counter space and a super nice kitchen manager who was happy to have me use her facility. And despite the fact that I was only supposed to be there temporarily, until the other place was repaired, I ended up staying for two years.

Client changes and Hurricane Wilma
The next year, Hurricane Wilma claimed the budgets of my local clients, who were now funneling their funds for holiday giving into hurricane repairs for the second year in a row. Fortunately not all my clients were located in Florida, so the season wasn’t completely lost. But it was certainly another test of my tenacity and determination.

Chef Harv and the unexpected
After months and months of searching, I found the perfect place. Chef Harv and I hit it off right away. I felt really comfortable working with him and optimistic about growth potential. He helped me decide on leasing a piece of equipment that would automate the whole process and we worked on getting everything in order for the upcoming holiday season. We hadn’t actually signed a contract yet when Chef Harv ran the first batch of 5,000 cookies the week of Thanksgiving.

And then came the phone call.
December 1st, Chef Harv was killed in a car accident. It still brings tears to my eyes to think about how even though I’d known him less than six months, I felt that I’d lost an amazing friend. The fear over what would happen to my business came second.

To the credit of Chef Harv’s team, they pulled off the incredible feat of fulfilling all my holiday orders that season. My clients had no idea what was going on behind the scenes!

(image Teamwork by Alexdc, Creative Commons)

Patience and preparing for more business growth
Chef Harv’s wife decided to continue the business and we did end up signing a contract. It was not the terms Chef Harv and I had agreed on, but I felt stuck because the machine was there, I had searched so long to find this place and I didn’t know what other option I had. So I stayed with that facility for a year and a half, all the while looking for somewhere else to go, looking for another contract baker. Eventually I found her, a true baking partner with whom I have a wonderful working relationship and the capacity to grow.

Throughout all these ordeals, and there were more than I mention here, there were plenty of days that I questioned if this was all worth it. Could I really run this business? I felt like I had no idea what the heck I was doing. Admittedly, I still have some of those days now.

But in the end, if you truly believe in what you’re doing, if you have faith in yourself and your goal, you soldier on. You are persistent. You prove to the universe and everyone that you DO want and deserve success. And eventually it starts to come to you.

And in between giving gratitude and growing her company, Lori writes at her blog Rabbit Rouser Online where she can be reached.

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