Remi Founder Freck Beauty interview

We know how daunting it can be to start a new business, especially if you’re disrupting an industry or creating an entirely new one. When there is no path to follow, the biggest question is, where do I start? There is so much to do, but before you get ahead of yourself, let’s start at the beginning. To kick-start the process, and ease some of those first-time founder nerves, we’re asking successful entrepreneurs to share their stories in our new series, From Scratch. But this isn’t your typical day in the life profile. We’re getting into the nitty-gritty details—from writing a business plan (or not) to sourcing manufacturers and how much they pay themselves—we’re not holding back.

Photo: Courtesy of Freck Beauty

About Remi, Founder + CEO of Freck Beauty

Remi is a design-loving, music-obsessed business owner and cat mom to Enzo in Echo Park, Los Angeles. Having grown up in cold and rainy Seattle, Remi was always obsessed with freckles, at a time when it seemed like everyone was trying to get rid of theirs. She started her career as an interior designer, but the idea of a freckle cosmetic was always lingering in the back of her mind. After attending college for branding and marketing, the idea for Freck Beauty’s rule-breaking brand voice and design-forward packaging began to take shape.

She later moved to LA, and after a couple of career changes and attempts at starting her own business, Remi launched Freck Beauty in 2017 with a hero product, FRECK OG – the world’s first freckle cosmetic. Since then, alongside her business partner and COO Des Wilson, Remi has expanded the brand into both skincare and color cosmetics, creating bold, clean beauty products for anyone who cares about ingredients, respects the process, and doesn't care about the rules.

Take us back to the beginning—what was the lightbulb moment for your business?

My background is interior design, and I never thought I would be in beauty. The path to launching Freck Beauty was really formed from a lifelong obsession with freckles. I’ve always wanted to be able to put on freckles since I don’t have any of my own (even though everyone thought I was crazy since this was a time where people wanted to cover and hide their freckles!). 

If ever there was a lightbulb moment, it was when I met my first mentor who had decades of experience in cosmetic manufacturing. She was the first person to say “this is actually a really interesting idea,” and her support gave me the confidence to start trying to put the puzzle pieces together on how I would actually formulate a cosmetic.

Did you write a business plan? If yes, was it helpful? If no, what did you use instead? Why did you take that approach?

Hell no. I mean, I definitely tried because everyone told me to, but it was so daunting that I found myself just doing the steps before writing them down. Sometimes it’s best to just dive in. Even now with my business partner, Des, we prefer to organize with bullet points, cocktail napkins, voice memos, Google sheets, pretty much anything informal. We tend to spend our time executing rather than organizing; not ideal, but that shit’s real. 

How did you come up with the name Freck Beauty, and what are some of the things you considered during that process? What advice can you share?

All of our products have cheeky names, but Freck Beauty is obviously derived from “freckles.” Most people don’t know this, but I had a ton of name revisions from the Kickstarter days to now: Go Freck Yourself (yikes, so agro); Freck Yourself (still agro); Get Frecked (too confusing to brand); Freck (confusion around our hero product name); and, finally, Freck Beauty. Whenever friends or colleagues are running names by me I always ask, “Can you visualize it on a billboard?” I knew Freck Beauty was the right and final name when I thought about it on a billboard over Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park where I live. Simplicity is key, I think.

What were the immediate things you had to take care of to set up the business, and what would you recommend to new founders reading this?

I think it’s really easy to get wrapped up in the housekeeping of a business early on. While that’s important, it’s not the point, and anyone can set up the housekeeping. Really invest the time figuring out your WHY because it's nearly impossible to stay focused, unique, and positioned without it.

What research did you do for the brand beforehand, and can you explain how you found and compiled that research?

I wanted to manufacture a perfect freckle cosmetic for myself and my friends, but before I dove into Kickstarter, I decided to run a Google Survey. It was a minuscule sample size, but I was able to ask 500 beauty-loving strangers a couple of key yes-or-no questions in 2015 like, “Do you think freckles are desirable?” and, “Would you apply freckles if you could?” This really shaped the way I approached the brand, knowing that I wasn’t alone in wanting freckles. 

How did you find the manufacturer or production facility you use, and what advice do you have for other founders looking for a trustworthy manufacturer?

In the case of cosmetic manufacturing, date your labs. Super time consuming, but I would recommend meeting with all the small-run vendors you find from referrals (or Google if you don’t have referrals). Small production runs are barely profitable for labs, so you almost need to sell them on yourself and your concept, because they’re taking on a risk, too—hoping that doing small runs for you will lead to bigger runs. Go into your meetings as your best self, excited about your project, and talk to the lab like they are a potential investor.

How have you funded your business? What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs reading this?

The short story is that I raised a TINY round, bought back those investors after nine months, and didn’t take money again until a pre-seed round in 2019. It was a horrible initial experience. If you’re going to raise money, just make sure that you know and trust your early investors. After that, Des and I basically grew the business by using small private loans. It was ridiculously expensive, but it allowed us to retain equity as long as possible until we were really ready to fundraise.

Do you pay yourself, and if so, how did you know what to pay yourself?

Nada. Des and I both had multiple full-time jobs to pay ourselves (and any hiccups Freck faced) until about two years in. Not only was it not an option to pay ourselves, but we wanted to reinvest into the company by hiring the initial team and expanding our product line. Beyond the money though, I think it’s really important to keep a day job in the early days so you’re not putting too much pressure on the concept or yourself. Starting a business is hard AF without the added stress of having to also make rent every month. Plus, if you find the time to keep motivated after your day job, you know you’re really invested in your idea.

How big is your team now, and what has the hiring process been like? 

We have eight employees now and had just one 18 months ago, which has been a huge learning curve. I didn’t have hiring experience, but I did get to talk with interior designer Amber Lewis at Create & Cultivate Los Angeles and she gave some advice that I’ve never forgotten. I asked her, “When did you know you were ready to hire?” She said, “You just know, but when you’re there, put everything into training them. You’ll be working three times as hard, but you can’t expect someone to think like you if you don’t spend the time.” That’s the real truth.

What has been the biggest learning curve during the process of establishing a business? What mistakes have you made?

Without a doubt, the hardest part has been hiring, letting go, and trusting. In the past, we’ve hired people because we’ve been so overwhelmed and just needed someone. No matter how overwhelmed you are, it takes more time to train a position multiple times. Hold out for the right candidate who you fully believe in, who you’re excited to talk shop with, and who can teach YOU about their specialty. That’s where the most innovative ideas come from.

How did you promote your company? How did you get people to know who you are and create buzz? What challenges have you faced?

I almost completely gave up on Freck OG a year after launch because I couldn’t figure out how to get the product in front of people I knew would love it. I didn’t have the confidence to reach out to influencers and beauty bloggers at the time, and when I finally just bit the bullet everyone I spoke to was really curious about the product and open to receiving samples. I think just throw spaghetti until something sticks! And don’t be scared to try different marketing avenues until you find something that works for your brand. That being said, if you can find a CMO to be your business partner or co-founder early on, that’s a killer move that will only speed up your growth. 

For those who haven’t started a business (or are about to), what advice do you have? 

I love this question. I have a good friend who told me (after the Kickstarter failed and I was trying to figure out a way to market with my embarrassed tail between my legs) that I have “stick-to-itiveness.” That’s always stayed with me. Know that there are going to be so many ups and downs. Take it all in and feel it all. Looking back those are my favorite memories, and I’m so glad I and the team were able to overcome all the obstacles that we learned so much from.

What is your number one piece of financial advice for any new business owner and why?

It’s all about leverage. Keep as much equity as possible, for as long as you can.

If you could go back to the beginning with the knowledge you have now, what advice would you give yourself and why?

If I could go back, I’d ask myself to listen to and trust my voice and point of view more. Don’t worry about following what other people are doing in your industry. The best concepts are ones that no one has come up with yet. Secondly, you can’t do everything yourself. Find amazing, experienced partners who can fill your weaknesses and are ready to sweat it out with you. Des essentially took a percentage of nothing with the vision that we could grow Freck together.

As a co-founder, how have you developed a good working relationship with your business partner? What tips can you share?

Des and I have a really unique partnership in that we have basically no boundaries. We’re best friends, business partners, co-managers. I’m her son’s godmother, and she’s the first person I call to bitch about my ex or neighbors with. We have literally no secrets. Once I helped her get her Diva Cup out. Idk, it just works for us. But doing some serious soul searching before you decide on a partner is key. If you know you need separation from work and boundaries, do you.

Anything else you’d like to add?

In the early days, I thought it would be out of this world insane if Freck Beauty ever made it to Sephora as the world’s first freckle cosmetic. It’s been my absolute dream since day one. We’re launching online on March 2nd and in stores on April 9th, and it’s a pipe dream come true! It’s been a wild and wonderful ride of so much growth and development. If you can see it on a billboard (or on a Sephora shelf) keep it up, you’re onto something big.

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From Scratch: Carolina Kleinman, Founder & Creative Director of Carolina K

We know how daunting it can be to start a new business, especially if you’re disrupting an industry or creating an entirely new one. When there is no path to follow, the biggest question is, where do I start? There is so much to do, but before you get ahead of yourself, let’s start at the beginning. To kick-start the process, and ease some of those first-time founder nerves, we’re asking successful entrepreneurs to share their stories in our series, From Scratch. But this isn’t your typical day in the life profile. We’re getting into the nitty-gritty details—from writing a business plan (or not) to sourcing manufacturers and how much they pay themselves—we’re not holding back.

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Kleinman

Name: Carolina Kleinman

Job Title: Founder & Creative Director

Business Name: Carolina K

Did you write a business plan? If so, was it helpful? If not, what did you use to guide your business instead? Why did you take that approach?

Despite growing up in fashion and having a foundation and understanding of what it meant to have a fashion business, I chose to do things my way by guiding myself with what felt right and using my intuition. I learned how to run a business the hard way without specific guidance but my own, without investment partners nor a business plan. Thinking about it now, I would say it is good advice to have a business plan but be prepared to have to pivot unexpectedly. As John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” song wisely states, “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” My approach has always been to be open, prepared, and aware of what reality may bring because it can disrupt the most detailed and thought-out plans, in business and life.

How did you come up with the name Carolina K? What was the process like, how did you know it was the right name, and what are some of the things you considered during that process?

Because my brand is such a personal reflection of who I am as a person—the way that I live my life, and my beliefs—I spent a lot of time trying to think of names that would represent just that. A meaningful word that would take this “project,” that was so close to my heart, to another level of growth and development. I went back and forth with a variety of different names but nothing was resonating. I then opted to use my namesake to just include my first name and the first letter of my last. 

What were the immediate things you had to take care of to set up the business? (Website domain/setup, trademark, business name listing social channels, etc.)

I founded my brand 15 years ago and the most immediate action item for me was the initial filing to make Carolina K an official business and company. Then, setting everything else up that came along with that. I am so fortunate that my brother Pablo was able to help me with this process because I had no idea where to even begin. He was able to set up the paperwork and guide me through legalities.

What research did you do for the brand beforehand? Why would you recommend it?

