Amiga, Let's Talk
Amiga, Let's Talk
Mastering the Four Seasons of the Entrepreneurial Journey: Turning Dreams into Brands
The exhilarating four seasons every aspiring entrepreneur must navigate. Do you have an idea that could change the world but don't know where to start? This episode promises to unravel the mysteries of entrepreneurship, guiding you through the initial spark of inspiration, where curiosity breeds groundbreaking ideas, to the meticulous planning and preparation stage, we provide actionable insights and strategies. We'll discuss the importance of brainstorming, feedback, and overcoming common doubts like imposter syndrome. Drawing from the inspiring journeys of Sarah Blakely of Spanx and Roxanne Quimby of Burt's Bees, we highlight how passion and determination can turn small beginnings into household names.
As we transition to the launch and growth phases, we delve into finalizing your product. Throughout this journey, we emphasize the importance of an optimistic and proactive mindset, ensuring you stay organized and validated. So, grab your notebook, and let's embark on the adventure of turning your entrepreneurial dreams into reality.
Hello and welcome to Amigas. Let's Talk, the show where we discuss life and business and everything in between. I am your host, damaris Ramirez. My goal is that every woman lives her best life. So, amiga, grab a cup of coffee or tea and let's talk.
Speaker 1:Hi, amiga, today we're going to talk about the four seasons of entrepreneurship. So you can call them phases or stages, but I'm going to call them the four seasons. It's what every single person that is going through an entrepreneurship journey is going to definitely go through. So let's get right into it. So, season one, season one that is the inspiration phase. That is where you get that brilliant idea. You have that spark of inspiration and you're so excited you want to tell everyone about it, and that could be either a product, a service or a solution to a problem Something definitely that either maybe you have encountered that you needed or you observed that maybe it's something that people are trying to accomplish and you have the solution to it. So, during this season, your mindset usually is curiosity, enthusiasm and, honestly, everybody starts there. Everybody starts with that grand idea. So what do you do? You have this. You're in season one. You have an inspiration, you have this brilliant idea. You should begin to do some brainstorming and you should identify what are these things, that? What is the solution that you're trying to accomplish? Whether that is a product or service, there should be. You should have an answer to the question what is this a solution for? So, if it's a product, that product is going to be the solution for something that is needed. And if it's a service, right, you are going to provide a service to people that are in need of that service. And you want to talk to friends and families. If you have a mentor, that would be great too, and you can start asking feedback. You know what do you think about this idea? Do you think people might make good use of this? Would you buy it? You want to start doing some initial research to see does your idea have potential?
Speaker 1:And if, during this stage or season, right during this season, you start questioning yourself and after a while, you first have that burst of inspiration and then you start thinking, oh my God, do I have the money to invest in this? Who am I to do this? And you start getting that imposter syndrome right, that feeling, that's normal, that happens to everyone. It happened to me. I get this a lot from people that come up to me and say you know it's a little scary, and I say you know, it's also that you're a daring person. You're daring to start something that not everyone would do, and there's a quote by Peter Drucker that says the best way to predict the future is to create it. So by being an entrepreneur, you're creating your personal future, and the quote by Peter Drucker emphasizes the importance that you want to be proactive and you want to take control of your destiny, and I think that's most of the reasons why someone begins a small business or they become entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:For me, it was a little bit of both. I think I just have it in me. My dad and on my father's side they all have had businesses, so I think it just was in me. And also I needed some extra money. I was a single parent for some time and I was trying to figure out what can I do that I love, where I can make some additional monies, and for me that was teaching. So you want to try to figure out what it is that you love, as I said in some of the other episodes, and work on that, because you're going to work many hours, so you might as well. Do it on something that you love. I want you not to give up on your spark of inspiration. I want you to go with your idea, and I'm going to highlight five women that you very likely have heard of that had determination and they were very resourceful, and they started with humble beginnings but they turned their small business into well-known brands. So the first one, spanx that was developed by Sarah Blakely you probably have seen her also on the TV show Shark Tank and she started with $5,000 in savings and she decided that she wanted to create an item that would be comfortable and that it would be slimming undergarment for women. And she first started at her apartment and she was doing everything herself, just like many of us have done of us have done everything from designing to marketing. But today Spanx is a household name in shapewear. You see it in all the stores, you can buy it online and she's even expanded to include a wide range of apparel. I actually am trying to find some time to go purchase some of her pants, because I have seen some ads in the marketing. Obviously it's fantastic because I'm ready to go out and get some, where she has some uh also some slimming uh apparel. So I want to try her pants soon. And one quote that uh, sarah Blakely has uh had is that she said she started Spanx, as I said, with $5,000 in savings and a whole lot of passion. So stick with your passion and your determination and you definitely can have an inspiring story, just like Sarah Blakely.