Luckily, I’ve always been immersed in fashion and grew up playing around with rolls of fabric at my mom's clothing store in Argentina so everything came very naturally to me. Early on I had a very clear understanding that if I ever started my own label it would have to be done in an ethical and meaningful manner. This resulted in the research taking place as the development of collections happened. I traveled the world looking for artisans and factories, meeting and working with those along the way. Most, if not all, of whom I still work with today after 15 years. As I learned more about them I created a connection, and I knew I wanted to preserve the artisanal crafts, ancient techniques, and details of their culture. 

I highly recommend seeking to establish a true partnership, meet who you work with in person, get to know your suppliers, test each of them out with small projects so that you can scale accordingly and grow together. Growth is great, but it’s beautiful when you can do it together.

How did you find and identify the manufacturers that you work with? What makes a successful partnership and what advice can you share for fellow business owners on finding the right partners?

I found many of my suppliers, manufacturers, and artisans throughout my travels prior to starting my company and throughout its growth. Still to this day when I travel, I often visit markets or attend festivals and celebrations in small towns or cities. At both places, I often run into a variety of artisans that sell items I end up falling in love with. I then strike up a conversation which usually leads me to placing a small order. This allows me to ensure their responsiveness and reliability. If things go well, I take them under my wing and continue to work with them long-term. To this day, we employ around 300 artisans worldwide that I’ve met and maintained relationships with for the last 15 years. I cannot express how important it is to really know who you are working with and cultivate those relationships to assure that the best materials are being sourced and used. Especially, in my case where we make sure to use eco-friendly materials that do not harm the environment.

Did you self-fund the company? If so, how did you bootstrap it? Did you do a friends-and-family round? Or did you raise seed money or initial investment money? If so, how much, and what was that process like for you? What path would you recommend?

Carolina K is a fully self-funded brand. In my early twenties, I was living in Los Angeles working towards being a musician and I would take small jobs here and there in styling or other projects in fashion. I later went back to Argentina where a woman that I knew offered me a 90-day term on fabric, leading me to design my first collection under the Carolina K brand. All I could afford was a one-way ticket to New York City. I took a leap of faith and flew there with the intention of selling it. The full collection sold out in just one weekend! 

I paid off what I owed for the fabric and put the rest of the money back into the business. I repeated this cycle over and over; money always went back into the business. I must say, the journey has been hard. I didn’t study business, and it took me a long time to learn the business portion. Plenty of trial and error, especially when I was living outside of Tepoztlán, Mexico, and did not have internet access at home. Based on my struggles of scaling the business, I think I would advise others to connect and work with people that you trust and that are knowledgeable in areas that you may not be. For me, it would have been someone more understanding of the business side of things early on.

How much did you decide to pay yourself? How did you determine what to pay yourself? 

To be fully transparent, I only had one employee for the first nine years. As a result, I didn’t see the need to pay myself a fixed salary up until the point my company really started to scale. All of the hats I wear as an entrepreneur and a creative is a lot of work, but I love every minute of it, and I know we will continue to grow and meet our financial goals.

How big is your team now, and what has the hiring process been like? Did you have any hiring experience? If not, how did you learn and what have you learned about it along the way?

At the moment, my team consists of seven employees and myself. Many of them came into my life at the right moment and time, hired on organically as well as the traditional hiring path of creating a listing on LinkedIn and interviewing. The organic path is always the best and most interesting; we either were introduced to each other by mutual friends or timing just led us to meet. The traditional path is always fun, as we meet a variety of new characters and hire based on who is the most fitting of the position and company culture.

Did you hire an accountant? Who helped you with the financial decisions and setup? Are there any programs you recommend for bookkeeping?

Yes, as we started to scale and needed more assistance in finances we hired an accountant. I do feel that having a great accountant in-house is key. Having a strong person dedicated to finance is something that makes the growth of the brand much smoother. I found that Quickbooks is great if the brand is based in the United States. Two other programs that I advise for clothing brands are AIMS 360, a production management and processing software, and Joor, a platform used to connect with buyers for wholesale. These have been great in assisting my team with production and sales, automating the process, and leaving less room for human error.  

What has been the biggest learning curve during the process of establishing your business?

The biggest learning curve and challenge for me was learning how to seamlessly work with those outside of my brand while still maintaining important values such as caring and paying attention to customer needs while maintaining an eco-friendly brand. In our early years, I had to learn to block out the noise of buyers that would put us down or showrooms that wanted to mold our brand into something that it wasn’t. I realized that I had to trust myself, my good intentions, and work hard despite the external obstacles. 

What is the most rewarding part of running Carolina K?

My favorite part of my brand is working with artisans. This means there is no fabric waste nor is there any contamination, and together we are working to maintain their ancient craftsmanship techniques. I quickly learned that even all of the positives can bring challenges. In the first eight years, every piece by Carolina K was made entirely by hand, but it got to the point where the artisans were unable to manage our growing purchasing demand. As a result, they sometimes were late to delivery deadlines that had to be met as they were dependent on sales. Trying to scale growth for the brand became challenging at that point. I then decided to develop prints that would complement and resonate with the hand-made pieces to assist in speeding up production. I traveled to India and partnered with very small print factories and later discovered skilled male embroiderers. We still work with both to this day and they too work with love and passion.

How did you promote your company? How did you get people to know who you are and create buzz?

The buzz happened organically. I started participating in trade shows in New York and in Paris and met other designers and buyers. As more purchases happened, I began expanding my reach at multi-brand stores and became more well known and established.

In 2014, I opened my first store in Williamsburg, New York while I was still living in Tepoztlán, Mexico. In 2015, an opportunity presented itself to move to Miami and we moved forward in doing so along with closing our Williamsburg store and opening a store at the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach. That allowed for more visibility because of the hotel location. We began hosting branded events and fashion shows that attracted and led me to meet and dress interesting and like-minded people, resulting in more recognition and brand awareness on a global level. 

Years of growth also led to the understanding that working with a good PR company can be beneficial if you’re able to align on goals and beliefs. Our journey has been a slow but organic and meaningful one.

Do you have a business coach or mentor? If so, how has this person helped, and would you recommend one to other founders? How do you get one?

I do not have a business coach at the moment, but I did in 2019. I met this coach through mutual friends and having a coach really helped me establish important skills like how to manage my team better and how to set and achieve milestone goals for the business. The most important lesson that I attained from having a business coach was learning that I must build my brand around my lifestyle so it serves me, my personal beliefs, and my necessities. I did not want to be in a position where working consumed all of me. I found it very helpful to work with someone on strategy and learn more about the areas that you are unsure of so that you can learn to master them. I completely recommend looking into business coaching when it is financially feasible. 

How has COVID-19 impacted your business operations and financials? What tactics and strategies have you put in place to pivot and ensure your business is successful through this period?

COVID-19 was a very challenging time for my brand as well as almost every other fashion brand. We saw orders being canceled or delayed frequently at the start of the pandemic and we had no idea what to expect or what was to come. Due to the national shortage of masks, we began to work with our artisans to design and donate them to organizations that would get them into the hands of those in need. As things began to calm down and stores began to open again, we started to see retailers requesting their original orders, and we realized how lucky we were to have that support.

COVID-19 put many things into perspective—one being the need to pivot and put more backing into the direct-to-consumer model for our brand. We took this opportunity to strategically develop a more curated approach to our wholesale and work towards the positives this brought for the development of direct-to-consumer. It is important to take challenging times and try to find the positives in order to accomplish growth.

What short-term changes will be crucial to your business strategy long-term post-COVID-19 and what plans are you making for when we get back to “normal?” 

One short-term change due to COVID-19 that will be crucial to our business strategy, is the number of collections that we drop moving forward. In 2019, I was growing tired of doing so many collections; it didn’t feel authentic to my brand but rather robotic and stressful. Post COVID-19 we have opted to make collections less frequently and focus on making them better, more meaningful, and mindful. A great example is that this year we are skipping Fall/Winter ’21 and, instead, replacing it with a Zero Waste collection. This collection is designed with only repurposed fabrics from past collections and many are one-of-a-kind styles. We have also focused on our home collection expansion. It has been around since 2014, but this year brought the opportunity to focus on its growth. I’m excited to share that we are currently working on our five-year strategy, and there are plenty of great things ahead for the brand.

What advice can you share for small business owners, founders, and entrepreneurs who are also reeling in response to COVID-19?

I would give small business owners, founders, and entrepreneurs the same advice I keep telling myself. Stay positive, keep moving forward, take time to do a bit less so that you are able to make decisions with a clear mind and a clear vision. Make sure that what you do and decide has your heart in it. It took me 15 years to build this brand; I won’t let it fall apart in one to two years of crisis. 

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Kleinman

What is one thing you didn’t do during the setup process that ended up being crucial to the business and would advise others to do asap?

The one thing that I didn’t do during the setup of my company was take the time to dive deep into understanding the business side of my brand and the fashion industry as a whole. It is very crucial to understand or have the correct people around you to advise. If you are a creative person like me, having someone managing the business side allows you to dream big while they point you in the right direction to set up structure, goals, and strategies to help you achieve your big dream.

For those who haven’t started a business (or are about to), what advice do you have?

If you are creating something from the bottom of your heart that is authentic to you, you will be just fine. Be sure to always find your own voice, be ethical and conscious of the planet, don’t look to what others are doing unless there is something you can learn from them, and be consistent. There is so much going on in the world but remember that each of us is unique and has our own point of view and each and everyone one of us should find that value in ourselves, always.

What is your number one piece of financial advice for any new business owner and why?

Always stay within your budget, make sure to calculate numbers beforehand, and do not overspend. There is plenty of time to grow organically and enjoy the fruits of your labor. You cannot expect results overnight. I read an interview with Patti Smith where she mentions a quote by William Burroughs that I always go back to when tough decisions come up or when my patience runs out: “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned with doing good work. And make the right choices and protect your work. And if you can build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.” -William Burroughs

If you could go back to the beginning with the knowledge you have now, what advice would you give yourself and why?

I would tell myself to take some business classes and make the time to really understand. Remember to maintain consistency as that is the key to success. Lastly, continue to trust my intuition and always listen to my inner voice. She will never lead me astray. 

Anything else to add?

Stay passionate and remember to always have fun, as it is the journey that matters and not the destination.

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Running a Seven Figure Business While Pregnant

For the last 10 years of my career, I worked in corporate America, specifically within the entertainment industry, focused on integrated marketing for consumer brands and media entities. I started straight out of college as a marketing coordinator, and within five years, I’d been promoted to a director-level position. It was a very fun and fast-paced career that had me on a plane every 3-4 days for brand campaigns at big events like Fashion Week, The Grammys, Coachella, SuperBowl, essentially every tentpole entertainment event. 

However, while successful on paper, I wasn’t very passionate about my work and I felt this inner pull telling me that this is not what I’m meant to do forever. The problem was, I had no clue what I wanted to do. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to do more meaningful work, so I started to go on my own personal journey of exploring what I want the rest of my life to look like. That ultimately led me to my own “Eat, Pray, Love” journey around Europe, investing in a life coach, and reigniting a dream I’d written in my journal while in high school to create a platform that empowers others to realize and actualize their full potential. I, of course, didn’t know that it would take the form it has today, but I knew that I would hate to wonder “what if” ten years from now if I didn’t at least give myself permission to explore what it could be.

Within this long journey from where I was to where I am, I've learned so many wonderful things that can help anyone who is stuck in a rut looking to live their dream life or a spark that they are so desperately missing. These are a few tips and tricks I learned along the way.

Set Boundaries

This is no easy task and is something that takes time to learn. First, start with clearly defining what your boundaries are with work, friends, family, and your partner. When you are clear on your boundaries with others it helps you to realize when someone is overstepping, or when you might feel uncomfortable. Put together a plan of action on how you will handle the situation so you're more prepared for when it happens.

Ask for Help

As an entrepreneur, I know firsthand how ambitious, independent, and optimistic we are. However, when situations arise where we need to ask for help, we seem to struggle. There are far more benefits when asking for help versus not asking for help. Knowing that someone else would take the time to help you out is a great feeling. In a way, it helps rejuvenate us. Asking for help also allows us to potentially grow our network and gain new perspectives, which could even lead to new opportunities! 

The same rules apply to your personal and love life. As entrepreneurs, we are often wearing many hats in our businesses. We are marketing, HR, admin, support, etc. It can be exhausting, and you may be doing an awesome job in your business, but your household duties may have suffered the consequences. It’s okay to hire help. It’s also okay to lean on friends and family for support. They know you best and can give you sound advice or a pick me up when you need it. 

Enjoy the Little Moments

If you told me five years ago that I would be living in Paris, married, with a baby on the way I would’ve laughed! What really helps me put things in perspective is remembering how much the life I’m living now felt so out of reach years ago. 

Instead of worrying about the future, I look around me and soak in everything I’ve accomplished and how far I’ve come in my journey. Enjoy moments during pregnancy with your spouse. Enjoy the moments getting ready for your little one. Don’t forget to give yourself grace, you’re raising a human!

Position Your Business to Scale

Running a seven-figure business while pregnant is A LOT. Make sure your product suite is built to scale around your lifestyle. The luxury of being a business owner is the ability to change up the structure. Thankfully for me, I’m in a place in my business where I can hire help. Having people on my team who are passionate, knowledgeable, and help bring new ideas to the table is so important. You can’t grow a business with longevity without help!

Get Organized

I can’t stress enough how important being organized is. It doesn’t only help with staying on top of tasks, but also helps ease anxiety and make me feel more confident in my plans for the day, week, and month. Having a to-do list is old-fashioned but there’s nothing better than being able to mark a task complete or being able to scratch it off your list. Being able to map out my day and visually see the tasks that need to get done really helps me put everything in perspective. It helps me understand if my timelines are realistic or not. Maybe I need to extend one project, or maybe I can shorten the timeline for another.

If this past year has taught us all anything, it’s that we can’t always perfectly plan for what’s ahead. What works year one of your business, may not work at all year two. You also might be working in a different time zone or in a different environment than you're used to. Adaptation is the key. At the start of the pandemic, my sales completely tanked and it felt like nothing was working in my business. 

I had two options: go and get a job or get serious about adjusting to circumstances that are out of my control by doing things that are in my control. I revamped my programs, messaging, and adapted my business model to what became the new normal. Doing so took my business from $100K in sales to $1M in sales in less than one year. I’ve seen my clients scale their businesses, and it’s not easy, but it’s definitely possible and it’s definitely worth it. You’ll never know what you can achieve if you don’t try!

About the Author: Natanya Bravo was a powerhouse working for Fortune 500 brands as VP of marketing for 10 years. Flying back and forth from NYC to LA, while leading a large team. This was everything Natanya worked so hard for! But, for some reason, Natanya felt unfulfilled. One night out at dinner her friend asked her, “What’s something you always wanted to do but was too afraid to say out loud?” and Natanya answered, “Move to Paris”. She came up with excuse after excuse, and then finally moved to Paris alone. Upon arriving, she wrote down her goals and what she wanted to accomplish. She now lives in her dream city, with her fiancé, is currently pregnant, and runs her very own seven-figure business abroad.

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Vanessa Quigley Co-Founder Chatbooks Interview

You asked for more content around business finances, so we’re delivering. Welcome to Money Matters where we give you an inside look at the pocketbooks of CEOs and entrepreneurs. In this series, you’ll learn what successful women in business spend on office spaces and employee salaries, how they knew it was time to hire someone to manage their finances, and their best advice for talking about money.

Photo: Courtney McOmber

Vanessa Quigley co-founder of Chatbooks

In an interview with Forbes, you revealed that an intense episode of mom guilt drove you to start Chatbooks. Can you take us back to that moment? What inspired you to launch your business and pursue this path? 

I have seven children, and for the first seven years of motherhood, I was very good at scrapbooking our family's story. But things changed as more babies came and as digital photography became the norm. Years later, I found my youngest, who was five at the time, in bed bawling his eyes out. He had been looking at a little photo album his preschool teacher made for him and was moved to tears when he told me, "Mama, I never want to grow up!" It was adorable and a gut punch all at the same time. I wanted him to be able to hold onto more of his memories and knew that I needed to create an easier way to do that for us and families everywhere!

You’re a mom of seven and the co-founder of Chatbooks along with your husband. How has being a mother changed your priorities and your focus in terms of your career? Do you think motherhood has made you a better business person? 

My career has actually made me a better mother. I'm happiest when I'm stretching myself, learning, and growing, and I've never felt more stretched before in my life than I have been while building our business. I was a stay-at-home mom for years before becoming an entrepreneur, and motherhood prepared me not only to have my product insight but also taught me the importance of team culture. We refer to our family as "Team Quigley" and I work very hard at helping my children know what it means to be a Quigley and what is expected of them and how important it is that we are all aligned on our goals to work together. And it's the same for our Chatbooks team.

Since launching Chatbooks in 2014, you’ve raised over $20 million in funding from investors. No doubt you’ve learned a lot along the way—What are three crucial elements everyone should include in a pitch deck when raising money and why?

1. How big is this opportunity? How do we know it’s a big opportunity? How can we show that we’re off to a good start capturing that big opportunity? What is our plan to continue and accelerate the momentum we have?

2. Why now? Why is right now the best time to chase this opportunity? Why was five years ago too early? What market change or technological breakthrough makes today the right time?

3. Why you? Why are we going to win versus the next team? What is the founder-market fit story? What secret have we discovered and do we believe in more than anyone else?

What advice can you share for entrepreneurs on partnering with the right investors? What do investors need to bring to the table other than just money?

It is a partnership. At least, that is how we view it. Investors need to bring expertise in some aspect of company building that complements your own team’s current abilities. Also, make sure you are on the same page as far as a timeline. Some investors are in it for the long haul, and some are looking for more of a quick return. Make sure you’re both trying to win the same game before you bring on a new partner. 

Where do you think is the most important area for a business owner to focus their financial energy and why?

It depends on your business, but for us, product and marketing have been the biggest areas of investment. When we raised our Series A it was on the strength of our performance and we just needed more fuel to put on the fire. We had a product that worked, and it was great to be able to get more financing to spend on marketing. Your business is going to grow and you will need money to hire a team to support it and to, most importantly, hire the right people—and that is expensive. 

What was your first big expense as a business owner and how should small business owners prepare for that now?

Our first large expense was on the creation of our viral “Real Mom” video. To make the video we spent more than we ever had on anything. However, we got back the investment in three days. Today, the video has more than 100 million views. 

What are your top three largest expenses every month?

1. Advertising 2. Printing/shipping 3. Personnel costs 

Do you pay yourself, and if so, how did you know what to pay yourself?

In the early days, we did not pay ourselves; it was actually a couple of years of no paychecks. And then we went to the bare minimum, enough to sustain life and pay the bills. As the business has grown and we’ve become more profitable, we have gotten a small raise here and there. The real value now is in our ownership of the company. 

Photo: Courtney McOmber

Would you recommend other small business owners pay themselves? 

If you don’t have to, then no, bootstrap as much as you can. If you can hire and build the business without paying yourself, then don’t pay yourself. The more ownership you can retain the better. For us, we went a couple of years without paying ourselves and by the time we landed on a product that was working, we had to raise money because we had a business team, seven kids, and a mortgage. 

Did you hire an accountant? Who helped you with the financial decisions and setup? Are there any tools or programs you recommend for bookkeeping?

In the beginning, we hired an accountant, and then years later, we got someone in-house at Chatbooks. My husband was an accounting major and has an MBA, so finance stuff was the easy part. Making something people want and figuring out how to sell it is the hard part. Do that and everything else will work out. We recommend starting with Quickbooks and Excel, and then when it gets complicated hire an accountant.

How did you know you were ready to hire and what advice can you share on preparing for this stage of your business? 

We were trying to build software and we didn’t know how to code so we needed help with the front-end and the back-end. Luckily, we found our first backend developer on Craigslist and he was really, really good and he is still with us today. That is why we couldn’t pay ourselves because we had to hire for the skills we lacked. Be honest with yourself about your skillset and the help you are going to need. Consider possibly taking on a partner. We took on a partner who was a tech wizard and that is what we needed more than anything. 

Do you think women should talk about money and business more?

Yes, yes, yes. Women tend to shy away from talking about money. No topic should be off the table. Whenever I interview an entrepreneur on my podcast, “The MomForce Podcast,” I ask them about funding and money matters. I think we should all be more comfortable talking about that.

Do you have a financial mentor, and do you think all business owners need one?

Yes, everyone needs one unless you have a background in that. That could be an adviser, investor, or partner. There are some things that you can do early on in your business that will have real, lasting repercussions. I also suggest hiring a lawyer to help protect your business from the get-go. 

What money mistakes have you made and learned from along the way?

We gave some equity to advisors early on. That, in some cases, was really helpful because we could give equity instead of payment, but we had varied success with that. Some people did a ton to help us and were really engaged with us and some, not so much. If I could do it again I would be more careful choosing advisors and working more closely with them. I wish we had set regular meetings with them and gotten more out of the relationships. 

What is your best piece of financial advice for new entrepreneurs?

Don’t run out of money. No, but seriously, figure out what is most important in growing your business, and don’t get ahead of yourself. We didn’t have a glamorous office space in the beginning, just a corner with a bunch of desks in a shared space. Today, we have a beautiful office with sweeping views of Utah Lake. When you are going to hire, get the best people. The best is not always the most expensive. If you realize it is not a good fit, don’t be afraid to cut them and start again. A lot of mistakes are made in hiring. Don’t be afraid to say this isn’t working and try again. 

Anything else to add?

“The Lean Startup” is the bible. And creating an MVP, a minimally viable product, to test your concept before going all-in is a must. Start small, do a test, see if there is interest. Like doing a pre-sale or Kickstarter, just get really creative to test the concept before you spend. When we started showing Chatbooks to people and they said, “Shut up and take my money!,” we knew we were onto something good and ready to invest.

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Jamila Powell Founder Naturally Drenched Interview

We know how daunting it can be to start a new business, especially if you’re disrupting an industry or creating an entirely new one. When there is no path to follow, the biggest question is, where do I start? There is so much to do, but before you get ahead of yourself, let’s start at the beginning. To kick-start the process, and ease some of those first-time founder nerves, we’re asking successful entrepreneurs to share their stories in our new series, From Scratch. But this isn’t your typical day in the life profile. We’re getting into the nitty-gritty details—from writing a business plan (or not) to sourcing manufacturers and how much they pay themselves—we’re not holding back.