Speaker 1:Number two Burt's Bees. That was started by Roxanne Quimby and you can find that in most drugstores in Walmart, in CBS, in Walgreens and she actually started making candles from bee wax in her home with her partner, bert Shavitz, and they sold candles at local craft fairs and farmer's markets. But today Bert's Bees is a globally recognized brand and they also have a very nice natural personal care product, particularly the lip balm. I love their cuticle softener and also I use their lip glosses softener and also I use their lip glosses. And Roxanne has said that they started with leftover bee wax and a dream. So, as you see, with both Sarah and Roxanne, yes, they started with that brilliant idea or maybe just a little money, but they all both emphasize that they had passion or they had a dream, and you'll see with the next three it was the same thing. When they get quoted, they're very specific about how they started.
Speaker 1:The next one, number three, is Carol's Daughter, and that was started by Lisa Price. Lisa Price began her natural beauty products in her kitchen and initially she also went to local flea markets and crafts fairs. But eventually people found out how good her products were and gained popularity. And then, especially because she has natural ingredients and I love her hair products, especially because I have curly hair and they also have actually grown Carol's Daughter to a world-renowned, recognized brand and was eventually acquired by L'Oreal. So that's something eventually, as you grow bigger, that potentially can happen. Someone might want to buy you out. And Lisa from Carol's Daughter she says that she started in her kitchen just with a few ingredients, but with a very big vision.
Speaker 1:The next one, number four Kendra Scott. You've probably heard of Kendra Scott Jewelry. That was started by Kendra Scott and she started her jewelry business with $500 in her spare bedroom in Austin Texas $500 in her spare bedroom in Austin Texas. She was doing pieces by hand and selling them door to door, going to the local boutiques in Texas and today Kendra Scott Jewelry is now a well-known brand. You can find it in department stores across the United States and she also has a very large presence online. And she says with $500 and a dream, I launched a company that grew beyond my wildest imagination.
Speaker 1:And the last one I wanted to highlight is Stitch Fix. And this company was started by Katrina Lake and she started in her apartment with a simple idea that she wanted to do personalized styling service so a personalized stylist but for people that maybe can't afford, like the celebrities, to have that high-paying personalized stylist. So she wanted to do it through a subscription model. She managed to grow her business and develop her business while she was attending Harvard. And now Stitch Fix is a publicly traded company and they do provide still personalized fashion recommendations to millions of customers online and they send products to the customer's home through the subscription model. And Katrina says I started Stitch Fix because I wanted to help people discover and explore their personal style. So all of these women's turned their small home based businesses into thriving enterprises and all it does is. It shows that when you have a passion and inspiration, you can turn that into a business and you can, through innovation, hard work and resilience, also do like these five women did. So definitely, if you want to get all the information, as usual, that I have in this episode, you will be able to go into the show notes and get a copy of the transcript or, as usual, I will have a PDF that you can download if you just wanted to have it as a reference.
Speaker 1:Okay, amiga, what happens in season two of the life and journey of an entrepreneurship? This is where the planning and preparation happens. You should start turning here your idea into a concrete plan. I think the most important thing is you want to keep a mindset of being optimistic and organized as much as you can, even though usually, when someone's in this journey, you have a notebook full of papers, a lot of stickies, but you want to try to stay as organized as possible. You want to try to create a business plan.
Speaker 1:You want to identify who is your target audience. These are the people that are going to be in need for your product. You want to develop a list of what are the characteristics that are going to be in need for your product. You want to develop a list of what are the characteristics of this person what is their gender, what is their age, what are their pain points? Right, where are they? What is their age range. You want to try to be as specific as possible so that then later you'll be able to target that audience In season two.