Photo: Courtesy of Jamila Powell

tk intro

Jamila Powell founder of Naturally Drenched

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what you were doing professionally before launching Naturally Drenched?  

I am an attorney for the federal government. I am also an entrepreneur, mother, and the owner of one of the top texture salons in the country, Maggie Rose Salon. So much of the inspiration behind Naturally Drenched came from the day-to-day experiences I had with our trained stylists and customers within Maggie Rose Salon. I was able to see first-hand what our stylists would do for each unique type of hair texture. They would talk about the different needs of each kind of hair they would work with and about products they wished they had more of. This is when I first started to notice a lack of pre-conditioning treatments for textured hair and a lightbulb of inspiration went off. 

What was the “lightbulb moment” for Naturally Drenched? What inspired you to start your business and pursue this path? 

I think I had two major moments that really pushed me towards the path I’m currently on. First, I recognized how stylists at the Maggie Rose Salon were constantly in search of better products to use on natural and textured hair. And second, the COVID-19 implications on my salon really focused my headspace toward product innovation. I love working with hair but since I was no longer able to operate my salon, I turned to e-commerce as an alternative. 

Did you write a business plan? If so, was it helpful, and if not, what did you use to guide your business instead and why did you take that approach? 

While I know this is something I should have done, I didn’t write a business plan. I tend to go with the flow and if an idea sticks with me over time, then I know it’s something I have to pursue. Having a vision is key, but understanding a need to pivot from time to time is also a baseline for business expansion is important as well. 

How did you come up with the name Naturally Drenched? What are some of the things you considered during the naming process? 

It actually only took me a singular day to construct the name for the new brand. I really wanted something that sounded luxe but spoke to hydration. I wanted the name to represent how the product would react to naturally curly-girl hair: covered, dripping, a burst of hydration, environmentally-conscious, etc., and Naturally Drenched seemed to do just that. 

What were the immediate things you had to take care of to set up the business?

Building social channels and securing the domain name came first. When I decided to move forward with the project, I secured the trademark.

What research did you do for the brand beforehand? Why would you recommend it? 

I conducted first-hand primary research by reviewing what worked and what didn’t within my salon. Further, I did secondary research on oversaturated trends in the hair market and what needed further representation and lacked product attention. 

How did you find and identify the manufacturers that you work with? What was important to you during this process and what are some of the mistakes you made and learned from along the way? 

Initially, I found a few manufacturers through Instagram and then used Google to identify if they were a local company or not. I moved forward with contacting three but only heard back from one. It took time for me to understand the established buy chain because I formulated Naturally Drenched independently, without the help of a manufacturer. However, manufacturers ultimately have established relationships with suppliers and I have learned that they build off of where the formulator secured ingredients and go from there. Additionally, I have seen how ordering new items in bulk can lead to backorders. 

Photo: Naturally Drenched

How did you fund your business? What were the challenges and what would you change? Would you recommend that route to other entrepreneurs? 

I am self-funded by choice. I haven’t had a lot of success in partnerships in past ventures, and frankly, I find it easier to carry the weight on my own two shoulders. Personally, I believe if financially possible, funding a project yourself is the best way to launch a startup. Here, individually, you can potentially run out of money, so take into account what it’s going to cost to produce, manufacture, and market the product. If your product is top of the line but has no market share or recognition, it really just doesn’t matter how good it is. 

Do you pay yourself, and if so, how did you know what to pay yourself?

Currently, no, I do not pay myself, and I don’t have plans to do so in the near future. I return all profit from Naturally Drenched right back into the company.

How big is your team now, and what has the hiring process been like? 

I am my team but you can outsource your team. You need to find people you can trust to make a recommendation. My design team and PR team have been great. I have a team member that does my Instagram graphics whom I got from a referral. To be successful while going through the hiring process, focus on recommendations, remain active in listening to podcasts, Zoom calls, and panels, and always vet a potential hire and see the results they’ve been able to produce for other people.

Did you hire an accountant? Who helped you with the financial decisions and setup? 

I do have an accountant and bookkeeper. They don’t help me with financial decisions, as that is typically left to both my boyfriend and my mom. It’s important to have an accountant or bookkeeper because you need to look at your numbers weekly to know if you’re losing or gaining money. In the long run, you are saving yourself time when you have to do taxes. Always know where your money is going. 

What has been the biggest learning curve during the process of establishing your business?

Marketing. Trying to figure out what makes people buy your product is a challenge within itself, and understanding how to move past “surface-level” marketing is an additional challenge.

How did you promote your company? How did you get people to know who you are and create buzz? 

PR of course! We also use the product in the salon and I've reached out to stylists and influencers. In addition, I secured inclusion in a subscription box in Germany. All of these ideas are a good way to get the word out and the product in peoples’ hands.

You’re an entrepreneur and a mom. How has being a mother changed your priorities and your focus in terms of your career? 

Being a mother makes me work harder. You really want to give everything to your child and it just makes me do more. Also, having a daughter helps me put things into perspective because there becomes a point where I say “enough is enough” and I have to step away from my workload and spend quality time with my child.

Do you think motherhood has made you a better business person? 

Absolutely, yes! Motherhood changes your mindset, your patience, your adaptability, creativity, and basically everything else I forgot to mention. 

Do you have a business coach or mentor, and would you recommend one? 

I don’t have a business coach, but I have “business besties” whom I talk to all the time. All of these women are at different points of their entrepreneurship journey! I recommend having people you can talk to openly who can give you insight on places you're trying to go, and how to get there.

What is one thing you didn’t do during the setup process that ended up being crucial to the business and would advise others to do asap? 

Have a strong marketing plan! 

What is your number one piece of financial advice for any new business owner and why? 

Make sure you know what you want to spend and add 10 percent more to that. The worst thing you can do is put all your time and effort into research, formulation, and development, and not have any money to market it.

Photo: Courtesy of Jamila Powell

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Accelerators To Help You Launch or Level Up Your Business in 2023

Incoming: A mega-list of opportunities to kickstart your business this year. Whether you're searching for the seed money to launch your venture or seeking mentors whose relationships will last a lifetime, these accelerators for small business owners are for you.

Ongoing accelerator and grant opportunities

The Amber Grant for Women

Deadline: Monthly deadlines

This award honors Amber Wigdahl, who died at 19 years old before pursuing her business dreams. WomensNet gives away at least $30,000 every month in Amber Grant money, as well as offering a host of other grant opportunities.

Apply now

Black Founder Startup Grant

Deadline: Rolling applications

Black women entrepreneurs receive less than 0.5% of venture capital funding—but this grant is trying to change that. SoGal Foundation teamed up with Winky Lux, bluemercury, twelveNYC, Twilio, and  Walmart.org’s Center for Racial Equity to provide $10K and $5K cash grants to Black women or nonbinary entrepreneurs. They will also receive lifetime access to the SoGal Foundation and SoGal Ventures teams—and all they have to offer.

Spring accelerator and grant opportunities

Google for Startups Accelerator: Climate Change for North America and Europe

Deadline: January 19, 2023

This 10-week accelerator program for North America-based Seed to Series A tech startups. This digital opportunity connects you to the best minds at Google to take your climate change-focused business to the next level. "In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator will focus on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders," according to the site.

Apply now

FedEx® Small Business Grant Contest

Deadline: Opening January 31, 2023

This content awards "unique and innovative small businesses" with $30K to help you get your idea off the ground. Check out last year's winners here.

Apply now

Female Founders Startup Accelerator

Deadline: January 24, 2022

This startup accelerator is all about helping women business owners get investment-ready. This accelerator has raised over $3 million for its portfolio company. Expect deep-dive sessions with industry experts and plenty of mentorships in this experience.

Apply now

MassChallenges U.S. Early Stage

Deadline: March 3, 2023

This mentor-based program opens annually and lasts four months in total. This accelerator also offers an optional residency in a market of your choosing and allows you to choose an "industry track," including safety and security, health tech, social impact, and more.

Apply now

Female Founder Initiative

Deadline: March 27, 2023

"The Founder Institute helps you get traction and funding with a support network of startup experts that are invested in your success and through a structured business-building process that has helped alumni raise over $1.75BN," reads the description of this incredible opp.

Apply now

Apply now

Know of other incredible accelerator programs for women and femme entrepreneurs? Email us at editorial@createcultivate.com.

Diem Co-Founder Emma Bates on Human-Centered Technology and The Power of Female Communication

ABOUT THE EPISODE

In today's episode of WorkParty, Jaclyn is joined by Emma Bates, founder & CEO of Diem. If you attended Create & Cultivate's Austin Pop-Up event earlier this year, you might've already heard from Emma on one of our panels where she spoke about women paving the way with blockchain technology.

If you're not familiar with Diem, it's a community-powered search engine designed for women. Diem is a Techstars NYC portfolio brand backed by leading investors like Flybridge, Acrew, & Sellation. By trade, Emma is a marketer and a community builder. Her entry into marketing was somewhat untraditional–in that she started out by growing her personal blog to 100K+ readers at age 19, and later transitioned into corporate marketing roles at some of the fastest-growing consumer brands in NYC and the UK. Prior to founding Diem, she worked as the Head of Global Marketing at the direct-to-consumer luggage brand, Away, where she found her passion for connecting with consumers through brand partnerships.

When she's not sidestepping her way into another entrepreneurial endeavor, she works to create social change as a lifelong advocate for gender equality. Emma has also been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, Entrepreneur, and The Cut for her unique approach to marketing, community building, and partnerships.

In this episode, she shares the importance of adding a human element to technology and product design, the power of female communication, and how she's working to bring inclusive, reliable information to people all over the world.

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

RESOURCES

• To join the WorkParty click here

• To connect with Emma Bates click here

• To connect with Jaclyn Johnson click here

• To learn more about Diem click here

• To download the Diem app click here

• To sign up for the Diem newsletter click here

• To follow along with Create & Cultivate click here

• To submit your questions call the WorkParty Hotline: 1-(833)-57-PARTY (577-2789)

SHOW OUR SPONSORS SOME LOVE

Printfresh | Head to printfresh.com/WORKPARTY or use code PARTY at checkout for 15% off your first order.

OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE . . .

How One Woman Used TikTok To Land a Job Promotion 

This Black-Owned Company’s CEO Is Disrupting The Beauty Industry

Pietra COO, Tala Akhavan on Balancing Work, Motherhood, and Access to Female Entrepreneurship 

Using Technology to Drive Social Impact with AllVoices Founder, Claire Schmidt 

Live from Austin Pop-Up: How to Define Goals and Rise to Your Potential with Payal Kadakia, Founder of ClassPass and Author of LifePass

Outdoor Voices & Try Your Best Founder Ty Haney Shares How to Leverage Web3 to Build Powerful Communities

ABOUT THE EPISODE

Live from our 2022 Small Business Summit event, Ty Haney joins Jaclyn Johnson for a keynote conversation about building community in Web3. If you're listening to this episode it's because you believe in doing things. Big things. And Ty Haney is on the same page. Haney founded Outdoor Voices–a vibrant, fun-first athleticwear brand back in 2014.

During Haney's time with Outdoor Voices, the brand became synonymous with IRL events that brought shoppers together to celebrate movement. And today, she's here to talk about how to bring that same IRL magic online with the next wave of community-driven technology.

Haney's new brand TYB, which stands for Try Your Best, makes Web3 community-powered growth tools that allow brands and fans to directly link, come together, build, and win together. And if you don't know what that means, it's okay! By the end of this episode, you'll be a pro.

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

RESOURCES

• To join the WorkParty click here

• To connect with Ty Haney click here

• To connect with Jaclyn Johnson click here

• To follow along with Outdoor Voices click here

• To follow along with Try Your Best click here

• To follow along with Joggy click here

• To follow along with Create & Cultivate click here

• To submit your questions call the WorkParty Hotline: 1-(833)-57-PARTY (577-2789)

SHOW OUR SPONSORS SOME LOVE

Printfresh | Head to printfresh.com/WORKPARTY or use code PARTY at checkout for 15% off your first order.

OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE . . .

How One Woman Used TikTok To Land a Job Promotion 

This Black-Owned Company’s CEO Is Disrupting The Beauty Industry

Pietra COO, Tala Akhavan on Balancing Work, Motherhood, and Access to Female Entrepreneurship 

Using Technology to Drive Social Impact with AllVoices Founder, Claire Schmidt 

Live from Austin Pop-Up: How to Define Goals and Rise to Your Potential with Payal Kadakia, Founder of ClassPass and Author of LifePass

How to Build a Portfolio Career With CEO and Selling Sunset Star, Emma Hernan

ABOUT THE EPISODE

Live from our 2022 Small Business Summit event, CEO and Selling Sunset star Emma Hernan joins Bunita Sawhney Executive Vice President of US Financial Institutions at Mastercard for a fireside chat about what it takes to build a portfolio career. While you may know her from the hit Netflix show, you may not realize that Emma Hernan is someone whose business savvy goes far beyond what's depicted on the silver screen. As a self-made multimillionaire, Emma is not only a realtor at one of Los Angeles' top agencies, The Oppenheim Group, but she's also an entrepreneur and CEO of Emma Leigh & Co, as well as an angel investor. In other words, her plate is very full.

It's clear that she loves the work she does, and her drive and passion to help other female entrepreneurs grow and succeed is evident from the moment you meet her. We're lucky that she's here today to share tips on how to vary the types of work that you're doing, what investors are looking for, and how to persist with founding a business even when you come up against obstacles. (Plus, she might even spill a little Selling Sunset tea!)

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE

RESOURCES

• To join the WorkParty click here

• To connect with Emma Hernan click here

• To connect with Jaclyn Johnson click here

• To start bingeing Selling Sunset click here

• To follow along with The Oppenheim Group click here

• To follow along with Emma Leigh & Co. click here

• To follow along with Create & Cultivate click here

• To submit your questions call the WorkParty Hotline: 1-(833)-57-PARTY (577-2789)

OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE . . .

How One Woman Used TikTok To Land a Job Promotion 

This Black-Owned Company’s CEO Is Disrupting The Beauty Industry

Pietra COO, Tala Akhavan on Balancing Work, Motherhood, and Access to Female Entrepreneurship 

Using Technology to Drive Social Impact with AllVoices Founder, Claire Schmidt 

Live from Austin Pop-Up: How to Define Goals and Rise to Your Potential with Payal Kadakia, Founder of ClassPass and Author of LifePass

Two Founders Share The Process They Took To Raise Funding For Their Apparel Business

It seems as though women-founded businesses have been underfunded since (what feels like) the beginning of time. According to Crunchbase, only 2.3 percent of venture capital went to women-led startups in 2020, a drop from previous years. For two women who started a braless clothing company, and where we mostly pitched to men, it was clear why the process was hard.

We’ve gone through the search for capital multiple times, throughout the lifecycle of our company. We had no choice but to start by self-funding our business, Frankly, out of our personal accounts. We then moved from bootstrapping to raising different forms of capital after about six months of being self-funded. Having broken the million dollar raised mark, and despite being in the “difficult to fund” apparel industry, our experiences gave us insight into the tricky world of business. Here's what we've learned along the way, and what has helped us raise funding and lead our brand to success.

1. Understand what you have working for and against you, and go for it anyway.

Starting a company is fundamentally contrarian. There will be people who think you or your idea is crazy, but a product would already exist if it were a universally good idea. Start by making sure you have a clear idea of what funding in your sector looks like for your company. Have some early revenue? Go on Crunchbase and see who has raised a pre-seed or seed recently, and see what type of traction those companies have.

Earlier rounds are less likely to be documented, but finding a network of entrepreneurs can help you get an idea of what the funding environment is like in your sector, or an adjacent sector. For the two of us, it was tapping into our business school and undergraduate networks. With one of us being Asian-American, we also found Gold House which has a community of founders willing to help one another. We knew that being an apparel company was working against us, so we had to get creative on funding.

2. Funding may look different depending on your vision and stage.

We figured out what we needed at every stage, to get to the next milestone, and we raised enough to get there. Kickstarter is non-dilutive, so when we were looking for proof that people wanted the product, we knew that was our best option. If it went well, the Kickstarter funds would cover the inventory. And if it went poorly, we would take it as a sign that the company would not be a full-time venture for us. Luckily it went really well and we were able to cover our first runs of inventory with it.

We then raised a friend and family round, and a year and a half later raised a pre-seed from two institutions. The friends and family round was raised to set up the company, run experiments, and figure out exactly who our customer was. The pre-seed was to refine our focus and take the business to the next level. We thought a lot on if institutional capital would be a fit, and the answer is that it depends on what type of business you want to build. There’s an argument to be made about bootstrapping to profitability, then raising an institutional round if needed for specific reasons. The question to ask yourself here is: are you willing to give up more of your company to someone else, to build a bigger business? That tradeoff makes institutional capital not worth it for some founders. There are also pitch competitions, grants, and other ways to find capital for your business. 

3. Be able to point at concrete proof.

Lots of people raise ideas, but all of them have some sort of proof point that they gathered during needfinding. For every type of company, you need to have an indicator that people are going to pay for that product. Whether it’s crowdfunding, a social media proof point, or revenue, it’s much easier when you can point at concrete metrics.

For consumer businesses already bringing in revenue, metrics like repeat customer rate, returned item rate, and AOV is important. With a B2B company, you want some kind of pilot or letter of intent with your target type of consumer. As women raising for a women-centric product, we needed more proof for Frankly – especially when talking to male investors. We needed to show that bras were a pain point, so we asked investors to go home and ask the women in their lives if they hated their bras. They were often surprised by the answer, though we weren’t! 

4. Practice pitching with a variety of personalities.

We practiced our pitch at least 15 times with different people (investor friends, friendly faces, and friends of friends). This helped us ensure our deck was telling the story we wanted to tell. There are friendlier investors, people who ask pointed questions, and others who are obsessed with numbers. You never really know who you’re going to get when pitching, so make sure you’re ready for every personality.

Some investors are just harder to read than others, and that’s okay. Everyone will have different reactions to your deck but you’ll start to see patterns, then you can adjust accordingly before you go out to the market. Docsend, which we used to send out our deck, has a piece on what every deck needs. Our advice from what we’ve seen is to keep your deck under 12 slides. People have short attention spans.

5. Know that it’s going to be an emotional process, even if it goes well.

Even the most successful businesses have had trouble raising in the beginning. The example that we always think about is John Foley, the founder of Peloton. "Foley raised $400k at a $2M post-money valuation from eight angels. From 2011 to 2014, he pitched to 3,000 angels and 400 firms. Almost everyone said no. Eventually, he raised $10M from 100 angels," Joe Vennare shares on Twitter.

Even if you raise successfully, you'll still likely have to hear at least 30-40 no’s through the process. There are a ton of reasons why people don’t invest, and it doesn’t mean your company won’t do well. The self-belief that you’re building a business that is going to make a difference in the world will keep you going throughout all of it. 

About the Authors: Heather Eaton and Jane Dong are the co-founders of Frankly Apparel, an inclusive clothing brand that designs bra-less essentials for women of all sizes. Before starting Frankly, the two of them worked at Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Uber, and Rothy’s. The duo met at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where most of their classmates were starting tech companies. They felt so strongly about making the bra-less trend more accessible to all cup sizes, that they started Frankly anyway.

How To Utilize Community Listening To Develop A Product Your Customers Can’t Resist

If there’s one thing business owners have noticed this year, it’s how rapidly the world is changing. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been running businesses with so much uncertainty. One way that I’ve found it easier to know how to adapt is by listening to my community, who frequently tells me what types of changes they’d like to see and what’s really working for them. This community-listening model has allowed me to take data-backed leaps of faith that have, in large part, paid off. 

Presently, I serve as the CEO of Novel Education Group, a private homeschooling service that I started after private tutoring in Los Angeles. Through my experiences working in private tutoring, I saw the need for schooling services to a community of kids who wanted to get an education while also pursuing their dreams and goals. Although this was the stepping stone for me to build an education business model that catered to them, it was hard in the beginning to find this kind of community and support when I was solely working one-on-one with clients and in education. You don’t have that sense of community like you would in an in-person school because it’s a very unique and specific niche business. It’s definitely a field where sometimes it’s hard to find relatability.

When I started, there was so much stigma around homeschooling that I knew I’d have to break to gain clients. From the start, I implemented a community-listening model that allowed me to understand the needs and concerns of my clients. Largely, I learned that the word “homeschool” is essentially unregulated, and for many clients, this uncertainty made them question whether it was right for them. For example, the knowledge level of a child in high school who’s 14 years old and has been homeschooled may be a high-school freshman or they may not. In the typical homeschooling system there’s no way to tell where they are, what they studied, if they’re on par with their peers, or if they’re on track to go to university.

Because I heard this feedback, it was incredibly important for my business to be regulated. We’ve partnered with an online private school and students have a teacher to guide them daily. On top of that, we have graders for each class that are constantly checking the work that the tutors do with the students. This has allowed me to break down the stigma and get people to understand that online schooling, homeschooling, and virtual schooling are trends for the future. It is highly accredited and a highly standard form of education.

We’ve also continued to see a growing trend of families who live in communities such as Los Angeles or London, where they didn’t want to be in one place for an entire school year. For them, our partnership with private schooling and implementation of their curriculum allows a student, who let’s say had to travel for two months out of the year, to continue their education path as remote learning.

All that to say I am proud of my entrepreneurial journey and it all happened because I was ready and willing to adapt to change or pivot. Today, I have a full-time staff who gets health benefits, and I’m also able to watch students graduate and accomplish their goals. Although change can be difficult mentally and emotionally, you just need to take it one step at a time and understand that things that are happening for the benefit of your business and its customers. 

Here’s some pointers that helped me stay on track and continue to grow my business:

1. Do not make changes unless it adds value to your business. There is a right time to pivot your business, and it has to be organic and filling a need.

2. Take some time to reevaluate your customer base and pay attention to their changing needs.

3. Always think of the most efficient and cost-effective way to operate. I work with a Small Business Banker at Bank of America who has helped me gain insight into business loans, and which ones are right for me. They also have a Small Business Resources site that provides helpful tools and information for business owners, such as, which benefit options are right for employees.