Speaker 1:You want to do research. You want to research the market, you want to research competition. You want to see the areas where, potentially, this service or product is available maybe locally, maybe online. You want to see what the differences with prices are. What are the products that are out there? How are they different from the product that you will be developing? And you know, the sky's the limit, because right now we have virtual sales. We can have virtual sales or virtual classes. So you want to also look at short-term goals and long-term goals and possibly and I say this is not something that everybody needs and most of the time we don't have, but I'm still going to mention it here is maybe you want to look into finding funding sources or a partnership. So, especially for women, there's a lot of small business associations that are willing to fund some women projects, so you might want to look into that.
Speaker 1:You want to lean in right. You want to lean in as Sheryl Sandberg says in her book what would you do if you weren't afraid right? So you want to get her book, if you want, and her book title is Lean In Women, work and the Will to Lead, and this is going to help you. Just put everything together, stay more organized, even help you towards you. How do you work as you bring in staff to work with you? That's going to be very helpful also. So carry a notebook that way, at all times, you can jot down some notes, because you're going to have inspirations at all times while you're laying in bed, while you're in the car, while you're in a meeting, there's always going to be thoughts coming through your head the minute that you have basically opened the door and decided that you want to make your dream a reality. And you know, if you don't do it with the notebook, then put it somewhere, find a place in your, on your, in your cell phone, where you're going to be able to jot down these ideas. You want to also validate your service or product. I say that this is season two is where you should have your product right and you should have someone test out your product. If you have an actual physical product, give your product to a couple of people and tell them to give you their honest opinion about your product, so you can have a testing group and therefore, that will allow you to get ideas so that you can make it even better.
Speaker 1:Season three of entrepreneurship this is the launching and growing stage. So this is where you're going to have your business start to become a reality. You're going to basically have your product available during this stage. I think for me this is the funnest part of having a small business when you know you're ready. You're ready to make some money. And maybe that's why I like this stage, because all the hard work that you've done in season one and season two, now in season three you're going to start making some money, bringing back some of the money that maybe you've invested. So I would say, and it might go slow. So I say your mindset is that you have to stay confident, you have to be proactive. This is where you're going to finalize your product because, remember, in season two you were testing. So you're finalizing your product or service and making sure it's ready for the market. You're going to make sure you're checking the boxes for registering your business, setting up your bank account, having whatever legal and financial setup you need to have.
Speaker 1:By season three, you know what your branding is. You've picked your branding colors. That way, you know what your brand identity is going to be. You have your logo, your website, your social presence and whatever platform you're going to be selling in. You also, in this stage, have a marketing plan. This is where you're going to develop the strategy for you to promote your product and service, and that's going to be really important, because you're going to want to market your product and also look at the metrics as to what are the different ways that you're marketing your product and where is it working better, so that you can then focus your energies in that areas or invest in, if you're doing paid advertising in the areas that are bringing in the money.
Speaker 1:You want to be efficient and you want to streamline your processes. As you get more into your business, you're going to figure out ways to do things smarter and better. So make sure you're taking notes and improving and optimizing your operations and, if necessary, you might want to hire additional staff. I say you're going to only do that after you've made some money, whether it's a couple of hundred dollars, but do not hire someone until you've made money that you've validated that it all is. You need to be very specific in what you need that person to do for you. You want to make sure that whoever you hire is going to be a person that their duties and their role is going to allow you to make more money. This is a phase where you're going to get a clear vision as to what's working and what's not, and then, once you are able to improve in that area, that is when you get to season four.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Iga. We've reached the last season of entrepreneurship. This is season four. This is the season where you're growing and you're expanding and you're celebrating your successes growing and you're expanding and you're celebrating your successes, and I love this season. This is where you're up and running. And now what happens is you start thinking of how can I scale? How can I scale? How can I reach more people? So you want to be happy that you're being successful and you want to be ambitious for more and you want to be adaptive, because maybe you learned along the way that some things need to be different. You want to be ready for change. You're not the same person that you were when you started in season one. For sure, when you look back, you're like, oh my God, there's so much that has changed, not only with your mindset, but maybe with your product and service and key takeaways or key actions during season four is continue to refine your operations and improve your efficiency.