4. If you find you are missing out on business because of a road block, try and change it or work around it.

5. Be patient and conserve funds. You know what they say. Good things come to those who wait.

About the author: Tiffany Sorya founded Novel Education Group in 2014. She is a renowned influencer and thought leader in the education industry, widely recognized for spearheading a fundamental change in the way young people engage with education in the digital age. 

How Small Business Owners Can Tailor A Benefits Package Focused On Mental Health

The conversation around mental health and work has never been more topical as many professionals are adjusting to evolving job situations, and a blurred line between work and home with the uptick in remote positions. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time employed Americans worked an average of 8.72 hours per day in 2021. With career-centric pursuits consuming so much of our waking hours, it’s imperative to consider how best to support our mental well-being at work and re-emphasize balance in modern work culture, both from the perspective of the employed and the employer. 

As a small business owner, corporate-style benefits packages through major carriers may be out of reach—but it doesn’t mean you can’t offer your employees meaningful care. With a little help from Dr. Kimberley Spair, a board-certified holistic health practitioner with a P.h.D in Holistic Health and Nutrition, we break down a few key ways to tailor a benefits package and create a culture that focuses on mental health, hinging on her expertise as both a health practitioner and business owner.

1. Focus on preventative medicine

While traditional models may rely heavily on symptomatic diagnosis, an alternative, holistic approach to dealing with stress, burnout, and the like is focusing on ways to mitigate it before it spirals out of control.

A package of this nature “...would educate employees on the benefits of meditation, mind-body tools, nutrition, sleep hygiene, and getting out in nature,” Spair shares. This approach continues to garner more mainstream appeal, emphasizing key daily practices that turn into habits for an enduring commitment to balance. Exposing the breadth of modalities available also empowers employees to explore (and hopefully commit to) whichever key practices resonate with them and their lifestyle, rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all approach.

2. Encourage thoughtful breaks

Many of us have experienced the eerie sensation of sitting down at our desks in the wee morning hours, addressing a deluge of tasks and engaging in endless Zoom meetings, only to finally look up at the clock and realize we worked straight through lunch. Spair's recommendations? "Take small breaks throughout the day to ground in nature and dedicated 5-minutes to group meditation time. Try stepping away from the screen and focusing on healing foods for snacks and lunch."

It’s a fairly simple concept and not one that fits squarely within an official benefits package, but it cannot be overstated how far fostering a culture where these types of breaks are normalized can go. Even starting your meetings at 5 minutes past the hour can give everyone a much-needed breather.

Bottom line: It starts from the top to lead by example, and permits employees to reclaim small windows of time to check in with themselves.

3. Check-in frequently

All employees and businesses are different, and while it might be difficult to appease people 100% of the time, making sure your cohort has the opportunity to be heard is essential.

"Create a survey asking employees about their stress level—weekly,” Spair advises. A regular feedback loop ensures you have a pulse on what’s going on, and allows you to make informed decisions on if and how things should change. Taking time to poll employees on how best to support their mental well-being will also provide personalized data to inform your company’s benefits package. This type of alignment will ensure valuable resources and funds are being allocated correctly, in areas that employees value.

4. Rethink PTO

A standard interpretation of "Paid Time Off" (PTO) equates to vacation days. Updated thinking acknowledges that there’s a whole host of reasons why someone might need to take time away from work, mental health pursuits being a big one. Spair says you should be offering PTO for mental health days specifically, as well as allocating hours for wellness modalities such as meditation, EFT meridian tapping (for anxiety relief), nutrition counseling, and more.

More food for thought? If unlimited PTO is off the table, consider creating one consolidated bank of time off, rather than dictating what falls under “PTO” vs. "sick time." This broadens the lens and language around how employees think about and contextualize time off.

5. Offer ongoing educational resources

As we’ve come to know, there’s unfortunately not one quick fix when it comes to calibrating our mental health—it’s an enduring journey that requires commitment and can become tricky in our fast-paced world. Knowledge is power and equipping employees with ongoing resources allows them to fine-tune their practice and address evolving needs as their circumstances may change.

Spair encourages a focus “...on the dis-ease process and how so much of it is uniquely intertwined with a nervous system under pressure.“ The more we understand how external inputs affect our internal world, the more we can reorient our understanding of our experience. Education can take on the form of online subscriptions, guest speakers, training sessions, and beyond, pulsed at recurring increments to keep mental health top of mind and remind employees what they have access to.

For small business owners and employees alike, the internet can be an incredible resource. If these tips resonate with you, check out drkimberlyspair.com for more information on the intersection of nutrition, lifestyle, and emotional health.

This Founder Evaluates Her Business Every 6 Months To Maximize Growth

In life, you have to plan and account for unknown elements and circumstances that can’t always be planned for, as they’re unknown. The best way to do this in business is to make sure everything that can be planned, is. Most businesses, particularly small businesses, like to use org charts for budgeting, staffing, responsibilities, and chains of command, among other things. While they are an excellent tool to utilize, they aren’t the only way to plan and organize your business to maximize growth. 

Jasmine Morris runs a multifaceted PR agency and likes to refer to herself as a digital storyteller. She opts not to use an org chart for her agency, “Not because [she] doesn’t believe in them,” but because she takes the untraditional route and invests in business strategists. “Focus on the overall vision of the company,” she advices, adding that she assesses her business quarterly. By doing so, she has proudly scaled her agency to not require hiring many people, and found a way to replace humans for a system that has generated multi-six figures to seven figures.

Wondering how she did it? We were too, so we got her to spill her secrets. Here's 4 steps she has taken to successfully scale her agency to success:

1. Clarity

The most important thing for Morris was to know what she wanted internally and externally for her agency. She continues to refine her strategy by coming back to those questions mid way through the year. “We've gotten super clear on our dream client, and we've created a system where we only promote internally, to our clients, as a referral system to keep business flowing in,” Morris says. For example, she made the decision not to invest in social media marketing for her agency, which guides her company in a clear direction and has financial benefits. “Not focusing on social media marketing has allowed us to not hire a social media manager and eliminate any additional cost at this time.”

She also sets up her week for clarity and efficiency to accomplish their goals for the week. “We have specific days for specific tasks. For example, Mondays are CEO days where it gives me, as the CEO, a chance to check in with the financial goals, marketing for the week, branding, etc. We only schedule company calls Tuesdays through Thursdays, which eliminates having calls throughout the week as well.” 

2. Continue to invest in yourself

Morris abides by the adage, “If you don’t invest in yourself, who will?” Despite her success, she continues to invest yearly in high-level business coaches to continue her agency’s growth in reach and profits, and every six months invest in their systems and team to ensure it's improving. This approach helped her invest her first $10,000 right back into the company. “To surpass our first six-figures years ago, we invested our first 10k to identify what our messaging should be and how we should present our sales pages, and got super clear on our signature services. We found that only having three signature services is key to scaling and having a strong ROI every month. The fewer services, the better the ROI (in our opinion).” She continues, “We've invested almost 10k+ each year in business development and we've always seen a 10x return on it.”

3. Eliminate roadblocks

Morris found that for her company to run smoothly and successfully, the agency must be aware of and combat roadblocks on a more frequent basis. “Every week, we are focused on eliminating roadblocks for the company,” she explains. “We keep a database of 'opportunities' that we need to address whether it's financial, with whom we may need to hire, or processes that we have in place that we need to change. Having this database is a game changer.” 

By combating issues every month, Morris and her team are set up easily to progress forward and plan for major changes every half-year.

4. Untraditional hiring

As Morris previously stated, she likes to take the untraditional route. That’s particularly true when it comes to her hiring practices⎯more so her hesitation to hire non-essential employees. “Unlike most agencies, we didn't hire the traditional way by hiring a VA, project manager, marketing manager, etc,” Morris says. “What has allowed us to grow strategically, authentically, and to multi-six figures is to invest in experts and focus on growing from the inside out. Many female CEOs get stuck on hiring, but until you know what you need, you cannot scale properly so invest in someone who can assist.”

She isn’t advocating for any business to nix basic hires for operating, but some of the non-essential positions can be outsourced to apps and systems that help save an agency or company money while scaling. “Of course, there are basic hires that you should identify before operating. But as you operate, you learn what gaps you need to fill. After identifying what needs to be accomplished to run our agency, we've replaced a lot of those people with systems and strategies that allow us to serve our clients easily.” 

Morris adds that she also relies on Asana (a work management platform designed to organize, track, and manage a team’s work) and Dubsado (a suite of business tools including template creation, scheduling, and invoicing among other things). “We have a project overview within Asana that allows each team member to know what the project they are assigned to is about and what their specific tasks are,” she shares of the software. The versatility and range of both systems help her “eliminate hiring a ton of people,” again saving money that can be re-invested for further growth. 

Written by: Abby Stern

Why Every Business Owner Should Look Into Getting An LLC

Ensuring you have the correct business entity is of utmost importance, whether you're a new business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur. How do you do that? You need to add an LLC, as they are the most common legal structure. But you may wonder: what is an LLC and why is it important to have? We speed-dialed an expert to give us the 411 on the true LLC meaning. Taylor Tieman, an attorney and founder of Legalmiga® and The Legalmiga Library®, gives us the scoop on all things LLCs so you can go from a novice to pro business owner.

What Is An LLC?

Let's start with the basics. LLC stands for limited liability company. "This is a type of legal entity that your state will (in most cases) allow you to form in order to create a 'legal barrier' of sorts around your business," Tieman says. "It is essentially a type of legal protection by way of forming a formal business structure."

In other words, one of the primary benefits of an LLC is that your personal liability doesn't get entangled with your business' liabilities. "If you do not have an LLC formed, your personal assets—like your home, car, property, wages—may be vulnerable in the event of a lawsuit against your business as a sole proprietor," Tieman shares. "If you have an LLC and the business is sued, then only the business' assets will be vulnerable in the event of a lawsuit as long as no fraud is being committed within the business."

It's also worth noting that not all businesses are eligible to form an LLC. "For example, in California and other states, many licensed professionals cannot form basic LLCs and must look to another business structure due to their licensing," Tieman says. Besides the legal protection that LLCs provide, she adds that LLCs also allow you to choose the best tax election for your specific needs such as an S corp.

How Much Does An LLC Cost?

The cost of forming an LLC varies from state to state. Tieman notes that filing fees usually range from $70-$250. While the filing fees may not be sizable investments, there are recurring annual or biannual filing fees to factor into your budget. For instance, California's Franchise Tax Board fees are $800 a year. "Before forming an LLC, it is imperative to understand the level of upkeep that goes along with it," Tieman adds. "While they offer great protection, it is like anything else in business; you need to keep it up-to-date in order to have it properly protecting you."

How Do You Create An LLC?

Lastly, you may be wondering how you can get an LLC. If your business is eligible and you have the means to maintain the recurring fees, Tieman strongly advises forming an LLC in your business journey right away. "The more inherently risky your industry is, the more imperative the LLC is to form early," she says.

So how do you create an LLC? You can find instructions and filing fees via your Secretary of State's website. However, before taking those steps, Teiman recommends first speaking with an attorney in your state. They'll guide you through the process, address any local compliance concerns, and ensure you are selecting the correct entity for your business, as others may be better suitable such as a corporation or limited partnership.

Written by: Jessica Estrada

I've Been a Small Business Owner for 7 Years—These Are the 4 Tools That Make an Impact

When it comes to running a small business, the days are long and the weeks are short. As a business owner, you’re often a multi-hyphenate, who heads up finance, marketing, HR, and the list goes on and on (and on). So how can you streamline your business and be set up for success? It’s as simple as choosing the right tools for your business and your goals.

Just ask Bola Sokunbi, founder and CEO of Clever Girl Finance. Running her small business is a team effort and she provides them with tools that’ll help her employees align with her business goals. Sokunbi started her business in 2015 as a hobby and made it into a serious business venture in 2018. 

In those seven years, she not only stayed dedicated to some of her favorite digital tools but also picked up a few along the way that has helped her run her company more efficiently. “We basically evolved into tools that are supportive of team sharing and collaborative efforts. Anything that supports collaboration for a virtual team, are tools we have aggregated towards,” Sokunbi says.

Here are four tools that have made an impact for Sokunbi and her small business.

1. Google Workspace

What does Google not do? Whether you want it to set up a business email, or use it to share files, Google Workspace has almost every tool that teams can benefit from. “In terms of organization, G Suite is a really important tool. Especially because now I have a team and my team is mostly remote, and we do a lot of file sharing. We really rely on the G Suite offerings,” Sokunbi shares.

2. Slack

“One big tool that we use, that many companies do, is Slack,” Sokunbi says. Slack is a messaging app that businesses can use to connect their employees. From being able to chat with each other to sharing files, Slack unifies a team. “Again, we are primarily a remote team so it really helps stay on top of our communications. In an easy, noninvasive way, Slack has been super helpful for that.”

3. Bank of America Mobile App

Though this isn’t a tool per se, Bank of America’s mobile app1 has become a resource for Sokunbi to manage finances and day-to-day operations. “I am a Bank of America business account holder so that’s really helpful in terms of managing day to day. I’ve had other business accounts… and found the services that Bank of America offers just more robust. They also have a small business owner's resource center that’s pretty cool,” Sokunbi says. Their small business resources are set up to help owners find the tools and information they need to run their day-to-day operations smoothly. Whether it’s general information about accounting matters to understanding simple terms such as free cash flow, or even getting advice from other women entrepreneurs, you can find helpful content for starting and managing your business. From managing accounts to doing payroll for her employees, Sokunbi chose to switch over to Bank of America because it offered more services that covered all her needs financially.

4. Canva

“[We use] Canva for design. Before we were very much into InDesign or Photoshop, our designer used to use. Once Canva came along, we shifted to it because it allowed team sharing,” Sokunbi shares. The free online graphic design tool is easy to use, and great for everyone from beginners to expert artists. Not only does the tool have free templates, but it is constantly being updated with relevant design trends.

1. Mobile Banking requires that you download the Mobile Banking app and is only available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply.

How This Small Business Owner Made Her WFH Space More Productive

As the saying goes, “Go big or go home,” but whoever originally spoke those words probably didn’t envision everyone being stuck at home courtesy of a global pandemic. For Dominique Fluker, being stuck at home inspired her entrepreneurial calling. During quarantine, Fluker had to bring her 9 to 5 tech job home, and working and living in the same space made her sick of her surroundings. So what did she do? She decided to “spice up” her living area and make her WFH space more productive.

Fluker then caught the eye of an Apartment Therapy editor who saw her curated creation on social media, and gave her a feature. That inspired Fulker to take her passion for interior design i, and turn it into a business. DBF Interiors was born⎯ a virtual interior design studio focused on curating compelling interiors with accessible luxury.

Starting and running a small business is difficult in and of itself. Starting and running a small virtual business, based on creating the feel and energy of space during the height of the pandemic, proved even more challenging. Fluker shares four tips that helped set her up for success as a WFH small business owner.

1. Create A Workspace

Fluker's first word of advice is doing exactly what she did that led to her to building her business. DBF Interiors is all about a space’s utility and ambiance, so you need to create a dedicated workspace. “I had to make sure that I carved out a space that was dedicated just for work,” Fluker says.

She also mentions that when it comes to your workspace, size doesn’t matter. “A corner or a desk in your bedroom will do ... and furnishing it with things that will inspire you to get the work done.” For her, one of those things was her ring light. “I had several lamps and art that inspired me to get the work done.” And being able to remove yourself from the dedicated workspace at the end of the workday is just as important. “That way I can close the door, and close the door on the workday as well when I was done,” she adds.

2. Utilize Technology

Small business owners usually wear all, if not most of the many hats necessary to keep the business afloat. But that doesn’t mean help isn’t available. There are apps to help streamline almost all business-related tasks, to make life easier, and Fluker takes full advantage of them. “You have to make sure that you are organized and really blocking out your time. I think procrastination stems from not having good time management,” she explains.

To make sure she’s using her time effectively, Fluker relies on work management platform Asana. “I use Asana heavily. Asana has saved my life professionally and personally, to where all my tasks are blocked out by the week ... I make sure that I'm time managing on a Saturday or a Sunday, maybe take 15 minutes to plan my whole week ahead, or even two weeks of tasks that need to get done.”

For clerical tasks, Fluker recommends a paperwork tool like Bonsai. “It's for contracts and invoices. It's all in one suite that lets you focus on everything like templates, proposals, invoices, agreements, and quotes. I do all my contracts, proposals, and invoices in this.” 

3. Over-communicate

Whether your business is virtual or not, communication is something that must be done clearly and often. “It takes a lot of communication, overcommunication, especially when you're communicating through digital spaces,” Fluker shares. Though the digital space wasn't always easy to navigate, they were essential to Fluker's success. “I am a first-time entrepreneur, so not having that human interaction and reassurance that I could do it, and step into this newly created space that I decided to do, was dodging at first. But that's what zoom is there for. That's what other meeting tools are there for, and just having support from social [media] and my community on social media helps me propel myself forward.”

4. Get serious about self-care

It’s no secret that taking care of our mental health is essential to handling the uncertainty and pressures of life⎯ perhaps even more so for small business owners, and especially during a pandemic. Stress and burnout are creativity and productivity killers, and Fluker advocates for taking self-care seriously. She suggests carving out an hour a day for self-care like you would for any other business-related activity. “Make sure that you are incorporating an hour of self-maintenance every day. An hour just to yourself, if that's all you can do. Make sure you're doing it,” she advises. Her favorite methods of relaxation include catching up on a show, taking a relaxing bath, or reading a book. Whatever method you choose, she reiterates doing it every day.

Another form of self-care for Fluker that she wants to bring awareness to is self-talk. Her biggest tip for any entrepreneur is hands down, “Be kind to yourself.” The quality of your inner talk affects your mental health and your work. “You're already in business for yourself, which is a huge step forward and a hard task to do," she adds.

Written by Abby Stern

BIPOC Women Don't Yet Receive 1% of Business Funding — Here's What Needs To Change

According to Harvard Business Review, Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States. Still, when securing funding crucial to their business' success, Black women business owners receive less than one percent of total financing (.34 percent, to be exact). Despite Black-owned companies generating employment opportunities; providing new and inventive technologies, products, and services; and revitalizing communities, they often struggle due to this lack of capital.

To put this funding gap into perspective: Black-owned businesses only receive funding 18 percent of the time, and their capital averages $35,205, according to a report from Fundera, a financial resource for small businesses. Meanwhile, 59 percent of white-owned business owners receive assistance, and their startup capital averages $106,720, according to that same report. What's more, according to the "State of Minority Business, March 2022" report by Creative Investment Research, 40 percent of Black Business owners didn't even apply for financing because they were discouraged from doing so.

Clearly, changes need to be made at every level for funding to become truly equitable. Here's what needs to change.

1. Continue dismantling systemic disenfranchisement

Systemic and historical disenfranchisement has long presented obstacles for Black women and women of color. These hurdles still create income inequality for Black entrepreneurs, which can, in turn, limit their financial freedom if they decide to start a business. A United States Department of Labor report states that Black women earn 63 cents for every dollar earned by white men, and where the educational level is the same, Black women earn just 65 cents to the dollar. 

2. More transparency about the road to funding 

For BIPOC entrepreneurs, finding funds outside of self-funding their own business is categorically challenging. Finding the right source of funds can feel daunting, so Bank of America has partnered with Seneca Women, a global platform committed to making the world more equitable for women and girls. 

Together they've created Capital Directory for Black Entrepreneurs and Capital Directory for Women Entrepreneurs, vast databases and directories that make it easier to find hundreds of organizations that provide funding for Black-owned and women-owned businesses in the United States. The featured sources of capital can even be segmented to isolate aspects of the directory, such as available funding from:

• Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs): Nonprofit loan funds or grants that can also provide advice and mentorship

• Venture Capital and Angel Investors: Primarily firms and individuals seeking to invest in startups

• Award-based funding: Grants typically from the government, corporations, foundations, or individuals, where repayment is usually a non-factor

• Loan Funds: Lines of credit and secured and unsecured loans from nonprofit organizations, investment funds, and nonbank corporations and institutions

• Crowdfunds: Funding that's usually made available, amplified, and advertised through social media and crowdfunding sites where individuals in large numbers financially back a new business.

In addition, the Tory Burch and Bank of America Capital Program is yet another initiative to give women small business owners more affordable options. They are helping these entrepreneurs in areas of access to networking opportunities and beyond.

3. More resources and mentors need to be made available for Black-owned brands 

Part of the path to equity for Black women-run businesses is making clear access to resources and mentors, who can help you to shape the future of your business. Bank of America has compiled credit and funding resources that provide valuable information for new entrepreneurs, long-term business owners, and those contemplating starting their businesses. Whether deciding between a line of credit, a business credit card, or questions about small business administration loans, you can navigate through this repository to find answers to many of the questions that may be challenging you today.

For those entrepreneurs looking to connect with a mentor or have your problem solved, there are ample opportunities to connect with likeminded individuals at Create & Cultivate in-person events. Sign up to attend our next events Wellness Means Business (October 1, Los Angeles CA) and Small Business Summit (October 16, New York, NY).

3 Lessons I Learned Throughout Entrepreneurship That Made the Biggest Difference

Like many things in life, being a business founder, business owner, business creator, whatever you want to call it, is hard. And I learned very quickly that the experience can be really hard on your mental health as well. I left the security and comfort of a consistent income, my potential career trajectory, and my 401(k) contributions to step out into the crazy world of business because I wanted to try to build something worthwhile. So many people questioned my decision to quit my job and thought that perhaps I was going through a phase, and honestly, sometimes so did I. Was I [sure I wanted to do this]?

In addition to dropping my job security, there was the burden and overwhelm of trying to figure out how to actually build my business, Clever Girl Finance, which sometimes felt like the burden of the entire world was on my shoulders. There were also the hideously depressing metrics about business startup failures, which were a constant reminder that I was most likely to fail even when I was making progress. And then there was my imposter syndrome that constantly had me questioning my abilities and doubting myself…

That being said, I’ve learned a few things on my journey that have allowed me to pursue my life as a business owner on my own terms. Things that in turn have helped me manage my mental and emotional health, as well as that annoying imposter syndrome. I want to share those things with you now.