Speaker 1:You want to again add additional members to your team if you're growing very quickly and you need that. You don't want to have burnout. You want to increase your marketing efforts and do them even more focused. You want to explore where else can I do additional marketing, explore new channels. You want to very, very important. You want to build strong customer relationships and, along those same lines, you want to encourage your customers to provide referrals, and you're going to be able to do that by developing community with the people that have purchased your product of service. So you want to continuously reach out. You want to, if you can and they're local, meet with them for coffee. Thank them for them service. You can also do it obviously online with them for coffee. Thank them for them service. You can also do it obviously online.
Speaker 1:If you're mailing something out, send a little extra. You always see these videos of people doing packing. I love watching them myself and sometimes we have to monitor how long we're seeing those, but it's. Everybody loves to receive extra. So whether you are providing a product, loves to receive extra. So, whether you are providing a product, throw in a little extra If you're providing a service for me. I teach. I'm always adding additional sessions to the classes that I teach, at no cost to my students, because I really believe in what I teach and I want to make sure that I give them as many resources as I can so that they go away with the idea that I did the best I could for them to be successful.
Speaker 1:And, as I said, you want to continuously be innovating, be improving on the offerings that you have. You want to also be able to sell up. So if you have one product, what can you sell? What can you add to that sale? Think of what else could this potential customer need and start thinking of developing those things. You want to along the way I say along the way, not just in this season, but sometimes we forget celebrate your milestones. That's going to be really important because you want to know that all the hard work that you do is for a good cause. So you want to recognize and celebrate all of your achievements. And the other thing you will definitely want to do is don't forget to give back. You want to support your community, you want to support the industry that you're in through maybe mentorship or philanthropy. You want to maybe mentor other entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:A lot of times there are people out there that are trying to do the same thing that you are doing and, you know, not everybody is strong enough, not everybody has all the ideas, and that's why I do these episodes that hopefully, some of the stuff that I am discussing will help someone out there. So if someone reaches out to you, be kind, they might be starting and they might be lost, so be available. There's always space for everyone in this world. Like I said earlier, the sky's the limit. Explore new opportunities. You also want to think about how do you expand? Explore new opportunities. You also want to think about how do you expand, how do you diversify? And I would highly recommend that you read the book by Vern Harnish Scaling Up how a Few Companies Make it and why the Rest Don't, and just remember that what got you here won't get you there, and that's a quote by Marshall Goldsmith.
Speaker 1:So, amigas, I hope, whether you're already in your entrepreneurship journey, that you go through these four seasons and see is there anything that maybe you're missing that I mentioned that you can add to your key actions. Are you in the right mindset in every single one of these seasons, and if you've already been through season one, through four in your business, then think of what else can you do. You know how can you expand and diversify, and when that happens, you're going to be back in season one. I find myself in season one many, many times, whether it's developing a new product, like right now I'm in the middle of completing a book. I will tell you all about that a little more later this summer, but that just starts the clock all over. So I go back to season one and try to remember that you know every season will come, and so we just have to take it step by step, and then we will all be able to, at the end, be able to celebrate our achievements and milestones. So thank you, amiga, for listening. I hope these were helpful. I'll talk to you soon, hi, amiga.
Speaker 1:I'm jumping in one last time just to tell you about these five women's groups and communities that I love, and they're really helpful with women entrepreneurs, and so number one is the National Association of Women Business Owners. Number two, women Business Enterprise National Council. Number three, elevate Network. Number four, female Entrepreneur Association. Number five, women 2.0. And number six, who I love is Powerhouse Women, so these groups have helped me. They provided valuable connections, support and resources at every phase, at every season of my entrepreneurial journey. So each journey, you should be learning and growing and being filled with exciting opportunities and experiences. So please enjoy every step and believe in your ability to succeed. Thank you for making Amiga's let's Talk part of your day. We hope you enjoyed listening to today's episode and be sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified when we release the next one. And if you know someone who would enjoy the show, please share it with them. I would really appreciate it. Thanks for listening and remember to smile, listen and be patient today Until next. No-transcript.