1.  Don’t believe the work-life balance myth

Let’s start with the all-so-popular idea of work–life balance. Umm, yeah, that’s a lie. Work-life balance is a lie. There’s no balance. It’s called making it work, however you make it work. There’s no background music playing over my day showcasing me as the perfect wife, mom, entrepreneur, and Superwoman like you see in the movies. It’s simply me making my life work every day. And in order to make things work, I have learned to prioritize what matters most, put some things on the back burner, and let some things just fall off completely.

Yes, my business is important, but my family is non-negotiable. I delegate a lot (I will not be the bottleneck), and I rely on my amazing team to get work done for my business. Some days I don’t answer calls, reply to emails, check Instagram, or respond to text messages because I want to spend time with my family or because I don’t want to deal with anything or anyone else. Other days I utilize mobile productivity apps on my phone, like the Bank of America app,  to help me multitask when I’m not sitting directly at my desk. I no longer try to be Superwoman or chase the mythical idea of “work-life balance”. I give myself the grace to not be all the things, all the time. 

2. Embrace your emotions

Next up is my mental health. I’ve learned that fully embracing the emotions I’m feeling as opposed to trying to ignore them or push them aside really helps me manage my mental health. Sometimes that means I just need to take that deep sigh and have a good cry. It’s inevitable that you’ll get feedback you hate. Your customers will hate your product. Investors will tell you your business sucks. Friends will think you’re going through a phase. You’ll be too broke to buy that thing you really want, when if you had a “real job” it wouldn’t even be a question. So yes, sometimes, crying is necessary. However, just because it’s okay to cry doesn’t mean you let it become a crux. 

3. Don’t let imposter syndrome get the best of you

And finally: Let’s talk about that damn imposter syndrome, which pops up at the most inconvenient times, making you feel less than good enough, uncapable, and unworthy. It promotes that negative self-talk and self-judgment…I’ve experienced imposter syndrome a ton and let me tell you, it never goes away. It’s always right there, the annoying uninvited guest, rearing its ugly head just before every milestone and every accomplishment. However, I’ve come up with ways to tackle it and minimize its impact in my life. I’ve found that sharing my mindset challenges with my husband, my business advisors, my friends, and my business peers can be incredibly helpful, especially when it comes to reminding me that I’m being totally irrational with those thoughts of feeling less than who I am.

I also started keeping a list of all my business and life accomplishments (no matter how small) because they remind me how far I’ve come and what I’m capable of doing. I wrote down being at my kids’ Kindergarten graduation, and attending their class plays. I’ve written down every media opportunity I’ve had….I wrote down being featured in a dedicated [television] segments. [I wrote down being a] four-time published author. Yes. That was me. Take that, imposter syndrome! I don’t believe your lies. I’ve got the real facts!

The truth is, no amount of preparation can get you totally ready for the rollercoaster that is the business-building journey….It’s all about making it work in the way that works for you, giving yourself the grace to accept that doing your best is enough, and reminding yourself why you’re amazing and more than capable of achieving success.

Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from Choosing to Prosper by Bola Sokunbi. Copyright © 2022 by Bola Sokunbi. All rights reserved. This book is available wherever books and eBooks are sold.

4 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start a Business

Last year, a record-breaking 5.4 million people filed to form new businesses in the United States. The entrepreneurial spirit is clearly in the air, and that’s never been more evident than when we gathered creators, CEOS, and entre-precurious folks from all different backgrounds together at our LA conference last month.

In one chat, aptly named “So You Want To Start a Business,” four powerhouse business women served up their best advice for starting, funding, and growing a new business. Those panelists were…ready? Roll call: 

•Bola Sokunbi | Founder & CEO, Clever Girl Finance
•Chelsea Clarke | Founder, HerPaperRoute
•Kayla Gonzalez | SVP, West Merchant Region Executive, Bank of America
•Natalie Cofield | Assistant Administrator, SBA Office of Women's Business Ownership
As well as our moderator, Ginger Seigel | North American Small Business Lead, Mastercard

As you can probably imagine, the four of them had plenty of wisdom to share with anyone who’s in the “Should I?” stage of launching a business endeavor. And luckily, we’ve collected that knowledge and put it into a checklist below to help you decide whether your idea is ready for take-off. 

1. Does my business have the qualities of a great (and lucrative) business idea? 

Once the initial jolt of “OMG, I have an idea!” passes, you’ll need to determine whether or not your business holds water. In her role at Bank of America, Gonzalez has done her fair share of mentoring founders—something that you can tell is incredibly rewarding for her.

“Small businesses are so exciting!” she shared on stage. “There’s so much passion that comes from small business owners. Every time I get the opportunity to go in and visit a small business at their place of business, it’s exciting. The pride is coming off those small business owners and there’s nothing more rewarding.” 

The most important thing to consider before you start, says Gonzalez, is ambition. “We talk about COVID-19 and what just happened there, and it was hard for a lot of our business owners,” she says. “You really have to have that ambition, that excitement for what you do each and every day regardless of what’s going on around you.”

The other key ingredient? A plan! Gonzalez explains you need to do your research on your business: Who is your competition? What is the scope of business? Where are you going to be most successful? What is your plan for success? While so much goes into a great idea, if you can lock in your ambition and know your business like the back of your hand, you’re off to a great start.

2. Am I owning and evolving my relationship with money?  

Sokunbi, whose business Clever Girl Finance provides resources and support for financial freedom, has made her fair share of money mistakes. While she’s been super transparent about her own personal experience, she notes one common financial gaffe she sees tons of new founders make. 

“We let our mistakes push us into a corner where we start to feel embarrassed or disappointed, but we want to own those mistakes because these mistakes are opportunities for us to assess what went wrong, what we didn’t like, and how to position ourselves next time,” she says. After that, you're ready to toss that mistake in the trash and keep the lessons close to you. 

3. Does my business story stand out? 

As a business owner, you’re going to tell your story a lot. Just think about how many times you’ve heard the origin story of Steve Jobs working out of his parents’ garage. Developing a narrative for yourself and a business takes some workshopping, but don’t worry: Gonzalez shares the secret sauce.

“Your passion needs to radiate so everyone feels it,” she says. “It’s not just what you’re doing, but it’s how you’re going to make it different. Everyone can have the exact same idea, but it’s you that will make the difference about whether that idea can be successful.” In case you’re looking for a recipe, personal passion plus a killer business idea equals a compelling business story.  

4. Do I have my banking in check?

Getting your finances in order is an essential step towards feeling confident and competent, while you bring your idea to fruition. That’s why it’s important to get all your financial ducks in a row, and Bank of America’s small business platform can help you set up the tools you need—like checking accounts and company credit cards. Book an appointment with a banker to discuss your unique needs and your specialist can provide advice and guidance that you need to make a plan for your business.

Sokunbi recommends checking out the Small Business Administration (SBA) website for resources on funding, licensing, and learning as your business begins to germinate. And remember: The team at Create & Cultivate is here for you too!

Grab a glass of vino and watch the full playback of the panel here. 

Turning Grief Into Purpose With Aaliyah In Action Founder Elizabeth O'Donnell

“I’m sorry there’s no heartbeat.” Those were the words I heard on November 28, 2020, at just between 31 and 32 weeks pregnant, and after what I was continuously told was a “textbook” pregnancy. Nothing can ever prepare you to hear that as an expectant parent, someone who is so excited to soon meet their child. That day was the start of my life changing completely, and turning grief into purpose was what helped me push forward.

Aaliyah Denise arrived into this world looking like any other baby that was just delivered, perfect and with a mass of curly black hair. We were given no reason for her passing except being told by staff that “sometimes babies just die.” These words are heard too often for families in The United States and I didn’t realize this until I experienced it for myself. To be exact, about 23,000 families experience a stillbirth a year. The truth is, the truth isn’t being spoken about. Those stillbirth numbers are pretty shocking, right?

I can’t tell you what else was happening that day in November, to the day I left the hospital the afternoon of December 1. What I do remember was being immediately thrown into a public battle with my employer about paid family leave, and their nonexistent definition of “birth of a child.” 

The law, at that time, did not explicitly state that paid family leave did not include the healing of a woman’s body after birth. My then employer made a choice to read the law as if it was for bonding only. I refused to accept that my employer could create the definition of “birth of a child” when there was no clear definition, and when other city agencies chose to provide the leave after stillbirth cases like mine.

I fought back and it went as far as making it on the national news after an Instagram photo of me & Aaliyah went viral. This led the DC Council to pass an Emergency Bereavement Bill, granting parents of stillbirth 10 days paid leave. Which, for many not in this position may sound like a win. However, my argument was never about time to grieve the death of my daughter. It's always been about the time it takes a woman’s body to heal after birth, whether or not the birth is live.

Winning that battle wasn’t enough as that wouldn’t bring Aaliyah back. Waking up every day and grieving her death was my norm. I decided to join Facebook groups, specifically for mothers who have experienced loss, and that allowed me to hear people's stories and the horror in this country as it relates to the treatment of birthing people after stillbirth. Whether it’s hospitals with staff that are not adequately trained to deal with loss, the misunderstanding others seem to have of “yes, I still delivered my baby,” or the differences in family and cultural understandings after a loss like this, it’s overall tough. It’s hard to manage the outside world when on the inside you feel like giving up. 

I knew I needed to do something for the mothers I connected with, and also to create a strong legacy for my Aaliyah. Turning grief into purpose, Aaliyah in Action was born.

From my experience, tangible bereavement support was minimal or nonexistent. Some hospitals, if you’re lucky, provide you with a memory box for your baby. We love to talk about “self-care” in society, yet I found very little of it in this pregnancy and infant loss space. I decided to take all of the parenting I was saving up, and pour it into Aaliyah in Action. 

Our nonprofit supports women, birthing people, and families after they have experienced perinatal, neonatal, or infant loss, by providing self-care packages and support books that’ll help them start their grief journey. The packages are distributed to hospitals and those who request them, to provide immediate, tangible, and bereavement support. A box includes small items such as fuzzy socks, aromatherapy shower steamers, and candles. For what I call a “griefy” day, this is a small gesture to make one comfortable during their stay in the hospital, post birth. Packages also come with a support book for the birthing person, and support books for partners and living children if appropriate.

Pregnancy and infant loss can make you feel so alone. But the reality is you’re far from alone. My love for Aaliyah and the passion behind this organization will elevate Aaliyah in Action to be a standard bereavement response after pregnancy or infant loss. Through continued hospital partnerships nationwide, I hope to reach as many women and birthing people as I can-the immediate response is key when starting the grief journey.

Aaliyah in Action is also supporting small, local, women and black-owned businesses. We are proud to purchase items and support books directly from the vendors. Not only are we proud to help families in need, but we are able to help small businesses too.    

If we haven’t experienced it ourselves, we all know someone who has experienced the trauma of a pregnancy or infant loss. I see the work that Aaliyah is doing every single day in the emails I receive, phone calls, DM connections, and relationships I’ve been making since becoming an advocate. Our goal as an organization has always been to connect on a deeper level with those we provide for, and those who support our mission.

About the Author: Elizabeth O’Donnell, or Aaliyah’s Mom as she prefers, is the Founder & CEO of the nonprofit Aaliyah in Action. She is a fierce stillbirth advocate helping people navigate loss through Aaliyah in Action, and working toward ending preventable stillbirth with PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy as their Co-Director of Communications.